Then - They Romped! Now - Dumped! (Part-2)

The match against the host became the most important match of the tournament with both the teams facing a do or die situation as England too lost their opening match against SA. Ahead of the match, it became a news that England would replace the spinner - Rashid with Sidebottom, the pacer. And how did India prepare for the match? The team made the practice session as optional. And Dhoni’s response was that a single practice session will not better a player. (Did these fellows skip practice during the IPL or were there any optional practice sessions then? Or does a person like Sachin skip practice simply because he knows to play every shot?) This is purely an example of over-thinking! —1

Match day: It was one of those games, where you expect India to do too well and they end up doing just the opposite. The toss was won and Dhoni elected to chase!!??!! (Another surprising decision! Why would you want to put yourself under more pressure when there exists some already? It’s well known that the last time they met, India piled up runs - with Yuvaraj’s whacks - and put them under pressure, eventually won - though not convincingly. Moreover, this team is touted to have the best batting line-up on paper! Was the result of the previous match a distraction?) —2

Bowling: With RP coming in, the powerplay overs were kept tight after the wicket of Wright! And out came a surprise decision to bowl Yuvaraj Singh (was that an experiment?). The over costed 11 runs. (The last ball was the ugliest - a short pitch down the leg-side which was fortunately whacked only for 4!) Yuvi was not getting it right, but was again handed the ball for the 9th over (to prove that the experiment failed) and 10 more added to the total. —3

The positive thing was Jadeja’s bowling. He maintained a tight line throughout his spell but for a full-toss dispatched to the stands by KP. And he was rewarded well with the best 2 wickets of Bopara and KP. Harbhajan did bowl well and his figures read well too, at the end of the match. But he was one culprit when he bowled the 2 wides on the leg-side which eventually hit the ropes - thus costing 10 runs out of nothing. Of course, one of them was a mis-field by Yuvi at short-fine leg (which incidentally cost 3 extra runs that was the difference between the two teams in the end). —4

Ishanth’s bowling on that day could be very much compared to Agarkar’s during the 99 world cup (both are KKR mates :-)). And Zaheer was brought to bowl the 19th over which costed 12 runs (and an insignificant wicket). Why was RP not allowed to bowl his 4th over inspite of him bowled well in the match? Any captain would like the bowler with the figures 3-0-13-1, to complete his spell! In my opinion, RP should have replaced Ishanth than Irfan, who can bat as well! —5

Batting: As expected, England started bowling short balls. Gambhir was fortunate not to get out in the 1st over! Rohit sharma, survived one inside edge, but perished with another, attempting a pull off Sidebottom. And Raina too was uncomfortable with the short balls and ended his stay by top-edging a pull off the same bowler. Wouldn’t some practice have helped them a little? With 2 wickets down and the score reading not much, in came Ravindra Jadeja - one who had not batted in any of the earlier matches and when Yuvi was in top form! No prices for guessing - Gambhir played the waiting game but then, Jadeja started to compete with him in the same fashion, thus enhancing the required rate to climb notches up! It was another bad decision, considering the form that Yuvi was in and the match situation too. And the way he hit the first ball he faced, for a straight six! May be he wanted to prove a point against the bowler – Mascarenhas! —6

Credit should go to the England bowlers, for they bowled a very tight line, with very few looseners. When Yuvi got out for a brilliant work behind the stumps, pressure competed with the required rate to become sky-scrappers. As has been the story of the tournament, Dhoni just could not dispatch the ball air-borne. But for the 2 edges that went past the keeper for 4, his strike rate would have just been close to a 100 (which has become more common in a 50 over match for him! “Score run-a-ball – remain not out”). Though Yousuf Pathan at the other end, cleared the ropes a couple of times, he could not keep it going. Broad bowled a very good 19th over giving away just 9 runs when 28 was required off the last 2. But the damage was done much earlier. The last ball four (hit in the air by Dhoni!!!!) just narrowed the margin of victory and officially called for the removal of the last finger on the cup! What happened to Dhoni’s big hitting which brought him to limelight? Should a captain not take his chances even when his team is facing an exit from the tournament? —7

England had a sweet revenge for what happened 2 years ago. The defending champs only got ‘boos’ from the crowd, a rarity for a Dhoni led team.

Start to wonder who let Dhoni down? – His STARS or his PLANETS??

Then - They Romped! Now - Dumped! (Part-1)

Couple of weeks back, if someone had said that Australia would exit from the T20 World Cup at the earliest instant, he would’ve been laughed away. But as days went by, they were the first test playing nation to exit from the tournament! Thanks to the nature of the game, teams like Netherlands could beat England and Ireland could stare at the eyes of the Lankans. So, what of the defending champions led by one of the charismatic captains the country had seen? As I write, they, by all means, have lost all their chances of getting thier hands on the cup, which they had won in great style two years back.

To put it bluntly, they did the unexpected in both the editions - in 2007, they were so new to the format and were not expected to win; this time - they were expected to defend the title, though teams like South Africa and Pakistan were expected to throw a big challenge, (Incidentally, Pak has the biggest win % in T20 cricket.) but they are out!

India did have a considerable practice in the form of IPL with the cream of performers getting selected in the 15. (Of course, Ishant had a bad IPL!) Though the warm-up matches should not be much read into, they lost to New Zealand (a team whom they had not beaten in T20 in all the 3 matches played) and defeated Pakistan (a team whom they had beat in both the T20 matches played).

Though Bangladesh is considered a tricky opponent and Ireland came to the light beating Pakistan in the 2007 50-over world cup, the two matches did not pose a great challenge and victories against them was clinical and ensured them a place in the Super-8s. The real challenge started then on where they were pit in the group comprising West Indies, England and South Africa.

The first encounter against the Caribs was lost at two places - the first and the last 6 overs of the match. In the former - they lost 3 wickets for few runs and in the latter, they leaked too many runs. Thanks to Fidel edwards and dwayne Bravo, the whole cricketing world came to know the weakness of this batting line-up - The short-pitched deliveries! Yuvaraj was the only solace in that match.