Alright folks its time again to watch and talk some cricket(the best game ever).
Indians take on Aussies in the 3rd ODI later today and I wanted to talk about the impact of seniors on Indian team and the trash talk Aussie have given them.
India with their 3 cherished heroes is weaker or stronger?? My take is both, they gain experience and loose out on physical fitness and die-hard spirit to win the game. I believe the Indian team would do good to keep the seniors among the team and make them pass their experience to the youngsters, as far as playing 11 goes they should rotate and play just 2 of them 3 in every match, barring fitness issues with others. This way it will be easier for them on their physiques and better for team as they will gain experience and stability.
I would play Ganguly and Tendulkar in today's game and rest Dravid. Pick up Robin Uthappa or Gambhir to bat at #3, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, Irfan, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Shreesanth.
This way India has 5 specialist bowlers, which would be necessary as Australia have been capitalizing on 5th bowler. I don't like the way Harbhajan is bowling, trying to get the yorkers, what he needs is flight and loop, something that he used to do when he was new. If he gets back to doing that he can be a permanent fixture for this Indian team otherwise he is a liability.
Australia will come out all guns blazing and try to take India by the storm, intensity will be high from ball 1.
Let's watch an exciting match today.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Clash of the Titans from Sub-Continent - Twenty20 Finals
At the start of ICC Twenty20 world cup, people around the world did not know really how this event would turn out. Some were very confident, some were annoyed and looked down upon this shortened version of the game, others were nonchalant (what the heck, lets see what it is?) but come Saturday everyone in world over was looking at this event with India defeating Australia and setting up a final with arch rivals Pakistan. Now, people in South Africa and Australia are officially bitching about the format of game, England want the world to know they invented this format of the game, Srilanka accepts they need to get better at it, Canada and Netherlands probably want to play the game ... In any case everyone is talking about it.
Lets take a look at the teams playing tomorrow gutsy India and sensational Pakistan. They are going to drive half the world to watch tomorrows game and remember every moment of it for a long time to come. Yes, it is going to be one Heck of a game. I am gonna compare these two teams head to head and see if we can find a deciding difference in them.
Top Three - Gambhir, Sehwag and Uthappa vs Hafeez, Nazir and Malik : I think India has an advantage here. On his day Sehwag can take the opposition to cleaners, more importantly its been the consistent starts he has been giving India with Gambhir. Pakistan has chopped and changed their opening pair twice. They don't really know what their best combination is.
Middle Order: Yuvraj, Dhoni and Rohit vs Younis, Kamran and Misbah-ul not much of a difference here. They have similar skills but Indians have again been dependable compared to patchy Pakistan (Misbah being an exception).
Lower Order: Pathan and Joginder vs Shahid Afridi ... Boy! this is tricky, but I will go with Afridi here (he has had a great series with ball too, confidence is high).
Top Three - Gambhir, Sehwag and Uthappa vs Hafeez, Nazir and Malik : I think India has an advantage here. On his day Sehwag can take the opposition to cleaners, more importantly its been the consistent starts he has been giving India with Gambhir. Pakistan has chopped and changed their opening pair twice. They don't really know what their best combination is.
Middle Order: Yuvraj, Dhoni and Rohit vs Younis, Kamran and Misbah-ul not much of a difference here. They have similar skills but Indians have again been dependable compared to patchy Pakistan (Misbah being an exception).Lower Order: Pathan and Joginder vs Shahid Afridi ... Boy! this is tricky, but I will go with Afridi here (he has had a great series with ball too, confidence is high).
Bowling: RP Singh, Harbhajan and Shreesanth vs Asif, Suhail and Umar gul - very fine line of difference but India has an edge here with some kickass bowling against Australia.I think this game is going down to the wire and no matter who wins the biggest winner will be Twenty20 world cricket. Being and Indian though you know whom I am cheering for :)
Cricspeak winds up with fingers crossed .... Chak de India !!!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
How can India reach T20 finals going through big Aussies
This young Indian team has surprised and amused a lot of people at T20 worldcup, none more than South African captain, Greme Smith. Come a situation where you need to win all games to win the World-cup and India responds brillantly, raising their game by a margin to stun England and then South Africa. India now faces mighty Australia in the semi-finals and beating them wont be easy, then again, who's looking for easy wins ?? So here's how I believe India can defeat Australia.
FOCUS ON THEIR STRENGTHS: India should focus on their strength - batting. Win the toss bat first should be the order of the day. I have no doubt in my mind Australia will do the same thing. Batting first India should look to capitalize of the powerplay - first 5 overs. During this series when India have batted first they have had good starts averaging around 30 - 40 in first 5 overs. What India should do is stun Australia in this little 5 over period. Key to get this done is to prepare thier top 3 (Sehwag, Gambhir & Uthappa) just before the game to play shot of the length balls by moving down the leg side and spanking them over cover/point/long off/long on/square leg. Forget about keeping it down, have good hand eye coordination and hit it hard. India can get atleast 60-65 runs this way in first 5 overs. Loose a wicket or two never mind... they have a long batting line up. What this will do is take Australia by surprise, they don't like opposition dominating and when someone does they look quite ordinary.
Looking at Australia's bowlers Lee, Bracken, Watson, Johnson, Clark, Symonds. No spin here! Bracken is always going to be economical if you dont move around in the crease and confuse him. Symonds in my opinion should be taken to cleaners from the first ball he bowls. Stuart Clark can be a smart bowler but if you come down the wicket to him than slower balls would be easier to counter.
