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.

When India embarked on the Zimbabwean sojourn with a new look side, it was clear that their aim was to test out the bench strength in the team. And, while the opening game against Zimbabwe turned out to be a disaster, Rohit Sharma’s well-compiled century did stand out as a glimmer of hope amidst the ruins for the Indian side.

And, after tasting defeat against the minnows, his match-winning ton against Sri Lanka was equally impressive. Though there were moments of impetuousness, Rohit did well to ride his luck and come up trumps. The fact that his preceding ton was in a losing cause made this innings all the more special.

There was never been any doubt with regards to his talent. However, he has often been unfair to his promise over the last couple of years. True, he has a right to feel that he has been let down by the selectors on occasions.

Despite this, one has to believe that he has been given enough opportunities in the past to prove his mettle. One constant criticism of him has been his inability of cross the 20s and 30s. In this context, the consecutive tons in the tournament should make him a lot more confident of crossing the ‘cameo’ barrier in the future.

Rohit can take inspiration from the youngster who was at the other end during their match-winning partnership – Virat Kohli. Till not too long ago, Kohli was also consistently falling after getting starts and looking well-set.

However, once he registered his maiden ODI ton last year, there has been no looking back for him. Kohli has been consistently notching up significant scores. His latest effort, in partnership with Rohit, was proof of his ever-improving maturity.

Even when Rohit was getting impetuous, Kohli remained calm and gave India a Dravid-like assurance, if one can take the liberty to say so.

To put things into perspective, Rohit’s centuries have come against two relatively weak attacks. And so, he needs to remain consistent against the serious teams as well in the times to come. Still the amount of time he has spent on the crease should only do him plenty of good.

But, amidst the accolades Rohit shouldn’t forget that there is one department in which he needs to make a remarkable improvement, and nothing less. That is the fitness aspect of his game.

He has put on too many extra kilos in the recent months and looks worse than a retired cricketer. Rohit needs to understand that the days of Arjuna Ranatunga and David Boom are long over. With so much one-day and T20 cricket being played these days, a team cannot afford a liability in the form of an overweight cricketer.

After all, fielding has become an equally important aspect of the game now, on par with batting and bowling. By no means is one expecting Rohit to turn into a Suresh Raina, however he cannot expect to remain a certainty in the team unless he works on the one aspect often underestimated in Indian cricket.

India have often had to pay the price for their lethargic fielding, so it is somewhat surprising that they still aren’t working on it diligently.

If Rohit is able to overcome these couple of shortcomings that exist in his game and remains mentally strong, there is little to stop his from achieving greater heights in international cricket.

A superlative 75 not out by Paul Collingwood, amidst the fall of regular wickets, and some extremely tight bowling and fielding later on saw Delhi Daredevils overcome a strong Royal Challengers Bangalore outfit at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Thanks to Collingwood’s effort, Delhi managed to post a handy 184 for 5. And, on a typical Kotla pitch, that was getting slower by the over, Bangalore never quite got going.

They fell well behind the run rate even before the first strategic break was taken. And, when they tried to open up, they only kept losing wickets to eventually succumb to a 37-run loss.

The first half of the game was essentially the tale of Collingwood vs the Bangalore bowlers, with the former triumphing hands on. He arrived at the crease after Virender Sehwag (35) had been dismissed after a brisk start and Gautam Gambhir was run out for only one soon after.

David Warner was still going great guns and seemed like he would be the man to pull Delhi out of trouble. But, he perished on 33, well-caught in the deep by Virat Kohli off Anil Kumble. At 83 for 3 in the 10th over, it was anybody’s game. Collingwood went on to lose, Dinesh Karthik to a brilliant diving catch by Cameron White. But, that only inspired him onto better things.

Collingwood lofted the ball with effortless ease and on occasions when he threw his bodyweight behind the ball, it delivered massive results. For a man renowned for being a street-smart cricketer, this was an extraordinary show of power hitting. He clearly demonstrated that there was more to his game than just the cheekiness.

The result was he ended up hitting as many as seven sixes. After Kumble bowled three dot balls to him in one over, he stepped out and responded with a mighty swing that went the distance. Other bowlers were treated with even more disdain as sixes flowed from Collingwood’s bat. Length balls from Vinay Kumar, Kallis and Mithun disappeared, perhaps also a result of Bangalore underestimating his firepower. Thanks to Collingwood, Delhi went on to register what turned out to be a match-winning total.

To compete, Bangalore needed a brisk start. In their endeavour, they opened with White, but it did not pay off. He perished for four while trying to fulfil his task. The Delhi bowlers then stifled the batsmen completely. Even those of the pedigree of Kallis and Kevin Pietersen struggled to find the gaps.

