India Vs Pakistan: Enemy Vs Patriotism Vs Cricket!

What happened in Pahalgam on 22nd April, 2025 is beyond words that can condemn the terrorist act enough. It rages through your blood stream, it tortures your mind and infuriates you with helpless wrath. India mirrored that rage through Operation Sindoor, striking the terrorists' hubs inside Pakistan. The Government of India mentioned time and again that the Operation was aimed at destroying terror, and that it was not a strike against the country or its people. And the Indian Army did exactly that. 

The problem is that the terrorists there have always been proven to be actively in league with the Pak army and this unholy alliance controls and directs effectively the Government policy and political strategy. An elected government technically represents the people and therefore the people of Pakistan need not necessarily think about India any differently than their government, and this means that the Indian fury cannot get limited only against the terrorists. It encompasses the whole of Pakistan as an enemy state and normal relations are never maintained between enemy countries. Normal relations definitely have to include sports which includes cricket too. 

Therefore, although people to people relations or thoughts may not emit enmity of the highest order, as two neighboring but enemy states India and Pakistan cannot maintain cricket relations either. In fact, it has been India's strategy to stop all bilateral cricket matches since 2008 after the horrific Mumbai terror attack. The situation becomes complex in regard to international tournaments where there is no choice to choose your rivals--either you play per the schedule or don't participate at all. As a major cricketing nation of the world India cannot possibly stay away from the ICC tournaments: first, the competitive international ranking and position issues; the ardent fans of both the countries who constantly rue the fact that there haven't been many matches between the celebrated archrivals; and last but the most crucial is the big money involved in these sought-after encounters that the two cricket boards and the ICC too cannot afford to miss out on.

A solution to the issue was found through the concept of neutral venues where the two rivals can meet and the millions of fans can also enjoy on their TVs/Computers/mobiles and the cricket boards can rake in the dough. However, in the ICC World Cups the host nations, whoever that may be, must have all the teams playing there; and in fact, Pakistan came to India in 2023 and played all their matches including against India while India never went to Pakistan since 2008 which is due more to the security concerns there than the enmity between the two countries. Thanks to the same concerns the ICC had to shift Ind-Pak matches in the Champions Trophy-2025 to neutral venues even as the host nation Pakistan fretted and fumed. Our point here is that there'd always been a way out to hold the encounters between the archrivals. 

The Pahalgam carnage changed all that. Fury gave rise to a sense of poignant and almost a jingoistic patriotism that shows zero tolerance to any sort of relations with Pakistan including cricket, seemingly riding over their own cricket fandom. The patriotism got reflected in a cricket league recently where the Indian cricketers refused to play with the Pak players. 

And yet, the cash-powered Indian cricket board, BCCI, decided to go ahead with the India-Pakistan matches in the upcoming Asia Cup-2025 with the host nation India judiciously selecting UAE for the tournament. Accordingly, the media has taken up their usual practice of hyping up the matches with spicy promos and all that. In recent years we often came across ads/headlines describing Ind-Pak matches as 'War' or even cricket 'World War'. But at this delicate juncture the Indian fans are not at all reacting to this kindly or with spirit.

Opposition against the archrivals' matches has been rising to a crescendo among the public in India: the BCCI is being condemned and shamed; divisions being created across cricketers & veterans; and the Indian fans threatening to boycott the whole tournament. 

It is often felt that politics and sports should never be mixed up. However, as we argued earlier, the feelings in India are far from being any part of their country's politics. It's the hurt and the patriotic fervor that's been driving them to vehemently shun what they like most under tolerably normal circumstances. So, we feel the sentiments of the people should be respected, and the BCCI must act accordingly, looking away from the 'big-money' angle for once or the Indian Government must come into the act forcing the autonomous board to comply. We also hope Pakistan sees sense in moving away from terror permanently, thus paving the way for normal relations in the near future. 

And in case, the Asia Cup 2025 does unfold as scheduled, it'd be immensely interesting to observe if the patriotic fans do finally manage to go ahead with their boycott threat or fall prey to the high-voltage 'war' of cricket. As if the Trump Tariff madness were not enough! 

ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup-2023: India and New Zealand the Most Consistent Teams So Far!

The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup-2023 unfolding in India is not even halfway through as of today, and it’s impossible to say which of the contesting 10 teams are going to make it to the Top 4 in the knockout stage. And there’ve been huge upsets too in terms of the short-format World Champions England losing to Afghanistan and the ebullient South Africa, after they scored in excess of 400 runs against Sri Lanka, falling again to Netherlands. As we write this Pakistan and Australia fighting it out in a very important match for both of them: Pakistan, after making a rollicking start in the tournament, fell apart against India while Australia registered their first win against Afghanistan after three consecutive losses. Therefore, at the current juncture, we can hardly predict which teams are going to stage a fight-back or which teams are going to the top seamlessly, except perhaps for two teams: India and New Zealand. Both of them have won four out of four matches each so far—every win being resoundingly convincing. They are the most consistent teams and seem to be set to make it to the semifinals unless some resurgent teams happen to cause roadblocks for them or effect upset wins over them. In this context, the encounter between them on Sunday, the 22^nd of October 2023, should be the most awaited match of the tournament with exciting and curious prospects.

While New Zealand had defeated formidable rivals like England and Australia in their four matches, India defeated Pakistan and Australia among others. The opening pairs of both teams—Rohit-Gill for India and Conway-Ravindra for NZ— are being looked upon in awe by all rival teams. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli feature in the ten leading run-scorers of the tournament while Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra figure in the list for NZ. No doubt, the top orders for both teams are firing all cylinders so far except for the New Zealand top order capsizing in one of the matches against Afghanistan. After quite a long time, the India Top 4, namely Rohit, Gill, Virat and Rahul, have shown their grit and determination to consistently contribute in each match of the World Cup. Shreyas Iyer has also come in nicely in the order and been making solid contributions so far. There could be only one difference between the top two teams: the middle and lower orders of New Zealand have been tested successfully against Netherlands and Afghanistan; but in regard to India they’ve lost no more than four wickets in each of the four matches, mostly winning those matches hands down; and this factor may or may not figure in the later matches, particularly against NZ. And as per the latest information the injury of Hardik Pandya may cause quite a bit of unease in this regard.

The bowlers, in both the departments of pace and spin, are also doing great for both India and New Zealand. Mitchell Santner tops the list of bowlers with 11 wickets for NZ and India’s Jasprit Bumrah coming close second with 10 wickets so far.  The Indian bowlers, with the exception of Shardul Thakur, have been a revelation giving their team a manageable total to defend in each of the four matches. The peaking of spinner Kuldeep Yadav has happened at the right time while Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya have also been among wickets. The prospects ahead are really mouthwatering.

The ICC Men’s World Cup-2023, being played in the round robin format which was introduced in the 2019 Cup after a long break in since 1999, is allowing us to watch the 10 teams playing against each other at the 10 venues across the country. Out of the total of 48 matches to be played there’ll be 45 league matches in the round robin stage and then there’ll be the two semifinals (teams on positions 1&4 to play the first while no. 2&3 to play the second) to which the best four teams are to qualify on the basis of points and net run-rates and the Final to be played in Ahmedabad on Sunday, the 19^th November, 2023. India and New Zealand have been exchanging the top 1&2 positions on the basis of the net run-rates. South Africa and Pakistan are still in the top four positions, but depending on the performances of Australia, England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan things may change quite fast.

I think the most positive factor about the tournament is that contrary to the oft-repeated phenomenon of the batting-second team winning almost all the time on the flat slow run-feast Indian pitches we’ve come to see both the toss-losing or batting-first teams winning quite a few of the matches. And there’ve been low-scoring matches too. The greatest thing is that the India pitches have been helping both pacers and spinners, without, of course, putting the batsmen at the bowlers’ mercy. Such high standards of competition and the glorious uncertainties of the game are seen to be playing on the minds of the team captains in choosing whether to bat or bowl first after winning the tosses. And of course, we are sorely missing the West Indies team, the king of unpredictability, in this World Cup as they lost out on the pre-qualifier matches.

