India’s through to the semifinals

Australia’s World cup run has ended. And in what a style. India was the team who did it. They have twice ended their run of 17 tests wins and now 12 years of unbeaten World cup run has been ended by the team called India. 

None gave India the chance to beat Australia today given the way they played in the league games. League games saw India taking few games easy and most of the experts called India a undeserving favorites. 

India has never thumped minnows. Thats Lankan speciality. India is known to beat big teams. Australia to be precise. The quality that two teams produce is of highest order. No half measures. Emotions run high, banters and everybody gives more than 100%. 

Everybody within the 2 teams want to win and not give an inch to the other team. And probably thats the reason why Tests or ODIs between this 2 teams are sparkling and intense. 

Today’s game was no different. It saw Ricky Ponting ending his century draught. It saw Indians fielding the best in the entire tournament. It saw MSD handling his bowlers too well and rarely earning plaudits from the pundits in the commentary box. 

Tendulkar was at his imperious best before walking yet again. Gambhir was furious when he was out run out in the 3rd attempt, but that was his fault. Yuvraj replied to his anger saying he is not Viru and  they havent batted together that much. Point taken. 

India committed harakiri but then Yuvraj the man came to the fore yet again. What a world cup he is having. 341 runs and 12 wickets with 4 MoM awards. He is India’s man of the moment. Not too long ago his commitment was questioned and so was his place and attitude. He’s replied to every one those who questioned him. 

Virat Kohli continues to be an ass finding newer ways to get out. MSD continued his wretched run and when he departed at 187 the match was boiling towards Aussies but then in came Raina and the next 2 overs that got us 27 runs changing the equation dramatically in India’s favor. 

Think about the commitment of Bret Lee. He was injured on head just above left / right eye and yet he bowled last 2 overs. He wanted to win it. But India had some other plans.  India are through to their 5th semifinal and 3rd one at home. This time they should go one step better. Beat Pakistan and go through to the finals. 

Today was that day when everything went right for India — the fielding, bowling and batting. Ashvin took 2 wickets. How many runs did he give ? 52. Did he turn the ball square? How many wickets he got with peach of a ball ? Wild slogs both time to get Ponting and Watson.  He has not done any better than Chawla.

India have to think about Munaf what to do about this guy. He is listless, needless and useless. Anybody can hit him for runs. He doesnt take wickets, he cant field and he is even lax on the field.  Either play Nehra or get in Sreesanth. 

Today’s win provides an deep feeling of satisfaction. India has come to full elements. And it would take huge effort from Pakistan to stop India from playing finals.  But thats for another day. 

Ponting has had his moments under sun for 12 years in World cups  but now its time for new champion. New team to take the reins. And hopefully it would be India, for the consistent run it has shown in ODIs post 2008.

Wooohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo we are in semis. 

Two reasons why India would win against Australia

Rewind to 1996

Venue : Bangalore

Teams : India vs Pakistan

India were 3rd in their group behind Australia and SL.

Pakistan were 2nd behind South Africa. South Africa was  group topper

Pakistan were defending champions. (1992)

India had lost out in the first round of the previous world cup (1992).

India had defeated Pakistan in Bangalore by 39 runs ending career of Javed Miandad.

Pakistan captain Wasim Akram was under fire for pulling out last moment in the game.

Sachin Tendulkar opened the innings with Navjot Siddhu.

Now back to 2011

Venue : Motera

Teams : India vs Australia

India finished 2nd in group, Australia finished 3rd.

South Africa are group toppers in B group.

Australia are defending champions

India crashed out in first round of 2007 world cup.

Ricky Ponting is under fire for poor batting form and lot of other reasons

Sachin Tendulkar opens the batting for India even now with Virender Sehwag.

The fact that India are playing defending champions in 2011 as in 1996 and also they knocked out in the previous world cup as now, this should be enough indicator of who should have the last laugh on Thursday in Motera.

If Pakistan can find a lot of similarities in their world cup wins and conclude that they can win this one, then well even we have it.

