Dhoni Factor - How Big in World cup Victory ?

When the World cup started many did not give chance to this Indian team, especially the bowling unit was strongly criticized by experts and non experts. Praveen Kumar would have filled the second bowler slot hands down. His injury did not deter the bowling mix, as Munaf Patel was seen as a smart bowler by Dhoni. The very fact that Dhoni played him in all the matches suggested that Munaf was made to play with a plan. In few sessions, it would have back fired, but Dhoni saw a bigger agenda in individuals stepping up to back mediocre performance of another Individual. Hence it became a team success.

Australian policy is similar wherein they have a wonderful fielding unit, which turns an average day for a bowler from one spell into a match winning performance when he completes his entire spell. But then, we were not a great fielding unit too, when we started the world cup. Dhoni did mention that Fielding would stay the same, as there are slow fielders in the side. But once we entered the knock out stages, those slow fielders in the side played with a point to prove their captain wrong. Dhoni was highly criticised for making an open statement about the slow nature of our fielding. But he never forgot to thank his team mates who contributed more than 100% in the field. Even for people watching the match, one would have seen Sachin, Zaheer and Munaf brilliantly covering the boundary lines and they were not hesitating to dive around. That projected the team goal and individuals rising to the occassion.

Our Batting unit was the strongest and if only there was a loophole, it was Yuvraj's batting woes. Sachin, Gambhir and Sehwag were top three run getters for India in same order. Yuvraj stands fourth highest run getter. Dhoni used couple of factors to make Yuvraj believe that he is a potential match winner. He mentioned time and again in interviews, that we are playing with five bowlers, though we went in with 7 batsmen 4 bowler formula. Yuvraj needs attention and if provided by his captain, he can win you matches single handedly. The second factor was to send Yuvraj ahead of Kohli in Group matches to bring him back to form. But when it came to Knock out stages, he differentiated Kohli and Yuvraj's contribution and did not alter the batting order too much. We always had Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir in great form. Dhoni stayed low down the order to take pressure on himself during the group matches. He stepped up in the final and showed the world why he was not out of form.

Yusuf Pathan's contribution in the third power play was a niggling factor when we entered the knock out stages. Gary Kirsten came out in the open and cleared the confusion surrounding the 3rd power play. He mentioned that 3rd power play should no more hinder as it would be pushed to the last 5 overs, be it setting or chasing down the target. Australia were surprised to find Yusuf Pathan excluded from playing eleven in their quarter final match and little they knew Raina would come and play pivotal innings to knock them off. Australians did stick to the old formula of bouncing out Raina. But then he was mentally prepared for facing the attack, as he kept on knocking them for singles. Also due to the fact that Raina is technically profound than Yusuf Pathan, we not only managed to play 3rd power play better, but also ensured that Harbhajan and Zaheer played sensibly along with Raina to contribute good in knock out matches. Dhoni backing Raina in Knock out matches was a killer punch move.

Piyush Chawla was backed by Dhoni, after a fantastic warm up match against Aussies, which according to me, created a panic in Australia's chances of winning this world cup again. But then Piyush Chawla throwed less than average performances in couple of matches and Dhoni had to look in for alternate spinner in R Ashwin, who was brilliant in the two matches that he played. He is undoubtedly a bowler for the future Indian cricket. But then Dhoni admitted that he mis read the wicket and did not play him in crucial encounter against Pakistan. He also mentioned that it played in their favour as there was some reverse swing which helped Nehra to come back with a strong performance after his mediocre performance against South Africans. When we could not defend 295 against RSA, it was a bad scenario for the bowling unit. R Ashwin was a revival factor for the entire bowling unit, as Zaheer and Harbhajan felt much more at ease while handling pressure cooker scenarios. We defended 260 odd runs with ease against West indies and Pakistan thanks to R Ashwin and A Nehra respectively.

Zaheer and Harbhajan were outstanding throughout the tournament, but for Zaheer's last spell in finals and Bhajji's last overs against Aussies, I hardly remember them taken for runs. Zaheer did a better job with respect to picking wickets than Harbhajan and even Zaheer did not pierce through the strong team's top order. It was his clever mix of deliveries other than first spell in every match which made him the best bowler of the tournament. If it was a tied match against England, thanks to spell by Zaheer in 3rd power play. Who would forget the slower ones to get rid of Mike Hussey and Devon Smith from Zaheer. Peach of delivary from Zaheer. Bhajji's contribution is no way less compared to Zaheer in knocking premier batsmen out. His crucial wickets of Umar Akmal and Afridi in Semis, Dilshan's wicket in finals turned out to match winners for the day.

Yuvraj's bowing performance needs a special mention, as he bowled at the required pace and bowled with stern intention to contain runs. Wickets came his way as batsmen tried to take chance of his bowling and smart field placements by Dhoni also helped the cause. Raina's contribution in fielding spilled over on likes of Yuvraj and Kohli. In the knock out stages, these three raised the bars to such an extent that slow fielders got pepped up and tried to replicate the same foregtting their age and physical fitness.

Dhoni and Gary, along with seniors in the side came up with fantastic strategies, given the resources. They made the match winners out of mediocre performers, especially with the bowling department. Dhoni is more of a strong leader than a technical captain. He is brave to take a decision and make it right. He has a good support staff in form of Gary and Senior cricketers. He is in learning phase and he would grow on to become even better. But then nobody can deny the fact that he is a great Leader. Whole world is praising him for that quality and let's all join and hail the Indian captain too.

Regards,

Prashy.

Hail the Greatest Indian Captain - T-20 and ODI World cup conquered

Cometh the hour, cometh the Champion.

Dhoni’s six over long on boundary was a moment to savior as it brought in new Champion side to the World Cricket. Fittingly, Indian team has moved to ICC World Number 1 ranking in ODIs at the end of the World cup 2011.

India’s finals against Sri Lanka showed to the world what it takes to beat the pressure and replace it with the word ‘Convincing’. Indian backs were always to the wall, once Sri Lankans posted 274. And on top of it, you lose Sachin and Sehwag so cheaply, other than Indian dressing room; no Indian would have believed the scenes that followed. Gambhir and Kohli coolly batted India out of the pressure and built a partnership which eased the tension in the dressing room. Their 83 run stand ensured that India reached 114 for 2 in 21 overs. Master stroke of M S Dhoni was to promote himself up the order and batted along with Gambhir and Yuvi, keeping the Right-Left combination till the end, which ensured a successful run chase ever in history of World cups.

The Grand Final started very nervously even before the start of the 1st Innings. The toss by the two captains did bring in some surprise behavior from Sri Lankan Captain, as his call was not heard by match referee and Dhoni silently obliged to Jeff Crowe’s decision of second toss. Kumar Sangakkara knew the importance of the toss factor in subcontinent conditions and he was second time lucky to win it. Dhoni had a clear focus of the task at hand and it’s immaterial for this Indian team whether they are setting or chasing down the runs.

Lankan lions batted first with a plan, no doubt. Dilshan’s innings was not packed with his usual flurry of boundaries. Upul Tharanga could not pierce the wall built by Yuvraj, Raina and Kohli in the off side. End result, he lost his wicket after a sedate innings of 2 from 20 balls. Fielding of Indians was of high quality, which made Tharanga innings less effective. First 10 overs of Sri Lankan innings was remembered for Indian fielding. Dilshan looked dangerous with his cautious approach, till Harbhajan delivery was directed to stumps by himself, when trying to play attacking sweep shot. Dilshan and Tharanga are successful Opening combination in this edition of world cup. Indians won the initial battle of restricting runs off the two. Restriction plan was to take their wickets cheaply.

Next came the deadly partners in form of Sangakkara and Jayawardene. Yuvraj Singh provided crucial blows to dismiss both Sangakkara and Samaraweera, after their respective partnerships with Mahela. When Mahela reached his individual fifty, Sri Lankan fans and dressing room hoped that he would bat till the last guiding others to post above 260. Rightly, Mahela’s wife in the crowd applauded his fifty with a message for Mahela to Stay. He did nothing wrong as he was man with a mission. Kulasekara and Thisara Perera came up with meaty blows in the last 5 (power play 3) overs and on the other end; they could see Mahela crafting a fantastic hundred in world cup final. These efforts took the score past 270 and Dhoni’s selection of fast bowler Sreesanth was on the verge of criticism from all corners. Sreesanth bowled 8 overs and Sachin’s 2 overs completed fifth bowler quota.

