World Cup Preview #8: Bangladesh + Minnows

Friday, February 18, 2011 bangladesh, canada, cricket, goldmember, ireland, kenya, netherlands, preview, rishabh bablani, world cup 2011, zimbabwe No Comments

I had to make that distinction, because Bangladesh is a level better than the non-Test sides. Obviously, the 4-0 drubbing of New Zealand comes to mind. They will be glad, of course, that they're in a group that they can actually qualify from.

Their batting has come a long way, posting competitive totals more regularly now. The structure is somewhat similar to the Kiwis - a deep batting line up filled with bit-part all rounders (except with spinners instead of medium pacers), the best bowler/important batsman/captain bang in the middle of it, and capable but potentially expensive quicks.

Tamim Iqbal is a huge factor, as everyone would have already told you, and when he gets going, the others know well to bat around him and let him do his thing. Junaid Siddique and Imrul Kayes like to stick around when they can, and the other little guys - Shakib Al-Hasan, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim and Naeem Islam - like to go for their shots and can pack a serious punch.

Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam are a little better than simply take-the-shine-off pacers. The former reminds me of Dilhara Fernando a little bit, and that can never be good. The latter has decent variations, but often, his lack of pace does him in. It's no secret that they will rely heavily on their spinners, and Shakib likes to get in and bowl early. Abdur Razzaq is a superb limited-overs bowler and the supporting off-spin cast of Naeem Islam and Mahmudullah are pretty effective too. The back-up leftie, Suhrawadi Shuvo, was the highest wicket taker in the world in 2017 in my International Cricket Captain game, so that's a good reason to watch out for him.

Lastly, there's the mini drama show called Mohammed Ashraful. Will he get a go in the established line-up that was doing well without him? Will he finally come good on the biggest stage? Are cookies really controlling devices invented by dwarf minions of Steve Jobs? Stick around to find out (no).

Official-looking prediction: Super Eights. I think they might leapfrog the Windies to qualify from Group B, but that will be the end of the line for them. They'd want this count, because there will be no associate teams to beat in the next World Cup.

Zimbabwe

They're also in that corridor between the strong teams and the minnows, but only just. Give them a flat track and they will score big with Brendan Taylor or Elton Chigumbura (love the name) making hundreds, but they will struggle to defend even 350. Give them an ultra-slow track, and they will score 150 and almost defend it with their decent spinners. In all other situations, I don't see them winning a game.

Apart from the aforementioned Taylor and Chigumbura, the players to watch out for are Charles Coventry (one-time joint holder of the highest ODI score) and Graeme Cremer, because he's a leggie.

Official-looking prediction: Group stage, maybe a victory against Pakistan.

Canada

The folks here are pretty much blissfully unaware that their country's playing in a World Cup. The only things I know about their side is that apart from blistering contributions from 40-year old John Davison or Rizwan Cheema, they will struggle to reach 200 for the most part. Their keeper, Ashish Bagai, is a steady scorer, and pacer Khurram Chohan can be a handful for a few overs before exhaustion sets in.

Official-looking prediction: Group stage, maybe a victory against Pakistan. See what I did there?

Kenya

They'll be a little more confident than the other Associates, having had the experience of actually reaching the semis in 2003. Steve Tikolo is still around, and will be taking the field in a wheelchair and telling everyone war stories during the lunch break. Other familiar faces are paceman Thomas Odoyo, leggie Collins Obuya and his brother, keeper David Obuya.

They've got some talented batsmen coming in, like Tanmay Mishra, the coolly named Seren Waters, and Alex Obanda.

Official-looking prediction: Group stage, maybe a victory against Pakistan. Okay, I'm ending that joke.

Ireland

They put up a good performance in their practice game against New Zealand, and I think they're capable of another couple of upsets to go with their conquering of Pakistan in 2007. They have a lot of heart (and alcohol) (bad stereotype) and aren't afraid to go for it. Well-established county cricket players like skipper William Porterfield and Ed Joyce lend the batting some stability, while lower down lurk a couple of power hitters in brothers Kevin O'Brien and Niall O'Brien. 36-year old Trent Johnston will lead the bowling attack for probably the last time. They also have a couple of token South Africans, Andre Botha and Albert van der Merwe. Watch out for 18-year old spinner George Dockrell.

