WORLD CHAMPIONS DOWN UNDER.........

The most anticipated test series will kick off on Boxing Day (26 Dec) at 5:00 (IST), when most of the Indians fall asleep. But die hard cricket fans will be waiting for  the rising sun. This is the India’s tenth tour in Australia. India never won a test series in Australia and also a Boxing Day test. First time on down under tour, India are looking favourite to win this series. Possibly, it is the last tour of India’s batting treble on Kangaroo’s land. So they would certainly want to leave it on a high note. Both team have meet in 78 test matches, in which, India won 20 and lost 35 matches. Whereas out of 36 played in Australia, India were able to win 5 and lost 22 matches.

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure. Success is never ending, failure is never final. Australian cricket is being criticized all around the world. After the retirement of the some legend, undoubtedly, Australian Cricket is going through a rebuilding phase. Always remember, building phase is the most beautiful phase in this universe. It is just a cricketing cycle where a country has some of the greatest players in the world and they keep winning so their team appears to be the best. When the team is doing well, it doesn’t matter, but when the results are not on your side, things begin to look ugly.

World Champions India proved that teams don’t grow strong without a struggle. Fine form of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid can humiliate the vulnerable and inexperienced Aussies pace attack. Visitors triple batting maestro’s average surges at their career averages, in Australian conditions. Sehwag is also looking on career best form. Both Australian openers are rookies southpaw and left handers are the favourite bunny of Zaheer. This left-arm medium-pacer will have to bear the burnt of India’s bowling responsibility throughout the tour.  Fitness of Zaheer khan and Ishant Sharma is the main concerns of Indian side. Star-studded team India looks formidable like Australian aura of invincibility.

Amid a sea of new faces in Oz squad, James Pattinson can create a danger to India’s experienced hand. A young bowler with well aggression and raw pace can amaze the Indian batsmen. Brittleness in batting line up and Big Bash tournament are the main niggles of hosting side. Perhaps, this is the last gamble of Australian selectors on two experienced players Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey. Remember experience always comes in handy in the long run. It is the moment of reckoning for Ponting and Hussey. Repetition of Ponting shows that Aussie side have a lack of bunches of adept batsmen. Former captain can take inspiration from Sachin’s and Dravid’s comeback and move one step ahead.

Last tour of India in Australia is famous for Monkeygate scandal and poor umpiring. Innovation is being applied in almost all the sports. But Indian team doesn’t feel comfortable with UDRS. India’s refusal to accept the technology has upset players as well as viewers. In the absence of the UDRS, the on-field umpires will once again be the masters of a cricket field.

This series is the contention between former and current World Champions. Champions are not supernatural, they just fight one more second when everyone else quits; sometimes one second of effort gives you the victory. Finally, the battle for Border-Gavaskar trophy will be over at the end of January. The team that will remain ahead in the closed contests between bat and bowl will win this trophy. But remember, fielding skills play such an important role in the game & often proves the difference between winning and losing.

After all, the top three highest run-getters in tests- Sachin Tendulkar (15,183 ), Rahul Dravid (13,094) and Ricky Ponting (12,656)- will all be playing in this series. For cricket fans, it is a great pleasure to see the three batting heroes on a single turf.

A CUP TO REMEMBER............




 

The mega event of 43 days of cricket is over. This time, the tag of world champion was gone to India. After 28 years, finally MS Dhoni sat on the crowned seat which was sat alone by Kapil Dev. By winning World Cup, Team India (Men in Blue) have put billion of smiles across billion of faces. Team unity is the main reason behind this achievement. Many players of team India was playing cricket together for couple of years. Some words for Gary Kirsten.

Gary Kirsten has taken responsibility to coach India when Indian team has demolished by early exit of World Cup 2007. Twice times beating Australia in India, No.1 in test, levelling test series against South Africa in Africa and a World cup triumph are enough to shows his ability in this job. Under his coaching, India play 32 test and 89 ODI matches with 50% and 65.29% winning rate respectively. Due to personal reason, Kirsten say goodbye to India after this World Cup. It was one of the hardest goodbyes which he has ever had to say. It will be interesting to see who will fill up the shoes of Gary Kirsten.

A successful team is one, who knows his strengths but knows his weakness better. India have deep batting line up but bowling was quiet simple. But each bowler known his limitation. Unsung hero Munaf Patel do bowl with good line and length at average speed instead of raising pace. Off-sppiner Harbhajan do bowl for restricting run instead of taking wicket. Great comeback by prodigy prince Yuvraj Singh.This was not the first time Yuvraj have performed for India. But, the timing was perfect. With four man of the match awards, he has joined Aravinda de Silva (1996) and Lance Klusner (1999). For Sachin, winning World Cup is the greatest moment ever.

