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.

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.

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 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.

A Virtual Quater Final and so Boring?

The match between the West Indies and England was as good as a quarter final wherein the team which wins would advance to the next round and the team that loses would have to forfeit all hopes of winning the tournament anymore. At the end of the day, it was the west Indies who came out victorious but, not in a manner that most of us would agree. Of course, nothing could be done for the showers that pour down. But, a lot more can still be done for the teams out there to see to that they play 20 overs of cricket uninterrupted by weather. Had it been a one day match, nothing could be done much. At the most, the match could be played fresh the next day.

However, the T20 format of the game is not bound to this condition. A delay of even 3 to 4 hours can still ensure justified cricket, without denying either of the team of its overs or the powerplay. In other words, I don't see the Duckworth-Lewis playing such an important role in the T20 game. One can as well wait for the showers to completely pour down and then start the play afresh. And that too in such a competition that involves all the major cricket playing nations from the world, the Duckworth-Lewis can never satisfy all. Perhaps! Even the West Indies would not have been satisfied despite winning and advancing to the semis.

It was ad to see all the hard work that England put in to put up a decent total of 161 on the board going in vain. The man of the match was not given to either Ravi Bopara who struck a magnificient half century aided with 5 hits to the fence or to Kevin Pietersen who scored 31 runs with a strike rate 164, but was given to Ramnaresh Sarwan first for belonging to the winning team and then for scoring 19 runs at a strike rate of 211. Don't you guys think that it is just foolish to shorten the shortest version of the game of cricket? If the rules for T20 are same as that for ODI, the T20 can rather be called as a reduced version of fifty overs cricket.

Some twenty years back, the one day match used to be played for 60 overs a side, which was then reduced to 55 overs a side. And now the same is played with each team having been prepared to bowl 50 overs. I don't see the T20 format as something special if not for the fact that a team bowls just 20 overs and in some cases, the boundary is shortened. If such is the thiking, there could be four other formats of cricket namely 60-60, 55-55, ODI and the T20. In case the game of T20 is to be enjoyed by the fans all over, I suggest that the ICC drop the Duckworth-Lewis method from this format. When the ICC can come out with a solution in case of matches ending up in a tie, I don't find the reason for ICC to go in for the same D-L method in T20 as well.

Vow! From Position 8 To Position 3-RCB

This regarding the Royal Challengers Bangalore, I just can say that is a miracle and nothing else. Might be because as I have stated in one of my earlier posts, might be due to the change in the number behind the T-Shirt of the Royal Challengers' captain Anil Kumble. However, forget about making it to the semis, it would have been a sigh of relief for the franchisee of the Royal Challengers Vijay Mallya in case the Royal Challengers didn't finish at the bottom of the table. Thanks to the Kolkata Knight Riders who made that spot theirs. At one stage of the tournament, the RCB saw themselves at position number 8.

And look what they are at present!!! Position number 3. OMG! This is just unbelievable. The Royal Challengers have shown us how to make 8 into 3. I remember in my school days where I had scored 13 out of 25 marks in a test and had to go for unfair means to make that score of 13 as 18. And I did it by stretching the curves at the left end which makes 3 look like 8. But, until the Royal Challengers jumped from position 8 to position 3 in the points table, I was unaware as to how to make 8 as 3. For, it is not easy to rub off the extra curves in an attempt to make it number 3.

And the RCB can also boast of having the only Indian and the second player in the tournament to have scored a century though Suresh Raina of the CSK came close to that score when he scored 98. Adding to that was the fact that he is the youngest player to do so and also this is the highest score made in this particular tournament. Despite the 114 runs scored by Manish Pandey, the RCB settled for a score of just 170 losing just 4 wickets. Cooool! This is not the case of the KKR where they neither lose wickets nor put up a mammoth total on the board.

It had to take the RCB franchisee-Vijay Mallya the tour of England over the West Indies to inevitably go in for Anil Kumble to captain the team and this really worked out well. Just imagine had the England players been available for the entire tournament like the players from New Zealand and South Africa were available? Then, still Kevin Pietersen would have captained the side and continuing the good work he was doing until then. Losing matches and helping the betters not to bet on RCB. If not for Gibbs, none of the Hyderabad players really stood upto the challenge. But, still, their partly contribution could bring them close to the score of 170 despite losing the match by 12 runs.

The day however belongs to Manish Pandey, for if not for his dominance with the bat, the score of 170 would not have been possible and thanks to the drop catch when Manish was on 2.

