India mistake England to be West Indies

With a depleted team, India managed to whitewash the West Indies 2-0 on the previous tour to the Caribbean. But, if the same mentality is applied towards touring England as well, one needs to judge the stupidity of the Indian team who have lost yet another match against England yesterday at Manchester by 6 wickets. Needless to be said, India saw contributions only from Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Dravid and Suresh Raina who did the scoring while the rest of them that includes Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli failed miserably. However, a target of 166 was still a tough one to reach.

I really give hats-off to Dravid for hitting three sixes and en route becoming one of the two batsmen who could manage to clear the ropes. Despite his style not suiting to T20 cricket, Dravid managed to keep up the momentum which speaks of his hard work in the nets. Dravid's style of play is more suited to test cricket and comes in handy regarding one day cricket. Not only did Dravid score 31 runs but was instrumental in putting up a partnership of 65 runs for the third wicket along with Rahane. Coming to the game, one need not cite the absence of Yuvraj and Sehwag.

With the likes of Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Kohli etc, much more could have been made possible which actually didn't happen. Giving undue credit to some Jade Dernbach would be a waste of time when Dhoni and co felt that everything was over once they lifted the world cup in April this year.England were comfortable with contributions coming in from every batsman who took it to the crease. If not for Hales who scored a naught, there were contributions from Kieswetter, Pietersen, Morgan, Bopara and Samit Patel who came in handy with the bat. More than big scores, there was continuous flow of runs for England.

With so much depth and form in the batting England, nothing much could have been done by the Indian bowlers who got belted one after the other starting from Praveen Kumar. All the option that Dhoni had in hand was to give the ball to Rohit Sharma thinking that a change in bowling might stop runs from being scored at ease. With Rohit Sharma going in for 16 runs off his over, Dhoni didn't couldn't take the risk of trying Raina and Kohli. Dhoni has to be satisfied for crossing 150 and then bringing it till the 20^th over and not finishing somewhere in between.

Is England a match for Sri Lanka?

One has to wonder who on earth crowned the English as the world T20 champions last year when Australians were the favorites to win the trophy. It is agreed that England were a tough opposition then. But, yesterday England never showed any signs that a world champion is expected to show. England were no match for Sri Lanka who beat them in every department eventually in the match by 9 wickets. There was no player from the English side whose contribution can be highlighted. Out of the eleven, only three players were able to cross the double digit score with Pietersen and Morgan scoring 47 and 41 respectively.

Adding to the misery, being the home team, England had absolutely no chances to lose the game with players like Morgan, Pietersen and Stuart Broad. As mentioned in my earlier posts, the match was of hardly any consequence with only one game to go. A winner or loser has nothing to take home. But, that should not be a reason for England to relax with 6 of their batsmen scoring single digit scores out of whom two of them got out scoring zero. This can just be considered as a continuation of the dominance of Sri Lanka over England since the quarter-finals of the world cup.

One can go through the scorecard of that quarter-finals match too see the way the Sri Lanka batsmen openers shattered the England bowling by winning the match by 10 wickets with an opening run partnership of 229 runs. Now, though the effect was not that devastating, a 9 wicket win for Sri Lanka over England should definitely make them think much hard about their future in the game. It is fascinating to see the age old Sanath Jayasuriya still wearing the Sri Lankan uniform and scoring in boundaries and scalping two wickets. I guess he is the oldest player to feature in T20 cricket.

Well rather than calling it a guess, it is a fact. Though Jayasuriya's batting had nothing in particular to say, his bowling fetched him 2 wickets from 3 overs giving away runs at a rate of 6.00 runs per over. However, there were the likes of Jayawardane and Sangakkara who could get the job done for Sri Lanka. One can sense the lack of responsibility from the bowlers of the England team who bowled 11 wide deliveries. The Sri Lankan batsmen finished the game in style by grabbing a victory with a boundary. But, England need to re-think about their fortunes i case they need to make their presence felt.

Best of the quarter-finals

Well with all the four quarter-finals of the world cup being over, I guess it is time to bid the best of the quarter-finals which included 8 teams playing four games (obviously). The first of the quarter-finals between West Indies and Pakistan was just a walk over game for Pakistan who thrashed the West Indies like never before. First by bowling out them for just above 100 and then chasing the same with close to 30 overs left. But, that feat can be enjoyed by no one other than the Pakistanis. So, that match stands canceled in picking the best.

Next on the list comes the match involving India and Australia which India unexpectedly won with 5 wickets still in hand. This goes down as the best of all knock-out games in this tournament so far with hardly anyone having their bet on the co-hosts though they are the favorites to win the crown this time. Though Australia have lost the services of Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Glenn McGrath and others, there are some like Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Brad Haddin, Brett Lee etc who are still fresh from their days of glory since the last decade.

