Cricket Tournaments

When India take on Sri Lanka in the tri-series game on Sunday, they would hope to push for a win and guarantee their place in the final. But things wouldn’t be all that easy in spite of their recent triumphs against Lanka. This is because Sri Lanka have been the best of the three teams in the tournament so far and their unbeaten record stands testimony to it. India, on the other hand, India have been horribly ragged, especially with the ball. Not that their batting performance has been especially great. In both the games they have been in deep trouble. If not for MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, they might well have ended up embarrassing themselves against Bangladesh after the loss to Sri Lanka.

Sadly, the toss has been a hugely influential factor in the series. And even the half-an-hour early start hasn’t it made much difference. In all the games, the team batting first has won and unless the trend changes, this tournament will end up being quite a farcical one. Having said that, Sri Lanka might try the experiment of bowling with the wet ball given a chance considering they are already through to the final. Ironically, it would also present India with their best chance of handing Lanka their first defeat of the tournament and securing their berth for the finals.

Whether they bat or bowl first, the fact remains that India’s bowling needs to show marked improvements. Zaheer Khan has been India’s bowling spearhead for a while now, but he certainly hasn’t been at his best since the start of the series against Lanka in India. Probably, he needs a break to recharge his batteries. It’s the opposite case with Ashish Nehra. Having made a strong comeback into the side and cementing has place as the second seamer, Nehra now has to prove his consistency. To be fair to the left-arm seamer, he hasn’t had the best of conditions to bowl. Still, a cricketer with his experience will be expected to do better. Harbhajan Singh’s inconsistency in recent times has been baffling, and a real cause for worry. One can’t predict what he will dish out on Sunday so better wait and watch.

Speaking of India’s batters, Kohli, Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh have been among the runs while Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina too have made useful contributions. One the one hand, India would want these men to continue firing and on the other hand will hope for the openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to explode in the manner we all know they can. That would solve a few problems for India.

Sri Lanka too would want their good batting form to continue. They would be boosted by the return of Tillakaratne Dilshan. Even in his absence, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera and Mahela Jayawardene came up with the goods (read centuries), which is a great sign for the side. Their bowling effort has been commendable as well with Chanaka Welegedara being especially potent while spinner Suraj Randiv is improving with every game.
With two well-matched sides, one can only hope and pray that the toss doesn’t end up hampering either team once again.

Come to think of it, it took all of 15 minutes for the Guwahati one-dayer to be decided. Whatever happened after that – the fightback by Praveen Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja and the brief period when Harbhajan Singh snaffled two quick wickets – proved totally irrelevant at the end of the day. And that was because, as skipper MS Dhoni candidly admitted, India had dug themselves out into such a big hole at the start that there was no way to come out of it.

Dhoni placed faith in his experienced batters, expecting them to see the team through the tough initial period after winning the toss. However, their technical deficiencies were embarrassingly exposed against classy new ball bowling. So much was expected of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, but both were undone by the guile of Mitchell Johnson, who once again proved that when there is enough in the pitch, he is among the most dangerous bowlers to face. Sachin was due for a failure after his marathon effort in the last game and while Yuvraj Singh can consider himself unlucky, the same cannot be said about Suresh Raina. He just seems to be waiting for the surprise short ball and in the process loses concentration. This is not the first time that the renowned batting line-up has failed under tricky conditions, so it definitely doesn’t augur well with the 2011 World Cup in sight.

On a positive note, it was nice to see the lower order putting up a brave effort once again. Jadeja showed that he had learnt his lessons well from the previous games, whereas Kumar’s performance with the bat will give India the choice of playing an extra bowler, if needed, in the near future. Harbhajan failed for a second consecutive time, but he has played a couple of gritty knocks in the series. That said, India need his services more as a bowling all-rounder and not vice-versa. India’s bowling effort at Guwahati wasn’t too bad. Munaf Patel started well and Harbhajan claimed a couple of confidence-gaining wickets on a spinning track. However, considering the upsetting batting failure, the bowlers could do little but retrieve some pride by delaying the win.

