Can this be the reason for India's recent performances?

The Indian team went to SA just before the World Cup 2011 and put up a decent show against one of the best teams in world cricket today. The SA show was followed by World Cup triumph.

However, India's cricket team has had an horrendous run in recent past. An average show in WI (one of the lower ranked teams in test cricket), abysmal show in England and Australia. So, what could be reason(s) for string of unceremonious defeats, nay, abject surrender?

Think about it the team, the captain, support staff and (of course) BCCI's whimsical ways have all remained same. The team has the required pedigree. If I think about it only one major change has happened after SA tour - change in coach.

Only time will tell if this is the real reason...

India should be proud of recently concluded test series in England

India in England 2011

India lost 4 match test series 0-4 and also lost the No. 1 mantle to England

What is there to be proud of after this abysmal showing? Well, before the series a certain self proclaimed best spinner of the World GP Swann was most vocal; he claimed that India will find difficult to play his bowling and he will come out on top. The results are for everyone to notice. Swann's figures -
4 matches - 142 overs - 529 runs - 13 wkts @ 40.69

At least Indians have dented number 1 claim of Swann. This too when the Indian batting collapsed in all 4 test matches.

It hurts to capitulate in this manner...

Can Australia redeem?

As I write, both Australia and England are fighting it out for Ashes 2010. Only time will tell who will win the series; but at the moment Australia is in dire straits. Australia is 0-1 down after 2 test matches. Even before this series started many pundits, world over, had predicted an unfaourable result for Australia.

Can Australia redeem? Do they even have a chance to come from behind and win the Ashes?

I do not have the answer. However, Australia are unlikely to be a decent force in test cricket for another 2-3 years.

I looked at the official ICC test player ranking. Although these rankings are not a fair measure to gauge team strength albeit they do tell a bit about players' ability and form.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/rankings/content/page/211270.html

I was not a wee-bit surprised to see that none of the Australian player is part of top 10 list. Does it give you any indication of times to come?

A brief history of Paistan cricket

Pakistan goes to England to play test series against Australia and England - 2010

• Shoaib Malik has been pardoned
• Kamran Akmal is part of test sqaud for Australia and England series; so is Shoaib Malik.
• Afridi renounces captaincy and test cricket after disasterous Ist test against Australia (of course no questions asked)
• Salman Butt was made the captain and the team (huffed and puffed but eventually) won
• Asif/Aamer pronounced the best fast bowling pair in the world
• Pakistan has the best bowling attack in the world
• Yousuf recalled even though he has no match practice
• Younis waiting to be recalled although he is playing in England
• Danish Kanaria replace with an unknown bowler

Is that surprising? Pakistan cricket team (courtsey their administration and infighting within team) are predictable. You can predict them to lose a test match and that too abysmally.

Alas! It is sad for world cricket. World cricket needs a strong Pakistan team . As such there are only 9 test playing nations out of which one should not have been there in first place.

Message from England! BCCI - Are you listening?

I read an interesting side story after recently concluded England-Bangladesh test series.

http://www.cricinfo.com/england/content/current/story/462319.html

An excerpt

"Steven Finn has had an impressive start to the summer and will now undertake a strengthening programme similar to that recently undertaken by Stuart Broad," said Geoff Miller, England's national selector. "This will also rule Steven out of the NatWest Series against Australia and Bangladesh before his preparation for the npower Test series against Pakistan."

 Finn is a young lad with oodles of talent. He has been undoubtedly the best bowler of both sides and has been the find of the series. Much like Ishant Sharma or Irfan Pathan in their early days. And what does England do - send him for strength training without even considering him for domestic tournaments.

Is it strange? Far from it.

It is the right way to nurture young talent. He is being told that success is not easy so the young lad should better work on it.

There is a lesson for BCCI, Indian Media and India team fans. We have a unique affinity for young talent. Whenever a young player bursts on the scene, we want him to participate in each and every game, however insignificant. We shower him with excessive praises and slowly burn him out. We always try to find the next Kapil Dev or Sachin Tendulkar.

Look where are our yesteryear bowling talents today? Munaf has dropped pace, so has Irfan, Sreesanth has attitude problem as got too much praise initially, RP Singh in no longer accurate and Ishant is wayward.

It is easy to blame all these players but we have to look within ourselves to find a solution.

