Pakorakorner

Dhoni and his boys managed to scrape through and win the second ODI! It was hardly a convincing victory, but a victory nevertheless. Zaheer Khan's return to form was timely. India decided to recognize Badrinath for his consistent domestic performance by giving him a chance to play in the second ODI and he didn' disappoint. He produced two lovely catches and played a crucial knock. Most importantly he showed that he could take on Murali and Mendis. The composition of the Indian ...

Sri Lanka first destroyed India's ODI team at the Asia cup final. They then won the Test series against India rather convincingly. The common factor behind these victories was the new cricketing sensation, Ajantha Mendis. He baffled Dhnoi's boys in the crucial Asia cup final. Then, he also destroyed India's fabulous four (Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly and VVS). And now the young turks return. This is easily Dhoni's biggest ODI challenge since he took on the mighty Aussies after insisting on ...

MS Dhoni chose to pass on the upcoming Test series in Sri Lanka and deserves plenty of praise for this. It is perhaps the first time in Indian cricket history that a player so young and on the rise has willingly stepped aside from a Test tour. Firstly, it reflects a clear sense of self-confidence in the man. Secondly, it is a sign that he suffers from no insecurity whatsoever. A welcome sign in India's ODI and T20 ...

Dinesh Karthik's exit from the ODI was on the cards. The big three Rahul Dravid, Ganguly and VVS Laxman are unlikely to play ODI again for India. Sachin is injured and Harbhajan is serving his sentence. The injured Sreesanth has just been replaced by the impressive Goni. With this, India's team for the Kitply Cup extends Dhoni's virtually complete control over the team selection. He initiated the changes he desired on the Australian tour and refined it further ...

A new format of the cricket game targeted at the world's leading cricket market appears to have become a bumper hit for all and sundry. The three hour duration combined with the day-night schedule has managed to attract a new set of cricket audiences among families with small kids in addition to the already cricket crazy Indian public. Based on media reports, the turn out at these matches and the general interest level, it appears that the IPL is ...

The BCCI's quick decision to put "slapgate" to rest by issuing Harbhajan Singh a five ODI ban was as lame as it gets. It has been clearly established for the record that Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth. Moreover, Harbhajan was captaining the Mumbai Indians when this happened! Without a doubt it was an awful on the field act for a sportsman. This is all the more a serious issue because cricket mania in India is at its peak. The game is ...

The firing of Charu Sharma the CEO of Royal Challengers is probably the first and quickest instance of action being taken against cricketing management. There is no question that thus far the Bangalore Royal Challengers have been a dismal flop on the field. None of the young local players have fired. Jacques Kallis who has been persisted with throughout seems completely unfit for T20. Dravid himself is struggling to find his feet in this form of the game. Sunil Joshi ...

Around 4.45 pm on Saturday 4/19/2008 Syed Faqeer Ali died while playing cricket in Fremont. He was representing a local team in the Northern California Cricket Association (NCCA) league. He is survived by his wife and 3-year old son. I have never met or seen Faaqer but have had the privilege of interacting with his Dad, Abid Ali a former Indian Test cricket player. I have very fond memories having played in the same cricket league in the past and ...

T20 is clearly a new format and the strategies and theories that apply to other forms of the game don't really belong here. In other words, there are no experts. With the IPL well underway the initial set of matches has shown a number of trends. The jury is still out on whether these trends signify long term patterns, but here are a few observations on what seems to work/not work in this new form of cricket. Prolonged Stay ...

The bad boys of Indian cricket landed in trouble once again, this time after a clash on the field. Except this time, there were no international players involved. Instead it was Mathew Hayden's "obnoxious weed" Bhajji going against the equally troublesome Sreesanth. As a cricket fan who has watched both these players in action, I couldn't help but feel that perhaps both these players had it coming. They had both been in trouble before and had done little to curb ...