Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Joy in Hobart
Irrespective of the qualification for the CB Series Final, the win with a Bonus point has served the purpose that sport ultimately is all about.The participants and those watching should be filled with joy.Sri Lanka batted well but clearly Kohli and Raina were enjoying their game.This was the element missing in Australia earlier.Belief in oneself and a pivot of the team are necessary.In Kohli India has found that crucial playmaker.
Joy in Hobart
Irrespective of the qualification for the CB Series Final, the win with a Bonus point has served the purpose that sport ultimately is all about.The participants and those watching should be filled with joy.Sri Lanka batted well but clearly Kohli and Raina were enjoying their game.This was the element missing in Australia earlier.Belief in oneself and a pivot of the team are necessary.In Kohli India has found that crucial playmaker.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Et tu Brute! Done in the ODIs as well!
Something must be rotten in the BCCI world,as the World Champion team has been playing sub par cricket in CB Series and have quickly managed to get itself eliminated.England rallied from a 3-0 whitewash to win the ODI series in the UAE, however Indians have gone from one defeat to another with such aplomb that it is difficult to appreciate that this indeed is the World Cup winning team.Only Yuvraj singh is missing from the Team that won the World Cup and the team is playing poor cricket all round.
Several myths appear to have gone bust.One is something that is not borne by sustained set of convincing data about Sehwag being a good one day opening batsman,his 219 notwithstanding.Even at the World Cup, his ordinariness was covered by Gambhir.He may be scoring at a quicker pace but Saurabh Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar outpace him by miles in matter of partnerships and winning matches.Another is that the young players are good enough to carry on on their own in ODIs.They will do well at home but struggle against good teams on sporting surfaces.Only Kohli looks to be a genuine prospect and settles one middle order slot for sometime.Sehwag has lost the plot by thinking that natural game and genius that he possesses is siuted to ODIs.He is best suited for tests.It will not be for the first time that he will lose his Test place because of continued failure in ODIs.
Ranji Trophy is played in the best season in this country for outdoors.BCCI can make it a spectacle.Imagine a Bengal vs railways Match in Central delhi with a bengali Food Festival for four days.Ticket Prices could include a buffet.there could be some music as well.Two of the days could be weekends.It is not as desperate as it sounds.
Television does not necessarily make an event a success.India vs France was low quality hockey with medium or low TRP but 15000 people in the stadium madefor a festival atmosphere.Cricket should learn.With so many children playing Tennis and Football and following various leagues around Europe, it is matter of time that cricket will face competition to generate eyeballs.
The generation now in their forties have all been weaned on diet of well attended domestic matches and ALL India Radio providing them ball by ball coverage.This generation will retire in over a decade but live for at least three decades thereafter.several of them will be well healed pensioners.Cricket could build on this generation like in England.The grand children they take to the matches Tests and Domestic would make for the future generation of cricketers.
Several myths appear to have gone bust.One is something that is not borne by sustained set of convincing data about Sehwag being a good one day opening batsman,his 219 notwithstanding.Even at the World Cup, his ordinariness was covered by Gambhir.He may be scoring at a quicker pace but Saurabh Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar outpace him by miles in matter of partnerships and winning matches.Another is that the young players are good enough to carry on on their own in ODIs.They will do well at home but struggle against good teams on sporting surfaces.Only Kohli looks to be a genuine prospect and settles one middle order slot for sometime.Sehwag has lost the plot by thinking that natural game and genius that he possesses is siuted to ODIs.He is best suited for tests.It will not be for the first time that he will lose his Test place because of continued failure in ODIs.
Ranji Trophy is played in the best season in this country for outdoors.BCCI can make it a spectacle.Imagine a Bengal vs railways Match in Central delhi with a bengali Food Festival for four days.Ticket Prices could include a buffet.there could be some music as well.Two of the days could be weekends.It is not as desperate as it sounds.
Television does not necessarily make an event a success.India vs France was low quality hockey with medium or low TRP but 15000 people in the stadium madefor a festival atmosphere.Cricket should learn.With so many children playing Tennis and Football and following various leagues around Europe, it is matter of time that cricket will face competition to generate eyeballs.
The generation now in their forties have all been weaned on diet of well attended domestic matches and ALL India Radio providing them ball by ball coverage.This generation will retire in over a decade but live for at least three decades thereafter.several of them will be well healed pensioners.Cricket could build on this generation like in England.The grand children they take to the matches Tests and Domestic would make for the future generation of cricketers.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Certainly better than the Team of 1983 in ODIs
The current Indian Team is the ODI World Champion.The Indian Team has had troubled times in tests.But in ODIs, they are still rather good.They first defeated the west Indies and then They lost fighting to England, pummeled them 5-0 and then easily beat the West Indies.And now they have after dropping a game to the No.1 ranked side, defeated the World Cup runners up and the World No.1 back to back in tough matches.The same cannot be said of Kapil's team which was thrashed so badly by the West Indies in ODIs that Kapil was no longer the captain when India won the World Championship in Australia in 1985.
It must be said of KapilDev and his core team that they remained a competitive Test Team and in 1986 won a series in England 2-0 in 1986.That is the biggest margin by which an Indian team has won a Test series away outside of Bangladesh.They had won 3-1 against Newzealand in 1968 but there was one loss, though the margin remains the same.
Gambhir,Kohli, Ashwin and Yadav can be the core of the team which can win by a bigger margin abroad and achieve the first Test series win in Australia and South Africa.India can build a team which can be good across the two formats like the Australians till recently.
It must be said of KapilDev and his core team that they remained a competitive Test Team and in 1986 won a series in England 2-0 in 1986.That is the biggest margin by which an Indian team has won a Test series away outside of Bangladesh.They had won 3-1 against Newzealand in 1968 but there was one loss, though the margin remains the same.
Gambhir,Kohli, Ashwin and Yadav can be the core of the team which can win by a bigger margin abroad and achieve the first Test series win in Australia and South Africa.India can build a team which can be good across the two formats like the Australians till recently.
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