Doubts have always been raised regarding Australia's chances of miking it big in the upcoming world cup held in the sub-continent since the retirement of the bunch of 8-9 players after the 2007 triumph in the Caribbean and loss of form and fitness of most of the remaining players like Brett Lee, Michael Hussey etc to name a few. In case Australia manage to repeat the feat not only will they be doing it for the 5th time in the history of the world cup but will also do it for the fourth time in a row. No team has even managed even three in a row.And, not only that. Ricky Ponting will be the 1st captain in the history of a world cup to have lifted the world cup thrice and that too consecutively. If the chances of Australia repeating the feat yet again this time in the sub-continent are considered, it would be worth to mention that Australia will be heading for the big stage without the likes of Glenn McGrath for the first time since 1996, without Symonds, Gilchrist, Hayden, Brad Hogg etc for the first time since 2003. With all thse factors, though Australia's chances of winning the world cup cannot be ruled out, their magical days are definitely lost.Since the start of the 2003 world cup in South Africa, Australia have not lost even a single ODI be it against any opposition and under any circumstances. Australia won the match against England in the league stages of the world cup in 2003 after at one stage being 135/8 and against New Zealand after being at 84/7. Thanks to Michael Beaven's patient knock in both the games. Beaven was deceived from the man of the match award in both the games. In 2007, there were no close calls for Australia against any team, which makes them go unbeaten for 22 consecutive matches.Australia didn't face India or Pakistan in that edition and even if they did, the result would not have been any different. With the absence of the match winners, it is not possible for Australia to win all the matches they play. And, if bad luck shifts from RSA to Australia, may be they might lose in the quarter finals itself.Though there is no McGrath or Gilchrist this time, there are likes of Shane Watson, Ponting, Haddin, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait to name a few. A hint regarding Australia's fate is evident from the face that they have not been able to defend the Ashes after the retirement of these players in 2006.Neither have they been able to win a test series match against India since then.
Well finally, some decent decisions are found to be taken by the ICC regarding the mega event namely the world cup that is due to start the coming year. Whatever, the news or the decision, whatever you may call as comes into picture only on or after the 2015 world cup once again thought to be held in Australia and New Zealand. Coming to the matter, the ICC is on a decision to reduce the number of teams for the mega event from the existing 16 to 10, which obviously means showing the gates to the non test playing nations.However, the list might not include Zimbabwe and Kenya or Ireland for, their performance in international cricket is comparatively satisfactory. Zimbabwe has a history of playing test cricket while Ireland and Kenya have shown to be no less than a test playing nation like Bangladesh or West Indies. Other teams that can be thought of to be shown the gates would be Bermuda, Scotland, Holland, Namibia to name a few though not that important. But, should this decision be criticized by anyone let alone the associate countries? With their role being limited in the event, how do the nations ask for a change not to take place?If anyone would ask me, I would suggest that the presence of such teams can only ruin the excitement of the world cup nonetheless making way for unwanted politics in the mega event. Since the 1999 world cup, major teams have made it to the next level of the tournament though not deserving to be there. In the 1999 world cup, Zimbabwe made it to the super sixes at the cost of England. India lose their match to Zimbabwe by underestimating them and then South Africa lose to Zimbabwe not before confirming their place in the super sixes. As a result, India had to end their world cup campaign in the super sixes itself.So was the case in the 2003 world cup when Sri Lanka made much of New Zealand forfeiting their group stage match to Kenya by intentionally losing (may be) to Kenya so that New Zealand faces a tough task ahead. In the 2007 world cup, though there was no room for any such politics, underestimation was at its peak with India and Pakistan paying the price for the same in their league stage match against Bangladesh and Ireland respectively. In the super eights of the same, South Africa paid the price by losing to Bangladesh by 67 runs. Are such teams required who can spoil the reputation of the tournament?Another thing to be noticed is that due to the presence of the minnows, players can make a killing by reserving all their fortunes against these teams. One can remember that the highest team total till date in a world cup - 413 was scored by India against Bermuda in the 2007 edition. In that edition, India didn't even get past the league stage of the tournament. Glenn McGrath's 7/15 happened to be against Namibia in 2003 which cast a bad image on him despite being known for his accuracy. In that version, Sourav Ganguly scored three hundreds all of which came against non test playing nations. This was equaled to the one scored by Mark Waugh in 1996 where he did the same against India, Kenya and New Zealand. Does the comparison justifies itself?