At one stage, nine runs came in three overs. Bangalore had no option but to break free after that dry spell and the result wasn’t what they were looking for. Pietersen was castled by Pradeep Sangwan for a hard-earned 16. And, from thereon began a procession that never ended. Amit Mishra and Sangwan both helped themselves to 3 wickets each, even as the rest were happy to keep things under control with some accurate bowling.

Kallis did register yet another half-century while Ross Taylor shone briefly, slamming three sixes in his 10-ball stay of 22. Both the contributions were rather futile though in the context of the game. Bangalore did have their moments of ascendancy earlier in the game, when Delhi lost four big wickets. However, they couldn’t get the man who eventually made the difference.

The Indian team may have retained their number two ranking in ODIs despite the loss in the tri-series finals, but their insipid showing does not augur well for the World Cup, which is just over a year away. The worrying aspect is that this is not a one-off loss. India have been faltering in the finals way too often in recent years and in most cases, it is the strong batting line-up that has let them down. The Dhaka final had a similar tale to tell. This is one aspect India will need to work on very hard if they want to be seen as strong contenders for the 2011 World Cup.

Cricket may be a team game, but it is important that each and every individual takes up certain responsibility and tries to fulfil it to the hilt, especially in such crunch games. Starting with the openers, Virender Sehwag can play only one way and should continue doing so, but his partner Gautam Gambhir could look at adopting a slightly cautious in case Sehwag is doing well. To be fair to Gambhir, he has been doing an excellent job and was plain unlucky to be dismissed in the finals, but then things could have been different had he decided to take his time and not attempted strokes from the word go.

Virat Kohli had a great series, but unfortunately failed on the D-day. While one can’t be too harsh on him as he is still relatively inexperienced, his shot selection was rather disappointing for a man in prime form. Kohli needs to realize that such purple patches don’t come in your career often and hence you must make the best use of it. The plus point in Kohli’s favour is that he has proved to be a quick learner – the transformation from scoring 30s and 40s to hundreds has been rather swift. He now just needs to carry on the good work.

Like Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni’s shot selection was also questionable. But then that’s the flip side of being aggressive. When it doesn’t work, it ends up looking rather ugly. India would dearly hope the experienced duo can get their act together in future finals. That is because if they fire, there is very little chance of India losing, such will be the brutality of their attack. In short, the Indian batters need to work out a proper mechanism when it comes to competing in finals.

To be brutally honest, the situation is equally bad in the bowling department, if not worse. And a lot of it has to be attributed to the non-stop cricket the Indians have been playing (for some weird reason, mostly against Sri Lanka) as well as the power play restrictions. Zaheer Khan has clearly lost the edge he held over batsmen over six months back and his partner Ashish Nehra’s fitness concerns have comeback to haunt him again. To lose Nehra in a final was a big setback for India and vindicates the selectors’ stance to keep him away from the Test squad. Harbhajan Singh continues to bamboozle us all and this has been haunting India for a dangerously long time. Time for some soul searching, boys.

Virat Kohli continued his rich vein of form, registered the second ODI century of his career as India got the better of Bangladesh in an inconsequential encounter prior to the tri-series finals.

Chasing a decent target of 248, Indian batters eased to the target with Virat Kohli’s contribution being supported by cameos all around. Earlier, batting first, Bangladesh recovered from a precarious 95 for 5 to post a reasonable score of 247 for the loss of six wickets.

Shakib Al Hasan’s was the star of the show with the bat for the hosts, striking an impregnable 85. He was ably supported by Mahmudullah, who carried on his good form against the Indians and remained unbeaten on 64. Unfortunately for Bangladesh, the Indians proved to be too good for them once again and raced home to an easy win.

Kohli, who was deservedly named Man of the Match, batted in a commanding manner, proving that he has learnt very quickly from his past mistakes. His cuts, drives and pulls were equally impressive and the beleaguered bowlers had no answer to Kohli’s prowess.

He slammed Shafiul Islam for a number of boundaries with great authority and similar punishment was meted out to Naeem Islam as well. Kohli went on to complete a well-compiled hundred with a leg side whip off Shakib’s bowling and end the game.

The new India number three was lucky to be offered a couple of lives. Mohammad Ashraful dropped him off Syed Rasel’s bowling at deep midwicket. Kohli was then on 83. Very soon, wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim missed a stumping chance created by Shakib.

A couple of balls later Suresh Raina was reprieved as well, but it hardly could have had any impact on the game.

