I didn’t pay too much heed to the limited and scarce number of transfers that I had in my bag, instead, the strategy suggested by Nicklaus, my alter ego was slam the minnows hard. And I listened. Unforeseen travel plans stained the original blueprint. I was to have no access to the Internet for a good four days. In a desperate bid to amass the points, I packed my team with South Africans and Pakistanis. Eleven of them in all. The two were scheduled to play against a couple of ordinary minnows on the same day. I requested Sharandeep to log into my account and adjust my captains accordingly. Afridi in the morning and AB post lunch. Both Afridi, and AB slammed Man of the Match performances. I had made my point. I have nothing to prove to the world anymore. I had stacked up the points and ranked 1798 in the world. And that remains my highest ranking in anything that I have attempted in life until this point in time.
The following week, India was scheduled to play a couple of ordinary minnows, and England on the weekend. Three games in seven days. Nicklaus insisted that I stack Indians. I did. Yuvraj Singh was the unanimous choice for captain because he, like Ganguly can score the runs and knock the wickets only against ordinary opposition. And how! Fifties and bags of wickets! And successive Man of the Match awards. Yuvraj had repaid my faith in him. I retained him in my team and retained his captaincy services in the game against the West Indies. He was Man of the Match then again.
In the mean time, Afridi and Watson added points to my tally in the background. My focus was on Australia though. They’d be playing a couple of very ordinary minnows, and Pakistan on the weekend. In all, three games in the week. I stacked them in, all six of them. Much to my disappointment, they didn’t stack up the points as expected. Nicklaus had failed me.
And I was under the impression that I had to walk into the quarter finals with my final XI. And that I’d have all of 10 transfers thereon. On the day, I found out that I had unlimited transfers available until the start of the first quarter final. A complete failure of strategy, a strategy that had seared me up to greatness has come crumbling down.
Nevertheless, I walk into the quarter finals stacked like this:
I had however topped all of the two leagues that I am listed in for most of the four weeks of the league stages of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. I finish this round on 11161 points, ranked 4289 on the world stage, my second highest ranking in everything that I have attempted in life thus far. I’m now second on each of those two leagues. Sharandeep has taken over.
I had entrusted my faith in S Ajmal, R Ashwin and S Akhtar. These gentlemen however didn’t play any of the games that I’d picked them for. I ban these gentlemen from my future teams. R Ashwin, however will be under a period of probation. He will be considered for future selections if he abstains from fish. Dhoni however, receives a life ban for not playing for the crowds. At the end of the day, the players play for their country, to repay the faith of the national selectors, their team etc. but most importantly, they play for those who’ve picked them in their ESPN Fantasy Cricket team.
]]>Tendulkar still looks rock solid and good for another century
]]>There was only one chance the South Africans had for picking a wicket when Morkel got the ball to nip a bit off the seam, got Sehwag’s edge, the ball flew a bit wide of the keeper, the keeper didn’t go for it.
Tendulkar looks rock solid and well set for a big one. Sehwag looks a bit iffy but seems to be controlling himself. He is not going the see-the-ball hit-the-ball way
There seems to be a little something-in-it for the spinners. Bhajji might enjoy that, if the dew and his average form doesn’t play spoilsport.
17th over – Sehwag out to a rubbish shot to a ball of Faf du plea …. I don’t know how to spell that, bit I am sure you know who….
]]>I am always game for an upset
They will have to play really well to pull this off. 2 big partnerships, I say.]]>
Now Mr Gavaskar thinks that with Yuvraj coming back into form and bowling equally well gives Dhoni a chance to bring in Raina and drop a bowler as Yuvraj would be the 4th bowler and Raina and Pathan can complete the 5th bowler’s quota. Thus giving the top guys the license to play it like a 20-20 match.
Now please tell me I am not the only one who thinks that this idea as cool as it sounds is Gavaskar’s insecurity and senility talking
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It’s another game at the belt-the-bowler pitch at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. Ireland must be super high on confidence. Having chased 327 runs against England the other day, Ireland must surely feel that in all fairness someone should have handed over the world cup to them the other night and let the rest of the tournament continue as a mere formality. Kevin O’Brien was quoted by DNA saying “We can beat India.” I call that super duper confidence and all that confidence really helps.
I went back to my beer buddies and asked, ‘Do you’ll think Ireland can beat India?’ They all said ‘Pagal hai kya?’ (Are you mad?). A few years ago there would have been so much pessimism about Team India, that at least a couple of them would have said ‘Abey India ka na koi bharosa nahi hai… Kenya bhi thok dega (you can’t trust India.. even Kenya might thrash them).
Anything can happen in a cricket match, but the odds are heavily stacked against Ireland in their next encounter against India.
India would have learned a lot from their mistakes against England on the same ground. I also read somewhere that some guys-who-mattered at Bangalore were disgusted with the one sided contest between bat and ball and were starting to feel sorry for the bowlers. After a drink or two they decided that the pitch should not be watered at all for the India v Ireland game.
