ChinmayC Blog

The MSD of Indian and world cricket has been a phenomenon in terms of aggression yet simple approach, skillful captaincy in all three formats of the game, unorthodox right-hand batsman with raw yet powerful hitting, one of the best examples in wicket-keeping in world cricket, one of the fastest runners between the wickets and always smiling and composed in the field. MSD simplified means the one and the only—Mahendra Singh Dhoni. On October 15, 2021 in the IPL-2021 final in Dubai which was MSD’s 300 th match Dhoni led his franchise CSK (Chennai Super Kings), since 2008, to its 4 th Champion title defeating KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) convincingly by 27 runs. The earlier title wins under Dhoni’s captaincy were in 2010, 2011 and 2018.   There have been rumors floating around in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) about the 40-year-old star cricketer’s retirement after IPL-2021 which seems realistic now that he has played the 300 th match and also winning the title, creating a moment of ...

When Team India loses half of its batsmen in a particular test match it is always all over. The Indian tail never manages to wag—meaning the tail-enders invariably fail to take the score on leading to a batting collapse and more often than not surrendering the match from a possible winning position. And when Team India manages to grab half of the opposition batsmen in a particular test match it only gives the charge back to the opposition thus more often than not surrendering the match. When these two lethal syndromes combine there is always a largely one-sided verdict against India. These ‘tail’-oriented maladies are responsible for most of the away defeats and six consecutive Test Series losses abroad suffered by India since 2011 including two white washes at the hands of England and Australia. This is responsible for the most successful ever Indian cricket captain to finally step down from Test cricket. A captain who gave India No.1 position in ICC’s Test rankings in 2009 for the f...

Finally in the Grand Finale Team India played truly to its potential and won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in great style! The Team scoffed at the idea of depending on one or two stalwarts and blazed away to an astounding victory celebrations for which do not seem to end and justifiably so. After 28 years, first team in world cup history to win it as hosts, first team to win chasing in excess of 250 runs and on! Captain Cool also known as the Great Gambler showed why he is indeed the best Indian Captain of all times. Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a masterstroke by promoting himself ahead of Yuvraj and finally delivered with the bat with such determination to win and such obsession that the World Cup had to come running for his country and of course for the living legend Sachin Tendulkar. Forget his decisions or gambling now, his disarming smile and humbleness make the win more memorable. Superb fielding and terrific bowling by Zaheer Khan in particular never allowed Sri Lanka to run awa...

A typical India-Pakistan encounter with the teams not performing to their true potential, but very true to the pressure and nerves. Eternal rivals meeting in a rare face-to-face apart, it was also a World Cup semi final which is normally tougher than the Final and watched by two Prime Ministers taking cricket to the noble goal of achieving lasting friendship between the two countries. There were pleasant surprises all around—Indian and Pakistani fans watching and cheering their teams sitting together, sweet friendly smiles and chats between the rival players on field, slogans around the stadium announcing ‘India and Pakistan are friends forever’ and so on. India won the toss and there was the shocker nobody on earth expected. Ashwin was replaced by an out-of-sorts Nehra who was condemned for his last disastrous over against South Africa. But the real point of debate was ‘how you dare changing a winning combination against the Champions Australia’! It defied all logic! It had been evide...

England disappointed sorely and Sri Lanka won in style at the last quarter final clash at Colombo. Despite rare Sri Lankan lapses on the field England could not set a competitive target. And Sri Lanka made a mockery of the 230 run target achieving it without any loss of wickets and nearly 11 overs to spare. Like South Africa now England too must indulge in an intense introspection. Battle lines drawn now: Sri Lanka Vs New Zealand on March 29 at Colombo, Ist Semi Final. India Vs Pakistan on March 30 at Mohali, 2nd Semi Final. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 has in a way become an Asia Cup with three Asian teams making it to the semis! Barring a continuing NZ upsurge the final is going to be all Asian and if any Asian team wins it that will be its 2nd title. All ways lead now to Mohali! Clash of the arch rivals! The Epic war! Some channel calls it the Mother of all Battles! Yes, it is indeed the biggest occasion involving the two countries rarely playing each other in recent times and tha...

South Africa choked again! They must seriously consider this malady. Big occasions, big matches and knockout stages are continuing nightmares for them. Another World Cup gone! Fours years will be long wait before they hope to team up and say.' We are no longer 'chokers'.'  Okay, New Zealand tonight outplayed them, but the scrappy target of 222 set before South Africa was immensely gettable. This is the point they should take it forward from in a determined frame of mind never to choke again. Though hailed as a major upset in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 this was not unexpected. I had been saying all the way and also yesterday that New Zealand was fully capable of winning on its day. NZ did not set a huge target, but their tremendous fielding combined with some inspired bowling finished a mindless performance by South Africa. Sluggish Dhaka pitch also helped, but that factor helped SA too in restricting NZ. Champions gone yesterday! Clinically proficient favorites gone tod...

