2016 West Indies tour - Rain prevents India's continued run of No.1

India dominated the series so much that they rose to No.1 in ICC Test rankings (coupled with Australia's loss to Sri Lanka). The rain gods however decided to put an end to the good times and the final test was washed out so much that only one session was played! India finished at 2-0 but it could have been 4-0! How many such chances will Kohli's India get again?

Image Courtesy: espncricinfo site

Sri Lanka series - India win 2-1

I had expected India to edge Sri Lanka in the series despite knowing that it has been 22 years since an Indian team won a test series there. What transpired was something else - It could have been a whitewash if not for the upset loss in first test. Virat Kohli has won his first series as captain but equal (dis)credit should be given to Sri Lanka's relative lack of experience.

The Indians have had a long introduction to test match scenario in tough conditions outside sub-continent. This experience has hardened them enough to score over their Asian colleagues. The core team has been identified and it looks like the team will continue to look like this for the next 2 years, injuries notwithstanding:

• Opening Batsmen - Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul
• Middle-Order - Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma
• Wicket-keepers - Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha
• All-rounders - Ravi Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Stuart Binny
• Pace bowlers - Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Aaron, Mohd. Shami

17 players who will appear in forthcoming test series for India is a good composition to have and a good set of choices to opt from. Credit should be given to MS Dhoni and team management for identifying this set and ensuring that the chances obtained so far have been used to groom them further.

Whether the Indian team should go with five-bowler policy is a debate but I feel in subcontinent pitches, the fifth bowler will mostly be underutilized. Stuart Binny did his role well but should contribute consistently. It is not that the future looks rosy but the initial investment in these players should be well worth it, if the players repay the interest well.

Sri Lanka series - ready to start

The Indo-Lankan series is ready to start after a long time. In fact, I did read that the Indian team has not won a series in Lanka for 22 years! It was probably Azhar who won the series with help of Sachin and Kumble in the team (the lone win was well-planned out by Indians). Even Ganguly and MSD could not achieve a win - wonder what the new permanent captain will do.

The Lankans are vulnerable this time after series defeat against Pakistan in multiple formats. The aging Sangakkara will play his last test match in this series and in my view, will hold the biggest challenge for Indians. If they can get him out quickly, the Indians will have a good chance to win the series.

The bowlers have done well in the warm-up match, especially Ishant Sharma. But who will the management pick as part of the playing eleven - Bhuvi and Umesh? Along with the three, two spinners will be picked and my suspicion is that it will be Harbhajan who will miss out.

The batting will be made of Dhawan, KL Rahul, Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane - Pujara seems to be out of favor at the moment with Rohit edging ahead. If Rohit cannot make runs in the first two tests, it will be back to Pujara.

Saha will have all three test matches to prove himself. Especially with his batting, Saha is one who has not contributed much. There are players like Samson, Uthappa are waiting in the wings.

If the rains do not disturb the series, India should edge Sri Lanka. But, it looks like rain will have the last say. My guess is that the series will be shared.

India-Sri Lanka T20I - India win easily

The Indian team continued their domination over Sri Lanka by winning the one-off T20 international convincingly despite scoring their lowest against Sri Lanka in this format. The R-B chart shows that the Lankan team were in the hunt at the beginning (thanks to some violent hits by their openers) but because of the early fall of wickets, they were on the fast track to fall behind the expected run-rate. This again put pressure on the middle and lower order resulting in more wickets for the Indians.

The main protagonists from the ODI series from the Indian side were again on display - Virat Kohli who started off as though he had a plane to catch.

Irfan Pathan was in a hurry too - polishing off the first three wickets in his initial spell.

Kohli had good support from his supporting cast consisting of Rahane, Raina and Dhoni while Pathan was helped by Dinda and Kohli (this time with the ball!).

The fielding was good and the team was looking as though there was nothing wrong with it (as it usually appears when the team is winning). The absence of Zaheer and Sehwag meant that there were far more fitter and faster players on the ground but catches were dropped - an area of concern. Is the departure of the two veterans a possible sign that they will not appear for the shorter format any more? This might be good for the Indians in many ways.

The Indians will come back to the same environment next month for the T20 World Cup and hence this show will have made them happy. 

India - SriLanka series - India win 4-1

India won the series, very comfortably at the end, against Sri Lanka by 4-1 thanks to some consistent efforts by its players like Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir and Irfan Pathan.

Against the Lankans, if Gambhir doesnt get a big score, Kohli does. If Virat doesnt get going, Dhoni will surely come to the party. It was good to see the captain score in his earlier avatar of scoring runs very quickly with the help of some aggressive shots. Irfan Pathan has thrown his name into the selector's hat for possible options as an all-rounder. He holds the edge over the others like his brother Yusuf and Ravindra Jadeja because he bowls medium-pace (very effective outside the sub-continent). Thanks to Vinay Kumar's injury, Pathan walked into the squad but now he is the front-runner for the T20 World Cup. 

Dinda is no replacement for Praveen Kumar but he tried gamely. I would be surprised if he is persisted still. Rohit Sharma cannot blame the selectors or the management for not giving him enough options - he was chosen for all the five games and the skipper managed to rejig his lineup to give chances to both Rohit and Tiwary. After the series, it looks like Tiwary had the advantage going forward thanks to his exploits with the ball as well. Again, he has an advantage over the others since he bowls leg-spin (most of the part-timers like Sehwag, Raina, Rohit bowl off-spin).

