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The cricket that will be played at the Asian Games will be Twenty20 format. There will be a Champions League Twenty20 to be played just before that. There will be IPL every year. There will be a Twenty20 World Cup every two years. If cricket is included in the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, there will be more such Twenty20 tournaments. Then there will be the ODI World Cups and the Champions Trophies. Where is the space for Tests then? Where is the time for bilateral tours?
The second allegation being made is regarding the politics involved in governance of Indian sport. This one does make some sense. A very pertinent question raised last night in a news debate regarding this issue was: if the men's schedule is too tight to not send a full-strength team, why can't the BCCI send the women's team atleast? Is it because the BCCI does not want the team to play under the banner of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), which is governed by Mr. Suresh Kalmadi (who is not on the best of terms with a certain Mr. Sharad Pawar)?
If this is true, it is a shame! Sport in the sub-continent has always been riddled with politics. BCCI could also have sent a second-string side for the men's event as well. They may say that our secon-string side would not have won a gold, but that does not qualify as an arguement. Sending a strong side also does not assure you of gold either.
I have no clue as to what might happen now. Maybe the BCCI will buckle under the pressure from the Sports Ministry or something and decide to send a team. Maybe a second-string team will be sent. Maybe a women's team will be sent. Maybe the New Zealand tour will be shifted to cramp the cricket calender even more. Maybe the 3-Test 5-ODI tour will be shortened to a 2-Test 3-ODI tour. God only knows. But in the interest of the game, all I have to say is that don't just slam the BCCI for the sake of it.
I am no fan of the Board of Control for Cricket in India... but they do have a job. And in every job, at certain times, you are helpless. That is BCCI's state at the moment. Lets just give them some space to make a decision and then respect it if they can give sound logic behind their decision.
Last night, most of the news channels that I saw were showing just one news - BCCI has decided against sending a team to the Asian Games later this year in November at Guangzhou, China.
What amused me was the fact that this news has generated a lot of ire against the BCCI. While the media being against the BCCI is not a new occurence, but the reasons given certainly left me puzzled.
Why is BCCI not sending a team to the Asian Games? What is the BCCI's take on it?
As per the Future Tours Program, India is supposed to host New Zealand for a Test and ODI bilateral series during that period. Considering that India will also be hosting Australia for 7 ODIs (it may change to include Tests as well) just before the New Zealand tour and will tour South Africa immediately after the New Zealand tour, there is just no space to reschedule the tour.
What are the allegations against the BCCI made by the media?
The first allegation that is being made is that BCCI is a money-thirsty animal, and sees no profit in sending the team to China for the Asian Games. The news channels have gone to the extent of saying that BCCI feels no pride in sending an Indian team and just wants more of IPL and the money.
Loads of blasphemy! I guess that BCCI bashing has become an obsession with the Indian media. There may be no money in sending a team to the Asian Games... but then there isn't a lot of money in hosting New Zealand either. Infact, considering that the Asian Games would have meant more of Twenty20, it might just have generated more money than Tests and ODIs with New Zealand.
And even against New Zealand, we will see an Indian outfit... not an IPL club. They will still be playing for the pride of representing India, whether its against New Zealand or whether its in China. So the media men should get a hold of themselves while alleging that there is no pride left in representing India.
And what pride will be earned by beating Oman, Afghanistan, UAE and China to earn an Asian Games medal? Wouldn't the national pride be better served by beating New Zealand in Tests and ODIs... try and retain the No. 1 ranking in Tests and get to the No. 1 in ODIs?
(contd...)
World Twenty20 Championship:
1st Semi - Final on 13th May at St. Lucia: England v Sri Lanka
2nd Semi - Final on 14th May at St. Lucia: Australia v Pakistan
World Women's Twenty20 Championship:
1st Semi - Final on 13th May at St. Lucia: Australia Women v India Women
2nd Semi - Final on 14th May at St. Lucia: West Indies Women v New Zealand Women
Preview of AUS v PAK:
Australia has been the best side in this tournament so far. Their loss to Zimbabwe in the warm-up matches seems ages ago. They haven't looked extremely comfortable at all times... but like all the successful Aussie teams of the past, they have managed to overcome all the difficult situations and ride their way into the semis. Like they say, a man for every occasion!
On the batting front, if openers Watson and Warner fire together against Pakistan (which I believe is a distinct possibility), then the tickets to Barbados can be confirmed straightaway. Their middle order looks a little suspect though. Michael Clarke's batting, as well as his abstentions, have now become a bit of a pathetic joke. Cameron White came to the party against Sri Lanka... or else it was a lost game. I am not sure Brad Haddin at No. 4 is a good ploy.
