The End of Super Eights as well as the end of a legend:

The last match of the Super Eights(West Indies vs England) finally provided a thriller. The match saw the openers of both sides coming back to form. Chris Gayle finally fired scoring 79 runs off just 58 balls while his counterpart Vaughan too scored 79 off just 68 balls.

On a good batting track, West Indies were sent into bat and they got off to a cracking start as Gayle(79 runs, 10 fours, 3 sixes) and Devon Smith (61 runs, 6 fours) put on a 131 runs stand. The biggest moment of the match came when the KING, BRIAN CHARLES LARA, walked out to bat for the final time. He was given a standing ovation as he walked to the crease, Lara smashed 3 glorious boundaries, and just when he was just looking in great touch, he was run-out by Kevin Pietersen. Marlon Samuels was the culprit as he hit the ball to mid-on and called for a run, but failed to respond as Lara was run-out.

The Legend walked away in tears escorted by England team members and his own mates. The crowd got up and gave a standing ovation to the great lefthander. Some clapped, while the others cried, some held banners , some just stood up, but all of them respected the man . It was an awesome sight and a fitting mark or respect to such a great man.

Samuels made some amends for his mistake by hitting a brilliant51(off just 39 balls).When he and Chanderpaul were batting, W.Indies were in sight of a target of 320+. But as usual they collapsed losing their last 5 wickets scoring just 42 runs and ended up with s till imposing 300.


England's response: Knowing England's batting form, very few would have given England a chance of winning this match. But Vaughan rose to the occasion as he hit a brilliant 79 off just 68 balls(6 fours and 2 sixes). Pietersen set up the chase scoring 100 off just 91 balls before he was bowled by Jerome Taylor. At 7/269, a West Indian win was on the cards, but Paul Nixon played a cameo of 38 as he got out on the second ball of the 50 over with just 3 runs to win.

4Balls remaining, and 3 runs to score with just 1 wicket in hand. Broad was batting and Bravo delivered the penultimate delivery of the match and was hit for the winning runs.
A rare and thrilling 1 wicket Win for England and Dissappointment for West Indies yet again. A not-so-fitting finale for Brian Charles Lara, who will be always remembered as a great batsman and a great entertainer.

Highlights: Gayle's whirlwind knock of 79.
Lara short, yet entertaining, innings of 18.
The standing ovation given by the crowd when Lara got out.
The farewell speech by Brian Lara. Lara asked the crowd during the after match ceremony , “ Did I Entertain You guys”. The reply from the crowd was a resounding, “ YES”. Lara thanked the crowd and his friends for their support and left the podium as a player for perhaps the last time.
Kevin Pietersen's run-out of Brian Lara and his matchwinning 100 that spoilt Lara's farewell party.
Vaughan's 79 off 68 balls that set up the England victory.
Well it was not only the last match of the Super Eight stage, but also the end of an era, we must all thank Brian Lara for his amazing contributions to the game.

Although he would be best remembered for his world records 375 and 400(The Highest individual score in Test Cricket) against England and his 502 not out scored off just 473 balls laden with 62 fours and 12 sixes (the highest first class score), i would rate his two innings of 213 and 153 not out against Australia in 1999 as one of the very best i have ever seen.

No player has won many matches single-handedly than Lara, unfortunately he scored heavily even when his team got thrashed. Lara would be forever remembered for the West Indies vs Srilanka series where he scored 660+ runs and yet finished on the losing side.

I don't know whether you all remember, his best oneday innings came against Pakistan when Lara scored a brilliant 94 to win a West Indian victory during the 1996 tri-series in Australia. What made that innings so special was that Lara won the match despite the fact the 60 runs were required off the last 5 overs. West Indies won with 3 balls to spare. In the same series, Lara smashed another brilliant hundred as West Indies knocked Australia out of the tournament.

We would no more witness the Highbacklift, that magical slash on the offside, the delicate latecuts, the punishing hook and pull shots, those drives that mesmerized even the greatest off fast bowlers and mostly that man who had the heart of a lion and on his day, smashed even the best to smithereens on any track.

Brian Charles Lara! Three Cheers to you and your batsmanship, you have been one of a kind batsman and you deserved more.

Ireland face Reality

Ireland finished their World Cup campaign on a sad note. When they entered World Cup 2007, many would have expected them to be mere pushovers, but Ireland shocked the world by knocking Pakistan out of the World Cup and then entering the Quarters to register a solitary, but emphatic, win over Bangladesh. But yesterday they were thrashed by Srilanka, who had valuable match practice.

There is nothing great to write about the match. Ireland batted first and once they lost their opener Bray(20 runs), wickets started tumbling like 9 pins. Maharoof was the chief wrecker as he demolished the top order and dismissed Bray(20), Porterfield(17), Botha(0), and Morgan(0) to finish with 4/25 off his 10 overs. To add to 4 wickets, he inflicted a brilliant run out of Trent Johnson. Ireland were reeling at 48/6, and things got worser as Murali came into the attack.

If the first half belonged to Maharoof, the second one was hogged by Murali, who spun a web around the Irish batsman. He dismissed Neil “o” Brien and Carroll in his first over and then took the wickets of Kevin “o” Brien and Mccallan to end up with 4/19 off his 5 overs. Vaas wrapped up the Irish innings when he dismissed Langford Smith for 18. Ireland scored just a meagre 77 and a thrashing was on the cards.

Srilanka should have won this match by 10 wickets, but the wickets of Tharanga(0) and Sangakkara(10) proved to be a blip on the Radar as the Srilankan batsman stuck to their guns and chased the target easily. Jayasuriya(24 off 20 balls, a six and 3 fours), and captain Jayawardane(39 off 27 balls, a six and 6 fours) finished off the match in 10 overs. Thus Srilanka thrashed yet another minnow.


Note for the statisticians: During the last three World Cup matches(Aus vs SL, SA vs ENG, and SL vs IRE), the winning runs have been hit by the respective captains. Ponting finished off the match against Srilanka with a Six; Smith hit a Four against England; and Jayawardane hit a four against Ireland to seal off an 8 wicket victory. Interestingly this World Cup has been good for the captains mainly Fleming, Ponting, Smith, and Jayawardane. Even Ireland's captain, Trent Johnson, has had his moments(he hit a six to register a thrilling 3 wicket win over Pakistan, took the wicket of Adam Gilchrist,and scored 30 runs in the match against Bangladesh).

The Flavor of World Cup 2007: One Sided Matches

World Cup 2007 is turning out to be a boring humdinger. It has wielded too many one sided matches where sides have been beaten emphatically by colossal marigins. Many records have been shattered and many have been rewritten. If the primary aim of the World Cup was to increase the popularity of the game, it has not been achieved.

A cricket fan comes to a match expecting to see both sides play good, quality, cricket. But when matches consistently turn out to be one-sided, the fans get irritated and they lose interest in the game. To add insult to injury, Australia have been consistently thrashing their opponents and have just added their victories to the tally of one sided matches.

Australia have been the Juggernaut of this World Cup. No side, not even South Africa, has come close to beating them. They have consistently beaten their opponents by colossal marigins. Although we all love to see a side play positive, cricket, we get bored when we see that the same side win again and again and again... I fear that if Australia's superior vein of form continues, Cricket may stand to be the ultimate loser.
Every game needs atleast two great powers that are evenly matched. But Cricket has just Australia and the rest of the teams are lagging Faaaaaar behind.

The other teams are also to blame, they have never performed well against Australia. I am sorry to say this, “ At present, no team is playing well enough to beat Australia. Considering that Australia are just a bunch of well performing professionals, i suspect that the quality of cricket played by other teams is very pathetic”.
As i say this, Australia have thrashed yet another opponent (Srilanka) by 7 wickets. Srilanka batted first and lost ten wickets for 224 runs. Australia, as usual, chased the target easily and won yet another match by an emphatic marigin(7 wickets). Ponting and Symonds scored great half centuries and finished off the match easily.

Oh! I forgot to say that Srilanka had rested Malinga, Muralitharan, and Vaas stating fitness reasons.(But we all know it was a tactic to make Australia Complacent, only time will tell whether this tactic was worth it.)

If the trend continues, Australia will easily win it's Third Consecutive World Cup. If Australia does win this cup, it means that they are the only ones, i mean the only ones, who are playing good quality cricket. What a shame for the game?
I would rather watch Football, or Hockey because atleast they have evenly matched contests and no team can dominate for more than four years as their opponents constantly innovate and come back stronger.

NewZealand register convincing win

A match which was supposed to be a thrilling contest, between two great teams, turned out to be a dull contest.
South Africa yet again proved why they deserved the tag of chokers, they are a brilliant team, but when it comes to big matches, they always tend to choke. New Zealand used this match brilliantly to prove South Africa's fallacy against spinners on slow tracks.

Fleming cleverly brought off Spinner Jeetan Patel into the side to boost his spin options . South Africa went into bat and were choked by Bond (2/26 off 10 overs)and Franklin(1/16 off 7 overs). Bond dismissed Smith(1) and Franklin got rid of AB De Villiers(0) and they both bowled tightly as South Africa scored just 14 runs in their first 11 overs. Gibbs(60 runs off 100 balls), Kallis(22 runs of 54 balls), Prince(37 off 57 balls) consolidated SA'a position, but they scored too slowly and failed to rotate the strike.
The spinners Daniel Vettori(1/50) and Jeetan Patel(0/36) seldom conceded bounadries and they dried up the runs as South Africa choked.