Zaheer Khan played all the five matches which was quite surprising - will he maintain this run later in the season as well? Rahul Sharma and Ojha got couple of chances but could not cement their place ahead of Ashwin. The latter has gone down a rung, especially the levels he had reached after the World Cup. 

Overall, a good outing for the Indians to start the new season. Things will hopefully get better in the T20 World Cup as well as the test series against New Zealand.

Fourth ODI - Kohli seals the series win for India

The Indians won the series against Sri Lanka with ease, thanks to the exploits of Virat Kohli and earlier, Manoj Tiwary with the ball. The Lankans were handicapped by the absence of Sangakkara in the batting and Kulasekara in the bowling division. The team seemed to be devoid of any motivation to win the match - what else can explain the fall of wickets to Tiwary!

Kohli hit another century and covered up the absence of runs from the top order. Only Sehwag to a little extent and Suresh Raina supported Kohli with runs from the other end. Rohit did not score despite his captain's support (by dropping a regular bowler to retain him and give Tiwary a chance)!

In the next match, India will do well to give chances to Rahane and Umesh while resting Zaheer and Dhoni from the team. Will the Boards realize the futility of such series and stop organizing these contests? There is lack of interest from either side (except Kohli maybe)!

Third ODI - Gambir and Raina scale record win

India started well and ended the match making all the right moves to win a record-breaking chase on Lankan soil. Thanks to Zaheer with the ball, Gambhir and Raina with the bat, Pathan with a bit of both, the Indian team reached the challenging total with five wickets to spare and two balls in hand.

The beginning was good for the Indians. Three wickets for the Indians for a score of 20 meant that the Lankans were on the backfoot early. It was upto the famliar pair of Jayawardane and Sangakkara to repair the ship. These two batsmen like playing with each other and moreso against India. The only blip was when Dinda made his biggest impact of the match - fracturing the finger of Sanga!

Joined later by Angelo Matthews, the Lankans started taking toll of the Indian bowling especially after Zaheer had exhausted his quota in the Powerplays. Probably, it is better for MS Dhoni to look at others like Raina, Ashwin, Rahul for Powerplays and keep Zak for the last 10.

When the chase started, Sehwag left early but Kohli and Gambhir settled in. Just when it looked like they would consolidate further, Kohli departed. Dhoni promoted himself but found the going tough for once. His promotion meant that Rohit went down one slot and what that worked on his mind was evident when Sharma came out to bat. Slow to start off, Rohit faced Malinga's full-length delivery tough to handle.

Gambhir also left quickly after scoring his 100, which brought Pathan to the crease. With lucky shots, both Raina and Irfan reduced the target slowly but surely. Surprisingly, this was their third 50+ partnership together which shows that they enjoy playing with each other. Confident strokes followed, especially the six of Malinga by Raina. The Indians take a lead thanks to the team effort but they know that they escaped defeat today. Unless they raise their game, such escapes dont happen regularly.

World Cup 2011 - The D-day is here tomorrow

The D-day after 6 weeks of matches in the 2011 World Cup is tomorrow and everyone is excited about it in India and Sri Lanka. Will it be a repeat of Lords 1983 or Johannesburg 2003 for India? Will it be Lahore 1996 or Bridgetown 2007 for Sri Lanka?

The excitement might not match that of India-Pakistan or India-Australia but the Indians should be careful of not letting their preparation down for this finale. The spirit also would have been much more aggressive in the quarters and semis but in the final, it will be a different ball-game in the final. Therein lies the major problem for both sides, more so for the Indians.

The two teams have played each other so much that they know their opposition by heart. The teams have players who used to play together for last 3 years in IPL - sample this:

• Delhi Daredevils had Sehwag, Gambhir, Dilshan, Ashish Nehra
• Kings XI Punjab had Yuvraj, Piyush Chawla, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Sreesanth
• Mumbai Indians had Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Zaheer Khan
• Chennai SuperKings had MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ashwin, Muralitharan 

With the camaraderie they shared in the dressing room, it is highly unlikely that tempers will rise tomorrow. The public will however like the teams to be charged up to give their best show on the field. Pakistan seemed to be edgy on the field in the semis but Sri Lanka will arrive well-prepared. 

The matches played in Mumbai earlier in the tournament were high-scoring matches but Jayawardene feels that the pitch looked different. Here is an interesting article talking about the curator and how he feels if Sachin spends 30 minutes at the crease, he will score a century.

Ashish Nehra and Angelo Matthews have been ruled out of the final match because of injuries sustained in the semis. Randiv has been called up to replace Matthews even though Perera and Kulasekara were available - does it show the thinking on the Lankan side about the pitch? India, though, are still unsure about Nehra's replacement, as per Dhoni's conference. MSD feels that his team is peaking at the right time and will treat the match as another one, not as a final. This tactic worked in the earlier Knock-out matches and he is sure that it will work again. 

Kapil Dev cautioned the public that Dhoni should not be judged by this final alone but I am sure he will be happy if Dhoni joins his club as a Cup-winning captain. His pedigree so far has been good - captain of winning T20 World Cup team, winner of IPL and Champions League and captain of No.1 test team. Tomorrow, if the team plays as well as it can, the ODI World Cup will join the list. 

Sangakkara though put a spin by saying that he thought that the Indians deserved to be called as the favorites. Is it just mind game at action or any other strategy from the Lankan camp?

