Pakistan's win is cricket diplomacy at its best. And the fact that they won in Ahmedabad (with Narendra Modi in the audience) is poetic justice too.
Like any other Indian fan, I wanted India to win desperately but hats off to Inzy's heroics and the humility which he displayed while accepting the man of the match award.
Rahul Dravid at the helm and Anil Kumble back . This is the start of a good spell for India.
Rahul Dravid is a cool man and is basically a thinking man with a shrewd cricketing brain. Morever , he is team man and gets on well with all his teammates and is able to get the best out of them. They say he is not aggressive. But you will see that he will prove his critics wrong and he will not only be a aggresive captain, his bat will do the talking as well !!
I guess the Indian team will never learn any lessons from their defeats...Learn from the Aussies...they pitch the ball on Off and Middle and they always bowl to their field setting....they dont try and venture new things (those are meant to be done during net practice). Also, the fielding...there was no fielder covering the 3rd Man area(India saved runs during the 1st 2 matches by keeping a man at the 3rd Man). Ashish Nehra continued to bowl his second spell inspite of the butt-spanking he recieved ....God....Ganguly has lost it completely !! Right since the concept of One-day started....India never laid stress on singles...this has been the trend rite since Sunil Gavaskar till today. I guess, its going to take another generation for them to learn (Yuvraj and Kaif have started the trend... so few more years before it gets inculcated). Ganguly should become a Non-playing captain and make way for talented players. Just look at Darren Lehmann(who has officiated Australia as Captain and batted decently)....he has not been selected for the next series inspite of his performance.
why doesn't Shastri speak in Hindi while talking to the Pakistani players? It is obvious they are not comfortable with English. Shastri uses big words and jargons and surely that embaresses the players when they respond. Talk to them in Hindi Shastri. It wasn't nice seeing you talk to Inzy during the presetation ceremony. Make them feel comfortable.
The way India batted was pathetic. Viru got out just like he got out in World Cup final. He showed no signs of rush in returing. Had he dived he could have saved himself. There is nothing good that can be said about Indian caption. It seems the only way he can stop playing for country is if Umpires fine him with match bans rather than match fees. He does not careabout that money any way, these guys make much more money through sposors. Clueless captionship caused the match. Bet overs 40-45 there were not 4s/6s/ Same like ODI#2. Dravid proved to be a week link he does not have power to hit a 6. What was the point in bringing in JAif. He he not a hiter. Zaheer should have been promoted. India deserves to loose 2-4.
The following are some of the ideas for Ganguly to regain form and stay in the middle for a longer duration.(subject to approval by I.C.C)
IDEA NO:1: Plastic Ball or Tennis Ball or Rubber Ball to be used while bowling to Ganguly.
IDEA NO:2: Only one stick should be kept while Ganguly is Batting instead of Three so that his chances of getting out bowled will be minimised
IDEA NO:3: Dada can wrap up his legs with 4 or 5 bats instead of pads, so that there is no chance of getting out lbw.
IDEA NO:4: The size of the ball can be reduced to the size of a lemon or size of his bat can be increased to twice its size. Or the size of the ground can be decreased to that of a Basketball Ground.
IDEA NO:5: Fast Bowlers are prohibited to bowl the following deliveries to Dada. They should not bowl Inswinger,Outswinger,Off cutter, Leg cutter,Bouncer,Short Pitched Ball, Reverse swinging ball, yorker,reverse swinging yorker,slower ball and most importantly in and around the off stump corridor.
IDEA NO:6: Slow Bowlers are prohibited from bowling off spin,leg spin,doosra,googly,china man,flipper,faster ball.
IDEA NO:7: Speed restrictions for bowlers: FAST BOWLERS: MAX 1
