Caught in their own net ?

India laid a spin trap for all their opponents this home season and attempted to do the same against Australia, but, the Aussies had a plan, defend for their life whilst others played aggressively, They had to take the game to the opposition, might as well go for the runs and get out rather than get trapped like sitting ducks? They rescued themselves from 205-9 and posted 260 in the 1^st innings that last partnership of 55 runs saw Josh Hazelwood the no.11 contribute a solitary run and block an end whilst Mitchell Starc played the aggressor.

India were rattled with the loss of Murali Vijay early on and Australia delivered two powerful blows and ripped through the heart of India’s top order. India went in at lunch at 75-3. Lokesh Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane were at the crease and they are no slouches to playing spin, but were not as good as the 3 batsman who had been dismissed. Post Lunch, India reached 94-3 and then they collapsed spectacularly. Rahul who had scored 64 of the teams 94 runs attempted to clear long on and mistimed the shot. He sliced it straight to long on. The shot was a one-day shot which was totally unnecessary from him as he was set. One can understand a new batsman playing it so as to feel good about himself or create a doubt in the mind of the bowler. India had lost their 4^th wicket before the 100 was on the board.

Steve O’ Keefe, Australia’s second spinner buoyed by his success began tossing the ball up and the pitch rewarded such bowling as it offered sharp turn and bounce. The Indians weren’t expecting such turn as they were playing for a moderate level of spin as is expected on a day 2 pitch, only for the ball to spin that little bit extra and catch the edge. Rahane was beaten for pace and closed the face of the bat to early as he tried to work the ball down leg side, got a leading edge and was caught at 2^nd slip. This wicket would be a fielder’s wicket if there was such a category as the catch was magnificent. Saha went for a duck after trying to leave the ball only for it to hit his bat and balloon to 1^st slip. (Why didn’t he just raise the bat above his head and leave the ball as there was ample bounce which had eliminated a bowled or LBW from the equation)

Next up was the man who had scored a century in his previous outing, Jayant Yadav, and he in going for a forward defence was bamboozled by the spin, missed the ball completely and made the error of dragging his feet out of the crease. Why would a no.9 or any batsmen who is defending in a test match drag his foot out of the crease? This one was the bowler’s genius. He made the batsman come out so as to take the ball on the full and block it before it spun only to change the length at just the right time. The 3 time first class cricket triple centurion Ravindra Jadeja could have batted on for a while, as he can, and he should have attempted to stay there as he is India’s second spinner and would be able to study the pitch very well, but no he lofted the ball straight to long on(he tried to play a Mitchell Starc like innings but failed) Umesh Yadav went for a wild heave and he too got an edge and was out(frankly speaking the moment he left the crease he was going to be out if he didn’t middle the ball as if he missed it he would have been miles out and a stumping was on)

The Indian team collapsed from 94-3 to 105 all out. 11 runs 7 wickets. Why? Their best players of spin who could just stifle the opposition were out, the lower order wasn’t used to batting under pressure as they have had massive hundreds from the top in the entire home season which allowed them to bat freely and contribute handsomely with the bat. They haven’t faced a good spinner all season(New Zealand had Jeetan Ptatel England had Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid who are good spinners but India had a big knock from someone of the top order, Bangladesh weren’t given a turning pitch as India were aware that they too had quality spinners). Could this set the tone for the series? Have India trapped themselves in their own net? Or is this just one bad day in the office? I think bad day as it was just a loss in concentration due to complacency.

The collapse today was a combination of lack of application and wonderful bowling. Could India have seen Steve O’Keefe out? Yes absolutely.

Those 8 overs of mayhem have now left India with a 155 run deficit which at the end of day 2 has reached. Australia do not need to declare and can bat on and on leaving India with 300 or more to chase on a day 4 pitch. If the pitch turned like that on day 2 one wonders what demons may emerge as the game progresses.

India vs Australia: Series Preview

The long cricket season for India at home is reaching its climax. What began with a 3 Test and 5 ODI series against New Zealand, moved on to 5 Tests, 3 ODI’s and 3 T20’s against England followed by a one off test against Bangladesh ,will end with four tests against Australia.

 Australia head into this series having triumphed 3-0 in their previous test series against Pakistan. The team’s fortunes changed after losing the second test to South Africa at home and the sacking of many players. However the new bunch of players haven’t been tested in Indian conditions. The practice camp in Dubai is something they tried to adjust themselves to Indian pitches and the heat, but, a stimulation is completely different from the real thing. In Dubai they wouldn’t have had Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja standing 22 yards across and bowling, nor will they have had huge audiences watching them as there will be in the Indian stadiums. Virat Kohli too wouldn’t have been there. The Australians certainly wouldn’t have forgotten what happened to them after they attempted to sledge him.

India in this home season have played 9 tests and won 8 of them(the 1^st test against England was a draw) and are the top ranked test team and will be playing on turning pitches. Australia has only 2 good players of spin David Warner and Steve Smith and if they misfire it will be a long hard tour.

The Indian team is in form and are unbeaten in the last 19 test matches and one can actually predict the line-up they will name on the 23^rd. The situation is such that the man who scored a triple century in his last outing can’t get a look in. Jayant Yadav may feature as he was rested after his century against England in the 4^th test so as to allow squad rotation after the test series had been won. He didn’t play against Bangladesh as India didn’t dish out a rank turner and opted to field 3 pacers.

On the other hand the Australians are unsettled and will make last minute calls on whether Marsh will open or play in the middle order, whether Usman Khawaja will play at 4. Also there will be a late call on Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh for the all rounder slot. Maxwell can bowl spin but isn’t a safe bet to bat long periods and save a test match(yes he can score quick runs, but test cricket won’t really require an all out assault) Mitchell Marsh is a more calm batsman but he is a medium pacer. Do Australia need runs or wickets? I say wickets and wont even rule out captain Steve Smith revisiting his past where he was a bowling all-rounder and being the 2^nd or 3^rd spinner for the team.

