The Mad Hatter Of The Indian Cricket Team




Yusuf Pathan

Yusuf Pathan

India beat New Zealand by 5 wickets in the 4th ODI in Bangalore.

New Zealand started the match with a bang, you could tell that they looked determined and had no interest of going back empty handed.

The opening batsmen, Martin Guptill made a reasonable 30 and Brendon McCullum made 42. The middle order also contributed well with Scott Styris’s 46, Ross Taylor’s 44 and most importantly James Franklin’s 98. Almost all except 3 put up a fight.

The Indian bowling today was highly ineffective, Ashish Nehra might have taken two wickets but he was hit for 70 runs and the same goes for Ravichandran Ashwin who also took two wickets but got hit for 66 runs.

The element of surprise today was Yusuf Pathan. New Zealand was probably so busy strategising for the likes of Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir that they probably didn’t anticipate getting so badly beaten by Yusuf Pathan.

He stole the show with his 3 wickets and 123 runs ensuring that India doesn’t have a single loss in the series so far. Virat Kohli seems to have decided to give others a chance in this match since he got out a duck, and even Gambhir made only 27, he probably wanted to put pressure on his middle order for once, which thank fully worked, when else would he or anyone else for that matter get a chance like this again? Parthiv Patel was seen after a long time in International Cricket, made a steady and helpful 53runs.

For the first time in this series you could think that India were actually at a stage where victory wasn’t going to be easy against the Kiwi’s.

But no matter how much New Zealand tried, no one could stop Yusuf Pathan today.

His one over of countless boundaries is what ultimately put the match far from New Zealand’s reach. Saurabh Tiwary seemed to be calm and collected and rotated strike whenever necessary, it was obvious he was being of assistance to Yusuf and not trying for personal glory.

Tiwary snuck in a boundary towards the last few over’s when Yusuf was showing signs of fatigue. He ultimately ended the match with a 6, a common phenomenon these days amongst younger players.

Yusuf seems to have grabbed this opportunity with both hands as this was his last chance to show the team and the selectors that not considering him for the World Cup would be foolish indeed. Well whether it worked or not we’ll know in a few days. But surely he must at least be in the final 16?

So on a day where the Bowlers are having a dry spell the batsmen seem to have stepped up, that is a positive to take out, a negative however would be that the bowling still doesn’t seem piercing, not enough for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Nandita Shamlal

Author:

Hey! I’m Nandita Shamlal in my final year at Amity School of Communication (Amity University) doing Journalism and Mass Communication. I have always loved sports even though I couldn’t play a single one without causing injury to myself (and others). I enjoy watching cricket the most but also enjoy tennis and basketball. Writing is something I’ve always felt was an outlet to every thought that crosses your mind. I enjoy reading, watching the television and of course, writing. Besides writing my greatest passion is playing the piano. Hope you enjoy what I write!

Cricket

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti enjoys gully cricket in Jaipur

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti enjoys gully cricket in Jaipur

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on February 4th, 2024

Jaipur, 04 February 2024: US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti was in the pink city on Saturday where the Ambassador dropped by Rajasthan Royals’ home stadium ..

Football

LALIGA Concludes ‘Extra Time’ Webinar Series

LALIGA Concludes ‘Extra Time’ Webinar Series

Posted by: Pooja Kamboj on May 16th, 2024

Continuing to work alongside stakeholders from the sports fraternity, LALIGA, the world’s largest football ecosystem, brought the curtains down on this se ..

Tennis

Leander Paes inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame

Leander Paes inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on December 19th, 2023

Former doubles world No. 1 Leander Paes was recently elected to receive the Ultimate Honor in Tennis – induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame &# ..

F1

Life Lessons learned from Sports & Fitness #TOSBDay

Life Lessons learned from Sports & Fitness #TOSBDay

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on September 26th, 2016

Held on Sept 1st, The Outstanding Speakers’ Bureau (TOSB) Twinterview consisted of sports panelists such as Mark Gallagher (Public Speaker on F1 race), Shayam ..

Boxing

Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker set for huge showdown

Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker set for huge showdown

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on February 15th, 2018

It looks like it will be a scintillating couple of months for fans of elite boxing. There is the prospect of the rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Saul ‘Ca ..

Other Sports

The 2023-24 Season of the Los Angeles Clippers: A Mid-Season Review

The 2023-24 Season of the Los Angeles Clippers: A Mid-Season Review

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on February 15th, 2024

As the 2023-24 NBA season approaches the All-Star break, the Los Angeles Clippers have emerged as a formidable force in the Western Conference, showcasing their ..

One stop guide to all the latest sports news, reviews, opinions, fixtures and live scores from India and around the world.

Copyright © 2024 | The Sports Mirror