Its not the team but its the Occasion to beware of this time!!!

With a quite amazing world cup Finale on our hands and after the First three quarter finals where in the first two produced quite expected results and the third with an totally unexpected one we head to a mouthwatering treat for the Semis!! Well if there had to be one upset then there can be no better team to entertain an upset other than the PROVEN CHOKERS –“ SOUTH AFRICA”!!! This world cup has been as thrilling as an AGATHA CRISTIE or SIDNEY SHELDON’s novel where no one can predict with full confidence who is going to win because every team has it in them to beat any team on their day!!! While every team has some weak points like the PAKISTAN’s fragile batting order, Sri lanka’s inconsistent lower order and England being the total definition of Unpredictable and Inconsistent the only team that seems to have minimal of flaws is INDIA whose bowling weakness seems to be good enough to hold on for a successful World Cup campaign!!! And after Today’s unexpected exit of South Africa the Indians are even bigger favorites to lift this World Cup and thus are under even bigger pressure!!!
Well after a match that ended the 12 year long World Cup dominance of the Australian team we can safely say that we would have a new World Champ and that too most probably will be a subcontinent team!!! And after the end of the EPIC battle INDIA vs ASTRALIA it is again safe to say that though it was a tensed match but INDIA had an upper hand right from the start as they never let Aussies go out of control. India was always an edge ahead at every point of time in the match. Not to forget one of the greatest Knocks by an Australian captain that too under immense pressure regarding his Captainship and form with people calling to chop off his head.. RICKY PONTING replied with an amazing knock that defines his Character!! That’s what why they say that ‘When the Going gets tough, the tough gets going’ and that surely doesn’t apply to the South African team. But besides Ponting’s Career saving century there was nothing formidable from the Aussies.
Now coming on to the Baap Of all the Contests INDIA vs PAKISTAN the biggest match of this World Cup India again would start as the favorites and should be able to win it unless they Choke like..well everyone should know by now!!! The reason for downplaying Pakistan a bit is that their batting line up is too inconsistent and unreliable. While in their bowling I see only one threat in the form of UMAR GUL the rest are just overhyped. Yes no one poses a threat for Indian batsmen not Whab RIaz nor Abdul Razzak nor Shoaib Akhtar and I go to the extent of saying not Even Shahid Afridi. And here is the logic behind this.. no doubt Shahid Afridi is the leading wicket taker in this tournament but out of the 21 wickets that he has taken 10 are against Minnows, the 4 against Sri Lanka didn’t involve either Sangakkara Jayawardene or Dilshan another 4 against West Indies who had already lost early wickets.His wickets mostly are of tail enders with 2-3 wickets of quality top order batsmen in rarity. And adding to his woes Indians can handle spin better than anyone in the subcontinent. The only thing to beware of is the Big Occasion of the INDIA vs PAKISTAN semi final clash for the World Cup that too in INDIA!! And with temper high and the adrenaline rush things can go wrong easily and Pakistani team becomes deadly dangerous under such high pressure situation!! This bitter hard fought rivalry and the mutual hatred brings out the best of everyone and Pakistan team at its best is not what Indians or for that matter any team would like to face!!!
Here is a situation where in the talent and skill and the past performances can count for nothing if you are unable to handle the pressure!!! Great teams have lost crucial battles for lack of sensible approach and what India needs to do come this Wednesday is to follow the basics of the game as if things go as planned India have enough fire power to kick out Pakistan form this tournament.
Data Courtesy: castrolcricket.com

Is it the PAWN or THE KING?