Australia might have lost to Pakistan in their league stage encounter with the sub-continent nation but the quarter-finals of the world cup is totally a different game whatsoever. Coming to the next game between New Zealand and South Africa, that was just an elimination match where both teams don't deserve to be in the semi-finals and one of them has to make it there irrespective of whether anyone likes it or not. Both South Africa and New Zealand had just one win in their league stage and that too by a one man show and a crash by the opposition.

It was India who lost their equations against South Africa and if not for Ross Taylor, no other batsman from the Kiwi side put Pakistanis under pressure. Last but not the least we have the game between England and Sri Lanka which was (we guess) anticipated by England to be their last show in this world cup. Gone were the good work when they had a tie against India chasing 339 before losing to Bangladesh and Ireland. They were just a step better than the West Indies and nothing else. Teams gotto be lucky to have faced West Indies and England and likewise they did it in style when they didn't lose a wicket en-route to their successful chase.

All three hosts for the semis

Well this can happen only if the world cup is being hosted by the sub-continent teams namely India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. For the first time in the history of a world cup or any other tournament, all the hosts have been into the semi-finals for the world cup. Of course, Pakistan is not a host but still a little bit of consideration can be given for it was once upon a time scheduled to host a few important games in this world cup before all teams starting from India started boycotting their tour to the trouble-torn nation since 2008.

Of course, Bangladesh have not been able to make it to the semi-finals (or even the quarter-finals) of the tournament. A little bit of hard work from them could have seen them scroll over against West Indies. West Indies are as good as Ireland or Bangladesh in this tournament needless to say. Both West Indies and Bangladesh had equal number of wins in the league stages of the tournament. One can consider Pakistan to be a replacement for Bangladesh for, long back Bangladesh was considered as East Pakistan and now, we can adjust those words calling Pakistan some West Pakistan.

Coming to the fourth and the final quarter-final between Sri Lanka and England, England were crushed by the Sri Lankans the way West Indies were done so by Pakistan. Then, West Indies were no match for Pakistan which was not the case yesterday at Colombo. And, just imagine what a lucky thing that the Sri Lankans were facing the Englishmen in their own land when they could have been either at Dhaka or Ahmadabad. More luckily, the Sri Lankans will be facing the Kiwis once again in their home land with the first semi- finals scheduled at Colombo a couple of days later.

I just cannot imagine why teams from only one group have been able to hold the upper-hand with Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand qualifying from group A with only India getting to the rank from group B. However, things were better this time compared to the 1996 edition where all four teams from group A qualified to the semis with Pakistan, England, New Zealand and South Africa losing out to India, Sri Lanka, Australia and West Indies respectively. Coming to the match, losing just four wickets, how could England end up with just 229 on board? Are England that bad bowlers that they couldn't scalp even a single Sri Lankan wicket?

When there exists losers

Well in case a match that can be won happens to be lost, who is to be blamed becomes the toughest question of all. And that was what the West Indies were to face after their close and yet so far from victory against England at Chennai yesterday. A total of 244 on the board put up by the Englishmen should not have been a tough chase for a team that started off well blasting off 58 runs from the first 7 overs at a run-rate of over 8 runs an over. Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy were supposed to make life miserable for the Englishmen which eventually didn't happen.

Chris Gayle blasted 43 runs from just 21 balls scoring over 2 runs every ball he faced while Darren Sammy massacred the English bowling by scoring just less than one and a half runs every ball he faced when he too fell 9 runs short of scoring a well deserved half century. I just couldn't stop cursing the West Indian batsmen who undid the good work which the bowlers did. If one can go through the scorecard, the West Indies team is hardly gifted with decent bowlers though Kemer Roach and Dwayne Smith can boast of some splendid feats occasionally.

At the end, if Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy fell short of a well deserved half century, the West Indies team fell short of a well deserved victory. Compared to the bowlers like Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann, the West Indies' bowlers fall way short though there is Kemer Roach who has had a hat-trick against Holland earlier in the tournament. Similarly, in the batting department, England fall short of a hard hitting batsman of the caliber of Chris Gayle though the tournament's highest individual run scorer has been Andrew Struass when he blasted the Indian bowlers for a 50X1.5.

But, the scorecard suggests otherwise when bowlers do the job for the West Indies team by restricting the English batsmen for a score less than 250 and at the same time getting the opposition all-out. Getting a team that has so far holds the record for the highest team total batting second should come in for some praise until the unexpected happened. England scored 339 batting second in the game against the co-hosts India at Bangalore. West Indies' unsuccessful run-chase started from 58/1 at 6.5 over to 150/6 at the end of the 27^th over. This brings 92 runs from 21 overs which is just less than 5 an over but still gettable.

