Even after almost a week being passed by since the second T20 championship got over with Pakistan winning the title, the focus of team India, Indian news channels, the BCCI or even the fans for that matter have not yet come out of the trauma regarding the reason for the shocking exit of team India from the world T20 championship. However, the reasons what most of us hear regarding team India's exit could be just worth a laugh I can say. One has to really praise the aforementioned for the curious reasons what they cite. I just think whether this is all that the board has to say or is there anything else that is left over?
Common reasons cited by the board or the Indian captain M S Dhoni include the Indian Premier League, which on one side didn't give them enough time to practice for the T20 world cup and on the other hand took too much from the Indian players which made them feel almost exhausted by the time the world T20 championship began. The other reason includes the Sehwag issue which some say took a toll especially on Mahendra Singh Dhoni himself, only later to be proved that Dhoni himself was solely responsible for Sehwag's inclusion despite the fact that he had a shoulder injury.
Some minds even suggest that the Indian team had underestimated the other teams especially South Africa and England owing to the fact that India had beaten them in the crucial stages of the inaugural edition of the same in 2007. But, don't you guys think that all these reasons are just to satisfy the critics? C'mon guys..let us go back to the 2007 edition of the same when team India ended up victorious despite all the odds being against them. All of a sudden, the senior trio of Ganguly, Dravid and Tendulkar call themselves off from the inaugural edition which makes the selection committee crack its brains.
The Indian team that headed to the world cup in 2007 was without a fulltime coach and still India comes out victorious. After their initial loss to New Zealand, despite being in a must win position, India beat South Africa and England and also the semis against Australia, when they were still afresh from their 2007 world cup victory. If all these are considered, things were a better off this time in England when compared to that in 2007 in South Africa. Meaning India should have either lost the one in 2007 or else won this time in 2009. Otherwise, can it be assumed that their T20 win in 2007 was a fluke?
Such double standards by anyone for that matter can just make one laugh and nothing else. A better approach would be to silence all the critics by winning the upcoming tournaments viz the West Indies tour and the ICC Champions trophy.
Showing posts with label T20 World Cup 2007. Show all posts
Showing posts with label T20 World Cup 2007. Show all posts
Friday, 26 June 2009
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Do South Africa Choke or its a Joke?
Everytime the South African cricket team get on the ground to play in any international cricket major, be it the ICC cricket world cup, the ICC Champions Trophy or the T20 World Championship, South Africa come out with the tag titled "chokers" on them. Needless to be said, after their re-entry into international cricket in 1992 after their so called apartheid issue, South Africa are said to be on the receiving end of the bad luck. True that there is nothing wrong with that if things are given a glance since from the 1992 world cup. This has found haunting even today.
If a deep thinking is put into the performance of the South African team since the 1992 world cup when it was ruled by Kepler Wessels, no doubt that they had satisfactory wins against strong teams like Australia, Pakistan (who ended up as champions later), India and Sri Lanka and were indeed one of the contestants to lift the trophy. But, the fact is that they had lost to England by 3 wickets in a rain affected match at Melbourne. In addition to this, they had loss against New Zealand as well. And the bad luck was that they had to fight the same England team to which it had lost earlier in the tournament.
Then comes the 1996 world cup where South Africa had its famous five victories against Pakistan, England, Holland, New Zealand and UAE before it lost to West Indies in the quarter finals. But, did the South African team play the West Indies team prior to this in the tournament? "No" is the answer. With that being the case, how could one consider that it was injustice that South Africa could never proceed further? And not to forget that South Africa won the inaugural ICC CHampions Trophy held in Dhaka in 1998 after they beat the West Indies by 4 wickets.
Then comes the famous 1999 world cup which was yet another disappointment for the South African fans and players in particular. South Africa had wins against India, Sri Lanka, England and Kenya in the league stages, which was followed by wins against Pakistan and New Zealand in the super sixes. But, one should not forget the legal losses at the hands of Zimbabwe and Australia in the super sixes. Who is responsible for the drop catch of Steve Waugh by Herscelle Gibbs? And this time the bad luck was that South Africa, like in the 1992 world cup met the same team (Australia) to which it had lost earlier. Then in the ICC champions trophy 2000, South Africa was not the team to beat for, they were nowhere in the game against India where they lost by 94 runs. The match solely belonged to Sourav Ganguly and India.
