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.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
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.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Thoughts on India-Pak SF
Hello friends,
India are in the finals of the World Cup !! Lets savor this moment for a few seconds :)
OK, now that is done, so lets look at today's semi-final in some detail.
Indian batting
First of all, it looked like a mistake, and Dhoni admitted as much at the presentation, to leave out Ashwin on this track. But as it happens so often with Dhoni, it turned out to be a master stroke, by virtue of some luck :) I was not too unhappy with the omission of Ashwin considering that Pakistan play spin quite well, and have no left handers in their entire line-up. They are suspect against pace, so taking Nehra was not that bad of an idea.
India got off to a flyer yet again, courtesy Veeru and Sachin. When Veeru bats like he did today, he makes it look as if it is a flat batting track where 300 can be easily scored and chased down as well. But again, he gave it away. But he made one important contribution that needs to be highlighted in retrospective. He made their best bowler Umar Gul, look like a club bowler and shattered his confidence, from which he never recovered. It just makes us think, if a small cameo from Veeru has so many benefits, what are the possibilities if he bats for 20-30 overs in the innings ? Lets hope he has saved his best for the finals.
Sachin played a very strange innings. Once Veeru got out, he just could not find his timing and looked very shaky in the middle. I wont put it down to nerves. It looked like he could not read the surface properly and also struggled to pick the off-spinner Ajmal. It just goes to show, that no matter how many matches you play and how great a player you are, each game is different and you start from scratch each time. But credit to Sachin, he showed that he wanted to grit it out and take India to a safe total. Gambhir and Virat, once again, were looking good and then gave it away. Yuvraj got a real beauty first ball, and it was simply unplayable. It looked like the Pak think-tank had made special note of Yuvi's high backlift and worked out that the best first delivery to him is a yorker. I am sure Sri Lanka would have noted the same and will look to give the ball to Malinga when Yuvi comes out to bat in the finals.
The important and somewhat pleasing aspect of India's batting today was that India did not get bowled out and that the tail-enders scraped together some 50-odd runs with Raina. That turned out to be a match-winning aspect of the game in the end. If India had been bowled out for 220 or 230 (they were 205 or so when Dhoni got out with only the bowlers to come), I suspect that Pakistan would have chased it down. For this alone, I believe Raina is a better bet than Yusuf since he is a proper batsman and is full of confidence after his heroics against Australia.
Indian bowling
It was good to see that India defended the par-score with contributions from all bowlers. Each bowler took 2 wickets. You cannot plan such things, but it is the perfect recipe for a semi-final and will give the bowlers and Dhoni lots of confidence going into the final. Yuvi once again bowled well and is proving me right time and again that he is a key member of this side for his bowling alone. That he is also batting wonderfully well is a great bonus for Dhoni and us fans. Yuvi has become a very smart bowler these days. It was nice to see him assess the conditions and use the slowness of the pitch by throwing it up very slow and getting the ball to grip on that surface. He also varies the pace and turns a few, even if very slightly, and bowls a few straight ones to keep the batsmen guessing.
Once again, it was pleasing to see Dhoni apply pressure on the batting by keeping close fielders and creating lots of dot balls. I think he may have read my blog before this game since he did quite a few things that I suggested in the preview :) He chose to bat first, the batsmen hit their main bowler Gul for a few boundaries early on, and also denied Afridi a wicket for his entire 10 overs thereby putting pressure on their entire bowling attack. Also, when India bowled, there was pressure created by lots of dot balls.
The fielding was good, with Raina, Kohli and Yuvraj standing out. It was nice to see Yuvi once again at his athletic best in the field. This, to me, is the final indication that the old Yuvraj is fully back and feeling really good about himself. As Indian fans, what more can we ask for going into the finals ? Nehra and Munaf had a nice confidence-boosting game ahead of the final, which is also good for Dhoni and the think-tank. Also, it was nice to see a couple of wickets against Harbhajan's name. He is an important part of this attack and needs to take wickets for India to do well in the bowling department. In fact, when Harbhajan started bowling today, I thought it would be nice to see his analysis as 2 or 3 wickets for 45 from 10 overs, instead of 0 for 35 from 10, and that is exactly what happened.
So there we are. One match away from glory. Can Dhoni and his men do it one more time ? The finals are against an opponent very different from the semi-final one. I will post a preview of the final later today or tomorrow. But for now, let us enjoy this important victory for India and discuss about this game and share thoughts for the final as well.
Cheers.
India are in the finals of the World Cup !! Lets savor this moment for a few seconds :)
OK, now that is done, so lets look at today's semi-final in some detail.
Indian batting
First of all, it looked like a mistake, and Dhoni admitted as much at the presentation, to leave out Ashwin on this track. But as it happens so often with Dhoni, it turned out to be a master stroke, by virtue of some luck :) I was not too unhappy with the omission of Ashwin considering that Pakistan play spin quite well, and have no left handers in their entire line-up. They are suspect against pace, so taking Nehra was not that bad of an idea.