Kevin Pietersen Has The Last Laugh

As it has always been the trademark of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, a loss of their first wicket without opening their account still continues to haunt the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the match was no different in the encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders either. But, for this time, it was not the Royal Challengers Bangalore who were at the receiving end when it came to a 0 run wicket. On the other hand, the Royal Challengers Bangalore were at the delivering end. Meaning this time, it was the Kolkata Knight Riders who were found losing their first wicket when the scoreboard never found ticking even for the first time.

It was unsual gesture in any format of the game for a spinner and that who does it part time to have the ball and bowl the first over. But, this was the approach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain-Kevin Pietersen who was not only found bowling the very first over but also found taking the wicket of the Kolkata Knight Riders' skipper Brendon McCullum and that too in his first ball. Anyway, no cheers for Kevin Pietersen for this, because it was good fortune that made Kevin Pietersen have his man and was neither his intelligence nor his timely anticipation.

Even Pietersen wouldn't have thought to have got his man prior to the match. And a new ball that can hardly offer any grip to a spinner is never a spinners' cup of tea whatsoever. And no mateured captain would ever hand the new ball to a spinner whatever the need of the hour may be. I still remember the then Indian captain Rahul Dravid handing the ball to Virender Sehwag in the second over in a particular match against Australia owing to the reason that Australian batsmen are poor players of spin bowling and as a result, Virender Sehwag was belted for 14 runs off that over. And if Pietersen has found some success doing that, it can be corelated to his fortune and nothing else.

Kevin Pietersen can never be an inspiration for any captain to hand over the new ball to a spinner. But, one positive move from Pietersen was that he dropped Robin Uttappa who had a series of unsuccessful knocks both behind the stumps and in front of it as well. The introduction of Goswami should have been done much before. If the thinking that Pietersen had prior to the one against the KKR, they would have beaten teams like Kings XI Punjab, where Robin Uttappa gave away 5 runs as byes and the Kings XI Punjab sneaked for victory despite needing 60 runs off the last five overs.

A total of 139 was not that challenging defending the total was truely challenging and KUDOS to Pietersen for that. And not to mention the timely contribution from Anil Kumble, Mark Boucher and Shreevats Goswami. All these aforementioned players gave Kevin Pietersen (who would be playing the last match of this IPL before leaving to play against the West Indies) his last laugh. This victory for the Royal Challengers Bangalore ensured that they would not make it to ht elast position in the IPL points table for the time being. The spot is now being owned by the Kolkata Knight Riders. Now, with Pietersen to go back for his national duty and Rahul Dravid to be back in Bangalore, it would be a watchout for Anil Kumble who would be captaining his side for the remainder of the series.

Duck Is The Trademark Of RCB?

It looks like the Royal Challengers Bangalore can never have a single match without atleast one of its frontline batsmen getting out for a duck. And this time as usual, it was Jaques Kallis who made a mark by getting out for a duck. And one more aspect that is been observed by the Royal Challengers captain Kevin Pietersen is that everytime there is a change in batting order and a new batsman is found to take to the crease. And the only thing that is found not to change is the performance of the batsmen which has always led the team behind.

For reasons best known by the team skipper, Rahul Dravid was kept warming the benches in the particular match against the Delhi Daredevils. For the fourth successive time Royal Challengers in this edition of the Indian Premier League has been on the losing after beating the Rajasthan Royals in the opening encounter. One would not have thought the Royal Challengers to deceive its supporters so badly. One would have thought the Royal Challengers to have bounced back after their debacle in the first edition. But, this was just a trailer and could not be converted into a full fledged movie.

Neither are the Royal Challengers found to put up a competitive score nor are they found to defend their decent total of 160+. Neither are they capeable of bowling out the opposition for a low score and nor are able to chase down any decent target. "Next Time" has always been the mantra of the Royal Challengers atleast until now in this edition whatsoever. In the match against Delhi Daredevils, the opnly highlight for the RCB bowlers was that they took the game till the 19th over which saw the Delhi Daredevils chase down rather easily with 6 wickets to spare.

The team has made news for only changes. There have been changes in the batting order, with every match witnessing a new opening pair, there have been changes in captain, coach and the team manager. The only thing that has not found to change is the team owner Vijay Mallya and the match result. And in the coming edition, it would come as no surprise if Vijay Mallya dosen't turn up to sponsor Royal Challengers anymore after being fed up with such humiliation in the second edition as well. And, taking into consideration the consecutive ducks by the RCB openers,I wish Vijay Mallya have the duck as his trademark rather than Kingfisher. Wouldn't that be a brilliant idea!!!

