West Indies blow away yet again

What an one sided QF it has been. West Indies have just been blown away by the Afridi men. In the end nothing deserving to be called a quarter final of a damn world cup. West Indies blew away any premature talks of their revival. Their insipid record of not beating a top Test team in a ODI remains and would go on until they take on the same opponents in the home series in May this year.

Pakistan through to their 6th semi final, first in 12 years. And all set for a dual in Mohali. But then would they arrive in India without a drama given the cold relations? Some statements have already been made in the media and over generous India have already provided 5000 visas to the stani fans. A few of them could disappear and do not go back only to see..................

That apart, should India win tomorrow, an another battle would be on cards but before that its time for the most intense battle of the modern times in a ODI or a Test coming up tomorrow in Motera of Modiland.

WI vs Pak Preview

The quarterfinals start tomorrow and its going to be 2 volatile teams taking on each other. Pakistan and West Indies take on each other. The teams prone to collapses. One due to ineptness and the other due to madness. Both teams have enough experienced heads. Both teams have folks who can go mad. Both teams have colorful jokers. T20 experts both teams possess.

Pakistan are surprise group toppers. They broke Australia's unbeaten streak in Colombo.  They would expect to go past Windies to be in semis and unfortunately play in Mohali.  Mohali is in India. India. India.

West Indies have better opening pair. Gayle and Smith D. Gayle on his day is a tormentor. Smith has been in good form off last few games. India would swear by that. Pakistan have a lose opening pair.  The # 3 slot for Windies is hold by Darren Bravo, the Lara alike.  Its Kakmal for Pakistan or Shafiq. Shafiq guided the chase against Canada and Australia in the league stage.

The middle order is brittle. Sarwan, Chandu, Pollard form the next 3. Misbah, Younis and Ukamal form the next 3 for Pak. Who combusts first, it shall be a competition.

Bowling is also on same length though Umar Gul provides little bit edge to Pakistan for his old ball exploits. Man to man comparison in bowling indicates that it should be a good match. Rampaul, Roach and Russell have been in good form. Bishoo had a good 2 games. So Benn might sit out to get in Roach, if fit.

Pakistan's bowling is a bit light with just 2 pacers, 2 spinners and a half bowler in Abdul Razzaq -- the Palak Paneer guy.

So which side explodes first would be the loser and the other one would go through. West Indies ended SA campaign in 1996 while Pakistan lost to India in 1996 QFs.

If Pakistan lose that might be the end of lot of guys like Kamran Akamal, Shoaib Akhtar and hopefully Ijaz Butt too.

India win by 80 runs

India won and they play next Australia. Australia's quest for the 5th title is going to end in Ahmedabad and Ponting is going to continue walking to his ODI sunset. Doesnt matter if he does not walk on the field.

India won by 80 runs however not before getting a scare when Devon Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan were batting with ease. That time, the Indians had given up on the chase and they looked despirited, deflated and even disinterested.

It took Zaheer to strike once again as in England game to bring India back in the game and after that Windies choked or they just didnt have it in them to win from the strong position they had for 2nd game in running. R Ashvin made his way to the team on his home ground and got 2 wickets. Well he didnt inspire a lot of confidence as in that he shall turn the bowling woes to riches. He got 2 wickets, which even Nehra got that day and even Chawla got. 

He didnt turn the ball square on a pitch he knows more than anybody else other than Tendulkar. He didnt bowl that many carrom balls....So whats the hype and talk all about? Harbhajan Singh was useless in the first spell but then it took his maiden over to get Zaheer strike off Smith's stumps in his 2nd spell. 

Munaf Patel, well he is as useless in the team as is Yusuf Pathan, the fuddi Pathan. Good for nothing lads. Cant bat, cant bowl and cant field. 2 liabilities. Munaf did a ugly swipe in the 50th over 5 balls 2 soon. Ashvin hit the ball to a 4 in the 49th over and he looked to take score past 270 but our Munnabhai couldnt stick around yet again. This lad was insipid in the field and when he bowled. He looks so disinterested and he sleepwalks the game. Why is he even in the team ?

Sachin Tendulkar walked when he was not out given by Steve Davis. He should not have walked and should not walk in the knock out games ahead esp against Australia. He didnt nick it and there is no snickometer for the DRS. So even if there was a review, he would have got away. But then the man has played his cricket with integrity, so he wont compromise against it. 

Gambhir again threw away the start he got. Kohli and Yuvraj then took the score to 173 when it looked India would cross again the 300 mark, but it was a distant dream. They collapsed yet again losing 7 for 50. Rampaul took 5 as did Bresnan and Steyn previously. 

