Loud Thinking

Archive for 2013

India v Australia, 7th ODI, Bangalore

6 overs or Thirty-six balls, 115 runs

Stats highlights from an incredible one-day international in Bangalore
S Rajesh

November 2, 2013

Rohit Sharma’s last 59 runs came off just 3 overs or 18 balls

Rohit Sharma’s 209, off 158 balls with 12 fours and 16 sixes, is the slowest of the three double-centuries in one-day internationals. Virender Sehwag’s 219 came off 149 balls (strike rate 146.97), while Sachin Tendulkar’s unbeaten 200 was off 147 (136.05). Rohit’s strike rate was 132.27.
There were 16 sixes in Rohit’s innings, which is the most by a batsman in an ODI innings. The previous record was 15 by Shane Watson during his unbeaten 185 against Bangladesh in Mirpur. Sixteen is also six more than the combined sixes that Sehwag and Tendulkar struck in their double-hundreds: Sehwag struck seven sixes in his 219, and Tendulkar just three in his unbeaten 200.
Rohit’s first 50 took him all of 71 balls. During that period, he played out 39 dot balls, took 24 singles, hit three fours and one six. In complete contrast, his last 59 came from a mere 18 balls: it included seven sixes and three fours, and he played out only four dot balls. Rohit brought up his 150 with only 27 balls left in the innings; at that point, it would’ve been unthinkable to imagine that he’d get a double. Yet, he faced two-thirds of the remaining balls from that stage (MS Dhoni scored 32 from 9 balls), and ended up on 209.
How Rohit paced his innings
Runs Balls Dots 1s/2s/3s 4s 6s
First 50 71 39 24/4/0 3 1
Second 50 43 22 13/2/0 1 5
Third 50 26 9 7/2/0 5 3
151 onwards 18 4 3/1/0 3 7
Total (209) 158 74 47/9/0 12 16
Among those who bowled more than five balls to Rohit, the only bowler who ended with respectable stats was Watson: he conceded only three runs off ten balls, though he bowled during a stage when Rohit hadn’t cut loose. Overall, Rohit scored at 6.90 runs per over against Australia’s seamers, but he was unstoppable against spin, scoring 79 off 45 balls, a rate of 10.53 to the over.
Rohit against Australia’s bowlers
Bowler Balls Runs Run rate Dots 4s/ 6s
Xavier Doherty 34 57 10.05 11 2/ 5
Clint McKay 28 48 10.28 11 2/ 5
James Faulkner 42 46 6.57 23 4/ 2
Nathan Coulter-Nile 28 32 6.85 14 4/ 1
Glenn Maxwell 11 22 12.00 4 0/ 3
Shane Watson 10 3 1.80 7 0/ 0
Aaron Finch 5 1 1.20 4 0/ 0
Rohit’s series tally of 491 is the highest by a batsman in a bilateral series. The next-best has also happened in this series: George Bailey’s 478.
The 167-run partnership between Rohit and MS Dhoni came at a run rate of 10.65 runs per over, the third-highest among all 150-plus partnerships in ODIs. The second-highest came in this series as well, when Rohit and Virat Kohli added 186 at a run rate of 10.73 in Jaipur.
India’s total of 383 is the 63rd instance of a team scoring 350 or more in an ODI, of which India have contributed 19. Three of those have been in this series itself – before this innings they had also scored 362 for 1 in Jaipur, and 351 for 4 in Nagpur. The next-highest number of such scores is 13, by South Africa, while Australia have 11. Nineteen of the 63 such scores have also happened in ODIs in India, which is again easily the highest; the next-best is 12 in South Africa, and then six in the West Indies.
In the last six overs, India scored 115 runs, with the following over-wise break-up: 15, 16, 26, 20, 17, 21. It’s the most runs scored in the last six overs of an ODI between two Test-playing sides in the last ten years. The only two instances of more runs were when New Zealand scored 122 against USA at The Oval in the 2004 Champions Trophy, and South Africa scoring 118 against Netherlands at Amstelveen in May 2013.
India struck 19 sixes in their innings, the highest by any team. There had been four previous instances of 18. The total number of sixes in the match, 38, is also a record.
Australia looked out of the match when they were 211 for 8, but the 115-run ninth wicket stand between James Faulkner and Clint McKay was an incredible fightback. That’s the highest ninth-wicket stand for Australia in ODIs, and the fourth-best among all teams.
The match aggregate of 709 is the fifth-highest in an ODI. Of the six instances when more than 700 have been scored in a match, three happened in this series.
There were nine scores of 300 or more in this series, easily the highest number in a bilateral series. The five 350-plus scores is also a record in a bilateral series – the previous-best was two.
Glenn Maxwell’s half-century came off just 18 balls, the second-fastest in ODI history and the joint-quickest by an Australian. It equalled Simon O’Donnell’s effort against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 1990.
Faulkner’s 116 is the third-highest score by a No. 7 batsman in ODIs, and the best for an Australian. Only MS Dhoni and Shaun Pollock have scored more at that position, and both those scores were made within a span of five days, in the Afro-Asia Cup in 2007.
Clint McKay went for 89 in his ten overs, the second-highest number of runs conceded by an Australian bowler: Mick Lewis had disappeared for 113 in that Johannesburg ODI in 2006. Nathan Coulter-Nile’s 80 runs is in joint tenth place.
Vinay Kumar went for 102 in his ten overs, which is only the fifth instance of a bowler conceding more more than 100 in an ODI. The previous-highest by an Indian was 88, by Zaheer Khan against Sri Lanka in Rajkot in 2009.
S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. Follow him on Twitter

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“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”

— Frederick Keonig

Common-Ground is the state of sharing features or attributes.

