< 1 minute read For those who don’t know what Sri Lanka v India is, it’s kind of like the Ashes, only they don’t make the losing team play a fifth Test. Or a fourth one. Sri Lanka seem to have turned a little bit insipid. They coped with Muttiah Muralitharan’s retirement surprisingly well
Continue readingCategory: India
‘I’m the captain’ says Dhoni following Bangladesh series defeat
< 1 minute read Following India’s one-day series defeat to Bangladesh, MS Dhoni has hit back at his critics, saying that he’s the captain and nothing beyond that. When it was put to him that the result might be considered something of a disappointment to India fans, Dhoni may or may not have replied:
Continue readingMS Dhoni’s conviction isn’t swayed by anything so prosaic as evidence
< 1 minute read That’s what we’ve written about for the Mumbai Mirror. It’s not just about Dhoni though. It’s also about conviction in general and how an epidemic of uncertainty can sweep through a side at a major tournament. In other words, it’s yet another piece about stuff England did wrong masquerading as
Continue readingFor India a run a ball seems to be enough
< 1 minute read The players, the coaches, the fans and the media told England that they needed to be making 350-plus scores to do well in this tournament. The 2015 World Cup wasn’t just going to be about run-scoring; it was going to be about phenomenal, unimaginable run-scoring. Look at what India are
Continue readingLower orders and the last 10 overs
3 minute read At the start of the tournament, we highlighted a weakness of South Africa’s – the fact that their batting order “quite quickly becomes a little bit Farhaan Behardien”. This weekend, it just as quickly became a little bit Wayne Parnell. That’s a long tail. South Africa’s best batsmen are so
Continue readingHow many World Cup hundreds has Virat Kohli scored?
2 minute read We suppose we really should at least acknowledge that the biggest cricket match of recent years took place. You know the one – Virat Kohli scored a hundred (as usual) and Misbah-ul-Haq made a futile 50 (as usual). It was Kohli’s 22nd one-day international hundred, a number that is both
Continue readingDeclarations unforeseen on paper
2 minute read Australia will get to declare again. Maybe this is presumptuous on our part. Maybe they were batting for a declaration but have now got a taste for scoring at ten an over and will carry on tomorrow. It seems unlikely though. If there’s one thing Australia like more than scoring
Continue readingMight and will in Twenty20 and Tests
3 minute read Our friend who was once known as Uncle Jrod has written a piece for Cricinfo about the impact of the IPL on India’s Test performances. We can’t work out whether he’s been done up by the site’s subeditors or whether the headline and teaser are part of the general mischievousness
Continue readingMS Dhoni and the will to be in India’s best eleven
2 minute read The normal reaction when one of cricket’s biggest stars retires from Tests is a kind of pained collective whine, mourning their departure. Never again will we get to see them do all those things that we’ve only just realised we took for granted. But MS Dhoni is different. Everyone –
Continue readingAustralia protect some bowlers so that some different ones can get injured
< 1 minute read If the Gabbattoir is seeing anyone slaughtered, it’s not the Indians but the home team’s bowlers. Ryan Harris was rested because he’s slightly injured and while Peter Siddle was flat-out dropped, he might be back for the next Test because the Aussie bowlers who actually are playing have been attempting
Continue reading