India vs England : Dont give up on the bowlers..Not now

And now the biggest game of the group B, the marquee game and much hyped game of the tournament which was in the news all way around since Jan end. The build up to this game was awesome. It came to the limelight when the game got shifted to Bangalore after Eden Gardens was not ready. Then a couple of days before the spectators got a police baton hit in the lineup to the tickets. And then it was the ICC displeasure over the tickets fiasco and the typical English media rambling on how failing is the world cup organization.

But what to follow was nobody’s guess. India were expected to stream roll the opposition on basis of form and history in the country and abroad.

Sehwag living dangerously to a slow start by Tendulkar to missed 3 chances in the first over — it all happened in the first few overs of the game. What followed was a superb batting display by India until 46th over when the scoreline read 3 / 305.

India looked set to go till 350 or even more. Tendulkar made record 5th World cup 100, Gambhir showed form, more importantly Yuvraj played a free flowing innings and the myth about Swann and Anderson was busted.

All till Tim Bresnan came back in the attack. What seemed like routine dismissals trying to hit the ball into the stands turned alarming when the rest of batting collapsed to 338 from 3/305. To add injury to the salt, the last run Zaheer and Munfa ran was short and in the end that was the difference between the tie and an Indian victory. Full credit to Tim Bresnan to take 5-for on a flat docile wicket.

Indians were confident of a victory when they came out to bowl because no other team had chased 338 in a world cup and in India. What transpired was shocking and something that exposed Indian bowling. Fielding of course. The bowling was bad no doubt, but English batsmen were lucky too. The balls when they were beaten, raced to 4s. When Strauss failed to pickup a Chwala googly, it ran to boundary.

What to say of the shocker UDRS decision which in the end was match turning one. What if Bell was ruled out LBW in that review when he was on 17? Would still England have come close to a win? Still a match winning almost partnership would have ensured later? None knows, but for sure one fact is clear UDRS is flawed and India have been on the recieiving end of it most times, so they are right in reluctance to use and oppose it the way they have been doing.

The bowling was ridiculously inept, the ball showed no signs of turn the way it did on that warmup game evening vs Australia. The same lad who took 4 that day was pastered yesterday.

It took a Zaheer master class to take 2 on 2 to bring India back into the game when the match looked well lost and people had started leaving.  And then the English collapse started. We were singing the songs of English being the new chokers and the fact that England dont know how to win a ODI as they are content with the Ashes.

Collingwood, Bell, Strauss, Prior and Yardy were dismissed soon and it seemed formality for an Indian victory. But Swann and Bresnan had other plans. They hit 2 sixes in that Chawla over and then Ajmal Shehzad hit Munfa for a 6 off 3rd ball. That brought Eng back to the game.

Strauss played  a untypical English ODI innings, they had forgotten to play ODIs off late but yesterday’s Strauss 100 was their best and that outclassed Tendulkar’s 120. How many days does it happen?

India got out of the jail and are still undefeated. They have 3 points and are on the top of the table. England are due to play Ireland next and then South Africa.  I’d bet England win both games and India play Holland and Ireland next. So it would be a touch and go between this 2 teams to occupy the top slot and play NZ in the QF.

India has to get its bowling attack worked up and the fielding improved. Agree with Dhoni that bowling can be improved. India has not got the worst bowling attack like it showed up on that night, yes there is a scope of improvement and easy 2 games should give the bowlers some confidence ahead of key clash with South Africa and West Indies.  Munaf Patel is certainly not the right man to bowl the last overs. But unless India doesnt play 3rd seamer in Nehra, the options available for the skipper is limited.

Harbhajan Singh needs to find that belief as a strike bowler. Zaheer was awesome in last spell, but he has to be the same through out the game. Munaf has to be completed bowling before the end overs and Chawala if he plays again, he needs to be confident.

India needs a bowler who has pace and consistency to take wickets. Sreesanth has pace, but he has a lot of flair for drama, leaking runs and antics something we dont want. Nehra is unfit and Ashwin is good to play for IPL.  Ishant Sharma has not yet come good in the ODIs, so the options for India in One days in fast bowling are very narrow and deplete. Praveen Kumar is out injured.

No point in pessimism and abusing the team. The same team has got us victories in away conditions, home conditions. And there is no reason why they cannot. They need some good games with the ball and they need wickets. They need some luck which would ensure that when they beat the batsman, the balls dont run to the boundaries or they dont get bad deals from the umpire or the UDRS.