Zaheer’s first spell and last spell was totally contradicting, as it ensured Sri Lanka post 275 as target to be achieved by Indians. Malinga dented the spirits of Indians, when he picked Sehwag for naught. Sachin looked ominous as he scored 18 from 14 balls, but he was out to a superb low catch by Sangakkara. At 31 for 2, Kohli walked in and played with the sole intention of building partnership with Gambhir. This Partnership also highlighted the significance of Right-Left combination to disturb the rhythm. After Dilshan’s scintillating caught and bowled to dismiss Kohli, Dhoni stepped in to continue from where it left.

Dhoni’s success as captain to win both ICC ODI world cup and ICC T-20 world cup has got something to do with Gambhir’s contribution with the bat. If it was a fantastic innings that he played while setting a target in 2007 T-20 world cup final against Pakistan, this innings was one to remember for his lifetime during a run chase. But for the drop chance at long off by Kulasekara, Gambhir was outstanding with his stroke making. His pull shot off Kulasekara by stepping down the wicket over Midwicket, that too when Sangakkara is standing up to the stumps, sent a strong message that Gambhir is a Big match player.

Dhoni grabbed the opportunity with both hands to prove to the whole world that he is the best captain in business. I could see what Afridi lost when he does not put price on his own wicket during the run chase against Indians in Semi finals. Dhoni’s case is exactly the same, as he stepped in not having runs under his belt. But then he knew his potential as a match winner given the perfect batting order. His Power shots through covers and other unorthodox shots were all spot on and performed at right time. Last, but definitely not the least, he brought back his ‘winning shot in form of Six’ to signal the best ever run chase in World cup history.

Indians truly deserve the World cup Champions tag, as they beat defending champion Australia in Quarter final, Arch Rival Pakistan in Semi Final and Day’s favorites Sri Lanka in Finals. Dhoni was spot on, when he said that Indian team would peak in at the right time. He and this Indian team can look at the world differently now after conquering World cup 2011. Dhoni has made billion Indian fans proud of this Indian team and April 2nd 2011 is a day to remember for sure.

Regards,

Prashy.

War Ended - Peace Talks on

India Pakistan encounter would always be associated with WAR without shooting. But then in World cups, Indians have held an upper hand and margin of victories would always be on a better scale than expected. ICC T-20 world cup 2007, being an exception to it. 1992, we won by 43 runs. 1996, we beat them by 39 runs, 1999 we beat them by 47 runs, 2003 by 6 wickets and 3 overs to spare. And lastly 2011, by 30 runs. This would summarize the fact that Pakistan always feel much more pressurized than Indian in a world cup encounter. Not to forget Sachin’s man of the match performances in three out of those 5 encounters.

Considering this world cup in particular, Pakistan projected their Bowling supremacy in almost all the matches that they played, but for last 5 overs against New Zealand. Australia were bowled out for 176 in last league match, West Indies were bowled out for 112 in Quarter final match. Sri Lanka could not chase 260 in their own backyard against the same attack.

Indian Batsmen played with a plan to post a huge total. It backfired as Wahab, Afridi and Ajmal were outstanding with the ball, but Umar Gul over compensated with a mediocre performance. Hafeez was allowed to bowl a decent spell, as we kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Losing Yuvraj so cheaply gave them such an upper hand, that Sachin and Dhoni had to settle for second level score as target to be achieved for Pakistanis. Raina helped the cause with another sensible batting display, this time setting the target. Gambhir did his own grave when he got stumped. He was looking all set for another big score.

Sachin would have felt so embarrassed to receive the man of the match trophy for the kind of innings that he played. Having said that, his mere presence in the middle suggested that, we were fighting against the odds of Pakistan, making a mockery of the match with a comprehensive win against us. Pakistan’s fielding was always bad throughout the tournament, Kamran Akmal’s effort behind the stumps were always ordinary. Surprisingly it remained in the same manner in semi final match too. I would not say we crawled to 260; rather we were guided by Raina’s sensible knock to 260. Wahab’s effort with the ball ensured that Pakistan’s bowling brilliance stayed put in semi finals also. He was quick and accurate to surprise Sehwag and Dhoni, as we all know the bat speed of the two batsmen under consideration.

Hafeez is Mr. Captain’s support. Every match, Afridi would throw the ball to him and his bowling success transformed nicely into his batting brilliance. Kamran Akmal has also got a wide range of shots in his kitty and they started the chase with utmost ease. Dhoni is wonderful in mixing his bowlers and he switched his three fast bowlers end to end until the first break through arrived. Kamran Akmal was consumed by Zaheer. Hafeez played a horrendous shot to get out cheaply. He tried to scoop the ball for scoring a single and paid the penalty. Azad Shafiq is a promising lad and his calmness sent an assurance to the dressing room. Yuvi striked gold twice with Shafiq and Younis Khan's wicket.

Younis Khan’s and Misbah’s role are clearly designed by the team management. One cannot blame them for playing the way they both did. If it would have clicked, it would have set the platform for Umar Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq to finish the game for them. But then, we picked up these three wickets easily and ensured Misbah fought for a lost cause yet again. Bhajji picked up two crucial wickets in Umar Akmal and Afridi, who are match winners on any day.

Technically speaking, Pakistan made a huge blunder to push the 3rd power play way till the end. In his post match interview, Afridi said he was waiting for Bhajji to finish his spell and then he would take the power play. Hardly had he known that he played right into the hands of Dhoni, who would definitely have wanted Bhajji to finish the spell without field restrictions. Nehra was undoubtedly the pick of the bowlers with his great Yorkers at the death. Munaf and Zaheer backed him up with impressive spells. Yuvraj is playing as a fifth bowler itself and he was fearless to toss the ball to create opportunities for Dhoni and team India. Clinical bowling performance won the match for us.

India is one step away from lifting the trophy. Let’s all watch Dhoni handing the trophy to Sachin, Yuvraj receiving the man of the series award and revealing the Special Person, Team India going around stadium for a victory lap and all of us joining in the celebration in our own way.

Go India Go,

Regards,

Prashy.

BIG MATCH PLAYER - Tag fits Yuvraj better for 2011 World cup

After seeing West Indies getting bulldozed by Pakistan, little people expected of India – Australia match to be an even contest. Australians knew how to play big matches and their 3 world cup victories was more of a pressure factor for Indians. But then, think tank in the form of Gary Kirsten, Dhoni and senior players saw more deeply into the current Australian team and brought out their weakness (No Match winner in form of Spinner) and closed the doors for their dream. Indian Batting is undoubtedly the strength and be it setting or chasing the target, 7 batsmen formula is working wonders for India. One thing, Australian team expected from Dhoni is his uncanny moves. They have faced the stick earlier, in form of Piyush Chawla surprisingly playing only in the finals of 2008 tour. Today, he did nothing exceptional but to cover one of his main bowler leaking runs. Munaf was rightly under bowled and Sachin was made to roll his arms. Kohli was given an over too, which completed fifth bowler slot in the form of 7 overs from Munaf, 2 from Sachin and 1 from Kohli. Yuvraj bowled his quota with such a confidence from Dhoni, that he actually is one of the leading wicket takers in this world cup so far.

Ashwin has got great heart to bowl with the new ball and he has provided the breakthrough in both the matches that he has played. Zaheer would be more than happy to bowl alongside Ashwin as pressure is applied from both ends. Hats off to Harbhajan for bowling with such control throughout the tournament so far, it would be unfair to judge the best bowler only by the number of wickets that he picks in the tournament. No team is daring to take their chances on Harbhajan. Fielding improved leaps and bounds in the match as we saved close to 20 odd runs and for a change, Raina would have felt happy to be leading the fielding unit for the entire set of 50 overs. Ashwin, Kohli and Yuvraj were other live wires in the field.

Australians batted wonderfully well and the way in which Ponting paced his innings, especially when he is not in form, speaks volumes about the character the man possesses. Their batting order was under pressure except for Ponting and the openers. Ponting analyzed the wicket well and brought in David Hussey, who contributed well with the bat in last few overs. Ponting’s hundred was defining moment in history of cricket, as it came when the entire world is against a guy and his team mates had to make a statement that they back their captain. 261 was what Aussies afforded to set India as target. At the end of the first innings, both captains were not fully happy. Dhoni would have preferred to chase less than 250 and Ponting would have preferred India to chase more than 280.

Sachin and Sehwag started the chase mixing caution with aggression. Sehwag was not allowed to play his natural game and it kills him when he is restricted. He was doing a fine job of it, until Watson made him mistimed a pull shot. Gambhir’s role was to play second fiddle to Sachin and once Sachin got out, he took the lead to guide Kohli. Kohli committed suicide when directed the full toss from his bat to Clarke’s hands. Yuvraj is playing with a purpose and he seems to be so determined to win the cup for our team. Aussies could not stop him today, even when Gambhir tried to break Yuvi's concentration with pathetic running between the wickets off three consecutive deliveries. He only lost his own wicket in the bargain. Dhoni tried to calm the nerves of Yuvi, as the required run rate climbed beyond 6 for the first time in run chase. When he got out, many people’s minds went for Yusuf Pathan, even though he is not part of the playing eleven.