After the Epic battle of the two Giants INDIA and SOUTH AFRICA the only two names that we constantly keep hearing are NEHRA and DHONI.This match has again given the Indian public their favorite time pass i.e. to play the BLAME GAME and the worst thing about this is that most of us are analyzing the game only on its Face value and cursing Ashsih Nehra for the loss!!! First of all Dhoni was the one who ignored the most obvious choice to bowl the last over i.e. The Turbanator ‘Harbhajan Singh’ and gave it to Ashish Nehra who hadn’t been playing till the last game!!! And then when asked about the rationale behind the decision Dhoni said that Nehra has been the best bowler for India in past one and a half years!!! So what was this best Indian bowler doing warming up the benches during the previous matches!!! No doubt Ashish Nehra did bowl the wrong lengths for the last over but don’t forget that one of the fours was of the Inside edge and that was a the type of luck that used to go in Dhoni’s favour till now!! The times are changing and the Chokers are now for a change performing under pressure and more importantly Dhoni’s Midas touch with his last over gambles is not paying off!!! And once has the Gamble not paid off for our Captain cool, he has turned to some of the lousiest and lamest excuse ever given by any captain in the history of cricket! His Statement that WE DON’T PLAY FOR THE PUBLIC BUT WE PLAY FOR THE COUNTRY was uncalled for and a bit out of the blue!!! If the crowd was demanding for sixes it was due to their ever so comfortable position that they were placed in before the procession began!!! It seemed like the TOP 3 of the Indian batting line up have taken the full onus of winning the World Cup for the Nation and all the others were against them!!! At 267 for 1 at the end of 40 overs any spectator or any Captain in that matter would have expected their team to go all out for the last ten overs. Indians should take a leaf out of the New Zealanders books and learn how to approach the last ten overs as the Kiwis have been now successful in scoring 130+ and 120+ in their last two games in the last ten overs!! And this was not due to no crowd pressure but proper shot selection and correct approach unlike the Indian players!! And finally no excuse can ever justify a procession of losing 9 wickets for 29 runs!!!!
Again Dhoni should be under the scanner for the type of game that he played in the match as to first of all he was too slow which increased the pressure on the new batsmen and over and above how can a captain be so irresponsible to take a single on the first ball of the death overs against a quality pace bowler like dale steyn and give strike to tale-enders like nehra and munaf!!! Shouldn’t he have protected the tale-enders and gone for the big shots himselves!!! Another inexplicable strategic move was to play 3 pace bowlers and just one specialist spinner against a team that loves pace whereas the Africans themselves went in with 2 specialist spinners. I have always said that India’s strength lies in its spin bowling and with these subcontinent pitches if we don’t take advantage of it then it would be the biggest blunder. It would even be great if we can go in with 3 spinners or even 2 spinners but with 5 specialist bowling options!!! India still no doubt is the Biggest contender to Win the WORLD CUP and I am backing them to pull of this amazing feat this time round!!! The only thing that would be holding them back would be their own strategies and I wish they realize it soon before its too late!!!!
Data Courtesy - castrolcricket.com

STAY HUNGRY STAY FOOLISH

This is the title of a novel that I just saw my friend reading and this seems to totally justify what I am going to talk about in this blog. Stay Hungry Stay Foolish is the motto for all the buzzing entrepreneurs and so should it be for all the Captains of various different teams in this world cup. And this especially applies to the Indian team. While Dhoni seems to be doing many things right and is keeping it cool but the thing that he is constantly lacking in is the Killers’s Instinct!! Its now been twice that we have been in a good situation in the beginning with the opposition team 2 or 3 wickets down early and could have been able to close down on the match early but for Dhoni’s what I like to call ‘The Escape approach’. Whenever we are in a good situation with having got some early wickets or a highly required breakthrough he tends to bring on Yusuf pathan or Yuvraj singh the part time bowlers to slip through with their overs that releases all the pressure!! No doubt this again is a smart move bt If u have a chance to finish the match in 40 overs by bowling the opposition out why not go for it!! By doing so u don’t even need to use the part timers. Never have I seen Dhoni going for a kill and this is a change that I wish to see some day form him!! Compared to Dhoni his counterparts Graeme smith and Afridi have been quite proactive on this front as when they see an opportunity to bowl the opposition out early they go for it!!! Take the Example of the match PAK vs NZ wherein when the KIWIS lost their 2nd wicket in the 12th over and with Ross taylor being horribly out of form Afridi brought back Shoaib Akhtar to bowl alongside the on-fire Umar gul who almost had Taylor out twice in an over. He gave extended spells to his bowlers and so did Grame Smith in their match against Engalnd. Under this scenario Both the captians might have lost but that was due to some other reason other than their tactics. While for Pakistan it was again due to their sloppy fielding, the Proteas got defeated again by themselves and Choked under pressure. But on a positive note they showed the desire and the Hunger for more and remained aggressive. Stay hungry and Stay foolish is all about going all out for the victory wanting more and more and making things happen rather than being satisfied with small successes.
With India now slated to face off against the South Africans one the topmost contenders for the world cup and looking even more dangerous after their disastrous match against England, India need to be wary of the threat. Also it is for the first time that they have choked in a match that was not a Knock-out game and thus they have a chance to regroup and fightback hard. And it is well known that a Injured Lion gets Doubly dangerous. And if Dhoni and team India continue their ‘The Escape Approach’ against South Africa it can prove to be fatal as first of all our bowlers seem to be incapable of taking regular breakthroughs and then after a lot of effort even if they succeed in doing so the so gained momentum is given away by the introduction of the Part timers and South Africa are a team that don’t believe in giving a second chance. Thus Dhoni instead of Chanting ‘Jam k jakad kas k pakad lagaaa… ‘ should chant this “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish”.