Bowling wise India must bowl with discpline, NO EXTRAS. Bowl with a plan and stick to it. Have a grip on their emotions as with batting team like Australia good deliveries are going to go for runs. Hayden and Gilchrist are not going to be easy to bowl at but here is how I would like to bowl to them.
Gilchrist: About a foot and a half short of driving length and just outside offstump (moving away if there is swing) . There is a good chance of him edging one to keeper or getting a leading edge trying to play it on the on side.
Hayden: Halfway down the pitch, slow loopy bouncers angling across him (anticipating he will walk down the pitch toward the bowler) or short of the length angling across to this off side. For leftarmer's they should look to bowl straight swinging in to Hayden (from outside offstump) cramp him for room. Any width and he will capitalize.
I think the bowler who can trouble both of them is RP Singh. Singh has improved leaps and bounds during this England tour, he is high on confidence having picked up 4 wickets against South Africa and has an ability to come back after bowling a bad ball. Shreesanth is a mixed-bag stuff but can bowl at lively pace and get it to swing both ways. He does bowl an unplayable delivery every now and then. Good young fast bowler for India. Harbhajan Singh is another bowler India will want to come good against Australia. Especially if new bowlers can't break the partnership of the two left handers, Harbhajan should bowl in early in the innings.
India will have to bowl Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma (if he plays) with caution. Aussies will target both these bowlers. 8 overs between them if go for less than 50 it should be job well done. Any wickets ofcourse would be huge bonus, Pathan can get some wickets as he is an intelligent bowler.
Fielding is going to be the deciding factor as well. India are really getting better at fielding, and thats what they showed the world when the out-fielded SA (according to Nasser Hussain :)). They need to keep doing the hard work and believe in themselves to match or better Australia at its fielding.
These are my view and thoughts how India can beat Australia tomorrow. Lets wait and watch !!
FOCUS ON THEIR STRENGTHS: India should focus on their strength - batting. Win the toss bat first should be the order of the day. I have no doubt in my mind Australia will do the same thing. Batting first India should look to capitalize of the powerplay - first 5 overs. During this series when India have batted first they have had good starts averaging around 30 - 40 in first 5 overs. What India should do is stun Australia in this little 5 over period. Key to get this done is to prepare thier top 3 (Sehwag, Gambhir & Uthappa) just before the game to play shot of the length balls by moving down the leg side and spanking them over cover/point/long off/long on/square leg. Forget about keeping it down, have good hand eye coordination and hit it hard. India can get atleast 60-65 runs this way in first 5 overs. Loose a wicket or two never mind... they have a long batting line up. What this will do is take Australia by surprise, they don't like opposition dominating and when someone does they look quite ordinary.
Looking at Australia's bowlers Lee, Bracken, Watson, Johnson, Clark, Symonds. No spin here! Bracken is always going to be economical if you dont move around in the crease and confuse him. Symonds in my opinion should be taken to cleaners from the first ball he bowls. Stuart Clark can be a smart bowler but if you come down the wicket to him than slower balls would be easier to counter.
Bowling wise India must bowl with discpline, NO EXTRAS. Bowl with a plan and stick to it. Have a grip on their emotions as with batting team like Australia good deliveries are going to go for runs. Hayden and Gilchrist are not going to be easy to bowl at but here is how I would like to bowl to them.
Gilchrist: About a foot and a half short of driving length and just outside offstump (moving away if there is swing) . There is a good chance of him edging one to keeper or getting a leading edge trying to play it on the on side.
Hayden: Halfway down the pitch, slow loopy bouncers angling across him (anticipating he will walk down the pitch toward the bowler) or short of the length angling across to this off side. For leftarmer's they should look to bowl straight swinging in to Hayden (from outside offstump) cramp him for room. Any width and he will capitalize.
I think the bowler who can trouble both of them is RP Singh. Singh has improved leaps and bounds during this England tour, he is high on confidence having picked up 4 wickets against South Africa and has an ability to come back after bowling a bad ball. Shreesanth is a mixed-bag stuff but can bowl at lively pace and get it to swing both ways. He does bowl an unplayable delivery every now and then. Good young fast bowler for India. Harbhajan Singh is another bowler India will want to come good against Australia. Especially if new bowlers can't break the partnership of the two left handers, Harbhajan should bowl in early in the innings.
India will have to bowl Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma (if he plays) with caution. Aussies will target both these bowlers. 8 overs between them if go for less than 50 it should be job well done. Any wickets ofcourse would be huge bonus, Pathan can get some wickets as he is an intelligent bowler.
Fielding is going to be the deciding factor as well. India are really getting better at fielding, and thats what they showed the world when the out-fielded SA (according to Nasser Hussain :)). They need to keep doing the hard work and believe in themselves to match or better Australia at its fielding.
These are my view and thoughts how India can beat Australia tomorrow. Lets wait and watch !!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Rahul Dravid steps down as Indian captain
Most of us would have heard by now that Rahul Dravid has stepped down as Indian captain with immediate effect. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhMJe_VW8ao) Is this good or bad ? Personally I am happy with the decision. I have my own reasons which readers may not agree with but I am gonna justify them as much as possible.Dravid is a phenomenal batsman, an excellent observer and learner of the game, he has a very good head on his shoulders and can think out of the box at times. Having said all this one would say what more do you want in a captain? Well the answer is quite simple personality. Some people are made to lead and others learn how to do so. Unfortunately, Dravid didn't fit in any of those slots.
