Sunday, August 28, 2005

From Bulawayo to Trentbridge

When I opened 'Internet Explorer' on early Friday morning on my office computer, the first thing I checked was the Ashes score. As I was soaking in the sad news of a Flintoff century and a poor Australian start, my colleague pointed out to me that there is an India - New Zealand game going on. I guess its a matter of shame that I checked the Ashes score before the Indo-NZ score, but I immediately turned to the Bulawayo match, only to see India struggling at 140/8

As I kept track of both the scores on cricinfo, it only got worse - as both my teams were doing badly. When the India - NZ match was over, I spent some time reading Dileep Premachandran's article on cricinfo, and here are some wonderful excrepts from the higly satirical article:

"India can now look forward to the game against Zimbabwe on August 29, a first-among-equals clash between two teams that deserve their place in one-day cricket's subterranean reaches"

"Yuvraj Singh, who manages an innings of substance about as frequently as the Olympic Games are staged....."

".... India were in danger of putting up a total that would have caused blushes in the Namibian dressing room"

".....and Ajit Agarkar then showcased his allround worthlessness..."

Though some may believe this article to be excessively satirical, I found it really funny. As one aussie, Greg Chappel, faced an uphill task at Bulawayo, there were 11 others in Trentbridge who were made to sweat out to prevent a follow on - not imposed on them in 17 years. At the end of the day the prospects of both the team seemed bleak.

The unpredicatable nature of Indian cricket doesn't surprise me, but the way Aussies are consistently being skittled by the Poms, surely raises an alarm. India can once again find a solace at the fact that the third team in the competition is inept of challenging them (Zimbabwe now, Windies a month earlier), and in all probability they will still make it to the finals. One only hopes that they can better their record on 1 victory in 13 finals. The Aussie women have already handed the English dames the ashes after owning it for 42 years, the guys seem to be in a similar boat. However I have fate in both the teams to stage a comeback and reclaim their no. 1 and no.2 spot in the cricketing arena.

7 comments:

Susu said...

Well, is it sheer coincidence, that since the time I pick up some cricketing enthusiasm, India starts cupping??? Well, anyways, I am still morning arsenal's defeat in sanford arena:(

Point 5 said...

somehow I have lost interest in EPL...I am waiting for the real football to start....NFL starts Sept 8th....

Anonymous said...

Be clear about who do you want at no. 1 and no. 2 position.

Point 5 said...

@Anon

India has a really long way to go before they can even stake a claim at the no.1 spot....the Aussies own it currently, and I would love to see them tighten the grip over it.....pls dont mistake me to be unpatriotic....but I am a bigger fan of the sport than anything else

totti said...

If you are a big fan of the sport then you should hope the underdogs win and not some stupid decade domination of aussies? don't you show off your love for the aussies as "love for sport". we will have none of it :).. Go India..we have hit rock bottom and the only way to go is go up..or stay there..or to loose to zim and lift them to higher level...God send us sachin..we are lost without him

Rohan Kumar said...

I think u will be incredibly stubborn if you still claim Aussis will be the no. 1 team even after losing the Ashes and by the looks of it they r going down.

Point 5 said...

@Rohan

A long article on Aussies is coming soon...I am waiting for the test at Oval to get over....