An Unlucky TIE!!!

Just as the dust settles after the epic India vs England a, “Heartstopping Encounter” people are busy in anaylsing what went wrong with the Indian team!!!!!!!!! No doubt again the problem with India was their poor bowling and fielding as these things are echoing in every expert comments. But many have failed to notice what went right in that game!!! Yes RIGHT!!!!!!!!! This analysis is gonna be a bit different!!! How..??? Let me tell you, inspite of the tied game where India were unsuccessful in defending a mammoth score of 338, the positives of the match were that for the first time India tried out playing two specialist spinners which inspite of the result was a good move. India has great resources in spin department and we need to utilize it properly and make it our strength! No dubt Yusuf and Yuvraj can spin but they are not as effective as a Chawla or Ashwin!!! Secondly the fighting spirit that the Indian team showed was commendable as when they got an opening they just didn’t let England get away easily!!! Third was the return to form of Yuvraj Singh. Though he didn’t look that convincing but atleast he had a decent outing in the middle which would do his confidence a world of good. An area where Dhoni went wrong in the last game was when Chawla took a wicket and was bowling well he introduced Yusuf and Yuvraj which eased off the pressure and didn’t bring him back till the 35th over. Had Chawla continued may b the result would have been different. India still seems to be carrying on the legacy of Saurav Ganguly… now why I say that is It was Saurav Ganguly who started this concept of playing 7 batsmen in the team with only 4 specialist bowlers but back then the scenario was quite different as we didn’t have a good keeper batsmen!! Now we don’t only have just a reliable wicket keeper batsmen but he also is the best in the world. . We need to break this legacy and start picking 5 regular bowlers as our batting is strong enough and even if that’s not convincing we have Harbhajan who is in great form off late and a Zaheer Khan who can contribute too.India should take a lesson from the South African team who played 3 specialist spinners the last time they took field. Indian tracks are conducive to spin bowling and even a domestic player of the Kenyan U-19 cricket would know that and if India doesnt utilize this then it would be a big blunder. And that’s the reason why I call this as an unlucky TIE not bcoz of its result but bcoz it was for the first time India did something which was right i.e. playing 2 specialist spinners and promoting Yuvraj and Dhoni ahead of Kohli to regain their form and all this is being washed out and overlooked just bcoz The match ended in a TIE!!!!!!!!!!!!

DATA CORTESY: castrolcricket.com

The Front Runners vs The Dark Horses

The FRONT RUNNERS V/S THE DARK HORSES!!!!!

When it comes to the World Cup there’s always got to be some front runners and some dark horses for winning it!!! And its always been the Front runners vs the Dark horses who try to outperform each other in their surge to lift the most coveted trophy!!!  This time again just like the previous world cup INDIA are the top contenders with South Africa and Australia being the front runners with other teams like Sri-Lanka, Pakistan,New-Zealand, West-Indies and England being termed as the Dark Horses. While the only difference being  this time the gap between the Front Runners and Dark Horses is minimal. Now lets analyse the teams on the basis of their squads and their recent performance and try to decipher their fate:-

First of all lets start with the Defending Champions the four time winners and  the only team to have a hattrick of world cups.. AUSTRALIA!

Strengths:  

• ·         Batting looks formidable with Shane Watson in great form and players like Ponting Clarke Hussey and White who can destroy any opposition on their day.
• ·         Bowling of Brett lee has improved a lot and an in form Brett lee alongside Shaun tait can be devastating. One more man to watch out for and according to me the surprise package of the tournament can be John Hastings with his variations in bowling.
• ·         Fielding of the Aussie team can be their biggest strength in this tournament as compared to the other sides.

