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.

Is this the stroke of luck Sri Lanka needed? For the first time in five years, India will be without the two lynchpins of their middle-order – skipper MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, one serving a ban and the other ruled out due to a recurrence of his finger injury. Moreover, Lanka have fond memories of the venue for the fourth and crucial ODI. Thirteen years ago, it was here at Eden Gardens, Kolkata that a rampaging Lankans knocked India out of the World Cup in an embarrassing fashion. So despite being 2-1 down, they still have enough going for them. It’s now up to the visitors to exploit the situation to the hilt.

Let’s not be unfair to India though. Considering that they won at Cuttack in an extremely handsome fashion, the home side will start as favourites even in the absence of Dhoni and Yuvraj. In Virender Sehwag, they have a positive stand-in skipper and a batsman whose credentials do not need to be discussed. It will help that he has been in great form. Additionally, Sachin Tendulkar too has played with a lot of comfort. His knock at Cuttack should given the side further assurance that they can afford a somewhat brittle middle-order. While Sehwag and Tendulkar have been among the runs, the same cannot be said around Gautam Gambhir. And so India would be hoping that the southpaw has a big one reserved for Kolkata.

Coming back to the middle-order, this game will be a great opportunity for the youngsters to stand up and show what stuff they are made of. Suresh Raina will get an opportunity to bat up the order, and it’s about time he starts converting his 30s and 40s into big scores. Ditto with Virat Kohli. In his short stint at the international level, it has been observed that Kohli loses focus after getting a good start and looking well set for a big score. Here’s a chance for him to set the record straight. Among the others, Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja would be expected to chip in if needed.

As has been the case throughout the series, the Indian bowling and fielding, in particular, will be under the scanner. The pacemen continued to struggle in the third ODI and it was only due to the efforts of the spinners that India could make a superb comeback. While it is good news that the Eden Gardens pitch will offer assistance to the slow bowlers in the latter half of the innings, the fast bowlers will have to put up a better show else the efficiency of the spinners will automatically be reduced.

One should also be careful of not putting excessive pressure on Jadeja, the bowler. While it is true that he bowled excellently in the last game, it is also a fact that he’s more of a part-time spinner and won’t be as successful consistently. That responsibility is still to be shouldered by Harbhajan Singh. If Jadeja manages to get through his quota of overs without being overtly expensive and picks up the odd wicket, he will have done his bit. And if India succeeds in wrapping up the series at Kolkata, the team too would have done its job well.

As if the run glutton at Rajkot wasn’t enough, the Nagpur ODI is likely to be another nightmare for the bowlers from both sides. The only silver lining for the poor bowlers is that one can’t expect another 400 plus score from both sides, but, in all probability, it will be another high-scoring encounter nonetheless. India managed to escape by the scruff of their neck at Rajkot despite posting a mammoth 414 on the board. Still, a win is a win and they would thus go in as slight favourites to clinch the Nagpur ODI. The Lankans on the other hand would be keen to put the disappointment of the ‘so near yet so far’ loss behind them and start afresh in the day-night game.

Sadly for the visitors, they will be handicapped by the loss of ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who missed the opening one-dayer, and pacer Dilhara Fernando. Both of them have been ruled out of the series which means Sri Lanka will be forced field some rookies in this crucial match. That said they would do well to exhibit some faith in the other spinner in the side, Ajantha Mendis. Agreed, he has been a shadow of the sensation that spun world cricket upside down last year, but the team managed needs to show faith in him and back his ability to deliver. Furthermore, the Lankans would be praying for the eccentric Lasith Malinga to be fit for the game as his return would add some much-needed teeth to the visitors’ bowling line-up even on benign Indian pitches.

Rajkot may have been a batsman’s paradise. Still, one has to accept that there was some sensational display from both sides. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar set the tone for the ODI series with a blistering opening salvo, while MS Dhoni delivered the backup punch with such alacrity that the Lankan bowlers were made to look absolutely prosaic.

However, if one thought India had done enough to seal the deal, it was a not to be. What Indians did well, Sri Lanka did equally well, even better at the start to be honest. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga matched Sehwag and Tendulkar stroke for stroke and went on to outdo them. The skipper Kumar Sangakkara then joined in the fun and cleared the fence with such unhurried ease that the target looked well within reach. Bizarre as it may sound, one has got to say that the Lankans should have achieved the target rather easily considering the position they were in at the end of 35 overs. But, the pressure got to them and eventually they let India get out of jail.

While the batters will head into Nagpur high on confidence, the same cannot be said about the bowlers. The pacers from both sides were slammed for plenty and the spinners only did slightly better, Harbhajan Singh being the sole exception. He was the best bowler on display from either side. Additionally, the fielding performance of both sides is also a major worry, with catches being dropped left, right and centre. And with another run feast on the cards, the Nagpur tussle might well be decided on the basis of which side bowls and fields better.

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.

If cricket matches were played only on paper, India would win hands down at Nagpur. Australia will be depleted by the absence of Brett Lee and James Hopes, taken out of the equation by injuries, whereas India would be bolstered with Yuvraj Singh, in all probability, returning to action. However, that’s not how things work out on the cricket field. So even though India would consider themselves lucky to be taking on a depleted Aussie XI, they will still have to go out and perform to level the series at Nagpur. Moreover, the Indians have to pull their socks up in each and every department.