Well hardly anyone of you would like to read something bad about the world's best batsmen in the first two formats of the game of cricket. But, if anyone wants to come across a batsman who has absolutely no loopholes at all, there has to be only a dream as such. And, Sachin Tendulkar is no exception when it comes to the world of loopholes. Even this great batsman possess few loopholes and ones that can hardly be forgiven. The first thing that can be pointed out would be that he holds the record for being one of the worst captains of India ever.The only two trophies that Sachin Tendulkar has been able to achieve in his one year long international career as a captain is the titan cup in 1996 which India won over South Africa, not before losing 3 matches to the same in the league stages of the tournament. And then, there was a bilateral series win over Pakistan in 1997 which India won by a maregin 4-1. In his 20 year long international career in cricket, Sachin Tendulkar could not hold the captain's tag for more than a year or so. Of course, Anil Kumble also enjoyed the tag only for a year but for the wrong reasons.Anil Kumble was under estimated by the selection and was forced to hand over one to Kumble when Ganguly retired and Dravid also followed suit when he retired from captaincy. And then, as mentioned above, Sachin Tendulkar was no longer eligible for the job and there was no other player in the team but Kumble to take the honors. Adding to this debacle, Sachin Tendulkar can never be forgiven for throwing away his wicket so cheaply in the finals of the world cup in 2003 held at South Africa. Sachin Tendulkar got out the fifth ball giving a cheap catch to Glenn McGrath.Sachin Tendulkar's wicket was the most awaited wicket in the finals and Sachin throwing it away so cheaply speaks about the batsman's caliber in tough times though many a times he has proved to be otherwise. So was the case in the match played at Chennai where Saeed Anwar scored 194 in the Independence cup 1997 where once again Sachin Tendulkar returned back after scoring a boundary. Sachin Tendulkar has failed to score a triple hundred in tests though he has scored a double hundred in one dayers. Well, let me stop here before you guys curse me for I can read your curses as well.
So far, if not for greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Muttiah Muralitharan, there have hardly been any followers for any of the existing players in international cricket. In fact, players like Dhoni and Sehwag have been inspired from Sachin Tendulkar to make it to the big stage. One has to ask Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara or Muttiah Muralitharan as to who or what on earth inspired them to take cricket as a career. Of course, though money factor exists in today's cricket, that was not the case some decade ago when Muttiah Muralitharan and Sachin Tendulkar were in their initial stages of their career.Today's cricketers are more inspired by money and fame rather than the game or the challenges that come from within. Anyways, coming to the matter, a New Zealand cricketer Peter Ingram has said that it was after watching India's dashing opener Virender Sehwag that made him take the bat in his hands. The influence of Virender Sehwag on Ingram is to such an extent that though Peter Ingram has been repeated criticism for his lack of footwork, Ingram terms it to be the replica of his so called idol Virender Sehwag's style. If one goes by nature, their dates of birth differ by just 5 days.At the same time, if their success in international cricket is considered, they stand way apart. Sehwag has gone too forward with two triple hundreds and six double centuries against his name in international test cricket which is bettered by only Sir Don Bradman, Walter Hammond and Brian Lara. Not even Sachin Tendulkar (Sehwag's batting idol) has been able to achieve the same in test cricket. It has been equaled by Pakistan's Javed Miandad and Sri Lanka's Marvan Attapattu, both of whom have 6 double hundreds against their names. However, this has to be justified if at all one has to believe that Sehwag is Ingram's batting idol.Idols have to always stand apart from their followers in any field or else, who on earth would follow them? Likewise, cricketing greats like Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd and Ian Botham have been an inspiration to batting youngsters after their retirement and so has been the case with bowlers like Shaun Pollock and Glenn McGrath. They were an inspiration after their team started making news for the good reasons. Likewise, someone like Andrew Flintoff and Craig McDermott could not be an inspiration though deserving to be so. Jonty Rhodes has hardly inspired anyone to take fielding as a career option.
