Mediocre batting & Pathetic bowling eliminates India !!

India played their elimination round against Aussies in predictable lines. Dravid looked as if he had swallowed castor oil and the body language of the whole team looked as if they had given up long before the toss. Sachin failed for the umpteenth time against Aus (for that matter against anyone when it really counts) and there lies the difference between him and Lara (who played a beauty of an innings against Aussies, mere weeks ago in DLF cup). I will never ever be able to count Sachin as the game’s greatest since he has not been able to come up with a single innings in the last so many years, when the we really wanted him to. Mongia was an ok choice at number 3 but his inability to run the singles made it as a misfit. Viru had numerous chances but once again the timing of his dismissal and RD’s dismissal meant that India will end of some 50 runs short of a winning score. Raina was in such a bad form that he was unable to put bat to ball for as much as 3 full overs and with all that, India’s limping off 249 looked as if they had already given it up.
When the Aussie innings started, none of the bowlers displayed anything close to cerebral in terms of strategy (where were they when Mcgrath bowled that 6 over, ridiculously predictable good length outside the off-stump delivery for a meager 12 runs and of course the usual wicket of Sachin’s). Every one pitched it short and the rest was easy meat for the Aussie line up. Another noticeable feature was the superb running between the wickets; Indians were as usual struggling in that department (with all the big talk of professionalism and a bunch of staff to look after every part of the body, no improvement was visible in anything in Indian players. If anything, they had gone back to good old days of lethargy and apathy).
What next ? Indian cricket is in total shambles. The gaping holes in all department of their game is pretty evident. The coach is obviously under fire but more than that the captain is looking out of place now; with no other candidate around, he will linger on and hopefully things might change but I doubt it since the next tour of SA is equally going to be tough. They will welcome India with pitches like the one where they shredded Pakistan, the other day at Mohali. Indian cricket and its love affair with mediocre displays will continue until there are some fundamental changes brought in and that will obviously be at the game’s basics – like running between the wickets, building partnerships, bowling to a plan and most important,fielding. Till then, the money might alone can not carry India beyond a point.

India come 2nd in a thriller !!

This is all becoming way too easy. I predicted another Indian failure (see the blog note below, after WI win over Aussies) and that is what happened exactly. India ended up some 50 runs short of a possible winning score - thanks to Viru - being out of form forever, Yuvi and Raina- not making use of the start, Dravid - not doing the simple, school boyish stuff of running hard. In fact, Rahul's dismissal at the most crucial time (with all this big talk about professionalism, training, mind games etc by Greg, the captain not running hard - it looks pathetic) robbed India off a fighting total.
When India bowled, it was the usual issue of lack of penetration and poor fielding. Except Munaf and Bhajji, the rest dished out ordinary stuff and even though - it appeared to be heading for a thrilling finish, WI won it long before psychologically; India, simply got beaten in their minds and stumbled out like trudged ants - off the field. They now await the elimination encounter against Aussies and going by recent trend, I do not expect any upsets from the men in blue.

Will WI win over Aussies affect India's chances ?

What a contest it turned out to be !! There was an air of defiance (from Chris Gayle), inspiring leadership (from Sarwan), breath taking bowling spells (Taylor) and of course great batting from Gilchrist (Lara and Morton earlier too) but in the end, the WI victory more or less eliminated India from their semi-final hopes. With their current form, India is in no frame of mind to upset either WI or Aus, unless a miracle occurs. All in all, another disappointment is awaiting Indian cricket lovers !!

India limp to a win, chasing paltry 125 !!

In terms of contest, India Vs England is best billed as the clash of minnows (some thing akin to Zim Vs Kenya or Bangladesh) going by the recent ODI form of these 2 teams and it turned out to be exactly that. Both the teams wanted to display on who can put up a worse show and India somehow came unscathed because they were just chasing 125. In terms of positves, I will say india perhaps got the much needed bowling form of Pathan and I must say it was brave of Dravid to win the toss and bowl first on an unknown wicket. There was not much in the English batting and once Pieterson and Collingwood fell, the rest was just about as easy as driving the knife in butter. Munaf and even Powar put up a decent display but I will say that they are all up against more serious contenders later in the matches against WI and Aus.
When India batted, Sachin showed glimpses of his form in recent DLF cup but the rest came and went. Viru, Dravid, Dhoni and Raina did nothing to improve their confidence and the whole middle order looks shaky. The men in blue somehow stumbled on to get a scrappy win and in the end were left wondering what would have happened if they had to chase even 40 - 50 runs more. All in all, not much of a contest by these lesser lights. I think, India needs to get their batting act quickly and come back strong against WI, if they need to progress any further in this tournament.