(Note: Blogger is not allowing any single photo to be uploaded except in some odd files! Don't know why! Sorry! )

IPL Looming over India’s International Cricket?

No doubt, we cannot question the fundamental rights of people, particularly the ebullient young generation, of loving short and sweet but highly entertaining cricket games like movies. Add to it the digital revolution taking place all over the world as well as in India, even penetrating the rural areas thanks to the initiatives of the government. Now everyone, young or older, wants to enjoy whatever they love on their mobiles or tabs or laptops from wherever they happen to be. For what do you think the streaming platforms are becoming so popular? The digital experience is always unique, as it is very personal, independent and not location-dependent as we’ve already mentioned. In such a scenario what the Indian Premiere League (IPL) has achieved in its 3-day e-auction for TV and Digital broadcasting rights is mindboggling indeed, but not entirely unexpected. The four packages of media rights, A, B, C and D, fetched the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a record-breaking figure of $6.2 Billion or INR 48, 390 Crore for TV rights, Digital rights and Digital rights on zonal basis across the globe for the IPL seasons during 2023-2027 with around 410 matches to be played. It means an incredible $13.4 Million cost for the broadcasters or BCCI revenue per IPL match.

 

These eye-popping figures are not only several times higher than all of the previous IPL media rights auctions, but these figures mean that the IPL is now only second to the US  National Football League (NFL) in terms of revenues per match. NFL is the highest revenue-grossing sports brand with around $17 Million per game, and now the IPL has become the second highest sports brand in the world, beating the MLB (Major League Baseball) and the EPL (English Premiere League) with $11 million each per game respectively.

 

The BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and other office-bearers, though perhaps a little apologetic as the IPL has always been called a money-spinning glamour tournament, have hailed this as the inevitable outcome of the modern age and more importantly that it’s not just for earning money, but to improve the cricket infra in the country, discovering more and more talents and also a women’s IPL tournament on the anvil from 2023 onward. Well, it’s true that such kind of money could be used very productively indeed, but the ‘commerce’ part of cricket has come into the IPL more obtusely now, and it’s already manifested the effects or it’d go on doing now like a dictator in international cricket.   

 

Let’s just take a look at the T20I Series between India and South Africa going on at the moment which is supposed to an official ICC bilateral series, more important in view of the upcoming ICC CricketT20 World Cup later this year. Quite a few of the South African stalwarts have gained immensely from the IPL-2022 and have put in their efforts in the bilateral series, winning the first two matches hands down. Not to take away the due credit we have to look at the Team India: it’s not even a second-string national team with a stand-in on a stand-in skipper and most of the other players being rookies, giving the team an IPL franchise appearance rather than that of a national team; with most of the Indian stalwarts who’ve also gained a lot from the same tournament are either being rested or injured. With the commerce-crazy Indian cricket the difference between ‘rested’ and ‘injured’ is always highly deceptive.

 

Now, the BCCI is set to increase the total matches to be played in an IPL season gradually over the next five years, 10 franchises being there, you know. Therefore, one season could take around two and half months instead of two at present, and combining this with the ‘must-rest’ star cricketers all international cricket matches are going to feature only IPL rookies and winning an international series thus could be reduced to a secondary consideration. With the richest cricket Board of the world getting richer still the BCCI can easily convince the ICC to include the IPL in their annual official cricket calendar.  Coming back to the current series, even by IPL standards Hardik Pandya should’ve been appointed the stand-in captain as he was spectacular in the IPL-2022, becoming a captain for the first time and leading a newbie franchise to a huge title win. But Rishabh Pant is the crux of that inevitable ‘commerce’ and he cannot be ignored at any cost in any format of the game.

 

However, the justification for a second or third string team against South Africa is of ‘resting’ the key players for the leftover test match against England in Edgbaston, staring 1^st July 2022. And of course, Pandya is appointed to lead India against Ireland for T20I games. In the third match played on 14^thJune the Indian bowlers somehow overhauled themselves to the required line and length to beat South Africa by 48 runs to keep India alive in the 5-match series, with South Africa leading 2-1 and the next match to be played tomorrow.

