Monday, February 28, 2011

Thoughts on India-England match

Hello friends,

Here are my thoughts on the India v England game.

First of all, what a match !! As an Indian fan, I have mixed feelings, sadness and anger that we could not defend 338 runs. But considering how well-placed England were after 40 overs, I am happy and relieved that we squeezed out one point from this match. And remember, it was not a minnow side that we were playing. England is one of the big teams in our group, along with SA and WI, so even before this match, there was a possibility that India could have lost this one.

But let us look at a few aspects of the game.

Indian batting


As expected, India put up another huge total. But they visibly relaxed after being about 320 for 4, and this cost them a few vital runs in the end. Also it gave England the momentum after they took 6 Indian wickets in the end and did not even India to bat out the 50 overs. This is the difference between India and the best teams from yesteryear like the Aussies under Steve Waugh and the West Indians under Clive Lloyd. When those teams used to have the opposition down and have their foot on the neck of the opponent, they would finish off the contest right there and not allow the opposition to stand up and fight. This Indian team is much better than the older Indian teams in terms of killer instinct and self-belief, as can be witnessed by the number of times they have come back to win from difficult situations, both in tests and ODIs. But they need to improve by about 5-10 percent in that aspect to get to the next level.

As I had predicted, Sachin was India's top scorer and played wonderfully well. But in my opinion, India are lacking boundary-hitting tailenders. Harbhajan and Zaheer can hit the ball and get some runs, but are not consistent enough in ODIs. In that aspect, England possess better tail-enders on paper and in the field.

Indian bowling

What can I say about the bowling that we dont already know ? We knew that bowling was India's weak point, but a top team cannot concede 338 runs and hope to win the World Cup. The team selection was correct given the opposition and conditions. If we were to play this match tomorrow, I would again pick Chawla. But he had an off-day and performed well below expectations. Harbhajan bowled well, but did not attack enough. In fact, that was a flaw observed with the bowlers and mainly, Dhoni. Having 338 runs on the board and not attacking the opposition is inexcusable.

I  backed the selection of Chawla to bowl the 49th over. He was a better selection compared to Yuvi and Yusuf, who were the other options. But he did not bowl well in that over. And in the final over, what was Munaf thinking when bowling length to a tail-ender ? You never, never bowl length balls to tail-enders, because those deliveries are the easiest to hit. A short ball, or a slower one, would have been ideal at that time. Good length and low full tosses are the worst deliveries to bowl at tail-enders.

One more point about the bowling. Strauss is a good batsman, but is limited in his stroke-play. He loves to cut and pull, and expects width or straight ones to hit to his favorite areas - square on the off side and to the leg side. But he is too much of a bottom-handed player, somewhat like Jayasuriya, and does not appear to possess a straight drive, on-drive or off-drive. So the ideal length to him would be very full, almost yorker-length. And of the 140-odd balls he played, the only full one he received was the one that he got out to. That really explains the lack of a thought process and plan from the Indian think tank in the bowling department.

Indian fielding

Dhoni correctly said in the post match presentation, that there is not much we can do about the fielding as we are carrying quite a few slow movers in the team. But we knew this when the World Cup squad was selected, so we need to be smart and minimize the damage that could be caused by this. Again, that involves some planning from the coach and captain and setting fields for each opposition batsman so that the slow movers can be placed in positions where the batsmen dont hit the ball too much and having the good fielders where the ball will go often. in my opinion, the slow movers for India are Munaf, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Sehwag and Chawla. The good/safe fielders are Sachin, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Kohli and Yusuf.

Captaincy

In this match, Dhoni made a few basic mistakes in the captaincy department, so I would like to comment about those as well. He needs to understand that the fielders within the 30-yard circle are meant to stop the singles and they need to be placed so that they actually do that. Too often now, Indian captains have conceded easy singles by placing the inner-ring fielders too deep and that takes away the support for the bowlers.

The other mistake, in my opinion, was not opening with spin at one end. Dhoni had only two pacers at his disposal. If he opened with someone like Yusuf, it would have achieved at least two purposes. One, he would have had a pacer to bowl with till about 15 overs or so into the innings, and two, it would have denied the England openers pace on the ball, which they obviously enjoyed and got them off to a flying start. Here, by the time the England innings reached 10 overs, Dhoni had only 10 overs left of his two pacers. In today's cricket, particularly the shorter forms like ODIs and T20s, predictability is the one thing all teams should avoid.