South Africa has to stop playing cricket

Well, if a team cannot chase down a meager total of just 172, one can no doubt question its credibility in international cricket and especially in the mega event such as the world cup. South Africa have been in the news for all the bad reasons since they made it to the international arena in the 1992 world cup. Since then, bad luck have struck them thrice in that decade and since then, the South Africans have made fools out of themselves and nothing else. South Africa were an unbeatable team in the 1992, 1996 and 1999 world cups under Hansie Cronje.

But since then, they have just been an ordinary team similar to say India, England or New Zealand. They have no one else but themselves to blame for their debacle in 2003 world cup when they were given an over short in the inaugural match against West Indies, when they were unable to defend a 300+ total with an asking rate of over six an over (even after the D-L method was applied) and finally when they needed a run and the batsman simply ducked the ball thinking he could do it in the next delivery against Sri Lanka which ended in a tie.

Now, in the match against England yesterday, South Africa did well to restrict them to less than 175 with some Imran Tahir having a ball with four wickets to his credit. Not even in dreams would the South African captain-Graeme Smith would have thought that his team would be at the losing side when at one stage the South African scoreboard read 124-4 at the end of the 32^nd over needing 49 runs from 108 deliveries with needless to say 6 wickets in hand. Since then, all the South African batsmen could manage was to lose wickets in quick intervals and see that their team lose the match.

I just cannot figure out what exactly happened to South Africa or what sort of magic did England do to get back into the game to come out victorious from nowhere. One can give some consideration to match fixing for, such cases rarely happen and that too for South Africa against England-who are not rated among favorite teams to beat the Proteas. With most of the betters having their say on South Africa, betting rookies can make merry with South Africa losing the game to England. There might be many similar matches like this but, no one comes close to winning and all of a sudden make a U-turn. Only fixers can have their say.

Ireland have come to play cricket

Well, Ireland might not be the favorites to either make it to the finals or the semi-finals of this world cup let alone winning the same. Nor are they the ones who would make it to the quarter-finals by any chance. But, one thing that is to be accepted by all teams is that all non-test playing nations have come to play cricket be it good or bad. And, in case any team fails to digest this fact the result is well in front of us keeping in mind the match between England and Ireland which Ireland won rather than to say that England lost.

There have been matches between West Indies and Kenya in 1996 world cup, India vs Bangladesh & Pakistan vs Ireland in the 2007 world cup, Sri Lanka vs Kenya in 2003 world cup all of which gives the world a clear indication of not to underestimate their opponents. Likewise, there are some other intelligent players like Herschelle Gibbs who reserves all of his talent to hit six sixes off one over against Holland and some Gary Kirsten who keeps his momentum to fall just 1 run short in making it to the history books for being the highest individual run scorer in ODIs to UAE.

Still, Gary Kirsten holds the record for the highest individual score in world cups with his 188* being 5 runs better than the next best score by Sourav Ganguly. Yesterday, unlike in previous major upsets, it was Ireland who earned a victory against England and not England underestimating them. Ireland at one stage were reeling at 111/5 until Kevin O'Brien took charge as well as the challenge. That was not the result of anybody underestimating them. There was a 161 run 6^th wicket partnership between O'Brien and Alex Cusack when the asking rate was above 8.0 an over and the target 327 runs.

In the process, needless to be said, Kevin O'Brien became the fastest century scorer in the history of world cups overtaking Mathew Hayden's record which came off 66 balls. The record and the partnership reminds me of the 6^th wicket partnership between Kapil Dev and Syed Kirmani in 1983 world cup in that famous match against Zimbabwe where India were reeling at 16/5 at one stage and Kapil Dev played the innings of his life. Still, Kevin O'Brien's was a better one for, it came by an Irish batsman against the makers of cricket. But, England has to once again feel unlucky after they failed 1^st against India and then yesterday against Ireland.

Proving Sachin Tendulkar unlucky?

Well many a times there have been situation when Sachin Tendulkar scores a century and team India fails to emerge on the winning side which brings up the next day's headline that the star batsman is unlucky for his team whenever he scores a hundred. May be that was the reason why India beat Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the 2003 world cup when Sachin Tendulkar got out at 98 and 97 respectively. May be that was the reason why Sachin's nervous nineties happened to be lucky for India when India won that match if superstitions are to be believed.

