Is this the most interesting World cup?

With 42 matches over and a month into the biggest cricket extravaganza, we are all set for the knock out stages of the tournament. The total number of teams have been trimmed down to 8 from the original 14 and despite the fact that the tournament has seen a few upsets and a many more near upsets, the teams qualified for the knock outs seems predictable.

With two days left before knock outs get kicked off in Dhaka, I thought of sharing my views on the performance and chances of each of the 8 teams moving forward and also analyze the first leg of the tournament from a viewer’s perspective.

In the first post, I will be mostly talking about my views on analyzing how teams have done so far and their performances in the league phase. Before that, I would like to share my thoughts on how the tournament lives up to the expectations.

As a viewer, the first leg of the tournament is pretty interesting with many close matches and a few upsets in Group B prompting people to start doing all sorts of permutations and combinations for the final eight. Group A was always the easier of the two groups with Kenya, Zimbabwe and Canada being the minnows in the group. So, the top 4 were virtually decided even before the matches were started. Still, there were some key matches in the Group A and an odd minnow or two did manage to challenge the top teams at times. Group B was more interesting with England in mood to give a single penny’s worth to all the spectators in each of their match. At one time, even Ireland were having a realistic chance of moving into Quarter finals on back of their performance against English.

So, has this world cup lives up to its expectations? The answer from a viewer’s point of view is a strong ‘Yes’. This is the first world cup to be played after a giant T20 storm that has threatened to take over the 50 over game. In last four years, T20 has become a very popular version of cricket among masses because: 1. It is short…only 4 hours per match. 2. It is exciting, with no dull phase of play I(mostly), interest is there throughout the game. 3. The powerful hitting, that’s what spectators want to see all the time. This resulted in 50 over cricket losing its value somewhere among the players, the administration as well as the spectators. Some countries tried to make it more interesting and vibrant by introducing new formats like split innings and what not. But, with introduction of private leagues (read IPL) where everything is about money and entertainment 50 over spectacle seems to be losing its way. IPL has given a very different dimension to cricket as a sport. In fact, Cricket is only one of the facets of the whole picture with Bollywood, post match parties, celebrities on the ground and a lot more things getting equal or sometimes more attention than cricket. The storm threatens to kill the ODI format and the talks were getting stronger and stronger about people losing interest in ODI’s. In comes the World cup. ICC saw a ray of hope through this World Cup. They mark the title with punch line: “The Cup that Counts”!!!

The first leg of the tournament seems to delivered what it has promised. The games were exciting, balance kept swinging from one way to another during many matches, some of the performances were sensational, and a few can be marked as jaw dropping to say the least.

Every World cup has its moments. These moments make such an impact that they become an everlasting image. We always associate a world cup with that image, that moment of brilliance, or glory. Like Kapil Dev taking a brilliant backward running catch to dismiss mighty Viv Richards, Wasim Akram’s sensational spell against England and Jonty’s leap towards stumps in 1992, Donald’s handshake with Klusener mid pitch in that epic 1999 semifinal, Sachin carving Shoaib out of the ground in 2003, Tamim Iqbal’s charge against Zaheer khan in 2007. Till now, the moment of this world cup has to be Kevin O’Brian’s sensational innings. He, for me, is the one who has made this world cup alive. England were by far the most lively team of the tournament with having to play cliff hangers in all their matches.

So, what makes this world cup better than its previous versions? In my opinion, it is the openness of the world cup. Even after a staggering 42 matches league phase of grinding, no team has emerged as a favorite till now. There are strong contenders but no clear front runner at the moment. Australia are no longer the team of the past, of the force, the penetration is lacking and the way they lost to Pakistan strengthens that view. South Africa looks very strong but we all know they start crumbling in knock outs. They have to take care of their old habits moving forward. Now, moving into knock outs, will they be able to get over ‘C’ feeling is to be seen? Sri Lanka is a formidable unit but their middle order is slightly weak. That is evident in their loss to Pakistan. New Zealand and West Indies are not favorites for me, so if these two teams do manage to proceed to the next round, for me it is an upset of a sort. England on the other hand have their own problems: Injuries, players coming and going, moments of brilliance and of insanity clubbed together in their performance so far. We are left with Pakistan and India. From day one of the tournament, I kept on saying that Pakistan is the most dangerous side in this world cup. They proved it with their performances so far. Beating Australia as well as Sri Lanka was never easy, but Pakistan is always known of doing well when no one gave them a chance. In Afridi, they have a fearless leader and with Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar leading the bowling department, they are a force to reckon with. But the problem with Pakistan is their nature of self destruction. Against New Zealand, they gave 90 odd runs in final four overs and then played some pathetic shots to lose the match. Even against the likes of Canada, the batsmen let them down. Coming to India, the problems are aplenty. The favorite tag is no more with them after their lacklustre performance in the league phase. Somehow, they have picked up an unusual habit of getting into self destruction mode during last 10 overs of their batting. By far, they have the most powerful batting line up in the tournament. But, barring the first match against Bangladesh in which they amassed 370, their batting collapsed more than once. The bowling unit was never their strong point but Zak and Bhajji are doing good at the moment. India needs support for them to perform on big stage if they want go further into the tournament. Add the pressure of media and public, and the chances of crumbling into a pressure situation are pretty good.

