March 13, an unforgettable day in the history of Indian cricket and a day when Calcutta brought ignominy to the sport by forcing us to forfeit a match. Indians were beaten by the Lankans in Eden Gardens.

Indians were coming into this game with a thumping victory over the Pakistanis in Bangalore and the Lankans, in red hot form had just annihilated England in the quarters. It could be a fascinating game in a lovely venue but things turned very ugly.

The Game 

Winning the toss, the Indians started the madness by putting the opposition in. Why would you want the pressure of chasing in a World Cup Semi-final???!!!They seemed to be thinking more about the opposition’s game than their own. The move seemed in order when the openers lefty quickly but De Silva, Mahanama and the rest ensured a competitive total of 251. In response, Sachin batted beautifully before a clever piece of work by Kalu had him stumped down the leg-side. It was all downhill after this- a thoroughly inept display on a pitch which had Sachin batting so comfortably (is this due to a difference in class between the batsmen? I would hope not!).

Eden Gardens 

That’s when the crowd got in. I can understand how a crowd would be agitated by the shameful performance by the Indians but to pelt the players with stones and bottles?? I am surprised that Calcutta continues to host international games and in fact even repeated this performance later against Pakistan. I guess Eden does have its charm but this was a more disgraceful performance than the display on the field.

The pitch was not really apt for an international game of such magnitude but it didn’t merit a 120-8 either!

March 13, will forever be remembered for Kambli’s tears, Calcutta’s lack of appreciation for sport and adds another incident to the colourful World Cup history.

Technorati Tags: De Silva, Mahanama, Sachin, Kambli

Pakistan cricket and controversy are synonymous with each other. Be it the ball tampering, match fixing scandals, internal feuds for the captaincy, the recent Oval debacle, there seems to be as much action off the field in Pakistani cricket as there is on it. And the Shoaib episode is another case in point.

The players were banned and then had it overturned through some legal maneuvering. But justice has caught up with them and knowing they faced life bans if they tested positive again, they have taken refuge under the cover of fake injuries. Now, all this is pure speculation but I don’t think any of the readers will doubt it for a second. I think it is commendable that the PCB has decided to impose these tests on its players in a effort to clean the sport up. We did not need another “Warne episode” to put the sport to shame.

It is a pity that Asif had to be taken under the wings of Akhtar. Since his exciting entry into  the sport, Akhtar has been more trouble and tantrum than the excitement he brought. The complete lack of discipline reflects in the slew of troubles he has got himself into. Shoaib is all about the glam and glitter, the running in with thecrowd behind him but very little about the training that will extend the career and protect a fast bowler, the discipline that will make a regular matchwinner out of a talent of his kind (dubious as that itself may be). He did not deserve to play in the World Cup and I think the game is better off without him.

Shoaib, you belong in Bollywood not on a cricket ground.

Technorati Tags: Asif, Akhtar

It looks like the Australian team is a in a free fall! Not long back they were being lauded for the absolute hammering they gave to the Englishmen and yet in a matter of 2-3 weeks they have lost to the same Englishmen (thrice) and now to their neighbors from across the Tasman sea. And how have the Kiwis beaten them! First, by inflicting their first ever ten wicket loss. Then, Ross Taylor scripted an amazing victory as the Kiwis chased down 337 to win the series 2-0. And to show that the 337 run chase was no fluke, the Kiwis went even better by achieving 346 (after being 41 for 4!). Full credit to Craig McMillan and Brendon McCullum for scripting such a brilliant victory.

Make no mistake about it, the aura surrounding the Australian team for the last 6-8 years has now completely vanished. What promises to make the world cup and the next few years more interesting is that teams will now step on the field against Australia genuinely believing in themselves to put it past the men with the baggy green.

The Australians have always been known to fight back when down but can they do it with a bowling line up that seems one-dimensional and totally bereft of ideas and discipline? Add to that the fact that major players like Symonds and Brett Lee will not be close to their 100 percent.

The question remains which team is going to lift itself during the big moments in case this Australian team doesn’t.

Technorati Tags: Ross Taylor, Craig McMillan, Brendon McCullum

The Australians have been setting a lot of firsts lately; those of the kind they’d rather wish they didn’t. After their first 10 wicket defeat in ODIs in the first game of the Chappell-Hadlee trophy, the series defeat has ensured that the Australians have been squeezed out of their undisputed position as the No.1 team in the ODI rankings for the first time since the system was introduced in 2002. Is it the end of an era of the great Australian dominance or is it just a classic case of a burn out?

