World T20 Teams Preview – I

Here is a quick preview of the teams in the fray for World T20 title starting this Friday part 1.

1.   Afghanistan

Their march to the world edition is a fairytale and as  I said in my last post in the preview to the game vs India, the journey to the edition by a war torn country speaks volumes of the willpower the cricketers in the country have. They wont win any game but they may create flutter or some panic with their natural style of play, which I gather is aggressive and they being strongly built could hit powerful hits. 

2.   Australia

The only tournament they have not yet won and the tournament they have a pathetic record in. They lost to eventual champions India in the 2007 edition in semis and in 2009 were kicked out in first round itself after being Gayle’d and Mendis’ed in the league stage. This year they have a new captain who’s asked for T20 contracts, they have a strong bowling attack and they have David Warner.   They’ve also got in couple of T20 specialists in addition to the experienced guys like Clark, Hussey brothers and Cameron White.  

Verdict : One of the semi finalists

3.   Bangladesh

They would live up their reputation – either they’d lose all games or beat at least one big team and go in next round. The thing is they are A2 and Australia is unseeded.  If they could beat Pakistan and then lose to Australia, then Australia beat Pakistan further turmoil could grip Pakistan team.  They have power hitters but most of them do not apply brains before they hit. If they could they could create a couple of upsets too.

Verdict : Tough to see them going beyond league stage

4.   England

Regular under achievers and regular captain.  They do not have their regular Tests captain and the man who led them in BD. But the trio of Colly, Morgan and KP aided with couple of strong bowling performances could see them going to the semis. They’d need to be consistent and they’d also need to shed the consistency  in losing out at stage when it matters the most. They reached super 8s in last editions but failed to go further. This one could see them go to the semis only if they play a bit better than they usually do.

Verdict: Tough to reach semis, surety for Super 8s

5.   India

2007 champions, IPL’ed country and a team that boasts of some super hitting batsmen in the format of the game. But horribly out of form. None of the batsmen in the team expected to make it to the final XI had a great IPL.  The team would mostly rely on the batting prowess of Gambhir, MSD, Yuvraj and Raina.  It could be Rohit Sharma  or M Vijay who could open with Gambhir in absence of Sehwag.   Bowling would be the key for India to go the distance, but given huge experience of IPL for the lads, the team should make it to the semis and try to avoid the mistakes it made in super 8s stage in England.  The wkts would be more or like we’ve got at home yet the choice of # 7 (one of Jadeja  / Pathan) could be the X-factor for the team.

Verdict: Should make it to the semis

6.   Ireland

Return to the country where they made a mark in 2007 ODI World Cup could inspire them to create a flutter or 2. They could very well manage to upset one of WI or Eng, but if they do not they stand little chance to go the distance.

7.   NZ

They make it to the semis of alternate ICC events and they even played final in the CT 2009, so now they should lose before semis. They’ve got a strong batting in McCullum,  Taylor and Ryder.  And add wily Daniel Vettori, the team should be able to make it to the semis. They’ve played most T20Is than any other country. McCullum is in awesome form and Aussies would swear by that.

Verdict: Semis

8.   Pakistan

Defending champs, country with best record in T20Is, country with best record in WT20 (both editions, they never lost before final) and the worst record in terms of discipline and team spirits. They are a team rigged with infighting, chauvinism, favoritism and back biting. A new captain who doesn’t hesitate in biting the ball, the players who do not think before pulling each other and a bowling attack that looks strong on paper boasting of Aamer, Asif and Sami. Well this players were part of disastrous Australia tour where they could not pluck anything, so its unlikely that they would make a difference here.  Batting is weak with no Malik and Younis.  A lot would depend upon young Akamal and the captain himself.  If they do play after they find time off fighting and plotting each other’s downfall they could reach the super 8s.

Verdict : Super 8s. Not beyond that.

     SA, SL and WI to follow next post.

India vs Afghanistan : Preview

World T20 begins 2 days later and India plays  its league games over coming weekend.

Afghanistan first and Saffers next.  Afghans making to T20 is a credible thing for them as they would find transtion from  guns to cricket bats a bit tough.

Despite the happenings back home them making to a world tournament is a fantasy come true. Good luck to them. Only if they dont take their opposition to be Talibs or allied forces of US.

Indians are the only team to not have played a warm up game in this World T20. Last edition they thumped the eventual champions in a warm up game.  Indians have never lost to Pakistan in T20Is and never beat Kiwis in T20Is.  Besides they have positive record against Saffers, Lankans and Aussies. A bit of poor one against England and WI, thanks to the screwed up Super 8s last edition.

But most of the team members have played at least 14 T20s coming to this World T20 albeit for different city teams. Yes the IPL.

And they dont have their best batsman of limited overs cricket after Sachin in the team. He is out injured.

So the final XI should look like :

Gambhir

Vijay

Raina

Yuvraj

Dhoni

Sharma

Pathan

Zaheer

Praveen

Harbhajan

Nehra

Pathan and Jadeja could slog it for the last batting spot. Very little to chose between them but the strong and mindless hitting makes Pathan a stronger candidate in final XI.