But any deficiency anywhere in the batting order is hidden by the bowling attack at hand. Tait has been bowling more and spraying less, Nannes has been his usual self and Johnson has been the perfect follow up as the No. 3 pacer. Add to it Watson's capabilities with the ball and Smith's successful spin, Australia have it in them to restrict... even bowl out any opponent on earth. And the results show it. Australia have managed to pick up a mind - boggling 50 opposition wickets in 5 matches. Except for their very first match against Pakistan, they were never even needed to bowl the entire quota of 20 overs.
Pakistan are the most undeserving semi-finalists of the four... having won only 2 of their 5 games. They looked good against Bangladesh in their first match... but that is not saying much. Then came the three defeats - Australia, England and New Zealand. Their inability to chase 134 against New Zealand should worry them. Their defeat against South Africa should not count for much... it was more to do with South Africa's inability to rise to the occasion than it was Pakistan's effort.
For the 1st semi-final, I said that we might have an interesting contest on hand. I cannot say the same here. I expect a one-sided battle with the Australian attack once again picking up 10 wickets. Australia could not have asked for better opponents for the semis. For Pakistan, it is a chance to gain some measure of revenge for the thrashing they received during the Australian summer. But will they be up to it? I really doubt it. The defending champions deserve to be shown the door.
Preview of WI Women v NZ Women:
The hosts began in a very aggressive manner with Deandra Dottin scoring the fastest international century ever in Twenty20 format - 38 balls. Their score of 175 / 5 against South Africa has remained the highest score so far in the tournament. They held their nerves in a close finish against the defending champions England... knocking them out of the tournament with a 2-run win.
New Zealand, like Australia, has been unbeaten, and never looked better. Their wins have been convincing... and their bowling has been good. They have picked up the wickets at regular intervals and never let the opposition scoring get out of hand. They might already be dreaming of a Trans Tasman final.
In the semi-finals, unless West Indies manage to create another hurricane performance like in their first match, I think New Zealand should be able to win it comfortably. They lost the finals last year at Lord's to the home team. So maybe, they need to face the home team to be eliminated. But on a more serious note, I think that they might well have their name on the title this time... doing one better than last year.
World Twenty20 Championship:
1st Semi - Final on 13th May at St. Lucia: England v Sri Lanka
2nd Semi - Final on 14th May at St. Lucia: Australia v Pakistan
World Women's Twenty20 Championship:
1st Semi - Final on 13th May at St. Lucia: Australia Women v India Women
2nd Semi - Final on 14th May at St. Lucia: West Indies Women v New Zealand Women
Preview of ENG v SL:
England are one of the two form teams of the tournament. Before their match against New Zealand, I had a feeling that they were over reliant on their star player Kevin Pietersen. But the way they went about dashing the Kiwi hopes of a semi-final was an eye opener. Rarely has the world seen an English cricket team so clinical and methodic in execution of its plans!
Apart from the limp to a mediocre 120 / 8 against Ireland, the English batting line up has never failed to cross 150, their best being 191 / 5 against West Indies in a match which they lost due to the anamolies of Duckworth Lewis method. Their bowling was untested during the initial group stages as the persistent rains at Guyana meant that their bowlers managed only 8.4 overs in the first 2 matches. However, the most striking feature of their bowling in the Super Eight stage has been the fact that they have managed to pick 25 wickets out of a possible 30. Its hard to imagine that at one stage of the tournament, they were in danger of being knocked out due to one bad batting performance and the numbers of Duckworth Lewis!
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have had an up and down journey to the semis. They lost their first match - a low scoring thriller against New Zealand lost in the last over. Then they rode on the brilliance of Jayawardene to defeat Zimbabwe and West Indies, the latter in the Super Eight. But then came a very embarassing loss to the Aussies - a loss of 81 runs after being bundled out for 87. Fighting for survival, Sri Lanka then pulled off a last ball win with a six against India just after having knocked them out of the tournament. It was exactly the kind of win they needed to boost their confidence. Such close finishes intill in teams a new belief and a greater momentum. Sri Lanka will try to make the most of it.
The match promises to be an exciting affair. England will have the services of Kevin Pietersen once again... but there will also be a lot of expectations from them, a situation that they are not used to. Most observers believe that England deserve to be in the final... I feel the same - they deserve to be there, but I doubt that they will win the semis. Sri Lanka have a better track record at handling the kind of pressure that a semi-final carries. Mendis, dropped from the game against India, might make a return. Can KP be the talisman that many English sides of the past have longed for?
