World cup fever - Does T 20 Version calm the nerves of India and Pakistan players ?

I very much doubt that Pakistan players are calm during the world cup encounter against Indians. Be it ODI or T 20, Pakistan players take it too emotional and it reflect on their performance. The talented bunch in form of Akmal brothers, Shoaib Malik, Hafeez, Afridi play much less than potential and look way ahead of the encounter than scenarios they would be in.

India Pakistan Super 8 encounter is an example of the emotional stuff involved. Dhoni's calm influence on the players make it easy for Indians not only against Pakistan, be it any other opponent.

1. Afridi played one two many shots to fall in the deep after a blitzkrieg (Perfect plan by Dhoni and Balaji)
2. Shoaib Malik could have drowned India, but played a horrendous shot (More of emotional thinking that he has nailed India already)
3. Kamran Akmal could have settled. But he felt he started from where he left in practice match encounter against Indians.
4. Poor running between the wickets, Panic stricken shot making - All adds up to the emotional stuff that I am talking about.

Cause, we have got to admit, India Pakistan encounter is war and is much more closer to heart for Pakistan players rather than Indian Players. Indians surely play out of their skins and skills to come out on top. But Pakistan players take it too emotionally and fail. Hence we had a very less intensely fought match. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful weekend for Indian supporters.

Virat Kohli is in form of his life and two dropped catches ensured that he grabbed the spoon and had a meat. Sehwag is a wounded tiger, this time internally, because he was not playing in the last match and much to his dislike, he was not rested also. That meant he was dropped. He had a point to prove and it was written on his face that he wanted to remain not out when Indian wins. But, he sent a message that he does not want to be dropped ever again.

Target of 129 in T 20 will always be a piece of cake, not even an India Pakistan encounter could make it nail biting. Yuvraj singh hit the winning runs and ensured that he had another wonderful all round performance in his kitty. Words flew that he might have been dropped to fit Sehwag in. That would have been a blunder and Dhoni will never do that mistake. If Sehwag's ego was hurt and it helps Indians lift their performance in top order, I want to thank Dhoni for doing that to Sehwag.

All is not lost, my gut feel states that Indian will be there in Semi finals. South Africa are not great players of spin bowling and we need to pack our team with Bhajji also. Balaji might leave way for Bhajji or another Dhoni surprise awaits us, we will wait and watch.......

Go India Go................

Regards,

Prashy.

GREAT WALL OF INDIA - A REVISIT

"Sachin is GOD of Cricket, Ganguly is GOD of offside, Laxman is GOD of second innings - When the doors of the temple are closed, all the GODs remain behind the WALL"

The above quote aptly defines RAHUL DRAVID.

Champions always let the bat do the talking, irrespective of the Wicket, conditions, bowlers, Venues etc. Enough has been said about the Seniors and their low performance in recent tourneys. I still feel Dravid could have continued as Australia tour alone brought below par performances from him. England and West Indies tour of 2011, Dravid was still our best test batsmen. In comparison, Sachin and Laxman along with Sehwag were failures in all the 3 foreign tourneys.

Dravid always put the team's interest in front and made decisions. We have enough examples from the past to substantiate the point. The decision to retire has also to do with putting the team's interest upfront. Road ahead is Youngsters and Dravid hung up his boots for the same reason. Dravid is a role model in many ways. His Batting technique, Hard work, staying fit for close to two decades (work ethic), Control over emotions, being an Indian ambassador, a true learner of the game - All these traits made him elite and people from cricketing fraternity looked upto him and he is very affable by nature.

For the world fans, how much a swash-buckling innings from Sachin, Sehwag would have thrilled them, similarly they would love to watch Dravid fight and Graft an Hundred. Cricket experts cannot relate themselves to the fact that Dravid's defense can be disturbed. He was one of the finest leaver of the swinging and bouncing delivaries. His copy book leaning cover drives and trademark flick shot through midwicket defined his strokeplay. He had all the shots in his forte and would always execute those strokes the way it needs to be played. Dravid announced himself in Test cricket at Lords, where he missed creating history by 5 runs. But the fact that he represented India thrilled him more than landmark.

