Defeated By The Minnows Zimbabwe!

Before the IPL 2010, a lot of things were said about how it would hone the skills of youngsters and make them fit for the international level. However, time has proved that mere club level T20 cricket can never be the substitute for international tournaments. First it was the T20 World Cup debacle and now the Micromax Cup (featuring Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka), defeat has again proved that class and not gimmick is needed to win matches. Barring Rohit Sharma (who made back to back centuries), all other players could not create any impression in this tournament. Out of 4 matches, the team could only have 1 win against Sri Lanka.

Rohit Sharma Only Saving Grace

On the eve of taking the flight to Harare, Indian captain Suresh Raina had said that his team did not have any flaws and were expected to perform excellently. But reality showed something else and reduced these dialogues into mere self praises. What was shocking was that India lost against minnows Zimbabwe in the very first match itself. The fans were completely taken at sea after that performance and everyone was surprised as to how it could happen. However, it needs to be said here that India were no match for their opponent who played splendid cricket all through. Elton Chigumbura’s men put up a spirited performance and excelled in all the sectors, be it batting, bowling or fielding. Their performance improved in the second match and India was literally thrashed by 7 wickets after being bowled out for a paltry 194.

Sri Lanka Hit The Final Nail In The Coffin

The successive loss to Zimbabwe meant that India had to win against Sri Lanka in their last match to stay in the tournament. But this time again, the team let their fans down and lost by 6 wickets. Setting a target of 269 to win, the Indian bowlers were absolutely out of path and the opponents could easily pile up the runs, thanks to a wonderful 114 runs partnership between Chamara Kapugedera and Dinesh Chandimal. The defeat meant India were out of the contest.

The skeletons are again out and it has been proved that money cannot buy performance. The so called stars who had eared millions in the IPL at home showed that they are still not mature enough to play in the international platform.

England cricket team deserved the win. They had been consistent throughout the tournament. Barring the only match they lost to West Indies due to the Duckworth Lewis method, England had beaten the likes of New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa in their quest to qualify for Super Eight. We need to remember that each of these teams had much better record in the shortest version of the game. Still England went on to beat the teams convincingly in each game. They defeated Sri Lanka in the semifinals to face the mighty Australian team that had an unbeaten record in the tournament so far. But, as they say, Cricket is a game of holding your nerves. And England did so, quite emphatically. They outplayed the Aussies to win their first major tournament title of this scale. It is hard to imagine, but the fact is that England had to wait for 35 years to win a World Cup since the first One Day Internationals World Cup was played in 1975. They had lost three World Cup Finals (in 1979, 1987 and 1992) and they lost the Champions Trophy Finals in 2004. But they didn’t let it happen this time.

Crushing The Formidables on Their Way

The win in Ashes over Australia may be one of the greatest achievements of England. But just in terms of the sheer scale, magnitude and competition, the victory at World Cup T20 will be placed perhaps in the highest pedestal. The way England defeated the Australians in the finals showed the best example of a clinical team game and total domination. First they restricted Michale Clarke’s Australia to an achievable score of 147 runs. Barring David Hussey (59) and Cameron White (30), none of the Australian batsmen could score runs that would have helped Australia to throw a challenging target to England. With a required run rate of 7.35, it was never difficult for England on a day when the formidable Kevin Pietersen took the guard after a quick dismissal of Michael Lumb. His score of 47 off 31 balls had four boundaries and an over boundary. But the day clearly belonged to Craig Kieswetter. What a match winning performance it was for the rookie batsman. Scoring 69 runs off 49 balls studded with 7 boundaries and 2 over boundaries in such a big stage like World Cup T20 Final was remarkable. He was fittingly adjudged the Man of the Match. Kevin Pietersen was adjudged the Man of the tournament for his brilliant performance (Runs-248, Average -62.00 and Strike Rate-137.77).

The Duo That Saw Through

England’s success would not have been possible without the contribution of Greame Swann. With his current form he is arguably the best spinner in the International Cricket. Swann took 10 wickets in the tournament at an Economy Rate of 6.55. In the final against Australia he gave out just 17 runs in 4 overs at an incredible economy rate of 4.25. It is heartening to see that England which has traditionally produced fast bowlers, are now privileged to have such promising and talented spinner in their armor.

