Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Post Lunch of Day 3 ( Second Test at Kanpur)

Cricket Update:

When 6 wickets fell for India on day 2, I knew India would comfortably win this test match.. and Sreesanth was a surprise package.. I know he may be expensive but he does get wickets and he has proved that again with his three wickets in the first session of day 3 leaving Lankans trotting at 138 for 5..

I am sure India would make them follow on and possibly win by an innings later tomorrow or latest by the fifth day morning.. this test would be far more difficult for Lanmkans to save themselves compared to India in the first test.. where wicket had nothing for bowlers at Ahmedabad..

Kanpur is known to be a vicious turner.. the last test here was over in three days when South Africa got a drubbing.. ICC had then criticised Kanpur track a great deal.. it is all right to make wickets more suitable to our bowlers.. every country does that I remember India had got out for 42 runs in one of the England test match at Lords in early 70s.. Did any council came to support team India then..

Test Cricket is a different ball game. I had wanted them to concentrate on T20 so that many more countries could come and compete in the game.. they thought it is not cricket yet let me tell here that T20 would bring glory and globalisation to cricket like never before..

I am convinced in my mind that five years from now the number of teams in world T20 would double if not go beyond that.. I hope India does get to play more T20 Internationals.. IPL is OK but playing for one’s country has much more at stake.. I would be waiting eagerly for the two T20s that India plays after the Test series.. We should also plan T20 Asia Cup as all the four subcontinent teams have good cricketing talent.. I hope BCCI is reading what I have to say here on future of cricket..

The raising of the endorsement contract fee is understandable but only for India seniors.. To rope the women and the other India teams is not so gullible an idea.. One can rather have different kind of amount fr three Indian teams the Test, the One Day and the Twenty 20..

I also wish tha atleast 20 to thirty players represent the country in the three different formats depending on the nature of their game.. I would go still further to suggest three different captains for the three teams..
I know Dhoni is doing a great job presently yet I would rather love to have Sehwag (if not Sachin) as captain for Test cricket, Dhoni to lead in One dayers and Yuvraj Singh to skipper the Twenty 20 side.. I have nothing against Dhoni as I have nothing in favour of the other two yet it may give a good balance to the three teams.. good luck team India for the 9th and 12th December.. the twin T20 cricket games.. even number is not appropriate.. it is all right.. if India could level 1-1 would be good enough..

More later
Abhaya Sharma

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

First Test loss to Sri Lanka is imminent..

India on the verge of conceding the edge to Sri Lanka..

Indian players would be subjected to a humiliation of different kind after succumbing to B team of Australia recently.

If the ongoing display of cricket at Motera is any indication of events to come India may well be handed over its first loss to Sri Lanka at home. There could be much more than just the loss. It could well turn out to be an innings defeat if Sri Lanka decide to amass 300 run lead before calling in for declaring their first innings of the first Test at Ahmedabad.

Mahela Jayawardene in the company of Prasanna Jayawardene has ensured one that ri Lanka can not loose from here. The duo with double hundred partnership for the sixth wicket would want to consolidate their teams propects of winning.

What India can do is to restrict the flow of runs to minimum in the first session of the fourth day and if possible contain the Lankan’s without achieving a margin in excess of 300 runs which could only delay the inevitable.

India if they have to play for five sessions and manage a draw would have reaffirmed the faith of people like Abhaya Sharma to back them up in Test cricket. Needless to say that India has been playing far too much cricket and its showing its negative impact already.

India has not used the services of Virender Sehwag with the ball despite the fact that he has provided breakthrough on many occasions in past. If Harbhajan and Mishra have failed collectively to buy wickets Viru may not be necessarily a success story yet is there any harm in throwing the ball to him and expect a miracle to happen. If I were Dhoni I would have done so long long back much before asking Yuvi or Sachin to try their arm.

I had almost decided to not write on Test cricket but this is an odd occasion when I want to tell my teammates to perform collectively and somehow mange to save the first test. Not just to deny the Lankans a well deserved first win in the country but also to define the mood of the game in future contests of the series. The team that draws first blood might just as well go on to not just win the Test series but also turn the tables on more fierce fight for honours in ODI and a couple of T20 Internationals, only the 19th and 20th that India is going to play.

