Review - 1st Test India Vs Australia , Bangalore Oct 9-13, 2008

Phew!!!

What a Test match it had been! The 1st test between India and Australia at Bangalore.

5 days of engrossing Test match Cricket.People thought that with the advent of IPL and other T20 formats, Test cricket would soon be a thing of the past. But when you have 2 teams like India and Australia pitted against each other, you are bound to be glued to the on-field action (and off-field action as well).

15 sessions of play on a cracking surface could not seperate India and Australia. Both teams had their own moments but neither team dominated proceedings in such a way as to take a lead in the series opener.
Here are some outcomes from the series

Positive Outcomes for India:

1. Impressive performance by the fast bowlers Zaheer and Ishant. Zaheer commends special mention with a deserving Man of the Match. He had a few words of caution for the Australians
   
2. Dada's (Sourav) ominous form - He missed out on a deserved half-century in the first innings and played a patient second innings to help India draw the first Test match.
3. The resilience shown by the Indian tail against a moderate (if not strong) Aussie pace attack
4. Harbhajan's role both with the bat and ball ( I felt that India would play 3 fast bowlers and a spinner which might have been - Zaheer , Ishant, R.P.Singh and Kumble, but Harbhajan did a more than decent job to cement his place in the team for the rest of the series).

Things for India to ponder upon:

1. The highly unpredictable nature of the Indian middle order. In the first innings, the Indian middle order (except Dada and Dravid) wilted under pressure, while in the second innings they held fort to secure a draw for India
2. Lack of ability to continuously apply pressure on the Aussies: on Day 4 of the Test, when Anil Kumble did not take field due to his shoulder injury, Dhoni acted as the standing captain and he had an attacking field-set to compliment some fantastic bowling from Ishant and Harbhajan during the start of Aussie 2nd innings, but when Kumble was back on field he took a defensive aproach. This approach proved to be costly after the Australians took the score from 133-5 to 193-5 , especially with an out of form Brad Haddin and an inexperienced Shane Watson at the crease.

Things Australia need to worry:

1. Hayden's form: Hayden had the best batting average in the current Australian squad but was dismissed cheaply for 0 and 13.
2. Lack of a specialist spinner might give Ponting a few head-aches. Ponting picked Cameron White instead of Krezja because Krezja was thrashed black and blue in the tour match against Board President's XI. But White did not prove to be any better. He just managed to get Tendulkar's wicket(which was largely due to Tendulkar's nervousness, which is so characterestic of him when he is on 49 and in the 90s). By the way, what a moment to have the world's best batsman as your first Test scalp.
   
3. Moderate pace attack: the likes of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark who troubled the Indians during India's tour of Australia turned out to be a damp squib with none of the bowlers except Mitchell Johnson(in the first innings) being able to trouble the Indian batsmen convincingly
   

The teams now move on to Mohali for the Second test which starts on October 17, 2008.
Lets see how the teams learn from their First test experiences and put it into action effectively when the action begins this Friday.


Keep reading this space for more updates

UNIX Simple Encryption

UNIX has a simple encryption tool called GPG which can be invoked using the gpg command with appropriate parameters.
This command is used to encrypt the contents of a text file
The command works like this:

1. Suppose you hav a file called abcd.txt which contains a single word : unix
2. You encrypt the contents of the file using this format:
3. gpg -c filename (OR) gpg -c abcd.txt (in this case).
4. It asks for a passphrase which acts as a key used to encrypt the contents of the file. Passphrase acts like an encryption key used in common encryption algorithms like AES,DES algorithms and SH(Secure Hash) algorithm etc.
5. On entering the passphrase, the data in the file abcd.txt gets encrypted and stored in a new file called 'abcd.txt.gpg'
6. The file called 'abcd.txt.gpg' contains : <8c>^M^D^C^C^BGFt<84>UÌ2*`É#È ÿ,¡©;ÛXk^T|<8e>ãüÄv+^S(1} ^E<8c>¾á^CÑ2^GÈíò$
7. This is the encrypted form of the word 'unix' when we give a passphrase of 123.
8. To get the data back from the file 'abcd.txt.gpg' use the following command : 'gpg -d abcd.txt.gpg'
9. It asks for the passphrase which you entered during encryption. Enter 123 (or whatever you entered)
10. On entering the passphrase, you get back the original text from the encrypted format.

