Fake IPL player ki picture abhi baki hai dost.

Fake IPL player or now rechristened (would be) Fake ICC player is back and back with his bang shit. I agree with Q here that he is sounding just like a whore when he says Dick of Dicklands, or Al Pakeezah (whatever that means) to the countries. He should be taken to justice in a very stern fashion and may be his blog should be declared a real fake.

Degrading cricket on constant basis is not done. I get vindicated here when I said he is not a journo or person who is on payrolls of SRK few weeks back, but back then Mr Raj didnt agree with me and he had his own theory to suggest that he was one of SRK's sidekicks.

All said and done, the FIP should be demotivated and discouraged to continue his insane posts. Ridiculing cricketers once or twice is just about ok, but consistently trophy after trophy is cheap. I am sorry, words have ceased me. So the repeated reference of cheap words. However my intent of this post is to discourage the FIP. And its always better to hold back crooked theories before spilling them out to the world that the FIP was SRK's sidekick.

Day after

The warm up games almost threw expected results with exception of India's loss to NZ. And the "finals" of World T20 were again won by India and this time very emphatically. Pakistan had no plan, had no backup plan, they just went in with charged emotions and got beaten. All the high talks of improvement went awry.

Captaincy was ordinary. How else would you explain your best bowler of format coming as late as 10th over ?

Rohit Sharma on back of one good innings cannot dislodge Virender Sehwag from his proprietory opening slot. It would be crazy to even think of implementing this idea.

And it would be better to accept the fact that MS would most of the times come at 3. Not that I dont like it. How else would you support the move to move Sharma up the order when he has not even opened for Mumbai.

India 's eminent problems are at the final overs of the innings. The bowlers have given away runs like millionares in last 2 overs.

And yes, let Pakistan get some plan on how to play against India. That would augur well for them. 9 wkts drubbing is a shameful result for them. Coming open and banging ball blindly and then getting out is certainly not the way to beat the world champs or get some confidence before the first game in Oval against England.

India vs Pakistan LIVE -- Pakistan Innings

The game is on. The game is on. And its silent start. 4 dot balls in the first over. Wasim Akram and Allan Wilkins going good. Harsha Bhogle opened the account. A swing and a wide. First run on the board. Got'em.......

1st wicket down. Shahzeib Malik gone. Gone. Big gone, huge gone. Mbangwa soul in me. First wicket down. Akamal up the order. Akram saying the same thing we were discussing here. A four to end the over.

6 for 1 in 1.

RP Singh comes in. Akram plays down RP. Could be a 2nd four. It is. 10 for 1. PK fumbles. Surprisingly the intensity isnt there. Harbhajan drops it. Fuck. Fuck. Go away dude. You suck.

11/1 in 1.3.

Asad Rauf and Ian Doctrove are the umpires. Wonder how come Dcotrove is the umpire. Didnt Butt get him removed for the goof up he did on this very ground ?

14/1 in 1.4.

MS reeled by the criticism. Praveen Kumar doesnt make any effort to stop the ball. One more four. 18/1 in 1.5. IPL gets a mention. Wasim Akram enjoying the delight. One more four.

One more four. Pakistan on fire. 27/1 in 2.2

Good comeback by Praveen. Crowd booes him. MS sledges. "Peeche se bowled karna".

Mind games. Mind games. Ridiculous. Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh at it. Four.

Viru and Zaks are injured. No Jadeja, may be Sharma should have been dropped. Four more. 35/1 in 3. Pakistan are running away with the game.

Cmon Indians. We are the world champions. Bloody world champs. Pathan on to match on. Match on to videocon.

BTW they kicked me out of the cover it live site. Reasons very obvious. Hardly matters. Goodness me, the Talibs are running away with the game. 1/41 in 3.4.

Pathan sucking right away. His fellow countrymen seem a bit demotivated. 43 runs in 17 balls added. India are gonna miss Sehwag here. Body language of world champs too bad. Would BD fancy their chances against India ?

