FCKING BLOG

The third pacer and the replacement for Sachin are the men that Dhoni has to worry about. Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been included as replacements for Yuvraj and Sachin respectively. Karthik ought to make it ahead of  Rohit simply as a better player of the short ball should an opening present itself but it won’t be a surprise if Dhoni goes in with the former.

Tyagi made his ODI debut gleefully on the Kotla pitch and bowled well enough to earn himself another match in Dhaka. Whether Sreesanth was given more time to recover fully from his illness or whether Tyagi figures higher in the scheme of things for LOIs remains to be seen. We can’t afford to lose pacers quicker than we can replace them but it’s truly criminal if we dump them before they get a chance to prove themselves/ lose form.

Kohli is the budget pick to watch out for this series, I expect him to add to his tally of fifties and a hundred.

Thilana Thushara returns to replace Malinga, Bandara came back to replace Mendis, Chamara Silva to replace Kapu and newcomer Lahiru Thirimanne to replace Jayasuriya.

The replacements on the India tour Lakmal, Randiv and Welegedera did better than hold fort and brilliantly supported the set players Dilshan, Tharanga, Sangakkara. They will be expected to do similarly well in Bangladesh and deserve to be ahead in the pecking order for a chance to play.

Sri Lanka squad: Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), Tillakaratne Dilshan (vice-captain), Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Thilina Kandamby, Chamara Silva, Lahiru Thirimanne, Thissara Perera, Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, Malinga Bandara, Suraj Randiv, Thilan Thushara, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Kulasekara and Chanaka Welegedera

With or without Mortaza in the picture, Bangladesh’s main man in this tri series was always gonna be all rounder Shakib Al Hasan. I was surprised that he didn’t land an IPL contract last year itself when he topped the ICC charts for leading All Rounders.

With support from a few key players like Tamim Iqbal, Abdur Razzak, Raqibul Hasan and Enamul Haque jr, he led Bangladesh admirably in against the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Mohammed Ashraful can be a destructive player on his day, just that those days are too few and never did have any sort of frequency.

Some of the teams that were affected from the ICL defections embraced their returning players, some even returned with a big bang  but it remains to be seen how Bangladesh treats it’s ICL returnees Shahriar Nafees and Alok Kapali and whether they can find a place in this new self assured team.

England hung on for a draw at the Centurion by the skin of an Onion peel….

…..

Puns aside, South Africa earned those wickets with their persistence, England just thought it’d be the right thing to do as the South Africans do when in South Africa and tried their best to choke. Useless as they are, couldn’t even pull that off properly.

Swann was spectacular, he totally repaid my faith to keep him in the team instead of Stuart Broad and made me repent my decision to appoint Collingwood my trump player.

Shades of Cardiff yes but let’s hope the rest of the series creates a plot of it’s own, something as far removed from the Ashes as possible. In fact, I want the visiting team to win this series.

My primary interest in this tour is that a South African series win will see them regain the top spot in test rankings and displace the team that I think should head the table. I think the team at the top of the test table should not only remain there but they should also climb to the top of the ODI table.

Which brings me to the fourth ODI between India and Sri Lanka. These teams have played five series involving each other in the past two years, this is the third bilateral series and sixth overall and they’re scheduled to play each other in a tri series in Bangladesh within days of the end of this series.

And they’re still going strong at each other. You know what happened at Rajkot, you know what happened at Nagpur and some of you are still coming to terms with what happened at Cuttack. Now the action moves to the ground where the history between the two has been explosive.

The Eden Gardens at Kolkata.

Yuvraj Singh is among the only Indian batsmen to have had a good run at the Eden Gardens, he has two half centuries against one each to Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Mongia in the past decade so his replacement Kohli’s got his work cut out. Seriously, because Sachin’s 49 is the next best knock there in this decade!

Among the Sri Lankans, Jayasuriya has a good record here. SL paid heavily for not picking him when the pitch, the balance of the team, the injury to Mathews all screamed for his inclusion. India’s slow bowlers made merry, Kulasekara, Malinga and Mendis were all ineffective and SL went 1 down with two matches to go. Mendis was the most expensive one between them, with even the rookie Randiv getting wickets, Mendis is the one most likely to miss out on a match at his IPL home ground.

Dinesh Karthik looked in fine touch while he went about committing travesty at Cuttack. I think it’s just the joy of playing under a captain who trusts him that makes him enjoy his cricket so much more . The next match at Kolkata might see him come in earlier in the line up.

Dilshan, Tharanga and Sangakkara are the batsmen Sri Lanka are heavily relying on; they’re certainly the only ones delivering anything. Maybe Kandamby could play a greater role if he was promoted ahead of Jayawardene.

