It makes players break down.
For instance, the following got injured while paying the IPL:
Tim Paine
Brad Haddin
Michael Clarke - he is anorexic; so he doesn't even have to play the IPL, he just thought of it and broke a bone.
James Hopes & Brett Lee – they interacted with Evil Modi during the CL2009.
(I think I can feel the beginnings of a headache because I typed
Nathan Bracken
Peter Siddle
Moises Henriques
Which begs the question, why isn't the one who shall not be named not injured yet?
Sabotage?
I am thinking someone needs to put a little Andhra Mirchi (Ah look, that is Austraian for a lot of Mirchi mate!) like a pinch, into the man's food and that ought to take care of him.
Meanwhile, in the Indian camp, the one with the "Attitude Problems" (no, please click on the link) is sitting out and the Preppie Nerd is back.
However, he and his man Seawag (that is Australian for "Sehwag") will be separated by
Anyway.
India better win this is all I am saying.
p.s. I don't care if this is a 2nd string Australian team India better win this.
p.p.s. I don't care if Ponting shows up with 10 Australian school kids India better win this.
p.p.p.s Heck I don't care if Ponting shows up with 10 copies of Geoff Boycott's Mum, India better win this.
Note: I better put this in there that I am being sarcastic about that IPL injury list.
*cough*
32 Maidens bowled!!:
You can be sure we'll try our best not to.
Mahek,
:-(
Don't say that.
Sigh.
If you have noticed, captains decided the outcome of the match. In matches Ponting outshone MSD. Oz won and in games MSD did better than Punter, India prevailed. As long as Punter is standing, I think Oz too stand, a chance. But as you said, India better win it.
Som,
I managed to catch the highlights of the 4th ODI; still can't believe Ind lost that one.
Oh why did MSD walk?
Gasp! Anybody but Geoff Boycott's mum!
I don't get it... if there is a statistical study done to determine the frequency of occurrence of minor injuries and the flight expenditure over the past year and a half, Aussies would take a pretty large part of the pie. Team members randomly being flown back and forth with a litany of complaints to put any physiotherapist into a tizzy... I DON'T GET IT.
And the IPL excuse is so annoying I'm going to eviscerate the next person who gives it.
With a spoon.
Slowly.
Maithreyi,
Graphic violence...
Hmm.
Did you not know this is a PG-rated blog?
;-)
Parents don't read cricket blogs, Leela :P
I don't know about you folks but Shane Watson is shitting all over the Hyderabad gymkhana and then some. Nehra and the other bowlers got absolutely OWNED by him so far.
And Bhajji's up next. Man I hate seeing his " Oh no. They are on a roll and I gotta bowl now. But I need to pee real bad" Look . It makes me wanna vomit.
WHY do we suffer so bad!
Watson really has brought the PAIN today.
morethanjustagame.wordpress.com
Well, let's hope India win this series else the "greatest ever Indian captain's" aura will be punctured - even Rahul Dravid didnt lose to a "Ricky Ponting and 10 random Aussies" side :-)
Good luck Dhoni fans. Let's hope India win this 4-3 and you can herald Dhoni as the greatest captain because he beat Australia in India in ODI series something which has not been done in ages!
thanks for the kohli link leela... more than one year down the line and he is still in the process of conquering the adversity... talk about progress... :)
Mahek,
I do know a few parents who read and write cricket blogs!
:-)
Raj,
I wasn't aware the man had been christened "the greatest Indian captain ever"!
SP,
I did not put the link in there for sympathy. Nor to show how he deals with adversity.
People often talk about his attitude problems, I believe we need to know another aspect to him to.
We can disagree on his talent, no probs there.
The issue I have is when people quote his so-called attitude probs to keep him out of the side. I don't care about ANY cricketer's personal life as long as it does not affect his cricket.
I know I make fun of Yuvi. However, I don't care which Bolly starlet he interacts with (as long as she is not underage), and I don't think anyone should care either.
But that's just me!
Sujith,
Somebody put mirhci in Watson's food already!
:-(
I can't believe he is not injured yet.
Sorry... I meant mirchi.
MSD just got out; I can't type.
How apt we were having the discussion about the 1990s Tendulkar just yesterday.
TG - maybe that innings gives you an inkling why we Indians are obsessed with the man. Because he can bat LIKE THAT!
And because he cares enough to pull such innings out of the hat again and again, no matter how many times he ends up playing like this and losing, just because his team can't muster a tiny fraction of his will to win.
Mahek - Still sticking to the 'Tendulkar should drop down to No. 3' line?
I got a text message this morning from a friend which probably sums it up: "Even after twenty years, if Sachin gone, game gone."
But I know what will happen now. We will all say, "He got 175, why couldn't he get the remaining runs and see us through?"
TG, this was the chokejob that hadn't come for months. Talk about gifting the game to Australia.
Not sure how many of you folks are in the twitter world, but I got this line from there, which sums up today's game.
Aus BEAT a team called India and LOST to a man called SRT. Enough said !
The Australian team is throwing so many lifelines India's way, practically daring to beat them, by constantly reaching deeper and deeper into their player pool.