The batting has to be on top and it is actually. Given the easy nature of games ahead, Pathan can be replaced with Raina at 7 to give him some confidence and ensure he is match fit for crucial games ahead. He is a better bowler than Pathan and of course a better fielder. Given the flexibility Indian batting lineup has below 3 or 4, Raina can be accomodated in the batting lineup at the expense of Pathan or resting some crucial player in the next 2 games.

This game has setup a good advert for the 50 over game and set up fascinating contest later this year in England in both tests and ODIs.  One of the best ODI games in recent times even though the wicket was horribly flat and useless.

Monday’s games

Monday was a day or  sedate games after a super sunday which saw probably one of the greatest world cup finish. That later. Today’s games were Canada vs Zimbabwe and West Indies vs Netherlands.

Netherlands were the usual minnow today who got the pastering with both bat and ball. They conceeded a hattrick to Kemar Roach who also took the first 6-for of the tournament. The Netherlands that turned up on England game day didnt turn up and were comprehensively beaten today. WI play next against Bangladesh and prolly that would decide the 4th qualifier for the quarter finals from the Group B.

Canada and Zimbabwe was almost an inconsequential and formal game that would have no bearing over the final 4 qualifiers to the QF from group A.

Pakistan vs Sri Lanka

On a day of glorious batsmanship from Sachin Tendulkar and unexpectedly Andrew Strauss, I chose to write on the tie between Pakistan and Sri Lanka that took place on the Saturday. It was a tie SL was expected to win hands up, instead they lost hands down.

The 2 old lads of Pak cricket — Younus and Misbah led the team to a total of 277 followed by some good bowling by Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi. The Lankans fell short by 11 runs and in the end its heard that a panic has been setup in their camp.

Sangakara as usual made 49 without going on to win a game for his country. Jayawardhena after all praising and writing made just 2 and got his stumped ripped off an Akhtar beauty.  Chamara Silva, Kulasekra and Angelo Matthews tried in the end but it was too late and SL tasted their first home world cup defeat. Huh? Whom they had played before in the home games? 1996 ? Serious teams refused to tour them in 1996 and then they played Zimbabwe and Kenya at home and now Canada and Pakistan.

Period.

As I said before as all the high talk this lads do is good for the weak and hapless teams. When the stronger teams come, this lads just freeze up and lose.

And thats why this team wont win the world cup.

Lanka ki hawa tight

Blabberings vanished in the thin air, the 100 maker is comprehensively bowled, the Test batsman is out stumped to Pathan and now only the Sanga Nanga remains on the crease.

0/75 to 4/93. 

Stuff champions are made of? Mahela’s ass. Get off. If you talk big, show it on the field else shut your freaking mouth shut. 

Alle Alle. Wickets fall alle alle.

Russell Arnold is quiet now after boring us of how good every one in Lankan team is. Where is he now? 

Why India should win the world cup and no other country should

I support bloody men in blue. Men in blue which hail from the land of corruption, land of Sonia Gandhi and MMS. Its a big thing that I support bloody men in blue despite all their faults, their falliability to the mistakes on the field, their larger than life stature on the field, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and of course MS Dhoni, the man from Jharkhand.

These men are good enough to give any team run of their money, be it from the down south Sri Lanka or neighbour Pakistan or even down under Australia.

We do have falliables like Freesanth bholaram sakharam DK but we also have the likes of GOD, his look alikes, Dhoni, Kohli, Sardar and of course Appaam Chu***nandan shiromani Sreesanth. But when combined this bloody men can give any team in the world a good pasting, a good defeat by the virtue of the cruel bat. These men inflict wounds, scars on the soul, long lasting impact good enough to decode people of their mystery, This men prompt the likes of Kumar Fungasakara to ask his bowlers bowl deliberate no balls or even prompt the likes of Graeme Swann or Ravi Bopara to speak high like “bring on the bloody Indians” or “silence the Indian crowd”.

Yeah we are bloody Indians, corrupt, mismanaged and of course pampered. We dont  have the best of infrastructure in the world, we may be corrupt and regionalistic. We might bother about Gandhis, Kalmadis, Rajas, Karunas and other Mamtas, but we bloody care about our cricket. We want revenge, we want the bloody world cup to be in India. Snatch it from bloody Aussies and keep it in India. Not to win it for an individual but for the spirit of cricket, for that unknown cricket fan that spends  invaluable time of his life watching his idols. Idols in infalliable guys like Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Yuvraj and of course Harbhajan.

