T20 World Cup - upset win by NewZealand

Image Courtesy:espncricinfo.com

One of the favorites, India, had their unbeaten streak in recent days brought to a halt, by NewZealand in an upset win. The Indian bowlers did well to contain the BlackCaps  but the batsmen fell against the unfancied NZ spinners.The batsmen have to lift up their game before the next matches if India has to qualify for the next round.

T20 World Cup - is India interested?

We all know that the IPL came into our lives after the Indians won the T20 World Cup. But, are we really interested about it? I dont think so. The players are looking forward to the IPL that comes after the World T20 is finished - hopefully, the ICC should take note of this and do adequate changes to the schedule.

What about the Indian team's chances? They did not choose the team that I wanted to be selected :( Never mind, does not happen most of the time. But, let us do the analysis of the team selected and see what can be achieved.

The team selected is

1. MS Dhoni (C), 
2. Shikhar Dhawan, 
3. Rohit Sharma, 
4. Virat Kohli, 
5. Suresh Raina, 
6. Yuvraj Singh, 
7. Ajinkya Rahane, 
8. Ravindra Jadeja, 
9. R Ashwin, 
10. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 
11. Mohammad Shami, 
12. Stuart Binny, 
13. Amit Mishra, 
14. Mohit Sharma,
15. Varun Aaron.

The first four select themselves and among numbers 5,6 and 7 two will be selected - Yuvraj and Raina will be given the preference because of their experience. Jadeja, Ashwin and Amit Mishra will play, thanks to their successes at Asia Cup together (and the fact that matches will be played on similar pitches). For the remaining two slots, Bhuvi has alone the experience of playing international T20 (only one among the pace bowlers). Whether Shami will be picked up again or Mohit Sharma be preferred (another CSK player) remains to be seen.

Binny, Aaron and Rahane might complete the trip without getting any match but this experience will help them in the future :)

T20 World Cup - Has Club Cricket won over the crowd?

India won four of the five matches they played in the tournament !
India also took all the ten wickets of their opponent in four matches !!
Three of the top Five bowlers with the best average in the World Cup are Indians
After Chris Gayle and Shane Watson, the person with the highest number of fifties is Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli also stands sixth in the number of runs scored in the World Cup.

Definitely looks good on paper, right? Yes. But what was the outcome? Nothing different from the previous editions - an exit from the Super Eight stage itself.

Why does the Indian team always deliver such an ordinary performance at the T20 World Cup (after their initial win)? Just look at the same set of players who will appear in the forthcoming Champions League in South Africa and look at the body language! You will know the difference.

T20 as a national game has lost its interest within India especially, thanks to the numerous leagues around the world. Thanks to the ICC ruling, countries play 1-2 national T20's and hence there is no purpose in these games from the players perspective. Hence, you see countries like Australia use this forum as a platform to try out their newcomers (and in the case of George Bailey, a new captain)!

There is no wonder that the favourite for the World Cup and one of the finalists is West Indies. Why is not such a surprise? The team is not from one country - it is made of a combination of island countries (a replica of the type of teams you would see in IPL!) It will not shock anyone if they go on to win the title!

This is also possibly the reason why the crowds stay away from the World Cups while they will throng the stadiums in CLT20! The crowd is able to relate better to the IPL and Big Bash teams rather than their national teams in T20 especially. This is very much synonymous to the football leagues all over the world, especially in the European regions. You can talk to any football lover and he will tell you that he is an Arsenal fan rather than a fan of England. Of course, when the World Cup or the Euro Cup come, they are fanatic followers of their country.

From the players perspective also, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard have clearly stated their interest where their intentions to participate lie in. It is an open fact that players like to have the financial cushion in their short careers and this can be possible (especially for players from cash-strapped cricketing boards) in IPL or Big Bash alone!

Hence, the cricketing circus has reached its maturity level (though not to the scale of football obviously because of the limited reach) in T20 cricket. Now, the next step for ICC is to take it around the world for the non-Commonwealth countries to follow it more closely. Maybe they need an Ecclestone to take them to the higher level!

World T20 championship - Indian team announced

The probables have been announced for the T20 World championship by the Indian selectors today.