 

Well, I’m only expressing a fear that international cricket for India could just become formal experimental exercises and the great brand of the IPL is set to be looming over everything there’s to be concerned about international cricket. I was amazed to read a news report somewhere that in the India-SA series India is actually not looking to win it, but only trying to test its bench strength in terms of, surely, the IPL rookies. We’d seen many times earlier how this kind of endless ‘experiments’ spelled India’s doom in ICC tournaments. Therefore, IPL would indeed find more and more talented players making many of them richer too; but it’s doubtful if it’s going to make the glorious game of cricket richer in terms of not money, but in terms of glory and pride.

Cricket Movie ‘83’: A Nostalgic Trip Back To The Moments Of Glory!

The movie aptly titled ‘83’ is really worth reliving Team India’s glorious World Cup victory at Lord’s in 1983 defeating the mighty West Indies, thus stopping the latter’s hat-trick moments after victories in 1975 and 1979; and in fact, the West Indies team is yet to win their third World Cup since then. I missed watching the movie on the big screen as moviegoing has been effectively stopped since the last two years, particularly for the elderly people like me. I grabbed the opportunity as soon as the great cricket movie was premiered on television yesterday. The movie too has suffered due to the pandemic: first it was slated for release in 2019 which, unfortunately, was postponed due to post-production reasons and after that the COVID-19 recurring bans and restrictions never allowed to make the movie reach millions of cricket fans. Finally, though it could be released in December 2021 its shows were again affected by the Omicron wave. Therefore, as it were, the movie could not recover its huge budget so far and technically was not a success at the box office.

 

During the time, June 9-25^th1983, we were living in the beautiful hilly town of Diphu in Assam and television sets, not even to mention telecasts, were totally absent. As avid cricket players and fans I along with my younger brother and occasionally my father always used to tune in to the radio commentaries whenever India played, since the early seventies. We used to stay awake late night and huddled around the radio set as and when the overseas Test matches demanded. I remember staying awake almost the whole night with my brother relishing one of the greatest Indian Test victories against the West Indies in 1976 as India managed to successfully chase the target of 405 runs batting last.

 

The ICC World Cup-1983 was another huge event not to be missed at any cost for us despite India’s laughable performances in the 1975 and 1979 and the general feeling that India had no chance at all in 1983 too. Such emotions were played in the movie beyond a measure, obviously to boost up the spirit of nationalism. However, this kind of cricket nationalism is okay as cricket is indeed a unifying force irrespective of caste, religion and languages in a diverse country like India and in light of the divisiveness of the present days. So, we were eagerly following the radio commentaries and expected India perform under Kapil Dev like the diehard optimists we were and always are.

 

The early Indian victory against the West Indies in the double round-robin Group-B matches really set us up and we never believed that Indian victories were flukes. That defeat for West Indies was their first ever in the World Cups. We sensed that this Team India, known as Kapil’s Devils, was indeed capable of winning and so it proved. Despite the huge losses against West Indies and Australia subsequently India again regrouped to annihilate Australia and made a historic entry into the Semi-finals winning against Zimbabwe with that record-breaking innings of 175 not out by Kapil Dev that put India back after being reduced to 17/5. And then the Semi-final victory against England in their own land to enter the Final. Therefore, the fluke-theory was never there for us, and I’d say again that this theory has been a bit overemphasized in the movie.

 

The Real Moment!

The hilly town naturally went to sleep early and the matches played in England and Wales were on till late hours (that time one-day matches were of 60 overs each) we continued to huddle around the radio set, playing it at a low volume to not risk waking up our parents. On the monumental day of the 25^th June 1983, we were indeed disappointed when Team India was bundled out for 183, but still believed the team could come back as wont to our optimism. As the West Indies chased the target during the night, we kept on with the radio commentary in our usual way and celebrated the fall of every wicket between us brothers. When the final moment of victory came, we exchanged wild-spirited high fives giving out suppressed battle cries. And then, we went to bed quietly. There were no celebrations at that period the way we witness nowadays.