Australia’s world cup unbeaten run ends

Ricky Ponting must decide when to quit playing ODIs. When he failed the Ashes, it was believed the motivation to win the 4th title in row would get him some runs, but he has scratched around like a dog with just 102 runs in 6 games in the world cup so far. 

Today he was insipid with the bat, with the ideas and major force responsible for the loss after 12 years in the world cup. 

He just didnt bring on his best bowler of the day Bret Lee when 2 quick wickets fell and they still needed 34 runs to win. Instead he continued with Krejza and thus lost the game. Thoo.

He hasnt decided to quit, he still wants to play on. He insists the runs would come on and may be the quarters would be the one match where he’d get those runs. 

Australia losing a game after 12 years to Pakistan and ending up 3rd in the group is just not done. They have been slow starters, they have been insipid with the bat and ball both. They just dont show up their side of champions they have been for last 12 years. 

And no wonder they folded out for 176 in an idiotic RPS wikat, yet they could have made a match out of it given their opposition was PAKISTAN — side always susceptible to a collapse any point of time.

Pakistan continued to be a mystery and dont know if this is going to get them the world cup. Afridi continues to behave like a kid when he has bat in his hand and Umar Akamal continues to fool the world with his talent. I wonder what makes him fake those injuries?

And the biggest negative factor of the game was their keeper Kakkumal didnt drop a catch!!!!!!!!!!

Sangakara is afraid to play in Mumbai

We were surprised when we learned that we will have to travel to Mumbai to play that game. I thought hosts play at home,” he said. “Playing the New Zealand game is beyond our control. You can’t change that now. That’s gone now and we need to be up for the task.”

The man is hell scared to play in India, especially in Mumbai cos its here in this city his team was streamrolled by Sehwag in 2009 Test series. 

But how come he didnt know the itinerary before hand the tourney began? Is he scared to play in India? Well of course, he wont have the slow, low turners on the Wankhede track and of course he  wont have Russell Arnold singing constant praise of every Sri Lankan player in the team. 

Listening to Russell Arnold is even worse than listening to the trio of Athers, Hussein and Beefy or Arun Lal, Sivramkrishnan etc. 

Just a FYI to captain articulate, India is also one of the host countries of this world cup and they played their first game in Mirpur, BD. We didnt hear any such weird comments from Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

They were lucky to have escaped with a no result against Australia. They now play against Zimbabwe who would be crushed and then they play against New Zealand in Mumbai when they would be crushed. 

Lankans have rode all the luck in the previous world cups  to have been called the most consistent team in the world cups post 1996. They got 2 forfeits and one default in 1996 and then they won the tournament. Ditto here. 3 easy wins against Canada, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Defeat against Pakistan, no result against Australia and a possible defeat against NZ in Mumbai is making Sangakara make such weird statements.

THooo

Why should Australia win

Let Australia take care of Sri Lanka tomorrow so that the latter dont play easy opponents in the quarters and make an exit soon. 

But if they dont, then want to see India hammer them again in the semis to avenge the 2007 and 1996 defeats that rankle to this day. I want to see Sehwag hammer Dilhara Fernando in the stands for infinite runs, let Yuvraj take care of Herath, Sachin tackle Murali and well of course Dhoni take the sting out of Malinga.

Last time when SL lost to Australia in final of 2007 world cup a lot of SL fans cried cheating when Gilchrist had squash ball in his gloves. The media had an excuse of “fixing” when they lost to Pakistan. So what excuse cooks up next is remains to be seen. 

Ireland should have been in Lankan group and Kevin OBrien should have hammered Mendis and Murali to that famous win. 

Expect R Premdasa to be slow, low yet again where you’d see a lot of strangling, a lot of bickering behind the stumps 

Whats even more pathetic is that the Aussies would be playing Lanka in 7 years time. Bangladesh has played 3-4 times in that duration, India has hammered them many times in this 7 years.But the Aussies, they were never invited fearing a whitewash.

