Archive for the ‘Cricket’ Category

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ICC, Don’t Ignore the Associates, Please

Friday, March 4th, 2011

Ireland defeating England may look great but we have had upsets before. It hasn’t materialized to much a lot of the times, largely due to ICC neglect. Kenya was great in the 1996 World Cup for instance. They didn’t get many matches though and ended up having an internal match fixing scandal. Now, cricket in Kenya is in shambles, epitomized by the drubbing Sri Lanka gave them a few days back.

Ireland has been showing the talent for a fair while in the recent past. They are easily the best associate right now. Yet, all their players can aspire to do is to play for England, and England would like that too as it helps their player pool. The subcontinent wouldn’t mind it either as a team like Ireland would hurt their voting block.

Zimbabwe is now doing good after all seem doomed a few years back after the player exodus. They even have a test lined up and the country they are playing is South Africa, which should come as no surprise. South Africa has always been a country which is more than ready to help out it’s African brother. Zimbabwe kept playing in tri-series ODIs in South Africa for instance.

Now, how many ODIs do you remember England playing versus the likes of Ireland, Scotland and Holland?

The players playing for associate nations aren’t professionals and it is important to understand this. There have been reports of players quitting because of having to travel too much and play too much in tournaments like the Intercontinental Cup for instance. What they need is a strong domestic structure and strong ties with the nearby countries who are stronger who can help improve their status. Teams given responsibilities of various regions and not just for the sake of it – ensuring they pursue it diligently would be a right way to go about it.

Most of the nations, even South Africa and India were once minnows. You have to look no further than Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe (late 90s) and Bangladesh though. If they can progress like they have, there is no reason why more teams can’t, with a little help. The ‘little help’ is vital though.

Posted in Cricket, ICC, World Cup | 2 Comments »

On The Minnow Issue and Solution to the Format of World Cup

Monday, February 21st, 2011

The minnow issue is a big one. Till the quarters, the only interesting thing is whether Bangladesh can qualify ahead of some one else. It is a month long drab fest. The ICC has reduced the minnows for the next world cup. You wonder why they couldn’t have had some foresight and did it in this one in the first place. As expected, people have different views on this. Swann wants minnows there, Ponting doesn’t believe constant thrashing improves them in any way. Imran Khan believes a proper domestic first class structure and exposure in T20 tournaments is the right way to go about it.

Where I am concerned, it is important the world cup is competitive. It isn’t for the most part of the first month – even matches between test nations may be of less importance with teams not hugely concerned where qualification to quarters go.

The reason why the football world cup is such a spectacle is because, among other reasons, every match is competitive. You are in a group of 4 and 2 teams go through to the knock out which makes each game one you desperately want to win. However, given the bad experience of the 2007 World Cup where Pakistan and India were knocked out early, the organisers didn’t want to risk such a situation. They went to the other extreme end of the spectrum though which means we have the current problem of too many matches about which no one cares about.

I would suggest a 12 team tournament. Given there are 9 test playing nations, it means it gives the opportunity to 3 rest of the best teams the opportunity to play in the world cup. Divide the 12 teams in two groups and play a round robin with the top 3 from each group qualifying for the next round. We have the Super Six and from there we have the semi finals. It is a simple format and we have tried this in England in 1999. There, the points carried over from the earlier round was the issue but that meant the format needed a tweaking, not an overhaul. While the quarter final format created a great spectacle in 1996, it means a bad day in office can mean you lose out. South Africa play well in the Round Robin in the world cup for instance but one bad game against the West Indies meant that they were out. Ideally, I would like a best of three semi finals and finals as well but I don’t think most people would agree with some thing like that. People like the spectacle and ‘big match’ occasion of a single final and knock outs.

