Miles And Smiles

Hello Readers, We know many of you might have followed 4 day match against Board President XI in Hyderabad. The match ended in draw but there were more smiles in Indian side and worries in Oz’s camp.
Had the selection been done on 2nd Oct’08 instead of 1st for the early two tests, the picture would look different. Only player who’ve been picked up in Test squad S.Badrinath failed in both innings. Rise and shine time for Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma in first innings as they both hit 105 each to put BP XI in strong position. With the likes of Kumble and Bhajji as a spin attack very little chances are left for other spinners to get into probable for selection. Yet Piyush Chawla & Pragyan Ojha bowled well against Oz’s and shared 8 wickets between them to bundle out Aussies cheaply in first innings. Punter’s bad patch in Indian soil continued. Only brave innings was played by Mike Hussey who scored century and some batting braveness for Stuart Clarke in lower order. Second innings brings more smiles for BP XI as captain Yuvraj Singh made century while Jaffer missed the same with 7 runs.
Aussies really wouldn’t have expected the worst news in the form of there main attacking spinner Bryce McGain being ruled out of entire series due to shoulder injury. The other spinner Kreja who also came with dream of making Test debut alongside McGain now has real chance to be in playing eleven. Aussies have also called all-rounder Cameron White who has performed really well in domestic circuit for them to join the squad. His leg spin can be bit handy apart from giving strength to batting lower down the order.
With just 3 days to go for the first test in Bangalore (now Bangaluru) playing conditions look pretty much similar to what we had in Hyderabad during practice match.Looking at the weather conditions captain Kumble will certainly be playing with 2 seamers and 2 spinners with long batting line up we have.
Shams & Wags’s probable XI for the Test are-
India – Anil Kumble(Capt.),V.Sehwag, G.Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar,Sourav Ganguly,VVS Laxman, M S Dhoni (VC & wk),Harbhajan Singh,Zaheer Khan,Ishant Sharma,Munaf Patel (12th man).
Australia – Ricky Ponting (Capt.), M Hayden, Phil Jacques, S Katich, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, B Haddin, Brett Lee, Stuart Clarke, M Johnson, Kreja, Watson (12th man)

Article By Shams & Wags

Princely Comeback!!

Need of the hour is to take a leaf out of Dada’s book. Even if the odds are heavily stacked against your favor and even if the fat lady does not sing for you, one must definitely learn from Saurav Ganguly to how to keep focusing on the come back.
All started in the early 90's where he was a part of the tour down under. He was the 12th man and was asked to carry drink and towel. He belongs to the Royal family and at that point in time he refused to carry drinks which made him pay the price of being dropped of the squad. As one would agree, time works as a healer, he made his test debut in 1996 along side Rahul Dravid.Both of them scored magnificently and at that time itself they announced their arrival to the test arena Ganguly went on to make century in his century where as Dravid fell short of 4 runs.
Time and again he has found himself under an axe and there are always fingers pointing towards his selection. For a person who has been a thorn in the arms of Steve Waugh who considers him as an arrogant captain, it’s a cardinal sin to keep dropping him out of the squad. Dada exactly knew that the Australians do not get bogged down unless some one gets under their skin which is what he exactly did.


The title ‘Dada’ which is given to him means Big Brother is apt as he has been an instrumental force in building the young team and that he has been by the side of the youngsters and has always shown faith in them.
Seems Steve Waugh would have taken the slang meaning of Dada which means a bully or a Goon that’s why he has always criticised him.

He is one of the members of the Fab four of Indian Team. Records speak volume for him. He has been a player who has played well in both the formats of the games

Despite the fact that every one failed to score in the series against Sri Lanka, he was the first person to be axed out of the team. He has been dropped out of the test side despite of scoring decent number of runs if not scoring heavily. In the event of the failure, people start talking that he is not fit for playing and that the youngster should be given a chance ahead.
Sometimes one feels that the selectors have some vested interest in dropping him out of the squad. One should not forget that he has won India many matches under his captainship both in India and abroad.


Having said every thing, one also has to agree the fact that nothing can be taken for granted and hard work and perseverance is the name of he game if one wants to be a part of it. At the same time,let your performance speak volume rather than making noise.I think this is what is working for Dada as he has been considered in the Squad of 15 member for the action packed India- Australia Border Gavaskar series.

Stump Vision!!

Difficult is the task to step in to the shoes of an outstanding performer and replacing him. The level of expectations only goes on top and comparison begins on all the takes.
Same is the situation at which Bradd Haddin has arrived at. The wicket keepers job is cumbersome. No respite whatsoever and concentrating on every single delivery is the biggest challenge. Unlike the bowlers, there is no change of wicket keepers at the end of the over. Cheering the team is one of the major jobs for the keeper. If there is no fall of the wicket, the wicket keeper has to work a wicket out by way of chirping behind the wicket and distracting the batsman. Loads of words are exchanged between the batsmen.
Ian Healy has done some outstanding work behind the wicket. He was replaced by Adam Gilchrist, who added new dimensions to the keeper’s job. Explosive batting was his style. He was the perfect replacement of for him. Gilchrist went on to change the definition of the wicket keeper and added a new dimension as an explosive batsman.
Gilchrist took the job of the keeper absolutely with the expectations and his retirement has created a void in the Australian camp and the expectation from Bradd Haddin has gone to infinity. Haddin the current Australian keeper has been in the waiting wings for a long time now. It was in 2001 series, he was touring India as the backup keeper for Adam Gilchrist. Other than injury, Gilchrist is too good a keeper batsman to replace. The entire 2001 was a tour for Bradd Haddin. Finally Bradd made the test debut as a keeper against West Indies this year.
Australia has produced some wonderful and world class keepers. Instantly recollected are Rod Marsh, Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist.
It’s heard that Haddin is taking some valuable tips from the legend Ian Healy on keeping on Indian wickets. Can he handle the spin on Indian turf and can he step in the shoes of Gilly is the biggest point of concern for Australian camp. Even if he takes the tips from God, it won’t help him to gauge the bounce on Indian turf!!