Your answer would depend on how much you hate the Australian dominance or how much you enjoy their brand of strong and aggresive cricket. Agreed, it was very much a second string team without players like Ponting, Gilchrist and Lee but I belong to the tribe who would now tend to believe that the cricketing world just got level and senses the world cup becoming jucier. A day after the Indian team gave new hope to millions of fans, the Australians planted more doubt and insecurity among theirs. They probably played one too many games. If the India - Srilanka series was unnecessary, the Australia - New Zealand series was a crime. At the rate at which players are getting injured, teams would be struggling to field a fit 11 for the world cup.

More than a blip?

Winning is a habit and so is losing as the Australians discovered at Eden park. After scoring a massive 336, the Australians still managed to lose with 10 balls to spare, to the buoyant Kiwis. That makes it their 4th consecutive ODI loss & 2nd consecutive series loss. Thats more than just a blip dont you think? Hussey now has a rather forgettable record of 3 defeats in 3 matches as a captain. After the first defeat against the Kiwis, one expected the Australians to hit back strongly and in fact, they did. Scoring a massive 336 is a strong enough come back but like in the first match, Australian bowling was again flayed and brutalised by New Zealand.

This should surely provoke some questions against the Australian board for their unforgiving schedules but questions will also be raised about the famed Australian bench strength. If not anything, these defeats will boost the confidence of other teams especially the Proteas who are in the same group as the Aussies. There is no doubt that the Australians will come into the world cup their guns blazing, with their top players back in business and will try to hit their opponents hard. However, two series losses has meant that answering the question of who will make it to the final of the world cup just got a little more difficult. We would probably need a whole new post on that later.

Technorati Tags: Chappell-Hadlee trophy, Ponting, Gilchrist, Hussey

 

Clark must be wondering what more he can do. He has had  a dream run this season during the Ashes, consistently outperforming Glenn McGrath. In the CB series that followed, he picked up 10 wickets in 6 matches, a decent performance. But the reasons offered for him being dropped are: he has been expensive during the ODI games (true, it is unfortunate that he went for over 5 an over against the English team!), he lacks variety and the pace that the man who beat him to the team, Shaun Tait, possesses (he actually bowled at 160 kmph!!).

The Windies pitches are not very pacy and bouncy these days. You aren’t g0ing to get much from the wicket and under those conditions, I believe that a person who can pitch it in the right areas and keep the batsman under check is more likely to be successful. But then, that’s why they have Glenn McGrath! Stuart Clark probably missed out because he was too much like McGrath and when you have McGrath, do you want the imitator? He might be more energetic and have a better recent record but McGrath can be counted upon to deliver during the big games. And Shaun Tait is in the team to provide the variety.

In hindsight, the omission was probably not as surprising as news reports made it out to be. Sad for Stuart Clark but he is good and his time will come.

Technorati Tags: Glenn McGrath, Shaun Tait, Stuart Clark

A very very special player, one who has at most times dominated the best team in the World, one who engineered arguably the biggest turn around in the history of the sport and in one fell swoop stopped a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut, one who despite all this and much more has never been sure of his place in the team, but has delivered consistently will never play a World Cup.

A travesty, something that does happen often in football, whose World Cup hasn’t seen the likes of a di Stefano or a Best or a Giggs display their wares. But it is rare that something similar is happening in cricket. The only other guy who comes even close is Justin Langer, but it can be explained by the fact that the Aussies have always had a comparative abundance of talent during his time.

Look at the players who have represented India at World Cups, lesser talents like Sadagopan Ramesh, Dinesh Mongia, Aashish Kapoor, Parthiv Patel, Chandrakant Pandit, Salil Ankola have been part of World Cup squads but never him. Ofcourse this year was not his best chance, it was the 2003 edition. He was cruelly dropped after a dismal New Zealand tour, where everyone except Sehwag failed and he ended up with better averages than Kaif, Dada and Mongia. But in his place played Mongia, who apart from a six off Murali, just free-rode throughout the tournament.

