Cricket: From the Far End

You have to be here in India to believe the reaction to the 157 run defeat in the 2nd ODI at Durban (first ODI was washed out).

The news papers were a little slow to react as many of those were already in print by the time the last wicket was lost, but a day later most of them have this matter on the front page headline. Most is about removing Chappell, bringing back Ganguly and about not paying the players for such performance.

MP’s in the parliament have demanded similar actions and also an explanation from Sharad Pawar, who has asked Dilip Vengsarkar to go to South Africa. However the latest news is the contract with Chappell will remain effective till the end of the world cup. I suspect that may have been said to keep the speculations down until the series is over, but if further matches are lost like this, I wonder how long Chappell can continue.

Many news papers have at least partial editorials on either the defeat, or on whether so much importance should be given to it (talking about it in the parliament).

Some news channels are taking interviews of “public” on the streets about what should be done and many that I saw are saying similar things  as above.

Indian team takes on South Africa again tomorrow against this backdrop in the third ODI.

Dale Steyn, a new fast bowler from “Rest of South Africa” team blew India away in the first tour match. They were 82/6 at a time and ended with 218, against 255. Now if one of the top order batsmen scored 79, I guess it’s not difficult to imagine who that would be. But we will know starting this Sunday whether this is just an early jitter or we are in the process of creating a new hero, after Shane Watson. In 4 ODIs Steyn has played so far over the last two years he has 3 wickets and an economy rate of 7.26. So it looks only natural that against India he would take 5 for 22 in 10 overs!

B Manoj Kumar and Mohammed Shaibaaz Tumbi broke Tendulkar and Kambli’s world record at Hyderabad when they scored 720 runs in 40 overs. Yes, in 40 overs. That’s a strike rate of 18+. Then a bowler from their side -aptly named Akram- ran through the opposition taking 7 wickets and bundled them in just 21 runs. I guess the only consolation for the other team playing shoolboyish cricket was that they are actual schoolboys.

In the interview one of these two batsmen has said when they came close to the record, they were told about it and so they played slower to ensure it (like, “Hey, coach says only two sixes per over now”). But the other guy has said he knew only when it was done. So looks like they need to learn the typical diplomatic statements international batsmen make about such things - “I was not aware I had scored a century”, “I don’t play for records”, “I knew we had won only the next day in news papers” and so on.

Now only if at least one of them could go and break Tendulkar’s international records!