Posted in Cricket, World Cup | 2 Comments »

On India’s Weakness

Monday, February 21st, 2011

The weakness of the 5th bowling option of India is a worry which has plagued me for a long time. This is the prime reason I believe India is not a very strong ODI team despite it’s batting. Yusuf Pathan has not been very threatening as a bowler with a career economy rate of 5.6. This has changed recently but it isn’t enough to convince me. If you allow Bangladesh to score 230/3 before 40 overs, you have to acknowledge there is a problem where bowling is concerned.

Praveen Kumar’s injury is a serious blow to India. He was a superb ODI player who could move the ball in the air and be a threat in the subcontinent and be economical at the same time. He should have been a lock for the XI where I am concerned. Now that he is gone, you have to select one of Sreesanth and Munaf. Both have their strengths – Sreesanth can take a few wickets within a short period of time while Munaf can be economical but equally, they have problems as well. Sreesanth can be erratic and inconsistent. Munaf, because he has slowed his pace down a fair deal, and isn’t crafy like Zaheer Khan (who at his slow pace can still be threatening), Munaf can go for a few on the flattish wickets in the subcontinent. On some wickets, whatever he does, it may be too easy for the batsmen to hit him for runs.

I really don’t know why the selectors selected Piyush Chawla and not Pragyan Ojha but now that that is done, you have to select Ashwin in the XI. I don’t think 3 fast bowlers is the way to go in the subcontinent, except maybe against a subcontinent team.

Two reasons mean India might still triumph though. Firstly, ODI cricket has weakened from the heydays of ODI cricket and many of the other teams are not as strong or cohesive units like before. Secondly, in the last world cup played in the subcontinent, Sri Lanka triumphed despite not having a great bowling attack. The batting won it for the Lankans. The competition for the batting places in the squad will also mean that the players will be on the edge to perform on every given opportunity. The competition for places is a great problem to have in this regard.

The balance of the side is not right but I don’t think the Indian ODI side has been balanced, for a fair while.

Posted in Cricket, Indian Cricket, World Cup | No Comments »

Memories of the World Cup

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

Another cricket world cup begins today. My cricket journey started a bit earlier in 1991. That was the cornerstone, but the strong foundation was really laid in 1992.

Cricket matches start a few hours earlier in Australia (and even earlier in New Zealand) because of the time differences. This was perfect for us to catch a few overs as we got ready to go to school. Mark Greatbatch revolutionized one day batting in 1992 blasting away and exploiting the early overs. We told the score as soon as we entered the school bus to eager ears. By the time the next kid was picked up by the bus, Greatbatch had smashed a few more and the score rose more than we could have believed it could. It created tremendous excitement. By the time the 1992 world cup was over, I was hooked. I remember we had school on the day of the final and I ensured I had the match recorded so that I could catch it later.

By the time 1996 came, I had followed a fair few series, read avidly about the game. I watched as much of the action as I could. I even watched all the games countries like Holland played. The only time I remember falling asleep was when India was bowling in a game against Zimbabwe if I recall correctly. I crack up every time I think about it. The quarter final stages made the 1996 world cup special though. The big game aura surrounding the India-Pakistan game was surreal. The two teams hadn’t met in a while and though I have seen many India-Pakistan encounters since then, nothing quite matches up to that game, not even some of the tense tests the two countries were to play a few years later.

I was there at Eden Gardens during the infamous India-Sri Lanka game and while Sri Lanka celebrated, I was quite sad the game didn’t finish. I was hoping against hope India could still mount a fight back. I found the same hoping against hope feeling coming in during the 1999 world cup as the Indian batsmen came and went against Australia. That India lost against Zimbabwe summed up that era in Indian cricket. Tendulkar wasn’t able to play the game as he had flown back to India after his father passed away and India couldn’t even win against Zimbabwe without Tendulkar. His subsequent century versus Kenya was very special. The very fact that he was there playing that game was striking. Shane Warne’s performance in the later games of the World Cup was very special too. It was pure magic to watch him bring Australia back in the game versus South Africa in the semi final.