I remember India losing the match against Pakistan in 2004 when India were chasing a target of 330 and India ended their innings at 317 with Sachin Tendulkar scoring 141. There could be many cases similar to this in his 400+ vast one day history. However, I personally don't go along with that stupid theory that a particular batsman scores a hundred and the team loses for, more runs on the board or individually, more are the chances of that particular team wining. Yesterday, India had absolutely no reasons to lose the game when at one stage they were looking forward to a total of 400+.

Though there can be some reasons for India not being able to end up victorious, absolutely no one can forgive the Indian team losing all their ten wickets in a span of 3.5 overs and with 305 runs on the board. That was the time of the innings when the batsmen had to step forward and take charge rather than losing wickets as though it was a cycle stand effect. And, if that was not enough, a total of 339 was a defendable one with strike bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. It is difficult to figure out what went wrong with India when neither their batting nor their bowling had to complain.

Was the England team that strong that the Indians could not withstand their blows despite being on the home side? Was Struass someone greater as a batsman compared to Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag. I can sense some weakness in the bowling department of team India which made them struggle against Bangladesh as well in the opening encounter despite scoring a total of 370 on the board. Finally, I pity England first for not being able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and second for falling by just one run from making it to the history books which would have been the most successful run chase in world cups.

England yet to learn

Well it is not something new for cricket viewers and players who have had to pay a heavy price for underestimating their opponents be it whomever they are playing. History dates back to the 1970s where Australia lost a game to Zimbabwe and India losing the plot against Sri Lanka when both Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka were yet to be awarded test status. Moving further, West Indies were bowled out for 93 runs despite chasing 166 against Kenya in the 1996 world cup with players like Brian Lara and Richie Richardson. And then, Sri Lanka losing to Kenya in 2003 and Pakistan losing to Bangladsh in 1999 is well in front.

India have paid the price thrice in world cups when they as mentioned above lost to Sri Lanka in 1979, lost to Zimbabwe in 1999 which ended their dreams in the super-sixes itself and in 2007 when they lost to Bangladesh by 5 wickets to give an early exit along with Pakistan. This time as well, this is the second time that such a thing has happened and it is nice to see the deserving teams emerging out victorious at the end of the day. The teams who have had to pay a price for their underestimating are India (1979, 1999 and 2007) and Pakistan (in 2007).

One can remember the way the same Holland bundled out the runners-up India in the first match in 2003 for 204. Timely strikes from Anil Kumble and Javgal Srinath saved India from making it to the record books for the wrong reasons when Holland were bundled out for 136. Holland were yet to win a match in a cricket world cup and had India lost that one, one can imagine the fate of the team and that of the world cup. Yesterday as well, Holland gave England bowlers a fitting reply when they amassed 292 runs ion the board and then had the man-of-the-match award on their side.

The man of the match was awarded to RN ten Doeschate for his 119 that included 3 hits out of the ground along with 9 hits to the fence. Things didn't stop just there for, RN ten Doeschate had two out of the four wickets of England that fell and was one of the two bowlers from the Netherlands side to have bowled his full quota of 10 overs. It was good to see the England batsmen undoing the damage that their bowlers-Anderson and co were found doing. Chasing 293 runs might have been easy against Holland but this can be considered as a warning call to England.

Pak must learn from Zimbabwe

Well in the past decade, there have been three major developments in international cricket with the first one being the granting of test status to Bangladesh, for reasons best known to the ICC alone. The second on the list would be the stripping of the Zimbabwe team of its test status in 2006 owing to the political instability in the country though that had hardly got anything to do with the game of cricket. And then would be the harsh decision on Pakistan which is a deserving one as far as Pakistan is concerned. Pakistan has been the last country for any team to tour.

First it all started with most of the teams from across the world taking a back seat when it came to tour Pakistan, that included the likes of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England and India (of course). As a matter of fact, even Zimbabwe didn't turn up to tour Pakistan though they had shown interest in traveling to that country with little bit of hesitation. When a country whose political stability itself is a matter of question decides to boycott touring Pakistan, nothing specially needs to be said about Pakistan specially. The only team that bravely decided to continue to tour Pakistan was Sri Lanka.

But, that gave answers to all the questions posed by the five teams mentioned above. At that time, even Sri Lanka was not a safe country to head. But, no team ever decided against touring the island. Despite the ICC dropping Pakistan as one of the hosts for the upcoming world cup in 2011, Sri Lanka's bravery to tour the nation needs to be appreciated whatsoever. At last, Pakistan themselves had to boycott their own nation and go to England and play their home series against Australia and England. The situation in Zimbabwe was hardly any different from that in Pakistan.

