Hello friends,
India won the first test match, as was expected before the start of the series, but had a few anxious moments on the way. The most disconcerting of them was being 85 for 6 on the first day. I continue to be frustrated by India's batting in the first innings of a test series. This has become a regular feature of Indian cricket, starting very badly, especially with the bat in overseas conditions in test matches. Even if the conditions are suitable to batting, they somehow get themselves into a huge hole. But the good thing these days with this team is, that they are able to somehow get themselves out of the hole and perform well in the same test match. With earlier teams, after such a bad performance, they would lose the first test and then try to get back into the series and level it, as they did a few times, in Australia, England, Sri Lanka etc. They need to address this issue otherwise they will find their number one status being questioned, and rightfully so.
Anyway, back to the game, Raina and Harbhajan batted beautifully to regain control in the match. What was nice to see was the manner in which they wrested control, by batting positively, in fact by scoring runs rapidly instead of hanging around and seeing off a few overs, or a session etc. Harbhajan batted in the way he knows, but it was nice to see Raina not go into a shell and look to score at all times. If this is the way Raina is going to play his cricket, I see good things in store for him. He also looks to have spent some time tackling the short ball and now visibly drops his wrists instead of going up with the ball with a hop or hanging his bat in front of his face, like he used to in the past. For a test batsman, he still continues to hit quite a few balls in the air, which he needs to be careful of. Other than that, I like the Raina I saw in this test match.
The bowlers did a good job, especially in the first innings. PK showed that he belonged in the test match arena by making the batsmen play a lot of balls and taking out top and middle order wickets in both innings. I am convinced that he definitely needs to be on the plane to England. The conditions will suit him even more and he could be a terrific asset, especially with Zaheer at the other end. This will give us two attacking pace bowlers and if Ishant/Sreesanth/Munaf can up their game just a bit to attack the stumps more thereby making the batsmen play a lot of balls, we could have a very decent pace attack in England.
Ishant had a decent outing. Even though he took 6 wickets in the match, there were times when he looked below par because he did not make the batsmen play enough, in my opinion. But the 6 wickets would have done a lot of good to his confidence and that is equally important for any player. So I hope we see an improved Ishant in Barbados where the track is expected to have a bit more bounce and pace for him. I was a little disappointed by the performance of our spinners, especially on a track that was turning a lot from day one. In this department, I believe Bishoo outperformed our 2 experienced spinners by a long way. Harbhajan continues to perform well below par with the ball and Mishra was probably affected by the breeze that was quite heavy at times. Also, the WI batsmen looked to attack Mishra a lot more than they did Harbhajan, so he will have to be careful of that in the next test if he plays.
A word about Mukund and Kohli, the other debutants in this match. Mukund looked good in both innings, particularly the second innings when he was batting with Dravid who looked better in the second innings compared to the first. But Mukund threw it away at the wrong time. At the top level, you dont get too many chances and now the WI coaching staff would have taken note of Mukund's videos and would have a better plan for him in Barbados, so he needs to ensure that he does not give away a start. If he performs well in the next 2 matches, he will at least be in the minds of the Indian think tank for a rotation, so he needs to ensure that happens. As for Vijay, he looked very much in T20 mode in the first innings and was a bit unlucky in the second receiving a shooter. So I will watch him closely in Barbados before commenting on him. Virat probably knows that he also blew his chances in the first match. I liked the fight he put up late on the second day and he looked like he would do anything to stay not out at the end of the day, which he did. I also loved the way he responded to Fidel Edwards' aggression by blowing him kisses after almost every ball. In my opinion, that is a great way to respond to a fast bowler at the top of his aggression and I hope others take a cue from him and follow that method.
Looking ahead to Barbados, I think we should bring Munaf in for Mishra if the track looks like what is being promised by everyone - pacy and bouncy. I have not seen the Barbados track take much spin in the past, so playing 2 specialist spinners could be a luxury. Besides, Munaf will enjoy the extra bounce and if he makes the batsmen play more than he usually does, he could pick up a few wickets. Other than that, I would not make any change to the batting lineup and would give all the youngsters another chance before thinking of bringing Badrinath in. For WI, I think Andre Russell should play, but the question for them would be whom to drop because it would not be fair to drop either Rampaul or Edwards. Sammy is the weakest link in their lineup, but unfortunately, he is their captain :) So it is a tough decision for them in that regard.
One final word about Dravid. I have been saying that Dravid does not seem to be enjoying his batting like Sachin or Laxman, and that he should retire soon. But in this test match, he proved that he still has the fire and skill to win matches for India. The situation was tailor-made for him in the second innings. He had more than enough time to bat the way he does and secure the match for India without worrying about the run rate or time. But I would still love to see him score a bit more quickly than he is at the moment. I mean, if he had scored another 40 runs or so in the 260-odd balls he faced, India would have had even more runs on the board and could have attacked even more and not faced even the few moments of anxiety that occurred when the openers started positively or Bravo and Chanderpaul were batting or when the tail-enders were attacking and scoring quickly. I know it sounds odd to criticize someone who won the match for the team, but I would still love to see Dravid be a bit more positive when he is in the middle and increase his strike rate by 10-15 runs as it will make a difference to the team.
Lets hear it from you guys now. Were you confident that India would win the match or did you have doubts ? What do you think the result of the test series will be ? Lets keep the discussion going and hope India seals the series in Barbados.
Cheers.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Some thoughts on India-WI ODI series
Hello friends,
India have won the ODI series against WI with one game still to play. There is no surprise at the result, given the lack of serious talent in the opposition. However, I am glad this young Indian team kept their nerve in crucial moments and sealed the series in 3 games itself. I have not been watching the games with great interest, but I am following the matches on Cricinfo since Indian batting mostly takes place when I am in the office :) Let me share some of my thoughts on the games so far and on some individual performances.