The 2003 world cup was a drab mainly because of the format but I won’t go into that. The strongest memory from that tournament was Ganguly electing to field first after losing the toss. Two years later, Ricky Ponting was to make a similar blunder in an Ashes test and that incident has been much talked about but for me the 2003 blunder was equal, if not bigger. One could argue you can come back in a 5 day test match after a bad day but you don’t have that many chances in a one day game. Also, let’s just pretend 2007 never happened. Indian performance aside, it was sad to see empty stands for the games in 2007. The ticket prices were set too high and even the stadiums were far away from the city. West Indies traditionally has always had huge crowds in the games with people even hanging on trees to catch a glimpse of the action. It was their world cup and the effort should have been made to get as much crowds to watch it as possible. The lack of foresight on the part of the organizers was quite terrible.

The world cup is a great way to get new fans into the game. I hope there are some more by the time this marathon is over.

Posted in Cricket | No Comments »

IPL Auction – Not Cricket

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

A few days before the auction of the players was to begin for the 4th season of the IPL, I was discussing about cricket with some one who isn’t exactly an ardent follower of the game. He laughed and said that the players were going to be sold off like prostitutes. I didn’t know what to make of it and kept quiet. Kapil Dev, a person whose I don’t always agree with, had raised dismay at the auctions the first time it had occured before the inaugral IPL and I had not known what to make of it then as well.

Well, now I am sure. The auction business broadcast on live tv is not just ugly, it is worse than Big Boss and Rakhi Ka Insaaf, two Indian television broadcasts which have been shameful television in the name of TRPs. TRP is what is given as justification for any thing in India actually. When Ashutosh Gowarikar (the famous Indian director who director Lagaan) took Sajid Khan (another Indian director, if you can call him that) to task over making fun of people in an awards ceremony, Sajid Khan’s reasoning was that he was doing it as it was what people wanted. So let me ask every one who justify thus – if you show a live rape on TV, it will sell and you will get a lot of eye balls. Would that make it right? Heh.

Coming back to the auction – in the end, Md. Kaif, India’s World Cup winning Under-19 Captain was auctioned 3 times. When he was being bid for while he was auctioned the third time, the bidders were laughing and joking about the player. It was quite sickening to watch them make wisecracks as a cricket fan who has cherished the game and every thing about it. Kaif was small fry though.

Arguably India’s greatest captain in Saurav Ganguly wasn’t bought by any of the teams either. Just after the auction ended, Harsha Bhogle, India’s most respected commentator asked the question that what’s the big deal? Many players have been not selected before. I don’t think he got the sense of humiliation it is for a fan to see his hero disgraced. It isn’t the perfect example, but maybe if he thinks about the hero worship he had for Azharuddin before Azharuddin let him down with the match fixing, he may get a sense of perspective.

He, and other Indian fans do not even need to dwell that deep. Ganguly was one of the finest captains India produced and I don’t think any one can deny that. He had a controversial end to his captaincy but he did bring a paradigm change in the team and captained India to many famous wins. As an Indian fan, and it doesn’t really matter if you are a fan of Ganguly or not, it should hurt to see your former captain disgraced like this.

I am not going into the selection issue of Ganguly. Arguments can be made that he didn’t deserve to be in the team because he didn’t cut it for various reasons and that is fair enough. I am not the biggest Ganguly fan in the planet. My point is that the scenario which played out shouldn’t have played out in the first place. People can also alllege he raised his price before the auction. That was an error of judgement but should that mean being humiliated like this? I really don’t think so.

It wasn’t just Ganguly who was humiliated. Brian Lara, one of the greatest batsmen ever to have played the game was also not selected. Also not selected were loads of players from all over the world. As a cricket fan, it was pathetic to see so many talented cricketers not being bought. There was a cheapness to it which just wasn’t right. Some players were even put to the hammer a second time and yet no one bought them.

