India at the 2016 T20 World Cup

Ladies first

This was a golden opportunity squandered by the Indian team to hog some of the limelight at the biggest stage. A good performance at home would certainly have provided a big boost to women's game in India. But being eliminated in the group stages with just one win from 4 games didn't help the sport's cause. 

The team had a good run-up to the tournament. A maiden series win in Australia was followed up with a series victory at home against Sri Lanka. So a semi-final appearance was the bare minimum expectation. However, at the crunch time they came up just short. 

A big victory against Bangladesh was followed by 3 close losses against Pakistan, England and the West Indies. They might have been done in by the rain against Pakistan but they missed multiple run-out chances which might have kept the D/L score in their favor. A dropped chance at the most crucial moment (2 wickets left with 2 runs required) saw England scraping through while against West Indies, the team fell short by 3 runs. All three losses were narrow but the India team finished up second in all three. 

It was similar to the 2013 ODI World Cup held in India, when they lost out in the first round itself. Probably the pressure of playing in the limelight overcame the likes of Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami & Harmanpreet Kaur. Or probably it was just plain bad luck. The Indian ladies team has slipped back. Not long ago they were just outside the Big 3 of Women's cricket (Australia, England & New Zealand). Now, West Indies women (who seem to be going the other direction than the men) have overtaken them in the hierarchy. While the South Africans too are coming close as are the Pakistanis. Their current performance also does not give them a direct entry into the 2017 ODI World Cup (which might be a good thing in the long run, if the team has to go through the qualifiers)

It was a heartening sight though to see the men & women team taking the same ground and cheering on each other. Although they play the same sport, there can't be a bigger gulf in perception across genders in any other sport. 

Now for the men 

Virat Kohli carried them single-handedly into the semi-finals. He had able support from the bowlers (in helpful conditions) and Dhoni but the rest of the line-up never came to play. And at Wankhede, the first batting pitch they encountered the bowling just disintegrated with the honorable exception of Nehraji.

Kohli was a class apart. One can safely say he is the best chaser of all time. During run chases the man provides Dravid's solidity, Sachin's run hunger and  Ganguly's aggression, all in one. And he has VVS’s love for Australian attacks, a love also extended to Pakistani and Sri Lankan ones. 

Then Nehraji - He is picked for the biggest stage on the world cricket after years in wilderness and comes up trumps. A economy rate under 6 across a T20 World Cup, those are unbelievable figures especially for a fast bowler who bowled either in powerplays or at death. Now the question? Will he be mothballed again like after the 2011 World Cup or will he have a longer ride in the near future. 

Dhoni’s sprint to prevent the last ball bye against Bangladesh would be replayed over and over again. And still you would not believe that it happened. However Captain Cool was feeling the pressure of the World Cup. He miscalculated his winning six hit against Pakistan. Add his new form in the press conferences. Something loved by cricket fans but being hated by the journalists. 

In Jasprit Bumrah, we have finally got a bowler who can bowl yorkers at will. Now it remains to be seen if he remains a one-season wonder? (like many an Indian fast bowler over the previous years). 

Yuvraj Singh had a strange world cup. His best contribution came as collapse-breaker, trying to get the innings back on the feet after Dhawan, Rohit & Raina had derailed it. And yet most of the time it seemed he was just playing on past reputation. 

As for the others, they all had a World Cup to forget. As a team, the performance wasn't quite up to the mark. The worst part is the team being repeatedly found wanting on spinning tracks. How can Kiwi spinners outperform Indians? However in tight situations the men did come out trumps. 

Catches win Matches. An old cricketing maxim which didn't quite hold true in this World Cup. Sometimes they don’t. e.g. Watson taking Yuvraj’s catch actually benefited India more than Australia. And in the semi-finals against West Indies, if those two catches had not been taken, the no-balls would not have been reviewed and no subsequent free-hits awarded either. 

So what are the lasting images from the 2016 World Cup for Indian fans - the sight of Virat Kohli on his knees after the Australia chase overcome by his own stupendous effort, Dhoni winning the race to the stumps against Bangladesh or simply the the two teams cheering each other .