* The biggest positive to come out of Indian batting performance is obviously Rohit Sharma. What was good to see was, even though India chased and won in the all the 3 games, the challenges thrown at Rohit were different. In the first game, India faced a smallish total, but lost a few wickets early before Raina stepped in to take care of the slow run-rate and took some pressure off Rohit, which allowed Rohit to focus on his own game and ensure that he stayed till the end. In the third game, he faced the biggest challenge - loss of all main batsmen with lots of runs still to get. Once again, Harbhajan stepped forward to give support and Rohit played his natural game and together with PK, won the game with ease in the end. I hope this performance gives Rohit the confidence to take his game to the next level and deliver more consistently for India
* The best bowler for India in these games has been Amit Mishra. It was very nice to see a leg-spinner unleash his full bag of tricks in ODIs and the WI batsmen had very little clue against him. Mishra at his best can be very good because he does have variety and is fairly accurate as well, unlike someone like Piyush Chawla who does not possess a proper leg-break and when low on confidence, can go for plenty. Once again, I hope the selectors and Dhoni were watching and have already made notes to have Mishra in their plans for the future
* PK made a seamless return to top-level cricket and is bowling very well. The best thing about PK is that he does not experiment too much (unlike a Sreesanth, who needs to be told before every game that he should stick to what he does best) and when PK bowls well, he bowls a lot of maidens which definitely add to the pressure on the opposition batsmen. It is heartening to see PK in the test squad. I have been maintaining for a long time that PK needs to be in the test team as well. He can be a good support bowler to Zak because he gets the ball to nip both ways and maintains good control over line and length at most times. Lets see what role he gets in the absence of Zak and how he performs if he is given a chance in the starting lineup for the tests
* There has not been much to note regarding Raina's captaincy. He has been doing his job efficiently, without needing to show any brilliance in strategy or planning. He has been around for a while now and played under Dhoni a lot as well. It showed in some of his moves. He did not try to do too much, and in a way that is good. He knows that he is a stop-gap captain and is only the third choice behind Dhoni and Gambhir
* Now for some negative feedback. It was sad to see that Yusuf did not take his chances in the 2 games that he got to seize his opportunity and put some doubts to rest regarding his capability. He seems to have gone back to bad shot selection that plagued him before his turnaround innings against NZ last year. I think Yusuf has outlived his chances for now and should be benched with someone (maybe the coach Fletcher or Dhoni) telling him to work on his shot selection once again
* I continue to be unimpressed with Parthiv's keeping. Time has stood still as far as his keeping is concerned. He continues to miss simple takes, especially on the leg side to spinners. Watching Parthiv highlights the one aspect of Dhoni that is least talked about, his keeping. It would have been easy for Dhoni to lose focus on his keeping with so much attention being paid (rightfully so) to his batting and captaincy. But not only has he kept that facet of his game efficient, he is actually better than just safe behind the stumps. He is quite good and does not miss much. Parthiv's batting also does not impress me too much. He is good for 30-40 runs, but even when he walks out to bat, you know that he will not get you a hundred or even a 70-80. That is a pity because he looks good when batting and is a natural. I would suggest putting Parthiv on the back burner when Dhoni returns and looking for a replacement other than Parthiv for the next time we need to play without Dhoni
* I hope India win the last ODI. That will show everyone (including themselves) that the 4th match was just an aberration and that they have learnt from their mistakes. These little things are important, especially for a young team like India is at the moment. It will give them some confidence going into the Test series, which I would like them to win at least 2-0 unless the weather intervenes. Even though Sachin is missing along with Zak, it will be good to see Dravid and VVS in action in the tests and I will definitely be watching Dravid's performance in particular. I am of the opinion that Rahul should retire now when he will still be remembered fondly, rather than after a few more failures, especially with guys like Virat, Badri etc. ready to step into the test side. But if he has a good series (something in the range of 300 runs from around 4-5 innings), then I am ok for him to continue and test himself in much tougher conditions in England before making the call on his retirement
That's all I have for now. Lets hear it from you guys. Have you been watching the WI series and if so, with how much interest ? What do you think of the performance of the team and of the individuals ? I will post again before the start of the first test with my take on the team composition etc., so stay tuned.
Cheers.
India have won the ODI series against WI with one game still to play. There is no surprise at the result, given the lack of serious talent in the opposition. However, I am glad this young Indian team kept their nerve in crucial moments and sealed the series in 3 games itself. I have not been watching the games with great interest, but I am following the matches on Cricinfo since Indian batting mostly takes place when I am in the office :) Let me share some of my thoughts on the games so far and on some individual performances.
* The biggest positive to come out of Indian batting performance is obviously Rohit Sharma. What was good to see was, even though India chased and won in the all the 3 games, the challenges thrown at Rohit were different. In the first game, India faced a smallish total, but lost a few wickets early before Raina stepped in to take care of the slow run-rate and took some pressure off Rohit, which allowed Rohit to focus on his own game and ensure that he stayed till the end. In the third game, he faced the biggest challenge - loss of all main batsmen with lots of runs still to get. Once again, Harbhajan stepped forward to give support and Rohit played his natural game and together with PK, won the game with ease in the end. I hope this performance gives Rohit the confidence to take his game to the next level and deliver more consistently for India
* The best bowler for India in these games has been Amit Mishra. It was very nice to see a leg-spinner unleash his full bag of tricks in ODIs and the WI batsmen had very little clue against him. Mishra at his best can be very good because he does have variety and is fairly accurate as well, unlike someone like Piyush Chawla who does not possess a proper leg-break and when low on confidence, can go for plenty. Once again, I hope the selectors and Dhoni were watching and have already made notes to have Mishra in their plans for the future
* PK made a seamless return to top-level cricket and is bowling very well. The best thing about PK is that he does not experiment too much (unlike a Sreesanth, who needs to be told before every game that he should stick to what he does best) and when PK bowls well, he bowls a lot of maidens which definitely add to the pressure on the opposition batsmen. It is heartening to see PK in the test squad. I have been maintaining for a long time that PK needs to be in the test team as well. He can be a good support bowler to Zak because he gets the ball to nip both ways and maintains good control over line and length at most times. Lets see what role he gets in the absence of Zak and how he performs if he is given a chance in the starting lineup for the tests
* There has not been much to note regarding Raina's captaincy. He has been doing his job efficiently, without needing to show any brilliance in strategy or planning. He has been around for a while now and played under Dhoni a lot as well. It showed in some of his moves. He did not try to do too much, and in a way that is good. He knows that he is a stop-gap captain and is only the third choice behind Dhoni and Gambhir
* Now for some negative feedback. It was sad to see that Yusuf did not take his chances in the 2 games that he got to seize his opportunity and put some doubts to rest regarding his capability. He seems to have gone back to bad shot selection that plagued him before his turnaround innings against NZ last year. I think Yusuf has outlived his chances for now and should be benched with someone (maybe the coach Fletcher or Dhoni) telling him to work on his shot selection once again
* I continue to be unimpressed with Parthiv's keeping. Time has stood still as far as his keeping is concerned. He continues to miss simple takes, especially on the leg side to spinners. Watching Parthiv highlights the one aspect of Dhoni that is least talked about, his keeping. It would have been easy for Dhoni to lose focus on his keeping with so much attention being paid (rightfully so) to his batting and captaincy. But not only has he kept that facet of his game efficient, he is actually better than just safe behind the stumps. He is quite good and does not miss much. Parthiv's batting also does not impress me too much. He is good for 30-40 runs, but even when he walks out to bat, you know that he will not get you a hundred or even a 70-80. That is a pity because he looks good when batting and is a natural. I would suggest putting Parthiv on the back burner when Dhoni returns and looking for a replacement other than Parthiv for the next time we need to play without Dhoni
* I hope India win the last ODI. That will show everyone (including themselves) that the 4th match was just an aberration and that they have learnt from their mistakes. These little things are important, especially for a young team like India is at the moment. It will give them some confidence going into the Test series, which I would like them to win at least 2-0 unless the weather intervenes. Even though Sachin is missing along with Zak, it will be good to see Dravid and VVS in action in the tests and I will definitely be watching Dravid's performance in particular. I am of the opinion that Rahul should retire now when he will still be remembered fondly, rather than after a few more failures, especially with guys like Virat, Badri etc. ready to step into the test side. But if he has a good series (something in the range of 300 runs from around 4-5 innings), then I am ok for him to continue and test himself in much tougher conditions in England before making the call on his retirement
That's all I have for now. Lets hear it from you guys. Have you been watching the WI series and if so, with how much interest ? What do you think of the performance of the team and of the individuals ? I will post again before the start of the first test with my take on the team composition etc., so stay tuned.
Cheers.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Preview of India-WI series - part 2
Hello friends,
Here is the continuation from the previous post.
