Punter & Bracken not playing in this year’s IPL!

Quite surprising, I have to say.

Lalit Modi’s tweets have been interesting to read and this tweet says that their contracts have been bought out by Kolkata and Bangalore respectively.

What it means, effectively, is that both of them have got paid the amount of their contract for this year but have been asked to stay away.

IPL teams can only have 10 foreign players in their squad at any particular time. It was recently reported that there were threats of violence against Australian players if they came to Mumbai because of the killings of Indian students in Australia.

There would’ve been a good chance that these 2 may not play in the IPL. However, none of the Australian players have withdrawn from this year’s IPL yet, perhaps waiting for advice from the Australian Cricketers Association. This could possibly mean that, by the time they do notify their teams about their withdrawal, it might be too late.

Apparently Mohammad Kaif’s contract has been bought out by Rajasthan, so he becomes the only Indian in the auction tomorrow!

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Flashes of Edgbaston ’05 for Punter!

Punter’s punt must have brought back the ghosts of Edgbaston ’05 as he watched the carnage unfold.

For the uninitiated, it was the Ashes 2005, the series which many (including myself) consider the greatest test series ever.

The first test match resulted in a resounding win for Australia by 300-something runs.

On the morning of the 2nd test, Glenn McGrath, who took … wickets in the first match, was sent to the hospital after he slipped on a stray ball during practice.

Not realizing that his bowling attach isn’t the same without him, Ponting decided to put England in to bat in conditions which can hardly be described as challenging to the batsmen.

The English openers, Strauss and Marcus Trescothick, replied in kind by getting off to a rollicking start. England ended up with 408 on the first day, which was the 2nd most number of runs made by England in a single day.

It is believed that that was the moment when Australia gave away the momentum built from the first test.

Coming to Sydney ’10, Ponting must’ve been absolutely stupid to have opted to bat. Not having watched the toss, I was under the impression (for some reason) that MoYo won the toss and elected to bowl, which is pretty much a no-brainer, considering the fact that the pitch was lush green and might have a bit of dampness in addition to the possible moisture in the air.

Knowing that Asif could well exploit it, it came as a shock to me that it was Ponting who decided to bat first. It was a clear over-estimation of the capabilities of his batsmen (esp. Phil Hughes, the most overrated batsman in Australia).

This could also be exactly the point where he gifts the momentum to Pakistan.

Granted, Pakistan’s batsmen are liable to collapse any moment, but even if they do so for about 300 or so, they still have a hefty lead of 180. Considering that the bowling has been reinforced with the addition of Gul and Kaneria, I can’t imagine how Australia could possibly win this match.

BTW, for the curious bunch, Sami‘s average is still under 50 (49.85, to be precise)! 😛

McGain losing..

Another pun over there! Looks like its a day for puns!

Poor McGain…gets a debut just a week before his 37th birthday and gets launched into the stands by none other than Kallis!

He’s already conceded 93 off his 10 overs. But I generally hear that leggies do give away quite some runs early in their career and that captains have to persist with them.

However, from what I have seen, Ricky doesn’t always seem too keen on taking a specialist spinner into the side ever since Warney retired, so there is a possibility that McGain might not play in the Ashes if he continues like this.

Just hopes that Punter punts on him and it works!

The drama continues……

Can’t get better than this, can it?

Punter comes out and claims that Dan Vettori has sent an SMS to Haddin apologising for calling him a ‘cheat’.

Dan (and the whole of the NZ team, don’t know why) denies that he ever sent a text to Haddin as such.

So who’s lying?

I’ve always known that there’s been some ANZAC rivalry. I just thought that it was just a bunch of hyped-up crap by the Kiwis, but looks like there’s some meaning to all that hype.

Can Ponting do any worse?

BTW, I’m gonna have a new tag, ‘Bowled Haddin’! It’ll be detailing the progress of yet another off-field drama in cricket, so, in case you’ve missed out on anything, just click on the tag.

Oh dear oh dear…….

It just seems that nothing is going right for Australia.

First, Brad Haddin commits a ‘foul’ by knocking off the stumps and claiming a bowled decision from the ump! Now, this is just plain tom-foolery! How low can you go to win?

I don’t know how many of you remember, but a similar incident happened here in SL in 2004. The test match seemed to be drifting away from the Aussies, and Hashan Tillekaratne was at the striker’s end. He plays the ball away and doesn’t take a run. However, about 15 seconds after he’s made the shot, Justin Langer (of all people) walks by the stumps, knocks the bails off, and everyone jumps up in an appeal for ‘bowled’. It goes to the 3rd ump, and given ‘not out’.

I mean, how blatant can it get? OK, everyone cheats once in a while by not walking, or for appealing for balls bouncing outside leg, but, come on, aren’t you going a bit over the line by doing such crappy stuff?

However, Brad considers himself ‘not guilty’! Typical Aussie style, looks like they can’t get to grips with the fact that they’re not ‘world-beaters’ anymore!

Ponting then brings a bombshell by announcing that he’s resting for the next 2 ODIs.

Now that’s just poor timing. The team is in bad shape, having lost 5 of the last 6 ODIs, and to desert them is just criminal! Of course, you can’t blame Ponting, he may have protested, but the brains of the CA honchos seems to be disintegrating! Looks like someone has to give Andrew Hilditch the boot before the Aussies go into a rut!