Weaknesses: 

• ·         Well their batting might be formidable but one of their weaknesses would be their ever changing opening combination as the pair of Watson and Haddin doesn’t look too convincing. Haddin is a kind of player who can give you a good looking quick fire 30s but is less likely to play a long innings.
• ·         Their spin bowling looks ineffective and harmless. The lack of experience and a quality spinner will come to haunt them in this tournament.
• ·         The absence of Mr. Cricket, Michael Hussey one of the best finishers of the game can be a major factor under pressure
• ·         One more concern would be their Captains lack of form and poor record in India.

Overall they have a great chance again in this world cup and I cant imagine them getting out any sooner than the semi-finals!!!!!

Lets move on to INDIA  The top contenders of the tournament. India  are ranked 2^nd in the ODI rankings but they promise to be a lot better than the 2^nd ranked side in the world.

Strengths:

• ·         Undoubtedly as ever India’s strength has been its Batting as ever. It might be the best batting line in the tournament alongside the South Africans.
• ·         Bowling has improved and is looking promising with the return of Zaheer khan and Piyush chawla alongside the Turbunator  Harbhajan singh.
• ·         The captainship of Dhoni and his ability to stay calm under tensed situations may prove to be a crucial factor

Weaknesses:

• ·         Well undoubtedly as again India’s weakness has always been their bowling. With bowlers like Munaf patel in the team who can rarely field leave alone his inconsistent bowling would prove to be a major setback compared to other teams.
• ·         Again the fielding of the Indian team is an area of concern with two of their best fielders Raina and Kohli struggling for a place in the playing eleven.
• ·         The two jackpot bowlers in Nehra and Sreesanth would be a weakness as you never know when they would come right as you always have less probability of winning in a Jackpot.

Overall if their bowling and fielding can hold on and perform at par then India can be the team to lift this World cup.

Now lets move on to The South Africans the team who have always been the front runners for any ICC tournament but has never managed to win any!!! 

Strengths:-

• ·         Their Batting line up is great and can be rated alongside the Indian team with Smith and Amla Opening with players like Kallis Devilliers and Duminy to follow. The recent batting form of Amla is terrific and he would be the man to watch out for alongside Duminy who can handle spin pretty well.
• ·         Their Bowling too looks to good as they have the Awesome duo of Steyn and Morkel  who can tear apart any opposition and the inclusion of spinners like Botha Tahir and Petersen gives an array of options in bowling.
• ·         Their fielding as usual is at their best and they are on the best fielding teams in this competition.
• ·         The ever positive and aggressive captainship of Graeme smith can also play a decisive role in their winning the world cup.

Weaknesses:-

• ·         The biggest weakness of the African team is their inability to handle pressure and thus they would face the toughest competition from themselves.
• ·         In bowling department they lack experience as their spinners have hardly played regular international cricket.
• ·         Their middle and lower order batting also looks quite fragile as after duminy it’s the new comers to follow so at any point of time if the Africans loose wickets early their inexperience can get exposed.

Overall South Africa have a great team to win this world cup and to shed off the Chokers tag that they have been now carrying for so long and I personally feel it could be their world cup.

Now lets move on to the another host nation Sri lanka who always remains under-rated for any and every tournament they compete.

Strengths:-

• ·         When you talk about Sri-Lanka how can you not talk about Spin. Their biggest strength over the years has been their spin department which goes on improving with the emergence of players like Mendis and Herath alongside the great Muralitharan.
• ·         Their batting has two main pillars in Sangakkara and Jayawardene who are ever consistent and highly gifted. With other batsmen like Dilshan and Tharanga the batting line up looks strong enough to pose a challenge to any team. Matthews with his allround skills can be a man to watch out for.
• ·         Pace bowling looks good with  bowlers like kulasekara who can make the new ball talk and Malinga with the unplayable reverse swinging Yorkers in the death overs.

Weakness:-

• ·         The Lack of a Potential match winner with the bat like Jayasuria can be a big problem.
• ·         Overdependence on Sangakkara and Jayawardene as other players are inexperienced and not so reliable not even Dilshan.
• ·         Lack of a bowler to compliment Malinga in the death overs.

Overall Sri lanka have a pretty decent team with a more than decent chance of winning the world cup.

Lets move on to the Lottery team of the Cricketing world known for its inconsistent performances alongwith its passion to fightback from any situation, PAKISTAN.

