Cricket Tournaments

There has been a lot of talk over whether the 50-over version is on its way out ever since Cricket Australia’s two-innings one-day format has made it to the news. And while it’s too early to ring the bell for the current arrangement of the one-day game, there can be no denying the fact that 50-over cricket is indeed in need of a massive overhaul.

When the World Cup is held in the Indian subcontinent next year, without doubt crowds will flock to watch the matches. But that doesn’t mean the problems with the format can be ignored. And, anyways the major issue was never with countries like India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, where cricket continues to be a passion. But with the amount of T20 cricket being played, it was only a matter of time before countries began with experiment with the present one-day version.

It is not that the ICC hasn’t made changes to format. In fact there have been a number of them over the last decade — the introduction of the hawk eye, power plays, free hit, et al. However the moot problem, i.e. the predictability aspect hasn’t seen much of an improvement.

Thanks to the field restrictions, the scores are getting bigger and bigger, but are being chased down as easily as they are set. The boundary ropes are getting shorter, which means the bowlers are beginning to feel they have little or no role to play other than running in and landing the ball on a spot. Agreed this is exactly the same case with the T20 version. And herein lays the issue.

If the spectators can watch non-stop slam bang cricket in 40 overs (three hours) why would they spend seven hours (100 overs for the same); more so when the game gets so dull in the middle overs of both the innings, when the teams are looking to consolidate.

What the new two-innings format proposes is to do away with the lacunae. And hence it must be given a serious thought. With both teams playing two innings’ of 20 overs each there will be lesser scope for mediocrity, which the present 50-over contests are inadvertently promoting.

The game flourished in the ‘90s, because it matched people’s idea of entertainment. However times have changed. In this Twitter-Facebook era, who wants to see batsmen aimlessly pushing and prodding for 20 overs, before launching an assault? It is an ‘instant coffee’ generation and the cricket played must be in sync with the audiences’ mindset.

Among the advantages of the two-innings version will be that you can watch your favourite team or player bat or bowl a second time and cheer for them if they failed the first time round. Nowadays fans have a developed a tendency to switch off their television sets once the preferred team or player has batted.

The newly-proposed format can possibly discourage that from happening. Further, teams will also get a better chance to make a comeback, unlike now when most of the matches are dominated by one side. In the tri-series against Zimbabwe, all the matches were won by the side batting second, the last thing a one-day tournament needs.

The flip side to all this is that the future of the 2015 World Cup is in danger. Well, that was always going to be. As mentioned earlier, the 2011 World Cup was never going to be affected, considering it was being played in the Asian cricket-playing nations. But that doesn’t mean the ICC can relax. They have to look beyond, and too the future. And if that means altering the World Cup arrangement as well, so be it.

India’s uncomplicated win against Bangladesh wasn’t surprising in any sense. However, it must have been a relief nonetheless following the recent disappointments in Zimbabwe and also the fact that Bangladesh have troubled the Indians quite a lot in recent times.

Even on Wednesday, the Indians began as if they were the underdogs and it was some senseless batting from the Bangladesh batsmen as well as a better bowling performance towards the second half of the innings that allowed India to get back into the game. Once that happened, there were literally unstoppable. Then too, there was some scope for improvement as India closed out the game.

The bowling performance at the start was especially appalling. Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar sprayed the ball all over the place and had no answer to the early onslaught by the Bangladesh openers. In a sense it was understandable since the former was returning from a break, while the latter hadn’t had the best time in Zimbabwe.

Still, the Indians cannot afford to be lax against the stronger Asian opponents. And so, it was good to see the duo coming back well in the second spell and regaining some respectability in their bowling. It is of utmost importance for them to carry on the good work into Saturday’s crucial encounter against Pakistan.

The Indians put up a much better show with the willow in hand, though one has to say they could have avoided a couple of hiccups. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma fell in quick succession, which put India in a spot of bother.

Chasing a mediocre total they would have preferred to canter home. And while they did manage to get through with a bonus point eventually, it was only because the Bangladesh batsmen had kicked themselves in the foot earlier in the day.

Shifting to the positives, there were a decent number of them for India to cheer about. As aforementioned, the bowlers came back very well after the initial outburst by the Bangladeshis.

