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?
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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?
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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
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They are not called Chokers for nothing. They inspire hope, excitement and confidence till they lose at the final frontier.
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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.

It is a Gentlemen's game - There is no place for indscipline

A nice article from Cricinfo's chronicles. It takes a cue from history and shows us why discipline is important for the game.

When the boot was on the other foot

Analysis continued

In my last post Analyze this I didn't write anything about SL or Ireland. Frankly speaking there is nothing to write about. I don't feel there is any chink in SL's armour while Ireland has too many. The only small thing I could notice is that SL's middle order is low on international T20 experience. Given their current form, it will be tough to beat them. I will not be surprised if SL lift the T20 World cup.

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...

Ponting's poor run continues

Ponting and Australia, yet again, have been fined for slow over-rates.

Australia rapped for slow over-rate

What excuse can Ponting provide this time around? They are playing in Queen's country (Queen is symbolic state head of Australia). Ponting was very harsh and critical when he was fined for getting behind the over-rate in India.

Excerpt from Ponting blames Indian batsmen for slow over rate

“I have said since I got back that there are a host of things that conspire against you in India. It is a hard place for fast bowlers to keep running in and get through their overs,” Ponting was quoted as saying in The Australian.

“The sightscreen and spectators play more of a part than they do anywhere else in the world. Their batsmen take up a lot more time than most opposition batsmen do. I mean runs cost you time as much as anything else. When a lot of boundaries are being scored that slows things down a lot,” he said.

What excuse did Ponting have when they couldn't complete requisite quota of overs in the test match against New Zealand? Excerpt from CA takes Ponting to task for slow over rates

Australian captain Ricky Ponting got a rap on the knuckles by Cricket Australia (CA) for being unable to maintain over rates in the first Test against New Zealand.Ponting was fined 30 per cent of his match fee while the other players were docked half for falling three overs short.

“The Australian team clearly needs to look into the reasons why it has not, in recent times, been on top of its game in regard to over rates. The rules and regulations are very clear and we are falling behind, which is not good enough,” CA chief executive James Sutherland was quoted as saying by The Australian.

In fact slow over-rate has been Ponting's bane and his perenial problem. Excerpt from Ponting faces flak for his excuses for slow-over rate in India

Ponting-led teams have never averaged more than the minimum of 15 overs per hour in any series since he took over from Steve Waugh for the series in Sri Lanka in 2003-04.

The best over-rate Ponting’s team has averaged in any Test series is 14.74 per hour against Sri Lanka in Australia in 2004.

That is still short of the mark of 15 overs an hour set down by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Australia’s slowest over-rate in any series under Ponting was 12.78 per hour against the West Indies in the Caribbean this year — while the Indian tour last month (13.38) was the third worst.

Far too many people, including former captains Steve Waugh and Ian Chappel, have critisized him for his on-field tactics but does he listen? A choice of articles from the web

Ricky Ponting under fire after over rates farce
Steve Waugh joins list of Ponting critics
Lame over-rate, lame excuse

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...

Australia and test cricket

There was an interesting thought in an article that appeared in The Hindustan Times today.

Excerpt from Aussies look to stave off early exit
Aussie dominance in cricket has always been built on a mental strength. Australians prey on the physical and mental weaknesses of their opposition. Mental disintegration has been the method of approach for Australia for a while now.But that becomes a bit of a problem in T20s There is hardly the time Aussies need to prey on the opposition’s weakness. By the time, they figure out what they need to do to get under the skin, the game is gone.

It is an interesting thought and there might be some truth in it. The most important reason for their dominance in test cricket is their seriousness about it. They plan extremely well for the test matches and ensure that their plan are executed to the perfection including "mental disintegration".

Refer to my earlier post Why Australia is the best test team in world?