We want the cup to be ours. Not of the bloody Lankans who want to win for a chuck. We want to win it for a man who has played cricket with all purity, divine intervention and bloody cold blooded humility and honesty for 21 years, who did not ask any rule to be bent for his brand of game or who did not break any tv set in his life or did not ask any umpire to give the opposition players out on any illegal catch. Or somebody who talked big and delivered less or nothing. We want to win for men who keep low profile and do the talking on the field when it matters, We want to win the cup for bloody top Test playing nation, we want to now capture the topmost ODI crown too.

Yup, we bloody Indians want to win the world cup. No matter where we are, in India or USA or troubled waters of Mid east, we want to win the damn world cup. That would quench out thirst for a world title. None deserves to win the title as bloody Indians as much we have waited for 28 years  to get the coveted trophy to where it deserves, bcos we play our cricket clean, we dont have chuckers, we dont have Pricks, we dont have slingers, we dont have spot fixers, we dont have cheaters, we dont have womanizers, we dont have idiots, we have cricket playing men whom we adore more than the national icons. We want the cup to be called bloody world champions Indians.

Yeah the cup belongs to India and only India.

Bholaram Sakharam DK Sreesanth

Muppet Sreesanth is now so much angered at his own incompetence and the ridicule he is inviting with every passing game he plays, that he is now hurting his own team mates with ball and bat. He hit Yuvraj one with the ball and then Eric Simmons when he batted in the nets. 

Muppet forgets that he has to bowl that well and bat that well (if need be) in a real game and not in nets. He is for the sake of everybody be taken off the team and shown the way to a dance studio or a realty show. That suits him better as his theaterics and drama would get some audience. If he shows that all in the middle he is going to get abuses and ridicule. He is a big Bholaram Sakharam DK.

West Indies vs South Africa

West Indies and South Africa played out the first game in Northern India of the world cup and it was being played in the capital city of India and the home ground of Delhi trio — Sehwag, Gambhir and Kohli. The same ground which had itself banned from hosting international games in Dec 2009 hosted a match today and did so well. The Ferozshah Kotla, the ground which has its own legacy and has 2 record milestones achieved on this ground : Kumble’s 10 and Sachin’s 35th Test 100 in 1999 and 2005 respectively.

Back to this match, the Windies started off well to race to 1/114 and then losing wickets in “clusters” as Darren Sammy later said and Nasser Hussein said on the air.  Barring Darren Bravo’s 73 and his brother’s 40 none could go onto make a big score as AB did later and that was the difference between 222 and 272.  The likes of Gayle, Sarwan and Chandu failed and there went the Windies chance to stamp the authority over the Saffers.

The Windies were also done in by debutant spinner Imran Tahir’s 4/41 figures in his debut game. He bowled with subtle control and variation, turned the ball square and along side Johan Botha controlled the Windies run making spree. South Africa are taking the spin bowling a bit too seriously when they opened the bowling with Botha and played 3 spinners.

223 was not going to be a score that would have scared SA, but they did for a while when they lost Amla and Kallis early with just 20 on the board, WI sensed some victory but AB jolted them with a fine 100. He knows the ground in and out as he has played 2 IPLs here for Delhi Daredevils in 2008 and 2010.  Smith was scratchy given he was ill and Duminy played a perfect partner to the 4th wicket partnership that saw SA home.

SA remain 2nd on the group behind India on NRR and they now wait another week to play their next game against Netherlands.

Positives for SA :

• Spin bowling especially Johan Botha opening
• Imran Tahir’s promising debut
• Dale Steyn’s late overs burst
• AB Devilliers form

Positivies for WI :

• Darren Bravo’s batting
• Suleiman Benn opening the attack and getting the turn
• Kemar Roach

Besides they have a man called Chandu Paul in their team who doesnt make runs when needed, doesnt pace his innings, yet finds himself in top 10 of every ICC ranking. Weird!!!

Pakistan vs Kenya

Today’s game was yet another anticlimax and another testimony to the ICC’s decision to kick minnows out of the 2015 world cup. The Pakistani batsmen got in runs except opening pair. 4 middle order 50s, captain getting 5-for, best for a captain in world cup, Shoaib Akhtar lasting 5 overs in spell and fielding being rarely good and electric. What else Pakistan wanted. Rarely they have kickstarted a world cup with a win. Going back with the facts and figures this was just their 4th opening match victory in last 24 years (1987, 1996,1999). They lost in 1992, 2003 and 2007.