Even here, there was a surprise package. It was batting wizard Virender Sehwag, returning from injury, who spun a web around the Bangladesh lower order. Tossing the ball and inviting the batsmen to go for the strokes, Sehwag was successful in defeating four batsmen in the air as he ended with career-best figures. While the return wasn’t surprising as he also boasts of a five-for in Test cricket, it was a proper test for Sehwag’s shoulder, and he seemed to pass fit.

When the Indians went into bat, there weren’t under too much pressure. But it still need one decent partnership to see them through. And while Sehwag couldn’t match his heroics with the ball, Delhi mate Gautam Gambhir ensured he left his stamp on the game. After the initially edginess, self-confessedly the T20 effect, Gambhir settled down nicely to lead India’s victory charge.

Despite the meagre total, it wasn’t the easiest pitch of bat on as the game progressed and, as witnessed in the opening game, the lights weren’t the best either. Under the circumstances, the southpaw’s knock was a highly valuable one. He paced his innings according to the needs of the situation, and was thus instrumental in India getting home.

In the form of skipper MS Dhoni, Gambhir once again found a steady influence. And even after he was dismissed, the Indian captain kept steady head and earned India the crucial bonus point.

This victory notwithstanding, things will be on even keel when India take on Pakistan over the weekend after what seems like ages, following the political conflict in the latter nation. For now though, they would be pleased just to have overcome Bangladesh, who were influential in embarrassingly knocking India out of the 2007 World Cup.

It was an all too familiar tale for West Indies at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, as they had the opposition (South Africa) in trouble, let them get away, and eventually collapsed like only they can to hand the game away on a platter. Their batting in particular was atrocious.

Despite a brave recovery from the Proteas, the Windies bowlers had done reasonably well to restrict the batting side to just over 350. What they needed though was for the batting to fire well enough for them to get a lead in the 150-run region.

Instead, the inexperienced line-up collapsed for a paltry score and, in effect, that is where the game was decided. In spite of a reasonable batting effort in the second innings, the home team was left with a little too much to do in the end.

That the game finished in three and a half days in spite of the amount of time lost due to rain told a tale in itself. None of the Windies batsmen could play a proper Test knock even though three of them crossed the 20s. The disheartening aspect yet again was the ungainly attitude of the players.

There was hardly any effort made to try and battle it out in the middle, expect for a brief while when Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Narsingh Deonarine were at the crease. If only they could take some lessons from the way South Africa fought back, the contest could have been a lot closer, even if the result wasn’t.

The top half of the Proteas’ batting completely fell apart. Yet, A B de Villiers, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher and even Dale Steyn showed great resolve in helping their side to fight their way back into the game. And once that was done, the South African bowlers proved to be deadly.

Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel demonstrated what raw pace coupled with a degree of accuracy can do to a mediocre batting outfit. They destroyed the Windies batting line-up with such consummate ease, as if they were playing against some minnows. While West Indies did not bat smartly, it was not South Africa’s fault and so the bowlers deserve to walk away with the plaudits.

And even as the home side fought back in the second essay courtesy gutsy efforts from skipper Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, Steyn and Morkel again did enough to destroy their hopes of a comeback. And this time, they were aided by the other bowlers too.

While South Africa did splendidly with the ball, they would like to top order to do better than what they did in the first innings at Port of Spain. Of course, they would have been pleased to see skipper Graeme Smith getting amongst the runs, still there is enough scope for improvement as none of their batsmen went on to get a ton despite a number of them getting close.

The Proteas should aim to shut out the Windies in the next Test with a dominating batting performance against a relatively weak attack.

If one has to pick up a bright spot in yet another disastrous performance from West Indies, it would have to be the effort of Sulieman Benn. After his controversial send off in one of the one-dayers, it was pleasing to see the left-arm spinner set things right with the ball.

Using his guile and height, Benn was successful in troubling the African batsmen and, in the process, was rewarded with as many as eight wickets. Not only that, as if to make a stronger point, he held up the opposition’s charge with his batting heroics in the second innings.

Now, if only Benn can continue to display the same attitude in the future matches, West Indies can be aided to some extent in their endeavourer to put together a better unit. Also impressive was debutant Shane Shillingford, who picked up four wickets and had South Africa in early trouble.