First of all, I like it a lot that the selectors finally gave in to the player's requests and chose to rest Dhoni, Sachin and Zaheer for the T20 and ODI leg of the WI tour and in Sachin's case, for the entire tour. With Veeru and Gautam also out injured, we are looking at a new-look Indian side and a new captain in Suresh Raina. For Raina, this is the opportunity of a life time and I am sure, even he will be surprised at the turn of events that have suddenly catapulted him to the most demanding job in cricket (actually, the most demanding job in cricket right now, is being captain of Pakistan :), but this one should be close to the top). In fact, if ever being captain of India had less expectations and pressures, it is now, right after a World Cup win and with more than half of that squad missing, against a low profile team that should not pose too many problems. So in that aspect, Raina is lucky with the timing of his captaincy assignment.
Most of the squad members selected themselves, so I am pretty happy with most of the team. The pace attack looks a little weak, with PK, Munaf, Ishant and Vinay Kumar, especially with the unpredictability of Ishant and the sameness of Munaf's bowling, but the West Indian batting is definitely not one to be feared, especially without Gayle and Pollard who have not been selected for the first 2 ODIs and the T20. Spin bowling is pretty good with Ashwin, Harbhajan, Mishra and Yuvraj. I am once again sad for Ashwin as I think he will again not get many chances, though he deserves to be selected in every game, especially after what he did in the IPL finals. With Harbhajan being vice-captain, he will definitely play every game and I am afraid the team management will still think in traditional ways that it is not necessary to play two off-spinners and will instead pick Mishra or a third seamer for "variety". If that happens, it would be sad because I have always said that Bhajji and Ashwin are very different bowlers, with their roles also being different as Ashwin can be used up front and Bhajji in the middle overs. Let us see if the they follow the traditional path or whether they have the sense to think out of the box.
Regarding the batting, I believe these are the best of the lot from the reserves. I am happy for Badrinath who has finally got his due after showing so much consistency in the recent past including the IPL. Rohit probably deserves another chance and in the absence of Veeru and Gauti, Vijay is the right choice. Tiwary also deserves a chance after his recent showing in the IPL where it looked like he has taken his batting to the next level that he promised a couple of years ago when he was first selected for the Indian team. I am not so convinced that Shikhar Dhawan deserves a spot ahead of someone like Rayudu. I suspect Dhawan is there because they chose Parthiv Patel as the keeper and opening batsman to partner Vijay, and then decided that they needed to cover for Patel on both fronts, so they brought in Wriddhiman Saha and Dhawan :) I know this does not sound nice, but I am glad they did this, as I dont like what I am seeing from Patel on both counts - keeping and batting, so I am definitely not complaining that they covered both options that Patel provides.
I think India should win the series against WI - the T20 as well as the ODI series. Let us look at the tests later once the ODIs are over.
Lets hear it from you guys now. Its time to talk cricket again, with the Indian team having some tough assignments in the near future like the England tour and the Australia tour after that. But the WI series should be a good one for the players to become prepared for tougher battles ahead and also for the new coach Duncan Fletcher to get his feet wet and get to know the players without worrying about a tough opponent right away.
I will post regularly during the WI series, so stay tuned and keep the comments coming.
Cheers.
Here is the continuation from the previous post.
First of all, I like it a lot that the selectors finally gave in to the player's requests and chose to rest Dhoni, Sachin and Zaheer for the T20 and ODI leg of the WI tour and in Sachin's case, for the entire tour. With Veeru and Gautam also out injured, we are looking at a new-look Indian side and a new captain in Suresh Raina. For Raina, this is the opportunity of a life time and I am sure, even he will be surprised at the turn of events that have suddenly catapulted him to the most demanding job in cricket (actually, the most demanding job in cricket right now, is being captain of Pakistan :), but this one should be close to the top). In fact, if ever being captain of India had less expectations and pressures, it is now, right after a World Cup win and with more than half of that squad missing, against a low profile team that should not pose too many problems. So in that aspect, Raina is lucky with the timing of his captaincy assignment.
Most of the squad members selected themselves, so I am pretty happy with most of the team. The pace attack looks a little weak, with PK, Munaf, Ishant and Vinay Kumar, especially with the unpredictability of Ishant and the sameness of Munaf's bowling, but the West Indian batting is definitely not one to be feared, especially without Gayle and Pollard who have not been selected for the first 2 ODIs and the T20. Spin bowling is pretty good with Ashwin, Harbhajan, Mishra and Yuvraj. I am once again sad for Ashwin as I think he will again not get many chances, though he deserves to be selected in every game, especially after what he did in the IPL finals. With Harbhajan being vice-captain, he will definitely play every game and I am afraid the team management will still think in traditional ways that it is not necessary to play two off-spinners and will instead pick Mishra or a third seamer for "variety". If that happens, it would be sad because I have always said that Bhajji and Ashwin are very different bowlers, with their roles also being different as Ashwin can be used up front and Bhajji in the middle overs. Let us see if the they follow the traditional path or whether they have the sense to think out of the box.
Regarding the batting, I believe these are the best of the lot from the reserves. I am happy for Badrinath who has finally got his due after showing so much consistency in the recent past including the IPL. Rohit probably deserves another chance and in the absence of Veeru and Gauti, Vijay is the right choice. Tiwary also deserves a chance after his recent showing in the IPL where it looked like he has taken his batting to the next level that he promised a couple of years ago when he was first selected for the Indian team. I am not so convinced that Shikhar Dhawan deserves a spot ahead of someone like Rayudu. I suspect Dhawan is there because they chose Parthiv Patel as the keeper and opening batsman to partner Vijay, and then decided that they needed to cover for Patel on both fronts, so they brought in Wriddhiman Saha and Dhawan :) I know this does not sound nice, but I am glad they did this, as I dont like what I am seeing from Patel on both counts - keeping and batting, so I am definitely not complaining that they covered both options that Patel provides.
I think India should win the series against WI - the T20 as well as the ODI series. Let us look at the tests later once the ODIs are over.
Lets hear it from you guys now. Its time to talk cricket again, with the Indian team having some tough assignments in the near future like the England tour and the Australia tour after that. But the WI series should be a good one for the players to become prepared for tougher battles ahead and also for the new coach Duncan Fletcher to get his feet wet and get to know the players without worrying about a tough opponent right away.
I will post regularly during the WI series, so stay tuned and keep the comments coming.
Cheers.
Preview of India-WI series - part 1
Hello friends,
The IPL is over and India are ready to play the next series, against WI in the Caribbean. First, let me share some thoughts about the IPL and some players that I enjoyed watching.
I have been a Chennai fan from the time IPL started, so naturally I am thrilled that Chennai won this year's IPL and defended their title. What was nice to see that Chennai showed a sense of occasion and produced their best game of this year's IPL, in the finals. They did not have too many superstars other than Dhoni and, to an extent, Raina. But they did the smart thing by retaining 4 players and bought back a lot of their other players. In tournaments like IPL, it has now been proved that one important factor is player comfort with other players and coaching staff. Clubs with new teams took a long time to settle on the right combination and that showed in the performance. In that matter, other than Mumbai and Chennai, all teams had new-look teams. Even Mumbai had many different players from last 3 years, though they retained 4 players.
