World Twenty20: Younis Khan gets it wrong

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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.

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India starts WC Twenty20 title defense with a win

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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.

Should India reconsider its batting strategy?

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Lost in the world of Fantasies

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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 games and 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?

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APU is back

One of our regular readers Ankit, cricket blogger extraordinaire suffered a fate that has struck lesser men, like yours truly.

Having gone in for his own custom domain, he found to his utter chagrin that his domain hijacked by some unscrupulous online elements.

Fortunately, Ankit is one of the resilient types and he is back at what he does best i.e., blogging on cricket.

You can find him and his opinions at ALL PADDED UP. So please follow the link and welcome him back home.

World Twenty20 banana skins

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"The chances of Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands adding a scalp or two during the World Twenty20 starting tomorrow are nil in the case of Scotland and the Netherlands, and slim in the case of Ireland, the best of the associate nations."

Even if the chances are remote who do you believe is capable of causing an upset?

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Commentary team for World Twenty20

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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.

Here is the list of commentators:

Saurav Ganguly, Wasim Akram, Sanjay Manjrekar, Alan Wilkins, Harsha Bhogle, Nasser Hussain, David Lloyd, Ian Chappell, Simon Doull, Kepler Wessels, Ian Bishop, Ranil Abeynaike and Athar Ali Khan.

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.

Which combination would you prefer?

World T20 - What about the eves?

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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.

What do you say?

India- Pakistan Bhai! Bhai!

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Q becomes poetical and sentimental and calls all Indians and Pakistanis to come together.

Net result we become misty eyed.

World Twenty20 - India and the incumbency factor

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?

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IPL revives interest in cricket?

An interesting bit of news from New Zealand calls for some speculation. However, let us see the information first before speculating on it.

The number of people registered to play cricket in New Zealand exceeded 104,000 during the summer, only the second time in the sport's recorded history that the 100,000 participation mark has been achieved.

End of season figures released by New Zealand Cricket (NZC) showed attendances at international matches during the 2008-09 season reached 209,228 - 16 percent ahead of the season target of 180,000.

Though the research points to the high profile Test series that took place last summer (West Indies and the Indian tour), I believe the increase in interest is due to the high profile signing up of McCullum by NSW plus the recent speculation whether he will play for Otago or NSW in the Champions League.

Also there are other New Zealand cricketers like Nathan Astle who are sought after by the rebel leagues. A survey taken among New Zealand cricketers a couple of months ago had revealed that a majority believed that signing up with IPL as an apogee of their cricketing career.

Carrying these information forward and also together, I speculate that it is the success of the Twenty20 format as seen in IPL behind this surge in interest.

Do you agree?

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Are Indian’s the favourites?

The success of Indian players in the IPL makes it easy to conclude that the Indian team is the favourite to win the ICC Twenty20 Cup.

In fact, none other than Wasim Akram and Sanjay Manjrekar concludes so and argues that the Indian team can withstand the pressure of being the favourites.

Well, being an Indian I have no reason to argue with the stalwarts, however, I believe that the teams from South Africa and Pakistan can give the Indian team a good run for their money.

There is also the wounded Australian team hungering to reestablish their dominance in all formats of cricket. 

Therefore, favourites or not the Indian team had better beware.

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Twenty20 - Everyones Game?

Check out this Twenty20 World Cup Promotional video.

Twenty20 "a thinking player's game"

Does the success of the 'oldies' - Hayden, Gilchrist and Kumble in IPL 2009 suggest that the Twenty20 format is a thinking player's game?

A New York Times columnist Huw Richards believes so.

"Jeremy Snape, a qualified psychologist who also played for England in one-day internationals, pointed out two years ago that behind the noise, the witless television commentary and the unsubtle product placement that grab the attention, Twenty20 is “a thinking player’s game.”

The success of these players, old but smart in the I.P.L., suggests he is right."

Apart from this conclusion the article is interesting to regular readers of Well Pitched as it appears to base its premise "It isn’t how many you win, but when you do it that matters — at least if your competition is decided by playoffs" from this article written by Q.

NSW bid for McCullum

"Otago cricket chiefs say they'll consider an audacious $US250,000 ($NZ404,000) bid from New South Wales to grab Brendon McCullum for the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 tournament in October."

Get ready for another round of BCCI bashing.

Do wrong decisions cause bad behavior?