Preview of AUS Women v IND Women:
I have not followed the Women's version of this tournament as closely as the men's... but I have kept an eye on all the results. Australia has been unbeaten so far. They were lucky to take the 2 points in their opening match against the defending champions England after a tie even in the Super Over (they won on the rule of Sixes Countback). However, they were exemplary in their next match, beating the South Africans by 24 runs - the only blemish being that they couldn't bat out the 20 overs (bowled out with 3 balls to spare). They then went on to defeat the hosts West Indies by 9 runs to determine the group toppers and the chance to play in the 1st semi-finals.
India started disappointingly, losing to the Kiwis by 10 runs. However, they followed it up with demolition jobs over the neighbours - Pakistan and Sri Lanka. For the second time in as many years, this team has outperformed their more fancied male counterparts. In the semi-finals, the key will be to target the fragile, yet combustible, batting line up of the Australians. The Australians have been dismissed twice and have lost 27 wickets out of a possible 30 on their way to the semis.
India, on the other hand, have lost only 12 wickets in the tournament so far and the top order has clicked well. The flip side is that the middle order has had only one below par outing against the Kiwis. Their batters, revolving around Mithali Raj, will have to be wary of the fact that Australians are capable of scoring at a very fast clip. They will be hoping that their bowling partnership of captain Jhulan Goswami and Amita Sharma will take care of that problem.
Before I talk about the game that has just finished, a hearty congratulations to Kevin Pietersen on becoming a proud father of a baby boy. And some cheer for the Indian supporters as well: the women's team defeated Sri Lanka today by 71 runs to seal a place in the 1st semi-final against Australian women's side at Gros Islet on 13th May.
Now, England have beaten New Zealand by 3 wickets with 5 balls to spare to eliminate them from the World Twenty20 Championship 2010, and allow Pakistan a chance to defend the title that they won last year.
New Zealand, to their credit, put up a very good fight even when England looked like they would get to the target of 150 comfortably. They kept on picking wickets, took the good catches (especially Daniel Vettori), and exerted pressure even when England had the game all but won.
In the end, the onslaught from Tim Bresnan after a calm innings from Eoin Morgan (again) proved too hot for them to handle. The English win will now be celebrated right across from London to Lahore and Manchester to Multan.
For England, the best part of the win will be the fact that they have topped the group and thus, will not need to face Australia in the semi-finals (I guess it is pretty safe to assume that Australia will be topping the other group). Pakistan, despite being glad of a chance to play in the semis, will be wary of facing Australia in the semis. The Australian team has dented Pakistan's confidence in a big way over the summer... and Pakistan will face a big test of their mental strength when they take guard against the men from Down Under.
The interesting aspect of the result is that the team that had not won a single Super Eight game when the day began has now ended up in the semi-finals. India will be hoping for a similar fate tomorrow! Or else, it will be the second straight ICC event where the women's team will have outperformed the men's team from India!
A couple of days ago, I mentioned on this blog that the Australian women beat the English women in the Women's version of World Twenty20 Championship on the rule of sixes countback. Now, that ridiculous rule has resulted into the end of the road for the defending champions, England Women, in this tournament.
England lost by 2 runs to the hosts, West Indies... and they deserved the loss. They were sitting comfortably at 65 for 0, chasing 123 for a win and a chance to stay alive in the tournament. But somehow inexplicably, they collapsed and stuttered to 120 for 9 in their 20 overs, falling short by 2 runs.
So England, the defending champions and the favourites to win this event as well, who have made just 2 runs less than their opponents thus far in this tournament (an ill-fated tie with Australia earlier), have already been knocked out.
I knew that the rule of sixes countback in the event of a tie in the Super Over was ridiculous... but I had no clue that it would result in such an unfair situation. And since this happens to be Women's cricket, I doubt ICC is going to give much thought into this rule. Had a men's team been knocked out in such a circumstance, ICC would have immediately taken note of its unfairness.
Moving on, after the Indian men surrendered meekly to Australia, the women brought some cheer by streamrolling arch rivals Pakistan by 9 wickets. Their next match against Sri Lanka is a virtual quarter-final, with the winner to advance to the semi-finals, to take on either Australia or West Indies. In the event of a no result, Indian women would advance due to their higher NRR.
And lastly, New Zealand's 1-run win over Pakistan has virtually knocked the defending champions out (they still have a mathematical chance due to the English win later over the South Africans). Though the Kiwis are yet to gain a semi-final spot, they are looking a strong and a formidable unit... especially now with the return of Kyle Mills to the team. They will gain enormous confidence from having beaten Pakistan - an opponent that has traditionally been a thorn for the Kiwis in major ICC tournaments. In fact, since their first ever meeting in the 1983 World Cup where the Kiwis prevailed by 52 runs, they had never managed to beat Pakistan in a World Cup match (One Day or Twenty20). These matches included three semi-final defeats in ODI World Cups of 1992 and 1999, and the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007.
