Skip to main content

Better than expected

After the first nine days of the tournament, I have to say that the quality of matches has been better than expected, maybe because so many of the top teams are relatively evenly matched making results difficult to predict. Still early in the tournament, but so far Australia, South Africa and Pakistan look a cut above the rest which I suppose points to the fact that in sub-continental conditions the teams with the best bowling will usually be on top in a tournament this long. India have been shockingly poor in the field even by their usually indifferent standards and a semi-final place will need a lot of luck.

The scheduling of the tournament is still the worst part of it though. Why there aren't two matches each day is unfathomable as is the fact that India play South Africa in Nagpur where crowds aren't bothering to turn up whereas Eden Gardens plays host to Ireland v. Netherlands and Kenya v. Zimbabwe, surely the two most anticipated clashes! ;-) Politics is clearly well and alive in Indian cricket scheduling and its a pity that the ICC doesn't come down more heavily on these sorts of goings-on.

So my predictions after the first round of data would be Australia vs. India in one semi and South Africa vs. Pakistan in the other. After that the head and the heart diverge. India vs. Pakistan at the Wankhede on Apr 2nd would be lovely but my feeling is it will be Aus vs. SA with the Proteas to win their first title. I'm sure I'll be eating my words soon but lets see :-)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Et tu?

As a single sport website, I think Cricinfo has brought about a revolution and the fact that they were bought by ESPN is testament to how highly valued they've become. Their editing and approach to articles/opinion has been refreshing to say the least and even though they seem to have had a lot of editorial staff movement they've usually maintained very high standards. Off late though, both in their headline styles as well as in actual content, there seems to be an occasional slippage of standards and an inching towards the modern media sensationalism which is a bit of a pity. This piece  by Siddharth Monga is a classic example. Granted that the last two press conferences by Dhoni and Sehwag  indicated clearly that the captain and his deputy did not agree on this aspect of selection but "discord", "dissent", "public sniping" feels rather presumptuous and heavy handed. Yes, it is a team sport but there is no reason why everyone on the team needs ...
1 comment
Read more

England in the 90s revisited and oh, for backup bowlers!

So its come to this finally. As the cliche goes, the wheel comes full circle. Australian selection policies these days resemble that of England from the 1990s :-) Took a quick look at the last two years and over 37 Test matches since 1 Jan 2008, Australia have used 36 different players. That's an average of roughly one additional/new player every 1.48 matches! Talk about instability. When compared to India (a new player every 1.94 matches), South Africa (2.14), England (2.24) it shows how things have changed in the last two years with regards to the power balance in Test cricket. What the overall stat also does not show directly is that most of these new players have been bowlers. With the exception of replacing Hayden and Symonds the batting line-up has been quite stable but the bowling has been the exact opposite. Indian spinners like Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Ashwin, and Murali Kartik must be ruing the fact that they don't have an Australian passport! The latter in parti...
2 comments
Read more

The final elusive pieces

Now that Mahendra Singh Dhoni has essentially announced his decision to stay on as skipper of the side till at least the 2015 World Cup, every ODI series India plays hereon is a stage for defining the plans and alternatives for that tournament. And none of them will be more critical than the current series against New Zealand given its the closest the team will get to play in conditions resembling that in the actual World Cup. A lot gets written about India's poor record in Test cricket away from home even though its improved hugely since the turn of the millennium. Their one-day record away from home is not outstanding either with a win-loss ratio well below 1 (though only Australia and South Africa are better). What is more concerning is the fact that Australia and New Zealand are two of the three worst venues for the team thereby making the title defence even more challenging. Their recent record and especially the win in the Champions Trophy certainly gives cause for hope ...
Post a Comment
Read more