Raina joined Yuvi, when we had to score 74 runs from 72 balls. Yuvraj eased Raina’s nerves by scoring 3 boundaries and bringing the required run rate back to below 6. It was heartening to see Raina tackling Bouncers really well, as he kept knocking them for singles. The knack was to get to the other end playing those bouncers, rather than winning an ego battle. 40th Over bowled by Lee turned the match in our favor, as 14 runs were scored and three stunning boundaries, one from Raina and couple from the bat off Yuvi. Tait’s wide ball boundary worsened the scenario for Aussies. The telling blow was Raina hitting Lee for a six over long on in the first ball of the third power play. It was a genuine strategy by us to take the 3rd power play in last 5 overs. Raina welcomed the move suggested by Gary Kirsten in grand style.

Couple of factors won the match for us hands down:
· Yuvraj’s Calmness during the run chase
· Partnerships – 44 for 1st wicket, 50 for 2nd wicket, 49 for 3rd wicket, 25 for 4th wicket, 19 for 5th wicket and last but not at all the least 74* for 6th wicket.

India Pakistan Semi Finals is even bigger and Yuvraj is playing these entire special match winning knocks for a secret person. My guess is Sachin Tendulkar. He is gonna let it out at the end of the tournament.

Go India Go,

Regards,
Prashy.

Pakistan – West Indies 1st Quarter final Match – A Preview

Pakistanis are hot favorites to win the game, as they are playing in front of second home crowd (if I may say so). If only Bangladesh was the fourth team which qualified from Group B, it would have been a war, considering the history of the two nations. Having said that, West Indies - Pakistan match would still pull in crowd, as it’s a world cup event and Bangladesh are co-hosts and it’s a cricket loving nation too. Crowds would support Pakistan as people’s memory would be West Indies wiping Bangladesh for a meager 58 all out in Group B match.

Regarding the team strength and Performance in group matches goes; Pakistan is already beating West Indies on those two counts. West Indies lost to India badly, whereas Pakistan has beaten Australia in their last group match respectively. Pakistan’s confidence is way high, as they have a great balance in their team, compared to West Indies, who rely heavily on Gayle at the top and Pollard at the bottom. If at all, any surprise factor can creep in, it would be from West Indies’ side, as Pakistan has put their strengths out for view to the entire world and they are going to back it up. West Indies, on the other hand can bring in surprise by promoting Andrew Russel or Saamy himself up the order in batting front. Though Saamy's promotion up the order against England did not work wonders for the team, England were surprised then.

Kamran Akmal and Hafeez would continue to open, as the middle order has become stronger after Asad Shafiq played two back to back steady knocks. Younis Khan and Misbah in middle order along with Razzaq in lower order would bring in their experience to steady the ship, if there is some collapse. Afridi and Umar Akmal are ready to burst with blistering knocks. They both are game turners in span of two overs. On the bowling front, Hafeez is doing more than handful job with his off spin. He might chance his arm with the new ball, as Windies have both left handed openers. Afridi is in terrific form with his bowling. Whenever he needs a breakthrough, he relies on himself to do the job and has highly succeeded. Akhtar would give his all, as he has announced his retirement at the end of the world cup. But then he personally would not want it to end before the final. Umar Gul and Abdur Rehman should be the other bowlers.

West Indies would be happy to find Gayle and Kemar Roach fit for the important clash. Darren Saamy would take lot of positives out of India’s match, as Devon Smith striked superb form with the bat. Darren Bravo is all fine for number 3 slot and Saamy would want him to play a sheet anchor role. Saamy definitely has to take a call whether to play Sarwan or Chanderpaul for the match, as Sarwan was the main reason for poor run chase against England and India. If he is assigned that role specifically in the past, then probably they need to come up with alternative plan for Sarwan’s role. Ideally, him batting at No.3 could solve matters for the captain. Chanderpaul opened the innings in one of the match and I don’t think so, he would fit in the team as opener, as Devon smith wiped off the confusion. To me, Chanderpaul has to sit outside. As I said earlier, Saamy and Russel should play the floater’s role. Pollard should be provided good platform to finish the match. Ravi Rampaul made a strong statement that he should be picked. Saamy is a smart captain not to do silly mistake of dropping Rampaul. Roach and Russel are other two seamers. Benn and Bishoo would play the spin option.

Somehow, I see an upset on the cards if West Indies bats first. If Pakistan bat first and sets a score below 270, West Indies might chase it with few overs to spare. You would watch Chris Gayle putting lot of price on his wicket while batting. I would like Saamy to promote Andrew Russel up the order to surprise Pakistan. Is it Kemar Roach's 5 for OR Gayle's hundred that's going to create the upset, let's wait and watch.

Regards,
Prashy.

Much Awaited Easy Outing for Indians

West Indies loss ensured the much awaited easy outing for Indians against one of the top sides in group stages. Dhoni won the toss and batted first, not having Sehwag to bat alongside Sachin. But then Gambhir could easily fit in the role with little master. Sachin walked knowing he had nicked the ball off Ravi Rampaul, when the whole world was awaiting 100 hundreds from the Legend. Soon, Gambhir followed and quickly we were two down for 51 runs on the board. Yuvraj and Kohli, the men in form for this world cup, curtailed their strokes initially to build a nice partnership. Yuvi went on to score a fine hundred, beating the Chennai heat and a possible dehydration.

The wicket had a spongy bounce for the medium pacers and a sharp turn & Bounce for the spinners. Kieran Pollard and Bishoo bowled wonderful twenty overs, where they kept the runs tight. Dhoni’s wicket came at the time, when 3rd power play was about to be taken and since Raina was a new batsmen in, Yuvi pushed the 3rd power play to the last five overs in a plan to allow Raina to settle in and throw his willow later. Raina got out cheaply though. Right at the stroke of Pollard’s spell completion, he picked up Yuvi’s wicket. As usual, 3rd PP had its effect on, when we lost 4 wickets for 28 runs.

Pick of the bowlers for West Indies was Ravi Rampaul, who made the best use of the little opportunity that he got. Playing his first match, he ensured that he better be picked for the rest of the tournament as he was very effective both with the new ball and later with reverse swing. The one that he bowled to Sachin was a ripper. Sachin knew there was a deviation and when he realized the ball missed his elbow, he knew it was from his bat and walked off the field when Steve Davies shook his head to say not out. “What a Gesture from the Legend!” This is no way lesser to famous Gilchrist’s walk in Semi Finals against Sri Lanka.

Talking about Yuvraj’s Innings, the way in which he paced the innings was pleasing to the eye, as he was leaving all the balls outside the off initially, unless it’s a Juicy full length delivery. He ducked down to short balls, but did not spare the ones which did not bounce much. Pull shots were rightly picked. When Darren Saamy had the ball in his hand, Yuvraj danced down the wicket and walloped him over long on for a huge six. Right left combination helped the matter as he built an awesome partnership with Kohli, who is becoming Mr. Dependable when quick wickets fall at the top. Dhoni would be pleased as we enter the quarter finals stage, as 4 out of the 7 batsmen have scored individual hundreds.

West Indies have things to worry, as they have lost two back to back matches, not able to chase achievable scores. Devon Smith alone played with purpose, once his wicket was taken, procession started and Indians had an easy outing much to their surprise. Dhoni realized the effect of Reverse swing in the match and kept his seamers for late overs. In the first fifteen overs, he had brought in three off spinners and Zaheer. Munaf did not even bowl a single over by then. Harbhajan picked the important wicket of Pollard, caught in the deep and it was an anti climax of the match.

Darren Bravo, in his little partnership with Devon smith, was playing with a purpose. He exactly resembles Brian Lara in many of his strokes and the way he runs. I Remember Sir Vivian Richards' words before the start of the tournament, when he said 'Watch out for Darren Bravo, cause he resembles Brian Lara and might do a Lara type in one of his innings'. Who knows, he might as well reserve that for Quarter final match against Pakistan. His rush of blood cost him his wicket at the hands of Raina, who has the habit of picking wickets, though not with his best deliveries.

A Win by 80 runs, after having scored less than 30 runs from what it should originally have been, is a welcome sign for quarter finals clash against Aussies. Positive factor of it, being the match played in Ahmadabad (Indian Crowd) against a weak Australian side, no doubt. Ponting’s bad form, No match winner in form of a spinner could be the factor which India can cash in on.