We should give some time and mentor a new player properly - play him in full domestic season, slug it out on the ground with no fans, train hard, give him chance to play in few internationals so as to acclimatise him different cultures and grounds, take tips from senior players.

BCCI - Are you listening?

Analysis 2010 continued

ICC T20 World Cup 2010

This is a followup post to my last post Analysis 2010 on potential weakness of each team playing in the Super 8.

Why can SL lose?

• They are not looking like the side they were last year
• In both their group games they lacked intensity
• No other batsman apart from Jayawardene has fired

 Why can Australia lose?

• They have been inconsistent. They performed well against Pakistan but lost the track against Bangladesh.
• So far they have an extremely poor record in T20. Read my earlier post Australian Team is favourite

Why can India lose?

• The dreaded C word - Complacency. They are the champions or so the Indian Media and fans think.
• The weakness from last world cup might haunt them again - short pitched bouncers.

Why can WI lose?

• The dreaded I word - Inconsistency.

Evey team has chinks in its armour. And in T20 form on the match day matters more than anything else. However, I think it will be extremely difficult for NZ, Pakistan and SL to reach the semis.

Analysis 2010

ICC T20 World Cup 2010

This post is similar to my last year's post on second edition of ICC T20 World cup.

Analyze this

Like in last year's post I have analyzed what chinks hinder a team to not go on and win the tournament. I am writing this post just before the start of Super 8s. We have had a look at teams' form while teams have had a look at weather and ground conditions.

According to Lardbrokes, at the time of writing, Australia are still favourites with odds at 3. In fact they have improved their odds since tournament beginning. India and SA hold the next 2 positions with odds at 4 and 5 respectively. Also look at my last post

Australian Team is favourite

Let us see why a team can lose.

Why can Pakistan lose?

• The dreaded I word - Inconsistency. One their day they are world beaters and another day they are worse than a club cricket team.
• Nothing remains permanent in Pakistan cricket - They have a new captain who has a history of being on the wrong side of cricket administration and a new team which is low on experience.
• Batting looks weak as compared to other teams.

They can take heart from the fact that their batting fought hard against Australian bowling.

Why can NZ lose?

• The dreaded D word - They are perennial Dark Horses. They raise the expectations of their fans by giving a good fight but never go on and win a big tournament.
• They are a formidable unit but they struggled against lackadaisical SL.

Why can SA lose?

• The dreaded C word - They are not called Chokers for nothing. They inspire hope, excitement and confidence till they lose at the final frontier.
• They were unable to put up a decent fight against India team who were missing key players. Their batsmen struggled against part-time spinners.
• They were unable to put up a decent total against a inexperienced bowling attack of Afghanistan.

Why can England lose?

• The dreaded F word - They are a formidable unit but at the same time fickle in nature. They played well against WI only going on to lose due to DL system but against Ireland their batting failed miserably. And this time DL system helped them to post a win.
• Their country is the home of cricket but till now they beli all expectations of their fans in major competitions.

 Watch out for my next post for rest of the analysis.

Life mein Pyas honi chahiye

Aus vs. WI - 3rd Test
2009/10, Perth

There is an aspect of Australian cricket which is barely written or talked about - Hunger for success. This aspect again came to fore much through the 3rd test. The team might be a shade of what it was about 2 years ago. But the commitment to the game is paramount.

This aspect of Australian cricket is in addition to other aspects which have made them a very strong team. They might not be number 1 team but they still are very strong. Read my earlier posts.

http://fifth-umpire.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-is-australia-number-1-team.html

http://fifth-umpire.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-australia-is-best-test-team-in.html

A few would remember the first game of 1987 World Cup - India vs. Australia. Australia was on verge of losing but won by 1 run. That world cup could be the turning point in Australia's fortunes. Australia won the recent one day series against India, when their team was depleted and was missing 6-7 front line players. They also won the one day series handsomely against England after being beaten in Ashes this year.

I was reminded of a old Pepsi commercial which aptly describes Australian team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvmFiGVoNEc&feature=related

In my opinion they would not be able to dominate world cricket as they had but they still will be very good team to contend.

Let's pray for England win in England vs. SA test series

England start their test series campaign against SA tomorrow. Let us support and pray for them to win the series handsomely for India's cause. Lest they do, South Africa can inch up towards numero uno slot in ICC test ranking.