“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.”

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894);
essayist, poet, novelist

Harakiri of the Pakistani batsmen is continuing.

In cricket, batsmen get out in two ways. Either, by a good or unplayable ball sent by the bowler or, they themselves get out by playing a poor shot.
The way Muhammad Hafeez got out today at 26, it looks the Harakiri of our batsmen started from the 1st innings of the 2nd Test, is continuing unabated.

Pitches all over the world suits fast bowling, at least for the first two hours.

In UAE, pitches dramatically change their character and become perfect batting track, after first two hours.

Knowing these facts, I would have put South African team in for batting, to put them under pressure of our pacers.

Irfan, particularly bothers the South African opening batsmen a lot, always in his opening spells.

Anyway, now we should back our team, which is batting first, albeit our batsmen are already hopping and jumping on the crease.

Maximize Time When Meeting with Senior Leaders

A meeting of multiple time-starved executives is a massive commitment of resources. Focusing on low-stakes issues, like updates or presentations, often wastes valuable time. Instead, meetings among senior leaders should tackle the organization’s most critical issues. Whether you’re a top executive or just meeting with fellow managers, try to concentrate on:
Fundamentals, not incrementals. Measure importance by the number of zeros involved: Is this a $5,000 decision or a $5,000,000 decision? If there aren’t enough zeros, the decision isn’t strategic enough to absorb time.
Future leadership. Current leadership must engage the organization’s up-and-comers to grow the company. Develop succession plans and include promising leaders in strategic discussions to foster their high-level decision-making.
Undiscussables. Whether it concerns a division’s performance, the CEO’s leadership style, or a conflict among the senior team, important topics not being discussed can hold your organization back. Broaching these tough topics is a proven way to improve performance.

Adapted by HBR from “Four Areas Where Senior Leaders Should Focus Their Attention,” by Peter Bregman.

An advice to the Pakistani cricket team’s management and its players.

Rather than going for criticising the players, who are failing in their performances, I want to change the attitude and infuse passion and intensity in the team.

The attitude of the players must be changed, so that each player thinks he is playing for the country; and must display the maturity and responsibility, as if, he was the PM of Pakistan and captain of the team.

According to Nido R. Qubein,
Quote. “Literature and history are full of people who suffered from handicaps, had talents that were inferior to those around them, lived in the worst of circumstances, or faced many defeats.

Yet, many of these people are listed among the winners in life’s Hall of Fame.

The secret is this: Whether you reach success or failure in life has little to do with your circumstances; it has much more to do with your attitude…with your faithful courage…with your choices!

You see, non-achievers blame their circumstances; winners rise above their circumstances. Some concentrate on the blank wall that boxes them in; winners always look for a way to get under it, over it, around it, or through it.

Surround yourself with positive influences. When you are surrounded by negative thinkers, image, or materials, it is easy to get bogged down in hopelessness.

Read inspiring books and magazines. Listen to motivational recordings and speakers. Attend positive-thinking seminars or programs. Make it a point to read or watch or listen to something positive and inspiring at least once every day.

Associate with positive people. Look for friends who feel good about themselves, people who have the attitude of gratitude. People who need to tear down others are not happy with themselves and are not good for you or your attitude.”Unquote.

Players must give their best, forget about the result and leave it to Allah.

Players should and must support and cover up the weaknesses of each other, so that it becomes the duty of comrades to convert the failure (s) of a colleague into the success of the team.

Rather than going for criticising the players, who are failing in their performances, I want to change the attitude and infuse passion and intensity in the team.

The attitude of the players must be changed, so that each player thinks he is playing for the country; and must display the maturity and responsibility, as if, he was the PM of Pakistan and captain of the team.

According to Nido R. Qubein,
Quote. “Literature and history are full of people who suffered from handicaps, had talents that were inferior to those around them, lived in the worst of circumstances, or faced many defeats.

Yet, many of these people are listed among the winners in life’s Hall of Fame.

The secret is this: Whether you reach success or failure in life has little to do with your circumstances; it has much more to do with your attitude…with your faithful courage…with your choices!

You see, non-achievers blame their circumstances; winners rise above their circumstances. Some concentrate on the blank wall that boxes them in; winners always look for a way to get under it, over it, around it, or through it.

Surround yourself with positive influences. When you are surrounded by negative thinkers, image, or materials, it is easy to get bogged down in hopelessness.

Read inspiring books and magazines. Listen to motivational recordings and speakers. Attend positive-thinking seminars or programs. Make it a point to read or watch or listen to something positive and inspiring at least once every day.

Associate with positive people. Look for friends who feel good about themselves, people who have the attitude of gratitude. People who need to tear down others are not happy with themselves and are not good for you or your attitude.” Unquote.

Players must give their best, forget about the result and leave it to Allah.

Players should and must also support and cover up the weaknesses of each other, so that it becomes the duty of the comrades to convert the failure (s) of a colleague into the success of the team.

My answer to the question that “DO WANT ANY CHANGES IN THE PAKISTANI TEAM FOR THE 2nd ODI?”

Rather than going for the changes in the personnel, I want to change the attitude and infuse passion and intensity in the team.

The attitude of the players must be changed, so that each player thinks he is playing for the country; and must display the maturity and responsibility, as if, he was the PM of Pakistan and captain of the team.

Players must give their best, forget about the result and leave it to Allah.

Players should and must support and cover up the weaknesses of each other.