Official-looking prediction: Group stage, maybe a victory against Pakistan. Yeah, that was going too far - they aren't even in the same group. Impossible to resist having a go.

Netherlands

Ahh, the land of the shmoke und a pancake, the flapjack und a shigarette, the Shigar und a waffle, the Pipe und a crepe, the Bong und a blintz. Goldmember quotes aside, I know nothing about them. Ryan ten Doeschate is a very good all-rounder. That's pretty much all I have.

Official-looking prediction: Group stage.

So what ARE we good at?

Thursday, June 03, 2010 andy blignaut, cricket, dinesh karthik, india, murali vijay, ravindra jadeja, review, rishabh bablani, yusuf pathan, zimbabwe No Comments

Everyone now knows a simple tactic to get the Indian batsmen out - just bowl short at them, they'll combust.

All right, we said, so we can't play the short ball. Bring on the spinners, we'll smash 'em.

Because we're supposed to be the best at playing spin. Another Indian side, even the one full of our rested players, would have aimed for 300-350 when facing 40 overs of Zimbabwean spin, with the only medium pace being that of Andy Blignaut, who has a career economy rate of 5.3.

There are a few reasons for opening with a spinner, as they did with Ray Price - you don't have the best (or any) quicks, the pitch is already turning, or you know that the openers won't go after you. It was all three in this case.

During the initial Powerplay overs, if the batsmen aren't going to go after the bowlers with the fielders in, singles aren't going to be easy either, and what you'll get is a shitload of dot balls. This is exactly what is happening with Karthik and Vijay - they haven't, at any point of time, looked like taking charge and dictating play. They've allowed the bowlers to get on top of them, and they just lie there and get screwed. (not originally intended in an 18+ way)

They've left all the hard work to the middle order - which despite impressing in the last couple of games, had to fail at some point. Yusuf Pathan, yesterday, had plenty of time to bat against ordinary bowling and failed, surely a sign that he is no longer needed. He and Jadeja have similar bit-part roles, and it's time one of them is replaced by a full player with a clearly defined role.

That's it.

The loss doesn't matter

Friday, May 28, 2010 ashok dinda, chris mpofu, cricket, dinesh karthik, india, murali vijay, pragyan ojha, ravindra jadeja, rishabh bablani, rohit sharma, suresh raina, umesh yadav, vinay kumar, yusuf pathan, zimbabwe No Comments

India's loss to Zimbabwe in the first ODI of the tri-series doesn't matter too much. It is definitely a step backwards for us, but not because we lost.

It's pretty clear that the whole point of this series, from the selectors' point of view, is to try out new players - especially uncapped fast bowlers. And going by that, it was a disappointing game.

Vinay Kumar, Ashok Dinda and Umesh Yadav were all playing their first ODI, and barring certain moments, they looked mostly toothless. To be fair, it was a flat pitch and none of them are exactly express. Vinay Kumar picked up a couple of wickets but went for runs at the death. Umesh Yadav didn't bowl a consistent length, but managed to get a few deliveries to rear up. Always a good sign. Ashok Dinda just isn't good enough for international cricket - he had a few good spells in the IPL but he will struggle in different conditions. Bowling-wise, this game showed us again that spin is our strength. Playing Pragyan Ojha would definitely have won us the game, but then we wouldn't have seen much of one of the pacers.

The batting wasn't too great - it was a 350+ pitch and we struggled for the most part, only picking up the pace in the last 10-15 overs when Rohit Sharma went crazy and Jadeja supported him well. Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay played out too many dot balls, did the hard work of playing out the new ball while making Mpofu look threatening, and then got themselves in a spot by running poorly. Raina looked comfortable while Sharma was riding his luck. One of the two openers needs to be more aggressive, and I would definitely consider sending in Yusuf at one down - he has played long innings in domestic cricket and an opportunity wouldn't hurt.

Okay, enough rambling about nothing.

Three of Zimbabwe's five biggest chases have been against India.

India v Zimbabwe and other stuff that doesn't matter

Thursday, May 27, 2010 cricket, dinesh karthik, india, kieron pollard, naman ojha, ravindra jadeja, rishabh bablani, rohit sharma, sri lanka, suresh raina, umesh yadav, vinay kumar, virat kohli, yusuf pathan, zimbabwe No Comments

India play Zimbabwe tomorrow in the first match of a tri-series. There are so many reasons not to bother with this series.