Kapugedera’s done nothing  in the two games he got, it’s not long before Sanga’ll run out of patience and dump his ass to have Samaraweera return and replace him.

Gotham City Strip

As if the humiliating and demeaning pitches aren’t enough, the bowling ritual performers in this series are now going out with insult of injury as the insult to injury

Muttiah Muralitharan and Dilhara Fernando are out of the series. Murali didn’t have a great series leading up to his injury which happened while he was fielding in the third test. Dilhara was the best Lankan bowler on display in the T20s and the first ODI which is when he injured himself attempting to take a return catch.

None of the Indian bowlers are having a good time since the tests ended, they wouldn’t mind an injury induced break. But you must field or at least attempt to field to even invite the risk of an injury.

Yuvraj seems unlikely to play tomorrow according to Cricinfo but India have Virat Kohli covering him. India’s worry remains the availability of Sreesanth. With Praveen Kumar’s gentle medium pace being slogged all over town, Dhoni might want to try out Sudeep Tyagi.

Sri Lanka’s problems are bigger at the moment. Their best bowlers are down with injury and the ones available are doing no good job. Welegedera will stay in unless Malinga is passed fit to replace Fernando. Mendis too could make it to the team unless Sanga decides to give one of Suraj Randiv or Muthumudalige Pushpakumara a debut.

Another issue they need to address is whether Samaraweera can do a better job batting higher than he does right now. Jayawardene has had a bad run in the limited over matches now and just a slog after coming lower down the order is what he needs to get his tail up.

Samaraweera could do with a substantial knock under his belt to show for the handful of matches he has played this year. The man’s been shot and he came back to make runs like nothing ever happened. You gotta hand it to him.

India too need to do something about Gautam Gambhir. Yes, Dhoni you fine batsman wicket keeper captain chameleon, you can blend in anywhere and you can bat at any position. Not all other batsmen can do that. Gambhir needs to bat higher up to do some real damage and sending him in below Raina is pure insult.

The forms of Sehwag, Sanga and Dilshan are just too good at the moment. Like anyone who followed the world economy in 2008, I am afraid of the burst but till then, one these three guys will be my trump player.

The Nagpur pitch saw the India post 354 against in October and Sri Lanka post 207 in a T20 just last week. This match is gonna be a big scoring one too and one of these guys is gonna score a century.

Of course, someone from the rest like Sachin, Dhoni, Mahela, Jayasuriya, Tharanga or Gambhir might step up too on this ‘win toss, bat first’ pitch.

For the bowlers, it’s gonna be flogging as usual. Zaheer and Nehra held their nerves towards the end of the last match. It’d be nicer to see them regain their wits earlier. Harbhajan, thankfully bowled well and got some fcking crucial wickets and held up one end without which the match could shamefully have been over much earlier in the favor of the Lankans.

Let’s hope the bowlers do one better tomorrow, anything less than 411 in each innings will be a start.

*The fielding on both sides has been fckall. ‘Young leg’ has taken his role as the replacement of ‘hardly see him misfield’ Yuvraj very seriously as far as fielding is concerned. The runs aren’t there, but the drops are and so is the swagger and intense self affirming swearing upon taking one out of seven catches.

Dhoni said it himself, T20’s are just warm ups for ODIs which the boards decided to package and monetize. So having gotten through the warm ups with a warm up to each, India and Sri Lanka will now meet in a 5 ODI series beginning Tuesday.

The Indian selectors have for a change made decisions which were begging to be made instead of waiting for a major balls up which would have seen us exit a prestigious tournament prematurely. (Oh wait, that happened. Twice this year)

Gambhir, Sehwag and Dhoni warmed themselves up nicely in the T20s, Yuvi got carried away and over warmed himself which means he will sit out of the first ODI at Rajkot which means Virat Kohli gets another chance to play and score more than 30 odd runs before throwing away his wicket.

Thankfully, Yusuf Pathan is still out. Unfortunately, Ravindra Jadeja has been retained. So while we won’t get to see 2 ball ducks, we will get 19 ball 5s and one, maybe two stupid, entirely avoidable run outs. The real all round strength will be in the form of Harbhajan and Praveen Kumar, both of whom managed runs against the Australians.

Zaheer returns to the ODI squad where he will share the new ball with his old pal Nehra. It’ll be interesting to see the two try to claim their place in the team before Sreesanth recovers from Swine Flu.

