India's best chance

India bowlers especially spinners and RP Singh have done well to restrict England to a chaseable 154. It could have been worse if Jadeja didn't got that 2 wickets of Bopara and Peiterson at the right time this score could have swelled to 170. Jadega had a very good scalping 2 wickets, a catch and I have witnessed some brilliant fielding from him. He just fields like a man on some mission and his throws were like bullets aimed at the stumps. England seemed to be running away with the game when they were 70/1 @ 10 overs with both Bopara and Peiterson well set. The promotion of Maschernas didn't worked as he was just crawling for 25 from 27 balls. Unless for occasional very wide deliveries Harbhajan bowled well in the last overs.

Both Zaheer and Ishant got hammered but RP singh cleverly bowled his bouncers and contained from one end. I am off to watch the second innings. India has started well with Rohit and Gambhir ticking away the runs and it's enough to chase down 153.

More action awaits

The next phase of the T20 world cup has started with very less number of shocking exits. To many Bangladesh’s exit is too shocking than Australia’s. The way Aussies have played made them a deserved candidate for the elimination. They have been outplayed in both of their matches and no one would ever see them as vulnerable as they are now. And in the other group, Bangladesh who played upto their potential against their Asian rivals India seemed to miss the plot against Ireland and were thrown out of the tournament. In the other groups expected teams(Scotland and Netherland) were made their exit and made Super 8 into an exciting one.

So now the teams are again splitted into 2 groups: Group E(India, England, West Indies and South Africa) and Group F(Pakistan, Srilanka, Ireland and New Zealand). So to qualify each team must win atleast 2 matches and the competition seems to be tougher in Group E as there were no minnows. Each team was capable of beating every other team on their day. But with the exposure and team balance in T20, India and South Africa were seemed to go to Semi-finals. West Indies hopes are lies with Chris Gayle. If he fires, then they can win. There are times even if he fires, they will let down by their extra-‘ordinary’ bowling. So it’s like one man show. As far as England was concerned, they have a decent team and they have to put collective performance. Nobody in their team were seemed to be a match winner, who can take the game away from opposition single-handedly. But for India and South Africa they are in plenty, so both England and West Indies must play well to go to semis.

In the other group, the bigger teams can breathe easier as they have Ireland in their group. It will be tough fight between Pakistan, Srilanka and New Zealand. But having the kind of players readily suited for this T20 format, New Zealand seems to be favorite to move to semis easily. Srilanka too playing very well with their top order was firing and their bowling seems to be tighter than other teams. So they can make the semis by playing to their potential. But the most unpredictable of all the teams, Pakistan is in this group. They have match winners. But they don’t know what is meant by collective effort means and they are wasting Misbah by making him play in No.6 and No.7. If they really want to go to Semis they must plan purposefully and should stick by it. Ireland…. If they make semis, then that will be biggest happening in this tournament. Nothing to mention more.

It’s time to enjoy more quality matches. Stay tuned.

Rules over look Common Sense

Sri Lanka defeated West Indies convincingly alright. But there was a debatable decision by umpires Simon Taufel and Billy Bowden. Sarwan hit a lofted shot and Angelo Mathews caught the ball within the boundary ropes. But he was not in complete control of his balance and went beyond the boundary ropes. But he had enough common sense to lob the ball into the air before he crossed over the boundary rope. After crossing the boundary ropes, he saw that the ball he had lobbed is about to fall beyond the boundary, which would mean that he had actually thrown the ball to give the batsman 6 runs. So what he did, he again jumped and while he was in air, flicked the ball back into the play area. It was amazing display of presence of mind, under those tense circumstances. Umpires consulted the 3rd umpire as well and came to the conclusion that since the fielder was not in the ground, which touching the ball, it was not a six, even though the boundary lines had been cleared. Hence only 3 runs were awarded, which the batsman had run.

To me, the umpires' decision just didn't make sense at all. If umpires decision can be taken as it is, then consider this scenario. The batsman hits a lofted shot. The fielder on the boundary knows that it is going to clear the boundary. So what he does is, crosses the boundary ropes and when the ball reaches him, he jumps in the air and lobs it back into the play area. Or Worst he jumps and lobs the ball to another player, while he is in air. How would the umpires deal with such a scenario?

The umpires didn't apply common sense in the case of Angelo Mathews' acrobatic fielding. Even though he had lobbed the ball while in air, he should have come back to the play area before lobbing the ball, which he didn't. That being the case, it should have been awarded six runs to the batsman. Had the West Indies, scored 2-3 runs less than Sri Lanka's score, this horrendous decision of Umpires would have deprived them of a victory.