What was an anticlimax was the approach Kenyans took. They openly showed that they had no intent to go for the chase and they were just going through the motions, that is doing a formality of turning up in the field and batting. They conceeded 37 wides amidst 50 extras and thus fuelled the debate that minnows who dont show intent to perform better, dont show the zeal to learn and step up their performance should be kicked out.

Kenya is going to provide an easy fodder for all teams and mainly Sri Lanka would look forward to a  gigantic demolition when they play this team.

Netherlands and Ireland are two minnows who look good to scare the top teams in respective groups. Netherlands have already scarred England to deepest and I would count Ireland favorite against Bangladesh on Friday.

The bigger test for Pakistan comes this Saturday when they take on Sri Lanka in one of their most important games of the tourney (another would be vs Australia).

Best Middle Order Effort reads 11,21,2, 18 and 7

There was a headline in the Cricinfo feed that Mahela Jayawardhene praised the middle order for their effort.

A look at the middle order performance and leaving out his 100 and captain’s 92, the other efforts read 11,21,2, 18 and 7 (last 2 being not out). By what standards are this numbers praiseworthy? What did MJ smoke before writing that article or blabbering again in the media?

Have Lankans decided that they are always going to say good things, show great attitude in the field even when the middle order fails, the mystery bowler fails to take wickets for the top order?  Are they always going to say politically correct things in the public thus fooling themselves?

We’ve never heard any real feedback from the MJs and Sangas in the media about the problems / issues facing their team. They are always following well laid processes, are as good as they can and you can add as many jargons / words / phrases as you wish, but still Lankans are not the world beaters in any format. They have failed to win a Test match after Murali retired, yet they are …….

Aus vs Zim Review

Now you know one thing what not to keep around Ricky Ponting when he returns to he pavillion after being dismissed at a score he doesnt expect he would make.  Dont keep any alive persons around, dont keep electronic equipments around, may be some soft toys would do.  Smashing a LCD tv in the dressing room is very kiddish thing to do, something which under 10 age kids do when they dont get the things their way.  This just goes onto show how much damn frustrated Ricky Ponting is on the turnaround of events.

Yet he continued his unbeaten runs as captain in the world cup, Australia stretched their unbeaten streak to 30 games without being undefeated and 25 to last loss.

Yet the stature of World Cup champions or the stamp was missing. Victory by 91 runs and Zimbabwe stretching till 46 odd overs is pathetic for a bowling unit tht boasts of fearsome trio of Johnson, Tait and Lee.

The spinners of Zimbabwe much of whom are unheralded and by no means threatening were able to strangle Australians for the start of their innings. The opening pair of Australia got a start of 32 in 13 overs against dibbly and dobbly pacers of Zimbabwe. Much in the contrast with what Hayden and Gilchrist used to get in their pomp.  Haddin did not get a start, he looked scratchy. Ponting got starts in the warmups but did not get one in the real contest. And probably thats what led him to damage the LCD in the dressing room. Or was he an agent of Congress party to do a damage in Modi ruled GCA ground?

Clarke got a 50, but the other batsmen except Watto just scratched around like dogs do.

Zimbabwe by the way showed no intent to chase the target of 263 at any point of their chase. Yet they raced on till 170. If they could have taken the powerplay before 45 overs, that could have given a scare to the Aussies and more frustrations from Ponting and perhaps more damage from the ground. May be Ponting should be kept away from any room which has costly equipments in it.  The Zimbabweans did not opt for 3rd power play, only that they reached 45th over and they had to be provided batting power play, they had to take it.

If Aussies dont get their tasks cut out and improve hereon, they are sure to end up well before the finals stage and then you can imagine more damage and frustrations from Ricky Ponting.

Such games in addition to the Can vs SL and NZ vs Kenya are disgrace to the world cup which is the largest and grandest showcase for 50 over games. It should be sans of any blemishes and easy victories. And for that the ICC should kick out the minnows who do not benefit by playing bigger teams in 1, 2, ,3 ,4 world cups. Have 1 or 2 associate teams which compete hard and are capable to scare any top ranked team. May be Netherlands and Ireland fit that bill. Certainly Kenyans and Canadians dont fit that.