The World Cup Memories - 2011

Remembering the World Cups gone by is a nice way to fill in the waiting time for the World Cup action to commence. Prior to the previous edition of the World Cup, I had jotted down the memories I had of the earlier World Cups (Click for 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007). And now for the memories of the 2011 edition.

The 2011 World Cup was the first one closely followed via social media as well as conventional media. So it was quite common to have the game live on televsion as well as following ball-by-ball commentary on cricinfo while tracking twitter constantly. It was also the first world cup which was followed comprehensively by this blog. Regular match notes and thoughts were posted. Hence I have quite a big bank of memories from this edition.

First up is obviously the winning moment. Dhoni blasting a six as the whole of India erupted. The Cup had been won back after 28 years. Also lots of memories of the celebrations which followed. The whole team jumping up and down, many in tears, the players doing a victory lap with the support staff walking behind them arm in arm. 

It was also a World Cup of quotes, especially from the Indians. Sehwag started it with wanting to bat for 50 overs, a mission he wasn't able to fulfill, he also declared that everyone except Sreesanth had a good game, Zaheer Khan asserting that as a bowling unit , he was doing well and finally Virat Kohli after the final stating that Tendulkar had carried them for years and now it was the team's turn.

Then there was Entertaining England. Every single game of theirs was a close one. In the group stages they lost to Ireland and Bangladesh while tying with India and beating South Africa and West Indies. There scripts were written elsewhere as they lit up an otherwise drab group stage.

The biggest game wasn't the final, it was the semi-final when India took on Pakistan. Our then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh invited his Pakistani counterpart and they watched the game together. The Sri Lankan President also jumped into cricket diplomacy mode and invited his Kiwi counterpart for the other semi-final. But the long distances curtailed this cricketing diplomacy.

And on the cricketing front, there was Yuvraj Singh's all-round show, Ross Taylor's slog overs blast against Pakistan, Kevin O'Brien's stunning six after six against England (which was later transformed into a a book), Zaheer Khan's knuckle balls which swung many a match India's way, Bangladesh self-imploding while West Indies team bus got stoned being mistaken for the Bangladeshi bus. Australia's winning streak coming to an end and finally South Africa choking again.

And finally the Bleed Blue campaign. We were the World Champions. And it was a sense of collective and pure joy which hasn't been felt since.

Now over to the 2015 edition and lets see what memories it will have in store for us.

IPL7: Notes #1

The 7th edition of the Indian Premier League has commenced outside India, in an area which is

• known for being the hub of many fixing activities
• and the global headquarters of ICC
• and the current "home-ground" for a country whose players are not picked for playing in the tournament.

1st round of games have taken place. Nothing much to read on the cricketing front given the very narrow sample size currently available. Hence not making any comments on any of the team performances, yet. However special mentions for 

• Glenn Maxwell, living upto the million dollar hype
• Yuvraj Singh, for shrugging off those cricket fans idiots who threw stones at his house after the World T20 final, and
• little Parthiv Patel, for dispatching the ball into orbit

Now for the main agenda items. Something very weird is going on with the coverage here. The rights are with Sony who earlier used to telecast it on Max. Then they launched a dedicated sports channel Sony Six. Also someone realized that having Hindi commentary would reach out to a far bigger audience. So till last year Max had English commentary and newly launched Six had Hindi. This time they have inter-changed it. Any particular reason? Can't be just to increase viewership for Six because that would definitely happen come June-July with the Football World Cup. 

Also Star Sports has well and truly ambushed the telecast. Paid live telecast and free "5 minute delayed" telecast are available online on starsports.com . Also includes lots of marketing for the Star group. This has to be the heights of ambush marketing. Sony having to telecast Star Sports logo.

