What justification can you give for the inclusion of Yuvraj and Jadeja? Raina and Pathan are good players on flat pitches only. We need a balanced side which should include Dravid (good player of short pitched bowling), Amit Mishra (best spinner in India) and ppl like Trivedi and Balaji (good T20 bowlers)
Congratulations Sri Lanka, Cricinfo neatly summarizes:
"Kumar Sangakkara set up the chase and Angelo Mathews took them to the final lap before Chamara Kapugedera sealed the finish in style by hitting a six off the last ball. It was that close and dramatic. The captain and the two inexperienced men he had backed heavily in the past had come through when it mattered at the big stage. "
However, Aussies seem to have figured out the winning formula pretty early.
The bowlers have been the key!
1. England ..can they challenge the Aussies?
2. Pakistan, seems impossible with the batting!
3. From Sri Lanka, can Jaywardane, Matthews, Sangakarra & Member of parliament do it?
EDIT: Good point MBTM, we should all watch IPL instead!
I disagree, Australia & England have played some fantastic and consistent cricket this T20, they cant be called second tier!
For those dummies who always thought I was harsh on Tendulkar just because he was a North Indian, READ THIS…
The openers should consist of at least 1 top notch quality batsman (say a Showag or a Gambhir or a 10 dull car or even a Dravid (a better player than Kallis in ODI and T20)). Otherwise, this deficiency is bound to show up sooner or later.
I do not have much faith in Murali Vijay and maybe even Dinesh Karthik. Both are from Chennai….and that’s where I am from.
Murali Vijay has always been fallible against quality pace attack, and it again showed up yesterday. He better come up with a masterful knock either against Aus or S.A on a not-so-flat wicket or else he might have to be clubbed alongside Yusuf Pathan as pathetic players against quality fast bowling.
Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik doesn’t have the same kind of weakness that Murali Vijay has against quality attacks. However, Karthik is totally undependable. I do not know why the selectors keep going back to him time and again. In my opinion, Rohit Sharma should have played as an opener. Karthik should be only considered as a replacement wicketkeeper - not as a replacement batsman.
Yesterday’s failure of M Vijay and Karthik was overcome by the fluent knock of Yuvraj and a milestone of an innings from Raina.
Hopefully Gambhir will be careful enough not have his diorhea during a crucial match. India can afford to have the solidity of a Gambhir and a trial-by-fire Murali Vijay as openers. But a M Vijay and a Karthik opening and failing yet again might even result in India getting shot out for a ultra cheap total. How often is a century scored in an international T20 ? Only 3 so far, and that’s why I say Raina’s success completely masqueraded yesterday’s failure with the opening partnership.
(a) Would you agree that this opening combination might be worrisome for India in this T20
(b) Should Karthik be utilized only as a replacement wicketkeeper or as a replacement batsman/replacement wicketkeeper ?
Read "even a Dravid (a better player than Kallis" as
"even a Dravid, a better BATSMAN than Kallis" in ODI and T20. Kallis might be the better player because he gifts those 8-10 runs/over spells too. Again, if Dravid keeps wickets, who knows, Dravid might still be the better PLAYER too.
kashyap,
Robin Uthappa, Doug Bollinger, et al missed out because ICC forced the cricketing nations to select the playing XV before the IPL was even at halfway stage. So for once, we can say it wasn’t politics that dictated the selection.
T J, I highlighted 10dullcar and Dravid just to highlight a "top notch quality batsman"
I’ve noticed recently that Dhoni is truly acting overconfident. After India got smashed in the t20’s, Dhoni didn’t care much because he felt that India could’ve won both. HE WAS CONFIDENT FOR A WIN…AFTER THE GAME WAS PLAYED…that make sense to you? Is it sensible to always think positive and never look at the negative. In an interview after the two t20’s, he vaguely stated that his team didn’t do much wrong and New Zealand just played well…what?? did he forget about all those miss-fields, over-slogging mentality by batsmen, underestimation of opponent, etc? Did he forget about that?
Before this series, I always felt that Dhoni was modest and controlled.
Before this match (I’m talking about the 4th ODI), when Dhoni lost the toss and made to field and was interviewed…I don’t remember exactly what he said…but it went something like this…"Its a good thing they now know how high we can score…everything is going our way…"..etc. (That may have not been EXACTLY what he said…but it was to the similar effect).
OK, LISTEN GUYS: India may be winning quite a lot right now, and thats great. BUT, whats the point of acting so cocky and bombastic??? Can’t he just continue to act modest?
This brings about another question: Is this Indian team starting to adapt an attitude similar to that of the Australian WC winning team (not the present team…I"m talking about the team when there was Warne, Hayden, Gilly, etc) in regards to their overconfidence and cockiness. Well…the Australian team back then had a reason to act so cocky…but does the present Indian team have the skills to be put in the same category as that old Australian team? DO you really think so?