India got off to a flyer yet again, courtesy Veeru and Sachin. When Veeru bats like he did today, he makes it look as if it is a flat batting track where 300 can be easily scored and chased down as well. But again, he gave it away. But he made one important contribution that needs to be highlighted in retrospective. He made their best bowler Umar Gul, look like a club bowler and shattered his confidence, from which he never recovered. It just makes us think, if a small cameo from Veeru has so many benefits, what are the possibilities if he bats for 20-30 overs in the innings ? Lets hope he has saved his best for the finals.
Sachin played a very strange innings. Once Veeru got out, he just could not find his timing and looked very shaky in the middle. I wont put it down to nerves. It looked like he could not read the surface properly and also struggled to pick the off-spinner Ajmal. It just goes to show, that no matter how many matches you play and how great a player you are, each game is different and you start from scratch each time. But credit to Sachin, he showed that he wanted to grit it out and take India to a safe total. Gambhir and Virat, once again, were looking good and then gave it away. Yuvraj got a real beauty first ball, and it was simply unplayable. It looked like the Pak think-tank had made special note of Yuvi's high backlift and worked out that the best first delivery to him is a yorker. I am sure Sri Lanka would have noted the same and will look to give the ball to Malinga when Yuvi comes out to bat in the finals.
The important and somewhat pleasing aspect of India's batting today was that India did not get bowled out and that the tail-enders scraped together some 50-odd runs with Raina. That turned out to be a match-winning aspect of the game in the end. If India had been bowled out for 220 or 230 (they were 205 or so when Dhoni got out with only the bowlers to come), I suspect that Pakistan would have chased it down. For this alone, I believe Raina is a better bet than Yusuf since he is a proper batsman and is full of confidence after his heroics against Australia.
Indian bowling
It was good to see that India defended the par-score with contributions from all bowlers. Each bowler took 2 wickets. You cannot plan such things, but it is the perfect recipe for a semi-final and will give the bowlers and Dhoni lots of confidence going into the final. Yuvi once again bowled well and is proving me right time and again that he is a key member of this side for his bowling alone. That he is also batting wonderfully well is a great bonus for Dhoni and us fans. Yuvi has become a very smart bowler these days. It was nice to see him assess the conditions and use the slowness of the pitch by throwing it up very slow and getting the ball to grip on that surface. He also varies the pace and turns a few, even if very slightly, and bowls a few straight ones to keep the batsmen guessing.
Once again, it was pleasing to see Dhoni apply pressure on the batting by keeping close fielders and creating lots of dot balls. I think he may have read my blog before this game since he did quite a few things that I suggested in the preview :) He chose to bat first, the batsmen hit their main bowler Gul for a few boundaries early on, and also denied Afridi a wicket for his entire 10 overs thereby putting pressure on their entire bowling attack. Also, when India bowled, there was pressure created by lots of dot balls.
The fielding was good, with Raina, Kohli and Yuvraj standing out. It was nice to see Yuvi once again at his athletic best in the field. This, to me, is the final indication that the old Yuvraj is fully back and feeling really good about himself. As Indian fans, what more can we ask for going into the finals ? Nehra and Munaf had a nice confidence-boosting game ahead of the final, which is also good for Dhoni and the think-tank. Also, it was nice to see a couple of wickets against Harbhajan's name. He is an important part of this attack and needs to take wickets for India to do well in the bowling department. In fact, when Harbhajan started bowling today, I thought it would be nice to see his analysis as 2 or 3 wickets for 45 from 10 overs, instead of 0 for 35 from 10, and that is exactly what happened.
So there we are. One match away from glory. Can Dhoni and his men do it one more time ? The finals are against an opponent very different from the semi-final one. I will post a preview of the final later today or tomorrow. But for now, let us enjoy this important victory for India and discuss about this game and share thoughts for the final as well.
Cheers.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Preview of India-Pakistan SF
Hello friends,
The buildup to the semi-finals has reached feverish pitch and it has been fun reading all the articles regarding the biggest match of the World Cup so far, the India-Pakistan clash in the semi-finals. Lets look at some aspects of the game in detail.
Indian team selection
The only possible change I see is Munaf being replaced with another pacer. The options for Dhoni are Nehra and Sreesanth. It is a difficult choice, because Sreesanth has not played in the middle for more than 1 month and Nehra does not inspire too much confidence especially after his previous two outings. Given that Dhoni's theme this World Cup has been of giving multiple chances to players before replacing them, I suspect that he will give Munaf another chance and not want to make major changes for such a huge game. The Mohali pitch should suit Munaf with good bounce and carry, so Munaf could get another chance. The others select themselves, unless there is an injury to Sehwag or some other player.