Strenghts:-

• ·         The Bowling attack of Pakistan looks good with shoaib akhtar performing consistently with the reverse swinging skills of Umar gul.
• ·         The spin department is also good with Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi who can do both i.e. take wickets and stop runs at any point of time.
• ·         The batting got boosted with the return of players like Younis Khan and Misbah Ul haq who also are in great form.

Weakness:-

• ·         Their batting looks brittle as it is pretty inexperienced and not reliable. The only promising new talent to watch out for is Umar Akmal.
• ·         Their bowling looks  depleted from the exclusion of Amir talent and Asif with shoaib akhtar though consistent but is nowhere near his best.
• ·         The fielding of the Pakistani team has been their main cause of worry for many years now and I don’t see it changing in this tournament.

Overall this team would do good to reach even the semi-finals and any further beyond there would be a lottery performance by them.

Now lets analyse the highly under-rated team for this world cup who is capable of many surprise performances and could shock some teams, NEW-ZEALAND!!!!

Strengths:-

• ·         The greatest strength of this New-zealand team can be the presence of some good All-rounders like Styris, Oram, Franklin, Ryder, Vettori and Nathan Mccullum. And thus they have great depth in their batting line up. Watch out for Ryder and Brendon Mccullum.
• ·         The bowling department would be headed by Vettori and Mills who are both highly skilled bowlers.
• ·         Their fielding is at par with the Africans and the Aussies.

Weakness:-

• ·         The most evident weakness of this team is their lack of form and under-performing players like Taylor and Ryder.
• ·         The recent record of consecutive losses which involves a series loss to Bangladesh would mean that they would be low on self-confidence.
• ·         Their bowling looks to be Ineffective with no great skill and talent to watch out for other than Vettori and Mills.

Overall this team has a good chance to make it to the semis provided that they play to their potential and one can look forward for some surprises from this team.

Now lets analyse the current T-20 Champions of the world, England.

Strengths:-

• ·         England seem to have a formidable batting line-up with players like Strauss, Trott,Bell,Prior and Pietersen. And the decision of KP opening the innings can be a game changer.Finally the English team has understood the importance of a good start taking a cue from its t-20 World cup stint.
• ·         The bowling line up also looks pretty good with pace bowlers like Anderson and Broad opening the bowling and the emergence of Graeme Swann who is arguably the best off-spinner in world cricket at the present
• ·         The availability of all-rounders  like Collingwood, Bresnan and Yardy would help to strengthen their batting.

Weakness:-

• ·         The main weakness of this team is their inconsistency and Inexperience.
• ·         The Injury to Eoin Morgan leaves a lot to be desired in the middle order .
• ·         The decision to promote KP up the order to open can backfire as it is an all or nothing decision wherein if he gets out early it can expose the brittle middle order of the English team.
• ·         The lack of Flambuoyant players in their team as barring KP and Prior all other batsmen are traditional in their approach.

Overall the English team has a very good chance of making it to the semi finals of the tournament as they are a pretty well balanced team.

Other teams like West Indies and Bangladesh look promising but can only deceive. Bangaldesh can spring in some good performances on the back of some players like Tamim Iqbal and Shakib al hasan while West Indies would rely heavily on  Gayle Sarwan and chandrpaul for winning a match. Bowling of both these teams looks unimpressive with Bangladesh atleast having the advantage of having Good spinners for the subcontinent pitches. 

All in all it promises to be a thriller of a tournament where most of the teams look evenly matched and capable of beating any team in the world on its day. We are in for what might be one of the best and closely fought tournament in the history of World Cup Cricket.

Captainship- A double Edged sword!!!!

In every sport  theres a CAPTAIN but when it comes to cricket the responsibility  of a captain increases manifolds and that’s why it is also known as The most glamorous role in game of cricket!!!!!! A  job that everyone desires and dreams of but very few can fit in!!!!!  In India it’s called “Kaanto  bhara Taaj” ( A throne full of thorns) and in Australia they say it’s the second toughest job to that of the Prime Minister..!!!! So one can understand how demanding  a captains role can be in cricket. A leader has to not only lead with an example but should also look for the overall growth…. And thus no words can overemphasize the importance of a captain in the game of cricket.  It’s said that the best captain is the one who makes things happen rather than waiting for them to happen!!!!!!!! So let’s look back and recall some of such great captains of the recent past.