A leader need not be an ace at all departments of the game but should have the intellect to come up with strategies depending on situations at hand. Knowledge can take you only so far, the rest of the distance one has to cover by taking calculated risks. A captain should be willing to make tough decisions, back his instincts and be prepared to face music if those instincts go awry.
One of my favorite captains has been Steven Waugh. He had a perfect personality to be a leader, didn't have a batting average of 40+ in ODIs nor was highest run getter in Tests (he did improve on consistency after he became Aussie captain). He had the guts to take risks, to back
his belief in a players ability. He would throw the ball to his bowler, someone like Brett Lee, and say "go ahead and show them you have the speed, don't worry about how many runs you give away, coz I got McGrath and Warne to do containing job, I want you to break oppositions confidence, limbs, teeth, whatever". Now that I love in a captain. Do you think Dravid would ever do that ? In fact under him India lost one of their greatest finds of this decade, Irfan Pathan. To me, India discovered an amazing allrounder in Pathan in early 2001, on tour to Pakistan where India won their first away series in over 30 years. However, Dravid and to a large extent Greg Chappel demolished the confidence in this young allrounder for India.I was never fond of Dravid's on field presence. He never attempted to put any pressure on the opposition nor demanded 100+% from his team. He expected people to step up and do their job to the best of their abilities and let the results follow. Well, I'd say, that's Text-Book stuff, doesn't really work in the real world. As a leader your goal always should be to win the match under any condition, for this you have to grab the bull by the horn and take the battle to the opposition, not sit around and wait for opposition to make mistakes.
A classic justification for what I say was given but Dravid during the 3rd test at Oval of recently concluded India-England test series. Having got England on the mat India should have enforced follow-on and taken the series 2-0, rather Dravid didn't want to take any chance and go home with 1-0 win. This is good for the record books but not good for a team who wants to get into a winning habit. You tell them win some and tell them to draw some, no no no no .... I am not impressed Mr. Dravid.
Who is the successor ??
Well having debated the not so good aspects of Dravid's captaincy, who would be the best choice for India to succeed him. The names doing rounds in News these days are Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Ganguly in that order.
I am frankly not impressed by this, my choice of India's new captain is Yuvraj Singh, but here is
what works against him. With India persisting with Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly and Laxman in their test team for now, Yuvraj Singh is not able to find a deserving spot in the team. So, fall back is going to be Sachin Tendulkar/ MS Dhoni. Under the circumstances I think the captaincy should go to Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni should be made the vice. One-day captaincy should undoubtedly go to Yuvraj Singh and again MS Dhoni be made the vice.Yuvraj and Dhoni have the enthusiasm, aggression, ability and hunger to take India to World #1 spot as ODI team. Sachin's experience and Dhoni's fresh ideas could pave way for stable Indian test team.
Again these are my thought and I would love to hear yours .... so feel free to express your self here at Cricspeak.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Indians chased down Eng 316 in style
Indians yesterday chased down a steep target of 316, which England set them for 6th ODI game of the current NatWest series, to level the equation at 3 a piece. Thanks largely to the experience and abilities of its 2 stars Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly who kick-started an excellent run chase by building a strong foundation of 150 runs in 22 overs (6.8 runs/ov). Never did the duo look flustered or rushed by the situation, giving due respect to 'good' deliveries and punishing the loose ones.Ganguly's wicket came at a very bad time for India, as Sachin was struggling with cramps
at the other end. He should have walked off the field and Ganguly should have continued the good work out there, unfortunately for India, Sachin threw away his wicket soon after Ganguly perished. This brought in 2 new batsmen at the crease, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh, both took their time to get going. Just when Yuvraj seemed to have got a hang of the chase he fell to a soft dismissal offering a straight return catch to Mascarenhas. In came the captain of India, Rahul Dravid, who has been in sublime touch throughout this ODI series, but England captain out thought his counterpart and brought in Owais Shah to bowl a few teasers. Dravid obliged with his prize wicket and Gambhir at the other end had to re-group again with next man in Dhoni. Shah and Collingwood got through some tight overs during this re-grouping phase and that bumped up the asking rate for India to over 8 runs/over.
at the other end. He should have walked off the field and Ganguly should have continued the good work out there, unfortunately for India, Sachin threw away his wicket soon after Ganguly perished. This brought in 2 new batsmen at the crease, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh, both took their time to get going. Just when Yuvraj seemed to have got a hang of the chase he fell to a soft dismissal offering a straight return catch to Mascarenhas. In came the captain of India, Rahul Dravid, who has been in sublime touch throughout this ODI series, but England captain out thought his counterpart and brought in Owais Shah to bowl a few teasers. Dravid obliged with his prize wicket and Gambhir at the other end had to re-group again with next man in Dhoni. Shah and Collingwood got through some tight overs during this re-grouping phase and that bumped up the asking rate for India to over 8 runs/over. Gambhir was looking good in the middle playing sensibly but as he has done so many times in his career now threw away his wicket at a crucial time. With the score at 5/234 from 40.2 overs, last recognized Indian batsman walked into the game, Robin Uthappa. Playing the first game in the series he was keen on making a mark on the game and securing the spot in this ODI squad. He did just that and in fine style! It is not easy to overshadow your batting partner when you are batting with someone like Dhoni, but Uthappa was aware of the field and his strengths and had clear plan in his mind how to break England in the field. He targetted deep fine-leg and fine 3rd man boundries and peppered them at will, using the bowlers pace at his will. Taking a lesson from Robin, Dhoni tried to attempt a lofted sweep to fullish delivery from Broad only to see his off stump rattled. Funny dismissal and something India could have very much avoided. His dismissal threw open the gates for English bowlers who sniffed a chance to bowl out the Indian tail.
Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan helped their cause by running themselves out. But the star of the show at the other end was Robin Uthappa, who surprising to see was unruffeled by the loss of wickets at the other end and always looked like getting India home. Needing 23 runs of last 2 overs and loosing 2 partners he still managed to get India home. It speaks volumes about the talent and temperament of this youngster. He is definitely the future for India!!
Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan helped their cause by running themselves out. But the star of the show at the other end was Robin Uthappa, who surprising to see was unruffeled by the loss of wickets at the other end and always looked like getting India home. Needing 23 runs of last 2 overs and loosing 2 partners he still managed to get India home. It speaks volumes about the talent and temperament of this youngster. He is definitely the future for India!!
A strong middle-order batsman who can hang in there and invent his shots according to the need of the game would be a priceless addition to this Indian batting lineup. He reminds me of Chamara Silva, an amazing discovery by SriLanka.
Having squared the series at 3-3 India will have the momentum coming into the final clash on Saturday. Often we have seen India choking in the finals lets hope this time round they will pull it off with a win...
Monday, August 27, 2007
Playing 5 Bowlers in ODIs
One Day International's have changed the face of modern International cricket by making it so competitive and full of action. Batsman making big-shots during the powerplays and slog overs. Bowlers with an economy under 5 are considered 'brilliant' and if they can pick up about 2 wickets each game, could even be called 'match winners'. Realistically speaking this combination is extremely rare to find these days. No matter how intelligent a bowler one is in 'Test' matches, he is not given any respect during the ODIs, mainly because the batsmen are under so much pressure to score runs.
Under fire from batsmen, right from the first ball of the game, bowlers have very little margin for error or experimentation. It is very likely that one of your front line bowlers will go for quick runs or has a bad day. When this happens a captain would love to have a back-up option of a 5th genuine bowler in the side so that at least 40 overs are bowled by specialist bowlers. This scenario is so much better than having 4 specialist bowler and one of them failing to click, leaving the captain almost 15 overs of part time bowling. Opposition tend to target these overs to get at least 6-7 runs per over from these.
Playing a 5th bowler can turn into a bad decision when your side is trying to chase a huge total though. This means that you go into the game with only 5 specialist batsman and a wicket-keeper. When you are chasing a big total you need to have depth in batting line-up so that the fire power keeps pumping even when the top-order crumbles. However, when playing 5 speciality bowlers in the team, a captain expects not to chase big totals. The reason 5 bowlers are playing is to not let the opposition get away with more than a run-a-ball, and also pick-up regular wickets (best way to put a check on scoring rate).
So having seen both sides of the coin the question still remains: should a team play 5 speciality bowlers in the team? My vote is a firm NO. Clearly, ODIs format of the game is not made for bowlers. With 5th specialist bowler you tend to expect 10 overs to go for 45 odd as apposed to a part timer who may go for 60-65 runs in those many overs.
I think having a good fielding side can save at least 10-15 runs in a One day game. So my policy would be to go in with 4 speciality bowlers who can keep a good check on scoring and have the ability to pick up wickets (think the batsman out) and 2 batsman roll their arm over with 5 overs each. Ideally 5 overs of medium pace and 5 overs of spin. Play 6 batsman and 1 wicket-keeper and one of the batsman should be a quality hitter (attacking player who loves to play his shots and use the mind at same time). Put this hitter at #3 and let him have some fun during the powerplays. This way a team has more odds of chasing or setting competitive totals as opposed to playing 5 specialist bowlers.
Downside, as I pointed out earlier is if one of your 4 bowlers has a bad day, then you tend to give away more overs to part-timers. This I feel is a risk worth taking and at times bowlers can have bad first spells but may comeback with an older ball and do a good containing job. I can live with this, hopefully some of the captains out there agree with me.
Hope you enjoyed reading my views today. Stay tuned for more interesting posts.
Under fire from batsmen, right from the first ball of the game, bowlers have very little margin for error or experimentation. It is very likely that one of your front line bowlers will go for quick runs or has a bad day. When this happens a captain would love to have a back-up option of a 5th genuine bowler in the side so that at least 40 overs are bowled by specialist bowlers. This scenario is so much better than having 4 specialist bowler and one of them failing to click, leaving the captain almost 15 overs of part time bowling. Opposition tend to target these overs to get at least 6-7 runs per over from these.
Playing a 5th bowler can turn into a bad decision when your side is trying to chase a huge total though. This means that you go into the game with only 5 specialist batsman and a wicket-keeper. When you are chasing a big total you need to have depth in batting line-up so that the fire power keeps pumping even when the top-order crumbles. However, when playing 5 speciality bowlers in the team, a captain expects not to chase big totals. The reason 5 bowlers are playing is to not let the opposition get away with more than a run-a-ball, and also pick-up regular wickets (best way to put a check on scoring rate).
So having seen both sides of the coin the question still remains: should a team play 5 speciality bowlers in the team? My vote is a firm NO. Clearly, ODIs format of the game is not made for bowlers. With 5th specialist bowler you tend to expect 10 overs to go for 45 odd as apposed to a part timer who may go for 60-65 runs in those many overs.
