Lunch on Day 1 - Nagpur
Some day I want to make a prediction that actually comes true. Steady as she goes ... will happen someday.
Anyway, Bhajji and Ganguly both out of the third test and while one creates a problem, the other looks so nice that one is tempted to make it a permanent thing ... ;-)
30 overs are up and Murali Karthik hasn't yet made his entry. Nothing wrong with that, of course, coz the pitch is supposed to be favouring the faster bowlers but past experiences just suggest that Karthik might not be used too much. See, whether he does well or not is a different matter but once selected in the team, he should get a long bowl. Seamers operate best in short spells while spinners operate best in long spells ... all I want is that once selected Karthik should be given that long spell. Anyway, there is a lot of cricket to be played ... so we can always wish. The captain is different so all the Ganguly bashers who cribbed about his denying Karthik a fair chance will now get to see what a different captain can get out of him.
Bhajji's not playing is a big blow for India ... only yesterday I was happy about our bowling not being a cause of worry at all and bingo - one of our main bowlers pulls out. Enough to pull one's hair out.
Yesterday I talked about Ganguly's contribution being much more than a batsman .... if u think of replacing him ever, u have to think of replacing a captain and a batsman and not just a batsman. Stop gap arrangements are a different matter and Dravid's capability and ability to handle captaincy and batting together cannot be tested completely here but it does give one the facility of looking at a batting line up without Ganguly. It is always nice to know what one's options are and even better to get to try them out ... so Kaif gets another chance after his gritty 60 odd in the 2nd test and good for him. He wasn't exactly brilliant in that innings of 60 and must do much more than that to look convincing at this level and cement a place for himself. Ganguly is established in the middle order and it will take more than a pipsqueak performance from Kaif to even put an element of doubt in the selectors minds.
When I heard about Bhajji not playing, and I hadn't yet heard about who replaced him, my mind automatically said Nehra ... coz considering the pitch and Karthik's inexperience, it seemed better to go in with another seamer ... but I don't think it is a match-altering decision. Karthik may do well and it is not as if Nehra is certain to do something great ... he is as much of a lottery as anyone else. That is the hard part of losing Bhajji ... he is not a lottery. Agarkar on the other hand is ... so if we had lost Agarkar (yes I remember he was my recommendation) to injury, it wouldn't have hurt so much .... but losing Bhajji is painful.
Chopra comes back into opening .... and if the first session report is any indication, Yuvi will be the happiest guy around. We need our openers to play as they did in Australia ... and I am always hopeful of Chopra coming out of his 40 run rut and somehow make a big one. Chopra and Ramesh are the two openers that are on my mind for the second opener's slot .... and while Ramesh is not available, Chopra doesn't make the big ones. Frustrating!!!
Anyway, three wickets down at last count ... Patel latched onto one from Zaheer and Zaheer seems to have taken the challenge of being the bowling spearhead on a pitch suited for the faster bowlers. Good for him. He still needs to come back for a couple of incisive spells and take out more guys. On a Bangalore pitch, his taking the two initial wickets would be enough ... on this Nagpur pitch, he has to do more.
Finally to the guy who said I was being unfair to SRT (sadistic was the term used), I don't think so. I have nothing against SRT at all ... in fact today in office we had this stress management course (one of the many time wasting techniques prevalent in big corporations) and when they were talking of ways of relieving stress, believe me, the image that flashed before my eyes was one of Tendulkar driving on the up through the covers and then driving straight down the ground. What could be more stress relieving that that? I love the guy and just coz the media hypes him so much, that doesn't make me hate him or something ... but we all have a devil in us somewhere and that devil in me just makes me think it would be so much fun to see the excuses given if he fails. See, I am sure SRT won't give excuses coz he is a good bloke and plays it gamely ... my pointer was more towards the butt kissers in the commentary box and expert panels on various news channels.
To end this, remember the last time Dravid was captain ... it was the match in which SRT was 194 not out when the declaration was made. Naughty thoughts come to mind.