I am glad Hyderabad's reputation as a graveyard for home teams has been maintained. We have got be notorious for something, right, might as well be that. :-)
Yep, I'll stick to Sehwag and Gambhir opening the batting until Tendulkar and Sehwag consistently get us to better starts.
I'm not going to say Tendulkar should have finished it off. He tried his best and it wasn't enough this time. That's just how the cookie crumbles.
As for the phrase "Sachin gone, game gone", maybe these people need to see how many matches we've won when Tendulkar got out early. More importantly, how many matches we've won when he was injured/rested.
People said 50 over cricket is dead but these games are great.
Mahek,
I too agree with you.
Plus, how many games has SRT won single-handedly?
Only Desert Storm comes to mind.
(could be a few more ... but not that many.)
Sharath,
Actually y'day's game proves that SRT cannot win games single-handedly; even the Chennai miracle was courtsey Sehwag and the fact that Yuvi responded to SRT's baby-sitting.
Francois,
How true. Welcome to the blog.
"Yep, I'll stick to Sehwag and Gambhir opening the batting until Tendulkar and Sehwag consistently get us to better starts"
I will point you to this:
http://www.cricinfo.com/indvaus2009/content/current/story/433228.html
Over the last 124 innings, he has averaged 45 at a strike rate of 84. Surely, they are acceptable numbers for an opener? If Sehwag or Gambhir have comparable numbers at numbers 1 or 2, I'd agree with you. But they don't. In fact, they don't even come close.
Do you have anything solid to back up your recommendation for a drop for Tendulkar to number 3? Or is it just that "Gambhir and Sehwag bat well together"? Do they bat well enough together to make up for the loss of runs that will probably come due to Tendulkar's drop?
I am still not convinced. If you have any numbers to back your argument up, I'd be glad to see them. But if it's just because 'Gambhir and Sehwag bat well together', we will have to agree to disagree :-)
@ Mahek
"maybe these people need to see how many matches we've won when Tendulkar got out early"
Not exactly what you want, but a little snippet here from an article on Cricinfo,
http://www.cricinfo.com/indvaus2009/content/current/story/433228.html
Excerpt:
"he averages almost 57 in matches that India win, but the slumps to 33 in games India lose"
No matter which way you peel it, that DOES translate to "Sachin gone, game gone" :-)
@ Leela
"Actually y'day's game proves that SRT cannot win games single-handedly"
You're right - no one person can CONSISTENTLY carry the team. Tendulkar has been TRYING for twenty years now, with varying degrees of success. The fact that he averages 57 in wins and 33 in losses shows how reliant we are on him, and how consistently responds to the pressure.
Of course, 'consistently' doesn't necessarily mean 'always'.
"even the Chennai miracle was courtsey Sehwag and the fact that Yuvi responded to SRT's baby-sitting"
That's a bit harsh :-)
Test matches are played over five days, and they are impossible to achieve without a team effort. Why, even Kolkata 2001 would not have happened without Dravid and Harbhajan. Adelaide 2003 would not have happened without Agarkar, though we always heap Dravid with the praise, etc etc.
With one-dayers, a century, especially one as big as 175, usually means victory for your team unless ALL of them decide to be spectators. Which was unfortunately what happened.
Sharath,
That's a bit harsh :-)
Clever!
I was obviously only analyzing the chase that started on the 4th day and not the entire match.
Sharath, go through these two posts.
http://www.boredcricketcrazyindians.com/2009/11/why-tendulkar-shouldnt-open-with-sehwag.html
http://www.boredcricketcrazyindians.com/2009/10/opening-conundrum-partnership-innings.html
I don't form an opinion that isn't based on logic. It's a boon and a bane.
Average in matches won and lost is the stupidest indicator of a player's value. A high average doesn't suggest consistency, it could very well be a result of big innings interlaced with many small ones. Also, looking at his overall numbers includes the time when we didn't have a strong side. I'd be more interested in looking at numbers from the last 4-5 years.
Since you're throwing stats at us, here's one for you. We have successfully chased 300+ scores in only 4 of the 25 games Tendulkar was part of, 3 of 12 when Tendulkar wasn't in the side.
No one is trying to bag Tendulkar here, there is enough evidence to suggest Sehwag and Gambhir form a better opening combination than any other (Refer to the two blogposts at the start of this comment)
@ Mahek
Interesting numbers there. And yes, going by those, you would have to say Gambhir and Sehwag are a better opening parternship, though I note the difference in the number of innings played - one played 92 and the other a third of it. Hardly comparable sample sizes. If you were to compare them, maybe we can compare the FIRST 32 innings of the Sehwag-Tendulkar partnership with the first 32 innings of the Gambhir-Sehwag partnership? I wonder what we will get then.
Also, a significant number of Gambhir-Sehwag opening parterships came in the last couple of years, when Sehwag upped his average over his career average by a good 15 points or so. Do the numbers for their partnership look good because of that? It sounds more than possible to me.