Ishant Sharma comes in. 4th bowler. Praveen 2, RP 1, IP 1. All ripped.

Akamal gone. Stupid run out. Raina you beauty. Akmal gone. Run out. Half way down the pitch. A spring in the Indian footsteps. Get this Ahzad and Pak are on back foot. No run off 5 balls so far. Pressure on this lad.

Wooooooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooo. Ishant takes one more. Captaincy there. Guys, MS makes another smart move. Younis Khan comes in at 5 . Captain confused. Afridi gone................MS takes one.. I cant believe it. World champs on fire. MS on fire. MS on fire. Egg on the face. Ex captain on crease.

India makes a comeback. Irfan takes one. Good one. Boost to the confidence. Afridi is one overrated player for this format. A Pathan without a brain. First ball, a wide and wild slog and gone. Forever in 20s.

4/49. Malik on fire. Guys, this is a game against a team which had edge over us for 16 years. We suffered with their hands. They sledged us, they abused us. Dada changed all of that. Defeated them in their own land. Mumbai attacks happened from the land of same team. 11/26, a national tragedy.

RP back in the attack. Power plays gone. Pakistan playing without a plan.

Bhajji makes a silent start. 4/60 in 8. 140-150 the target score. Ojha in. And takes a wkt. 5 for 63. Ex captain gone. Pakistan in deep hole now. No strategic break now. 5 for 66 in 9.1 Cloudy skies in London. Younis almsot gone.

5 for 77 in 11.

5 for 82 in 12.

First boundary in too many overs. 5/90 in 13.

To be precise, 7 overs. One more. 96 now. 14th over. Time to good bye to spinners and get in RP and Praveen. Bad throw. 5 for 99. 12 runs off the over

Time to get a wicket. Sreekhand makes a comeback on BCCIP!. I am eating Warna Sreekhand right now with a beer. Spirits are high. Akram gets it wrong. Ishant Sharma made his debut vs Pakistan in Bangalore.

Harbhajan seems to have lost his bowling skills. 50 run partnership. MS again. Oh man he is on fire. MS, the CSK captain and bigger than that the INDIA captain stumps Younis Khan. 6/113 in 16th over.

Younis looked a fool when going for that reverse sleep. Ishant back. What a first ball, Misbah beaten. he has left KKR way behind. 4/25 in first game and then in this innings 1/6 in 3. Rohit Sharma dives.

Malik hopes 150+ score. Dude speak up how are you going to defend the target. Pakistan 6/122 in 17.1

18 bowled. 129/6. Max 155. Not more than that. Saeed Ajmal is playing too. RP is back. 1 off the first ball. He hasnt looked the bowler he was here in 2007 or the one he was in SA.

5 off next 2. Raina all over again. 6/135. 9 balls to go.

7 balls to go. 140/6. RP is off color. Concern for India. Ghosts of last game repeating again. 31 runs then in last 2 overs. Today its 17 in 19th. 144/6. PRaveen to bowl the last over. Slower ball. 5 balls to go. 145/6. Bad ball.

India is the world champs we must not forget. PCB needed BCCI to arrange this game. 7 off 3 balls so far. 24 off last 9. 25 off 10.

Last ball coming up. 153/6. Same scoreline. 3o off last 2 overs. Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan were pick of bowlers. RP, Irfan and Ojha disappointed.

159 to win. Interesting to see who would open.

Back after the break in 10 mins.

60 more minutes

"Let's settle the Kashmir issue over the result of Sharjah matches between India and Pakistan". That was in 1980's. Imran Khan, citing the psychological edge over India.

Today if it has to be said then its gotta be on basis of ODI series results in 2000s and the T20 contests between the two countries. Going by that Kashmir remains with us.

Thats in light humor. No calling me hater or traitor or waiter pleez.

Today is first India Pakistan contest after a year. First after Mumbai attacks. First after the tour to Pakistan was cancelled by Manmohan Singh. First after Younis Khan took over. First after ICL is buried alive. First after Pakistan was stripped of CT and CL and WC and IPL.