I said in one of my posts earlier that somebody needed to stop Australia before they ran away with the ICC Cricket World Cup for the fifth time! Pakistan stopped them! Team India knocked them out tonight! Incredible, but truly so and magnificently too!  More significantly, now India meet Pakistan the semi final at Mohali on March 30. If today's match was a huge one and hugely hyped, the Mohali one will be a gigantic match and a gigantic hype may be also be inadequate! Eternal rivals clash in a big one and words are not enough to describe the sensation. But one thing is sure, one nation of the subcontinent is going to figure in the final and Sri Lanka may even make it total. Finally, India bowled better, fielded better and Dhoni shuffled his bowlers better. He also made the right decision bringing in Raina which was strongly suggested in my earlier post on SA disaster. But what's Dhoni doing with the bat? It remains a worry. Only his sweating sweltering ad keeps on coming consis...

It had to be Pakistan! Pakistan was trounced by New Zealand who in turn was beaten squarely by Australia. And now Pakistan ends Australia's run of unbeaten World Cup matches since 1999. They have topped Group A followed by Sri Lanka, Australia and NZ. But hardly anything can be said about what they are going to do in the first QF. You saw how Afridi got out today with the team needing him urgently at that moment and balls remaining were nearly three times more than the runs needed! Pakistan need to be a little more predictable or a little consistent if they want their second title. Bangladesh who caused a major upset defeating England crashed out today doing immense favors to none other then England only! Though they are still with the same points as West Indies, their net runrate is so bad that it is not even mathematically possible to make it if West Indies is defeated tomorrow. India is likely to meet Australia in QF if they defeat WI tomorrow and take the second spot in Group B...

You must thank England for making every match it played very close and exciting. It will be a tragedy if they bow out of the world cup. They were in dire straits when their match against West Indies threatened to go out of their reach at several points. Finally England prevailed and got WI all out for 225, 18 short of the England total. So, for the moment they stay in contention for a birth in quarter finals (QF). There are many possibilities as who out of England, WI and Bangladesh makes it to QF. First let’s take a look at the Group B points table: Group B - Standings Rank Teams P W L NR T Points NRR 1 South Africa 5 4 1 0 0 8 +1.606 2 India 5 3 1 0 1 7 +0.768 3 England 6 3 2 0 1 7 +0.072 4 West Indies 5 3 2 0 0 6 +1.650 5 Bangladesh 5 3 2 0 0 6 -0.765 6 Ireland 5 1 4 0 ...

Because, from a position of supreme command, an incredible opening partnership, 99th international hundred from a master you got to a situation of 9 overs, 9 wickets and 29 runs. The matter of absolute shame is that you failed to bat through 50 overs yet again after you boast of batting strength and opt for 7 batsmen! After getting into an incredible position with 8.5 runrate you surrender the psychological advantage squarely to the opposition. And yet, they could have won with 13 needed off the last over. But, the great skipper gave the ball to Nehra, about whom it is not even clear if he is fit or not. And not to Harbhajan who bowled excellent, fielded excellent, involved in catching and run outs and was a live wire on the field. Time now for Raina to come in, time now for five main bowlers and time now for underplaying so called batting prowess. So far only two or three batsmen delivered in almost all matches. With so many powerful batsmen around batting order shuffling always follo...

India win by five wickets with more than 13 overs to spare. But Netherlands made them labor for the win. Not convincing Team India! Top celebrated batsmen fell in heaps. Thanks to Yuvraj Singh who stars in both of the last  wins.  There are questions all the way... If unfit Nehra could be tested then why not test the  sitting spinner Ashwin as well. If you are not giving him a chance against the minnows when you are planning to cap him or not at all. Chawla is hardly doing anything except being Dhoni's favorite. Sreesanth was dumped for just one bad spell that too in the very first match and was also rewarded with rebukes. That aggressive fellow has a lot to contribute to Team India's fortune or how would you know if not tested at all. Why the same standards not being applied to Chawla too? Or is the thinking other way round? First ensure QF birth and then go on with the experimenting! Meaning you want to experiment against the likes of South Africa and West Ind...

They nearly lost to minnows Netherlands. Chased a target of 339 runs against favorites India successfully--resulting in a tie. They set a target of 328 against minnows Ireland...and LOST! They set a pathetic target of 172 against mighty South Africa...and WON! England is living dangerously and so they could be immensely dangerous to any side--particularly in the knockout stage. If they happen to meet Australia in the quarters I would bet they win! Basically or potentially they are a very strong side and now is fast accumulating the Pakistanish unpredictability! This is a deadly combination. Beware, all team captains! They have nothing to lose, but everything to win the World Cup..once! Meantime the saga of ineffectual matches continue. Barring a few rather debilitating possible upsets by the minnows everybody knows which four top teams of each group go to the quarters. By the time you have all the top teams together it will be over in a whiff. Then why suffer the ordeal! For cricket c...