But the problem for Mumbai was not the player familiarity, but to some extent, Sachin's captaincy. It was shocking to see a great player like Sachin, who has so much knowledge of cricket in general, prove to be a very poor captain in terms of team selection and deciding batting order and bowling options. For instance, I am fairly convinced that Mumbai lost the semi-final against Bangalore in the very first over when Sachin gave it to Abu Nechim instead of Malinga, Munaf or Harbhajan, and Gayle looted 27 runs in that first over. Once again, like last year's final, he did not use Pollard properly, this time through the entire tournament. Also, Rayudu was doing very well at number 3 for most of the matches, but when he wanted to use Harbhajan as pinch hitter, he sent Rayudu all the way down to 6.
Now, let me write a a few lines about some players that I enjoyed watching. One guy I liked to see and who did very well, was Iqbal Abdulla. He played for KKR and is a wicket-taker. He bowls left-arm spin, which we badly need in the Indian team since the only one we have at the moment in this art, is Yuvraj. Abdulla is very young (I think 21), so the selectors should look at this guy hard and look to get him in the squads at least.
Another spinner I enjoyed watching was Rahul Sharma. He appears to be an Anil Kumble-like bowler who relies on bounce and accuracy to keep batsmen quiet and as a result, gets wickets as well. The only negative as far as he is concerned, is that he needs to develop some more variety like the googly and a decent leg-break, even if it does not turn too much. I remember Kumble started out taking lots of wickets because of the surprise factor when batsmen could not handle the ball coming in the air and particularly off the deck, so quickly. But around the late 90s and early 2000s, batsmen, particularly some Pakistanis and South Africans, started playing him like an inswing bowler and immediately, Kumble lost his effectiveness. Then he went back to the drawing board and developed a leg break that actually turned a bit, and a slower googly and promptly, started taking wickets by the bucketful again. Rahul Sharma needs to do something similar now itself and he has the best guru to learn it from, Kumble himself. I hope he sets up some time with Kumble sooner rather than later when the people and selectors are still having him in their minds.
Unfortunately, I could not spot much talent in the pace bowling department, which is our biggest concern at the moment regarding what will happen there once Zaheer leaves. Varun Aaron promised with his pace, and Sreenath Aravind is a good talent, who obviously benefited a lot from having Zak at mid-on during the matches. Other than these, I did not see much that excited me. Irfan Pathan clearly needs to bowl a lot more to be back to his old rhythm and confidence. Balaji is good, but can be in the rotation at best, along with Vinay Kumar and maybe one or two others.
I think this post has gotten too long, so I will post my thoughts on the Indian team for WI, in the next post.
Cheers.
The IPL is over and India are ready to play the next series, against WI in the Caribbean. First, let me share some thoughts about the IPL and some players that I enjoyed watching.
I have been a Chennai fan from the time IPL started, so naturally I am thrilled that Chennai won this year's IPL and defended their title. What was nice to see that Chennai showed a sense of occasion and produced their best game of this year's IPL, in the finals. They did not have too many superstars other than Dhoni and, to an extent, Raina. But they did the smart thing by retaining 4 players and bought back a lot of their other players. In tournaments like IPL, it has now been proved that one important factor is player comfort with other players and coaching staff. Clubs with new teams took a long time to settle on the right combination and that showed in the performance. In that matter, other than Mumbai and Chennai, all teams had new-look teams. Even Mumbai had many different players from last 3 years, though they retained 4 players.
But the problem for Mumbai was not the player familiarity, but to some extent, Sachin's captaincy. It was shocking to see a great player like Sachin, who has so much knowledge of cricket in general, prove to be a very poor captain in terms of team selection and deciding batting order and bowling options. For instance, I am fairly convinced that Mumbai lost the semi-final against Bangalore in the very first over when Sachin gave it to Abu Nechim instead of Malinga, Munaf or Harbhajan, and Gayle looted 27 runs in that first over. Once again, like last year's final, he did not use Pollard properly, this time through the entire tournament. Also, Rayudu was doing very well at number 3 for most of the matches, but when he wanted to use Harbhajan as pinch hitter, he sent Rayudu all the way down to 6.
Now, let me write a a few lines about some players that I enjoyed watching. One guy I liked to see and who did very well, was Iqbal Abdulla. He played for KKR and is a wicket-taker. He bowls left-arm spin, which we badly need in the Indian team since the only one we have at the moment in this art, is Yuvraj. Abdulla is very young (I think 21), so the selectors should look at this guy hard and look to get him in the squads at least.
Another spinner I enjoyed watching was Rahul Sharma. He appears to be an Anil Kumble-like bowler who relies on bounce and accuracy to keep batsmen quiet and as a result, gets wickets as well. The only negative as far as he is concerned, is that he needs to develop some more variety like the googly and a decent leg-break, even if it does not turn too much. I remember Kumble started out taking lots of wickets because of the surprise factor when batsmen could not handle the ball coming in the air and particularly off the deck, so quickly. But around the late 90s and early 2000s, batsmen, particularly some Pakistanis and South Africans, started playing him like an inswing bowler and immediately, Kumble lost his effectiveness. Then he went back to the drawing board and developed a leg break that actually turned a bit, and a slower googly and promptly, started taking wickets by the bucketful again. Rahul Sharma needs to do something similar now itself and he has the best guru to learn it from, Kumble himself. I hope he sets up some time with Kumble sooner rather than later when the people and selectors are still having him in their minds.
Unfortunately, I could not spot much talent in the pace bowling department, which is our biggest concern at the moment regarding what will happen there once Zaheer leaves. Varun Aaron promised with his pace, and Sreenath Aravind is a good talent, who obviously benefited a lot from having Zak at mid-on during the matches. Other than these, I did not see much that excited me. Irfan Pathan clearly needs to bowl a lot more to be back to his old rhythm and confidence. Balaji is good, but can be in the rotation at best, along with Vinay Kumar and maybe one or two others.
I think this post has gotten too long, so I will post my thoughts on the Indian team for WI, in the next post.
Cheers.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Random Thoughts on IPL 2011
Hello friends,
After enjoying the World Cup win of India for the past few days, I am enjoying the next cricket event, IPL. I found out during the first game that Dish Network is covering this year's IPL for a fee and I purchased the package immediately. I have been watching most of the games and am having a good time watching some pressure-free cricket and closely following and observing some teams and cricketers in particular.
I thought about what I should write and whether I should write about some topic or just post some thoughts. After some deliberation, I decided to just post some random thoughts regarding the IPL teams and some players. So here they are after 1 week of IPL action.
* Sachin continues to bat like in recent times, with the manner of a guy in complete control and knowledge of his game. He has added one more feather to his overflowing cap - a T20 century. This guy is amazing. You can see that he is enjoying every moment of his batting these days and if he continues with this mindset, he will definitely rack up a few more centuries before he retires and opponents should be very afraid of this Sachin.
* Dhoni's instinctive captaincy and luck continues to be with him, as can be seen from the close win over KKR in the opening IPL game. For the sake of Indian cricket, I hope he continues to back his instincts and hunches and follow that mode of captaincy rather than adopting the safe method of captaincy that Azhar was famous for and that Ganguly adopted in his later years as captain, where he lost his oomph as captain.
* Mumbai is looking like the best team in this year's IPL, just like last year. Their batting is very strong, almost reminds me of the Indian line-up, where they have about 6-7 batsmen who are each capable of winning a game single-handedly with their bat. However, this year, their bowling is not as strong as last year. They appear to be relying too much on Malinga and if he fails, like he did in their previous game against Kochi, they will struggle to contain good batting line-ups and also to get wickets.