With the political turmoil in that African country, that was also a country where touring had to be given another thought. Still, there was no hesitation from teams like Kenya and Afghanistan who went on with plans to tour the nation for the intercontinental cup. Now, the latest we hear is that Ireland has decided to go ahead with its tour to Zimbabwe neglecting all fears of the political instability there. One has to recall England boycotting their pool match against Zimbabwe in the 2003 world cup owing to the same reasons. Now, if at all Ireland and Scotland have decided to tour Zimbabwe, then Pakistan will have to do something with the situation in their country.

14, 15 and 16 are the top scores

Well it was fascinating not only to see England win the first test at Nottingham yesterday but also the scorecard was one of its kind when the top three individual scores in the 2^nd innings of Pakistan's batting happened to be 14, 15 and 16. Of course, the score of 14 in the innings was scored by extras and that is no player. These three add up to 45 runs which is more than half of the total score of 80 put up by Pakistan. Recently, a couple of weeks back, Pakistan made news for the right reasons when they bowled Australia for 88 which was their first score below 100 to lose all ten wickets.

Now, they themselves make news this time for the wrong reasons when they lost all their ten wickets for a score 8 runs less than what the Aussies scored. Coincidentally, the aforementioned scorers were the only three which crossed the double digit mark. Extras apart, there were just two Pakistani batsmen who scored above ten and with one making up his mind in leaving out the tail end batsman Danish Kaneria who scored 16, the number reduces to just one batsman out of 11 scoring double digit. It is nothing but a tragedy that the top scorer in the innings happened to be a number 10 batsman in Kaneria.

One more thing that would fascinate all Pakistan cricket fans would be the fact that the top scorer for Pakistan, with both their innings combined would be another tail end batsman in Umer Gul when he top scored with an unbeaten 65 in the 1^st innings. That was the 3^rd highest individual score in the match after the English batsmen Eoin Morgan and Matt Prior notched up centuries for their team in the 1^st and the 2^nd innings respectively. It was a good toss to win by the England captain Andrew Struass who wisely chose to bat. The scorecard tells us the pitch which was found favoring the bowlers and batting 2^nd would have been inviting trouble.

Of course, hardly any captain wins the toss and elects to bowl first no matter n what pitch he is playing. The Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni can be excluded from the list who is often found making abnormal decisions with reasons which only he justifies after making a fool out of himself and his team. One can see 8 bowlers from the Pakistan side having the red cherry in their hands in the first innings when England scored 364 as against the only 4 bowlers from the English side. This showed the pressure that the Pakistan players were. This was unnecessary with three more sessions and four more days to go in the match. Pakistan needs to learn a lot. Better approach Bangladesh.

Poor Australia..all but one loss

One can imagine the fate of a team that wins all its games in the league stages of the tournament and loses the one important game that would have given it a champions tag if won. That was what happened to Australia yesterday when they lost their first match in the tournament as well as their last one. But, who is there to give more chance compared to the number of people who pity them? Australia are the team which deserved to win the trophy despite all odds when there was no team that even came close to beating Australia.

I remember South Africa winning all its five games in the 1996 world cup and losing to the West Indies in the quarter-finals by 19 runs. The same thing happened to South Africa in the last two editions of the world T20 in 2007 where they lost their first match to India and in 2009 against Pakistan in the semis to end their campaign. Like Australia, England too had not lost even a single match in this tournament and in 2007, Pakistan had not lost a single match until the finals against India. And last but not the least, Sri Lanka had not lost a game in 2009 until the finals.

But, those were fluke wins which came automatically but this time, Australia was a better team compared to England. Though England has beaten Pakistan in this world cup, they would not have done the same had they been in place of Australia in the second semi-finals. Australia not only defeated their opposition but literally thrashed them with Sri Lanka being bowled out for 87, West Indies for 105 and India for 135. England, though have won all their encounters in the super-eights, could not bowl out their opposition in all three games. They only managed to bowl out South Africa at Bridgetown for 129.

This is nothing but injustice done to Australia for which no one can he held responsible. Not even the Aussies can be held responsible for the same. After their loss to West Indies, England had to win against Ireland where chances of England winning were freak after they were bowled out for just 120 on the board. Had the game progressed, there was every chance for Ireland to upset their opposition. Had that been the case, England would not even make it to the super-eights let alone winning the trophy. But, I feel happy for England for winning their maiden world cup tournament.

Aussie tank misfires

They might have held their nerves tightly in that run chase of 197 against Pakistan when they were reeling at 105-5 at 3 overs prior to the winning shot. But, that match ended in those three hours itself when Australia made it to the finals of the world T20 tournament and Pakistan giving a grand exit. The past can never be the future in some cases like it happened yesterday when Australia surprisingly lost the finals against arch-rivals England by 6 wickets at Bridgeton. That was what a total of just 146 on the board can promise anyone let alone Australia.

