Too flat for a result !!

2 Days into the Test match -- 622 runs scored and only 10 wickets taken.

Bowlers had to toil all the day(s) long in the hot,muggy and sultry Chennai weather to get those wickets.There was absolutely nothing in the pitch for the bowlers.Nearly all the top order South African batsmen came to the party and now its the turn of their Indian counterparts to make merry of the bowlers.Its pathetic to look at the fast bowlers toil on such lifeless wickets and you can't help but sympathize with those poor souls running in hard and bending their backs to see those efforts go in vain.

Naturally the question that would come to everyone's mind would be.. why cant we have more sporting wickets.What's the point in playing on pitches that wouldn't provide any result? Not only would it decrease the already waining interest in test cricket, it also would drain the bowlers mentally and psychologically.

Everyone would like to see an even contest between the bat and the ball.You don't want teams to score some 500 odd runs or bowlers getting the other team cheaply.Its the tests where teams score about 300 that are normally very interesting.Ashes 2005 is a good example.But sadly it doesn't seem to be the case in India.Almost all of them are flat tracks which would assist spinners from the 4th day.Pitches for the Pak series were horrible and the Chennai pitch isn't much different.

Its interesting to note that almost all of recent Indian test victories have come on sporting/seaming wickets.Victories in Perth, Johannesburg etc were all on seaming tracks.Its understandable that the pitches were flat before,because the Indian pace department wasn't that equipped,but now we have some really good fast bowlers who are no less than their say Aussie or South African counterparts.Even then we don't get to see any seaming/sporting pitches.Since its the home team which calls the shots regarding the pitch,the only logical reason would be that the batsmen aren't comfortable playing on the seaming tracks.

I hope that they at least prepare some sporting pitches in the coming matches and we get to see some good test matches.

N reasons to hate Aussies

I have waited so long to come up with this post.It has been a long tour down-under and it has its share of memorable on field plays/incidents and many forgettable on field as well as off field controversies/fiascoes.On the whole,Indian team performed extremely well on this tour considering the hostile environment dished out for them by the Australian team, media and the general public.Winning the CB series was perhaps the icing on the cake.

This tour would have probably influenced many Indians who were Australian fans to change their view.We loved them for their professionalism and their commitment on the field.But the way they played and behaved in this tour has definitely left a very sour taste in the mouth of many Indian cricket fans.(many would be an understatement,may be every Indian fan hates them now)

Listed below are some of the incidents/behavior that would be sufficient to hate them for a long time:

1)The Monkey-Affair: This is a classic case of making a mountain out of a mole hill.Harbhajan was alleged that he racially abused Symonds calling him "monkey".It was evident that Symonds first had a go at Bhajji which was duly returned.Now everyone knows that Aussies use their foul mouths to good use.But when someone simply retorts they keep sulking..and they just cant take it.We can see this from the McGrath Vs Sarwan incident to the current monkey affair.

2) Now about the thing that simply none of us could comprehend,In a culture where words like monkey is a racial taunt, words like mother f*****,b******d etc aren't.Well i am not well aware about the culture,traditions and all but surely, now i know that Aussies have a different take from the rest of the world when it comes to racial slur.Probably words like the ones that have been mentioned above are an integral part of the Aussie culture,something that they use to address one another.

3)The Aussie media and the behavior of Aussie crowd: This is something thats simply abominable.Now that we have been subjected to such hostile treatment,i wouldn't be surprised to see the Indian fans doing the same to the Aussies players the next time they tour India.When the Aussie batsmen couldn't play Bhajji,probably Aussie media felt that they could help them by targeting Bhajji with some absolute trash.When you see placards saying "Symonds,Hyderabad welcomes you" at one end and the hostile behavior of the Aussie crowd particularly towards Bhajji,would leave you wondering how immature they are?

4) Hayden having a go at Bhajji and Ishant.This was ridiculous,if bhajji is an "obnoxious little weed", then what should the Aussie team be called "Obnoxious big and fat weeds"??.They have neither decency nor the manners.(Clarke showed today how well mannered he is, when he just pinned down Sachin in an attempt to field the bowl and not even bothered to apologize,well probably he has learned from Ponting who has done a similar feet back in 1998).

If we list all the controversies than this would be a never ending post.But at the end of all..with their on field as well as off field behavior,Aussies have just made us hate them.But Indians showed exemplary character by simply letting their on field performances do the talk unlike their counterparts.

Dedicated to sports

Every time i am free i feel like blogging but cant get a topic and from what i have blogged .. it looks like i blog only on sports topics..

Also considering the fact that i get the urge to blog only on sports related news, i decided to dedicate this blog for sports

P.S: though i know that its a bit too much to use the words "dedicated" and all..hehe bear with me..