This kind of performance wont be good enough to win the world cup. So India has to address the batting powerplay and middle order batting below 4 once again. That just cant do in the quarters especially when the next 2 games are against Australia and Pakistan(if both win).

Quarter final lineups

In the end South Africa demolished Deshis way too easily and eased England's way to the quarters thus kicking out the inept Deshis out of the tournament. Just right. 

The lineups are more or less clear now. 

Australia finish third in their group and Pakistan topped it. 

South Africa shall take on Kiwis. If India win tomorrow they go 2nd in the group and play Australia in the quarter finals in Motera. 

If they lose they take on SL in the quarters. 

If India win then following would be the lineup

SA vs NZ

Ind vs Aus

Eng vs SL

WI vs Pak

If India lose then

SA vs NZ

Ind vs SL

WI vs Aus

Eng vs Pak

Coming back to the game tomorrow, Sehwag seems to be in doubt based on media reports so that opens up a spot and Raina should come in. Even if Sehwag plays Raina should still come in place of Pathan. And of course Ashvin coming in place of Nehra or Munaf. Even no harm in trying Sreesanth. At least somebody with pace will be there.

West Indies vs South Africa

West Indies and South Africa played out the first game in Northern India of the world cup and it was being played in the capital city of India and the home ground of Delhi trio -- Sehwag, Gambhir and Kohli. The same ground which had itself banned from hosting international games in Dec 2009 hosted a match today and did so well. The Ferozshah Kotla, the ground which has its own legacy and has 2 record milestones achieved on this ground : Kumble's 10 and Sachin's 35th Test 100 in 1999 and 2005 respectively.

Back to this match, the Windies started off well to race to 1/114 and then losing wickets in "clusters" as Darren Sammy later said and Nasser Hussein said on the air.  Barring Darren Bravo's 73 and his brother's 40 none could go onto make a big score as AB did later and that was the difference between 222 and 272.  The likes of Gayle, Sarwan and Chandu failed and there went the Windies chance to stamp the authority over the Saffers.

The Windies were also done in by debutant spinner Imran Tahir's 4/41 figures in his debut game. He bowled with subtle control and variation, turned the ball square and along side Johan Botha controlled the Windies run making spree. South Africa are taking the spin bowling a bit too seriously when they opened the bowling with Botha and played 3 spinners.

223 was not going to be a score that would have scared SA, but they did for a while when they lost Amla and Kallis early with just 20 on the board, WI sensed some victory but AB jolted them with a fine 100. He knows the ground in and out as he has played 2 IPLs here for Delhi Daredevils in 2008 and 2010.  Smith was scratchy given he was ill and Duminy played a perfect partner to the 4th wicket partnership that saw SA home.

SA remain 2nd on the group behind India on NRR and they now wait another week to play their next game against Netherlands.

Positives for SA :

• Spin bowling especially Johan Botha opening
• Imran Tahir's promising debut
• Dale Steyn's late overs burst
• AB Devilliers form

Positivies for WI :

• Darren Bravo's batting
• Suleiman Benn opening the attack and getting the turn
• Kemar Roach

Besides they have a man called Chandu Paul in their team who doesnt make runs when needed, doesnt pace his innings, yet finds himself in top 10 of every ICC ranking. Weird!!!

Team Preview : West Indies

The team preview excersise is almost at its fag end with just two teams remaining : the 1983 world cup winners and the runners up.

West Indies are the only country after Australia(or before) to have won the World Cup 2 times. But the last of their victory came good 32 years back.  The nearest they came to winning a title after the major upset of 1983 was in 1996 in India  - Pakistan when they choked in the semi-final to lose by 4 runs.

Since then its been a poor story for the once strong team in ODIs.

World Cup History

West Indies were the original winners in 1975 and 1979 when they were at the peak of their powers. They had an unimaginable strong team in Haynes, Greenidge, Richards, Lloyd and the bowlers like Marshall, Garner, Roberts and the Whispering Death Michael Holding.  They were expected to win the 1983 edition too but they lost to India may be due to complacency or may be due to the Indian seamers were too good on that day. May be the Indian hunger to establish itself on world stage got better of them. Since then the Windies reached semis only once in 1996.