Shillingford has shown some promise, and it is crucial for the decision-makers to stick with him for a fair while and see if he is capable to delivering in the long run. Too many Windies talents have been recruited and discarded in recent times, just for the sake of chopping and changing, which has done little good for the team.

This Test has been another ‘what if only…’ story for West Indies. But, the good part is that Gayle has promised to give his young guns another go. This time, however, they need to put up a better effort, and the seniors like Chanderpaul too have to put their hands up and deliver to help West Indies put up a fight. About winning, that’s really doesn’t come into the equation as of now.

It was a tour than began in disaster, and ended it joy. More importantly though it was a journey that gave us an insight into what the future holds for India. And, while it is too early to predict anything, one thing is for sure; the lessons learnt from the defeats will teach the young guns a lot more than what a straightforward win would have done.

When the Indians embarked on this African sojourn, it was seen as a foregone conclusion that they alongwith Sri Lanka would progress to the final, despite arriving here with second-string teams. However, while the Lankans kept the promise and captured the cup, albeit with some hiccups along the way, the Indians fell by the wayside.

A number of factors were responsible for India’s failure. Most importantly, the Indians possessed the weakest bowling line-up of all the three teams. The likes of Ashok Dinda and Umesh Yadav are fit only for the T20 version as of now. This was evident in the disparity of their performances in the two formats.

While they were complete non-performers in the 50-over version, the same duo made life difficult for Zimbabweans in the 20-over format. This clearly signifies that players should not be blooded into one-day cricket on the basis of their IPL performances. No doubt, the duo possesses raw talent, but it needs to be nurtured and, for that, they need to be given time.

The same was the case with Murali Vijay, who was at ease in the ‘IPL’ version, but struggled in the longer format even against average bowling attacks. And hence, the selection of Saurabh Tiwary for Asia Cup sticks out as a sore thumb.

One hopes he proves me wrong, but on recent evidence, it is a clear case of playing with fire. Wouldn’t it have been better to pick a Robin Uthappa, who had a great IPL but, more importantly, has international exposure as well to his advantage?

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is probably an exception to the rule. He looked at ease in sole ODI he played on the tour, and even in the T20s.

Ashwin’s ability to toss up the ball and fox the batsman has already made him a man to watch out for. And, even in the limited opportunities he got, he proved his worth. Further, his batting effort on one-day debut stands testimony to his ability and character.

This lanky Tamil Nadu player is one who could do India proud in the future. The decision-makers need to utilize his talent to the hilt with Harbhajan Singh now on the wane.

The tour was also a great learning curve for Suresh Raina, who was appointed captain for the series. And while he struggled for most part, it was good to see him sign off on a high. Raina had already improved by leaps and bounds in the few weeks that he led the side.

Whereas, in the beginning he was holding himself back and hoping others hit the spotlight, towards the end he had realized that, whatever the situation, the captain must lead from the front. In this context, his knock in the final T20 at Harare was a landmark. It was a match in which the left-hander went out and expressed himself.

The results were bound to follow. This series should stand Raina in good stead both as a batsman and a leader, if he gets the opportunity to captain India again.

The two major positives for India from the series were the heartening performances of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. While the Mumbai lad silenced a lot of critics with back-to-back hundreds, the ex-India U19 skipper ensured that he cemented his place in the Indian middle-order even further.

Undoubtedly, Sharma and Kohli are the future of India’s batting, and it is essential for them to stay fit and in form with the World Cup coming around, more so since Yuvraj Singh’s temporarily lost his silken touch. Yusuf Pathan also shone towards the end, and hence one can only say that his axing was a decision taken in haste.

The Asia Cup is India’s next target, and while the experienced hands will be back for the four-nation tourney, India would do well to make a note of the lessons from the Zimbabwean safari.

Till a few months back, Shahid Afridi was nowhere in the reckoning for Pakistan’s captaincy. However, a tumultuous tour of Australia changed it all.

With the PCB getting into punishment mode, a number of senior players, Afridi included, were reprimanded; some harshly and others let off lightly. And while some of the bans were upturned by an arbitrator following appeals filed against them, the leaked video fiasco, which revealed another murky side of Pakistan cricket, with back-biting and camp-culture being prominent, has only made things worse.