The match was the finals barrier for the Aussies to cross which would have not only made them T20 champions but also would have stopped tongues from wagging towards them. Australia no matter what hey have they got to say in the other two formats of the game definitely lacked momentum in T20 game which one fine day forced Ricky Ponting to step down not only as a captain but also as a player. Yesterday was their rare chance to prove a point especially after their sweeping wins in the super eights where they had all three teams bowled out.

That was followed by a record run chase of 197 with the winning shot coming in the form of a six. In yesterday's game, the Aussies lost the plot in the beginning itself with the first three wickets falling when the scoreboard read 8 runs. That was followed by a series of wickets falling at regular intervals eventually ending their innings at a score of 146 on the board. With that initial blow, the batsmen coming in were confused when they had to think whether to go in for the kill or to stay at the crease and keep the scorecard ticking.

Still, all eyes would have been on the Aussies hoping that the pitch was a bowler's paradise and defending a total of 146 would not be tough. But, English batsmen had other plans when if not for Michael Lumb, no other batsmen had any sorts of trouble against seamers like Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait. England cruised to victory with as many as three overs to spare needless to be said en route to their first major title. England, until yesterday was the only cricketing nation which had no world titles against their name. Of course, one has to compromise with Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and other non-test playing nations.

Who is the best among the best?

Both England and Australia had once met in the finals of the Reliance world cup in 1987 held in the sub-continent. Now, after a span of 23 years both teams are once again scheduled to play each other in the finals of the T20 world cup here in hours to come. Both teams have reached the finals after a lot of ups and downs not only in this tournament but elsewhere as well. Australia,though have made their opposition tremble with fear for so long are not the champions they were once upon a time. For that, you might have to refer past T20 world cups.

And, coming to England they have never been the favorites with hardly any team having their bet on them. Looking at that, one should not consider that England have reached the finals by chance and not by talent. They are yet to legally lose a match in this world cup like Australia. Though they have a loss against West Indies, that was due to rain and had the match gone ahead as per plan, there was more chance that England would win that game. England, needless to be said beat strong teams like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand.

No team can win all their games by fluke. And, nothing special needs to be said regarding Australia who, like England (and one step ahead of them) have won all their games since the tournament began. They just thrashed every opposition that came their way if not for their semi-final game against Pakistan where they had a tough run for their money. It is winning such games that makes a team have a fan following and betters having their bet against them. In case Australia lose the finals by any chance, that would be nothing but total injustice to them.

Australia have knocked off England in the 1987 world cup and the ICC champions trophy 2009 while England have done that only once to Australia when they beat them in the semi-finals of the ICC champions trophy 2004. If Australia win this contest, they will become the first team to win all three major titles namely world cup, ICC champions trophy and T20 world cup. Likewise, in case England win, that will be their first major title after three losses in the finals of world cups and one loss in the ICC champions trophy 2004. Whatever, right now please Control your mind

England on a roll

I was just thinking about Sri Lanka having a chance this time with their other two counterparts namely Pakistan and India having their share in 2009 and 2007 respectively. But, Sri Lanka spoiled all my hopes by getting defeated effortlessly to England. It was as though Sri Lanka were battling an ordinary league stage match when they piled up just 128 runs on the board. There should have been a tough fight between the teams in the semi-finals of a world cup needless to be said. All I would like to say after seeing this match is stay at home moms.

Hardly anyone would have expected to enter the finals of a world cup tournament. England did this after a span of 6 years when they were last seen making it to the finals of a world cup tournament in the ICC champions trophy 2004 after beating Australia in the semis. Once again, Sanath Jayasuriya was not only included in the playing XI but was also seen disappointing his fans. One has to wonder what sort of pressure is there on the Sri Lanka cricket board to not only include Jayasuriya but also feature him in the playing eleven. May be the selectors have gone sick.

I wish Sri Lanka has to learn from the BCCI who have not included Sachin Tendulkar in T20 matches despite him being fit and form before including an unfit batsman. The only notable score from the Sri Lankan batting chart was Angelo Mathews who scored a brilliant 58. He was the only batsman who could manage to hi a six as well. One need not give hats-off to Mathews for his work, because, Mathews or Sri Lanka were not under any sort of pressure whatsoever. Sri Lanka had already accepted defeat with both hands when winning was totally out of question.

Selfishness can be evident from the way the Sri Lankan batsmen played when neither did they go for big ones nor did they lose their wicket instead continued to play at a snail's pace in a format which expects quickfire knocks. The England bowlers never had any sorts of trouble with such a batting approach and stuck to a 5 bowler formula. One can see Sanath Jayasuriya getting belted for 15 runs of his lone over from the scorecard. Else, the top three batsmen from England sealed it for them and all that the Sri Lankans could do was to congratulate them for winning the game.

