That’s The Way… Maahi Way…!

“Kehte hain Agar kisi cheez ko aap dilse chaaho toh poori kaaynaat use aapse milaane ke liye jud jaati hai!”

The same happened with Dhoni. As I had mentioned in my previous blogpost, the series whole-heartedly accepted Dhoni’s bag. In England, India was struggling with injuries and even weather played spoil-sport in every match, which did not allow India to settle. Back in India, with normal working conditions, Indian batsmen pulled themselves out of the socks and gave justice to the ‘World Champions’ tag. For this series, selectors (behaving sensibly) gave chance to new crop that really came to meet the expectations. (For the first time, saw the selectors thinking positively about strengthening the bench.) The duo, Varoon Aroon and Umesh Yadav have very good pace with swing, and need to be preserved, nurtured for the future, especially for the test cricket. These two guys need to understand captain’s call and improve their accuracy to stop the run flow. As in any format of the game, if runs become hard to come, Batsmen tempt to try different shots and commit mistakes, Listen to captain chaps. In this series, batting looked very strong. Importantly, the improved temperament of Virat and Raina not only helped them individually but also to the team management to execute the plan.

What to say about Dhoni… I would say “Kaske pakad Jam ke jakad Lagaa...!” The helicopter shots and the clean hits are back in business again. The same Dhoni with improved version is back again. I think he has used the antivirus of “Keep It Simple”, formatted himself, cleared the infection, and the result working faster than 3-G! What an !dea, Sirji. His all innings were example in themselves. Dhoni in this Avatar is a healthy sign before the Aussie tour. Most surprising outcome was Ravindra Jadeja, whose transformation in batting and bowling was immaculate. In his initial playing phase, he neither looked a batsman nor a bowler. At Times, batted in ordinary manner. Number six and seven are such a slot where batsman cannot afford to settle in or attack on the go. It’s the sense and situation that needs to be judged, and Jadeja managed to handle it.

Though India lost 4-0 in England, the matches were very close. But in India, the Queen’s Eleven looked scattered, especially against spin. And their senseless sledging put themselves in trouble. All English media praising the team relentlessly for giving Team India clean sweep in all formats and dreaming “The Sun Never Sets and shall not set on this new England Team’s Success”, must have come to know that there is no term like invincible in Cricket! Alistair Cook as a captain, looked ordinary running out of ideas in tricky situation, and preferred plain strategy of completing the bowling quota. Cook also admitted that apart from Steve Finn, others could not even perform 10% of the just conceded series back home. If England are to stay in the top four one-day nations for long period, they have to improve their consistency and skill against spinner.

In the end, Dhoni proved the charm of luck and the stars are still with him, need not to mention the efforts he put in. So what’s the way to take the revenge???? hmmmm….

“That’s The Way…. Maahi way…..!”

(Kya) Hum Honge Kaamyab....

Vengeance, Revenge, Badlaa…
Name this series whatever you wish to. Definitely all the fans would have this feeling when this series starts. 4-0, 1-0, 4-0… just like a Tennis match, loss in straight sets. India was comprehensively beaten in the “Queen’s Land” not far ago. Now, the Queen’s Lads have come to India with same intent - to conquer the Team India.

Again our team is missing its star-rated players. England will start from where they had left Team India, with full strength army plus KP, the transformer. Considering the way they have been playing in recent times, and comparing with Team India’s freshers’ group, the needle of advantage is pointing towards Queen’s Eleven. However, as far as records are concerned, The Queen’s Eleven have always struggled on Indian pitches, and with recent hammering, they are aware that India will surely try to fight them hard. All the one-day battles in England were of close finish. Let’s hope the same trend will continue here, with at least one tie…! And this time, rains won’t come to help them.

We have just come out of the ‘Champions League’, marketed as Battle of the Champions. Thankfully, not many of the Indian players were involved till the end. (Dhoni had asked for the rest from first two matches against England. Why didn’t he take proper rest from last two matches of the Champions’ League? (Now that’s a million dollar question..!)) And also have a look at the new blend Indian Team. New bowling unit in the form of fast bowler Varun Arun, Leggie Rahul Sharma will be interesting and good bench strength for the future. Rahane has already proved his talent with gutsy performance in England. Given a chance, Manoj Tiwari will also come to know the difference between League and International fixture. Considering the Big Battle down under starting from the month of Dec’11, it’s a good decision by the selectors because in Australia, one need to be mentally rock-solid, not only to handle the chinnnnnn Music, but also typical Mental Disintegration theory..

For Dhoni, he would like to consider the year 2011 as with 9 months only, because he had never experienced the failure as big as three white wash in single series.

But as Shahrukh says “Hamari jindagi mein filmo ki tarah end me sab kuchh theek ho jaata hai, aur.. agar theek naa bhi ho toh woh ‘the end’ nahi hai…. Kyon ki picture abhi baaki hai mere dost…..!”
Similarly, for Dhoni, “The series loss in England was not the end ...
Kyon ki Series abhi baaki hai mere dost…..!”

Let’s see “Kya Hum Honge Kaamayab…”