India’s participation in the triangular ODI series to be held during September in Sri Lanka makes no sense.
During the series, the teams i.e., India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand play each other once and the top teams will meet in the finals.
In essence, India plays two games and the Sri Lankan cricket board is hoping that TV Broadcasters will cough up more for the broadcasting rights and the broadcasters in turn are hoping that companies will pay through their nose if India qualifies for the finals.
BCCI’s willingness to help their southern neighbour to make money is unsurprising, but considering that the Champions Trophy follows immediately in October, BCCI should have exercised better judgment and saved the Indian team from marring its chances by falling prey to injuries.
It is obvious that Ishant Sharma has faded after the New Zealand tour. What is not obvious is the reason behind his loss of form.
Some have suggested that Ishant is finding the Twenty20 format difficult to adapt and hence his dismal performances in the IPL 2009 and the World Twenty20.
However, others have suggested that Ishant needs a rest cure and the selection committee should have omitted him from this purposeless ODI series against the West Indies.
They reason that he (Ishant) has started to wane because of overwork and he needs rest to find his form.
What do you believe is the reason behind his lack of form?
With India nowhere in the equation, it should be easy to choose a team to back. This time it is not so because the teams that confront each other are Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Historically, India was the first sub-continental team to win the ODI World Cup, followed by Pakistan and then Sri Lanka. Again, India was the first team to win the World Twenty30 Cup and if the pattern continues then the victor should be Pakistan. Nevertheless, is it the right reason to back Pakistan?
Pakistan during its successful ODI campaign stuttered in the beginning only to go on and win the Cup. This time (World Twenty20 2009), Pakistan looked likely to be the team to make an early exit. However, they regrouped and entered the finals. Does it mean I should choose them as the likely winner?
As they have been ostracized and suffered under the yoke of terrorism, they need the win to uplift those people emotionally. Therefore, this should prove sufficient motivation for the Pakistan cricket team to ensure a win. Does this emotional appeal mean that I should back Pakistan?
Coming to the Sri Lankan team all the reasons excepting the historical fact that they have won the world cup after Pakistan holds good. Sri Lanka and its people too have suffered because of terrorism and a win in the World Twenty20 finals will uplift the country. Moreover, during this tournament they have played tactically great cricket and consistently exhibit a unity of purpose. Hence, should I back Sri Lanka?
Clearly, both teams have the right reasons to win. Both are strong, emotionally charged and know each other’s game like the back of their hand. This could mean that both teams will try to play the percentages and wait for the other team to err. This could well make it an equal and boring battle.
Otherwise, an Afridi or a Jayasuriya could well play the hero and take the match out of the rivals grasp comprehensively. This in no way helps me to decide on the favourite.
As there appears no end to this dilemma, I make bold and choose, nay predict that Sri Lanka will win this World Twenty20 2009.
This is not a blind emotional choice, it is a well thought out decision as when I examine both teams chances, Sri Lanka is the team that has a wrong reason to loose.
Having conducted a blemish less campaign, according to the law of averages, the time is ripe for the Sri Lanka team to loose, a fact that has repeatedly proved itself (look at the South Africans in this tournament).
I however, believe that as the law of averages has proved right many a while, it is time that the law of averages should work against itself and hence assure a Sri Lankan win.
Rain interrupted the cricket match between England and West Indies. As is the norm, the D/L method was used to revise the target.
Accordingly, West Indies had to chase a target off 80 from 9 over’s, which they comfortably reached.
Interestingly, if one were to use the VJD method (a rival method designed by V. Jaya Devan), the West Indies would have had to score 94 from the same 9 overs.
The stiffer target calculated using the VJD method makes me wonder, whether West Indies would have beat England and entered the semi-finals.
The 33-year-old Lee has done nothing remarkable during his comeback. In fact, Gayle mauled him in the World Twenty20 Cup.
Though Ponting was quick to defend his performances, there are others like former Australian bowler and Pakistan’s coach Geoff Lawson, who believes Lee, is undeserving to be in the Ashes squad.
Despite these doubts, CA has not only selected him for the Ashes, but also has reaffirmed their faith in him by putting him on a retainer worth $760,000 for 2009- 2010. If he secures a contract for 2010-2011 too then he will receive $ 1.22 million in match fees alone.
Now the question is whether Lee is worth the money and consequently, doubts arise whether CA has taken a gamble on this often injured and de-motivated bowler.
Leaving aside his worth, I believe CA has no choice but to rely on Lee. There is no bowler in the Australian team who has his aura and barring him, the Australian bowlers are inexperienced at the Test level.
