Is India All Set For The Greatest Glory

Traditionally, winning a World Cup tournament is considered as the highest achievement in any sport and cricket is no exception. A test win, test series win, a win in a one day game or for that matter winning a one day series, all bring certain amount of joy and pleasure to the winner. But the euphoria associated with winning a World Cup is totally different.

India is currently the No #1 team in the ICC ranking. If they continuously win from here onwards beating South Africa and subsequently win the World Cup without losing too many games, India could achieve No. 1 position in the one day ranking. There cannot be a bigger achievement than being the No. 1 test team in the World, No. 1 one day team in the World, and the World Champions in one day format of the game at the same time.

The way India is playing currently without some of their regular contributors and without a significant contribution from other important players, they look all set for the ultimate glory.  The Indian selectors have done an outstanding  job in picking the combination of experience and youth. There are as many as five batsmen who can win a game for India singlehandedly on their day with minimal contribution from others. There are two to three other batsmen who could contribute significantly towards an Indian win. Bowling unit too looks pretty settled. Though India does not have an outstanding bowling line up, they have reasonably good bowling line up with some potent regular bowlers and utility part time bowlers. The only concern for India would be the form of players who will be returning from the injuries. Otherwise India looks all set for the ultimate cricket glory.

India And Pakistan Are Peaking At the Right Time

India and Pakistan are peaking at the right time with the World cup exactly a month away.

India drew the test series with South Africa after losing the first test match and is currently heading the one day series 2-1 after conceding a 1-0 lead. Moreover India snatched those two wins almost from the jaws of defeat. What is more. Their three key players are not playing, and some of the key players in the team have not contributed significantly. An indifferent form of Yuvraj Singh, insignificant contributions from Dhoni, and the absence of Sehwag, Sachin, and Gambhir have not deterred India from taking a 2-1 lead in the series. The only concern for India would be the form of players returning from injuries. Sehwag was not in the best of form in test series against South Africa and he is missing the one day series due to injury. Similarly Sachin has not played one day cricket for a long time except for the first one day International in this series where he failed to make his mark. Indifferent form of Yuvraj Singh is the biggest concern as he is their greatest one day match winner. Nonetheless, India has managed to take a lead in the series despite the absence or lack of contribution from the key players.

Pakistan is also peaking at the right time. They gave tough challenge to South Africa in one day and test series. On their current tour of New Zeeland, after losing the T20 series, they came back to decimate New Zeeland in the third T20. They have also won the test series 1-0. The one day series against New Zealand would be a great occasion for Pakistan to get their team in order. Some of the players who have not played in the test series and are part of the World Cup can be tried and tested in this series. Pakistan selectors too have done a decent job in selecting an appropriate squad for the World Cup except the inclusion of Shoib Akhtar and exclusion of Mohammad Yusuf. Shoib Akhtar will be liability in the subcontinent and will go for a lot of runs. Mohammad Yusuf could have been an asset in the middle order. Nonetheless the selected team is capable of beating any team in the competition.

UMAR AKMAL Should OPEN The Innings In One Dayers and T20

Umar Akmal should open the innings in one dayers and T20 for Pakistan. Umar Akmal is one of the finest batting talent going around in the world today. Umar Akmal is the next best thing to happen to batting after Brian Lara if he is utilized properly. Umar Akmal can do a Jaysurya, Sehwag or Sachin for Pakistan if he is promoted to open the innings, especially in short formats of the game like one dayers and T20. He has lot of shots in his book and can play those shots consistently and productively. The range of shots that he can play are unmatchable by even the great batsmen playing these days.

The best option for Pakistan would be to open with Umar Akmal. If he succeeds, he can take the game away from the opposition. If he lasts for a major part of the innings he can take the game away from the opposition.

Pakistan selectors should take a cue from the Indian selectors and management who promoted Sachin as an opener from a middle order batsman and completely transformed his one day statistics. Sachin has not scored a single hundred in his first 80 games where he batted in the middle order. Once promoted to open the innings Sachin scored a flurry of centuries in one day International.

The best time for Pakistan to try Umar Akmal as an opener is in one dayers against New Zeeland. Then they can have a blast with Umar Akmal at the top in the World Cup.

Best Work By Pakistan Selectors In The Recent Past

Mohammad Yusuf could have been effective in the middle order with the big hitters at the top and in the lower middle order. Shoib Akhtar is a bad choice. Shoib Akhtar will go for a lot of runs in the subcontinent. The team selected by the PCB would have been more capable with Mohammad yusuf and without Shoib Akhtar.

Nonetheless Pakistan selectors have done one of the reasonably good jobs in the recent past. Pakistan should open their innings with Umar Akmal and Ahmad Shahzad. If Umar Akmal lasts for a good part of the innings he can take the match away from the opposition. Mohammad Hafeez should bat at #3 and he should provide with Yunis Khan to come at #4. Having Shahid Afridid at the top of the order or low down the order is a gamble. You should have Afridi at #5 with Misbah at #6. So that there are reliable batsmen around an unpredictable and whimsical Afridi. Kamran Akmal and Abdul Razzak at #7 and #8 can do a brilliant job of finishing the match. If needed they have a Wahab Riaz at #9, Sohail Tanvir at #10 and Umar Gul at #11. Pakistan does not need a specialist spinner because they have two reliable spinners in Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez.