I think having a good fielding side can save at least 10-15 runs in a One day game. So my policy would be to go in with 4 speciality bowlers who can keep a good check on scoring and have the ability to pick up wickets (think the batsman out) and 2 batsman roll their arm over with 5 overs each. Ideally 5 overs of medium pace and 5 overs of spin. Play 6 batsman and 1 wicket-keeper and one of the batsman should be a quality hitter (attacking player who loves to play his shots and use the mind at same time). Put this hitter at #3 and let him have some fun during the powerplays. This way a team has more odds of chasing or setting competitive totals as opposed to playing 5 specialist bowlers.
Downside, as I pointed out earlier is if one of your 4 bowlers has a bad day, then you tend to give away more overs to part-timers. This I feel is a risk worth taking and at times bowlers can have bad first spells but may comeback with an older ball and do a good containing job. I can live with this, hopefully some of the captains out there agree with me.
Hope you enjoyed reading my views today. Stay tuned for more interesting posts.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Battle of Supremacy - Mighty India takes on unpredictable England tomorrow
The stage is set for India and England to wage their battles for supremacy. India, as always, looks stronger on paper, will be hoping to keep it simple and effortless by using their main weapon - experience. England on the other hand is quite happy to come into the game as underdogs, this eliminates pressure of the home crowd who want them to win.
India is focused, eager and hungry after their success in the recently concluded Test series. Not often is this the case. It has a good balance to the side with stroke-makers Sachin and Sourav at the top, energetic Yuvraj, Gambhir and Dhoni in the middle, and cool-headed Dravid to steer the innings at the end of an awe-inspiring batting lineup. Bowling does not fall too far behind with wicket taking abilities of Agarkar and Zaheer, steady line and length from Munaf and hard to get off-spin leg-spin pair of Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla. I will be crucial for batsman to get enough runs if India goes in with 5 speciality bowlers.
England is hoping for miracles from 2-3 players to shock the Indians. They are certainly capable of doing it, and frankly if that does not happen, then England are going to perish quite easily. Strength of England are going to be it's relatively experienced players, the likes of Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, and to an extent James Anderson, and their ability to gel together and come-up with tactics to out-smart great Indian batsmen. Players to watch out for are Chris Tremlett, Owais Shah and Monty Panesar. They will have the energy and hunger which might propell them over the daunting shadows of mighty India.
On the whole it should be a good series to watch and enjoy. Like any other cricket fan I want to see runs flow from the willow of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly one of which will try to bat through the innings and get a big one to secure an early advantage in this 7-match long series.
Weather permitting we may witness an excellent game of cricket between these exciting cricketing nations.
India is focused, eager and hungry after their success in the recently concluded Test series. Not often is this the case. It has a good balance to the side with stroke-makers Sachin and Sourav at the top, energetic Yuvraj, Gambhir and Dhoni in the middle, and cool-headed Dravid to steer the innings at the end of an awe-inspiring batting lineup. Bowling does not fall too far behind with wicket taking abilities of Agarkar and Zaheer, steady line and length from Munaf and hard to get off-spin leg-spin pair of Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla. I will be crucial for batsman to get enough runs if India goes in with 5 speciality bowlers.
England is hoping for miracles from 2-3 players to shock the Indians. They are certainly capable of doing it, and frankly if that does not happen, then England are going to perish quite easily. Strength of England are going to be it's relatively experienced players, the likes of Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, and to an extent James Anderson, and their ability to gel together and come-up with tactics to out-smart great Indian batsmen. Players to watch out for are Chris Tremlett, Owais Shah and Monty Panesar. They will have the energy and hunger which might propell them over the daunting shadows of mighty India.
On the whole it should be a good series to watch and enjoy. Like any other cricket fan I want to see runs flow from the willow of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly one of which will try to bat through the innings and get a big one to secure an early advantage in this 7-match long series.
Weather permitting we may witness an excellent game of cricket between these exciting cricketing nations.
Friday, August 17, 2007
The Straight Drive
Cricket is a game dominated by batsman, the rules favor him, the crowd supports him, television camera follows him, sponsors follow him, etc. :) I think the idea is pretty much clear now, we love to watch Batsman score lots of runs. Of all the illustrous shots that can be played by batsman on varied surfaces the shot that looks most elegant and tests batting skills is the - 'Straight Drive'.
To play a convinsing straight drive the batsman should have great body balance. Play the ball late and hit the middle of the bat (about six inches from bottom). The key to playing a good straight drive is that batsman's weight is on the front leg and the momentum is forward.
A few tips for playing this shot to good effect:-
--> Keep your head still and in line with the Bat, make sure you don't fall outside the line of your bat
--> Make sure the front toe points down the line of the pitch, watch the ball come right through and the impact with the bat should be below the eye line. The body must be slightly turned and the shoulders opened out to allow the free swing of the bat.
--> Follow-through of this shot is very important as you look straight back to the bowler and command respect.
A straight drive is a good arsenal for modern day cricketing combat as when the field is spread you can still get a boundary or a two using this glorious shot.
Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar, both know as Little Masters of their era, played this shot to perfection. Among other graceful exploiters of this shot are Rahul Dravid, Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, Kevin Pietersen.
To play a convinsing straight drive the batsman should have great body balance. Play the ball late and hit the middle of the bat (about six inches from bottom). The key to playing a good straight drive is that batsman's weight is on the front leg and the momentum is forward.A few tips for playing this shot to good effect:---> Keep your head still and in line with the Bat, make sure you don't fall outside the line of your bat
--> Make sure the front toe points down the line of the pitch, watch the ball come right through and the impact with the bat should be below the eye line. The body must be slightly turned and the shoulders opened out to allow the free swing of the bat.
