The World Cup fever's in the air and it is highly contagious everybody young,old,middle aged,slim, large,petite and obese,stinking rich or filthy poor are going around town making their Cup related predictions and spouting new found cricketing wisdom, but the question uppermost on everybody's mind is whether or not the present lot of Indian cricketers can annex the World Cup for a second time after an interminably long wait of 28 years.
The selectors have done their job by picking up the best fifteen cricketers who they think are capable of delivering the goods in their infinite wisdom and it is upto the team now to don the mantle of fulfilling every Indian cricket fan's dream by winning the World Cup for a second time in their own backyard, but all said and done doubts still linger in one's mind as to whether or not the present team has what it takes to win a trophy of this magnitude.
Strength and depth in batting will once again prove to be this team's Fort knox with arguably the best opening partnership in World cricket Sachin and Sehwag beginning the onslaught, Gambhir embellishing it at the crucial number three position, Virat Kohli consolidating the gains at the pivotal number four position, Yuvraj launching a frontal assault on the oppositions in conjunction with Dhoni at the number six slot and taking the opposition bowlers to the cleaners with Yusuf Pathan providing the cherry on the icing with his swashbuckling blade guaranteed to send a shiver or two up the spine of any and every bowler in the World, the much vaunted batting line up sure looks formidable on paper at least.
Add to this the enormous advantage of playing an overwhelming majority of their matches in their own backyard in extremely batter friendly conditions, it is a well known fact that the ball more often than not struggles to rise above knee level on sub continental pitches and that the batsmen can have a field day dancing down the pitch with impunity and hi the ball on the rise and through the line as if it was their birthright,bullies at home lambs abroad did someone say?.
The baying,cheering and boisterous home fans will proverbially prove to be the Indian teams trenchant ally and the opposition's bette noire with their constant refrain of go India go, east or west India is the best and so on and so forth. Most Indian grounds have seating capacities well in excess of 50,000 and the enclosed arena can be an intimidating enemy to palyers from most countries other than the might Aussies as their cricket grounds can only hold crowds ranging from 15,000-25,000 respectively, the Indian team should make optimum use of this twelfth man by constantly asking their boundary riders to jee up this mass of humanity and intimidate their opponents to the extent that they start making elementary errors on the field of play.
The noisy and cauldron like atmosphere could however prove to be a double edged sword for the bowlers of all the participating teams as the on field umpires could struggle to hear and pick up fine edges and knicks in this bullring like atmosphere. Batsmen could also be inconvenienced as they would find it impossible to hear their partner's call unless they are resoundingly loud and filled with resonance, ask Javed Miandad for confirmation on the intimidatory home crowds and share his experiences of the crowds in Bangalore during the 1996 World Cup quarter finals and as to why he had to appeal to them with folded hands.
So much for the team's perceived strengths or strong points now let's critically appraise their Achillees' heels or weak points: the much maligned bowling attack will continue to be the biggest chink in the Indian armour with only two bowlers out of the chosen four having the innate ability to run through an opposing batting line up with the other two being stock or run restricting options at best, while the pundits may argue that the accent is on restricting the opposition in fifty over cricket, every argument falls flat in the face of the irrefutable dictum of constant wickets being the mightiest restrictor.
Zaheer and Harbhajan are the proven articles and should prove to be more than a handful for the opposing batsmen in familiar territory but there are question marks about their match fitness with both suffering niggles during the recently concluded South African tours, while Harbhajan has time and again shown the resilience and resolve to overcome all such obstacles with his inherent Punjabi grit, Zaheer has shown a remarkable propensity towards breaking down time and again at crucial stages of tours,matches thereby letting down his team repeatedly.
The less said about the two other components of the Indian bowling quartet the better, Messrs Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra are the blow hot and cold kind of bowlers, proven match winners on their day and driving their captain to despair with an errant performance on off days. Nehra again is as injury prone as Zaheer and one always doubts his ability of remaining unscathed through a month and a half long tournament. Sreesanth certainly would prove to be a more than adequate replacement for any of the baove mentioned trio what with Praveen Kumar pulling out with a persistent elbow injury, but can one say the same about Messrs Piyush Chawla and Ravichandran Ashwin if the doughty Sardar were to break down at any stage.
The absence of a genuine fifth bowling option and the presence of atleast six laggards on the field would only serve to drag India down into the dumps as the days of hiding a laggard or two on the field are well past us and our Captain Cool has to shoulder the onerous responsibility of hiding atleast five to six extremely slow movers on the field as one is more than willing to agree with the argument put forth by Steve Waugh about the best fielding side winning the World Cup in the absence of an overwhelming odds on favourite.Fielding has always proved to be India's waterloo and the think tank will have to devote considerable time and energy towards surmounting this herculean obstacle.
The batters will have to win the World cup for us all said and done, the top seven will constantly need to deliver three hundred plus scores in case of the Indians setting a target and overhaul whatever score the opposition puts up on the board if the Indian team wants to make it big in this tournament. Sehwag, Tendulkar and Gambhir will have to provide the foundation on which the monolith of a formidable total can be raised day in and day out and the middle order will have to bat as per the needs of the situation and also have to provide the fianl impetus that could end up determining the difference between success and failure.