A lot of people are saying the IPL is good for the young players from India but the cap/uncap rule has put a huge dampener on that. If you haven’t played an international match for India, you can’t go into the auction and can fetch yourself a maximum of Rs. 30,00,000. So Manish Pandey, one of the best performers in the recent IPLs won’t get a lot of money. This rule isn’t there for the foreigners which means that an Australian under-19 player can laugh his way to the bank. I don’t think Manish Pandey and others would dare protest either even though every one who follow the game know it isn’t just.

Before people start saying I am not being rational about the whole thing, let me tell you that I follow sports keenly from all over the world and I don’t see such a scenario any where that I am aware of. NBA, for instance, has it’s drafts for the young players. The draft is about the opportunity to play in the NBA and not about the money or being disgraced in any way though.

Firstly, I don’t think that you should have auctions every few years. You should have contracts and once the contracts are over, you can have new contracts. Even if you are going to have contracts, have them within closed doors and don’t let it be public the players who weren’t chosen and such.

Really, I don’t want to see an auction guy go on shouting “I sold Stuart Broad” repeatedly on national television.

It’s just not cricket.

Posted in Cricket, IPL, Indian Cricket | No Comments »

On the Indian Win

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

A famous win for India at Durban. What a difference a fast bowler can make. Laxman keeps adding to his legend. I am concerned regarding the batting still but I thought Dravid showed signs of improvement despite not scoring a lot of runs after a long, long time. Pujara in place of Raina is a welcome addition as well.

This has been one of the best test matches I have seen. I always like pitches where batsmen have to ‘earn’ their runs. ODI matches between India and Pakistan in the Sahara Cup in Canada was great fun for instance. Watching the batsmen battle it out in the first inning was really terrific. I do think that the batsmen gritted it out in the first inning was very important. 200 might seem like a low score but given the wicket, it was pretty good according to me.

Sreesanth bowled 5 no balls in 8 overs in the 1st inning and Ishant bowled 7 in 9. Ishant carried on in the second inning. Shows a real lack of discipline and practice.

The win epitomises how the fortunes of the two teams has been over the past 18 months or so. On paper, South Africa is the better rounded side but they never deliver as much as they should. India keeps proving again and again why they are the number 1 side in the world.

A decent performance in the third test will mean India will hold on to the number 1 spot. They won’t be challenged for the spot for a fair while till the England series.

Posted in Cricket, ICC, South African Cricket | No Comments »

Fight For Cricket’s Numero Uno: India-RSA Predictions, Thoughts

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

India versus South Africa for cricket’s World Championship. The thing is India looks really weak the way I see it. Forget the bowling for a moment. The batting, which many Indian cricket fans pride themselves on has a real chance of being terribly exposed. Let me dissect. Sehwag was found out versus the short ball versus Australia on docile Indian pitches. Dravid has had slow reflexes and I don’t see him being up to the challenge of playing quality pace bowling. Raina is, well, one of the worst test batsmen in the world at the moment. Gambhir has just come off an injury and is untested. So we don’t know whether he will succeed. He might but with the backdrop of the other batsmen, it isn’t a rosy picture.

The only two people whom we have been able to depend on have been Tendulkar and Laxman and you don’t even come close to drawing a test series versus serious opposition based on the performance of just two players over an entire series. What are the alternatives, you might ask. Pujara and Kohli (who played those two fabulous innings in the Champions League T20 in South Africa itself and showed he is comfortable on these wickets – as much as you can in a T20 inning) are the two players I would have brought in for Dravid and Raina. With the current batting line up, I am not very hopeful.

The bowling has never been India’s strength and with Harbhajan Singh – Ojha dillemna, it isn’t going to get easier. I am a fan of Pragyan Ojha. I have always liked the way he prods and asks questions from the batsmen. The faster bowlers are the key though. The positive for India is the likes of Sreesanth have had experience on South Africa wickets. The same can be said about most of the players and it means that there can’t be any excuse for a failure.

My prediction for the series? A 2-0 South African victory. If India manage to draw the series, it will be a huge achievement. A lot of people have tried to shy away from the inevitable already and are coming up with what suits their comfort zones. A fair few people have said to me that this series is not that important and the World Cup in 2011 is far more important than this. There are millions of such fans who are mad about the pyjama cricket and don’t care much about test cricket. I can’t believe they call themselves real cricket fans.