Dhoni Bhaiya if you wish that team and country supports you well please do something to ensure that Lankans do not take an unassailable or albeit a winning lead of 300 plus runs with more than five sessions to get 10 more Indian wickets.

Indian batsman would be put to a difficult task at their hand as they would probably be first trying to avert an innings defeat and slowly create a situation where Lankans either do not get to bat or have an unachievable target when they come to bat for second time.
That would mean that India decides as to who among its batsman would go on to preserve their wickets and who would go for scoring at brisk rate to have substantial runs that seem to be necessary.

If I were Kumar I would have declared my first innings closed at 591 for 5, the overnight score just to expect a couple of early wickets in the early hours of the game and then make sure that India do not get to a total that is not achievable in whatever time remains in the second innings. I know Kumar and Lankans would not dare to do that. They would rather have 300 plus runs on the board and understandably believe that India is not able to bat for five sessions to save the tests. The psychological advantage that comes with the 300 runs is too big to be lured into an early declaration.

I would expect Virender Sehwag to not contain himself when he comes to bat. I would also not want Yuvraj Singh to restrict his shot playing. The two would be my best chances of putting some decent score if Sri Lanka has to come to bat second time. Dravid, Gambhir have to play the stay at the wicket with Sachin and Dhoni doing the dual role of keeping the wickets intact and also scoring some valuable runs. Do not just play to while away the time. Some of you have to score some runs as well and tha is really important. I only wish that wicket does not start to turn as is expected on the fourth and final days of a test match. India is depending too heavily on factors other than performance to save the first test match.

- Abhaya Sharma

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Beware of the Lankan Tigers!

I know cricket is a game of uncertainties.. yet not as much as a flip of a coin.. it is not simple to beat a good cricketing tam.. and Sri Lanka have proved that over last two decades they have been a great force.. They have amongst their ranks some of the finest batsman and bowlers in the world today.. Dilshan has been in the peak of form.. Kumar is elegant in any form of the game and Jayawardene stabilises their batting.. Samarweera proves to be the man on a mission.. With Murali not so effective these days he is still far better than Harbhajan or even all three spinners of India combined.. India can not afford to make spinning wickets.. their best bet would be to provide batting wickets and tha may lead to superfluos drawn games.. which have actually become rarity these days.. some teams and players have taken the onus on them to get the results at any cost to keep the faith of public in the oldest and arguably the toughest form of cricket. toughest may not necessarily have to be the best..

I have been watching cricket for nearly 35 years.. Earlier India was so bad at winning that we Indians used to take pride if or team could draw a test match against some of the ebst teams of the world.. the first great overseas victory in 1971 against West Indies was something like beating the best in the world.. Now the teams like Sri Lanka and New Zealand also find them to be beaten at their home grounds..

India should paly Test cricket if they really wish to do so.. yet I would say if the team looses to Sri Lanka (they have never won a test in India) one should not get surprised.. Indians have been playing awful lot of cricket.. they are human beings and not money making machines that BCCI has been encashing.. Otherwise how can one explain two games for each team in IPL and so few T20 Intl that India has played..

India has been doing much better in cricket after that World cup victory in 1983.. yet we have to win the cup for second time where as some lesser teams have won it more than once.. it is time to think ad act.. We have great talented players but they are not nurtured as well as they should have been.. I am not an enemy of BCCI but then they have to be acting responsibly with heir available strength..

Good Luck team India.. it is going to be far tougher tournament than the ODI series.. Lankans are far more balanced side than injury marred Australians.. beware of the Lankan Tigers

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

India Needs to change...

India needs to change its captain.. with such a loss against the depleted Australian side that is the first reaction that I have to offer..

MSD has to take a back seat.. someone else.. somone senior should hold that mantle of captaining the Indian side in ODI.. Test matches and even T20 cricket (Dhoni was a failure as a captain in the world T20 championship as well..)

To my mind comes only one name capable of leading the side and still command respect from all the players.. and that name friends is that of Schin Tendulkar.. the living legend in the cricketing arenas..

I know he has not had best of times as a captain.. probably those were different times.. cricket was different then.. the team was different and above all cricket too was different.. it has changed a great deal after the advent of T20..

