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.