Archive for January, 2011

  • 28 Jan

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    Shame to see Eden Gardens lose out on hosting Cricket World Cup 2011 match

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    It is a shame for the Eden Gardens to be banned as the Cricket World Cup 2011 venue. The worst part is that they may still host three of the games, but the one that they have been banned for is the game between India and England.

    The Indian team will be probably as disgruntled as the fans. Under most circumstances, the Eden Gardens is one of the most difficult grounds to play for the opposition. The crowd, the size of the ground and the difficulty in adjusting to the pitch makes it very difficult and India would have been happy to play at the ground.

    Unfortunately for the Indian team and for the rest of the fans, the game will not be played at the venue. This will mean that the team will probably need to restrategise around the new venue, whichever it may be.

    And for the fans, they may have nowhere to go. Just feel sorry at the plight and look on as the politics unravels.

  • 26 Jan

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    Eden Gardens going the Commonwealth Games way?

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    The countdown continues to tick away as the Cricket World Cup nears and with only three odd weeks to go, one would have thought that the work for the tournament would be complete. No, one isn’t talking about the Indian cricket team, but that of the stadiums.

    But according to the latest reports, the work is far from being over. In fact, there are worries that the stadium in Kolkata, one of the best in the world when it comes to cricket, the Eden Gardens, may just be scrape through its deadline. That is, it may get ready just in time before the games – and that is if it gets ready at all.

    This seems to be a case of the repeat of Commonwealth Games that was held in India last year when there were chances that the tournament would be taken away from the country.

    Really, why is it that we have the habit of procrastinating everything till the eleventh hour. Why cannot we get prepared, with a deadline of three months before any such big tournament? Is it so difficult?

  • 24 Jan

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    Surprise that Pakistan have not named captain yet

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    It is a surprise that the Pakistani selectors have named their 15-member side but have yet to name the captain for the side. In fact, they are the only side to not name a captain so far and this could go on to have a negative repercussion on the side.

    What is interesting is that knowing the manner in which the PCB operates, there will be no explanations forthcoming either for the delay. Or at best, very frivolous ones.

    The reason why this could take an ugly turn is that the two who are in running for the top spot would have had their own set of backers within the side. And so, even if either one of Shahid Afridi or Misbah ul Haq gets the top spot, it is bound to come with a lot of side issues.

    Afridi’s issue has been multiple-fold. Not only will he have to lead the side to the Cricket World Cup where the expectations will be high, his form with the bat and the ball has been close to ordinary.

  • 20 Jan

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    BCCI Announced Final 15 For Cricket World Cup 2011

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    India’s Final 15 members for cricket World Cup 2011 announced : Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Ashwin Kumar, Piyush Chawla.

    Piyush Chawla in, Rohit Sharma out

    Piyush Chawla’s selection is bafling

  • 20 Jan

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    Pakistani side for the Cricket World Cup 2011 has been announced

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    The Pakistani side for the Cricket World Cup 2011 has been announced and the biggest surprise comes in the form of the selectors not naming the captain of the team. And while it is not the first time it would have happened, it is probably just a way of telling the incumbent, Shahid Afridi, that he is not indisposable.

    The issue with Afridi is that not only does he shoot from the lips but also hasn’t been able to back his words with deeds – under his captaincy, the side has struggled to win anything of note. Not only this, the issue seems to be brewing ever since his retirement from Tests after just one match as the leader in England – resulting in embarrassment for the side.

    Since then, the spot-fixing controversy has taken the frontseat, but now that the matter seems to be on its way of resolution, one gets the feeling that the board will take its chance in getting rid of Afridi if he doesn’t do too well.

  • 18 Jan

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    Piyush Chawla’s selection is bafling

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    India’s side for the Cricket World Cup has been named and it is a surprise that the selectors have gone in with three main spinners – apart from the long list of part-time options that they have.

    However, the bigger surprise is not the presence of the three spinners but that of Piyush Chawla being picked as the third spinner. Chawla has not been in the best of form at domestic level, picking up only 14 wickets in the tournament at an average of 44.07 – hardly a match-winning one.

    He has not even been a part of the side for a long time and has not played too well in the IPL either. There was also a small matter of Pragyan Ojha being present and one has to feel bad for the left-armer.

    One gets the feeling that there is more to it than meets the eye. With the national selector Krish Srikkanth having decided to not answer questions related to the selection one can only speculate that there is more to it than the obvious.

  • 14 Jan

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    Cricket World Cup 2011: Sri Lanka

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    Sri Lanka is one of the hosts of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and that will be a huge advantage to them. The main reason for this is that they rely majorly on their spinners and the tracks in Sri Lanka are full of assistance for the slower bowlers.

    Secondly, the Sri Lankan batsmen have a solid top-order – Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and T Dilshan have all been good strikers of the ball. With Upul Tharanga having come into the fold as well it augurs well for the top four for the Lankans.

    What will be difficult for the Island nation is their middle-order. The likes of Thilan Samaraweera and Chamara Kapugedera have not been able to do too well with the bat in recent times and that will be where there could be question marks.

    Lasith Malinga will be one of those to watch out for, while Suraj Randiv has been left out of the side after the selectors decided to play Muralitharan and Rangana Herath.

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