So, we are all set up for the exciting finish to what is a wonderful world cup so far…Hope to see more cliff hangers towards the business end…

Will try to do an analysis of performance of various teams soon and also key performers to look out for in the Knock outs.

Will keep posting my views….Happy Reading!!!

Master of the game, on top of his game

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The name speaks volumes about a man who has taken Indian cricket to sach (not such) great heights in the last decade or so.

The man has a dream, dream of being a member of a world cup winning team, dream of being a member of the best team in the world, dream of being able to contribute to make Indian team achieve these heights. He nearly took India to a world cup title 7 years ago but I don’t know if it was his bad luck or our good luck that India was not able to lift the title. Why did I say it is our good luck that India didn’t lift the trophy in 2003? The reason might sound a bit outrageous but then we might not be able to see Sachin the way he is playing now. One can sense the desire of raising bars for himself in every single innings he is playing for his team. Every single run he is scoring is a world record. Every single time he went out to bat, that is a world record. The desire inside him is now making every bowler in the opposition camp suffer. Dale Steyn, the current best bowler in the world has been hit all over the park in Gwalior, and that too at will; even on good balls, by this little genius. His figure reads 10-0-89-0. Have some mercy, GOD DAMN IT!!! He’s the best bowler in the worldJ. There was no fuss, no angry gestures, no bat pointing towards any bowler, and no hitting out at media after an achievement being made. One thing that separates Sachin from anyone else is the humility and humbleness. Despite being sitting on top of almost all the records in world cricket, he never gave any false statement.

I have heard people criticizing Sachin for not been able to produce match winning innings or to be able to perform in matches where India needed him the most. But, looking at his record, he has contributed in winning more than anybody else in past 20 years. Sometimes, we pick up a couple of innings and make our judgment based on those few innings. The biggest example in this context was his innings of 136 against Pakistan at Chennai, chasing 279 to win the test, which India lost by 12 runs and Sachin was the 7^th man out when India needed 16-18 runs. Many put this innings of his as one of his very best despite being in a losing cause. He was having cramps throughout the innings but he carried on because the team needed him. India was tottering at 80 for 5 during there chase when he was joined by Mongia. They took India within striking distance when Mongia played a false stroke. It all falls apart after his departure, but given the circumstances in which he was batting; it was no less than a masterpiece from the little genius. Some people say that he should have carried on till the very end and see off the victory, and although I quite agree, but COME ON MAN!!! 16 runs required with 3 wickets in hand, I thought someone tell them it is a team game and not a game of individuals. Still, he knows deep within himself that he should have stayed for some more time and that would have sealed the victory. Recently, he got a chance to do the same against England at the same venue, and this time he didn’t had to regret. The greatness of Sachin is beyond any sort of statistics.

I have grown up watching those absolutely mind blowing cover drives, those stupendous back foot punches through extra cover, tremendous flicks off the pads through mid-wicket or square leg and above all those scintillating straight drives, which no other batsman can play as he does. I must admit that like every Sachin fan, I get disappointed when he fails, when he is bowled of an inside edge, or when he is caught trying to play that back foot punch and the balls lobs in the air towards short cover or point where fielder gleefully accepts the catch, or when he gets out leg before trying to work a straight delivery on the on side. But I know that he’ll bounce back, he’ll come back and take all the revenge. He’ll not speak in a media conference but let his bat speaks. And when his bat talks the whole stadium roars.

Over the years, the genius has produced some breathtaking knocks which have helped India win matches too. Memories of hitting Shane Warne straight over his heads are still vivid in everyone’s mind (Warne’s no exception to this and he’s the first to admit it). A birthday treat in Sharjah by hitting Kasprowicz for a straight six at Sharjah to seal the trophy in India’s favor, a WC delight of carving Shoaib Akhtar over thirdman for a six and then making a mockery of Pakistan attack which has world class bowlers like Akram, Akhtar and Waqar.