 

The Reel Moment!

The task of playing the living legend Kapil Dev who is still the first cricketer of the world having more than 400 wickets while scoring more than 5000 runs in Test cricket and the Wisden Cricketer of the Century (2002) was not at all an easy one for Ranveer Singh. A terrific actor who is known for his roles of Peshwa Bajirao (2015) and Alauddin Khilji (2018) among many others has done a lot of labor to follow Kapil Dev’s batting/bowling style, his mannerisms and even the way he talks, and finally has delivered a memorable performance which is lapped up by the legend himself. All other members of Team India-83 have also done very well, picking up the details about the real cricketers.

 

The Reel Team!

This speaks volumes for the kind of research and training done by the director Kabir Khan, known for his critically-acclaimed blockbuster movie ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ (2015), in making of ‘83’, choosing the characters with some physical resemblance and then building on those. Particularly Jiva who played K Srikanth capturing all the nuances and the humor stands out as a highlight. Not only for Team India, but also the choices for the international cricketers, namely of West Indies, with suitable actors. He also recreated the Lord’s environs with immaculate authenticity and mastery looking for details all the time. No doubt, the budget of such a movie would really shoot up.

 

The Real Team!

‘83’ is indeed an achievement for Kabir Khan in all possible respects. He can be pardoned for his filmy fictional dramas/melodramas, background songs and the ‘nationalism’ spirit we already mentioned, because all such elements are needed to make an authentic bio-pic click as a film too, particularly among the modern generation of today. The movie has also been lauded by all the real cricketers involved including another living legend Sunil Gavaskar and the celebrities from almost all fields of activity. The movie opens with a condolence note to Yashpal Sharma, one of the star performers of the team, who expired last year and is the first one to go from the Team-1983. We miss him too and love the inherent niceties of his character played so ably by Jatin Sarna. And more importantly, it’s not a hero-centric film like the Bollywood customs with every character coming out on its own and thus keeping the team spirit that is so typical of Kapil Dev.  In all, a hearty thumbs up for the entire team of ‘83’. 

Cricket New Normal: Saliva Ban, No Huddles, Empty Stadiums!

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been having brainstorming virtual sessions with all stakeholders on resumption of cricket in the past months under the shadow of the Coronavirus pandemic. Till now the Council has not been able to take a final call on the main issue of contention: when to hold the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup. It's very ironical that in a year which can also be termed as T20 the T20 mega event just cannot get underway that was originally scheduled in October, 2020 in Australia. Now, the Indian cricket board, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been eagerly waiting for the decision on the T20 World Cup, because since its postponment is almost final the ICC decision will give the BCCI a window during October-November to organize its favorite money-spinner, the Indian Premiere League (IPL), of course, without the noisy reveling crowds. 

All the while the ICC has been busy framing new rules for the most popular game of the world, a craze in India. Indian spin bowling great Anil Kumble who was appointed as Chairman of the ICC's Cricket Committee in 2012 had been assigned this job. Kumble has already made recommendations and the ICC approved most of these. The first of course is the obvious: ban on the use of saliva during play. We have seen over the decades how intensive had been the use of saliva of almost all the players fielding to keep the ball shining. Now, saliva is a direct trigger for COVID-19 spread and therefore its use has been banned forthwith. This is set to affect the pacers in particular very adversely, and perhaps the dry ball will be of help to the spinners. The suggestion of using external substances got rejected mainly because the international cricket bodies had been opposing this tooth and nail for decades. There is one more suggestion for allowing a new ball for every fifty overs in Test matches which is under consideration.

The ICC (International Cricket Council) rule to have neutral umpires in international series has also been waived off to prevent extensive globe-trotting that the international umpires had had to embark upon. Home umpires will now do the job. Another very important recommendation that has been accepted is of allowing COVID substitutes in Test matches that go on for five days. Any player showing any symptoms of flu, cough or fever during this period will be out of the match and a substitute player will be allowed to take his/her place in the playing eleven like under the present concussion regulation. Naturally, this rule wouldn't apply to the shorter formats of ODIs and T20Is. 

