Team – ENGLAND
ODI Rank – 5
ODI Rating – 109

Last World Cup – Super-8
Finals Appearances – thrice
Best in a World Cup – Runner-up (’79, ’87, ’92)

Squad
Andrew Strauss (C), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior(wk), Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy

Strength – (if fit) Fast bowlers
Weakness – FITNESS, inability to play consistently on slow tracks

Performance

If one calls South Africa “chokers”, one might have to think again. England is the team that went to three world cup finals and lost each of them! And I will not hold anything back in saying, this is the best squad ever sent to a world cup. Well, it seemed so a couple of weeks ago. Most players in the squad have been in good touch in their respective department in ODIs or in test cricket (Ashes). Collingwood, who just retired from test cricket (before he could be droppped) will be playing his last world cup, and maybe his last international cricket tournament. The only surprise came in when Prior was selected ahead of Davies, who had been the keeper for England in the last 2 or more series.

Andrew Strauss has been becoming more of a respected captain, and the two of Strauss and Andy Flower (the coach) have been getting together the English side for more than an year in the build up for the WC. The batting issues seems to have been solved. Bell has been pushed lower down the order, instead of making him open. Bell will prefer middle order to opening, his natural game surely would. So, England now has Strauss accompanied by Matt Prior at the opening slots. Prior was called into the squad after his performance in the Ashes, and it took him a couple of ODIs to finally start firing. The left-right combo like to attack the seamers up front, with Prior being more aggressive. Prior loves going straight, Strauss is better square of the wicket. So, bowling will have to be smart… But, like the Australians have been showing in the 7-match series, it’s no big deal to break them apart early!

Middle order is great on the paper – Trott, KP, Bell, Collingwood, Morgan. On paper, yes. Trott has managed to extend his batting form from the Ashes to the ODI series. He was slow in a couple of games, but managed to score at a faster pace in the 6th game in a losing cause. He is one of the coolest batsman at the crease, who relies more on placement and timing than on power. Well, he has cemented the sheet-anchor role, atleast. KP comes in as a fearesome big man with the bat, who I feel is not yet consistent with the bat either side of the event of him being dropped from the side. Once in a while he as exploded – once in test series, once in ODIs… But, he has had a good run in series played in India. Bell is in very good touch with the bat, and is likely to be the strokemaker in the middle of the innings. Collingwood’s place in the middle order is questionable in isolation, but he adds to the side the calmness and experience, and the English team is expecting him to deliver his due at the world cup, after failing expectations for almost the whole of Ashes and the ODI tour. Morgan, the “acquisition” from Ireland, has been the unconventional batting star for the English middle order, bailing them out of difficult situations, which also includes game(s) against B’desh. He has his own school of cricket and defines beauty in his own way, and scores runs at a good pace in his own way! Well, he does contribute more often than not, and is England’s “finisher” for the world cup.

Bowling (on paper), a month ago, would have had one of the most destructive line up of pacemen. Just that, in the past month or so, most of them have been injured or completely lost touch in foreign environment. Broad was injured early in the Ashes, and is expected to recover just in time for the world cup. Bresnan and Shahzad injured themselves during the ODI series. Broad has been one of the most improved cricketers in the world over the past 2 years or so. He has got his height to help in extract bounce from the Indian tracks. He bowls stump-to-stump when needed to bottle the flow of runs, and that is when he is very tough to get away with. Bresnan is an “effort bowler”. He charges in and bowls heavy deliveries, the ball may just lift a tad faster than others can. He has had a good run down under, but got injured during the course of a game. Ajmal Shahzad, the new comer has been the one who has impressed me the most. He is good on pace, and can reverse the ball quite well.A very good find in the recent past for the English team, and it is probable that he might play games ahead of Bresnan, or any other injured players. The counter argument – Bresnan can bat better than Shahzad.

The only fit pace bowler who finds himself on the world cup squad – Jimmy Andersen. He missed the first 3 games of the ODI series vs Aus, returned to get England the much needed win to stop the trot, bowled well in that game and in the next (5th ODI) and completely lost his rhythm in the 6th game. He leaked a massive 91 runs in his 10 overs, in a game where England failed to defend 333! So, his consistency is a concern. Indian conditions won’t be allowing much swing to him, so, he might have to be impeccably accurate with his line and length to be a trouble-maker with the ball.

Spin – Swann is England’s mainstay spinner, but again, he is injured! If fit, he will be England’s main weapon in the middle and slog overs. Swann can drift, spin big and vary the pace without giving the batsmen much clue. He has spun wonders on English soil, surely he will be a menace on Indian soil? I guess so. The back-up spinner is Michael Yardy, who has been pretty effective with his left arm tweakers. he strangles the batsmen for runs, to get under their skin. A product of modern day cricket. There is Tredwell in the squad too, but I’m not sure how much he will be used in the games that matter. In basketball lingo, he will “play the garbage minutes”. Any opening for an all-rounder spot will be rather filled by Luke Wright, who has a reputation of being a hard hitter. He can also bowl at > 135kph, but for some reason I’ve not seen him bowl that often. Body problems? Or lack of requirement (with 3 or 4 pacers already)? For sure, Collingwood is going to be preferred ahead of any other part-timers, him being effective and experienced. His off-cutters with occasional true medium pace will be quite an irritation to deal with for the batsmen during the middle overs.

Batting and bowling apart, England’s best skill is their fielding. Their oldest player, Collingwood, is their best fielder. They save atleast 20-30 runs a game with their skills on the field. This will be a major advantage, given that in the subcontinent the fielders will have to help out their bowlers to put a lid on the scoring rate, which is likely to be high in most games.

England will have to be pretty effective with their bowling in the world cup. Their bowlers are not yet in the grove to perform with match-winning efforts. The only ones who looked like they can play well, figuratively and cricket-wise, are either not in the squad (Finn, Woakes) or also injured (Tremlett).

England play Pakistan, Nederlands, India, Ireland, South Africa, Bangladesh and West Indies. Interesting trend out there, right? But, England might have to face a situation where they have lost 3 of their first 5 league games before traveling to Bangladesh and facing WI in their last league game, both of which can be tricky. B’desh have been building a fortress at their home, and WI might want to make a push to claim a QF berth. They know their friendly neighbours Nederlands and Ireland well, and will have their easiest games against them, while the host, India, will be their toughest opponent, having lost to them 5-0 in their last bilateral ODI series in India not so long ago.

England have won the Ashes, a trophy which means a great deal to their history. But, if at all they want to etch their names in the history of ODI cricket, there is a lot of home work to do in very little time. Personally, I don’t see England deserving to go beyond the QF stage in this pitiable form. They will either have to be lucky in their QF match-up, or, be re-born into a new star force to prove me wrong and make me eat my words for breakfast! They have the squad, many of whom are not ready as of yet.

This may be one of India’s worst defeats in history. But India fought for 17 days of the series, and lost only 4-0. Spare a thought for Natasha Zvereva, who was crushed 6-0 6-0 by Steffi Graf in 1988 French Open. Lasted only 32 minutes, shorter than India’s 7 man tail lasted in the last test.

I look at some major reasons why India lost the series to England.

1. That Blimp

Right from the start of the series, the television presenters were hell bent on giving more importance to the floating piece of clueless hot air balloon than what was happening down in the cricket ground. The cricketers had to do something crazy enough to attract the attention of the 7 month old baby which would otherwise have been gazing at the blimp.

It is also believed that Lalit Modi lived in that blimp, preparing to unfurl his IPL-IS-GOD nuisance as soon as India would win a test. The needless and pointless ZanduBalm Pressure became a huge Vicks 500 Headache for the Indian team, and like all humans they suffered from fatigue from the over expectation generated from the man in the MRF Blimp.

That blimp..

2. Snapping Samson’s Hair

Never change something that is going well

Ishant Sharma was the leading wicket taker in the WI series. He had the most wickets for an Indian in a single tour of WI. And within a couple of weeks of landing in England, he becomes a cropper. His hair was cut. Along with the length of his hair, went his powers. Ishant, is Samson.

Ishant’s form dipped, injured himself, and is now back home.

3. The Rise of the Barbie

Before the series started, Stuar Broad was a man going nowhere with his form. He was spraying the ball all around for an year. His enforcing abilities had diminished to near nothingness. It took him three and a half ODIs to pick his first wicket of the series against SL, preceding the IND series. Such was his plight, fighting against Bresnan for a spot in the playing XI.

And on 21st July, as England started their campaign at Lord’s, a sad thing happened in California, USA later that day. Elliot Handler, the co-inventor of Barbie Dolls, passed away due to heart failure at the age of 95.

“Silently going about, doing his business.”

- A gazillion people, on Rahul Dravid.

Fifteen years ago at Lord’s, in walked a skinny top order batsman, who was in the team for another batsman missing out on the test… And on his debut, teased the English bowlers with cream and venom alike, and made a respectable 95 runs. Not putting his name on the honour’s board didn’t hurt as much as not going on forever did.

Introducing Rahul Sharad Dravid. The man who planted the trees on the top order to hold the loose soil tight. The man who took the scoring brunt off the shoulders of Azhar and Sachin, sharing loads with the colleague Sourav and his dearest buddy, VVS…thereby starting a new era of Indian batting order. One that would last for a decade, stripping opposition of pride and fame, creating pride and fame for their own team, and continually raising standards to reach the pinnacle they just did.

Came in as a top order stabilizer, became a top order mobilizer with continuous commendable performances in ODIs. Instantly, he had a fan club (not the easiest thing to do when you have Sachin polarizing the nation, and Sourav rising up too), and had tons of girls drooling over him. Then there was Jam Jam Jammie.

Nothing deterred his concentration. We’ve seen Waughs and Sachins and Laras. But none of them have the concentration level of Rahul Dravid. With no imposition to go for the high-flying shots that define the younger generation, Dravid trusted his 6th, 7th and 8th sense – concentration. Armed with the defense of highest quality, he ground the bowlers, brought them to his mercy and then punished them with his artillery of stroke-play.

Want an example to prove his concentration?

Watch - Dravid, Hamilton.

That, in an age where NZ would have the most hostile pitches for subcontinental batsmen, ball zipping around and all that. That total spoke volumes of his talent.
A dozen years later, he has 5 double tons for India, only bettered by Sachin and the only Indian with triple ton (two of them) – Sehwag. No other contemporary or past batsmen have as many. And his double tons came at the Oval, Pindi, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Adelaide. But for Ahmedabad, every other test had an ordeal to surpass.

