Some notes from watching the game at the KSCA. Was a good day at the cricket actually, very enthusiastic Bangalore crowd who showed up in decent numbers for a non-India game, and made a lot of appreciative noise for both sides. I don't believe that pitches like this one do the game any good though - I counted about four balls across innings which swung or moved off the seam. Couple that with the short boundaries, and the bowlers were never in the contest. Some highlights:
-- Lots of cheering for Rachin with some extra excitement over the fact that his parents are from here. If RCB have any sense they'd reel him in and capitalise on the Bangalore association (those who follow the IPL will know this is what RCB are least likely to do). Watching him live, it came to me that he's a reminder of early-days Yuvraj Singh in his ball striking, and how he wants to take the positive option practically every ball (which can also be his downfall)
-- By far the best part of the day was getting to watch Kane. Not the most challenging conditions to bat in but watching him unleash his full range of shots (especially the offside play and hitting the spinners over the top) was worth the price of admission, not sure if I'll get the opportunity to see him live again though one can hope; maybe when NZ visit in 2024. Again, the crowd showed their appreciation for his return and erupted when he took that running catch
-- Fakhar of course overshadowed both of them - very Gayle/Sehwag-esque innings in how he simply took the game away. His legside play was just breathtaking to watch, don't think NZ could have done anything much, even yorker length deliveries were being somehow savaged. I don't believe NZ had a sniff as long as he was there. I'd put this along with Fleming's 134* at the Wanderers in 2003 as one of the best WC chasing innings I've seen (that game too was decided by DLS)
-- Was accompanied by my cousin who's spent most of his life in the US, and knows enough about the game without following closely in recent times. Was a reminder of how distance and outsider perspectives can bring brutal honesty - this game was his first look at Ish Sodhi, and he declared him to be the worst bowler he'd ever seen! When Sodhi made a characteristic misfield at short fine leg, he wondered aloud what Sodhi was doing in this team, and I had to clarify no, Ish is a frontline bowler who's having one of his bad days! TBF as feared Sodhi was a sitting duck with those short boundaries against the left-hander
-- Both above cousin and another friend put it correctly when they said NZ barely seemed to break a sweat in reaching 400, it seemed too easy and almost low-intensity! Not entirely surprising how things turned out by the end.
-- Sparing a thought for Mohammad Wasim, who looked the only bowler on either side who worked out what length to bowl. Surprisingly slippery too. Pretty much every other bowler looked anodyne.
Despite the NZ loss, was an enjoyable day and didn't leave with a bad feeling. Knew all along NZ's bowling had íssues and this particular ground was always going to cause problems (could say the same about Pakistan really - happy for their lifeline, but don't believe either side deserves to go further than a semifinal spot with the way their bowling is). I just hope that losing after putting up 400 on the board leads to the some introspection from the core group - unwilling to mess with the formula and doing the same things again and expecting different results, a reboot is due after the world cup.