The Aussies, on the other hand, would consider themselves lucky to have lost the toss as it gave their bowlers the opportunity to exploit the early morning moisture. They were already on a high following the close win at Hyderabad so this gift from Dhoni was like an icing on the cake. And they received it gleefully. After Johnson had done the early damage, Doug Bollinger demonstrated why he is rated so highly by Ponting. The five key wickets Bollinger grabbed in the middle of the innings ensured that India’s hopes of a miraculous recovery were dashed and virtually sealed India’s faith in the series. The impressive aspect of his performance was that he did not attempt anything out of the blue, sticking instead to the basics of line and length.

At various stages in the series India had their moments, but failed to grab than. And so it has to be said that the better side won in the end.

Following the marvellous victory at Nagpur, India would like to believe that they have gained the upper hand in the series for the moment. Add to it Australia’s injury woes as well as the training debacle at Kotla – they had to skip proper practice due to wet pitches – and India are in with a realistically great chance of going 2-1 up in the series. That said, they need to exercise caution. India have often stumbled in the recent past due to complacency, the signs of which were there during the closing stages in Nagpur. Their lethargic approach meant the last Aussie pair managed to get some good batting practice. However, if the Indians do get their act right for the second time running, Australia could be in for a real tough time.

What the Australians need at the present moment is an uplifting effort from one of their seniors. A century from either among Ponting, Hussey or Watson can turn things around for them. One exceptional performance is often enough to ensure a side’s win in a one-dayer. More than their batting though, it is their bowling to which they need to give some serious thought. Now that Brett Lee is unavailable, Mitchell Johnson has to take over the responsibility of the senior bowling pro. True, he himself is not 100 per cent fit. However, considering the state of his team, he will be expected to rise above the pain and perform.

Ben Hilfenhaus found the going pretty tough at Nagpur, which means the other pacer in the squad Doug Bollinger might get a chance, so also may Moises Henriques, who could replace Adam Voges, in an effort to strengthen the all-round department. Peter Siddle and Nathan Hauritz have been Australia’s two best bowlers on display so far and their side would want them to continue in the same vein. If anything, Hauritz will be expected to be slightly more attacking.

Probably the only good news the Australian team has received in recent hours is that Tim Paine’s replacement Graham Manou will arrive in time for the Delhi match. That he also has some international experience is an additional plus. But expecting something extraordinary from him would be asking for too much, as he is sure to suffer from some amount of jetlag. Even so, the fact that he will available itself is good enough for Australia considering the crisis situation.

In sharp contrast, India are suddenly looking like a winning combination. With Gambhir, Dhoni and Raina among the runs, India managed to put up a rock-solid batting performance at Nagpur. Add to it, the ominous cameos played by Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag and the fact that Tendulkar has yet to reach double figures in the tournament. The opposition camp would be feeling rather jittery. One has to keep in mind though that it was just one game where everything clicked. The Aussies would undoubtedly come back hard at the Indians despite all their troubles.

The home side thus needs to carry on from where they finished off on Wednesday. The low, slow Kotla pitch will offer a tougher challenge and the batters need to be prepared to adapt to the conditions. Bowling wise as well the Indians must stick to their guns. Now that Ishant Sharma has rediscovered his rhythm, he should also realize what suits him best. Praveen Kumar has to just continue doing what he did so well at Nagpur, get the early breakthroughs as well as dry up the runs. The temporary spearhead of the bowling attack, Ashish Nehra, is going through one of his better patches and India would hope it lasts for a longer duration, since his presence makes the bowling line-up all the more potent. Regarding Harbhajan Singh, it remains to be seen how he is dealt with – both by the team management and the Aussie batsmen, who are getting increasing confident against him.

As mentioned in the very beginning, all the pointers suggest India have the upper hand. But while they do possess the better arsenal, the men in blue still have to go out and perform. How well India exploit this golden opportunity will in all certainty determine the fate of the game.