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Billy Bowden while endorsing the umpiring review system said it will improve player behavior and reduce stress on match officials.
His logic being a majority of bad behavior by players arises out of umpiring decisions. Therefore, when television replays correct wrong decisions he concludes it will automatically eliminate petulance on the field.
Though the reasoning appears sound, the skeptic concludes that the players will surely find another excuse to behave badly.
Do you think bad behavior emanates out of wrong umpiring decisions?

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Disappointment

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BRC enters the finals by beating Chennai Super Kings in the second semi-final.

- This too shall pass.

I am for round the year IPL

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Modi has set the cat among the pigeons by talking of two IPL’s a year. I am all for it and suggest Modi should not stop with two; there should be two if not three IPL.

To make IPL interesting, I go so far to suggest that franchisees should have a different set of players with a limitation of just 2 or 3 players playing in all the tournaments.

I am all for more IPL because I believe, a meaningless IPL is far more entertaining and is of much superior quality than a meaningless Test.

Mind you, I use the word ‘quality’ with a purpose. Everyone will agree that in a IPL match there are two teams with top rung players playing, whereas you cannot say the same about the teams playing a Test (outside the ‘iconic’ series).

When quality cricketers participate, it follows automatically that we get to see quality games. Unquestionably, everyone would prefer watching top-drawer stuff.

A man and his drink are one

A man goes to great lengths to save his beer. Obviously, it can happen only during cricket match.

Mongoose – A Twenty20 bat

Cricket bat manufacturers surely do have a sense of humor. Otherwise, why will they go name a new bat designed for the Twenty20 game as ‘Mongoose’?

Anyway, this bat has a blade 33% shorter and a handle that is 44% longer than the normal conventional one.

I can understand the thought behind a 44% longer handle, but the justification for a 33 % shorter blade beats me.

Do you have thoughts on the reasoning behind a shorter blade?

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IPL - Chennai Super Kings Qualify for the Semi’s

What a relief!

Somehow, despite the reassuring numbers (net run-rate, points et all.), I dreaded the thought of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) losing to Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). To me I wanted a comprehensive win – a win that will ensure our entry into the semi-finals without the aid of a calculator.

Well, to my utter delight, CSK did just that beating KXIP by 24 runs. Muthiah Muralidaran did the star turn by taking 2-8. Raina and Ashwin ably backed him.

This victory should open Dhoni’s eyes to the fact that the bowlers are winning matches and batsmen have been a huge let down. Dhoni should concentrate his ire on the batsmen as they to fritter away the racing starts provided by the openers.

With 17 points CSK join Delhi Daredevils as one of the semi-finalists. The result of today’s match will reveal the other two semi-finalists.

Familiar stories from Pakistan

Here we go again.

Pakistan cricket struggles to come out of the self created mire called Shoaib Akthar. Having let him dupe them one many times it is doubtful whether the current threat held out by Alam will do any good.

Elsewhere there is the familiar story of Mohammad Yousuf being pardoned and recalled for the forthcoming test series against Sri Lanka.

IPL is a 'lefty' game

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Mull this:

"On one hand we have Matthew Hayden (Chennai Super Kings, 426), Suresh Raina (Chennai Super Kings, 309), J P Duminy (Mumbai Indians, 297) and Yuvraj Singh (Kings XI Punjab, 296) as the top four batsmen. Gilchrist again features in the top 10 list with an aggregate of 265 from 10 games so far.

On the other hand, we have bowlers like R P Singh (Deccan Chargers), Ashish Nehra (Delhi Daredevils), Yusuf Abdulla (Kings XI Punjab), Shadab Jakati (Chennai Super Kings) and Pragyan Ojha (Deccan Chargers) featuring among the top bowlers in the competition."

Why are the left- hander's having a field day in IPL?

Ashes Squad : Symonds misses out

It appears Ponting's influence is waning. For despite his none too subtle hints Symonds misses out on Australia's Ashes squad

Bottoms up to the Panamanian Women Cricket team

Having thrown my lot with Chennai Super Kings openly, I have often wondered what to do if they fail to reach the semi-finals.

The most obvious thing would be to return to writing about cricket in general. That however, appears mundane after the thrill of supporting CSK.

Thankfully, that is when I came across these photographs of the Panamanian Women’s Cricket team in action. I decided immediately that this is a team worthy of my affections.

Henceforth, I declare myself a fan of the Panamanian Women’s Cricket team.