Pakistan team selection
Pakistan may also play the same team that has given them success in the last 2 games. But, with Mohali being good for pacers, I am tempted to think that Afridi may give one last chance to Shoaib Akhtar and see if he can test the Indian batting. The other choice they have to make is between the off-spinner Saeed Ajmal and the tall left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman. Since India have 3 left-handers in the middle-order, I suspect that Ajmal will be the choice.
Strategy
India should look to bat first if they win the toss. It is a semi-final and Pakistan's weak point is their batting. So I would look to put runs on the board and test their batting.
The theme for India in this semi-final should be 'pressure'. The main focus of the team should be to create as much pressure as possible for Pakistan. They are riding a wave of confidence and have been performing above expectations. But everyone knows they are one performance away from imploding dramatically and giving it all away. If they have not done that so far, I believe it is because they have not been put under too much pressure in this World Cup. The one time they were, was by NZ and particularly Ross Taylor in the last few overs of NZ batting. NZ had scored 92 runs in the last 4 overs in that game and Pakistan looked completely clueless with the ball.
So India should look to attack from the outset if they bat first and even if they take a few risks, they should look to target their form bowlers and attack them early, just to see if they will give it away after that. Their form bowlers are Umar Gul, Hafeez and Afridi. Indian batsmen should look to hit a few boundaries off them early in their spell.
If India bowl first, the bowlers should look to put together lots of dot balls. Pakistan batsmen always look to score quickly, particularly their openers Kamran Akmal and Hafeez, and could play a rash shot if they are kept quiet. To that end, I would suggest that Ashwin continue to get the new ball as he seems capable of keeping the openers guessing and quiet with his variations. Their middle-order of Asad Shafiq, Younus Khan and Misbah are solid, but in my opinion, are a little slow in scoring and India should look to capitalize on that. Dhoni should once again do what he did against Australia in the field. Keep the good fielders close to the bat in the circle and prevent them from taking too many singles and twos and release the pressure.
Their lower middle-order of Umar Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq are X-factors and could score quickly and take the game away. But once again, they can be contained and taken out with pressure applied with dot balls and close fields.
One other thing I noticed is that Pakistan have 6 bowlers, but the other 5 players cannot bowl at all - Kamran and Umar Akmal, Misbah, Asad Shafiq and Younus. Okay, Younus can turn his arm over, but is a part-timer at best. What this means is, they are looking for most of these bowlers to bowl well and not get hit. If India can spoil the analysis of 2 of their bowlers, Afridi will be in a very tough situation to get through the 50 overs. And such pressure can lead to mistakes in decision-making on the field. I hope Dhoni and Kirsten have noted this fact and will use it in their plans while batting.
All in all,. it appears to be a contest between Pak bowling and Indian batting, and the team that holds its nerve under pressure, will win.
Prediction
It is a semi-final between India and Pakistan in front of a full-house and on a pitch that will be good for batting and bowling. What more can we ask for as cricket fans ? This time also, I am not going to predict the winner. Lets hope for a good game of cricket overall, with no security and crowd issues.
Key performers
For India, it is high time that Sehwag produce another big innings like he did in the first match. Also, given that the theme is pressure, he is the right man to exert maximum pressure on their strong suit, bowling. In my opinion, there is a good chance that he will do well in this game.
With the ball, Indian bowlers, especially the spinners, should enjoy the extra bounce of Mohali and if there is some grass on the pitch, as is usually the case, the ball should grip the surface and turn as well, which Harbhajan and Ashwin will enjoy. But I am not predicting any key performer with the ball.
My next post will be after the India-Pakistan game. Meanwhile, lets talk about it. I am sure all of you are as excited as I am. Lets share our thoughts and get into the swing of things.
Cheers.
The buildup to the semi-finals has reached feverish pitch and it has been fun reading all the articles regarding the biggest match of the World Cup so far, the India-Pakistan clash in the semi-finals. Lets look at some aspects of the game in detail.
Indian team selection
The only possible change I see is Munaf being replaced with another pacer. The options for Dhoni are Nehra and Sreesanth. It is a difficult choice, because Sreesanth has not played in the middle for more than 1 month and Nehra does not inspire too much confidence especially after his previous two outings. Given that Dhoni's theme this World Cup has been of giving multiple chances to players before replacing them, I suspect that he will give Munaf another chance and not want to make major changes for such a huge game. The Mohali pitch should suit Munaf with good bounce and carry, so Munaf could get another chance. The others select themselves, unless there is an injury to Sehwag or some other player.
Pakistan team selection
Pakistan may also play the same team that has given them success in the last 2 games. But, with Mohali being good for pacers, I am tempted to think that Afridi may give one last chance to Shoaib Akhtar and see if he can test the Indian batting. The other choice they have to make is between the off-spinner Saeed Ajmal and the tall left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman. Since India have 3 left-handers in the middle-order, I suspect that Ajmal will be the choice.
