Modi - IPL Saga is Blessing in Disguise for BCCI

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I think Modi - IPL saga can be a blessing in disguise for the BCCI if they handle it well. After the WCT20 debacle entire country is raising question mark on 2 things 1. IPL is the reason behind the debacle and 2. Technique of Indian Players while playing short pitch deliveries.

All former players, cricket critics and Journalists are talking only about the reasons behind the debacle. And 90% of those reasons are pointing to the IPL some way or the other and their intensity towards playing for India. Its true players were tired by the time they reach Windies for the WCT20. The reasons are many hectic schedule along with Parties and travelling. The worst part is they prefer playing for clubs then India just because of money.

Players like Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma, Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh were literally not interested in playing at all for the country. The intensity of winning a game for India was not there. I agree all are world class players but when they don't have the Intensity to win while playing for India why to select them. Sehwag didn't opt to miss a single game in IPL but preferred opting out of WCT20. Now for the Zimbawe tour all senior players opted our citing reasons of rest,tiredness n all.

Now when the entire country is looking for some strong response from BCCI , i think BCCI can ban IPL for 2 years and see the result of indian team performance. It has a dual benefit for them one they will be able regain the faith of people of India. Second they will get time to settle down the issue related to IPL. Once all the issues resolved they can resume the IPL with some twist on the rules which helps the players and domestic circuit  to grow.

And also BCCI should have a check on Dhoni's statements like "IPL and its late night party is the reason", "we should not feel ashamed that we don't play short pitch bowl well", "what we should do when we don't have bowlers who can bowl 140+ kmpl or fast pitch in India for practice." Just because he is the captain he is not suppose to say just anything and everything.

So i think IPL saga is a blessing in disguise for BCCI to save its face in front of the nation. So utilize it properly to come out of the scenario with win in both hands by sending a string statement to the world cup squad and clear the dirty games behind IPL.

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India's Strength Exposed and Stamped by Windies.

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Another match on fast track of Kensington Oval, Barbados and another lose for India in the World Cup T20, this time on the hands of West indies. Indians cant handle the average bowling attack of Windies and lost the do or die match. Though they still have a very slim hope if they defeat Srilanka in the next match by a big margin and Windies lose to Australia. But i don't think they deserve to be in the Semi's of the mega event.

Looking at the 2 successive failures i think the Indian think tank should now decide 2 set of squad. One which can play well in the bouncy tracks and others who will play in the sub-continent only. Even the test opener M Vijay is not able to handle the short pitch bowls. If you look at his career he doesn't have any good knocks against big teams and in good pacy tracks. I think players like M Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina should not be consider for the teams traveling outside sub-continent.

Ravindra Jadeja on what grounds he is there in the team, is difficult to understand. If as a leg spin bowler then Piyush Chawla is waiting and warming the bench is a better leg spin bowler any day. if he is playing as a all rounder who will come into bat after Harbhajan then nothing to say. Yusuf Pathan is bowling well but his prime job is to get quick runs which is not happening at all. He looks out of sorts in front of good bowling (not talking about short pitch bowling). Suresh Raina is a very good batsman but need to sort out problems with sort bowls. Zaheer khan is probably the worst bowler among the most high profile bowlers list. His dedications seems to be only with MI(Mumbai Indians) bcoz i have never seen him playing well in shorter version of the game for any teams apart from MI.

Selectors needs to sort out the problems of Short bowling issue with Indian Team. They should drop players who have problem with short bowling. If they feel the identified dropped players are very good players then send them for training in Australia or SAF. Otherwise Indian team will keep disappointing us outside the sub-continent.

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England's Thumping win Over Pakistan

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Big win for England over the world champions in the first super eight match of ICC world cup twenty20. Till now what ever match England has played they have shown they are the clear title favourites. England have beaten 2 big teams one while chasing another while defending and both wins are convincing.

Good bowling display by England by taking wickets at regular interval and doesn't allow any of the partnership going for Pakistan. All the bowlers chipped in with wickets and fielding was also high class. Pakistan bating was below par, for the second match in a row.Again the same 2 batsman scored Salman Butt and Umer Akmal for pakistan.

Batting of England is the strong point, as the openers are doing really good job and the No-3 Pietersen is carrying in form  from the IPL. Pietersen is striking the ball really well. And in the middle order Morgan and Luke Write have already shown their form in previous matches. So England have nothing to worry. Pakistan's bowling was not up to the mark. Mohd Asif was looking out of colour and fielding was also ordinary. England has got to a flayer thanks to the 3 dropped catches by Pakistan in the first 6 overs, after that coming back was really difficult considering the low score they have set as target.

