India Bounced out of the T20 World cup Cricket

Losing out to England and exiting out of the T20 world cup is one of the saddest day in Indian cricket. It was disappointing to see the way India lost. India lost all the three super Eight group games against WI,Eng and SA. If we were bounced out by WI and Eng, South Africa spun us out. Though there were a few instances were Dhoni's decision were questionable, but the main attribute for an early exit is IPL 2009. Having Played non stop cricket until then, Indians were left with no steam and energy for the World Cup. I think Players are not to be blamed for this but the BCCI. Vishwanathan Anand in an interview had said "One important aspect in winning a tournament, was to eagerly looking forward for it." I doubt if any of our players enjoyed the idea of playing a Tournament straight after the IPL. While India lost because of IPL. Pakistan won for the same reason because IPL kept them out of it and Pak players must thank Lalit Modi for winning this tournament. Pakistan had played very less cricket leading to this tournament. In fact, When India won the World cup in 2007, they were the team with least no of T20 experience. However in 2009 they were the ones with maximum experience. Rather Overdose of it. Dhoni was severely criticised against Eng for promoting Jadeja ahead of Yuvraj. However, asking joginder to bowl the last over in 2007 final was a bigger gamble that paid off. Unfortunately the one with Jadeja failed. Batsman is to be blamed and not Dhoni. After BCCI, next important reason for the failure was Dhoni's batting. We could have taken some heart even if it was loss of batting form on Dhoni's Part. But the way he approached his batting and not showing any inclination to hit out brought India's downfall. He has no business to play ahead of Yusuf or even Bhajji. He ate some very crucial balls without scoring in all the crucial games. For me he no more deserves a place in T20 purely as a batsman. He still looks good for a 50 Over game but definitely not for T20 one. Another reason being awefully out of form of all batsman except Yuvraj. One Player i believe India missed dearly was Sachin Tendulkar(And not Sehwag) coz he was one player who could adopt himself to the situation and not go slam bang. India now head to WI to play another series. At least a couple of key players should have been rested for this Caribbean series. But sadly our cricket board has no such ideas.I wont be surprised to see an extension of our performance in the world cup unless the players are rotated properly

India Vs Westindies - T20 Worldcup Cricket. A Heart Break

A big heart breakup. This i believe was their only easy game in the group. But India made a mess of it. It was a spirited effort from the west Indians. I was wondering if India was playing South Africa. Such was the attitude of the West Indian players.Their bowling & fielding especially was brilliant.And what an innings from Bravo. So,What went wrong?Infact everything but for Yuvraj.To start with India planned well to tackle the Gayle Storm. But they forgot that they were 10 other players as well. West Indies were well prepared for the game. This was evident in the way they bowled and the way they fielded and took their chances.Indians took the West Indians for granted and expected them to be generous in dropping catches. Which unfortunately was not the case. Bowling were sharp short pitch balls for which our batsmen had no clue. This was evident in the way Rohit (3 Balls 5),Gambhir(13 Ball 15 Runs)& Yuvraj(43 Ball 67) got out. Rohit is trying to be two steps ahead of Sehwag in trying to hit every ball he faces. He played a pathetic shot in only his third ball. Gambhir is totally out of sorts. Though getting the runs but not at the pace required in T20 Format. He was Indian cricket's winning formula until last season. This formula is not working now. Dhoni Proved that his batting has nose dived of late. How else can you explain a 23 ball 11 run innings in a T20 game. He batting position should now be after Bhajji. That's the only way to hide his batting. No words can the explain the way yuvvi batted. Brilliant to say the least. Some good news for India though is the coming back to form of yusuf. Who unfortunately was the only pick of the bowlers. Sadly Ojha was a big disappointment who for me was the trump card. He had no clues to Bravo's lofted cover drives and the glances on the leg side. Analysing Bravo's innings those were the two stokes he played the most. And Dhoni had no plan for him. Promoting Bravo up the innings was a master stroke from Gayle. He played a gem. It was clear India had no plans beyond Gayle. This WI side proved me wrong with their performance.Surprisingly they fielded excellently.Indian Bowling is a big worry. This is the best bowling attack India can field. Yet they are ineffective. Where are the slow balls, the yorkers and the bouncers? Sadly none of the bowlers bowled one. Touch disappointed with Ishant's Show. Where is Raina and Rohit sharma? Wonder why dhoni is not trying them out? India's fast bowling attack is looking mediocre after a long time. Also disappointing was the margin of victory. WI made it easily in the End. This would be a big set back when it comes to Net run rate in the end to qualify.I always believed India give in their best when they are pushed to the walls and this is the only positive thing for Indian cricket presently. Lets hope for a best