Bizarre as this may sound, it is completely believable. This means that there will be some help for the spinners. No host nation would want their much adored ‘Team India’ to be plastered by an unheard of non test playing Irish team.
So if Ireland wants to win, Kevin and Co better practice playing spin in the nets. I don’t think they play spin too well (Note: Swan had the best figures in the England side).
I feel Dhoni is better off making Ireland bat first. With India having the batting line up that they have, Ireland will surely go for a 300 plus total and in the process might not even get to 220.
Even if India bat first, they have a line up good enough to score 350(If the pitch behaves the same).
I don’t see Ireland chasing even 280 against India. I don’t think Ireland can beat India.]]>
After a stunning performance against England, the Irish have managed to do a few things that add novelty to the ongoing Cricket discussions. So I asked a few cricket loving, beer loving friends of mine, ‘Did you see the Ireland match?’ (Note that no reference of England was required at all). Haan yaar kya thok dala na… Kya mara yaar voh sale ne (yes dude they hammered them… that guy hit them so cleanly).
I couldn’t agree more. Kevin O’Brien didn’t seem to hit a single mistimed shot, not a single edge. Almost everything he hit with intent was headed to the ropes. Kevin got his first 50 off 30 balls and the second 50 of just 20 balls. Let us also not forget the support provided by Cusak and Mooney. Kevin, Cusak and Mooney looked so calm towards the end of the game as if they were chasing 327 for the umpteenth time and knew exactly which ball to hit to the fence and which ones to defend.
So how did Ireland really win? Yes the obvious answer is Kevin O’Brien won it for them. However apart from the brilliant innings a few other things stand out that Ireland did brilliantly and England failed miserably at.
Firstly let me re-emphasize that 300 runs is not a winning total, especially on the flat bowler-killer-batting-track at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
Now coming back to what England did not do. The English fast and medium pacers were a one pace attack. They barely bowled any across the seam cutters to upset the batsman’s rhythm. They did not try many slower balls. Not a single English bowler showed even a hint of reverse swing. They are all hit-the-deck bowlers and on that pitch the ball just sat up begging to be hit.
In contrast Johnston and Mooney bowled some brilliant cutters and variation balls for Ireland in the last 4 overs. England scored just 27 runs in the last 4 and lost 4 wickets.
In the Ind vs Eng match on the same ground, Zaheer Khan bowled some brilliant reverse swinging balls that got India back into the game that eventually ended in a tie.
Lack of variation in bowling is what cost England the match.]]>
300 runs is no more a winning total in a 50 over one day international game. Especially in the sub continent where most of the pitches are flat batting tracks and are burial grounds for the fast and medium pacers. So then let us look at the conditions in which bowlers can pick up wickets on these tracks. There are precious few.
Firstly if there is conventional swing on offer with the new ball, bowlers have a bit of a chance. However that rarely happens in a day-night game.
The new ball usually swings in the morning session of a test match for the first 10-15 overs (and lets not forget that it’s the red SG ball used in Test Matches in India that swings more due to its pronounced seam… Kookaburra usually does not like to swing as much).
Spinners always have a better chance in the sub continent, especially if there is some bounce in the wicket or some early wear and tear both on the pitch and the ball.
Now a fast bowler’s main weapon on the subcontinent has to be reverse swing. A ball which is about 35 Overs old, a bit soft and knocked around the park a little bit is ideal for reverse swing. Reverse swing is one of the most lethal weapons a fast bowler possesses in the sub-continent to get even with the batsman who has been knocking them silly for most part of 35 Overs. So bowlers could then come back, restrict the batsmen and the oppositions total to about 250 – 260. This made for a half way decent contest between the bat and the ball.
The head-scratchers at ICC are obviously not bowlers or are not cricketers at all. They must be some MBA grads who came up with a marketing strategy to make the game more interesting. How do we do that? We need more runs. How do we get more runs? KILL reverse swing. How do we KILL reverse swing?
Mandatory ball change in the 35th over.
The changed ball is scrubbed a little bit, but it’s hard and the seam is intact. So for the batsmen, its rewind to the first 15 overs and as if that wasn’t enough they are given additional 5 overs of power play which can be taken at any time in the game. Guess what is the best time to take it? Yes you are right. 35th over when the ball is changed.
Now do you think 300 runs is a winning total on a flat batting track? If the side batting first cruised to 300 then you can rest assured that the side batting second can get there if they keep their heads. No heroics required.
Yes the ball gets dirty and difficult to pick (see) for the batsmen. But that usually happens around the 40th over. Batsmen start complaining around the 35th because a reversing ball reverses late and is difficult to play if bowled with a certain degree of accuracy.
In the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, IND v/s ENG, Zaheer Khan produced a peach of a delivery in the 42nd over to Andrew Strauss batting at 158. The ball reversed and reversed late. It’s not that Strauss couldn’t see the ball – the ball had been changed, it reversed late and was unplayable. That wicket brought India back into the match which eventually ended in a tie. For me Zaheer Khan was the Man of the Match just for that one delivery that changed the entire course of the game.
It was also a reminder that inspite of ICC’s best efforts, reverse swing is dead but not quite.
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