In essence, Lee is the only Australian bowler who has a record of accomplishment in Tests and hence portrayed as a spearhead. Additionally, it too early to be dismissive about his form and ability. Taking these in to account CA has done the right thing on gambling on Brett Lee.
India’s dream of retaining the Twenty20 World Cup came to naught against the disciplined English. The English bowlers taking advantage of the pace and the bounce in the wicket bowled to a plan and choked the Indian batsmen.
It is not that the Indian batsmen succumbed to the pressure; they fought until the last but one ball, however the disciplined English prevailed.
Earlier in the day, everything went according to India’s plan. Listening to Dhoni at the toss one got the impression that India wanted to chase and hence brought in Jadeja in order to strengthen the batting. Nevertheless, the exclusion of Irfan somehow did not jell with the professed idea.
The Indian bowlers performed creditably with Jadeja accounting for the dangerous Pietersen and Bopara. Then Harbhajan took over and managed to restrict England to 153. The odd jarring note was a couple of misfields by Yuvraj Singh. His poor fielding of the last ball cost India an additional 3 runs, which later turned out to be losing margin.
Nevertheless, it was not this lapse in the fielding that cost India the match; it was the inability of the Indian batsmen to dictate terms with the English bowlers that cost us the match.
Losing Rohit early, Gambhir and Jadeja were unable to get the impetus going. This is where one commends the English bowlers. They never let the batsmen free their arms, kept the ball buzzing around the ears and literally kept them on their toes.
Surprisingly, Gambhir, who normally tries to unsettle the bowlers by walking down the pitch, failed to do so. At the other end, Jadeja played too many dot balls and whenever he connected, he was unable to find the boundary.
In retrospect, this phase cost India the match. Both Gambhir and Jadeja were one-dimensional in the sense they tried to heave at the deliveries and in the process forgot to harry the bowlers and the fielders by taking the singles.
The fall of Gambhir and the advent of Yuvraj changed the game slightly. Yuvraj revived the hopes of the Indian fans with a six of the first ball, but he too failed to make an impression.
In the meanwhile, Dhoni came in at the fall of Jadeja’s wicket. Yusuf Pathan came in at the fall of Yuvraj’s wicket. Both Dhoni and Yusuf set about lowering the target in different ways. Yusuf whenever given the opportunity cleared the ropes. Dhoni scurried around and both brought the target to 18 of 3 balls.
Sadly, for India despite a huge one-handed six by Yusuf and a trademark heave by Dhoni India fell short.
One thing stands in sharp relief, if India loses to England then there is no hope in hell. They are out of the tournament and ripe for a lambasting from the press and probably some knee jerk reaction from the BCCI. You can also count on couple of stones being thrown at Dhoni’s house plus effigies being burnt.
If they win, which is a real possibility as they play England and then lose to South Africa, there is still a chance as other factors like the run rate, etc., come into play. This happy state of affairs has come because of West Indies losing to South Africa.
However, for the record, their match against England is vital to their fortunes and to make it more secure they better beat South Africa.
So are you set to witness the India vs. England match at 10 p.m. IST.
Amazing slow motion footage from The Ashes series. Though all the ultra slow motion images are worth viewing a million times, the Vaughan off- drive off the front foot and the ball spinning in Shane Warne's hand are plain unforgettable.
India slumped to a seven-wicket defeat against West Indies at the ICC World Twenty20.
The immediate ramification is that India will now have to win both its matches against England and South Africa in the Super8 to go further in the tournament.
Going by form, India can beat England, but beating South Africa is going to be a tall ask. From now, unless the unimaginable happens, India will be catching the next flight home after the match against South Africa.
Coming to the India – West Indies match, India failed to get a grip on the match. Though there were passages of play, particularly, when Yuvraj and Yusuf were batting when they were in control, largely they never appeared as if they were going to run away with the match.
India managed to shackle and get rid of Gayle early; however, they came against Bravo who sealed India’s fate with an unbeaten 66 off 49 balls. The unheralded Lendl Simmons also struck some lusty bowls to add to India’s misery.
This time India got their batting order right. Despite doing so, India marred its chances with the loss of the top 3 within 5 over’s. Adding to the loss of wickets, Dhoni’s inability to force the pace put paid to India’s hopes of posting a good total. It is apparent that Dhoni has lost his big hitting skills and has become a liability as a batsman.