I fancy Pakistan beating India by at least 50 runs. And MSD scoring a duck thus opening flood gates for his critics to gobble him up with Chicken Curry and Sambhar without any dakar.

60 more minutes.

In defence of MS - II

This is unfair criticism for me. I have not attacked the commenter anywhere in this post. I have given the facts and figures for MS batting at no 3. If a blind eye is being turned to the facts, then well nobody can do anything about it. I don’t understand this. I say either, you say neither. I say potato, you say patato. As the famous song from When Harry Met Sally says, it’s a difference of opinion. But for that if you label me a XX kinda person, its just unfair.

Heard of “Agree to Disagree” ? I follow the same principle.

Many times I do say a lot on the thought process that goes behind a certain comment or a post. Thought process which is narrowed or flawed or LIMITED in MY OPINION. I sense regional affiliations gaining core dominance when somebody criticizes MS for not being able to win CSK the 2 IPLs. If MS has said that he got limited talent in IPL, then he must be true. A look at the core of Indian players for CSK and you find barring MS and Raina to an extent, the rest of the lot was awful. Badrinath never fired except 2-3 odd games. Balaji was a joker on the field who didn’t know what he had to do when he had to stop the ball from going to boundary in that match against KKR. Balaji was persisted and routinely he got smacked all over. Captain’s fault ?Or the players fault ? Or is it the franchisee’s fault that they didn’t get talented local players ? And even if the IPL franchisees are city based, the affiliations to it should not be city based. Cynicism should not be there.

http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/batting/most_runs_career.html?class=6;id=2009;team=4343;type=year

Click on this link and for yourself find out how much runs did M Vijay (he is a good player), Ashwin, Badrinath made. 60 runs for Vijay, 177 runs for Badrinath and yet he played 14 games. One 50 and 2 ducks. Avg of 20. Care to explain how MS is behind this stats ? Or is it an individual failure of the batsman ?

http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/bowling/most_wickets_career.html?class=6;id=2009;team=4343;type=year

Now click on this link and find out how many local lads took how many wickets. Balaji took 13 in 13. Avg of 24.30. He repeatedly went for runs in every game. Take out 4/21 and then it reads 9 in 12 games. Economy of 8.5, only better than Freddie and Gony. And then again the same question : how many local lads here ? The foreign import Murali has 14 wkts and the Goan import Jakati has 13. MS is going to play with the lot of players the franchisee gave him.

Whats more important ? Winning a city based IPL or a country based World T20 or a Test series or a ODI series? For me it would always be country. And I would care a damn he loses in first round of IPL-3 or wins IPL-3 for CSK. They say that a captain is as good as his team. If Dhoni has that leadership skills and it rubs on one team (national) and if it doesn’t rub on other team (IPL) whose fault it is ? captain or team? Despite being publicly pointed out that the fielding and bowling is poor, the Balajis, Badris make the same mistakes, then is it captain’s mistake ? Despite their below average performances this lads were persisted for every game. May be franchisee pressure, may be Kalaingar pressure, who knows.

If CSK had no local icon player, then whose fault it is ? Is it MS or the local cricket association who runs the cricket in the state at fault ? Whose fault it is that the best known cricketer of the state plays for a “North” team of Delhi Daredevils? Whose fault it is to pick the likes of Balaji in the team given that he is no more the bowler he was in his prime? Why did the CSK had to “import” an outsider and ask it to captain its side? Why did CSK franchisee who is from the state itself not bother to pay the $1.15 million for a local cricketer which it did for Freddie? Reason is simple: there is just no talent in the CSK locally. Who were the standout performers for CSK in 2 seasons ? Go figure, you get the answer.

If MS wins a Test series in a land where no other Indian team has won a series or a WC’11 at home, then he would deserve a trillion bows despite the fact that he has won 2 IPLs for CSK back to back or for that matter failed to win a single game in next 2 IPLs.

