India vs Australia ODI match Sydney 2 March, 2008 - A Fun Report

Australia were once again lucky with the Toss and got to bat first. They’ve been too lucky with this stuff. Today the bowling was opened by Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma. They were bang on target as Australia began earnestly scoring more than a run a ball. Praveen Kumar struck removing Gilchrist, and then Ponting after his usual struggle that we’ve seen on this tour was released when Praveen struck again. Have you noticed that he has stopped sledging. Maybe sledging has something to do with form! But then there’s the Sri Lankan and West Indian teams who don’t sledge at all. Well at least the Australian team, only the men in form sledge! Well once Ishant joined the party Australia were tottering at 3/24. At this juncture Symonds joined Hayden and they steadied the innings. And then they started striking the ball at a run a ball. They added 100 runs in about a 104 balls. Well it was left to the “obnoxious little weed” Harbhajan Singh to remove some other obnoxious big weeds - He removed both Symonds and Hayden. Well, obviously it was going to be a great send off as Harbhajan has been tormented by both of them this series. Well the remaining batsmen and tailenders slowed down and could add just 104 runs thereafter from 22.3 overs. India has played Piyush Chawla instead of Munaf Patel in this match. Piyush Chawla was happy to bowl to them and returned with low RPO of 3.3 but didn’t get any wicket. The final score of 239 was not very high but seemed adequate for the Australians who were playing 5 bowlers.

India began their reply with fast scrorer Uthappa weighed down by the responsibility of opening the innings. Somehow, either this is not a good idea, but anyway, Uthappa should play his usual fast game irrespective of where he bats. Then Gambhir was unlucky to get run out and Aussies could sense a chance there. Yuvraj came in a soon Ponting put Hoggy since Yuvraj cannot seem to control his delight at spinners. Well, soon Hogg was rewarded by his wicket when he clean bowled a tentative Yuvraj. Now Rohit Sharma joined Sachin Tendulkar who was determined to last. Rohit batted quite slowly initially hitting a run every two balls, as Tendulkar kept hir scoring rate near to a run a ball. Slowly Rohit eased out and scored at the same pace in the latter part of his innings. Rohit hit a smart 66 in a 123 run partnership with Tendulkar before he was bowled out by Hopes. Hopes turned out as predicted to be an important player throughout the tournament with useful contributions both with the bat and the ball each time. Well with only 30 runs left Dhoni cracked a few fours and Tendulkar continued savaging the attack and they finished off in style beating Australia by 6 wickets with more than 4 overs remaining. This was a memorable knock from Sachin Tendulkar.

(the above are written in a funny mood and not intended to hurt your sentiment - i doubt if any actual players gets time to read - so please don’t (get) hurt yourself defending them)

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Sri Lanka vs Australia ODI match Melbourne 29 February, 2008 - A Fun Report

Other possible headlines
- Hayden snubbed. Dropped.
- Will this be the last innings by Jayasuriya abroad? or maybe the last ever?
- Without, Chaminda Vaas, the attack looked impotent (initially).
- Gilly was on fire.
- Ponting just refused to score. He took 11 balls to score 1!!
- the victory was brought by Kulasekara and Amerasinghe, two rookie bowlers

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat! Not surprising, but last week at the same venue they had chosen to bowl first and predictably lost. As predicted here, the only semblance of a chance at Sri Lanka beating Australia lay in batting first. Surprisingly Vaas and Hayden were dropped. Hayden apparently may have been snubbed since a lot of people felt he was let off too lightly. And Cricket Australia had indicated that the Aussie cricketers had double standards.

Well, Perera in his new role started slowly. With Lee and Bracken bowling as well as ever, Sri Lanka was very cautious. However, they started losing wickets soon. Jayasuriya nowadays plays small cameos and did another such one. Will this be the last innings by Jayasuriya? Maybe the last one abroad?

For once Sangkarra magic did not work and Sri Lanka were down at 4/61. Here Jayawardene was joined by comparably successful Dilshan Tillekaratne and they enabled Sri Lanka to get to a respectable total. Sri Lanka juiced every ounce of their batting. I mean they were bowled out on the last ball scoring 221 which didn’t seem a big score to defend.