Let us see how the players stack up

• Wicket-keepers - MS Dhoni, Naman Ojha, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa. MSD will play for sure and Robin can be the replacement if need be. Will the selectors take this decision?
• Openers - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Mandeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan. Sehwag, Gambhir, Rahane will be the players to be selected - based on injuries or great loss of form, others can sneak in.
• Middle-order - Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina,Manoj Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh, Ambati Rayudu. Based on Yuvraj's recovery, either he or Tiwary to miss out along with Rayudu. Rohit and Raina will get more chances to play alongside Virat Kohli.
• Spinners - R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Rahul Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh. It is very clear that Piyush and Harbhajan will not make the cut from this team. Again, based on the performances of the others during the SriLanka series, the final decision will be done.
• Pacers - Umesh Yadav, Ashok Dinda, Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, L Balaji. Zaheer, Umesh and Vinay Kumar will be the first choice but once again the final say will be based on form and fitness.
• All-rounders - Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja. One of these three will be selected - which one? Looks like Irfan has taken the lead but others cannot be discounted.

My final fifteen for the T20 World Cup

Dhoni, Sehwag, Gambhir, Rahane, Kohli, Raina, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary (or Yuvraj), Ashwin, Ojha, Rahul Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Irfan Pathan.

ICC's new move on international cricket - what could have been?

The ICC has completely redrawn the landscape of international cricket few days back - a test championship among many things.

The Future Tours Programme (FTP) will now comprise a Test league running over four years with the top four teams at the end of each period qualifying for a play-off event. The first play-off is scheduled for 2013, the same year England are due to host the Ashes, and Lord's is the favoured venue for the final.

Four years seems to be a long period for the test league - let us consider a scenario of the current Indian test team - they are No.1 and might continue for the next 2 years but in the last 2 years of the league, due to the retirements of the legends, the performance of the team might deteriorate drastically. But, because of their initial performances, they will still qualify for the play-off event. A league cycle of 2 years would be of the right time to give a proper perspective to the League. To do this, I would suggest having a 2-tier system that contains 5 teams each. The top-5 will be part of the 1st tier and play between each other, home and away. Each test series should be a minimum of 3 tests (Ashes usually will have 5 and India-Australia typically has 4) with the UDRS system a mandatory use in the tests. Each team will play the other 4 teams in 2 series in the 2 year cycle - a total of 8 series with a probability of 24 to 30 test matches. This can be easily achieved in 2 years considering that a test series (of 3 matches) can be conducted in 4-5 weeks. This will also reduce the probability of multiple series between same countries repeatedly (like India and Sri Lanka recently).

A one-day cricket league - mirroring the existing team rankings - will also be part of the FTP, starting in April 2011 and running over four years to culminate in the crowning of the first ODI league champion in April 2014. The league will run separately from the World Cup, the ICC's flagship event, which has been reduced to 10 teams for the 2015 tournament. 

Why will it run separately from the World Cup? Why is this league required is not known? Already there is a growing criticism around the world about the validity of ODI matches - is this one way that ICC wanted to give more importance to ODIs? Can the ICC not take more power in their hands and ban all tri-series tournaments like the ones played by India and Sri Lanka (who else). Why these tournaments are conducted is also not known (of course the monetary reasons are visible clearly).

The World Twenty20 event will be expanded to 16 teams from the 2012 tournament, due to be staged in Sri Lanka. The success of smaller nations like Netherlands and Afghanistan in Twenty20 cricket prompted the expansion of the tournament, which will continue to have the women's event played alongside it

This is probably a good decision to promote cricket in many countries but care needs to be taken to ensure that there is not a surfeit of these T20 matches. Of course, one has to plan a window of the domestic tournaments like IPL and Champion League matches.


Overall, some good decisions but a lot confusing ones.What is your take on the announcement from ICC?

Related articles

• ICC approves Test championship (cricinfo.com)

India back to Ground Zero

All the euphoria that surrounded the Indian team, after their victorious return from the T20 World Cup, has died down - thanks to the two convincing defeats against the Aussies. So far, the cricketing public seem to have taken it in the right spirit - only because the opponents are the deadly Aussies. They are wishing that the Indians can pull back once or twice, in the remaining matches.

The Australian team have shown why they have been on the top for the last decade or more. Their all-round skills have not diminished even with the induction of new blood and the retirements of the Greats. The newcomers (like Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin) have ensured that the absent players were not missed at all. The other teams in international cricket must be still wondering at the enigma called Australia.

The Indians have done a decent job till the 30-over mark, while bowling. But, once the ball is changed (thanks to a new change in ODIs), the batsmen have taken a liking to the hard ball and tonked it around. Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin are the ones who have been consistently taking runs off the Indian attack (each missing out on one occasion) while Matthew Hayden has made runs at the top of the order. Ricky Ponting and Brad Hodge have not got off to big scores but it is only a matter of time.

