Worthy Champions

As Afridi scampered the winning run in Lords, I just imagine the roar which must have hit the crowds watching the match in Pakistan, a frenzy which engulfed the whole of India when Sreesanth latched onto the tame shot by Misba at the Bull Ring two years ago. What a moment it would have been for the people of pakistan who are having a tough ride for the past two years. It is extremely sad to see the common man getting entangled in the power struggle between Taliban and the overnment.

One of the worst things to happen is to live as a refugee in one's own country and that has happened to the people of the NWFP. Let's hope that things get back to normal,though the situation is worse, at the earliest because anything is possible in this world, Pakistani cricket team just showed that to all of us.

For people like me who believe the game is becoming more methodical, batsman friendly and slowly losing flair, this win has come as a respite. It was worthy to see that the finals was contested by 2 teams which were the best bowling sides and also having the most audacious talents. I can never forgot the Diliscoop nor Afridi's Top spinner which claimed Gibbs in the semi finals.
I believe this tournament has done a lot of good for the world of cricket. We have seen Pakistan and West Indies asserting their positions after some years of turmoil.

The ills which have been affecting the Pakistan cricket has been numerous, indiscpline of the players, drug issues, death of a coach, a messy cricket board, constantly changing selectors, a captain who before the tournament didn't seemt to have the backing of the entire team, the list go on. Despite these, the team suddenly came alive and went on to become the champions is something amazing, something which I believe is the essence of sport. These guys played a cricket which was entertaining throughout, AKmal, Afiridi, Younis, Shoaib, Gul, Ajmal, Razzaq lot of entertaining performers.

I don't know why but I didn't like the Sri Lankan cricket this time much except the batting of Dilshan. To me they were lacking the flair in the game and the body language was not entertaining. Tough luck to them.

Only thing which I believe that has not changed in the tournament was South Africa's exit.

Lets hope this win for Pakistan brings their glorious days back.

India's armour exposed?

Imagine watching your favorite team, the reigning champions play against a team which they can beat 9 out of 10 times in the T20 format at Lords. Won't it be a treat to watch?

It was not a treat for Nadesh, who had flown all the way from Singapore. I know how furious Nadesh will be when India loses a match they ought to have won. Luckily his stay with his Sister and her kids must have been refreshing for him.

I was a bit disappointed(too much of cricket has reduced the enthusiasm) after watching the T20 match between India and England, a match which we lost by a meagre margin of 3 runs, a loss which I would term was rather tame.

Everybody was arguing that India lost the match and the previous one just because of their inability to play short pitched bowling. Though I would accept that India are not adept at playing the short pitched stuff, I can't accept that they lost because of the short pitched bowling. I would rather blame the loss against Dhoni, not for his captaincy but his inability to play quality bowling.

As we all know Shewag's injury had resulted in the reshuffling of our batting order, with Rohit moving to the top. But it exposed our fragility of our middle order which revolved around Yuvaraj. If Yuvaraj is gone, then we have practically no middle order, as we all know that Dhoni has been sorted out by almost all teams.

In order to rein in Dhoni you need not strain overself and bowl short pitched stuff or try yorkers (he can dispatch yorkers with disdain), just run in and bowl a neat disciplined off stump line at a bit short of length and see the results. You can see Dhoni slicing and cutting the air, hitting the ball 1 in 5 times. In this match though Dhoni's strike rate seemed pretty impressive at 150.00, (30 runs of 20 balls, 3 fours) you should not forget the fact it had 2 fours which were edged towards the 3rd man region.

These apart, I do agree that Dhoni is an innovative captain who can think out of the box. Though his move to promote Jadeja backfired, I believe we cannot fault him too much as it might have gone the other way also. Only thing which frustrated me was that, Jadeja should have realized that he is costing his side the game and must have started slogging earlier. We would have got some boundaries or he would have been out. His knock put pressure on Yuvi and Gambhir, both of them eventually getting out to improve the run rate.

I cannot understand why Dhoni promoted himself during the dead league games and devoid Raina of the much needed practice for a guy touring England for the first time. Going forward, Dhoni must be more thoughtful with the batting order, if not that would be the spell of his doom.

One more thing which irritated me was Bhaaji's 8 wides in the 18th and 20th overs. I believe that's one thing which cost us the match,

My Verdict - India needs to improve batting against short pitched stuff, but that alone was not the cause of our exit. Tactical errors and batting by Dhoni were important points.

Game of uncertainty - Kick starts

Its been a year n half since the last post in this blog and now its time i kick start it again as World T20 kick started in grand style y'day.

As i'm typing this, Chris Gayle has murdered Bingo for 27 runs in an over at The Oval. Man, he is a real terror in this format of the game. Score card reads 71 for none in 5 overs chasing 170.

Back y'day how many gave chance for the dutch men? Is England complacent or over-rated? Yeah... Over-rated.. Most definitely. I still think English team without Freddie & KP is no better than a minnow. That said, a minnow beating another in a thriller.

And today kiwis were made to sweat by the scotish and boy Ryan Watson smashed Iain'o Brien for 18 in the first over. After setting a challenging target, they made a mess of it with their bowling & sloppy fielding. Fielding coach needs a kick on his back?

Its 11.47 pm in Singapore and i can't wait for the clock to tick 12.30 am. So, whats up in the stores for the Men in Blue? I enjoyed a video posted in cricinfo - No-Hopers to Show-stealers. its amazing to see how world cricket has changed in 2 years since then.

Two years down, the core group of that triumphant young brigade remains same, this time well oiled having the experience of IPL under their belt, they really fancy their chances of defending the crown on June 21st. Well, i'm a certainty at Trent Bridge for India Vs SA super 8 game having booked the tickets, i'm hunting the web for the final tickets at Lords. Hopefully i get it.

So who to watch out for today? For bangladesh - It has to be Shakib Al Hasan - Number 1 allrounder in the world (???) as per ICC ratings. He may not be a star as number stated but he is an impressive and impact player. For Men in Blue? Guess who? Raina - My bet.

Get set guys.. Jaya Ho !!!

P.S : Windies almost closed out on aussies score. Need 19 of 37 balls with gayle on 84*. Hope they dont collapse.

P.P.S : Gayle's gone for 88 now. Chanderpaul comes in and announces his nickname - "Tiger" (???)

P.P.P.S : I've learned this from FIP (Fake IPL Player). nah, i'm not him but a fan of him :)