I never knew that "co ckyness" was a curse lol
Terminator, this situation was probably a mind game…yes…but if it was, why is he the only one doing so?
Dhoni is an amazing batsman and keeper, there’s no doubt about that. And as he has proved, he is an excellent captain, but don’t you think that all these wins are finally getting to his head?
Black Mamba, you’re probably right and I hope so, because Dhoni is surely one of my favorites and I’d hate for him to go down that path too.
Am I taking his comments too seriously?
Kudos to him for dominating in the Indian domestic leagues but i don’t think he stands a chance in Test cricket even against average medium pace bowlers on a juicy wicket. Let’s not even talk about world class bowlers like Dale Steyn, Doug Bollinger, Mitchell Johnson and Morne Morkel. He has been given many opportunities to impress us but he has failed miserably. Don’t you think India should continue their desperate search for an average allrounder because surely Pathan is way below average in international cricket and the others before him are in the same boat?
Oh please desi boy, stop trying to make lame excuses for him. He is below average in international cricket. Period. And i was talking about Test cricket not ODI’s and T20’s. He’s not a regular member of India at all. 2 fifties in 33 matches in ODI’s? Top score of 33 in Twenty20’s. That can’t make you a regular member at all. He scored that first class double hundred on a flat flat flat wicket of India against average bowlers mostly who were probably spinners. The guy looks hopeless and out of sorts against the short ball. You can’t survive against vultures like Steyn, Morkel, Johnson and Bollinger with that kind of weakness. Would you care to address that issue?
Busy slogging it out in the IPL right now, MS Dhoni and his men will not play any warm-up matches ahead of the ICC World T20.
"India have elected not to play any warm-up matches while Sri Lanka have opted to play only one warm-up match," the ICC said in a statement detailing the schedule of the practice games of other teams.
Is IPL more important than WC to our players?
Can you attempt this too?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgjF.nru4zf_Z1rGsij2QWbsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20100415061034AA9wOi4
Sri Lanka’s 15-man squad for the ICC World T20:
Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Muttiah Muralitharan (vice-capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Thissara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekera, Suraj Randiv, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Chanaka Welagedara, Chamara Kapugedara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chinthaka Jayasinghe.
With the likes of the inconsistent Mahela and Sanath making the squad and Murali as vice captain, eyebrows must be raised… is there enough competition in this team?
http://www.cricket.indhp.net/twenty20-cricket-worldcup/default.asp
http://twenty20-cricket-worldcup.blogspot.com/
http://www.thetwenty20cup.co.uk/db/t20_wc/twenty20_world_cup/south_africa_2007/fixtures.asp
I wish our Indian Cricket Team all the best in WCC-20-20
Friends,
Ponting thinks this has been the best organized CT he says:
""I was worried at the time when 20-over cricket became as popular as it did that we might start playing a few less 50-over games, but I think tournaments like this can only help the game.
"I’ve really enjoyed the tournament and I think the fans around South Africa have enjoyed the tournament, so it’s got some endorsement from me, and even a low-scoring game like today can probably be one of the more entertaining games that you can watch and be involved in as a player."
Ponting, who also picked up the Player-of-the-Series and Golden bat awards after his side defended their title, has played in all six editions of the Champions Trophy. But he said the latest edition, which was reduced to only eight teams for the first time, had been the best organised.
"
However, an user writes an interesting comment:
"Posted by krs_spidey on (October 07 2009, 17:24 PM GMT)
i found this mini wc as the best since 2000 edition..no meaningless matches,tight,compact,small and fortunately played on pitches of south africa providing even bat ball contest like the two t20 world cups in sa and eng(not the usually flat, slow and dead tracks of subcontinent)..it was very exciting and gripping to see depleted nz side defending a small total with bond and mills especially troubling australian top order with the new ball in final..but sadly icc hasnt taken any cue from compact format of this champions trophy and a disastrous last ODI wc as it has again included 14 teams for wc2011..this means again we’ll have too many one sided useless contests(like ind vs netherlands,aus vs canada etc.)..12 teams r enuf in ODI wc like 1996 and 1999 editions..if icc wants to promote cricket in other nations it shud do it with t20 format..have 16 teams in a t20 wc coz it offers more chance for weaker teams to surprise strong ones..and even if contest is one sided it finishes in 3hrs
"
http://www.cricinfo.com/iccct2009/content/current/story/428641.html
1) Do you agree or disagree with these 2 views, if not why not?
2) Do you think ICC needs to do something more to ensure that 50-50 cricket may not have the same fate as archaeopteryx lithographica?
He pulverises the opposition with his unforgiving bat, but even Virendra Sehwag has his fears.On Wednesday, the Nawab of Najafgarh confessed that he is terrified of surgeries, stitches and scars. Which is why, when he was “forced” to get a painless hair transplant, he considered metamorphosing from the bald to the beautiful.