The defined cricket new normal will obviously include various other demonstrative physical attributes of the game: the huddles by rival teams that we have witnessed increasingly in competitive cricket in recent years will no longer be allowed; display of physical excitement in group like in the case of a fall of a wicket or in a hat-trick or a superlative catch or scoring a ton will be gone and all sorts of hugging, shake-hands, pavilion or dressing-room celebrations  and the like will no longer be there till Corona thinks otherwise. And, of course, there will be no spectators. Players will have to undergo all of the excitement on field in an empty stadium without supporting or singing or celebrating or flags-displaying cricket-loving crowds which would obviously be a daunting challenge to keep up the competitive spirit of the players. Unfortunately, there's no other option available at the moment and cricketers will have to adapt so that the sport resumes. 

It is a huge development that the first instance of international cricket resumption has already begun. Except for three players the West Indies team had agreed to participate in a Test Series against England in England--one of the worst-hit countries in terms of COVID deaths. The West Indies team had already arrived in England, all players tested before departure and thoroughly tested after arrival. They will live and prepare there for three weeks before the first Test of the three-match series scheduled to start from July 8, 2020. Hope the great game of cricket would pass the unprecedented COVID test successfully and with full honors. 

IPL Vs ICC World Cup Cricket!

While most of the World Cup-2019 squads of various nations are having or are going to have training camps soon for the all-important event India continue to have just Indian Premiere League (IPL-2019). Well...

That Virat Kohli continued to captain Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) even after the most disgraceful proceedings as far as the team performances are concerned has obvious reason. Being a superlative cricketer that he is and also being Team India captain Virat had been the star attraction of the IPL-2019. Therefore, despite the upsetting losses he was still having most of the commercial time on the air along with some of his non-performers, and an appetizing element of suspense being maintained by the cricketing experts or the media or the spectators that he might stage a comeback for his franchise yet, and who knows..! For similar reasons in terms of money and glamour Indian cricketers just could not leave the IPL halfway while many of the other international cricketers had already left or were leaving for training or preparatory camps of their respective countries. A camp should ideally be one-month long, and most countries were following that in right earnest. However, the last match of IPL scheduled on 12^th May, 2019 Team India didn’t have even a fortnight to prepare with the ICC World Cup-2019 staring on 30^thMay, 2019 in England and Wales. Further, there had been no news so far if there was indeed going to be an Indian camp or not.

IPL has been an enigma in different ways. Many cricket experts and some sports journalists believed that competitive IPL was providing good enough match practice for the coming international tournament. This was a highly contentious issue. The format of T20 is entirely different with the bowlers not able to bowl more than 4 overs each, and batsmen desperately trying to hit sixes or fours with the little time available. How is it going to provide good practice to score as well as stick on the fast England pitches in the one-day international (ODI) or 50-over matches? Besides, stalwarts like Sourav Ganguly kept on making controversial statements intermixing T20 with the ODI format. Ganguly, going gaga over a match winning innings of Rishav Pant recently, said that this world cup was not the end of the road for him, there will more to follow in at least 15 years to come, adding to the astonishing hype created over the non-selection of Pant for the World Cup-2019. A few days later he said that the form of Virat Kohli in this IPL was no indication for the coming World Cup. Well, it was all of a matter of convenience to analyze IPL in the intended ways as was evident from such comments. The day or rather the night when RCB got finally knocked out of the tournament some media personnel were very quick to add that now Virat Kohli should concentrate only on preparing for the World Cup!

God forbid, the IPL could be the biggest stumbling block for the World Cup as far Team India’s performance in that event is concerned. Competitive club bonanza is no match for the international event where pride of nation is much more important than money and glitz. On the other hand if some players had benefited from the IPL they all belonged to rival teams. For example, Warner and Smith from Australia prospered very well just after coming back from serving a one-year ban for the ball-tampering scandal, good batting practice, and now the preparatory camp in addition; some of the Caribbean cricketers also benefited hugely from this tournament with a few of them making it to the World Club squad, and now going to have the training camp too. Only Indian cricketers had toiled maniacally on slow-flat domestic pitches with no road to exit, and now will be leaving for England without any preparation in terms of physical conditioning. And also, they would definitely be fated to face the superstars created by this IPL in rival teams in the coming international event.

