CricDigs Blogs

So the day has finally arrived… and again. An India-Pakistan ODI game at the world stage. However they may try, but the captains and players cannot downplay the contest as just another game. Not for themselves… not for their fans.

Let me not discuss how this contest generates the undying passion and interest in the game. Let me also not discuss how having a game of cricket can diffuse the tension between the two otherwise unfriendly states. That is for all the cricket writers who have to be politically correct to keep their jobs going and their articles printed on the leading websites and newspapers. I want to ask the basic but probably the most controversial question: Should India be playing Pakistan in the first place?

Yeah … now the first thought in everyone’s (who is reading this) mind will be - We should not mix cricket and politics. That we should let cricket be a game and not convert it into a war. Right… I dont want a war… thats why I dont want this match to be played at all.

Not mix a game and politics? Tell this to the kin of the countless people who are killed everyday due to terrorism, not just in the northern part of India but also in Metros like Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, etc. I have to use the word ‘et cetera’ to list out the places where Pakistan sponsored terrorism has created havoc because if I start noting each such place, this entire blog will become unreadable.

I want to mix cricket and politics… because for me, the well-being of my countrymen is more important that a stupid unnecessary cricket match. On one hand, Pakistan wants to play Cricket with India, wants to run Samjhauta Express between the two countries… and on the other hand, they sponsor (not just sponsor, but actively participate in) cross-border terrorism and also nurture hatred towards its neighbour.

I want to mix cricket and politics… because I don’t want a country like Pakistan to keep making a fool out of India.

It is a good thing that India has refused to tour Pakistan and invite them for any cricket series. Anyway, any money generated by Cricket (and it is a LOT of money) will be going to finance those terrorist organizations.

Another ODI … another opportunity for diplomatic jargon … another way to mint money … another farce …

Not sure if today’s match between Sri Lanka and South Africa is an indication of that or is just a case of hosts being a little rusty, but it is quite likely that because the last IPL season was played here, a lot of players might be feeling at home in South Africa.

I am sure selection of Dravid in the Indian team might have something to do with his form in IPL while playing in South Africa and the Champions Trophy being played on the same venues as well. This is the beauty of what is happening in international cricket at the moment. The boundaries between nations are getting blurred and the home field advantage is getting redefined.

Not too long ago teams like India were branded as poor travelers and were given absolutely no chance of succeeding outside of the sub-continent. Now things have become more global and the world of Cricket is getting flat. Therefore do not be surprised if two teams from the Indian Sub-continent would face each other in the Champions Trophy finals. Of course if that happens, I really hope that India is one of them (then the other has to be SL)

The Champions Trophy starts today. It could not have come at a more opportune time for the ODIs. But that discussion is for another day. The Champions Trophy is at our doorstep, and we will follow it, no matter if it is a T20 format or an ODI format.

The format of the tournament is simple. The top 8 teams are divided into two groups of 4 each. Each team plays the other team in its group and the top two teams from each group compete the semi finals. With the West Indies still not at their best (no Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Taylor or Edwards), we can say that the other teams from group A (India, Pakistan and Australia) can feel that they have a minnow in their group. But usually it is the minnows that spoil the party of at least one team in a major event. So the remaining three teams in group A should be careful not to take the West Indies easy. Assuming that they win their respective matches against West Indies, the competition in group A reduces to two teams out of three. And given the strengths of each of them, one will not be surprised if the top two teams are decided on the net run rate.

Group B seems to be the more balanced one. SL, SA, Eng and NZ are all capable of making it to the semis, but one feels that SA and SL have the edge. New Zealand’s recent ODI form has not been very good, though you can give them the benefit of the doubt since they were at the end of a long tour of Sri Lanka and the sub-continent conditions (both the weather and the surface) are not to their liking. They will surely welcome the change of conditions in South Africa and will fancy their chances. On the other hand, England seem to be in total disarray after their 6-1 loss to Australia on their home soil. No matter which team you play, if you are playing at home, a score of 6-1 is totally unacceptable. England are sorely missing Pietersen and Flintoff and without both of them, I don’t expect them to provide any serious challenge to either SA or SL.

My prediction for the semi finals:
Group A - India and Australia
Group B - Sri Lanka and South Africa

Pakistan and New Zealand have enough ability to spoil this prediction. But if Pakistan makes it to the semis, don’t be surprised if they go all the way!

ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Cricket Schedule. Finally, ah and I mean finally the postponed ICC Champions Trophy has been scheduled to take place in South Africa (once again the same great venue) between September 24 and October 5 2009 as per the official meeting held in Dubai.

http://www.clbuzz.com/icc-champions-trophy-2009-cricket-schedule/

This man can do it…In-fact he will most likely do it. Sachin has 87 International hundreds to his name right now. With the current form he is in and the opportunities that he has over next couple of years, it is reasonable to assume that he will cross that absolutely amazing milestone.

He has the most ……

Centuries In Tests (with Ponting breathing down his neck).
Centuries In ODIs (by a long Margin)..
Most Runs In ODIs (by a long margin)
Most Runs In Tests
Man-Of-The-Match awards
Man-Of-The-Series awards

All he needs to complete his achievements is a World Cup win…Can this team deliver that to him in 2011?? In either case, if that does not happen Sachin would not be bitter because he knows that what he has done for the game and for India is simply unbeatable..

Go Sachin!!

This morning while driving to work, I was lazily scanning through the FM channels and finally got back to the one I end up listening to most of the time even though I don’t like that particular program. It consists of the RJ putting a question/recent news item/fact and asking the listeners to send their opinion on it. Usually the question is about some stupid Bollywood gossip or some irritating piece of sensational new item … hence my aversion to the program. But today’s question was … “India will not be playing any Test Cricket this year… Is this the end of Test Cricket?”

It got my attention. Surely, it can’t be true! The Test Series win in New Zealand was still fresh in my mind. But now that I think of it… it sure was quite some time back. Reaching office, I checked to confirm that the last time we played a test match was in March this year. After that there was the T20 World Cup and the ODI series in West Indies. Of course, if you are an Indian, the IPL that happened in April-May would have attracted your attention as well. So if the claims of the RJ are true, India will not be playing another Test Series until at least March 2010. I further checked the ICC Future Tours program and it showed that India are scheduled to play a Test series against SL at home in Nov-Dec 2009 and another one against SA in Feb-Mar 2010. This gave me some relief, but, can the Futures Program be trusted?

Even if the RJ’s claims were not entirely correct, the fact did come as a surprise to me. So has Test Cricket finally started dying? If a cricket crazy country like India, which produces the most amount of money in World Cricket, does not play even one test match for almost a year, then it definitely is a cause for concern. Agreed that the recently completed Ashes Test series generated a lot of interest, but if you look at the other test series that were being played around the same time (SL Vs. Pak, Zim Vs. Ban, SL Vs. NZ), none of them generated any significant interest. And even the Ashes were hyped so much only because for a change, England were the favourites and finally won the series against the mighty Aussies.

Whether the Aussie reign has come to an end is a topic of discussion for another day. A bigger and more scary question is the future of test cricket. As an ardent fan of the format, I am really concerned about the beginning of the end. My fear increases even more when I meet today’s youngsters (a couple of my younger cousins actually) who were hooked on to the T20 World Cup but could not remember anything nor care less about India’s spectacular win in the Perth Test or even the series win against NZ.

One of the respondents to the radio show summarized my fear aptly - “Who has the time these days to watch one game for 5 days? As for me, I wouldn’t spend even one full day for one game”. The lad did not sound more than 20!

To rub salt into the wound, that respondent won the prize for the best response for the question!