The Indian bowlers have not fired jointly - that is probably the only way this run-machine can be stopped. None of the bowlers can have an off-day - a very unlikely proposition - but that is what an Aussie loss, isnt it? Harbhajan came back in the last ODI and will have a new partner (Murali Karthik) for the remaining ODI's. The 3 left-handed bowlers gives the Indian pace attack a single-dimensioned look, which means that Sreesanth has to be given chances even when being costly. Sree has shown that he is learning new tricks (especially at the death) by bowling off and leg breaks to vary the ball speed. The think-tank has taken a good decision to rest RP Singh for few matches - he has been going non-stop right from the English test series.

The others who have been playing continuously are the captain and vice-captain. They must be given chances where they can rest their tired bodies, especially MS Dhoni - for it is a long schedule ahead for the Indian team. The Seniors must be feeling out of place, after being shown how a young outfit can make wonders on the cricketing field. Dilip Vengsarkar has added to their batting miseries by mentioning that they should perform or perish - how short-term is his memory, for the seniors fared quite well during the English ODIs.

The youngsters like Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir, have not been able to show the spark that they did in the T20 World Cup. But, the fielding has definitely shown a major improvement (even with the presence of the slower ones like Ramesh Powar, Sourav Ganguly).

And of course, the current crop of youngsters have shown that they are not behind on the verbal duels also. For once, the Aussies have not been able to cope up with the fact that there is another team which is giving back in equal measure what they excel in. The team management would do well to persist with the younger crop so that they get a continued run as well as some exposure to high-class cricket in the longer version of the ODIs. Even without them, there is a very good possibility of the Aussies winning the series - hence, there is nothing much to lose for the Indians if they let go the youngsters against the champs.

The Indians came back after being down against the South Africans in England to win the series; equaled the series (with 3 straight wins) before going down to the English; won continuous make-or-break matches in the T20 World Cup. Can they do it once again? If they do achieve it, this is certainly the dawn of a new era in Indian cricket. We have the luxury to dream, dont we?

India back home post T20 World Cup

After a well-contested final, the Indians came up on top of the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. As has been mentioned by Dhoni, no expectations from the team lead to a great performance by the youngsters. They had their fair share of luck but that was only expected after the hard work they had put in the field.

The current situation is a pleasant one for the Indian Management to be in - especially when Dilip Vengsarkar had stated that he did not find any quality bench strength in India. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary do have a chance in the other forms of cricket as well. The recent India A matches have shown glimpses of talent that the Management will do well to recognize - YoMahesh, Badrinath, Mohd. Kaif, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel. Some of them have been given a 'D' contract - a good start that was absent for all these years. 33 players have been given contracts - is it because of the ICL threat? MAYBE.

Will there be specialist players in the Twenty20 version? Probably. India, themselves, have Joginder Sharma and Yusuf Pathan, who can be a handful in the shortest version of the game, but would struggle in the 50-over version. There are other examples in other teams who would be really useful in the 20 over game - probably making a name in the 20's version before innovating themselves to earn a place in the 50's version. This is just like the VVS Laxman's and Anil Kumble's of the world, who would play only in the test level. The Indian trio (Sachin, Sourav and Rahul) would definitely not play in the shortest format, thereby leaving slots to be occupied by other players from the bench.

So, where does Twenty20 stand alongside ODI and Test cricket? Obviously, the ICC has mandated that each team should not play more than 7 matches in this format in a year - this means that only the ICC can make a financial killing of this type of cricket. One can see a 'Champions' version of Twenty20 coming out - on the lines of the Champions Trophy in ODI's. Some of the features of Twenty20 are being phased into the ODI format - like the free-hit rule, for example. The Twenty20 can act as an experimental zone where the ICC can try out new rules, before introducing them into the longer version of the game. The teams did not have any problems bowling 20 overs in 75 minutes - which means that 3.5 hours in ODI for one side is probably on the longer side.

One can see that the common viewers already feeling bored, watching a full ODI match - such was the impact of the Twenty20 cricket. The marketing brain behind this concept must have really spent enough time analyzing the behavior pattern of the viewers across ages - to have hit upon the right idea. The Asian Games Committee have already included cricket in its schedule (Twenty20 version) - which is only good for the globalization of the game.

The Indians were back to a rousing reception back home, which prompted some of the Aussies to say that the scenes were probably over-the-top, compared to their own. They are entitled to their opinions, but it was clearly a continuation of the Aussie mind-games, before the beginning of a new series. This also underlined the fact that the Aussies now felt hurt after their loss to the Indians in the Twenty20 World Cup. How will they strike back will be interesting to watch. But one thing is sure - the Indians will not let the Aussies dominate them on the field with their soundbites - the Aussies will get back whatever they have to offer (courtesy Sreesanth and Yuvraj, mainly). The Aussies are missing few of their top players and this might see the playing field getting a bit more even. So, who will win the series between the current ODI and T20 World Champions? It has to be the Aussies, unless Dhoni and team can go on to make an even bigger upset.

