Day 2: CWC 2015

Both the hosts opened with comfortable wins. Strange coincidence: both were put in to bat, both scored over 325 runs and both won by almost 100 runs. Neither side showed any major weaknesses.

The second favorite South Africa is in action today. Should have it pretty easy against Zimbabwe. Depending on the toss, they'll get to flex either their batting or bowling muscle.

The marquee game of any cricket tournament is also on: India v Pakistan. A huge difference today: the Indian team's mindset. Mentally exhausted after a draining Test series against the
Aussies, I would be surprised if they run the Pakistanis close. Pakistanis know this, and will come at the Indians all guns blazing. Best chance for them to get a rare victory.

ESPN's coverage has been quite good. Available on Smartphone app and the Roku as well. I tuned into the Hindi broadcast for the Aus-Eng match and it was nice to see Kapil Dev as one of the commentators. Surprisingly enough, there was a lot more technical stuff being discussed on this channel than the English coverage. He was discussing the round arm action of Michael Johnson and why he gets the advantage he does. Enlightening for those who want a peek at how a fast bowler thinks. Amitabh Bachchan is supposed to be on the panel today: let's see if his cricket knowledge and commentating matches his acting!

CWC 2015 - a look at the opening day!

.. and it's almost here! The most awaited event for cricket fans around the world - World Cup! Comes around once in roughly 4 years. Comet World Cup one could call it. The Cup kicks off with matches featuring the two co-hosts Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand vs. Sri Lanka and Australia vs. England. On current form, NZ and Australia should emerge easy victors. Sri Lanka's a team in transition. The trusted triumvirate of Dilshan, Jayawardane and Sangakkara is aging and close to being over the hill: all three of them are 37+ years old and most probably, best days are behind them. Malinga, Matthews and the rest are all fighters but not enough to challenge a New Zealand side that is in form and raring to get into the finals, having been a record 5 times in the semis.

Australia undoubtedly are one of the favorites; they have already beaten England couple of times in the tri-series this year and is unlikely that they will lose at home to England who were outplayed by Pakistan in the warm-ups this week. Australia have both the batting and bowling firepower to bowl out or chase down, so it doesn't really matter whether they bowl or bat first. 

.. on to Christchurch and Melbourne tomorrow!!

Cricket indeed!

So we had 2 fascinating matches going on today - India v Sri Lanka in Galle and England v South Africa in Edgbaston. First the India match - India all out 249, SL 14/1 in reply. India started with a bang, then fizzled out. As an avid cricket fan over the years, it never ceases to amaze me how Test cricket has changed. Remember those days when after a long day's play, it was not unusual to see just 200 or 220 runs scored in a whole day at a rate of about 2.5 runs an over? Compare those days to what happened in the 1st session today - 50 runs in just under 7 overs, 100 in 2o; and one realises how much Test cricket has evolved. But then, maybe not; because after that frenetic early pace, India took another 60 overs to score the remaining 149 which gives an average of just under 2.5! Funny game Test cricket, isn't it? What is with this new guy, Ajantha Mendis? People say he bowls a "carrom" ball - meaning he bowls it like you would hit a carrom striker - with your middle finger leading. Isn't it surprising that the Indian batsman, supposedly the best players of spin, have not been able to figure him out, with the notable exception of Sehwag and Gambhir? Is the bowler good? Or, are the batsman getting old? In all though, it was a fascinating day's cricket.. let's look forward to some more of this..

That's Cricket!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my blog! Will be primarily on cricket - a sport that I have been passionate about ever since I can remember! I welcome your comments and feedback.