Going by the pre – match talk, all eyes are on Chris Gayle. Undoubtedly, the temperamental West Indian can make mincemeat of our attack and set the course of the match in a hail of shots. However, concentrating too much on Gayle can also back fire, as Chanderpaul and Sarwan on their own are capable of taking away the matches.
Importantly, our bowlers are untested. The only worthwhile opponent they faced was Pakistan, who according to their captain were playing ‘fun cricket’. (The fact that he was trying to deflect criticism for losing to India is another matter altogether.) Therefore, despite encouraging shows by Ojha, Zaheer, Irfan and Ishanth the bowling is evolving.
Coming to the batting, Rohit has eased our worries on Sehwag’s absence. He has been both destructive without giving the impression of slogging. Gambhir has been more solid than flamboyant. He appears to have lost a bit of dash and at present is scoring a run a ball.
The other problem we have is Dhoni. His contribution as No.3 has been poor. Glaringly, he has deprived the in form Raina his due. Someone needs to din some sense into Dhoni and let Raina take charge.
The middle order has scarcely had any batting to do. Rohit’s sublime form has ensured that they never had to bat. If Rohit fails, there is a strong likely hood of them crumbling under the unaccustomed pressure. The Indians need to steel themselves against this eventuality.
Having said all this, Indians look the better side and if strength of the team was the only factor, they will run away with the match.
Angelo Mathew’s spectacular quick thinking effort is a good advertisement for the game of cricket and deserves all the hyperbole employed to describe it.
This act is sure to draw not only new fans to cricket but will also f ire up many youngsters imagination.Surely, the impressionable ones who watched it would have gone to bed clutching their bats only to dream of pulling such heroics for their team.
Do you agree that even if the World Twenty20 degenerates from here on, his effort makes its conduct worthwhile.
It was Ishant Sharma who started it all off. He was quoted as saying that in Twenty20 it is important to have 'slower balls'.
Which leaves us pondering whether he was quoting from the Kama Sutra.
However, another quote from England made me understand why events in English cricket are described in hyperbole. For example, recently Collingwood was saying that English cricketers have to play brave cricket. He was followed by KP who said the England team had no fear.
Well, the secret is now out. These gutsy talks can be traced back to their preference for "soft balls".
"Health and safety fears, the sale of playing fields, teachers unwilling to supervise and less competitive sport in schools have been blamed for the decline in the use of the hard ball."
Did the Australian debacle have its genesis in IPL Series-2?
Much as one would like to point to cricketing reasons for their loss, it appears that IPL has taken its revenge on Ponting and his team for ignoring it.
Ponting not only chose to give the IPL Series 2 a miss but also urged his team members to focus on Ashes. In fact, a couple of his teammates Clarke and Johnson went further and made it a country vs. money issue.
Sadly, for all of them, they were deprived of much needed practice and going by the first round results, teams that had many players playing in the IPL, like India, South Africa, New Zealand and even England are through to the Group8.
This leaves us wondering whether the curse of IPL is on the Australians.
features such greats as W.G. Grace, Denis Compton, Ian Botham, Graham Gooch and of course a legend in the making Freddie Flintoff, this is a great look at the legends of world cricket.
England finally got their act organized and their team combination correct and beat Pakistan comfortably. Now Pakistan must beat Netherlands convincingly at Lord's to avoid elimination
Surprisingly for Pakistan, their captain appears unconcerned. He brushed the defeat away saying that it is only a Twenty20 match and not a proper international cricket.
This is a wrong attitude and as a team representing a nation, the Pakistan captain should take all the formats seriously. He has only to look at Ricky Pointing of Australia who initially dismissive of the format is now eager to decorate his cupboard with a Twenty20 World Cup.
Even if we were to consider this statement as an effort to hide failure, Younis Khan should remember that he is setting a wrong example. If the captain himself has this lackadaisical attitude then will his players behave differently?
What ever be his attitude to the Twenty20 game, Younis Khan should remember that the Pakistan cricket fans care passionately about their team and want them to win all their matches.
India’s 25-run victory over Bangladesh was neither mundane nor earthshaking. It was a victory fashioned around Yuvraj’s whirlwind 41. The fact that Pragyan Ojha joined the party with a 4 for 21 ensured that India sailed past the first hurdle without a hitch.
This victory ensured that the path to Super8 is smooth. If they are to progress beyond it, then India should speed up the run-rate between the 6th over and the 15th over.
Having watched Dhoni bat at No.3 for Chennai Super Kings and now against Bangladesh, one gets the sickening feeling that he has decided to treat the said over’s like the middle over’s of an ODI.
