Greatest ODI Match of All-time

Along with the earlier mentioned competition of selecting the Greatest ODI team of All-time, there is another competition from ICC to select the greatest ODI match of all-time.

The World Cup finals of 1975, 1983 are included while the Australasia Cup final (when Miandad won by hitting the six of the final ball) is also present. Other matches include the one when Gibbs dropped the World Cup (South Africa vs Australia tied match) as well as the high-scoring game when South Africa chased down a 400+ total vs Australia. Bangladesh's upset win over Australia in England has a mention.

From my view-point (Biased you might think), it is the 1983 World Cup final that is the best match of all-time for various reasons:
a) West Indies was the ruling team in the 1980s till the World Cup and their performance in ODIs was good to make them the favorites to win the third successive Cup.
b) India had not won anything in note in the first 2 World Cups and were not expected to anything worth-while.
c) India defeated the West Indies after scoring a low score of 183 - defending it with great vigor. No one would have predicted the Indian victory after the first innings was completed.
d) It was a neutral venue thereby not having any home advantage to the Indians. It can be argued that even for the Windies it was a netural one (but they had more supporters on the ground)

Do you agree with my choice? What is your favorite ODI match?

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Anil Kumble back as captain

Image via WikipediaAnil Kumble is back in limelight - not as a Wildlife photographer. Not as the Director of NCA. He is now making an attempt to get into administration of KSCA - standing in the elections against Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar. 


In a press meet yesterday, the leg-spinner showcased his team and answered questions about their capability in administration. His team-mates in this cause are ex-colleagues, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad among other players. Brijesh Patel has wisely teamed up with them but it remains to be seen what role he will play.


Though this is a good move by the ex-players, one wonders how much time they will be able to spend on the activities of KSCA. Kumble has an answer for this:

People ask if we have time... we will have to make time and we will make time for this game

Whether they can break the image that players dont make good administrators remains to be seen. But, the attempt to make a change is commendable. The following statement definitely resonates among those who have seen the world and the facilities other countries provide:

When we go around the world, we look at the facilities, the way things are organised, how academies are run, how cricket is played; and then when we come back here, it hurts us. But what’s the point if we only complain and not do anything about it? So this is why we thought of getting into the system and doing things

Let us wish Anil Kumble and his team all the best. Hope this is just the beginning of a long era. May he get into the national committee after his stint in KSCA and cleanse the ills that is bogging down the national body. If this works, I am sure Indian cricket will have another reason to say thanks to the veteran leg-spinner. Commendable, indeed.

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Will the BlackCaps be a walk-over?

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Mark Greatbatch has ridiculed his team publicly about their performance in the recently-concluded Bangladesh series. He has set the expectations so low that whatever the team does in the forthcoming series will be a bonus. It is now expected that the Indians will whitewash the Kiwis in the 3-test series. In fact, the coach is not looking at a win at all - they would consider a draw (2 of them, as Greatbatch mentioned) to be a 'moral win'. But, the question on one's mind is whether Greatbatch is qualified enough to coach the team? Why not change to Stephen Fleming, who has proved himself on the IPL scene?

With this public lashing, what will be the morale of the team? How will it affect the team spirit before they reach the Indian soil? In fact, if one looks at the history of NZ test cricket, there is hardly a series where they have played with their full-strength team. They have been the under-dogs in every series, which has suited them just fine. After the recent series debacle, the Kiwis will be raring to go. They will be looking to catch the Indians by surprise. There is news that McCullum might bat higher in the lineup to shore the batting which seems to be the weakest in the eleven - whether this will help them remains to be seen.

The Indians must ensure that they are not complacent in the test series for that is when the NZ team can be most dangerous. If they play as well as they did against the Oz, the whitewash result is a foregone conclusion. My take will be a 2-0 win for India - maybe rain will prevent the whitewash in one of the test matches. Let us wait and watch. What is your prediction?

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Champions League - RCB and CSK show their strengths

CSK started their tournament with a convincing win, setup by Badrinath, Srikkanth and the bowlers. They look a good strong all-round team that is capable of meeting any team. Even in this match, the batsmen overcame a weak start to post a total that was equal to the average score on this ground. The opposition team's inexperience against high-class bowling was exposed very quickly. Only complaint was that MS Dhoni did not come up the order in place of Aniruddha but flu was supposed to be the reason (as per Fleming). There will be tougher matches to come but CSK has the firepower to go all the way.
 

Similarly, RCB started yesterday with a crushing win against the Carribean Unit led by Ramnaresh Sarwan. Kumble's team was too powerful while bowling with the attack of Steyn, Kallis and the spinners. Similarly, while batting, there was too much power at the start for any Guyanese bowler to make a impact. The only differences between RCB and CSK is the larger tail of RCB. There is not much batting to come after Cameron White - Akhil and Praveen Kumar are the batsmen penciled there - a little too dicey for their comfort. Manish Pandey's inclusion will be definitely on the cards for the next match.