As for the reply point to point :

1) Also as a captain, his long-term goal should be to promote people to take more responsibility, not do it for them. He can win a few matches by himself today, but he has to teach the rest of the players to do so also.

MS has installed that sense of responsibility in the likes of Ishant Sharma, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir and RP Singh. This players in addition to the already established players like Tendulkar, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Harbhajan etc in ODIs and add Dravid, Laxman in Tests had that responsibility to win the matches for India. Let’s not forget the role he played in winning the CB series, NZ Odis, SL ODI series where contributions with the gloves and the bat were handy. An average of 46 in ODIs and 36 in Tests (highest for any Indian keeper) is a testimony to this fact.

2) He is clearly ugly with his strokes when he tries to go for big hits. So much so that the big hits happen far too seldom for him to be winning matches. When he grafts around for singles, his way of reaching out for the ball and pushing it into gaps is ungainly, and does not pay off all the time. In short he wastes more balls than he should be doing.

Agreed he hasn’t got the flair and the eye candy ability, but then what matters is runs and he s got them aplenty. 4000 runs in ODIs and 2000 runs in Tests is a testimony to the fact that lad has good batting ability. And his batting average is way better than any other Indian batsmen in ODIs, though he has got lot of not outs. In ODIs may be his boundaries have dried up, but still he scores his runs at almost run a ball. His strike rate of 92 odd runs bears the truth. If he wastes the balls, he makes up for them with his running between the wkts.

3) MSD at 3 cannot be a solution for Rohit's and YP's failings. Rohit - given a slot and a security of few matches on the trot has delivered. In CB series Australia for instance. Yousuf as the last specialist may not be the best idea. If he delivered for Warne and not for India, it is not Yousuf who should be doing the thinking, but the think-tank on how best to utilise him.

Rohit Sharma is a waste. I have had said quite a lot about him in this space and if I repeat the same, I would be boring very few who bother to comment J. His batting averages in ODIs reflect his attitude and the truth is he cannot be relied to win matches for India or DC that consistently. Yousuf Pathan delivered in India, he didn’t quite in SA, the results were evident in RR being kicked out. And I feel YP has almost played every ODI after IPL-1 despite the fact that he almost failed to deliver in first few ODIs, but then MS has faith in him and that’s the reason why Rohit Sharma sits out when Tendulkar plays. 3rd position 2005-2009 13 13 3 819 183* 81.90 847 96.69 2 4 1 70 1

I rest my case with this figures for MS at # 3. 13 games and an average of 82 with 2 100s and 4 50s.

Compare that with the current # 3 at ODIs and T20s Suresh Raina :

3rd position 2005-2009 16 16 0 374 84 23.37 483 77.43 0 3 1 37 7

Catch the spirits.

Today is a big match. More than a warm-up game to the ICC World T20. It’s not even official. But it involves India and Pakistan, 2 of the most fiercest rivals in the cricket field and off it.   One of them is a world champion and other is a runners-up.  If this game was being held in 90s, the advantage by default would have been with Pakistan, but today is no 90s. It’s the last year of the 1^st decade of the new millennium.  World has moved on, India has moved on. Pakistan remains right there.   

There are few questions for both teams to find answers to before the actual tournament begins. India need to find  the answers for the opening combo if Sehwag doesn’t recover from his injury. Sharma isn’t an opener and he is selfish. The way he got out to Vettori raises questions on his intent to play for the country.   MS also needs to find a permanent place for himself and dare not change that in the near future. Situations demand, they be damned.  Yusuf Pathan is a all-rounder, very good one but only in subcontinent. He was sorted out in South Africa and most prolly he won’t find runs in Old Blighty too. His form today would be an indicator if he finds a place in final XI or Jadeja would come in. I would fancy later. Praveen Kumar could play only if Zaheer continues to be injured.   Once Zaheer is back in the country of Jelly Beans, Praveen Kumar would find it tough to find a place in final XI.

