World Cup Teams Preview : New Zealand

NZ are perennial underachievers in non world cup ODI cricket, but they are over achievers in World Cups. Unexpectedly they have reached 5 semi finals out of 9. And when they have reached semi-final, India has not. When India has, they have not.

Other interesting fact is they have not reached semis in 2 consecutive semi-finals.

1992 : NZ , no India

1996: No NZ, India

1999: NZ, No India

2003: No NZ, India

2007 : NZ, no India

So going by this trend Kiwis wont make it to the semis and India would make it.

Well its not just this trend that goes against them ,but also the form they are in goes against them. Having won just 16 of 40 ODIs since Jan 2009 is a poor record for a team like NZ who has always achieved more than expected in ODIs than tests.

Their main batsman and main bowler is one man. Danny Vettori himself. He is also their captain and not too long back he used to be their selector too. But then he was sacked after disastrous subcontinent tour. They got drubbing of 0-4 and 0-5 in BD and India. They were only team to have played in all 3 hosts and should have had good match practice and conditions exp under their belt. On the contrary they could just win 1 game out of close to 14.

The batting lineup looks a lot thinner though they have players like Ross Taylor, Baz Macullum, Jesse Ryder and youngsters like Guptill, Williamson and others but they fail to click together as a unit.

They are in a tougher group with SL, Pak and Australia. They would be expected to go to the QF but the road would be a bit difficult. They can still hope to beat Pakistan, but getting past Australia would be tough. They have not beat Australia in a world cup game for 12 years now. They did beat them in 1999 and 1992 but after losing that game to NZ, they have not yet lost a game in the world cup till date.

They play their games in Chennai, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Pallekelelele and Mumbai (last 2). Their first game is against Kenya and 2nd one is a tough game vs Australia. They play one minnow and a strong team next. They will have to win all games against minnows and at least 1 against the remaining 3 to go ahead. And from there on, its all luck and day's conditions how good they play.

Expectations:

Tough to go past Quarter final based on the team they have got and the recent form.

Kiwis are in the town

Kiwis are in the town for a full fledged series incl 3 Tests and 5 ODIs. 

They are inexperienced lot with 3 only players having a worthwhile experience in Tests - Baz, Danny and Ross Taylor. 

Its their 3rd tour in 11 years but first in 7 years. 

They toured India in 1988, 1995, 1999, 2003 and now. Last time they won a test in India was in 1988 in Mumbai when Hadlee was around. 22 years on they have not won a Test in India, but they have not lost that badly either.

0-1 in 1995 and 1999. 0-0 in 2003.

This time around they do not have personnel to win a test, let along a Test series. There are exciting batsmen in the team but are they good enough to post big scores to pressurize Indians. 

As Danny said tonite in the press conf in Ahmedabad a scoreline of 2 draws (1-0 in either side) would be a kind of job well done for his young side. 

NZ have not been a formidable Test side in past few years and now they have ceased to be a good decent ODI side as well. 

A 3-0 and 4-1 victory for Indians would be a cakewalk and little less than it wont be acceptable.

Sri Lanka thumped.....

Wow man. Sri Lanka lost and now are out of the tournament almost. Character demolished. Great stuff Dannie boy. That gives you a blinker of a chance to get to the semis. Beat England who today should beat Saffa.

If Saffas lose today, Kiwis just need to beat England and if they lose, they go in a tussle with the Lankans and Saffas on NRR which they should have edge on the hosts and characterless men now made bare in back to back defeats....

Keep blabbering Sanga Silva and Mahela Jaywardhene.

I am relaxed that this guys now would shut their ass up and go sit in the corner with mouths taped.

And adios to Sanath Jayasurya.

Dany's 140 and Sri Lankan Character

Good jab Danny Baby.

140 in the pack of inept batsmen is a glitteratti.........And perhaps an indication of how bad other batsmen are and perhaps Danny should bat up the order.

"The boys showed character to fight through the weather"

SL boys always show character. But only at home. Not abroad. Lol. Why so much of stress on character in every Test / ODI ? Are they having lose characters that htey have to emphasize every time ?

Herath's 5-for means end of road for Mendis. Perhaps he also escapes a stringent punishment from Indians in their next test series.

We would see how Sanga boys show their character in a country where they havent won a single Test yet and chances are will not win in near future.