England will be facing the Australia in Ashes later this year. And after beating the Aussies and clinching the T20 World Cup, they will hope to beat them in the Ashes as well to strengthen their supremacy in all forms of the game. We will be waiting!

Major Players Never Got Going

Several questions crop up if we do a post-mortem of India’s disastrous display in the Caribbean Islands. And many of these have been plaguing for quite some time now, even before the tournament kicked off.

FIRST the poor team selection for this tournament, credit for which goes to the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) and the Indian Team Management. Questions were raised about non-inclusion of players like Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Manish Pandey, Virat Kohli and Robin Uthappa. What made the selectors and the team management ignore these in form players is still a mystery. True Yuvraj Singh had been a match winner in T20. It is also true that India had seen some brilliant performances in the past by Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. But in the world of cricket, what should matter is the current form and fitness level. And by those means, none of these players met the standards to be in the current team. Surprisingly, most of the players who did not get a berth in Indian World T20 squad had amazing run in the IPL 2010 that just concluded before the World T20.

Indian Bowling Looked Helpless All Through The Tournament

SECONDLY a very old question that has again resurfaced at Indian captain M S Dhoni’s post match conference after crashing out to Sri Lanka. Gary Kirsten had raised his apprehensions last year that the time gap between IPL and World T20 was very less. But none paid heed to this. Even, M S Dhoni chose not to take this into account when he was asked repeatedly before the World T20 2010 that how justified is it for the cricketers to play such back to back tournaments? But now after this debacle he has changed his tune completely. He blamed the post tournament parties in IPL 2010 along with host of other factors like frequent traveling, lack of match practices and exhaustion as reasons taking toll on the cricketers. Without getting into the controversy that how much of weight-age should be given to these “excuses”, there are some clear facts that even the layman can see. The team had players who were already exhausted by the grueling schedule of IPL 2010. A match winner like Virender Sehwag was out of the World T20 squad due to injury and some of the players in the current team were not entirely fit either.

THIRDLY, how long are we going to show the cricketing world our inability to play against short pitched deliveries? It happened in England last year and it happened again in West Indies this year. Even the immensely talented Yusuf Pathan seemed to be at lost when full yorkers were bowled outside the off stump or while facing short deliveries.

Catches Came And They Went Without Being Caught

FOURTHLY, people are also blaming the strategy of Indian Team Management. Why did India choose to field despite winning toss in the matches against the Aussies and the Windies? The question still baffles us. Yusuf Pathan should have been given the opportunity to face more balls rather than sending him batting down the order. And after Ravinder Jadeja’s performance in the match against Aussies, he was least expected to be in the Playing XI in the match against Windies. Why did India refused to play a third pacer in the bouncy pitch of Barbados will also remain a mystery.

Despite all these let us be clear on one thing. None of the teams participate in a tournament to lose and come back empty handed. And it will also not be fair to put blame entirely on the captain and make him the punching bag for all the failures. That will be a fatal error. The BCCI and the Indian Team Management should do a proper analysis of the team’s performance and chalk out a comprehensive, unbiased and logical plan of action. That will be the only way to help the team turn around.

The Grand Closing Ceremony of IPL 3

In fact, digging deep into the IPL revealed some shocking facts about funds embezzlement which were too much for anyone to believe. Even the central government was dragged into controversy as lots of its ministers and politicians were found to be associated with the IPL boss. Questions were also raised about the role of the film stars who were the owners and co owners of different IPL teams. It was found out that these stars were nothing but minor shareholders in these teams. No proper papers were found and monetary deals with faceless unregistered companies came up.

Day by day, more allegations and controversies started coming up on Modi’s illegal dealings and business. The government started an investigation into the issue and the Income Tax Department raided Modi’s office. Searches were also carried out on the IPL center of BCCI. It was found out that Modi had made millions of money by fake deals and opening scores of unregistered companies. In fact, there were wide scale protests all across the country to end such menace and bring the guilty to justice.

Lalit Modi, The Commissioner of the IPL Was The Prime Accused

As the controversies were gaining momentum and getting sour, it was high time for the BCCI to take a strong step and do something. The cricket control suspended Modi from the IPL chairman’s post and asked him to submit some proof to defend his innocence. The matter is still pending and Modi is yet to submit all the documents. He was submitted around 15,000 copies of papers and is slated to submit more such documents.  After going through the documents the governing committee of BCCI will decide about the fate of Modi.