The sweetest of them all? Adelaide. That innings was one that laid India on the path to overseas success. An innings that instilled fear in opponents’ spine, even if at home. A feel of “nothing is over until it is over” and other cliched lines.

Not to forget that 190 and a 191 at Nagpur vs NZ. If Dravid sets his eye in, he will not let go of the grip.

And no, he is not a test-only batsman. He has been a prolific limited over batsman. More than 10000 runs, having been asked to bat at multiple positions in the batting line up, tossed around like a volleyball. One thing that did not change was the consistency in delivery.

People don’t generally associate Dravid with speed. But, one cannot forget his whirlwind fifty against NZ, that till date stands to be the 2nd fastest Indian fifty in ODI, albeit shared by a few others (Sehwag, Yuvraj, Kapil Dev). Dravid was pushed down the order so faster scorers can accelerate. But it was Dravid who actually did the acceleration that night. Cover drives were given a harder push, a little more lift. As simple as that, came the sixes.

We remember Sachin’s 186 and Ganguly’s 183 as examples of Indian ODI’s greatest innings. But at the other end of those innings, was Rahul Dravid. He had 153 and 145, better than run-a-ball, and is the sole cricketer features in two triple century partnerships. Not Sachin, not Ganguly. Dravid.

Greg Chappell came in, tossed the team around like a Chinese tossing vegetables on a pan. Dravid, slotted to play at no.3 or 4 would have to make space for Irfan Pathan or Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the floaters. Chappell displaces Ganguly from the scene and thrusts the captaincy onto Rahul Dravid. Dravid has since managed the team to overseas success, even though he wasn’t enjoying captaincy.

When Mongia’s jaws were rearranged by Jumbo, fellow Bangalorean, Rahul Dravid stepped up and took the gloves. Saba Karim’s offer to fly in as India’s cover-up was put on hold, as Dravid was made to take up this additional job for the rest of the tournament, a world cup tournament that.

His 145 vs Sri Lanka at Taunton was then the 2nd highest score by a wicket-keeper batsman, the highest in that category a world cup. Only Gilchrist’s 2007 final has bettered that in a world cup.

He was made to continue as the keeper for 70 odd games, to accommodate another batsman in the line up. He had to squat 50 times in the subcontinent, and then come on to balance the top order.

He had to take the brunt of captaincy during a torrid time in Indian cricket.

When the team was without openers, Dravid was pushed to open the innings. It was not his favourite spot, but he took the shot for the team.

Why, you put up posters and placards with his face sitting besides the name he doesn’t like, “The Wall”, but continues to live with it.

In an age where people miss every second game for some injury or the other, Rahul went on to play record number of tests in a row until he missed a test. And that record has only been eclipsed by the flawless health of Gilchrist.

He had to give up his ODI place to “young blood” who would go on to earn money by wearing colourful jerseys in petty leagues doing what could only be best described as “dancing to rap music”. His WC 2007 memories not helping, he reserved himself to test cricket, though available for the shorter form too. But for Kohli, India hasn’t seen a batsman who can be half as close to Dravid’s stature, to be able to manage that spot at the top order with as much calmness as he did. Gambhir and Ganguly are not natural no.3, but they were made to fall back to no.3 at times from their natural opening slot, which by default pushed Dravid back.

And today, when the panic button sounds alarms, the team falls back to the game’s biggest servant to save them from further blushes in this English tour. Indian ODI may not be moving forward, but it had to return to the man who has helped the team in the exact same situation time and again in history. Once again, something unforeseen strikes Rahul Dravid.

Has anyone, anyone, ever had a cup of coffee with him and asked “Forget our needs, what would you like to have? What do you want to see? Where do you want to play? Are you comfortable? Do you need rest?” Dravid is the precious Kohinoor we couldn’t live without, which shone the room of Indian cricket with grace and brought delight. A man who took the services from the likes of Jadeja and Siddhu and the likes, looking to hand over the keys to Kohli and Pujara and the likes, Indian cricket hasn’t been half as kind as it could’ve been to Rahul.

He smoothened the middle order, he opened the innings on demand, he cut through arrays of records, he sliced open racks of bowling attacks, he screwed and bolted the Indian batting order, he anchored many an ends in his career, and clipped away needless gossips from the team… With a smile.

India’s Swiss Knife. Rahul Sharad Dravid.

ICC has made “modified” UDRS mandatory in all tests and ODIs. Modification? HotSpot and audio tracking are mandatory, while hawk-eye is going to be optional. So, if you see India playing in the series/tournament, don’t expect hawk-eye in it.

So, it is clear there won’t be hawk-eye in place for the series in England. And that renders any line call vs lbw decisions non-referable. So, if the umpire calls it outside the leg tough it pitched in line, the bowler can only swear at himself and move on, of course that swearing will earn him a trip to the match referee’s room for breaching laws 1.23.4.24 and 2.124.34.534.34. Similar conditions for the batsmen in a different scenario.

So, how is the umpire going to know where it pitched or had the impact with the pad if the ball-tracker is not trust worthy? Remember those days when there was no hawkeye, and the TV telecast production company would just show the replay, and when the ball its the pad, they would make the batsman’s image go translucent so you could see the stumps behind him? Why not just go back to that and get rid of all the complications with ball tracking devices. Refer the close lbw decisions to 3rd umpire and ask him to take that decision. As for the edge, you have approximately 235325 cameras in the cricket ground for every angle, and then you have the hot-spot cameras in all directions. Did I miss anything?

The ICC decides to hold a qualifier for the 10-team 2015 World Cup, to be held just before the tournament I feel. I don;t have more details to add to it right now, not sure how many teams will fight for it, how many spots will be made vacant for grabs after deciding upon the number of teams that get automatic qualification into the World Cup. This has made the word “world” buy a little more meaning into it, nevertheless.

Now, to some other changes that have been brought in.

No runners. Batsmen will not be allowed the comfort of using a runner to run for him during the course of the match. Even if one of his leg break into two and his team needs two to win off the last ball of the game. He has to do that on one leg. If the ICC can look at what I’m trying to say, that decision must be changed.

Powerplay overs can only be employed within the 16th and 40th over. Maybe some day they will make it mandatory to be used between overs 20 and 30.

Captains will be suspended if they breach the over-rate twice. Used to be three earlier. With so many confusions and complications, I have no idea how many would want to lead their side in ODIs from now on. There are so many factors that are bound to waste your time.

And here comes the icing on the cake. Or whatever.
There will be two balls used in every innings of an ODI. One from each end. ICC says that will help sustain the swing on the ball for a longer period of time. This has effectively removed spinners out of the equation for ODIs. As it is they are made to bend to the ugly T20. Now, there is never going to be an old ball. There were times when spinners would come in around the 15th to 20th over and carry on to the early 40s. I can’t imagine what kind of bowling is to be witnessed now on. More of dart spinners…

Not like pitches made around the world support any swing. The subcontinent is just a dust bowl. Pakistan plays its games in the UAE, dust of dust bowls. Only a few stadiums in England, SA, Australia support swing, very few. NZ tracks have been nothing like they were before the 2003 WC. And WI pitches are dead corpse, given what they used to be.

A ball for each end my foot.
25 overs per end. So, assuming you want one of your opening bowler to finish the innings off (which would need him to bowl from the other end for the last over), you will need atleast two bowlers to bowl from both ends at different points of time. Or one, if you have that many bowling options. Now, the field as to shine two different balls, take care of 4 sides of balls, learn the science of two different balls. I won’t be surprised if there are ten more Trescothics and Yardys in the next 5 years.

God save cricket. That fat lady is coughing.

So, here I was, watching two great cricketing achievements in Indian cricketing history. India was touring Australia and had made it to the (best of 3) finals. Indian under-19 team, meanwhile, were having an unbeaten run in the u-19 world cup. Led by their bubbly captain, Virat Kohli, India went on to case a formidable target vs the Kiwis in the semi-finals, against the brilliance of Tim Southee.

And it was his stern captaincy, bowling changes and positive impact on the fielding that aroused the Indians in the field vs SA after a rain break, that lead India to victory from a very VERY bleak situation(only 160 to defend to start with).

(India won the two CB finals in Australia and the u-19 world cup in Kuala Lumpur within the space of 3 days!)

Not only did I see a great leader in Virat Kohli, I saw the future of Indian top-order. A likely candidate to replace Rahul Dravid in the test side in either format of the game.

Only two players from that world cup winning side broke into the seriors’ side. One of them got lost into oblivion very soon, and I think that is unjustified. Ravindra Jadeja is much better than what most of the so called “cricket fans” think about him. (notable others who have made it big from that tournament : Wayne Parnell, Darren Bravo, Steven Finn, Tim Southee, Umar Akmal etc)
Virat Kohli, unrelated to the other Kohli in the world cup winning team, has the artillery any batsman would want to possess. He is calm, unlike the brood of players his generation (my generation) has been watching. He likes to settle down before taming the bowlers. Not something that you see in most people.

His array of strokes include the drives in the “V”, the cover drive, flicks to the leg side, pull, back-foot cuts into the offside etc. He can bowl part time medium pace, something that India hasn’t seen since Saurav Ganguly’s retirement. And he is an electric fielder, wherever you place him.

For the past one and a half years, he has shouldered the burden of the Indian top order, in the absence of Sachin and Dravid from the line-up for different reasons. Almost more often that not, he delivered. His serene nature to allow things come to him helped him to not cave-in in pressure situations. He played the sheet anchor role that Dravid played, and amassed the runs Sachin would’ve.

One of the best performances I’ve seen him deliver was against Australia last year. Australia were slapped with a 2-0 test defeat and were waiting for revenge. And when finally a dry game showed up, Cameron White showed up (for the last time, I believe) what a monster he was. India had to chase 285 or so, and had lost an early wicket or two. Virat Kohli stood ground at one end, made the Aussie bowlers bend hard to him, and once they were milked dry he charged at them. Along with Suresh Raina, he helped the youth of the Indian team score a huge victory over the Aussies. And that, was the decisive game as India swept the Aussies in the whole tour.

He followed it up with a classic century against the Kiwis in the very next assignment. And he glittered the world cup opener with a century of his own, as he threaded the needle all day long, quite notably and beautifully, which might be difficult when the man batting at the other end scores 175 runs.