Go India Go,

Regards,

Prashy.

England Team - Front runners for Lifting 2011 World cup

Group B became such a tough group to predict 4 teams qualifying for Quarter finals, thanks to England for playing 6 tough matches. R Ten Doeschate surprised one and all with his century against England and made them have a tough first match. Match against India was anyway high intensity before the start and Tie ensured what an evenly fought match it was. Ireland chased down 328 scored by England with 5 balls to spare and created History. To everybody’s surprise, England pulled it off against South Africans at Chennai in a low scoring thriller. Just when they thought they had pushed Bangladesh out, 9th wicket partnership was undisturbed till they crossed the score line. Final game against West Indies was another humdinger as England snatched victory from jaws of defeat.

Coming to Yesterday’s match, England posted a decent 243, but could not play out their quota of 50 overs. Poor shot selection by settled batsmen at various stages was the reason behind it. At one stage, the scores read 151 for 6, and Luke Wright understood the importance of putting close to 250 on board. Strauss, Trott, and Bell – All got starts but could not convert it to decent individual scores. Darren Saamy showed great confidence in his young bowlers Andrew Russel and Bishoo, who took 7 English wickets put together. Morgan tried to play reverse sweep too early in his innings and lost his wicket. Bresnan and Swann dragged the score past 240.

England had definite plans of going to Quarter finals and since they did their home work really well, they went all out for getting 10 West Indies batsmen out. The task was simple – To get Gayle out and early. Swann started with the attack along with Bresnan. It looked like two different matches were happening at two ends. Bresnan and Tremlett were taken head on by Gayle in their first over itself and Swann could easily bowl out maiden overs at the other end. Swann is an efficient wicket taker and when he was played with utmost respect by two opening batsmen, Strauss picked his magic card (for the day) out. James Treadwell, playing in his opening match, was bowling with strong support of his captain. He striked gold when he picked Gayle in his first over, followed it up with two more scalps in first spell. Strauss was never bothered at any point as West Indies were playing attacking cricket. He Knew that the match was about ten good balls for his side.

Darren Saamy wanted to outsmart Strauss’ captaincy when he promoted himself up the order and continued from where Chris Gayle stopped. He succeeded brilliantly until Strauss brought in his hidden card in form of Ravi Bopara. It clearly showed that Strauss read the conditions so perfect. Bowlers, who bowl stump to stump line in Chennai wicket is bound to succeed. Another master stroke was holding back Swann, as Treadwell started picking wickets. Strauss waited for the inevitable during the last spell of Treadwell and Swann. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Andrew Russell were on course to victory with their partnership, Russel being the dominant partner. The wicket of Sarwan sealed the fate of West Indies. Pollard created the fear with mighty blows, but equally provided chance for the fielders. Ravi Bopara dropped a swirling catch, but then Pollard did not utilize the missed opportunity and got LBW off bowling of Swann.

Credit should be given to England for playing 6 tough games and staying afloat when everybody was finding excuses for England team to be out early from the tournament. Since Ashes victory was considered as million dollar achievement, people attributed the inconsistent performance of England to fatigue. Strauss and his men tried till they are dead and are a happy bunch now as they move to the elimination round as sure shot favorites. Swann, in his post match interview highlighted the point that they might repeat Pakistan's effort of 1992. I totally agree with him, as they faced all the tough conditions in their prelim rounds itself.

South Africa Bangladesh match would decide the teams that are going to qualify for next round from Group B. Thanks to England for pushing the suspense this far.

Regards,
Prashy.

South Africa choked India after Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir’s brilliance.

Batting Brilliance followed by batting disaster ensured a South African win. We can always pinpoint Ashish Nehra’s last over, Munaf patel’s 14 run over (his 10th), Zaheer’s 15 run over (his 9th) as reasons for losing the match. But ideally we lost the match in our first innings itself, when we lost 9 wickets scoring 29 runs only, after scoring 267 for 1 at the end of 40 overs. The top order batted like a dream and Middle & Lower order batted like a nightmare. Sehwag and Gambhir missed out on their Individual tons too, as they both had a good chance of achieving that. How at the end of the match, one wished either Gambhir or Sehwag to achieve that feet, because that alone would have made sure that we consume all 50 overs.

Dhoni has slammed in press conference that, batsmen should stop playing cricket for the crowd, as it’s not about scoring sixes and four without getting their eye in. Also South Africans have Dale Steyn, who specifically was brought in to disrupt the run flow. Even Greame Smith would have been taken aback when he looked at the batting collapse of Indians. I guess Dhoni and Gary Kirsten have to re think strategies on when to pick the third power play, as time and again, it’s leading us into a scenario of merely losing wickets without any runs added. At least, the approach of batsmen during the same should undergo a change, if they stick to the same formula. Or Sachin should be a silent partner in the 3rd power play rather than playing aggressor role.

Coming to blistering start provided by Sachin and Sehwag, it was a treat to the eye when Sachin hooked Dale Steyn over deep square leg boundary for a six. Sehwag was simply outstanding with his fierce cuts, Cover drives on the up, and Straight drives off Morkel. Whatever fear that South Africans had in connection with a rollicking start from Sachin and Sehwag’s bat, it all came true and none of their plans seemed to work. Even the South Africans in the crowd stood and applauded as Sachin and Viru matched or bettered shot for shot.

Gambhir was classy yet again with his over extra cover shots for spinners. The way in which he paced his innings spoke volumes of the form he is in. Just when he tried to hit the accelerator button, he lost his wicket and that was closed door for Indians. It was so disheartening to see the lower order trying to smash the likes of Steyn and Morkel, but all they had to do was play run a ball and ensure that our score reaches 310 to 320. Dhoni was at the other end, watching the irresponsible men walk in and walk out.

When we started to Bowl, Dhoni awaited Zaheer’s magic against Smith. It got delayed, as Zaheer has to bowl five overs in the spell to achieve that. Ashish Nehra started well with Zaheer, but then he consistently provided two consecutive boundary balls at various stages. Munaf, the fastest spinner in the playing eleven, kept batsmen tight but for his last over, where service was required the most. Harbhajan was the pick of the bowler, but he could have gone and snatched the ball from Dhoni to complete his spell and sent a message to Robin Petersen as to who the boss was. At this time, I remember Sachin snatching the ball from Azharrudin in the famous Hero cup and bowled the historical last over.

The batting collapse and mediocre bowling performance of Munaf & Nehra cost us the match. Fielding cannot remain as an excuse, as the elimination stage is fast approaching and players have to raise bars to hit the finishing line as a team. It was one bad day at office with respect to batting and we should not repeat the mistake.

To end this post on a high, Will Zaheer, Bhajji, Sreesanth and Ashwin make the winning combination for us in the remaining part of the tournament?

Regards,
Prashy.

Where India stands at the end of Ireland Match ?

M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore has produced 4 amazing matches in this world cup so far.
· Australia could not chase 227 against Indians in warm up match.
· England and India scored 338 in both innings and ensured a Tie.
· Ireland chased down 328 with 5 balls to spare against England for a win.
· India chased down 208 with 4 overs to spare, against Ireland.

Is there any pattern to the way in which the wicket played in these matches? First and last match had a pattern, wherein the wicket was helping the slow bowlers. Indians crossed the line against Ireland, whereas Aussies could not do it against Indian bowling attack.

Similarly, 2nd and 3rd match had a pattern, where the wicket remained intact for both the innings, infact got better in the second innings. Ireland crossed the line against England, whereas England could only equal the effort of the Indians.

I want to drive home the point that Dhoni pushes his team to be on top, given the toughness of situation at hand. In a world cup game, any opposition is tough, or else there wouldn’t be a scenario, where Minnows rule over champion’s side on a given day. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Australia, England have all faced it in the past. ‘Win the toss and bat first’ should always be the formula to be successful, especially when your team is packed with 7 batsmen. But then Dhoni pretty well understood that Ireland match could be a platform where his batting power could be put under pressure for a run chase. It paid rich dividends, as Irish fielders projected 207 as something close to 240 and MS Dhoni also had words of praise for Ireland fielding at post match interview.

At the end of the day, nothing lost, as Indian bowling was also tested this time bowling first. Piyush Chawla had another bad day at the office. Surprisingly Yuvraj’s bowling spell was more than satisfying, as it does a world of good to his confidence about his place in the side, for starters and spill over benefit that it has in his batting. He remained not out and saw the team through during a tight run chase. He was helped at the other end, initially by Dhoni, who built an awesome partnership and later by Yusuf Pathan, who made a joke of the situation the team was pushed into, by Irish team.

