It's not looking good for India

After a one-sided T20 series marred by unruly fans, and a scorcher of a first One Day International, India have it all to do in the remainder of the lengthly South Africa tour of India. The 72-day tour saw the Proteas win the three-match T20 series 2–0, which included a play disruption in the second match because fans felt unhappy about India's poor performance and threw water bottles onto the field. The third T20 was rained out. South Africa clinched the first of five ODIs by five runs on 11 October. It was a nail-biting affair, with South Africa posting 303 and the match going to the final ball. A four-match Test series is still to come.

India captain MS Dhoni will feel the expectations of a nation on his shoulders, as India struggle
against South Africa. Photo from www.linkedin.com

Three wins on the trot for South Africa places the momentum with them, and leaves us in no doubt as to what the state of morale is in the two camps. I certainly did not expect South Africa to win the T20 series, and especially not 2–0. Furthermore, India were batting very well in the ODI, with Rohit Sharma slamming 150 runs. It looked like we were going to lose. But credit to our bowlers. Staring down the face of the barrel, we did not change our tactics. We stuck to our game plan, even to the final over, and it paid off. Two wickets in an over for both Imran Tahir and Kagiso Rabada (in the final over) showed that we have big-match-temperament.

I have to say, it was beautiful watching Rabada bowl so well against high-profile batsmen. For a 20-year-old bowling the final over against MS Dhoni, when India only needed 11 runs to win, must have been nerve-wracking. But Rabada held his line and length and did not step over the line. Instead, he snatched the wickets of Dhoni and Stuart binny, and only gave away five runs. Incredible. AB de Villiers was awarded the man of the match for his 104 runs off 73 balls. I feel Sharma deserved the award though.

The phenomenal innings by Sharma aside, India are not in good form, neither with bat nor ball. India's star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's injury will strike a blow in the hearts of Team India, and with the Indian fans openly expressing their dissatisfaction in the team's performances, it probably does not feel good being an Indian cricketer at the moment.

The second ODI will be played on 14 October.

The irrationality factor of sport

The three match ODI series between South Africa and India was supposed to be one of the most competitive this year. 
It was not.

South Africa dominated India in the first two ODIs and scored 301/8 in the third before rain prevented a result. SA won the series 2-0. In all three games Quinton de Kock (20) scored a century. He received man of the series for this.  

Quinton de Kock (20) scored his first century of the series in pink. sports.ndtv.com aptly gave this photo the caption: "Baby-faced 'pink panther' Quinton de Kock takes Proteas to win in 1st ODI". Image taken from sports.ndtv.com.

This is why I love sport: Things happen that shouldn't.

Wigan beat Chelsea last season (football), Ireland nearly beat New Zealand this year (rugby), football players are judged to he worthy of extreme prices but profusely fail to live up to their designated values, and a 20 year old scores three consecutive centuries against the world number one ODI side (cricket).

These are all unpredictable occurrences that defy logic. Common sense cannot comprehend these events and has to turn its face away.

For English football fans this picture needs no explanation. For everyone else: A few years before Fernando Torres (29) came to Chelsea he was one of the best strikers in European football. Going to Chelsea, one of the better clubs in England, he received a contract worth 50 million pounds. Since then Torres has not been nearly effective. Image taken from http://www.lfcreds.com/.

In this ODI series the Proteas batsmen actually played spin better than pace, dispatching the spinners all around the ground for numerous fours and sixes. I have never seen South Africans do so well against spinners, and against Indian spinners nogal! India does not just have world-class spinners, they have world-class spinners on the bench, or unselected. Think Ashwin, Jadeja, Mishra, Ojha, Chawla...

India were (and are) the number one ODI team. South Africa are currently tied fourth with Sri Lanka. The demolition of India in the ODI series demonstrates either two things: 

1) India are still very poor away from home and their success in cricket and position in the ICC rankings is primarily due to the abundance of cricket they play at home.
2) The Proteas were simply much better than the Indian team.

Why is it that in sport we see the best lose against the worst and the most unlikely and unpredictable things happen? 

Whatever the reason, this factor makes sport all the more interesting. 

Despite the ODI series going the way it did (illogically), I am still looking forward to the Test series as I think it will be more competitive.

One last thought: the Proteas' dominance of India was predominantly facilitated by the brilliance of Quinton de Kock. Why can't he be placed in the Test squad?

Sachin

In a game where false starts can end your international career before it really gets going.

In a game where media scrutiny and public criticism can smother one's self-confidence to the point of paralysis.

In a game where foul play and match-fixing abound and honesty is unexpected.

One man stood up as a shining symbol.




Image taken from http://htmlgiant.com.

 
Sachin tendulkar (40) stood up to the challenges of cricket and prevailed as a symbol of skill, resilience and integrity.
 

Image taken from http://sportsupdate360.blogspot.com.

Image taken from www.hdwallpapersinn.com.





Image taken from http://tendulkar.co.in.

Sachin Tendulkar is one of the best batsman the world has ever seen. He is the leading run scorer in tests and ODIs. He has scored 15,921 runs in tests at an average of  53.78, including 51 centuries and a best of 248*. He has scored 18,426 runs in ODIs at an average of 44.83, including 49 centuries and a best of 200*.
 
His ODI 200* was scored at the age of 36 against South Africa on 24 February 2010 and was the first ODI double century. Since then Virender Sehwag (219) and Rohit Sharma (209) have passed Tendulkar. 
 
A myriad of Tendulkar records can be seen on his website (http://tendulkar.co.in/) and at http://www.thatscricket.com/india/players/sr-tendulkar.html. My favourite is that he has the record for most number of man of matches and man of series in ODIs and man of matches in world cups; because that shows how superior he is to other players.
 
Tendulkar was just as good away from India. He scored a record 8,705 runs in tests away from home, including a record 29 centuries. He scored 3,630 test runs at an average of 55.00 in Australia.
 
Tendulkar began his career at the age of 16 and was the third youngest player to make a test debut. He then played international cricket for 24 years. As his records show, he was a brilliant batsman. As a bowler Tendulkar also took 46 wickets in tests (ave. 54.17) and 154 wickets in ODIs (ave. 44.48).

Image taken from www.examiner.com.

 

As a person Tendulkar showed integrity and humility right up until his departing speech, thanking and honouring everyone involved in his development in cricket. He began his speech by thanking his father.
 
Cricket South Africa Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said of Tendulkar, "Sachin has been one of the best role models the game of cricket could have ever wished for... we would all love our children to play the game in the same spirit that he does... I would argue there is no better modern cricketer in the complete sense than Sachin Tendulkar."
 
The few controversies Tendulkar was involved in can be found here http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130424/sports-cricket/article/controversies-involving-sachin.

I believe that Virat Kohli will be the next super-batsman, not just for India but for world cricket.