* Of the 2 new teams, I think Pune is better than Kochi. Both have good batting and slightly weak bowling, but of the two, I think Pune is looking better because they have some good T20 specialists like Thomas, Parnell, Murali Kartik, Uthappa and the father of IPL cricket, Yuvraj. We should consider Yuvi as the father of IPL because it was his 6 sixes and 30-ball 70 in the 2007 T20 World Cup that gave BCCI the confidence to start a tournament in parallel with ICL.
* Of the other teams, I like KKR and of course, Chennai. KKR has made some good buys this time and have a good, solid batting line-up with some anchors and some big hitters. Their bowling also looks decent with some fire-power in Brett Lee and some good bowlers like Shakib, Iqbal Abdulla and Balaji.
* The team that looks a lot weaker than previous years in Delhi. They are top-heavy in Sehwag and Warner, but the rest of the batting and the bowling is not that great.
* Rajasthan is also not that strong, though Watson's return will significantly increase their firepower. Once again the onus is on Shane Warne regarding whether he can extract optimum performances from his motley crew of average players and lead by example, like he did in the first IPL year 2008.
* I have made a note of a few players that are doing well and that I would like to see do well this year in the interest of Indian cricket. From the first week of IPL, the shining star is definitely Paul Valthaty. He appears to have a good technique, I have noticed that his bat appears to be coming down straight for most of his shots even if they are hit to the off side. That is a good sign. It shows that his basics are strong. But there does appear to be a little desperate feel to his batting where he seems to want to go hard at every 3rd or 4th ball he faces. That is one trait he will have to work on, patience. If and when he makes it to the Indian team, he cannot expect to hit every 3rd or 4th ball to the boundary. He will have to develop the art of waiting for the right ball to hit and concentrate on strike rotation in the mean time.
* A few other players I want to see do well in this IPL are - Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, R P Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Varun Aaron, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ashok Menaria. I will be watching the performances of these players in particular and keeping an eye out for new talent as well
* On the whole, my wish from this year's IPL is to find some good bench strength for India, especially in the bowling. With Zak probably leaving in about 2-3 years and Harbhajan also looking to be in his twilight instead of prime, we need to find a few good bowlers to carry the attack in the future and I hope this IPL will show us some players in that regard.
Lets hear it from you guys now. IPL is a long tournament, but pressure-free cricket because there is no country involved. So lets continue our discussion about cricket and lets share thoughts on the games and players in this year's IPL.
I will continue to post regularly through the course of the IPL, so stay tuned.
Cheers.
After enjoying the World Cup win of India for the past few days, I am enjoying the next cricket event, IPL. I found out during the first game that Dish Network is covering this year's IPL for a fee and I purchased the package immediately. I have been watching most of the games and am having a good time watching some pressure-free cricket and closely following and observing some teams and cricketers in particular.
I thought about what I should write and whether I should write about some topic or just post some thoughts. After some deliberation, I decided to just post some random thoughts regarding the IPL teams and some players. So here they are after 1 week of IPL action.
* Sachin continues to bat like in recent times, with the manner of a guy in complete control and knowledge of his game. He has added one more feather to his overflowing cap - a T20 century. This guy is amazing. You can see that he is enjoying every moment of his batting these days and if he continues with this mindset, he will definitely rack up a few more centuries before he retires and opponents should be very afraid of this Sachin.
* Dhoni's instinctive captaincy and luck continues to be with him, as can be seen from the close win over KKR in the opening IPL game. For the sake of Indian cricket, I hope he continues to back his instincts and hunches and follow that mode of captaincy rather than adopting the safe method of captaincy that Azhar was famous for and that Ganguly adopted in his later years as captain, where he lost his oomph as captain.
* Mumbai is looking like the best team in this year's IPL, just like last year. Their batting is very strong, almost reminds me of the Indian line-up, where they have about 6-7 batsmen who are each capable of winning a game single-handedly with their bat. However, this year, their bowling is not as strong as last year. They appear to be relying too much on Malinga and if he fails, like he did in their previous game against Kochi, they will struggle to contain good batting line-ups and also to get wickets.
* Of the 2 new teams, I think Pune is better than Kochi. Both have good batting and slightly weak bowling, but of the two, I think Pune is looking better because they have some good T20 specialists like Thomas, Parnell, Murali Kartik, Uthappa and the father of IPL cricket, Yuvraj. We should consider Yuvi as the father of IPL because it was his 6 sixes and 30-ball 70 in the 2007 T20 World Cup that gave BCCI the confidence to start a tournament in parallel with ICL.
* Of the other teams, I like KKR and of course, Chennai. KKR has made some good buys this time and have a good, solid batting line-up with some anchors and some big hitters. Their bowling also looks decent with some fire-power in Brett Lee and some good bowlers like Shakib, Iqbal Abdulla and Balaji.
* The team that looks a lot weaker than previous years in Delhi. They are top-heavy in Sehwag and Warner, but the rest of the batting and the bowling is not that great.
* Rajasthan is also not that strong, though Watson's return will significantly increase their firepower. Once again the onus is on Shane Warne regarding whether he can extract optimum performances from his motley crew of average players and lead by example, like he did in the first IPL year 2008.
* I have made a note of a few players that are doing well and that I would like to see do well this year in the interest of Indian cricket. From the first week of IPL, the shining star is definitely Paul Valthaty. He appears to have a good technique, I have noticed that his bat appears to be coming down straight for most of his shots even if they are hit to the off side. That is a good sign. It shows that his basics are strong. But there does appear to be a little desperate feel to his batting where he seems to want to go hard at every 3rd or 4th ball he faces. That is one trait he will have to work on, patience. If and when he makes it to the Indian team, he cannot expect to hit every 3rd or 4th ball to the boundary. He will have to develop the art of waiting for the right ball to hit and concentrate on strike rotation in the mean time.
* A few other players I want to see do well in this IPL are - Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, R P Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Varun Aaron, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ashok Menaria. I will be watching the performances of these players in particular and keeping an eye out for new talent as well
* On the whole, my wish from this year's IPL is to find some good bench strength for India, especially in the bowling. With Zak probably leaving in about 2-3 years and Harbhajan also looking to be in his twilight instead of prime, we need to find a few good bowlers to carry the attack in the future and I hope this IPL will show us some players in that regard.
Lets hear it from you guys now. IPL is a long tournament, but pressure-free cricket because there is no country involved. So lets continue our discussion about cricket and lets share thoughts on the games and players in this year's IPL.
I will continue to post regularly through the course of the IPL, so stay tuned.
Cheers.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Thoughts on World Cup final
Hello friends,
India are the World Cup champions !!! What a great feeling for all Indians !! It was a fantastic match, worthy of a final, and India won pretty comfortably in the end. Lets look at some aspects of this game in detail.
Indian bowling
It was hinted in the press yesterday that Sreesanth may come in instead of Nehra and would be preferred over Ashwin for the final. Dhoni backed his instincts as usual and chose him. But it was one move that backfired today. I dont know how much more effective Ashwin may have been considering that SL are good players of spin and the track did not take much turn in the first session, but he would probably not have given as many runs as Sreesanth.