Yusuf Pathan’s innings told a lot about the state of mind he is in. It’s really crucial that he plays fearless and at the same time, ensure that he takes the team across the border. He just cannot have a bad day in this world cup, as he might be in similar situation very few times and at most important stage of the world cup and be it any opponents. Harbhajan and Zaheer would become more crucial to serve the partner role for Yusuf in those crunch situations. Of course, this situation would come if the batting collapse happens during a run chase. If only Ireland made our entire 7 batsmen to bat, there are other teams, who would push the button more and bring Bhajji and Zak out along with Yusuf and we should not collapse there.

Hats off to Yuvi for achieving a feat, which is unique for any left arm spinner in a world cup. 5 wickets and 50 plus runs scored by a left arm spinner in same match have happened for the first time in a world cup. No doubt Dhoni backs his men, but I feel he does it with the intention of providing fair chance before anybody is judged. Yuvraj has proven track record in the past to play demolition innings. Dhoni is shaping up Yuvi to be a threat again. Somewhere, Dhoni misses Praveen kumar, who is a street smart bowler and one who could bowl really well in death overs. In his absence, Munaf is seen as a guy, who could fit in that space.

India Netherlands match is going to be another test platform. My guess is that Ashwin and Nehra would play their first match in the world cup. If we all know Sachin well, I don’t think so, he would take rest, as he has never done it in world cups. To support that statement, Sachin has taken enough rest in the recent past to miss any game in the world cup. If Raina is part of the plan, Netherlands match is one place, where he might get a chance to play. Hardly that scenario would happen. Indians are approaching this world cup in a better mindset so far.

Go India Go.

Regards,
Prashy.

M A Chidambaram stadium produced another cliff hanger

Right from India – Australia tied test way back in 1986, till date, Chepauk has produced some great matches and England-RSA group A match of world cup 2011 was no exception. 171 runs put on the board would have brought back England, bad omens of them getting eliminated from the world cup after group matches similar to what happened in 1999. Strauss and his men wiped it off brilliantly with a stellar performance with the ball. The thing that stood out in the entire match was Captaincy.

Greame Smith is full of surprises in this world cup. A Captain, who has done his homework thoroughly and puts it in practice so effectively, which ensures certain talent crop up. Imran Tahir is a sensation in this world cup and he proved it with another 4 wicket haul. We have already seen captains starting the innings with the spinner. West Indies, New Zealand, Zimbabwe have done it too. But then Greame smith could bring in surprise even then. Robin Petersen was thrown the new ball and he picked up both the openers in his first over, rather first over of the match. Strauss dig his own grave, whereas KP did nothing wrong, but the turn and bounce in the wicket did the needful.

Couple of overs later, Petersen beat Bell in flight only to take a return catch to dismiss him. Ravi Bopara walks in to play a slow and important innings along with Trott to rescue England from death. Smith ensured that Spinners bowled the maximum overs and even part timers like Du Plessis looked unplayable, if they hit the right spot. During the partnership, one of the messages that they sent to the dressing room was that run scoring would be tough and more so, while chasing. Still, at the end of England’s Innings, 171 would not have pepped them enough, as they were short of 30 runs. All Strauss would have thought is for the fast bowlers to support the effort of spinners to pull off a miraculous win.

England could do that exactly, simply because of calculative moves of Strauss, who was a man with a mission. He did everything right, though he copied the style of Smith’s by starting the innings with a left arm spinner. Yardy could not make inroads into the strong batting combination of Amla and Smith. 63 run partnership kept the dressing room calm. After Smith’s wicket, Kallis came and played couple of stunning drives to keep the spirits high. But then Amla got out bowled when he tried to run the ball to third man.

In walked AB De Villiers, who achieved the feat of scoring back to back hundreds in a world cup. Including him, six others have achieved that feat in world cup. Mark Waugh, Saeed Anwar, Rahul Dravid, Mathew Hayden and Ricky Ponting are the others. Spare a thought for these legends. This factor also ensured that De Villiers’ wicket was key to England’s chance of testing RSA’s middle and lower order. James Anderson produced a beauty to get rid of AB. The ball moved away off the seam and on the way to the wicket keeper, clipped the bail and everyone realized the moment a bit late. After De Villiers’ wicket, 3 wickets fell as the scorecard read 124.

Strauss used Swann in three spells. KP was given nine overs and he created so many chances too. Matt Prior had a fantastic outing with the wicket keeping gloves apart from a missed stumping chance and a tough caught behind chance, both off KP. Stuart Broad turned out to be the life savior for Strauss with his fantastic spell of 4 for 15 in 6.4 overs. He along with Anderson and Bresnan bowled some tight overs in the middle and backed up Spinner's efforts efficiently.

A win against South africa was unexpected for both teams, but then it acted as a pain killer after their last match loss against Ireland. Hats off to England’s guts for topping the group A with 5 points. But then they have already played more matches compared to others in the group. They would go into the match against West Indies and Bangladesh as favorites, but then one could never predict the result.

Regards,
Prashy.

India – England match re-ignited the spirit of World cup cricket and Tie result definitely brought smiles to everyone’s face. Obviously we would put a question, ‘Who would walk happy at the end of the match?’ and I know for sure, it’s not the captain of either side. Every Indian fan would mention that our bowlers have not backed up brilliant batting display of Sachin. But then, England tail-enders definitely tried hard to back up Strauss’ masterpiece effort. Let’s take out the power play 3 in both the innings and look at this match. We will find the bat dominating the ball to such an extent; even the lead bowlers in both the teams were clueless to stop the run flow. Anderson and Swann for England looked ordinary and same is the case with Zaheer and Harbhajan for India. I am not discounting the fact that Sachin and Strauss played a classy innings. If Sachin’s innings was chanceless, Strauss’ innings was priceless, as he did it while chasing 339.

Power play 3 was the factor that made the match a nail biter. If Bresnan’s spell ensured that England had to chase 20 runs less than what would India have posted originally, Zaheer’s spell in 3rd Power play pushed England to chase down the target only in the 50th over. As our captain rightly pointed out in the post match interview that England would have finished the match by 48th over. Dhoni had a plan for 3rd power play, which is to bowl his lead bowlers and pick up wickets so that it would be hard for new batsmen to strike good as soon as they step in. It paid rich dividends, as Zaheer picked up Bell and Strauss in successive deliveries and Collingwood in next over. Harbhajan did his part when he picked up Matt prior who was made to slog, as run rate was climbing high. It would be harsh on Chawla if we attribute the tie result to his lapse with the ball in his last over. It’s his first world cup match and he will mature.

UDRS threw a surprise in the match for the viewers, as Ian Bell was given not out LBW by the third umpire stating that he had advanced 2.5 meters down the pitch and technology’s prediction was not conclusive. My argument against the ‘2.5 meter’ would be that it should be considered situation specific. If only a fast bowler had bowled such a delivery, going by the logic that fast bowlers extract more bounce than slow bowlers, there could be doubts where in the benefit of doubt should go to the batsmen. But if it’s a slow bowler, then it can be considered otherwise. I am no way including misbehaving wickets like Delhi Ferozshah Kotla. If only UDRS is brought in to make the correct decision; it did not work wonders there. Of course, technology alone did not play spoil sport against us, our fielding added to the woes. Kohli dropped a tough chance, but then chances that come our way do need to be cashed in.

Our Batting is going from strength to strength and Dhoni would be glad that Yuvraj is amongst the runs too. Sachin was simply outstanding, as he built the innings, giving the bowlers due respect in initial overs. It all started when Collingwood came into the attack to slip in few run saving overs. But then real intention was to provide split of 10 overs, suppose if one of Strauss’ five bowlers leaked runs. Sachin counter-attacked Collingwood and sent a message to Strauss that he has to compulsorily rely on five bowlers picked for the match. Luckily for Strauss, Bresnan came up with one of the best performance of English fast bowler in a world cup 5-48. Yardy bowled well, especially in the death overs along with Bresnan. Anderson had a bad day at the office. Sachin reserves his best for the world cup matches and it was one of special innings from Maestro. Gambhir is consistent and that’s good news.

Kevin Pietersen started the innings with audacity. He was dancing down to our fast bowling duo and attacked from the word go. Strauss was provided the option to play second fiddle to Pietersen. But then he chose his own way of pacing the innings. A boundary in each over and rotating the strike for remaining, was fantastic to watch. Kevin Pietersen was shocked to find Munaf holding onto the catch to one of his fierce straight drive and hardly he knew that Munaf himself was shocked. Jokes apart, it was a fantastic reflex catch from Munaf. Trott looked good but then Piyush got through his defense. Bell and Strauss partnership would have won the match for England, but for 3rd Power play. Both the captains were not happy with the tie, as they had chances to be on the winning side.