Then, in the ICC Champions trophy 2002, if the loss to India in the semis was a close gesture, so was South Africa's last ball win in the group match against West Indies. In 2003 world cup, despite being the hosts, they had lost to West Indies and New Zealand before a tie against Sri lanka. It was a mistake that they just ducked the ball when a single was essential. The match was a memorable one for "Marvan Atapattu who scored a magnificient 124 off 118 balls" and not for South Africa. The day solely belonged to Sri Lanka. And in 2007 WC, one can recall the way they lost to Australia (in the group stage), New zealand and Bangladesh (in super eights). The cup was Australia's right and the Proteas were nowhere close to it.
The ones that need a clarification was the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 & 2004, T20 World Cups 2007 & 2009. In the CT 2006, bad luck struck Australia when they lost to Windies in the close encounter in the initial stages. It was OZ that were favourites and not the Proteas. And so was the case in 2004 when they lost to West Indies in the semis where both RSA and WI had come with an equal probablity of winning. In 2007 T20 WC, South Africa may have won against England, WI & NZ but, India was totally a different game. And if that was the cause for their exit, that means that their earlier victories weren't satisfactory. So was the case in T20 WC semis against Pakistan. Win against some other team does not guarentee a win against Pakistan.
After these analysis, one can say that in all the aforementioned cases, RSA had lost to either that team which it had not encountered earlier or it had lost to the same team to wich it had lost earlier. hurray! I have been successful in removing the "CHOKERS" tag from RSA.
If a deep thinking is put into the performance of the South African team since the 1992 world cup when it was ruled by Kepler Wessels, no doubt that they had satisfactory wins against strong teams like Australia, Pakistan (who ended up as champions later), India and Sri Lanka and were indeed one of the contestants to lift the trophy. But, the fact is that they had lost to England by 3 wickets in a rain affected match at Melbourne. In addition to this, they had loss against New Zealand as well. And the bad luck was that they had to fight the same England team to which it had lost earlier in the tournament.
Then comes the 1996 world cup where South Africa had its famous five victories against Pakistan, England, Holland, New Zealand and UAE before it lost to West Indies in the quarter finals. But, did the South African team play the West Indies team prior to this in the tournament? "No" is the answer. With that being the case, how could one consider that it was injustice that South Africa could never proceed further? And not to forget that South Africa won the inaugural ICC CHampions Trophy held in Dhaka in 1998 after they beat the West Indies by 4 wickets.
Then comes the famous 1999 world cup which was yet another disappointment for the South African fans and players in particular. South Africa had wins against India, Sri Lanka, England and Kenya in the league stages, which was followed by wins against Pakistan and New Zealand in the super sixes. But, one should not forget the legal losses at the hands of Zimbabwe and Australia in the super sixes. Who is responsible for the drop catch of Steve Waugh by Herscelle Gibbs? And this time the bad luck was that South Africa, like in the 1992 world cup met the same team (Australia) to which it had lost earlier. Then in the ICC champions trophy 2000, South Africa was not the team to beat for, they were nowhere in the game against India where they lost by 94 runs. The match solely belonged to Sourav Ganguly and India.
Then, in the ICC Champions trophy 2002, if the loss to India in the semis was a close gesture, so was South Africa's last ball win in the group match against West Indies. In 2003 world cup, despite being the hosts, they had lost to West Indies and New Zealand before a tie against Sri lanka. It was a mistake that they just ducked the ball when a single was essential. The match was a memorable one for "Marvan Atapattu who scored a magnificient 124 off 118 balls" and not for South Africa. The day solely belonged to Sri Lanka. And in 2007 WC, one can recall the way they lost to Australia (in the group stage), New zealand and Bangladesh (in super eights). The cup was Australia's right and the Proteas were nowhere close to it.
The ones that need a clarification was the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 & 2004, T20 World Cups 2007 & 2009. In the CT 2006, bad luck struck Australia when they lost to Windies in the close encounter in the initial stages. It was OZ that were favourites and not the Proteas. And so was the case in 2004 when they lost to West Indies in the semis where both RSA and WI had come with an equal probablity of winning. In 2007 T20 WC, South Africa may have won against England, WI & NZ but, India was totally a different game. And if that was the cause for their exit, that means that their earlier victories weren't satisfactory. So was the case in T20 WC semis against Pakistan. Win against some other team does not guarentee a win against Pakistan.