Consider this the other two top teams, namely South Africa and Australia, are playing 7 and 10 tests respectively in next 12 months. And India is playing only 2 tests and that too against low ranked Bangladesh. Only God can help India in retaining the top ranking.

Statisitcs say it all

Cricinfo has compiled and published some interesting statistics around English middle order today. It provides empirical evidence to some of the comments I made in my previous article.

English conundrum

The Cricinfo stats reveal that English middle order is worse than all other leading test playing nations other than NZ, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. To read the details follow

How good is England's middle order?

English conundrum

I was thinking of posting article II on BCCI Ka WADA but I could not resist commenting about English selectors predicament after reading the following article on Cricinfo

All change for The Oval?

The article talks about different middle order batting option for 5th and final Ashes Test. The article discusses as many as 14 options for middle order and, as its title suggests, hints at making wholesale changes in the team. An excerpt

England's humiliating innings defeat at Headingley has thrown the Ashes wide open and turned this weekend's squad announcement into the hottest topic of the summer. With Kevin Pietersen missing from a flat-lining middle-order, changes are sure to be considered, particularly at Nos. 3 and 4. But which players will front up at The Oval? Cricinfo casts its eye over the leading contenders

There have been many similar discussions from leading cricket analysts. In my opinion it is quite humorous that things have come to such a state. It is all media speculation right now that English selectors will change the team for final test but the selectors have made matters worse by going along with the media speculation. If England want to build a strong team in near future they should truthfully answer following Q:

1. What does selectors want to achieve by considering players for selection who were not even in radar before the 4th test started?
2. Should the selectors even debate on a player who is touching 40 and was a failure at International circuit (read Mark Ramprakash)?
3. Or should they consider someone who retired long ago because he could not take too much cricket related stress and repeatedly refused to come back to International cricket (read Marcus Trescothick)?
4. Does any of the current batsmen, apart from Pietersen and Strauss, inspire confidence?
5. Is it a happy situation that Flintoff is the second best batsman in the team after Strauss (Pietersen is nursing an injury)?
6. Is there something seriously wrong with English cricket? England has not produced a single batsmen who has averaged more than 45 in last 30 years or so.

I do not know the answers and I am not sure what ails English cricket. I just shred to think what would be the future of home of cricket. For now I will support England for 5th test even though it will be extremely difficult for them to surmount a rejuvenated Australian team.

Random Musings

• England has saved the first test. Whew! And what a test it was; Australia was so close to winning it. Even though there was no result, it was a very good advertisement for test cricket. The stadium was full and every ball was being cheered by crowd.

• Hindsight is always 6/6. After Pakistan lost the last test match many analysts questioned team composition. Checkout Former players question team composition Pakistan's cricket is troubled by many factors and team composition could be one of them. In my opinion, rather than criticizing the team after they lost the game (which they could have easily won), former players should try to improve Pakistan cricket as a whole. I think, whatever the team composition was, they should have overcome a paltry target of 167.

• John Buchanan has written some abrasive statements in his new book titled 'The Future of Cricket: The Rise of Twenty20'. It seems, after following various media reports, Buchanan has created some new controversies. Read Buchanan takes swipes at Indian stars to checkout what Buchanan has written. Buchanan has got it bang on - these controversies (whether true or untrue) will make the book profitable. Read one of earlier posts Buchanan and the art of remaining profitable to know more about Buchanan style.

• There has been some rumor about Saurav Ganguly running for BCCI chief's post. Yes, it is just a rumor and Ganguly himself has not commented anything. But if he does become BCCI chief, it would be best thing that has ever happened to BCCI. It would be a rare occurrence when an esteemed cricketer, like him, holds such a vital administrative position in BCCI.

• It feels very sad when you read headlines like Advantage Bangladesh for preview of 1st test match between WI and Bangladesh. I do not have anything against Bangladesh; in fact, I want them to become a serious test playing nation. But the fact is that they are enjoying this advantage because of weakened WI side not because of their own strengths.

There are tests and then there is Ashes

Ashes is considered as most important tournament among Australian and English fans. Fans, critics, analysts, players alike consider it to be more important than many other prestigious tournaments.

One just has to follow the news coming out of Australian and English camps to notice the premium attached to Ashes.