India in the Twenty20 World Cup FINALS

Nobody in their wildest dreams would have expected that the finals of the first Twenty20 World Cup would be contested by two teams of the Indian subcontinent (who did not reach the second round in the ODI World Cup)- only proving that this version of the game is more unpredictable than any other. Does it mean that these two teams got into the finals by luck alone? The answer is a definite NO. Both the teams have played well on the critical points, performed consistently and in fact, gone by the basics of ODI cricket. The advertising men have been caught unaware by this pleasant turn of events. They will be working overnight to ensure that they capitalise on the finals at the least. The Indians have got off to a sedate start, not losing many wickets in the initial overs thereby laying the platform for their latter batsmen to capitalise on the later overs - is it any different from how to approach an innings in the ODIs? A look into each of the individual players of the Indian team shows that it is a complete team effort that has taken the Indians to the finals.

Viru Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have given the team decent starts, occupying the initial 4-5 overs with a reasonable start. This is unlike the other teams who have always targeted run-rates of more than 10 at the 5-over mark. They have sized up the pitch very well, giving the "license to kill" to the subsequent players in the squad. Sehwag was expected to do more bowling than he has actually done, but looks like Dhoni's strategy is to assign the 4 overs to his main bowlers alone. The sole over given to Sehwag in the semi-finals proved to be costly (though one has to factor in his thigh strain during the match).

Dinesh Karthick has had his moments of glory on the field - especially his match-turning catch of Greame Smith in the final league match. He has had problems with his batting - getting low scores whenever he has been given a chance. But, his greatest strength has been his cheerfulness, keeping the team together with amazing energy levels and also advicing his captain at all critical junctures.

Robin Uthappa had a memorable match against Pakistan but tapered off during the later matches. He has been getting starts but not able to build on the same. He has the capacity to become a good ODI batsman (to start off with) with his big-hitting capability. He played a responsible innings with Yuvraj Singh against Australia. His fielding has been outstanding, especially his throwing from the deep.

Yuvraj Singh clearly has to be the MVP of the tournament, no matter what happens in the finals. After a slow start, it has been his way during the critical matches (England and Australia). The bowlers have no clue on where to pitch the ball to him, for he has shown the knack of picking the length early and bludgeon them to all parts of the ground. His strokes have been clean hits and not ugly hoicks, for the sake of a slog. He has realized that it would be better off not to bowl in the shorter version and concentrate on his strengths - which would mean TROUBLE for the opposition bowlers.

Rohit Sharma was impressive in his short stints at the crease. He made a fifty against the Proteans with some majestic shots - obviously a player to watch for, in the future. These knocks will definitely boost his morale for future knocks. He has also contributed to the overall improvement of the Indian fielding standards.

Irfan Pathan has made a good comeback, showing the value that he can bring to the team - with his big hits and disciplined swing bowling. Though he has suffered some times at the hands of the marauding batsmen, he has shown a cool head to come back with critical strikes.

Joginder Sharma has improved in confidence, with Dhoni's support and encouragement. Especially, the last over that he bowled against the Australians would have given him a confidence of a five-wicket haul. Limited in ability, he has shown that he can keep a cool head when required. Of course, he has shown that he is a better bet compared to one Ajit Agarkar in this tournament.

RP Singh has been the standout performer in the bowling department, just like Yuvraj Singh in the batting. He has been impressive in the initial bursts as well as at the death. He has been economical as well as taken wickets in this tournament - a deadly combination that can only mean advantageous to the Indian team.

Sreesanth has been erratic for most of the tournament except the semi-finals, where he choked the Australian batsmen (Hayden, in particular). If he retains his consistency, he will be a handful for the opposition batsmen.

Harbhajan Singh has provided breakthroughts regularly during this tournament, which is what his captain would have expected. He has shown that he is enjoying his new-found responsibility of being the senior-most bowler in the team.

MS Dhoni - what can one say about him? His captaincy has been just "cool". He has retained his composure at all times, even when the match looked like going away from the Indians. His bowling changes have been spot on - notice how the last overs each of Sreesanth, Pathan, Harbhajan, Joginder got wickets against Australia, eventually derailing them. He has been instrumental in maintaining a good atmosphere in the dressing room, that has resulted in the team "enjoying" itself during the tournament. His batting has not been as explosive as it can be, but that is only because he has taken over the role that Rahul Dravid typically does - shoring up one end to ensure that the batting does not lose its way. The players also seem to be revelling under his captaincy, the seniors providing their thoughts whenever required, the youngsters exceeding the expectations set about them. He has also shown the ability to provide his players with confidence that has enabled them to succeed - Joginder and Rohit Sharma being the significant examples.