England now is looking really strong contender for the trophy. Though their lower middle order needs a test and also they have to find out the alternate 5th bowler. So watch out for the England matches.

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The African Challenge for India.

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So finally the first big game of ICC WorldTwenty20, India Vs South Africa. Both are strong contender for the cup and have a very good record in T20 matches. Both are very consistent in T20 as per T20 standard. Both have some tailor made player for T20 in their ranks who can win matches single handedly.

India batting is obviously more strong then SA on paper but if you compare the form and T20 records then both are having equal weights. SA have a edge over India as far as All rounder is concern but on slower tracks of West indies i don't think its a issue for India. India has better slow bowler all rounders then SA. SA bowling has more fire power then India  but both the India opening bowlers are doing well.

Fielding of SA is a great advantage for them.They normally save more then 20 runs in s 20 over match, where Indian team has to work upon. So both the teams are kind of same considering the form and pitch. Only thing is who plays well on the given day and holds the nerve will beat the other.Cracker of a match is in waiting.
Lets see..

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Pakistan through the Bangal hurdle

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As expected Pakistan defeated Bangladesh but more satisfying is they win it as a champion. After the 5 matches so far in the ICC World Twenty20 only Pakistan has played like a test playing nation till now. Though the Aus,SA,Eng have yet to play a match. Anyway it was a good win for Pakistan.

Playing minnows or weaker opponents are always difficult since its easy to lose focus in these kind of matches. Pakistan played in true spirit and took the game seriously and win wit convincingly. As expected Bangladesh gave a very good fight. Nice to see Ashraful back to form. And the ever reliable Sakib Al Hassan has displayed his all round capabilities by taking 2 wickets and scoring 47 runs. The batting of Bangladesh was good. they lost the match because of bad fielding and some below average bowling.

Normally Bangla spinners bowl well but today its was not just their day and their bowling is completely dependent on spinners. It was a very high class opening partnership between Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt they were complementing each other very well. Normally Akmal is more attacking then Butt but today it was Butt who started the demolishing. 142 runs opening stand in a T20 game is something very rare. This is the highest opening  in T20 world cup and the Ashraful and Sakib al hassan partnership broke the record for best 3rd wicket partnership. Its good to see records tumbling.

Good confidence boosting start for Pakistan. They are looking strong and having confidence.So tomorrows encounter between Pakistan and Australia is going to be a good one.

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Match-1 @ T20World Cup !! NZ VS SL

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What a match to start the Cricket T20 Worldcup. It went till the penultimate ball of the match and a Six to win the match. What else is needed. My fav team to win the cup started with a win. Though they are scratchy, didn't play like champions but its just a start.
I always feel scratchy start to a tournament is always a positive sign since you don't be complacent by the wins. As i mentioned earlier, since NZ bat really deep and have multiple all rounders in their playing XI with a splendid fielding unit they can win match from nowhere. Exactly that happened. They almost lost the match in the middle overs but its their lower order batting ability which won the match for them with one ball to spare. Expected Hero's for the win like Ryder,Vettory, McCullum (not Branden its Nathen this time) Oram,Styris. And notice the names out of 5, 3 are all rounders.
Srilanka did well to reach 134 after a very dull start with Dilshan basically in no form and Sangakara also struggling with form. Debutant Chandimal (29 runs 1x6,1x4) has done well while Srilanka batting was fully dependant on Jayawadhane. out of 134 he scored 81(8x4,2x6) so can think of his role in the batting. Bowling from NZ was good. They took very good advantage of the slow track and their medium slow bowlers Oram,Styris,Vettory, McCullum all bowl well. NZ got a disastrous start with McCullum got out in the 1st over and it was a maiden also. Then it was all Ryder(42, 3x4,2x6) till NZ reach the half way mark. Then they lost their way with some very good spin bowling by Murali, Jayasuriya and Mendis. But Oram, vettory and Nathan McCullum had different plans. They show the nerves of steel and pull the victory from the jaw of loss. Six of the penultimate ball of the match seize the win for them.So can guess how good it was.

So my dark horses started well. Hope they do better then this in coming matches. So a super start to the World T20. Hope the pitches are more sporty.