I want to end the review of this game with a few stats that reflect the pathetic nature of the Indian bowling.

England scored at least one boundary in 27 out of the 50 overs. Out of these, a whopping 17 overs were non powerplay overs. And England scored 76 runs in overs 31 to 40, without any powerplays. Think about this last stat again. Overs 30 to 40 is the stage that is considered boring for the spectators because it is the time when the batting team consolidates for the final push. To allow the England batsmen to score 76 runs in that period, is appalling.

India's future in this World Cup

The next 2 games are against Ireland and Netherlands. These games could not have come at a better time for India. They have some serious thinking to do regarding the composition of their bowling attack. And in that context, it is very important for them to test out Ashish Nehra and Ashwin and see what they have to offer this team. Also they should try out Raina for the same reason. I would suggest resting Sachin or Sehwag (or one each) for the next 2 games and also resting Zaheer, since it is obvious that if something happened to Zaheer, that would mean the end of India's campaign in this world cup.

India should win the next 2 games, and also the one against the West Indies. Against SA, it would be a tough game, and the bowling and fielding need to improve drastically, otherwise they will just steamroll us.

Lets hear it from you guys now. Two relatively relaxing games are coming up for us Indian fans. So let us discuss about how India can improve, and what their chances are for the later games.

My next post will be before the India-Ireland game, so stay tuned.

Cheers.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Preview of India-England match


Hello friends,

India play England on Sunday in one of the big matches of this World Cup. India are one of the favorites and will have massive crowd support in Bangalore. England, on the other hand, are a very good side of late and even though they lost the one day series in Australia recently, have a potent bowling attack and a bunch of reliable batsmen. It should be a good game. Here are my thoughts about the upcoming game.

The clash this time is clearly between the might of India’s batting and the potency of England’s bowling attack. On paper, it has the makings for a mouth-watering matchup. Even though India’s batting looks very strong, the England bowling has a lot of weapons and the batsmen can find it tough if they let their guard down even for a bit.

Strategy

If India win the toss, they should look to bat first and put runs on the board. The reason for this is the dew in the evening session that could help England’s fast bowlers to move it around for the first few overs atleast. To nullify that, India should look to bat first and put up a huge total. One line of thinking can be, India should let England bat first and look to stifle them with the spinners. That would have been a good strategy if the Bangalore track would have been like the Bangladesh or Sri Lankan tracks or like the one Delhi where the ball did not come on to the bat. But Bangalore is usually a good track with good bounce and carry and should be even-paced throughout the match. So win the toss and bat first is a good strategy to follow here.

England team – Strengths and weaknesses

England are carrying a team this time that is a little like the traditional sides of yesteryear. They possess a solid middle order with batsmen who like to build an innings. The minus point, in my opinion, is that they lack a game-breaker like Yusuf Pathan or Kieron Pollard in the middle order. After KP, the next real basher is Matt Prior at number 7. The other batsmen – Trott, Bell, Collingwood, Bopara (to an extent) – are all classic batsmen who like to score at a strike rate around 80-85. In that aspect, they will miss Eoin Morgan who had become a very good finisher who could turn things around quickly.

In the bowling department, the key man in my opinion is Swann. He is a very dangerous bowler in all formats of the game and troubled Indian batsmen recently when he played against them. Anderson, Broad and Bresnan/Finn are also good bowlers who are quite dangerous when the conditions favor them. But I would like to see them perform against this Indian batting lineup with little or no help from the conditions. I think they can be handled, but the Indian batsmen do need to be watchful in the first 8-10 overs and ensure that England bowlers don’t get early wickets. England are also a very good fielding side of late and surely score over India in that department. Lets also not forget that in Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss, they have a very good leadership team who can extract the best out of their players at all times.

Indian team selection

As I mentioned in my earlier post, India should look to leave Sreesanth out and bring in Piyush Chawla for this game. Chawla has some good performances against England, in India and in English conditions, so his confidence will be high against the England team. So he should be played over Ashwin for this game.