There are many mini-battles in the final game where each one will try to outdo the other:

• Openers - SRT and Sehwag vs Dilshan and Tharanga. The Lankan pair have scored more and frequently but tomorrow iwll be a different ball game. Tharanga has not done well against India - can he repeat his heroics earlier in the Cup?
• Pace - Malinga vs Zaheer Khan. The strike bowlers with the new ball on both sides have been phenomenal. Both have played in earlier Cup finals and have experienced failure. This is the time they step up to make the extra step.
• Spin - Harbhajan vs Muralitharan. Murali, on one leg, will be better than any other spinner from Sri Lanka. But, the Indians are those who have picked him better than the others. Harbhajan comes to the final with the confidence of bowling well against Pakistan. Having got Afridi out must have delighted him no end, for his figures have been destroyed many a time by the Pak Pathan.

Of course, this is not to belittle the others like Jayawardene, Sangakkara or Yuvraj Singh but these battles will decide the course the match more than any others.

My prediction - India wins the match but Sachin does not score a century. He will definitely take this at the end of the game, even if he fails with the bat. Castrol Index puts the Lankans ahead - 172-155. Do you agree - I dont think so.

Related articles

• World Cup 2011 - Sri Lanka stands before 83 repeat - Part I (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

World Cup 2011 - Sri Lanka stands before 83 repeat - Part I

After the Mini Grand-Final and Mother of all battles, comes the Grand-Final itself.

Consider these statistics of how India and Sri Lanka fare against each other?

• After their last match in 2007 World Cup, both the teams have met in 33 matches. India holds the advantage 18-13.
• At home, India's advantage over Sri Lanka is even more obvious but the matches played (since the last World Cup) has been far less - 3-1
• Overall, at home, India has a big advantage over Sri Lanka - 28-11 
• India vs Sri Lanka in competitions that have more than 5 teams - Sri Lanka heads the count 8-7. A very close statistic that does not convey much. 
• India vs Sri Lanka in World Cup - India have won their contests against Sri Lanka in 1999 (England) and 2003 (Sri Lanka) but lost their battles in 1979, 1996 (twice), 2007. One match was washed out (1992). 4-2 for Sri Lanka once again. 
• Simon Taufel and Aleem Dar, the best umpires in world cricket, will officiate in the World Cup final. How has India fared when Taufel officiated? 21-24 - not so favorable, though the Indians won the last match he stood in. How has India fared when Aleem Dar officiated? 11-9. The only match both officiated was in Johannesburg when India played West Indies. Verdict - India won.

Geoff Boycott in his article mentions that India have to handle Malinga and Murali well in the final to take advantage. How have the duo fared against India? Not so great - check the stats below.

• Record of Lasith Malinga against India is not so great - 18 wickets in 18 matches with an average of 45+, Economy of 5.6+ and a strike rate of 47 balls per wicket.
• Record of Muralitharan against India is the worst compared to his numbers against all other nations - average of 31+ and a strike rate of 44 balls per wicket. His best in ODI though came against India in Sharjah.

In the current edition, what has been the performance of the two teams in batting and bowling?

• India have five players in the Top-50 batsmen - Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli while Sri Lanka have four - Tilakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene. 5 hundreds and 11 fifties for India while Sri Lankans have scored 6 hundreds and 7 fifties.
• In the bowling department, Sri Lanka have six in the Top-50 bowlers in the tournament - Muralitharan, Malinga, Dilshan, Ajantha Mendis, Perera, Angelo Mathews. India have four in the Top-50 - Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh. 1 five-wicket haul for both teams while Sri Lanka have one more four-wicket haul than India's one.

Gary Kirsten and Trevor Bayliss are stepping down from their current positions after the final match. How has India and Sri Lanka performed under these coaches?

• India's record from December 2007 after Gary Kirsten became coach - 61-32. Impressive.
• Sri Lanka's record from June 2007 when Bayliss became coach - 54-35. Not bad but not so impressive as that of Kirsten.

World Cup 2011 - SL favorites to repeat win over NZ

177-154 says Castrol Index in favor of Sri Lanka against New Zealand for the first semi-final in the 2011 World Cup. The advantage goes much more than what the numbers say. The teams have faced each other in the League stage and Sri Lanka won the match convincingly. The spinners have spun webs around the batsmen of Black Caps so much that the match result looks decided already.

Once again, Muralitharan is doubtful for tomorrow's match and with confidence on his other spinners, Sangakkara will probably not risk him tomorrow. Herath and Mendis, along with Dilshan, will more than a handful for the NZ batsmen. The team composition contained Malinga and Matthews as the only non-spinners against England - there is no reason why this strategy should change against New Zealand. The opening batsmen have showed that if they settle down, they can notch up large partnerships at the top. Their success has ensured that the fragile middle order is not exposed. Sangakkara and Jayawardene were not given any match practice in the last game - they must be itching to contribute heavily.

The only Protean who was happy when they choked once again was Alan Donald, currently bowling coach of New Zealand. He has teamed up very well with John Wright to bring NZ to the stage that they are in. NZ was the best planned team in the entire tournament, having visited the host countries in the last few months. Though the results were not favorable to them, the experience is handy in the World Cup. They have also gone with three spinners along with Southee and Oram. Ross Taylor, McCullum and Scott Styris will be expected to lead the front on the batting side - playing in a test-like mode before going into the T20-mode in the slog overs. If they can get going, the strength of the Lankans (spin) can become their enemy very soon.

The Lankans start as overwhelming favorites for the match but one cannot rule out the eternal braids-maid of World Cup. Over-confidence is one aspect the Lankans will do well to avoid.  