I feel Sacin Tendulkar deserves to be given one more chance to lead India in Test matches as well as in one day internationals.. and if one has to have a one cpatain theory.. I would not mind leading him in the Twenty20 as well.. though I would rather love to have someone different in that format.. even Dhoni would do for that as a contender amongst Viru and Yuvraj.. but for Test cricket and ODI I think we should put our best foot forward.. Sachin understands the game as well as few others in the world of cricket.. why not give him the responsibility to lead India..

Oh there could be this bias against Test cricket in my mind.. it is my opinion that it is not important anymore.. and if the ODI cricket could bring in some changes as ICC is thinking about doing away with limitatons of a bowler to be allowed only 10 overs.. it would be a very welcome move.. Test cricket needs far more attention to be changed to suit to the needs of the modern times.. I vaguely remember Hundred Overs Test cricket that was once suggested by me.. it could really be one innings affair.. it could well be finished in two or maximum three days.. as such in ODI cricket we do see 100 overs being bowled in a day.. so two day test cricket does not make much of an irony..

Coming back to the captaincy issue I feel Sachin Tendulkar captains the side when he is playing.. that also eans that he should not be playing every series on the earth that India is playing.. yeap.. I do want him to come forward to play against only top five cricket countries in Australia, South Africa, Pakistan (if we choose to play them), Sri Lanka and England..

India should also rotate its players appropriately.. I see no point in playing Gautam, Sehwag, Yuvraj and Dhoni playing in each and every game.. three of them should be played at a time and thus introduce our newer players to prove their mettle..

I also feel that despite India having a large number of medium pacers three bowlers should be rotated from the available pool of Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, R.P. Singh, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth and even Sudeep Tyagi..

For spinners slot I feel that we hae not been considering two regular spinners in ODI asking our part-time bowlers to do the job.. I was myself of such an opinion earlier yet wish that India does play two spinners from the following in Test and ODI - Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Shadab Jakati and even Piyush Chawla..

We also have to look for wicket keepers slot for the games where Dhoni is being rested and there are two names that come to my mind Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel though I feel Naman Ojha is no less in class.. atleast with the bat..

I would rather love to have 30 to 40 players playing for India in a season some may get as many games as 7 out of 10 some with 5 out of 10 games and some just playing in two to three games from a pool of 10 games.. that way our players would fnd themselves with less fitness and fatigue problem than has been witnessed during current times..

Most importantly India should play more bi-or tri-lateral T20 Intls and cut down the IPL drastically.. I see no reason why each team should play the other twice.. one game should be enough.. a best you could have more games among top four teams and may be a best of three final..

Players of India who should get a ODI chance besides the prsent team
Batsman who could serve on rotational basis - Rohit Sharma, Manish Pandey, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Shikhar Dhawan, S. Badrinath, M. Vijay and Manoj Tiwary
Medium pace bowlers who should get some of the games - R.P. Singh, Dhaval Kulkarni, Sreesanth, Balaji

Spinners - Pragyan Ojha, Shadab Jakati, Piyush Chawla, Iqbal Abdulla and Anil Kumble ( if he continues to play at IPL why not for India too!)
All-rounders - Abhishek Nayar, Joginder Sharma, Venugopal Rao and Rajat Bhatia
Wicket Keepers- Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel and Naman Ojha.

My list may not be as comprehensive as BCCI could work out with more statistics and form of the players.. yet this could be viewed as a possible way of explaining my opinion..

I hope India does not allow the Sri Lankans their first test win in India but going by the amount of cricket that Indian cricketers have been playing there is every likelihood of such an event to take place.. I would not be surprised if India looses the Test series.. I can not be wishing that being Indian but that is my worst fear.. there is a limit of each individual to play continuous cricket and still excel all the time..

I would not be watching Test cricket yet I would be following it up.. I have a felling that India played better cricket in the recent ODI series despite the fact that they lost the series 4-2 it could have easily been the other way round had India won those two close games at Vadodara and Hyderabad..

I think I should wish the team best of chances to not allow Sri Lankans to walk away with some glorious memories.. I know Kumar, Dilshan and Mendis would be thinking that it is the best opportunity to knock down Indians.. they are not entirely wrong if they think that way.. though I have a feeling the Test series would end up as a drawn series..