Opening the bowling with spin is not a bad option for this game, particularly against KP who could struggle to force the pace initially against the slower bowlers. So I would open with Zaheer and Pathan. Zaheer likes bowling to left-handers, so in the perfect-world scenario, Zaheer would take out Strauss and Pathan would account for KP J

Yuvraj is the only batsman I am worried about at this stage, since he is coming off an ordinary series in SA and did not get a hit in the middle. But hopefully, the sight of his favorite bowler Stuart Broad will help him to get his confidence and form back J

Overall, I think India has the firepower to beat this England side and should be able to emerge victorious. I am going to stick my neck out and predict that the highest scorer for India would be Sachin and the highest wicket-taker for India would be Piyush Chawla.

So lets hear it from you guys. There are 2 days to go for the match, so lets get warmed up for the game by discussing about it here.

Here’s hoping for a good game of cricket and an Indian win.

Cheers.

Thoughts on the South Africa-West Indies match

 Hello friends,

A friend asked me to post my thoughts on the South Africa v West Indies match, especially since both are in the same group as India and it is good to assess their strengths and weaknesses from an Indian perspective. For that reason, I stayed up all night and watched the game in entirety. Here are some thoughts regarding the 2 teams and today’s match.

South Africa

Overall, it was a good outing for SA and they won comfortably chasing a below-par total. It was nice to see that SA fielded 3 full spinners (probably for the first time in their history :) and that they opened with a spinner to deny pace on the ball to Chris Gayle. They have a strong batting lineup with all their batsmen in prime form. But in my opinion, they were one batsmen short in their starting lineup. With Duminy coming in at number 5, they appear to have a longish tail with too much dependence on allrounders Du Plessis, Botha and Peterson. From an Indian perspective, if we can work our way past Duminy, they can be controlled for a below-par total since the batting looks light after that, and their questionable ability to cope with sustained pressure. They are seriously missing someone like Mark Boucher or Albie Morkel, who are game-breakers down the order.

Their bowling looks ok, then again it is difficult to judge them after one below-par performance from West Indian batsmen. Imran Tahir is a decent bowler, reminded me of Abdul Qadir with his quick-arm action. He does not turn his leg-break much, but does seem to possess a decent googly. Steyn was good as usual, and in my opinion, is the danger man for India. Morne Morkel, like I thought, was not as potent a force as he was in SA, and produced a few boundary balls without sending too many wicket-taking deliveries. Against India, I am sure they will field Tsotsobe, but he too may not be as effective as he was in SA.

Overall, SA can be beaten, but India would need to be very good with the ball and in the field and will have to work hard to get the first 4-5 wickets, after which they can hope to restrict their batting to an extent.

West Indies

As in the recent past, WI promised much but threw away the match at important moments. They seem to have good talent on paper and even played well for the first 20 overs or so, but they will have to apply their mind more and ensure that the batsmen who are set, do not throw it away. They appear to be possessed with, to borrow Navjot Sidhu’s phrase, the bicycle stand mentality. Take one wicket, and expect a few more to fall quickly.

With the ball again, they started well and had SA in trouble with Amla and Kallis out cheaply, but again, took their foot of the pedal and allowed SA to come back and take control of the game. Losing Dwayne Bravo was a huge blow and I hope for their sake, that his world cup is not over.

Regarding their lineup, I think they need one more genuine bowler in their starting eleven. I know, the obvious reaction is going to be surprise, considering they collapsed with all the batsmen and allrounders in their lineup. But consider this. Their bowling lineup consists of Roach, Sammy, Benn, Bravo, Pollard and Gayle. Out of these, the only 2 genuine bowlers are Roach and Benn and to an extent, Sammy. The others cannot be expected to bowl 10 overs every time. If one of their bowlers gets injured (like it happened today), or if 1 or 2 bowlers get the tap, they will struggle to find bowlers to complete 50 overs. Also, I was shocked to see Pollard batting at number 8 today. That was a fundamental mistake, just like Sachin made in the IPL final when he sent Pollard too late to make a difference. If WI play one extra genuine bowler, Pollard will have to bat higher which will only be good for them.

From an India perspective, WI can be definitely beaten, especially because of their brittle mind which causes their batting collapses. But they do have match-winners like Gayle and Pollard, so they can surprise a few teams if they get some monster performances from these two.

Those were my thoughts on two of India’s big opponents in the league phase. Lets hear it from you guys. My next post will be a preview of the India-England game this upcoming weekend, which I will put out in a few hours.