Related articles

• World Cup 2011 - Sri Lanka favorites vs England (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• World Cup 2011 - Will South Africa choke vs NZ in QF? (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

World Cup 2011 - Sri Lanka favorites vs England

    Key Player 
179-153 says Castrol Index, reflecting the difference between England and Sri Lanka. Quite a big difference, one can say, that has been justified by the inconsistent performances by the English team during this tournament. The Quarter-final match is being held in the backyard of the Sri Lankans, which will boost their confidence further.

Murali has been declared fit by his team - knowing him, he would have played if he was even 50% fit. Further, if he was not in the team also, the other spinners would be a handful  for the English team. It is a fact that England have played well against the test-playing nations, faltering against the minnows - the inconsistency of the batting lineup must be haunting both the Andys.

Strauss must stay as the anchor of the lineup so that the others can bat around him. Swann and Tredwell proved their prowess last match - will they do it again this match? The Sri Lankans are much better batsmen of spin and can negate the threat easily. Anderson will make a comeback but again, he is not much of a threat on these pitches.

Muralidharan, Mendis and Herath will play in all likelihood with Dilshan providing the part-time option. Malinga and Matthews can open the bowling with the new ball. Sangakkara and Jayawardene will be the key batsmen for the Lankans who will be expected to provide the strength. It has been a while that Dilshan has put up a big score - if he and Tharanga can put up a solid base, the others can take on from there. The middler order is suspect and might come apart just like the Proteas did against the Black Caps in their quarter-final.

The Emerald Isle team have the ability to put it across the English team easily, if they play as per their reputation. Will the English finally regain their Ashes-winning form?

World Cup 2011 - India's chances

Though I had myself predicted that India have good chance of winning the World Cup, the fact is that there is no one whom one can proclaim as the overwhelming favorites to win the tournament.

Rob Steen talks about the home-advantage in the cricketing showcase and how it has been more a bane than a boon. Sachin Tendulkar and his last World Cup will have a fairy-tale finish if the Indians finish on the podium but there are a lot of hurdles before.

All of them will start from the Quarter-final match at Ahmedabad (ICC having confirmed that India will play at home) - who will be paired with the Indians is to be seen. As per ICC Rule-book, the quarter-finals will happen between A1 and B4, A2 and B3, A3 and B2, A4 and B1 (A(n) being the nth placed team in Group A and B(n) similarly from Group B).

Based on the group that India is, one can say safely that India will be either B1 or B2. This means facing A4 or A3. This can be either NewZealand or Pakistan. Will there be a repeat of the Bangalore Quarter-final in 1996 then? Interesting.

If India gets past this hurdle, it will move to Mohali where they will face most probably Sri Lanka or Australia (depending on who tops the group A).Once again, a repeat of 1996 meeting Sri Lanka in the semi-finals? Time to make amends then.

Whoever it meets, the Indian team needs to be on the top of its game to reach the finals. Once there, the crowd support in Mumbai is sure to pressurize and paralyze the opponent. 

Steen similarly talks about the winning run that Australia has been having so far. The last two teams that have defeated Australia in a World Cup are both in the same group this year. Let us hope that they dont upset the Oz in the earlier stages - the law of averages should catch up with the Australian team later in the tournament since the impact will be more in a knock-out scenario. Only then, the Indian team has a higher percentage of winning the tournament.

Yes, all this is being said from an Indian fan's perspective - Oz fans, apologies.  

Related articles

• World Cup 2011 - India thump Bangladesh (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

World Cup 2011 - Learnings from 87 and 96

.

The 2011 World Cup will be the third time the competition is being conducted in the Indian sub-continent. Is there anything the teams can learn from the first two editions - 1987 and 1996 - and apply as part of their strategies? Australia reached the finals of both the versions winning in 87 (against England) and losing to Sri Lanka in 96.

What happened in the 1987 World Cup? Australia and England reached the finals by defeating the co-hosts (Pakistan and India respectively). The batting was bolstered mainly by the opening batsmen on both sides. David Boon and Geoff Marsh were the top run-getters in the tournament scoring more than 400 runs at an average of 55+ every match. There were good contributions by Dean Jones and Allan Border down the order while Mike Veletta and Steve Waugh were good in rotating the strike in the final overs as well as hitting the ball out of the park. This phase marked the initial stages of the Australian resurgence in World cricket after the slump post retirements of Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell, Rodney Marsh. Under Bob Simpson, the team was beginning to discover themselves at the World stage and there was no major hopes on the team before the World Cup.

Craig McDermott was one of the bowling stalwarts picking 18 wickets during the tournament, troubling batsmen with his pace and control. He was ably supported by bowlers who would pioneer the use of slower ball in ODI matches - Steve Waugh and Simon O'Donnell. During most of the matches, Waugh would be the one who would operate the slog overs of the match - with his variety, he could control the scoring of the opposing batsmen very well. Border with his part-time spin would chip in few overs, taking up critical wickets at a decent run-rate.

England similarly had Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting in their lineup who contributed more than 350 runs in the tournament while Lamb and Athey gave good support down the order. In fact, the final was going the way of England when Gatting tried a reverse-sweep against Alan Border to get out. Gatting and Lamb were equally adept in rotating the strike to keep the scorecard ticking. Gooch was instrumental in negating the spinners on the sub-continental pitches during this World Cup - his century against the Indians in the semi-final was a masterpiece on how to attack spin and turn tables on the more famed Indian spinners. Eddie Hemmings and Phil DeFreitas were the strike bowlers from the English team who provided the crucial breakthroughs.

