Cricket
You know, I actually wanted to think of a witty title for this post, but I could not work up the required levels of annoyance and sarcasm to do so. To celebrate the teams return to form, I am reusing the title of an old post. Old colours deserve an old title.
Now, I know, I am hitting the team when it’s down. But it’s only because I care. We lost to the Windies, and that too 4-1. Why win that first match. Let them make it a white (brown?) wash. The problem with out team is that they give us hope. That most precious emotion is then cruelly destroyed when the team reverts to form and manages to lose spectacularly.
Take our record over the last few matches for instance. We’ve broken the shackles of being dependent on one man and play together as a unit. We even found people to pinch-hit, act as all rounders and bowlers who could actually bowl fast. We even managed to break the mind-set of choking when we chase a large total. People thought that we actually had a team could go and conquer the world cup.
Sadly, that dream seems to have evaporated. Yes, I am being premature as these were only the ODIs. I agree that the results of the test matches will tell us if our team has the guts and temperament required to bounce back from a series loss. I guess they should keep in mind that cricket is a fickle game - success today does not equate to success tomorrow. Also, our team should realize that when they play well, the teams facing them are going to plan better. Consider how the Windies got Dhoni out. Let me quote from Rediff :
Those two factors – shutting down the straight field, and getting the keeper up – combined to cause Dhoni’s downfall. Unable to hit straight or to change the length by going down the track, the keeper-batsman was forced to stay well inside his crease and try to muscle the ball square; an attempt to do so off a fuller length Hinds delivery that stayed a touch low and jagged a touch in off the seam ended in an inner edge onto the stump
Another factor is that our batsmen are not firing the way they used to. Dravid seems to be out of form, and most of the others are getting set and then getting out. We need a lot more work if we are going to take this team to the World Cup and have a decent chance of winning.
In any case, I will stop talking about cricket now. Yes, you may breate a sigh of relief.
In other (better) news, I have been experimenting with panorama shots. Am using a feature in my S2IS that allows me to take multiple photos that can later be merged to form a single, composite picture. You can see the photoblog for more on that.
That’s all from me for now. Later!