It should be a easy cakewalk for India in the first game at least. Records are in offering. The most obvious man to make it is missing alas!!!

IPL Cleanup begins

Lalit Modi being disbanded out of IPL is just a first step to clean the alleged mess thats gripped IPL.  Another step probably could be to terminate the telecast rights which has a set of rumors of felicitation fees being paid to WSG from MSM (or vice versa).  80 million dollars of bribe or commission. How much pie was distributed to the middlemen including Mr Modi himself needs to be find out.

Whats more the IPL parties could be terminated too alongside kicking out the Bollywood and glamour quotient including the likes of Mandira Bedi.  Its being said that MTv forced players to participate in IPL Nights to ensure high glam quotient. So if thats shown the door too, the  game of cricket would be in focus rather than the sundry models and useless DJs making fun of player fitness.

The ongoing tax probe is not much optimistic as its being used by the government settle terms with the opposition and NCP. (Sharad Pawar is NCP chief, most influential in cricket in the country). Modi is alleged to be linked with Vasundhra Raje, ex Rajasthan CM (from BJP). So if taxmen find something in the probe, Cong managers wont leave any stone unturned to malign or unsettle the cricket in the country.

Later on Twiteroor would be restored, thats also a possibility.

Manohar has questioned if Shilpa Shetty and her mister are real stakeholders of RR. If he is true then its even more good. We would be spared her fake smile and her presence on the dugouts.

The IPL on field action might have ended but the off field action is far from being over. Political vendettas from madam and Pranab babu aided by quiet support from MMS,  ICC president elect being cornered and murkier details being leaked out are going to be order of the day.

CSK are IPL Kinks.

So in the end Mumbai Indians could not win the IPL and the inconsistent CSK won the tournament thus making MSD first Indian captain to win the IPL.   Mumbai lost it more than Chennai won it.  Robin Singh messed up Mumbai’s batting order for reasons unknown. How can you imagine Harbhajan Singh at 4 in a final chase.  Pollard being holded till 8.  15 overs gone and yet no signs of Pollard being on the crease.  What was MI management thinking?

CSK Perspective:

·         They rode on Raina’s batting to be able to post 169 as target for Tendulkar’s MI. Raina was dropped twice but he capitulated on both lives to rankle MI.

·         Hayden was patchy in the entire tournament and his struggle tonite ensured that the team got to the slowest 50 in a IPL final.

·         Dhoni came at 5 after Dabri. Why ?  Dhoni any day is a better batsman than the Dabri guy and he ought to have more time in the final given fact that it was his last chance to warm up before he took field on May 1, 2010 against Af in world T20. 

·         Bollinger was difference between the two teams and the balls he bowled in first 2 overs were awesome. Good enough to put the pressure on MI which never experienced pressure in league stages.

·         Dhoni was superb in his captaincy skills. He paced the innings well and has used R Ashvin effectively in tandem with Bollinger.  As a result the run rate was always going to increase for MI.

·         Raina was awesome in his batting and fielding. Only if he could now play such innings for his country, he would go further distance than just playing well in IPL games.

·         The team played better and won a tournament they did not deserve to win it if you consider their lop sided campaign in the league stages. But every time they found inspiration in MSD and he was a big influence on the team which was half dead at 7 games stage with a record 2-5.

MI perspective:

·         Batting order was mess. Abhishek Nayar at  3 ? Really? He had not played many games to be worthy to walk at 3. He scratched around thus putting pressure on Tendulkar to accelerate and subsequently fall.

·         Tendulkar being injured and thus preventing him to be in his typical own self. 

·         Pollard being sent at 8 ? Why ? Was he paid to be benched ? What was Robin Singh thinking ?

·         Poor fielding. 2 catches grossed.  13 and 28 for Raina.  Poor keeping in final over from Malinga which was turning out to be an excellent one. No run had been scored of first 4 balls and off next 2 11 runs were scored including a no.

·         The Mumbai Indians team reflected consistently of the Indian team of 90s when only Tendulkar played and the rest did not. The others including Rayadu, Tiwari, Pollard, Dhawan, Nayar did not own up and expectedly lost.  Given this huge dependency the team did not deserve to win. But then have a thought for Tendulkar. He did everything right. He trusted the so called youngsters giving them bigger roles than they actually deserved and scoring runs at will. Playing in despite an injury sets an example of his work ethic. Unfortunately his other team members could not get inspired.

·         Poor bowling from 14-20^th over when they allowed CSK to go to 5/168 from 3/96.  Even Zaheer could not stem the flow of runs and he dropped a hi-flier which should have been caught.

·         Inexplicable batting from the youngsters.  There was no other guy than Tendulkar whom they could have used to learn the pacing of innings, but instead they chose to play ugly hoists  thus leading to loss.