The current Oz team is placed in a similar situation as this 87 Cup-winning team was, if one considers the Ashes performance (though they have achieved good strides in the ODI arena) - will they win it a fourth consecutive time? Similarly, the current English team has Greame Swann and Jimmy Anderson as the spearheads - will they don the role of Hemmings and Defreitas? Swann has been injured after the Ashes series - it remains to be seen how quickly he can return to mainstream cricket. Anderson looks jaded in the ongoing ODI series against Australia (last evening, he gave away 91 runs in his 10 overs - a century!!!)

What happened in the 1996 World Cup? Sri Lanka and Australia reached the finals by defeating co-hosts India and West Indies respectively. It was the turn of Mark Waugh to score heavily (even though Sachin raked up more runs than him). Waugh opened the innings in all the matches with captain Mark Taylor and ensured that Australia had a good start always. There were few contributions down the order from Ponting, Steve Waugh, Stuart Law but not all as consistent as Junior Waugh. No wonder, they fell at the final Lankan hurdle. Damian Fleming and Shane Warne took the maximum number of wickets by contrasting ways. Fleming used to swing the ball, especially under lights while Warne found the subcontinental grounds to his liking. Mcgrath was at his miserly best but could not add much in the wickets tally.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, also got off to quick starts through their crack combination of Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana - they formed a potent partnership at the top of the order scoring runs at rate of 8-10 in the first 6-7 overs. The opposition bowling would get rattled and lose their composure. This would be then captialised on, by the likes of Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga and Asanka Gurusinha. Their batting used to run deep with Mahanama coming at No.7 while their bowling revolved around spin. The wickets taken by the SriLankan spinners hardly goes more than seven wickets (in 6 matches) but their run-choking efforts had to be seen to be believed. Murali, Vaas conceded less than 4 runs an over in the tournament while Jayasuriya, Dharmasena and Aravinda de Silva together conceded less than 4.5 runs on an overage. On Lankan grounds, this team knew how exactly to rattle the opposition and keep them quiet. Their strategy was very well devised and execution was perfect. Will they repeat the strategy this team also?

Toss will play a very vital role in the matches played in Sri Lanka with teams batting first more often than not, winning the matches after posting a decent score. Murali is bowing out of international cricket after the World Cup - will it be his swanswong? He has Mendis, Herath & Dilshan to support him in the slow bowling options while Matthews is known to be a wily customer with the ball. The magic of Mendis has worn off slightly but to teams that havent played him, he is still a mystery. At home, it has been only the Indians who have put up good displays in the Emerald Isle. One match in the Quarter-final and one semi-final will be played in Colombo - can Sri Lanka qualify for these matches and continue the home advantage? 

I feel that it is important to have quality opening batsmen in every team for them to have a chance to win the title. India have Sehwag and Sachin, Bangladesh has Tamim Iqbal, Sri Lanka have Dilshan, West Indies' Chris Gayle, South Africa's Amla and Smith, Australia's Watson, England's Strauss. Definitely India and South Africa seem to have the edge over the others in this aspect. 

What do you think? Can some of the lessons from these editions be adapted to the 2011 version? If so, which ones?

Related articles

• Australia have an outside chance, says Steve Waugh (espncricinfo.com)
• World Cup 2011 - How will teams innovate? (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

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)

World Cup 2011 - Will India better 2007 performance?

India had a disastrous World Cup in 2007 - they were dumped out of the tournament after the first stage where they lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, defeating only Bermuda in the competition. Will they repeat the performance in 2011 or will they go all the way? Let us see their possible journey for the first stage:

• First match of the competition stars India and Bangladesh in Mirpur - the one match that India will play outside their country. This was the team that defeated India in their last World Cup match and a grudge-match is on offer. The Indians will be eager to put their best foot forward in this match and it will be a good match to ease in the four players (Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Praveen Kumar) who had been rested in the previous series in South Africa. India have lost just one game in the 12 matches played in Bangladesh against the hosts - they should ensure that this number doesnt double after the first match in Mirpur!!
• After the relatively easy opposition, India face up the new No.1 contenders in test cricket after their resounding Ashes win - England. The English team is high on spirits after their record win against the Oz but they have come down few notches after the reverses in the ODIs. Their bowlers who are typically their strength in other venues, tend to lose their sting in India. India have won 11 of their last 12 matches against England at home - 21 wins out of a total of 34 matches played between the two in India shows who the favorite is.
• After England, it is the turn of the minnows. Ireland are next on the menu for the Indians in Bengaluru. The Indians have played just one match against the Irish team and won the only one. No points for guessing who will win.
• Netherlands come up next at the Kotla for India. Again, one match played and won for the Indians. A relatively easy match for the hosts.
• India face their strongest opponent at this stage of the tournament - South Africa. 13 wins out of 22 matches in India means that the Indians will fancy themselves to win against the Proteas. The recent ODI series has given the Indians an idea of the strategy that they can adopt successfully in the World Cup. In the only match played in Nagpur between the two teams (where the WC match will be held), India were defeated by 10 runs despite scoring 310. Sachin and Kirsten played for opposite sides then but now will team up to play against Gary's home team. 
• West Indies is the last team to play against India in the first stage of the tournament. The Caribbeans have a favorable record against the Indians at home, thanks to the previous great teams of the Windies. Even in the 2000s, the record looks even between the teams (6 wins and same number of losses)

Four matches against test-playing nations in the first stage - two tough ones (South Africa and England) and two relatively easier ones (Bangladesh and West Indies) - mean that the Indians have a good chance to top the Board in their Group after all matches are played. The chart below shows the performance of the teams in India's group (in all World Cups so far and in the 2010 year) - this can be a bit misleading since some teams have played weaker teams last year and hence their record looks flattering.