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Shocking Defeat at Guwahati

Respected Brother
Sadar Charan Sparsh

I was not here yesterday for I thought we should keep an off day- a Sunday for retrospection for recollection of the fact that there should be some time that should exclusively be for the family - a small family at that comprising of wife Savita and 11 year (completing that on 16th this month)- yet there is more to family.. to the house that we call as home.. to the other matter of fact acts that deserve attention..

There is a newer post from London from you yet decided to write here as well.. more so for I find that it is after some time that you have again been generous with some photographs.. there is no dearth of pictures, songs and photographs that are available here on the net.. bigbgroup excelling in compilation of each and every event concerning you.. yet the significance of these pictures has that added attraction as it has been directly shared by you with us.. shared by the head of the family with the rest of its members.. I find that interesting.. as much interesting as we get our daily posts from you.. thanks for it all the same..

I say that yesterday was not one of the best days in Indian cricket.. a team that had been having clear advantage over the opponents did not put up a good show or should I correct myself and say put up a miserable show.. my dejection can not be hidden though I do not consider that winning is everything.. I do not believe in winning as much as playing good sound cricket.. it was this aspect that took a suffering in Guwahati.. first and foremost my wrath has to be worn by Viru.. he has let me down.. I had put off Television.. I did not put On the FM gold.. and I did not even came to Internet till I found that India had not only lost Viru.. even Sachin and Gambhir had disappeared from the crease.. oh what a sad display of batting to be reduced to 27 for 5 and was it 75 for 7 or 81 would not matter.. if it were not for Praveen Kumar and Jadeja India would not have had even three figure score on board.. but I knew 170 was not enough..

India gave up the fight.. they did not rely on Kumar or Nehra to be bowled enough overs.. what a sad and bad captaincy on part of MSD.. Is it some forces are working against him.. that he hogs the limelight ( by getting priceless Ad money..) when the team actually wins or looses.. that is not something new.. Kapil Dev was shown the doors by none other than someone whom he gifted his first Pads, bats and the other important cricketing gear.. that people in India have for far too long been having players selected for zone representation than merit alone.. that Arun Lal (Sorry friend! for such a mention) could not find a role in the Delhi team but went on to play for India and Sunil Valson probably the best seamer after Kapil Dev did not get to play even a single game for the country.. it not only hurts it saddens the mind and body refuses to accept.. that reputations are craved for far too much than the display of form.. otherwise how could Manish Pandey who has a century in the T20 format in IPL2 did not get to play all the games for CLT20.. and far worse.. why does he not even find a mention in the 15 players for India.. Why does an Amit Mishra or a Rohit Sharma fail to be considered for few games.. it seems that team India does not want to red such kind of comments from someone who did not even represent his school.. college was out of question (Hindu and Stephens had greatest talent at display in university level cricket).. moreover.. if playing and knowing the game alone could be important for commenting do you hear what our top players really have to say.. instead you choose to diminutize someone as great as Kapil Dev..

It is all right.. if the team India thinks that Abhaya Sharma should not write such articles.. it will definitely be followed up but not before the case is heard and necessary actions implemented. I wish that India does rotate its players including Sachin Tendulkar.. that India should provide caps to alteast 5 new players in a year.. that India should play as a unit when they are playing with the psyche of the millions who throng to the field to cheer them up.. nowhere in the world would you find such crowds for ODI cricket anymore after the advent of T20.. yet India chooses not to play the format at International level.. but does not mind minting money playing only at league level, yes IPL maybe good but not same as playing for your country.. this was shown in the champions league of T20 where all the 3 IPL teams were dusted as there was no national feeling.. India too should have their own T20 league and instead of IPL teams the top two Indian T20 teams alone should qualify to play in the champions league of T20.. I am not against the IPL.. it s probably a good way of integrating international players for a display of extremely entertaining and fighting cricket..

More later

Love to you but if you get a feeling that I am not really happy with MSD after yesterdays games it would be 100 percent true feeling.. I think it is time for Sehwag and Harbhajan to take a back seat and let some others try to win the last game at Mumbai..

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Introducing Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar


Introducing Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar..

