The similarities between the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team and the 2011 hopefuls are remarkably striking:
Gavaskar ~ Tendulkar
Srikkanth ~ Sehwag
Kapil ~ Dhoni [captaincy]
Yashpal, Patil and Azad ~ Kohli, Raina and Yusuf
Amarnath ~ Yuvraj [in the context of their excellent form at the respective World Cups]
Madan Lal, Sandhu, Binny ~ Zaheer, Munaf and Nehra.
As all focus shifts to Mumbai for this year's World Cup final, however, my mind goes back thirteen days to a game played at that very venue between Sri Lanka and New Zealand where the surface just broke up and became a mess in the last 25 overs. It'd be a shame if a World Cup final was ruined by the toss, so maybe Mr. Dhoni should do exactly what his 'jural correlative' did twenty-eight years ago: lose the toss and get put in to bat.
The broader, more critical question of whether 50-over cricket will survive for us to see such a World Cup say eight or twelve years down the line still needs to wait, though. I also have a feeling that the organizers of the IPL will be cursing India's run to this final because it might just result in their painstakingly crafted eight-week extravaganza being the victim of some serious cricketing overkill and fatigue amongst fans. Personally, I hope not - I've grown to love T20 cricket a lot more than 50-over cricket. However, if the IPL final generates a buzz properly comparable to the kind sure to be witnessed in India over the next two days, I promise to be absolutely astonished by our nation's appetite for cricket.
2 comments:
Pakistan's Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's promise of 25 acres of fertile land in the event of a win against India for each playing member of the Pakistan team goes a-begging.That's 275 acres less for the terrorist networks in the terror-stricken country to thrive upon.
No fairytale ending for the maverick paceman Shoaib Akthar.Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi had said that he would win the World Cup for the late Bob Woolmer.Too bad but he should be content with himself with the survival of the present coach Waqar Younis.
Hopefully on saturday, it wouldn't be an anticlimax for Gary Kirsten in his last assignment as team India's coach who has moulded the team into a world class unit.
It's now IND vs SL in the finals at Mumbai,almost like an afterlife deja vu between Velupillai Prabahakaran and Koose Muniswamy Veerappan.Unlike the kidnap drama,let's hope that the notorious forest brigand pulls off another coup de grace by gunning down the lankan lions and exporting them to Colombo.
Let the negotiations begin.
Here's a breakdown of the matches played at the Seshrao Krishnarao Wankhede stadium in Mumbai and the results of those matches in this years ICC Cricket World Cup.As always in the sub-continent,the toss would be crucial and teams batting first would have an unfair advantage of batting on a good wicket which as you rightly analyzed crumbles later.But the advantage fairly evens out due to the dew factor which makes it's presence in the second half of the match,especially in Mumbai.
Match 1:13-03-11 NZ vs.CAN
NZ 358/6 d. CAN 261/9
NZ win by 97 runs
Match 2:18-03-11 NZ vs.SL
SL 265/9 d. NZ 153 all out.
SL win by 112 runs
With Ashish Nehra ruling himself out of the final with a fractured right hand "Stone Cold Steve Austin 3:16" finger,one could expect Ravichandran Ashwin to be given a go instead of Shanthakumaran Sreesanth or perhaps Nehra would hopefully force himself into the playing XI as his injury is not to his bowling hand similar to talks among the Srilankan team making it quite clear of the willingness of Muttiah Muralitharan to play on 1 leg/1 thigh and so on.
The battle of equals,irrespective of the physical pain barriers will be showcased come this saturday and may the best team win.
The first battle may have been won (Gilani vs. Manmohan Singh)by India.An equally enticing battle awaits (Zardari vs. Prathibha Patil).Will the home boy Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar score his epic 100th international century? Will Ashwin's Carrom ball outclass Murali's Doosra?Does the Shiv Sena have any plans of disrupting the match by their trademark 'digging the playing surface' act?Who will be the victor?Who will have the last smirk lasting on their faces? Whatever the outcome CRICKET would be the winner.
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