McMillan's rich haul: When Gibbs and Prince had built a steady 76 run partnership, Fleming took a big risk as he introduced Mcmillan into the attack. The gamble paid rich dividends as Mcmillan took the wickets of Gibbs, Prince, and Boucher to end up with 3/23 in his 5 overs. South Africa never recovered as they managed to score just 75 runs in their last 14 overs ending up with a meagre 193/7.

New Zealand chased the target succesfully and won with 5 wickets and 10 balls to spare.
Fleming (50 off 84 balls), and Styris(56 off 84 balls) set up the chase as Mcmillan(38 not out) finished the formalities.The South African's never looked like winning as their bowling attack was impenetrative. The lack of a potential spinner hurt them the most. I feel that Nicky Boje should have been brought out of retirement and included in this SA squad. Boje could have been vital as he is decent spinner and a good batsman too. SouthAfrica have to sort their problems out or else they will yet again lose the World Cup and gain back the shamefull tag of CHOKERS.

NewZealand register convincing win

A match which was supposed to be a thrilling contest, between two great teams, turned out to be a dull contest.
South Africa yet again proved why they deserved the tag of chokers, they are a brilliant team, but when it comes to big matches, they always tend to choke. New Zealand used this match brilliantly to prove South Africa's fallacy against spinners on slow tracks.

Fleming cleverly brought off Spinner Jeetan Patel into the side to boost his spin options . South Africa went into bat and were choked by Bond (2/26 off 10 overs)and Franklin(1/16 off 7 overs). Bond dismissed Smith(1) and Franklin got rid of AB De Villiers(0) and they both bowled tightly as South Africa scored just 14 runs in their first 11 overs. Gibbs(60 runs off 100 balls), Kallis(22 runs of 54 balls), Prince(37 off 57 balls) consolidated SA'a position, but they scored too slowly and failed to rotate the strike.
The spinners Daniel Vettori(1/50) and Jeetan Patel(0/36) seldom conceded bounadries and they dried up the runs as South Africa choked.

McMillan's rich haul: When Gibbs and Prince had built a steady 76 run partnership, Fleming took a big risk as he introduced Mcmillan into the attack. The gamble paid rich dividends as Mcmillan took the wickets of Gibbs, Prince, and Boucher to end up with 3/23 in his 5 overs. South Africa never recovered as they managed to score just 75 runs in their last 14 overs ending up with a meagre 193/7.

New Zealand chased the target succesfully and won with 5 wickets and 10 balls to spare.
Fleming (50 off 84 balls), and Styris(56 off 84 balls) set up the chase as Mcmillan(38 not out) finished the formalities.The South African's never looked like winning as their bowling attack was impenetrative. The lack of a potential spinner hurt them the most. I feel that Nicky Boje should have been brought out of retirement and included in this SA squad. Boje could have been vital as he is decent spinner and a good batsman too. SouthAfrica have to sort their problems out or else they will yet again lose the World Cup and gain back the shamefull tag of CHOKERS.

Srilanka pull off a Morale-Boosting Victory:

Srilanka have sent a warning message to all other semifinalists by registering a convincing 4 wicket victory over New Zealand.

NewZealand batted first on a very tricky pitch and started disastrously losing Fleming(0) and Taylor(0) to Chaminda Vaas, who bowled brilliantly. New Zealand, who were 4/2 in the 3rd over, never seemed to dominate as the Srilankan bowlers bowled tighly and took regular breakthroughs. Scott Styris scored a brilliant 111not out and stood tall among the ruins. Apart from him, Fulton(28 runs), Oram(31 runs), and Franklin(25 not out) were the only batsmen to cross double figures.Srilanka exploited New Zealand's inability to play spinners as Muralitharan(3/32), Jayasuriya(0/44), and Dilshan(1/44) gave away just 120 runs in their 28 overs. New Zealand scored 219/7 in their 50 overs . Vaas was the star performer as he took 3 wickets for just 33 runs.

A target of 220 was never going to be enough provided Srilanka got off to a flying start. Srilanka started steadily losing Tharanga(11) in the 5th over, thanks a superb catch by Shane Bond in the deep. However Fleming dropped two difficult catches(Tharanga and Jayasuriya) and thus gave away the initial advantage to Srilanka, who accepted it gleefully. SriLanka were never put under pressure as Jayasuriya(64 runs) and Sangakkara put on a 100 run partnership. By the time, Jayasuriya got out in the 26th over, Srilanka were already cruising along. Sangakkara played patiently for his 69 not out, rotated the strike beautifully, hit some lovely boundaries, and led his side to victory. Srilanka romped home with 4 wickets and 29 balls to spare.
New Zealand must now win atleast one game in order to reach the semi-finals.


Highlights: Styris's Knock of 111 not out.
Jayasuriya's unusually controlled knock of 64(80 balls 5 fours and a six).
Chaminda Vaas's match haul of 3/33(9 overs). He took the first three New Zealand wickets, and thus swung the match in Srilanka's favor.

West Indies lose yet another match, exit World Cup

The World Cup has been a cup of woes for the West Indies Team. They came into the match needing a victory over South Africa, but instead got defeated convincingly yet again.

The Match: Lara won the toss and took a disastrous decision by sending South Africa into bat. When SouthAfrica were 36/1 after the 10 over mark, West Indies would have had high hopes of restricting SouthAfrica to a score of 250-260 runs, but it was just the calm before the storm.

Powerplays cost West Indies dearly: Lara took the 2nd powerplay in the 11th over. It backfired as Kallis and AB De Villiers plundered 50 runs off the second powerplay. De Villers(141 runs) and Kallis(81 runs)built a run-a-ball 170 run partnership. Kallis played an unusually aggressive innings as he hit six fours and a six to score 81(86 balls). Ab De Villiers, on the other hand, scored a blazing knock of 141 runs(130 balls). Although he started off slowly, he shifted gears after the 11th over and hit 5 sixes and 12 boundaries before getting out in the 43rd over.

None of the West Indian bowlers, except Corey COlleymore(2/41), seemed to contain SouthAfrica. To make things worse, Lara took a disastrous decision when he postponed the last powerplay till the 44th over. It backfired disastrously as Herschelle Gibbs and Mark Boucher smashed the West Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground. The last powerplay cost West Indies a massive 77 runs(8 sixes )as 26 runs were hit in the last over of the powerplay. Boucher scored a dynamic 52 off just 23 balls. He slogged 5 mighty sixes, mostly over midwicket.Boucher's blazing innings completely overshadowed Gibbs, who scored a superb 61(off just 40 balls). The last 10 overs cost West Indies a whopping 134 runs. West Indies were set an improbable target of 357 to chase.

West Indies disappoint again: West Indies started disastrously losing Chanderpaul(5) in the 3rd over. Dwayne Smith made a belligerent 33(27balls) before he was superbly caught by a diving De Villers off Nel's bowling. Gayle(32runs) promised to fire, but was run out by a direct hit from Prince. West Indian hopes were shattered totally when Lara(21) charged Kallis down the pitch only to chop one onto the stumps. When Bravo got out in the 25th overs, West Indies were down and out at 142/5.

Sarwan and Powell shine: Sarwan was the saving grace for West Indies as he scored a brilliant 92 off just 75 balls(10 fours and 1 six). He was well supported by Ian Bradshaw who made a patient 20(45 balls). But when Sarwan got out in the 39th over, SouthAfrica were staring at a big win. But Daren Powell hit a powerfull 48 off just 36 balls(3 sixes)and Corey Colleymore hit a six off the last ball to reduce the victory marigin to just 67 runs.


Highlights: The 170 run partnership between Jacque Kallis and Ab De Villers.
Boucher's innings of 52(23 balls, 5 sixes;2 fours). Gibb's innings of 60(40 balls)
Sarwan's knock of 92(75 balls)
Lara's wicket(Remember Lara was South Africa's nemesis as he had hit 2 centuries against them in the previous world cups.)

The World Cup Debacle: Blessing in Disguise

Continuing from my previous post, i have stated the incidents that have taken place after the Chappell incident.

The BCCI arranged for a meeting on April 6th and 7th to take crucial decisions regarding the future of Indian Cricket. Many former Indian captains and former players such as Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Krish Srikkanth etc attended the meeting and gave their opinions and suggestions.
The agenda of the meeting was supposedly to analyze the reasons behind the team's pathetic world cup performance, and the future of Indian cricket.Meanwhile Greg Chappell resigned from his position as Indian coach stating personal reasons?????


After 2 days of intense discussions and brainstorming sessions(That's what the media said???), BCCI came up with the following decisions:
1) All player contracts will be cancelled and new contracts would be signed.
2) The players would be now payed 1 lakh per match and 2 lakh per test match. The reserve players would be paid 50% of the match fee.
3) Each Indian win would reward the Indian players with handsome rewards(5,00,000+) and each series win would also fetch (1 million per player).
4) A Player can sign only a maximum of 3 Endorsements(Advertisements)(Although the BCCI and the players are still negotiating on this issue)and each Endorsement shall not star more than 2 players.
5) Each player endorsement should be approved by the BCCI.
6) The Zonal selection system would be scrapped and there would be a centralized system of selection headed by a committee of former players.
7) A group of new selectors were appointed on a full-time basis.
8) Dravid would be the captain for the forthcoming tours and he would lead a team of youngsters.
9) Ravi Shastri would be the TEAM MANAGER for the Bangladesh tour. There would be no coach for the Bangladesh tour.
10) Former players Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh would be bowling and fielding coaches respectively.(GREAT DECISION)
11) A spin coach would also be appointed.
12) Each Indian player must play a minimum number of domestic matches.
13) Sporting(????) Pitches would be laid across the country.
14) Only the captain had the right to address press conferences regarding the team.