Delhi DareDevils vs Punjab Kings Update

The match between the Daredevils and Punjab Kings has been delayed by the game. As i hear on the TV, its gonna be a 14 over game. Albeit the 7 mins tactical cum money churning break remains. I seriously doubt the idea of this. Why not do away with those 15 mins and get 2-3 more overs in. Ludicrous.

No McGrath. Why ?

First tactical break now. Sehwag has been in Napier mode for the captaincy. The bowlers he has trusted to get the breakthrough havent been to the mark. They have pitched in too short and that has given free hand to Goel and Bopara to go for runs. 67 runs in 6 overs would mean 150 odd in 12 overs. That would setup a great contest and that would mean the hottest pair (cricket wise) in international cricket would have their task cut out.

And Danny boy strikes off first ball. Bopara gone lbw. Vetts is the best bet for wickets and stopping the runs in T20. In short, the Vetts boy is the best in business for T20. Meanwhile King Sangakara is being troubled by Danny for 2 balls in row. Things seem to be turning now. It would be interesting to see how Yuvraj takes on Danny which most prolly would now happen in 9th over. Spinners have had more success this iPL than fast bowlers. Kumble, Warne, Bhajji, Jaya and now Danny.

Danny boy gets Sangakara. 2 in 2. Sangakara taking the field for first time after Lahore fiasco. With time he would just get better. Blabba king is on the field now. I just love him. And he claims Yuvraj Singh, who had started looking good. He had just hit a six. Damn Mahela Jayawardhena. Age old theory : look at the partner than the ball. And he is gone too. Poor shot. Damn you dude. Useless fellow. 5/98. Doesnt look if that Kings XI would now cross max 115. Delhi on fire. One more run out could be. Sehwag would now be a happy man. Tiwary this time. He gets his man. Piyush Chawla gone. 6 for 98 in 11. Coming back to Sehwag, he should have been the man to lead India after Dravid. Unfortunately he lost his form in 2007 and for stupid reasons Dilip Vengsarkar dropped him off the Test side. And since then Dhoni rose to the peak. And Sehwag faded. Albeit now he is back with bang.

Irfan Pathan unable to connect to the ball. 2 dot balls in final over. 100 reached. Punjab doesnt have enough firepower to stop Sehwag and Gambhir. And unless Sehwag doesnt get himself out ridiculously like in Napier, he should see Delhi Daredevils home easily. The fielding has been superb for Delhi today. AB this time.

By the way 2 errors by Veeru. Mishra and McGrath should have been in for Sangwan and Nannes. 104 for 7 is not a winning score. Not when you dont have bowling firepower in the lineup and when there is the most dangerous opening pair in the opposite camp. Danny boy continues his excellence and the script of spinners' excellence this IPL goes on.

Second Innings:

Sehwag and Gambhir are on. No Warner, no McGrath. Delhi batting looks good. Following this 2, there is Dilshan, AB, Tiwary, Karthik (LOL) and Danny boy. First up Pathan and Sanga stands up to the stumps. Will Pathan get some swing and force his way back to this earlier reputation of 2003-05. Now will Gambhir will walk down ? First boundary. Pace is lacking. One more. 9 now in first over. Looking to Sehwag and Gambhir, I rememeber Sholay evergreen song

Yeh dosti hum nahi todenge

First ball to Veeru and he hits one down the leg side. Almost gone, but still a 4. Abdullah ka Bismillah isnt good in IPL. One more. 2 in 2. Full toss to Veeru. Are you kidding? Would be gone in stands. Ravi says 5 overs is the D/L cutoff. Rains started. Edged and 4. They are heading off. Covers being brought in. DD 0/24 in 1.5. Have that as a tactical break. If the match gets underway dont break again for the tactics. I think its ridiculous to have a tactical break when it would rain. So 10 overs are bowled, no rains, a tactical break. Match resumes, rains come down, match broke. Whats the use of the break here? That time should have been used as a continution to the game and time lost to rains can be taken as tactical break.