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Champions League - Mumbai lose first match

Mumbai started their campaign in the Champions League 2010 with a loss against the Lions, who were much more comfortable with the conditions and played like a team. The chase was on, especially with the openers playing their shots freely. Once wickets fell, the Indians fell behind.  First match out of their way, the Indians would do well to get back with their top game for the rest of the matches.

Sachin was brilliant with the bat - especially when he was giving the left-arm spinner a master-class by scoring runs all around the ground. He was determined to win but his team-mates left him down

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Capital Politics - will Sehwag rise again?

Team-Man SehwagRead the great article by Prem Panicker on the match-fixing and his discussion with a cricketer-friend. In this article, Prem has mentioned about the fiasco that happened last year between the Delhi players and the Board but there is more to it. 

Aakash Chopra, the erstwhile Indian opener, has moved on to Rajasthan cricket team this year and in fact, played for them in the recent Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai. 

As was the case last year, Aakash (on twitter)  seems to be once again upset –  Some things don't change...sadly!!!  –  with the situation.

The BCCI could have stepped in and restored order to the situation but has, as is their wont, remained silent. Again, to quote Aakash - Well...they r the parent body and can do everything...only if they want to!!!

The incident has not gained much publicity nation-wide this year.

Is it because Sehwag and Gambhir have not taken up the swords to cross with Mr. Jaitley? It might be partially the reason but very soon, knowing the person that Sehwag is, the war will be out in the open.  

Aakash, meanwhile, is not so confident  - Trust me...nothing will change even then!!!


Will the team-man Sehwag rise again?

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Cricinfo - what next?

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Cricinfo has been doing a great job in providing statistics, articles, blogs on the sport for quite some time now. They have established themselves as the leader in cricket web-sites all over the world. There is enormous amount of information available that can be used for various purposes. What next for the site now? What are the various initiatives that can be introduced? Quite a few:

• Unlock the data -  The data that is available within Cricinfo can be made available as xml, xls, csv formats so that bloggers, writers can do further analysis and publish information. Of course, it is available even now but one has to do a lot of data-massaging to get into a spreadsheet or program that can be used for analytics. 
• Video highlights - Since ESPN owns Cricinfo and they have tie-ups for various tournaments that happen within the cricketing world, it makes sense to have pages with video highlights. In fact, just like the wicket commentary is displayed on the score-card, the dismissal video can be shown in a similar way. With the success of Youtube in the recent IPL, video highlights (and especially dismissal highlights) will be a big hit if that is shown on the site as well.
• More Social Networking features - The site has interfaced Facebook on its site but it still has a lot way to go. There can be other features like trends, (virtual) gifts/currencies, etc that can be added.
• Yahoo has started a feature by name Yorker (thanks to Prem Panicker, Akash Chopra & other friends) which allows cricket supporters chat on areas of interest. This can be refined further to make it more interesting.
• Monetization - With the number of visitors on the site, it is high time the site made it to their use. Ads are not just enough. There needs to be other features that increase the revene - this is where they can innovate further.
• Fantasy Cricket - Considering the fact that Fantasy Leagues are all over the web-world, the one prevalent in Cricinfo can be further enhanced for increased adoption.

Of course, these are but a few of the features that can be enhanced. A lot more can be done once more inputs from the viewers are considered. What do you think?

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Lesson for Yuvraj

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The Indian selectors decided to make their presence felt (just as I was mentioning about their end of honeymoon). Yuvraj Singh had been taking his presence for granted and he was looked up by the youngsters as their mentor. Hence, it was high time he was given a lesson.

On multiple counts, Yuvraj Singh did not deserve to be in the team - his form has been off color in IPL as well as the T20 World Cup. His weight was very much evident as it was seen him carrying additional kilos on his frame. His fielding had gone down and he was no longer the person batsmen dreaded. His attitude also was not that of a team-man. He was not helping the captain in any way that befitted a senior player. All these meant that the decision was very much on the cards. Whether the selectors would bell the cat was to be seen.

This is obviously a good step by the selectors and they have to be credited for this. Also, the non-selection of Rahul Dravid was in the right step. Dravid has to be given the respect of a legend and not selected/dropped only when the other batsmen fail against short-pitched deliveries. Jadeja and Rohit Sharma, via their half-centuries, retained their spot while Ashok Dinda and Ashwin were the 2 bowlers who were decent. Sourabh Tiwary is the new person in the squad - he will get a team against the lowly sides - if he can prove his worth in the team, it will be an added bonus.

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