India has to provide chance for Nehra and Ashwin to build a perfect bowling mix before Quarter final match. Dhoni made open statement that India fielding can’t improve much, as we have too many slow fielders in our squad and we have the talent in our bowling unit to come up with better performance. He is definitely a captain who knows the limitation of his team, but focuses his mind to work heavily on the positives. Probably Luck also favours this guy for the same reason.

At this point, Indian batting unit is tremendously strong, but it would be helpful if we chase down few targets in forthcoming matches before elimination stage, just so that we are prepared to face two edged sword. Ideally, it should happen against big teams, say South Africa or West Indies or both matches.

Go India Go,

Regards,
Prashy.

Pakistan - Most Unpredictable side of 2011 World cup

Sri Lanka was silently conquered by Pakistanis at their backyard. Behind the effort, one could see a wonderful strategy hiding. I see Pakistanis having a similar batting line up as Indians do. Just that both of their opening batsmen are raw and not experienced pro as Sachin and Sehwag. Kamran Akmal beautifully positioned himself for batting at No.3 slot. If only he put the team’s perspective upfront and try to bat longer, he can do a world of good to Pakistan’s chances of the World cup win. Him, trying to hit Rangana Herath out of the ground backfired, but then experience of Younis Khan covered up the blunder beautifully along with Misbah, so as to ensure a platform for the likes of Umar Kamal (little dynamite), Boom Boom Afridi and Abdul Razzaq to turn on the onslaught.

Credit should be given to the Sri Lankan Bowlers, for pulling back the score from reaching 300. It paved way for an evenly fought match for the first time in World cup 2011. Likes of Kulasekara and Mathews are street smart bowlers and bowled well in death overs. To keep Afridi quite in slog overs, that too during the third power play, requires a quality effort.

Younis Khan and Misbah’s partnership was a treat to watch, as they maneuvered the bowling. There was hardly any risk taken. Muralidharan was allowed to complete his spell without any fuss. Although, Murali’s 2 overs during the third power play was a great sight too, keeping the settled batsmen tight. Coming back to their partnership, both of them played to ensure that they get to play maximum overs remaining. Misbah succeeded in achieving it. Younis Khan has scored fifties in both innings of this world cup and looking ominous for more quality innings. They posted 277 at the end of 50 overs, a match winning total in Premadasa grounds in Sri Lanka, as history suggests.

Even after a quality opening start provided, Sri Lankans could not sustain the run rate, as they lost three quick wickets in span of 7 runs scored. The one that got Jayawardena out clean bowled was a ripper from Rawalpindi express. As Tony Greig rightly points out, Afridi is a lucky captain to have the speedster rushing in and putting such humungous effort, ball after ball. Thilan Samaraweera was out to even better delivery from Shahid Afridi, who is the man with golden arm for Pakistan. His form with the ball, for last two years is for all to see. Afridi trusts his skills to such an extent, that he comes to bowl, when he finds a decent partnership cropping up. Not only he stems the flow of runs, but picks up wickets with classy deliveries. Dilshan’s wicket was a prize scalp for Afridi.

Kumara Sangakkara, along with Chamara Silva was trying to pull rabbit out of the hat, as the wicket was not condusive for run chase. Sangakkara got out after scoring 49 and eagerly awaited some miracle, as Angelo Mathews and Chamara Silva partnered in the middle. Mathews also got out playing a careless shot and others were trying hard to get close. All they managed is to fall short of the chase by 11 runs. Credit should be given to Afridi for mixing his bowlers well.

Watch out for Pakistan, as they are playing with a purpose and their match against Australia might probably end Ponting’s successful run in world cup. Afridi mentioned in the interview how his bowlers are a bit relaxed in the fag end of the game and wanted to project a bit more professionalism in finishing the match. He would be glad if his boys could hear and bring in some more professionalism. Aussies, watch out for Pakistan.

Regards,

Prashy.

India – Bangladesh encounter – A Summary & What Lies ahead for Indians in Group Matches

Sehwag started the innings with a smashing square drive and then chose to dug onto the shorter ones directed at him over and over again. Looked like the strategy he would adapt to stay longer at the crease. End result, he smashed 175 individual runs without any fuss. 69 run partnership with Sachin, 83 with Gambhir and 203 with Kohli meant that Indian Top order are in super shape to carry on this form for remaining matches. Looking at the dismissals, none of it was earned by Bangladesh bowlers. Sachin would be cautious running with Sehwag in following matches, but then great fielding by Shakib al Hasan ensured a confusion and hence the run out.

Gambhir was milking the bowling. The Pitch helped the Spin bowlers and Gambhir is easily the best player of spin bowling amongst Indian batsmen. A very soft dismissal ended his innings. Kohli came and played a scintillating innings, this being his world cup debut. He never showed any nerves, though he accepted during his interview that he was nervous. But then, come on, having Sehwag at the other end, any batsmen who is playing along, would go unnoticed. That’s the time Kohli utilized to play run-a-ball innings till he completed 50 and then accelerated for the second half. Overall, our batsmen unit had a great outing.

During the second Innings, Sreesanth wanted to make good of the little opportunity that he got. But then he tried too hard and got smashed by Bangladesh opening batsmen. All he should have done is stick to the basics as Munaf Patel from the other end did. Zaheer proved to everyone, why he is the strike bowler for India. It was not a question of doing the magic with the new ball. It’s more of a scenario, where one should not give enough room for batsmen to play their strokes. Zaheer and Munaf did their job perfect throughout their spell. Munaf especially was too good in death overs too, as he has the knack of picking wickets. Good performance in South African conditions would have been a morale booster for him. Somewhere along the line, we should thank Shane Warne, as he moulded Munaf Patel during IPL.

Grey areas for India at the end of three games till date

1. Sehwag’s running between the wickets – During the warm-up game against Aussie, Sehwag showed to the world his weak point, which opponent teams can cash in. Bangladesh perfected it in first match, but they got the bigger fish out of the effort.
2. Fielding – Zaheer, Sachin, Munaf, Sehwag are players to be hidden in the field. Considering all these 4 would play in major matches, Dhoni has to be strategical in placing them in outfield.
3. Third Seamer – Nehra’s fitness is a question mark, though Indian denies it stating that it’s not true. Sreesanth screwed up his chance against Bangladesh. Suppose Dhoni picks 3-1 fast spin combination again, he would be thinking a lot.
4. Yuvraj’s batting form – For India to fare well in this world cup, Dhoni would badly want Yuvi to strike form with the bat. But then he has silently pushed Yuvi down the order and made him to fight with Raina for a place. Already Raina replaced him in Grade ‘A’ list of cricketers maintained by BCCI. Kohli is fixed for No.4 slot, as he has scored a splendid hundred in his world cup debut.
5. Injury concern – Overall, this Indian team is fighting injury problems and enough gaps between matches would also create a scenario where we have to be cautious during practice sessions. Sehwag and Gambhir are already fighting Shoulder and elbow Injury respectively.

We should quickly address it and ensure that we are better prepared for Quarter finals.

Next big match on the cards would be South Africa against West Indies. My cards are on West Indies win, if they chase down the target.

Prashy.

World cup 2011 - SWOT Analysis of Teams

Through the results of Warm-up games, here is a SWOT Analysis of 8 Top test Teams prior to the kickstart of the world cup.


India played against Aussie and New Zealand - Won Both.
Strength: Dhoni striking century against New Zealand. Does world of good to his confidence. Captain should always be in striking form.
Weakness: Yuvraj's Batting form.
Opportunity: Playing in home conditions for most part. To use Sachin's experience.
Threat: Fear of Losing in elimination rounds.


South Africa Played against Aussie and Zimbabwe - Won Both.
Strength: Smith & Amla's Opening combination
Weakness: Heavy reliance on Fast Bowlers to win matches for them, as Botha and Petersen are not match winners in my book.
Opportunity: To cash in on Kallis' experience
Threat: Choker's tag

Sri Lanka played against Netherlands & West Indies - Won Both.
Strength: Dilshan
Weakness: Hard to find, Goes on record as a very balanced side.
Opportunity: To repeat 1996.
Threat: Elimination round - Not having home advantage.


England played against Pakistan and Canada - Won Both.
Strength: KP opening the bat
Weakness: Eoin Morgan missing world cup due to broken finger. Andy Flower went on air and said that Morgan was instrumental for their success for last 18 months.
Opportunity: To wipe out Choker's tag in India this world cup.
Threat: To look back at their history and practice Gentlemenship again.


Australia played against India and South Africa. Lost both.
Strength: Ponting and Lee.
Weakness: Mike Hussey's Injury
Opportunity: Defend the title
Threat: Indian Conditions.