Strategy
India should look to bat first if they win the toss. It is a semi-final and Pakistan's weak point is their batting. So I would look to put runs on the board and test their batting.
The theme for India in this semi-final should be 'pressure'. The main focus of the team should be to create as much pressure as possible for Pakistan. They are riding a wave of confidence and have been performing above expectations. But everyone knows they are one performance away from imploding dramatically and giving it all away. If they have not done that so far, I believe it is because they have not been put under too much pressure in this World Cup. The one time they were, was by NZ and particularly Ross Taylor in the last few overs of NZ batting. NZ had scored 92 runs in the last 4 overs in that game and Pakistan looked completely clueless with the ball.
So India should look to attack from the outset if they bat first and even if they take a few risks, they should look to target their form bowlers and attack them early, just to see if they will give it away after that. Their form bowlers are Umar Gul, Hafeez and Afridi. Indian batsmen should look to hit a few boundaries off them early in their spell.
If India bowl first, the bowlers should look to put together lots of dot balls. Pakistan batsmen always look to score quickly, particularly their openers Kamran Akmal and Hafeez, and could play a rash shot if they are kept quiet. To that end, I would suggest that Ashwin continue to get the new ball as he seems capable of keeping the openers guessing and quiet with his variations. Their middle-order of Asad Shafiq, Younus Khan and Misbah are solid, but in my opinion, are a little slow in scoring and India should look to capitalize on that. Dhoni should once again do what he did against Australia in the field. Keep the good fielders close to the bat in the circle and prevent them from taking too many singles and twos and release the pressure.
Their lower middle-order of Umar Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq are X-factors and could score quickly and take the game away. But once again, they can be contained and taken out with pressure applied with dot balls and close fields.
One other thing I noticed is that Pakistan have 6 bowlers, but the other 5 players cannot bowl at all - Kamran and Umar Akmal, Misbah, Asad Shafiq and Younus. Okay, Younus can turn his arm over, but is a part-timer at best. What this means is, they are looking for most of these bowlers to bowl well and not get hit. If India can spoil the analysis of 2 of their bowlers, Afridi will be in a very tough situation to get through the 50 overs. And such pressure can lead to mistakes in decision-making on the field. I hope Dhoni and Kirsten have noted this fact and will use it in their plans while batting.
All in all,. it appears to be a contest between Pak bowling and Indian batting, and the team that holds its nerve under pressure, will win.
Prediction
It is a semi-final between India and Pakistan in front of a full-house and on a pitch that will be good for batting and bowling. What more can we ask for as cricket fans ? This time also, I am not going to predict the winner. Lets hope for a good game of cricket overall, with no security and crowd issues.
Key performers
For India, it is high time that Sehwag produce another big innings like he did in the first match. Also, given that the theme is pressure, he is the right man to exert maximum pressure on their strong suit, bowling. In my opinion, there is a good chance that he will do well in this game.
With the ball, Indian bowlers, especially the spinners, should enjoy the extra bounce of Mohali and if there is some grass on the pitch, as is usually the case, the ball should grip the surface and turn as well, which Harbhajan and Ashwin will enjoy. But I am not predicting any key performer with the ball.
My next post will be after the India-Pakistan game. Meanwhile, lets talk about it. I am sure all of you are as excited as I am. Lets share our thoughts and get into the swing of things.
Cheers.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Thoughts on India-Australia QF
Hello friends,
What a match we had once again !! The situation got really tense for India and us fans, but I am absolutely delighted that India won in the end and knocked the 3 times defending champions out of the 2011 World Cup. Reflect on that statement once again. It is a huge achievement that must be applauded and savored for a while. Australia had not lost even one match in World Cups since some time in the league phase of the 1999 WC, and now they lost 2 in 2 and crashed out of the 2011 WC in the quarter finals itself. Lets look at some aspects of the game in detail.
Indian bowling
India, in retrospect, made a very good move by bringing in Raina in place of Pathan. I had mentioned in my preview that I was ok with Raina playing, but I was not sure he was definitely needed for this game. The Ahmedabad pitch was perfect for Raina and he took full advantage of that and played very well to see India through along with Yuvraj.
I was surprised that everyone from the commentators to the captains were suggesting that India should bat first if they won the toss. Luckily for everyone, that decision was taken out of Dhoni's hands with Ponting winning the toss and batting first. It worked for India in the end and I was proved right.