Cheers
The Chuckster
Anyway, Bhajji and Ganguly both out of the third test and while one creates a problem, the other looks so nice that one is tempted to make it a permanent thing ... ;-)
30 overs are up and Murali Karthik hasn't yet made his entry. Nothing wrong with that, of course, coz the pitch is supposed to be favouring the faster bowlers but past experiences just suggest that Karthik might not be used too much. See, whether he does well or not is a different matter but once selected in the team, he should get a long bowl. Seamers operate best in short spells while spinners operate best in long spells ... all I want is that once selected Karthik should be given that long spell. Anyway, there is a lot of cricket to be played ... so we can always wish. The captain is different so all the Ganguly bashers who cribbed about his denying Karthik a fair chance will now get to see what a different captain can get out of him.
Bhajji's not playing is a big blow for India ... only yesterday I was happy about our bowling not being a cause of worry at all and bingo - one of our main bowlers pulls out. Enough to pull one's hair out.
Yesterday I talked about Ganguly's contribution being much more than a batsman .... if u think of replacing him ever, u have to think of replacing a captain and a batsman and not just a batsman. Stop gap arrangements are a different matter and Dravid's capability and ability to handle captaincy and batting together cannot be tested completely here but it does give one the facility of looking at a batting line up without Ganguly. It is always nice to know what one's options are and even better to get to try them out ... so Kaif gets another chance after his gritty 60 odd in the 2nd test and good for him. He wasn't exactly brilliant in that innings of 60 and must do much more than that to look convincing at this level and cement a place for himself. Ganguly is established in the middle order and it will take more than a pipsqueak performance from Kaif to even put an element of doubt in the selectors minds.
When I heard about Bhajji not playing, and I hadn't yet heard about who replaced him, my mind automatically said Nehra ... coz considering the pitch and Karthik's inexperience, it seemed better to go in with another seamer ... but I don't think it is a match-altering decision. Karthik may do well and it is not as if Nehra is certain to do something great ... he is as much of a lottery as anyone else. That is the hard part of losing Bhajji ... he is not a lottery. Agarkar on the other hand is ... so if we had lost Agarkar (yes I remember he was my recommendation) to injury, it wouldn't have hurt so much .... but losing Bhajji is painful.
Chopra comes back into opening .... and if the first session report is any indication, Yuvi will be the happiest guy around. We need our openers to play as they did in Australia ... and I am always hopeful of Chopra coming out of his 40 run rut and somehow make a big one. Chopra and Ramesh are the two openers that are on my mind for the second opener's slot .... and while Ramesh is not available, Chopra doesn't make the big ones. Frustrating!!!
Anyway, three wickets down at last count ... Patel latched onto one from Zaheer and Zaheer seems to have taken the challenge of being the bowling spearhead on a pitch suited for the faster bowlers. Good for him. He still needs to come back for a couple of incisive spells and take out more guys. On a Bangalore pitch, his taking the two initial wickets would be enough ... on this Nagpur pitch, he has to do more.
Finally to the guy who said I was being unfair to SRT (sadistic was the term used), I don't think so. I have nothing against SRT at all ... in fact today in office we had this stress management course (one of the many time wasting techniques prevalent in big corporations) and when they were talking of ways of relieving stress, believe me, the image that flashed before my eyes was one of Tendulkar driving on the up through the covers and then driving straight down the ground. What could be more stress relieving that that? I love the guy and just coz the media hypes him so much, that doesn't make me hate him or something ... but we all have a devil in us somewhere and that devil in me just makes me think it would be so much fun to see the excuses given if he fails. See, I am sure SRT won't give excuses coz he is a good bloke and plays it gamely ... my pointer was more towards the butt kissers in the commentary box and expert panels on various news channels.
To end this, remember the last time Dravid was captain ... it was the match in which SRT was 194 not out when the declaration was made. Naughty thoughts come to mind.