Merits and Demerits:
Merits:
1)The players would be now paid only based on their performances.
2)Having Robin Singh as our fielding coach would help our team to a great extent.
3) The Zonal Selection system has now been scrapped. This would increase the chances of finding real genuine talent.
4) Full-time selectors should be able to do a better job.
5) If BCCI prepares bouncy pitches across the country, it would improve our quality of cricket.
6) Domestic cricketers would now be given more exposure and be suitably rewarded(I Hope so).
Demerits:
The Indian players would be very unhappy since they can sign only 3-5 endorsements and also because their match fees has been reduced(They deserve this).
BCCI is yet to reduce the amount of international cricket matches played per year.
The Corporates who have signed up the players to endorse their products would certainly try to bribe BCCI and get their job done.



Note: I have written these points based on what i have read in the papers, pardon me if Am wrong.

The World Cup Debacle: A blessing in Disguise for Indian Cricket-I

Since the world cup debacle, Indian Cricket has been going through a severe crisis. Their coach, Greg Chappell, has been hinting to the media that there was a rift in the Indian team between the senior and junior players and that the Seniors prevented the inclusion of juniors into the team, fearing competition. The whole incident was supposedly brought to light due to an SMS sent by Chappell to senior sports journalist Rajan Bala.

The Sms states the following:
I am not happy with the team selection. I wanted Raina to be a part of the team, but the selectors ignored him stating his inexperience.
Dravid wanted me to include some senior players (Read Sehwag) instead of younger players(Read Raina, and Kaif).
Karthick is a good lad, he has immense leadership potential.
Yuvraj has an aura of overconfidence around him, he has started behaving like a star although he is just a rising talent.

This Sms broke out into a huge controversy as it questioned the attitude of the senior players. To add Fuel to the Fire, Chappell had questioned Sachin's commitment to the team and is believed to have said that Sachin should make way for talented youngsters.Sachin surprisingly responded to the media stating that he was hurt immensely by Greg's comment and that he had given his Life and Soul to Indian Cricker for the past 17 years and that he was hurt as his attitude and commitment was never questioned by anybody over the years..

Yuvraj made things worse when he, along with other players, complained that Greg has an authoratarian way of handling the players and followed the divide and rule policy to demotivate the players and create insecurity.

Now , a lot of question arose due to Chappell's reactions:
1)If his comments were true, why didn't he mention this to BCCI earlier? Did he fear losing his job?
2)If Greg's comments are true, who were the Senior players?
3)If it is found that the seniors had actually prevented the entry of juniors; would the board be brave enough to sack them.
4)Does BCCI have the guts to take brave decisions such as chucking out Sachin, and Sehwag out of the team
5)Why the hell did Dravid persist with a pathetic player like Sehwag inspite his persistent poor form?
6)Why did Chappell send this SMS to the media? Shouldn't he have consulted BCCI first and gone to the media only if the BCCI had failed to take evasive action.


My views: I fear that Chappell was not a great coach although he was a great player. He lacked the man-management qualities needed for a coach. He always leaked out news to the media(Which is very unprofesssional). He always played the blame game when the situation demanded a clear analysis of the team's mistakes. Although Chappell's idea of having a young team for the World Cup was a good idea; he failed to find the right youngsters(Karthick was an exception).

Our players have to share the major of the blame for the following reasons:
1)They never played like a team. Our team needs Motivation, and Killer Instinct.
2)Sachin, Sehwag, and Ganguly should have played their natural game, but instead they played defensive and pathetic cricket.
3)Dravid's captaincy was always unimaginative, and very submissive. Dravid needs to be aggressive and inspire his team to victory. Else he should resign.
4)Younsters like Yuvraj should stop acting like superstars and perform for their country, they should play many matchwinning knocks or should be kicked out.
5)Agarkar should either mend his erratic bowling ways and bowl ten great overs or should stop playing(You can''t bowl four or five great balls and spoil it by bowling a bad ball that goes for a 4 or a 6)
6)Players should dedicate their time more on playing cricket rather than for endorsing products.
7)The BCCI should stop making false promises. It should now revamp the domestic tournaments, relay pitches, and select players based on their consistent performances rather than reputation.
8)Sachin should either play his natural game or retire. It is sad to see him getting out pathetically to average bowlers.

Australia crush England hopes, Continue Dominance

The Aussie juggernaut continued its victorious venture when it registered a convincing victory over their arch rivals England by 7 wickets.England failed to live up to their expectations as their batting let them down misereably when needed the most.

England won the toss and decided to bat. As usual,the top order crumbled as England lost Vaughan and Strauss before the 6th over. Pietersen then joined Bell as they built a delightful 140 run partnership.

A Great Partnership: Pietersen and Bell put on a great 140 run partnership for the 3rd wicket. The two batsman had absolutely contrasting batting styles. Bell was less aggressive, waited for the loose ball, and played the ball late behind square.
Pietersen, on the other hand was Aggressive and looked to smash everything.
Bell scored a solid 77 off 90 balls before he holed out to Hussey, off McGrath .
At 164/3 in the 30th over, England were looking at a total of 300+. But their batting let them down once again as the Aussie bowlers seldom gave runs and picked crucial wickets.
Pieterson loses the plot:Pietersen slowed down after reaching his 50.His approach seemed to be sedate as his last 52 runs came off a painstaking 72 balls. It appeared as if he was batting just for his 100.

After Bell's wicket, England lost its way as they lost 7 wickets for just 86 runs off their last 20 overs.Bracken(3/33), Shaun Tait(3/41), and McGrath(3/63) shared the honors.A total of 246 may have been challenging, but it was never going to be enough for a win over the mighty Aussies.

Aussies win convincingly: 246 was always going to be reachable if Australia got off to a flyer and they did that exactly as Gilchrist(27 runs) and Hayden(41 runs) put on a 57 run partnership. England had some hopes when Hayden fell for 41 runs, with the score reading 89/2 in the 20th over. But Ponting(86), and Michael Clarke(55 not out)put on a match winning 112 run partnership. Symonds joined the party by scoring a run-a-ball 28 to guide Australia to a deserving 7 wicket victory.
Australia have now qualified for the semis.

Bangladesh pull off another surprise

Bangladesh have pulled out yet another rabbit from the hat as they beat South Africa by 67 runs. South Africa won the toss and chose to field in overcast conditions. The South African bowlers ,barring Pollock and Nel, were not upto the mark. They had earlier restricted Bangladesh to 84/4 in the 24th over, but failed to maintain their grip as Bangladesh recovered to post a challenging total of 252.

Opener Iqbal scored a patient 39, while the ever-reliable Mohammed Ashraful scored a scintillating 87 off just 83 balls against a strong South African attack. Aftab Ahmed provided the support and firepower as he hit two big sixes off Andre nel to score 35. Thanks to Ashraful and Aftab, Bangladesh recovered from a tottering 84/4 to post a challenging 251/8. Andre Nel(5 wickets for 45 runs) was the pick of SA bowling attack.

South Africa crumble: Since South Africa had a lengthy batting lineup and a reputation of chasing targets, nobody gave Bangladeshis a chance of winning this match, but they proved otherwise.
Bangladesh began well, as Mortaza and Rasel bowled a tight line and length seldom providing room outside the off stump for Smith or De Villiers. With the keeper standing near the stumps, Smith was pressurized as he got out bowled by Rasel.
Kallis came in next and scored a brisk 32 before losing his wicket to Syed Rasel.

The pitch was offering assistance to spin, and it was perfectly exploited by Razzaq, Rafique, and Saqibal Hasan. These three left arm spinners slowed down the South Africans by sticking on to a OFF-STUMP line(South Africa scored just 96 runs off their 29.3 overs). Due to the pitch offering great assistance to spinners, and with Bangladesh bowlers maintaining a tigh line and length, supported by their fielders, South Africa choked as their batsman played too many dot balls and got out to bad shots. Ab De Villers(15), Kemp(7, Prince(1), Boucher(12), and Pollock(13) got out cheaply. Gibbs, who scored a brilliant 56 off 59 balls, ran out of partners.

Abdur Razzaq was the star performer as he took 3/25. Rafique was very economical as he gave away just 22 runs in his ten overs and took a wicket. But the real key wickets(Smith, Kallis, Boucher, and Kemp) were taken by Saqibul Hasan(2/49) and Syed Rasal(2/41). Thus Bangladesh pulled off yet another upset win and South Africa, for the first time, have lost to a minnow.

Highlights: Aftab Ahmed's twin sixes off Andre Nel.
Andre Nel's match haul of 5/45.
Mohammad Ashraful's match winning knock of 87(83 balls, 12 fours.)

Srilanka Win Thriller

IF the South Africa vs Srilanka match turned out to be a thrilling contest thanks mainly to Malinga's exploits, this match(England vs Srilanka) went a step further as the momentum swung like a Pendulum during each stage of the match.

Srilanka held their nerve in the end to cling on to a 2 run victory. England, on the other side, have gained a great moral advantage despite losing their match. They have now identified two potential match winners in Ravi Bopara, and Paul Nixon.