However the weirdest coverage is by cricinfo. They have stopped calling it the IPL all together. All coverage is of the Indian T20 league with the teams beings referred not by their name but as Jaipur T20 or Bangalore T20 etc. Now BCCI and online text commentary sites have been at loggerheads for quite sometime but this is weird. Also does it have anything to do with the Star Sports  and ESPN split? After all cricinfo is owned by ESPN.

Random Notes

• Where did these cheerleaders arrive from? Weren't they supposed to be banned or is the ban applicable only in matches held in India?
• There is now a camera on the cap of the umpire? How much more scrutiny are we going to subject the poor umpires to?

T20 World Cup - 2012 Review

Apparently a T20 Champions League is currently underway in South Africa. Quite a misnomer given that some of the Champion teams had to play in the qualifying while a 4th place finish gets a direct entry for some one else. BCCI be a little less greedy. Get 4 IPL teams but restrict direct entry to only two.

Also this is a perfect example of cricket overdose, coming as it does close on the heels of the T20 World Cup. I have hardly been following the Champions league. And am sure there are many other ardent fans who are also suffering from this excess.

Now for the main agenda for this post. Here are some thoughts on the T20 World Cup with a little focus on the Indian performance.

West Indies winning was liked all around. They certainly brought joy to all the cricket followers  through the "Gangnam style" cricket. But will this mark a turnaround in their fortunes. I don't think so,  given that most of the current West Indies lot is more interested in performing in one T20 league or the other across the world. Will the likes of Pollard, Gayle, Bravo, Sunil Naraine show the same commitment when matches of West Indies clash with the Big Bash or IPL etc?

Sri Lanka again lost in a major final (4th in last 5 years). But they have certainly been the most consistent of all teams in the limited overs format.

There was a strategic decision by Mahela Jayawardene to handover the captaincy to Kumara Sangakkara to avoid getting a ban. A move which raised a few eyebrows about the slow over-rate rule. Tony Grieg, the Cheerleader-in-chief of Sri Lanka went all gungho hailing this "tactical" move by the Sri Lankan team management. I don't have any issue as all this was not illegal. But what about the "Spirit of Cricket" nonsense which Mr. Grieg had harped on about earlier this year at the MCC lecture. In my opinion, Mr. Greig if this is not hypocrisy, then I wonder what is?

Shane Watson was a deserving Man of the Series. One player who certainly owes a lot to the IPL

A pattern has been observed in the tournament winners. They generally have very bad starts to the tournament. In fact, 3 of them have gone on to win the tournament without even a single win in the first phase. Here are the opening round performances of the 4 winners

• 2007 - India - 1 No result, 1 Tie (win in bowl-out)
• 2009 - Pakistan - 1 loss, 1 win 
• 2010 - England - 1 Loss, 1 No Result 
• 2012 - West Indies - 1 Loss, 1 No Result

ICC needs to review the necessity of a Super Over in League stages. Use it in the knock-outs, but why is required at all in a League game? A tie is after all a perfectly acceptable result in any league format across sports.

England, I am worried about you. If you could make Piyush Chawla look like Shane Warne, then a 4-nil thrashing is in the offing in India. Have to admit that the better players of spin (Pietersen, Cook, Trott, Bell)weren't in the squad. Which begs the question, why weren't they there?

Now for India. The team doesn't give the feeling of a team at all. A few thoughts on the Indian performance.

• Batting has become Virat Kohli + support. Only if, just in case, Kohli might have an off day (an increasingly rare occurence), the batting collapses completely. 
• There were some very strange team selections. The presence of Piyush Chawla, absence of Umesh Yadav/Praveen Kumar. Manoj Tiwary being forever benched. Rohit Sharma getting game after game. Irfan Pathan opening when there are 6 other specialist batsmen waiting in the dug-out. Quite logic defying.
• One highlight was the return to fitness, though not complete form of Yuvraj Singh. His return from cancer is certainly more than just cricket.
• Dhoni is looking weary. Its said captains have a shelf life. He seems to be at the end of his. All this non-stop cricket is certainly taking a toll. But no replacement seems to be ready to take over the mantle from him.
• Yet insite of all this, India did win 4 out of the 5 games they played. So there is hope.
• And yes, we continue our DOMINANCE over Pakistan in the World Cups (:D)

So these were my thoughts on the Gangnam style World Cup.