The IPL controversy has brought out a number of hard truths regarding the glamor and pomp associated with it and its time to do some serious thinking. Before the 4th edition of IPL takes place next year, things need to be sorted out and power needs to be vested on the right hands to make it a clean and enjoying affair and not a money making machine for some people.

The Craze is Back Again

As the league unfolds itself the biggest surprise was the upsurge of Deccan Chargers . Some of the other teams who brushed aside their last year’s disappointment were Mumbai Indians, ably led from the front man Sachin Tendulkar, and Delhi Daredevils. With more uniformity between the bat and the ball on the seaming wickets of South Africa the battle would definitely be more intense one.

Whether you are at home, office or in friends circle there is only one thing to discuss IPL matches and IPL live scores. If SARS was deadly then this fever is deadlier!

Are the days of high elbow and elegant body balance gone forever?

“Bring on the butchers and we will make cricketers out of them” – seems to be the recent trend. Surprised? Well don’t be. Many a cricket academies will follow the dictum in the near future. Considering the recent craze for slam bam T20 cricket among the masses, the world of cricket is now ruled by the muscle guys. It seems as if to be a successful cricketer, you need to have the raw power.

Gone are the days when people used to pay to watch Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi score 34 in 300 balls and applaud for his forward defensive shorts. Today’s generation can’t expect anything less than a run-a-ball century. Given a choice between – a smashing fifty from Sehwag or a patient knock from Dravid that saved the match the majority of the crowd would vote for the earlier.

Earlier the beauty of cricket lied in a well timed cover-drive or a beautifully executed leg glance. But today the crowds don’t mind how the runs come as long they keep coming. Otherwise, can any person expect a batsman to scoop a bowler over the wicketkeeper’s head or play a reverse sweep and get thundering applause from the crowds?

It may appear as if we are complaining like a sissy failing to understand that evolution is a necessary process and cricket is no exception. In today’s age of globalization and commercialization even the game of cricket has to change in order to keep pace with time and demand. Let the artistry of cricket remain intact in the footage of the past. Enjoy the bang-bang cricket in vogue. After all, time and tide wait for none.

Gone are the days of back tracking now we move forward!

Cheer leaders in cricket? Surprised? Yes, you have heard (and seen) it right! Well, it is the latest option being used to promote cricket globally. In fact, the first conscious step taken by the ICC, in promoting the game worldwide is the introduction of T20 cricket among affiliate playing nations.

The last World Cup clearly showed which teams are considered minnows in cricket and why. A bitter reminder is the match played between Bermuda and India. Such matches surely result in a huge dip in the viewership of the game. It was high-time ICC made some permanent changes in the format of the game to remove this wide disparity. With the introduction of T20 cricket, this gap has been filled to a great extent. This shorter version of the game loaded with hard-hitting action, drama, high-octane emotions, is a complete entertainer. No wonder, T20 has caught the fancy of even the wives and grandmas in the house!

The achievement of parity has been a success mainly because of the short span of time in T20 matches. The skill necessary for this form of cricket is at par with its longer versions. But here, a player gets very little time to make skill adjustments. With a blink of an eye, you are a hero or a loser in T20 matches. This indeed is a bonus for affiliate playing nations who do not have the adequate skills to battle the Test-playing nations for a long period of time. The concept has been hatched from the English Premier League, a popular soccer league in the UK. Here, even minnows can dream of beating the league toppers.

Moreover, a T20 tournament encourages and enhances the game of non-playing countries. This is insured by ICC with the inclusion of international players in such teams. No wonder today the “Champions League” has become the talk of the town, in every town, all over the world! The winners of IPL, ICL etc. are all making their way to this tournament to showcase their cricketing skills. So, a player who earlier had not much hold in international cricket, has a handful of commercials, media packages and a fat bank balance under his belt.

Truly, irrespective of what the purists say, T20 has become a blessing in disguise. Now the Gen -next spectators too can enjoy the adrenalin rush as much as the Romans did watching gladiators battle in the Colosseum. Thanks to T20!