While yours truly does definitely see the Indians making the semis, it will be a battle of attrition and mental fortitude thereon, here's wishing the Indian team all success and praying that the team succeeds in bringing the cup back where it belongs.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
The selectors have done their job by picking up the best fifteen cricketers who they think are capable of delivering the goods in their infinite wisdom and it is upto the team now to don the mantle of fulfilling every Indian cricket fan's dream by winning the World Cup for a second time in their own backyard, but all said and done doubts still linger in one's mind as to whether or not the present team has what it takes to win a trophy of this magnitude.
Strength and depth in batting will once again prove to be this team's Fort knox with arguably the best opening partnership in World cricket Sachin and Sehwag beginning the onslaught, Gambhir embellishing it at the crucial number three position, Virat Kohli consolidating the gains at the pivotal number four position, Yuvraj launching a frontal assault on the oppositions in conjunction with Dhoni at the number six slot and taking the opposition bowlers to the cleaners with Yusuf Pathan providing the cherry on the icing with his swashbuckling blade guaranteed to send a shiver or two up the spine of any and every bowler in the World, the much vaunted batting line up sure looks formidable on paper at least.
Add to this the enormous advantage of playing an overwhelming majority of their matches in their own backyard in extremely batter friendly conditions, it is a well known fact that the ball more often than not struggles to rise above knee level on sub continental pitches and that the batsmen can have a field day dancing down the pitch with impunity and hi the ball on the rise and through the line as if it was their birthright,bullies at home lambs abroad did someone say?.
The baying,cheering and boisterous home fans will proverbially prove to be the Indian teams trenchant ally and the opposition's bette noire with their constant refrain of go India go, east or west India is the best and so on and so forth. Most Indian grounds have seating capacities well in excess of 50,000 and the enclosed arena can be an intimidating enemy to palyers from most countries other than the might Aussies as their cricket grounds can only hold crowds ranging from 15,000-25,000 respectively, the Indian team should make optimum use of this twelfth man by constantly asking their boundary riders to jee up this mass of humanity and intimidate their opponents to the extent that they start making elementary errors on the field of play.
The noisy and cauldron like atmosphere could however prove to be a double edged sword for the bowlers of all the participating teams as the on field umpires could struggle to hear and pick up fine edges and knicks in this bullring like atmosphere. Batsmen could also be inconvenienced as they would find it impossible to hear their partner's call unless they are resoundingly loud and filled with resonance, ask Javed Miandad for confirmation on the intimidatory home crowds and share his experiences of the crowds in Bangalore during the 1996 World Cup quarter finals and as to why he had to appeal to them with folded hands.
So much for the team's perceived strengths or strong points now let's critically appraise their Achillees' heels or weak points: the much maligned bowling attack will continue to be the biggest chink in the Indian armour with only two bowlers out of the chosen four having the innate ability to run through an opposing batting line up with the other two being stock or run restricting options at best, while the pundits may argue that the accent is on restricting the opposition in fifty over cricket, every argument falls flat in the face of the irrefutable dictum of constant wickets being the mightiest restrictor.
Zaheer and Harbhajan are the proven articles and should prove to be more than a handful for the opposing batsmen in familiar territory but there are question marks about their match fitness with both suffering niggles during the recently concluded South African tours, while Harbhajan has time and again shown the resilience and resolve to overcome all such obstacles with his inherent Punjabi grit, Zaheer has shown a remarkable propensity towards breaking down time and again at crucial stages of tours,matches thereby letting down his team repeatedly.
The less said about the two other components of the Indian bowling quartet the better, Messrs Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra are the blow hot and cold kind of bowlers, proven match winners on their day and driving their captain to despair with an errant performance on off days. Nehra again is as injury prone as Zaheer and one always doubts his ability of remaining unscathed through a month and a half long tournament. Sreesanth certainly would prove to be a more than adequate replacement for any of the baove mentioned trio what with Praveen Kumar pulling out with a persistent elbow injury, but can one say the same about Messrs Piyush Chawla and Ravichandran Ashwin if the doughty Sardar were to break down at any stage.
The absence of a genuine fifth bowling option and the presence of atleast six laggards on the field would only serve to drag India down into the dumps as the days of hiding a laggard or two on the field are well past us and our Captain Cool has to shoulder the onerous responsibility of hiding atleast five to six extremely slow movers on the field as one is more than willing to agree with the argument put forth by Steve Waugh about the best fielding side winning the World Cup in the absence of an overwhelming odds on favourite.Fielding has always proved to be India's waterloo and the think tank will have to devote considerable time and energy towards surmounting this herculean obstacle.
The batters will have to win the World cup for us all said and done, the top seven will constantly need to deliver three hundred plus scores in case of the Indians setting a target and overhaul whatever score the opposition puts up on the board if the Indian team wants to make it big in this tournament. Sehwag, Tendulkar and Gambhir will have to provide the foundation on which the monolith of a formidable total can be raised day in and day out and the middle order will have to bat as per the needs of the situation and also have to provide the fianl impetus that could end up determining the difference between success and failure.
While yours truly does definitely see the Indians making the semis, it will be a battle of attrition and mental fortitude thereon, here's wishing the Indian team all success and praying that the team succeeds in bringing the cup back where it belongs.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
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