If anyone watched him play in that opener, you could see in is eyes that he feared none. When the Bagladeshi bowlers tried to intimidate him with glares and pep talk, Virat stared right back and them and didn’t hold himself back to show his aggression with the bat. He already had won a world cup, he knows all about it. Gritty personality, nerves of steel, heart to thrive on success without asking for too much.

For the WI tour, he has been selected into the test squad and I see the future brightening up a little bit more for him, and for India. It was always coming. Five years from now, we will see Kohli, Pujara and Raina in that top-middle order churning oppositions down to rubble. Yes, they can.

In the three years that he has been in international stage, and the 4 years in domestic, Virat Kohli has held different levels of responsibility – captaining the Delhi Ranji side when Aakash Chopra was away, captaining u-19 team to world cup victory, and most of you would recollect, captaining the IPL team – RCB. He is bound to lead India in the future. He has excellent man-management skills, moves along well with people, doesn’t shy away from excitement and aggression alike.

He now has another world cup under his belt, and he ended it with a wonderful ode to Sachin Tendulkar, which every Indian would now have learnt by heart.

What’s not to like in him? An all-in-one package made of grit, wrapped in felt, with a silk bow.

If you are a girl, I’m pretty sure he’s a heart-throb too.

To me, he will always be the Champ.

Beauty is what you see, with your eyes closed.

Beauty is the face of your love, who strolls into your dreams without a request. Beauty is on the face of your parents, who care for you more than you do. It is in the colourful flowers that glorify your garden. It is in the building you admire to be in. It is in the way your favourite sportsperson plays his masterstroke. It drips off the face of the handsome men and the beautiful damsels. It is in the act of a little kitten chasing a ladybird. Beauty is, in the ladybird.

What IS beauty? 

Beauty is what you hear, in silence.

Some things are ugly, so you can look beautiful.

In that, lies their beauty.

Oops, wrong match to report?

Oh yeah, the men in yellow won the IPL for the 2nd time running. CSK, in my serious opinion have been the only team wanting to play proper cricket, have had a clear vision and have done well ever since they disposed off the actor Vijay as their cheerleader. I mean, ambassador. The cheerleaders’ squad they picked up from Spencers Plaza two hours before the match got some good camera time. So did MSD’s Lady.

Ravichandran Ashwin is signing a contract with WWE after the English tour. He has, till now, survived a blow to his head by the costly guy named Saurabh Tiwary, and also wrestled himself alive after being mobbed by his teammates on dismissing Gayle. “He would do well in 3 on 1 matches, tag team matches and Lumberjack Matches” quoted Vince McMahon, owner of WWE.

For the 4th time in four years, Mumbai “Indians” fans are bamboozled that IPL did not come to them, in spite of playing Chachin in all their games. KKR did their best to take MI as far as they got, but a certain left arm spinner (indistinguishable from the 234 other left arm spinners that played in the IPL) got the wicket of Chachin. Investigations reveal that the spinner’s name is Syed Mohammed, and an inquiry has been lodged to unearth the celebrations he performed after dismissing Chachin, which were obviously against the law.

Gabriella Pasqualotto has vowed to return to IPL5 as a “Podcast” presenter. Se is sure that she knows more about players than newbies like Shibani, who apparently asked Venkatesh Prasad on screen “So, you are the assistant coach, right?”. After Donna Symmonds, cricket might want to listen to Gabriella the most.

Priety Zinta and Shilpa Shetty were cleared by “Cricket for Dumbos” tuition center as “People with knowledge of cricket”. Both were able to answer who was their respective team’s captain. Amongst other questions were “how many arms are raised when the umpire signals a batsman out?”, for which Zinta had written a couple of sheets length of answer. The invigilator refused to supply her additional sheet. Shilpa answered most questions right, and some examiners feel that she received illegal help from Liz Hurley with those questions. Anyway, this season Zinta was able to figure out on her own about whom to hug.

Rohit Sharma was as usual awake as soon as his IPL alarm clock rang the bell. He is the Kumbhakarna of IPL, the bear of IPL, waking after a hibernation. This time, he came closest to performing for India, by performing for Indians. The Mumbaikar variety. Of course, he showed his class, when he thought his super-IPL-man character should be taken one step higher. He wanted to score runs by now depositing the bat beyond the ropes. His attempt didn’t succeed, as the bat barely reached the inner circle. Shane Warne, however, was playing the real cricket, and his penultimate ball in cricket (unless book cricket becomes official) turned and stuck its tongue out in front of Rohit Sharma as it beat his flying bat and (In Ravi Shastri’s glorious words ->) “the keeper made no mistake”.

This IPL will be most remembered for the contribution of Abhishek Nayar to world harmony, as he gave the scorecard a “c. Symonds b. Harbhajan”. There, IPL should’ve been ended right then.

Some players are still confused about which team they play for. Dada went to Pune, and helped KKR reach playoffs (I had to strike off quarters, and semis, before finally remembering that it is “playoffs”). And then Balaji, in KKR, helped CSK reach 2nd spot. Random Fact – Lord Balaji’s abode is closer to Chennai than it is to Kolkata.

Gayle gave his folks a preview of Pirates of Caribbean *fill in the blank with the current sequel number* as he vandalized his ex-home. Of course, that match will be more remembered for the look on Virat Kohli’s face when, with few runs left to win and Gayle at the brink of his century, Kohli absolutely smacked the living hell of a half tracker lolly pop jujubi giftwrapped Christmas present from Iqbal Abdullah to the mid wicket fence and wore a horror struck face in apology to the huge figure of black-bandana-wearing non-smiling 6 foot 5 inch giant Chris Gayle standing few yards away and say “I didn’t mean to do that”. Come on, Kohli, we love you. But, for your cricket, “catching” Bollywood is for guys like Siddharth Mallya etc.

Kochi seemed to have had discovered their winning formula – by making Sreesanth their cheerleader. Somehow, even that didn’t help them after a few games.

Pune Warriors, like their Marathi counterpart, added “India(n)” to their franchise name. But, even that addition couldn’t help them score brownie points in the INDIAN PL.

Deccan had a record breaking season, by breaking the home jinx and securing a win against some team (which I hope one of my readers would remind me ). The DJ at the stadium was so happy to play the “Go Deccan Chargers, go Deccan Chargers, GO, go go go!” for three consecutive days in the stadium non-stop. He knew it was never coming back, might as well savour the moment “until it lasts”.

In other news, Lalit Modi claimed to be Adrian Shankar‘s father, Jason Gillespie claimed to be his batting coach, Zinta revealed that she was his girl-friend and Siddhu (ex)claimed that he was his English tutor.

Right, so a friend came to me this morning and told me that Valthaty got that Passat. He will be busy getting his driver’s license. MSD will be off to the honeymoon, in a place that doesn’t recognize him as King Midas. Caribbean cricketers will be given red jerseys. Jacob Oram will be given a Nokia phone to feel connected. And Abhimanyu Mithun will re-trace his path and find out why he made the grave mistake of being a bowler.

Some time soon, Vijay Mallya will recover from his hangover and realize RCB have lost the IPL4 finals.

[Disclaimer : My brain is parked outside the SWALEC stadium in Cardiff, where Alistair Cook is trying to impress his selectors and try to book a berth in England's ODI squad.]

Mrs Bullet has been having such trouble for ages, and says it has peaked now, because Mr Tracer Bullet is utterly bored after is stints at the world cup and then at the Fancy Dress Cricket League, popularly knows as I-P-L.

He appears at the breakfast table wearing a suit, looking at the 1985 model of video camera placed on the showcase looking over the dining table and say out loud “ARE.YOU.REAAAADYYYY? I just get the feeling sun is out, and it’s going to be a cracker of a contest.” Mrs Bullet was not sure if Polly wanted a cracker or breakfast.

She recalled, when 2 weeks ago the kid and her friend were having a fight over the breakfast table, he stopped the two, flipped a coin and asked one of them to call heads or tails. And went to the winner of the toss with a spoon as a mic and asked “So, what will you do today? Any changes in the team?”

He kept pestering the maid who was washing utensils until one of his “That’s a cracker” finally made her drop a plate and crack it. And he retorted, “nothing can be done, that fell down as straight as an arrow. The umpire has raised his finger.”

Once the offended maid was gone, Mrs Bullet made him do the dishes, but she realized her grave mistake as he started throwing the kitchen sink for 3 days in a row.

He always makes sure that he cleans one half of the house, and says emphatically, “See, there is shine on one side and rough on the other. What this does it, it will generate some swing. All you have to do is bowl straight, bowl full and let the ball do the rest.” Mrs bullet dejectedly said, “he never did the rest” and pointed out piles of dust on one side of the living room…

He does love to watch movies. Less of tamil, and even less if it is a Vijaykanth movie. He hates Vijaykanth, because he is the one man tracer bullets fear.

Mrs Bullet says he also likes to cook. He adds random ingredients and teaches anyone who would lend their ear “what this does is, it will make the going smooth.” And as a good father, he always tells his kid “make no mistake”, a local version of “do the right thing” or “be a man”.

He has a few cats, and lets them amongst the pigeons every evening. Most of the irritated pigeons have already left his household for different reasons. One of them agreed told us, “we used to have a nice time until the recent times. We had a nest over the Air Conditioner outside his bedroom. But we found that it was not a peaceful place to like, as that man would suddenly get up in the middle of the night and scream at the top of his voice ‘DHOOOOOOOONIIIIIIII’ and get back to sleep. We are all woken up, and people in the neighbourhood put on their lights and after that it is very difficult to sleep, you know. We are moving to LSK’s home. He sings well.”

Tracer Bullet’s favourite festival is Holi, he says, as he happily recalls that ever since his childhood he would carry the water pistol in his hands and run from door to door firing on all their cooking gas cylinders.

He goes out to eat with his friends every Saturday night. Most of them got their PhD from American universities, and a couple of them were medical practitioners. If he is unable to make his mind up on what to order that night, he would just tell the waiter “I’ll have just what the doctors ordered”, and keep eating till something gets to give. It’s mostly the patience of the people at the restaurant.

So, as the lights are put out, no guns are left to blaze, Mr Tracer goes to bed with a phoney mic on one hand and “Best IPL Commentator Award” in the other. And Mrs Bullet whispers, “Oh God I hope they take him away to England in July.”

Two days ago, early in the morning, I was watching my favourite basketball team, Los Angeles Lakers, play against the Dallas Mavericks. And when one of the Mavs shoved a Laker (Steve Blake) to the floor, there were a few Lakers stepping up in Blake (and later, Pau Gasol)’s defense, risking their own ejection. The post match interviews had one phrase common in their speeches – “brotherhood”.

