All down the drains

There is no guarantee that a team scoring 176 will definitely end up as winners because, regarding the very same Mumbai Indians, chasing down a mere total of 99 took their breath away in that game against Trinidad& Tobago and a couple of days back Kolkata Knight Riders with little effort chased down a target of 170 against Royal Challengers Bangalore by 9 wickets. But, in majority of the cases, a target of 177 has been tough to reach batting second. Also, setting up a target of 177 requires effort and pain and a lot of team work and planning at the same time.

In yesterday's match between Mumbai Indians and Cape Cobras, the Mumbai Indians did everything right to see a stiff target on the board which would make every team raise its eyebrows. But, eventually what happened was something which Mumbai Indians never expected. The result of the huge target was not a one man show but a series of performances from the blades of Sarul Kanwar, Andrew symonds, Kieron Pollard which was assisted by James Franklin along with 11 wides that were bowled by Cape Cobras. All these happened with just 5 batsmen stepping out of their dressing rooms to take to the crease.

May be to a greater extent the pitch assisted the batsmen which becomes evident with all batsmen showing confidence with the bat. But, at the same time it is to be accepted that players like Andrew Symonds, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu are exceptional hitters of the cricket ball. Of course, Ambati Rayudu didn't put up a promising knock but instead there was Sarul Kanwar who replaced him by scoring a 21 ball 45 at a strike rate of 214.28. Something that happens very rarely in a limited overs cricket match is that a fielder is responsible in majority of dismissals.

Yes, Owais Shah was instrumental in taking four catches out of the five dismissals which took place in yesterday's match against Mumbai Indians. Owais Shah should consider himself lucky enough to be that fielder when it was the bowler's effort and thinking which forced the batsmen to land the ball safely in the hands of Owais Shah. One can see Justin Kemp bowling just one over when he gave away runs at 2.00 an over and taking the wicket of Franklin. But, Langeveldt and Philander bowled their full quota despite giving away runs at 11.25 and 9.00 respectively. This questions Kemp's caliber as a captain.

Ireland miss it yet again

Well a little bit of brains by the Irish players would have seen them make it to the second round of the world cup for the second consecutive time. A total of just 276 on the board should have not been a tough task for a team who have chased down a mammoth total of 327 against an opposition that was better than the West Indies in all aspects. And, with a player having scored the world cup's fastest hundred, the task should have been just a formality. However, a tough fight was evident when they finished with 231 falling 44 runs short.

If not for the match against Ireland, the West Indies had nothing more to take home. They first lost all their ten wickets against a team that is yet to gain test status. Secondly, if not for the two West Indian players namely the opener Devon Smith and the man of the match Kieron Pollard, no other player really stood to the challenge. Had it not been for these two batsmen, the West Indies total would have been just 74 runs with 12 extras put together. This should have been a chasable total for any team let alone Ireland or any other team.

If this is the fate of the West Indies team against a non-test playing nation in Ireland, one can imagine their fate against England and India against which their next major encounter is due in days to come. They have lost surrendered to the Proteas by 7 wickets in their very first encounter and have since then not faced any major opposition. If Kieron Pollard can be as destructive against the stronger teams, then his inclusion in the list of dangerous batsmen can be justified. Or else, he is no different than some Shahid Afridi who has failed with the bat so far.

On the other hand, even Ireland failed to do what they did against England. This is for the second time that Ireland have disappointed their fans who would have expected them to do the wonder yet again. They first failed in the match against Bangladesh when the asking rate was just above four an over and the target just above 200 runs. They had beaten Bangladesh in the 2007 world cup in the super-eights by 74 runs. This time, one has to wonder whether because Ireland was batting second that they lost. But, if this is the way West Indies' cricket goes about, then the team that faces it in the quarter-finals will have an easy walk.

Wow! It is the West Indies!

Well there have been a couple of 200+ run margins in this tournament with the latest one to join the club being the not-mighty West Indies who inflicted a 215 run win against Netherlands yesterday at Delhi. Earlier in the tournament, Pakistan had beaten Kenya ruthlessly by 205 runs following which Sri Lanka outplayed Canada by 210 runs both by the host nations who are one of the favorites to win the trophy and against weaker teams as mentioned above. Now, the record has been broken by another 5 runs when West Indies did what was expected against Holland yesterday.

It is fascinating to see the three 200+ run margin records having a margin of 5 runs with Sri Lanka belting Canada by 210 runs at Hambontana on February 20^th which was three days before Pakistan did the same against Kenya and a week later West Indies joins the club by bettering Sri Lanka's record by 5 runs. All these three events took place in a span of just two weeks of the tournament starting and with ten days of the first one by Sri Lanka. There are matches yet to come where teams like Australia, South Africa, New Zealand etc will take on Kenya, Canada, Holland etc.