Despite of heroics of Viv Richards and generosity of Courteny Walsh, they failed to make past the first round in 1987 in subcontinent and that marked the decline of their fortunes. They were knocked out again in first round in Australia 1992 though they had good team then.  They made it to the semis fumbling and tottering to choke in the end to lose by 4 runs in 1996. 1999, 2003 were sordid affairs and they started off well in their own world cup in 2007 but ended up losing in the super eights.

Current Run Up

Though Chandu feels they can make it this time, but the form has been so poor for them that they have not beaten a test side in last 20 months. They have also lost to a team like Sri Lanka.

They have been bogged down by contract issues, player loyalty issues and captaincy issues. Gayle, Pollard and Dwayne Bravo have refused central contracts thus leaving them to play in cash rich T20 leagues than for the team.

The team not only lacks motivation but also the will power to do good in the international arena.

Team

Gayle, Barath, Chandu, Bravo, Baugh, Benn, Roach, Miller, Pollard, Sammy, Darren Bravo, Sarwan, Ravi Rampal, Russell and Devon Smith

Expectations

Not much, if they are able to get past the quarters they would be akin to winning the world cup. Hoping that they would lose to the strong teams -- England, India and SA, they would need to beat all the minnows and hope they turn up on the good side against Bangladesh and only then they would be in the quarters.

Shane Shillingford reported for suspect action in Chuckali's land

Ah well, the f**k irony is Shane Shillingford who troubled Lankans with his spin bowling in the Galle Test has been reported for suspect action.

And all this in a land where the biggest chuck and suspected action bowler bowled on and on for taking 800 wickets and other chucker is a reverted retard umpire in the ICC panel.

Turmoil

Turmoil in world cricket.

PCB as usual. They celebrate the news that Oval ODI was not fixed. What a joke.  Ijazie should really dress himself as a joker everyday to the work and press conferences.

Kiwis are unexpectedly reeling under a 0-4 whitewash. Oceanic cricket is in turmoil. Aussies lost 0-2, Kiwis 0-4.

Deshis are on an unexpected high, thanks to Siddons and Shakib. Great stuff for them. Only if they maintain their consistency and hunt down Sri Lanka every time they play. They would do a great service to the cricket world.

India has its own demons of ODI cricket where the selectors are hell bent to rest players at a very wrong junction of time. India are now just 12 ODIs away from the opening game against BD in the world cup and they have only 10 ODIs to play with the core group of players for the world cup. How many of the core players would actually play those 10 ODIs is still a question given that the selection committee is a buffon and a basket  case.

West Indies have a new captain and a vice captain. Enough said on them.

England are all about Ashes and they are not giving a damn to the world cup. They wont win it anyways.

Australia has its own set of problems with the seniors coming floppers in the Tests and the ODIs being only strong point for them at the time.

Entropy level right now in the world cricket is high and the men in focus are usual jokers and clowns in PCB.

weekend Cricket

So the first T20I in US soil resulted in Kiwi win over Lanka. Lanka had the wicket its way.  Slow and low.  Low bounce and turn. Yet they lost by 33 runs. Failed to cross 100 in 2 of 4 T20Is.

In other game West Indies lost by 66 runs to South Africa.  Yawn!!!

Hashim Amla plays a ODI and scores a 100. Shows what kind of bowling attack WI has. They have not won in 4 years against SA in ODIs.

England are considering resting few of their victorious players against the low key BD series this week.  That includes Colly, Broad and few others. 

Indian biggies are resting and the C team would take on weakened Lankans and Zim in Zim after 5 years. Thats India's first tour of Zim in 5 years, the last one being a wretched one when Greg Chappell began his disastrous coach tenure with the team and soon after Ganguly was ousted.

Cricket would be yawning till the Pakistan vs England and Pakistan vs Australia series begin. Lets see if Pakistan win anything in Tests in Old Blighty. They have failed to win a Test in 3 years since 2007 or (prolly they beat SL last year once).

World T20 : Day One

Two games. NZ vs SL and WI  vs Ireland.

WI won the game as expected and look good to go super 8s. Ireland now face elimination and must now  expect England to lose both its games, far fetched thought that is.

In the opening game Sangakara was a changed man. He had grown a moustache. He was speaking with lot of mannerisms at the toss. Nothing different that he spoke, but the facial movements he made and the way he spoke was unique.  IPL Nights effect may be.

He chose to open with Mahela and Dilshan. Dilshan was scratchy in IPL. Bishop told us. We also saw. Sangakara did not. He was busy fighting with Yuvraj and trying to get close to his owner (IPL) in IPL. So Dilshan scratched around for 19 balls scoring 3. And then he got out.

Sangakara came and he scratched around. He got out too.