--> Follow-through of this shot is very important as you look straight back to the bowler and command respect.
A straight drive is a good arsenal for modern day cricketing combat as when the field is spread you can still get a boundary or a two using this glorious shot.
Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar, both know as Little Masters of their era, played this shot to perfection. Among other graceful exploiters of this shot are Rahul Dravid, Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, Kevin Pietersen.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Twenty20 Good or Bad for Cricket??
Twenty20 is the newest form of Cricket. It is a cricket match with maximum of 20 overs per-side to face. This version of cricket, originally introduced in the United Kingdom is characterised by hard hit shots and fast paced action. The duration of an entire Twenty20 match is only around 3 hours (comparable with other popular sports like football, basketball, baseball, tennis, etc.)
Twenty20 came to international arena in middle of 2005, following which some countries accepted it whole-heartily while others showed it a cold shoulder. However, September 2007 will witness the first ever World-cup competition of Twenty20. For the readers in US, it really is a world-cup as countries from 5 continents will be competing, unlike the American Football Superbowl which is not played or watched outside of North America.
Twenty20 brings a lot of good as well as bad to the game of cricket. Below I discuss some of these gains and losses and try to figure out which outweighs the other. Lets start with the goodies:
(1) Brings a younger breed of cricketers to the stage, spectators won't have to watch the same players playing international cricket all the time. Variety is always good, more to watch, more to love, more to follow.
(2) Reduces the duration of the game and makes more people watch it. One does not need to use up a whole working day to enjoy the game and have a result. (winner/looser)
(3) Extremely entertaining as there is action happening almost every delivery, if not between deliveries too.
(4) Makes players play a lot more shots which may rub into the One-day (50 over matches) too and we might see even bigger scores in ODI's.
(5) Players with average skills can excel as not much scope to test out players batting or bowling skills. This brings a chance for all the second tier ODI teams like Canada, Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, etc to pull off miraculous wins (or upsets) against the bigger brothers. Honestly, until your national team wins, the sport does not catch fire in the country. Also, Twenty20 can prove wonders to a country like USA who is yet to embrace the game of cricket. Market of Twenty20 in US could be phenomenal as people here watch more physical sports (football, basketball, etc.) than mental sports (chess, billiards, etc.)
(6) Provides a new platform for World leader spot. Current era of International Cricket is dominated by Australia (heavily) both in One day International (ODI) and Test Match scheme. Twenty20 may see a new dominant nation which could give Australia a run for their money. I do not have anything personal against Australia. I think they are a brilliant team which deserves the success they are getting. However, for a game to be competitive and invoke interest of masses it is important not to have one team be so dominant.
These are some of the pluses from the Twenty20 flavor of game. With every advantage you gain there are prices you have to pay. So lets understand the shortcomings of this version of game.
(1) It takes away from cricket the elegance of 'Test Match cricket' and shortens the skills required for a One Day International (ODI) 50 over game. One day game is considerably quicker than the 5 day version of Test cricket and brought to cricket strategies and skills suited for 50 over match. This include playing attacking shots of first 15 overs (now 20 with power play3), stricter rules of bowling wides, spinners look to restrict run scoring rather than pick up wickets, pitches are laid to be flat and run-feasts for crowd to enjoy, and many such changes.
Twenty20 amplifies these changes to the next level. Duration of play in an ODI between the overs 20-40 was seeing a lot of players just happy to nudge the ball around and pick up singles to build partnerships. During the last 10 overs with wickets in hand teams start throwing their bats around for quick runs. With just 20 overs to bat these strategies of building partnerships and innings has gone out of the window. Every delivery needs to be scored off or accounted for. On most occasions in a Twenty20 game a run-a-ball is not good enough. Scoring rates have to be around 7.5 - 9.0 per over.
(2) Physical strength and stamina become more important than technical skills to excel in the game. Traditionally cricket has involved a lot of mind, personality, endurance, attitude to succeed. Legends of the game have been excellent students of cricket, who learn from past and form plans to adapt under different playing conditions. Twenty20 does not provide enough room to build strategies to bowl an opposition out, it does not give a batsman time to watch and study any bowler, the spin or swing of it and adapt accordingly. It requires all the homework to be done before the start of the game. Pretty much like American football or soccer.
(3) Players may hamper their technique in lieu of making quick runs. Since every delivery must yield in runs, at times batsmen go for a shot which is not on. He may not be in position to make a shot nor may have time to execute one and still ends up hitting the shot just out of sheer pressure to keep scoring. At times these gimmicks stick around with a batsman and corrupt their technique. Now when he goes back to Test cricket these temptations to make shots result in faulty shot selection and exposed weaknesses. Eventually, this will affect the quality of players and that of the game for 'Test Match Cricket'.
(4) Assuming immense popularity of Twenty20 they can wipe out ODI realm of cricket. If more and more people come to watch 20 over matches, fewer people will have patience to watch 50 overs (game takes about 8 hours to complete, one full work day). ODI's have had a lot of history ever since they picked up in 1980's. This player history, performance statistics, international records, Star status of former players will all go down the drain if crowd no longer appreciates ODIs.
Above are my views on the new version of cricket. Based on my discussion above if I were to make a call as to whether Twenty20 is Good or Bad for cricket, with a heavy heart I would make a call that Twenty20 is the future of cricket. Heavy heart is due to the fact that I enjoy the elegance of cricket and ODIs which Twenty20 will overrun, however at the same time it will definitely work wonders to popularize the game. It will spread cricket to newer avenues and give it new flavor which is clearly what doctor ordered for World cricket.