And so as Afridi leads his side into the Asia Cup, it is of utmost importance that, first and foremost, he wins the confidence of all the players in the side.

There has never been, and will never be, a lack of talent in a Pakistan cricket team. But while past teams have managed to put behind their individual differences and play as a team on the field, recent evidence has suggested that the current bunch of players are heading in the other direction.

The disaster in Australia was a culmination of all things wrong with Pakistan cricket. Since then, a number of changes have been affected in the hope that things can change for the better. The Asia Cup will determine whether they, indeed, will.

The newly-married Shoaib Malik, who has taken most of the brickbats in recent times for his divisive tactics both as captain and player, has been included in the squad of the four-nation series in Sri Lanka, as has been the other Shoaib (Akhtar), whose made news more for his misbehaviour and freak injuries.

Afridi couldn’t have asked for a bigger challenge so early in his leadership career. Not only will be have to prove himself as a tactician, but he will even have to deal with the likes of Malik and Akhtar in such a subtle manner that they are made to feel wanted in the team, so that they can put their best foot forward for Pakistan’s sake.

This will be far from easy task. But then that’s come with responsibility of leading a side like Pakistan.

Apart from uniting the team, Afridi’s needs to lead from the front himself. And this too will be an equally challenging task since accountability and Afridi have never met each other in the swashbuckler’s 15-year international career.

This is one of the prime reasons why he was not a certainty in the side at one point of time. In fact even these days he is more in the team as a highly-effective and sometimes match-winning leg-spinner.

While his bowling has turned into his greater strength, it is of utmost importance for Afridi to bat with a lot more responsibility now that he is the skipper. One is not saying that he should change his natural gave but if a sense of restraint can aid Pakistan in these times, then it is definitely worth it.

In short, the time has come for Afridi to take on the role of senior statesman now that there are enough mavericks to replace him in the likes of Umar Akmal and Mohammad Aamer.

All the other Asian sides are viewing the tournament beginning on Tuesday as the first step towards finalizing the squad for next year’s World Cup. It’s the same case with Pakistan as well, but they have an additional headache of putting together a ‘team’ first.

Afridi may seem the most unlikely man to reverse the damage done to Pakistan cricket. But responsibility makes people act in peculiar ways. Who knows Afridi, the captain, might be the Man Friday Pakistan have been so desperately seeking. At least the fans would be hoping so.

Home team Sri Lanka’s selection for the Asia Cup, under new chairman of selectors Aravinda de Silva, saw a couple of expected decisions being taken, as also a few surprising ones. Sanath Jayasuriya’s exclusion falls in the former category while Ajantha Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal’s non-selection should be part of the latter sort.

Starting with Jayasuriya, his former teammate de Silva aptly pointed out that the veteran left-hander has had a torrid time with the bat over the last 12 months. As such, his axing was a matter of when and not if. Jayasuriya is 40 now and though the World Cup is less than a year away, the chances of him making the cut are the slimmest.

This is because, he hasn’t been contributing with the ball either. The last selection committee had made it clear that Jayasuriya was now being considered as a bowler, who could bat. And since, he has from fulfilled the criteria, the decision to drop him was a step in the right direction by de Silva and co.

The selectors have also made a progressive move by giving Farveez Maharoof another chance for the Asia Cup. Okay, he hasn’t been in the best of form lately. But, the fact is that he is the best bowling all-rounder the Lankans have in their kitty at the moment. Also, he has just fully recovered from injuries; so his past performances must be ignored, and his case must be viewed in a fresh perspective.

Further, as rightly pointed out by de Silva, Angelo Mathews is a very good batting all-rounder. And so, it was equally important for the Lankans to have someone like Maharoof in the team, with Jayasuriya not doing the job. As for the great man, it would be fair to say, he should gracefully retire.

This is not to state that Jayasuriya cannot be in contention for the World Cup team. But, even if he is selected, the chances of him making a decent impression aren’t very strong, considering his poor run of scores, which has lasted for well over a year. This clearly indicates that it is not due to lack of form, but the age factor catching up with him.