A target of 339 is huge one for any team on earth. Team India set that today going all out (literally) for runs against England in a world cup Group B league match today. It was good seeing India making the efforts for amassing maximum possible runs. Sachin Tendulkar gifted a sterling innings with five huge sixes making another record of scoring maximum centuries in world cups. He has now scored 98 international centuries including Tests. But that innings almost or has gone waste. Most of the later Indian batsmen tried to hit only sixes rather than looking for singles and twos. Learn guys learn! Chasing a target of mammoth 339 England was never seen to be under any kind of pressure except for the last ten overs when Zaheer Khan delivered taking three quick wickets. They were going merry taking runs at will, so impotent was the Indian bowling. And, India opted for only four specialist bowlers out of which Chawla and Harbhajan were always suspect. In fact England spinners bowled much bet...

Pakistan win again in World Cup against Sri Lanka, for the seventh time. SL yet to win a WC match against Pak. This is a very significant win as it was achieved in SL with Lankan home crowds and typical Lankan conditions. And the cricket was fantastic, giving the first taste of true genuine cricket of the highest order in this World Cup. SL managed to restrict Pak to a total which was achievable though difficult. Then Pak made sure SL could not win, but again SL fought hard and came very close to win it. Both teams played very intense and hard cricket. Pak showed patches of exceptional fielding too apart from batting and bowling. While Misbah excelled with the bat, Afridi was magical with the ball. SL made to struggle for runs. The crowds could not believe what they witnessed. Now for tomorrow's big match, India Vs England. Team India is still troubled with fitness problems. Somebody said about possibility of rains! The ticket fiasco is threatening to become a scam. If only VVIPs a...

First week of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. And surprisingly nothing much to write home about. Only minnows in abundance so far. Almost all of the matches extremely one-sided with only England allowing Netherlands to come a little closer perhaps. India-Bangladesh opener had some suspense due to Bangladesh's upset win in 2007 packing India out of that World Cup. Only two big matches played so far and both unfortunately were one-sided affairs. South Africa thrashed West Indies on 24th and Australia thumped little brother New Zealand in a listless encounter today. The most absorbing one of the week just got over, Bangladesh defeating Ireland by 27 runs in a low scoring match. But one minnow defeating another minnow--does the result make any difference? On the positive side, South Africa made a good impact. Pakistan came strong with good showing in both batting and bowling. Australia growing stronger with two easy wins and somebody must stop them before they run away with the fifth title...

For ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Player Review Decisions are allowed meaning the captain of the fielding side or the batsman at the crease can appeal to the TV or third umpire for a review of 'out' or 'not out' decisions by making a T sign to the on-field umpire. A team is allowed two unsuccessful review appeals per innings. A review is considered unsuccessful if the third umpire does not reverse the on-field umpire's decision and the decision stands. If a player succeeds in getting the umpire's decision reversed then this will be a successful review and will not count for the limit of two decisions. We have seen today a Canadian batsman successfully reversing his 'out' decision to 'not out' by the third umpire. We have also seen two unsuccessful reviews by Canada against Sri Lanka while fielding. This facility introduced earlier on a trial basis is most welcome considering the nowadays frequent umpiring mistakes. The rules are also practical. You ...

ICC World Cup 2011 is about to begin. The inaugural ceremony is taking place at Dacca tonight. The first match is between Team India and Bangladesh on Feb 19. Cricket is set to climax in full glorious uncertainly. All the best to Team India! They have already beaten Australia and thumped NZ in practice matches. Team India has a balanced side with several players vying for a place in the final eleven. Healthy competition will enable them to play the best. Sachin Tendulkar is playing, but Team is not dependent on him. Recent experience show that Team India now has a will to win despite the odds like even after losing nine wickets! No TV viewer can afford to switch off on them any more! They are well equipped to win it! But the beauty of this world cup is that almost any team can win it! You can hardly write off any. Beaten down Aussies have come again by routing England recently. Sri Lanka can do it sitting strong in its home grounds. Pakistan is Pakistan, always unpredictabl...

Kolkata , the city of joy (or was it?), is fast turning into probably a city of sorrow. First, the Dada of joy Saurav Ganguly was unceremoniously unbought by Kolkata Knight Riders for IPL-4. No other team considered him either. An icon abandoned. Now, Eden Gardens Stadium, the Mecca of Cricket in India, is on the verge of being rejected by the ICC for the Ind-Eng World Cup match on Feb 27. In fact, the ICC rejected it outright for non-completion of repair work by the set deadline. But Kolkata being what it is, the panic button was pressed in all possible high and highest centers of power. The ICC President Sharad Pawar had to give an assurance for reconsideration. But, things are in the balance. The reasons are really beyond understanding. How is it possible? When did you first come to know that World Cup is being organized in the Indian subcontinent? Must be long long back. Then how come possibly the best stadium of the country with the capacity of more than 80 thousand ardent fans ig...