There is no two ways about it though – this IS the Real Deal. A bit of history – India claimed the number one spot in test rankings around a year ago. Not many believed they deserved it at that point – South Africa had the better bowling attack and you need good bowling attacks to win tests. The fact that India has managed to hold on to the number one ranking for such a long period in a phase when the number one place holder was not expected to stay there for much time has (rightly in my opinion) made even the critics stand up and notice. South Africa haven’t really been able to deliver while India have even with doubters sitting ready to pounce on them if India gave even an inch.

India can at worst lose this series 1-0. Even if that happens, they can say that as South Africa had the home advantage, South Africa winning the series doesn’t prove conclusively that South Africa are better. If it is a 2-0 or worse, India won’t have much to hang by and South Africa will have the bragging rights regarding the number one spot for a fair while. Now, a few Englishmen are becoming optimistic and saying England are the strongest team in the world ahead of India and South Africa. England has a very strong core individual group and I love the look of this English team. If they keep performing, they can mount a challenge for the number 1 spot but at the moment, it is just that and no more.

I hope India is not embarrassed. If India manages to draw the series, I will be over the moon.

Posted in Cricket, Indian Cricket, South African Cricket | No Comments »

The Terrible English Sports Culture

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

It is a pity what has happened with Wayne Rooney over the past few months.

Rooney had a great 2009-10 English Premier League season for which he was the PFA Player of the year. He had a great start to the year as well for which he got the January FA Premier League player of the month.

I don’t think he could have foreseen the night mare which lay ahead of him. In 10 international matches in 2010, he scored only once which included the World Cup, a sharp contrast to the previous 3 years where he scored 13 goals in 21 games. He had a poor start to the 2010-11 EPL season.

Rooney did suffer a minor injury early in the year which might have affected his performances. The big issue which occured was the sex scandal turning the Rooney universe on it’s head. The focus of the tabloids, news papers and the fans was on Wayne Rooney all the while.

Now any one who has followed even a bit of the English football team over the recent past know that it is crap and wouldn’t have been surprised by their World Cup fiasco. There were a few stars but it was never really a team. How many times was the ball passed up front to Rooney, hey?

The English are a sports crazy nation. The culture building some one a star over night when he may be too young or not good enough and then expecting the world of him is dire really. Then there are the sports tabloids which are trying to outdo each other with the bigger sensational story.

What happened with Tim Henman probably epitomises a lot of the British sports culture. Now Britain hasn’t produced a tennis champion for aeons which is fine, can happen. Not till as late as 2007 did the British build start taking their tennis more seriously again. Champions aren’t produced overnight. It was great given this background that Henman happened at all.

It was Wimbledon and Britain saw a young tennis player who was good, so what do they do? Every one started hoping he won Wimbledon. Now Henman outdid himself, he even beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon and reached the later rounds of many a Wimbledon. It was phenomenal what Henman achieved at Wimbledon. He did rise to as high as No. 4 in the world once but had only 1 Masters Title and was 11-17 in his career in finals. He was a damn good tennis player, but not one of the best. Every year Wimbledon occured, there was Henmania which swept the nation. It always ended in disappointment. It was silly really to have such expectations.

Britain does it with all it’s stars and teams and it might prove rewarding once in a while like in the case of Henman, even though he never did win Wimbledon, it usually means a roller coaster ride of emotions. It is like the Indians do just before the Olympics, though things have changed now for India in sports like shooting and is changing in sports like wrestling. Before the Olympics, every one is hyped up. Apart from a few real contenders, of course, no one stands a chance. You don’t win Olympic medals by fluke. Then, when the players or teams don’t win, it is a national tragedy. Gloom sweeps the nation, a catharsis is done and then every one forgets about it. Nothing is done to improve the infrastructure and no real tough decisions are made. In the next big competition, the drama sequence is repeated in all it’s grandeur.