Hat Tip: YUHMM

A worthwhile suggestion

One of the issues taxing the minds of administrators is how to retain a cricketer’s interest in Test cricket. It is a complex issue because though the current lot of players and the cricketing associations waxes eloquently on how Test cricket is the pinnacle. However, their deeds prove otherwise.

For example, in a survey conducted last week, cricketers in New Zealand plumped for a contract with IPL as their most cherished objective. If this was alarming, consider the ‘late arrival of’ Gayle, Collingwood and Bopara for the Test that started today.

Closer home we had Dhoni skipping the Test series against the Sri Lankans in order to refresh himself for the ODI series that followed. (A point in his favour is that he was the Captain of the Indian ODI team).

We also have the examples of Scott Styris who retired from the longer format to extend his career. Similarly, Shaun Tait, the shirker, has also tested the waters by suggesting that his injuries may force him to concentrate on the shorter formats. This, to use a cliché, is the tip of the iceberg, we may very soon see many others follow suit.

It is painfully apparent that the money lavished on the cricketers by these proliferating T20 Leagues ( at the last count excepting our immediate neighbours, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, all cricketing nations conduct or propose to conduct one) have proved too tantalizing for them to ignore.

The need to cash in or to put it more prosaically, the need to spread the game and keep afloat has put the cricketing associations between the devil and the deep sea. Neither can they ignore the T20 phenomenon nor can they ignore Test cricket.

To address this particular issue, IPL announced grandiosely a clause in their contract that bars recently retired cricketers from joining the league. However, one wonders how Scott Styris managed to by pass this clause. Once again, it becomes obvious, that the associations, the supposed guardians of the sanctity of Test cricket connive to bypass these checks and balances.

Amongst other suggestions, one finds Collingwood’s suggestion to bring pay parity amongst all formats of the game excellent.

One can almost visualize the knee jerk reaction to this suggestion from the administrators. They are sure to trot out the age-old reason of lack of money. However, it will not hold water as they could plough back the proceeds they get from conducting these T20 leagues to Test cricket.

If that is not practical, why don’t they club sponsorship of all the formats together? For example, a television broadcaster bidding for the rights to telecast a T20 league should by default also bid for the rights for that year’s Test matches.

This is surely only one of the means to make up the difference; one believes there are other means to shore up the finances.

What do you think of Collingwood’s suggestion to bring parity in pay?

Chennai Super Kings seek a cure for butterfingers

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If there was a blot in their performance against Deccan Chargers yesterday, it was the fielding.

The fielders dropped dollies of successive deliveries and instead of affecting a run out, they converted it into a game of tag. Smith the beneficiary went on to make a rapid 49. Luckily, his innings only served to delay our victory.

However in the earlier matches catches dropped of Sachin and AB de Villiers proved costly and we went on to lose both the matches albeit closely.

All this makes one wonder what is causing this epidemic amongst the Chennai Super Kings fielders. Is it the swine flu or a simple case of nerves?

Whatever be it a cure has to be found at the earliest.

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Chennai Super Kings play a perfect game.

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IPL 2009 - Chennai Super Kings vs. Deccan Chargers, East London

For the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), everything went right from the toss. Both the batsmen and the bowlers combined to hand Deccan Chargers (DC) a resounding thrashing.

Chasing 179, DC could manage only 100 runs in 14.3 over’s. If it were not for some lusty hitting by Smith, who chanced his arm and led a charmed existence and by Sharma to a lesser extent, the margin of victory would have been massive.

What was impressive about CSK’s performance was that their bowlers despite the Smith – Sharma onslaught stuck to their task and made deep inroads into DC as soon as the partnership was broken.

CSK now seem set for a semi-final slot.

The npower girls are back!

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The npower girls have almost become a tradition associated with English cricket season.

So come the new season come the new npower girls.

You can check out the npower girls profile here.

Let us hope this tradition continues.

India T20 World Cup squad announced

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Virender Sehwag

Gautam Gambhir

Suresh Raina

Yuvraj Singh

Yusuf Pathan

Rohit Sharma

Harbhajan Singh

Zaheer Khan

Ishant Sharma

Praveen Kumar

Rudra Pratap Singh

Ravindra Jadeja

Pragyan Ojha

Irfan Pathan

Notable exclusions: Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Munaf Patel, Joginder Singh. One does not know whether Sreesanth should also be considered as a notable exclusion as he is reportedly yet to recover from a back injury.

I also wonder what happened to the petition to include Sachin Tendulkar.