T20 World Cup Cricket- India Vs Bangladesh

India have won their first match against Bangladesh in the T20 World cup cricket tournament by 25 Runs. It was a comfortable victory in the end but not before some heart stopping moments in between. Match against Bangladesh was crucial in more than one ways. They have taken the unpredictable team tag from Pakistan and on their day are unstoppable. For me, Bangladesh are a much better side than a West-Indies side minus Chris Gayle.It was great to see Rohit Sharma in such sublime form(23 Balls 36). He has beautifully filled the void created by Sehwag due to his injury. For me Dhoni did the right thing by walking in at no. 3 after six overs. He is a batsman more suited to play between 6 to 12 overs in T20 Cricket. He no more looks like a Power-Play or a slog overs player. India got stuck in between when Gambhir and Dhoni were playing. Were unable to accelerate even after the 15th Over though India lost only one wicket.Gambhir(46 ball 50) specially could not go beyond ones and twos. For ones it was a great relief to see his wicket fall. In comes Yuvraj.He did show that T20 Cricket is Tailor made for him with a 18 Ball 41. This gave the innings a great impetus and India looked comfortable in the end thanks also to a late flourish from Irfan (3 Ball 11 Runs). India Finished at 180. I think India had their best bowling attack in Zaheer,Ishant,Bajji, Ojha and Irfan. Zaheer initially was guilty of bowling length balls. Indian should learn to bowl a bit more yorkers and bouncers. In such pitches bowlers have to bowl at least one bouncers. Which was missing yesterday. Bangladesh were very much in the game until Ojha came to bowl.Dhoni was clever in bringing Yusuf within the Six Overs. But should have given him only that one over. He bowled two overs too many. Ojha was the pick of the bowlers with 4 wicket and was deservingly the man of the Match. India can now safely plan on the teams they can expect to play at the Super Eight Stage.