This is one such rare matches involving the West Indies where all the top five batsmen show their talent with three of them scoring half centuries, one other batsman falling just a run short of achieving that feat and the other scoring a decent and a handy 30. A total of 332 and that too by West Indies seems a lot but, have a look at the opposition whom they are playing. May be other stronger teams might fail in getting such a huge margin of victory against such teams but for sure, their performance will be better against West Indies.

The man-of-the-match Kemar Roach is seen picking up a hat-trick but look at the batsmen whom he has dismissed-the last three batsmen players namely some Pieter Seelaar, Bernard Loots and Bernard Westdijk and gets awarded the man of the match for his 6-27 when there was Kieron Pollard who made a quickfire 27 ball 60. Nevermind who was awarded the man of the match for anyhow West Indies would have won against Holland but, it should be seen whether they can do it against India and England with them already losing to South Africa. Even a narrow escape or a close encounter against them would be appreciated.

Smooth sail for South Africa

In the beginning of the tournament itself, looking at the schedule and the grouping of teams it was well understood that the teams who would make it to the quarter-finals of the world cup would be India, West Indies, South Africa and England from group B and Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand from group A. But, the next guess that is more important would be the semi-finals and unfortunately, even that work has been greatly simplified. Thanks to the below par performance from England and West Indies who would no doubt be on the losing side in the quarter-finals.

Yesterday, the West Indies played as though they were no match for the Proteas when the South African ship sailed so smoothly en route to their successful chase of 223 runs set by West Indies. Had this been the total some ten years back, then may be a see-saw sort of match would have been in front of our eyes. But, i a day when even a total in excess of 300 does not guarantee a victory, a total of 222 stands nowhere. The West Indies bowlers showed no signs of spirit that they were facing a strong nation and played as though they were facing Ireland.

There was only one batsman from the West Indian side who scored a half century and despite batsmen like Dwayne Bravo and Devon Smith and Shivnarine Chanderapaul getting the momentum right, they could not convert their innings into match winning partnerships. It would be wrong to say that the West Indies are not equipped with match wining players which is responsible for their debacle. There are the likes of Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo etc who can do miracles with the bat. There is also a rare all-rounder in Kieron Pollard who can smash bowlers and take wickets as well.

But, the thing which the West Indian players lack is the team work which makes them one of the most vulnerable outfits in world cricket. Any team can beat the West Indies including Bangladesh and may be to an extent. In the last world cup, despite playing at home and with Brian Lara out there, they had losses against England, Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand. Their only success was against Pakistan in the pool match. No doubt that West Indies will make it to the quarter-finals but, it is sad that the competition will be stripped off its caliber when teams don't perform upto their expectations.

To boost one's confidence

There are teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe who might just make one's life in many ways though their contribution to international is negligible. The teams mentioned above are one such teams against whom a victory is guaranteed unlike the case with the other 7 teams out there. In case some team happens to encounter either of the teams mentioned and in case that happens in a season where the ICC is bound to reconsider the teams' ratings, then, the team facing Bangladesh and Zimbabwe would have to consider itself lucky for, because of that their rating would definitely continue to raise.

I can recall the way South Africa made it to the number spot in ICC's test rankings in the late 2007 by beating the West Indies and Bangladesh with Australia losing to India in the Border - Gavaskar trophy. Similar to this, in yesterday's encounter between the Mumbai Indians and the Guyana team, the Mumbai Indians needed absolutely no effort needed to overthrow their opponents. Starting from Sachin Tendulkar and Kieron Pollard, everyone made their contribution felt if not for Saurabh Tiwary who got out for a naught. Of course, even Ambati Rayudu scored a mere 4 but that was towards the fag end of the innings.

Lack of game planning was evident in yesterday's match with the Guynese captain - Ramnaresh Sarwan opting for not more than 5 bowlers who bowled their complete quota of 4 overs each. A little bit of risk taking usually helps in getting back into the game and if that doesn't, nothing to worry. Atleast the captain would be satisfied that he made use of the options available to him to the fullest extent whatsoever. The Guyanese innings saw just two hits out of the ground compared to 9 alone by the man of the match Kieron Pollard alone in a T20 game.

I had totally forgotten until now that Guayana was facing a team that stood on the top in this year's IPL and had international players like Harbhajan Singh, Sachin Tendulkar and Lasith Malinga to name a few. Despite ending up on the losing side, one has to give the Guyanese a pat on their back one, for scoring a decent 153 with over 7.5 an over and two, for not losing all ten wickets in a failed run chase. Only Christopher Barnwell was found ending up with a strike rate of more than 150 compared to three from the Mumbai Indians' side.

When West Indies team itself is unfit?

