Awaiting the cup...

The war ended, but somehow a write-up by a Pakistani journalist – Maheen Sadiq – really moved me to sober down my vengeful, nationalistic spirit and look forward to a well-deserving World Cup final.

Agreed, for the two neighbouring nations, the semi-final was our THE finale! Crackers heralded Diwali with great pomp across India. Each wicket gone was creating fervor and there was no end to the celebrations after we defeated the rivals! Hoards of bikes and cars launched on the roads, and there was a complete bottleneck on the major thoroughfares. Slogans filled the hearts of every Indian and the national flag flew high.

A share of thought for the other party, and revisiting the article by Maheen, Pakistan took the defeat quite bravely. There weren’t any curses for the players, or burning of effigies. True, there are fanatics – one of whom filed a case against the cricketers for match fixing. But in the end, the welcome back of the team to their nation has been very warm, triggered by Afridi’s apology to the nation for losing. According to the country, it’s their president and prime minister who should be apologizing.

Enough of the past match, and sorry if I got carried away! A bigger match is round the corner – for Indians, the play-ground is their shrine, cricket is the cult and Sachin is their God! (No bias / personal opinion here, I do believe he sometimes plays for his own records)… It’s been a long hiatus since our last and only victory in 1983. India has produced some very sincere, industrious and marvelous captains since then – Kapil Dev, Azharuddin, and Sourav Ganguly being the most promising ones. And now Dhoni is doing his bit. He has practically won all the major cups and broken the 15 years of jinx against Australia. The World Cup this year will be his zenith and we definitely see it coming. 

As much as we loath the frivolous and inconsistent nature of the Indian team, they definitely did well this time around. A small misfield here and a fallen catch there, rest the series so far has been pretty smooth for them. The batsmen are in their form, the bowlers look good and, best of all, the fielding has been quite noteworthy. Running between the wickets by the rival teams have been kept under check by players like Raina, Yuvraj and Kohli. 

Sri Lanka, on the same lines, has been a consistent team throughout. They are a very strong bowling side and India will have to depend on its batting and fielding strengths to defend the Lankan team. Castrol Index’s predictions show that Sri Lanka has an edge over India: 

With or without predictions – the finals is going to be more of a match of wits than a match of strength. It is the 3^rd time Team India has reached the finals – they have a humongous load of expectations to fulfill. It adds up to the extreme exhaustion from all the matches since Feb 2011, and the pressure to recover from the daze of the win against Pakistan. Quite a lot for one’s cup, huh?!

The team will have to collect all their mental and emotional prowess, and play a patient and strategic game. The country prayed and celebrated the previous wins, the final one will be showered with blessings as well. Come on India – we are awaiting the Golden Cup!

UNPREDICTABLE it is!

“Indian bowling / fielding isn't frustrating. It’s just their way of keeping the betting scenario interesting!” – That was my Facebook status during the India – England match. Call me over-skeptical, but I am not the only one who is overtly vexed with how the World Cup is turning out to be.

The Indian team concluded both the England and Ireland matches quite interestingly. There were moments when I could literally tear my hair. 338 on the boards, Sachin’s smashing spell and I was quite confident that India is going to have a sweeping win over England; kind of forgetting my own rule – never EVER predict a game. Speculations were rife, Dhoni’s over-confidence and many divisive twists and turns later, the result was more than anyone could handle. A tie early on in the series, with such a high score was definitely a sheer entertainer – though India could have used the match–winning 2 points (instead of 1). I could almost feel my heartbeats before the last ball – a result that could favour three decisions – a win, a tie or a loss of course. Phew! 

Despite the pathetic bowling and fielding by the Indian members, Dhoni’s criticism of the ruling that went against the team bore fruit. At least something good happening on the LBW decisions! The ICC issued new guidelines on the controversial 2.5m rule of the Decision Review System (DRS) to lead to "consistency" in decision making.

Now for the match against Ireland, luck (and the toss win) was India’s saving grace. Indian players are superstitious, and at the turn of this century, with Sourav leading the team, the mass believed that the team should always bat first. I guess they are finally breaking that spell and the decision to chase against Ireland was crucial – given the all too frequently used pitch in Bangalore. Of course, Yuvi did his bit and made us proud with his 50 runs and 5 wickets. Creating a record amongst a mass of great cricketers, and first time in World Cup is definitely commendable. It’s always one player who absorbs the winning streak, gets lucky and pulls the match through.

The flip side of the match was, the team huffed and puffed to cover the chase. Too much importance was laid on Kevin O'Brien – he got lucky once, doesn’t mean he was destined to replicate his heroics from his last game! And the Indian team should have known better. It was Ireland after all; they had absolutely no reason to complicate the inning. Even England for that matter – they were not considered formidable contenders when the World Cup began. Well, as I said – UNPREDICTABLE it is!

So far, I didn’t take into account the match against Bangladesh, and they definitely are out of the charts. For the further matches – three more to go, against Netherlands, South Africa and West Indies – I wish the team all the very best! Considering their current top position in Group B, the consolation is that they have qualified for the quarters. Happy cricket watching everyone!!!