Needless to be said, this is the third edition of the Indian Premier League. For the second time in succession, players from Pakistan are banned (once officially and unofficially this time) from participating in the same. At the same time, one other aspect that needs to be noticed is that some most of the players from Australia are also not found to feature in the IPL despite having the potential in them to attract huge sums of money and a lot of fame as well. The list includes close to a dozen players from the country. This is to be indeed given a closer look.
Last year in 2009 (obviously), Michael Clarke was found to back out from that year's edition of the IPL despite being offered a base price of $1 million the reason for which sources say is not enough for him considering his caliber. And, there was Shaun Tait who withdrew his name from the auction list when he wanted to improve his game as far as his international commitments were considered. This also was found making Shaun Tait back out from the CB series earlier that year for the same reason which drew a lot of applause. This was said to have been done by Shaun Tait to battle depression.
So has been the case with Mitchell Johnson who has not seen featuring in the IPL so far in all three editions though having the potential in him to make it big here. Johnson was believed to have been offered a price if $800,000 which he turned down without a second thought. And this year, though being free from his international commitments, Ricky Ponting is seen nowhere in this edition of the IPL despite having appeared for Kolkata Knight Riders earlier. While others like Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori and others who are also into their international commitments are being seen.
The only players being seen from Australia are players who have quit playing international cricket like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Martyn to name a few. Someone like Andrew Symonds is making his appearance owing to the fact that he has been banned from playing international cricket for Australia for reasons best known to everyone after the T20 world cup last year. The other category include players like Shaun Marsh and David Hussey who have not been featuring for the Australian team for a long time. The only players who play regularly play for Australia and still show interest in IPL have been Brett Lee (if not for his injury), Warner,Watson and Ryan Harris offlate.
Showing posts with label Shaun Tait. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shaun Tait. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Australia struggle to lose against Pakistan
For the second time, Pakistan bowled Australia all out for a score of exactly 127 and yet again lost the match chasing that low total. Previously, Pakistan had bowled out Australia for 127 at Sydney in the 2nd test match, only to lose the match by 36 runs. A match that Pakistan should have won rather convincingly was lost the moment the ball hit the ground in the last ball of the 20th over bowled by Shane Watson. This match would have ended Pakistan's embarrassing tour of Australia. I doubt whether the Pakistani players after their loss to Australia in the T20 game gone for site seeing in the beautiful continent of Australia.
The only positives for Pakistan in the series at present is that, they need not think about the next game in the series. They need not promise their fans about winning or putting up a better performance in the next game and so would be the Pakistani fans who would not have to look forward to another Pakistani defeat or keep their jaws open expecting Pakistan to fare better in the next game. I wish the Pakistanis should stop calling themselves as the current T20 champs and not highlight their two appearances in the finals of a T20 world cup.
If Australia's performance in the match was way beyond expectation, I wonder as to what should one comment on the performance of the Pakistani counterpart? The match was no doubt in favor of Pakistan when the Pakistani innings saw a 34 run and a 39 run partnership after bowling the Aussies for a partly score of 127 as mentioned above. Moreover, Australia are not a world beating side when it comes to T20 cricket unlike in the tests and the one dayers. Likewise, Pakistan is a better team than Australia if T20 cricket is considered. Still, if Pakistan cannot afford to win, its really confusing.
I guess this is the first time that a team has won all matches irrespective of the formats of the game that were played as a part of that tour. Australia won 3 tests, 5 one dayers and the lone T20 game that was scheduled. May be that a team might have done the same against Bangladesh or else, I cannot recall any such feats. There might have been teams that haven't lost a single match but, one or a couple of tests might have ended in draws that disqualifies them from the list. Like, India won 5 matches against England in November 2008 and 1 of the 2 tests that were scheduled and the 2nd test ended in a draw.
Finally, one can come to the conclusion that despite giving so much room, Pakistan couldn't snatch a win from the Aussies, which suggests that Aussies had a struggle for losing. Whenever Australia came close to losing, they were pushed back by Pakistan.
The only positives for Pakistan in the series at present is that, they need not think about the next game in the series. They need not promise their fans about winning or putting up a better performance in the next game and so would be the Pakistani fans who would not have to look forward to another Pakistani defeat or keep their jaws open expecting Pakistan to fare better in the next game. I wish the Pakistanis should stop calling themselves as the current T20 champs and not highlight their two appearances in the finals of a T20 world cup.
If Australia's performance in the match was way beyond expectation, I wonder as to what should one comment on the performance of the Pakistani counterpart? The match was no doubt in favor of Pakistan when the Pakistani innings saw a 34 run and a 39 run partnership after bowling the Aussies for a partly score of 127 as mentioned above. Moreover, Australia are not a world beating side when it comes to T20 cricket unlike in the tests and the one dayers. Likewise, Pakistan is a better team than Australia if T20 cricket is considered. Still, if Pakistan cannot afford to win, its really confusing.
I guess this is the first time that a team has won all matches irrespective of the formats of the game that were played as a part of that tour. Australia won 3 tests, 5 one dayers and the lone T20 game that was scheduled. May be that a team might have done the same against Bangladesh or else, I cannot recall any such feats. There might have been teams that haven't lost a single match but, one or a couple of tests might have ended in draws that disqualifies them from the list. Like, India won 5 matches against England in November 2008 and 1 of the 2 tests that were scheduled and the 2nd test ended in a draw.
Finally, one can come to the conclusion that despite giving so much room, Pakistan couldn't snatch a win from the Aussies, which suggests that Aussies had a struggle for losing. Whenever Australia came close to losing, they were pushed back by Pakistan.
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