It was the same kind of stepping-up and love for each other that was seen yesterday night when India defeated Sri Lanka to win back the ICC Cricket World Cup in their own back-yard, in their most beautified son’s home. It was a team, hunting as a unit, telling everyone that it is that brighter light on top of the tree which they want to reach, and they will sacrifice their body for their team to climb on each other and win it.

As soon as the SF was over, for me, the World Cup was over. India playing SL doesn’t excite me. But, India winning the title does. To not risk myself getting squished into a 2D body, I left my hostel and its living cannibals to watch the game in a theatre. The atmosphere in the theatre helped me get into the grove for the finals. And it was worth a finals. Duh, 60 foot screen, Air Conditioned, theatrical sound effects, 200 fans, good food, what did you expect? Of course it excites you!

After a gritty innings by Mahela Jayawardene, duly supported by his best man Sangakkara, and others (Samaraweera, Kulasekara and Perera), India was set a BIG total to chase. And when the famous openers of India fell, it was time for the nation to look at what the team was really about – a team.

Gambhir posted one of the most beautiful innings in sheet-anchor role, Kohli gave him the company he needed while he settled down, while Dhoni took the attack to the Lankans.

In the end, it was the captain who smashed the ball out of the park, and the Lankans out of the tournament. And fittingly, along with him out there in the middle was the man of the tournament – Yuvraj Singh.

This thing was meant to happen. You look at Murali’s figures – 39-0 after 8 overs. He neither completed his quota, nor got a single wicket. This was the most “in-your-face” send off that a great personality would least prefer having. His eyes were moist, not because he was leaving, but because he couldn’t make a damn contribution in Sri Lanka’s favour when it was needed the most.

No one feared Malinga. Sure, he troubled India early on, but confidence grew in the batsmen, the glory was within sight. Even if Raavan had 20 more heads, it wouldn’t have mattered, if he he had to be felled, he would be. Four changes made to a winning side, and surely Sangakkara had to be superman to get his armory right. He had no clue how to use his support bowlers. Kulasekara undid all his batting efforts, Perera was no threat at any stage (that Gambhir wicket was a gift) and Randiv came all the way from Sri Lanka to lose the only game he played.

Right from the start, the Indian fielding was at its toes. And the SL fielding was a bit sloppy. There, a few runs up and down, saved and leaked. And who was doing the fielding? Everybody! Raina-Yuvraj-Virat were electric, yes. but there were also Bhajji, SRT, Zak throwing themselves around. That catch by Sehwag which put an end to Tharanga’s innings was a piece of classic. They were hungry, 28 years hungry.

If you looked closely into the eyes of the captain, you would’ve read what his heart said “There, I’ve proved myself, I’ve proved it to the world”. Captaincy was born inside him. Fittingly, he saved his best innings for the last one.

Just as the umpire lifted both his hands up to the heavens, Yuvraj put his body down to earth in joy. MSD turned to claim his stump. Virat Kohli ran like a cheetah, grabbed a stump and religiously ran to Sachin Tendulkar and gave it to him. If that doesn’t tell you something, then his speech said it all – “Sachin has carried the hopes of the Indian cricket team on his shoulders for 21 years; it was time we carried him on ours”.

Sachin’s contribution in the finals was little or negligible, but he was the one who laid the road to the finals this year, and all those tournaments day in night out decade after decade.

Everyone wanted to win this for Sachin, it was a gift, an honour. It is what boy-friends jump into the oceans for – to find their girl the best pearl. It is what first-time daddies go shopping for – to bring his wife and new born the sweetest gift. It is what India won the cup for – to dedicate this to the one whom they idolised.

Bhajji’s tears and Raina’s smiles all meant the same thing. Both meant how much they wanted this. Bhajji has been through more pain and drama. That was experience talking there. Raina is learning how to take major victories in his side (one BIG gazelle step ahead of CSK’s twin-wins) with youthful exuberance. That was the Generation-X talking.

When India won the World Cup, it meant India won the Cup as a team. It all started with Piyush Chawla exposing the weakness of foreign teams’ inability to play spin in the warm up games, and we saw Yuvraj playing like a champion, Kohli playing with grace, Gambhir bat like it was in his own back-yard, Viru being destructive, Zaheer showing experience, Bhajji-Yuvraj-Yusuf-Pathan-Ravichandran spin attack working as a single minded unit willing to sacrifice things for the greater good, Munaf bending his back bowling on a repaired ankle and a broken hip, and Nehra defying the foul-cry of billions and bowling India over Pakistan with a broken hand. If you’ve seen better captaincy, correct me.

Coach Gary Kirsten took the team into his hands after India were emotionally and physically (and unethically) beaten 2-1 in Australia. And he has grown the team into a brood of gladiators. It was the best way to repay him back – a crown on his last shift in charge of his pets. And nothing was possible without the able presence of bowling coach Eric Simmons, who not only brought the best out of PK, Sreesanth, Nehra and Ashwin in the past one year, but also managed India’s bench strength. That back-room staff is the best India has had since John Wright days. And fittingly, they have been rewarded.

This is the Indian cricket team. Built on the principle of Synergy – the team is greater than sum of individuals. They positives added up, the negatives were complemented by teammates’ positives, and that was turned into a plus all over again.

It was the last “World” Cup, and India has won it, to keep it…forever.
An emotional journey has ended for me. And I get a few good weeks off before the cricket resumes.

Hope you all enjoyed the world cup as much as I did. I broke my teeth in some crazy fashion, I had to sit through exams, I was taunted for my support for a few teams and players, I might’ve even seen a couple of UFOs… But for all I care, I enjoyed the tournament in the past few weeks in the country that won the tournament, by beating all the former champions on the road to the victory.

Pakistan v India charity cricket match, Sheikh Zayed Stadium, UAE.

India meets Pakistan for the first time in a semi-final of a World Cup. The hard-core neighboring rivals lock horns once again in a World Cup match, this time, it will be played out at Mohali.

There could only be one better stage for this match-up, in the finals. But, given the situation, we have a semifinals at our hands. And it’s between the two teams that more than half the cricketing world is going to be watching with pumped up following. I am pretty sure, the production rate of the two countries is going to reach an all-time low. Holidays would be declared in many cities. Prayers will be more frequent. Every single V channel will carry the scoreline. Every single TV will tune in to the game. People will throng the streets in-front of that barber’s shop to watch the game.

It is not just any game, it is a game to buy a berth in the Finals of a world cup. While India hasn’t won it in nearly 3 decades, Pakistan hasn’t in 2, in-spite of both teams once making it to the finals since, and being humiliated in both those finals, by a common winner- Australia.

Ironically, Australia is out of this world cup, thanks to the two teams I’ve been talking about. While Australia had no clue to Pakistan’s bowling, Australia had no clue about India’s batting. The loss to Pakistan meant that Pakistan top the group and Aus slip to 3rd place. After India beat WI at Chennai, India set its date with Australia at Motera. And India beat Australia with some beautiful all-round display.

The verdict – it’s INDIA vs PAKISTAN.

The Indian cricket team has had to undergo the wrath of numerous bandwagon “fans” who are ready to drink the blood of the Indian cricketers if they lose a game, and are ready to swear the dirtiest words at them for a loss, howsoever close it may have been. But they call themselves “fans” of the team. Yeah, they become fans the very second India wins a game. Team India, led by the coolest captain India has ever had, has managed to keep the fickle emotions of the public aside and concentrated on the things at hand, and when it was needed the most, he has led the team to sanity, to victory, to a place in the semi-final (thus far).

Pakistani cricket team has had to keep their own faith, manage to keep the faith of the board, and woo the fans to continue to keep their faith in the team. Over the past two years or so, this team has gone through what-nots on and off the field! Every loss has been scrutinized as a potential “match-fixing”. There have been incidences like Akmal’s show in Sydney, Aamer-Asif-Butt episode, the Afridi’s “hunger for the ball” in Australia etc. The PCB has had its own issues with the team. Senior players were in and out of the squad. But what has happened in-between all that, is the slow rise of a thick unit, a close unit which knew what one wanted and what one had in themselves. The captaincy debate was mutually solved, and a love for the game was generated. Fans who have lived with the team’s luck know what I’m talking about.

Cometh the world cup, and the Pakistani team has shrugged off the “dark horse” tag and wore the “contenders” tag. Afridi is the leading wicket taker in the tournament, ahead by a country mile over the rest of the pack. Gul has become menacing, Rehman and Ajmal have been wisely used. Kamran’s batting has been a cover for his poor keeping. Misbah and Younis are the middle order main-stays. Hafeez finds his touch in the middle order. Umar Akmal – Razzak – Afridi trio is still sounding fear in the opponents.

Indian batting is as big as it sounds like. Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj have all had atleast one resounding half-century. Yuvraj’s form has been prolific with both the bat and the ball. Raina’s entry was excellent in the QF clash, and MSD has been brilliant with the captaincy and some great keeping, though not at best with the bat. Not much has been the need for him to do that either. Zak, Bhajji and Ravi Ashwin have been brilliant with the ball. Munaf has been industrious.

Both teams in prime form, there couldn’t have been a better time for a semi-final clash between the two sides. the Prime Ministers from both the nations will be present to witness the game in the best cricket stadium & pitch in India.

I will love to see India win this game. But, I will not be saddened if Pakistan wins the game either. I love both the teams, I will continue to love them.

I just pray that the team which wins this game goes on to win the finals too.

It’s pride at stake, but it will be filled with love.

Aman Ki Asha

Dear ICC,

First of all, I am very happy to know that you were kind enough to admit my family into your monetarily rich party featuring your more glitzy friends.

I am also sad that you are planning to reduce your party size by doing away with us for the next party. I thought you were delighted to have us at your parties every time.

Do you remember, sir? We used to be with you right from your first party, the one you hosted in England in 1975. My uncle from Africa used to tell glorious tales about it to me. He enjoyed it a lot. He told me how he got to meet so many big names of cricket. he only heard of many of them, didn’t see them until he could face them just 4 yards away. He used to say that he didn’t have TV sets in those days, and only a few radio sets in the whole city to know about this game he had inherited from the friendly people who came to his home. Only one of his kids has attended your party since.

You wouldn’t even give us a smile, but we took the invitation itself as a great honour. In 1983, my Lankan aunt danced better than your Kiwi friend, and that was the first time you took a photograph with us. Our family was very excited. We thought we had attained the pinnacle of joy that day. But one day 13 years later, she won the dance competition on your floor, and you adopted her into your family. We were so happy that some of our kids will grow in those posh households of yours.

