Modi loses Rajasthan Cricket Association election

Lalit Modi, BCCI Vice president and commissioner of IPL has lost elections for his home state cricket board – Rajasthan. His position had become untenable since the time new government took over in Rajasthan and it was a matter of time before Modi had to give up on presidency of RCA.

Will this have any impact on IPL? I doubt this. The stakes are too high in IPL and one person’s electoral defeat which has no direct significance for IPL should not worry us. BCCI was ruled by Dalmiya some time back but he is no where near its top echelons now and it has not impacted marketing or cricketing prowess of BCCI. Similarly I do not think Modi’s loss will have any impact on IPL. He would still continue to be part of BCCI and IPL anyway.

Moreover, Cricket in India is driven by passion of people for it, presence of a strong market and corporates that want to target this audience for promoting their products. An individual losing an election will not change any of them and IPL will not see any long term adverse impact on it. The stakes are very high for people involved with IPL and they would make sure that show continues to go on.

NZ beats India again

McCullum played a key role as NZ beat India in 2nd T20 International also. With this result NZ has maintained their clean slate against India in T20 Internationals. NZ is clearly a superior side in this format under the conditions and they will be tough to beat in ODIs also. India would have settled by then and acclimatised to conditions better, hence I think India would be a 3-2 winner.

This match was much closer that previous one and at one stage India looked like in a better situation to win it but McCullum's composure under pressure clinched the game for his team. Hopefully India will maintain the trend and keep improving with each match and soon we will see India leading in ODI series.

NZ tour starts

India began NZ tour with a loss in first T20 international. Not a surprise since NZ is very competitive team in shorter formats and Indians did not get any practice game. It was very similar to last year’s Aus series when India got thrashed badly in T20 international but came back to win ODI series. Like the last time, Indian team tried to impose itself on the opposition and win psychological points for a long battle which remained ahead. Last time, it went very badly and India lost the T20 comprehensively. The result this time is not that bad.

This match has actually given me hope that India would do better than I initially expected in this series. Indian batsmen did not feel much uncomfortable on pitch and scored freely though they went overboard in trying big hits. If nature of pitches remain same over the next weeks, India would be favourite to win test series though ODIs will still be close affair.

In terms of team composition, Irfan looks to be a liability and Praveen or Munaf would be a better choice. In batting, Rohit Sharma is slowly becoming a problem as it has been a long time he has played any useful inning. He had a great opportunity yesterday and he should have stayed on the crease and stabilized the innings with Raina but he missed another opportunity. Hopefully, Yuvraj will get into his elements soon. NZ tour would be a great opportunity for him to cement his place in Test side and also make people stop talking about his records on difficult pitches abroad.

Brad Haddin: The next-in-line for Oz captaincy

Brad Haddin was named captain of Aus Cricket team for T20 match against NZ. Michael Clarke was not fit for the match and Ponting was being rested. Haddin seems to have proved his credientials by claiming Brooms out during Ist ODI against NZ when it was his glove and not the ball which actually hit the stumps. It looks to me as tradition of Aus to select captains who use unfair means to dismiss opponents when they are in tight spot.

This tradition is running at least since the time of Steve Waugh who claimed catch of Brian Lara during 1994-95 series in WI which Aus won and staked its claim for #1 rank by becoming the first team to beat WI for 15 years. That catch proved critical as Aus went on to win that match and ultimately series was won 2-1.

Ponting and Clarke have proven credentials in this area as we saw in last year's series against India. Clarke is relatively inexperienced player but still he moved pretty fast in leadership stakes and his flair towards claiming dropped catches seems to have played a critical role in this. It was no coincidence that he was the bowler when Haddin claimed Brooms as bowled out.

Adam Gilchrist seems to be the biggest loser in this race and Aus selectors never saw him fit to be captain of the side as he never dismissed opponents by making false claims. Lst year against India he tried to mend his ways by claiming Dravid in Sydney test when Dravid had not touched the ball but by the end of the match he realized Clarke is way ahead of him and decided to retire after the series.

Brad Haddin seems to have justified the selectors' decision as Aus went on to win the match in a thrilling finish and Aus selectors' would be hoping that they will keep finding cricketers like him who will justify their unfair means as hunger to win and mental toughness.