World Cup 2011 - Pressure is key for Indians

The prediction game has started from many ex-players on the teams who are favorites to win the World Cup 2011:

• Duncan Fletcher mentions India, England and South Africa as the favorites
• Bishen Bedi adds Australia to the list of India, England and South Africa to watch out for 
• Brian Lara has the same predictions as Bishen Bedi
• Kapil Dev thinks India, Sri Lanka, England have a good chance
• Peter Kirsten also considers India, Sri Lanka and England other than Australia as favorites
• Viv Richards thinks India is a favorite for the home win
• Arjuna Ranatunga favors his team Sri Lanka only.
• Imran Khan also considers India as the favorites
• Geoff Boycott - India, England and Sri Lanka are his contenders

No wonder, the Indian team members must ensure that they dont feel the pressure of these players as well as the billion followers within and outside the country. This is where Paddy Upton and his team will come in handy - they will have to keep the Indian team free from all such pressures.

Yusuf Pathan thus has his thoughts about pressure on the right direction. Sourav Ganguly suggests that the team should free their mind and then everything else will fall in place.

Related articles

• World Cup 2011 - Sachin Tendulkar's sixth sojourn (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• World Cup 2011 - Will India better 2007 performance? (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

There is a world outside England, Ted

I have enjoyed the writing of Ted Corbett, senior English writer, in the cricketing field for quite a while now. His humor is very evident in the articles he writes for Sportstar, almost every week when the English cricket team is playing. Maybe he took his humor a bit too much in his recent article

Kevin Pietersen is now the most intimidating cricketer in the world. There is no one else, since Brian Lara laid down his bat for the last time, who can destroy an attack, reduce the morale of a team to zero and boost his side's run rate so much that the bowlers have all the time they need to complete victory

Ted, agreed that England won the second test match against Australia very convincingly and KP played a major role in the victory. But, to hail him as the most intimidating cricketer in the world? Please. And why Brian Lara? Because he scored those record-breaking triple centuries against your team? You might have apologised to Sachin Tendulkar & Ricky Ponting (and Kumar Sangakkara) in your article but havent you heard of the exploits of a Virender Sehwag, if not Sachin or Ricky?

There is no one else, since Brian Lara laid down his bat for the last time, who can destroy an attack, reduce the morale of a team to zero and boost his side's run rate so much that the bowlers have all the time they need to complete victory.

If this statement was given as a Quiz question to any contestant, the first name that appears to everyone will be the Nawab of Najafgarh, not the English recruit from South Africa.

Related articles

• Brian Lara in praise of Sachin (topinews.com)
• Warne: England have treated Kevin Pietersen like an outcast (ashesupdates.wordpress.com)
• Mitchell Johnson brands Kevin Pietersen a 'smart-arse' (independent.co.uk)

Batsmen with more than 9000 runs

Thanks to the information available on Cricinfo website and Google's gadgets, I could create a gadget that shows the way each of the Great batsmen reached 9000 runs and beyond. Finally, there is just one person who stays on the chart - no points for guessing who - SACHIN TENDULKAR!!!



Feel free to try out various options on the chart and see how the comparison works.

The best way is to see the #Innings, Alphabetic order of batsmen, Average on each of the three axis - this is a good way to see who was faster to the milestones.

Updated the chart for players till matches held until 10th August 2010