The Sri Lankan squad has some interesting developments, Lasith Malinga may be out with a fever and Dilhara Fernando could take his place in the side. Muralitharan is fit to return to the team but that leaves Ajantha Mendis on the sidelines.

Sanath Jayasuriya will move down the middle order while Dilshan opens the batting with Tharanga. The move to bring in Thilana Samaraweera failed at the Champions Trophy but Chamara Kapugedera has been scoring with a vengeance since then and ought to get a chance here.

I expected SHT Kandamby to play in the tests after the solid year he has had in ODIs but that was not to be.

India’s victory in the tests was more comprehensive than expected and SL had the right to feel aggrieved at the decisions that went against them but the truth remains that they were massively outplayed. Even when SL fought back in the T20, India never gave up, heck, even Ashish Nehra came out and whacked the Lankan bowling around.

Their ODI record against India has been pitiful of late. After the Asia Cup final where Mahela unleashed Mendis on India, the Indian batsmen have responded strongly and India has won three ODI series against SL.

This is SL’s chance to catch a weary Indian team on the backfoot. Sanga looks like the man who’s gonna kill himself trying to haul his team over the line. He needs a partner in crime to help him pull it off. Drop your Sehwag scrapbook Dilshan, get off the couch Mendis, get off the rocking chair Murali and deliver what your captain asks you to.

3 tests and a ODI series can seriously drain a man.  But they’ve been scheduled such that everyone takes a break at the same time and thank god for that. While I have my chance, here’s a review/preview/now view?.

India vs Sri Lanka

Well well well, we had Sreesanth returning in style with a brilliant job at Kanpur. All the bowlers have been majorly violated by the batsmen thanks to the pitches but Sree and Herath managed to raise the hopes of their kind with their display.

This series took a big list of dependable, bankable, marquee names and put in tracks that guaranteed that the batting half of these names certainly don’t fail. Pitch = road jokes were cracked. The Kanpur pitch woke up on the second day, showed everyone the finger and brought back life into the series. Most batsmen on both sides are safe as of now, Sangakkara would be disappointed with himself though.

The teams were evenly matched in most departments and it was expected to be a contest between the pace attack of both the teams and with the Brabourne pitch is being talked up as a gift for the pacers, let’s just see how it’s gonna be.

England vs South Africa

SA’s ODI form over the past two years has been exceptional with the only blemish being the NatWest series loss in England. Right now England lead the series 2-1 with one match to go in wet Durban. Graeme Smith’s himself has been frustratingly inconsistent and the collective batting slump between him, de Villiers and Duminy has become even more problematic thanks to the absence of Kallis.

Their team selections have become erratic with no one, not even vice captain Johann Botha being spared from a drop while England made all the sensible selections even as their main players were injured.

New Zealand vs Pakistan

Pakistan’s home series away from home began with a hard fought test which the Kiwis won in the last session. The Akmal brothers carried the team in the first innings after the top order  misfired and were supported only briefly by the seniors in the second innings. Shane Bond’s injury and the doubt over Iain O’Brien’s recovery however tilt the scales heavily in favor of Pakistan. Darryl Tuffey has a good record against Pakistan but being forced to play Jeetan Patel or call up Ian Butler/Tim Southee is not a position they would want to be in.

Add to that the inconsistency in the top order and yet another rescue act by Vettori in the first innings, NZ have to play out of their skins to win the second test.

Pakistan’s pace attack was simply brilliant, Asif returned to test cricket with his skills intact while Aamer and Gul backed him up clinically. Kaneria being a wicket taking prospect might get a go ahead of Ajmal but that is not something Pakistan would worry about. For all the fragile batting, where to fit in Misbah is still a big question. Alam, Farhat, Manzoor were all equally average at Dunedin while Yousuf and Malik only chipped in in the second innings. S o do they get another chance or are does the conveyor belt move on?

Update: Tim Southee has been called up to replace Shane Bond. But Tuffey has a better chance of playing.  It will be O’Brien whom Southee will replace if he plays.

Australia vs West Indies

The return of the not so spectacular first line up of the West Indies has been memorable for the grit of their bowlers and of the young Adrian Barath and Travis Dowlin.  The injuries to Ramnaresh Sarwan and Jerome Taylor has affected them badly but Roach, Bravo, Rampaul and Benn kept running in. Gavin Tonge and  Darren Sammy are the options Gayle has to fill in for the injured Taylor. Now if only the seniors like Chanderpaul and Gayle put in as much of an effort.

Australia face a problem with Hilfenhaus being injured. McKay has been named as a replacement but Bollinger will probably get a chance ahead of him. The rest of the line up is settled, even Michael Hussey got a half century and Australia will try their best for another three day victory.