Lets first start with ‘The Man with the Midas Touch’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The most amazing thing about DHONI is dat with the amount of expectations that an Indian captain carries and with all the pressure he is probably as calm as a person can be. And plus to his advantage he also has the MIDAS TOUCH as whatever he touches turns to Gold. If u can recall the 2007 world cup T20 semi-finals vs Australia with Joginder Sharma bowling the last over to Michael Hussey, and Aus requiring 22 runs to win of the last over  he was able to win the match for India n quite amazingly just 2 years later when the same Batsmen was Facing Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal in the( 2009 T20 Semi-Final) final over  requiring 17 runs of the last over he managed to score them successfully!!!! And its not only Luck or the Midas touch that works in his favour but  its also about his shrewd decisions and street smart thinking that makes him  a great tactician!!! In  IPL finals of the last year where Kieron Pollard was starting  to look dangerous  in the last few overs one masterstroke from Dhoni’s mind changed d whole game. What he did was when he realized that Pollard was hitting pretty straight he set a field positioning never before seen in history of world cricket which was to hav 2 players at the straight boundary i.e.  one at the long on and one at long off and also have 2 fielders dead straight in 30yards i.e. one at mid on and one at mid off and what happened was Pollard got caught at Mid off!!!!  Quite unconventional but highly effective!!!!

Another of the Greats of the recent past is Mr.Ricky Ponting.  The best thing about Ponting is that he is  The ultimate Trier…….!!!! When nothings goin his way he keeps on tryin everthing at his disposal but never Gives up!!!! Just the attitude dat describes the Aussie spirits!!!  He has been great as a captain as he has always lead from the front with the bat and his every bowling and field changes are all well thought of and thoroughly planned.. may it be covering gangulys strengths by packing up the off side fully and bowling consistently on the off stump or may it be to bowl short and into the body of sehwag to restrict his scoring etc. He is the only captain to have lifted the cricket world cup two times and is about to start his quest for the third.  He also has a great attitude as he is Arrogant in his wins and imposes on everyone that they i.e  Aussies are a superior race and that no-one can match them in skill and ability (this helps in developing self-confidence in the team)  but at the same time he is the humblest men on defeats and accepts gleefully that the other team played better than them and that they deserved to win!!!!  Right or wrong I am not sure but its his style and he has been successful up till the recent past!!! About the recent slump in form and consistent losses of the Aussie team one should note that a captain is only as good as his team!!! In the past he had great players at his disposal and didn’t need to worry much about results one can say that Steve Waugh made a team and ponting reaped benefits………….   Just as the case with dhoni and saurav ganguly…. But one should give it to Ponting and Dhoni as having resources is one thing and Utilising them effectively is a totally different thing.. Bringing the best out of every player is not an easy task.!!!

Another greats of the recent past and my Personal favourite is South  Africas Graeme Smith . He is the ultimate optimist and the most positive and risk taking captain ever….. In a test match against Aus.  The Africans were comfortably placed with a lead of around 270 runs at the end of 4^th day and with around 6wickets remaining. The match seemed to be heading towards a draw when surprisingly smith declared the innings and gave the Aussies arnd 272 to chase on the last day… and Guess wat The Aussies chased down that target comfortably with hayden Scoring heavily.. When on a post match presentation smith was asked about his decision he said that he didn’t repent it and that he thought the only way to win was to give the bowlers ample time to bowl the aussies out and this atleast gave them a chance to win irrespective of the result and den dat the crowd came to see results and not dead rubber draws..!!!! That’s positivity for u!!!! Smith in his early childhood used to stick a note on his fridge in which it was written dat “one day I will play for south African cricket team and captain it”!!!   And he did not just do that but also did it in style!!! One should also not forget that when Smith was given the captainship South Africans were fighting with the Ghost of Match fixing and it could have been tough for a 21 year old boy to captain a team under such a huge pressure and demon of allegations with public starting to loose faith in the genuineness of the game but OOHH boy did he not do a great Job!!!!!  And  in one more incident  After a series loss to Aussies in around 2005 for the next 2 consecutive years he prepared the team just specifically for the purpose to go back and defeat the Aussies . Every series that he played after dat he was only thinking about the revenge. He  identified the palyers with talent and backed dem up to perform at the top level and den in 2007 when the time can he didn’t only get his revenge but also humiliated the aussies with a test win where they chased around 420 runs!!!  That’s a man with Great determination!!!!!!!!

