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...

'West Indies aiming for top five by 2015' - Sammy

WI captain Darren Sammy has laid down team's vision. And voila...what do we have?

'West Indies aiming for top five by 2015' - Sammy

A management theory says that one should have achievable goals; so we have WI captain gunning for top 5 in a group of 9 test playing nations. I wish them all the best.

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.

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.

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...

Why Australia, WI and SL are in one group in ICC T20 World Cup?

Is it pure (bad) luck that Australia, SL and WI are slotted together in group playoffs for Super 8?

The answer is simple 'no'.

There are 12 teams competing in 2009 T20 World Cup. 9 of the 12 teams, including Bangladesh, are ICC full-members countries while remaining 3 (Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands) qualified through a qualifying tournament.

These 12 teams are divided in 4 groups of 3 each based on their seedings. As it is in other sports (like in Lawn Tennis Grand Slams), the teams are divided into groups based on their seedings. The seedings are based on inaugural T20 World Cup played in 2007. Top 4 seeded teams from 2007 World Cup are placed in separate groups. The next 4 seeded teams are placed in these same groups in the reverse order while the last 4 seeds are slotted based on similar logic. WI didn't win a single game in 2007 World Cup in group playoffs; by virtue of their poor performance they are seeded 11th.



2007 seedings and current groupings

Group A: 1-India, 8-Bangladesh, 9-Ireland

Group B: 2-Pakistan, 7-England, 10-Netherlands

Group C: 3-Australia, 6-SL, 11-WI

Group D: 4-NZ, 5-SA, 12-Scotland



So Australia and SL can blame WI for making it difficult for them at group stage. Or they can treat it as an opportunity in disguise; they will be better prepared for Super 8 if they qualify for it.

As for WI, I don't think they have a strong team to challenge either SL or Australia. Predictions, based on team strength can go wrong. As we have seen in 2007 World Cup and recently in IPL, in this format reputation does not matter; course of a match can change in couple of overs and a weak team can beat a potentially strong team. But the chances of WI losing at group stage look very strong.

And if WI lose again, they can look forward to anther group of death in next World Cup.Well! They can certainly blame themselves for 2007 debacle.

Why Australia is the best test team in world?

Australians got a stiff competition from SA and India in 2008. Australians barely managed to overcome stiff Indian resistance in their own backyard while Indians trounced them 2-0 in India. India is a vastly improved test side from what it was 2 years ago. On the other hand SA was on the verge of dethroning Australia as number 1 test side in the world. Alas! They stumbled at the last step. Some would say that they are perennial chokers.

I think, even though SA and India have challenged Australian hegemony over last few years, Australia will remain number 1 team in times to come. In my earlier post "Why is Australia the number 1 team?" we looked at one aspect of Australian cricket - their bench strength. But more than their bench strength, it is their seriousness about about the test cricket that sways the ranking in their favour. Test cricket is considered to be the holy grail in Australia. 2008 was just an aberration for Australian cricket.

When the best players of the were playing in IPL 2009, Australian stalwarts were resting at home. They renounced playing lucrative IPL and also didn't participate in one dayers against Pakistan. Why so? Because they wanted to keep themselves fresh for Ashes. While IPL was in full flow, the voices emanating from Australian cricket suggested that the team was getting into groove for Ashes. Even today, when rest of the world is focused on ICC T20 championship (which is just round the corner), all the news coming from Australian team is about Ashes preparation.

ICC T20 championship is the most prestigious international T20 tournament in the world. Barring 1 or 2 T20 matches in a bilateral series, all the teams play international T20 matches only during ICC T20 championship. And what is the news from Australian camp about ICC T20 championship? Nothing...This says it all. Australians attach immense importance to test cricket and that is why they have been so successful in this format.

What hopes does Australia have in ICC T20 championship? Even though they are placed in group of Death, along with WI and SL, Australia has a strong T20 team. They should be able to go through to next round. Anyway, that is another story...