Million-dollar babies go down swinging

After the IPL auction last Wednesday, Ricky Ponting expressed his surprise at how little ($400,00) he had gone for, before saying that a recent poor run with the bat may have contributed. In that context, it was almost inevitable that he would prove a point before the CB Series was over. That it came against an Indian team that commanded top dollar should surprise no one.

Ishant Sharma has been one of those to catch this eye this Australian summer, and will be one of Ponting's team-mates in a Kolkata franchise bankrolled by Shahrukh Khan, India's leading actor. But it will grate with many that Ishant, in his first season of big-time cricket, should fetch almost three times ($950,000) as much as one of the all-time greats.

Out on the field, where actions speak louder than any price-tag, Ponting quickly set about illustrating his value to the Australian cause. The pitches all summer haven't been conducive to the sort of slog-fests we've come to associate with one-day cricket, and Australia too had suffered along with India and Sri Lanka.

But with Matthew Hayden belligerently setting the tone, Ponting found his feet in a match that may yet have a bearing on who makes the final. As is so often the case, Ponting was nearly unstoppable once he got into his strokemaking stride. Ishant and Sreesanth didn't bowl too badly, and neither did Irfan Pathan, but Ponting breached the inner cordon almost at will on his way to a magnificent century.

That Andrew Symonds, another going through a slump, scored a half-century as well would have been of immense satisfaction, but just as impressive was the manner in which Australia set about defending an imposing total.

The game was as good as over in the first Power Play, with Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Nathan Bracken each chipping in. Sachin Tendulkar's awful run - not one century in one-day matches in Australia, such a contrast to his Test form - continued, and there was another failure too for Yuvraj Singh.

The Indian top order has been atrocious all series, with Gautam Gambhir a notable exception. Again,it was up to him and MS Dhoni to make a match of it, and they were given a helping hand late on by Robin Uthappa.

Uthappa seems like the ideal leg-before candidate with his shuffles across the crease, but he's blessed with a terrific eye and an unorthodox selection of strokes. The baseball-style loft over long-on off Brett Lee was amazing, as were the scoops down to fine leg, but you get the feeling that he'd score much more if he premeditated less.

Gambhir was another who came into the series with questions being asked about his ability to perform in Australian conditions. His favourite stroke remains the flamboyant square drive off the pace bowlers, but he's also an exceptionally good player of spin. He targetted Brad Hogg very effectively and played some lovely strokes on either side of the wicket to briefly raise visions of an upset.

Had he or Harbhajan Singh, who belted 20 from just 11, stuck around till the very end, the margin may have been even closer, but an 18-run defeat now means that India face a key encounter against Sri Lanka in Hobart on Tuesday.

So far, they have shown themselves to be far more competitive against Australia than a Lankan side so dependent on Kumar Sangakkara, but it should be remembered that Sri Lanka reached the World Cup final by raising their game when it mattered most. Tasmania and Victoria played out a thrilling game at the Bellerive Oval on Saturday in the final of the Ford Ranger Cup, and hopefully the subcontinent's best sides will dish out something similar as they tussle for the privilege of playing Australia in the final.

Comments

[Raj]

History always repeats.

Let the boys go at it as strongly as they can.

It is fun to watch.

No one is really getting hurt.

[Ravi]

I love the Aussies.

They make nice beer.

[wasim]

Matthew Hayden is the most important person in the Hindu cast sytem.

Bahji needs to pull his head in.

[Aidan]

Obnoxious weeds need to be pulled out of the garden of cricket so that everyone gets treated equally.

[Dileep]

Neither the manager nor Ishant comes out of it looking very good. I'd be more critical of the official though, rather than a raw, 19-year-old boy in his first season of international cricket. Personally, I think send-offs to batsmen after they're out are pretty puerile, and they look worse when he's just belted you out of the game.
But like I said, I'd have been much more critical if it was a Zaheer and not someone so inexperienced. Someone just needs to chat to him and tell him to focus on the bowling. He's done that tremendously well otherwise. Should be a cracking final.

[Ravi]

Agree with you Charles.

Mother Terresa and Ghandi were not even slightly as high on the Hinu cast system as what these Aussie crickets are.

They are good looking, smart, good natured, high idealed GODS.

When they get ot India in October, they will be worshiped accodingly.

We love the Aussies.

Go Aussie Go.