A similar chart for Group A shows a similar trend.

Related articles

• World Cup 2011 - Sachin Tendulkar's sixth sojourn (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

First Home World Cup for Sachin - 1996 World Cup

After the disappointment of the 1992 World Cup, Sachin went back to India and started accummulating runs at will. Centuries started flowing in tests - another gem was produced by the young Master in Johannesburg later in the same year. England, West Indies, Sri Lanka were not spared in test matches that were played in subsequent years. The Master had started showing the skills that he would be known for, around the cricketing world. Centuries in the ODI's however, had not started until 1994 when India met Australia in Colombo. Sachin's love-story against the Aussie bowling has been documented well over the years and this was the first century the Legend hit against them in ODIs. There would be many more to come in later years.

Almost 15 years back to the same day (18-Feb-1996), Sachin Tendulkar started India's campaign in the 1996 World Cup against Kenya by scoring what else, a century against the minnows. Another century against Sri Lanka followed but in a losing cause. India were one of the favorites to win the World Cup in their backyard but Sri Lanka defeated them in the semi-finals before going on to win the Cup against Australia. Only Sachin Tendulkar was consistent in the matches that India played, managing 50 or more in all but two of his matches. He ended the tournament as the leading run-scorer but that was not enough to take the team to the Cup. Anil Kumble became the highest wicket-taker of the tournament but again he was the lone consistent Ranger in the team.

Some memorable instances that are still fresh in memory include:

• Sachin's batting against Australia - India faced a grim target against the Aussies in Mumbai but as long as Sachin was at the crease, things seemed under control. The Aussies had almost given up home and turned to the part-timer Mark Waugh. Off a wide ball, Sachin was stumped in the nineties. The Indian innings went downhill from thereon and fell short of the target required.
• Sachin's batting against Sri Lanka - Similarly, in the first match that India played against Sri Lanka in this World Cup, Sachin helped the team put up an imposing total of 271 runs. Sri Lanka's tactics of having Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana flay the bowling meant that the chase was reduced to a formality very soon.
• Manoj Prabhakar reduced to bowling off-spin in the same match - Manoj Prabhakar was one of the great opening bowlers for India prior to Srinath's arrival in test cricket. He could swing the ball prodigiously and won many a match with his all-round abilities. He would open the batting and bowling for India in many test matches and ODIs. During this match, he was massacred by "Jaya and Kalu" in the first three overs. He bowled his last over as an off-spinner! Manoj Prabhakar turned out to be a whistle-blower later for the match-fixing charges in India. Later, he made a comeback to domestic cricket as a coach for Delhi Ranji team.
• The memorable match in Bangalore when Jadeja smashed Waqar and Venky bowled Aamir Sohail - Who could forget this match? India and Pakistan playing a World Cup quarterfinal in Bangalore. Morning of the match saw Wasim Akram pull out because of a shoulder injury. The Indians made good progress with the bat but during the slog overs, Ajay Jadeja smashed Waqar Younis for 40 runs in the latters 2 overs. The Pakistan batsmen started the chase bravely thanks to the openers but Venkatesh Prasad dismissed Aamir Sohail to put the brakes. Sohail had been hitting Prasad all over the ground and gesturing at Prasad which made the Indian pacer react angrily on the dismissal.
• The chaotic scenes that ended the semi-final match in Calcutta with Kambli in tears. India had got through to the semis after a tough match against Pakistan while Sri Lanka were fortunate that because of the non-participation of some countries, they faced a relatively weaker England team. The openers had created all the news in the initial stages but in this match, both of them were out in the first over itself. Aravinda de Silva then took over the control of the match and ensured that the target for the Indian team was steep. Sachin once again started the chase in right earnest and till he was at the crease, there was hope even though Azhar had made his gaffe after winning the toss (remember Gooch's 333 at Lords). The match was force-closed with the crowd becoming unruly after the Indian collapse. Vinod Kambli was the last Indian player to be seen on the television sets, crying at the possibility of not being able to play another World Cup in his life!

Navjot Sidhu scored two fifties in this tournament, against West Indies and Pakistan in the quarter-finals. He did not play in all the matches and could have made a bigger impact. His failure in the semi-final would have rankled him for long time. He took up television commentary and politics after his retirement, well-known for his witty comments.

Sanjay Manjrekar bowed out of the World Cups after a performance that included just one half-century in the ill-fated chase against Australia. He has moved on to become a cricket commentator on Television as well as expert analyst on websites like Cricinfo.

Salil Ankola made his test debut in the same match as Sachin Tendulkar but could not make much impact on the international scene like his co-debutant. Even in this World Cup, he bowled only five overs in the only match he played. He became an actor and performed different roles in television soaps.

Venkatapathy Raju did well in the matches he played in this World Cup, taking wickets at vital intervals of the match. After retirement he took up the reins of Hyderabad cricket and was part of the selection committee also.

Another World Cup had gone and Sachin's dream of winning the World Cup remained still a dream even after playing at home.

Next post is the 1999 World Cup in England.

Stumped off a wide by Mark Waugh


Sachin's performance at 1996 World Cup

Related articles

• Tendulkar in India's World Cup 15 (news.bbc.co.uk)
• What the 2011 World Cup means to Sachin Tendulkar - 1992 World Cup (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• English World Cup for Sachin in 1999 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Season of the underdogs in test cricket

Image by geoffandsherry via Flickr
Test cricket is always interesting - this is the statement on everyone's lips these days. The underdogs seem to have a good time going for them recently across the world.