Anyway, at the start, SL were the team that looked nervous and the openers did not play the way that in-form players should have. India took advantage of that and took the upper hand in the initial 10-15 overs. It was nice to see the Indian fielders throw themselves in the field and add to the pressure that the openers were already feeling. I was impressed particularly by Yuvraj. Over the course of this tournament, he has gone from a tentative player trying to make a comeback, back to being one of the main players for India in the ODI version and looks like the player he was in his peak around the years 2005-2007. He looks assured with the bat, ball and in the field. This comeback has been on the strength of hard work and dedication, so I hope this time, he will not give it away because he will continue to be one of the main players to take this team forward in the next few years.
Back to the game, what an innings Mahela played ! It was one of the finest knocks I have seen, and it came in the biggest stage. Unfortunately, today the knock did not translate to a victory, which it would have on most other days. There was no violence or desperation in his batting, he was just timing the ball and took SL to a very good total. We need more players like him in cricket because they remind us that cricket is essentially a simple game and such a pleasure to watch.
Once again, Indian bowlers picked wickets at regular intervals and did not big partnerships to develop, thereby preventing SL from running away with the game. Kulasekara and Perera played good supporting knocks and SL used the batting powerplay very well to get to a very competitive score considering this was the World Cup final. But I was not desperate at the end of the SL innings because I had seen that this was a good track for batting, unlike Ahmedabad and Mohali. The ball was coming on to the bat nicely and not doing too much in the air and off the wicket.
Indian batting
All Indian fans got a scare when Sehwag and Sachin left early in the chase. Sachin was looking good, when he had an adrenaline rush and went after a widish ball that he should have left alone. But the situation was tailor-made for the 2 anchor men in the strong line-up - Gambhir and Kohli. It was nice to see them have a good, long partnership and also make sure that the run rate did not dip below the asking rate. The good thing about this Indian batting line-up is that all the batsmen are capable of scoring big and also fairly quickly without resorting to desperate hitting. And we have 7 such batsmen in the line-up ! What more can an Indian fan ask for ?
I was expecting Virat to make a big score today, as I had predicted in my preview. But he got out once again to a soft dismissal. I thought today Dhoni made the correct decision by promoting himself ahead of Yuvi and Raina. One, it kept the right-left combination going, and allowed Dhoni to soak up some pressure and also keep Gambhir in check. We have seen in the past few games that Gambhir can get over-excited and do foolish things like playing a rash shot or silly running. Today, Dhoni was constantly talking to him and telling him to stay there and finish the job. I thought initially if Dhoni made about 20-30 runs, but whittled the target to about 100 or so, he would have done his job and Yuvi and Raina could finish it. But Dhoni chose this moment to come back to form and silence his critics (myself included). Once again, this situation was perfect for him to play the percentage cricket he plays these days and chip away at the target with risk-free batting.
For India, it was the partnerships that did it for them again, like in the semi-final and quarter-final. Ironically, for a team with so many superstars, especially in batting, when it was expected that a one-man show would be the way for them to win, they played like a SA or NZ team and got there with many not-too-huge contributions, not just one big one.
If we forget that this was a World Cup final, this was a victory that we have seen many many times in the last few years, especially at home. Chasing about 270-280 with ease, and getting there through a few partnerships, and Yuvi and Dhoni finishing the job in the end. I am glad that the Indian team played this in that fashion and took the confidence from having done this several times recently, instead of playing the occasion and letting the pressure get to them.
I have heard and read a few times recently that Muralitharan's scripts are written perfectly. He took a wicket with his last ball in test cricket to get to 800 wickets, he also took a wicket with his last ball in SL and got his team to the World Cup final. But today's script was the most perfect of them all. Just consider this. If someone had told me at the start of the World Cup about 7 weeks ago, that India would chase down 275 in the final under lights and the winning hit would be a vintage huge six from their captain, who would be out of form and under severe pressure, I would have laughed at the thought and asked the person to wake up as such perfection is only achieved in dreams, not in real life. But it happened today and India have won the World Cup !!
One last comment I have to add regarding the celebrations. Virat made what I thought was the most appropriate comment that summed up India's entire World Cup campaign in one sentence. He was asked how it felt to bear the weight of Sachin on his shoulders when he was taken around the stadium in a victory lap. Virat said Sachin has borne the weight of the Indian team and gazillions of fans for 22 years, so it was an honor to bear his weight after winning the World Cup for him. Talk about making the perfect statement at the perfect time, this was as good as you can see and hear.
So there we are. India have won the World Cup and in hindsight, it has to be said, deservedly so. They have looked like the one team that had the talent and translated that into performance. They beat Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh (not to forget Ireland and Netherlands). They tied against England after being very close to defeat. The only big team they lost to is South Africa, that too in the last over with 1-2 balls to spare. Lets bask in the glory and enjoy the victory.
Lets hear it from you guys. The World Cup may be over, but my love for cricket will continue unabated.
Cheers.
P.S. This blog was started because of my love for cricket the game, even though it was started around the time of the World Cup. So I plan to continue writing here and will make posts when there are cricket matches, especially involving India. I want to watch the IPL this year, but I dont know if Dish network will telecast it in California. If they do, I will watch most of the games and will write here from time to time. So please continue to check here for new entries and let us continue to discuss about cricket and share our experiences.
It has been a pleasure writing about all Indian games in the World Cup and I hope you all enjoyed reading and discussing about the games.
India are the World Cup champions !!! What a great feeling for all Indians !! It was a fantastic match, worthy of a final, and India won pretty comfortably in the end. Lets look at some aspects of this game in detail.
Indian bowling
It was hinted in the press yesterday that Sreesanth may come in instead of Nehra and would be preferred over Ashwin for the final. Dhoni backed his instincts as usual and chose him. But it was one move that backfired today. I dont know how much more effective Ashwin may have been considering that SL are good players of spin and the track did not take much turn in the first session, but he would probably not have given as many runs as Sreesanth.
Anyway, at the start, SL were the team that looked nervous and the openers did not play the way that in-form players should have. India took advantage of that and took the upper hand in the initial 10-15 overs. It was nice to see the Indian fielders throw themselves in the field and add to the pressure that the openers were already feeling. I was impressed particularly by Yuvraj. Over the course of this tournament, he has gone from a tentative player trying to make a comeback, back to being one of the main players for India in the ODI version and looks like the player he was in his peak around the years 2005-2007. He looks assured with the bat, ball and in the field. This comeback has been on the strength of hard work and dedication, so I hope this time, he will not give it away because he will continue to be one of the main players to take this team forward in the next few years.
Back to the game, what an innings Mahela played ! It was one of the finest knocks I have seen, and it came in the biggest stage. Unfortunately, today the knock did not translate to a victory, which it would have on most other days. There was no violence or desperation in his batting, he was just timing the ball and took SL to a very good total. We need more players like him in cricket because they remind us that cricket is essentially a simple game and such a pleasure to watch.
Once again, Indian bowlers picked wickets at regular intervals and did not big partnerships to develop, thereby preventing SL from running away with the game. Kulasekara and Perera played good supporting knocks and SL used the batting powerplay very well to get to a very competitive score considering this was the World Cup final. But I was not desperate at the end of the SL innings because I had seen that this was a good track for batting, unlike Ahmedabad and Mohali. The ball was coming on to the bat nicely and not doing too much in the air and off the wicket.