But, most of us still live in the ignored land.

We didn’t complain much, sir, to be honest. We were just happy enough that atleast one of us came to the grand event, so that he or she would return home and tell us about it. It was like being the first boy in the family to graduate, or earn in a big city!

In 1992, we actually played the party-game better than the big man of the house, The Lord of Marylbone. We used to spend years and years just looking at him play it like there was no other to match him. Of course, his two favourite mates, one with a strong accent and one who liked Caribbean music played it like him. The three of them were our idols.

By 1996, the African uncle’s son became good at dancing and beat our aunt (who now ate in your house). She was proud of us that day too! You had also invited more from our family, so we could have fun amongst ourselves, when you had a high-profile buffet in your “big-wigs only” mansion. We enjoyed playing in the mud, but we always wondered what was inside. Our aunt was in there, but she never came out. I think she became a much better dancer than we ever knew. Money can buy many things they say. We were happy that she was the best dancer on her own floor.

My cousin from Zimbabwe had also improved on his singing skills for the 1999 party. My cousins Scotland (Scottie) and Kenya (Keens) took along my baby sister from Bangladesh to the game. We were so glad to watch on the public TV that cuz’ Zimmy was allowed to have dinner with the sizzling stars after the evening party ended! And sister Bangu came home all smiles, after her last drawing fetched her a big bar of chocolate. Do you realise how much that means to us? We pasted all of Bangu’s drawings all around our house, and everybody would tell her that she was going to scale new heights. Little Bangu could just smile and eat her chocolate bar.

In 2003, you allowed Namibs and Keens to host our own party game. We all came to their beautiful houses, and we also saw Keens beat our aunt again. She wasn’t that happy, but I’m sure she was proud of us. We were proud of us, for sure. Little Bangu couldn’t draw better than uncle Canny from Canada, but we gave her another bag of candies so she would not lose hope on herself. She just nodded and went home with the candybag, promised to come up with better art work next time. You see, we all loved what we did. You took the centre-stage, and we danced around you. You came to our home, and sometimes you didn’t even come to our place though we invited you. We had to come to your dinner to discuss about it, but we were had to leave before the dessert, since we haven’t had much of them, and didn’t know how to handle the spoon on the ice-cream. We spilled the soda, and we had to leave.

You invited more of us to Caribbean uncle’s yacht. We were so happy, we came there in different colours from around the globe. We brought in new tricks. We were outplayed in many competitions in the party by your glorious friends, but we had our moments. You remember my baby nephew from Bermuda playing slug fest when the Indian musician was singing? We had fun, they all had fun. And remember Bangu? She had grown into a beautiful artist, and could also sing better than your Indian girl-friend. She had so much ego that she went home early. I heard her friends started teasing her very much. We didn’t mean to hurt her, we just wanted to show her Bangu’s multi-talented personality. Bangu’s modern-art were better than Zuid Avrica’s, you know? Zuid was surprised his painting got ruined. My sister-in-law, Irine came in too. She too sang beautifully, she is good at country and folk. But you would never know that, as you lived in pop and rock and whatever you call it…rap? Your Pakistani star actually slipped a tone while trying a duet-duel with her.

You see, we always had a nice thing or two to do in all your parties. Even in this year’s party, we have been at or around the lime-light, but you treat us like your slaves. We have to carry your party caps to the ball-room. You can’t have the party if we don’t help you decorate it. You say we don’t know table manners, while you never care to teach us. You say we don’t know how to party, while you never let us party with you in the any other place. We can’t learn from just one party in 4 years, sir. We can watch you swing and sizzle, but when we try, we don’t look that cool. We know it, but we can’t help it, since you always shun us after the party hours.

And because your girl friend got angry last time, you scheduled your party such that we can’t enter into your swimming pool and enjoy it for a little longer time. Sorry sir, if you are trying to indirectly say that you don’t like us at the back of your photograph, we are very hurt. We do look beautiful, we don’t use make-up. But, you fail to see the point. You rich people have a little too much of pride to stoop an inch below your glasses of suspect and look at our beauty.

By closing the doors on us for the next party, what do you think I will tell my children about all these fun? That we had a good time watching you guys light the crackers, and that our children may not even get the privilege to see them?

What we had held as a dream is diminishing every day, and maybe some day our kids will call it a fairy tale, too much to be real.

Sir, we enjoyed whatever you allowed us, and we will make sure that we will eat your cake in this party, and make a point or two before we leave for good.

Yours lovingly, (we still love you)

Mr. Minnow & family

It’s been the fastest month in the past 4 years, and I’ve loved almost every moment of it! 42 intriguing games, some of which inconsequential, most of which, pulsating, just got over. And, surely, this has been the best world cup I’ve witnessed.

After the league phase, there is no clear favourite to win the World Cup. Every team has had atleast one of their problem disclosed public. This makes the tournament even more interesting moving into the last 7 games.

A special mention to Ireland for bringing life into the tournament. They won only twice, but they gave their opponents a run for their money, and also created havoc in the points table. Bangladesh were so close, yet so far. But, a team that couldn’t score more than 100 twice in the tournament doesn’t deserve a spot in the QF, howsoever I would want to emotionally sympathize with them.

Australia, who were looking “clear favourites” during the course of the tournament were made to look ordinary against Pakistan. Australian bowling revolves around the 60 balls released from the palm of Brett Lee. Tait wasn’t imposing, and Johnson was good in patches. Batting looks fine, but if Australia can replace Ponting and White with better batsmen things would look better. Oh, Ponting is the captain, sorry.

South Africa have looked the best amongst the teams to have qualified for the semifinals. Their batting has been very good, except for Smith, who managed some good runs vs Bangladesh in their last league match. After one lone trouble vs England, the middle order survived to carry the team past India. Bowling, led by the pace battery of Steyn and Morkel have been pretty hard to do away with. So too, with their new found spin-duo, Imran Tahir and Botha (if at all he spins), SA have a good variety.

India have just about managed to keep their heads up with a sound victory over WI. India’s inability to accelerate in the final overs against SA and WI is a clear cause of concern, as is bowling in he slog overs (vs Eng, vs SA). Batting looks good, bowling has started to look better, in isolation.

Sri Lanka have been good against lesser opponents, were over-shadowed by Pakistan and couldn’t play a complete game against Aus. Their bowling is revolving around Murali and Malinga, while Perera and Kulasekara have been consistently causing the batsmen a problem of scoring off them. Sri Lanka have had a taste of the Whakede and have come out good. Whatever happens, I am not ready to eat another India- Sri Lanka game. Let the tournament follow any other path possible. IND-SL… damn, the.most.boring.thing.in.cricket.

England have been the clear entertainers in this world cup. Somehow, by losing to Bangladesh and Ireland, and dodging the axe against Nederlands, England managed to tie with India, strangle SA and sneak a pulsating victory to cancel their flight back home and stayed in the competition. They have lacked discipline in bowling, as almost all their good bowlers have gotten injured or lost form…COMPLETELY. Their batting has looked fine at times, and fragile at other times. Inconsistency will be the best way to describe them.

Pakistan have carried a good momentum into the QF stage, after seemingly losing it in the middle of the tournament. They started the campaign on a high after owning Kenya and getting the better of SL, but then were made to do some soul searching in the game vs Canada and were shocked in the last 10 overs by Ross Taylor… Well, credits to some filthy slog bowling by Pakistan and cleverly taken PowerPlay by NZ. Pakistani bowling looks very strong with Umar Gul leading the pace department, and specialist spinners, Afridi-Hafeez-Rehman taking good care of the run flow on turning pitches. Batting is fragile, of course.

West Indies is now a side with a good top order batting, vapourising middle-order and a good bowling line-up. Roach, Benn, Russell have looked good. And now, Bishoo and Rampaul have added themselves to the list. Devon Smith and Devon Thomas, both came in as emergency replacement for Barath and Baugh and have been excellent with the opening and ‘keeping respectively. Gayle has looked good with the bat, playing in two gears. Brian Charles Lara-II has looked solid in the middle like a diamond.

New Zealand have suddenly lost their wheels after Vettori got injured and missed their encounter vs SL, where they completely failed with the bat. NZ have depended on their looooooooooooooong batting line up to “click” against opponents. It did vs Pakistan, but failed horribly vs Australia and SL. Atleast they were able to recover vs Australia. Their bowling has been dependent on Vettori, who would want to make his return to the line up soon, and Southee, who has looked exceptionally good in recent times. Oram, Styris, Mills, Bennett have all made good contributions, when they collectively perform well. Other times, they’ve looked ignorable. Nathan McCullum has been their best player, multi-dimensionally.

Breathtaking one month, a nail-biting Group-B music, and a few good games in group A. This World Cup has been what I expected it to be – full of fun! Almost all days have been very pleasing. Some excellent games coming up in the next week as the knock-out fixtures start!

March
23rd – PAK vs WI, Mirpur
24th – IND vs AUS, Ahmedabad
25th – SA vs NZ, Mirpur
26th – ENG vs SL, Colombo

A dream QF for me as WI and Pakistan lock horns in the most beautiful match of the world cup. If things go the way I want, it will be an IND-PAK semi-final. And that will satisfy my quench for the world cup. Anything happening in the semi-finals and the finals is controlled only by the Cricket God.

Let the best team win!

De Ghuma Ke!

“This game is going to be a cracker”
- St Shri Shri Ravi Shastri

If India take care of such “small small” things, India will surely win. Don’t worry, all you fellow India fans, India is still going smooth in this tournament. Just one loss doesn’t mean we are out (though SA lost just one game to India in T20WC 2007 and were out of the tournament ). 

 

De Ghuma Ke!

We want a 3D TV, we want a 4D in physics, we want an extra dimension in everything! Cricket is not far behind in any manner. There has been a growing need for all-rounders in limited over cricket in the 20th century.

There was that era of yester-years, when Sir Gary Sobers, Sir Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Imran Khan, who stood apart from almost most other contemporaries by being a hall-mark character of their own kind in their own countries. All, in different periods of time, too. They were what is called “all-rounder”. Excellent in one department, and very impressive in the other. Everybody who played for their teams after that were scaled in comparison to the greats mentioned above.