"A high average doesn't suggest consistency, it could very well be a result of big innings interlaced with many small ones"
That becomes less and less true as we go up in sample size. Averaging 33 in 3 innings could well be a result of 100, 0 and 0. But averaging 33 over 300 games pretty much means that the batsman's capability is, more or less, 33 per innings.
The only place where a batting average can be misleading over a large sample size is in the case of batsmen who have the propensity (and the facility) to carry their bats - a bit like Bevan, and recently a bit like Dhoni. Being an opener, Tendulkar's averages don't face that problem.
"Average in matches won and lost is the stupidest indicator of a player's value"
If a player averages 57 in wins and 32 in losses, and provided the averages were calculated over a reasonably large sample size, I find this measure to be, in fact, one of the most reliable indicators of a player's value, and more importantly, the team's reliance on the player in question. If you find the measure stupid, to each his own.
The numbers I gave you of Tendulkar in my previous post were from the last 3-4 years. To repeat, in the last 124 innings, he averages 45 at a strike-rate of 84 as opener.
"We have successfully chased 300+ scores in only 4 of the 25 games Tendulkar was part of, 3 of 12 when Tendulkar wasn't in the side"
Cricket games are not necessarily won by chasing only. Setting a target is as important as chasing one. If you want to analyse this more comprehensively, how many times did we post a 300+ score (irrespective of whether it was a first or a second innings) without a sizeable contribution from Tendulkar? And how many times did it happen on the back of a Tendulkar hundred?
And speaking of value, 32 out of his 45 hundreds resulted in Indian wins. So 75% of his hundreds were 'matchwinning'. And doesn't he also have a ridiculously large number of Match awards?
I am not saying for a moment that the team is over-reliant on Tendulkar now. Thankfully, those days are long gone. But I still wouldn't drop him down to 3 because in my mind it would be foolish to give up on the services of the best ODI opener ever, especially when he is showing no signs of fatigue, bad form or injuries. His latest numbers are as good as, if not better than, his oldest ones.
I also find it mildly amusing that you want us to believe that in the case of Tendulkar, averages computed over 400+ games "are not true indicators", yet in the case of Gambhir-Sehwag, you offer as conclusive evidence averages computed over a paltry 32 innings.
Which one is it? You can't have it both ways, you know :-)
If you look at Tendulkar's numbers in isolation they're as good as anyone else's. But if you look at his numbers in conjunction with Sehwag they do not make great reading. You can compare the numbers from their first 32 partnerships to those for Sehwag and Gambhir, I'm positive the result won't be any different. As a partnership, they're probably the best in the world right now. As an individual, Tendulkar is close to being the best, so he shouldn't have any trouble replicating his success at number 3.
Lastly, I don't see why Tendulkar gets dibs on where he wants to bat in every format. He's never offered to open in tests when there were times he was best suited for the job. It should be the captain's decision. If the captain thinks he should open in ODIs then so be it. I wouldn't do that if I were captain, but then I'm not.
"Tendulkar is close to being the best, so he shouldn't have any trouble replicating his success at number 3"
We don't know that for sure. What if he is pitiful at number 3?
The question here is a simple one. Will the benefits that the team will possibly get by changing the opening partnership outweigh the possible disadvantages of displacing your best batsman from his most favoured position, where he has scored most of his runs, and where he continues to show his best form?
You seem to think they will. I happen to think they won't. So let's just draw a line there and stand on either side of it. And let's end the argument about the opening combination here, because I am sure we will both agree the team's got more teething problems, if the Gowhati game is any indication :-)
"Lastly, I don't see why Tendulkar gets dibs on where he wants to bat in every format"
That's a strawman at best. Tendulkar has always said he was ready to bat at whichever position the team wants him to bat. In fact, there was a period of time under John Wright and Ganguly when he batted at 4, and it was actually quite a successful time too for the team.
So I don't quite know where you got your information from that Tendulkar takes dibs on which number he wants to bat at. Unless you have access to some confidential dressing-room information.
"He's never offered to open in tests when there were times he was best suited for the job"
That's another strange one. What are these 'times when he was best suited for the job' that you refer to? And how do you know he was best suited for the job when he's never opened in tests? Did he ever open in the longer formats at first-class level? What are you basing that statement that 'he was best suited for the job' on?
I am not asking this to be confrontational. I am just really puzzled :-/
What makes you so sure that Tendulkar would have been a good test opener?
Because he opened in ODIs and seemed to score hundreds for fun. On the other hand, we tried players like Shiv Sunder Das, Devang Gandhi, Wasim Jaffer at the top. I think Tendulkar would've done way better than any of these guys. No one thought Sehwag would do well as a test opener but he did. It's not like he opened for his Ranji side, but he had to open because that was his way into the side.
Yeah, let's just draw a line here. Even I know they'll never move Tendulkar down to 3, which is why when 2011 comes around I won't get my hopes up.
Awesome discussion here.
Sharath, I like the numbers bend of things, and agree with much of your points.
We've got a quant analysis of Sachin vs Ponting - centuries. Just an ODI view. We'd love to hear your views on them:
morethanjustagame.wordpress.com
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