Indian batting
All Indian fans got a scare when Sehwag and Sachin left early in the chase. Sachin was looking good, when he had an adrenaline rush and went after a widish ball that he should have left alone. But the situation was tailor-made for the 2 anchor men in the strong line-up - Gambhir and Kohli. It was nice to see them have a good, long partnership and also make sure that the run rate did not dip below the asking rate. The good thing about this Indian batting line-up is that all the batsmen are capable of scoring big and also fairly quickly without resorting to desperate hitting. And we have 7 such batsmen in the line-up ! What more can an Indian fan ask for ?
I was expecting Virat to make a big score today, as I had predicted in my preview. But he got out once again to a soft dismissal. I thought today Dhoni made the correct decision by promoting himself ahead of Yuvi and Raina. One, it kept the right-left combination going, and allowed Dhoni to soak up some pressure and also keep Gambhir in check. We have seen in the past few games that Gambhir can get over-excited and do foolish things like playing a rash shot or silly running. Today, Dhoni was constantly talking to him and telling him to stay there and finish the job. I thought initially if Dhoni made about 20-30 runs, but whittled the target to about 100 or so, he would have done his job and Yuvi and Raina could finish it. But Dhoni chose this moment to come back to form and silence his critics (myself included). Once again, this situation was perfect for him to play the percentage cricket he plays these days and chip away at the target with risk-free batting.
For India, it was the partnerships that did it for them again, like in the semi-final and quarter-final. Ironically, for a team with so many superstars, especially in batting, when it was expected that a one-man show would be the way for them to win, they played like a SA or NZ team and got there with many not-too-huge contributions, not just one big one.
If we forget that this was a World Cup final, this was a victory that we have seen many many times in the last few years, especially at home. Chasing about 270-280 with ease, and getting there through a few partnerships, and Yuvi and Dhoni finishing the job in the end. I am glad that the Indian team played this in that fashion and took the confidence from having done this several times recently, instead of playing the occasion and letting the pressure get to them.
I have heard and read a few times recently that Muralitharan's scripts are written perfectly. He took a wicket with his last ball in test cricket to get to 800 wickets, he also took a wicket with his last ball in SL and got his team to the World Cup final. But today's script was the most perfect of them all. Just consider this. If someone had told me at the start of the World Cup about 7 weeks ago, that India would chase down 275 in the final under lights and the winning hit would be a vintage huge six from their captain, who would be out of form and under severe pressure, I would have laughed at the thought and asked the person to wake up as such perfection is only achieved in dreams, not in real life. But it happened today and India have won the World Cup !!
One last comment I have to add regarding the celebrations. Virat made what I thought was the most appropriate comment that summed up India's entire World Cup campaign in one sentence. He was asked how it felt to bear the weight of Sachin on his shoulders when he was taken around the stadium in a victory lap. Virat said Sachin has borne the weight of the Indian team and gazillions of fans for 22 years, so it was an honor to bear his weight after winning the World Cup for him. Talk about making the perfect statement at the perfect time, this was as good as you can see and hear.
So there we are. India have won the World Cup and in hindsight, it has to be said, deservedly so. They have looked like the one team that had the talent and translated that into performance. They beat Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh (not to forget Ireland and Netherlands). They tied against England after being very close to defeat. The only big team they lost to is South Africa, that too in the last over with 1-2 balls to spare. Lets bask in the glory and enjoy the victory.
Lets hear it from you guys. The World Cup may be over, but my love for cricket will continue unabated.
Cheers.
P.S. This blog was started because of my love for cricket the game, even though it was started around the time of the World Cup. So I plan to continue writing here and will make posts when there are cricket matches, especially involving India. I want to watch the IPL this year, but I dont know if Dish network will telecast it in California. If they do, I will watch most of the games and will write here from time to time. So please continue to check here for new entries and let us continue to discuss about cricket and share our experiences.
It has been a pleasure writing about all Indian games in the World Cup and I hope you all enjoyed reading and discussing about the games.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Preview of World Cup final
Hello friends,
Finally, after almost one and a half months of non-stop cricket action, we are at the one match that matters the most, the finals. Fortunately for us Indian fans, India has made it to the finals and will play Sri Lanka, a team that is at the top of its game and very, very dangerous in sub-continental conditions. Let us look at a few aspects of this upcoming game in detail.
Indian team selection
I just read that Ashish Nehra has broken the middle finger of his right hand, and looks doubful to play in the final. If that is true, Ashwin will come back for sure. Even otherwise, Ashwin's selection was very much on the cards. Sri Lanka have 2 left-handers in the top three, and Ashwin's job should be to take out Tharanga, who has been in great form this tournament. I dont see any other change in the playing eleven for India.
Sri Lankan team selection
I am thinking SL will play Kulasekara in the final, even though he did not play the semi-final. I dont know whom he will replace, the choice is between one of the spinners, or Angelo Mathews, who is injured. The only other pacer SL have is Malinga, and I dont think they will go into the finals with 1 pacer, 1 half-fit pacer and 3.5 spinners (Dilshan is the half spinner). Murali will most likely play, even though he is very injured.
Strategy
The one thing that is on my mind more than anything else regarding the conditions, is the dew. Mumbai has a fair bit of dew in the night and it was seen in one of the earlier matches. Even though this is early April, I think dew could be a factor. If medium or heavy dew is expected, then I would look to field first if India win the toss. That could reduce the threat from the SL spinners under lights in dewy conditions. If dew is not going to be a factor, India should look to bat first and put runs on the board.
Once again, like the semi-finals, the strategy for Indian batsmen should be to get after at least a couple of SL bowlers, maybe the second pacer and one of either Mendis or Herath. SL, like Pakistan, have a couple of very good bowlers - Malinga and Murali - and a few others who have been performing above potential. They also rely on Dilshan for a few overs in the middle and have 5 players who hardly ever bowl - Tharanga, Sanga, Mahela, Chamara Silva and Samaraweera. So if India can put Sanga out of his comfort zone by targetting a couple of bowlers, he will have some big worries, which, in a game like the World Cup final, is always good for the opposition.
One other change I would like to see is, Raina batting above Dhoni. Raina has shown with his 2 performances in crunch situations, that he deserves to bat higher up the order. That will give him a few extra overs to play himself in and then dictate terms to SL, which he has not had the chance to do because he has been fire-fighting in both his games so far. I want to see the Raina of last 2 years where he bullied bowlers on sub-continental pitches
With the ball, the strategy is simple - look to make SL 3 down as soon as possible. Their middle-order and lower middle order is largely untested in this World Cup and could be under serious pressure if they have to bail out the team in the World Cup final on a foreign pitch against the home team and crowd. As I said earlier, Ashwin should open the bowling with Zak and look to take out Tharanga early. If the opening partnership is broken early, that would be a big blow for SL hopes and strategies, since they have been very successful in this World Cup and in my opinion, is one of the main reasons for their success. Having a good platform is always important, especially in a World Cup final and SL, with their relatively weaker middle order below Mahela, plan their strategies around that. Even if Ashwin does nothing of note other than take Tharanga or Dilshan out, and returns analysis of 10-0-45-1, he would have done his job in my opinion.
While batting, Indian batsmen face the main threat from Malinga and Murali. Murali is at the top of his game and will definitely perform at his best in his last international game. To counter Malinga's yorkers, I would suggest that the Indian batsmen should stand at least 1-2 feet outside their crease or deep inside it. I know this is easier said than done, but at this level, I dont think pace will worry the Indian batsmen. So if they stand 1-2 feet outside or deep inside their crease, Malinga will have to alter his length and that is never easy, especially in a final. That could throw him off and it would be a huge advantage for India if their main weapon is nullified.