So Hail Twenty20 and get soaked in it's fever as soon as you can. For all those people who do not know what Twenty20 is yet please check out the link below which gives a good overview of this game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty20
Signing off here with a promise to bring more and more interesting topics for people to read .... till then soak up in Twenty20 fever and pour in your comments.
Twenty20 came to international arena in middle of 2005, following which some countries accepted it whole-heartily while others showed it a cold shoulder. However, September 2007 will witness the first ever World-cup competition of Twenty20. For the readers in US, it really is a world-cup as countries from 5 continents will be competing, unlike the American Football Superbowl which is not played or watched outside of North America.
Twenty20 brings a lot of good as well as bad to the game of cricket. Below I discuss some of these gains and losses and try to figure out which outweighs the other. Lets start with the goodies:
(1) Brings a younger breed of cricketers to the stage, spectators won't have to watch the same players playing international cricket all the time. Variety is always good, more to watch, more to love, more to follow.
(2) Reduces the duration of the game and makes more people watch it. One does not need to use up a whole working day to enjoy the game and have a result. (winner/looser)
(3) Extremely entertaining as there is action happening almost every delivery, if not between deliveries too.
(4) Makes players play a lot more shots which may rub into the One-day (50 over matches) too and we might see even bigger scores in ODI's.
(5) Players with average skills can excel as not much scope to test out players batting or bowling skills. This brings a chance for all the second tier ODI teams like Canada, Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, etc to pull off miraculous wins (or upsets) against the bigger brothers. Honestly, until your national team wins, the sport does not catch fire in the country. Also, Twenty20 can prove wonders to a country like USA who is yet to embrace the game of cricket. Market of Twenty20 in US could be phenomenal as people here watch more physical sports (football, basketball, etc.) than mental sports (chess, billiards, etc.)
(6) Provides a new platform for World leader spot. Current era of International Cricket is dominated by Australia (heavily) both in One day International (ODI) and Test Match scheme. Twenty20 may see a new dominant nation which could give Australia a run for their money. I do not have anything personal against Australia. I think they are a brilliant team which deserves the success they are getting. However, for a game to be competitive and invoke interest of masses it is important not to have one team be so dominant.
These are some of the pluses from the Twenty20 flavor of game. With every advantage you gain there are prices you have to pay. So lets understand the shortcomings of this version of game.
(1) It takes away from cricket the elegance of 'Test Match cricket' and shortens the skills required for a One Day International (ODI) 50 over game. One day game is considerably quicker than the 5 day version of Test cricket and brought to cricket strategies and skills suited for 50 over match. This include playing attacking shots of first 15 overs (now 20 with power play3), stricter rules of bowling wides, spinners look to restrict run scoring rather than pick up wickets, pitches are laid to be flat and run-feasts for crowd to enjoy, and many such changes.
Twenty20 amplifies these changes to the next level. Duration of play in an ODI between the overs 20-40 was seeing a lot of players just happy to nudge the ball around and pick up singles to build partnerships. During the last 10 overs with wickets in hand teams start throwing their bats around for quick runs. With just 20 overs to bat these strategies of building partnerships and innings has gone out of the window. Every delivery needs to be scored off or accounted for. On most occasions in a Twenty20 game a run-a-ball is not good enough. Scoring rates have to be around 7.5 - 9.0 per over.
(2) Physical strength and stamina become more important than technical skills to excel in the game. Traditionally cricket has involved a lot of mind, personality, endurance, attitude to succeed. Legends of the game have been excellent students of cricket, who learn from past and form plans to adapt under different playing conditions. Twenty20 does not provide enough room to build strategies to bowl an opposition out, it does not give a batsman time to watch and study any bowler, the spin or swing of it and adapt accordingly. It requires all the homework to be done before the start of the game. Pretty much like American football or soccer.
(3) Players may hamper their technique in lieu of making quick runs. Since every delivery must yield in runs, at times batsmen go for a shot which is not on. He may not be in position to make a shot nor may have time to execute one and still ends up hitting the shot just out of sheer pressure to keep scoring. At times these gimmicks stick around with a batsman and corrupt their technique. Now when he goes back to Test cricket these temptations to make shots result in faulty shot selection and exposed weaknesses. Eventually, this will affect the quality of players and that of the game for 'Test Match Cricket'.
(4) Assuming immense popularity of Twenty20 they can wipe out ODI realm of cricket. If more and more people come to watch 20 over matches, fewer people will have patience to watch 50 overs (game takes about 8 hours to complete, one full work day). ODI's have had a lot of history ever since they picked up in 1980's. This player history, performance statistics, international records, Star status of former players will all go down the drain if crowd no longer appreciates ODIs.
Above are my views on the new version of cricket. Based on my discussion above if I were to make a call as to whether Twenty20 is Good or Bad for cricket, with a heavy heart I would make a call that Twenty20 is the future of cricket. Heavy heart is due to the fact that I enjoy the elegance of cricket and ODIs which Twenty20 will overrun, however at the same time it will definitely work wonders to popularize the game. It will spread cricket to newer avenues and give it new flavor which is clearly what doctor ordered for World cricket.