Pakistan seem to be confused team. They are not sure if they should bank on their skills and strength to play their actual game or they should pitch in for sympathies and pity over repeated references to Lahore attacks, security situation in Pakistan and of course the stripping of WC and CT. They have an indifferent Sohail Tanveer who was smacked for 34 runs in his 3 overs, his form needs to be sorted out. Afridi is enigmatic as ever. He never fires, but is still highly rated in the format. Shoaib Malik is in good form coming from a good domestic tourney. Good that he wont be skipper any more. But their real skipper is confused. He is not sure if he is good for T20. There are rumors  that he is thinking to give up the T20 format.   Pakistan would also need to worry about their opening batsman Salman Butt who has just hit one 50 in 13 odd T20s. But then he would be up against India, his favorite opposition. 3 or 4 hundreds against them in ODIs.  Pakistan is being said to be the 2^nd best in playing spin after India, but on practice game against SA it wasn’t evident. Van deMerv and Botha troubled Pak batsmen and that’s a good sign for Harbhajan and Ojha as they definitely are better spinners than the Saffers duo.

This is a “Catch the spirits” game declared by ICC as the earnings would go to the victims of Lahore attack.   I find it bit strange.  Ironical. PCB has noble intentions to help the policemen who died protecting the Lankan team with financial assistance, which in a way is an attempt to wash off a bloody stain on its CV. But it needs BCCI to help it.  The same BCCI against whom PCB has been making lot of high pitched noises off late.   When this is the situation, I hope for the rest of the tournament, the big guns of PCB would keep mum.

IMO the batting order should read : Gambhir, Dhoni, Raina, Yuvraj, Sharma, Pathan Y, Jadeja, Pathan I, Bhajji, RP, Ishant.

No MS at #3, the debate resolved.

Let the action begin. Let the champions roll on showing the place where they belong, leaving aside the 3 consecutive defeats to nagging Kiwis who were set apart by Auzzies.

 

In defence of MSD

Not so long ago a man from Jharkhand scored 148* against visitors in Vizag and few months later scored 183 against Emerald Isle. Since then he scored more gems at # 3 in ODIs. He was hailed as next big man of Indian cricket. He could do no wrong. And he did nothing. He was later unexpectedly appointed captain of T20 team for an event which found no takers in BCCI. Unfortunately, India won it. Time turned such that few days later he was ODI captain too. He lost his 1st series as captain to Aus, but later avenged it by winning CB series down under.

And he kept winning and winning. Consistently. Many taboos were broken. First time wins in many impossible destinations viz SL, Aus and NZ. He was then appointed Test skipper too. He won 5 games out of 7. Against Australia, England, New Zealand. Minnows ? Nah.

During this time he kept shuffling himself as a floater in the batting order. Aim not to prove his batting talent, but to win the games for country. And he did. He was endorsed by the greats of Indian cricket. He is no great technician. He has no flair, he has some of awkward shots, but they fetch runs. They fetch victories, so how does it matter if he is at # 3 or #6. Some say he is no good for # 3. He should bat lower the order. There is a basic rule which suggests that the aggressive batsmen should get more overs to play so that they could score more runs in less balls and thus help the "team".

The guy in focus is MS Dhoni. A loss in inconsequential warm up game to T20 world cup ended the honeymoon for MS. A man who before IPl could do nothing wrong, now stands in a witness box to answer the critics why he promoted himself to # 3. Man to man basis, he is a better batsman than the regular # 3 in T20s -- Raina boy. So what if he had been failure yesterday? All this talk wouldnt have arose if he had scored runs and hadnt got out to the awkward stumping (read it somewhere) to Vettori boy and McCullum uncle.

Its a fashion in Indian cricket following, we have to have somebody to criticise and hang to the sword. In ODIs till this day it were Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag and Dravid, Ganguly in past. Kumble, Fab Four in Tests adding Kumble. So in T20s it has to be the captain.

I would like to ask the critics of MS esp those from CSK land who have been needlessly critical of this man for ignoring sons of soil and prefering Gonys and Patels, to excersise restraint. If he wins another title for India, then its going to be egg on the face.