Mahela continued his good form. He made 81 in SL's total of 6/135.   Chandimal, the SL cousin of Dinesh Karthik made 29, Angelo Matthews made 3, Kapugedra made 11, Sanga made 4 off 11.  Jaya did not get a ball to face.

Cheap treatment. He has opened for 14 years or even more in ODIs, Tests and T20s. Needless for me to say his record while doing that. have a look at Dilshan. He is opening for 14 months may be ? He's been failure at top spot this year. For ego or some unknown reasons Sangakara is keeping Jaya off the opening spot.  And that would lead to a downfall soon. His captaincy skills are at display. His results are at display.

They must now win against Zim who are on fire after beating Pakistan and Australia in warmups. If they lose really they go home. End of captaincy for Sangakara may be.

NZ won a tense game and that would be a morale booster for them.

Benn does not deserve 2 game ban

A close look at the video of the row between Benn and Haddin suggests :

• Benn wasnt at fault when he went for the collection of the ball to stop a single and Haddin ran into him. That was by chance, not intentional.
• Haddin provocated Benn with the show of the bat. 
• Benn was taken aback when he saw he being provoked. He just walked to the batsman and natural exchange of words. Nothing done yet by Benn that earns him a 2 game ban.
  
• At the end of over Benn walks over to Haddin down the umpire end and  there you see Johnson altercating with Benn. Not needed. 
• And then a physical contact between Benn and Johnson.

The questions arise why was Johnson handed just 10% of the match fee as fine and Haddin as 25%. It was Haddin who began the altercation with an intentional provocation and poor Benn fell prey to it.

And what wrong did Benn do to earn 2 game ban which was serious and an intentional provocation from Haddin wasnt so serious offence ?

Jaundiced eyes, biased vision and perhaps even racism ? No white player ever is banned by this match referee.

By the way how did Broad return to refereeing when he was pitched for a ban by our honoorable Ijaz Butt ?

Aussie test woes

Another altercation down under and another non Aussie player stands a  risk of getting banned or facing a suspension.

The supposedly best batsman in the world Ricky Ponting retired hurt and did not come back again to BAT.

Tendulkar on the other hand got hurt on his nose while he was 16 and continued batting in blood soaked  t-shirt.

Anil Kumble came out with hurt jaws in Antigua 2002 and snapped Brian Lara LBW.

Australia after making 520 runs sees Gayle hit one of the fastest Test hundreds to see the Test going to a possible draw unless WI self destruct on day 3.

A 2-0 win looks a rare possibility now for the team which not so long ago was world beater.

Against WI, against whom its media called for a "hakal patti" from the Test playing nations.

If Australia go onto lose the Test or even draw this one to be able to win 1-0 then will similar calls be made ?

By the by significant achievement for black African players in Saffa with Ntini playing his 100th Test.

Australia now are in danger of falling to # 4 in the rankings should they not beat Windies in this Perth test and if they dont then they would not have won a test in Perth for 3 years now.  The trend started by Australia's test nemesis -- Indians.

Who can forget the Perth win in 2008 -- the greatest overseas win for the country, after what happened in Sydney.

India starts the trend, the rest emulates.

Till 2005 only India beat Australia regularly in Tests and since then England started doing the same thing. They got thumped 0-5 next Ashes, Indians won 2-0 after 2004 and 2008 loss (bad umpiring major culprit).  Saffers followed the suite only to be thumped later 1-2 in the home series.

India has Australia on woods in the Tests.  And the tags of 1-1 in 2004 and 1-2 in 2007-08 wont say the real story all cos of that umpire Bucknor.

By the by Yusuf has got his ICL mate in the test team -- Sami.  And that has created furore in Pakistan. And if weakened Australia draw the series with the Pakistanis, then you can imagine who would have helped Pakistan achieve the same as per Younis.

Windies need to declare asap

Australia's record of 9 wins against Windies at home since 2000 wont be broken since today morning WI are playing Sri Lankan brand of cricket. They are looking for a safe score on a pitch where the highest score made in 4th innings was 233 in recent years.

Gayle has been keeping restraint when he has to go all out in Sehwag way.

If Windies declare and ask Australia to chase 335 odd runs and lose, they would be brave. But if they score 360 odd runs and fall short of a victory, they would be called cowards.

History is beckoning them and now its upto them how they take it.

T&T a fairy tale

Trinidad and Tobago's progression to the semis is fairy tale.

Why not replace the entire crap WI team with this superb warriors of T&T team.