P.S. More than the Champions League, what I have been following is the ongoing Duleep Trophy. To be covered in the next post.

Its time for a change

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman

3 Absolute Legends of the game

Forming the most formidable batting trio in the history of Test cricket, Statistically. 

Some 35 thousand odd runs, nearly 450 tests, over 100 Test centuries between them. There is no doubting these numbers. These have been built over years, across all sorts of conditions and match circumstances. Together or as individuals they have given us some of our most cherished victories in the past decade and a half. The current Australia tour was to be the Final Frontier for them. But like Steve Waugh's India dream, this also remains unfulfilled.

Since the World Cup win India's test performances have moved from one disaster to another. The batting has been a total disaster. 17 innings without a score above 300. Whatever be the conditions certainly does not bode well for a team which went to No. 1 Test ranking based on its batting might. And the results have shown. 1-nil victory in 3 Tests against West Indies, 4-nil hammering in England (all matches lost by huge margins) and now seemingly halfway to another 4-nil hammering in Australia. 

Last 4 overseas Tests have resulted in 3 innings defeats. If nothing else this statistic alone calls for a large scale change in the personnel. And provides a golden opportunity to build the team for the future and the present as well.

The time is apt now for Indian cricket and its fans to thank Dravid, Tendulkar & Laxman for the services they had rendered and bid them farewell. The newcomers would have a nice opportunity to begin afresh without any baggage. With no further overseas tour planned for some time, it also would allow the batting lineup to settle down. And frankly speaking the newcomers cant do much worse than this. Rahane, Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Kohli, Manish Pandey and even Badrinath, Raina and Yuvraj are all waiting in the wings. 

The golden oldies can take a leaf out of Sourav Ganguly's book and retire on their own accord rather than being dropped. And if they don't the selectors should not wait any more. The time is set to move on. The selectors have shown in the past that they can take some big decisions, e.g. bringing in Murali Vijay (who initially did quite a good job) as replacement for Gambhir rather than going back to Jaffer or Akash Chopra.  Or when Pujara was brought in ahead of Yuvraj. 

Certainly this is not going to be an easy task. To give an idea of how hard the task is going to be I can give this illustration  

After the first innings in Sydney I had put this idea on Facebook. Immediately a few outraged comments  arrived. "Sachin ko rehne do yaar"... "I dont see next generation performing either"... "Sachin & next gen will retire at the same time"  were some of the comments which were made to this post.

The idea might seem outrageous. After all, Dravid was the highest run-getter in 2011, VVS won so many matches through his 4th innings specials and Sachin is "God". But the results of last one year show only one way forward. Tough decisions are required. The selectors may face lots of flak if they do take the decision to drop the trio but it would certainly be good for the team. 

And can the replacements perform? Well I don't know but Harbhajan Singh, the highest active wicket-taker in test cricket has been replaced very easily by Ashwin. So we won't find out till we try them out.

Team India, this is the time to move on.

P.S. The current England team took the major step towards becoming the top ranked Test team when they blooded in Trott ahead of growing calls to recall Ramprakash or Trescothick for the Ashes decider in 2009. Certainly some valuable lessons are in there.

We Are the Champions of the World

With the Cup that Counts

We did it. We won the World Cup. And as Queen would have said - "We are the champions my friend! We shall be fighting until the end. We are the champions. We are the champions of the World!"

I don't even know how to begin this post. I guess just sticking to my usual to the random thoughts as they come up to mind.

