Pakorakorner | A personal portal with a strong Asian Indian flavor on a whole range of topics.

After four days and over 1000 runs being scored, and a bunch of records being broken, the Chennai Test seems destined to end in a draw. A century in both innings by Amla, another score in the 90s by McKenzie and a few more wickets for Kumble, and a boring draw is all that remains (I am trying my hand at the prediction game to add some excitement to this Test!:-). A Disgraceful Pitch The South African team is composed ...

Dinesh Karthik broke into the national cricket scene (after his heroics at the under-19 level) when he engineered a win for India in a T20 game against South Africa. Suddenly he was an all purpose cricketer. Before even he realized he was India's opening batsmen in Tests despite the fact that he was never a regular opener even for his home state of Tamil Nadu! However, he had a good tour as opener in both against Bangladesh and England. ...

Both Dravid and Ganguly have been phased out of the ODI team in favor of youth. Sachin is the last of the veterans so to speak remaining in the side. It is unfortunate that both Dravid and Ganguly were not given a more formal send off from the ODI team. The Indian selectors and Sachin himself should ensure that the same fate does not befall Sachin. The timing is perfect for him to announce a formal withdrawal from the ...

India lost to Australia in the most recent ODI. The important fact is that India came within striking distance of the Australian total. A creditable recovery after being four down for 51 runs. A clear indication that this team is capable of putting up a fight. Thus far Australia has beat India consistently in this series despite being restricted to small totals until the most recent ODI.However, this Indian team has what it takes to beat the Aussies in this ...

For the second time in a row, team India lost due to poor tactics. After a brilliant bowling performance which helped India restrict Australia to a very achievable target of 204 runs, India made a complete mess of the run chase. Once again it was a case of poor tactics on the batting front.Irfan Pathan at Number 3With a seemingly achievable target at hand, sending Irfan Pathan at number 3 was a questionable decision. The bigger issue though was that ...

The rain shortened ODI between India and Sri Lanka was an exciting game. Sri Lanka knocked off the D/L target rather comfortably thanks to Jayasuriya's rollicking start. Analyzing the match after the result it surely sounds like the Indian think tank missed a trick or two.Runs are Never Enough When the Weather Can InterveneWith the match shortened to 29 overs, and a clear likelihood of rain, Team India's goal should have been to get as many runs as possible. Under ...

India's fightback last night after being four down was remarkable. Gautam Gambhir continued his dream run in the T20 World Cup and the good form in the domestic circuit with one of his finest centuries. Last night's performance was brilliant in every sense. His running between the wickets, his handling of Muralitharan and his big hits down the ground were all very impressive. The ease with which he reached his 100 in the last over speaks volumes of his confidence. ...

The selectors and the captain want to focus on youth for the ODIs. Agreed. A good forward thinking move. But how does one explain the inclusion of Manoj Tiwari ahead of Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina in the first ODI against Australia? Not that there is a world of difference between these folks as far as skill is concerned. Dinesh Karthik has been in Australia for a few weeks now and has played a game or two. In other words, ...

Harbhajan Singh escaped a serious charge thanks to the lack of evidence and India's strangle-hold on world cricketing revenue. The Indian Board should seize the moment to caution its players rather than celebrate the verdict of the Bhajji hearing. The BCCI should be tough and send home the message to its players prior to the ODI series that on the field antics will not be tolerated.Sreesanth (Team India's other problem child) meanwhile continues to make ridiculous statements. The ...

Team India is clearly faced with a dilemma. Wasim Jaffer has failed in six innings in a row. The Adelaide pitch is expected to assist spinners. Ishant Sharma bowled exceedingly well at Perth. So the dilemma comes down to whether Team India should drop Jaffer and pick Harbhajan instead, thereby strengthening the bowling or drop Ishant Sharma and pick Harbhajan based on the prognosis about the Adelaide pitch.Five Bowlers?Predictions about the Perth pitch proved to be horribly inaccurate. In fact, ...