Well the news has its say that the West Indies cricket Board (WICB) has scrapped contracts for Ramnaresh Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine and Jerome Taylor owing to the same old reason that the above mentioned players' fitness does not cope up to the standards of the international cricket. As per my view, the aforementioned three players are the commonest of common names that can be heard in the West Indies team and what is more is that the new upcoming star cricketer in the West Indies team - Narsingh Deonarine has also been shown the gates. Nevermind though if the WICB's words have meaning.

The only name that is seen missing from the list would be Shivnarine Chanderapaul who has been taking the burden of the rusted West Indies team for more than a decade since the 1999 world cup after the retirement of the famous three deadly fast bowlers namely Curtly Ambose, Courteny Walsh and Ian Bishop. Of course, the names mentioned are fast bowlers. But, in their department, they did their job to the fullest extent, leaving little job for the batsmen to complete that included Chanderapaul and Brian Lara. Since then, the West Indies' burden has been shared by only Chanderapaul especially after Lara retired.

The other comparatively lesser known names are obviously Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle (though Chris Gayle's name is not listed in the wrong list). Though not completely successful, the fast bowling line up of the West Indies team is headed by Jerome Taylor with equal support from Dwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo. With Jerome being stripped of his contract, there would no doubt be a blow to the West Indies fast bowling line up which is otherwise also deteriorated. One can definitely ask what is the alternative in case a player is injured or speaking precise is not completely fit for the WICB to award contracts?

Though there can be no other option but to go ahead with the WICB, one has to imagine the lack of fitness of the senior players with the rest of the squad being healthy, if at all the WICB is to be believed. News also had its say that in addition to the three mentioned, even the wicket keeper Denesh Ramdin has been stripped of his national contract. This means that the West Indies team has an unfit player in all departments namely batting, bowling and wicket keeping. On the otherhand, new comers namely Kieron Pollard and Adrian Barat have been given full deals. How mean!

Windies lose by only 2 runs

This was one last thing that the West Indies would have wanted to happen when they lost the first match of the 5 match one day series to Zimbabwe at Guyana by 2 runs. This should be no surprise for anyone keeping in mind the caliber of the present West Indies team which can least beat any non test playing nation alone. Chris Gayle must be glad that his team lost only by two runs when predictions had their say that West Indies would lose the game by a mile. In a way, West Indies would have silenced all critics pointing towards them.

The only bowler from the West Indies side who had some sort of success comparatively was Suliemann Benn when he returned with 4 overs maiden with only Miller being able to bowl another over maiden for the entire West Indies team. Though Kieron Pollard was successful in terms of number of wickets bagged, he gave away 59 runs from his ten overs at 5.9 an over which was more than the 5.08 an over that the entire Zimbabwean innings could manage. It was a team combination from the Zimbabwean side with 5 of the 7 Zimbabwean batsmen putting up decent individual scores.

However, this was not the way the West Indian innings started when the top three batsmen in terms of order of making it to the crease saw posting individual scores above 50. However, it was the same old batsmen in Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderapaul who made the job easy for the West Indies team so the the batsmen making it to the crease later in the innings can cash in on the same which didn't really happen. It was a tough task to pick the best from the Zimbabwean bowlers where a bowler who returns with 3 wickets gives away runs at the rate of 12 an over.

And the next best bowler in terms of wickets namely Greg Lamb returns with figures of 6.40 in the 5 overs he bowled. However, irrespective of who gave away how many runs and how many wickets fell, the end result declared Zimbabwe as winners by a margin a 2 runs. After the exit of the top 3 batsmen namely Gayle, Chandrapaul and Adrian Barath there were just 2 scored above 10 with none of them being able to score more than 20. Instead extras had its share of 22 runs which makes it the 4th among top run scorers for the West Indies in the match.

One has to really pity Gayle

It is just not understandable whether it is curse for Chris Gayle to captain a West Indies team that has nothing but scrap in it. The eleven players who faced Australia in yesterday's first T20 match against Australia had just four names that were making rounds in the West Indies team namely Gayle himself, Morton, Smith and Sammy compared to the rest of the players. The rest of the 7 players were there only to fill the vacant positions in the playing XI. This was more or less the squad that faced Bangladesh almost a year ago and gifted Bangladesh their first test series victory.

This was needless to be said that Bangladesh tasted their first ever test series victory against the West Indies and that too was fortunate enough for them to have it outside home. Anyways, coming to the 1st T20 game between West Indies and Australia, scoreboard suggests that Australia is just wasting its resources by going in for players like Shane Watson, Shaun Tait and others when lesser known players who are still going through a rotational basis in Australian domestic cricket. The first 40+ individual score from a West Indian batsman with a strike rate of 100+ happened to be Dinesh Ramdin whose batting position was 8^th.

The entire West Indian innings contained no sixes absolutely. Anyway, it might not be the number of sixes that matter in a game. And not even the presence of experienced lads who can turn around the game. But, the situation with the West Indies is nothing but pathetic. All that the West Indies could manage to do was not to lose all the 10 wickets that they had. They lost 8 wickets, which was equal to the number of wickets lost by the Australians as well. One has to wonder as to how come West Indies could make it to the semis of the T20 world cup in England last year?