World has produced great players, but it is the calm and composed nature of Sachin that separates him from everyone else. I still remember that India got off to a worst possible start in WC 2003 with bundling out for 200 against Holland in there first match but somehow manages to win that game. The complete surrender against Australia in the next match started a huge media cry back home. Media was shouting, people back home were angry, threats for families of Indian players could be heard. With such high level of expectations, some people might panicked and a very few teams could can think of bouncing back. Critics have already written India off and no body gave them a chance of making it to the League stage. Even at such desperate times, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar could keep his calm. The sight of his in the dressing room must bring a lot of composure in everyone. On the eve of match against Zimbabwe (India’s third in the compettion), during a press conference, someone ask the reason for the team’s dismal performance. He just said I won’t comment on that, the tournament is still not over. The rest is history. Such is the amount of calmness he brings with himself. In Hyderabad, everyone watched the master carving yet another beautiful innings, probably the best of his and took India within striking distance of victory. India was 162 for 4 chasing 351. The way Raina played with him shows how much confidence the genius can induce in everyone around him. Raina didn’t look nervous even when he was defending 2-3 balls in an over because at the other end Sachin was motivating him, he was saying: “Aayega aayega, pareshan na ho.” That was the magic of the little genius.

Unfortunately, people still compare others with Sachin. They should think before comparing a mortal with a god. Australian Matt Hayden once said:

“I have seen God; he bats at no. 4 for India”

Whenever he achieves something, we never see any extra emotions from him besides thanking the god and the fans in the stand. There is no running around the ground shouting “Come On”, no bat pointing towards media box, no press statement against any team or an individual. It is just what Sachin can do and no one else can think of doing. For him, only one thing matter and that is cricket. Whatever question you have about him, he won’t be answering with his mouth…you have to wait and watch…his bat will speak, and when it does no bowler can stop it.

First Post

First Post.... i know it isn't a big job....but somehow i'm excited about this first post...

As u wud know that in our lives, the firsts have there importance......the first walk(the dream of most of our parents, though we didn't know anyth abt it at that time), the first day at the school....it is the biggest day of our lives because of a lot of reasons....first day out of our own "Apna Ghar", making a transition from an environment where we were treated like kings(i.e. Home) to adapting to foreign conditions in school, first time talking to a person of opposite sex(this is very hard, and i knw how difficult i found it when i hav to do it in class 2),first day at the college....going on to the first date....these are few of the examples, where we all feel a little excited with out firsts....So, this is another first for me..first time to blogging...i'm going through a lot of things...wat to write..hw to organise....hw to start with...and blah blah blah....and one more thing....getting ur first job, is another first just happened to me.....Now u can understand why i m feeling it a little tough to write my first post....:)...

Today, i'll be talking about my interests and what u can expect on this blog...:)
As most indian kids are grown up watching and admiring, Cricket is my fav sport...I like watching as well as playing cricket....Most of the times, while watching a match, i used to do commentory...very few ppl know that i went for ESPN's Dream Job Auditions in August 2007, but didn't make it to 3rd round...:(

I wanted to be a cricket commentator and that is my dream of doing in life....

As with most of us, Sachin is my fav cricketer and there are no need of any reasons why i've chosen him...

I like Mathematics a lot...I did my grad in Maths...and love to teach it ....I like Prob theory, Calculus and Matrices....In my later posts, i'll try to write somethings about these topics too..

As far as hobbies, i like music....anykind...whosoever is singing....all that matters is lyrics and music soothes my ears...As fav's Sonu Nigam is my fav....with Atif, Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar....i liked all of them...I liked all kind of songs...Sad, happy, romantic...but mostly like to listen Sad songs.....

I don't listen English songs much....but like Enrique somewhat...he has a beautiful voice... Bryan Adams....a couple of his songs too....

Moving on, i am doing my PG in Computers, So, let us talk about it too...I like C++ as a language...seriously, i donty like pointers...:D
I'll be talking on C++ and related topics in my later posts...

Now i'm a bit tired after writing a lot,though i knw ive not written anyth meaningful....

One more thing..im not a great writer..so plz bear with any grammatical or spelling mistakes....

Now,before signing off, just a bit about me....I'm a simple person...i love my friens...and always like to smile(even in the toughest of situations)...i'm a bit emotional...but i consider it my strength rather than weakness...I love singing(though my voice is nto gr8), but still... i like it..I knw my friens love me a lot...and they always wanted to see me achieving heights in life.....I think that i'm blessed to hav such wonderful ppl in my life...

About Me

Hey everybody,

This area (Blogging) is new for me, so i'm just learning on how to use it, I'm Shobhit Bhatnagar, about to finish my studies, 17 yrs of studies,(:D),.

I've created this blog to share whatever knowledge i have. I will be sharing with you a lot of my experiences and u'll going to know a little bit about my life too....

Since my field of interests are Mathematics and computers, so i'll be sharing my views over the various topics related to these fields.

I'll be start posting soon. So, keep in touch...Cya...