It all started when NewZealand visited India after being beaten 0-4 by Bangladesh in an ODI series. No one gave them a chance (myself included) but after two test matches, the scoreline shows 0-0. What must India be thinking now?

Staying in the sub-continent, one is witnessing Srilanka's painful experience in the post-Muralitharan era. As if Gayle's triple century was not enough, the Lankans have capitalised in their first innings against West Indies and looks like they might follow-on.


England (yes, we will call them underdogs in a series against the once-mighty Aussies Down Under) has been making all the right noises in their warm-up matches - dominating their opposition and scaring the selectors to choose a 17-member team for the test series.

In the Gulf, Pakistan managed to draw their first test match against No.2 South Africa. Pakistan, the team that can lose to Zimbabwe one day and then beat Australia the next, has shown signs of comeback. One wonders how long it will be this time.


Will there be a return to the normal order next week? One wonders if the rule of the underdogs will be for a long time. What do you think? 

Related articles

• Second India-New Zealand cricket Test ends in draw (topinews.com)
• Gayle makes 300 as Windies dominate (guardian.co.uk)
• Greg Chappell not sold on all-pace attack (cricinfo.com)
• ICC clears Kamran Akmal for selection (espncricinfo.com)

Sachin Tendulkar and other legends

The Little Master WikipediaYet another research report was done recently by a set of researchers in Australia on the best batsman in the history of cricket - the result was a known one. The best batsman in the world was Sir Don Bradman.
There were changes in the remaining batsmen based on their averages. But, there is a fundamental flaw in this process, as per my thinking.

Why are we trying to include Bradman in the calculations and comparisons. Everyone who is living and dead, old and young, veterans and newcomers, have acknowledged the fact that Sir Don is the greatest of all batsmen in test cricket.



Why dont we then, compare the other batsmen against Don, rather than trying to measure all of them with arbitrary values?

I tried to do the same exercise pitting the best batsman in modern times, Sachin Tendulkar, against the Don.
To find out the matches or the opponents where Sachin failed against, I did a comparison of their %runs scored against %innings played. That is, if a player played against a specific country for 20% of his overall number of test innings, he should have scored 20% of his overall number of runs. If the difference is 0 or a positive value, it means that the player had a performance that was comparable to his overall numbers. If it was a negative difference, this showed that the player fared badly against the country or in that situation. Lesser the negatives will determine the greatness of a player. It takes the average out of the equation since I am not worried about the not-outs - just taking the innings played into consideration. I like to call this as the 'DoP' value (Difference of Percentages).

What were the results? It turned out to be quite interesting. There are some limitations in the approach taken, however - I will mention it as we go along the comparison process.

Sachin's consistency across the years has been a wonder to look - only 2 years (2003 and 2006) has his performance been not satisfactory, 2003 seeing him play only 5 matches. 7 of his other years has seen him dip slightly - a real marvel at his tendency to be consistent throughout his career. Bradman, on the other hand, showed interesting figures - 3 of his years having the dip (though to be fair, 2 years saw him playing only 2 and 3 test matches in the year) with 3 other years showing a smaller dip.

Bradman played only 4 countries during his life-time (India, South Africa, West Indies, England), scoring 72% of his runs against his traditional rivals England, while playing in 70% of the matches overall. Against West Indies, he scored 6% of his runs while playing in 10% of his tests - a difference of 4% on the negative side. The average also dips by more than 20%. Here, one has to say that the number of matches played against WI was only 5 - hardly a sample to compare.

Tendulkar, on the other hand, has negative differences against NewZealand, Pakistan and South Africa (more against the latter two countries) - he has a chance to make the numbers better later this year against NZ (at home) and SA. He has a positive difference against the other four countries (Australia, England, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh) & 0 difference against 2 others (Sri Lanka, West Indies). South Africa has been among the top-3 ranked teams during Sachin's playing lifetime. Even though NZ and Pakistan have not been consistent in their performances in test cricket but have managed to keep Sachin down.

Bradman has a negative difference at home, compared to his performances away - quite interesting really. He seemed to relish the English conditions more than the ones at hoome. Similarly, if one looks at Sachin's performances across the world, he has again shown a good difference in Australia and England, 2 places where the conditions are quite different than at home. South Africa, again, has resulted in Sachin's performance going down a bit - a reflection of the talented bowling attack that the Proteas have had over the years. Just like the Don, Sachin averages in the negative at home also!! His performance in Pakistan, West Indies and Zimbabwe have slightly dipped as well - one can argue that Sachin has played against Windies when they had better bowling attacks than now.

I have done similar charts with 3 other players who have scored the highest number of runs in the history of cricket - Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid. The countries where they have scored less against as well as the countries they have scored less in, are compared.

This chart shows the performances of the four current greats against all opponents.Dravid against Australia, South Africa seems to be on the -ve side while Lara has a greater negative against India and NewZealand. Ponting has a difference against India but not very high.

This chart shows the performances of the same batsmen in all countries. Ponting in India, Lara in Australia, Dravid in Sri Lanka are the major differences.