Without, Chaminda Vaas, the attack looked impotent. Australia began on a very positive note, and in no time had 100 on board without any loss of wickets. Gilly was on fire. It was just too good too be true. All bets were now on Australia winning easily. It looked too easy and the party had already began. Just a trifle too early. Newbie Kulasekara came for his second spell to join Muralitharan. And Hopes fell. And Ponting just refused to score. He took 11 balls to score 1!! A team which was right on top scored 1 run in 4 overs!! Australia were suddenly choking on themselves. From 107/0 they went to 123/6 and Sri Lanka could sense an impossible victory. And most importantly this victory was brought by Kulasekara and Amerasinghe, two rookie bowlers. A potent signal that the time for change of gaurd has come for Sri Lanka. A late rearguard action by Brett Lee and Bracken brought Australia over 200, but then in a stroke of genius Jayasuriya was introduced with Australia just 13 runs away. Well, Jayasuriya just need the minimum, one ball, to seal the victory!

(the above are written in a funny mood and not intended to hurt your sentiment - i doubt if any actual players gets time to read - so please don’t (get) hurt yourself defending them)

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India vs Sri Lanka ODI match at Hobart 26 February, 2008 - A Fun Report

Other possible headlines
- Sri Lanka dig the most beautiful hole with the help of a debutant Praveen
- Tendulkar fires in time for the final showdown with Aussies
- Gambhir did what he seems to have mastered - the art of grafting runs
- Jayasuriya should file for retirement before life takes over

India won the toss and elected to bowl? Well like an honourable Rajput, India likes to make the field even before the fight and the only way Sri Lanka could stand even in statistical probability is when they bat first. Well so we started out in the match at an even level. I mean India threw away the sword!

We Sri Lanka caught on after an initial hiccup (Perera) and were on their way. Then Praveen Kumar was called to bowl. He had had a dismal show in the series and was keen to prove (people who follow domestic cricket in India knew that he’s a very talented all rounder and must be keen to see him being fielded). Jayasuriya and Sangakkara had belted the opening bowlers out of attack and were looking hungrily at the newly christined bowler. Perched merrily at 1/72 Sri Lanka seemed all set to take the bull by his horns. However, Praveen Kumar got 3 wickets in a snap and Sri Lanka were down to 4/81 in a flash. Ishant Sharma and Pathan could smell blood and moved in for the kill and suddenly Sri Lanka were 7/93 and it looked that they had been struggling all day. With the not successful batsman Kapugedera left, things looked doomed for them. But Kapugedera straightened out the creases with the help of Malinga and Muralitharan and got Sri Lanka to finish at 179. Munaf was the only bowler who looked off color.

Well India didn’t have much work left and we saw Utthapa being promoted to open the innings. Well though he didn’t last long, he and Tendulkar set the tone that India were not interested in a long haul this time. And India blasted away at around 6 RPO with Sachin back to his self striking 10 fours in his 63, and Gambhir doing what he seems to have mastered - the art of grafting runs. Finally, when Sachin fell, India was almost there. Now Yuvraj came in for a small cameo, and by the time he left it was near the finish line. Excepting maybe Vaas no other Sri Lankan bowler has looked good in this series.

With this Sri Lanka have the joy of a free mind and they can try out their new comers in the next match. I suggest Jayasuriya should file for retirement before life takes over. I am a big fan of his and would not like to see him go ungraciously. He has done a lot for his country!

With Praveen Kumar joining the melee, it’s now a riot as far as team India is concerned as now the fast bowlers read like this: Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Sreesanth, Praveen Kumar, VRV Singh and the backup from Joginder Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Pankaj Singh, Balaji, and maybe I forgot one or two already. And these are not ones who shone and went, all are performing and ready to field. And that’s the way instant cricket is - a strong bench is required to constantly field teams.

(the above are written in a funny mood and not intended to hurt your sentiment - i doubt if any actual players gets time to read - so please don’t (get) hurt yourself defending them)

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