The Buzz
Sehwag shuns astrology
In an age when shirt numbers are mandatory for players in uniform, Virender Sehwag decides to bend the rules a bit
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
In an age when shirt numbers are mandatory for players in uniform, Virender Sehwag decides to bend the rules a bit. In the fourth one-dayer in Bangalore, Sehwag walked out with a numberless shirt and when questioned about it later, said he really didn’t see the big deal with numbers or the whole concept of astrology.
"I don't believe in astrology but my family members do,” he told PTI. “Too many people used to call up and pester me and my family to use different numbers. I was so fed up that I decided not to take their advice. We play Test matches without numbers and hence I don't use any number on my T-shirt."
Full postBangladesh fans lose their cool
The innings-and-129 run defeat to South Africa was not taken too well by Bangladeshi supporters in Bloemfontein
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
The innings-and-129 run defeat to South Africa was not taken too well by Bangladeshi supporters in Bloemfontein. Bangladesh have had a dismal tour so far - they lost the ODIs 3-0 - and the fans lost their cool as the team boarded their bus on Saturday.
The Daily Star reported the players were greeted by abusive fans, and Mashrafe Mortaza, the vice-captain, lost his calm. He got into a verbal tiff with the supporters, and a few other players joined in. However, things were brought under control soon enough.
"They actually used abusive words and some of our players also reacted as they were also frustrated after the defeat. It's nothing so big," Mohammad Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, said. "We watched the match sacrificing many things but it was frustrating the way they performed and some players' behaviour was also frustrating," said a supporter.
Full postWith an old mate by his side
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
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Simon Katich and Michael Hussey have been playing together since they were ten-year-olds in Western Australia, and their almost life-long journey reached a peak when they were batting together in Nagpur on Saturday. Katich scored his fifth Test century - his 102 narrowly beat Hussey’s 90 - and the pair combined for a 155-run third-wicket partnership in the morning.
“We grew up playing cricket a lot together, from about when we were ten,” Katich said. “It was special to be out there with him when I got [my hundred].” They shared a hug, a handshake and a high five before things turned bad on the way to Australia being dismissed for 355. “Unfortunately we couldn’t build on that partnership,” Katich said. "If we could have it would have been an interesting day.”
Full post'The most stupid question I've ever heard'
The offspinner Jason Krejza called himself and Simon Katich “the two angry Europeans” in Australia’s squad earlier in this Test, and Katich showed his irritable side after play on the third day
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
The offspinner Jason Krejza called himself and Simon Katich “the two angry Europeans” in Australia’s squad earlier in this Test, and Katich showed his irritable side after play on the third day. Having been asked why Australia were so defensive – they scored 166 in 85.4 overs – he challenged the knowledge of the person who asked the post-play question, but that was not the end of the exchange. As he left the press conference room he told the journalist it was “the most stupid question I’ve ever heard”.
Full postDressing-room surprise
It will not surprise those who are familiar with the low-key style of Anil Kumble that his retirement announcement during the tea break on Sunday took some of his own team-mates by surprise
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
It will not surprise those who are familiar with the low-key style of Anil Kumble that his retirement announcement during the tea break on Sunday took some of his own team-mates by surprise. Within minutes, it the cricketing world’s turn to be startled as the giant screen at the Feroz Shah Kotla displayed the message.
Then, after the day's play, it was time for Kumble to cut a cake after a host of speakers, including Sachin Tendulkar, Gary Kirsten and Kris Srikkanth, quickly summed up their thoughts on Kumble’s contribution, his achievements, and his legacy. Kumble, in turn, thanked every member of the Indian contingent individually, and took time to shake every hand and also for a few final hugs.
In between, there was time for some humour as well. A player turned to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and quipped: “You have two empty seats now” (the Nagpur Test will be Sourav Ganguly’s last). But for those who are familiar with Dhoni’s style, the gist of his instantaneous reply did not come as a surprise: “Nobody can replace those two”.
Full postA flooded control room
The host broadcasters of the India-Australia series, Nimbus, got off to a horrific start at the Feroz Shah Kotla, though due to no fault of their own
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
The host broadcasters of the India-Australia series, Nimbus, got off to a horrific start at the Feroz Shah Kotla, though due to no fault of their own. At the start of the first day’s play, the staff were in for a shock on seeing the control room flooded, wrecking everything kept on the floor, the Hindustan Times and Deccan Herald have reported. A water pipe above the room had burst the previous night and the company had to frantically make arrangements to source replacements for the equipment from Mumbai and Singapore. A senior production official from Nimbus then alerted the BCCI to ensure better facilities, especially with more than a few million television viewers at stake.