After these analysis, one can say that in all the aforementioned cases, RSA had lost to either that team which it had not encountered earlier or it had lost to the same team to wich it had lost earlier. hurray! I have been successful in removing the "CHOKERS" tag from RSA.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Why Are Indian Cricket Fans' Reactions Not Justified
After team India's shocking exit from the world T20 tournament that was recently concluded in England, the team has come in for some expected criticism not only from the Indian news channels, fans, yesteryear cricketing greats and even the hardcore fans of Indian cricket. Added to this was the fact that most of the cricket blogs like mine have also been doing that ever since the Indian team lost against England in particular and more so after they lost to the Proteas. Not only did the aforementioned groups condemn the way the Indian team performed in the second T20 world cup but at the same time, I could find the same condemning the way the cricket fans back home reacted to this.
The hardcore cricket fans from India were making news for taking to funerals of the Indian cricket team, burning of effigies, shouting slogans in an attempt to condemn their performance which were some of the many reactions that the fans back home showed. This came in for much criticism from everyone including some cricket blogs that I do not intend in mentioning here. But, my question is "How far are these condemnations really justified?" If there has to be no one to condemn the bad show by the Indian cricket players, then the other side of the coin suggests that the Indian team were not at all the contenders for the title.
Just a year and a half ago, the same cricket team had returned back along with the title "T20 World Champions" under their belts and for the same team not being able to even make it to the semis a year and a half later indeed deserves to be at the receiving end of the anger of its fans. Forget about winning the title or even making it to the semis, the team could not even win a game in the super eights. All that the Indian team could manage were wins against minnows Ireland and Bangladesh. Is that all the Indian team is capable of doing? When the entire city of Mumbai could take to the streets leaving all their work just to celebrate the nation's victory, the same team should also be ready for the criticism that the fans show when they return hopeless.
Forget about some other sports in India. Even if one keeps his view only for cricket, not all cricketers are greeted with the same smile that the international team has been enjoying. A win or a loss for a state team assures no reaction from the crowd. Neither was the U-19 world cup greeted the way the T20 champions were in 2007. Of course, even the T20 world cup winning side was awarded cash like the senior team were. The Indian team were awarded cash rewards for winning the Commonwealth Bank series in 2008 which was not at all a special one. And when it comes to Women's cricket team, I'm sure that not all are aware that there exists a women's cricket team in India.
Oh! C'mon...even I do not support such voilence like pelting stones on houses of cricketers or giving sleepless nights for the families of the same. But as long as the border is not crossed, burning effigies, taking it to the streets and shouting slogans cannot be condemned.
The hardcore cricket fans from India were making news for taking to funerals of the Indian cricket team, burning of effigies, shouting slogans in an attempt to condemn their performance which were some of the many reactions that the fans back home showed. This came in for much criticism from everyone including some cricket blogs that I do not intend in mentioning here. But, my question is "How far are these condemnations really justified?" If there has to be no one to condemn the bad show by the Indian cricket players, then the other side of the coin suggests that the Indian team were not at all the contenders for the title.
Just a year and a half ago, the same cricket team had returned back along with the title "T20 World Champions" under their belts and for the same team not being able to even make it to the semis a year and a half later indeed deserves to be at the receiving end of the anger of its fans. Forget about winning the title or even making it to the semis, the team could not even win a game in the super eights. All that the Indian team could manage were wins against minnows Ireland and Bangladesh. Is that all the Indian team is capable of doing? When the entire city of Mumbai could take to the streets leaving all their work just to celebrate the nation's victory, the same team should also be ready for the criticism that the fans show when they return hopeless.
Forget about some other sports in India. Even if one keeps his view only for cricket, not all cricketers are greeted with the same smile that the international team has been enjoying. A win or a loss for a state team assures no reaction from the crowd. Neither was the U-19 world cup greeted the way the T20 champions were in 2007. Of course, even the T20 world cup winning side was awarded cash like the senior team were. The Indian team were awarded cash rewards for winning the Commonwealth Bank series in 2008 which was not at all a special one. And when it comes to Women's cricket team, I'm sure that not all are aware that there exists a women's cricket team in India.
Oh! C'mon...even I do not support such voilence like pelting stones on houses of cricketers or giving sleepless nights for the families of the same. But as long as the border is not crossed, burning effigies, taking it to the streets and shouting slogans cannot be condemned.
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