Coming into this World Cup, the aura of invincibility that Australia had been cloaked in for nearly a decade and a half was not quite there. Australian fielding and their never-say-die attitudes is still very much there, but the class and skills that made them such a dominant team for almost two decades is simply not there. Australia's bullying tactics failed miserably simply because these bullies did not have the intrinsic ability to back their words with skills that the McGraths and Warnes had. The next stage for Australia will, no doubt, be a period of rebuilding.

Super Chokers choked again. South Africa proved that why are they call choker? In World Cup history, South Africa never won a knock out matches. In the league phase, South Africa are only team to have bowled out every opposition. But in quater-final, Kiwis choked Africa . New Zealand performed above the expectation for reaching semifinal in sixth times in World Cup history. New Zealand had a nightmarish series of one-day losses in Bangladesh last year, but they learnt their lesson well.

Sri Lanka are one of the most formidable teams at home and England had the first-hand experience of that in their quaterfinals. England have been the most entertaining team in this World Cup. Their thrilling tie against India, their nail-bitting victories over West Indies, Netherlands and SA and their shocking defeats to underdogs Ireland and Bangladesh have given their supporters a roller-coaster ride.

Main problem faced by many teams in this World Cup was the use of batting powerplay. Basically batting powerplay turned match in the favour of batting team. But, at many ocassions it favoured fielding side. India vs South Africa match is the best example. When players hit big shots in powerplay, they tend to forget that they are playing for the country and not for the crowd. This World Cup will also be remembered for injuries. Many players have injured before starting as well as during World Cup games.

"Only ten test playing nation will be the part of the next two World Cup", said by ICC. Ireland finished the World Cup with two wins having successfully chased down 300 plus totals on both ocasions and will head home with the heads held high. Teams which have the mental strength to chase down 300 plus totals have to be respected. The Irish win was a fitting reply to the assertion that the non-Test-playing teams have no place in the World Cup. For associates team, there is no point to playing cricket if you don't think you can win the game. We cannot ignore the talent of associates team such like as Ryan Ten Doeschate, Peter Borren, Hiral Patel, Ashish Bagai, Collins Obuyo, Kevin O Brien, William Porterfield. Any team don't grow strong without a struggle. Big question arises against ICC decision is that why would you want to take the World out of the World Cup?

Some words for India vs Pakistan match. People of both countries are emotionals and sentimentals so they see the match in such a way that there is a war between them. Cricket is the game of meeting of two brothers. So just enjoy game and accept the result sportingly. Cricket is a passion in both countries and it can be used as a very positive tool to improve relations and remove misunderstandings.

After one and a half month of mouth watering competitions, the best team among the all i.e. Team “INDIA” lifted the World cup trophy.

The Greatest Cricketing Festival...dil se...

The tenth Cricket World Cup will held in Indian sub-continent (India, Sri lanka & Bangladesh). Whenever World Cup has been organised in Indian sub-continent asian teams have performed well. In World Cup 1987, India & Pakistan reached semifinal stage whereas in WC 96, India & Srilanka reached the semis.Till now, nine World Cups have been held, in which Australia have won four times, West-Indies twice time whereas India, Pakistan & Srilanka have been lucky once. In this World Cup, will a new champion be crowned?

World Cup is also knows as a stage for innovations like in World Cup 1987, Steve Waugh applied slower balls by fast bowlers in slog overs to dodge batsmen. WC 92, New Zealand's captain Martin Crowe gave new ball to the off spinner Deepak Patel. World Cup 1996, Srilankan captain Ranatunga opened their batting by Jayasuriya & kaluwitharana as a pinch-hitters to take advantage of field restrictions in the first fifteen overs. WC 2003, Indian skipper Ganguly used Dravid as a wicket keeper to include extra batsman in the squad. In the final of World Cup 2007, Gilchrist put a small squash ball in gloves to improve his grip. These innovations really gave good results.

In this World Cup, 14 nations are participating which are divided into two groups.                                                     

Group A- Australia, Pakistan, Srilanka, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Canada. 

Group B- India, South Africa, England, West-Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands.                                                                                                                    

In the semifinals & final matches, Umpire Decision Referral System (UDRS) will be used. But besides this, we will miss some great players who have played World Cup 2007 like Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Glenn Mcgrath, Nathan Bracken, Brian Lara, Shane Bond, Stephen Fleming, Inzamam-ul-haq, Mohmad Yusuf, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Herchells Gibbs, Andrew Flintoff and Marshafe Mortaza.