The best Final Pakistan XI with batting order

1. Umar Akmal
2. Ahmad Shahzad
3. Mohammad Hafeez
4. Yunis Khan
5. Shahid Afridi
6. Misbah-ul-Haq
7. Kamran Akmal
8. Abdul Razzak
9. Wahab Riaz
10. Sohail Tanvir
11. Umar Gul/Saeed Ajmal

Indian Team Selection For World Cup 2011-Half Job Done

Indian selectors have done a reasonably good job in picking the Indian team for the Cricket World Cup 2011. Sreesanth and Rohit Sharma deserved to be in the Indian team, but the selectors and the captain must have had their reasons in omitting these two star cricketers from the World Cup squad. Though the selectors and the captain did a good job in finding a balanced team, it is still half job done.

Picking the final XI will not be easy given their star batsman Yuvraj Singh is not in the best form of his life and seems to be low on confidence as well after failing to grab a test spot. Yuvraj's Singh's form will be crucial for India's success in the World cup. What combination will the Indian team play in the World cup. Almost all of the choices stand at the same skill level except four or five core players in Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Sachin, Zaheer Khan.  They are still required to identify the spots at which each batsmen in the Indian team will play. Who will open the innings among Sachin, Sehwag, and Gambhir. Gambhir is a good opener, but might not be effective at #3. Similarly Sachin has never been a force in the middle order what he has been as an opener in one day International. I do not think one would be inclined to see Sehwag at one down though that seems the most logical solution. Moreover these three batsmen are injured at this time and are not taking part in the current one day assignment in South Africa. There are definitely some worries for India.

Let us say Sachin and Sehwag open the innings and Gambhir bats at #3. Who will bat at #4. If it is Yuvraj at #4 then we have four out of sorts cricketers at the first four spots in the batting order. If these top guys fail to deliver it will pose a huge pressure on lower middle order. Who is likely to be i the middle order.

To begin with India should not play Gambhir in the first couple of games and should have either Suresh Raina or Virat Kohli at the #3 slot. Otherwise they might be in a situation wherein they have top three batsmen coming right into the squad after nursing injuries with the fourth player poorest form of his career. Dhoni could take on himself and bat at #3 throughout the world cup. If he clicks then India has half the job done. The rest of the batting can evolve around him. India need to find their two to three best batsmen in form and find proper batting slot for them. Otherwise it could be the matter of too many confusing and out of form choices for India and they could be feel unprepared when moment dawns on them.

Cricketers Who Did Not Play For Records

There are cricketers who always had records and averages in their mind. You need not be rocket scientist to tell which of the cricketers gave more importance to records. There are some so called great cricketers or legends who always play for records. Even if you are a novice cricketer watcher, you know which cricketers I am talking about. There are some other cricketers who might play for records, but do not appear like playing for records. Similarly there are those cricketers to whom records does not mean anything. Let us talk about some of these cricketers from the recent past and from present who did not play for records.

1. Imran Khan: Imran Khan is one of those rare breed of cricketers to whom records did not mean anything. He would try very hard at everything to give his best, but never in his career he focused on his records. What all mattered to Imran Khan was a great performance and a victory for his team. He famously declared an innings when Javed Miandad was batting on 280. I have never seen Imran Khan talking about a player in terms of records. Whenever he talks about a great cricketer he has his own way of evaluating.

2. Adam Gilchrist: Adam Gilchrist retired after he played his 96th test match. Many cricketers want to play their 100th test match and consider it a big achievement. Adam Gilchrist could have easily played those four test matches to complete a century of the test matches, and he could have then retired. But he retired after his 96 test matches as he thought his time was up. In the recent past some great cricketers have dragged their career for achieving some milestones.

3. Mohammad Azharuddin: Mohammad Azharuddin is one of few Indian cricketers who did not play for records. Azhar never changed his batting style irrespective of whether he was playing in 10s or 90s. He always played according to the requirement of the team and demand of the situation. In fact, on many occasion when the target was easy and the situation was good, Azharuddin promoted other batsmen in his own batting place. He could have easily added to his tally by persisting with himself.

4. Ricky Ponting: Among the great modern batsmen apart from Gilchrist if one has to pick a batsman who least cared for the batting records, it has to be Ricky Ponting. The only thing that seems to be on his mind is the team situation. I saw him getting run out on many occasions in 70s or 80s. If he ever played for 100s he would have never taken those risky singles that denied him those well deserved 100s, especially when the records are at stakes.

5. Arjuna Ranatunga: If you watch Arjuna playing, you will notice that only thing in his mind is his team situation. He batted just for the cause of the team. Every run he scored looked like he was scoring keeping the scoreboard in mind rather than his personal milestones like 50 and 100s. The milestones did not occupy his mind or may be he was not capable enough to achieving significant milestones.

6. Saeed Anwar: I have watched Saeed Anwar very closely as I did watch many other modern cricketers. Milestones meant really little to Saeed Anwar. He was the one who used to complete his 100s and 50s with a six. Most of his 100s have come off a six. He tried to hit a six when on 194 to complete his double century and was caught near the boundary rope. He had another five overs to go in order to complete that double hundred in one day International and he would have become the first man in the history of the game to have scored a double hundred in one day International. He chose to complete the double hundred with his trademark six and got out in the process.

7. Vivian Richards: From whatever I have watched of Vivian Richards, I get the impression that he too did not have records in mind when he played. He was bang bang all the time. I have not watched a lot of Vivian Richards to make a strong judgement that he did not play for records, but whatever I have seen of him, he did not seem to care for records either.

8. Mahender Singh Dhoni: In the current Indian team Dhoni seems to be the one who gave least importance to records followed by Yuvraj and Sehwag. I have seen Dhoni adopting and adjusting his game to the needs of the team and moving around in the batting order.