Limited overs cricket demands from a player altogether different qualities of batting. Batsmen need to compensate initial time spent in form of delivaries later in the innings was a bit of challenge for Dravid. As a person, who keeps learning, he brought some more shots in his forte, which adapted him to Limited overs cricket. Dravid never looked back from that time on and minimum of 10000 runs in both versions of the game speaks volumes about this Legend.

Ganguly's successful tenure of captain has lot to do with taking Dravid and Sachin into confidence, especially Dravid's role was re-defined and it made wonders for Indian cricket. Trusting Dravid as a wicket keeper in a World cup ensured that we played 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers. Dravid's wicket keeping was not very effective down the leg side. The man saw the funny side of it, when he mentioned in one of the interviews that his wicket keeping made the Indian bowlers more disciplined in line and length and not straying down the leg side. His crucial knocks have alone ensured that we are visitors with a purpose of winning the series. Adelaide, Headingley, Lords, Rawalpindi, Johannesberg, Napier have all seen the wall grafting mammooth hundreds, sometime double hundreds which have ensured India win overseas.

Indian team will miss him in Slip cordon too. After Mohammad Azharrudin, Rahul Dravid was one of the best in the world. He has taken some blinders off the bowling of Indian spinners. His short Captaincy stint had highs and lows to mention. Winning Test series in England and exit from 2007 world cup was high and low respectively. Where the competitve spirit is grossly mistaken in the form of sledging and unfriendly behaviours, Dravid kept himself very dignified and he played a crucial part in bringing India out of match fixing era. He could have been more aggressive in limited overs format which would have helped him to have equal stint as in test match format. Now that he has retired, Rahul Dravid has more role to play and no one better than him would have realised it. Anil Kumble will be a happy man as he would lean onto Dravid for some advices to raise the standard of Karnataka cricket. Rahul has great command over English language and his cricket acumen is matchless - thereby he can be a wonderful cricket commentator. These men are so passionate about the game that they can give so much to the world of cricket, where there is a threat of Test cricket vanishing because of T-20 and IPL craze. Dravid can influence cricketers to prioritise longer versions of the game.

World would miss him on the field. Off the field, Dravid would continue to score hundreds and bat for sessions after sessions, through passing the torch to youngsters, be it Indian or non indian......

Let's salute the man for his commendable contributions to Indian cricket and to the world cricket.

Regards,

Prashy.

SYDNEY - OPPORTUNITY TO LEVEL THE SERIES

BOWLING MIX:

Sydney might pep this Indian team to wipe off bad omens. Our Bowling unit is doing its job wonderfully. Dhoni might step in with the same combination. If he has to squeeze in additional spinner, which the wicket might demand, it will put lot of pressure on the batsmen. Considering the middle order batsmen poor show, he might not risk it with 5 bowler combination. But if he does that to clean up Aussies tail-enders fast, who added vital runs in both innings in MCG, then it might work in Indian's favour. We have the experience to play responsibly with 6 Batsmen -5 Bowler set up. Pragyan Ojha will lick his fingers in that case. Ashwin - Ojha is a deadly combination, as they have shown in recent past.

If only our Bowlers ensure a scenario where Indians look down at Aussies with command at the end of first innings for both, we can level the series. Somewhere, I am also seeing Australia collapse on the cards, just like 47 all out and 134 all out against two different opponents. Might as well happen in Sydney.

BATTING STRENGTH:

Enough has been said about this Indian Batting line up. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli provided great confidence to the dressing room during the practice matches. Seniors are also shaping them to put high priority on the Test match performances. After Boxing day test debacle, Virat Kohli will get one more chance in Sydney to prove to himself and to the world, that he is not another Yuvraj or another Raina. Suppose it calls for New ideas in New year, Rohit sharma is not a bad bet either considering the success he had against Aussies in 2008 ODI series. Or, both of them will carry drinks to strengthen our bowling unit more.

Gambhir should play so that he is there in the crease when the spinner comes into the attack. Having said that, Michael Clarke might surprise Indians by playing 4 pacers. Ryan Harris has already been called for Sydney test. Dhoni and Sehwag are dynamites, Sachin and Dravid is in good form. Laxman cherishes Australia, so let's not discount him.

TOSS:

Toss is Immaterial in Australian wickets, as it will always provide even contest with bat & ball throughout the 5 days. Last 4 tests in Sydney have all provided scintillating test matches and this one will also be right up there.

Regards,

Prashy.