The tournament opener, Bangladesh vs India, was rolling as soon as Sehwag’s boundary off Shafiul’s silenced the Red polka-dots-on-green-background Bangladeshi Mirpur crowd was silenced and triggered a roar all across India. Sehwag had reached 95% of his goal of playing 50 overs. Indian bowlers struggled to bowl out the B’deshi batsmen, but had enough to defend and had a rare unconvincing but comfortable victory.

NZ beat a hapless Kenya with a simple mantra – bowl straight at the stumps. Bennett just ripped through the Kenyan batsmen, who had absolutely no clue to pace and straight line at all! Not having played competitive cricket for 4 years hurt them a lot. NZ chased down the target of 70 runs in 10 overs, and the whole game was over within 34 overs (in total), and made the chef at Chepauk hasten up his preparations!

On the same day, Sri Lanka beat Canada in another lopsided no-contest at the newly built golf course, sorry, cricket ground at Hambantota. Assisted by poor bowling and insufficient technology (read as, absence of hot-spot and snicko), Jayawardene scored Sri Lanka’s fastest century in a world cup game. Sri Lanka scored excess of 300, and obviously found it large enough to bowl out Canada, twice if needed.

Australia faced a spirited Zimbabwe to open up the world cup campaign for both teams. Australia started slow off the blocks, reached 100 after around 24 overs while Zimbabwe chose to stick to spinners against the Australians. Price, Cremer, Utseya were phenomenal in restricting the Australians for most parts of the innings but not in terms of wickets to their names. But, Clarke made sure Aus weren’t slipping too far away as he helped Australia post a big total, big enough to defend against the Zim batsmen who never looked like reaching it, not when Mitchell Johnson thought of returning to form.

England and Nederlands played the first real match in the tournament. Below-par English bowling was taken to the rafters by the Oranje batsmen, courtesy a memorable innings by the centurion, ten Doeschate. Job was half done, though. The Dutch bowling was not up to the task of keeping the English chase slow, and not even the 4-for by ten Doeschate could prevent the English from chasing down the target of 293, but believe me, it wasn’t easy either. Ryan ten Doeschate was trending on twitter worldwide that day. It’s as famous as he might get till the IPL bandwagon rolls.

Pakistan played an improved Kenya to open their campaign in the world cup that must’ve actually seen them as hosts. Kenya got a couple of wickets to start off, making the whole cricketing world expect a BIG upset, given that Pakistan was capable of buckling down under pressure, a theory which, to me, is a myth in the 2010s decade. Pakistan’s two men in the top/middle order who can play big innings – Younis Khan and Misbah ul Haq – played along with what can be easily described as “excellently constructed” innings. Four batsmen made fifty or more, as Pakistan scored huge. Afridi returned with best figures for a captain in a world cup with 5/16.

Feroze Shah Kotla made a return to the international stage by hosting WI and SA in what was expected to be good contest. But after Gayle fell in the 3rd ball of the game, when Graeme Smith’s strategy of opening with Botha paid double-dividends, half the crowd became dull. Darren Bravo showed shades of Lara, Dwayne Bravo showed aggression. And one hiccup led to a great fall, and the innings was over sooner than expected. SA had an easy chase.

Australia and NZ locked horns at Nagpur in a game that was also declared as 2011′s one-off game for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. NZ were off to a brisk start, but completely lost track of themselves after the first drinks break. Johsons and Tait were breathing fire, while Lee was hostile. Nathan McCullum and Vettori salvaged some pride, but NZ were far from posting a competitive total. And Aus chase began at great pace, thanks to Haddin, and later by Watson as they beat NZ with ease and claimed the bilateral trophy. I enjoyed the match at the stadium, was really great!

Bangladesh faced an easier opponent in Ireland, they thought. Not. Ireland put Bangladesh on the back foot as soon as they took pace off the ball and restricted the hosts to a meager 205. The chase was swinging like a pendulum, and seemed to be in Ireland’s favour until Kevin o’ Brien decided to throw his wicket away. A brilliant spell from Shafiul snatched the game away from Ireland. The crowd at Mirpur needs a big break to get their voices back. It was a great great match! If similar games happen, world cup is here to stay, with “minnows”.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan got together for a high voltage clash at Colombo’s RPS. Sparks were flowing everywhere as Pakistan kept mustering at a decent run rate all through the innings. A formidable total of 277 was posted, largely thanks to Misbah, who just would’ve fall to anything. He had cramps, but surely, he was giving cramps to the Lankan bowlers with power and innovation. His cricketing IQ is more than what most people make of him. Lankan chase was constantly dented by blows from Afridi and Akhtar. Misfields, missed stumpings and dropped catches kept SL in the game till the last over, but Pak did justice by not blowing the game in which they were better than their opponents.

India and England played their game at Kolkata, oh sorry, I mean, B’lore. And the Kolkata crowd were cursing themselves for the next 8 hours as B’lore saw Sachin hit a well paced century, Yuvi come back to form with a breezy fifty, Bresnan bowl like a champion and get rewarded with a 5-for (on a day Jimmy Andersen leaked 91 runs), KP come out all guns blazing, Strauss score a mammoth 158 in the chase, Bell amass runs like a battling soldier after surviving a close lbw call, Zaheer hit the spot at the right time to peg England back, Bresnan-Swann-Shahzad find the right time to hit 6s AND end the match IN A TIE! Any sleeping cricketing fan got slapped hard on the cheeks and kicked out of the bed awake!

Zimbabwe restored pride by crushing Canada in a low-profile game. Ervine and Taibu scored big, and helped Zim post a big total which their bowlers could defend with ease against the Canadians, who were dented by an early loss of Davison and Cheema’s innings-cut-short.

WI stayed in Delhi to play the Dutch. Devon Smith and Darren Powell played fast, while (guess who?) Chris Gayle played second fiddle! A well timed power play saw Pollard return to his brutal best. When WI returned to bowl, with Benn and Roach, they made Nederlands forget their game vs Eng as they rattled under the pressure from the Bajans. Benn picked up 3 for his strangling line. Roach had 6 for his! Including a very deserving hat-trick. A batsman doesn’t want to see his bowling bee-hive! 9 wickets to the Bajans, and WI had the biggest margin of victory of the tournament yet (in terms of runs).

SL hosted Kenya, who had already been battered black and Blue by NZ and Pak. SL gave Kenyans no respite. Malinga was at his venomous best! His yorked the Kenyans out of the game. Whatever was posted on the board was never going to be hard enough, as SL chased down the Kenyan total of 142 within 19 overs!

The recurring debates till now has been all about the justification of minnows playing in the world cup, resulting in so many one-sided contests. The lil’ ones have rarely been able to make an impact in the tournament, except (sometimes) Nederland and Ireland (who play some competitive cricket in the English County).

The usage of UDRS also has come under scrutiny. Without hot-spot and snicko, some clear decisions went the wrong way. Imperfection in the technology is clearly seen, but as per the agreement by players and the organizers, we all must live with it. Hot-spots come in only for semis and finals. *the wait*

One can safely say that there are some good contests to look forward to, as things have just started to heat up nicely. Group B is going to be interesting. Group A’s top 4 is pretty much predictable, but results of contests between the top-4 are not.

So, get ready for more action!

De Ghuma Ke

Team – AUSTRALIA
ODI Rank - 1
ODI Rating – 131

Last World Cup – Winner
Finals Appearances – 6
Best in a World Cup - Winner ’87, ’99, ’03, ’07

Squad

Ricky Ponting (capt), Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey (replaced by Callum Ferguson), David Hussey, Cameron White, Tim Paine (wk), Steven Smith, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz (replaced by Jason Krejza), Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger.

Strength – batting, bowling, fielding. Aus are good at their cricket!
Weakness - Subcontinental goose-bumps

Performance

World Cup champions 3 times on the bounce, 4 times in history, 6 times appeared in the finals, the most consistent performer in limited over cricket since inception, before and after Kerry Packer changed its face (and colour). Once again, they return to defend their title against the contenders.

Australia have selected a squad that looked skinny and weak when it was selected and England have done their best in allowing Australia to climb back to a formidable form that the world might fear ahead of the world cup. It took Australia just 1 week to forget 2010 (that included a streak of 3 test losses, 3 ODI losses and a T20 loss in a row. Before that, they had one test win and two other T20 losses) and start a new campaign in 2011, like a snake shedding its old skin and unraveling the new, shiny skin. Just the little surprise of Hasting featuring in the side that James Hopes had been bailing out for years.

At the top of order, Watson will open with Haddin. Watson is in the form of his life. He has been the core of the rod Australian cricket this summer down under. While all players around him have rusted, he has stood firm and rigid. While he had some trouble crossing the 50s earlier on, one can always bank on him to give you a start. And Haddin has been in good attacking touch, barring a couple of games. And one-drop, one will find the familiar face, Ricky Ponting, who will try to redeem some fame for himself after a horrid 2010, capped by the shame of another Ashes loss. His record at world cups is nothing short of great, and will look to build on it, when he returns from injury and lead the Kangaroos to a possible 4th title in a row.

When Ponting returns, Clarke, who led them to a 6-1 thrashing of the semi-English side will join White, and the Hussey…The David Hussey. I’m not sure if Michael Hussey can recover from his injury. In his absence, it will be Clarke-David-White-Smith. The middle order is packed with fire-works. Atleast one of them is bound to fire. The last time White was in India, he helped Aus score excess of 80 runs in the last 5 or 6 overs. He hasn’t fired in the last series, but will be waiting to swing his arms on the Indian pitches. Victorian David Hussey has been the steady, finisher kind of guy in the team, now that his Warrior brother Mike is out of the team for a while. First, settles, then breaks the shackles and eats into the nerves of the opponents. And yes, there is Smith. How shall I describe him? He is not pleasing to the eye, but he gets the job done. He has a bat, and he hits the ball in some possible way, which I once described as “Captain caveman wielding his willow”, to score runs at good pace. I’m sure the likes of Lee, Mitch and even Dougie can bat a bit to hold one end as the other batsman pushes the total.

Leaving space for 4 bowling spots, I would go with Dougie-Lee-Mitch for sure, and a toss between the three of Hauritz, Tait and Hastings. Dougie Bollinger, when he entered international cricket, was very tough to score against, and was an instant hit in the shortest format of the game. He hasn’t changed much, and has been helping himself with some good batting too! His pace and line, the heavy balls bouncing off the tracks, will always pose a trouble to the top order batsmen. Then, of course, there is Lee, who couldn’t have found a better time to hit the peak of his health for the 435th time in his career. He has, and that is good for the Aussies. he has been in terrific form in the series vs England. His pace drops only if he wants to bowl a slower ball. Short balls do not miss the batsman’s nose, out-swing, in-swing, reverse swing. And has been chirpy too. Reminded of the old Lee? Brett Lee? Yeah! Mitchell Johnson… He is suffering from a rare case of split personality. he can either be destructive, or self-destructive. On his day, one would rather be watching on TV than playing his skidding pacy missiles.