What could have helped Bangladesh was early wickets, but that was far from the case. Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir were offered plenty of width to play their favourite shots.

While Dinesh cut with ease, Gambhir flicked away a number of deliveries directed at his pads. The openers though would be disappointed for failing to capitalize on their starts. Karthik edged one to the keeper when on 34 and Gambhir’s wild swing led to his downfall while on 41. India lost Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni in pursuit of the chase, but Kohli and Raina saw India through without much difficulty in dewy conditions.

Despite the loss, Bangladesh can take heart from their batting performance, their recovery being nothing short of sensational. The fightback began courtesy a century partnership between Shakib and Mahmudullah. Shakib, who was given a life when in the 30s, went on to punish the Indian bowlers severely.

He was especially severe on the spinners, slamming Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra for sixes over midwicket. It needed Ashish Nehra’s skill, a slower ball, to see the back of Shakib. At the other end, Mahmudullah continued with his merry ways.

He was severe on all the bowlers, be it the seamers or spinners. Naeem contributed a whirlwind 22 towards the end as Bangladesh took 95 from the final 10 overs. But, it still wasn’t good enough to overpower the Indians.

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.

With the series level at 1-1, India and Sri Lanka will have plenty at stake as they lock horns at Cuttack. Whoever clinches the game will become favourites to win the series, as the other side will have to come out victorious in the final two games to end on top, a rather improbable proposition if you go by history. For one, Sri Lanka will go into the match believing they can upset the Indian applecart once again. This after their magnificent chases in both the games played so far. India may have won the Rajkot battle, but it was undoubtedly Lanka who won more hearts, coming tantalizingly close, chasing over 400.

While the Indian batting has been in awesome form, they still need to figure out a way to utilize the powerplays when Virender Sehwag falls early, like it happened in Nagpur. India clearly lost out on a few runs because of his dismissal, which made a huge difference in the end. And though Virat Kohli did a good job coming up the order, Sunil Gavaskar’s suggestion that MS Dhoni should come up at number three in such situations must be implemented. This is only in hindsight, but it’s a point to ponder upon that had Dhoni come in earlier India could have notched up a bigger total, which could have made a significant difference.

Sadly for the Indians, this strategy cannot be implemented in the next two games as the Indian captain has been banned for the team’s slow-over rate. It goes without saying that Dhoni’s services as batsman, keeper as well as skipper will be missed dearly. However, there is no point in losing sleep over it. The Indians must instead focus on how to get their act right at Cuttack. For a start, Dinesh Karthik is not a bad replacement for Dhoni as keeper batsman. He has been in such situations before and has more often than not done a commendable job. India would be hoping Karthik delivers in the next two games as well.

In Dhoni’s absence, Sehwag will take over the mantle of captaincy. India will be hoping that the additional pressure doesn’t affect his batsmanship. The one positive for India might be the inclusion of Yuvraj Singh, which should definitely shore up the batting order in Dhoni’s absence. However, they have bigger worries to sort out, none more than their bowling in the first half of their innings and their so oft mentioned atrocious fielding efforts. While Zaheer Khan’s lapses in the field weren’t entirely responsible for India’s loss at Nagpur, they were symptomatic of the team’s performance in the field, which has been ragged from the time Lanka arrived in India.

The visitors themselves have a few problems of their own. After Muttiah Muralitharan and Dilhara Fernando, their Man Friday Angelo Mathews will now miss the remainder of the series following the injury he picked up during his match-winning knock at Nagpur. Their middle-order too needs to bat with a lot more responsibility so that the efforts of the top three – Tharanga, Dilshan and Sangakkara – don’t go in vain. All in all, yet another closely fought contest in the offing.

There was little going against India in the fourth ODI at Mohali. They won the toss, got the better of the bowling conditions, restricted Australia to an easily achievable target and even put up an unexpected sparking performance in the field. Yet, they ended up on the losing side. It can only be put down to a complacent effort by their batsmen on a pitch where the ball was coming on to the bat very nicely till the very end. All India needed was a reasonable score from one of their top order batsmen and decent contributions from a couple of the others and they would have cantered home rather easily. Not only have the home side squandered a rare opportunity to go 3-1 up against Australia, they have also given the ‘wounded’ Aussies a new lease of life in the tournament. And we all know how dangerous they can get once they smell blood.