Full postWristy business
Manoj Prabhakar, the former India medium-pace bowler, believes Australia's fast bowlers need to adjust their wrist positions to produce the sort of reverse swing that is necessary to be effective on Indian wickets.
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
Manoj Prabhakar, the former India medium-pace bowler, believes Australia's fast bowlers need to adjust their wrist positions to produce the sort of reverse swing that is necessary to be effective on Indian wickets.
Prabhakar, to whom swing came naturally, felt the Australian pace bowlers were naturally inclined towards achieving bounce and seam as opposed to swing. "If you don't know how to seam the ball you cannot survive in Australia, if you do not know how to swing the ball you cannot survive on the subcontinent," he said. "Their wrist position is not good enough to get late reverse swing," he said. They can seam the ball, they can get reverse swing, but not late swing. Unless you swing it late, reverse swing is not useful."
Prabhakar had served as Delhi's bowling coach last year and worked with a raw Ishant Sharma. "Initially when I met him he was not swinging the ball, he only had a leg cutter because he was hitting the deck hard and holding the ball very tight," Prabhakar said."Now he is doing wonders, because he is holding the ball really loose with the fingers and he is snapping the wrist. That is the main reason why the Indians are getting more swing than the Australians."
Ishant leads the wicket-taking tally in the Test series with 11 in two games, so Prabhakar has a point.
Full postSmog alert
The pollution level on the opening day of the Delhi Test, October 29, the day after Diwali is celebrated in north India, is expected to be the heaviest in the country's capital.
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
The pollution level on the opening day of the Delhi Test, October 29, the day after Diwali is celebrated in north India, is expected to be the heaviest in the country's capital.
Traditionally, the early half of the day after Diwali is generally as bad as the festival night itself in terms of pollution and visibility. This year, after a night of grand fireworks, visibility is supposed to be at a new low.
"We are not expecting any major trouble if the weather remains warm and sunny. But if the temperature drops and there's stillness around (little or no breeze), there could be some problems as far as visibility is concerned," JM Mauskar, chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board, told the Hindustan Times.
It is also believed that exposure to increased pollution levels could cause respiratory trouble and irritation to the eyes.
Full postBrett be good, Brett be fast
While Doug Bollinger was being mistaken for Brett Lee at the Taj Mahal, the real McCoy was bowling in solitude at the Feroz Shah Kotla
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
While Doug Bollinger was being mistaken for Brett Lee at the Taj Mahal, the real McCoy was bowling in solitude at the Feroz Shah Kotla. With just four wickets in two matches at an average of 59.25, and an on-field dispute with Ricky Ponting in Mohali, Lee's maiden Test tour of India hasn't gone too well. Having been told by Ponting to up his pace, Lee went to the venue for the third Test and bowled for a couple hours. No chatting, no smiling for the cameras, no mistaken identities.
Assisting Lee was Australia's fitness adviser, Stuart Karppinen, who has come up with a programme comprising 11 varied sessions. "Because of his personal circumstances, he hasn't done the same volume of work and we want to try to build that up," said Karppinen. "He's at 95 per cent and bowling in the mid-140s (kph) but we want him to be able to crank that up. He's lost speed and condition. We want to mimic the movements that happen when he bowls. We're trying to promote speed."
Full postBollinger, not Bollywood Brett
The sightseeing of a couple of Australian players at the Taj Mahal on Thursday turned them into superstars when local news outlets were told Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee would be there
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
The sightseeing of a couple of Australian players at the Taj Mahal on Thursday turned them into superstars when local news outlets were told Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee would be there. So when it was only Doug Bollinger and Jason Krejza, two of the squad’s back-up bowlers, who stepped out of the bus the locals could not be convinced that Bollinger was not Lee.
After an hour of viewing the Mughal masterpiece, “Lee” was asked to sign a picture that a photographer had printed off to get a lasting memento. Everyone seemed satisfied that Krejza wasn’t Ponting, but the duo received a special escort around the building, which upset some Italian tourists.
“They’re cricketers, and it’s India,” one of the team’s management offered in explanation. Bollinger and Krejza were the only Australia players here who hadn’t seen the monument until their rock star experience.
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