ICC World Cup 2011 *Champions*

Sloshed Prediction-Indian WC'2011 squad.

The big daddy of all the ODI tournaments is just round the corner and its time for their cricket board to send their best 15 to the sub-continent .The strategic,head breaking decisions must have done already and its time for all the boards to announce it in the following week. We have already done it and its time for us to announce it ;). Here's a look at the pick of the top most players from the 30 probables who shall make it to the final 15 . 

OPENERS-Virender Sehwag,Sachin Tendulkar,Gautam Gambhir and Murali Vijay.

Undoubtedly,the opening pair would be Viru and Sachin with Gauti batting 1 down.Considering the recent injury to Sachin means Gambhir shall come back to open with Sehwag.We don't see Murali Vijay making the cut as there are 3 openers already.

MIDDLE ORDER- Virat Kohli,Yuvraj Singh,Rohit Sharma,Suresh Raina,Yusuf Pathan.

I think except for Rohit Sharma, everbody else shall make the cut . Rohit Sharma has't proved much in the recent times for India. Maybe , he loves playing for Deccan Chargers . Yuvi has been useful bowling his pie chuckers and his half century in the previous match made his position strong. Yusuf too has been pretty good with his bowling , though not much with his bat ,except for his blazing ton against the Kiwis at B'lore.Kohli has been in supreme touch of late . Raina, by default is in . 

WICKET-KEEPERS - Mahendra-Captain Cool- Dhoni,Parthiv-Mini bullet-Patel,Wriddhiman-Buddhiman-Saha.

Nothing to say about MSD. There will be a toss up between the other two.Parthiv Patel grabbed the oppurtunity with both his hands scoring consecutive half centuries and impressive keeping , while on the other hand,Saha did not impress with keeping and batting at all. Patel's batting is flexible as he can open and also bat in the middle order.

SPINNERS - Harbhajan-Bhajji-Singh,Pragyan Ojha,Ravichandran Ashwin.

Considering the spin options which the part timers provide , the chance of 2 front-line spinners playing is very less,unless played at very slow tracks .Chances are that , only 2 spinners will be picked in the squad. Bhajji, being an offie, and the off-break options provided by Yusuf and Raina ,chances of Ojha making the cut is more . Sorry Ashwin, not this time around . 

PACERS-Zaheer Khan,Praveen Kumar,Ashish Nehra,Sreesanth,Munaf Patel.

Zaheer has been the leader of the pack. No doubt about him being in the squad . Praveen Kumar has always been consistent. Ashish Nehra has been pretty good in the recent past too, although he has had his fair share of screwups.There is a stiff competiton between Sree and Munaf . Sree was excellent against the Kiwis and ofcourse , in the tests against Saffers . Munaf has been pretty consistent , picking up a wicket or two in every match . But ,we feel Sree might just sneak through.

So that is it . The 15 players have been shortlisted and this is how it looks -

1)Sehwag

2)Sachin

3)Gambhir

4)Kohli

5)Yuvraj

6)MSD

7)Raina

8)Harbhajan

9)Zaheer

10)Nehra

11)Praveen Kumar

12)Parthiv Patel

13)Sreesanth

14)Ojha

15)Yusuf Pathan

Dhoni to enter the wedlock

Yes, you heard it right . Indian Skipper M.S.Dhoni is getting married.It is with his school friend,Sakshi Rawat.They have been in an affair for a couple of years now .The date of the wedding hasn't been decided yet .Their parents thought this was the right time for them to get engaged. It MAYBE because of the rumours about Dhoni and the Indian Celeb ASIN getting closer and having an affair.So,to put off the rumors the engagement must have taken place.It was a very low profile ceremony.Raina,Bhajji and Nehra attended the function.Sakshi Rawat is a hotel management student in Aurangabad.Well, we just hope it does not become a drama  like the Tennis Star Sania Mirza , who called off her engagement with her childhood friend and made one of the most brilliant decisions ,marrying Shoaib Malik. All said and done, we wish Dhoni all the best . Well,its obvious that this news may pierce the heart of his female fans.Don't worry chicks,we heard that Bhajji is single again ;)

