The 2 matches of consequence involving South Africa against Zimbabwe and Australia against India, at the warm up stages. Both these matches at Chennai and at Bangalore were played on tailor made pitches, which made batting in the 2nd innings, next to impossible.
That South Africa did it in less than 25 overs is more because of the inabilities of the Zimbabwe bowling rather than any great batting by the South Africans. The South African captain has raised doubts over the pitch.
The Aussies had no such luck. They had to bat second and they had the full measure of what playing under spinning, breaking pitch can be. That Bangalore pitch was not a Kangaroo hopping pitch but one with spitting, spinning Cobras. No wonder the Australian Captain Ponting hoped that the tournament pitches would not be so ‘under prepared’.
He even had support from the Indian Captain M.S. Dhoni, who said it was a tough pitch to bat on. As per the Australian report, he (Dhoni) also said that it is not that we (India) are going to win the toss every time - meaning that India would have found it tough to bat second on such a wicket.
Back of his mind must be the Cricket World Cup 1996 semi-final fiasco where India were undone batting second on an impossible pitch.
But if the pitches have indeed been prepared or under prepared with the intention of screwing with the non-sub-continent teams of Australia, South Africa, England and West Indies, there are 3 others who can battle under such conditions - Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
In such a case, it is easy to see who the top 4 of the ‘Group A’ qualifiers will be: Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
What is not easy to predict who the top 4 of ‘Group B’ would be, in such under prepared wickets, where winning the toss might make one the winner. India, South Africa, England and West Indies would normally be expected to make the cut - but in the sub-continent with under prepared wickets, Bangladesh can be expected to pull a surprise or two. And Pakistan might just well create an upset in the knockout stages. I have already blogged about this.
Even though today the Aussie greats grade Sri Lanka as biggest threat in this World Cup (Fox Sports, Australia), if this stupidity with the ‘spin friendly’ wickets persist, I have a niggling feeling it might be Bangladesh’s day out.
If that happens, India might well kiss their chances at this World Cup goodbye! Or more likely someone would cry, like Vinod Kambli did at that semi-finals.
My Mischievous Half murmurs, ‘God! Maddie, only you would wish for a team with such undisciplined, rowdy, rubbish like Yuvraj ‘double chin’ Sing, Shantakumaran ‘Cry Baby’ Sreesanth and Harbajan ‘Chucker’ Singh, to win the World Cup! Give me soft spoken Sangakara anytime!’
That South Africa did it in less than 25 overs is more because of the inabilities of the Zimbabwe bowling rather than any great batting by the South Africans. The South African captain has raised doubts over the pitch.
The Aussies had no such luck. They had to bat second and they had the full measure of what playing under spinning, breaking pitch can be. That Bangalore pitch was not a Kangaroo hopping pitch but one with spitting, spinning Cobras. No wonder the Australian Captain Ponting hoped that the tournament pitches would not be so ‘under prepared’.
He even had support from the Indian Captain M.S. Dhoni, who said it was a tough pitch to bat on. As per the Australian report, he (Dhoni) also said that it is not that we (India) are going to win the toss every time - meaning that India would have found it tough to bat second on such a wicket.
Back of his mind must be the Cricket World Cup 1996 semi-final fiasco where India were undone batting second on an impossible pitch.
But if the pitches have indeed been prepared or under prepared with the intention of screwing with the non-sub-continent teams of Australia, South Africa, England and West Indies, there are 3 others who can battle under such conditions - Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
In such a case, it is easy to see who the top 4 of the ‘Group A’ qualifiers will be: Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
What is not easy to predict who the top 4 of ‘Group B’ would be, in such under prepared wickets, where winning the toss might make one the winner. India, South Africa, England and West Indies would normally be expected to make the cut - but in the sub-continent with under prepared wickets, Bangladesh can be expected to pull a surprise or two. And Pakistan might just well create an upset in the knockout stages. I have already blogged about this.
Even though today the Aussie greats grade Sri Lanka as biggest threat in this World Cup (Fox Sports, Australia), if this stupidity with the ‘spin friendly’ wickets persist, I have a niggling feeling it might be Bangladesh’s day out.
If that happens, India might well kiss their chances at this World Cup goodbye! Or more likely someone would cry, like Vinod Kambli did at that semi-finals.
My Mischievous Half murmurs, ‘God! Maddie, only you would wish for a team with such undisciplined, rowdy, rubbish like Yuvraj ‘double chin’ Sing, Shantakumaran ‘Cry Baby’ Sreesanth and Harbajan ‘Chucker’ Singh, to win the World Cup! Give me soft spoken Sangakara anytime!’
Yes what u said is right. The team who wins the toss might have some chances to win. Dhoni also said that bangalore pitch is very tough to play. Wil see if india wins the WC nd kisses it. Wil wait nd watch the game.
ReplyDeleteI hope for an India win. It has been 28 years since I saw Kris Srikanth, defiantly light up (smoke) -which actually encouraged me to smoke (later) & a reason why I appreciate ban on 'heroes' sponsoring 'cigarette or liquor'. But with 'spinning' pitches I am afraid it might be Pak or SL who win out
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