Surely, if India persists with this strategy of consolidation then stronger teams like South Africa and Australia will make mincemeat of India’s scores.
I am a cricket fanatic whose fantasia stops with the urge to update myself through out the day with the latest cricket news. You can find me constantly refreshing Google news to get the latest that is happening in the world of cricket.
There is however another set of cricket fanatics who live in a fantasy cricket world. Come any major Test match, an ODI, or even a Twenty20 series these cricket aficionados can be found thronging major online fantasy cricket gamesand cricket forums.
You can find them feverishly monitoring the team composition and selecting their own. I often think these online fantasy cricket players worry more about getting their team combination right than the team managers and captains. (BTW, if you are looking for one of the better fantasy game you can the play 20 20 cricket game.)
As I said my cricket fantasia stops with getting cricket updates, where does your fantasia end?
The commentary team for the World Twenty20 (ESPN STAR SPORTS) team comprises of the usual suspects, with Saurav Ganguly being the lone exception. For the record Ganguly makes his debut as a commentator.
Though none of them is going to light up my day, I would love to hear a combination of Sanjay Manjrekar with David Lloyd and Nasser Hussain with Ian Chappell.
According to Jhulan Goswami the Indian team is well prepared. In fact I have learnt that they have devised a strategy so detailed at the same time so simple that I am confident that they will bring the World T20 cup home.
So here is what they plan to do. (Psst.. remember to keep this confidential)
Our main strategy is to go for singles without wasting balls and go for hits in between. We have good batting and bowling line up.
I particularly liked the thought process that led them to decide to use all the 'balls' and go for 'hits' in between.
Now all they need to find the 'balls' in their opponents. That however, is not an easy task as they are playing against other 'balls' less ones.
Anyway with this breathtaking strategy I know you will agree that they will be crowned the champions.
In cricket the West Indies and the Australians are the only teams to have beat the odds and won World Cups in succession. Now the Indian team has a similar opportunity in the 2009 edition of the Twenty20 World Cup. Can they beat the incumbency factor and the burden of expectations?
Back in 2007, the Indian team was just a bunch of eager beavers who unexpectedly won the World Cup. Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly opted to rest thus giving the selectors an opportunity to not only name a new captain but also to name a team of young studs eager to play the field.
No doubt, these newcomers could make their mark but leave enough room for the ‘resting’ mainstays of Indian cricket to reclaim their rightful place. The 2007 World Cup team was in a holding pattern.
The impression that the Indian team was sent to make the numbers was enhanced by the fact they had an acting coach- Lalchand Rajput and a bowling and a fielding coach with no proper contract.
Surprisingly, for a young team and stopgap support staff, they were prepared. The first match where they beat Pakistan through a ‘bowl out’ exemplified their preparedness. The Pakistan captain revealing that they had no clue about the ‘bowl out’ illuminated this.
Dhoni inculcated some street smartness in the team. There was some surprise performances too. Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir provided the impetus. Yuvraj was at his best; Joginder Sharma was the pick among the bowlers with Sreesanth adding the edge. Thus, the Indian Twenty20 surprised everybody and won the World Cup.
However, in 2009, things are different. They are the favourites and the team to beat. Dhoni appears to have lost the freshness of thought that made him the captain with a Midas touch.
The team members have also seen their fortunes dip and revive in the interval. Some like Gambhir, Raina, Rohit and Yusuf have enhanced their reputations. Yuvraj and Dhoni are struggling to regain their batting flair. The team has an abundance of bits and pieces players who could prove a burden.
The problem with these bits and pieces players is the fact that they are mostly spinners. As the World Cup is in England, there is a doubt whether they will be as handy as medium pacers.
The second edition of the IPL in a sense has been a blessing to the Indian team for obvious reasons. However, it may well turn out to be a curse.
There were a whole lot of foreign coaches who were a part of the IPL teams. Similarly national team captains, like Smith of South Africa, Collingwood of England, Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and Daniel Vettori of New Zealand who were a part of the IPL jamboree will have learnt what will work and what will not work in Twenty20. Damningly, they also had the opportunity to study many of the Indian players at close quarters.
So is the Indian team at a disadvantage?
Not so, but they will have to prepare thoroughly and perform mightily to overcome these factors. Dhoni should come out of his set ways and shed his preference for 11 players. Instead, he should trust the whole squad of 15 and give them the opportunity they deserve.
Can the Indian team beat the incumbency factor and win the World Cup?
Image by compscigrad via Flickr