Overall, the Indian team has been playing excellently - just like any champion team has to. It would be of no surprise to anyone if MS Dhoni can repeat what Kapil Dev did in 1983 - win the World Cup. They have tied the first match against Pakistan (winning it eventually by a bowl-out), coming back after posting a reasonable score on the board. They will have do a better job in the finals in all departments to show that they are capable of bigger tasks. Once again, Greg Chappell has been proved right - he once remarked that the Indian Management would do well not to ignore the youngsters in the country - is there any further doubts to anyone now?

Eventful week - Shoaib Akhtar, Twenty20, IPL and Rahul Dravid

The week that went by has been really eventful both for news on the field as well as off it. The most controversial (and humorous) would have to be Shoaib Akhtar's recall from South Africa. The pace bowler seems to be discovering newer ways to get himself into trouble. His colleagues have asked for him to be banned from international cricket. Though, Shoaib has vowed to fight back, it is very difficult what the dressing room environment will be, with the strained relationship between the players involved. The captain and coach are relatively new to their positions and this was one headache they wouldnt have liked to start off with. The only way for Shoaib seems to be, is the ICL - though the ICL organizers must be having their own hesitations to pick him.

Chris Gayle's whirlwind century thrust the Twenty20 World Cup to the cricketing public. This was a fantastic knock by Gayle, though the target was easily achieved thanks to the bad fielding and catching of the Windies. Is the Twenty20 good for the game? Definitely. It will improve the ODI and test matches by a further notch - especially the running, fielding, catching skills. Another important contribution from the Twenty20 arena to the ODIs would be the confidence chasing teams have, even if they have a required run-rate of more than 10, in the last 5-10 overs. Teams successfully chasing 50 runs in 5 overs is commonplace here and this will mean that the teams will take the same confidence when they play ODIs later on. The bowlers will have to resort to bringing in variety in their bowling to escape from the hiding that they will otherwise get, from the batsmen. The batsmen themselves will have to come up with a new range of shots, to increase their chances of getting the boundary.

The India-Pakistan game was a fantastic exhibition for those who think that Twenty20 games are meant only for batsmen. The bowlers did well to take wickets, thus restricting the target. Some lusty hitting by Robin Uthappa, MS Dhoni and tailenders ensured that the Indians gave a fighting total to the bowlers. The way the Indian bowlers came back to tie the match was indeed remarkable. The Indian team gave a glimpse of what its fans can expect to see, in the near future - without the presence of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly. The team-spirit seems to be quite high, the players were enjoying themselves on the field, the performances backed the spirit, the fielding was much better than seen in recent times. Barring for one dropped catch, the team was overall good on the field. The bowl-out!!! This match was not all that significant, once both the teams had qualified for the second stage. What happens, if such a tie occurs in a semi-final of the tournament. If this is not a good idea, what other ways are present to get a definite result in the game? Maybe, have the teams play for 5 overs each (with no fielding restrictions at all) and try to get a result - like the extra-time concept in soccer - this way the pressure is on the entire team rather than just the bowlers.

Other highlights in the Twenty20 included the wonderful performances of Sri Lanka - now, they have the highest totals in tests, ODIs, Twenty20s. The Windies, through their inconsistency, crashed out of the tournament. The teams that seem to be having a good chance for getting to the semi-finals are Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia, England. After that, it is very difficult to choose the finalists.

Rahul Dravid's resignation was another news-item that was grabbing the attention back home in India, when the team was slogging it out in South Africa. Now, the Indian team doesnt have a coach, neither a captain - a very pathetic situation to be in. Obviously, Rahul Dravid's captaincy was affecting his test batting. And one thing is very clear - India would rather have the batsman rather than the captain. It would be a good idea to give it to his predecessor - Sourav Ganguly - but looks like the selection is tilted towards Sachin Tendulkar.

The launch of the IPL by the BCCI rounded off an eventful week - they paraded players like Sachin, Rahul, Kumble, Fleming, McGrath - again, players who are not currently involved in the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup. But, it has got the backing of the country Boards, which is not the case with ICL. They are going to start after the launch of the ICL, thereby enjoying the luxury of seeing the mistakes and rectifying it. The fact that each of the teams will be franchised to corporates, mean that this is also a money-spinning venture (something that was of no doubt at all). One can only hope that Indian cricket will get to the next level of performance by all these ventures.