West Indies on improving rankings

Well, it is obvious for any team to gain advantage and in addition gain courage and excitement from that victory to put up a better performance in the days to come. This need not be the case for a team that gets defeated though there goes the saying that "better luck next time" or "losing is the stepping stone for success" for, a defeat takes away the courage most of the times. This is if you have a winning habit and losing really pisses you off. But, neither are the cases with the West Indies. Neither are the West Indies bothered about their losing streak nor about their rankings.

I remember the then West Indies early last year citing a 4-1 win against Australia in the Commonwealth Bank series 2010 at Australia. But, that series didn't even turn out to be 1-4 as far as the West Indies were considered. West Indies lost the series 4-0 to Australia with one match getting blown out due to bad weather. May be no one would have taken Chris Gayle's words so seriously but, a little bit of sense in talking becomes mandatory when things go public and considering one's caliber. Everyone knew the caliber of the West Indies which has only deteriorated since then.

Now that West Indies have won the first test against Pakistan rather unexpectedly by 40 runs, no doubt all their eyes will definitely be on the second test match starting today at Basseterre which the West Indies hardly have a chance looking at their standard. But still, having hopes shouldn't be a problem no matter what. It needs a thorough search through the Internet to see when last did the West Indies win a test match let alone a test series barring the Providence test last week against Pakistan. Of course, they have never met India since 2006 which reduced their burden a little bit.

However, they are bound to meet India later next month for a bilateral series where once again they are termed underdogs. Now, their concern if the West Indies captain-Darren Sammy is to be believed is their rankings which have since the past 8 years or so have been just two behind the bottom. With Zimbabwe losing its test status in 2005, now the West Indies are just behind Bangladesh in the latest ICC test rankings. This has to be the area of concern for the team who once upon a time dominated world cricket. Beating Pakistan this time as well and India in the forthcoming tour can be a possibility with West Indies facing them at home. But..

Shocked!

I had to keep on reading the news again and again unable to believe it in my eyes when I saw it for the first time on the television and on the news channels. The West Indies had beaten Pakistan by 40 runs in the first test at Providence. I had not much of a surprise when the West Indies had two consecutive wins against Pakistan in the last two one dayers which came after they had lost three matches earlier to the sub-continent nation. Of course, that was four in a row for the teams considering the West Indies' ten wicket loss to Pakistan in the quarter-finals of the world cup.

But, a test victory for West Indies against Pakistan is indeed something really worth of a praise for the hosts not only for their victory but also for their win in a test match when the spectators all over the world would have other opinions regarding the test status retained for the West Indies by the ICC. Had I been the ICC chief, I would have stripped the West Indies of their test status after Brian Lara retired. I just can't recall when last did the West Indies last win a test match against a decent opposition barring Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Likewise, my doubt to you readers is whether the West Indies have won a test match against even Bangladesh for, all I can remember West Indies doing was to lost both the test matches to Bangladesh on their last tour at home two years ago. Since 2007, the West Indies have never faced India in test matches be it on tour or at home. And they have not won a match against South Africa despite the teams meeting each other every year. Can anyone of you tell me when last did West Indies meet England and Australia and New Zealand recently?

Pakistan's dreams have been shattered once again when they lost the first test by 40 runs yesterday. Pakistan, we hear was and is and after this test will always be looking for a test series win against the West Indies in West Indies. Way back in 2005, the Inzamam-Ul-Haq led Pakistan team snatched a win in the 2^nd test at Kingston after losing the 1^st test at Bridgetown by 276 runs. This time also, all odds favor Pakistan to win over West Indies in the second test starting on 20^th at Basseterre but will have to wait for another tour to relish their dreams.

RCB always a cakewalk for DC

It has been a traditional contest between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Deccan Chargers since the inauguration of the Indian Premier League in 2008 when both the teams first competed for the last spot on the charts table with the same two teams making it to the finals of the same a year later when the competition was held in South Africa. This was followed by the teams facing back each other in the third edition once again in India when the Royal Challengers lost both the games to the Deccan Chargers in the league stages but bounced back in the crucial stage to make it to the champions league.

Putting the past behind us, in the current edition of the same, once again the Deccan Chargers have defeated the Royal challengers rather royally when the margin of defeat would raise a question whether it was a T20 game or the one day international that they were witnessing. A margin of 33 runs can happen only in one day international when one of the teams have the advantage of the toss they would have won before the match would have started. But, that can hardly be the case in T20 games when the pitch would hardly be different from what it was a couple of hours ago.

A target of 172 runs for the Royal Challengers Bangalore would and should have been an achievable one if it is the T20 game that is going on on the field. The run rate that is required in such a case is just less than 9 runs an over but still achievable with players like Tilakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli in the team. However, if the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain-Daniel Vettori shows some extraordinary brains and sends in Zaheer Khan at number three to bat, than things may turn out to be different that what would have been expected.

There were just three hits out of the ground from the RCB team and all of it belonged to the top scorer-Virat Kohli who shone with the bat with a handy 71 off 51 deliveries. That constituted half of their overall total of 142 that included 8 extras. One has to wonder why were there the likes of A B deVilliars and Dilshan when their contribution never crossed the double digit mark. If Zaheer Khan could bowl first and return successful with three scalps, the same Zaheer Khan spoiled the RCB party by coming in at number 3. Instead, Vettori could have bought himself on keeping in mind his all round abilities. But, who can tell Vettori?

Premier League disease spreads to SL

Well one has to no doubt be fed up with the ongoing Indian Premier League in its fourth successive edition and bound to become more and more worthless and boring at the same time. Now, it would come in as another blow when a neighboring country tries to copy the same irrespective of whether it would become successful or not. As stated earlier, the 4^th edition of the IPL is nothing but total crap with lack of any cricketing technique. One can hardly see any high scores chased down or any sort of big hitting from the blades of say Brendon McCullum.

I hardly have the patience to go through the website to check out who holds the orange and the purple cap and on the other side who is the topper on the charts. But, through newspapers and sports magazines, I can say that the real action is missing out totally not partially. There is no Anil Kumble who could do wonders with the ball and people like Shane Warne and Muralitharan who have shown great expectations are highly below the mark with the ball deciding not to respect these elders in the game. Likewise, Glenn McGrath is missing from the action from the past 2 years.

And, coming to the batting, someone like Sanath Jayasuriya and Brian Lara have been shown the gates before they had decided to enter one when they were not picked up by any of the franchisees. With that apart, now one more goat is found following its parent when the SLC not only plans to do a replica of the same but also ends up kick starting one. Pakistan had one shown interest in holding such an event on its soil but may be didn't go ahead with the same citing security reasons hosting and venue reasons. Well, I'm afraid whether this would definitely work.

Though most of them would now be looking forward to Entertainment,travel & living blogs, the Indian premier League is of some interest but that can never be guaranteed regarding the Sri Lankan counterpart whatsoever. I wonder what teams would feature in the Sri Lankan Premier League with the entire nation as big as one state in India. Perhaps! Every gully will have a team of its own. Added to that, the Sri Lankan cricket board should also look out for the dates on the calender with the entire year busy. All cricket boards cannot be lucky as the BCCI are.