In cricket nothing is impossible and so all 14 nations are capable of winning this World Cup. But India is the best contender. They will have huge amount of home advantage. The god of cricket Sachin Tendulkar having a career best form will certainly want to accomplish his dream. After filling of no.7 batting slot by Yousuf Pathan, winning chances will be enhanced. For chasing big totals, if more wickets are in hand then India can chase any total in last ten overs. Besides this there are some disadvantages for Indian team, extra pressure of expectations of the home crowd. Injuries are also worries. Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir missed last SA series due to injury. Also Praveen kumar who was strength of Indian bowling has been dropped due to injury. Selection of Piyush Chawla is ridiculous because Yuvraj, Sehwag, Pathan & Raina are doing good spin bowling & giving lot of varieties. The most key players are Sachin, Sehwag, Kohli, Pathan, Harbhajan & Zaheer Khan.

Defending champion Australia is also a big contender. Some advantages for Australian team. They are more experienced team than others. Brett Lee is reckoning in Australian team & also having good touch. Under Ricky Ponting's captaincy Australia have never lost a single match of World Cup. Fighting spirit & ability to bounce back at any time makes them an unbeatable team. Some disadvantages for Australia team are: Injuries, M Hussey and N Hauritz have been dropped from the squad. Lack of quality spinners & poor form of Ponting can also affect the World Cup winning streak. The players to watch out are Watson, Ponting, D Hussey, White, S Smith & Brett Lee.

South Africa also look strong contender for this world cup. They will try to remove the image of Chokers. The advatages for Proteas are: they consist world's best pace attack capable of demolishing any batting line-up. Steyn's aggression, Morkel's bounce & Kallis's all-round performance are sufficient for lifting World Cup trophy. As a skipper it is the last series for Smith so he would certainly want to leave it on a high note. Ignorance of Boucher from the squad can take a toll on African team. He is a good batsman against spin & his exclusion has put extra pressure of wicket keeping on De Villers and its affectig his form. This can be a major disadvantage for them. The key players will be G Smith, Amla, Kallis, Steyn & Morne Morkel.

But don't forget dark horses like Srilanka, Pakistan, England, New Zealand & West-Indies. Srilanka will also enjoy the support of home crowd. This is the last series of Muralitharan so it will be great to leave game with the high of a World Cup triumph. But they will certainly miss the experience of Jayasuriya & Vaas. Batting of Srilanka totally depends on Sangakara & Jayawardene. Most key players are Dilshan, Jayawerdene, Sangakara, Matthews & Muralitharan.                                                                                      

No one can altogether predict Pakistan's chances in the World Cup. They have capability to do well. No other team in the World Cup has genuine batting match winners at No.6, 7 & 8 in Umar Akmal, Afridi & Razzaq. It means no target is too big & no game is over till the last wicket has fallen. But they will miss the services of Yousuf, Asif & Amir. Late declaration of the captain may also have hampered the team unity. The key players for Pakistan will be Misbah, Umar Akmal, Afridi, Razzak, Akhtar & Gul.                                                                                                                    

New Zealand have the good combination of seniors and young players. The strength of Black Caps lies in the fact that most of the players are all-rounders. Plus point of this team is the support of the most demanded coach John Wright who is competely aware of the sub-continent conditions & the experience of Allan Donald as a bowling coach. But the lack of consistency and the habit to panic easily can demolish their dream of winning first World Cup. McCullum bros, Taylor, Vettori, Franklin, Oram & Southee are certainly key players.                                                                                                                           

Ashes winning team & T20 champions England would not want to lag behind and aspire to win their second ICC trophy. Losing the last ODI series against Australia & injuries can sag their morale. Strauss, Trott, Pietersen, Morgan, Swann & Broad can play a great role in the road to World Cup.                                                                                                                                           

Under the lights of Gayle, Chandrapaul, Bravo & Pollard West-Indies definitely want to regain the charm of 70's.                                                                                                                                                              

Remaining underdogs should not be taken lightly. In World Cup 2003, Kenya amazed everyone by reaching the semis. They can surely be a headache to major teams. Indian & Pakistan defeats by Bangladesh & Ireland respectively in 07 WC can not be forgotten. The beginning of professionalism in Cricket in Ireland, Netherlands & Canada should improve their performance this time. Talents like T Iqbal, S ul Hasan (BAN), B Taylor, E Chigambura (ZIM), Brien bros, B Rankin (IRE), J Davison (CAN), S Tikolo (KEN), RT Doesachte,T Cooper (NET) can't be underestimated.

All cricket fans should be following WC 11 closely. As it might be the last time to see the legendary players like Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Shoiab Akhtar & Muttiah Muralitharan performing on the biggest cricketing arena. All cricket fans are wishing:-

KHELO DIL SE