[charles]

The Indians have been shown up as what they are. They are people of double standards. Tendulkar is the worst of the lot. Screams when Symonds doesn't walk and then nicks it himself and stands there. The lowest of the low.

Tendulkar should be banned from cricket immediately and Indian stopped from playing cricket around the world.

The Aussies are champions on and off the field.

Mother Terresa and Gandhi both could not match the high level of ideals the Aussies have shown.

For that the world thanks the Aussies.

The greatest team of all.

[The Pav]

Dileep, Regarding the Ishant Sharma Fine I would like your take on the following

Below are two quotes. The first from the Express India reporting the Indian teams manager complaint about the Australian team and the second from the Mid day Express.

They are totaly contradictory either:-
The manager is misrepresenting his player
or the player lied to the manager
or the manager is trying to mislead the public & the ICC
or the manager doesn’t know what is going on
or the player lied to the match referee.

Of course there is one other option. The reporter got it wrong, no doubt they will seek a retraction.

When I first saw the replay I saw Symonds head snap back as if in reaction to words, he then replied (wrongly I believe) then Sharma gave the big send off. This is what Ponting said and in light of the quotes I know who I choose to believe

The manager

“Our plea was Symonds provoked Ishant and that’s why he did what he did,” said Soni. “The match referee has promised he would have a word with the Australian captain on the matter.” Ishant was called up for hearing by Crowe this morning in Sydney after the two umpires lodged a complaint about the Indian’s gesture towards Symonds, who was bowled for 59 in the 45th over of the Australian innings in Sunday’s match at the SCG.

The Player

Quote from Mid Day Express reporter Debasish Datta

“For the last few Tests, I have been learning to bowl the slower delivery from Venkatesh (Prasad). And the moment I deceived Symonds with one, I wanted to thank him. That is why I was pointing towards the dressing room,” Sharma apparently told Crowe.

[charles]

The Indians want to go home again over the last match when Andrew Symonds said "Well bowled champ!" to Sharma.

Memo to India - Please go home and never come back - you are unwanted and unloved by the cricket world.

India are sore losers and cheats.

[CricFan]

Indians cheat just as much as do cricketers from other countries.

The difference from Australian cheats is that Indian cheats don't go around claiming they play hard but fair. Vide Integrity Ponting, Bump Catch Symonds and Bump Catch Clarke.

[John]

Great catch by Dhoni. Pity the gloves he was using are illegal and the match referee made him change them. It is impossible that a cricketer of his experience doesn't know the rules. That leaves only one explanation.
Of course no Indian would cheat.

[charles]

All the catches Gilchrist took were straight forward edges. How does that vindicate anything? I see he failed with the bat again.

This isn't like Kerry Packer's World Series: Packer knew exactly what he wanted and where he was going. And once he got there, he stopped. No one is sure where the game is heading right now: in the five years since Twenty20 was invented the landscape has changed so much that it may be completely unrecognisable five years from now. There are no limits to the ambitions of the men pouring cash into the game and, as such, no one knows what is going to happen.

Certainly, we think, the one-day game is vulnerable. But in most parts of the world ODIs still draw large crowds - in stark contrast to Tests and the four-day game. A few miles down the road from the IPL auction, a Ranji Trophy match was being played in a near-empty stadium. The same is true of the Carib Trophy, currently suspended to make way for Stanford's competition. While Test cricket's future is financially viable in England and Australia, its security elsewhere is less certain.

Cricket has become a honey-pot for money men. Test cricket, which is an aesthetic pleasure for its fans, seems to be more of an ascetic one to the majority of people.

Whatever the sport. People want a close contest.

[Oscar the Grouch]

A fascinating game with an obviously more positive mind-set by the batsmen on both teams - and it can't have been just the pitch, although that was equally obviously a significant factor.

It was a little bit disappointing to see Ishant Sharma get into a silly dust-up with Symonds - he has up till now been the model of letting his playing do the talking and his almost boyish enthusiasm for just playing the game has been a great contrast to some of the petulant displays from players on both sides. Harbhajan's bat-smashing on his way back to the pavillion was but one example over the series of over-the-top petulance.

In view of the pasting that Gilchrist copped in an earlier post on this site, I feel a certain amount of glee in noting his six-wicket haul; according to Cricinfo, wicketkeepers have taken a sixfer only 10 times - and six of those belong to Gilchrist. Not too shabby for someone described as 'one of the most overrated players of all time'.