The Match: England won the toss and sent Srilanka to bat. Prior to the match, England's captain Michael Vaughan had stated, ” Our real World Cup Campaign begins now”. His team proved their captain right by putting a great performance on the field and later on with the bat.

First innings:Srilanka had a steady start till Jayasuriya(25 runs) was bowled by Sajid Mahmood in the 8th over. The Srilankan batsman surprisingly batted in a sedate manner allowing Flintoff, Mahmood, & Co to settle. Tharanga made a slow, but steady, 62 runs, Mahela Jayawardane batted well as he scored a brisk 56 runs off 62 balls, as they put ton a crucial 91 run partnership for the third wicket.

Flintoff and Mahmood deliver: Flintoff(3/35) and Mahmood(4/50) bowled tightly and took 7 wickets between them. Flintoff produced crucial breakthroughs such as the wickets of Tharanga(62), and Chamara Silva(24). Mahmood on the other end, proved costly, took crucial wickets of Sanath Jayasuriya, Sangakkara(17), Arnold(20), and Malinga(2). Apart from Tharanga and Jayawardane, no Srilankan batsman scored above 30 as England got wickets at regular intervals thanks to the pressure built by the England Fielders especially Collingwood.
The Srilankan batsman failed to score off the slog overs as they scored just 75 runs off their last 15 overs ending up to score 235 in 50 overs.


England's Reply: England began disastrously losing openers Vaughan(0) and Joyce(10) before the 7th over. Ian Bell joined Kevin Pietersen as the duo put on a crucial 90 run partnership. Jayawardane made some smart moves by taking the second and third powerplays at unexpected intervals. Bell(47 runs) was run-out by Jaysuriya in the 26th over. This triggered a batting collapse as England lost Pietersen((58 runs)caught and bowled ,off a superb DOOSRA, by Muralitharan), Flintoff(2), and Collingwood(14 runs) for 32 runs. At the 34th over mark, England were staring down the barrel at 133/6.

The Partnership of the match: Critics would have written off England to go down tamely, but Nixon and Bopara thought otherwise. They came in with the score reading a precarious 133/6, and the duo were seperated only when the score read 220. Nixon made a sizzling 42, he ran well, hit two good boundaries and he even REVERSE-SWEPT Murali into the stands for a great SIX. The 22 year Old Bopara on the other hand was cool and calm. He rotated the strikewell, placed the ball in the gaps and scored a brilliant 52 off just 53 balls on a pitch which seldom supported stroke making. The Duo put on a fabulous 87 run partnership, which nearly carried England to victory.

Nixon got out in the penultimate(49th) over leaving England to score 13 off the last 7 balls. Fernando bowled the last over. Bopara hit the second ball for a four, and singles were scored off the other two deliveries. 3 were required off the last ball, Fernando held his nerve, as he bowled Bopara off the final ball to bring a 2 run Srilankan Win.

Highlights: Nixon reverse sweeping Murali for Six.
Bopara's brave innings of 52 which earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.
The last ball of the match bowled by Fernando, that got rid of Bopara.

New Zealand hammer Hapless Bangladesh

New Zealand hammered Bangladesh to win the match by 9 wickets.
Bangladesh batted first and their openers found it very tough to score off Bond and Oram. Hence the openers set up a sedate 55 run partnership until Oram got rid of both openers(Omar(22 runs) & Iqbal(29 runs).

Although the first four top-order batsman got off to decent starts, Kiwi bowlers bowled tightly and got crucial break throughs at regular intervals. None of the Bangladesh batsman showed the will to play a great innings. To add to their hapless batting(sheerly due to lack of exposure to great bowling attacks),they lost the wicket of Bashar due to careless running. Bashar was run-out by a direct hit from Oram as he was too slow going for the second run and didn't even bother to dive in order to reach his crease.This triggered a collapse as Bangladesh lost their last six wickets for just 52 runs. Only Mohammed Rafique (30 not out) helped Bangladesh to reach 174.
Styris (4/43), Oram (3/30), and Bond (2/15) were the main contributors with the ball.

Fleming Shines: Fleming scored a scintillating 102 not out (10 fours and 3 sixes) and he was well assisted by Hamish Marshall (50 not out 2 fours and 1 Six). New Zealand reached the target with 9 wickets and more than 20 overs to spare. The wicket of Peter Fulton(15) was the only wicket to fall.

By winning against Bangladesh, New Zealand have now virtually assured themselves of a place in the semis.
Bangladesh, in my opinion, would be lucky to win even two matches in the quarters. Bangladesh coach, Whatmore, needs to realise that although his team is talented, they still lack the exposure and firepower to win against teams like Australia, New Zealand, Srilanka etc. The need of the hour for Bangladesh is exposure against great bowling attacks.

"Superb Sanath" scripts Lankan Win

Sanath Jayasuriya smashed a brilliant century and took three crucial wickets that paved the way for an easy Lankan victory. West Indies won the toss and chose to field. The move seemed to be justified as Powell bowled Tharanga(8 runs) and Bradshaw got rid of Sangakkara(7 runs). At the end of the 9th over, the score read 36/2. But thanks to a great 183 run partnership between Jayasuriya(113) and Mahela Jayawardane(82) and a late blistering innings from T.Dilshan(39 off 22 balls), Srilanka set West Indies a daunting target of 304 to win.

West Indies crumble: W.Indies were never really in the chase as they lost early wickets of Gayle(10 runs) and Powell(21 runs). Srilanka bowled very tightly courtesy Vaas, Fernando, and Co. West Indies struggled right through as the required right kept peaking consistently. Lara(2) was stumped brilliantly by Sangakkara off Vaas, leaving WI reeling at 42/3. The Writing was clearly on the wall for West Indies. Only Chanderpaul (76 runs, 5 sixes and 1 four), and Sarwan (44 runs, One Six and a Four) led W.Indies to a respectable 190. The Tail crumbled like 9 pins as Jayasuriya(3/38), and Muralitharan(2/59) spun a web around them.

West Indies are now virtually out of the World Cup. They have lost 3 games and even if they win the remaining games, their chances would depend on the performance of the other qualifying teams.

Highlights: Jayasuriya proved yet again why he was still a threat to bowlers despite his age. His first 13 runs came off 33 balls, but he stayed there and took his chances hitting 10 fours and 4 sixes to notch up his 25th ODI Century. Jayasuriya has now scored 11,816 runs in One Day Internationals,only Tendulkar (14, 500+ runs)has scored more. Jayasuriya has also hit 25 centuries, 16 behind Tendulkar's tally of 41 ODI centuries.

With 11,816 runs at a strike rate of 90.76, and also 290 ODI wickets to his credit, he is perhaps the most valuable player in ODI Cricket. If he continues to fire consistently against Australia, New Zealand , England, and South Africa, Srilanka will win this World Cup. I am hoping to see Sanath fire against Australia, he is the only player who can annihilate the Aussie bowling attack and perhaps their dominance.

Davids find the going tough:

When Bangladesh and Ireland slayed the sub-continent Goliaths India and Pakistan in their preliminary games, they would have entered the quarters hoping to upset a few more teams to boost their morale.

But they must have realised by now that all teams are aware of the minnows and that Bangladesh or Ireland need to put their best ever performance even if they need to secure two wins in the Quarters. Well they are the proverbial David, but the only difference is that they need to fight six Goliaths and they just don't possess the firepower to beat them .

England vs Ireland:
England beat Ireland, without sweating much, by 48 runs.
England scored scored 266/7 after batting first. Collingwood (90), Pietersen(48), and Flintoff(43) were the main contributors.
Ireland were never in the chase after losing two wickets in the first five overs. Although Neil 'O' Brien(63 runs) scored yet another valuable fifty,and Trent Johnson(27 runs), AR White(38 runs) provided some fireworks in the final overs, it was just not enough as Ireland succumbed by 48 runs. Flintoff starred for England as he took 4 crucial wickets. COllingwood was declared as Man-of-the-Match.

Australia vs Bangladesh:
If England did well, Australia went two steps further as they thrashed Bangladesh by 10 wickets with 8 overs to spare. THe match was shortened to 22 overs per side as the outfield was wet due to overnight rain.
Bangladesh went into bat and they managed to score a decent 104/6.
With such a small total, Bangladesh never had even the slightest chance. They might have aspired to take atleast 3 australian wickets, but that was not to be.
Aussie openers Hayden(47) and Gilchrist(59) launched yet another assault on the hapless Bangladesh bowlers and reached the target with 8 overs to spare.
The match clearly indicated the approach of a Champion side from that of a minnow. Bangladeshis were lucky that it was not a 50 over match, else they would have been thrashed by a even bigger marigin.

Highlight: Mcgrath took 3 wickets,in the process overtook Wasim Akram(Pakistan), to become the highest wicket taker in World Cup history
After seeing the progress of the World CUp so far, i would nominate Australia, South Africa and New Zealand to be the contenders for the World Cup. However Srilanka may just pull one out of the hat to win this one.

West Indies disappoint fans yet again!

West Indies have disappointed their fans yet again! When West Indies batted first, their fans expected their top order to fire and lead them to a challenging total.
But it proved to be otherwise.

The Collapse: W.Indies started disastrously losing Chanderpaul to Bond in the 8th over. The West Indian top-order once again proved why they are the most brittle in the world. From a solid 66/1, they lost key wickets of Sarwan(19), Samuels(9), & Gayle(44) to get themselves at 81/4. Gayle did show glimpses of returning to form when he scored a brisk 44 off 56 balls, but he edged an Oram delivery onto his stumps. Yet again, the responsibility fell on the captain, Brian Charles Lara.