Drawbacks:
You have to specify which files' contents are to be encrypted when using : gpg -c filename
Then you have to specify a passphrase when prompted and reconfirm it
While decrypting it you hav to again enter : gpg -d filename.gpg
Then you have to re-enter the passphrase to get the original contents of the file

Another Implementation
I am in the process of creating a unix Script which takes as arguments a) the filename of the file whose contents are to be encrypted and b) the passphrase.
This script will be used during encryption
Command : encrypt abcd.txt 123

Similarly there will be another unix Script which takes as arguments a) the filename of the encrypted file and b) the passphrase
This script will be used during decryption
Command : decrypt abcd.txt.gpg 123

[Note:An expect script will be used to get arguments from the Shell and return the output back to the Shell]
This allows the user to just use 2 commands to encrypt and get back the original text

Border Gavaskar Trophy:India Vs Australia (Australia in India 2008)- Preview

The Aussies are back in India for a gruelling series. They may be the number one test team in the world but they have their taks clearly cut out: Fight against a strong Indian side, spinning wickets and the hot & humid climate.

When they came to India in 2001, they were unable to conquer what Waugh described as the 'Final Frontier'.
The Australians came back with renewed vigour to conquer the Final Frontier in 2004 with a 2-1 victory in the tests. In 2004, fast bowling was a major strength for the Aussies with a pace bowling attack spearheaded by Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz. They backed it up with an attacking field placement.

Having won the last 2 series against India (in India 2004 and Australia 2007-08), the pressure will still be on the Australians to show their mettle and win the series.Saying that 'India start as favourites to win the series' might be an understatement. There are many reasons for this:

1. Only 4 members of the current Australian squad have played a Test in India - Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden and Simon Katich.

2. India have a strong team if not the strongest team ever. The Fab Four (Ganguly, Sachin, Dravid and Laxman) have tasted success against the Aussies. Injury worries are minimal.

A lot of people feel that this might be India's best chance to beat Australia. Even Kumble felt so. You can read an article on the same here:
http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/03/stories/2008100357331800.htm
To sum it up lets take a look at the Strengths and Weaknesses of both teams
India
Strengths:

1. Fab Four
2. Harbhajan and Kumble who have troubled the Aussies in the past.
3. Home advantage

Weaknesses:

1. Lack of ability to overcome pressure.
2. Inability to sustain pressure on the opposition (Australia) for consecutive sessions (which is necessary to win a test match)

Australia
Strengths:

1. Effective strategy and game plan
2. Ability to intimidate and pressurize the opposition

Weaknesses

1. Relatively inexperienced squad
2. Pressure on Ricky ponting to perform.(Ponting has a dismal record in India. You can find the related story here: http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/371574.html )
3. Aussies may be distracted by hostilities continued from the previous tour between players (Harbhajan and Hayden etc.)

But the Australians are unpredictable and they always come back strongly when they are written off.
So it needs to be seen whether the Indians can capitalize on their home advantage or buckle under Aussie pressure...
Come Thursday ( 09 October,2008) and the cricket fans will witness the beginning of yet another Renewed Rivalry.
I have managed to get tickets for the 3rd Days play for the First test At Bangalore.
Hope the game is played in the right spirit and is not marred by any controversies

Schedule

October 2008:

Thu 9 - Mon 13
09:30 local, 04:00 GMT 1st Test - India v Australia
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Fri 17 - Tue 21
09:30 local, 04:00 GMT 2nd Test - India v Australia
Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
Wed 29 - Sun 2
09:30 local, 04:00 GMT 3rd Test - India v Australia
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

November 2008:

Thu 6 - Mon 10
09:30 local, 04:00 GMT 4th Test - India v Australia
Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur

More to follow...........