Cheers.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Review on INDIA-BANGLADESH match

Hello friends,

As promised, here is my post containing my thoughts on the first match of World Cup 2011 between India and Bangladesh.

First of all, it was a good win for India and one where they can tick off most of the boxes in their checklist. The main batsmen got runs, the bowlers other than Sreesanth, bowled well and they had a comfortable outing overall.

The crucial action that, in my opinion was a major factor in the margin of India's victory, occurred right at the toss when Shakib won the toss and chose to bowl first. I thought right then, that this was a wrong decision which would benefit India. The strategy in ODIs is quite simple. You choose what to do on winning the toss, based on your strengths. If your strength is batting, you bowl first and back your batsmen to chase down most totals set by the opposition. Examples are the current Indian team and the team we had around 2006, when we beat England and Sri Lanka by 6-1 or such huge margins at home. Most of those victories were achieved by bowling first and chasing down (many times by Yuvraj and Dhoni) the totals set by the opposition. Another good example of this, is the Sri Lankan team which won the WC final in 1996. Ranatunga mentioned that he backed his batsmen to chase down whatever total the Aussies put up.

Similarly, when your strength is bowling, you bat first and back your bowlers to defend most totals that the opposition put up. Examples of these are the Pakistan team of a few years ago, that had Akram, Younis, Saqlain, Mushy and Akhtar (in full form) in their lineup. They could defend any total so even if their batsmen would only get around 180, u can be sure that it would be very tough for the opposition batsmen to chase down. The South African team with Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Mcmillan, Symcox etc. plus their fielding, would also prefer to set totals on the board first and look to defend it.

So Shakib should have done the same and backed his spinners to defend any total above 250. Also, I dont think dew is so big a factor that you choose to ignore your strengths and protect your bowlers. With the chemicals available these days that control the dew, and by choosing to open with someone like Razzak, they could have overcome the dew problem to an extent. Finally, as the commentators said, if Bangladesh had batted first and gotten a total close to what they got anyway (270-odd), things could have been quite different. Anyway, enough about the decision to bowl first.

All the websites are talking about Sehwag 2.0. What I enjoyed was the fact that Sehwag mentioned at the start that he would like to bat around 40 overs, and proceeded to do just that. That is the power of the mind and Veeru's mind is so strong and uncluttered, that he can do almost anything, if he just wants to do it and applies his mind to it. For India's sake (and ofcourse, for us Indian fans :), lets hope he continues in this vein throughout the tournament. If he does, India will be very difficult to beat because they have got the balance just right in the batting, with Gambhir and Kohli the anchormen, and Yuvraj, Dhoni and Yusuf/Raina as the finishers with the license to go berserk in the later overs.

One worry for India, is Sreesanth. He is a useful bowler because the wrist and seam position are perfect, which allows him to extract any available help from the conditions and the new ball. That way, he is the like-for-like replacement for Praveen Kumar, but his problem is, he tries too hard at times, and he does not have variations, unlike PK or even Ashish Nehra. He can get swing, but does not seem to possess a slower ball, and bowls the bouncer or yorker very rarely. Bowlers with little variety, these days in ODIs, are easy pickings and he is a concern for India.

Having said that, I would like to see India go in with 2 pacers and 2 spinners in the remaining games, because they are playing sides who are not very good at playing spin, like England, WI. Even South Africa, in my opinion, dont play quality spin very well and look to sweep most of the time, which according to me, is a very high-risk shot against decent spinners. So I would like to see Zaheer, Munaf, Harbhajan and Chawla/Ashwin for the next couple of games at least and then re-assess at that time if necessary.

Just one more point before I finish. It was sad to see an India match where the fours and sixes hit by the batsmen were greeted by silence and when the bowlers took a wicket, the roar of the bowlers and fielders, echoed through the silence at the ground. It was a rare sight for me, and I am sure for the team as well, because no matter where India play (even in foreign countries) there would always be a sizeable crowd supporting India. That way, I am happy that this is over and done with and that the players can now play in familiar conditions where every good action will be cheered by thousands of people.

So lets hear it from you folks out there. The World Cup is going on in full swing and if we dont talk cricket at this time, when will we do it ? My next post will be a preview before the India-England game. Also take a look at the World Cup schedule in my previous post that I customized to suit the needs of all cricket lovers.