The bowlers used the conditions very well to keep Australia to a chaseable score of 260. I was impressed by the fielding and Dhoni's captaincy in the first half of this game. The fielders in the inner-ring were placed close to prevent easy singles and exerted pressure on Australia. The choice of fielders was very good as well. Dhoni had his good fielders - Virat, Raina, Yuvi - in the circle saving one for the most part. The bowlers also bowled to their field and did not give too many freebies to the batsmen with loose bowling. All bowlers except Munaf bowled well. Munaf, like I said in my tournament preview, was quite predictable with his line and length and the Aussie batsmen correctly identified him as the weak link and went after him successfully. Zak bowled very well as usual and Ashwin supported him nicely up front and also did his job in the middle and at the end. Harbhajan bowled well without looking as threatening as he did against SA, and Yuvraj came back well after Ponting went after him in his first couple of overs. Yuvi once again proved his worth with the ball by picking up 2 crucial wickets and he also kept the run rate in check.
Other than Ponting, none of the other Aussie batsmen looked to bat through the overs and got out at wrong times, some of them to bad shots. One other aspect of Dhoni's captaincy that impressed me was his bowling changes. He kept trying different things, like bringing Sachin to bowl, which is a rarity these days, and giving Virat one over. What the multiple, sudden changes does, is throw the opposition off their plan and make them think as well. It was good to see Dhoni think a lot about his bowling resources and making all those frequent changes.
Indian batting
The first good thing about the chase was that India did not give early wickets to the Aussies. When defending a par score, the opposition always counts on getting early wickets and thereby, exerting pressure on the batting side. This did not happen. So even though the opening partnership was not a huge one, it was important because it denied the Aussies an early breakthrough. Also, by that time, the openers had seen off the opening spells of Lee and Tait, two of the Aussies' most potent weapons with the ball, and forced Ponting to think.
Sehwag got out to the short ball again, but Sachin played very well. He gauged the conditions perfectly and played percentage cricket. He looked good for a century, but fell once again nicking to the keeper. Again, Sachin's was not a huge contribution, but an important one because it gave confidence to the others till he was around that the total could be chased. In fact, that was the theme of this chase. No major huge innings, but nice cameos that contributed to the overall cause. It was a collective effort with the bat, and that was heartening to see. Usually, when India wins while chasing, we are used to seeing one huge innings and a few smaller ones. This time, almost everyone contributed and India won, the kind of batting we are used to seeing from South Africa or the New Zealand teams from the 1990s.
Gautam played his part, but for no reason, suddenly became very jittery and his body language changed in the period before he got out. Virat once again got out playing a bad shot, for the second game in succession. Hopefully, he learns from his mistakes and does not repeat this in the semi-final. Today, Yuvraj was looking like the Yuvi of old, confident and purposeful and determined to see the chase to the end. After Dhoni flopped yet again, Raina played well and justified his worth and selection. Like I had mentioned in the preview, Australia were hurt by the lack of penetration in their spin bowling and the 5th bowler. Also, Tait had an off-day like I had predicted. In the end, 260 was chased down with some comfort, which should give a lot of confidence to the batsmen, who were in need of such a game after repeatedly giving it away in the earlier games.
India ticked off most of the boxes in the match today. There are 2 obvious concerns at the moment -Munaf's predictability with the ball and Dhoni's horrible form with the bat. One other concern is the panic that seems to set in in the middle overs while batting. This Indian team used to chase down totals in the range of 280-290 without too much trouble, not too long ago. What happened to that team ? Hopefully, even after today's panicky batting in the middle overs, India would have gained some confidence from the end result and can translate that into a cool, measured approach with the bat in the semi-finals.
So lets enjoy this great victory and as India fans, lets unwind from today's game by watching/following the next 2 QFs which are tension-free for us. My next post will be a preview before the semi-final against Pak.
Lets hear your thoughts now. We have almost one week before the SF, so lets discuss and celebrate this.
Cheers.
What a match we had once again !! The situation got really tense for India and us fans, but I am absolutely delighted that India won in the end and knocked the 3 times defending champions out of the 2011 World Cup. Reflect on that statement once again. It is a huge achievement that must be applauded and savored for a while. Australia had not lost even one match in World Cups since some time in the league phase of the 1999 WC, and now they lost 2 in 2 and crashed out of the 2011 WC in the quarter finals itself. Lets look at some aspects of the game in detail.
Indian bowling
India, in retrospect, made a very good move by bringing in Raina in place of Pathan. I had mentioned in my preview that I was ok with Raina playing, but I was not sure he was definitely needed for this game. The Ahmedabad pitch was perfect for Raina and he took full advantage of that and played very well to see India through along with Yuvraj.
I was surprised that everyone from the commentators to the captains were suggesting that India should bat first if they won the toss. Luckily for everyone, that decision was taken out of Dhoni's hands with Ponting winning the toss and batting first. It worked for India in the end and I was proved right.