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was born on April 24 in the year 1973 made his debut in Test cricket on November 15 1989 against Pakistan at National stadium Karachi where he just made a humble beginning scoring 15 runs in 24 balls with the help of 2 fours coming four down in a drawn encounter under the captaincy of Krishnamchari Srikkanth.

It was on December 18 the same year i.e. 1989 that Sachin got to play in his first one day international game that was the second game of the Pakistan tour. Sachin came in to bat at number 5 faced two balls for a duck in the rain curtailed 16 over game which Pakistan won by 7 runs.

It was on first December 2006 that he played his first Twenty20 International game against South Africa when he scored 10 runs off 12 deliveries in the game which India won by 6 wickets.

Such humble beginnings despite the fact that he was a great potential and was likened to be the next Tendulkar by those who had seen him playing his cricket for Mumbai just a year back.

Did his sedate beginnings reveal anything of what was to follow in the next 20 years. Probably not much. Here are some facts of the little master blasters 20 cricketing years. He celebrates his 20th cricketing birthday on November 15 a few days from now Sachin Tendulkar has exhibited some great cricketing genius.

1. Test Cricket – 159 matches – 12773 Runs - 42 Hundreds and 53 Fifties and 248 not out as his highest test score with an average of 54.58 make him the biggest Test player of the world. He has 44 Test wickets against his name wit 3 for 10 as the best bowling efforts. He has held 102 catches and has hit 51 sixes in his Test career

2. One Day Cricket - 435 matches – 17168 Runs – 45 Hundreds and 91 Fifties and 186 not out as his highest one day score with an average of 44.59 make him the ideal one day player. He has taken 154 One day wickets with 5 for 32 as his best bowling efforts. He has held 132 catches and has hit 181 sixes in his one da career.

3. Twenty20 International - Has represented India in only one Twenty20 game the first that India played and won with 10 runs against his name and took 1 wicket for 12 runs and took a catch in that game.

These statistics do not reveal much of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar despite being very-very impressive and probably one of the best in the two formats of the game. He was likened to be the Asian Bradman of cricket..

It was only yesterday that we discovered that Sachin Tendulkar in spite of his 36 years and 196 days and such a huge cricketing career behind him still has a great appetite for scoring majestic runs for his country.


In the hindsight I shall inform the readers that Sachin was named thus by his grandfather after Legendary Music Director Sachin Dev Burman.. whom I had just covered on 31st October here on brother’s blog and also posted it to
http://abhayafriends.blogspot.com.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulakar – Tendaliya- Tendua, Master Blaster & Tendy is actually mesmerizing the whole country with his music composed on the cricket field as he weaves magic with his bat..

Abhaya Sharma
Mumbai, India November 6 2009


Post Script: I have been far too critical of his playing for so long.. I take each and every word spoken against the genius.. such players are not born every day such players are not born in every country.. such players are hard to find who play cricket for 20 years with the same zeal and determination.. Hats off to you Tendaliya..I would love to see that you continue to play cricket as long as you wish.. It is indeed a treat to watch you bat when you are on a song.. I personally had been rating Kapil Dev as the best Indian cricketer ever.. but today I can say that you are the best cricketer in the world.. Cricketing Pundits would not take exceptions to my statement about you..

This article would also be available at my cricketing blog tha was initiated for IPL2
http://abhayaipl2.blogspot.com/
( Of course with a picture of Sachin that has just been downloaded from cricket.org)



The result does not matter..Hyderabad

The game tha just concluded a few hours from now at Rajiv Gandhi Interntaional stadium Uppal, Hyderabad was an absolute thriller..
Australia - 350 for 4
India - 347 all out.

The Australians fielded so well and despite some early chances to Sehwag thay were as sharp on the field as sharp could be..

Yet the day would cleatly belong to the grand old man of Indian cricket.. who is all but 36 years of age but is already playing in his 20th year.. friends please join me to congratulate Sachin Tendulkar.. for his 175 chanceless innings..

In the end one can just say that this game would be remembered as the third game India played and the third game India lost at this venue..and it is ironical that Deccan Chargers who have it as their home ground have played as many as 9 games on this venue and lost all the nine.. some strange coincidence that science and statistics can not explain..

In the light of a mere 3 run defeat I choose not to find any fault with anyone in the Indian camp.. I would only say that MSD only half heard me when he played Munaf but not also Mishra.. it is all right.. it is a game after all and not the battle field..