Quick Updates : India Vs Bangladesh ODI#2

Today was the second match of the Asia Cup,played between India and Bangladesh . Both the teams were coming out freshly after defeats . India after getting thrashed in World Cup and Zimbabweans . Bangladesh lost against the Poms,but did show some character and of course the World Cup. So the teams were eager to fight it out and find out who was the Biggest Loser. Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat first without any hesitation . TONim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes took strike .TONim looked in quite a hurry  . Post Lunch problem I guess . They started BANG BANG BANG and Out ! Within no time they reached 35 and lost Iqbal.CrashaFool was trying to stick on without going for any extravagant shot early on . Then , as expected his brain froze and got out followed by Kayes and Shakib in quick succession. Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah put on a decent partnership of 55. Now call it Dhoni's thinking or magic or luck, he bought on Viru .All hell broke loose for the Tigers. He let the ball rip and picked up 4 wickets in jus 2.5 overs .  It looked like the doctors over worked on his shoulders .Indians were set a target of 168. With the present line up , you never know . Gambhir and Viru opened . Viru departed early without causing any further damage . Kohli dint do much either . Dhoni and Gambhir played sensible cricket and steered India to victory .Gambhir piled up 82 and yet and NOT OUT innings for our Indian skipper which will boost his average further .  So , the blue billion stamped  their authority in Dambulla. The Man of the match went to Gambhir for his sensible knock.

Look who's on the bike . Its Rohit for change . Dhoni must be angry . Look out Nohit , you may be bench warming the next match. All the best

Captain Cool on Fire

    Dhoni, is on the firing line after India's yet another disastrous performance at the ICC World T20. I don't seem to understand the fact that, why should a captain be blamed, when its a called a "TEAM" game. Isn't the whole team responsible for the loss. Finally, India showed some team work, it was not one or two guys out of form, the whole TEAM looked out of place. Agreed, Indians cant handle short stuff, but how long will they keep saying the same old stuff. It cant be said that India played badly, the opposition played exceptionally well, which made India looks like, cats on a tin roof on a HOT day. What amazes me is the fact that, just few weeks back, when Dhoni lifted the IPL, adulation reached the peak and now they have turned the other way, courtesy : MEDIA. Fitness has definitely been a major concern. After playing 14+ matches in a span of 8 weeks and flying to Carribean two days later can definitely take a toll. People may argue that even foreign players played IPL. The main difference is that not all the International players played 14 games excepting a few. The others players had enough time with them, which was not the case for Indian players. Rightly so, Gary has hit out against the players as well, saying there around 8 people who are overweight to name a few: Yuvraj 'MRF Blimp' Singh, Rohit 'can take a paunch' Sharma and Zaheer 'I may be fit' Khan. Their paunch is EXPLICIT! This has resulted in the team failing in all 3 departments of the game. The batting looked miserable facing pace, bounce, swing. The bowling attack never really attacked or even started to look like one. The fielding for so bad that Afghanistan will be proud of their efforts.

    Right now,  in case Dhoni is dropped, wonder who will replace him... Viru couldn't handle the pressure of Double D's and looked like fish out of water when ever the national duty has beckoned him, he will lose his implanted hair too, if he captains India once again. Gambhir, no way! Earlier, there was captaincy material in him but, post IPL3 he has shown some serious attitude problems and lacks leadership skills. Plus he doesn't know what he is speaking during the presentation. Yuvi and Bhajji, ha ha , Cricket is(was) a  gentleman's game, isn't it? Raina flopped in the IPL so, lets not go there again. Only people left are PK, Zaks, Nehra which seems highly unlikely. Otherwise, Subu-Badrinath / Dinesh Karthik will have to take over the reigns. And that will only make matters worse with Srikkanth being the chairman of selectors. So its better if BCCI stick on to Dhoni rather than looking out for another lame ass.

DLF IPL - Wahs at War

Wah are at War and it aint smelling like blueberry pies. Sooper Kings take on the Double D's today in a crucial encounter. The loser is not necessarily out and the winner not surely through as we said here. But surely both teams are desperate to win and will be happy with points in the bag rather than prayers on their lips. So it is simple, go out there and win 2 games and the next 2 and be crowned champs. CSK hv a neat record against DD, now going 3-2 head to head. So, that will mentally get them ready for the challenge. For DD Viru has been at ease against CSK and Chepauk is his one of his favorites undoubtedly. So, this is what the two teams must look to do.