Cheers.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

World Cup schedule

World Cup 2011 schedule


Hello friends,

I have uploaded a document that I prepared myself, that contains the entire schedule for the World Cup. This is not an ordinary document. I have color coded it to suit the needs of all cricket fans.

The rows in blue are the India matches. The lines in green are the matches between any 2 of the top 8 teams (AUS, SA, IND, ENG, SL, PAK, WI, NZ). And I have provided bigger font size and bold text when the matches are on weekends.

The times are telecast times in California, where I live. I hope this will be useful to you all and will help you to decide which games to watch and follow.

I am waiting to hear comments regarding whether this was helpful to you. Please forward the link of this blog to your friends as well.

Cheers.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Preview of India vs Bangladesh match

Hello friends,

We are almost at that day when the 2011 World Cup will begin and the first match is a big one - India vs Bangladesh at Mirpur. The excitement is beginning to build, and I thought it is the right time for me to post some thoughts on the game.

India team composition


Just like all fans of Indian cricket, I have also read all articles on websites, particularly Cricinfo, regarding the possible Indian starting eleven. It looks like Virat Kohli will be picked over Suresh Raina. This gives India a pretty strong batting lineup of Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan. It is a very strong lineup on paper, and should be able to get them to a big total or chase down a big total.

That leaves 4 slots in the starting lineup for bowlers. Harbhajan and Zaheer are sure starters. The only spots up for grabs are 10 and 11. I am a bit divided in my opinion whether we should go with 3 fast bowlers and 1 spinner, or 2 pacers and 2 spinners. Bangladesh play spin quite well, since they are brought up on such tracks and Mirpur is expected to be a typical Bangla wicket, slow and low and conducive to spin. By that token, 2 spinners would be the way to go. But on the other hand, they could be attacked with pace since it is not their strong point. This would indicate 3 pacers, with Munaf Patel and probably, Ashish Nehra backing up Zaheer in the pace department.

But as I mentioned in my earlier post, pace bowling is not our strength, other than Zaheer. So on a typical Bangla wicket, our second and third pacers could go for runs. I did not check the weather conditions in Mirpur, but if it has rained in the recent past, or if excessive dew is expected in the night, three pacers may be the way to go. Otherwise, two pacers and two spinners should be in the starting lineup.

If we go with two spinners, on current form, I am tempted to pick Piyush Chawla over Ashwin, to partner Harbhajan. Ashwin has a definite role in the power plays, but with Yusuf in the team for this match, he can be expected to do that role if needed. Piyush brings variety to the spin attack with his leg breaks and googlies, and he is quite confident at the moment about his bowling and it is showing in his performances.

Strategy


Take the bull by the horns, should be the strategy that India should adopt. They should come hard at Bangladesh, whether with bat or ball. I am sure Zaheer will have made some plans for his tormentor from the last World Cup, Tamim Iqbal. If he gets Tamim out early, and I have a hunch that it will happen, then India can breathe a lot easier. I would like to see Yusuf open the bowling at the other end with Zaheer. That will save India's second pacer for the bowling power play and throw the opposition off balance a bit. It will also be a test of Tamim Iqbal's abilities, since I suspect with his batting style and approach, he will prefer to have pace on the ball in the initial overs.

Yuvraj will be a key component for India in the middle overs, not just in this match, but for the entire World Cup. He should be able to give the team 7-8 good overs almost every game. Harbhajan is bowling well at the moment, but should continue to operate in this attacking mode, not in the defensive mode that he sometimes switches to, especially in the one-day format.

Regarding batting, I really like the lineup India has. Sachin is in the form of his life, and is now making runs quickly without taking too many risks. Sehwag is showing that he wants to play long innings and is prepared to bide his time before hitting out. Gambhir and Kohli are similar in style to each other, batting anchors looking to bat through the innings but maintaining a strike rate of 80-plus. They are followed by Yuvraj, Dhoni and Pathan, who can all hit the ball a long way.

I am happy to see that Dhoni has not forgotten how to hit sixes and score quickly, since he had transformed into some kind of anchor batsman who was interested mainly in taking singles. With Gambhir, Kohli and Sachin in the line-up, India need Dhoni to do what he did in his initial years, otherwise they will be a team of batsman with an average strike rate of 80 to 85, and some simple math will tell you that this will only give 240-250 runs per game, which in today's world, will not win them many matches :)

This batting line-up should back themselves to chase down even scores close to and in excess of 300. But Bangladesh are fighters and are playing at home, so they should not be taken lightly at all.