Even after a year and a three fourth being passed since the West Indian legend Brian Lara retired from all forms of international cricket, it is just not possible to forget the batting of Brian Charles Lara, which was a combination of delightful flamboyance and solidity. The man who had cited that he would continue playing test cricket, which Lara calls it to be a version where the real challenge of the game lies. And on that particular day in the match against England in the super eight of the ICC world cup 2007, Lara says it is all over. including test cricket. How disappointing?Still, not all hopes were lost by Lara's fans over the world, for once Lara hinted that he would be entertaining his fans in the ICl, by signing up for the Essel's group. His statement then was "t gives me great pleasure to join the Indian Cricket League. You can't keep me too far from cricket and hence I return to the game in this exciting new avatar that the Essel Group has launched". This I hope would have bought back the lost smiles on the faces of the fans of this great batsman, who can surprise the opposition by stroking the ball into places where you would not expect him to do so.But, even this didn't last much longer, for Lara was forced out of the tournament owing to a fractured arm that he is believed to have sustained while playing in Trinidad & Tobago. The last time one could see Brian Lara in action was against Hyderabad Heroes where he scored just 16 (15b,2x4). Since then its always been a wait game for his fans, who are expecting him to be available sooner or later. But, this has never happened so far. And is it never bound to happen?So, it is as though the man who can tame the bowlers of the world with typical nonchalance is now a matter of the past.Someone like Inzy, Jayasurya, Shane Warne, Sourav Ganguly, Glenn McGrath, Shane Bond and much others who have called it a day from international cricket are now found entertaining their fans by participating in leagues like the IPL and ICL. This is an undisputed fact that these leagues are to a greater extent colourful due to the presence of these stalwarts. Missing players like Wasim Akram, Brian Lara, Steve Waugh etc really hurts. But, nothing can be done regarding the same what so ever. All that can be done is to just rewind the button and watch these players' highlightes during their playing days. Last but not the least, even now if Lara makes a return to the ICL, it would make the cricketing fans jump with joy.
Finally, there was another good encounter on the cards, when South Africa took to the tour of Australia, which was, to a small extent in a threat of being called off, for silly reasons. The tour was in a doubt of whether or not to, when South African team members wanted to stay at home during Boxing Day on 26th on December. However, things didn't go too far in this regard. And finally, thanks that the first test between South Africa and Australia took off smoothly. And as expected by most of us, Australia did take an upper hand in this test in the first innings. But, things are not yet over. Needless to say, with three more days to go, it would not be wise to call someone off so soon.However, Australia did make an impact by recharging themselves after the loss of three quick wickets. Thanks to some decent batting by Andrew Symonds, Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke, and Simon Katich- who held the innings together with them. But, still one should not forget the role played by the pitch and the depth in the all round capeabilities of the South African team. For, South Africa are the olny team in the world to have won a test series outside home in 2008. They beat India in the second test during their Indian tour, and then defeated England 2-1 in the latter part of the Nat West series.No other team in this year has done in. Not even Australia. So, considering either of them as underdogs would be just stupid. Both of them are here to showcast their talent. Neither cann history, nor can the current form of the players can allow predictions to have its say. Had it been some three years ago, when South Africa had toured Australia the same season, things were different. No team in the world could match with the powerss of the Aussies.But, not anymore. Australia are just a normal team like some others for example South Africa, India and Sri Lanka. The time when they used to dictate the opposition is gone. For a bowler in Brett Lee is no different from Makhaya Ntini or Zaheer Khan or Chaminda Vass.Australian spinners Jason Kreza & Camooron White are no match for Harbhajan Singh & Shane Warne. Nor are Haddin & Clarke superoir to Greame Smith, Virender Sehwag or Kumara Sangakkara in the present line up. With all these facts in front of us, it should be surprising for any one of us if Australia end up losing the series to South Africa. However, an Australian win would not raise any eyebrows..I'm sure and confident. In fact, if Australia white wash South Africa, it would be really amazing, bcoz, someone had predicted a whitewash for Australia, an Australian bowling legend..Who?..Yes..it is Glenn McGrath. And imagine the opposite of it happening???
Well..the first test between India and Australia at Bangalore might have ended in a draw according to the record books.But,we feel that it was India who had an upper hand in most parts of the game.Not only because of the presence of quality spin bowlers,but due to the presence of some genuine pace bowling from Ishanth Sharma and Zaheer Khan.The worry that was found to haunt the Aussies before they started with the tour was the tracks that were thought to favor the spinners.But,neither Anil Kumble nor Harbhajan Singh proved to be a threat to the Aussie bowling.A bad decision in the first innings gifted Harbhajan his only wicket in the innings.Courtesy A M Saheba-who raised his finger for a delivery that was found to miss the leg stump.