Though the margin of victory in the Vadodara ODI was a mere four runs, Australia were clearly the more dominant of the two sides, with India playing catch up for most part of the game. And the one major difference that cost India greatly was the lack of partnerships chasing a big total. While the experienced Aussie top and middle-order laid a solid foundation for their side, the Indian batting collapsed rather inexplicably on a decent batting surface.

If not for Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar, India would have ended up with a rather embarrassing total. Virender Sehwag looked in great nick, but as often said before he sometimes needs to be careful with his shot selection. His opening partner for the opening game, Sachin Tendulkar, had an off day and will have to strike form soon.

The pressure of captaincy seems to be getting to MS Dhoni. After yet another low score, he would be desperate to do well. Batting higher up the order and playing his natural game should be an option worth considering. Speaking of youngsters, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli have been playing some breezy cameos. However, in modern day cricket, you need to grow fast and 30s and 40s won’t be good enough for long. This applies more to Raina than Kohli, who is relatively new to the international arena.

The Indian batsmen, both young and old, can learn from the manner in which Australia constructed their innings. Despite losing Shane Watson early, Tim Paine and Ricky Ponting protected their wickets during the tough initial period, when the ball was doing things and accelerated once they got their eyes in. And even after they fell, Cameron White and Mike Hussey ensured the good work continued. White, in particular, must be credited for curbing his natural game until later in the innings. Hussey’s final flourish was fantabulous and took Australia to a total they would have been highly pleased with, even though they failed to touch 300.

The Aussies were better of the two outfits with the ball in hand as well. Only Ishant Sharma and Ashish Nehra saved the day for India. Praveen Kumar was lacklustre and Harbhajan Singh was less than half the bowler he was during the tri-series final in Sri Lanka. In stark contrast, Australia had most of their bowlers in form. Brett Lee provided the early breakthrough and also kept up the pressure on the batsmen.

Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson backed them up in the desired manner while Nathan Hauritz is getting more and more impressive with every game. It was just the one over from Watson and a few lapses in the field that had Australia huffing and puffing briefly. But then, were Australia briefly struggled, the Indians disappointment for an extended duration. Thus, it has to be said that the final outcome was a fair one.

Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar added a whirlwind 84 for the eighth wicket, but it wasn’t enough as India still fell short by four runs chasing Australia’s impressive 292/8 in the first ODI at Vadodara. If only the top and middle-order of India had put up some better resistance on a pitch that was not difficult to bat on, Praveen and Harbhajan’s effort would not have been in vain or, to be honest, it might not have been needed. Instead they floundered and ended up conceding the advantage to Australia.

Things started on a positive note when Virender Sehwag, in his peerless style, eased Brett Lee for consecutive boundaries from the first two balls of the innings. However, it was too brief to have any impact as the pacer had his revenge soon, having him caught behind for 13 of an away-going delivery. From there on, it was all downhill for India until the final flourish, with only Gautam Gambhir holding fort with a measured 68. Sachin Tendulkar, opening the innings, looked completely out of sync and air-drove a wide delivery from Shane Watson straight into the hands of Ponting at short-cover. Virat Kohli and skipper MS Dhoni contributed 30 and 34 respectively. However, they both fell when India needed them to carry on for much longer.

The turning point, though, ended up being the dismissal of the well-set Gambhir. The left-hander fell off the first ball of the batting Powerplay when Mitchell Johnson got one to swing enough to beat his defence and trap him in front of the stumps. After that, there was a procession of wickets, which was halted only by blitzkriegs from Praveen and Harbhajan. The duo gave India a realistic chance after they slammed 20 from the penultimate over of the innings bowled by Shane Watson, a number of them full tosses. Nine were needed from the final over, but unlike Watson the less experienced Peter Siddle kept his calm. He cleaned up Harbhajan one short of his 50 and ensured Australia took the crucial lead in the series.