West Indies beat India and England in the super eights of the world T20, after they beat Australia to enter the super eights. Since then, they have never been able to win even a single T20 game whatsoever. Of course, the presence of Shivnarine Chanderapaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan will make a lot of difference to the West Indies team. For, they can atleast add few more runs to the West Indies' total that is otherwise miser. A part time bowler in Chris Gayle had to use his experience to grab two Aussie wickets which were price worthy ones namely Shane Watson and David Hussey. In fact, it was Gayle who provided his team with a breakthrough by dismissing Watson.

With so much responsibility and always the need being for Gayle to fight a losing battle, one has to really pity Gayle.

Gayle-An immature captain

A couple of days ago, the West Indian skipper-Chris Gayle was found predicting a 4-1 series win for his team, despite having the fact that Australia had defeated Pakistan in all formats of the game just last week. Anyways, Chris Gayle is also a human being to make such statements though such statements carry hardly any weight. If the first one dayer between the West Indies and Australia is considered, it was exactly opposite of what happened at Melbourne. Or, did Gayle make that statement after his team blasted the PM's XI at Canberra by 90 runs? That was the game solely for Gayle.

Anyways, coming to the first ODI between West Indies and Australia at Melbourne, the man who blasted 146 runs at a strike rate of more than 150 could score just 7 runs. Chasing a target of 257, West Indies could not even reach 150 runs. Entitled to play 50 overs, the West Indies could not even play 35 overs properly. Nor was there any sort of effort by the West Indian batsmen to chase down the target of 257 imposed by the Aussies. The top scorer for the West Indies team happened to be Kieron Pollard, who is just 16 one dayers old.

Only two of the eleven West Indian batsmen could score more than the extras that constituted for 22 runs. On the otherhand, even the total imposed by Australia was not a decent one if today's one day cricket is considered where chasing a 300+ target is not considered an issue at all. But, the Aussies did the better of the bowling part by bowling the West Indian batsmen for 143 runs. Is it the lack of fellow batsmen in Shivnarine Chanderapaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan that is responsible for the debacle of the West Indian team facing Australia? May be, because, without the presence of these players, the West Indies couldn't even win a single match against Bangladesh in 2009.

And if a close look at the West Indies team is given, barring the captain Chris Gayle, no other player in the squad that faced Australia in Melbourne had played even 50 one day matches on an average. It is not be disputed that in the presence of the experienced players, the performance of the West Indies team could have been any better. But, in the absence of these players, it is sure that the team's performance will get even worse. The presence of Wavell Hinds-who was in for the injured Bravo, could have solved matters for his experience in international since almost a decade. But, Gayle found lacking even a little bit of common sense and makes irrelevant statements.

PCB officially does an IPL franchisee

Just a day after there were rumors that Pakistan's Abdul Razzaq has been linked to Kolkata Knight Riders, comes in another very interesting news that the PCB chairman has ruled out the possibility of any Pakistani player from participating in this year's edition of the Indian Premier League. This was no doubt in response to the humiliation that the Pakistani players had to face when none of the players from Pakistan were seen attracting bids from any of the IPL franchises. Someone like Kieron Pollard was able to attract the Mumbai Indians' eyes even before he could draw some appreciation from his home side.

There was nothing unusual in New Zealand's comeback man Shane Bond going in for a whooping $750000 for the Kolkata Knight Riders. However, when no Pakistani player was picked up by any of the franchises one has to wonder as to what made the Kolkata Knight Riders to approach Abdul Razzaq. Though the claim has been rubbished, had it been by anyone else, it could have been ditched. But how can anything be turned down when Abdul Razzaq himself has given a nod to that statement. It seems that Abdul Razzaq had been offered a contract of 1 year and is waiting for an approval from IPL.

But now, even though in future, in case of a freak chance if any of the IPL franchises opt for any player from Pakistan, it would not be let to happen by none other than the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt who has revoked the no objection certificates that it had issued to its players to participate in the IPL. But, one has to understand the motive behind targetting the players from his own country. No gains can be anticipated from the actions of Ijaz Butt why has been strict regarding the players from Pakistan. Is this in response to the anger on the Indian counterpart by the PCB chief?

The PCB chairman could have handled the issue in some other way when he could have asked for a reason for the franchises actions regarding the selection of players from Pakistan. Ijaz Butt could have sought the reason behind shortlisting the players' list who would be available for the auction in the third edition of the IPL. When no franchisee was ever interested in bidding for players from Pakistan, there was no reason for the IPL organising committee to have shortlisted the Pakistani players. Like last year, even this year the Pakistani players could have been barred from playing in the IPL by being straight forward. But, this action from Ijaz Butt is not justified.