CSK- It should be an easy outing for the Super Kings considering their current form. Finally after several FAILED experiments, the bowling department seems to have clicked. Though not attacking , but definetely better. Batting has always been their strength. Its good to see that the batting is not dependant on Haydos. Its good to see the young Indian guns firing. Murali-I can Fkn hit DLF Max too- Vijay has been a revelation. Suresh -IPL- Raina has been the backbone of the team in all the 3 editions. MSD, you never know, when he hits, it stays hit! If one of them clicks,its PARTY TIME for CSK! Last time when these two teams met, it was a run feast at the Feroz Shah Kotla. We all got to know the reason for the MEGA HYPE for Mongoose. Double Ds scored 185, thanks to Joginder-Golden Arm- Sharma. Haydos and his pet, Mongoose murdered the DD bowlers. The problem which CSK faced in the first half is now faced by DD. Their bowling looks weak after the exit of Nannes. It still seems an area of concern. Of late, their batting seems to be breaking too. Looks like they have their IPODs on when batting, they just dont listen to their partner's call. I hope they continue this way for CSK to make full use of it. Playing in Chennai doesn't really matter to any team because they cheer for everyone, even you and me. Its more like a neutral venue. I feel CSK should stick with the same winning combo. 3 spinners and 2 pacers looks perfect . Their main strategy is to remove the openers as quickly as possible. Gambhir has looked dangerous, but he will run himself out, no worries there. Nothing much to say about the rest of the batting, maybe Karthik will try to impress the crowd. CSK should bat first, it should be a belter of a pitch, score an assload of runs. Bowlers should make sure that Viru and Warner get back to the pavillion within the powerplay and the Double D's will succumb to the pressure automatically.

DareDevils - The Double D's are in woeful form and they know it. They haven't settled into a stable team combination and the absence of Dirty Dirk is proving crucial. Play to win, has to be the plan here. Probably bringing back Dilshan into the xi will help. He has been kept away for too long one feels. McDonald was given the treatment so we hope capt.GG learnt not to bowl his happy meals, in the last few overs like Raina did earlier captaining CSK. Viru has to get going and not towards the dug-out. DK just cannot bat at no.4 that is just insane! Probably go in with Warner, Dilshan, Collingwood and Vettori will make sense and bringing in Bhatia will provide some depth. Also if Viru can bowl a couple will surely help the cause as the wicket in Chennai is sure to assist the slower bowlers. Last time around Haydos unleashed the Goose. That shouldn't happen again, getting wickets early exposes the likes of Badri, Morkel and that should help DD buckle them and strangle them. It would be a good toss to lose. But, an important game to win.

Quick Updates : India Vs South Africa ODI#1

After the much hyped test series , it was time for both the teams to battle it out in the ODIs. Indians were missing the service of Gauti, UV and Zaks and Graeme Smith was on the SAF injury list .The Sawai Mansingh stadium was tightly packed with the buzzing crowd. Kallis won the toss and chose to field. Sachin was run out cheaply . But after that Indians kept the scoreboard ticking steadily. Everyone chipped in with 30s and 40s but none of them could convert it to a big score. Raina was the top scorer for India with an almost run -a-ball 56 .
The partnership between Nehra and Pk produced 18 very important runs. It was fun to see them running between the wickets, typical tailender's running . India ended up scoring 298. Gibbs and Bosman opened the innings for SAF and got off to a good start scoring 58 until PK cleaned up Bosman. From then, the Proteas kept losing wickets continuously and they were 180/7 after 35 overs.