Earlier in the day, steady contributions from a number of their batsmen and shoddy bowling and fielding from the opposition meant that Australia ended up posting a healthy total on board. Ashish Nehra did provide India the early breakthrough, sending back the in-from Watson lbw with one that beat him for pace and movement. But Australia recovered magnificently with all the next four batsmen producing half-centuries against an ineffective Indian attack, and Tim Paine consolidated and then attacked before Cameron White and Mike Hussey carried on the good work, the latter providing the final flourish. He and Johnson took 18 off the 49th over bowled by Praveen. This included an outrageous six by Hussey, which cleared the ground and had even the batsman raising his eyebrows in a ‘wow! how did I manage that’ moment.

Hussey fell for a magnificent 73 from 51, enough to earn him the man of the match. Ishant Sharma was the pick of the Indian bowlers, claiming 3/50 – two of them coming in the last over – while Nehra ended up with 2/58. The other two regular bowlers were highly disappointing though. Praveen went for 77 bowling his full quota and Harbhajan yet again failed to make an impact. Ravindra Jadeja was more impressive, sending back the well-set Ponting and even restricting the runs.

At the end of the day, however, Australia had enough firepower to overcome whatever resistance India put up and win the opening battle.

Now, Indians fans have something to smile and cheer about after India’s disastrous consecutive defeats in ICC T20 World Super 8. 26, June at Sabina Park in 50 overs ODI, India defeated Indies in most exciting and close match. Yuvraj with 131 innings coming off 102 balls outstandingly batted and became significant factor to India for anticipated victory. India batting line up after a long time supported each other well enough and they aggregated gigantic score of 339 runs off 6 wickets. 340 runs target was huge nevertheless as speculated Indies fired back with bat but that fire came late and they were not able to hold wickets. Consequently they all got out and succumbed to achieve the target by just 20 runs still 11 bowls spared.

Indian batting lineup has always been most powerful; each Indian batsman has on and off made bowlers sweat and frown over their own ability. On 26 June, at Jamaica again we saw Indian batsmen joshing and bashing Indies bowlers. Gautam Gambhir (13), Rohit Sharma (4) and Ravindra Jadeja (0) left the ground scoring inexpensively. Beside that Dinesh Karthik (67), Yuvraj Singh (131), MS Dhoni (41), not out Yusuf Pathan (40) and not out Harbhajan Singh (21) rampaged the pitch and not a single corner left where ball didn’t transgressed the boundary. Indian batsmen were unstoppable and Indies bowlers each trick seemed nothing but desperate plea. Yuvraj was everywhere in the scream of crowd and commentators, simply marvelous innings we saw coming from Yuvraj charismatic batting leading India to mammoth score of 339 runs off 6 wickets in 50 overs.

West Indies bowling was at its worst, each player economy reaching above 6 runs per over. Jerome Taylor, Lionel Baker and David Bernard took 1-1 wicket and Dwayne Bravo took 2 wickets. West Indies Bowlers gave batsmen ample space take shoots and every trick of in swing or off-spin was worthless in front of Yuvraj and Dinesh.

Indies got huge pressuring 340 runs target, yet it was difficult to achieve but it was never impossible for Indies. Indies got good start by Chris Gayle (37) and Runako Morton (42) and middle order played above average; Sarwan (45) and Chanderpaul (63) snatched the chance for Indies but the wickets kept falling not single batsmen after them sustained on pitch to lead Indies. Eventually when victory seemed near they all got out at 319 in 48th over by Indian bowlers.

Return of Nehra in team gave the boost to the Indian bowling. Indian bowlers fared well, RP Singh, Ishant and Harbhajan took 1-1 wickets; and Ashish Nehra and Yusuf Pathan took 3-3 wickets. Though bowlers were not able to confine Indies batsmen but still Nehra, Pathan and other bowlers didn’t let batmen sustain on pitch.

Match concluded with the close win of India and man of the match to Yuvraj Singh. Contrarily Yuvraj poked sting like a bee, as Gayle predicted for Indies.