So Hail Twenty20 and get soaked in it's fever as soon as you can. For all those people who do not know what Twenty20 is yet please check out the link below which gives a good overview of this game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty20
Signing off here with a promise to bring more and more interesting topics for people to read .... till then soak up in Twenty20 fever and pour in your comments.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
The Legend of 'Legends'
Every game has Legends - cricket is no different. Superstars of the past who graced the game with their brilliance will always be revered for their contributions. To name a few, Sir Don Baradman, Sir Gary Sobers, Vivian Richards, Sir Ian Botham, Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, and many more.
It is intersting to analyze how the audience treats a Legend. Solid consistent performances tend to graduate a player from the ranks of ordinary to 'extra' ordinary. Technique, mental strength, patience, endurance, intellect are trademark qualities which separates a good player from a Legend.
A player never self-acclaims to be a Legend, it's the people and media who elevate the player to higher strata. With greatness comes great expectations, the challenges grow too, bigger the player bigger is the stage required to perform. It all works fine till the hunger stays alive within the player. The more he wants, for whatever reasons, the more is determination, more is the effort, more is the success. After a long, successful career a problem that a great player face is finding reasons to motivate themselves. This is an critical phase of every great players' career. How much is enough? Have you achieved what you could? Is there a challenge out there which you want to take on before calling it a day?
To name a few players going through this patch in recent International cricket are : The master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, the elegant southpaw Ganguly, a great leader Stephen Flemming, the lazy touch of Inzamam, the spectacular Hayden, a dark Horse Sanath Jayasuriya, a spinning wizard Murali, a gutsy captain Ricky Ponting, a lone warrior Chanderpaul.
These players though not all in the same category are still tremendous contributors to the game of cricket. They are all nearing their end of careers (some are accused of being past it).
Question that these players ask themselves every day/game is when is the day I will make way for a young warrior? For some lucky ones the timing works just fine, Brian Lara, Glen McGrath, Shane Warne, Arivinda DeSilva, Steve Waugh, Damien Martyn, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, all announcing retirement after World Cup or a major series.
Also it is worth debating whether or not is it fair to great players to face critics at the fag end of their illustrous careers? After contributing so much to the game what do they get in return? Same people who made them Legends are now wanting them to be dropped from national teams. Sachin Tendulkar, deservs and often recieves a standing welcome to any cricketing field, was booed off the ground by his home crowd at Mumbai, India. Is that fair?
Maybe not. Having said that it is important and often tricky for great players to realize when is a good time to walk off with heads held high. Being an ardent follower of the game I do hope some of the names mentioned above do make these decisions right as and when they come.
It is intersting to analyze how the audience treats a Legend. Solid consistent performances tend to graduate a player from the ranks of ordinary to 'extra' ordinary. Technique, mental strength, patience, endurance, intellect are trademark qualities which separates a good player from a Legend.
A player never self-acclaims to be a Legend, it's the people and media who elevate the player to higher strata. With greatness comes great expectations, the challenges grow too, bigger the player bigger is the stage required to perform. It all works fine till the hunger stays alive within the player. The more he wants, for whatever reasons, the more is determination, more is the effort, more is the success. After a long, successful career a problem that a great player face is finding reasons to motivate themselves. This is an critical phase of every great players' career. How much is enough? Have you achieved what you could? Is there a challenge out there which you want to take on before calling it a day?
To name a few players going through this patch in recent International cricket are : The master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, the elegant southpaw Ganguly, a great leader Stephen Flemming, the lazy touch of Inzamam, the spectacular Hayden, a dark Horse Sanath Jayasuriya, a spinning wizard Murali, a gutsy captain Ricky Ponting, a lone warrior Chanderpaul.
These players though not all in the same category are still tremendous contributors to the game of cricket. They are all nearing their end of careers (some are accused of being past it).
Question that these players ask themselves every day/game is when is the day I will make way for a young warrior? For some lucky ones the timing works just fine, Brian Lara, Glen McGrath, Shane Warne, Arivinda DeSilva, Steve Waugh, Damien Martyn, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, all announcing retirement after World Cup or a major series.
Also it is worth debating whether or not is it fair to great players to face critics at the fag end of their illustrous careers? After contributing so much to the game what do they get in return? Same people who made them Legends are now wanting them to be dropped from national teams. Sachin Tendulkar, deservs and often recieves a standing welcome to any cricketing field, was booed off the ground by his home crowd at Mumbai, India. Is that fair?
Maybe not. Having said that it is important and often tricky for great players to realize when is a good time to walk off with heads held high. Being an ardent follower of the game I do hope some of the names mentioned above do make these decisions right as and when they come.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
First Note
Hello Readers, this is my first blog and wanted to start by explaining the scope of this blog. Crickspeak is targeted to an audience who enjoy the amazing game of Cricket and would like to read and discuss aspects of the game in a unique perspective.
Followers of sport tend to be highly passionate about their teams, games, opinions, and I am no different. Readers are welcome to express their views, contradict mine, comment, and add to the content of each blogs.
A word on motivation behind this blog. Being an ardent fan of the game, I enjoy analyzing various aspects of game. I shall present my views through this blog and expect readers worldwide to provide feedback.
Enough said, I hope my topics intrigue cricket lovers.
Followers of sport tend to be highly passionate about their teams, games, opinions, and I am no different. Readers are welcome to express their views, contradict mine, comment, and add to the content of each blogs.
A word on motivation behind this blog. Being an ardent fan of the game, I enjoy analyzing various aspects of game. I shall present my views through this blog and expect readers worldwide to provide feedback.
Enough said, I hope my topics intrigue cricket lovers.
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