GAUTICRICKETER

Border Gavaskar Trophy fondly referred as BGT is always known for its hype and this edition isn’t an exception either. Be it the visa request from Khawaja or the coffee powder luggage from Labuschagne or the ploy to use Mahesh Pithiya who had similar action to that of Ashwin , this year’s BGT had enough of highlighting even before the teams reached the venue . In the eve of the first test , there were few banters about the quality of the pitch , not only from the fans or the social media ,  but also from the sporting and journalist veterans from both of the countries.Such was the audacity for this series. “The Day”  With all these build up, both the skippers headed to the toss. It was Pat Cummis who won the toss and decided to bat on what looked like a spin friendly wicket. KS Bharat and Surya Kumar Yadav made their debut for India , while Todd Murphy made his debut for Aussies.         Session 1 -  Fall and Rebuild To everyone’s surprise, Siraj struck...

The Group A match at Bassettere had the Proteas and Dutch facing each other at their respective first outing in 2007 world cup.The match was delayed due to rain. As a causal sequence,each of the innings was retrenched to 40 overs.Netherlands won the toss and invited SA to bat. Devilliers was dismissed in the first over,but Greame Smith and Kallis put on a good show with the bat, tailoring a 114 run stand at a very good scoring rate.In an attempt to deposit the ball over midwicket fence,Greame Smith abdicated his wicket. Herschelle Gibbs with the year of the world cup (07) etched in his jersey marched in as the next batter . Straightaway he got into the action with a attacking cover drive .But the real drama transpired in the 30th over of the match. Leg Spinner Van Bunge rolled his sleeves to bowl the over. The first one was an over pitched flighted delivery and Gibbs' instant reaction was to bludgeon it over the long-on fielder.Infact the ball had landed on the roof. Im...

" This is the day that the Lord has made ,we will rejoice and be glad in it "  Probably these were the lines that Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman would have sung on this very same day,a couple of decades ago.This was the day that had its impact on Indian cricket for a very long time.It wouldn't be exaggerating if i call this out as one of the best moments of life for every Indian cricket fan out there. This particular partnership changed the face of Indian cricket and the series as a whole revealed the fighting spirit that was imparted to Team India by Sourav Ganguly. Eden gardens was filled with multitude of gloomy faces when Day 4 began, courtesy following on to a huge first innings deficit.Indians made a decent start to second innings with openers SS Das and Sadagopan Ramesh providing a decent start.Sachin didn't have a good match as a batsman,but Ganguly and Laxman did manage to weave a decent web in the middle order.By end of Day 3 ,India were struggling...

              On this day, Brendon McCullum fondly known as Baz walked out for one last time to represent the Kiwis in whites at Christchurch, which is considered as his second home. Needless to mention his brand of cricket, he kept his game plan very simple. Watch and Attack was his go to mantra.He was among very few gifted players, who had the ability to set the stage on fire ,right from the word go. It was Feb 20, 2016. NZ locked horns with arch-rivals Aussies in Trans-Tasman test series. It was the second and final test of the series. Aussies won the first match in a formidable manner and were favorites for the second game as well. It was a green wicket at Christchurch and much to the dismay of NZ, they lost some of their quality batsmen. The score was 32/3 when Baz walked out. Kane Williamson fought hard for his 7 consuming 69 deliveries. It was very unfortunate for a player like McCullum to enter the pitch, but he took this stage as an opportunit...

This day in history - Feb15 It was the first test of the tour.The hosts Proteas were taking on a raw Australian visitors at Centurion. Proteas were the clear favourites, mainly due to the bowling prowess they possessed.As usual their bowlers started well, but gutsy centuries from Shaun Marsh and Steve Smith meant some business.An useful contribution from Mitchell Johnson with the bat made sure that Aussies inched closer to 400 mark in their first innings.But what followed was one of the fieriest spell of fast bowling, that world had seen.Banking on his confidence from a good batting performance, Mitchell Johnson made sure that he made life miserable for the hosts' batsmen.SA batsmen,other than Devilliers didn't have their answers prepared for the questions posed by the hostile spell of fast bowling from Johnson. He ended up picking 7 wickets in first innings, handing his team a very healthy lead of 197. Aussies batted well at a brisk pace to keep the lead tickling.They made sur...

 Happy Birthday Master, a perfect batsman who has linked two contrasting generation of Cricket.Such is his echelon, which is a brew of text book and unorthodox modern day cricketing shots. In this space, I have quoted the nostalgic journey of the Master Blaster, in reference with his five best moments that remains fresh in my memories and would always relish my cricketing souvenir. The Sharjah Storm(134) The year was 1998. It was the night of the final, of Coca-Cola cup hosted at Sharjah. Winning the toss and electing to field, Indian bowlers gave a brisk start, but with the aid of some quality knocks from Steve Waugh and Darren Lehmann, Aussies managed a challenging 271. A run chase in the finals,a daunting target of 272,under lights. Sounds challenging, right!!? Ofcourse, it was a mammoth task to Team India. After all it was era which never knew what T20 cricket was. Ganguly and Nayan Mongia adhered to their defensive instincts,playing a second fiddle to Sachin,who was loo...

 Basically, a street-smart cricketer hailing from Chennai, Ashwin threw himself into limelight during IPL 2010, when he finished his season with an excellent economy of 6.10 with even a good strike rate of 22.15. His journey especially at the start of his career was not as flamboyant as it looks. Even in IPL 2010, he had faced hardships of multiple kind, but that's how champions are built. He drove himself through all the obstacles and announced his arrival at the international level. Since his international debut, he has been a phenomenal performer for Team India, as well as for his respective IPL franchises. Especially when it comes to test matches, his numbers speak about his ability. Yes, he had a slightly off season with his first overseas tours, but then he turned the tides. It happens to everyone.  One important trait that Ashwin has is his cricketing brain. He is one of the few cricketing masterminds in the country. He is smart, when it comes to variations and even sma...