One of the biggest surprises thrown up by the new selection panel was the decision to leave out Ajantha Mendis. Interestingly, de Silva refused to term his non-inclusion as ‘dropped’, and instead stated he was left out for ‘tactical reasons’. The rationale seems rather bizarre, but it was good to see de Silva revealing that it was the result of a discussion between the captain and the team management.

When such strange choices are made, it is of utmost importance to consult the skipper and the senior players, else it can very well result into a revolt, as seem on numerous occasions in the past. For Lankan cricket’s sake, one only hopes that the secret formula works, otherwise they will have to face a lot of brickbats. On the contrary, if the risk pays off one must salute de Silva and his men.

Meanwhile, the decision to call back left-arm spinner Rangana Herath must be seen as a brave one. Herath has always performed exceedingly well in the limited opportunities that he has been presented with, and so it was only fair that Mendis’ place in the squad went to him.

Apart from his experience, he will also lend some variety to the bowling attack, which features the legendary Muttiah Muralitharan and the ever-improving Suraj Randiv.

The Lankan selectors also taught their Indian counterparts a lesson in choosing a team. While the Indians have handed ODI spots to Saurabh Tiwary and Ashok Dinda on a platter, Sri Lanka have not included Dinesh Chandimal, who recently scored a match-winning hundred against India, as well as Jeevan Mendis, who also impressed in Zimbabwe.

Putting things into perspective, the selection committee has asked them to hone their skills against an Australian A side, letting the senior and more deserving members of the team keep their place.

Deciding on a cricket team is a far from easy task. And, while de Silva and co. have taken a couple of controversial decisions, it won’t be wrong to say that, at least, they are thinking in the right direction. And, being so, the results should come sooner or later.

Zimbabwe may have gone down tamely to Sri Lanka in the tri-series final. But, that should not, for a moment, dishearten either the team or its supporters. When the series began, no one had given Zimbabwe a chance of making it to the finals. The fact that they made it, and that too at the back of three emphatic wins in four matches – two against India and one against Sri Lanka – proves that theirs has been the real victory, the story of the series.

For India and Sri Lanka, these games were supposed to be practice matches, which was reflected in the teams the chose. But, for Zimbabwe, this was an opportunity to face-off against big boys after a long time, albeit second-string teams. And so, nothing can be taken away from them for the effort the put into their matches, and making the series an unexpectedly interesting one. And so, world cricket should slowly but surely start taking Zimbabwe seriously once again.

The reversal in the final notwithstanding, Zimbabwe had plenty of gains, clearly the most, among the three teams on display. First and foremost, it was their confidence level that needs to be appreciated. In all the games that they won, they outclassed their much-superior opponents in a thoroughly professional manner. Undoubtedly, this was one of the primary factors why there were able to make a huge impression in the series.

Moving on to individual performances, there were a number of memorable ones from Zimbabwe’s side. The one that instantly comes to mind is that of ‘Man of the Series’ Brendan Taylor. Leaving the finals apart, he made a match-winning contribution in most of the other games, and was aptly chosen as the player of the tournament.

Batting at the top of the order, Taylor was at his irrepressible best, getting the team off to great starts in the company of Hamilton Masakadza. More significantly, he has the ability to stay at the crease till the very end, which played such a major role in Zimbabwe’s flourishing fortunes. With all the strokes in the book and a proper aptitude, Taylor seems set for a long innings in international cricket, if Zimbabwe’s political situation allows him to do so.

Amongst the others, as mentioned earlier, Masakadza provided excellent support to Taylor, and ensured the run-rate was always at acceptable proportions. Tatenda Taibu also proved his worth yet again, chipping in with crucial knocks throughout. His effort in the final may have been in vain, but it kept Zimbabwe in high spirits after they got off to a disastrous start. The tiny Taibu is experienced way beyond his age, and should now remain a vital cog in this outfit for a number of years.

Apart from the experienced guys, there were a couple of surprise packages too. Craig Ervine’s match-winning knock on debut was a veteran-like effort. If he can carry on from where he has started, Zimbabwe cricket will be served well. The skipper Elton Chigumbura also chipped in and wasn’t the worst in his first series as captain either.

Looking at the bowling, there were a couple of plusses in that department too. While the medium-pacers were surprisingly efficient against India, the spin of Greg Lamb and Ray Price shockingly troubled them even more. It helped that India went in to their games with a negative mindset; still the bowlers need to be given equal credit. It needed a Tillakarante Dilshan special to bring them down to earth.