Nothing is going right for the Knight Riders

Saddled with a coach who believes he is setting new parameters by bringing baseball strategies to cricket, an owner who is after publicity and television footage and now a befuddled captain, one feels for the players of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

It speaks of the resilience of the team that despite muddled batting and dropping four catches they managed to hold on to until the last ball and lost yet another close match to Kings XI Punjab (KXIP).

For the record Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), won by six wickets off the last ball and KKR appear to have missed their chance to make it to the semi-final.

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Will Chennai Super Kings score a hat-trick?

Two team's, one on the upswing i.e., Chennai Super Kings with two successive victories and the other on a downward spiral, i.e., Deccan Chargers with two successive loss face each other at Buffalo Park today.

Which means their match -up is going to be interesting and could well set the tone of their IPL campaign.

Can the Chennai Super Kings continue their winning ways?

IPL 2 - Chennai Super Kings beat Delhi Daredevils

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Considering the murderous Delhi Daredevils (DD) batting line up, the 163 runs target set by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) appeared insufficient. Adding to my discomfort was the fact that the Johannesburg pitch is reputedly one of the best batting wickets in the world; a fact constantly dinned in by Kepler Wessels and Co.

However, despite David Warner’s 51 off 40 balls and Dinesh Karthik 52 off 31, the CSK bowlers were in control and DD crashed to an 18-run defeat.

Now to the specifics of last nights performance. I still feel that CSK were 20 runs short. The problem area, as already pointed out by other discerning observers, appears to be the inability of Dhoni, Morkel and Oram to get going. Even in this match, CSK coasted to 163 on the back of Hayden’s cameo and surprisingly bristling batting by Badrinath.

Vijay, who replaced Parthiv in the squad, appeared to have succumbed to nerves. He was trying to belt the ball without getting his eye in. His performance yesterday was similar to the discarded Parthiv. What I expect from Vijay is to play around Hayden and then when situation warrants launch into strokes.

Once again, the unappreciated bowlers saved CSK. Regular readers may have noticed that all along I have refrained from pointing fingers at them. Considering the limitations imposed on them by the format, they did an excellent job and in fact performed much better than the over- indulged middle –order.

This win certainly leaves CSK looking good at the points table, but if the middle-order continues to splutter, then CSK may have to consider themselves lucky to be one among the losing semifinalists.

Defeat dulls Yuvraj’s brilliance

Yuvraj brilliance lighted up what at first appeared as a dull encounter.

In the match between Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Yuvraj unsatisfied with taking a hat trick proceeded to blast a 34-ball 50.

Yuvraj opened with K.Goel when KXIP set out to chase the target of 145 set by RCB. He proceeded to impose himself directly by scoring exactly 50 (3x4, 4x6). Victory should fittingly crown his champagne performance; alas, it was not to be.

Following his dismissal, RCB’s bowlers scripted a turn around and proceeded to win the match. The penultimate over bowled by Anil Kumble changed the course of the match. Praveen Kumar then removed Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla of successive deliveries in the final over and won the match for RCB.

Chennai Super Kings campaign on track?

More than the change in personnel, it was the batting order that did the trick for Chennai Super Kings. Badrinath coming in at No.3 with his intelligent batting inducted a new kind of flow.

However as a Chennai Super Kings(CSK) fan, I wish the team management will effect a couple of more changes. Yes, I join other CSK fans in calling for the sacking of Parthiv Patel and Jacob Oram.

Both these players appear overburdened. Parthiv Patel is trier but that is it, he is incapable of imparting dynamism at the top. Same is the case of Oram, he is either unfit or treating his IPL commitment as an all expenses paid vacation. He is doing just what he is asked. However, his presence in the team means Morkel is batting too low and has insufficient time to make an impact.

I suggest that Makhaya Ntini replace the lackluster Oram. Considering that the pitch for today's match is reputed to be fast Ntini may well turn out to be a trump card against the Delhi Daredevils.

Chennai Super Kings League results and points standing

Chennai Super Kings 6 2 3 0 1 5

Who will lead RCB?

The captaincy confusion still prevails in Royal Challengers Bangalore's camp.

As we all know Kallis was deemed to replace Pietersen, but his lack of form has meant that names like Boucher is doing the rounds. Their coach Ray Jennings had implied that even Dravid has a chance to return as captain, which is not surprising as he is the only player who is a certainity in the playing eleven.

Amidst this engaging conundrum, Anil Kumble's name is also being projected as a possibility. However, my gut feeling is Mark Boucher will be made the captain as none of the others suit Kingfisher's corporate image.