Freddy in Double Impact

The retirement announcement of the week - that of Freddy - may have had a telling impact on the Ashes series but for that perennial problem that dogs him - injuries. For a man who was the inspiration to England's victorious Ashes campaign in 2005 things have been on the down slide ever since. First it was the way in which the Aussies snatched the Ashes back the same year. That was followed by a spate of injuries and then the 2007 World Cup near death experience in WI. The injuries have only gotten worse and it was time that Freddy quit the scene - so the retirement is well timed and will become even better if England go on to retain the Ashes.
The retirement though will have a double impact. Firstly, England will have one less player (or nobody) to inspire them positively during a crunch - that will be a cruel impact. Secondly, CSK (yeah that team in the IPL) will now have the undivided attention and services of Freddy. Agreed that Freddy hasn't quit ODIs. But judging by what he is going through now, I think England would already be thinking of a replacement for him. Now that's a superb impact for CSK.

20 min of Ashes

Out of the 5 days of the first Ashes test, I watched the last 6 overs only, where Monty Panesar and James Anderson where trying to block out the Aussies by hook or crook and were cheered on by the capacity crowd for every single ball defended. The fours by Anderson were greeted by so much noise from the crowd that someone who had just switched on TV would have thought that was a milestone in Anderson's career. By hook or crook because there were too many visits by the 12th man to the centre in the last 3 overs and once even by the physio and neither of the batsman looked as if they needed a physio (even though they would not have minded a cardio taking care of their violently beating hearts ;))
All said and done, Australia could take only 19 wickets and the match ended in a draw. At the end of the day, it does not matter whether they deserved to win or not. Only the final scoreline matters! - Yes sometimes sports is a good leveller, sometimes, its cruel!
I am happy that England managed the draw in the first test. So now there will not be any bragging about an Aussie whitewash ;)
But on a serious note, England needs to figure out how to take 10 Aus wickets first and then move onto get 20 of them!!

Short ball.. short term solution

Having seen the Indians dance very badly to sweet chin music, the very intelligent Indian selector think tank have decided to rope in Rahul Dravid as a potential player for India in the Champions Trophy in SA this September. While the blip in the T20 WC seemed like a one-off, the scare came when the Indians came under the short ball barrage in the WI also. With the SA pitches being known for bounce, the Indians are for sure going to dance to the tune again. But is Dravid the solution for the problem? Agreed that Dravid is the best player of the short ball after Sachin. But at over 34 years of age, it doesnt look like he has much to contribute to Indian cricket. And by going in for such a short term solution, the selectors are only giving the short ball victims of the T20 WC a demoralizing shot. It's like telling Suresh Raina, "Well, we chose you to replace Dravid. But from what we have seen we guess we need to continue with Dravid until we find someone else. Goodbye son!".

Dravid back in the list of ODI probables!

Could this be the beginning of a comeback or is this the way that BCCI is forcing Dravid to retire from ODIs by giving him a farewell tournament??
A few months back, the clamour was for young legs, quick speed etc.. In that clamour, they forgot that Dravid is one of the fittest in the team. Dravid provided a stability in the middle order, which was grossly missed later. I strongly,firmly believe that Dravid has atleast 2-3 years of ODI left in him. (Pls note I am not even counting his Test years left :))
Now, BCCI usually dont think of the 'seniors' in the team in very favourable terms. So I am looking at this announcement with every bit of skepticism as is humanly possible. Is Dravid BCCI's armguard against the 'latest' rediscovered weakness of the Indian youngsters? Now that the earlier self-assured image of Dhoni is flickering, will the new slightly-imperfect Dhoni accept the presence of Dravid in the team? Will he get to play in any match even if he is selected in the final 15?
Too many questions.. I will wait till the final team is selected and till the Champions Trophy is played for finding out the answers.

What a match!

Wow!! What a match! Federer playing at around 70% of his potential and Roddick at close to 100% - and still Federer comes out as the winner! There were glimpses of the vintage Federer - much rarely than what I would have liked - and glimpses of the future Roddick - calm, composed, much toned from his aggressive posturing days and playing 'maaaaaarvellous' tennis as Vijay Amritraj puts it :)
In the first 4 sets, there are only 2 break of serves - both by Roddick taking the respective sets.. The other 2 sets are won by Federer by upping the ante during the tie-breaker. And that sets the stage for a classic fifth set. Federer serving ahead in the final set - I think that was an advantage as it was making him less tensed during the fifth set. It was almost like he was waiting for Roddick to falter and when the chance came, he pounced on that.. What a win - minus the tears this time!! Wonder how he held them back successfully this time ;) ;)
It was nice to see the greats like Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras posing with Federer, with everyone trying to get their hands on that golden trophy :)
Last word - on Mirca - Is she a superwoman - an 8-month-pregnant woman sitting thru this high tension match for 4 hrs 30 min !!

Rebel to Royal

Rajasthan Royals have roped in an ICL rebel to play the proposed exhibition match against Middlesex this Monday. This marks the beginning of a new dawn for the rebel players. Very soon the remaining 79 players will also be knocking at the doors of the franchises. What this would do is deny the current fringe players in the teams any opportunity. Hemang Badani would surely make a better player for CSK rather than Jakati just like how AT Rayudu would overtake Harmeet Singh or Ravi Teja for DC. The IPL needs to add more franchises as soon as possible. Otherwise the intention of bringing out new talent will soon die out.
As for the ICL - they must be appreciated for putting up a brave face. One just hopes that Kapil Dev doesn't get persuaded to quit ICL one day.

Invasion of cricket space by tennis

This is true with respect to this blog as well as my mind. Very sorry to say, out of the 3 Ws mentioned in the last blog - Windies has occupied the last spot. Work has forcibly climbed to number 2 spot and Wimbledon continues to rule!
What quarterfinals the William sisters played yesterday - ruthless to the core! Waiting to see if Safina's nerves will hold good in the semis. But going by the current form, it surely looks to be a Williams versus Williams finals with the younger one the favourite this year!
The mens QF line-up looks very interesting that I am hardly missing Nadal ;) Anyways, this could be the toughest challenge that Federer has faced till now in this year's Championships. When the Karlovic service game can potentially get over in 4 aces, Fedex better take whatever chance that comes his way. Roddick-Hewitt looks to be an interesting fight, with the vintage Hewitt back in action. With 'Andymonium' at its heights, Ferroro will have a tough time. But Murray being exhausted after that marathon match, Ferroro will have a small window of chance. Djokovic - Haas - nothing much in it for me :)
Now off to the second W... :)