• Before the match I had 3 wishes - India to win, SRT to get the 100th & Murali to sign off with a wicket off his last international ball. Only the first one happened (And thats all was required)
• Most members of the Indian team said they wanted to win the cup for Sachin. And they did it. I guess Virat Kohli summed it up best when he said, "Sachin has carried the nation for 21 years, so he deserves to be carried around".
• Dhoni led from the front. Saved his best for the last. And sealed the victory with a straight six. The leader everyone wants, and not just for a sporting team.
• Last time the India played the World Cup at home it ended in Vinod Kambli's tears. This time around it also ended in tears but of a different note. The one of happiness.
• Zaheer Khan's second world cup final ended the way the first one had begun. But this one started brilliantly though.
• Mahela Jayawardene became the first man to be part of the losing side after scoring a century in the final. Still this was one of the great innings of the tournament (though later got eclipsed by the efforts of Gambhir & Dhoni). The innings also provided a nice little family scene with his wife imploring him to bat on after he had reached his half-century.
• Aleem Dar finished with a spotless world cup. Not a single decision reversed. Needless to say why he is the best umpire in the world.
• Simon Taufel finally was able to stand in a World Cup final, because Australia failed to qualify. This must be one weird feeling. Taufel must be the only Australian cricket personality who gets benefited when Australia doesn't perform well.
• Jeff Crowe continued his incompetent ways as a Match referee. Presided over the farcial finish in the 2007 final and then had the toss fiasco at the start of today's final.
• Have to say the run chase was nearly four hours of sheer nervousness which ended in total joy.
• Thanks to Gary Kirsten, for giving us this team. It was a sight to watch the support staff walking arm in arm behind the Indian team and then Kohli & Raina carrying Kirsten around the stadium.
• Farewell to Muttiah Muralitharan, a true legend. 
• Gautam Gambhir top scored in T20 World Cup final and now in the big final also.
• Piyush Chawla & Sreesanth are now in a select group of players to have won the 50 over & the T20 world cup. The full list (all Indians so far) - Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Harbhajan, Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Sreesanth & Chawla 
• Commentary Moment of the Match - Gavaskar & Nasser Hussain discussing the number of bats carried by cricketers. Gavaskar mentioned Sourav Ganguly carrying 10-12 bats. To which Nasser Hussain replied that Ganguly did not carry them himself, somebody else did it for him.
• And in the end, Lets not forget Praveen Kumar, who missed out due to an injury
• The comment of the day - "Anhoni ko honi kar de, honi ko anhoni, ek jagah jab jama ho teeno, Rajni, Ghazini aur Dhoni":D. (Rajnikanth was there, India couldn't have lost)
• Just wondering - What about Poonam Pandey's promise. Her letter to BCCI is certainly interesting.

In the end, a big thanks to the Indian Team, for winning the World Cup for us, the ordinary Indian fans.
And now for the victory pictures (all from cricinfo)

The Victory Moment - Dhoni blazes it away, as Yuvraj celebrates

Thank You - Gary Kirsten

Thank You - Sachin

World Cup - 2nd Quarter-Final: The Victory Moment

Sometimes a picture says it all.

A bit of photoshopping and an image which sums it all up.

P.S. India and Yuvraj won. Australia lost but Ponting certainly had not been beaten.

World Cup Thoughts - March 24th

Its been a couple of hours since the match ended but the sense of euphoria is still preventing any sleep. Was a nervous day but I successfully stayed in front of the TV throughout the Indian chase, thus proving that I can handle some pressure (:P). At work, it was a tense few hours waiting for the match itself to begin. And office itself was caught up in cricket fever. Even the daily "Thought for the Day" mail carried SRT's picture. Now on to the game itself.

• Ricky Ponting has been facing some tough times as a player. Today he played the perfect innings to build the Aussie innings almost single handedly. The perfect World  Cup swansong for Ricky Ponting, the batsman. Didn't like seeing him booed by the crowd though.
• Yuvraj Singh has had his place questioned in the team before the Cup began. Now after his 4th man of the Match winning performance, can anybody raise such a question? Seems to have already booked the Player of the Tournament award for his all round display (no pun intended).
• Watching Raina play the pull shot to Tait & Lee felt real  good. An inspired selection to say the least. Played his part in a calm finish after the madness of Gambhir's runout and Kohli's dismissal.
• Is there anything that Zaheer can't do with the ball now? Mike Hussey is the  latest victim of a Zaheer return spell special.
• We are still one bowler short. And well of course, what has happened to Dhoni's batting?
• And finally to Brett Lee for all the commitment on the field. Can't even imgaine our bowlers dive around in the field like that. Was this the las time we have seen Lee in action on the international stage?