For one, it involves Zimbabwe, which is still a long way from a quality side. And there's Sri Lanka. Again. Between all the tests, ODI's, T20I's and the IPL, our players and their players are either sick of each of other or really good buddies. I suspect the former.

I also don't care much for ODI's. It's sort of a confused format - we know that tests are long and batsmen are all blocky, and we know that T20's are slambangy and really short. I don't know why, but for some reason I can watch five whole days of test cricket, and still am unable to sit through 100 overs of an ODI.

But I will be watching this tri-series, or at least India's games. One obvious reason is that India's playing. Another is that this mass resting of players actually has me intrigued - I don't think I've ever seen an Indian side devoid of its stars. The fact that Suresh Raina - who has only recently cemented his spot in ODI's - is the skipper, will go some way in showing us what we can expect from the future.

Sri Lanka hasn't rested as many players as India, and we can be sure that the 'bounce us out' strategy will be employed at some point by them as well as Zimbabwe. ODI's may be less manic than T20's, but this is a superb test of temperament for the likes of Raina, Kohli, Karthik and Rohit Sharma. Yusuf Pathan has a good chance of doing well this series, but he's still rubbish. Kieron Pollard has a similar reputation as a slogger and is doing a far better job than Yusuf. Naman Ojha is not ready for this level, and Jadeja lacks confidence as well as any sort of definition of his role.

The quicks will be observed closely, none more so than Umesh Yadav, seemingly the only bowler in India who bowls 140+ right now. Vinay Kumar is an old-school Indian medium pacer whose strength lies in accuracy, while I see limited opportunities for Pankaj Singh and Ashok Dinda.

PS. Also, this blog has been added to http://cricket.superblogroll.com, the blogroll for Cricket Blogs.

Raina as captain?

Monday, May 10, 2010 amit mishra, cricket, dinesh karthik, india, murali vijay, pragyan ojha, r ashwin, rishabh bablani, rohit sharma, selection, suresh raina, umesh yadav, virat kohli, yusuf pathan, zimbabwe No Comments

So the squad to tour Zimbabwe has been announced, and it is definitely a second-string side. Or as the selectors would call it, "a look into the future".

Squad: M Vijay, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suresh Raina (capt), Virat Kohli (vice-capt), Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Pankaj Singh, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Naman Ojha Note: Piyush Chawla will join the squad for the Twenty20s. 

Call me a pessimist, but I sense an upset win for Zimbabwe sometime on this tour. They haven't been all bad, and I think this series will be decided on the basis of which spinners bowl best.

Suresh Raina gets his first captaincy opportunity for India, while Virat Kohli will be the vice-captain. This makes sense, as these are the only two players in the squad who have somewhat cemented their places in the one-day side.

And it wouldn't be wise to ignore the series, it could certainly lead to the discovery of potential stars. Mega-money players, players who will earn bigger IPL contracts, do lots of ads, put in some performances for the country, earn some more money, and then ultimately disappoint everyone by getting out to a short balls or losing their pace and/or swing/spin.


Anyway, the players to look out for are Umesh Yadav, Pankaj Singh and Ashok Dinda. Pacers are in short supply for India at the moment, and while Yadav is the only one with the pace, bowlers with brains are needed too. Haven't seen too much of Pankaj, but Dinda seems the type who can keep it together in a T20, not much more. I hope Yadav plays every match, I'd love to see him do well.

The spin department apart from Bhaj is still a game of musical chairs. Ojha, Mishra and new contender Ashwin will continue their tango. I say why bother with quicks, just get Yadav to bowl a couple of quick overs and use all the spinners. But that's just me.

As for the batting, I have no doubt that Raina and Kohli deserve to be there, but Rohit Sharma, Vijay, Karthik and Yusuf will feast on the medium pace offerings and the spinners. What exactly has Yuvraj done to deserve a rest from this? Blah.

About the T20 World Cup... nothing.

