Underestimate Bangladesh at your own peril !!
It has been a long wait and at last we are close to the 2007 edition of the ICC world cup. The spectacular opening ceremony not withstanding, WestIndies grounds are not going be that much in ship-shape, when it comes to preparation for hosting a tournament of this scale. The precision, the passion, infrastructure, money and of course centralized decision making are all economical in this region and hence we will have a lot of criticism about pitches, conditions and facilities.
India's preparation in warm up games was nothing spectacular (the fact that they dismissed WI for 85 was more due to self destruction than due to any special bowling spell). I saw the Netherland trundlers were able to pin down Indian batsmen for some time and even Dravid and Sachin, who did the repair act, were struggling before breaking loose later. The bowling was too amateurish to read too much into a 300+ total. Pathan was extremely unimpressive and looks to be a solid case for maintaining the 5.5 or 6.5 economy rate per over. As far as Sehwag, the less said the better - after promising big things, he stumbled out with scores of 28 and 0. It looked almost pathetic that India is so dependent on such an out of form player but you never know with Viru. The very reason he is pursued is because, he might suddenly play a blinder and that is what Dravid and Chappel are counting on (or dreaming !!).
India, a traditional slow starter in any away series, should better watch out for Bangladesh. I wish India's opening game is against Bermuda since an upset from Bangla might as well spell doom for India. Bangladesh had provided the first upset in the warm up matches by beating New Zealand; Mortaza is no flash in the pan and has been doing things well for Bangladesh for quite some time. Then there is the good old Raffique and of course the other 'Razak' and I was the Bangla captain, I will summon both these lefties, the moment Sachin walks up to bat. India batsmen should better watch out and any sub par performance or getting used to talk will spell unwanted trouble for Dravid.
India's preparation in warm up games was nothing spectacular (the fact that they dismissed WI for 85 was more due to self destruction than due to any special bowling spell). I saw the Netherland trundlers were able to pin down Indian batsmen for some time and even Dravid and Sachin, who did the repair act, were struggling before breaking loose later. The bowling was too amateurish to read too much into a 300+ total. Pathan was extremely unimpressive and looks to be a solid case for maintaining the 5.5 or 6.5 economy rate per over. As far as Sehwag, the less said the better - after promising big things, he stumbled out with scores of 28 and 0. It looked almost pathetic that India is so dependent on such an out of form player but you never know with Viru. The very reason he is pursued is because, he might suddenly play a blinder and that is what Dravid and Chappel are counting on (or dreaming !!).
India, a traditional slow starter in any away series, should better watch out for Bangladesh. I wish India's opening game is against Bermuda since an upset from Bangla might as well spell doom for India. Bangladesh had provided the first upset in the warm up matches by beating New Zealand; Mortaza is no flash in the pan and has been doing things well for Bangladesh for quite some time. Then there is the good old Raffique and of course the other 'Razak' and I was the Bangla captain, I will summon both these lefties, the moment Sachin walks up to bat. India batsmen should better watch out and any sub par performance or getting used to talk will spell unwanted trouble for Dravid.
posted by Crick_Love at 1:24 AM
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