England - Beware!!!

England made every other competitor to stand up and look at an opponent capable enough to spoil the chance of at least one of the teams which is expected to sail to the next round. English players exhibited a rare fighting spirit which was missing so far in the tournament. The English fielded well and bowled with a disciplined line. They seldom gave chance to the Lankans who appeared to take the same strategy they employed against the Windies. They started cautiously but when they wanted to pace up the innings they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They ended up making a target which was not enough but competitive given their bowling forte.

England’s reply started off with a disaster, losing 2 quick wickets. But the Bell-Pieterson partnership showed the required maturity to steady the English ship. It did not take long for Sri Lanka to come back and England were staring at a defeat which looked unavoidable. Then the dual team of Bopara and Nixon steadied the innings and brought them closer to the target and pretty soon, England was within the reach of a great victory.
This took the action until the last ball. Victory balanced on the control of nerves and Fernando did an impressive job claiming Bopara of the very last ball of the innings. At the end, England will be ruing over the loss but Sri Lanka will gladly add the 2 vital points to its kitty and the crowd could not have asked for a better entertainment in this otherwise boring,lengthy tournament.

Gentleman's game?

It is human to fend away the blame that falls on us. But it takes a gentleman to accept one’s fault. Cricket is believed to be the gentleman’s game. Indian cricket is at the cross-roads of making an important decision towards achieving greater success in the game or fall further from this abyss, it is already in.
The animosity existing between the various sects of the Indian cricket body has resulted in each one pitting the fault against the other. It has been fashionable to put the fault on someone to save one’s own back. This is not time for that. It is time when the so called contributors to Indian cricket act mature by having an honest appraisal of them and coming out with their mistakes. Pointing fingers at each other will only make the media happy, who are waiting like vultures to witness a chaos in the cricketing body and in turn capitalize on that for their revenues. It seems at least someone (the media) is playing his natural game.
There is ubiquitous disappointment in a cricket frenzied nation, which is natural. But a sport is a sport, it is not war. Let us only give what it deserves. Indian cricket fans (true ones) will only hope that these trying times after the World Cup will end with good results for the team.

Playing Nostradamus...

It cannot get any better than this. 4 teams-Australia, Srilanka, South Africa and New Zealand, now have a realistic chance of winning the World Cup. Australia is a clear favourite. But this is the game of cricket; never discount the chances of others. This edition has been interesting thanks to the teams involved and their undying desire to win the cup. The super eights have been a revelation. All these 4 teams have shown their spirit by adapting to the conditions here and playing in a very sensible manner – very creditable for the professionalism that they have portrayed.
This time, it will not take a Nostradamus to find the team that will move to the next round. The writing is simple. The money is now on these teams. But who will go further to win the cup? All the predicted four have shown maturity and all characteristics required to make a champion team.
My prediction of the outcome at the end of super eights is Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the order of their rankings. South Africa and Srilanka will have the same points but since South Africa had beaten Sri Lanka, it will end up higher. The first semi-final will be between Australia and Sri Lanka where my bet is on Sri Lanka. They will cohere together as a unit and beat the Aussies. In the other semi-final, New Zealand will take on South Africa and emerge triumphant.
That leaves the final to be between 2 very evenly placed teams. Both the teams are so capable of upsetting the opposition and they have a team which is very adaptable to any conditions, be it spin or pace bowling. But my gut feeling suggests that New Zealand is going to have the last laugh. Anyone has a different reasoning? Share it…

The Black Caps are here...

The Black Caps have never been as confident in the previous editions of the World Cup as they are now. The Chapell-Hadlee resounding victory against the Aussies has done them a World of good. To me, they are one among two teams potent enough to beat the Aussies, the other being Sri Lanka. So I excitedly await the virtual World Cup finals showdown between the Black caps and the Lankans on April 12th in the Super eights. The March 29th encounter between West Indies and New Zealand re-affirmed my abilities on New Zealand. Stephen Fleming, one of the longest reigning successful Captains does deserve a World Cup Title to his resume to make justice for his skills.
On their opening match in the Super eights, the New Zealand was put up against the West Indies who appeared to be drained by 2 continuous days of action. They appeared to be dispirited and without energy and were in no mood to put up a fight. On the other hand, New Zealand showed boldness and attitude that suggested that this World Cup was theirs and no opposition dare stop them. West Indies had a bad start despite Gayle’s resistance and they kept losing wickets regularly. Inspite of Lara’s vain efforts at holding his batting unit together, the West Indies barely were able to produce a fighting total. New Zealand’s bowling attack had done its homework and the batsmen had to just complete the formalities, which they did with utmost ease.
With 2 consecutive losses, West Indies face virtual elimination. It will be tough for them to make a comeback. But ultimately, this is Cricket and anything can happen, you can never discount anyone.

India is going to win the World Cup.Here is Why :)

I received a forward from my friend, a die hard Indian cricket fan. In that forward there is a certain reasoning(weird though!) which predicts an Indian win this World Cup.

Here it goes:

There are 2 solid(solid as claimed by my friend) reasons why India will win the World Cup this time:

REASON 1:

Year 1981
1. Prince Charles got married
2. Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe
3. Australia lost the Ashes
4. Pope Died
5. 2 years later India won the world Cup!!!

Year 2005
1. Prince Charles got married
2. Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe
3. Australia lost the Ashes
4. Pope Died
5. 2 years later India will win the world Cup

REASON 2:

1982 Football World Cup won by Italy
1983 Cricket World Cup won by India

2006 Football World Cup won by Italy
2007 Cricket World Cup: INDIA


Predictions apart,today's match between India and Srilanka will decide if the Indians will proceed to the next round,leave alone win the World cup.

Indian Cricket Couples

Sachin
Ganguly
Agarkar
Sehwag

Dravid

Is it going to be the Deshis or the Lankans?

Bangladesh Vs Srilanka and Zimbabwe Vs Pakistan…These 2 matches assume significance for certain teams as a win will mean that they are through to the next round.
Srilanka has to win this match to keep their hopes alive. After the Deshis had overcome the Indians, Srilanka cannot take them lightly. The key to the match lies in the team fielding first. Predictions were made before the tournament started that the team batting second will have more probability of winning in the Carribean which has proven to be true so far in the tournament. A few wickets will give Bangladesh the breakthrough and they can beat the air out of the Lankans, the same way they did to the Indians..
The Pakistanis will hope to forget this tournament as early as possible- there were plenty of haunting moments- their early exit from World Cup, their worst show in recent history, their coach,Woolmer’s death under suspicious circumstances adding salt to their already excruciating pain. One thing they will not wish for is a complete wash in the tournament- they will be desperately hoping to win their last match and salvage some pride. Zimbabwe on the other hand will hope some remaining charm from St.Patrick’s day rubs on them as well
The Lanka-Bangla duel attains significance to the Indians as well. They will hope that either Bangladesh beats the Lankans and give the Indians a fair chance to move to the next round or Lanka drubs the Deshis to a big win so that the net run-rate will be favourable to the Indians. All this takes precedence only after assuming the Indians will win in the make-or–break encounter with Sri-Lanka on March23rd.