Wednesday, February 25, 2009

A Wake up Call

When India embarked on the New Zealand tour, everyone had tipped India to be the favourites to win both the T20, ODI and the Test series. Even the New Zealand coach had expressed his view that India are the favourites. But looking at the way in which Dhoni and his boys took played the first T20 international, it looks like India has got complacent. Let us not forget that New Zealand literally  gave Australia a run for their money in their own backyard. The Australian series was tied at 2-2 and the T20 match was a close one, but for the favours of the rain God, Australia wouldn't have won. So what did really go wrong for India in the first T20 match?

The main reason for the Indian team to taste success in this format is the game has been the attitude to keep wickets and go for thebig shots in the last 12 overs. Ideally, the first 8 overs should be played at 7-8 as the run rate, without losing any wicket. It then lays a very good platform for the batsmen coming in for the onslaught. This is the formula that was adopted in all the matches in the T20 world Cup. Even against Australia, India had scored only 5 an over after 8 overs. But with wickets in hand, it really does give an opportunity for the batsmen to follow. 

Where as in this match, Gautam Gambhir started with a flurry of shots. The first ball he faced, he walked down the pitch and wanted to hoist the ball. But he just couldn't succeed. He still hadn't calmed down after Sehwag slammed 3 successive sixes. Ideally Gambhir should have rotated the strike and given more to Sehwag. Agreed, Gambhir has been in excellent form. But this is a new game, totally new conditions. Just doesn't make sense to slog it out in the first over. 
Yuvraj Singh is known to have a weakness against slower bowlers. Before even settling, he played an awful shot to be trapped in front. Television replays might suggest that the ball pitched outside leg, but poor umpires, they don't have rulers to see, whether the ball pitched outside leg or not. ICC might come up with a crease marking wicket to wicket, which the umpires can use while adjudging LBWs.
At some point of time, India were awfully 73 for the loss of 5 wickets. No wicket was a genuinely earned wicket. Indians had thrown away their wickets going after some reckless batting. Looking at the pitch, which was a batting paradise, any batsman would have been enticed to go after the bowling, but when 2 wickets had fallen within the power play, Indians should have just played a couple of overs quitely. 

Rohit Sharma proved yet again that he is more of a hype than genuine hope. Despite some gutsy hitting by Raina, the score of 163 couldn't have been reached.

Chasing 163 on a wicket like this and a ground, which is as much the size of a municipal ground in Indian streets is always going to easy for any team. Ishant sharma was really unlucky, when the umpire didn't raise his finger for Guptill. It may not have been written in the law book to give out for padding balls pitched outside off stump, but umpires these days are very strict while adjudging LBWs for such cases. The ball Ishant bowled to Guptill was a beauty of a delivery, pitched outside off, swung in and hit him just outside off. Any other Umpire would have raised his hand but the NZ umpire, didn't. There is a long standing record of Kiwi umpires being partial to their home team. Sunil Gavaskar wouldn't disgree, for he had to appeal to the umpire to declare a batsman out, when he bowled. 

Another let down of the game was Irfan Pathan. Normally, India always missed the 5th bowler. But in this game, even the 4th bowler was missed. Irfan either sprayed the ball to legs of the batsmen or gave width on the offside. He didn't even match the shadow of what he was 3 years ago. His strength has been his banana loop inswinger coming into the batsmen. But the kookaboora ball never swung. It is high time, he goes back to nets to get his zip back, or India would still suffer for keeping him in the side.

Nevertheless, there are more games to the tour and India has another opportunity to maintain the reputation of the World Champs in T20 cricket. It is a wake up call.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Srilanka Thrashed

In a game, in which the one who blinks will lose the game, Srilanka kept on blinking, and lost the series by the margin 4 – 1 to a far more superior Indian team. The only time they came close to winning was during 2nd ODI, but then also they have put a great fight back to come close. I don’t think that India has played some great cricket, but they had done enough to beat Srilanka comprehensively. Srilanka has won the last ODI not because of their great cricket but due to the complacency and care-free attitude of the Indian team.

Even before the series was started, India was the favorites even though Srilanka has beaten Pakistan in Pakistan. The only question that needed an answer was how the Indian batsmen will handle mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis. And the answer given by Indian batsmen was there is no mystery with this spinner. It’s all history. I am wondering how this was happened. Six months before, they are not able to read him. Now they were hitting him to all parts of the ground. Was he lost his magic or they have overcome the jinx? I think Mendis has to do something different as he was now handled by the batsmen very easily. Even in Pakistan, he doesn’t look like picking the wickets.


Indian Performance:



Clicked:
India’s victory in this series was mainly because of the rampaging form of their batsmen. No need to point anyone for these victories. Because each one of them have put their hands up when the situation raised. Everybody has got atleast a 50 or 100 to their name. The spectacular thing was happened during 3rd ODI, when Sehwag and Yuvraj, one of the most devastating batsmen in all forms of the game, joined together and plundered the Srilankan bowling. That is the least thing any opposition captain does want to happen. They have scored at 8 runs/over and reduced the ODI into a T20. Yuvraj has been consistent throughout the series, while Sehwag was as destructing as ever, but throwing his wicket too early was a cause of concern. Gambhir was in brilliant form, scored a 60+ in first ODI and then a mammoth 150 during the 4th ODI to secure the win for India. Dhoni played responsibly without much risk in all games and ensured that the game was not going beyond India’s reach. What more important is, he kept himself cool during tense situations as a captain. Once again he led the team well. Yusuf Pathan was played some good innings here and there and bowled well in patches.