Poor Lara! No matter whether it was Australia or New Zealand, his side seems to depend heavily on him to score plenty of runs. Just the previous day, Lara had scored a great 77 against Australia to save his side's reputation as they were defeated by 103 runs. Now, he had to lead his side to a respective total. Lara did play some beautifull drives and latecuts during his brisk 37(49 balls). But the pressure got onto him as he edged a Styris delivery to Mccullum. The West Indians were now deep in trouble at 150/6.

At this stage, I expected the W.Indies to score atleast 210 or more. But thanks to yet another shambolic display by the lower order, West Indies crumbled and were all out for a meagre 177. New Zealand did bowl tightly, but the West Indian batsman never applied themselves and allowed the New Zealanders to dominate the proceedings right over.
Oram(3/23) and Vettori(3/39) played their parts very well as they took 6 crucial wickets between them for just 62 runs. Bond also chipped in with 3 wickets.
At this stage, the match was set for a Kiwi win unless the West Indian bowlers sprung some surprises, which they didn't.

NZ score an easy win: New Zealand began disastrously losing Fulton in the very second ball of the innings to Powell. Marshall got out in the 9th over . But Fleming scored a brisk 46( 6 fours and 1 six) before he was run-out by Lara.
Apart from the initial hiccups, the Kiwis were always in the chase. Styris scored a brilliant 80 not out and was well supported by Craig Mcmillan who made a sedate 33, as they led Kiwis to an easy 7 wicket win.

West Indies now need all their remaining matches if they desire to reach the Semis.
I really doubt whether they can make it as their opponents are strong teams like England, South Africa, Srilanka, etc.

New Zealand on the other side are looking great. Their batsman: Fleming, Mccullum, & Mcmillan etc are in prime form, they have a world-class bowling attack with the Dangerous Shane Bond, Vettori, and also great all rounders like Styris, Oram and their wicketkeeper Mccullum. If all of them perform as a unit against teams like South Africa and Australia, they might just lift the World Cup.

A Thriller of a Game

Well! The Srilanka Vs South Africa match on March 28th, finally provided exactly what the fans required: A game that went down right to the wire.

Srilanka batted first and they lost early wickets: Upul Tharanga to Ntini and Jayasuriya to Langeveldt.
South Africa bowled tightly seldom allowing the batsman to score runs freely and taking wickets at regular intervals. Srilankans had to contend with just singles and twos. Every run seemed to be important as they needed to set a challenging total of at least 220 on the board. Langeveldt was the star of the show, he bowled a good line and length, bowled slower balls, and also fired in the odd one when needed.

South Africa's tight bowling and great fielding frustrated the Srilankans especially Chamara Silva (Their star of the show against India). Chamara hung in for 27 balls to score just 9 runs. He was runout by a superb effort from Gibbs. Gibbs dived full length to the stumps. With his body in the air, he broke the stumps with the ball still in this hands.
This was an exact replica of the 1992 SA vs PAK match, where Jonty Rhodes (Who else can do it?)ran out Inzamam by diving full length to the stumps and dislodging the stumps with the ball still in his hands. It reminded me of Superman!!!
It was a classic example of the greatness of the South African fielding. Jonty! You have done a great job as the fielding coach!!!!! Gibbs! Hats Off Dude!

Dilshan(58) and Arnold(50) batted sensibly, scoring singles, running the two's etc. But neither of them could put up a big score. After Dilshan got out with the score reading 195/6, South Africans cleaned up the tail courtesy Langeveldt. He first got rid of Arnold (caught behind), then he bowled some very slow good-length deliveries to Maharoof and Vaas, who mishit the balls and got caught in the deep. Pollock then inflicted a direct hit to run out Muralitharan. Srilankans thus collapsed and scored 209 instead of 230. It was a result of some sensible and accurate bowling from South Africa and also their fielding which remained Top-class.



The South African Chase: 210 was always going to be a tricky target on a slow West Indian pitch. South Africa began disastrously as Vaas removed De Villers for nought.But Smith and the ever-reliable Kallis prevented further damage and built a solid 93 run partnership. Smith was his usual aggressive self and scored a valuable 59(65 balls).
Gibbs came in after Smith's dismissal and he scored a patient 31.

The Beginning of the Great Collapse: South Africa were cruising till the 32nd over. When Murali came into bowl the 33rd over, the score read 160/2. Kallis and Gibbs were batting well and they had built on a sensible 65 run stand. Murali started the collapse when he caught Gibbs off his own bowling and got rid of Boucher the very next ball. Kemp was the next to go, he scored just 5 before getting stumped off a Jayasuriya delivery.
With the score reading a precarious 182/5, Pollock joined Kallis and built a nervous 24 run partnership till Malinga struck

Malinga strikes: It was the 45th Over. With the score reading 206/5 off 44.4 overs, many would have thought that South Africa could easily win this match. But Malinga thought otherwise. He bowled four great balls: The first one: A slow yorker that uprooted Pollock's leg stump, Second one: another slow yorker to Andrew Hall who dug the yorker out, but it took the outside edge and was caught. The Third one was a good length delivery on the off stump that got rid of Kallis and fetched him a Hat-Trick, the fourth one, a beauty of a yorker to send Ntini's stump flying. Malinga had now taken 4 wickets in 4 balls including a Hat-Trick. South Africa were 207/9 and Srilanka were smelling an unlikely victory.
However Peterson and Langeveldt guided South Africa to a thrilling victory and thus the Match ended in South Africa's favor.

Highlights: Herschelle Gibb's diving full length to the stumps to run-out Chamara Silva. It was a treat to watch.
Malinga's Hat-trick: The fifth in World Cup history, only Chetan Sharma(India), Brett Lee(Australia), Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan), Chaminda Vaas(SrilLanka), have achieved this feat. However Malinga's hat-trick also made him the first bowler to take 4 wickets in 4 balls and also end up in the losing side.

Kallis proved to be the Pillar around which the SouthAfrican batting relied. Inspite of the regular flow of wickets at the other end, he kept a cool head and scored 86(just 4 fours in it), until he became the Hat-Trick victim after nicking a Malinga special to Sangakkara.

Man-of-the-Match Charles Langeveldt 5 wicket haul that restricted SriLanka to 209.

The Fireworks Begin

The World Cup enters its most crucial stage known as the Super 8s or Quarter Finals. The real tournament starts from here. The teams that are taking part at this stage are : West Indies, Ireland, Srilanka, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa.

Each team would play the other five teams once and depending upon the number of games that each side have won and the points that they carry over from each group, four teams would go to the semi-finals.

As of now, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and Srilanka are the real contenders for the cup. But considering the fact that we have dark horses like England, and West Indies, we may expect a few dramatic upsets and maybe a really unexpected winner. I don't consider Bangladesh and Ireland as the contenders solely for the reason that in spite of them being talented teams, they lack the firepower to enter the Semis. If they do reach the Semis, it would be a cricket lover's delight.
So, for now, Let's sit and enjoy watching some exciting cricket matches.

The Fireworks begin:
The first quarter final between West Indies and Australia has been interrupted by rain.
Lara won the toss and surprisingly put Australia into bat. Although the West Indian bowlers contained the Aussie openers initially, Hayden, yet again, cut loose and scored a splendid 158(4 sixes and 15 fours). This was his second consecutive World Cup hundred. Clarke(41),Ponting(35), and Watson(33 n.o) also played some lovely cameos as Australia set West Indies a daunting target of 323 runs.

Highlights: Hayden was the star of the show yet again, he scored his second consecutive WC century. Considering the fact that he took 16 balls to get off the mark, it was a great and sensible knock. Hayden now becomes only the third Australian after Mark Waugh, and Ricky Ponting to score Hundreds in consecutive matches in a WC.

Lara's plan of containing Australia by using his slow bowlers( Gayle and Samuels) backfired miserably as they both were plundered for 87 runs off their 13 overs. This resulted in Australia scoring a mammoth 322/6 in 50 overs.
It now remains to be seen how West Indies would chase the target. If Chanderpaul, Gayle, Lara, or Samuels fire, we might have a great contest on the hands when the match resumes on March 28th. Until then just wait and watch.

The Aussie Juggernaut Continues:

Well! After 5 consecutive defeats before the World Cup, the Aussies are back to what they do best: Winning Matches and Winning Them Convincingly!
By winning the match against South Africa by 83 runs, the Aussies have proved to the world that they are still Numero Uno.

The Match: Smith won the toss and put Australia into bat as he was not sure of what would be a match winning total at this Ground(Warner Park, St Kitts). It proved to be costly as the Aussies plundered South African bowlers (including Pollock) to score a mammoth 377/6 in 50 overs.

Hayden was the main plunderer as he broke yet another record(The fastest World Cup century) while scoring a 101 off just 68 balls. Ponting and Clark also joined the party and scored 91 and 92 each. The South Africans left the ground pondering what went wrong with their bowling.

The Chase:South Africa started their chase with supreme confidence, they knew that it would be easy to clear the small boundaries at these grounds. So, Smith and De Villers took the Australian attack to the cleaners. Until the 14th over, nearly each over had at least a boundary or a Six in them. Even the miserly Mcgrath failed to contain the duo. De Villers was in sparkling form, he cut, pulled mercilessly, and ran singles with ease putting the pressure right back on Australia.