Whom Does Vijay Mallya Wants To Axe Now?

The Royal Challengers Bangalore team owner Vijay Mallya might be thinking after the match between his team (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and the unbeaten Deccan Chargers as to why did he ever go in for Robin Uttappa by exchanging him for Zaheer Khan. For, this is the man who has been the hero in most of the flop shows that the Royal Challengers Bangalore has ever witnessed so far. The other flop show heroes that follow Robin Uttappa include Praveen Kumar, Pankaj Singh and not to forget the captain himself Kevin Pietersen. And putting it together, I must say that neither does the name Royal Challengers nor the owner Vijay (meaning victory) make justice to their performance.

I just wonder as to what justice has the present Royal Challengers captain-Kevin Pietersen done to the team that Rahul Dravid was not found doing. If the last and the first edition of the IPL is taken into consideration, Rahul Dravid played a captain's knock in most of the occasions and not only that, he even saved the face in most of the games that his team lost. I even today remember Rahul Dravid scoring 76 off 36 balls in one of the matches that RCB won and this being despite the face that T20 never suited the style of Rahul Dravid.

Had I been the owner, the first thing that I would be found doing is to axe Kevin Pietersen as the captain. Not only as the captain but also as a player. For the reason, one can view the statistics for his past performance. It looks like a golden duck has been the mantra of the Royal Challengers' batsmen. For, in every match there is atleast one batsman who would have laid an egg. This time it was Kevin Pietersen along with Robin Uttappa. For such a weakn batting line up, one never needed a bowler of the caliber of Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh or Irfan Pathan.

Had the score of 168 been against someone like Deccan Chargers, Mumbai Indians or the Delhi Daredevils, the Kings XI Punjab batsmen would have had to think before sending in a batsmen. But, this is not the case against RCB. The only highlight of the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowlers was that they could at the fag end of the innings take the wicket of Ravi Bopara. The innings witnessed the drop catch of Kumara Sangakkara by Rahul Dravid. But, that could have just delayed the inevitable had it been taken. If at all the Royal Challengers have to save some face, Mark Boucher has to keep wickets. The class of Uttappa behing the stumps could be adjudged when he gave away 5 runs by leaving a wide that reached the fence.

So, it would be a guess work as to who would Vijay Mallya drop now. For this is something that he has been found doing ever since his team is found in shambles. The list includes Charu Sharma along with the coach and captain.

Gold For Kevin Pietersen

There were some cheers for the Kevin Pietersen led Royal Challengers Bangalore team when he led his team to victory in the first encounter against the defending champions Rajasthan Royals, the other Royals of the IPL. But, his team was found going back to where he left from in the first edition of the Indian Premier League last year in India. Else, how come one can experiment so badly with the openers slot by having someone like Praveen Kumar facing the new ball? Likewise, even the Chennai Super Kings were never less when it came to experimenting, for even there one could see Parthiv Patel opening the innings with Mathew Hayden.

However, the Royal Challengers Bangalore were never in the game since the beginning itself. One can hardly see Parthiv Patel coming down the track and hitting a six. But, this happened against the Royal Challengers when he pulled South Africa's Dale Steyn for a six over square leg boundary. Of course, Mathew Hayden is a genus when it comes to batting as long as he is in form. And most of the time he is found to be in form. The only player in the Chennai Super Kings side who could belt a six was Albie Morkel. The rest of them had atleast one six towards their credit.

Not more than 5 batsmen could be dissmissed from the Chennai Super Kings side by the Royal Challengers. And on the other hand, the Royal Challengers Bangalore royally lost all their ten wickets at a mere score of just 87. Thus spoiling all the good work done by Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men's effort to pile up a mammoth 179 runs on board. The top scorer being Jaques Kallis who scored 26. And the only six of the Royal Challengers' innings coming from the blades of Virat Kohliwhen he lofted Joginder Sharma over square leg boundary on his front foot. That was the only consolation I believe.

Time and again not only the Chennai Super Kings have proven to be challengers of the game but also the Royal Challengers have challenged the opposition to lose the game against them. The Royal Challengers captain Kevin Pietersen bought up as many as 8 bowlers to bowl the Chennai Super Kings batsmen but to no avail. The best bowling performance came from the captain himself who bowled 3 overs giving just 14 runs. But, when it came to batting, it was the same Kevin Pietersen who shared the honours with opener Praveen Kumar for scoring a duck. In fact, Pietersen's was a golden duck. Captain cooool!!!