But,what do the Aussie batsmen have to say about Ishanth Sharma and Zaheer Khan who troubled them regularly?With both innings proving to be lucky for Zaheer to have got Matthew Hayden.And Ishanth Sharma getting Ricky ponting.A mixture of good and bad luck when it came to the Aussie batting.But,their bowling had absolutely nothing to complain about.A decent squad of Brett Lee, Shane Watson, Mitchell Jhonson and Stuart Clarke.And now don't say this was an inexperienced side altogether.Cameroon White was above expectations as he had the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar in the second innings.He was not given the ball for most part of the first innings.He bowled only 13 overs which was the least bowled by any bowler in the first innings.
It was just funny to watch the balls roll over the ropes from the bat of Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan.The culprits in the game were not the India's fab five.Anil Kumble not being able to take a single wicket,VVS Laxman out for a duck in the first innings,only Dravid and Ganguly had some decent knocks and not to forget Tendulkar's 49 in the second.All mistimed shots of Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan crossing the boundary!I wonder how come the Aussie bowlers couldn't contain theses tail enders when they were in a commanding position after getting the top six out quickly?It looked like the Aussies got carried away with the initial success.
Can any one believe that it was Zaheer Khan the top scorer for India in the first innings and Harbhajan the second?This is the second time in succession that Australia has not been able to snatch a test victory against India with Ricky Ponting scoring a hundred.Its really a joke that the worlds best test team could not contain tailenders who are left to bat it out there without any batsman to support them.No variation in neither line,length or pace from the Aussie bowlers was another notable point.Wish the present Aussie bowlers learn some tips from Glenn McGrath who had a variety in his line and length.Some proper game planning by the Australian team and Ricky Ponting in particular would have bought a result to the first test I suppose.
Well..so far it was only Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and South Africa who had fallen prey to false belief by under estimating minnows like Bangladesh and end up making news for the wrong reasons.And even West Indies despite their loss to Kenya in the 1996 world cup,lost to Bangladesh in the inaugural T20 world cup.Anyway,then it was a better Bangladesh team compared to the West Indies team which was filled only by batsmen and no bowlers.But,now,the only one out of the two teams who are yet to face some music from the minnows New Zealand when they lost to Bangladesh on 9th October 2008 at Dhaka in the first ODI.
If the players make up their mind,they can rewrite history by making records in all parts of the game.For example,we have Gibbs who belted six consecutive sixes against Holland,Glenn McGrath despite being an awesome pacer,has his best bowling performance of 7/15 against Namibia in the 2003 world cup and much more.Even the recent 12 sixes in an ODI innings by a West Indian was against Canada and New Zealand's record of 401 runs came against Ireland.
Well India can boast of being the only team to have lost twice to Bangladesh,and England has a reason to smile for being the only team not to have lost to a minnow, whatsoever.The team that comes after Bangladesh who can boast of upsets is Kenya who have defeated teams like India,West Indies,Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.Even,this time its India who have lost to Kenya on two occasions.Oh! What a record?The other instances include Pakistan's loss to Ireland,which I think is the only instance of a strong team being stunned by a kid like team.
The test match is perhaps free from such debacles,or else each and every test would have seen a new record, forcing some legends like Bradman, Sobers and Lara to commit suicide.A hint was observed when Roy and Mankad's record was surpased by Mckenzie and Smith against Bangladesh.An amazing feat being that no batsmen has ever scored a triple hundred against either Bangladesh or Zimbabwe (barring Hayden's 380).
Well..if the ICC with an intension to globalise cricket gives the minnows a consession,I wonder how foolish the game of cricket would ever be.Ha ha ha..
In the beginning of the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League,the Rajasthan Royals were considered to be the modest of all opposition.And much to the amazement of the viewers out there,it looked the same for the Rajasthan Royals team were found to lose the first two matches of the tournament.But,it was also the same surprise when the same team is now the top team even ahead of the Chennai Superstars-who started their games with a bang by winning most of their games.
But,today if the Rajasthan Royals are compared to what they were in the beginning of the tournament,it looks really fantastic and also one of the best contenders for the tournament.And something to be noticed is that the Rajasthan team have a different match winner out there every time they take on the field.Some names include Yousuf Pathan,Shane Warne,Shane Watson,Asnodkar and this time it was Sohai Tanvir.And just take a look at the bowling figures.My God!!It is the third time that the record has been broken after Sanath Jayasuriya and Glenn McGrath hod it against their names a week ago.
