Micromax 2010 Asia Cup: Testing waters and making comebacks

This seems to be the theme for nearly every team participating in what is being billed as the battle for supremacy in Asian cricket. For starters, both India and Pakistan have come to this edition of the Asia Cup with players who are finding their feet in international cricket after a brief spell of being rested or dropped, for various reasons. While Pakistan aims to fight its most usual nemesis, i.e. the threat of mutiny in its ranks, India is trying to establish what could be their probable line-up for the forthcoming World Cup. Sri Lanka too are looking beyond the usual players like Jayasuriya who have delivered in the past and the onus could well be on the likes of Malinga, Herath and Angelo Mathews to stake claims not just as potential match-winners but the core of the team that is going to try and bring back the world cup to Sri Lanka. While the persistence with Muralitharan at this juncture seems a bits surprising, it is not secret that Lankans are trying to find a permanent solution to their number five, six and seven slots that seem to have been changed with unwanted regularity in the recent past.

Micromax Asia Cup 2010: Advantage Sri Lanka?

Yes, it might seem a bit premature but the fact remains that Sri Lanka are pretty much unbeatable at home. Their record in both, the ODIs and the test matches is so good that it is hard to believe that any of the other teams would be able to beat them in the league matches. Further, what makes the Lankans such a potent force is that their bowling is well-suited to the prevalent conditions. For starters, the likes of Kulusekera can bowl slow, medium-pacers that are the best option for the slightly sluggish pitch conditions here in Dambulla and the neighboring venues. On the other hand, young spinners in the side, led by Murali will ensure that the batsmen aren't able to take much liberties during the middle overs. Even the fill-up bowlers like Angelo Matthews have showed in yesterday's match against Pakistan that these Lankan bowlers know how to manipulate the conditions to their advantage. In comparison, Pakistan's bowling line-up seems full of comeback bowlers while India just doesn't have a semblance of a pace battery or a spin attack.

Shillingford and Suleimann Benn Make Sense for the WI

It was heartening to see a West Indian bowling performance that had some intensity to it and didn't border on being mediocre-something that the team has been struggling to avoid for the past several years. In terms of bowling combinations, Shillingford and Benn combined  really well to form a spin combo that made a lot of sense for a side that usually depends upon its fast bowlers to do all the work, including the donkey work that is needed in the middle overs. I like the way Shillingford was willing to give some air to the ball and didn't mind varying his pace, every few deliveries. On the other hand, Benn used the slight bounce in the pitch to his advantage. Given that the West Indian side does not have a single fast bowler who is seriously experienced, the presence of two spinners who can bowl tight, long spells is really handy.

I hope the Indian Selectors are considering suicide as an option

After losing two successive matches to a Zimbabwean side that is devoid of even one truly internationally-accomplished player, the Indian selectors should seriously consider resigning from their posts, ensured that their families have enough life insurance or medical insurance supplies and then jumping from the top of the buildings in which they reside and make us believe, they work in those chambers for the improvement of Indian cricket. For starters, it still escapes the mind that what they were thinking sending five or six new, greenhorn bowlers when not even one of them appears to be capable of running through a side in either an ODI or a test match. All the bowlers put together have looked pedestrian at best and then to actually believe that these guys were going to whitewash the Zims just because they are ranked at the bottom of world rankings is the kind of thinking that only the politically-inclined men working at the BCCI are capable of....my bet is that the India A squad at the moment has more skills than the Raina-led team, even though it consists of many players with far lesser experience.

Micromax Cup 2010: Some glaring mistakes!

The tri-series between India, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka is underway and though it is good to see the two sub-continental teams trying out some youngsters and allowing the spectators to watch new players who are willing to push themselves real heard, there are some issues that need to be introspected. For starters, both the Indian and Lankan teams have rested too many of their regular players. It should be remembered that the series is being played in Zimbabwe: a place that needs its regular dose of cricketing stars to engage more spectators.

Thus, allowing these two teams to rest as many as six and seven or so players is seriously disturbing and just doesn't help the cause of popularizing the game in the African continent. Further, the pitch is posing some questions. It seems that there aren't too many options in terms of choosing pitches on the main square. As a result, the matches are being played continuously on the same stretch and the pitch is getting slower with each progressing match. In all probability, by the time the finals arrive, the pitch wouldn't be worth more than 180 runs as a match-winning score. The big plus has come about in terms of Zimbabwe's win against India. Though this might hurt the Indian cricket fans back home, it helps the cause of uplifting the game in Zimbabwe to a large extent. 

Yuvraj's Mommy does the talking: does it get more absurd??