Go Aussies!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

Team Preview : Australia

Team preview series marches on and today its turn of the defending champions and the numero uno team in the ODIs currently Australia.

Australia have been the team to beat in the previous 3 world cups. They have dominated ruthlessly in the previous 3 editions so much so that they are yet to lose a world cup game in 12 years. Ever since Shoaib Akhtar rocked Steven Waugh’s stumps in England, 1999 Australia have not been able to lose any game. They came close to losing a few but every time they found somebody or the other as a matchwinner and sailed through. Steve Waugh in the Super 6 vs SA, Shane Warne in the semi-final vs SA in 1999, Andrew Symonds vs Pakistan, Michael Bevan and Andy Bichel (bat and ball) vs England and Bret Lee vs NZ in 2003.

Ricky Ponting has won both world cups as captain in 2003 and 2007, thanks to the players he had at relm like McGrath, Lee, Gilchrist, Hayden, Bevan (2003), Hussey (2007) etc. None of them are around this time (most of them have retired and Hussey is injured), so the aura has certainly diminished in past few years. Ponting himself has been a shadow of past with just 3 hundreds in 3 years in this format.

Run up to the world cup

Australian aura began to diminish late 2008 when they lost home and away to South Africa. Even before they had lost to India in the last edition of CB series early 2008.  They continued losing their great players — Gilly in 2008 and Hayden, the last of them in 2009. Bret Lee was injured most of the times. Mitch Johnson is erractic. The notable series wins Australia had in this duration was 4-2 against India in 2009 with a depleted team, 6-1 against England home and away(every time they lost the Ashes), 5-0 against Pakistan and West Indies. And of course NZ.

The losses that came to them were 0-1 to India in 2010 that kickstarted the defeats amounting to 7 in the 3 formats and a loss to Sri Lanka in homeyard. Phew how can Sri Lanka win in Australia vs Australia. Now you imagine the decline.  They also lost 2-3 in England but recovered in the time to beat England 6-1 in the home series.

The team

Opening Pair : Brad Haddin, Shane Watson

Middle Order : Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, David Hussey, Cameron White, Callum Fergusson, Tim Paine (reserve keeper and opening bat)

Bowlers: Shaun Tait, Bret Lee, Mitch Johnson, John Hastings, Steven Smith, Doug Bollinger and Jayson Krejza

Likely XI

Haddin, Watson, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, White, Smith, Johnson, Lee, Krejza, Bollinger / Tait

Strength

The biggest strength of the australia is the pace attack, which could also turn to the biggest weakness. Given the fact that Lee and Tait are super express bowlers who can wreck any batting line up on any pitch any conditions (including Lankan too), they are very much prone to injuries. So Ponting would have a job at hand to carefully handle the 2 super pacers.

Besides Johnson and Bollinger are good bets too.  Bollinger has had good success in Indian pitches in the IPL-3 and almost every one in the team has a fair experience of Indian conditions.

Weakness:

Batting form continues to worry the team fans. Ponting coming from a injury break and his form before the finger injury does not inspire much confidence. Clarke has been in a long rut and now his reputation of best Australian player of spin has been shredded. The batting is prone to collapses and is a bit weak against spin  that was exposed yesterday in the warmup game vs India in Bangalore by Chawla and Harbhajan.

Expectations:

4 years back, they would have been by default world champions, but now the things have changed.  Given the form and the run up to the world cup a title win would be a miraculous achievement, but a semi-final finish would be a worthy one. Anything less than that means Australia’s aura has been finished for good.

Match Days

2/21 vs Zim at Motera

2/25 vs NZ at Nagpur

3/5 vs SL at RP, Colombo

3/13 vs Kenya at Bangalore

3/16 vs Canada at Bangalore

3/19 vs Pakistan at RP,Colombo

Expected to win against Zim, NZ, SL, Ken, Can and a tough one against Pakistan 🙂

World Cup Injury dashboard

Injuries have started taking toll on the first choice players and the replacements have been named:

1. Australia

Injured players : Mike Hussey and Nathan Hauritz

Replacements: Callam Fergusson and Jayson Crejza

2. India

Injured player : Praveen Kumar

Replacement : Muppet Appam Sreesanth

3. England

Injured player : Eoin Morgan

Replacement : Ravi Bopara

Sanath Jayasurya and Chaminda Vaas are awaiting injuries to Mahela / Kumara and Malinga / Fernando so that they could play one more world cup. Just one more.