You know the history between the two teams of late. India’s batsmen will be looking to avenge the humiliation they suffered at the hands of Mendis in last years tour.

A lot of unfamiliar names, especially and expectedly in the Sri Lankan side, so here’s a quick reckoner to who you can pick in your team.

Batsmen:

Thilana Samaraweera: In the form of his life, not even a bullet to his thigh could stop him from plundering runs in the test format. He had a bad time on Sri Lanka’s last tour here but now is the time to make amends.

Tilakaratne Dilshan: Everything he has touched in the past year has turned to gold flown over the boundary. He excelled in his role as makeshift opener and looks good to continue in the same vein in the tests if his form against the Indian attack in the Compaq Cup was anything to go by.

MS Dhoni: Not the best keeper in the series but worth his place with the bat alone.

Harbhajan Singh: Harbhajan’s bowling has become very unreliable but his batting in tests has improved vastly in the past year.

Zaheer Khan: Zaheer’s presence will make a huge difference as he is easily the best bowler India have by a distance. Add to that the lower order partnerships he has stitched over the past year in the company of Harbhajan and you will see why he is so crucial.

Rangana Herath: He is being tipped to be in the line up for the first test ahead of Ajantha Mendis. He had a brilliant series against Pakistan and was the highest wicket taker in the series.

Thilina Kandamby: Gave the bowlers a hard time over the past year with his brutal hitting while he stabilized Sri Lanka’s middle order. Deserved a chance in the test team but his spot as a starter in the line up is doubtful. Celebrated his selection with a ton in the domestic circuit, he’s in top form. Might be promoted to open alongside Dilshan.

Tharanga Paranavitana: Unless Sangakkara takes the extreme decision of throwing in Kandamby as an opener in his place, he is safe. He has had an inconsistent run over the past year, crucial knocks alternating with wasted starts and abject failures. He is at best a buy to cushion your other larger purchases.

VVS Laxman: A budget buy, he has also played brilliantly against teams that are not Australia. Under-rated even in fantasy cricket, he is a big farm of points.

Angelo Mathews:He has become a vital part of Sri Lanka’s unit in a very short time. He brings a crucial all round balance to the side and is a sure starter.

Nuwan Kulasekara: A vastly improved bowler but his performances have mostly been either at home or against weaker opposition. He has also developed his skills with the bat, enough to put up a frustrating fight.

Besides these players there are the big names like Tendulkar, Gambhir, Sehwag, Sangakkara, Mahela, Mendis and Muralitharan who are expected to dominate the series but the valuation of these players is such that they become too big a burden on your team if they don’t perform.

Sehwag and Yuvraj might be good purchases as both are likely to bowl and fetch the odd wicket on the flat pitches the tests will be played on. Players like Dammika Prasad could get a match, he had been crucial in Sri Lanka’s winning the decisive match of the 2008 series.

Sreesanth is back in the team thanks largely to the non performance of others and the myopia of selectors. He is likely to play all the matches and may yet spring a surprise.

Most Likely Starting XIs:

India: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth.

Sri Lanka: Tharanga Paranavitana, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews/ Thilina Kandamby, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Nuwan Kulasekera, Thilana Thushara/ Dammika Prasad, Rangana Herath/Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan.

Group B of the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy is a story of consistent underachievers. Between the four of them they have one World Cup victory, two Champions Trophy winners and a joint CT winner. And the millions of semi final and final defeats it took them to get those results.

I.B. #Eine: South Africa
The favourites of the tournament. South Africa have a mountainous pile of reasons why they can win this tournament. Balancing all of them singularly, and rather spectacularly on the other arm of the see saw is their proven Inglourious Chokers tag. But this time something seems different. Will it be their year?
Inglourious South Afrikaners: Jean Paul Duminy, Roelof van der Merwe, Wayne Parnell & AB de Villiers.

I.B. #Zwei: Sri Lanka
The most naturally talented side, they have Angelo Mathews & Ajantha Mendis winning them matches by rolling over of the arm and flicking of the fingers respectively. They need their young batsmen to put in those big match winning knocks. Thilina Kandamby is already staking his claim so could this be the tournament in which Chamara Kapugedara lives upto his promise?
Inglourious Lankans:Tilakaratne Dilshan, Thilina Kandamby, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara.