T20 World Cup Preview - Group B

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 cricket, new zealand, preview, rishabh bablani, sri lanka, T20 world cup, zimbabwe No Comments

Group B contains two teams that are usually considered as dark horses. Or in New Zealand's case, sheepguys. No, not really, but they are the teams that are always said to have a chance of winning, but are never the favourites. There, I just defined 'dark horses'.

Zimbabwe is also in this group. (it had to be on a new line or no one would pay attention. I barely did)

Sri Lanka

Squad - Kumar Sangakkara (c), Muttiah Muralitharan, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Thissara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekera, Suraj Randiv, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Chanaka Welagedara, Chamara Kapugedara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chinthaka Jayasinghe.

Sri Lanka were the runners-up last year (it was just last year!) and they will want to go one better this time around, and they definitely have the players to pursue it. India and Pakistan are the cup's past winners, so it has been subcontinental teams that have been the best, the Lankans will be inspired by this. They also play their best cricket on islands, so the Caribbean may feel like home to them (superb logic, innit?).

Key Players - The bowling attack is enviable, some would call it scary. They have M&M&M&M, three of which are lethal and two of which are in superb form and one of which used to have an awesome afro. Mahela Jayawardene was fantastic in the second half of the IPL, but the question is, will he get to open? Sangakarra looked like he had found his touch in the last few games he played and will be a crucial player in whichever position he plays.

Watch out for - Sanath Jayasuriya. He hasn't had the best of times; his once super-quick reflexes seem to have slowed down. He was dropped from the Mumbai Indians side after failing to make contributions, and with Mahela doing well his position could be at risk. His opening partner Dilshan also struggled in the IPL and looked very mojo-less. Thissara Perera barely got a game for Chennai and served up several full-tosses, but he has done better for his country and will be a lower-order threat. There are some newbies in the squad - Dinesh Chandimal is a backup keeper and Chintakha Jayasinghe is a medium-pace bowling all-rounder. Hmm.


How far they will go - Should surely make the semis, though their batting needs to be able to support their bowling.

New Zealand

Squad - Daniel Vettori (c), Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Aaron Redmond, Jacob Oram, Gareth Hopkins, Rob Nicol, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Shane Bond, Ian Butler.

You see the first five names in their squad and you know that they have a great batting lineup capable of big things. They didn't do very well last year - as usual, they thrashed the minnows Ireland and Scotland, and didn't win any other matches against the better sides. The batsmen like a bit of pace to smack, and they may not get this in the Carribbean. They'll probably cream Zimbabwe and lose to Sri Lanka, but I'm not making any predictions.

Key Players - Jesse Ryder and B-Mac at the top have provided many a blazing start, not many against quality attacks. Ross Taylor looked out-of-sorts in the IPL, but feed him in his legside arc and you will disappear. Dictator Dan is the man for a collapse and the lone spinner. In my opinion, he's definitely among the top 3 T20 bowlers, and everyone's favourite member of the fuzz, Shane Bond, is around too.

Watch out for - Does anyone else think Scott Styris and Jacob Oram are past their sell-by-date? Rob Nicol, the other all-rounder who bowls medium-pace, has a great T20 record, though he may have limited chances to impress.

How far they will go - History suggests they will reach the second stage and bow out. Knowing New Zealand, I would be wise to ignore history. They haven't won a world cup before (ODI included) and they will see this as a good opportunity to win one

Zimbabwe

Squad - Prosper Utseya (c), Brendan Taylor, Charles Coventry, Andy Blignaut, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, Greg Lamb, Elton Chigumbura, Vusi Sibanda, Ray Price, Graeme Cremer, Chamu Chibhabha, Chris Mpofu, Timycen Maruma, Craig Ervine.

The minnows of this group will be looking to spring a surprise. They really won't.

Key Players - Their spinners have been effective of late, and in the Caribbean too. Prosper Utseya, Graeme Cremer, Ray Price and Greg Lamb will look to choke their opponents. Elton Chigumbura is very handy with ball and bat.

Watch out for - Andy Blignaut, the hard-hitting all-rounder, is making another comeback. Yay. Timycen Maruma, is another 'International Cricket Captain' pick, I doubt he'll get to play though.

How far they'll go - New Zealand and Sri Lanka always thrash the minnows, they're not the choking sort and will try to rack up as much as possible. Group stage exit.

Two down, two to go.