Post the World Cup saw him in his best form, saving a test match against the Kiwis at home before unfolding in totally majestic glory down under. The Aussies had no answer for him. They won a test only when he failed. The ODIs saw even more majesty, three centuries in a week.Now that the Indian team has been announced, all I hope for is a good performances from our boys. At the same time, an encore of his 2003-04 performances in the tours to England and Australia that are lined up would be even sweeter. VVS Laxman its upto you now to prove the selectors wrong.

Technorati Tags: Sadagopan Ramesh, Dinesh Mongia, Aashish Kapoor, Parthiv Patel, Chandrakant Pandit, Salil Ankola, Sehwag, Mongia

Well, here are the 15 men who are going to be boarding that plane to lovely West Indies for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

1 Rahul Dravid (capt), 2 Sourav Ganguly, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Virender Sehwag, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 8 Dinesh Karthik, 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Ajit Agarkar, 11 Harbhajan Singh, 12 Anil Kumble, 13 Zaheer Khan, 14 Sreesanth, 15 Munaf Patel.

I don’t think the selectors had too much of a choice really. There might have been a case for an additional middle-order batsman (Laxman, Raina or Kaif) in place of either Uthappa or Karthik but the fact is that each of those three had something going against them.

Laxman is a big liability on the field, Raina has not grabbed the opportunities given to him and Kaif has not not really given too many reasons for the management to continue sticking with him. I still feel that Laxman should have been on that plane to the World Cup (what happens when Ganguly or Dravid or Tendulkar gets injured? and Yuvraj hasn’t fully recovered anyway) but he will end his career without having played in a single world cup.

Powar has to be very unlucky to miss out, I don’t see the need for 5 pace bowlers considering the pitches you have in West Indies but again Powar didn’t have a spectacular case for his selection. He was always going to be back up for Kumble and Harbhajan anyway.

The big questions remain:

1) Who is going to open the innings with Saurav Ganguly? Tendulkar or Uthuppa or even Sehwag?

2) Will Pathan recover form and confidence to warrant a place in the starting XI?

It’s going to be interesting to see if the Indian management gives away any indications regarding the final XI over the next two one day internationals in Margao and Visakhapatnam.

Technorati Tags: 2007 Cricket World Cup., Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar,

March 13, an unforgettable date in the history of Indian cricket: Calcutta brought upon us the ignominy of forfeiting the World Cup semi-finals.

India (and Sachin in particular) had been in good form in the run-up to the Eden Gardens game. The quarterfinals had seen them triumph against their arch rivals in Bangalore. A red hot Jadeja and a fired up Prasad played memorable roles in the victory and the team was coming into this match with a lot of confidence though they had lost the league game to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka was the team of the cup. They were in stunning form and Jayasuriya and Kalu seemed to taking apart every attack. They had got 2 walkovers but their performance in the remaining games indicated that this could be their time unless Sachin had something to say. De Silva was in rocking form, the bowling was looking good, the fielding was excellent, players like Dharmasena were chipping in and the conditions suited their brand of cricket well. They looked like the team to beat especially after the annihilation of England in the quarterfinals.

The game

India won the toss and in what was claimed a collective decision, put the opposition in. Madness, I tell you. Why would you want to chase during the semi-finals of a World Cup? The plan suggested that they were thinking more about the Lankans’ game than their own. Yes, the Lankans had been successful chasing but this was in the largest stadium in the world and in the semi-finals: a totally different game.

The plan seemed to be working when we got the openers quickly. But DeSilva, Mahanama and the rest ensured that there was a competitive total on the board. Chasing, India were off to a good start and seemed to be going well till Sachi was out stumped down the leg-side. Mayhem followed from outside the rough after that and Sanath was playing his part in the game. The Indians batted like the pitch held monsters and the game was quickly lost.

Eden Gardens

 

 

That’s when the crowd got in. I can understand that the crowd would be upset by the inept batting on show. But to pelt the oppositions with bottles and stones!!! It was a disgrace and I think it is just the fact that it is such a grand venue that they continue to play host to international games. 

The pitch wasn’t really suited for international games I guess. It crumbled so quickly but was not as bad as the batsmen made it out to be. Sachin seemed to be on a batting paradise while the rest of them were on a minefield. The final verdict on the pitch: needed to be better but not as bad as 120-8 suggests.

A much forgettable day in the history of Indian cricket and a shameful day in Calcutta’s sporting history but one more colourful day for World Cup cricket. 

Technorati Tags: Jayasuriya, De Silva