Rude Awakening

The day belonged to two teams wrongly thought off as mere group stage travellers to the WC'07. Men-in-blue got the shock and awe treatment from the Bangla Tigers, while the Irish team gave St. Patrick's day gift to the nation by beating Pakistan. India got rude awakening could be attributed to several reasons. Was it Rahul Dravid's decision of making first use of the pitch after winning toss? Hindsight is always 20-20, but maybe his faith in the batting lineup is misplaced. Sehwag once again let his captain down. Robin shattered the expections of billions of gully supporters in the same meteoric fashion as he had raised them. Was it the over confidence of the famed Indian batsmen? Though the Indian batting effort left lots to be desired and there were some irresponsible plays, hats off to the young turks(ages of the first 5 batsmen read as 17,18,19,21,22) of Bangladesh who beat their experienced counterparts convincingly in all departments of the game. Their opening bowling attack supported by electric fielding efforts was just too hot to handle. And then watching Tamim's audacious batting was absolutely delightful as a cricket aficionado yet depressing as it hurtled India towards defeat. Hope this defeat serves as the rude awakening for team India. Its not all lost yet, but they will have to play out of their skins(found that our esteemed captain feels the same way) so as not to suffer the same fate as Pakistan.

Overall the weekend results went against what I had wished for. Both the teams I was cheering for over the weekend found themselves on the losing side. First, team-orange was hit all over the park by the proteas and then today India let me down. The Netherland-SA game made a strong case for standardizing the field size in cricket. Holland would have been saved of some savagery if the field wasn't as small. Its even more important in the games between experienced and upcoming teams. They did setup Gibb's 6 6's record enabling Johny Walker to contribute a million dollars to charity. Only glimmer of pleasure was sadistic in nature. Having earlier lost to West Indies in the opening game, Pakistan relinquished their ticket to Super8's and will be on their way home. Though it was suspected, now it is confirmed, Group D will be sending a non-test playing nation to the next stage.

Men-in-blue not only have to win the remaining two games of the group, they have to win them convincingly. The next week is going to be a tense one. Once the gully is done cursing their team for losing the game, it will be back to what they always do, pray for the team and hope against hope.

Walk-overs, Wake-ups, Warm-ups

The warm up games are over, things are heating up in the Caribbean as the WC'07 was declared open yesterday. So what did the warm up games tell us anything about the world cup, beside of course providing the glimpse of the beautifully upgraded new stadiums? There were some one-sided affairs like, Poms showing no mercy to the team better known for their shorts, the Lankan Lions trampling over the Scots, Aussies showing their might over Zimbabwe and Indians bundling away the Dutch. Then there were the wake-up calls like Kiwis knocked over by the Bangla Tigers, the hosts falling like nine-pins against Men-in-Blue. And of course there were close games too, Kiwis survived a close call against the Lankans and the royal dutch failed by a whisker in their attempt to beat the Kenyans. Despite the melange of games and results, the crystal ball is still very foggy, or may be my eyes need rubbing!

This was the first time that the world-cup had the friendlies played between the participating teams instead of the regional teams of the hosting countries providing the warm-up practice. Experts (both genuine and arm-chair ones) have attempted to reflect and correlate the performances in the warm-up games as well as the series leading up to the WC and the performances in the world cup. A quick skimming of results from past reveals that losses in the lead-up to the world-cup don't necessarily mean poor performance in the tournament. Men-in-Blue had not only been blown away by the Bond pace before the WC'03 but also lost to the local side in the warm-up game. Going strength to strength they did journey to the finals. Is Australia's February drubbing any indicator of their world-cup progress this time? Most likely not. On the other hand strong performances before the world-cup do seem to translate into longer world-cup journey.

There has been a slight shift in my thinking about the first round games. Group D in Jamaica might see upset of predictions for the Super-8's in my first posting. Both Pakistan and WI have looked inconsistent, giving hope to at least one of Ireland or Zimbabwe to make it to the super-8's. In the warm-up games Irish beat Canadians convincingly besides almost reiterating the chockers tag for the Proteas. It would be absolutely fantastic if one of the non-test playing teams can make it to the Super-8's. Kenya are most likely to cause the upset, purely on the basis of team-strength, while Group D seems most likely to see the upset based on the group composition. Ofcourse, wishfully thinking, my heart is with the team-orange.

It is a long long long tournament. Consistency will be the key. Hopefully there will be four clear winners (even more hopefully, India will be one of the four) from the Super8's without any funky math coming into play. Time to play and fill in the brackets!

Who will be the UnLucky 7?

The buzz about the world cup 07 in the gully has reached deafening levels! By the time this piece comes online, all the 16 teams would have touched down somewhere in the six beautiful Caribbean countries playing host this time. As is inevitable with any big event there have been reports and rumours about all kinds of issues from visa problems to speculation about the arrangements not completing on time etc. Even a very diplomatic Michael Holding could not hold his opinions about the participation of the non-test playing teams creating storm of sorts about who should and should not be playing in the world cup. With just nine test playing teams* and despite 1 billion followers of Men-in-Blue, cricket needs all the promotion. Its only with worldwide popularity of the sport that we will ever be able to have a true "world cup". Why deprive the gully of the pleasures of watching fastest world cup century off the bat of John Davison and similar other feats by the so-called associate teams? Lets not forget the journey of New Zealand cricket team with lone crusaders like Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee. And Cricket does not need a world champion from games held amongst teams of one country a la Baseball and NBA. Soccer should be the example to follow.

We bid farewell to some cricketing careers every world cup, some voluntary retirements and some involuntary. WC07 will be the last one for Sachin, Rahul, Sorav, Anil Kumble, Inzi, Chris Gayle, Brian Lara, Sanath, Glen, Shaun, Chaminda, to name a few. While Sohaib forced himself out of what could have been his last world cup, the likes of Sehwag and Lou Vincent will have to walk on water to save their careers. WC07 will also be a conglomeration of captains and ex-captains. Seen in action will be 24 players from nine test playing nations who have captained their respective sides for at least one series. Kiwis being the only team with no ex-captain in the ranks.

Controversy regarding the inclusion of the associate teams in the world cup aside, chances of Australia, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies missing out on Super-8 stage. are very very slim. Mercurial Pakistan are the most likely ones to slip while Kenya might yet again prove to be the dark horse. Super-8s is a wide open field, with not much separating the teams. Each team is with a 50-50 chance of progressing to the Semi-final. Baggy greens can not be ruled out just on the basis of the last month's drubbing at the hands of England and NZ. India, England, NZ and South Africa all seem to have found their groove. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have proved time and again their uncanny ability to jump to fifth gear without notice. West Indies will have the comfort of the home grounds to unleash majestic trio of Brian Lara, Chris Gayle and Chanderpaul. Might seem cliched but any of the projected Super-8's team is capable of beating the other on a particular day. Just like its any one's guess that with the exception of Bangladesh it will be the test-playing nations that will make it to the Super-8s, no one is hazarding a guess about who the unlucky 4 to miss out on the knockout stage. Same applies to the semis and the final too, adding 3 more to the unlucky pool.

Promises to be cracker-jacker of a tournament and as always I am waiting eagerly to scream in support of yet another of the Team-India's pursuit of the world cup. If that journey looks anything like not messing up the group stage, following it up with consistent performance during the Super-8s avoiding injuries and delivering two final knockout punches, it will be the culmination of the long wait to regain the cup back lasting almost a quarter of a century.

Go Men-in-Blue, best of luck be with you! India is intently watching, anxiously hoping, sincerely praying...


*Though ten teams have the test status, Zimbabwe's status has been suspended till 2007.