The entire Indian batting line-up needs to be held responsible for the defeat, may be with the exception of Virender Sehwag, who, it seems, has been given the license (or may be he has taken it himself) of going after every delivery. While it has been absolutely entertaining to watch him taking on the bowlers, how the Indians would wish he can carry on a bit longer. It’s not all that difficult for the man. Asking him to change his natural style would only backfire on India; if only he can be slightly judicious in his shot selection in the remainder of the series, Australia’s woes would be compounded to magnanimous proportions. As it is they are struggling to put together a fit XI. The Indians cannot get a better opportunity to put it across the Aussies, something they have failed to do in a long time at home against the world champions.

Sri Lanka recently sent out the message to the veteran Sanath Jayasuriya that his spot in the ODI team is not guaranteed anymore, unless he performs with some degree of consistency. It may be too early, but the same principle must also apply to Sachin Tendulkar. He hasn’t crossed 50 in any of the four ODIs and the poor decision he got at Mohali cannot be considered as an excuse. The Indian team management must ask itself and Sachin the tough put pertinent question – will he still be around when the 2011 World Cup comes. One is not querying Sachin’s commitment, but it has been often proved in recent times that his splitting the Gambhir-Sehwag combo has harmed the team’s chances.

Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja are still young, yet they need to learn sooner rather than later. What is disappointing is that they aren’t really making a concerted effort to dig themselves in when the team needs. Kohli played an expansive stroke before getting set, whereas Jadeja ran himself out needlessly. Suresh Raina has been on the international circuit for a couple of seasons now and he, more than the other youngsters, needs to put his hand up and lead the brigade of the young guns. When he made his comeback last year, he stroked some sparking centuries. Even though against minnows, the tons made one believe that he was ready to climb up the ladder. That though is yet to happen and, like Rohit Sharma, Raina too will face exclusion unless he performs soon.

A lot to improve upon for India as they head into the next game. The hosts would have reclaimed the top spot had they beat the Aussies at Mohali. But considering their disappointing performance, it is clear that they are not yet ready to take over the numero uno slot.

An insipid batting performance by India saw Australia defeat them by 24 runs in the day-night game at Mohali, and in the process levelling the series 2-2. Chasing a modest 251 set by the Aussies, India got off to a stupendous start thanks to Virender Sehwag and his flashing blade. However, once he fell for 30 from 19 balls, the Indians kept losing their wickets at regular intervals, some rather senselessly, and in the end fell way short. This was after a good bowling performance saw the Indians restrict Australia to 250 on a great batting surface.

India began their chase in whirlwind fashion, with Sehwag smashing the first ball of the innings from a struggling Mitchell Johnson through the off-side boundary. And he never looked back after that, cracking six more fours in his 19-ball cameo. But just when he was looking good, he failed to clear the in-field off a Doug Bollinger delivery and gave Australia an opening. With Gautam Gambhir out with a neck injury, youngster Virat Kohli was promoted to number three. Unfortunately for him and the team, he couldn’t make use of the great opportunity, nibbling at one way outside the off-stump and becoming Bollinger’s second victim.

At the other end, a steady Sachin Tendulkar was trying to resurrect the innings. Somewhere down the line though he seemed to have lost focus with the entire hullabaloo over him approaching the 17,000-run landmark. Sachin ended up playing across the line to off-spinner Nathan Hauritz and was adjudged lbw for 40, a dubious decision and one that cost India dearly. The home side could never recover from 94/3. Last match’s heroes MS Dhoni and Yuvraj also failed to do an encore. Yuvraj was caught short of his crease by a direct hit from Ricky Ponting, while Dhoni was somewhat unlucky to be caught down the leg side for 26. Bollinger, though, was not complaining. His third scalp meant India were all but out of the game.

Suresh Raina disappointed yet again and Ravindra Jadeja failed to make use of a good chance to impress the team management. Even though the lower order put up some fight in the form of breezy cameos from Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar, the irreparable damage had already been done.

The Indian batting performance was in stark contrast to their crafty bowling performance earlier in the day. After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, once again due to the dew factor, Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar kept things extremely tight. Nehra was soon rewarded with the scalp of Shaun Marsh, who was trapped lbw for 5. Shane Watson, in the company of skipper Ponting, steadied the innings. The Indian bowlers, however, ensured that the duo did not run away with the game. And so when Watson was caught behind off Harbhajan one short of his 50, the game was back on even keel.

For a change, India were sensational in the field, effecting four run-outs. Ponting (52) was sent back by a direct hit by Jadeja from the deep, whereas Nehra got rid of top scorer Cameron White (62), fielding one on his following through and throwing down the stumps at the bowler’s end, with the non-striker out of his crease.

Sadly for India, on a day when they pulled off the unexpected, they failed to do what was expected.