Kallis and Parnell put in a useful partnership of 45 runs . Kallis was sent to the pavilion after Sree bowled him. Well, I am sure 95% of the people would have thought that the match was over and would 've switched off their TV sets or changed channels . But .. hold on.. Match had just started . 74 was required of 7 overs when Steyn took strike. Well, I guess the Indian bowlers became a touch over confident and Parnell and Steyn took advantage of this and sent the ball sailing to all parts of the stadium. Both of them were showing No Mercy .
Indian players heart rate was rising exponentially with each ball. The equation of runs to balls kept narrowing after each over and finally it was down to 10 runs of 1 over. Well, considering the way the duo were smashing , it looked an easy SAF victory . Pk was given the ball for the last over . He held his nerves and cleaned up Steyn.
Commendable effort by Steyn , scoring 35(19). It was down to 3 reqd of 1 ball and Parnell's desperate attempt to at least tie the match went in vain as he was run out in the final ball for an awesome 49(47). Parnell's innings was just mindblowing . This reminded me of the match when India played against Oz and Pk and Bhajji almost won the match for us .
Plays of the day 1) Raina's well compiled 56(63)
2) Jacques ' Mr. Dependable ' Kallis's 89(97) which ensured that the runs kept ticking even when the wickets were tumbling at the other end .
3)Terrific bowling by Jaddu . He varied his pace , line and length nicely giving only 29 of his 10 overs and bagged 2 wickets too.
3) Last but not the least , the 'almost' match winning partnership from Parnell and Steyn.
Turning Point - Some may say Sachin's effort to save the boundary or Jadeja's bowling but according to me, it was Abhishek Nayar's effort to save the boundary was the turning point. He saved 2 runs, which cost South Africa pretty heavily in the end .
Indian's almost pulled out a defeat from the jaws of victory. But that's typical Indian Ishtyle.

Double take – Power Plays

The limited overs version of cricket has witnessed so many changes in the past decade. One that has left a huge impact in the way the game is played is the introduction of “Power Plays”. Moving from the first 15 overs of mandatory field restriction, ODI’s now have split the field restrictions into 3 periods of play.

• PP1- the mandatory 1-10 overs – 2 fielders allowed outside 30 yards circle and 2 fielders in catching positions (15 yards).
• Bowling PP – taken by the fielding team – 5 overs – 3 fielders allowed outside outside 30 yards circle.
• Batting PP – taken by the batting team – 5 overs – 3 fielders allowed outside outside 30 yards circle.

The introduction of this system was brought to add to the excitement of ODI’s which had become dull with teams playing aggressive only in the first 15 overs and last 10 overs. Dry period of play, meant not much aggression or risk was taken by the batting team in the 20th to 40th overs of play. So, these powerplays were introduced, where in the fielding team would dictate when the field would come up and the batsmen would have to go for the kill. This system dint work for long and thus, one PP was given to the fielding team captain and one to the batting team captain. They can decide to have 5 overs of PP at any point in the game (of course not at the same time). If both captains fail to take the powerplays before the 40th over. Then 41-45 will the bowling PP and 46-50 will be the batting PP by default. Most captains have struggled with the decision of inviting the PP. Almost every fielding team captain prefers to opt for the bowling PP as soon as the mandatory PP (1-10) ends i.e. 11th-15th over with their fast bowlers fresh and going strong. The batting PP however has raised many opposite views on when it needs to be taken to make the most of it.

Mock’s point
I have always wondered why most of the teams take their batting power-play after the 40th over. After seeing through the mid overs slowly, they suddenly take the PP in the 40+ overs. This leads to a series of wickets and in the end, the batting power-play proves fatal. I don't see any point of taking the power-play during the 43/44th over. Isn't it the time to go after the bowlers, irrespective of whether the power-play is on or not. For me the right time to take the power-play is during the 30-35 period when the batsmen are pretty set and this might give them the momentum while entering the slog overs. Again, when a batsman gets out during this power-play, the next batsman has some time for him to settle down and get an eye in. How many times have we seen wickets tumbling during the batting power-play and still the teams don’t seem to learn from it. So buck up teams, have a look at this post and “USE YOUR BRAINS” :)


Steam’s Counter
True to what Mock feels, the momentum is required going into the final overs and irrespective to the field and powerplay the batsmen have to slog towards the end. I guess most captains want to only make it easier for the hitters by having just 2 men in the deep rather than 5 patrolling the boundaries. This means the hitters have lesser pressure if at all they manage to clear the in-field. Also considering the batting team has lost 4/5 wkts in 25 overs of play. Taking the batting PP early is suicide, as the pressure to accelerate is on and the chance once gone will not return. It only makes sense to delay the powerplay and take measured risks. For instance the Indo-Pak game in the champions trophy match in 2009 when Dravid & Raina were really in control of the chase, India fumbled in taking the batting PP early. Raina fell in that phase of play and no one after him was able to keep the score ticking and wickets continued to fall. Dravid seemed helpless in the end and India lost the game as a result. To me the term “PowerPlay” only make sense if the bowling and batting PP’s are taken as a part of strategy rather than routine. Assessing your situation to achieve the best possible outcome regardless when it is customary to take it.