1. Players and important stakeholders started talking about Ashes even before Australian team landed in England. Even while they preparing for T20 World Cup (considered to be more important than a test series in all other countries), all they talked about was Ashes.
June 4, 2009
Siddle ready for Ashes taunts
June 2, 2009
Pietersen thrilled by Ashes talent pool
May 29, 2009
Ponting warns England against half-fit Flintoff
May 26, 2009
Lee and Clark no certainties for first Test
May 24, 2009
England switched Ashes venues on purpose - Ponting
May 20, 2009
England can win Ashes - Flower

2. Former players, who were moot participants in T20 World Cup were/are talking fervently about Ashes.
Don't rely on Bopara for the Ashes - Warne
Gilchrist not convinced of Flintoff's fitness
Dropping Vaughan a mistake - Warne
Hayden warns Australians on reverse-swing
Use World Twenty20 to build Ashes momentum - Gough

3. Current players are no different - they were/are talking more about Ashes even while playing in T20 World Cup.
Pietersen ready for 'big allrounder' Johnson
Siddle wants new-ball responsibility
Reverse-swing could decide Ashes - Pietersen
Fit Flintoff desperate for the Ashes
Lee and Clark train sights on Strauss

4. England set off for secret bonding session

5. England hire Ashes most successful Australian coach in the hope of winning ashes.
Buchanan agrees ECB deal

Why a bilateral test series is considered so prestigious? I do not have the answer for it. Perhaps it has something to do with maintaining the old cricket order. One thing is for sure test cricket will survive the onslaught of T20, at least in England and Australia.

Buchanan and the art of remaining profitable

Mr Buchanan, the renowned Australian coach, must have very good communication and self selling abilities which allow him to get new jobs even after sever public criticisms from the people who have worked with him.

Mr. Buchanan was able to retain his job as director of coaching staff for KKR throughout IPL 2 while they lost game after game and finished at the bottom of the league. Many renowned analysts bunked his theories and warned against his way of working but somehow retained his assignment. Some of my earlier posts touch upon his coaching style

Controversies and Team Standings
Realize your mistake and move forward
Foreign players and IPL

After IPL 2 there were rumors that he along with many of his coaching staff members will be fired. And what does he do? He not only gets a new assignment even before he is fired and that too for the most prestigious series in International cricket.

June 17, 2009
Buchanan on his way out of Kolkata Knight Riders

June 10, 2009
Buchanan agrees ECB deal

Even now the criticisms are not dying down but Mr. Buchanan is carrying on. Excerpts from Australia unruffled by Buchanan deal

Shane Watson, who is in the Ashes squad, said Buchanan would have little impact on England's campaign while the retired Stuart MacGill said the move was more likely to hurt England than help them.

MacGill said in the Daily Telegraph. "What won England the Ashes in 2005 was their bowling, and if you look at it now, we got Troy Cooley and they got John Buchanan. Troy Cooley won England the Ashes and John Buchanan lost it for us. I don't begrudge Buck for trying to make a living, but his coaching record in England isn't crash hot. He lost the Ashes and had a stint with Middlesex that also didn't work out."

Shane Warne, one of the strongest critics of Buchanan's coaching methods, couldn't resist another dig at him. Warne reckoned that Buchanan's switch would only motivate Australia to go harder at England.

"I think that's a great move because that means we've got more of a chance," Warne said. "Hopefully, Buck (Buchanan) will be doing his stuff and he'll be working and doing all his things and hopefully overcomplicating things. I reckon it gives our chances a big boost and makes our blokes more hungry. Hopefully, he gets all of them in a boot camp and Freddie (Andrew) Flintoff and (Kevin) Pietersen hurt their knees, that would be great."

Bravo! He must add a coaching course on "How to lure people into giving profitable assignments?" in his portfolio of consulting services. It will be a huge hit in these times of recession.

Passing thoughts

1. All three pre-tournament favourites of World cup are out of the competition. SA was on track till they lost semis but other 2, India and Australia, went out without troubling anyone.

Excerpt from my earlier post Why India is serious contender for the ICC T20 World Cup?
---------------------------------
The betting sites have also given best odds to India closely followed by SA and Australia. At the time of posting this articles the Ladbrokes' odds for India were 5/2 while for SA and Australia were 7/2 and 11/2 respectively.
Did anyone say odds in a T20 match change very quickly?
---------------------------------

2. Media was hounding Dhoni for his alleged rift with Sehwag when there wasn't even a shred of evidence supporting the rumour. In fact they are still hounding him because on the same issue.