One other thing in terms of strategy I can think of is, the batsmen should look to target Murali in the field. Since he is carrying multiple injuries, he is hobbling around in the field. If the batsmen play to his area in the field, they can look to get extra runs. I know this sounds cruel, but this is professional sport and we are talking about the World Cup finals, so teams will look to take every advantage they can without breaking the rules. Even a few extra runs can make a difference, as we all know.
One other thing for India to watch, is the SL fielding. They are the best fielding side in the sub-continent by a fair margin, so there will be no easy runs in the field. India will have to watch their running between the wickets, or we could easily see 2-3 run-outs in this game.
Prediction
This is a match between 2 evenly matched sides, who are both playing their best cricket at the moment. So I am not going to predict the winner. But I believe the battle is between the Indian batsmen and the SL spinners, so whoever wins that one, should win the game. However, I will say this. India look the better side in terms of all-round skills, while SL are dependent on a few players and have more weaknesses than India. Having said that, one of the ways this match can be won by India, is if one of their esteemed batsmen produce a one-man show, like a blistering hundred or a big hundred.
Key performer
My pick for the final from India is Virat Kohli. He has had a quite tournament by the standards of his recent form, so I am counting on him to come good. With the ball, it has to be Zaheer once again. If he can take care of Sanga and Mahela, India will breathe much easier.
The final is on Friday night in U.S.A. Lets talk about it and get into the mood from now itself. Whatever happens in the final, I think India have done very well to come this far, having beaten WI, Australia, Pakistan, and tieing a game that seemed lost against England. So as Indian fans, we can be proud of that achievement. Having said that, it would be absolutely fantastic if India can produce one more performance like the semi-finals and win the World Cup !! Lets hope that happens in 1.5 days time.
Cheers.
Finally, after almost one and a half months of non-stop cricket action, we are at the one match that matters the most, the finals. Fortunately for us Indian fans, India has made it to the finals and will play Sri Lanka, a team that is at the top of its game and very, very dangerous in sub-continental conditions. Let us look at a few aspects of this upcoming game in detail.
Indian team selection
I just read that Ashish Nehra has broken the middle finger of his right hand, and looks doubful to play in the final. If that is true, Ashwin will come back for sure. Even otherwise, Ashwin's selection was very much on the cards. Sri Lanka have 2 left-handers in the top three, and Ashwin's job should be to take out Tharanga, who has been in great form this tournament. I dont see any other change in the playing eleven for India.
Sri Lankan team selection
I am thinking SL will play Kulasekara in the final, even though he did not play the semi-final. I dont know whom he will replace, the choice is between one of the spinners, or Angelo Mathews, who is injured. The only other pacer SL have is Malinga, and I dont think they will go into the finals with 1 pacer, 1 half-fit pacer and 3.5 spinners (Dilshan is the half spinner). Murali will most likely play, even though he is very injured.
Strategy
The one thing that is on my mind more than anything else regarding the conditions, is the dew. Mumbai has a fair bit of dew in the night and it was seen in one of the earlier matches. Even though this is early April, I think dew could be a factor. If medium or heavy dew is expected, then I would look to field first if India win the toss. That could reduce the threat from the SL spinners under lights in dewy conditions. If dew is not going to be a factor, India should look to bat first and put runs on the board.
Once again, like the semi-finals, the strategy for Indian batsmen should be to get after at least a couple of SL bowlers, maybe the second pacer and one of either Mendis or Herath. SL, like Pakistan, have a couple of very good bowlers - Malinga and Murali - and a few others who have been performing above potential. They also rely on Dilshan for a few overs in the middle and have 5 players who hardly ever bowl - Tharanga, Sanga, Mahela, Chamara Silva and Samaraweera. So if India can put Sanga out of his comfort zone by targetting a couple of bowlers, he will have some big worries, which, in a game like the World Cup final, is always good for the opposition.
One other change I would like to see is, Raina batting above Dhoni. Raina has shown with his 2 performances in crunch situations, that he deserves to bat higher up the order. That will give him a few extra overs to play himself in and then dictate terms to SL, which he has not had the chance to do because he has been fire-fighting in both his games so far. I want to see the Raina of last 2 years where he bullied bowlers on sub-continental pitches
With the ball, the strategy is simple - look to make SL 3 down as soon as possible. Their middle-order and lower middle order is largely untested in this World Cup and could be under serious pressure if they have to bail out the team in the World Cup final on a foreign pitch against the home team and crowd. As I said earlier, Ashwin should open the bowling with Zak and look to take out Tharanga early. If the opening partnership is broken early, that would be a big blow for SL hopes and strategies, since they have been very successful in this World Cup and in my opinion, is one of the main reasons for their success. Having a good platform is always important, especially in a World Cup final and SL, with their relatively weaker middle order below Mahela, plan their strategies around that. Even if Ashwin does nothing of note other than take Tharanga or Dilshan out, and returns analysis of 10-0-45-1, he would have done his job in my opinion.
While batting, Indian batsmen face the main threat from Malinga and Murali. Murali is at the top of his game and will definitely perform at his best in his last international game. To counter Malinga's yorkers, I would suggest that the Indian batsmen should stand at least 1-2 feet outside their crease or deep inside it. I know this is easier said than done, but at this level, I dont think pace will worry the Indian batsmen. So if they stand 1-2 feet outside or deep inside their crease, Malinga will have to alter his length and that is never easy, especially in a final. That could throw him off and it would be a huge advantage for India if their main weapon is nullified.
One other thing in terms of strategy I can think of is, the batsmen should look to target Murali in the field. Since he is carrying multiple injuries, he is hobbling around in the field. If the batsmen play to his area in the field, they can look to get extra runs. I know this sounds cruel, but this is professional sport and we are talking about the World Cup finals, so teams will look to take every advantage they can without breaking the rules. Even a few extra runs can make a difference, as we all know.
One other thing for India to watch, is the SL fielding. They are the best fielding side in the sub-continent by a fair margin, so there will be no easy runs in the field. India will have to watch their running between the wickets, or we could easily see 2-3 run-outs in this game.
Prediction
This is a match between 2 evenly matched sides, who are both playing their best cricket at the moment. So I am not going to predict the winner. But I believe the battle is between the Indian batsmen and the SL spinners, so whoever wins that one, should win the game. However, I will say this. India look the better side in terms of all-round skills, while SL are dependent on a few players and have more weaknesses than India. Having said that, one of the ways this match can be won by India, is if one of their esteemed batsmen produce a one-man show, like a blistering hundred or a big hundred.
Key performer
My pick for the final from India is Virat Kohli. He has had a quite tournament by the standards of his recent form, so I am counting on him to come good. With the ball, it has to be Zaheer once again. If he can take care of Sanga and Mahela, India will breathe much easier.
The final is on Friday night in U.S.A. Lets talk about it and get into the mood from now itself. Whatever happens in the final, I think India have done very well to come this far, having beaten WI, Australia, Pakistan, and tieing a game that seemed lost against England. So as Indian fans, we can be proud of that achievement. Having said that, it would be absolutely fantastic if India can produce one more performance like the semi-finals and win the World Cup !! Lets hope that happens in 1.5 days time.
Cheers.
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