At the start of this tri-series, Zimbabwe were down in the dumps. But, thanks to the confidence gained from the last couple of weeks, things are already looking better for the home team. With West Indies’ unrelenting slide, world cricket is desperate for a competitive Zimbabwe team.

West Indies have been beaten 0-5 by South Africa in the 5 match ODI series at home. They were also beaten 0-2 in 2 T-20 internationals earlier. So where is the team going wrong? After the IPL 2010, West Indies cricket has faced much tougher times.
It was expected that West Indies would come in the Top 4 of the World T-20 following good performances in the IPL by the captain Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard.

However they disappointed in the World T-20, following defeats to Australia and Sri Lanka in the Super 8s round. The pressure on Gayle in particular was enormous and with a demoralized team that he had, West Indies were of ‘limited edition’ when they were ready to play South Africa in the T-20 internationals.

Matters became worse after defeats in both the matches. However West Indies didn’t seem to be interested in winning and getting things back on track as they lost the first match of the series itself by a huge margin. A bad start meant that South Africa had won half the battle. Although the hosts did put up a fight courtesy Darren Sammy’s 24-ball 58, West Indies lost the second match also by 17 runs. The usually cheerful Chris Gayle also looked helpless with the bat and as captain on the field.

He hasn’t been able to devise a winning formula for the team alongside former England bowling coach Ottis Gibson. Gayle tried to play at his aggressive best, but only got starts to then get out by playing some silly and immature shots.

As captain, Gayle was at his tactical best as South Africa was bowled out for 224 in the third ODI. However, South Africa won the battle of the mind as West Indies batted terribly to have been bowled out for 167. A 0-3 deficit drew harsh criticism from Gayle, coach Gibson and experts such as Tony Cozier who believed that the team gave up easily.

The worst statement being of the honest Gayle, ‘Losing has become a habit’. Obviously then, how will the team win when the captain doesn’t have faith in the playing XI and can’t motivate his team? As a result, going into the fourth game with West Indies having nothing to lose, West Indies batsmen batted like free birds to score a good 303 in 50 overs, batting first. However, it was a last-ball defeat for the hosts as an in-form Hashim Amla made life much more difficult for them with another hundred.

During the match, the division between the West Indies players was evident when Sulieman Benn, the reliable left-arm spinner in an embarrassing moment was sent off the field by Chris Gayle for not obeying his instructions. This also made the West Indies cricket board (WICB) chairman Julian Hunte say that there will be more embarrassment for West Indies cricket to face at least for the next three years.

South Africa seemed to enjoying their victories and the increasing criticism that the hosts were finishing in their own country and by their own media. The pressure only grew stronger for the West Indies to win at least one game as consolation for a poor series. And it looked like it was going to happen when West Indies were in a winning position with 2 overs to go in the South African innings in the 5th ODI, when they were chasing 253 runs to win in 50 overs. But again, the West Indies in excitement lost the plot as Roelof van der Merwe and L Tsotsobe hit the winning runs with 2 balls to spare.

Though in hindsight, West Indies lost many close games which they should have won, this didn’t make Gayle happy. Losing all matches doesn’t make any captain happy with his team. And rightly so, instead of appreciating his team’s fighting efforts, he just said that ‘We don’t know how to finish them off’. So it is evident that Gayle knows the problem but then why can’t the team find a solution to solve it.

Graeme Smith, his counterpart and South Africa’s skipper would agree his team gave it their 100% to win the series after a dismal World T-20. But he would beg to differ with the fact that it was West Indies who lost it rather than South Africa who won it.
West Indies are minnows not just due to the fact that the team doesn’t trust itself to win, but also because of relying on individual performances.

One day, it is Bravo who does well and the others follow him by playing a supporting role. Another day, it will be Gayle who will come up with a cracker and the others keep watching and just do what is told to them. I think the solution for West Indies’ revival would be making all the players believe in giving their best and not rely on the stars to perform on a given day.

And for that, the players’ skills need to be taken care off. Perhaps, the opening of a high-performance centre in Trinidad has come at the right time for West Indies cricket to get back on track.