Hastings, the surprise inclusion did well to convince the people that he is not a random pick, and a good all-rounder who bowls at a healthy pace in the middle and slog overs, and handy batsman who can up the ante if needed! Tait is fast -period-. If he can do what he did last world cup -full and straight, the team will be happy. Anything silly, and he would be dispatched to the rafters. Especially against left handed batsmen like Gayle or Sangakkara, who can flick the ball onto the leg side and play straight with ease. And I then come to the one name, who has been sitting around like that cousin who nobody likes but is welcome in the house – (the already injured) Hauritz. Hilditch, the chief selector, promises that he will deliver in India, and is the first choice spinner for the world cup because of his exceptional record in India (read as 7 games 4 wickets, average over 70, strike rate over 90 balls/wkt). Stranger things have been said, not many. Not like Doherty, Beer or Krejza are any better, but I still think Hauritz is an excess in the squad. The leg spin from Smith and off-breaks from David Hussey and some orthodox tweaks from Clarke (who rarely bowls nowadays) should suffice. Spin isn’t Aus’ go-to since the departure of Shane Warne. But of course, Australia’s lucky charm – Shane Watson, who can just steam-roll any side against the run of play to turn the match on its feet. I would fear Watson’s bowling more than Lee’s or Mitch’s. Watson is more consistent.

In the event of Hussey replaced by Shaun Marsh in the squad, AND Australia opting to play him in the XI, Marsh might open and Haddin might drop to no.7 and nudge either White or Hastings out of the team.

Australia play Zimbabwe, NZ, SL, Kenya, Canada and Pakistan. If Australia don’t make a mess of the first 4 games, they would be happy with the going. SA is a good match for them, as would be SL in their home. Pakistan-Australia game could be fun, if the situation needs either of them to win to claim a particular position.

Ponting has quoted that even a World Cup win will not make up for the shame suffered in the Ashes loss. But, the Kangaroos will surely be venting their anger at the world cup, trying to remind the world that they are still the top-ranked ODI team, and not for nothing. They have the fuel, and someone has already ignited it to a hot flame. The Aussies would hope that the flame doesn’t get extinguished for another couple of months, while 13 other teams will try to take away from the Aussies what has now almost become their property.

Team -PAKISTAN
ODI Rank – 6
ODI Rating – 98

Last World Cup – First Round/Round Robin
Finals Appearances – 2
Best in a World Cup - Winner 1992

Squad
Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Ahmed Shahzad

Strength – Explosive middle order, bowling attack
Weakness – Imploding and unsure set up, fragile opening attack

Performance

If there is one team in the world against whom you can never be sure of, it will be Pakistan. On their day, they can bring down any giant in their own backyard. On other days, they will implode in a very sad manner. That has been the case for Pakistan over the past few years.

This time, the squad for the world cup has been a pick of the best talent “available” for selection to them. While most of them have made their place thanks to their form in the recent past, some have come in because of their reputation and the need of the hour. Afridi, Misbah, Umar, Ajmal, Rehman, Wahab, Razzak, Gul, Younis, Hafeez have been regulars in the ODI side. Akhtar has been available whenever he has been healthy. Asad Shafiq is relatively new, and has been good in the longer format. Ahmed Shahzad is Pakistan’s best youth batting star from the u-19 level, and has made it to the bigger stage from that platform. The Pakistan team will hope that this young man will step up if and when required. In need of a bowler, Pakistan brought back Sohail Tanvir who has some experience on Indian tracks. He is also a handy batsman.

While the the team looks attractive, one must also notice that there has been no captain selected thus far. Afidi captains the LOI side, and Misbah leads the test side. Pakistan is now playing the Kiwis in an ODI series (first match won comprehensively by the Kiwis). And might be a bad decision if Misbah is handed over the captaincy after the series, what so ever the result of the series. He will have no time to work with his team, and may lead to some pointless decisions made on the field when it matters the most, in the world cup! Afridi has not been at his personal best, nor has he won any series in the recent past, but he has managed to knit together a unit that has been building the confidence and rising to new levels.

Like I said, they haven’t won any ODI series recently, but they have not been blanked or stripped naked in any of them. Two high tempo series were lost in the last game of the series. Not having smelled their home soil for years and years, Pakistan have been playing their “home” games in alien locations. They have played in the middle east and in England. England had hosted a 5 game ODI series, in which they were almost on a roll to a 3-0 lead before Umar Gul destroyed the English batting line up…twice in two games, both played at London (Oval, Lords). The series was leveled 2-2, but Pakistan was rolled over by England in the decider, after what seemed to be a decent start to the chase by Kamran Akmal. The series against SA in the Middle East showed that Abdul Razzak has some more miles left in his tank, and is still one of the most dependable middle order all-rounder in the world. The series also saw the rise of another all-rounder, Wahab Riaz.

The batting for Pakistan looks quite tricky. Their opening is unsure. Pakistan, like NZ have been trying out new opening pairs. With Butt out, they have more problems. It’s going to be instinctive, with time running out, and very few games left to decide. Past the opening, there is stability. Younis, Misbah will define stability. Both of them have the touch back, and have the dangerous ability to play long innings on Indian soil. The longer one can stay put, the more difficult he becomes to dislodge. And, both are capable of changing multiple gears. So, coining them “slow” is not correct. The middle order after that is explosive to say the least. It’s very probable that Pakistan will go in with Afridi-Umar-Razzak trio. Each of them have their own style, but have pretty much the same treatment for the leather off the wood. Afridi last had an explosive run in the Asia Cup in the subcontinent (Bangladesh). Umar has been contributing here and there, has been in and out, but can be counted on to explode if need be. Razzak has smoted very many bowling attacks in the recent past, msot recently, SA.

Pakistani bowling has been more assuring than its batting. Rehman and Ajmal are both proven and capable spinners. Gul, Wahab, Akhtar and Sohail Tanveer will be incharge of the pace bowling department. Gul will be the spearhead, while Akhtar will like to sneak in with raw pace. Wahab Riaz can bowl at great nippy pace while maintaining a tight line during the middle overs. He has impeccable patience and can bowl at a handkerchief on the pitch for a whole spell if asked to. Either of Rehman or Ajmal will play, and both are equally effective with the ball. It might be a strategical pick on a given match-day, depending on how many left/right handed players feature in the top order. Ajmal to a left hander, Rehman to a right hander. The bowling continues with Afridi and Razzak, both capable of sending down 10 overs each, and the part timers, Hafeez and Younis.

Pakistan will be playing a minnow and a competitive side alternatively starting with Kenya and then vs Sri Lanka, Canada, NZ, Zimbabwe and Australia in that order. All games will be played in Sri Lanka. So, Pakistan will have enough time for a breather and recall their forces to play against the big team. Also, they will be able to assess their playing conditions better. They are one of the two teams who play all their games in the same country.

This squad is without the likes of Yousuf, Malik, Rana Naved, Butt, Aamer and Asif for reasons one too many. A squad, if it had involved these guys, would surely have been right up there, among the probables to win the Cup. But, right now, I would say, Pakistan will have to do a really great job if they have to reach the semis. Once there, like I said, you never know what they can do on their day!

Pakistan’s woes have been many since their last world cup. The woes began even before the tournament had ended. And many more of them have crept in and out of the team’s stability over the 4 years. Fear of terror has kept some teams away. Lack of interest from other boards has kept even more away. In spite of that, the team is springing up new talents to fill in and have been shocking the world inn many instances. They have had a decent run in test cricket. having lost just 1 in the last 7 of them, winning 3, drawing test series vs Aus, SA, winning in NZ. Some inspiring ODI performances have been pointing to the undying spirit that lies in each one of them. Battling floods, quakes, calamities, terrorism and more, the many lads from the lesser known towns gather for the best Pakistani mix of players their cricket has seen, this time for the big prize.

Expectations are less, hope is more. A hope that they would prove to the ever-ignorant world that the Pakistani team can roar, but the cricketing world has to have it’s narrow ears open.

Team -INDIA (Also, host nation)
ODI Rank – 2
ODI Rating – 122

Last World Cup – First Round/Round Robin
Finals Appearances – 2
Best in a World Cup - Winner 1983

Squad
MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin

Strength – Top order, Nerves, Hosts
Weakness – Bowling (Pace, especially)

Performance

India play hosts in the 10th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup, and will start the event vs Bangladesh (co-hosts) at Dhaka.

India has selected the squad, mostly, based on performances over the past one year or so in One-Dayers and recent test series. In a little over the past year, India has been lurking in or around the subcontinent, taking down oppositions of the likes of Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Bangladesh. And, a little further ago, India had beaten WI in WI and hosted and defeated England. The only black dot has been a charred trip to Zimbabwe, in which the Indian bench strength was tested for independent performance, which the young and inexperienced side failed miserably (2 losses to Zim, 1 loss to SL, failed to make to the Tri-Series Finals).

The only surprise to many folks was the inclusion of Piyush Chawla out of thin air. The young leg break bowler last played for India in Pakistan in mid-2008 (Asia Cup league, loss). I haven’t heard about him making any serious inroads in the past Ranji season. UP didn’t make it to the knock-out phase either. He features in the spot where some expected Sreesanth to fill in, and some awaited Rohit Sharma. Sreesanth has been in good control of the white ball since his return to the side this year, and bowled very well vs NZ on not the friendliest of tracks. Rohit Sharma has been in and out of the squad over the past 2 years, having just the two centuries in Zimbabwe to his CV, in an ignored cause. Selectors opted for a spinner-allrounder to fill in that 15th spot, and in came Chawla.

India’s top order looks very good. The likes of Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir, Raina, Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Pathan will send shivers into any bowling attack which has been following the cricket India plays at home. But, there are just two or three snags here.