All those who have been following cricket in the sub-continent are largely accustomed to every aspect of cricket being magnified and repeatedly put through a post-mortem like exercise. So when the entire story about the Indian team's pub-brawling came to the fore, it was just a matter of time before the entire matter would get pumped-up beyond reasonability. However, what I was not prepared for was Yuvraj Singh's mother sitting comfortably on her couch and trying to explain how his very 'innocent' son should not be made the scape-goat every time the team loses for some other reason. Here I was believing all along that
the concept of having senior players in the team was that they led by example and given the T20 squad that India had, Yuvi was certainly the senior player, wasn't he?  Wait, it gets even more ridiculous when I saw some cricketing "experts" trying to explain what M/O Yuvraj Singh was trying to say!! I mean if there is some sort of stupidity being committed, it is necessary to make the entire matter seem even more ridiculous by having someone to explain it or simplify it?? This is what cricket has been reduced to...just wait until aunty cricket hits us!!

Anybody watched T20 Women’s World Cup matches?

International cricket certainly isn't going to go score many points for equality of the genders. For starters, there is little that the ICC has done for the female cricketers in terms of scheduling tournaments across the world. Secondly, the broadcast of women’s matches for something as important as the world cup were done so shabbily that not many people even realized that just when their teams were fighting out for a semi-final berth in the West Indies, the women counterparts of the men’s teams were also sweating it out to make a point, both in terms of engaging attention towards their skills and winning an ICC tournament. I still don’t get it—the viewership for T20 World Cup itself wasn’t too encouraging and further the spectator interest in island nations was also abysmal, then how scheduling women’s cricket matches in the same stadium really helps the cause of women’s cricket?

Does Caribbean qualify as World Cup venue?

The T20 World Cup in the West Indies has just ended and just like 50-over format World Cup that was held here in 2007, the entire tournament was a dampener in terms of stadium spectator volumes. This has become an increasingly worrying trend ever since the native, West Indian side started sliding after their 1996 Frank-Worrell Trophy loss to the Australians. Ever since that debacle happened, except for the test matches wherein Brian Lara was involved, the stadium volumes have been dwindling and the authorities including the WICB have not done anything constructive to resolve it. The 2007 World Cup was an absolute disaster
in terms of the non-participation of the spectators in the proceedings of the match. Yes, the ban on the usual musical stuff and alcoholic beverages that the West Indian spectators were always allowed to carry inside were also banned then and this did play a part in reducing the amount of spectator interest However, there was nothing missing from the T20 World Cup and even then, the venues had an empty look to them. Take-out the number of Indian fans who descended from the US and you can be assured that the stadiums might have been half-empty. I was just wondering whether the West Indies still qualifies as an international venue for matches wherein the home team is not involved?

MSD's Honesty eventually dithers!!

It was heartbreaking to see that one of the most honest and forthright captains in contemporary cricket, Mahender Singh Dhoni, was spilling-out excuses in the aftermath of being kicked out of the world cup T20. It was unusual to see MSD so hesitant and confused when asked to give reasons for the team's failure during teh post-match conference. Usually, Dhoni is a picture of being calm and is able to handle all queries with a degree of rustic honesty that had become his trademark. Some commentators even joked that he was so forthcoming in his views about defeat or victory that it was almost impossible for the journalists posing the questions to find the captain on the wrong foot. However, it seems that the recent spate of defeats and the fact that the Indian team has been kicked out of its third, straight world cup campaign proved too much for Dhoni. How else do you explain that the man who openly argued about the un-taxing nature of the IPL and its supposed 'zero effect' on the team's international performance suddenly realized that the late-night parties were eating into his players' energy levels. More than the defeat, it was the manner in which MSD handled the entire after-match period that will make most Indian cricket fans feel edgy about their team's future. To be brutally honest, besides MSD, there isn't a single guy in the team who looks responsible or fit enough to be burdened with Indian cricket captaincy. Every good thing comes to an end...I was hoping, Dhoni's charm would have stayed with us a bit longer..nothing else!

Jayawardene Proves More 'Proper' Batsmen Flourish in T20 format

By now,you would have read about or seen the magnificent innings that Jayawardene played yesterday, against the West Indies. While it has been surprising to most cricket observers that Mahela has taken so well to the opening profile that he was offered even though Jayasuriya is still in the playing XI.However, I would like to add that the promotion of Mahela to the opening slot and his tremendous success in his new role proves one thing that might have escaped the attention of the T20 fans: it is not the mad-hopping T20 batsmen that are making the most of this shortened format of the game but the veterans or those who have flourished as test and ODI batsmen who are bringing-in the most, match-winning innings.

Even if you look at the IPL since its very inception, it was the likes of Hayden, Gilchrist, Gayle and Sehewag, all big test match players, who made the most impact. Even in the last edition of the IPL, i.e. the 2010 IPL season, it was Sachin Tendulkar, regarded more orthodox than some of the supposed T20 specialists like Pollard and Shane Watson who was the most consistent and the biggest run-getter of the tournament. Geoffrey Boycott has often commented that it is not the format of the game that creates champion batsmen but it is the champion players who adapt and come to terms with the newest of formats and still reign. Jayawardene's tremendous success and his unbelievable range of shots on display in the current edition of the T20 World Cup merely supports this theory. All the youngsters who were thinking that they are going to make a living out simply clobbering the ball in T20s and sustain themselves in the squad by scoring an odd 20-25 runs are on a short lease...perform soon or perish forever.