Clarke v. Symonds: Round 1 to Clarke!

It is rumoured that Clarke, the current skipper of the Australian team (in the absence of Rick Ponting due to injury) is the main culprit and man behind the suspension of his friend Symonds from the team.

Symonds missed the team meeting and preferred to go for fishing. This was seen as lack of committment towards the team. Symonds was sent home in the middle of the Bangladesh series.

Cricket Australia said that it is not Michale Clarke who took this decision. It is a team decision invoving four members--Ponting, coach Tim Nielsen and team manager Steve Bernard.

It was a tough decision for Clarke, because both Symonds and Clarke are good friends.

Michael Hussey, vice-captain in Darwin and the man overlooked for skipper duties for the younger Clarke, praised him for making the big call at the risk of sacrificing his friendship with Symonds, which remains uncertain.

"It was very hard for him, he and Andrew are very good friends. But he seems to have handled it very well; he is the same person and hasn't got himself down about it. In a leadership position you will be required to make those tough calls, and he has done so," Hussey said.

Let us see what happens to him!! All the best Symonds!

Ricky and Australia Take Sweet Revenge in 20-20!

India lost the 20-20 match against Australia by 9 wickets and close to 9 overs spare. After winning the toss, I thought they will choose to bowl, but to my surprise, they batted first. With the inexperienced batting line up in Australian grounds, I would have bowled first. Anyway, they didn't bat well and nothing the bowlers can do.

No one except Irfan Pathan scored double digit figure. He batted sensibly and no one was there to play the full quota of 20 overs. It looked like a practice area for catching. The turning point of the match was the run out of Shewag, which of course was created by the great fielding by MJ Clarke. He should be given full credit for the wonderful fielding and direct hit at non-stricker's end when Shewag took a risk for a single.

I would advise Sreesanth to have his performance talk rather than his mouth and temperament talking. His performance should definitely improve as his experience is very less compared to the great players in the history of cricket. He is not McGrath, Lee, Akram or a Kapil to have his emotions talk rather than his performance.

The score card is given below:

Played at Melbourne Cricket Ground on 1 February 2008 - day/night (20-over match) - Toss: India; Captains: India-MS Dhoni; Australia-Ricky Pointing; Australia won by 9 wickets with 52 balls spare; Man of the Match: MJ Clarke; Umpires: BNJ Oxenford and SJA Taufel

India 73 all out in 17.3 overs (IK Pathan 26; NW Bracken 3 for 11; AC Voges 2 for 5) lost to Australia 75 for 1 in 11.2 overs (AC Gilchrist 25; MJ Clarke 37 NO; BJ Hodge 10 NO)

Hope the young and less experienced Indian team would learn from the mistakes and look for a good start in the Commonwealth Bank Series tournament that starts on February 3, 2008.