Of a man-slaughterer, nodder and winker, and ‘Katchless’ innings!

Oh come on, don’t dissect Yusuf Pathan now. Shane Warne may be sold to hyperboles but there can hardly be any doubt that if there are batsmen in the world, who, in Ayaz Menon’s words, “can hit the ball so hard, so far and so consistently at that”, then the franchises’ talent scouts aren’t doing their job in getting them out.

Symonds comes close, Sehwag is more of a cutter of the ball, while the likes of the Uthappas, Gayles and McCullums are fake imitations.

Pathan is an Indian tiger that needs to be as much nurtured as it needs to be preserved, and despite his apparent short-comings against the short ball, he is a match winner with his bat on more occasions than Shahid Afridi ever was, even in his prime.

Pathan is raw-power whose rough edges should be allowed to remain the way they are. A brute force who can stop a train. A bicep with a six pack. Or should I say, packed with sixes?

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Yawn. For those interested only. New Zealand try to avoid a clean sweep in those things called Tests against Australia. Funny when they talk of clean sweeps in a two match series. Wonder if you can use it in one-off Tests as well?

Funnier is that the coach of the New Zealand team kept winking and nodding at Matthew Sinclair in what he perceived was a selection call. Quick understanding that. Actually, he should know. Been in and out of the side enough times to send shivers down the spines of the normally unflappable Mohinder Amarnath. That is the one record he would like to hold for the rest of his life, would Jimmy.

The only issue with the wink-and-nod-meaning-selection theory is that Sinclair averages 14 and a ‘something’ against Australia in Test matches. Some may consider that to be a rather low threshold for selection against the same opposition. Still, he averages that ‘something’ more than what the top three batsmen of New Zealand in totality in the first essay at Wellington. Which makes him a surety for the game.

Ponting says it is no bother, he has plans for whoever comes in front of his bowlers. Let me clarify as I always do, in case of Punter. His exhaustive plans include his bowlers needing to run to the bowling crease and hurling the ball down the other end. The rest, would all be managed by the Kiwi batsmen.

Also, James Franklin’s being called as cover. Or a replacement. Take your pick. For Darryl Tuffey. The last I heard was that Tuffey was a bowler, and he could also pick wickets. The last I also heard was that Franklin’s figures in the last four games of this format that he has picked four wickets. At a princely average of 117.

So a batsman who means 14, a bowler who concedes 117 and a quarter for every wicket that gets doled out to him, a coach that winks and nods and Bet365 which offers 8/1 for a Kiwi win. Which one do you choose to save your life?

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Back to the irresistible IPL. A serious question on the ‘Karbonn Kamaal Katch’ of the day. What happens if in a game, none of the players get caught? Who wins the award?

by Suneer Chowdhary
(The writer is a cricket rambler and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com. He will continue doing so for us whenever he gets that 25th hour of the day.)

Related posts:

1. Taylor-led New Zealand strike telling blows against Australia
2. Kane Williamson in New Zealand squad
3. Pathan almost wins it. And loses it again.
4. Yusuf Pathan smashes scintillating century against Mumbai Indians
5. Australia win a thriller against New Zealand at Auckland

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Posted by Sam on Mar 27 2010. Filed under Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry