Yuvraj the Inexplicable (except, you know, not really)

Eh heh, funny that my last post here, which pimped the Australia-India series so much
(which ha ha, I missed out on blogging upon, cos apparently medical school, cricket and blogs don't mix that well) is titled "Take a bow, Ricky Ponting", because the general sentiment now seems to be "Bow out, Ricky Ponting" (only as captain o'course - before I get waylaid by a pack of wild kangaroos).

I took whatever limited opportunities I could find to fangirl the Indian team however - 2-0 win against the Aussies, and we, well, trounced them. Yeah, roll that round your tongue. A little exotic, yes? But delicious all the same. Along the way, Kumble retired, Ganguly played his last Test, Dhoni took over as full-time captain, Krejza had the Most Unbelievable Debut Ever (dude, that afternoon session on day 4 in Nagpur had me close to hyperventilating for a moment or two, and when he took eight wickets on day 2, all I could do for a few minutes was blink dazedly and repeat slowly, much to the annoyance of my friends, "Eight wickets. Eight."), Gambhir the Rude Midget elbowed Shane Watson the Harassed Angel, Ponting chose to reveal his Boneheaded Self at the only moment when his team looked like they could win anything at all, and Dhoni nearly made my heart explode with love for his captaincy, uber-cool batting and his penchant for Lovely Little Symbolic Gestures - right from carrying Kumble on his shoulders after his retirement in the Kotla Test, to handing one of the stumps to Ganguly at the end of the Mohali Massacre, asking Ganguly to captain the team in the last few minutes of his international career, to requesting Kumble to receive the Border-Gavaskar Trophy along with him at the end of the last Test. So. Much. Love.

... Anyway. That be the backstory now, as we play England in a seven-match ODI series. England, delightfully fresh from theit Antigua Stanford Humiliation proceeded to rub salt in their wound in a way only the English (occasionally the Indians, but then again, not really) can, by capitulating to a second string MCA XI in a most embarassing fashion. KP, for all the Fresh Hope that he brought to the side after leading his team to an unexpected trouncing of the Saffers in his first ever assignment as captain, could only dip his head into his (sexy tattooed) arms and then declare it was a practice match, and that the real evaluation of his side ought to come after they played an international match.

Well, India and England 'clashed' at Rajkot in the first match of the seven-match series today, and KP? The first set of results are out. And they ain't lookin' good.

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/indveng/engine/current/match/361043.html

Yeah, trounced by 158 runs. What's that blue stuff along with the yellow one underneath the Indians' shoes, you ask? Oh, that's England, dontcha know.

A large part of the huge margin owes itself to the Magnificence of Inexplicable Yuvraj. Let me make no bones about the fact that I utterly loathe this man, but boy, when he lets his bat talk like he did today, all you can do is pick your dislocated jaw up from the floor! This guy, for all the irritation his personality causes me, once again proved to the world that he is bursting to the seams with incredible batting talent. Why he is Inexplicable, of course, is the eternal gripe that even after eight freakin' years in the national squad, he's never been able to make a place for himself in Tests, or even ensured a rock-solid consistency in the shorter formats. His form graphs dip to hideous (in Australia and Sri Lanka earlier this year) and then rise to glorious peaks just as suddenly (like TODAY, dammit).

But if there is something consistent about him, though, is the wonderful dynamic he shares with his captain. He and Dhoni put up yet another 100 run partnership today in double-quick time, and he always seems to play his best these days with Dhoni at the other end.

Talking of dynamic partnerships, Viru and Gauti proved themselves to be the most reliable rocket-propellant in international cricket once again, getting us off to a brisk but solid start. Raina and Rohit also look to be in good form, and Dhoni seems to be carrying forward his excellent form from the Tests, so batting-wise, India's smokin'.

England came out to chase 388 (aw come on, that's easy, as the Saffers will tell you - or maybe not), and quickly slipped to 40-0dd for 4. Yeowch.

KP flexed his muscles for a quick half-century, and Bopara and Broad indulged in some heavy-duty slogging toward the end, but England finally folded up for 229 in the 38th over, losing by 158 runs.

Of course, a stellar effort from the Indian bowlers, but one wonders if the England innings ought to have been finished a whole lot faster. Too many overs from the part-timers (indeed, Sehwag and Yusuf proved to be extremely prolifigate) at a time when India really ought to have gone for the kill - like when England were 70-odd for 5, perhaps? Did Dhoni miss a trick there? Or was it because of limited options? Or did he have something else in mind? Same thing happened a couple of times in Sri Lanka, too. Maybe he didn't want to strain Zaks - after all, expensive part-timers or no, they were going to win the match, and win it comfortably. Bhajji proving to be ineffective (relatively) also messed things up a bit.

For England, well, miserable as the results must seem, they'll take the tiniest bit of heart from KP's form, and Broad's and Bopara's clean hitting, and for India's history of complacency following BIG wins, like this one.

So, England, go ahead clutch at the straws, get your act together, and give us a better contest next ODI!

(... and DO NOT make me regret saying that...)

I wish I could've watched today's match (Yuvraj on song is always a treat to watch), but college and the fact that I am several kilometres away from the nearest TV, made me resort solely to Internet commentary. Not too bad, but following cricket on the 'net can make you mad, with all the opinions and the vitriol and the nonsense that is interspersed by good, solid analyses.