New Zealand played against India and Ireland. Won 1 Lost 1
Strength: Guptill's consistent run
Weakness: Match winner in Bowling department
Opportunity: Major upsets during elimination round
Threat: Humiliating defeat at the hands of B grade teams.


Pakistan played against England and Bangladesh - Won 1 Lost 1
Strength: Afridi's captaincy - Aggressive
Weakness: All the confusion circling around captaincy, team selection, Ban on players.
Opportunity: To beat India in a world cup
Threat: Shoaib Akhthar playing in 11, but 10 are only fighting.


West Indies played against Sri lanka and Kenya. Won 1 Lost 1.
Strength: Pollard and Gayle
Weakness: Bowling attack
Opportunity: No pressure, as nobody backs them.
Threat: Being in a scenario, where its them or Bangladesh going into elimination rounds.


Zimbabwe and Bangladesh would look for upsets, but then Bangladesh's chances of that are more pronounced than Zimbabwe.


Ireland, Kenya, Canada and Netherland would play for pride.


Players to Watch out for:

India - Sachin Tendulkar & Yusuf Pathan for Batting. Harbhajan & Zaheer in Bowling.
West Indies - Chris Gayle & Pollard for Batting. Suleimann Benn & Kemar Roach in Bowling.
Sri lanka - Sangakkara & Dilshan for Batting. Murali & Lasith Malinga in Bowling.
England - Kevin Pietersen & Strauss for Batting. Swann & Broad in Bowling.
Australia - Watson & Ponting for Batting. Nathan Hauritz & Lee in Bowling.
Pakistan - Afridi & Umar Akmal for Batting. Razzaq & Umar Gul in Bowling.
South Africa - Amla & Kallis for Batting. Steyn & Botha in Bowling.
New Zealand - Jesse Ryder, Brendan Mcullum & James Franklin for Batting. Vettori in Bowling.
Bangladesh - Shakib & Tamim Iqbal for Batting. Shakib & Abdur Razzaq in Bowling.
Kenya - Steve Tikolo & Carlus Obuya for Batting. Kamande in Bowling.
Zimbabwe - Brendan Taylor, Coventry & Craig Ervine for Batting. Ray Price in Bowling.
Ireland - O Brien brothers for Batting. D Johnston in Bowling.
Canada - J Davison & Rizwan Cheema for Batting. WD Balaji Rao in Bowling.
Netherland - No Clue.


With respect to Fielding unit, Australians and South Africans lead the show. Indians, England and New Zealand follow closely. Bangladeshis are a young side and they should be good.


Top 5s, according to me in different departments. Not in the same order.


Bowlers - Lee, Steyn, Zaheer, Harbhajan and Murali
Batsmen - Sachin, Amla, Ponting, Watson and Pollard
Fielding - Raina, Collingwood, Guptill, AB De Villiers and Bravo
Wicket Keeper - Dhoni, Mcullum, Haddin, Sangakkara and Kamran Akmal.


Kindly contribute with your top 5s.......


Regards,
Prashy.

1975 to 2007 - Team Strength, Individuals rising to Occassion, Captaincy - Which Factor brought home the World cup

World cup is a different ball game and holds a special place in the History, as it brings the best out of the team and Individuals who represent their country. But then an Important question pops in my mind as to why certain teams have gone all the way to lift the world cup.

Is it due to the 'Collective effort of the team' or 'Certain individuals rising to big occassion' or 'Captain's brilliance' during the world cup ? I feel its not a straight forward question to answer. Lets look at the completed World cup tournaments from 1975 to 2007 and analyse.

Before even the start of the 1975 world cup, West indies were hot favorites. Fiery bowling attack, new captain in Clive Lloyd, attacking batsmenship were the key to their success. In the League stage, Pakistan did push West Indies to the limits and that was an eye opener for them. Next best competition was provided by Australia in the finals, when they lost by 17 runs. Can we quickly summarise this way and close the book. I am thinking, why couldn't a 'Gary Gilmour's 6-14 in semis and 5 wickets in finals' or 'Bowling attack of Lillee, Thompson and Gilmour' or 'Chappell Brothers' end up on winning side. To me, it was the match turning innings of Clive Lloyd. An innings like that could shatter a team's morale so much, even Aussies could not cross the line due to the same. So, Was it Captain's brilliance that won the world cup for West Indies ? No, There was an Individual too, who rose to the occasion with his not-so familiar performance. Yes, I am talking about 3 crucial run outs of Sir Vivian Richards. Chappel Brothers and well settled Opener Turner were shell shocked to find Richards targeting the stumps from various positions on field, making them short of their crease during a run. Clive Lloyd ensured that West Indies were Invincibles for a reason.

1979 world cup started with West Indies as favorites again and rest of the teams gladly allowed Windies towards the podium to lift the trophy. I dont remember any team giving due fight. West Indies projected that they were a team playing to show why they are world leaders. Honestly speaking, World cup win was a smaller purpose of their play. To me, the moment that highlighted their dominance was Vivian Richards smashing the last ball over the square leg boundary in a most peculiar way, one would have imagined, that too in Finals. Till date, I have not seen a better audacious shot in Cricket. Somehow the Dil-scoop, Maurilier-scoop were cuter, not audacious. KP's reverse slog - over extra cover was different. All these were played with a risk of losing one's wicket. But somehow, Sir Vivian Richards' told the world a message. The 1979 world cup victory belong to the Team of Invincibles. Joel Garner was at his peak, along with the the likes of Holding, Roberts and Croft. Greenidge, Haynes, Kalicharan, Collis King with Clive Lloyd and Richards was a dream team and till date, no better team on paper emerged.

1983 World cup - I am literally tasting the sweet in my mouth just by mentioning it. Team of Invincibles (West indies) were very much dominating. But then, hardly they expected to face India in finals. On the other hand, Ours was a team led by street smart cricketer, Kapil Dev, who allowed instincts to rule his strategies and did not go by player's records and statistics. Players like Madal lal, Roger Binny, Mohinder Amarnath, Ravi Shastri did their all rounder role to optimum levels. Kapil Dev was already well renowned all rounder in world cricket. The moment of 1983 world cup was not the day in which we beat west Indies to lift the trophy. It was the day in which BBC went on strike, not covering India - Zimbabwe encounter. Zimbabwe, playing their first world cup shocked Australians and was on course to do the same against Indians. Our Captain put his hand up and rose to the occassion, smashing 175 off 138 balls, after India were reeling 17-5. Just observe these two numbers (17-5 and 175), to me this sealed the moment of world cup 1983. The amount of confidence the dressing room would have had at the end of this match could not be penned down. Our Captain, through this knock, created a belief that we could come out of any situation, be it any opponent. I feel, the same belief only ensured that we defended 183 total against the mighty Windies. Ofcourse, nobody can deny the pressure behind Kapil Dev's catch to dismiss Sir Vivian Richards. Mohinder's Nagging spell in both semis and finals. Krish Srikanth's fearless batting at the top, Solid batting of Sunil Gavaskar, Yashpal Sharma and Sandeep Patil going hammer and tongs against many fast bowlers - All these happened simultaneously, as they had a person to look upto. All said and done, Captaincy won it for us in 1983.

1987 World cup was played in the Sub continent where foreign teams struggles to cope with the conditions. Hence the Favourites in the minds of every one shifted to India and Pakistan. More so towards India, as they had won in 1983. During the group stages, both India and Pakistan were strong, winning 5 out of their 6 matches. Australia and England were the other teams, who had sailed into the Semi-finals. England would step into the minds of people as Chokers, due to famous reverse-sweep of Mike Gatting, known for wrong reasons. Allan Border built a team, who are young and inexperienced, but he showered all his experience on the youngsters, allowing them to express freely their minds on field. Mcdermott was his trump card with the ball, Marsh and Boon with the bat, Stephen Waugh, one of the best All rounders the world has seen. This World cup was famous for Courtney Walsh's episode, where he did not run out Saleem Jaffer at the most crucial time of the match. But I look back at that moment and feel, "Was it the end of West Indies' dominance ?". Never, Windies lifted themselves up and made their presence thereafter. Or May be not, as some might aptly put, Llyod's era definied West indies dominance and nothing beyond. Both the semi-final and Final, Allan Border was cool under pressure and thats the reason for their success. I would attribute 1987 victory to Captaincy.