A series of surprises

If the ongoing world T20 tournament is given a close look at, one can sense that since the qualifying round, all groups have similar run-ups. The was a team in each of the four groups which had won both games in the pool stages namely India, Australia and New Zealand with England missing out. England have reached the semi-finals without a win in their league stages. However, England managed to win all the three matches in the super-eights stage when they were termed as the first team to head back home. Another team to surprise was India but this time it is for the wrong reasons.

India lost all three games in the super eights of the tournament unlike England and Australia who won all three games. England beat Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa while Australia needless to be said beat India, Sri Lanka and West Indies. However, the remaining two teams that would make it to the semis was in a toss in both the groups. In one group, Pakistan lost both their games to England (obviously) and New Zealand while on the other hand, South Africa lost their game against England and had a last chance with the game against Pakistan yet to go.

Luckily, Pakistan could make that one count with New Zealand losing to England on the same day, hours after Pakistan registered a win over South Africa. So, Pakistan will be reaching the semis with just one win in the super-eights. On the other hand, Sri Lanka should consider themselves lucky to be in the semis with India failing to put up a better game plan in their must win match against Sri Lanka. At the same time, Sri Lanka were are found wasting a space in their playing XI by having Jayasuriya playing especially at number 6 when the batsman has been opening the innings for decades altogether.

This has happened for the first time in a T20 world cup that a team makes it to the semi-finals after winning just one game in the super-eights. Meanwhile, predicting the finalists could be partially with Australia and England being more of a probability. However, Pakistan are a more decent team compared to Sri Lanka and it would come in as no surprise in case Pakistan beat Australia. And on the other hand, Sri Lanka can tackle England with their spin bowling. But, it doesn't look like England are in for any compromise looking at the way they have handled teams in this tournament. Check out if this is ur best blog.

Sensational victory for England

One would have hardly expected England to win against Pakistan at Bridgetown yesterday when they couldn't win even a single encounter in the league stages of the tournament. Whatever, there is no reason why England should not win against any team. But, looking at the way they played against Ireland, speaks of their caliber to take on Pakistan. Of course, one should not forget they way bad fortune stuck them in the match against West Indies when they scored 191 and still lost with rain interfering and forcing the second innings to just 5 overs. Had the match progressed, England would have definitely won.

However, in the match against Ireland, England could manage only 120 on the board which cannot be a winning total even in today's one dayers. In yesterday's game, Pakistani batsmen are themselves to blame for having put a low total with most of them scoring more or less the same number of runs. Batsmen who comparatively stood apart were Salman Butt and Umar Akmal who scored in thirties. But, that could have been a score only in cases where rain interrupts and a D-L method gets enforced and the match gets reduced to five overs. A strike rate of less than 150 by top batsmen is useless in T20 cricket.

It is confusing to read the mindset of the Pakistani batsmen who took such a different approach. Otherwise, the Pakistani batsmen are known for their blind slogging needless to be said. That was the main reason why the Pakistani batsmen got flattered here yesterday. There were four bowlers from England who bowled their complete quota while Paul Collingwood unnecessarily got one over which went for ten runs.With a total of just 147 on the board, there was nothing much that the Pakistani bowlers could do. There was not even a single bowler who stood apart and tried to control the flow of runs.

Keeping in mind England's problem against spin bowling, Saeed Ajmal had a say when he scalped 2 wickets and gave away runs at a rate of just over 5.00 runs an over and was given to bowl 4 overs which made him the most economical bowler of the lot. So was the case with Shahid Afridi who got the wicket of Collingwood. There didn't seem to be any pressure on the English batsmen though they took the game until the last over to secure a win. Mistake lied in allowing Mohammad Asif to bowl 4 overs despite going in for 10.00 runs an over.

England complicates its tour of Bangladesh

Even when the England team was supposed to face the Aussies for the Ashes last year, they wouldn't have broken their head over the issue as they are found doing for the series against Bangladesh. One thing that can be thought of to have caused tension among English players is the fact that they cannot feature in the initial phase of the Indian Premier League all because of the tour of Bangladesh which would hardly be on the top of anyone's agenda. But, much to anyone's surprise, this has been the biggest headache for the England team.

The first test between the two countries is due to start on 12th which is just a couple of days later. But, the worries regarding the same have started a week back when there were injuries to Graham Onions who had to sit out of the warm up match against the Bangladesh A. These test matches were needless to be played with no team in the past playing a warm up game against and in Bangladesh. It has been Bangladesh who might have played a warm up game on its tour to that country before the real challenge would have begun.

