Indian Cricket

   After a very long time we have an ODI Ind-Pak final . Gone are the days when Pak. was a worthy opponent. The tension and euphoria is not the same as from the years gone by. There are already some murmurs about how Pakistan got here and it is a pre-arranged final. I believe there is some truth and this probably happened at the board level of certain cricketing nations. (Pak., SF, SL, Eng and Ind). Some of the boards are cash scrapped and badly need money. This also explains the recently arranged India's tour to WI following the CT with a star studded Indian squad. As long as India is winning, we could worry less about these controversies.   India definitely favorites heading into the game. They are peaking at the right time and have been clinical the last 2 games. The Indian bowling is a treat to watch these days. The bowlers are matured and adjust well to almost any kind of surface. Batting has always been good and on these flat pitches it has been truly outstanding. Fin

  Ind. favorites again in this 2nd SF clash at Edgbaston. Both teams have done well entering this contest. Ind. beat SF comprehensively and BD completed an epic win over NZ . They were down and dusted in Cardiff at 33/4, chasing 266. Phenomenal batting from Mahmud Ullah and Shakib saw them through fairly comfortably. To me this is probably their greatest win ever, surpassing the earlier one vs. Aus, at the same venue many moons ago. They are a much improved side and is evident from the  ODI rankings . (6th). The fortunes of the BD team mirror those of Pak. in the '92 WC. They had a match they should have lost vs. Aus. rained off and needed help from Eng. to send Aus. packing .   Ind. bowlers were impressive against SF. Bhuvi / Bumrah  were smart and bowled impeccable lengths. Ind. should go in with 4 pacers for this game. BD batsmen are not equipped to play good fast and swing bowling. With not much swing on offer, pace is the way to go. The practice game between Ind. and

  Both teams enter a do or die knock-out battle reeling from a shock defeat their previous game. Ind. are marginal favt. heading into this virtual quarter-final . The pitches in Eng. have been sort of a mystery or just plain flat. Not sure what sort of pitch we could expect at Oval. Hopefully, we do not get a surface like a road. Such pitches make for a boring viewing. * The same pitch from Ind. - SL  game will be reused. Adv. India since they played on this surface and also lost :). So, loads of runs should be on offer. The toss has played a vital factor in almost all the games so far. The team batting second has won most games and also with the threat of rain always looming  around it is a better choice to bat last. SA do not like to chase and Ind. would like to bat last. In all likelihood, we will have Ind. chasing a target.   Indian batting though good has not been explosive yet, this could be the game it catches fire. The top order has fired and is in fine form. There is not

India, clear favts. again. They should be able to wrap this quickly and seal a SF berth. SL bowling should not pose much trouble for the Indian batsmen. On the contrary, Indian bowling can prove too much for the inexperienced SL batsmen. My team: 1) Rohit 2) SD 3)VK 4)UV 5) MSD 6) Jad 7) Hardik 8) Ash 9) Umesh 10) Shami 11) Bhuvi SL struggled a lot against Tahir and historically have played Ashwin poorly. Ashwin is a must play. Bumrah should be replaced by Shami in this match. Bumrah and Malinga are similar style bowlers, hence the SL batsmen could play him better than most. Kedar is a luxury and should be used only in special occasions. On true batting surfaces, there is no point in playing 7 batsmen, esp. against a weak SL bowling attack. Jai Hind !   

  It is not often that we have a clear favt. in an Ind-Pak. encounter . Ind, def. are clear favorites and expected to win this encounter. This is could be exactly what could backfire. Pak. bowling esp. in seaming/swinging conditions are absolutely WC which most batsmen except for VK will find hard to negotiate. Throw in an another promising spinner Shadhab Khan  and pacer Hasan Ali , whom the Indians have never faced. The Pak. bowling unit has enough talent to trouble India, esp. should VK have an off day. Considering, VK's recent form this could be a plausible scenario. VK's performance like Sachin 's from past encounters will be the focal point of this game.  The real achilles heel for Pak. is their batting. With India's improved bowling attack, the problem becomes even more acute. India to me have the best bowling variety in the trophy. (seamers, left armers and offies). I believe they missed a trick by not including Kuldeep Yadav, who could have been useful i

1) Ind 2) SAF 3) Eng 4) Aus Semis: Ind vs Aus Saf vs Eng Final: Ind vs Eng Winners: Ind. (Eng never won anything :) odi's) Indian bowlers for a change will win some games for the country.