Indian Cricket at the IPL T20 2009

Indian cricket's Juggernaut (Read IPL) has come to a halt. It was bit of overdosage of cricket even to an ardent cricket fan like me. Let me take this oppurtunity to analyse what this year's IPL has done to indian cricket and its players. First off all this year's IPL should have been renamed APL (Australian Premier League) for more than one reason. Both IPLs have been won by teams captained by Australians.(Sadly for Australia both have retired)even coaches for the two teams are Aussies. While Shane Watson was the Last year's player of the tournment, It was Hayden this time with the Orange Cap. Also out of top 5 run getters this year, Three were Australians(Hayden, Gilchrist and Hodge)and only one Indian (Raina) inspite of Indians getting representation of more than 60%.There is nothing much to talk about the performances of indian players this time. Last year we saw the emergence of players like Pathan,Ojha and Jadeja. However theres none this time. Though there were some sparks here and there but not a consistent basis. For me the most valuable players of the tournment are Hayden,Dumminy and Raina (In that Order). I have included Raina and Dumminy for what they have done both with the bat and Ball. Let me take a look at the performance of individual teams starting from the ones at the bottom.
KKR : Even a four year old kid would tell you what went wrong with this high profile team. Even though i dont think Ganguly would have done anything differently but it was literal backstabbing on the part of SRK by announcing a new captain after reaching South Africa. The coach had no faith on ability of Indian Players. Should have encouraged Shukla and Saha who could have delivered among the locals. Their Top Perfomers were 1. Wan Vyk (Unfortunatley he played less matches)2. Brad Hodge and 3. Wridhiman Saha (Not Given many oppurtunities though)
Mumbai Indians: Three Reasons for failure 1. Non Performance of local Lads. This is especially a shame because mumbai is a Ranji Champion and they could not find a good talent. 2. Sachin's Captaincy. Though he thought much ahead of the game but could not implement his plans well as it was not communicated well within the team. Also Malinga's performace dipped as the tournment progressed. He Failed especially on occassions when Sachin expected him to win it for the team. My top performers were 1. JP Dumminy 2. Dwanye Bravo and 3. Bhajji.
Rajasthan Royal: I Still wonder how did Shane Warne manage to win last year's trophy with the team available at his disposal. Yes thanks to Watson,Tanvir and Yusuf they did manage to do the unthinkable.But with Watson and Tanvir not at their disposal it was a foregone conclusion. I Expected much better performace from Yusuf though. My star performers were 1. Jadeja 2. Pathan and 3. Amit singh
Kings's Punjab Eleven: They were done in by non availabilty of Shane Marsh, the highest run getter last season and Brett Lee for most of the initial matches.Also Injury to Jayawardane was big set back as he alone won them a couple of matches. Yuvraj, Sreesanth were big dissappointments. Did not do well in spin department inspite of having quality in Chawla and Powar. Top Three performances are 1. Irfan Pathan 2. Lee and 3. Yuvraj (Especially with the Ball)
Delhi Daredevils: What the hell was Mcgrath doing sitting on the bench. Only God and Sehwag knows.Agreed Nanes was good. Very Good. But should have tried Mcgrath in atleast a couple of games. Even Mahroof got a couple of chances. But not Mcgrath. I just hrd that Mcgrath has taken this to his heart and made himself unavailbale for next year. Pity. Real Pity. Nanes went for 21 against Gilchrist in the Semifinal. I doubt anybody could have done that to Mcgrath
Performace wise 1.Dilshan 2. DE villier and 3. Dinesh Karthik. Was pretty impressed with Nehra though.
Chennai Super Kings: My Favorite Team at the start. Their Decieding factor for winning was Hayden. He Clicked, CSK Won. Was wondering why Oram was in the team inspite of failing regularly. Failure of Albie Morkel was one big factor why CSK could not go thru. I consider Morkel as the best T20 Player.Also Dhoni both with his captaincy and Batsmenship was dissappoiting. Should have been brave enough to bowl murali in the initial overs. Balaji betrayed dhoni on more than couple of occasions. Their Bowling at the dearth was pathetic. Top three Performances were 1. Hayden 2. Raina and 3. Murali . Jakati and Tyagi are interesting prospects. But they should be Tried out in 50 Overs first.
Royal challengers: Mallya created a blunder first in naming Peterson as the captain. His dislike for South African players is well known and you have guys like Kallis,Steyn,Boucher in your team. This Mistake was timely corrected by naming Kumble as the Captain. Kumble's Captaincy and Ross Taylor's Match winning knocks were main reasons for RCB reaching the finals. While most team were set back when some of their foriegn players left mid way to assume national duties, RCB Benefitted by this (Read KP).The reason for their not winning the trophy is Uttappa.Because he lacked intent.Even at the 18th Over he was trying to give Vinay Kumar the strike as if he himself was a tail ender and Vinay an established Batsman. Their Valuable Players were 1. Kallis 2. Kumble and 3. Ross Taylor. Too early to talk about Manish Pandey the only Indian Centurian at the IPL
Deccan Charges: What a Batting Lineup this team has.Just the way i thought about Rajasthan, I still wonder why did they fail last time around. They were sufficiently boosted by the arrival of Symonds at the halfway stage. When Gilchrist was finished with his Maverick hitting, Symonds would arrive. When he got out, Rohit sharma was around to complete the task. This was i believe their winning formula. Fidel Edwards was outstanding initially.Top Performances were 1.Symonds 2. Rohit and 3. D Smith. Suman was impressive at times

My Best Batsman for the tournment is Hayden. Best Bowler is Kumble and Best Alrounder is Rohit sharma

Now the Focus Shifts to the Worldcup. Based on IPL performaces, My Automatic entries to Playing Eleven are Raina,Rohit,Irfan Pathan,RP Singh,Bhajji,Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan. Lets hope for the best and expect the players to give in their best as they did in IPL