Even though India has won comprehensively there is lot of areas to improve. Bowling was not upto the mark. They have done just enough to grab the series. Even the ever consistent Zaheer Khan has been taken for runs. Ishant too must work on his variations. Ojha has come good in some games. I think with some more games he will improve his flight and variation. With some part-time spinners India has managed somewhat well to restrict the Srilankans. The injury prone Munaf Patel once again turned to bed instead of ground.


Failed:

The place given to Rohit Sharma in this Indian team was a debatable one. After playing in 30+ ODIs he still can’t find his feet. He was an exceptional talent, accepted. But how can you keep a batsman who was failing continuously. In this series also, each time a chance has been given he wasted them. The only innings in which he played well was on last year's CB series final. Another one is Suresh Raina. He has all kind of beautiful shots in his armory and the way he losing wicket after scoring some 30 or 40 runs doesn't argur well. He was becoming more of a utility player than a complete batsman. Irfan Pathan also lost his swinging ability and it's time to find a better all-rounder who was able to bowl this quota of 10-overs without any fuss.

Srilankan Performance:

The main problem with Srilanka was they were still dependent on the old warhorses Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas and the world record holder Muthiah Muralidharan. They were not able to find suitable players for the rest of the team and they were struggling in a big time against a quality opposition, which was not at their best.

Clicked:

Jayasuriya was always a thorn in the flesh of the Indian bowlers. This time he made them bleed but he was not as sharp as he used to be. He scored a century in the first match and set the tempo for one consolidation win. He was ably supported at the top by Dilshan who was showing the signs of becoming a permanent opener for Srilanka with his big scores. But he needs to consistent to prove himself. This is a mixed series for him with runs scored in some matches and got out for some rash shots at times. Kumar Sangakkara was a in-form batsman for Srilanka, but the problem for them was, he was the only one who was in-form and he couldn't lift the spirits of this Srilankan team to win a match before losing the series. Mahela Jayawardene has found some form in the middle of the series and captained well this below average team. With most of the players in his team were out-of-form, the going is tough for him. Nuwan Kulasekara was the only bowler who seemed to have kind of idea of what to bowl at the Indian batsman. He was a thinking bowler and will be the lead bowler for Srilanka for the years to come. Kandamby also shoவின் ing glimpses of Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva in his batting. But he has work hard on his fitness else he will lose his place this fast paced ODIs.


Failed:

Bowling was a complete disaster for Srilanka with even Muralidharan was failed. India batsmen were handled him in a fearlessly which made him to look like an ordinary bowler. Mendis who was touted as a next big thing in world cricket was given a alarm signal to improve his cerenditals to shine at the world stage. Not much can be said about their fast bowling. Thushara was fast but lacked the control so can be said to other Srilankan fast bowlers. They have missed the accuracy of Vaas dearly, but he couldn't saved this Srilankan team. Batsmen who are not mentioned in the Clicked column can be taken as failed for granted.

Srilanka can only get consolidation from the below fact that they were not beaten by a side which was equal to them. But a team which was far superior in look, the way they play and which was thriving to become a top team in the world. There are problem aplenty for them and they must have known by now.

Well played India. Kudos to you.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Is Sachin shying away from T20 Cricket???

T20 cricket is here to stay and has already proved that this format of cricket is the most entertaining format, the millions of dollars being pumped in as advertisements bearing testimony to the earlier statement. T20 has found fan followers from children to elders and women too, who were very much content with soap serials which would make your eyes go moist. IPL 2008 topped all TRP ratings in the summer season and the entire Indian film industry postponed all of their summer releases, fearing poor turn outs at the cinema halls. But there is one man, who has constantly distanced himself from this format. He is none other than the Demi – God of Indian Cricket, Mr. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar gave a new dimension to play the first 15 overs of One Day cricket. It was his sharp cricketing acumen, which created a new rule to maximize those overs. But ever since the T20 format has been conceived, Sachin has played only one T20 International match against South Africa way back in 2006. India has since then played a World Cup, 2 matches against Australia one each in India and in Australia and India. The T20 match against Sri Lanka is the 3rd match after the World Cup. But Tendulkar has not featured in any of these matches. Sachin is believed to have left Sri Lanka before the start of the match itself. 

Tendulkar volunteered to excluded from the T20 team and hasn’t been keen to be part of any of the other matches. While  other leading international players like Sanath Jayasurya, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden had all featured in the T20 world cup, Sachin didn’t. 

So why is Tendulkar, the run machine shying away from T20 matches? Is he afraid of the fact that the media would go all tongs together, if he failed.  Sachin does take a little while , say 10 balls to settle down and start making his shots. Does he feel that 10 balls are too much to settle down? Does he feel that he would be compared with his lesser experienced team mates, who might outscore him? Or does he feel that T20 is masala cricket, which purists don’t hold in high esteem and that’s why he doesn’t want to play this? Then he shouldn’t be even featuring in IPL. Or does Mahendra Singh Dhoni feel Tendulkar to be a burden in T20 games?

Whatever be the reason, it seems that Sachin Tendulkar is distancing himself from T20 cricket. I am an ardent fan of Tendulkar, and love to see him smash the balls outside the stadium and show that he is still a player having the fire in him.

 


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