The Australians lost 4-0 the last time they were here will be looking to win their first test in India since 2004, but will even appreciate their first draw since 2008, and honestly based on the state of the Australian team and the form of India, a draw will be regarded as a win for Australia.

My prediction. India win 4-0 and Australia fight hard in 2 test matches(mostly the last one in Dharamshala) and the first one because it is the first one(even England battled it out in the first one)

Series begins in Pune on the 23rd.

A Triumphant Return

29^THJanuary,2017 saw the finals of the Australian Open and its finalists were completely unexpected. There was a buzz among the crowd and a big match feel was in the air. Maybe the Melbourne crowd was excited that they after 2 years of watching 2 baseline machines battle it out they were getting a matchup with much less machine feel and more human effort. With Federer vs Nadal they were expecting a match of the skilful artist going up against a man who functioned on willpower and raw aggression. It was a throwback to 7 Grand Sam finals contested between 2006 and 2009 between the duo and a repeat of the 2009 Australian Open final. No one quite manages to evoke the same excitement among the audiences like Federer and Nadal did and still despite their advanced years continue to do so. Both the competitors had played 5 set semi finals (by luck of the draw Federer had an extra day to recover). In 2009 Nadal had played a 5 setter and then beaten Federer in another 5 setter. When reminded of that he rightfully said, ”I was 8 years younger.”

The sun was setting and the game started under the twilight sky. The lights of Rod Laver Arena were on and the crowd in the arena and millions all around the world sat back and savoured this. It was a Grand Slam final and given the age and physical condition of the 2 it would probably be their last Grand Slam final contest.

The two finalists had met in October for the opening of Nadal's academy and Nadal had a taped wrist and Federer was on one leg, at the time neither of them believed that they would be in a slam final and yet here they were, it didn't matter who won or lost for the effort to reach the final itself was equivalent to a triumphant return.

They traded the 1^st 4 sets with Federer winning the 1^st and the 3^rd one and Nadal winning the 2^nd and the 4^th.
The 5^th set saw Federer get broken and then he was down 3-1 and a victory for Nadal seemed like an inevitable conclusion. Federer then held on so as to keep within striking distance and made it 3-2. He then managed to break the Nadal serve and then he held on to his own serve in 1 minute and 25 seconds. Game on Federer! He had the momentum on his side. Nadal was now under pressure. The crowd was firmly in Federer’s corner (he has that ability to draw the crowd to him, even if Nadal was an Australian the fans in Melbourne would be cheering for Federer). At 4-3 40-40 I could feel my heart beating, he was now in the match and had a chance to go in front. I kept on whispering," one point at a time," under my breath. The feeling of disappointment at 3-1 had completely gone and I was just hoping… praying that he wouldn’t throw it away. There was a 26 shot rally which was in my opinion the point of the match which Federer won after trapping Nadal on the backhand side and then firing a blistering forehand winner down the line to the Nadal forehand. He lost the next point to take it back to deuce but quickly regained the advantage and then drew an error by sending Nadal out wide on the forehand side. The double break had been achieved by Federer and now he was a break in front and at 5-3 would be serving for the Championship(At this moment memories of the 2010 U.S.Open semi final came back(Federer had been serving at 5-3 and had two match points only to lose both of them and eventually the match to Novak Djokovic) his 5^th in Australia.
Final set, it was just nearing midnight, after 3 hours and 37 minutes Federer lead 5-3 and had an advantage point, he was serving for the match. He hit a serve down the T, Nadal just got it back in play with no particular venom in it, Federer came to the service box line and hit a forehand drive volley, it seemingly caught the line, Nadal asked for a review(the curse of reviews are that when used at a time like this they take away the initial emotion of the victor for the celebration would’ve been better had Federer celebrated that point immediately after it was won rather than half a minute later when Hawk-eye confirmed that the ball had indeed clipped the line)
The ball was in, Federer leapt up in joy and I in my room where I was watching let out a yell of joy. The demons of Wimbledon 08’ and Australia 09’ had been banished. Though for a while it did seem that Federer would not have enough in the tank to prevail in a deciding set. When Nadal won the fourth set to tie it at 2 sets all I was nervous as Federer being 35(the age at which tennis players have usually been retired for a year), had a better chance of winning the match the shorter it was. The medical time out made it even worse. I was like, "Oh God nooo! Please don’t let him have a niggle affect his level of play now of all times." He had taken a similar time out in the semi-final which turned the match on its head.
When the ball clipped the line, Federer silenced everyone who had doubted him for over half a decade since his last grand slam win in 2012, The doubters who  said he was past his prime, who said that at world no.17 he wouldn’t be able to go past the fourth round on account of meeting a top seed there, who said that the 6 month injury layoff would be the thing that ruins him had all been proven wrong. He had become the first man to win 3 different majors 5 or more time(5 U.S.Open and 7 Wimbledon)
The win made Federer the 2^nd oldest winner of a Grand Slam and oldest since 1972.

He had increased his Grand Slam tally to 18 which took him 4 clear of Nadal and 6 clear of Djokovic. The comeback had been successful and THE KING has returned to his throne. Based on how he was playing at that age we can see that despite him winning his 89^th trophy and crossing a 100 million dollars in prize money he is still hungry for more and eager to compete with the other members of the Big 4 and the next generation players like Nishikori, Dimitrov, Raonic,etc. The return was fabulous for both players but history will remember it as the one in which Federer came back and won his 18th Grand Slam and had A TRIUMPHANT RETURN!