Now, awaiting the semi-final clash in Mohali against Pakistan. Wondering (and hoping) if the government will just declare a national holiday on Wednesday. 

P.S. The first 2 games turned out as per my predictions.

World Cup Thoughts - March 20th

Finally the league matches come to an end. But in the end it can be said that they were not as bad as had been expected. Coming to today's matches.

• Wondering if this is the last time we are seeing Kenya on the big stage. They certainly look on the decline. And the worst of all the Associates which have turned up. Not a single performance can be said to be memorable. Sad state of affairs really.
• Goodbye to Steve Tikolo. One of the greatest batsman from an Associate country. This was a World cup too many for him. But he had a long and good innings.
• Unlike Kenya, Zimbabwe seem to be back on track. They are returning to Tests later this year. Won comfortably against Canada & Kenya and lost easily to the big boys.
• A Test series between Zimbabwe and Ireland would be an interesting idea. Would give Ireland test status and help Zimbabwe ease back into playing Test cricket. But I am sure ICC would have none of such "progressive thinking".
• Zaheer Khan after the West Indies game said: "As a bowling unit, I think I am doing well". Was probably unintentional but said the truth about the state of the Indian bowling. A one man bowling attack, with support in the form of Yuvraj Singh. And this team might go on to win the World Cup.
• India collapsed again at the end (though as Dhoni said 51/7 is certainly an improvement from 29/9). But West Indies out-collapsed them.
• Darren Bravo definitely reminds of a certain Brian Charles Lara. Should achieve great things.
• Sachin Tendulkar walked off today though the umpire had signaled not out (Aside, Should that be considered as dissent?). Ricky Ponting yesterday did not walk off though he knew he had nicked it and waited for the review. Both right in their own regard. But nothing can stop us Indians gloating and taking the moral high ground.
• West Indies have a selection headache in picking between in-form Roach and Rampaul. On the other hand, India have to pick between out-of-form Nehra and Munaf. Unfair.
• All Quater-finals lined up. Now over to the business end of the tournament. 

World Cup Thoughts - March 9th

It was an India match day, so a post has to come. Missed most of the game due to being at work. Only saw the end bits. Here are the thoughts for the day.

• First, Piyush Chawla - From the reactions on the internet, he is fast replacing Ravindra Jadeja as the most abused Indian cricketer.
• It seems to be a new strategy. Zaheer opens the innings, the other pacer opens from the other and after one over Yusuf starts over. Not a bad move given that except Praveen Kumar (and he is not playing), the other Indian pacers seem to prefer bowling with the older ball.
• 4 in 4 for Sehwag. 4th innings in the World Cup and he starts with a boundary of the first ball. Thats a nice little habit to have. Had read somewhere that Sir Jack Hobbs (the greatest run accumulator in 1st Class cricket) liked to take a single off the first ball he faced. So Sehwag should be doing well.
• Yuvraj Singh had another good day in the office. But the rest of the team seemed to be taking it easy. Still the Seven Samurai managed to get the job done in the end.
• I thought India had made it to the Quarters by now. But it seems I was wrong. There is an odd chance that we have not. If WI beat Eng, Eng beat Ban, WI beat Ind, Ire beat WI, SA beat Ind, Ire beat SA, SA beat Ban & Ire beat Neth, Ind could still miss out. (Source - @espncricinfo)
• And to end with some new titles for Kamran Akmal - Here is what he has been described as by the master of Awesome cricket writing Andy Zaltzman -  the Maharajah of Missed Chances, the Don Corleone of Dropped Catches, the Earl of Err, the Pharaoh of Fumble, Lance Corporal Granite Hands