Now lets talk about the The captain Charisma… The DADA of Indian Cricket team “Saurav Ganguly” The man who carries the AURA of a born fighter. Just like Smith, Ganguly also was handed the captainship of  the Indian cricket team when they were fighting the demons of match fixing. Whats more was that India was never consistent in their performance. He didn’t just fight off the Match fixing black spot but also instilled in the team the attitude and the aggression of a champion team. He tought the Indian team how to fight and reply back to the opposition. May it be the Famous incident of Lords where after winning the natwest series final he removed his T-shirt and waved it off to symbolize a revenge on Flintoff’s incident at Mumbai  or may it be the incident where he made the Aussie skipper Steve Waugh wait for him During the toss time. IT was under his captainship that India reached the world cup finals after 20 long years. He also had a great eye for talent. He was the one who brought in players like Yuvraj,  Sehwag, Kaif, Nehra, Zaheer, Dhoni etc.  and backed them up even in their poor forms. He was the one who elevated  Sehwag to the opening position and the results are out there for everyone to see. He was a man of Passion and its this passion which made each match a treat to watch and every victory a moment to cherish. One more rather small but Innovative contribution of Ganguly to Indain team was the Formation of a Huddle!!! When there were rumours that the Indian team had internal disputes and were divided ganguly came up with the idea of whole team forming  a HUDDLE everytime just before the match or whenever a wicket fell so as to signify that the team was one and United in their purpose.  He will always be the one who Made team India what it is Today..!!!!

 Now lets talk about the man who ended a 19 year long drought of Ashes for The English team, Michael Vaughan. It was under Vaughan that the English team was successful in defeating  an seemingly Invincible Aussie team at  home in the Ahses series of 2005. This series is also known as one of the best series in the 120 year long history of Cricket. Vaughan was emacualte and suttle in his calculations. In that whole series his decision were accurate regarding his selection of the playing 11 and the timely bowling changes. He backed Kevin Pietersen to make debut in an ever intense ashes Rivalry replacing the out of form Graham Thorpe who had been great performer for England in the past. This decision proved to be one of the series changing decision as Pietersen went on to be the highest scorer for the whole series and was the only one who whacked The Aussie great Shane warne all around the park. He also brought in players like Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard, Harmison, Ashley Giles and Ryan Sidebottom who all saw their hay days under his Captainship.  One of the Exceptional Tactics adopted by him was how he managed to keep Gilchrist quiet during the whole series. Whenever Gilly Came on to bat he ordered his bowlers especially Flintoff, Harmison and Jones to bowl round the wicket and full away swinging ball to him with packed off side field having 2 slips and 2 gullies and the whole series Gilchrist kept on falling to the same trap and getting out in the same fashion either edging it to slip or to gully.  He was one of the best captains that England has ever had and one of the finest of all time.

While were many others who made a notable contribution to the world of cricket like Stephen Fleming of New Zealand, Sangakkara and Jayawardene for Sri Lanka Nasser hussain and more but these are the few who stood out due to their attitude and unconventional strategies and tactics. One more promising candidiate in this field is the new entrant Michael Clarke who seems to have made a promising start to his captainship career with a very high win percentage. And whats more is that he has been trained and influenced by  Shane Warne one of the greatest captain of cricket never to be.  The future thus seems to be bright for him and we should look forward to his stint at the so called 2^nd toughest job only next to the PM of Aus.