The bowlers used the conditions very well to keep Australia to a chaseable score of 260. I was impressed by the fielding and Dhoni's captaincy in the first half of this game. The fielders in the inner-ring were placed close to prevent easy singles and exerted pressure on Australia. The choice of fielders was very good as well. Dhoni had his good fielders - Virat, Raina, Yuvi - in the circle saving one for the most part. The bowlers also bowled to their field and did not give too many freebies to the batsmen with loose bowling. All bowlers except Munaf bowled well. Munaf, like I said in my tournament preview, was quite predictable with his line and length and the Aussie batsmen correctly identified him as the weak link and went after him successfully. Zak bowled very well as usual and Ashwin supported him nicely up front and also did his job in the middle and at the end. Harbhajan bowled well without looking as threatening as he did against SA, and Yuvraj came back well after Ponting went after him in his first couple of overs. Yuvi once again proved his worth with the ball by picking up 2 crucial wickets and he also kept the run rate in check.
Other than Ponting, none of the other Aussie batsmen looked to bat through the overs and got out at wrong times, some of them to bad shots. One other aspect of Dhoni's captaincy that impressed me was his bowling changes. He kept trying different things, like bringing Sachin to bowl, which is a rarity these days, and giving Virat one over. What the multiple, sudden changes does, is throw the opposition off their plan and make them think as well. It was good to see Dhoni think a lot about his bowling resources and making all those frequent changes.
Indian batting
The first good thing about the chase was that India did not give early wickets to the Aussies. When defending a par score, the opposition always counts on getting early wickets and thereby, exerting pressure on the batting side. This did not happen. So even though the opening partnership was not a huge one, it was important because it denied the Aussies an early breakthrough. Also, by that time, the openers had seen off the opening spells of Lee and Tait, two of the Aussies' most potent weapons with the ball, and forced Ponting to think.
Sehwag got out to the short ball again, but Sachin played very well. He gauged the conditions perfectly and played percentage cricket. He looked good for a century, but fell once again nicking to the keeper. Again, Sachin's was not a huge contribution, but an important one because it gave confidence to the others till he was around that the total could be chased. In fact, that was the theme of this chase. No major huge innings, but nice cameos that contributed to the overall cause. It was a collective effort with the bat, and that was heartening to see. Usually, when India wins while chasing, we are used to seeing one huge innings and a few smaller ones. This time, almost everyone contributed and India won, the kind of batting we are used to seeing from South Africa or the New Zealand teams from the 1990s.
Gautam played his part, but for no reason, suddenly became very jittery and his body language changed in the period before he got out. Virat once again got out playing a bad shot, for the second game in succession. Hopefully, he learns from his mistakes and does not repeat this in the semi-final. Today, Yuvraj was looking like the Yuvi of old, confident and purposeful and determined to see the chase to the end. After Dhoni flopped yet again, Raina played well and justified his worth and selection. Like I had mentioned in the preview, Australia were hurt by the lack of penetration in their spin bowling and the 5th bowler. Also, Tait had an off-day like I had predicted. In the end, 260 was chased down with some comfort, which should give a lot of confidence to the batsmen, who were in need of such a game after repeatedly giving it away in the earlier games.
India ticked off most of the boxes in the match today. There are 2 obvious concerns at the moment -Munaf's predictability with the ball and Dhoni's horrible form with the bat. One other concern is the panic that seems to set in in the middle overs while batting. This Indian team used to chase down totals in the range of 280-290 without too much trouble, not too long ago. What happened to that team ? Hopefully, even after today's panicky batting in the middle overs, India would have gained some confidence from the end result and can translate that into a cool, measured approach with the bat in the semi-finals.
So lets enjoy this great victory and as India fans, lets unwind from today's game by watching/following the next 2 QFs which are tension-free for us. My next post will be a preview before the semi-final against Pak.
Lets hear your thoughts now. We have almost one week before the SF, so lets discuss and celebrate this.
Cheers.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Preview of India-Australia QF
Hello friends,
Right. We are now in the quarter-finals stage of the World Cup and the top 8 teams have made it through the initial rounds to the business end of the tournament. The one thing about this World Cup that stands out is, all the teams are beatable on the day and there are no clear favorites going into the knock-out stage. For a cricket fan, this is great news because we can now look forward to 7 good, competitive games of cricket where either of the two teams competing on the day, can win and knock out the other team. Lets look at the India-Australia game in some detail.
Indian team selection
Ashwin will be a definite starter in the line-up, so the strategy will most likely be, 2 pacers and 2 spinners. Regarding the batting, someone suggested that Gautam Gambhir can be dropped in order to bring in Raina. I have no problems if Raina is accomodated in place of Gambhir or even Pathan. Anyway, Dhoni has not been using Pathan properly and that means, his effectiveness is reduced considerably. Besides, we have Harbhajan and Ashwin to provide off-spin, besides Raina. So Yusuf is not needed for his off-spin. Bottom line is, if we go with the thought that Raina should play, it makes little difference if Gambhir or Yusuf are dropped for him. In fact, I am inclined to think that Dhoni may drop Yusuf in that case and retain Gambhir. I am also ok with India retaining their original eleven and keeping Raina out. Anyway, Australia have 3 quick pacers, so Raina if he plays, will be severely tested with the short ball that he is obviously uncomfortable playing. So Raina is not a must-have against Australia in my opinion.