Pakistan beat West Indies in a mess up

It was a good scoreline. Pakistan won by 5 wkts. They messed up. 134 was not a huge score. Not at all. Yet the big guns made a mess. In the end the kid Akamal and the Boomer chewing gum saw it in the end that their team gets through the upset.

Misbah, Yusuf, Malik failed and thats just going to raise more brows in their country. Beating West Indies could have been a walk in the park for the Greens, but they are Pakistan. Lest they mess, they wont be the team they are. Mavericks...Their next game is against the Indians. And its not a Friday. Its a Saturday. 2003 / 3/ 1 was also a Saturday. It was Centurion then, its centurion now.

Tendulkar, Dravid, Nehra, Harbhajan were then in blue. Younis, Yusuf, Afridi were in green.

Got to see an agression in Pakistan team, the agression they showed under Wasim Akram, not under Imran Khan. Under Imran Khan, the players were more like soldiers who have taken to whites to fight the "war" against India.

Under Inzy, the Pak team mellowed and that basically gave the likes of Asif and Akhtar a chance to go wild, my view. Dare somebody do that under Akram or Imran, the player would have ended his career. Today serial offenders like Yusuf, Asif, Akhtar continue to play and get away.

Chuck out a few losers from Pakistan team and they should be a good team back to the glory of 90s. And yes PCB too.

Lankans favorite

Sri Lanka are hot red sexy favorites for today's semi-final. Yeah all for 3 Ms, Jayasurya, neutral's romantic favorites and embattled, emotional reasons. Very well. Go Lanka conquer the Carribeans!!!

Preview to the Ind vs WI game

“We had options for back-up openers, Yusuf and I were also spoken about. But Rohit was in good form in the IPL and has grabbed his chance with both hands”

MS was speaking on the options for opening in absence of Viru. Heavens gracious, he didn’t open. Just imagine what would have been the reaction if MS was opening. Flood gates would have been opened. He is reeled for coming at # 3, he is being accused of leaking the news and being arrogant with the media. He is now no more the captain kewl.

Rohit Sharma has been pretty decent with the opening spot in England. However he must soon realize that opening is not his cup of tea and its just that he is filling in for Viru in his absence. Ditto for DK. His first test comes today when he takes on his Deccan Chargers team mate Fidel Edwards (subject to play) in the first super 8 game India plays tonite against West Indies at Lord’s. Yes the same ground where 26 years ago India beat WI by 43 runs to win their World Cup.

India would have one challenge to stop Gayle, who has tormented them in the past since 2002 or even old since 1999. Remember the Singapore tri-series followed by Toronto 3 game series when Ganguly first time captained India. Another question India would need to find an answer to is the place of Irfan Pathan. He has been pathetic with the ball. If he opens the bowling today, Gayle is for sure to run away with game. May be Praveen Kumar would be an option to go with as he swings the ball and gets more wickets than Irfan does. Yeah India would lose a batting all-rounder, but then there is enough firepower in the batting department.

Matara Mozart

Sanath Jaisurya -- the man just doesnt fade away. Another peerless performance today from the ageless wonder. He is to SL what Sachin Tendulkar is to India. Time and again, he is bailing his team out of danger, giving the starts with the bat and ball. So many players came and gone, this man just doesnt fade away. Upul Tharanga and so many partners went with him. Kalu is long happily retired, Attapattu crossed over to ICL, but SJ just goes on and on.

I must say I hated him whenever he hit those nasty hundreds and triple hundreds against us. I overjoyed whenever he went out quickly most notably during the 1996 Semi final. Generations of captains went in. Azhar, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble. Now MS. This man still there.

Take a bow. Take a bow. He along with the GOD are the only links now from the 1980s. Hail them as long as they are around.

Meanwhile SL look good to go to semis at least way they have played. Look good today to win as well since no Gayle today and without him WI just seem a touch better than Holland or Ireland.

Owe it when it deserves!!

English and Windies coaches have gone on record saying how absence of players playing IPL hampred their preparations to the 1st test in Lords. But what will they got to say that the best performance from both sides came from players who had set the ball on fire in IPL as well. Fidel Edwards for West Indies (Deccan Chargers) and Ravindra Bopara for England (Kings Punjab) were the players in contention..

If you guys attribute failure to IPL, please attribute the success of the players to IPL as well.

Bopara Ton

eventually shuts down Vaughan and Bell's Ashes dreams. Still England looks a weak team unable to get through the # 7 ranked Test team. So its futile to expect that they would get past # 1 team...