Beat this!!

India plays Pakistan in a warm up game in Lords on 3rd June, the money out of the game would go to Lahore attack victims (policemen). Noble cause. BCCI at it. Shocked. PCB needs BCCI somewhere, but the tirades dont go from the inept administers of the PCB...

Screw that.

Here are few facts on India vs Pakistan matches in World Cups (50-50 and 20-20).

Before i get to that, let me say that India have played Pakistan once in England and had won that game in 1999 world cup. That is, Pakistan have never beaten India in England.

A look at prev encounters :

1992 World Cup : India win by 43 runs at SCG

1996 World Cup : India win by 39 runs at Bangalore

1999 World Cup : India win by 48 runs at Birmingham, this was during Kargil war.

2003 World Cup : India win by 6 wkts at Centurion, Sachin played his best ODI innings of 98 and reduced Akram, Younis and Akhtar to mere mortals. Such was the impact of the defeat for Pakistan that the careers of Younis, Akram and Anwar : India's typical nemesis and tormentors; ended.

2007 World T20 League Game : India win 3-0 on a bowl-out.

2007 World T20 final : India win by 3 runs, thanks to the scoop by Misbah off Jogi.

Pakistan play India in a warm-up game in England in run up to a world cup. And possibly again would play in semis or final...

An indicator of which side the momentum has shifted post 2004.

Nothing in the world can beat the aura and the tension of India vs Pakistan game, be it a Test, ODI or T20. No ICL or IPL game ever can match the intensity of the encounter of this 2 teams. I am waiting for warm up game between this 2 teams.

Go India and Pakistan.

Buchanan Chale England.

John Buchanan is heading England. That to me is like a suicide, if England bosses are still keen to have him onboard for Ashes. What he did to England Lions and off late Kolkata Night Riders is pretty much documented and easy to comprehend for everyone.

Australia win Ashes even before a single ball is being bowled. Having Buchanan as advisor or coach is like an insult to the team. He is that kind of bloke who would put a very motivated or charged up player / skipper to sleep or a damp squib with highly unsuccessful management pep talk which holds no relevance in modern day cricket.

Captains speak

Captains speak. Here is what the captains of prominent teams got to speak on their chances on the World T20 trophy :

Paul Collingwood, England:

We've got to be brave to win a tournament like this," Collingwood told reporters at Lord's. "We have to have the belief that we can win as a team, but we also have to have belief in our own ability in the middle. Twenty20 cricket is not an exact science, so you have to think on your feet in the middle. Sometimes it only takes one person, and we've got a lot of match winners, so I really do believe we can surprise a few people. I'm not going to say we are going to win it, but we have to believe we can win it." A lot of our momentum comes from results, because when you're winning things are very easy," Playing at home could be an added pressure but we're not taking it like that," said Collingwood. "We've got an advantage in many ways, we know what the wickets are all about here, and we're very excited about playing in front of our own crowds. No England cricket team has won an ICC tournament before so we have a three-week period here for us as a team to hopefully put that right."

My verdict: Long hopes to win the ICC T20 tourney, but that won’t come with half an eye on Ashes and one fourth of the other on T20. I fail to understand the obsession of England with Ashes time and again. They don’t win it too often. They used to win 2 odd tests in an Ashes series in 90s, in 2000s except for 2005, they have never won 2 tests in a single Ashes series and yet they speak so high. Even today they speak of momentum and results after beating a reluctant West Indies in home in 2 Tests and 2 ODIs. Not to forget that the same team had failed to win a single test in tour to West Indies.

Happy to make it to the Super Eights as second team from the group. They have Holland and Pakistan in their group, good for their tendency to self destruct.