I mean, it was expected the English football team would not win the World Cup. No way! Real fans knew. Why was an overhaul not done after the World Cup to give the younger stars more exposure. Why are old stars who are never going to make it to the next World Cup carried on? It is a total waste. If I was England, I would sacrifice the Euro 2012 dream and focus on World Cup 2014.

Coming back to Rooney, there were even some ludicrous stories that he might retire. Rooney had to clarify he hoped to play at least 2 more World Cups. Now here’s the biggest football talent England has produced in a long time. He is just 25 and the whole career lies ahead of him. Why turn his life into a daily soap opera? They have to do it because if they don’t find some thing new, the next tabloid won’t sell. The whole culture is a disgrace. For Rooney’s sake, I hope he makes the decision to go to a big club outside England. There are usually two big strikers in the big European clubs nowadays, so the pressure will reduce enormously. Off the leash, given the fighting bull that Rooney is, he will then revel.

The British sports culture and putting a tangle hold over another English sports person right now – cricketer Graeme Swann ahead of the Ashes. Now, Swann has had a bit of a golden run in recent times. Already, he is being compared to the greatest spinners England has produced in it’s long cricketing history. Derek Underwood himself, who holds the record of maximum wickets by a spinner for England (297) and widely regarded as the greatest spinner coming out of England, has said that if Swann continues like this, he might break his record of maximum wickets. It is a tall order for Swann to break the record as he is already 31 but that is besides the issue.

What would be, or rather, should be, playing most on Swann’s and the other English players minds at the moment would be how to win the Ashes series, which would be an amazing feat, considering as it is, the Ashes are occuring down under. Not since the exodus to Packer circus has Australian cricket been at such a low and real chance for the Poms to add another glorious chapter to their recent successes as a team. Really Derek, who cares about your record right now? A large part of the pressure will be on Swann given the build up he has got and it’s just not right. Now the Australian batsmen have struggled against spin in recent times, most notably against Shahid Afridi and Pakistan, so there is a real chance Swann may have a big series. There is also a fair chance he may not have a big series given that most Australian wickets in the past decade or so have been lower, slower and don’t provide the rip off the surface which a spinner would like.

The Australians have dropped to No. 5 in tests but England are not far ahead at 4. In India, despite losing 2-0, the Australians gave India a tremendous fight at home which is not an easy thing to do. At home, the Australians have been the toughest team to beat in the past 15 years, even ahead of India. So it won’t be easy at all and the possibility of Australia winning back the Ashes is very real. If Swann doesn’t succeed, and if England doesn’t succeed, please, please, please, don’t start pointing to individuals in your own camp like they have committed national treason.

Give the guys a break, for Pete’s sake! One can hope…

Posted in Cricket, English Cricket, English Football, Football, Tennis | No Comments »

I Am Over Cricket

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

India v Sri Lanka one of the tightest and most gripping tests one can ask for. Tendulkar batting. And I can’t seem to take any interest in it. Started watching cricket in 1991 with this match. Have watched a lot of great players like Lara, Tendulkar Warne, Ambrose, McGrath, Akram, Inzamam, Dravid. I can continue naming players.

But I no longer have the patience or the stamina to watch cricket. This coming from some one who used to watch even gully cricket. Almost 20 years of cricket has been time for me I guess.

This is similar to my friend who posted about this here and is not an uncommont though rare phenomena I guess.

This is in some ways a sad day for me but I am normal about it. As I said I am over it. My love affair with cricket ends. I cherished every moment while it lasted.

This is the end, my beautiful friend.

Posted in Cricket | 5 Comments »

Test Team of Last Two Decades

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Pretty much all my cricket watched in the said period. I started watching in 1991.

My team would be -

Sehwag
Hayden
Lara
Tendulkar (captain)
Ponting
Kallis
Flintoff
Gilchrist
Pollock
Akram
Murali

Posted in Cricket | 5 Comments »

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