Prediction

I think India should win this one and an upset of 2007 World Cup proportions, looks unlikely.

As always, I welcome comments and discussion. My next post will contain my thoughts and analysis after the match, so stay tuned.

Cheers.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Must watch you-tube videos

Guys,

I am posting the links to a few You-tube videos. They are fantastic !! Absolute must-watch !

It is a talk that Navjot Sidhu gave at some conference. It is in 6 parts. Here are the links -

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54UG-ILhRKU

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP2xf-Gv0AI&feature=related

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnbRWTXGOk8&feature=related

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Eelj3WE_0&feature=related

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23YqoFQH4uA&feature=related

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEuJ0PGfF5w&feature=related


Cheers.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

India's chances at the 2011 World Cup

Hello friends,

I thought a bit about what I should write as my first post on cricket. After considering some options, I chose to write about India's chances in this World Cup. The choice is pretty obvious. I am an Indian and so, this topic has been uppermost in my mind for the past few days. How will India perform, given the massive expectations from being the host country and also the top performer in test cricket and close to the top in ODIs ?

Let us look at the Indian team in some detail and try to analyze the strengths and weaknesses and assess the chances.

Strengths

Batting has been our strength for a while now, especially in home conditions where the ball rarely comes up above waist level. Players like Raina, Yuvraj who struggled in South Africa will feel completely at home on the docile surfaces at home and will go back to bullying the bowlers. I don’t expect too many batting collapses and India should pass 300 almost every time they bat.

Spin bowling is also one of our strong points in the sub-continental conditions, especially the likes of Yuvraj, Raina, Yusuf Pathan should be able to give us 12-15 overs between them every time. Yuvraj will be a key component of our bowling attack in the middle overs. He bowls round-arm deliveries on the stumps and does not give much room to hit. He reminds me of Sanath Jayasuriya from the mid-90s to early 2000s when Jaya would always slip in a few decent overs pretty quickly and would grab a few wickets too which was a bonus to the Sri Lankan team.

Sachin Tendulkar - Sorry I could not resist this one J I am a Sachin fan and I have been following him almost from the time he started playing for India, I like the way he has been batting of late, with no demons in his head and he also seems to be enjoying his game. I like to think we can expect another strong performance from him with at least 300-350 runs in this World Cup as well.

Weaknesses

Support for Zaheer Khan in the pace bowling department. Zaheer has been bowling very well of late, and can be expected to put in a good performance in the World Cup. But it is his pace bowling support that has me a bit worried. Losing Praveen Kumar was a big blow since he could have been counted to chip in with some attacking overs with the new ball, especially under lights.  But with PK gone, the onus is on Nehra, Munaf and Sreesanth to deliver. My pick to partner Zaheer would be Munaf. He can be pretty steady and could be the ideal foil to Zaheer’s attacking bowling. But I am not entirely convinced about his bowling in the death overs and particularly in the batting powerplay in Indian conditions. He could go for runs since he is a bit predictable with his pace, line and length.

Another possible weakness could be that the top order of Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir are all returning from injuries and have been out of competitive cricket for a while. We need to hit the ground running in this World Cup since our first encounter is with Bangadesh, our nemesis from the 2007 World Cup. We need the top order to fire in that game and they will be closely watched in the practice games.

I could write a lot more on this topic, but I think I will stop here for the moment. Let me summarize.

I think India should reach the knock-out stage, and other than South Africa, I don’t think they will be seriously challenged in the league phase. Of course, the first game against Bangladesh is very crucial. I will post a separate piece on that game next week.

I welcome any comments about this post and would love to hear from you all, even if you don’t agree with my views. Constructive criticism is always welcome, but no abusive language please.

So lets hear it from you cricket enthusiasts out there !!

Cheers.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Introduction

Hello friends,

This is my first post on this blog. This blog was created because of my love for cricket and with the World Cup around the corner, I thought this is a good opportunity for like-minded individuals to talk about, analyze and live cricket.

I will post my thoughts regularly, and also attempt to analyze the games and talk strategy before and after the games. I welcome comments and would love to hear from fellow cricket enthusiasts around the world.

So come on aboard and lets talk cricket !!

Cheers.