The Turning Point:The score was reading 160 for no loss after 20 overs, it seemed that Australia were set to lose yet another match after scoring 330+. But it wasn't to be. De Villers played the ball on the legside and quickly ran the first one, he should have respected the Aussie fielding and should have stayed at the non-strikers end. But he didn't and Shane Watson produced a superb Direct Hit which not only broke the stumps, but also the South African momentum.

South Africa still had a chance since the required rate was under 7.5 per over, but Smith had to retire due to medical reasons and the momentum that they had gathered begun to shatter. Kallis came in and he took his time to score his 48 runs( 63 balls!!!!). The slow scoring of Kallis and the early wicket of Herschelle Gibbs( The man who scored 173 against them in their previous encounter) put the game back in Australia's control.

Kallis proved to be a major factor in South Africa's defeat. Being a good batsman, he should have at least scored at run-a-ball. He didn't rotate the strike thus allowing Hogg to settle down and end South Africa's resistance.

Highlights: Hayden's aggressive knock (101 of 68) balls proved to be the innings that paved way for a mammoth total. Without his knock, Aussies would have scored 20-30 runs lesser thus handing over a psychological advantage.

AB De Villers knock of 92: he along with Graeme Smith threatened to take the match away from Australia. He was unfortunately run-out for 92, thanks to a superb throw from the deep(courtesy Watson). It proved to bad as Smith retired immediately and SA lost momentum due to some very slow scoring by Kallis.

Brad Hogg(3/61) and Nathan Bracken(2/40) bowled tightly and restricted South African batsman from scoring freely. Their combined tally of 5 wickets 101 runs from 19 overs proved to be the deciding factor of the match

Aussies have to be wary of South Africa, because South Africa have the firepower to not only beat Australia but Annihilate them. New Zealand are not far behind and so are Srilanka. So the World Cup, so far, has no serious contenders. I am waiting for the Super 8s to end. Only then can we at least guess the contender. My money would be any day on South Africa, or New Zealand, but Srilanka are not far behind.

The Need of the Hour: Courageous and Sensible Decision Making

Well, it finally happened. Bangladesh beat Bermuda by 7 wickets and in the process qualified for the Super 8's or quarters and also knocked India out of the tournament.
It has been the biggest Nadir for Indian Cricket. I hope they learn their lessons at least now. You can't afford too many superstars in the cricket team. We have Sachin, Sehwag, Ganguly, Dravid, Dhoni......... Well, if you are looking for a team that has more superstars , I am afraid that you can find them only in The Justice League(Superman, Batman, Green Lantern etc).
As they say "Too many Cooks Spoil the Broth". In case of the Indian team," Too many Superstars spoil the team".

We have over-hyped these mortals and we have in a way contributed to the sudden demise of quality in Indian cricket. We should have treated the cricketers as just good sportsmen. Maybe then they would have realised their situation and they would have performed well. But we didn't and look how the Indian Cricketers have fooled themselves now.

There is no doubt that Sachin, Sehwag, Ganguly, and Dravid are immensely talented cricketers who have put match winning performances in the past. But, as i say, they have performed in the past, only in the past. Sachin is not even a shadow of his prime, Dravid looks jaded, Ganguly and Sehwag have started scoring but, they have their own problems: Ganguly takes a lot of time to settle, meanwhile Sehwag tends to throw away his wicket.We don' need just Reputed players, we need performers (not AD Performers).

Well, it's time to say bye bye to Sachin, Dravid, and Ganguly. They hardly have 2 years of cricket left in them thus making them very doubtful probables for 2011. Sorry Dravid,Ganguly, and Sachin, you need to make way for the new generation. Thank you all for the great centuries and fifties that you have made. Thanks a lot for the wonderful innings that you had played and for the entertainment that you provided us. But as they say, all that is well ends well. It's time for you all to leave with grace. We all need a team which can perform well consistently well, not a team of superstars who over promise and fail to keep up.

It's time for us to take some courageous and sensible measures. We need to rotate our senior players.(Only 2 or 3 can play per game). We need to find a youngster who can motivate the team to great heights. It's time that we stop selecting captains on their reputation and experience. I hope BCCI is listening. We need a youthful and talented team. We need to breed youngsters and wait for them to produce results. We should not sack youngsters after 3 or 4 matches just because they fail. Remember we got a Sachin only after we persisted with him for 13ODIs(until which he didn't score a single ODI 50). So we must wait for the team to gain experience and then look for great results.

BCCI needs to concentrate more on Ranji and the other domestic tournaments. Pitches across the country should be relayed and they should be sporting ones, not batsman friendly: Some of them can be pacy and some of them can be spinner-friendly. If the management fears that this may encourage the touring opponents, then only Domestic cricket can be played on these Hard and Bouncy tracks. We can improve the batting quality of youngsters only when they bat on Genuine, and sporting pitches.
The BCCI should take adequate measures to help deserving domestic cricketers. You can improve Indian cricket only if you nourish its roots(i.e domestic cricket). If BCCI honestly does these, we will definitely see the beginning of a Truly Glorious Era of Indian Cricket.
Let us all welcome new changes. We must encourage other sports and stop hyping cricket. After all Cricket is just another game. Let us celebrate only true performers and encourage budding talent.
Let the new era of Indian Cricket begin.

Indian Team: Will they ever learn

India are virtually out of the
World Cup, thanks to yet another dis-spirited batting
display. India won the toss and putSrilanka into bat. The Indian pacers especially Munaf did a very good job, they got Jayasuriya out early and they beat the bat several times without any luck. The match seemed to be interestingly poised in the 32nd over when Srilanka were 130+ for the loss of 4 wickets. But thanks to unimaginative captaincy courtesy Dravid, India allowed Srilanka to reach 254/6. Dravid made the fatal mistake of not using Yuvraj and Sehwag while bowling. As a result, Chamara Silva and Tillekaratne Dilshan build a solid and quickfire 83 run partnership, while Vaas provided the firepower to help Srilanka to 254.

India lost the game due to their negative approach while batting. What was Ganguly thinking when he played so sedately and all of a sudden threw away his wicket????

If Ganguly went for a poor shot, Yuvraj got run-out going for a non-existent run(thanks to the pressure created by Dravid). Dravid has to learn the art of taking sharp singles, he sometimes tends to irritate the non-striker by playing 4 or 5 dot balls at a stretch(Which ain't good). If Yuvraj's runout was disastrous, Dhoni got out LBW trying to play a incoming delivery from Murali. I have no idea what Dhoni was thinking at that point, he could have atleast played it on the legside or just defended. THe only positive was Sehwag. In spite of being out of form, he played some lovely shots especially the Six of Vaas. Sehwag
was going great guns(Good sign for the future). The rest of the Indian
batting collapsed as usual. The tail didn't even bother to wag and so
India thus got bundled out for 185 in the 43rd over.

Muralitharan and Vaas
once again proved why they were top-class bowlers, they bowled a tight
line and length, attacked the batsmen and bowled some unplayable balls.
The Indian batsman, yet again, helped them to build pressure by playing
negatively. When will Indian batman ever learn the art of rotating the
strike. It seems not even Foreign coaches can help India in this regard.


India
have yet again proved why they are just Tigers on their home ground and
cats away. It's time that we take some desperate measures, even if it
means kicking out non-performing world-class players. If we need to
become World Champions, we need Team Spirit and Killer Instinct. Indian
team needs these two qualities desperately and the only way they can
achieve this is to play as a team(not depending on just one or two
players).

Indian Fans: Please stop wasting your time analyzing
this defeat. Teach Team India a lesson, by not watching their matches
till they play good cricket.

For all Sachin, Dravid, and Ganguly fans: Please stop treating players as gods and treat them as normal human beings. Please understand that Sachin or any other player can't perform well every match. Hey! After all, they need to act in Ads like Pepsi, Reliance,Gillette, SUnfeast etc. Am i right? See yaar, they play cricket just as a hobby.

Well,to conclude it, there are some very valuable lessons to be learnt from
India's WC campaign. 1) The only way to win is to play positive and
aggressive cricket.
2) Never to be complacent against any Minnow in the future.
3) Play as a team, not as
a unit of 2 or 3 star players.
4) Most Important: Don't ever hire Foreign Coaches again. They can just improve your basic skills, the rest is left to the players. Go for an Indian coach who can
motivate the players. Remember, only an Indian coach can understand an
Indian players mentality, the pressure that they face and their needs
properly. Don't believe me, AskGanguly, Pathan and others.
5) Stop commercializing cricket. This is a game and not a business. (Hope BCCI and Indian players realize this.)


I am sure that Chappell is going to be chucked out for this defeat Well! we now have a very difficult task ahead of us. We need to groom good and talented players
for the future.Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly can serve India only till 2007 or perhaps 2008. They must understand the situation and pave the way for young and deserving players.
We need mentors like Kapil Dev, Mohinder Amarnath and Krish Srikkanth
to coach the state teams and pick really talented players. If we can
take the right steps, maybe India can become a World-Class team by at least 2011.

The World Cup begins now:

So far, the Cricket World Cup has not provided much exciting cricket matches for the viewers to watch. No, No, I am not blaming the teams, I am blaming the organisers for arranging the games in such a way that we could only enjoy a few games such as Ireland vs Pakistan, West Indies vs Pakistan and of course! Yawn! India vs Bangladesh.