Younis Khan, Pakistan

It is special to be back on the world stage. Especially in Twenty20s, and especially in England. We are suffering from not playing regularly, and no-one is coming to Pakistan, but all the time in the last few months I have been talking to the boys, and telling them to do well [in this tournament]. There are a lot of media here, and [if we succeed] we'll be well on our way to our mission, so to speak. It's very important for us. If you don't play regularly, you don't have that match fitness. But the beauty of international cricket is that it is changing all the time in different conditions, so we feel fresh and will do well in England, ins’hallah. That's the main reason I'm happy to be in England. Our fans are fantastic back home, they are lovers of T20, and now it's dependent on us to prove ourselves. If we play good cricket it will be good for our nation. These days the whole nation is depressed, and only cricket [can lift it]. If we play good and win something, they will cheer. To finish in the top four, my nation will come again and start cheering. But it was fantastic to be a part of that team in the final. Some guys were crying at the end, but in T20 everything can change. My confidence is that I'll take this trophy to Pakistan, but if the plan works ins'hallah it'll be an achievement for us to finish in the top four.

Yeah, nobody wants to play in Pakistan. But citing that so many times to provide a root cause for the team to play for is weak. It’s just a big tournament and doesn’t matter where the Pak team is coming from. Fans, home, England, situations, prove, play well, all are jargons. Nothing matters when you step on to the field mate. It’s just the bat, ball and mind games that matter in the rub of the green. No emotions, no distraction. Emotional reasons would never help Pakistan win the tournament. Fans back home and across world would anyway cheer for Pakistan for their reputation and not for what happens to them in the tournament. Does Younis want to say that his fans won’t cheer his team in league games and Super 8s ? (Line in red). Downgrading the chances. From being a finalist to a somehow semi-finalist this year in order to cheer up the fans.

My verdict : Not sure how would they perform. Too many distractions for the lads. Rants of JM, IB and coming home of ICL rebels might affect the motivation of lesser and debutants players who have replaced Rana, Razzaq and MoYo. As a result the performance couldn’t be up to the expected levels. Yet they are Pakistan. Can do anything on their day. Score 300 in a game or get dismissed for 30. Watch out their games with a pinch of salt.

Md Asharful, Bangladesh

In this form of the game any side can beat the other," Asharful told reporters at Lord's. "We defeated the West Indies in the last World T20 in South Africa and progressed to the Super Eight. Our main goal is to repeat that and if we beat India, who are the world champions, in the first match then we will fancy our chances of doing well against the top sides and making the semi-finals even. We have come here one week early, had three games against New Zealand, Holland and Scotland and the boys have done well," he said. "We are confident and there are two tough games against Australia tomorrow and Sri Lanka the day after. So that's a nice build-up to the main tournament. It was only in the last over that MM did badly. Otherwise I thought he was okay. But I know he'll be back. He is that type of a player. He always does well against India”

My verdict: Play out 20 overs in batting first mate and then hope to beat India. It’s not every day an Indian team has a 16 March 2007 as its match day. So just relax and look out to play for 20 full overs of batting and bowling. Once you do that, we would look to what you want to say. A semi-final berth looks a ginger for monkey like dream. So mate, dream on.

Graeme Smith, South Africa

It would be lovely if we could be successful in this tournament or any ICC tournament that is coming up, "We have had an incredible period in the last 16 months and the team has achieved so much. The confidence is good and we are excited about playing this tournament with the chance to go out and express ourselves. I think there is a lot more talent, flair and confidence among this team than ever before. It would be lovely if we could be successful in this tournament or any ICC tournament that is coming up,". "We have had an incredible period in the last 16 months and the team has achieved so much. The confidence is good and we are excited about playing this tournament with the chance to go out and express ourselves. I think there is a lot more talent, flair and confidence among this team than ever before.

My verdict: Choking is one issue Saffers have infamously carried on from ICC tournaments across years. 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007 World Cups and 2007 World T20 are prime examples. That’s something which would always lower Saffers reputation as world beaters. They have had an incredible success in Tests and Odis over last 2 years, but their failure to win a World Cup rankles and perhaps this is a chance they can do it. But the form of captain would be a worry which also led to the loss of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

Next stage: Australia, India, New Zealand captains.