Verdict: Each have their weak points but overall, Sachin has a good score against all countries but Ponting seems to have the better score playing in all countries.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Spin | A new measure for cricket greatness? | Andy Bull (guardian.co.uk)
• Sachin shortlisted for ICC People's Choice Award (thehindu.com)

MSD maintains his no-loss series record

Image via Wikipedia

By winning the last test in Sri Lanka, India avoided the series defeat and managed to retain captain Dhoni's record of not having lost a series so far. Dhoni has now captained India to 10 wins in his reign of 16 matches (2 of them ending up on the losing side). After winning the first test convincingly, the Lankans fortunes dipped due to various reasons - Muralitharan's retirement being one of the main one.

The Lankans will have to endure the journey of not having workhorses like Vaas and Muralitharan till they find one who can take wickets on foreign soils as well. Malinga, definitely, is one potential match-winner but his fitness seems to be a cause of concern. Even in this series, he missed the 2nd and didnt bowl much on the final day of the series. Randiv has potential to be the lead bowler but he needs support from the other end. Mendis has been critically viewed by Video analysts all over the world which has helped batsmen face him better - he needs to reinvent himself to be a better bowler than what he is now. Without this, it is very difficult for Sri Lanka to continue their impressive run at home also.

The Lankans bowled more and took more wickets - Randiv, Malinga and Murali were the highest wicket-takers in the series. Sangakkara scored the highest runs on both sides but the Indians fought back hard in the series after Murali's departure. Sehwag starred in the Top-5 players in both the batting and bowling charts - he thoroughly deserved to be the Man of the Series.

Just like the Oz team won the ODI series in India without their main bowlers to justify their No.1 status, the Indians did a repeat by  drawing the series even after the two strike bowlers (Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh) withdrew from the bowling line. The batting department seems to be working just fine with Vijay being an impressive reserve for the openers. Yuvraj and Raina provide options to the fourth slot at the middle-order where Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman provide the experience. Dhoni's batting was not upto the mark in this series but he managed to rally his team well at the crucial times. The fourth day of the 3rd test was one where India had a whiff of victory and they grabbed it with both hands. The victory could have come earlier but for some strange tactics by the captain.

Mithun was one of the finds of the tour, though he didnt have many wickets to show - a good potential worth investing, just for his fitness. Ojha did what was expected of him in the last test and repaid the faith of the Team Management. Mishra did do  better than what Harbhajan had managed in the first two tests, both with the bat and ball. But, overall, the spin department is also a cause of concern for the No.1 team - something that needs attention before the Oz come home.

The No.1 ranking continues for one more series - it wouldnt have mattered if they had lost the series though. The Indian team did well to come from behind and level the series - that showed glimpses of character that is expected from a No.1 team. Will they manage to show the same level in the next series against Australia? Let us hope they do.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Galle Test - First Test of Series Syndrome ails India (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Laxman takes India home at PSS (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Cricket: India's #1 Ranking Totally Deserved (bleacherreport.com)
• Galle Test - Sri Lanka go up 1-0 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Laxman takes India home at PSS

He is not the player with the highest number of caps like Sachin Tendulkar. He does not score runs at the rate that suits T20 more than test matches, a la Virender Sehwag. He is not called India's Wall nor has he gained recognition as the best player on the off-side like Sourav Ganguly. But, the fifth jewel in India's Formidable Five top-order batsmen has not gained recognition like the other four. Whenever there is a talk of change of strategy or plans to include an additional bowler, the name invariably that comes to the minds of all media-men (hopefully not the selection committee or team management) is that of VVS Laxman.

Today, he showed once again, what a gem he has been and why he is one whom the other legends think highly of. He has been always associated with the 281 that he scored against Australia. His exploits against Australia both at home and outside, have been talked about, very highly. But, he is not just that much. His overall record might pale against the others in the team but whenever a need arises, he is one batsmen to rise to the occasion.One look at the high scores he has chalked up will make you agree. His average in the 4th innings of a match might not be very high but he was determined to make his mark in Sri Lanka. He had not scored a century in the Emerald Isle but that did not come to his mind.

Sourav Ganguly had scored a 98 in Kandy 2001 to take India to a target of 264 against an attack including Murali and Vaas.Would the Indians repeat the feat? Sehwag was expected to play a major role in the victory but he was already back in the hut. Sri Lanka had not lost in PSS since 1994. Having a very impressive record at home, Sri Lanka knew the conditions very well. Of course, Murali's absence made a major impact on the match but India had to get the runs dictated by the Lankans. The bowlers (who were inexperienced after the withdrawls, next to the Chennai 2001 team) had done their bit by taking 20 wickets - the batsmen had to deliver now.

When India started in the morning, many thought that India were not the favorites to win the match. Jayasuriya, on air, even went to the extent of giving odds of 90-10 in favor of Sri Lanka. Sachin and Ishant started the proceedings but Randiv struck early to get rid of the night watchman. In strode VVS Laxman. The conditions were not impossible to play but the mind-games had started early in the game. Sangakkara started the proceedings with Welegedera (in place of Malinga or Mendis) along with Randiv. Even the legend gave a chance early in his innings and lost his concentration when VVS had back spasms.

But not VVS. He made sure that he took India home by his valuable contribution and stayed there when the winning runs were hit. He always seemed to have the extra seconds to judge the spin, bounce and play shots accordingly. The leg-side plan that Sangakkara deployed was to his advantage as he used his wrists to pierce the field. Sehwag's presence (he seems to be everywhere on the field) helped VVS in his running. Raina took some risks initially and played his natural game. But, it was one man who made telling contributions to the Indian score today - a Very Very Special Laxman. May he go on to provide some more gems before he calls it a day.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Laxman helps India level series (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Dhoni hails "very very special" Laxman (cricinfo.com)
• PSS Colombo Test - anybody's game (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)