Awful Australia

Australia have lost the Ashes 1-3 after 24 years in their backyard and this is the most shameful defeat they have suffered in years. They used to lose to India before but not after giving a fight or a tussle. This Australian team had no bones for fights, they didnt anchor and they just crumbled in every aspect. They could not bat for long partnerships, could not take early wickets or break long partnerships, their batting collapsed in heap in almost every Test.

The openers, middle order, lower order of batting just did not have any courage to dig anchor and just hang in there. The bowlers bowled a lot of lose balls, they were not consistent throughout. If they had England on mat for first 3 days of the series, they thereafter allowed an easy route to success by folding out for 98 in the must win test in MCG.

Hughes tried to be Sehwag but could not even score a 50 in 3 tests he got to play in. Watson continued to make 50s which were of no use to anyone. Ponting was horrible in batting, Clarke was useless and Hussey, Haddin were only shining spots of the bleak summer. Even they folde out after holding the fort for the first 3 tests.  If one test Johnson was a world beater he was hit mercilessly in 2nd. Bollinger never threatened, spinners were least talked the better. Hauritz was discarded for Beer and Doherty, who not only floundered but also failed to take wickets.

All in all a very disappointing summer for Australia. The only chance of redemption in the future is the world cup in India. If they are able to win it, the chances of which appear very less, they would do a huge boost to themselves.

Else the future is bleak for immediate times. Their next Test assignment is against marathon batters Sri Lanka in August in SL. Till then if they find the personnel and right attitude to win it would be good for them, else the horrible 80s are due to return for them.

Gough dont cough shit!!!

“For me, we’re the best team in the world at this moment. I’ve watched the South Africa-India series and I see nothing to worry about. India are fantastic in their own country and have some great individuals but I’d fancy this England side to beat them every day of the week,”

This words of wisdom are from a man who missed more Tests than he played. From a man who chickened out of the Ashes 2002 and was never successful abroad or home. So poor was the standard of the team during his playing days that he was considered their best bowler and probably he still holds the most ODI wickets for England. 

He is talking probably nosense shit out of sheer chivalry ignoring the facts, figures and history. If England were to  beat India every day of the week, then what stopped them from beating India in a TEST series home and away for good 14 years.  14 years is a goddamn long period. It took 14 years for India to shed off the Durban monkey off its back, but probably it would take more 14 years for England to beat India in a TEST series. 

Now almost everybody of this playing 11 were part of the Chennai Test in 2008 which England lost despite setting a formidable target of 387.  Swann debuted in that series, they had almost same batting unit — Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Bell, Collingwood, Prior and of course no Gough.

Gough dont cough!!!

England have just retained the Ashes in Australia, they have not won the series in Australia. England conquered Australia when the later was at its weakest in last 17 odd years. India gave hard fight to Australia in Australia in 2003 and 2007 when they were at their peak of the powers and had their greats playing. India was at almost even with Australia when it came to battling out the tests. 

On the other hand before 2005 Ashes which England won cos there was no McGrath in the tests which they won, they were pathetic travellers. Long back in 2000s start they were labelled worst Test playing nation just for their spectacular collapses in the tests home and away.  They were whitewashed 0-5 in last Ashes campaign. 

They have lost to India, South Africa at home in last 3 years. Wins only against pathetic Test playing teams like West Indies, Pakistan and of course Bangladesh but not before Tamim Iqbal did kam tamam in 2 consecutive Tests…

What shit Gough is talking about? Perhaps he needs to go back to school to learn the history and mathematics. Or perhaps he needs to have his vision checked to get rid of colonial hangover.