Now, the Kiwis will need to beat the Poms, who will be without the services of Kevin Pietersen (he will be flying home to be with his wife on their first child birth). If the Kiwis do manage to win and qualify for the semis, they should invite Mrs. Pietersen and Baby Pietersen at a Thank-You-Lunch for their exceptional timing!
The women's edition of the World Twenty20 Championship kicked off on May 5. In just the second game between Australia and England, the tournament had its first tie... and the first Super Over.
But for the first time in international cricket (actually in all level of crickets that I know of), the Super Over also failed to deliver a result. After scoring 104 in their normal innings', both teams lost their 2 wickets for 6 runs in the Super Over. And so the 2 points were awarded to Australia by virtue of greater number of sixes hit (1 to England's 0).
The rules of Twenty20 cricket state that in case of a tie, a Super Over (also called a One Over Eliminator sometimes) will be played to break the deadlock. This is the commonly known part. What many people do not know is what happens if the Super Over also results in a tie.
In such a case, the team that hit higher number of 6s in their 21 overs (20 normal overs + 1 super over) will be declared the winner. In case of a tie here, the team with the higher number of 4s in their 21 overs. And in case this also results in a tie, then God help the teams because the match is awarded by way of a coin toss.
I know there are some rubbish rules in cricket, but this one takes the cake. The women from England fought just as hard as the ones from Down Under... but were not equally rewarded. Why? Because their method of scoring runs was different (less flamboyant) than that of their opponents. By this definition, Shahid Afridi is a better batsman than Rahul Dravid!
It's time ICC looks into this particular rule and changes it. Just last month, Sachin Tendulkar showed that runs can be scored in Twenty20s without hitting too many sixes... he hit just 3 out of the ground on his way to becoming the highest scorer in the IPL. If still the rules were to say that hitting sixes could eventually decide the match in your favour, it's a pity then!
Thank God that matches are not decided on the basis of the length of the sixes hit by the batsmen!
Monday, 8th November 1999 (Hyderabad): He threatened to do it for the first time. But he just ran out of overs against the Kiwis and finished 186*.
Sunday, 8th March 2009 (Christchurch): We were almost sure that he'll get there. But with 5 overs to go, he retired hurt at 163.
Thursday, 5th November 2009 (Hyderabad): What a heartbreak! Not only did he get out on 175, but the Indian tail somehow contrived to lose the plot completely and succumb to the pressure.
Wednesday, 24th February 2010 (Gwalior): Finally, he gets there. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar scales the hitherto unsurmounted peak of a Double Century in One Day International Cricket, finishing 200*.
In the process, SRT has broken some more records - most fours in an ODI innings (25), most 150+ scores in ODIs (5), and of course - the highest individual score by a batsman in One Day International Cricket.
When Sachin reached 179* in 42 overs, the target I wanted him to reach was 230. That's because the highest individual score in all forms of ODIs is 229* in Women's Cricket by the legendary Australian batswoman Belinda Clark in the 1997 Women's Cricket World Cup match at Mumbai against Denmark. But given the amount of frustration MS Dhoni caused to SRT fans like me, I think I should just be glad for the 200 - 200 of the silkiest and risk-free runs that Sachin might have ever scored.
Indeed, there was no dropped chance, one run out appeal to third umpire and one stumping appeal to the third umpire - both which were not very difficult decisions. In fact, except for one ball from Steyn (fourth ball of the fifth over of the match), Sachin was not beaten even once in his 147 ball stay at the crease.
If you are not already impressed, here's another one. After the first four balls that he faced from Steyn in which he did not score a run, there was no other occasion in his entire innings where he let four consecutive balls bowled to him go runless (Thank you Cricinfo for this bit of trivia). Such was the mastery!
He almost toyed around with the young Wayne Parnell (not that the other South African bowlers were spared). His two backfoot punches square on the off side early in the innings to Parnell from around the wicket were the highlights if his innings for me. Even honey can't get sweeter!
In the last 12 months, Sachin has shown that age is having no effect on his body. If anything, it is speeding him up. What else can explain 3 scores of 150+ in ODIs in the last one year? What the heck man, most batsmen would die to get one such score in their entire career!
Amidst all of this, it is so easy to forget that India won the match by 153 runs and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. This means that India have secured the No. 2 Rank in the ICC ODI Team Rankings as on the cut off date - 1st April.
Accolades are pouring from all over the world:
- No one deserved it more than him!
- He is a true champion!
- One of the best knocks ever!
- India's Superman!
- Cricket's best brand ambassador!
- We are priveleged to be living in the Sachin era!
- Sachin's a gem of a person, apart from being a great cricketer!
And he deserves all of it. I am not sure if I will see God when I die. So till then, I am just content watching Sachin Tendulkar.