Love and better lick next time..

Sehwag.. You definitely do get out as and when I watch your innings.. In the next game I shall not watch the game when you are on the crease..

Sachin Tendulkar - Congratulations on completion of 17000 runs in one day cricket and scoring 45th century and registering your second highest score in the format.

Praveen Kumar.. If you had enough experience of International cricket you would have dived full length while completing the second run.. it is all right.. You are doing well and living upto my expectations..

Raina.. The way things were going between you and Sachin there was no need to show such agression at that point of time.. Such a valuable partnership ended a couple of overs earlier.. it is all right.. jo beet gai so baat gai..

Munaf Patel - I know there was nothing in wicket for you.. no problems.. I do not think MSD could give you another game.. not in this series for sure..

Watson, Marsh and Ponting made sure that India is set the toughest target of the series.. they would have never thought that India could come so close to winning this one.. They have to be careful with these bunch of Indians in the next two games as well..

In the hindsight.. after loosing the first game at adodara by 4 runs India had won the next two games.. after loosing by three runs we expect that India wins the next two deciding games as well..

Love and regards
Abhaya Sharma

For scorecard click the link given below:
http://www.cricinfo.com/indvaus2009/engine/current/match/416240.html

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Team India at Hyderabad ..

MSD include Mishra and Munaf..

If I were Mahendra Singh Dhoni I would make scope for inclusion of Amit Mishra and even Munaf Patel. What would be more difficult would be to find out who would be the two players whose place these two take up. Given the kind of overconfidence that has been shown in Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh it would be a monumental decision to find place for two bowlers.

India had done well in the series yet the winning combination minus Gambhir did the trick for Australia for leveling the series at Mohali. The seven match series is now reduced to a new 3 game series if we exclude the four games that leave the two sides leveled at 2-2.

I would rather be little strong in inclusion of Munaf Patel for Ishant Sharma. One can not take his place for granted. Some people may argue that even Johnson went for far too many runs in the last game could he be replaced. The situation for Australia is different they are laden with far too many injuries. It is highly commendable that injury depleted Australians have managed to level the series at Mohali. Ishant Sharma has to be rested, no, dropping is not the right word. And one of Jadeja or Raina has to be rotated for making scope and space for Mishra to be reined in. Gambhir anyway walsk in for Virat Kohli.

My team for Hyderbad might look something like this –

Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Sachin, Dhoni, Raina, Harbhajan, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra & Munaf Patel.

Yes I also wonder if I could rest Jadeja from my scheme of things.. yet that is what I propose for I know that Mishra would be a far too improved bowler and Raina too can bowl if the need arises. Rainas fielding capabilities and his far too better batting skills made my decision making somewhat simpler.

I know Mahendra Singh does not give any heed to whatever I have to say about team composition yet I must add here hurriedly that whichever team wins at Hyderbad is going to be winning the series. I may be too premature in saying so yet it is an important game in no uncertain terms.

May we then have for the firs time an Indian XI that has been listed by one Abhaya Sharma. I know Dhoni would disagree.. I would rate his decision superior to my line of thinking.. after all he has led the country admirably.. he has far too greater knowledge of the game and conditions that the team has to face. He alone can be the best judge of the situation. I did have something up against him when he did not show confidence in Kumar and with four games already been played his contribution has been exemplary except in the first game where he went for 77 runs. He assured of his place with a scintillating 40 runs in that game to scare the Australians along with Harbhajan Singh. He should play all the seven games if does not suffer injury. Harbhajan too despite his poor show in his own craft is doing well with the bat so I can not touch him or rather I should not touch him. I however have great sympathy for excluded Jadeja.. his bowling efforts does not warrant for me to drop him yet I know that he is primarily taken as a batsman and that is the reason that I have chosen Raina over him in the final XI. I must add without any hesitation that Jadeja the bowler is quite a find of the series.

Australians have always been adding up to the list of their injury woes.. even if Moises is not as dangerous yet the inability to include him as a regular bowler today would not be in the interest of the Australians. They are far too depleted side and if India does not register a series win against them now it would not be as simpler in the years to come.

Abhaya Sharma
Novmber 5 2009 9:10 AM IST