The focus now shifts on the WT20 which starts in 4 days time and India plays its league games over the weekend against Af and SA.   The batting order for that game looks more like settled :

Gambhir, Vijay, Raina, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Sharma / Jadeja, Pathan, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Nehra, Praveen Kumar

More on the WT20 later. For now lets congratulate MSD for yet another win as a captain and with a hope that this would inspire him to give even bester shot to the upcoming World T20 and wrest the trophy back. I just assume deep within the mind MS would have thought this final to be a warmup.  

Rohit

Rohit Sharma falls for a similar ugly hoist in the 3rd spot playoff. 2nd consecutive game he has played a similar shot to get out. 

He is going to be a part of WCT20 squad and if he plays the same way GOD forbid the fortunes of his team. 

PS : Somebody now at some random blog is going to post a post in response to this post and claim me to be anti Mumbai too. I cant be writing to soothe everybody’s opinions and view points. Expression of views is a skewd thing which not many take it kindly.  Little bit of broad mindedness is all what is required. 

And as for Srikanth’s decisions as head of selection committee, we have a lot to debate against him.  In recent memory the Test team for 1st test vs SA, the W20 squad last year and for this year. Dig out and you’d find such instances even more.  On what basis likes of Dinesh Karthik is persisted in the team and Uthappa is not even given a chance since 2008. Ponder over stats and you d find the essence of regionalism favor. Period.

Srikanth’s grand plans for his croonies

Srikanth was a mighty displeased man and he cried buckets of tears when his croonies — Vijay, Dabri and KKD did not win any of the IPL awards at stake. 

He was shocked even more when his son Ani’s cameo in semi final game did not win him the best debutant award in the ceremony. Why ? There was no such award….

So for this reasons Srikanth has now joined anti Modi camp and alleged him to be anti-Chennai and hurt the feelings of Chennai people. As another mean of protest he is now planning to remove MSD as skipper of India and planning to install Dinesh Karthik as captain of India in Tests and ODIs. He is also heard to have offered VVS Laxman a post in selection committee if he retires prematurely for Badrinath or his own son to be able to play Test cricket for India.

Bollywood hosts a cricket awards function.

Shahrukh Khan and his gay friend hosting IPL awards function with some Bollywood croonies performing is another low in the cricket – Bollywood nexus. 

Have a look at this. Award category called “Dramatic Performance”. Whats that supposed to mean ? Another Bollywood term coined in. And it went to Harbhajan Singh. For what ? Lifting Neeta Ambani or scoring 49 off 18 balls or for bullying Symonds ?

Cringing to see Bollywood hogging the limelight in cricket and I hate Modi for that.  Modi has got Indian cricket in a zombie state. Muck man that he is.

Happy Birthday God of Cricket

Happy Birthday Sachin Tendulkar who turns  37 today.

Wishing him lots of runs and hundreds in Tests and ODIs. And  of course the elusive World Cup win that would rank as one of his best achievements. Something thats rankled him thus far.

I wish he plays on for couple of more years and we do not lose the privilege to witness him bat in the games for India in blues and whites. Not just the MI team.

God of cricket for the entire fraternity not just India.

Conflict of Interest

AC Mutiah has dragged BCCI to supreme court over conflict of interest issue for N Srivinasan, the owner of CSK and BCCI secretary.Actually Muthy or somebody else should also drag Srinivasan and

Srikanth to the supreme court because of following reasons:

1. Srikanth is the brand ambassador of CSK in addition to the head of

national selection committee.

2. Srikanth has got his son playing for IPL in CSK, which he thinks is the easiest way for drafting his son in the national team. As soon as any other player would get injured while on national duty like for example : Gambhir gets injured in the SL Test series or the Aussie ODI series later this year, then his son would be drafted in. Actually he has marked one on one player for every Tamil Nadu player.

Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Yuvraj injured (Any one) : S Badrinath

MSD injured : Dinesh Karthik

Sehwag, Gambhir : M Vijay and A K Srikanth.

Zaheer Khan , Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra (Any) : L Balaji

HArbhajan, Ojha, Mishra, Chawla : R Ashvin

He is onlooking for other set of players who could be mapped to every one of the players listed above.

How good Dabri, KKD and Balaji are, we have seen. Srikanth has got a dangerous agenda for Indian cricket as similar to that Lalit Modi has for IPL.  Both should be shown the door asap for betterment of cricket in India.

On a parting note how about a laughter on a report saying matches in

IPL are being fixed.

Aniruddh Srikanth would be next replacement / reinforcement

Srikanth’s croon Vijay was dismissed for 15 and the bearded cheapo also ensured his son got a chance to play the game so that whenever any India bound player gets injured Ani Srikanth would then play for India. 

Very soon you’d find Tamil Nadu players being drafted in Indian team as first choice players and not as replacements for injuries as they are done right now.

Dinesh Karthik would be the captain and Aniruddha Srikanth would be the vice captain then.  

Not so long ago the cheapo had said IPL is not just the criteria for India selection so when it came to replace Sehwag his regional preferences got over his statement and he ignored strong claims of Kohli and Uthappa for the Sehwag slot. Kohli has been the best bat for India in ODIs this year.

But Srikanth has got a myopic vision which does not see beyond the boundary of Tamil Nadu.