Meanwhile its raining stronger than ever before in the day. Things looking bad. Now its looking that the match would get underway and also the 2nd one would get underway though it depends on the rains. The score is going to be reduced. Ahh its mockery. 54 to win in 6 overs. So 30 to win in 25 balls. i guess it would be 10 balls more. Poor fielding by VRV Singh and 4 more. 26 in 24 needed. Man of the match candidate : One of this batsmen or Danny Boy. 25 off 23 now. Veeru on strike. A slog and a miss. Sanga having bad day. 24 off 22 now. 23 off 21 now. No urgency or warming up shown by Kings Punjab. Have they already believed that they have lost ? The reason is this. Sehwag. Huge hit. Ease, ease and easy. Bottom hand. One more try. Misses. 17 off 19. Effortless and in no time. Edged and 4. 13 off 3 overs.

This is tailor made situation for Sehwag. He has been hitting runs at furious speed in ODIs and tests. T20s give him more of freedom and license to do so. And he is going for it. Edges or nudges doenst matter to him. No for me too. And for his fans too. VRV comes in. Long time i saw him last, precisely to be after 2007 SA series. 12 off 17. 2 sixes. Now ? Miscue. 11 off 16. Yuvraj looks subdued. Good running. V and G are best runners in the team between the wickets. 9 off 15. One more walk down the track and single. Sehwag on strike. 8 off 14. 29 off 11 for the Najafgarh Sultan. Missed. Whats he gonna do now ? No run. 8 off 2 overs. rare 2 dot balls. Chawla comes in. He is no Warne or Kumble. Sehwag is now on strike. Go hit the Melbourne style six when he tried and got out. But he got 2. 5 off 10. One. 4 off 9. 50 for DD. Good running again. 3 off 8. Hit the four or six Veeru!!! Wide. 2 off 8. Thats it. 6 for Veeru. And DD win. Whatta style....Sehwag rocks. Gambhir playing 2nd fiddle and thats what makes this pair the rock star it is. The ODIs, the Tests and the T20Is. Vettori looks good for the MoM award..

India Vs NewZealand 1st Test Review

So the much anticipated Test series began in New Zealand. Many firsts for this series. First for India without Anil Kumble. First overseas Test series as captain for MS. And stuff like that. And the scoreline would suggest that it was a balanced day for both the teams given the fact that Indians dominated the first session, Kiwis the second and it was kinda half half in the 3^rd. 1.5 – 1.5. But a further read into the batting lineup India has and the bowling lineup Kiwis have, India might still have a slight edge over the Kiwis. And that’s a refreshing change over long time. Indians have been a slow starter lot and more so on the foreign tour. England 07, Australia 07 and SL 07 is a prime bunch of the series which proves the same fact, if we decide not to go too past for the confirmation.

With that kind of history, it was refreshing to see Kiwis at 6/60 whereas we were used to see Indians having that kind of scoreline in earlier tours even with Fab Four around. Today it was a bold decision by MS to bowl first given the overcast conditions and the new ball attack he has. And it did pay off in the first session at least when India had Kiwis on the mat. It was left to Danny boy and wild child to recover from the lump and go to a respectable score of 279. 186 of those runs were added by this 2, which they say is a new record for the bilateral series between this 2 sides. Danny boy now averages 41 in no 8 and now is the best bat of the team besides being the skipper and best bowler too with 286 wkts. Jesse had a memorable debut with polished 102 against a team he is fast learning to torment.

India’s track record of giving a unknown player to emerge star against it just doesn’t go away. Ryder is the latest in that list. Dravid equalized the record for most catches and very soon he would overcome it. He should go on to pocket 200 catches provided his bat still milks the runs. Zaheer was left 1 wkt short of 200. And Tendulkar became the 2^nd highest Test player leaving Allan Border behind. He would go on till 159 at the end of the series. Hadn’t he missed the 11 Tests for injury, today he would have became the highest test playing player with 168 alongside Tugga.

Getting in Munaf was a bold choice and though he did take 3 wkts, his criticism won’t fade away unless he doesn’t get over his lax attitude.

It was a refreshing change from the boring Test cricket we saw in Caribbean and Pakistan. Perhaps Sri Lanka needs to see how Test match is being played. Thank GOD there were no long batting sessions. I bet India won’t look forward to play slow and boring cricket tomorrow. India should look forward to bat for 4 more sessions and score around 400-450 runs to avoid batting long in the 4^th innings. Sehwag and Danny boy would be the key in tomorrow’s first session.