Ganguly's injury and the importance of being Pathan

Ganguly got hit by a Sreesanth delivery late last week and has some kind of a injury, it has obviously been kept low key by the team management. Within a space of two months, Saurav has come feom being a no hoper to being the carrier of India's hopes. John Gloster will be testing Ganguly's fiteness today and I sincerely hope everything turns out well.

On to Pathan, so much has been said for and against his inclusion in the team, so I thought I must barge in as well. Yes, we must absolutely have him in the team, even if he is 3/4th of the bowler he was, since he adds that much more value while batting. Having Pathan will mean we can go in with five bowlers without really compromizing on the depth of batting. Sachin and Yuvraj for me are more of 5-7 over bowlers and I am vary of having the two of them handle the fifth bowler role on their own, these guys can bleed!

So, I root for Pathan and I know the team management does too and with that, the defence rests its case.

The Hunger to Succeed

I had mentioned yesterday that the team with the lesser tendency to self destruct will win and so it happened, West Indies looked the far superior side yesterday and they deserved the points. I was perticularly impressed by the celebrations which the West Indian players broke out in to every time a Pakistani wicket fell, they were ful of energy, team spirit and the will to win. This West Indian side can go far, if they stay together and enjoy their game as much as they did yesterday. I am just a little worried about the length of their tail. Bravo does not seem to be justifying the faith instilled in him as a batsman and Ramdin is too limited. Dwayne Smith was good yesterday but he is inconsistent and effectively, the West Indies start to run thin from Number Six onwards. I was also very surprised that neither Gayle nor Samuels were used as bowlers, its an option for later matches and speaks of the confidence that Lara has in his quickies.

For Pakistan, the batsmen forgot to turn up. Inzi and Yousuf were painfully slow and several others just threw their wickets away. Rana Naved is not fit to be in this world cup team. I am also not sure how useful Afrdi will be, given his temprament. Azahar Mahmood needs to play now, he offers them the bowling allrounder option that Razzaq offers.

I am quite certain that Pakistan will still go through to the Super Eights, but the confidence is dented and Inzi, I am afraid is no Imran.

Game On: The Unpredictable Giants

Two giant forces of world cricket, Pakistan and West Indies, One perennially in the grip of self constructed controversies and the other finally beginning to show signs of resurgence after years of hardship. The two giants walk out at Jamaica today, hoping for a perfect start and regardless of who gets it, a perfect start it will be for the IXth Cricket World Cup.

Bring on the Maestros
Inzamam
knows this is his last world cup, a past winner but never quite accepted as a successful captain. He has also been struggling for batting form in the last few months, this game is a perfect stage for him to launch his swan song, to finally earn for himself what he perhaps deserves, a place amongst the modern greats of cricket. As always, he will be pivotal to Pakistan's chances, a news report attributed him saying that he will come and bat at number three. Its a position which has been rightfully his for so many years but also a position which he has been reluctant to occupy with any degree of regularity. With the other stalwart Yousuf coming in at number four, it makes great sense for Inzi to come in early and manage the game.

Lara
Brain lara refuses to lay down, he just mentioned that he is only 37 and can play for several more years. Not that I or anyone will complain, the more of him, the merrier it is. How crucial will be for the hosts? He will be the engine that will drive them through, the more ownership he takes, the more commitment he will elicit from his maverick team. Given their never ending ability to collapse, Lara will have to buckle up often, curb the lofted drives and just steer the game through the middle overs.

No Lesser mortals: Chanderpaul, Yousuf, Gayle, Younis

Such fabulous talent, its like a multi starrer bollywood blockbuster waiting to happen.

Gayle and Chanderpaul will lay the foundation for West Indies scores. Coming up the order these two most often determine the mood the team plays with - destructive or self destruct. Gayle struggled for runs in his Indian sojourn but count on him to step up, he really has started to take the responsibility as a senior player. These four men from the two teams will be the bull workers, the accumulators and the smashers.

Eventually, the game will be won or lost by the team which can curb its tendencies to self destruct better, the team that has more belief and the greater hunger to succeed. Its a clash of titans, two past champions who have a legacy to live up to and full of individual stalwarts who wish to leave a everlasting legacy behind.

As I sign-off, Pakistan have won the toss and decided to bowl. These are two sides very capable of chasing down impossible totals, lets hope for a long, winding and eventful chase through the day!

The fun begins before the games begin!

Continuing with the recent tradition of World Cup Cricket controversies, the fun begins this time too before the proverbial ball is bowled. In 2003, it was the doping scandal which effectively removed the specter of Shane Warne decimating batsmen from around the world and the controversy over certain teams not daring enough to ply their trade in the strife torn Zimbabwe.

This time around, their is a not so exciting buzz around the conditions of the pitches on offer in the Caribbean and to add a bit of a soap opera touch to the events, Sunny Gavaskar and Ricky 'Punter' Ponting got in to the ring without putting on their boxing gloves.

On the matter of the pitches, what an irony it is that teams are actually charting their victory plans around bowlers of the class of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gayle, Malik, Clarke and the spinning wizard..Graeme Smith. And if you thought that this was ironic enough, all this is happening in the haloed land of tearaway fast bowlers paradise of yesteryears, I can almost see Marshall, Garner and Ambrose gritting their teeth in mass agony. Another fast bowling great, Andy Roberts is actually the in-charge of the pitch committee for the tournament and he is still quite emphatic that the pitches will not play low and slow, except maybe in the very early part of the tournament.


Coming to think of it, the pitches in West Indies have been slowing down over the years and the pitches to be used for the World Cup are all newly laid. Unless Roberts and his group imported some soil from Down Under, I do not see how his prophecy will come true. The reality of slow pitches may actually suit the West Indies team as well, their most potent bowlers are expected to be Bradshaw and Collymore, both friendly medium pace and both rely excessively on line and length. Gayle and Samuels will be expected to bowl more then ten overs in each game and they will like to have it slow and low too. So, makes perfect sense to lay down such pitches..doesn't it?


Now on to my personal favourite, the boxing match between Gavaskar and Ponting. Neither of them above the 'law' and yet both with in their perfect rights to talk the way they did. I only wonder how Ponting would have reacted had Gavaskar been praising him, would he then have remembered Gavaskar's dark past?

Now, the fact that the Australians are no angles when it comes to sportsmanship is a well documented affair, this is how they play all their games and not just cricket. Over the years they have realized that their brand of in your face, street smart cricket is quite effective. It either succeeds in pummeling the opposition in to submission or leads them in to suicidal tendencies borne by anger.

Gavaskar lived through this himself in Melbourne when he was sledged incessantly through the series and eventually took the step he still regrets, of asking Chetan Chauhan to walk off the pitch. He may still be nursing a bruised ego or he just wanted to earn some viewer ship for ESPN Star, he surely succeeded in hitting Ponting below the belt, who in turn hit back too and thus ESPN Star and the media had a field day.

Regardless of the righteousness of them both, Ponting's snide remarks about Indian cricket, though true are very disrespectful and I, as a proud Indian sincerely hope the men in blue beat the Ozzies black and blue when they square off in the Super Eights..heres one for the dreamy thought!!