On the eve of world cup T20 final

I thought I would post one more recipe tonight. However, one of my friends pointed out to me that of the 3 topics I have covered in my post – Cricket, food, 67% of my posts related to food. Well being a numbers guy that he is from my college days, I did not expect anything more from him. However, that lead to a change in my thought. In this day and age, I cannot ignore the feedback from my viewers- so here goes the article on cricket.

I guess my observations on this might be a little old but as usual, I have 3 things to write about
1) England’s exit from WT20 and why on earth do people think England is still learning
2) My reaction to Cricinfo’s article on T20 final being a Triumph on Human spirit
3) Why my expectations are low for the India WI ODI

Engalnd’s exit from WT20: When England lost their match against WI and lost the spot in semi finals, in the post match interview, Naseer Hussain asked Collingwood if he was proud of his bowlers. That was the first statement / comment Naseer Hussain had made and almost lead Collingwood into a positive spin. I know Naseer is British and it is natural for him to support England. I also know that England beat India in the earlier match but I do not think I would have asked Collingwood the same question. A more natural and unbiased question would have been – How does Collingwood feel about the exit. All through the match, several commentators thought and said England is quickly learning more and more about the format!!! Andrew Miller even wrote an article in Cricinfo about England’s Honourable exit. Now, in their Super Eight’s England won only one match against India and lost against South Africa and West Indies. In the Group matches they lost against Ireland. Now thinking about that way – Ireland are also learning from the format. They have made huge progress in the world cup. I think it is fair to say that Ireland is learning but it is absolutely unfair to say England is learning. By this time, they should have well gone past beyond the learning curve. To me, England did well to beat India but I think they are well past the learning curve. It would be gracious of Collingwood and other English men to accept that they are still an inconsistent team. Oh well – these are just views of a whining Indian.

T20 final a Triumph of Human spirit? In my previous article – one wish for world T20 – I had wished Pakistan should not win the world cup. However, since then my views have changed a bit and the one article responsible for change is again an article by Andrew Miller and you can read it here. I will have to agree for the sake of humanity that a win for Pakistan will be a well deserved celebration for their country. The headlines for Pakistan are anything but encouraging and it seems like people of the country need a cause for celebration. Will Pakistani’s come out on the streets like Indian’s in 2007 if Pakistan win tomorrow? That is to be seen but I wish them well. I will not be yelling for Pakistan as I just cannot but will not be disappointed if they win. My bet though is on Sri Lanka. Not because of their form but I truly think they have bought innovation into the game – be it the slow bouncer by Malinga, the “Dilscoop” by Dilshan or the bowling by Murali and Mendis. The final will be a final of Innovation , Determination, Passion and team cricket vs Determination, Passion and team spirit. By this time tomorrow we will know if innovation can trump everything else in the long run.

My expectations for India’s ODI series in WI: Last but not the least, my expectations for India win in WI ODI series is very low. I think we have a very young team and a lot of members of this team have not visited WI. We deserved a longer break and I am skeptical about our performance as a team. Dhoni can deny the fatigue from overplaying but that is a fact. If we were to win again 3 things have to happen 1) we have to start seeing the team spirit 2) Dhnoi’s own form with batting has to change 3) we have raise our standards for fielding and create chances out of nothing (as if that is new)

My one wish for T20 World Cup and India's loss

There have been many reasons given and the opinions continue to flow on why India lost to England. While I am no authority on cricket, I follow the game with a lot of passion and I feel like I have the right comment what I feel – does not matter if it is right or wrong.
Here is a link to the article on Cricinfo and the comments from various people
Cricinfo
Here is the article from BBC which has the comments from the rival captains
Dhoni’s Comments
Collingwood View’s
Before I express my views on this issue, a disclaimer – it is always easy to comment on these issues as an outsider but one really has to be part of the team and experience it firsthand.
There are 3 main reasons why India lost the 2 matches
1) We were very defensive – the tag of defending champions probably put additional pressure on us and we were trying to be cautious in our approach. Several examples to depict the same 1) Dhoni did not want to send Yuvraj out in a pressure situation and sent RA Jadeja to bat 2) we should have batted first and setup a big target to chase for England. However, we opted to bat second. As such this was a pressure game. To bat second and try to achieve a target in a pressure game is never easy. We strengthened our batting line up by adding Jadeja but we still opted to bat second?
2) Dhoni the “uber cool” captain? - I guess he is now a very conscious captain and wants to live up to the expectations. For ex again take the match against India and WI. When Pragyan Ohja was bowling. Suresh Raina threw the ball to Ohja in an attempt to effect a run out of Simmons. Ohja missed it and Raina yelled at Ohja. Right at the end of the over, Dhoni called Raina and had a word with him. Roll back 2 years in 2007 and Dhoni would have probably let it go and let Raina and Ohja sort it out themselves. A simple example but goes a long way to show how small details show the mood of the side, the captain and everyone else in the team.
3) Fans of Indian cricket – To some extent all of us (millions of fans of Indian cricket) are also responsible for the defeat. We have high expectations of the team, if the team loses we analyze the situation to death, we play the scenes of last ball 100 times in our channels. We take Yusuf Pathan’s sit down before the last over out of context and portray that as if he was brooding over the loss. We even ask if Dhoni is the right captain just based on loss in one tournament. Last but not the least people like me also start blogging about this.
Having said all this, there is only one desire left for me. I do not want Pakistan to win the T20 world cup. If Pakistan happen to win the T20 cup – that will be the saddest day in my life so far…