1992 - One man had an personal agenda, though for a social cause, carried that weight on his entire shoulder and drove 14 other guys to the goal. Imran Khan, charismatic personality such as him could drive the entire nation, given a chance. He wanted to build a cancer institute and hence he built a squad which would win him the world cup. Coming to the cricket part, the way Pakistan picked in the later stages of the tournament, momentum was very high till they reached the goal of winning the cup. Imran Khan was spot on with his strategies. Inzamam and Akram was his trump card with bat and ball respectively. Javed Miandad and Imran Khan showered all experience for the youngsters. One of the many factors that was in their favour was, "How this team unite for a common cause, when they are always left with Individual clashes and Pride and Ego with each other" Ofcourse, these were there earlier, but a leader like Imran Khan alone channelised it to a winning cause. Him, batting at No.3, in the final was a killer punch move, where he and Javed laid a platform for Inzy and Akram to smash the ball around the park in last ten overs. They had a good bowling attack to stop England from chasing down the target.

1996 - Captaincy again. Jayasurya was not known to the world in opening slot and Kaluwitharana was a mediocre wicket keeper batsmen. Arjuna pushed these two to the opening slot and asked them to be aggressive against any attack. It all started in the Sri lanka tour of Australia a year prior to 1996 world cup. Kalu and Sana became a deadly opening pair. People were equating them to Greenidge and Haynes' pair. This move allowed the middle order to nicely settle in, both on paper and on performance. Even if Kalu and Sana failed, which rarely happened, Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda De silva were equally aggressive, but with their ground strokes. Arjuna and Tilekaratne finished most of the matches remaining not out. Bowling was really mediocre, but then they were fielding with a purpose. Arjuna Ranatunga was also very aggressive himself. Before the crucial final, he went on record stating that Australian bowling attack dont have any match winning bowlers. Ofcourse, he would have been so confident of his batting unit. But then Aussies till then, were not used to teams playing mindgames with them, especially the teams from the sub continent. Aravinda De Silva, rose to the occassion and played a match winning innings in the final. Its a mix of Captaincy and one Individual rising to the big occassion, which won the world cup for them.

1999, 2003 and 2007 - 'Team of Invincibles' tag fitted Australians. Steve Waugh built the team of Invincibles and handed it to Ricky Ponting and till date Ricky ensured that its in safe hands. Players like Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan, Andrew Symonds, Mcgrath, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh, Mathey Hayden, Brett Lee are treasures. Most of these men have been part of 3 world cup winning team. If we look back all these three world cup finals, it was a Joke. Pakistan got all out for 132 in 1999 - Match over. Australians scored 359 for 2 in 2003 finals against India - Match over. Scored 281 in 38 overs batting first against Sri lanka in 2007 final - Match over. But then, in each of the world cups, there were other teams who pushed Australians to the corners, and it was so easy for Aussies to find a guy who put his hand up and take them to the shore. Bevan did it so many times, Steve Waugh's innings against South Africa in 1999 group match (his only hundred in World cup ODIs). Who would forget the famous statement - "Mate, you just dropped the world cup" - (Steve Waugh to Gibbs). As if to make that statement true, the tied semi final match between Aussie and RSA ensured that Australia sail to the finals. It was the best ODI of all time ever to have played, atleast for me.

2003 world cup, Symonds announced to the world in the first match against Pakistan, why he was backed by Ricky Ponting to be in the Squad. 2007 World cup was Mcgrath's last and he signed off in style. His match winning bowling performance against South africa in 2007 semi finals was phenomenal. Australian's fielding was always top notch. Their fast bowlers are all great athletes and fitness freaks. They would save a run as if their life depends on it. Ricky Ponting himself set the bench for others to follow. Aussies bat deep, but then if we look back as to why that happened, credit has to be given to Steve Waugh for making the bowlers in his team believe that they can contribute with the bat too. Likes of Andy Bichel, Lee brothers, Ian Harvey, Mitchell Johnson, Shane Warne have all been groomed in the Test matches to play alongside regular batsmen and still contribute for major partnerships that turn the match to their favour. That spilled-on in the ODIs too. Steve Waugh built a team and made them invincibles, Ricky Ponting maintained the status. Their world cup results was more of all the three factors discussed for this blog.

To Summarise, Captaincy is a major factor for World cup result in team's favour. But then, he should build a team and make them believe that they are invincibles. Automatically, Individuals would rise to the occassion and perform. If we look at 2011 world cup and India's chances, we have a great captain in Dhoni, who built the team for this world cup. I would like to highlight Dhoni's statement when he was appointed captain in 2007. "For 2011 world cup, most of the players in the team should have played on an average 100 ODIs". Ofcourse, Sachin's stats alone would hike the average up. :-) We have Individuals who are potential match winners. We have the Sachin factor. On top of all this, we have Home advantage. Go India Go, all the way to the trophy.

Regards,

Prashy.

Indian World cup squad announced - An Outlook

People who would have put their heads together to come up with their own Squad for the forthcoming world cup, would have got most of their predictions spot on, as close to 11 players pick themselves for the squad. Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Raina, Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, R Ashwin, Nehra and Kohli should have been in the minds of Indian fans, as these guys had a fantastic 2010.

Gambhir and Kohli in particular, showed tremendous consistency in 2010 and undoubtedly these two lead the batting team hands down. Yuvraj is picked, taking into consideration his vast ODI experience. He could be considered for Dhoni, as what Bevan was for Steve Waugh. Raina and Dhoni are middle order for us, especially during the crucial run chases that India would face in world cup 2011. Their on-field and off-field partnership would go a long way in successfully chasing our dream. Sehwag and Sachin would ensure that we always have a steady start for late onslaught, be it setting the target or chasing down one.

Zaheer, Nehra, Harbhajan, Ashwin were sure picks in the minds of people too, as these are the front line bowlers in the squad. Ashwin's performance at IPL has earned him a place as frontline spinner along with Bhajji. His run-containing abilities and wicket-taking abilities were for everyone to see during the IPL. During the Newzealand ODI series too, he was consistent. He sure would have learned lot of tricks of Offspin bowling, having shared the dressing room with Muthaiah Muralidharan during IPL. Ofcourse Bhajji could be considered as a Bowling all rounder.

I am not sure as to who was pipped out due to Yusuf pathan's inclusion. Is it Rohit Sharma or Ravindra Jadeja ? I feel Rohit Sharma could not be fitted in the squad as impact of Yusuf would be more for the opponents than a Rohit Sharma. I guess Piyush Chawla sidekicked Ravindra Jadeja out. Both turn the ball away from a right hand batsmen and during the grooming phase, both did not shine too much with the bat. Piyush Chawla's heroics in two finals against aussies in 2008 commonwealth bank series in Australia comes to our mind now. Rohit Sharma and Jadeja would be very upset, knowing that they are not part of the squad.

Ishant and Sreesanth, frontline bowlers in the Indian test side, would be shattered having missed the bus. Sreesanth always hits the negative side of thought process, cause he never projected that he is maturing in international cricket. He does pick wickets, but then Praveen kumar silently sneaked into the squad for his street smartness. Ishant is raw and erratic, but then Munaf is a wicket taker and his man of the match performance against RSA in last ODI in South africa only ensured that he is in form and can be considered as third seamer along with Praveen in playing eleven, after Zaheer and Nehra.

Question pops up in our minds whether its a good mix of experience and youngsters ? In Batting department - Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni have prior world cup experience whereas Gambhir, Raina, Yusuf, Kohli play their first big cup and can be categorised as youngsters. In bowling department - Zaheer, Nehra, Bhajji are the three bowlers with prior world cup experience. Praveen, Munaf, Ashwin, Chawla can be proud of their place in the squad as they have truly earned it. '7 experienced and 8 youngsters' Truly selectors have injected young blood more.

I am more of a person who would put myself into Selector's shoes as to convince people who raise questions. Having said that, I am not able to understand why there is no back-up wicket keeper at all in the side. Would Robin Uthappa have answered that question. I can only think of him instead of Piyush Chawla. But subcontinent conditions would have pushed the think tank to go in for three spinners. It does make sense that way. In the previous world cups, there was atleast another player, who could be a make-shift keeper.

Is our Indian squad an average fielding side or excellent fielding side ? Raina, Kohli, Yusuf and Piyush are exceptional on field. Yuvraj, Bhajji, Ashwin and Gambhir are good outfielders. Zaheer and Nehra has to be quick in the boundary lines. Munaf and Praveen kumar should not get lost once they complete the six balls of an over. Sachin and Sehwag are the seniors who need to be hidden in the field. Having said that, we would find these two inside the dressing room mostly when we bowl. We have the capacity to win matches solely by our fielding efforts. We may not be consistent there like Aussies or South africans, but then lets keep our fingers crossed.

Having made a thorough analysis of the squad, I wish somehow Rohit Sharma gets a RAC booking confirmed in the last minute. :-)

Regards,

Prashy.

P.S : Please read and post comments, which would encourage me to come up with more.