1. Only 7 of the above 8 can feature in the team. Assuming all are fit, it will be 3 of Raina/Yuvraj/Kohli/Pathan. Yuvraj is trying to cement his place in the side. Raina has been not more than “promising” for the past year, falling every now and then (short ball, BIG weakness). Pathan is taking over the role of pinch hitter, finisher and can help with the role of floater if Gary and MSD opt to go for the technique Greg Chappel introduced. Kohli, India’s leading run scorer must play all matches. He adds the stability to the side, like what Dravid contributed in the previous World Cups. Raina has the talent, but just needs a tad more control to elevate himself from good to great. Yuvraj has history and records behind his back, we should just hope that it doesn’t weigh too much on him. Yuvi, Pathan can bowl some 5th bowler quota too. Raina can’t be trusted with run-contention, and Kohli, for some reason is not bowling his medium pacers all that frequently since he led India to the u-19 victory in ’08.

2. Fitness concerns at the top of the order. Sehwag, Sachin and Gambhir are all nursing injuries now and are expected to return just in time for te practice and training, and the warm up games. The fitness of openers is crucial for India’s success. Early runs on the board will help the middle order to play its calm game before accelerating towards the end.

3. Adjustment. In the past year, none of Sachin, Sehwag or Gambhir had played at number 3. There weren’t very many instances in a long time when all three of them played together. Gambhir will mostly have to come at number 3, after finding his form as opener in the ODI series vs NZ. In the past, Sehwag had to step down to no.3 when Ganguly and Sachin paired up, and wasn’t all the very comfortable at one-drop. Let’s hope Gambhir can adjust to the spot and move on, having done it in the past, he knows what it is like.

Indian bowling looks quite strong with names like Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan and Munaf Patel bowling wonderfully well at both Indian and foreign pitches. A toss up between Praveen Kumar (now nursing injury) and Ashish Nehra will fill the line-up. Ashwin and Chawla would hope for world cup caps when India plays Nederlands and Ireland.

Bhajji has finally found the need to be persistent even if a wicket is not in the kitty. He is a hungry wily fox after he has his first prey, for sure. Zaheer Khan has cut down on pace, but is going great guns with control of line and length, and lending his experience to other bowlers. Munaf, has silently been doing his job of picking crucial wickets at crucial times with his impeccable accuracy and stump-to-stump bowling at a decent (but not too pacy) pace. Nehra has been disappointing in the SA tour, but has been good in ODIs before the tour since his come-back. He has decent pace and has better control on the Indian tracks, or, so was the case. Ashwin and Chawla are decent choices for a spinner-who-can-bat. But, both will have to fight their way through to the XI.

Captain cool-head Dhoni will look to win some tosses for a change. He has been the rock of the batting spine. Averages nearly 50 in the ODIs, plays with responsibility, and knows to play with the tail. He has to be extremely fit, as he is the only keeper in the squad. His captaincy has been clever and technically good… though, once in a while, the introduction of Raina or Sachin before/over Sehwag baffles me. On a whole, he has been near-perfect. He knows how to handle the youngsters and the seniors alike, and the dressing room loves him. If only lady luck loved him as much at the toss

India plays Bangladesh, England, Ireland, Nederlands, South Africa and West Indies in that order. Plenty of time between most games (except 2 free days before SA game, and 2 before Nederlands game). So, India can prepare well for each game, mentally and technically.

The two minnows India face, come together, and right in the middle of the itinerary. Thus, India can play the bench strength and see what it has to offer, and then make a decision on whom to play against SA and West Indies. Assuming India wins atleast 3 or its first 4 games, the last two will be important to gather momentum going into the quarter finals. West Indies and Bangladesh will both be trying to clinch the group’s 4th QF berth up for grabs, and hence, India will have to be cautious of WI’s resurgence in the last ODI.

Toughest league game – vs SA (Nagpur)
Easiest league game – vs Ireland (Chennai)

I would say, India has the ability to go to the Semi-final stage and beyond. But, that will depend upon what unfolds over the one month of league phase (ONE MONTH???). It will be one game at a time.

India has been waiting for this world cup since the day the team lost to Sri Lanka 4 years ago, in, what must surely have been, India’s worst show at world cup since winning it in ’83. All that, is the past. Team India have done their homework well, and will like to honour the great improvement by gifting Coach Gary Kirsten with the World Cup victory as a parting gift. His contribution to the team has been excellent, and would’ve been incomplete w/o the services of bowling coach Eric Simmons.

All roads lead to the world cup, and, India will now want to break the host jinx.

Team – SRI LANKA
ODI Rank – 3
ODI Rating – 118

Last World Cup – Runner-up
Finals Appearances – 2
Best in a World Cup - Winner 1996

Squad

Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath.

Strength – Excellent batting, home advantage, variety in bowling
Weakness – Not many “probing” bowlers

Performance

Thought to be one of the most favourites to claim the jewel, Sri Lanka will back themselves to clinch it, like they did it the last time it came to the sub-continent – with authority. If there is one team apart from India that knows the Indian conditions (apart from their own home conditions), it must be Sri Lanka, who have been in India for almost as much time as Indian team has been in India. Sri Lankan team has mixed bag of luck as far as its performance goes. They lost to India, won against India and then lost to them and won and lost and won and blah blah blah in the past yr or 2 in India or at home or at Asia cup, apart from a charred tour of Pakistan, and a happy tour of Australia.

Well, 11 of the 15 members in the squad have been picked from the squad that defeated Australia in a 3-match pointless ODI series played out in Australia. SL couldn’t play an ODI game vs the WI in 2010, after Lord Rain bailed them out in a couple of tests from an embarrassing home loss to WI. WI are now in SL to play 3 games in non-WC host grounds, Rain bailed the Lankans out in the first game, but they finally (phew!) managed to win one on their own amidst rain threats. They did field their full strength WC squad for the series. So, it is virtually, match practice.

SL top order is strong, to say the least. The conventionally attacking Tharanga will be partnered by the unconventionally attacking Dilshan. Both can, in isolation, take the scoring rate beyond 8 an over before the 1st powerplay is done with. Tharanga is strong on the off-side. Dilshan is strong in-front and behind the wickets, well, literally. When someone scoops a pace bowler with such ease as throwing a pea in the ocean, the captain and bowlers got to have some serious strategy. But, one little weakness is, Dilshan doesn’t move his feet much AND is not that stable in his stance, which sometimes costs him too many play-and-misses, and he succumbs if he finds his strike rate drops below 80, and then on its a domino effect. So, one has to have good line and length vs the opening pair.

Par opening, come the duo or Sangakkara and Jayawardene. Sangakkara, the captain, is aggressive on loose balls, good against pace and spin and likely to relish home conditions. Ex-captain Jayawardene is the right handed batsman with similar description as Sangakkara. Jayawardene has amassed a huge load of runs at home, and not much away from home. Well, that fact actually helps him now. Sangakkara’s technique, of trigger movement before delivery stride has an unsettling effect on bowlers, and has helped him score on his leg side with ease. If bowler over-pitches on the off, it’s played through covers. J’wardene is great in-front of the wicket and square on both sides.

Middle order will also feature Kapugedera, Samaraweera and Matthews. Kapugedera and Samaraweera, both have the capability of consolidating the innings in the middle and accelerating towards the end. The fact that Samaraweera has been able to change gears from his test form to the ODIs has helped SL do away with the worry of filling a middle order void. One big find for SL in the recent times, has been Angelo Matthews. This young lad can handle pressure situations like it was his day job, bat through the overs, accelerate, milk the bowling, and bowl 8-10 overs of medium-fast pace with good accuracy. For those who are looking for an efficient youngster, this fellow is surely going to be on the podium of that race! Back-up middle order batsman would be Chamara Silva, who is capable of holding the innings together, in the event of top order failing to do so. Neat and handy, but I doubt if he would be required with all the major names in the top order back in the side. Nevertheless.

As for the bowling – SL have good ammunition for both pace and spin.

Spin department will be headed by the Magician, Muttiah Muralitharan, and will have the services of Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis to assist him. Murali… we know what Murali is and what he can do on his day. This is going to be his last world cup (last ODI tournament too, I think). Having finished test career on a high, he would want to repeat that in the ODI format too. The home conditions will favour him a lot, for sure. Mendis, known for his bag of tricks, somehow gives me the feeling that the bag has now become transparent. He has been “decoded” since his first year in international cricket. People are able to play him with ease (bat in front of pad technique). But, a little flaw by the batsman is all that is needed to dislodge him, which is why the canny Mendis is still a lethal weapon in subcontinental conditions. Rangana Herath, the surprise inclusion to the squad, found himself ahead of Suraj Randiv. Herath is not a big turner of the ball, but maintains a very tight line outside the off of a right hander. When Pakistan and Sri Lanka played test series in mid-’09, Herath brought home victories from impossible situations, bowling Pak out cheaply while having just a meagre total to defend in both cases.

Pace department will be shared by the Slinga Malinga and the accurate Kulasekara. Malinga has 2 sets of operation – york/full, and short. A surprise thrid would be slow and full/good-length. If one can spot which one is coming at him at what moment, surely, he is a genius! In the recent ODIs vs the WI, he proved why he is such a terror to batsmen. He reverses the ball very easily, thanks to is round arm (flat-arm?) action, it is naturally easy to reverse. Kulasekara, to me has been one of the most under-rated bowlers. He ranked at the top for a long time, but was never given the respect he deserved. Opponents took him lightly, and THAT was a grave grave mistake. His natural line is to swing the ball into the right hander. So, batsmen will find it difficult to drive him with ease, since he keeps the balls full and straight. Many are out lbw, or bowled through the gates. One might see a silly mid-on in place too. He is not pacy, but he doesn’t need pace. Thisara Perera is their back-up paceman. He would feature in the XI if Sri Lanka opt for an extra pacer over spinner in a 4 pacer (including Matthews)- 1 spinner strategy. I would still, have preferred Thilan Thusara over Perera. Thusara, to me, is more attacking than Perera.

Sri Lanka will play against Canada, Pakistan, Kenya, Australia, Zimbabwe and NZ in that order. All except the NZ game on home soil. They have enough time to prepare for big games, and have the freedom to try out bench strength during the alternative lighter games.

Sri Lanka would remember the dark times from the finals of 2007 world cup. They really were dark, finished in pitch black evening sky, the glimmering flash-lights from cameras sizzling the ground like a party night, and Australia celebrated their victory of the worst ever organized world cup. It is now time for them to brush the memories aside and brighten the field up with the pool of talent that has considered Jayasurya and Vaas as excess, and look to give Murali the ultimate gift he deserves. They have what it takes to be the champion, they will be playing most games in their own back-yard, and they will be looking to host their own QF and SF.

I say, they can be one of the two finalists. Can they win it? Yes. Will they win it? You will see…