I.B. #Drei: New Zealand
Any tournament they go in, NZ are expected to make it to the next round. More often than not this is as the result of the inconsistency of others rather than due to their own abilities. And they’ve made it to the second rounds and semi finals of many tournaments but haven’t had much luck going beyond that. The one time they did get through in 2000, they won the Champions Trophy. This time around too, the Black Caps have a lot of firepower but the question remains, will it go off?
Inglourious Kiwis: Shane Bond, Ross Taylor & Jesse Ryder.

I.B. #Vier: England
The most inglourious story of them all. More than anyone else, England are painfully aware of their own shortcomings in LOI cricket. In the past year they’ve beat a supremely disinterested West Indies & tired South Africa. But they lost very badly to a fighting NZ, a rampaging India & almost 7-0 to a vengeful Australia. To add to their misery, their best ODI players KP & Freddie are out with injuries and not playing this tournament.
Inglourious British: Luke Wright, Joe Denly, James Anderson & Graeme Swann.

The pitch had plenty to offer for the fast bowlers so he was obviously delighted when he won the toss having yelled "Headssssssssssssss!".

Bilateral ODI Series are great.

Naah, I’m just kidding.

Watching two teams go at it gets boring especially if one of the teams is shit.  Right now that means England against Australia. But there is hope in the Compaq Cup where New Zealand are clashing against the mights that are the teams of Sri Lanka & India.

I like Tri Series for the simple reason that it makes fantasy cricket more exciting to play. There’s a lot of players to choose from unless it’s a tri series inolving Bangladesh & Zimbabwe. It’s easier for you to get a balance in your team.

The FCKing’s fantasy teams for the Compaq Cup are up at Dream11, Cricket Web, Cricinfo & Cricket Inc. You can add me or join my leagues, send in your requests to fckingblog@gmail.com

IFL didn’t even have a fantasy game on for the tri series while PlanetCricket refused to let me build a team saying I did not have full administrative powers on my account to build a fantasy team!? REFUSE ME WILL YA?! I pity the fools that flock there!

There’s quite some action in the coming months beginning with two major tournaments.
You have the Champions Trophy in South Africa followed by the Champions League in India which will keep you busy till October. Then there’s Australia’s gruelling 7 ODI tour of India and then England’s first series after their Ashes triumph, their tour of South Africa besides a whole lotta other cricket everywhere.

So get playin, cos..

"I love the smell of fantasy cricket in the morning.......smells like free electronics!"

Younis: A wealthy Pakistani wants to purchase the Pak cricket team and show them around the world as a travelling circus. Sangakkara: But the players are tall, big built, with even bigger egos, “Space is a problem, how will they ever fit?”

A headline that’s making a lot of their past players go “What the f&*#%! “

Every sports team has it’s bogey team. They could be bogey teams across categories and everyone worthy of the FCKingdom knows that the next category in cricket lies in your imagination.

Younis: Don’t worry, they are collapsible

Like the team that always beats us at the world cup, the team that always beats us even if they’re doing shit against everyone else, the team that beats us when they visit, the team that always beats us when we visit and so on.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka share an even special, reciprocative relationship. Both are shit hosting each other, which of course means that both are invincible when touring each other. This has happened since the beginning of time and it’s the way things are.

But bold new Sri Lanka under their modded captain Sangakkara have disrupted the fabric of time and space by contesting Pakistan and defeating them across a series of Tests and 50 over ODIs at home!

Pakistan’s young guns kept the dead rubber bully flag high by winning the last two dead rubber ODIs. But the contest everyone’s looking at now is the T20 match.

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the final of the ICC World Twenty20 Championship just over a month ago to emerge World Champions. Sri Lanka have beaten them black and blue in almost every match they’ve met in since then, but Pakistan have recovered just in time for the format the are the world champs in.

Who will prevail and more importantly, what does your team look like?

Dilhara Fernando makes sure that no one is watching while a henchman dressed as a physiotherapist beats the shit outta Mahroof.

Pakistan’s selection policy of late is of being so arbitrary that the opposition is startled into losing the match.

Sri Lanka’s determination to outdo the Pakistani’s this time has trumped their tendency to copy the opposition’s strategy,  just go at it harder and hope to be on top at the end. They’ve gone for the performers.

Of course this meant that most of my FCKing Dirty Dozen has been in the pavilion,  thinking of other such jargon filled stuff to say when someone sticks a mic in their face.

But now that they’ve lost the series, time for me to pick up the dead rubber bullies in my team.

Kulasekara & Thushara marked this series as their own. They’ve been the best besides Murali. Two not very highly valuated players who’ve delivered much beyond what was expected of them.

Sri Lanka Cricket owes their first home series victory in Tests & ODI’s over Pakistan to these two.

Fernando & Maharoof must be crying in each others arms right now.