Wish ICC amend such loop holes in the laws of the game, which are like our Constitution.

Bye Bye Aussies

I had completed writing this post and was just waiting to click the publish button. It is now official. Aussies are out of the T20 World Cup. Can't remember the last time, the Aussies made an early exit.  To my knowledge it was in Kenya way back in 2000 in the second edition of the ICC Champions Trophy. So the Aussies have been handed over 2 consecutive defeats and they are out of the tournament, without adding a victory against their name. 

James Sutherland, the CEO of Cricket Australia would be scratching his head, whether forcing his players not to play the IPL was a wise decision. 

It has been a day of eliminations with Bangladesh also making an exit from the tournament. 

Cheers to Sri Lanka for eliminating the Australians from the World Cup. Ponting may have to think about bringing back Haydos and Gilly atleast for the shortened version of the game. 

Bye Bye Australia. 

England Still in the Hunt

When Doeschate and Schiferli scampered for a second run, courtesy an overthrow from Stuart Broad, English Cricket fans would have thought, England was going to exit out of the tournament without a victory to their name. That was the moment, when Stuart Broad became 'Stupid' Broad. Thank God, English Cricket doesn't have a fan following like the English Football club. Otherwise, Lords Cricket Ground would have looked like a Bihar or Uttar Pradesh State Assembly. 

The match against Pakistan was a do or die for England. What they wanted was not just a win, but a convincing one and that too against the last time runners up. Odds were very much stacked against England. But, little did they know that they were also playing against a bunch of guys, who never applied their brains, while going about the chase. 

Pakistan should have worked a clear strategy, for not just beating England, but also a contingency plan to stay in the competition, if their plan A to win backfired. If Pakistan team management spends little more time in strategy making than offering only Namaz (I don't want to offend anyone), they could have made England's staying in the competition much more tougher. But they just squandered an opportunity. A close finish or a finish closer to the English target could have ensured that a win against Netherlands is enough. By losing in a big way to England, Pakistan have found themselves in the hot seat, with fire already in their butts. 

I remember a match of Australia Vs South Africa, were South Africa required to deny Australia a bonus point so as to ensure a place in the final of a tournament. They set the target, which would deny Australia the bonus point, instead of going for a full fledged win. By having such a strategy, they lost the game, but not the tournament. They reached the finals, which was their motive. 

Now England has to do, is to sit back and watch Pakistan take up Netherlands and even if Netherlands lose, the margin by which Pakistan lost, would definitely haunt them from going to the next level. Remember in 2007 T20 world cup South Africa lost just one match and they were out. Pakistan has to now work out, what should be the rate at which they should defeat the Netherlands. I hope they have the algos installed in their laptops to do a simple calculation, which actually is more complicated to them .

Nice way to take off

India kickstarted their campaign to defend their title in a perfect note, beating Bangladesh comfortably. Though it looked like comfortable, some individual brilliance of Yuvraj Singh and Ojha is required to script this win. Dhoni won the toss and continued the trend of last WC by choosing to set a target. In the absence of Sehwag, Rohit opened the innings along with Gambhir both started well and raced away to 50 but after the Rohit’s wicket the run rate started to dip as both Dhoni and Gambhir were never in a mood to accelerate. So it’s a boon when they both got out by 14^th and 16^th over. Bangladesh slow bowlers done well in keeping them quiet… no no.. very quiet. Then came Yurvaj, effortlessly hitting sixes at will and took the game away from Bangladesh. He killed their bowlers with some great hitting. With Irfan hitting a six and four in the last over means that India reaching a par total of 180 on that pitch.

Bangladesh started off well with taking on both Zaheer and Irfan to cleaners and seemed to be racing away. Especially Siddique was doing more damage. Tamim Iqbal and Mohammed Ashraful fell cheaply but didn’t wasted balls. But in came Ojha took 2 important wickets in his first over scalping both dangerous Shakib-ul-hasan and Siddique. And that’s the curtains for Bangladesh as there are no players who can score at the required rate and they ended up at 155. Ojha got 4 wickets for his clever bowling and Yuvraj took a brilliant forward diving catch while the dismissal of Mahmaddullah.

