Another day, same result

Another day, another dismal performance. And this time, they even looked like they could have won it. But to allow South Africa to reach 274 after having them at 76/6 is not just shocking, but shameful. Rahul Dravid, for once, would have to take a lot of the blame.

There did not seem to be any planning in the bowling and once Kemp was given his second life, he played as if he knew that nothing could stop him. I don’t even want to get into any more analysis of this. As I may have mentioned before, I would be very surprised if India manages to win even one match on this tour. Theoretically, they still have a chance to make it 2-2, but seriously, how many of us believe they can? Not me.

Technorati : cricket, india, india v south africa, south africa

All out for no loss?

Right. So India is on another tour of South Africa, a country where their record, for all practical purposes, is non-existent. And they lost one of the tour practice games before capitulating in the second ODI at Durban. Since that loss, the Indian media has worked overtime to impress the fact that this is bunch of underperforming, overpaid cricketers who need to be pulled up.

Not just the media, even politicians have jumped into the fray. Anyting for a minute of fame, I think!

[Photo courtesy: Cricinfo]

Deja vu?

India finally got their tour of South Africa off the ground. And I am sure they must be wishing they had not! For their performance last night was a hark back to the 1996 tour I remember vividly. The bowlers (M/s Prasad and Srinath) got the team on top with a fiery spell of bowling in the first Test only to have the batsmen bungle up royally. And how badly they bungled up last night at Durban… Incidentally, the venue for this debacle is the same as the match referred to in 1996.

The bowlers looked and perhaps played their part but the batsmen never got their bearings about them. A look at the scorecard would reveal that three of the top four batsmen were clean bowled (Jaffer’s wasn’t as clean, but he was bowled nonetheless) and this only shows a lack of application. The technique is there, but fear has been struck in the hearts of the mighty Indian batsmen.

Going by last night’s performance, India would be very lucky to come away with even one victory in the remaining three ODIs. Wonder what Mr Chappell had to say after the match…

Update: Some others in the blogosphere lament India’s performance here. It’s real good! By the Greatbong!

Technorati : cricket, durban ODI, india v south africa, kallis, tendulkar