CRICKET- A MIND GAME

A Legendary cricketer once said, "WHEN YOU ARE BOWLIING JUST DON’T THINK WHERE TO PITCH THE BALL, RATHER   BEFORE DELIVERING ASK  YOURSELVES HOW ARE YOU PLANNING  TO GET THE BATSMEN OUT AND THEN SET THE FIELD AND BOWL ACCORDINGLY."  Wondering who this man was??? THE GREATEST CAPTAIN OF CRICKET JUST NEVER TO BE…. MR. SHANE WARNE!!!!!!!    So its quite obvious that cricket is just not a physical game its played more in the minds then in the fields. The result of a match is more or less determined by how you approach the game and how well you prepare and strategize about the intricacies of it. So what are  these strategies and mind games we are talking about here…. First of all let me make it clear that mind games does not mean sledging. Its way beyond sledging.  Sledging no doubt is a mind game but it’s the weapon of the weak and frustrated than the talented and confident. While dealing with sledging it can be seen with two different perspectives.. from the batsmen’s and the bowler’s perspective. While I feel the batsmen should never complaint about being sledged because he is out there to bat and should try on concentrate on that as when he gets out it would be rather because of a pretty good ball or a bad shot and if the reason for the bad shot was that he was being sledged then its no excuse as you are playing at an international level.  Whereas the bowler or the fielding team should not sledge as this just shows their weakness and lack of confidence in their  ability to get the batsmen out. As I said for a wicket to fall it should rather be a very good ball or a bad shot and there are  many other ways to induce a bad shot from the batsmen other than sledging. So what are the mind games that we are discussing here.. first and the most simple of all is to bowl consistently at a probing line and length and inducing a mistake this tests the patience and temperament of the batsmen. The other things are attack at his weakness  or block his strength for eg. Everyone knows Raina is uncomfortable with short ball so attack him there or when the English and the Africans realized that Hayden  used to play too straight and drove in the air while playing straight they used to have a fielder right next to the runner challenging him to hit there as a result Hayden had to curb his shots and play ultra carefully, and not to mention the English and the Africans  had their fair bit of success with these strategies. 

 While these were some strategies regarding the batsmen some other are just simple plans to get the batsmen thinking and make a mistake for example…   the Aussies used to have pretty good bowlers and with great pace not so long ago so they used to go in for a DOUBLE BLUFF-  i.e. they used to keep two fielders  one at fine leg and other at deep square leg on the hook  at the legside boundary for a mistimed pull or a hook shot,  and then keep on bowling bouncers so what used to happen was either the batsmen hooked and got out  or watching the two fielders at the boundary   they start expecting a short delivery and the bowler on the contrary bowled a straight and full ball to either get him bowled or trap him LBW. And the captain was smart enough to do these field changes purposely coming in front of the batsmen so that he notices the field change. Even when Warne used to bowl, many of the times Ponting used to set fields by standing at the side  of the pitch in front of the batsmen and letting him know what he is doing and where the field is going so that he is mindfull of the fielders while playing.  Another  strategy was when you know that a batsmen is good at drives but is vulnerable early in his innings and gets cought out in the slips while driving regular enough.. what the bowlers used to do was to bowl two balls in a row pretty full early in his innings to get him flashing his bat and in to a driving mode and then suddenly have a follow up ball just about at a perfect length to get him fending at it and to be cought at slip. By this way you might give away two boundaries but also get a fair chance of getting him out. And no need to mention the best exponent of this strategy was Glenn Mcgrath with his impeccable line and length. Whereas other simple strategies involve leaving  covers open while a inswing bowler or an off spinner is bowling so as to invite the batsmen to drive through the covers and as he would attempt to do so there would be a gap between the bat and the pads so that the inswing bowler or the off spinner can get through the gates to either bowl him or get him lbw. And similarly if an outswing bowler or a leg spinner is bowling captains tend to have mid wicket region empty so that he is induced to play an onn-drive leading  to either the batsmen knicking the ball to the slips or getting a leading edge to covers… Both the times the batsmen is invited to play against the movement of the ball.  Some other things include just as simple as a short leg or a silly point just to get you tensed, or the effort or a presence of  a diving fielder who gets you weary of taking a single and ultimately results into a runout … all these and many more are the strategies applied by many successful captains and bowlers around the world to get the batsmen out. As I always believe that any player who reaches the international level has the required talent and skill to be there  but the only thing that keeps you there is the ability to win these mind games and the determination to not to fall into the above traps… and that is what seperates the greats from the others. As you might have seen many players with immense talent  fail to make a mark just like Lou Vincent from New Zealand or why not  Yuvraj Singh (with the amount of talent he has he could have done a lot better) and the rather less talented and skillful people with great determination not just hang on but make a big contribution for eg. Paul Collingwood of England.  The ones with both the talent, skill and the determination  go on to become the legends of the game.  And as the saying goes  the one who succeeds is not the one who has the talent and ability to do so but it’s the one who converts  this talent and ability into determination and performance. And to those performers its not the mind game that gets  them out often… for them you got to bowl a great ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!