It’s still a puzzle why Dhoni coming in at No.3 and halting the momentum. He has done the same with CSK. He has Raina in his team who is in good form but he promotes himself up and halts the momentum. Its better if he comes down the order and allows explosive players like Raina and Yuvraj to play more overs. Maybe he thinks about right-left combination much. But it will bring no good if there is no hint of aggressiveness.

Australia Gayled over

Nothing fascinates me more than an Australian loss. Despite Wst Indies' woeful fielding and letting Australia put up 169, they just demolished the mighty Australian bowling. Just couldn't stop feeling so happy to see the panic stricken face of Ponting. Sidhu would have commented that Ponting looked like a kid in a topless bar. He just couldn't hide the disappointment in his face.

About the West Indian innings, my god, Chris Gayle played, as if a huge gayle wind had washed the Australian shores. King Khan would have definitely rued today. After seeing Gayle's innings, he would have definitely thought, why didn't he play like this a month back and that too in batsman friendly tracks.

Aggressive is not just the word to describe his innings. Is it beserk or blietkrieg, call it with whatever adjective and adverb you want to add. It was just an amazing innings. As in tennis, where players carry a spare ball for a second serve, it would be better for the umpires to carry some used balls, when they stand out in a West Indies match.

Australia are now definitely sitting on top of a furnace, with fire in their butts. They now face Sri Lanka,who can't be discounted. Not only have West Indies played out Australia, but what they have ensured is that the difference in the net run rate is that of between Heaven and Earth. Should there be a triangular contest, where Australia beat Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka beat West Indies, this loss might haunt them in a big way. Just can't wait to see Ponting and his guys take the first flight back home.

No Skill Only Nerve

T20 World Cup in England got off to a soggy start. But there was no shortage of entertainment and absolutely no sogginess in the way, underdogs Netherlands, went about their chasing to beat England and that too in the last over. What a ripper of a match to the start of a tournament? I should say that the team, which held the nerve until the last moment won the game on the day. And of course England just didn't have the nerve to pull of a victory. 

The English fielding was woeful. I could at least count 5 throws not being collected and Stuart Broad himself missing at least 4 opportunities in the ultimate over. When Stuart Broad had bowled 5 balls, conceding just 5 runs, it was a very good over until then. But he just didn't hold his nerve to have forced a tie, by just stopping the ball. Had the match gone to the super over, England would have psychologically felt better. Not sure, what Collingwood had told Broad when he bowled the last ball. Or didn't he tell anything anything to Broad at all? 

Though England lost the match, just cant discount the fact in which Netherlands went about chasing a decent total of 160+. De Grooth batted like a champion batsman, with support from other batsman. The Deutch bowling was also pretty good, in the second half. And they held the nerve in the final phase of their chasing. The batting was not great. There was little skill in display in their batting. But it was the nerve that mattered, more than skill.

Will India do it again???

Again the T20 world cup is back, and for the first time I am seeing India going into the cricket’s one of the biggest tournaments as defending champions. Last time no one expected them to lift the cup and they surprised themselves and the whole world. But this time they can’t surprise anyone as they have one of the strongest team for this format with all of them being match winners and termed as favorites to lift the cup again. Others were also not behind with South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan was breathing down the India’s neck to grab the cup from India. Let me see what makes India favorites and what not.

Strengths:

• Strongest batting line-up with big hitters from No.1 to No.7.
• Nice combination of pace, spin and part-time bowlers with lot of variety.
• Very young side with lot of energy. Most of them were brilliant fielders.
• Dhoni’s intuitive and cool leadership.

Weaknesses:

• All the players were coming after a Long and demanding IPL.
• If Dhoni unfortunately injures means, no reserve wicket-keeper and leader of his quality.
• No perfect all-rounder who can be relied upon.
• Injury to Zaheer and Sehwag.
• Drift between Sehwag and Dhoni.

Key Players:

• Rohit has hit the form at the right time and he was pacing his innings well now.
• Raina too was in great form who can take on any attack and tear it apart.
• Ojha will be man to look out for. He is spinning the ball a lot and very cleverly flighting and varying his pace. The good thing he knows how to fox a set batsmen a real quality of agood spinner.
• As always Yuvraj, not in the best of the form but still India’s trump card in middle overs. His sheer power will take the ball not beyond the ropes but beyond the stadium.
• Zaheer khan and Ishant sharma: Best pace duo any team want to have.

All I am hoping is, India has the strongest team and must retain the cup. As a cricket fan I am hoping for this tournament having lot of interesting matches. All the best to India :)