Pardon me for saying this, World Cup matches have never been so boring and one-sided than this. If you don't believe me, you could see the scores of the teams involved in the matches that have happened so far and you'll find that only 2 matches Ireland vs Pakistan and West Indies vs Pakistan have been competitive. Please don't ask me to include the India vs Bangladesh, it was humiliating to say the least.

The only bright thing(for statisticians) is that 20+ records have been broken re-written during this world cup. To give a few examples, Herschelle Gibbs (SA) hit 6 sixes off an Vaan Der Bunge(Holland) over. Boucher hit the fastest WC 50(off 21 balls) in the same match, only to see Brendon Mc Cullum(NZ wicketkeeper) breaking the barrier in 20 balls against Canada.

The minnows have played poor cricket(Purely due to lack of exposure) and they have lost by big margins(200+) to the Test playing nations. Hope ICC uses its brains to rack up a competitive schedule at least by 2011.

Well! We have finally entered the real World Cup, now we have a pseudo Quarter Final between India and Srilanka today, India must win this match to enter the Quarters. Srilanka are on a high note having already qualified for the quarters, and they will be in no mood to give up their winning form.

Mark my words!! Srilanka are very strong contenders for this World Cup. Srilanka have the perfect balance in Batting, Bowling, and Fielding. Their batting looks ominous with Sanath (Smasher) Jayasuriya in top form, Tharanga providing the support and Jayawardane, Atapattu, + Sangakkara to provide the consolidation and firepower.
Their bowling looks sharp and penetrative with the ever-reliable Vaas(Of course!) and The Slinger Lasith Malinga. The spin department (Murali and Bandara) would be chuckling with glee finding the West Indian pitches very similar to their home conditions. Thus Srilanka in my point have a strong mental advantage and also a reputation for beating World Class teams on their day.

India on the other hand are not even worth analyzing, I am not sure that they'll reach the semis(if they reach the quarters). I may be very pessimistic, but looking at their body language, i don't see any hopes of India lifting the cup or even dreaming for it.

The bottom line is the World cup begins now. My contenders are Srilanka, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. I am sure that no other team except these four would go on to lift the world cup unless and until some drastic changes happen. I expect West Indies and India to prove me wrong!!
I pray to god that India prove me wrong (I hope that they will, because if they don't, the consequences would be disastrous, and believe me, when i say Disastrous, it is just an understatement).

Meanwhile, we also have the Australia vs South Africa game on March 24th, although the result is inconsequential as both teams have qualified for the quarters, the winner would certainly get the mental advantage. I am surely going to watch both games keenly. I am expecting to closely fought matches from now onwards. Hope I am not disappointed.
The real World Cup begins now!

Records tumble in World Cup 2007:

World Cup 2007 has just begun and many records have already started tumbling thanks to smaller grounds, inexperienced bowling attacks and aggressive batting.

India now hold yet another ODI record, when Sachin hit the first ball of the 50th over for six, India crossed 400 thus becoming the first team to do so, in a World Cup. (the previous best score was Srilanka, who scored 398/5 against Kenya in 1996 WC).

Dravid hit the last ball of the innings for a six thus taking India's Sixer Tally to 18. This equals South Africa's tally (18 Sixes and 30 Fours) against Holland (Obviously it was scored in this World Cup just a week ago).

Surprisingly India scored 30 Boundaries and 18 Sixes, compared to South Africa who hit the same number of 4s and 6s in 40 overs against Holland in WC 2007.

There were five ducks in the Bermuda innings, equaling the record for most ducks in a World Cup innings. The three other instances were; England v West Indies at Lord's in 1975, Canada v Sri Lanka at Paarl in 2003 and Sri Lanka v India at Johannesburg

Herschelle Gibbs became the first player in International Cricket to hit six consecutive 6s off one Van-Der-Bunge over. He hit 7 sixes in total and scored 72 off 41 balls.

In the same match against Holland, Boucher smashed 75 off just 31 balls. He reached his 50 in 21 balls to break the record for fastest 50 in WC history. The previous record was held by Brian Lara (WI) who hit 50 off 23 balls against Canada in 2003.

The Minnow Bashing Continues: Bermuda were yet again thrashed by a huge marigin:257 runs. This is the highest marigin of victory achieved by any team beating the previous best of 256 runs achieved by Australia against Namibia in 2003 WC.
Srilanka had also beaten Bermuda by 243 runs in their previous match.

Incidentally, this world cup has so far seen minnows like Bermuda, Scotland and Holland have all been defeated by a margin of more than 200 runs.
Australia had beaten Scotland and Holland by 200+ runs in their first two matches of World Cup 2007.

Australia also became the first team in World Cup history to score 300+ totals in 3 consecutive WC matches. They scored 359/2 against India in 2003 WC final, 300+ against Scotland and 358/5 against Holland.

Ricky Ponting broke Saurav Ganguly's World Cup record of 25 Sixes.
Saurav, however, equalled the record when he hit 3 sixes against Bermuda to take his tally to 25(Saurav has played 10 WC matches lesser than Ponting).

Dwayne Leverock's spell of 10-0-96-1 was the second most expensive 10-over spell in World Cups. The two most expensive figures are Martin Snedden's 12-0-105-2 against England in 1979 and Ashantha de Mel's 10-0-97-1 against West Indies in 1987

Southafrica went a step further when they broke many World records (including the maximum number of sixes in a match(18), Six consecutive sixes off an over(By Herschelle Gibbs off Van Der Bunge, fastest fifty in World Cup history etc(50 off 21 balls by Mark Boucher).

India cross their first hurdle:

India have crossed their first hurdle by beating Bermuda by 257 runs It was a much improved performance by the Indian Team. They did most of the things right after losing the toss and being put into bat. The batsmen, especially Virendar Sehwag, capitalized on the inexperienced bowling attack. Sehwag laid the foundation for the big total, he played a sensible and aggressive innings after a long time(59 innings). Although his 114 off 87 balls is not one of the best centuries scored, it came at a rather usefull time. If Sehwag provided the start, it was Ganguly who consolidated, he scored a composed 89 off 114 balls. Thus, the platform was laid for the big hitters to come and blast off the Bermuda bowlers.

The Indians did the right thing by sending Dhoni up the order(although this should not be repeated against teams like Srilanka, as it may trigger a lower order collapse). Dhoni scored a usefull 29 off 26 balls, but it was Yuvraj Singh and Tendulkar, who proved the real firepower.
The Scorecard read 275/ 4 at the 40 over stage, we were expecting a total of 350-370. But thanks to Yuvraj, who scored 83 off just 46 balls with 7 Sixes and 3 fours. Sachin proved to be the perfect foil for Yuvraj, but even he scored 57 off 29 balls with 4 sixes, the last six of his brought up the first 400 total in World Cup history. The Bermuda bowlers showed their inexperience by bowling too short and they were way-too-predictable.
The last 10 overs proved to be very costly for Bermuda: 130 runs were scored and about 10 sixes were hit off it.
Bermuda put up a below average performance to be bundled out for just 156. Only David Hemp provided some resistance with a solid 76. The Indian bowling attack needs to be more accurate, they should have restricted Bermuda below 150.

Dravid should drop the third seamer and add an extra spinner. It might prove costly as Seamers have a very less chance of getting wickets in these conditions. Dravid needs to rethink his strategy. We cannot afford tactical blunders when we have to win all matches by convincing margins.
The only positive that i could see was that Sehwag had managed to score a century. He needs to concentrate more on his technique and score lots of runs against greater and more powerfull bowling attacks. Hope he continues in the same vein of form.
India now face a daunting challenge of beating Srilanka by a huge marigin.(Remember Srilanka would be batting in conditions very similar to theirs. They also have a perfect bowling attack:Vaas and Lasith Malinga provide the pace, while Jayasuriya, Malinga Bandara, and Muralitharan are hard to score off in any pitch).

West Indies reach the quarters:
West Indies restricted Zimbabwe to 202 and reached the total comfortably with 6 wickets remaining and 13 balls to spare. Zimbabwe desperately need players who can play matchwinning innnings. The whole match seemed one sided with the winner already decided even before the match begun. ICC needs to take the appropriate steps immediately to improve Zimbabwe's condition.
West Indies need to improve their batting and they also need to avoid batting collapses if they desire need to win the cup. Their batting looks just above average and it is persistenly inconsistent similar to India.

Day of Minnows:

Day of Minnows:
April 17th, 2007: It was truly a Red Letter Day

for the minnows:Bangladesh and Ireland.
While Bangladesh triggered an Indian batting
collapse and chased the target to win by 5
wickets; Ireland shocked the world by bundling
the Pakistanis for a mere 133 and then
reached the total with 3 wickets to spare.

IND vs BAN: India won the toss and surprisingly
chose to bat, which proved to be a blunder.
Sehwag once again proved to be India's biggest
liability. Yet again, he got out cheaply showing
that he had learnt nothing from his past
failures. As for the rest of the Indian batting,
it was at best, Shambolic. Only Ganguly and
Yuvraj batted well to give India some
respectability. But thanks to a great batting
collapse(5 wickets for 2 runs), India landed up
with 191. Take away the 32 run partnership for
the last wicket and you'll find India would have
scored even lesser. Indians have to play positive
cricket if they need to lift this cup. Although Mortaza, Rafique, and Salem
bowled tightly, Indians helped Bangladesh to pile
pressure on them by playing sedate cricket.

If India can't play Bangladeshi spinners well,
then what could they achieve against Sri Lanka."