But media is saying nothing about Dhoni and Kirsten. They are giving different reasons for their poor show in World Cup; Kirsten says fatigue was a big factor for India's pathetic performance while Dhoni thinks it is not the case. I think media has missed a trick or two here. How callous?

3. Two teams who qualified from group of death are still in the fray for World Cup while the team who was placed in the easiest group, read India, are out.

4. Would SA ever be able to shrug of Chokers tag?
Excerpt from my earlier post Analyze this
---------------------------------
They are not called Chokers for nothing. They inspire hope, excitement and confidence till they lose at the final frontier.
---------------------------------

5. Pakistan team is finally getting up from the right side of the bed. Pakistan fans would be hoping for an encore.

6. English and Australian teams can finally concentrate on real thing (read Ashes), now that the distractions (read T20 World Cup) is finally over for them.

Analyze this

Cricket is analysed on many fronts. In fact it is studied, examined, scrutinized and dissected from many angles before nothing notable is left. To a ardent fan the game is more than a religion and your man is no exception. ICC T20 World Cup has also been analyzed from many angles.

1. Who will win the Cup?
2. What 4 teams will reach semis?
3. What happened to Australia?
4. Is T20 a fun game?
5. What is the future of test matches?
6. etc.

Has anyone analyzed why a team would not win if at all they would not win? I think the title of this post should have been 'Analyze that'...

At the time of writing this post we are through with the first day's play of Super 8s. SA beat England while NZ beat Ireland.

Why India can lose?

• The dreaded F word - Yes, fatigue more mental than physical as they have been away from home and the country for so long. Zaheer has just recovered, Sehwag is out and captain is no longer cool (losing his temper too frequently).
• Bowling at death - Even after being 8 down Ireland could steal few runs.
• Not been tested in the tournament so far - Even Pakistan gave them a win on the platter in a warm up

Why SA can lose?

• The dreaded C word - They are not called Chokers for nothing. They inspire hope, excitement and confidence till they lose at the final frontier.
• Loosing their way while batting - They made 128 while batting against a depleted NZ side and today they huffed and puffed toward a small target of 113 against England.

Why NZ can lose?

• The dreaded D word - They are perennial Dark Horses. They raise the expectations of their fans by giving a good fight but ...
• Their best players are of the team are battling injuries

Why Pakistan can lose?

• The dreaded I word - Inconsistency. One their day they are world beaters and another day they are worse than a club cricket team
• 'It is a fun game'. Or so their captain thinks
• Nothing remains permanent in Pakistan cricket - Captains change, coaches change, administration change, players change and on top of everything their strategies towards the game change.

Why WI can lose?

• Have you seen them winning anything in this decade?

Why England can lose?

• Well they are the hosts, aren't they. If they can give opening day match to Netherlands on a platter, they should not have reached Super 8s. I am sure English fans could give many more reasons.

What ever may be the root cause of future potential defeats, a team that performs on the day and hold their nerve will win the match. It is T20 cricket - if Australia can go out so can everybody else...

Super 8s

After today's Group A and Group C matches, all Super 8 teams except for one have been decided. The last team to go into super 8 will be from Group B and it will either be Pakistan or Netherlands. All other 7 places have been decided

Refer to my earlier post on pre-tournament team seedings have played a significant role in deciding Super 8 group positions India is placed in the toughest group ICC T20 World Cup

First Super 8 group will have India, England, WI and SA. Second Super 8 group will have NZ, SL, Ireland and either Pakistan or Netherlands. Pakistan does not have a good chance to qualify; they will need to beat Netherlands by a huge margin to come into contention as their run-rate is abysmal. They, no doubt, have the talent to do it. But it will solely depend on which team from Pakistan plays against Netherlands? :)

Pakistan always play two different teams in a tournament. One is a world beater team who can win handsomely against the best of the best and another is just a bunch of players going through motions on playing field. If the world beater team comes to play against Netherlands, then only god can save them. Let's just wait and watch.

But one thing is for sure first group is a formidable group and second group (with or without Pakistan) will be a easy group. I think SL and NZ are already surreptitiously celebrating and looking forward to semis...

England Woes - First it was Netherlands and now it is media

A collection of very good articles on England's defeat in the opening match of ICC T20 world cup

England produce the perfect capitulation

Dutch courage spares organisers' blushes

Netherland's glorious final over