Posts Tagged ‘Ponting’

  • 14 Feb

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    Sad to see Ponting complain against Bangalore pitch

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    Australia lost a game yesterday to India which they should ever have. However, what was surprising to hear at the end of the game was for the Australian skipper to complain about the nature of the track.

    It is very obvious that the pitches in India will assist spin bowling. And that is the beauty of the sport, which unlike many other sports is not played on an artificial turf where the players know what will be the kind of track they will be up against.

    Unfortunately, Ponting has a vision that is so blinded by saving his own skin that any track that remotely offers spin is an under-prepared one.

    Instead, one feels that Ponting should look at the shots that some of his batsmen played, included his own stroke to get stumped. At best, they could be described as atrocious. Clearly, there is a need to correct some of that than blame the pitch for his undoing.

    Rest assured that in India and Sri Lanka where they played their league games, the tracks will assist spin.

  • 14 Feb

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    Hussey’s exclusion makes for interesting analysis

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    Controversies are a part of any team but when one of the top captains of the world says that he had no idea why a decision was taken, it calls for one to look up. This is what happened when the Australian captain Ricky Ponting said that he had no idea why Michael Hussey wasn’t selected to the side.

    The problem had to do with Hussey’s injury which he had not recovered from. The selectors decided to err on the side of caution and had Hussey replaced in the side – clearly a decision that wasn’t discussed with the captain.

    This also probably shows that the selectors are enduring Ponting for the duration of the Cricket World Cup. Sacking him before the tournament would have meant no sense. But a poor performance by Ponting in this tournament and he should be on his way out.

    And as far Hussey is concerned, it is a surprise to see him express his surprise over the decision as well – making the selectors’ choice unpopular.

  • 11 Feb

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    India take on Australia in warm-ups

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    It is only seven days to go and the Cricket World Cup warm-ups kick off from Saturday. Interestingly, there are five games on the first day while the second day will see India take on Australia – a cracker of a game.
    Fortunately for the Indian fan, the India-Australia will be shown live on television and should make for an interesting viewing given the way the two sides are stacked up.

    There have been two sides in the world which have played good ODI cricket in the country – Australia and South Africa. The last time South Africa were in India, they had lost 2-1 while Australia were beaten 1-0.

    This game, for the sheer competiveness between the two sides will be exciting. But it will also be interesting to see how the injured few stack up – Sehwag, Tendukar, Gambhir, Ponting, Haddin – and whether they can get rid of the rust in their system.

    Doug Bollinger will be the bowler to watch out for.