This was also the case in the recently concluded test series between Bangladesh and India where Bangladesh was a common factor and so were they hosting India. Even there, the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had problems in selecting the final squad combining eleven payers, with Rahul Dravid having to miss the 3^rd and 4^th days of play and Dhoni himself missing out in the first test owing to a back injury. For most of the countries, touring and playing Bangladesh is a nightmare for, the inclusion of senior players strips the team of some match practice to young legs.

And, in case young legs are included, there is hardly any guarantee of them putting up a better performance and in case they fail to do so, that would be the worst nightmare. Some of the players whose names have hardly been heard like Tim Bresnan (who has so far played just 2 tests), Michael Carberry (who is yet to play a test match) and Steven Finn - who also has a fate similar to Michael Carberry if not for the fact that he is aged just 20 and can be expected to have a good talent in him are in line for the test series against Bangladesh. I wish the England selection committee brings back Michael Vaughan, Ashley Giles etc who retired with still some fuel left in their tank, so that England don't get into the news for wrong reasons.

England saved!

Finally, England could whitewash Bangladesh who are at present the only team that is showing some sort of improvement compared to all other teams. England has to consider themselves lucky enough so that they have not yet lost to any minnow team like Bangladesh no matter how bad they have been. When England was expected to post a total in excess of 300, they were 16 runs short of the same in the 3^rd and the final one dayer at Chittagong. For the first time in the three match tournament, there were as many as 7 sixes in the England innings.

This may also be partly due to underestimating the Bangladesh team to be the same that it was some four years down the lane. Bangladesh have been found to have improved over the years much to anyone's surprise and more so when it comes to their home record though they have not yet tasted success of any sort. In the recently concluded tri series involving Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, they despite losing all the games that they played, put up a tough fight by bringing the opposition close to 50 overs en route to their successful run chase against Bangladesh.

This was the first time in the series that England batted first. Thanks to Bangladesh who won the toss and chose to field first. It was a good planning from the Bangladeshi side no matter what the result of the match had to say. Eight out of the eleven Bangladeshi batsmen who made it to the crease came out scoring double figured scores. And if the number ten and number eleven batsmen in Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain respectively are excluded from the list there was just one batsman whose score was less than 10. Added to this was that Bangladesh didn't lose all ten wickets.

It has now days become a fashion for almost all the teams to bring in 7 to 8 bowlers with just one or two bowlers bowling their complete quota of 10 overs. And the fashion also has its aftermath when most of the captains make wrong decisions by tossing the ball to the wrong bowler who in turn makes a mess not only off his own bowling but also of his team. And, this time also there was a bowler from the England side in Ajmal Shahzad who bowled 9 overs giving away 55 runs at the rate of 6.11 an over.

Save English cricket campaign

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts that England are at present the only team not to have lost a game to any of the non test playing nation and also against Bangladesh. But, with every encounter against a minnow like Bangladesh, England are found coming up with a performance that is just slightly better than a defeat. None of the remaining 8 nations would have as many close encounters against minnow teams as England might have had. May be West Indies could well be excluded from the list. This is the 2^nd time in a row that England are facing such a drought in one day cricket against Bangladesh.

England won the 2^nd one dayer against Bangladesh by just 2 wickets which speaks for itself regarding the caliber of the English team. And the victory was possible due to the fact that there was a batsman in Morgan on side who held the nerves firm for England despite wickets falling from the other end. Without a batsman on one end, victory would have been far from question for the English team. There were five batsmen from the English side who returned back to the pavilion after scoring single digit scores. The English side lost 8 wickets compared to 6 from the Bangladeshi side.

Such a scenario occurs in games where there are two strong teams battling it out there. Like it happened in the match between Australia and Pakistan in the group stage of the ICC Champions trophy last year. This is in a way worse than a defeat when a team that is expected to win in a one sided manner gasps for the same though I have cited this as 2^nd best to defeat earlier here. One has to question whether it was England indeed who made it to the semi finals of the ICC Champions trophy last year and were they the ones who beat the Proteas 2-1 on their home ground.

Had it been the Bangladesh who had won the match in this fashion, the world of cricket would have been in full praise for Bangladesh but this may not be the case with England. The only positives for England lied in the area where the man of the match award went to Eoin Morgan who belonged to the England side unlike in the last game where the man of the match was a Bangladeshi batsmen in Tamim Iqbal. And some mature decision from Alistair Cook meant in going in for 3 bowlers who bowled 10 overs each unlike the lone bowler who bowed 10 over in the first encounter.