Cheers
The Chuckster
posted by The Chuckster @ 12:59 AM
5 Comments:
At Tuesday, October 26, 2004 7:26:00 AM,
shakester said…
Ah well....the naughtiness aside
If it could come close to happening again, we would all be happy souls....
fingers crossed
At Tuesday, October 26, 2004 10:31:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
I dont think anyone can predict the indian XI completely!! bcoz no one including the selectors and captain know abt this until the last minute..wat rubbish !! i wont be surprised if Ganguly (or Dravid) does a 'Lara' by striking out a name in the XI chosen and changing into another..no one understood why ramesh went out of the team..then it was the turn of akash chopra..apart from this no authentic info wud be availabla about who is fit..suddenly someone says sachin is fit and will play against Engl, then in the Champions trophy,then 1st test ..in the end they say sachin may not play the entire series and another news is that sachin will fade away very quickly..then sachin is told not to talk to press !!same way harbhajan not fit ..no no ..he is fit and suddenly we find harbhajan and ganguly not fit !! dont they have any sense..if a player is going to open why cant they tell him in advance so that he can be mentally prepared. did yuvraj ever open against another country's A side ?? is the international game the place to test him ?? jst bcoz it clicked with sehwag it does not have to happen with all players ..
At Wednesday, October 27, 2004 10:24:00 AM,
Jabberwock said…
Dude, it seems we inhabit completely different cricketing planets. In the one I’m on, most people rarely pass up a chance to make a snide remark about Sachin no matter what he’s done. So can I get a ticket to yours? Surely you’re not serious when you say people will always make excuses for him no matter what - it’s quite the other way around. That very Indian tradition of taking malicious pleasure in pulling down someone who’s achieved an enormous lot is never manifest more than in his case. Today in my office, in a very limited timespan, I saw four different people looking at the scorecard on the comp and saying something nasty only about him – and doing it with palpable glee.
Which makes it all the more unfortunate that a genuine Sachin well-wisher like yourself should half-hope for him to fail just so you get to see a bunch of hopeless commentators and “experts” squirming.
At Thursday, November 11, 2004 4:20:00 AM,
shakester said…
hey chuckster
getting married, are we
all the best dude
hope you are having a blast (that the most crucial part!), and hope you return for some winning moments against the S'Africans.
At Sunday, October 23, 2005 2:40:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Rhodiola Rosea is the latest natural remedy to join the arsenal of natural anxiety and stress (stress test) reducers.
Rhodiola Rosea, also known as Golden Root, is a native plant of arctic Siberia. For centuries it has been used by eastern European and Asian cultures for physical endurance, work productivity, longevity, resistance to high altitude sickness, and to treat fatigue, depression, anemia, impotence, gastrointestinal ailments, infections, and nervous system disorders.
The first recorded medicinal applications of rodia riza (renamed Rhodiola Rosea) was made by the Greek physician, Dioscorides, in 77 C.E. in 'De Materia Medica'. Rhodiola Rosea has been included in official Russian medicine since 1969.
Despite its long history, the Western world has only recently become aware of the health benefits of Rhodiola Rosea. It has come to the attention of many natural health practitioners because of studies which tested its affects on combating anxiety and stress.
Rhodiola Rosea is considered an adaptogen. This means it has an overall stabilizing effect on the body without disrupting other functions. Its ability to normalize hormones may be effective for treating depression and anxiety.
Studies of Rhodiola Rosea show that it stimulates neurotransmitters and enhances their effects on the brain. This includes the ability for the brain to process serotonin which helps the body to adapt to stress.
Since adaptogens improve the body's overall ability to handle stress, it has been studied to identify it's effects on biological, chemical and physical stress.
A study was performed to test the effects of Rhodiola Rosea when stress or stress test is caused by intense mental work (such as final exams). Such tests concluded that using Rhodiola Rosea improved the amount and quality of work, increasing mental clarity and reducing the effects of fatigue.
The effects of Rhodiola Rosea have also been tested on stress and anxiety from both physical and emotional sources. A report by the American Botanical Council states that "Most users find that it improves their mood, energy level, and mental clarity." They also report on a study that indicated Rhodiola Rosea could increase stress tolerance while at the same time protecting the brain and heart from the physical affects of stress.
This report included details of studies which highlight the overall health benefits of Rhodiola Rosea.
The generally recommended dose is 200-600mg/day. The active properties should be a minimum 0.8 percent salidroside and 3 percent rosavin.
It is important for consumers to know that Rhodiola may be sold using other species that do not share the properties of Rhodiola Rosea, stress test, or at ineffective strengths for treatment. Anyone with depression or anxiety should also check with a health professional when treating these symptoms.
stress test
Post a Comment
<< Home