There are likely to be some definite changes in the home team. If Yuvraj comes in, it will be a straightforward decision to be bench one of the young guns – Virat Kohli or Ravindra Jadeja. There is a faint possibility that both might sit out if India decide to go in with the extra spinner in Amit Mishra, with Yuvraj as the part-time option. Apart from that, there shouldn’t be any modifications in the batting department. However, that doesn’t mean all’s well. The top and middle order needs to get its act together. They can be excused for the Vadodara failure considering it was the first game of the series, but cannot afford to repeat their mistakes at Nagpur.

Virender Sehwag looked ominous during his brief stay on Sunday and would be itching for a big score. Among the others, Sachin Tendulkar would be keen to find the middle of the bat after an unusually below-par performance whereas MS Dhoni must be keen to lead from the front. Opener Gautam Gambhir was the only one who lent some solidity to the Indian chase at Vadodara and the rest, including the ‘sometimes flattering, sometimes deceiving’ Suresh Raina, can learn a lesson from his batsmanship. Gambhir, himself, has to continue with his good work.

Bowling wise as well, Dhoni and co have plenty to ponder upon. After the pasting he took at Vadodara, Praveen Kumar’s confidence might well have taken a beating, his fighting knock with the willow notwithstanding. And so, it is a risk the Indians would not like to take in a crucial game. Munaf Patel will most likely be his replacement, but whether he will prove to be a suitable alternative remains to be seen. Ishant Sharma has found some rhythm no doubt, but needs to maintain the consistency over a period of time for him to be blindly trusted by the team management. Finally, the time has come for Harbhajan Singh to sit down with the team think-tank and discuss what role he has to play in the one-day side. Of late, he has been neither been totally attacking nor completely defensive in his tactics, but has been stuck somewhere in between, barring a few games, in which he managed to make an impression. That leaves India with only comeback man Ashish Nehra as the form bowler, a far from ideal situation.

For Australia, expect Ben Hilfenhaus and Shaun Marsh to get an opportunity in place of Lee and Hopes. That apart, they don’t have too many worries. All their batsmen got runs and bowlers crucial wickets. If anything, some improvement is needed in the death overs bowling as well as in the field. Also, they stumbled during the batting powerplay, but the same applies to India as well.

As it often happens in this part of the world, day-night games are affected heavily by dew. Hence, the team batting first will have to post a huge score if they want to beat the wet conditions in the field. One only hopes that the final result is decided on the basis on which team played better cricket and not external factors.

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.

Starting Sunday, India and Australia will battle it out in what is expected to be yet another engrossing series. While the Tests between the two sides have produced more entertaining cricket in recent times, Australia would not be complaining too much as they have an excellent one-day record in India. They beat India 4-2 during the last one-day series between the two sides, which was held in 2007.

Australia had also clinched the one-day contests in 2003 (tri-series involving New Zealand) and 2001 (bilateral). More importantly, they go into the clash with a huge amount of confidence and good form behind their back. Post losing the prestigious Ashes, they trounced England 6-1 in the one-dayers that followed and defended their Champions Trophy crown without much trouble.

In the process, they also regained the numero uno ranking, which they had lost briefly India, on the other hand, have had a rather torrid run. They suffered a major setback, losing to Pakistan in their Champions Trophy game and were thus knocked out of the major tournament. Earlier in the year, they failed in the T20 World Cup as well, losing in the first round itself. In addition to that, none of the IPL teams, which feature players who will take part in this tournament, made it past the Super 8 stage in the Champions League T20. Of course there were series wins in West Indies and more recently Sri Lanka. However, they were rather hollow and only helped in hiding the deficiencies that existed in the Indian team.

That said, they are dangerous side at home, no matter who the opposition. And Australia are fully well aware of that. The fact that three big names of Indian cricket – Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and paceman Zaheer Khan – have returned from injury will be a major boost to the team. But it would be unfair to expect them to fire straightaway as some amount of rustiness is bound to creep in.
A lot will thus depend on the other big three of the team – Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and the skipper MS Dhoni himself. They will have to fire for India to do well in this tough contest as the bowling remains India’s weakness. As mentioned before, the comeback of Zaheer is a plus and while Ashish Nehra has been good on his return to the international scene, his consistency can only be measured over a longer period of time. Also, Harbhajan Singh needs to do some serious soul-searching to be return to his ‘Turbanator’ ways.

Following some eye-grabbing domestic performances Munaf Patel gets another opportunity to resurrect his international, while Sudeep Tyagi has a deserved chance to show that he is ready for big-time cricket. And with Yusuf Pathan being shown the door, Ravindra Jadeja can stake his claim to being the batting all-rounder in the side. India cannot afford to take too long to find the right combination though.

Conversely, Australia are looking strong in both the departments. After years of struggle, Shane Watson has finally emerged as the all-rounder which the selectors always searched for in him. He has been in sensational form with the bat, and considering his love affair with India courtesy IPL 1, Indian bowlers are likely to get some headaches. And after being out of the game for a reasonable amount of time, Brett Lee has only come back stronger and fitter. With Ricky Ponting, Mitchell Johnson in form and youngsters like Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine and Peter Siddle having already proved their worth, Australia undoubtedly look the better of the two sides and India will have to exploit their potential to the hilt to put it beyond the number one team in the world.

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.