"Dravid! Please tell your players to stop modelling and start performing! Tell them that apart from dancing on TV ads, they also have the duty to fulfill their foremost duty:Playing GOOD and POSITIVE Cricket"

If India batted pathetically, Bangladesh did the opposite, they stroked the
ball nicely and went for their shots. Dravid
helped their cause by over-bowling his pacers
instead of relying on his spinners.
I could not help but appreciate the Bangladeshi younsters(paticularly Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim) who belted the Indian attack all over the park.
IF a bunch of talented Teenagers can slog Indian bowlers over the park on a difficult pitch, why can't greats like Sachin and Dravid play positive even against amateur bowlers??? I guess the answer is ATTITUDE.

It was sad to see Dravid setting defensive fields instead of attacking fields, and just hoping for the Bangladeshi's to make
mistakes. Why didn't he use his spinners regularly??
I feel that the match had been lost
there. In the end, Bangladesh romped home with 5
wickets and 8 balls to spare.

Thanks to their Shambolic performance, India have landed themselves in a situation
where they have to beat Bermuda and Srilanka by
huge marigins, or else, it's Bye Bye India.

Ireland vs Pak:
This was the surprise package of the tournament,

Ireland beat Pakistan by 3 Wickets.
Well, Pakistan were hampered by the absence of
Afridi due to disciplinary action, Akthar and
Asif due to injury(actually doping charges).

However, they batted very badly to score a paltry 133.
Ireland on the other hand bowled tightly and
harldy allowed the Pakistani batsmen to settle
down. Akmal was the only exception and he scored
a valiant 27.
Ireland realised that this was their chance to
create history. They batted sensibly despite
losing regular wickets thanks to Neil 'O' Brien,
who scored a very valuable half century. Rain
interrupted play and the target was revised to
127. Howver it proved to be a mini hiccup as
Ireland despite losing 3 Wickets to Sami and
Ifthikar Rao Anjum, romped home due to Kevin 'O'
Brien. The match was finished in a fitting way
when their skipper Trent Johnson smashed Azhar
Mehmoud over long-on for six. Thus Pakistan were
knocked out of the world cup even before the
quarters.
Hence, the day truly belonged to the
minnows.

Minnow Bashing:

Minnow Bashing: About 6 non-playing test nations
are taking part in this World cup.
Even before this world cup began, the inclusion of
minnows has sparked off criticism from the likes
of Michael Holding(the great West Indian bowler)
and Ricky Ponting(the flamboyant Australian
captain). Although the minnows claim that their
participation is justified, their records speak
otherwise.

With the exception of Canada, Ireland and Kenya,
the other minnows have not played good cricket.
The best example would be Holland, first they got
thrashed by South Africa who piled a massive
354/4 in 40 overs. Thanks to Herschelle Gibbs(who
hit a record 6 consecutive sixes off an over from
Holland bowler Van Der Bunge) and Mark Boucher
who scored 75 off 31 balls(The fastest fifty in
WC history). Australia were not far behind, they
have thrashed the minnows Holland and Scotland by
margins of over 200 runs.
So, the next time ICC decides on including
minnows, they must first make sure that the
minnows have played enough cricket in order to
trigger upsets over test playing nations.
Otherwise records will continue to tumble and the
matches will be nothing but one sided humdingers.

The World Cup is not a place for sub-standard
cricket. Although the minnows need to face top
sides in order to improve the quality of their
cricket, the world cup is not the right place to
do so.

However, the minnows should not be totally
ignored in World cup tournaments solely for the
reason because one of them is bound to trigger
upsets. After all we need many Davids to slaughter the Goliath, don't we?
Cricket lovers love upsets and the best upsets can be provided only by minnows. SO let them not be ignored totally?

Each World Cup has seen its share of interesting upsets provided by minnows.
It goes way back to 1979, where Srilanka beat
India by 47 runs, thanks to Duleep Mendis who
scored a valuable 60 not out.

In 1983, Zimbabwe triggered the mother of all
upsets when they beat Australia by 13 runs,
thanks to an inspired all-round performance by
their captain Duncan Fletcher(present England
Coach). They might have beaten India also, but
Kapil Dev played one of the greatest knocks of
all time and saved India(he scored 175 not out in
a game where no other Indian batsman had crossed
30, he came in when the score read 17/5 and he
helped India to achieve a match winning total of
266).

In 1992, Zimbabwe beat England defending a very
low score(i think it is 134). Eddo Brandes
provided the fire power as England collapsed and
list by 20+ runs).

In 1996, Srilanka turned the cricket world
Topsy-turvy when they lifted the World Cup
defeating nations like India, England, and
Australia in the process. Kenya also upset
West indies when they bundled WI for 93(Kenya had
just scored 166). The man of the match was
Maurice ODumbe.

In 1999 Bangladesh Upset Pakistan in their last
league game.(i don't remember the scores).

In 2003, Canada beat Bangladesh.

The biggest upset of this world cup so far has
been Bangladesh defeating India and Ireland
defeating Pakistan. Who knows there may be more
And so the list goes on....

Cricket:The Final Winner

Hi friends, i have written this blog purely from my perspective. I am no cricket expert nor am i a great cricket player. But i am an ardent fan of the game and i love its unpredictability. My following posts would be based on cricket solely viewed from my perspective.

Well, World Cup 2007 has already started and Australia has already kicked off its campaign on a very high note. They truly do have a chance of retaining the world cup.
If you ask me who the favorites would be, i would say "None".

Yes, i agree that Australia have strong team, and teams like NewZealand, England and SouthAfrica are in peak form, but as we all have seen. No worldcup, except the 1975 and 1979 editions, have been won by teams labelled as favorites.

Each world cup has its own share of Surprises, India surprised the world by winning the 1983 WC with its team of allrounders. The 1987 WC had its own share of surprises when WestIndies failed to reach the finals for the first time since the inauguration of the worldcup edition. The 1987 Final between England and Australia was labelled as one of the most thrilling matches. In the end, the team which held its nerve won.
The 1987 Wc was a revelation purely because of many new additions like the usage of coloured clothing, whiteballs etc. Australia made it their own due to their concept of Quick running between wickets.

The 1992 WC was an even exciting one. South Africa surprised the world when they fielded a brilliant allround unit that boasted of the best ever fielder, Jonty Rhodes.
Who can forget the run out of Inzamam, where Rhodes made a full-stretched dive towards the stumps and dislodged the bails. That was one great revelation.
It was unfortunate as SouthAfrica(also called as Proteas) were knocked out of the WC when the Rain rule required them to win 22 runs of 1 ball against England.

Pakistan were supposedly the worst team of the tournament until their Captain Imran Khan led Pakistan to its first ever World Cup truimph, courtesy Inzamam, Wasim, Javed and of course, the rained out match against England(where PAk wre all-out for 74 and yet they got a precious MATCH point which qualified them for the Quarter finals). England were unlucky again for the third time.

Although Pak and England made it to the finals, it was Newzealand, led by Martin Crowe, who revolutionised cricket by introducing the concept of Pinch hitting courtesy Mark Greatbatch and Martin Crowe. The 1987 match is best remembered for being the first WC to bring a sea of changes in the way One Day Internationals were being played.


If 1987 was dramatic, WC 1996 was excellent.
The 1996 WC saw the rise of Srilanka as one of the superpowers. Led by the plumpy Arjuna Ranatunga, the team upstaged the great teams like Australia, NewZealand, India and Pak to lift the cup for the first time.
Thanks to the pinch hitting of Sanatha Jayasuriya(The mindless Marauder) and Aravinda De Silva(One of the most stylish batsmen ever), Srilanka upset Australia in the final and romped home to lift the ultimate trophy.
The 1996 WC had many great moments like the AUS vs NZ match: NewZealand made a daunting target of 286 thanks to Harris(130) and Lee Germon(89), but Australia made a mockery of it when Mark Waugh (130) and Steve Waugh (59*) took Australia to a great victory.
The 1996 IND vs PAk match still stands out from the rest due to Ajay Jadeja, Aamir Sohail, Prasad and Waqar Younis. If you ask Why, please refer to Cricinfo.


The 1999 WC was one of the most boring WC, where Australia upstaged SouthAfrica in the SemiFinal and thrashed Pakistan in teh final to win the WC for the 2nd time.
The highlights of 1999 Wc was the SA vs AUS matches (one in the quarter and the other in Semis where the match was tied)
The 2003 WC saw India rising like a phoenix only to be burnt down by Australia in the final. The final was one of the worst one sided ones ever as India lost the match in the very first over when Gilchrist plundered Zaheer Khan for 15 runs.

Well, 2007 has just started. I just pray that this Tournament sees a much deserving and of course a new champion. I sincerely feel that Australia don't deserve to win this one. I also feel that Srilanka, India, and even Pakistan have an edge over the other teams due to their spinners who may play a crucial role(if the pitches suit them as expected). My final contenders would be SouthAfrica, NewZealand, India, Srilanka and of course Australia.

I would be very surprised if Pakistan come out of the dark to win this one. I just hope it doesn't. India do have a great chance to repeat 1983 ; only if they play as a team. I feel that they must stop depending on individual players to win matches.
Who knows, if Dravid, Saurav,Kumble, Pathan, and Sachin perform well consistenly, India might lift the Cup on April 28th.

The bottomline is,"Only a team that plays as a unit can lift this ultimate trophy".
Let the game be the true winner.