Australia team
Their strength is their pace bowling trio of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson. Lee has made a very good comeback to the Aussie side and is bowling very well in the WC so far. Tait is an X-factor in their bowling, he can be a bit expensive, but needs to be watched because he has serious pace and can grab a few quick wickets and put pressure on the Indian batting. Johnson is also capable of taking a few wickets, and equally capable of a having a bad day as he showed so often in the Ashes recently.
The weakness of this Aussie side is the lack of a good spinner who can take wickets in the middle overs. Krejza has been mediocre in the WC so far, but the issue has been masked by the performance of the pace trio. Also, their fifth bowler is a combination of Shane Watson and Steve Smith. They dont look too threatening and are steady at best, and can be milked for 50-60 runs in my opinion. So it is important for India to start well and preserve wickets against the new ball and look to attack the 4th and 5th bowlers.
Another weakness in the Australia team is the lack of explosive batsmen in their line-up. Almost all their batsmen score around at a strike rate of around 80-85. So Indian bowlers should be confident going into this match that their bowling analysis will not take a big beating against this Aussie line-up. Having said that, they are all capable of big hits if Indian bowlers bowl badly and are not to be taken lightly. My point was, the Aussie batsmen look to get set and then score quickly, unlike some batsmen from other teams who hit out from ball one onwards.
Strategy
India should look to field first on winning the toss. Let me explain the reasoning behind this. I agree that it is a quarter-final and one school of thought is, that for knock-out matches in tournaments like the World Cup, it is better to have runs on the board and look to defend that and put pressure on the team batting second. But we have seen several times in this WC that Indian batting loses its way in the end overs when batting first. One reason could be that they dont have a definite target in front of them which they will have while chasing. Once they get to a position of relative strength, they appear to relax a bit in the mind and that leads to embarrassing collapses.
If they bat second, they have a definite target to chase. We have a few batsmen at the top who are capable of battng through the innings, like Sachin, Gambhir, Kohli. If the batsmen have a target in front of them, the chances are higher that someone like Sachin will put his hand up and look to bat through the innings so that the others can play around him and look to keep up with the required run rate.
If we bowl first, the bowlers should look to make use of the slowness of the pitch in the afternoon session and restrict Australia to a reasonable score. Now, what is a reasonable score to chase ? In Ahmedabad, I dont think there is an issue with dew and the pitch too will most likely behave similarly in both sessions. If anything, the ball may come on to the bat a bit better under lights. If this was any other team India was playing, I would have said that 270-280 was a gettable score. But Australia have good quick bowlers who attack and look to take wickets all the time. Also, they are brilliant in the field and will not give an inch. So in my opinion, anything under 250 or maximum 260, is the score India should look to chase if they bat second. Anything more than that will be tough because the Aussies exert so much pressure on the field, either with the fielding or just by talking. So chasing anything more than 260 is going to be a very difficult task in my opinion.
One more point about strategy. Since the Aussie batsmen are not explosive, they will look to exert pressure on the Indian fielders by running quick singles and lots of twos. So the field positions have to be perfect and the fielders in the circle should be placed to actually do that and not deep. India should look to open the bowling with Ashwin again. Zak and Harbhajan should be used with attacking fields and should be allowed to exert pressure on the batsmen by bowling lots of dot balls. Ricky Ponting is a danger man even though he is not batting well in this WC because he is one batsman who can really score quickly once he is set, and India should look to Harbhajan or Ashwin to take him out early.
Prediction
I am not going to stick my neck out by making a prediction for the QFs, SFs and finals. But if India bowl first and keep the Aussie batsmen from taking too many easy singles and twos, they should be able to chase down the total set to them.
Key performers
Again, I am not going to single out one performer for either team. It has to be a collective effort. But both teams will go into the match with the confidence that the other team can be beaten. As a cricket fan, that is all we ask for - somewhat equal teams playing tough cricket at a critical stage in the World Cup in front of a huge crowd.
Lets hope for a great game and ofcourse, an Indian win at the end of it :)
Cheers.
Right. We are now in the quarter-finals stage of the World Cup and the top 8 teams have made it through the initial rounds to the business end of the tournament. The one thing about this World Cup that stands out is, all the teams are beatable on the day and there are no clear favorites going into the knock-out stage. For a cricket fan, this is great news because we can now look forward to 7 good, competitive games of cricket where either of the two teams competing on the day, can win and knock out the other team. Lets look at the India-Australia game in some detail.