Only Morkel could post a 40+ individual score,and that too with a modest strike rate (when it comes to T20 cricket) of 127.Only four of them posting totals of over 10.The batsmen belonging to the Rajasthan Royals had absolutely nothing to do but just keep the score board ticking by rotating the strike as it is done in test cricket.Finally a look at Sohail Tanvir's feat on youtube.NJOY!!!
Well..it is a real waste of time,money and energy for people to once again think about Royal Challengers who are bound to disappoint almost every now and then.So,let us cast our eyes on the Delhi Daredevils who had a wonderful night out there at the Firoz Shah Kotla stadium.The first praise from me would go to Gautam Gambir,who scored a blasting 86 off 54 balls to provide Glenn McGrath the momentum to cut the heads off the Royal Challengers royally.The knock was worth the praise as the rest of the batsmen if not for Shikar Dhawan were found struggling even against a cheap bowling attack of Sunil Joshi and co..
Even Zaheer Khan-one of the leading bowlers in the tournament is not able to handle pressure and lead his side to victory.But,lets forget that.And as my last post quoted regarding the breaking of the fastest hundreds in the tournament,the same happened even in case of the best bowling performance.Sanath Jayasuriya's last night's feat of 3/14 against Kolkata Knight Riders was overtaken in just one match by Glenn McGrath who took figures of 4/29 from his alloted four overs.
The lanky Australian pacer can never be taken for granted in any form of the game I guess.And some positives for Dravid that he was somewhere close to playing a one day match where until last game was found to play a test game(even worse than that by scoring two golden ducks).But,that's a gone case altogether.An accurate bowling(even without swing,bounce and pace) can do wonders be it a test or a T20. And thats what Glenn McGrath once again proved that in the match against Royal Challengers.Kudos to U!!!
Two consecutive losses to the sixer hero Yuvraj Singh's Kings XI Punjab,there was some sort of relief to the Kings XI team as they won the encounter against Virender Sehwag's Delhi Daredevils here by 4 wickets.Thanks to some blistering knocks from the blades of Simon Katich And Yuvraj Singh.Probably this would be the last time that Simon Katich would be playing in this tournament.
And not to forget the beauty of V R V Singh's bowling.The pacer who was struggling with his bowling,was found to learn his lessons long before he was to be dropped from the side.The pacer took 3 crucial wickets giving away just 29 runs.This in addition to Simon Katich's 52 ball 75,which included 11 hits to the fence and one huge six on the onside.
But,as my usual comment goes,as far as the Delhi Daredevils' innings were concerned,there was nothing much to say,as the entire team's face was dependent on debutant Manoj Tiwary,who scored a handy 39 off 34 balls.
Some highlights that can be shown is the leg before appeal turned down by umpire Rudi Koertzen when Katich was on 26 off the bowling off Glenn McGrath.And then the three consecutive boundaries struck by Simon Katich off Glenn McGrath,followed by the same treatment to Mohd Asif.
Hmm..it is exciting to see hot bucks being involved in the recently launched-The Rebel Indian Cricket League & the Multi Million Dollar Indian Premier League.These leagues provide the fans to watch out for their cricketing heros viz Brian Lara,Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne,Sanath Jayasuriya,Inzy and much more who have retired from their respective nations after serving them for a long period.At the same time,these leagues attract players from their cricketing nations to play for these leagues rather than play for their motherland.Such players include Shane Bond,Adam Gilchrist,Brad Hogg,Scott Styris etc naming a few.
The players listed under the second category have all retired from international cricket,with a lot of fuel still left in their tank.I wonder as to what they are going to achieve by joining these leagues other than money.Will the crowd cheering their heroes be the same when they play for these leagues compared to that when they play for their country?And will the players show the same enthusiasm that they show when playing for their respective nations?
I think that the players representing their respective League teams will play only for money rather than to see their team through.A win or a loss to a particular team in these leagues would hardly make a difference to the players unlike when the same players play for their nations.And anyway,let we fans enjoy the turn that Shane Warne gets on the ball,the accuracy of Glenn McGrath,the pace of Shane Bond, Blistering of Brian Lara and Inzy and much more...