Indian team selection
Ashwin will be a definite starter in the line-up, so the strategy will most likely be, 2 pacers and 2 spinners. Regarding the batting, someone suggested that Gautam Gambhir can be dropped in order to bring in Raina. I have no problems if Raina is accomodated in place of Gambhir or even Pathan. Anyway, Dhoni has not been using Pathan properly and that means, his effectiveness is reduced considerably. Besides, we have Harbhajan and Ashwin to provide off-spin, besides Raina. So Yusuf is not needed for his off-spin. Bottom line is, if we go with the thought that Raina should play, it makes little difference if Gambhir or Yusuf are dropped for him. In fact, I am inclined to think that Dhoni may drop Yusuf in that case and retain Gambhir. I am also ok with India retaining their original eleven and keeping Raina out. Anyway, Australia have 3 quick pacers, so Raina if he plays, will be severely tested with the short ball that he is obviously uncomfortable playing. So Raina is not a must-have against Australia in my opinion.
Australia team
Their strength is their pace bowling trio of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson. Lee has made a very good comeback to the Aussie side and is bowling very well in the WC so far. Tait is an X-factor in their bowling, he can be a bit expensive, but needs to be watched because he has serious pace and can grab a few quick wickets and put pressure on the Indian batting. Johnson is also capable of taking a few wickets, and equally capable of a having a bad day as he showed so often in the Ashes recently.
The weakness of this Aussie side is the lack of a good spinner who can take wickets in the middle overs. Krejza has been mediocre in the WC so far, but the issue has been masked by the performance of the pace trio. Also, their fifth bowler is a combination of Shane Watson and Steve Smith. They dont look too threatening and are steady at best, and can be milked for 50-60 runs in my opinion. So it is important for India to start well and preserve wickets against the new ball and look to attack the 4th and 5th bowlers.
Another weakness in the Australia team is the lack of explosive batsmen in their line-up. Almost all their batsmen score around at a strike rate of around 80-85. So Indian bowlers should be confident going into this match that their bowling analysis will not take a big beating against this Aussie line-up. Having said that, they are all capable of big hits if Indian bowlers bowl badly and are not to be taken lightly. My point was, the Aussie batsmen look to get set and then score quickly, unlike some batsmen from other teams who hit out from ball one onwards.
Strategy
India should look to field first on winning the toss. Let me explain the reasoning behind this. I agree that it is a quarter-final and one school of thought is, that for knock-out matches in tournaments like the World Cup, it is better to have runs on the board and look to defend that and put pressure on the team batting second. But we have seen several times in this WC that Indian batting loses its way in the end overs when batting first. One reason could be that they dont have a definite target in front of them which they will have while chasing. Once they get to a position of relative strength, they appear to relax a bit in the mind and that leads to embarrassing collapses.
If they bat second, they have a definite target to chase. We have a few batsmen at the top who are capable of battng through the innings, like Sachin, Gambhir, Kohli. If the batsmen have a target in front of them, the chances are higher that someone like Sachin will put his hand up and look to bat through the innings so that the others can play around him and look to keep up with the required run rate.
If we bowl first, the bowlers should look to make use of the slowness of the pitch in the afternoon session and restrict Australia to a reasonable score. Now, what is a reasonable score to chase ? In Ahmedabad, I dont think there is an issue with dew and the pitch too will most likely behave similarly in both sessions. If anything, the ball may come on to the bat a bit better under lights. If this was any other team India was playing, I would have said that 270-280 was a gettable score. But Australia have good quick bowlers who attack and look to take wickets all the time. Also, they are brilliant in the field and will not give an inch. So in my opinion, anything under 250 or maximum 260, is the score India should look to chase if they bat second. Anything more than that will be tough because the Aussies exert so much pressure on the field, either with the fielding or just by talking. So chasing anything more than 260 is going to be a very difficult task in my opinion.
One more point about strategy. Since the Aussie batsmen are not explosive, they will look to exert pressure on the Indian fielders by running quick singles and lots of twos. So the field positions have to be perfect and the fielders in the circle should be placed to actually do that and not deep. India should look to open the bowling with Ashwin again. Zak and Harbhajan should be used with attacking fields and should be allowed to exert pressure on the batsmen by bowling lots of dot balls. Ricky Ponting is a danger man even though he is not batting well in this WC because he is one batsman who can really score quickly once he is set, and India should look to Harbhajan or Ashwin to take him out early.
Prediction
I am not going to stick my neck out by making a prediction for the QFs, SFs and finals. But if India bowl first and keep the Aussie batsmen from taking too many easy singles and twos, they should be able to chase down the total set to them.
Key performers
Again, I am not going to single out one performer for either team. It has to be a collective effort. But both teams will go into the match with the confidence that the other team can be beaten. As a cricket fan, that is all we ask for - somewhat equal teams playing tough cricket at a critical stage in the World Cup in front of a huge crowd.
Lets hope for a great game and ofcourse, an Indian win at the end of it :)
Cheers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)