Whichever way it goes, Team India is still favored hugely to lift the World Cup-2019, and we believe too in that positivity. If Virat had problems in IPL captaincy he will have Dhoni and Rohit on his side in the World Cup. However, we still lament the possible lack of any preparatory camp for India to land in England reactivated sans the IPL hangover. And then, this time the ICC World Cup will be fought on a round-robin basis with each of the 10 teams playing each other once, and the top four teams making it to the semi-final stage. This promises to be a saga of super cricketing rivalry with the first match taking place on 30^thMay, 2019. Happy cricketing times to all the lovers of this game.

Cricket: Team India-15 For World Cup-2015!

Finally ending a lot of speculation and suspense about the possible heroes who could bring home the third World Cup title the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today in Mumbai announced the 15-member Team India for the World Cup-2015 that starts in Australia and New Zealand from 14^th February. Team selection has not thrown up many surprises and was mostly on expected or speculated lines. Focus on a Young Team India continued to prioritize the selection and most of cricket experts agree that the team is indeed a balanced one. However, there are a few ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ as always.

Yuvraj Singh, the hero of the World Cup-2011 victory in Mumbai, did not get the nod despite his current good record in domestic cricket. Two factors—his recent performances abroad and his age—most probably went against him. BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said in the press conference that there was a discussion on Yuvraj’s selection.  Rohit Sharma who recently hit the highest ever ODI (One Day International) score of 264 against Sri Lanka and dashing Shikhar Dhawan were approved for the opening slot. Murali Vijay who has been playing well in Australia for the Test Series and is getting used to the conditions was ignored as a reserve opener thanks to his poor record in ODIs and that he last played his ODI as far back as in July 2013.  For being a better batter and a reserve wicketkeeper Ambati Rayudu got the nod ahead of Robin Uthapa who too holds a good record in IPL and domestic cricket.

The selection of Stuart Binny came as bit of a surprise. His all-round ability to bat and to swing the ball could perhaps be the considerations to include him in lieu of another specialist batsman. Ravindra Jadeja too filled in the all-rounder slot despite his injury. The BCCI secretary justified his selection saying that the player would be fit in 10 days. Ishant Sharma, the second in the injury list, joins Bhuveneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav in the seamers’ list of four considering the fact that even four could be played in some of the fast pitches of Australia and New Zealand. Rookie spinner Axar Patel could not be ignored thanks to his outstanding domestic record and he completes the spinning trio with Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja. Who knows pitches could turn there too.

All the stalwarts—Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan etc—of the 2011 World Cup triumph are absent in the squad for World Cup 2015.  Except for captain MS Dhoni, vice captain Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ashwin it will be the young players with varying levels of experience and excellence who would bear the responsibility of fulfilling the expectations of a billion of Indian cricket fans. No doubt, quite a few of the exciting young cricketers are match winners.

Team India-15: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Stuart Binny, Umesh Yadav.

Excitement and suspense are going to rage from 14^thFebruary to 29^th March with 49 big matches to be played. However, the disappointing format again leaves out Super Eight stage. In each Group the teams would play each other only once, and only from quarter final stage the teams from Group A and B would start meeting one another. Team India opens with a blockbuster against Pakistan in Adelaide on February 15. 

                                                                              Wait, Watch, Enjoy and Celebrate! 

The World Cup 2015 Schedule:

Cricket Comics: How Much Truth in Kambli Crying?

Kolkata, March 13, 1996. The Cricket World Cup-1996 Semi Final match between India and Sri Lanka. More than hundred thousand restive spectators were expecting a great Indian victory.  Excitement was more because India beat archrivals Pakistan in an emotionally drenched quarterfinal just prior to the match. It was a day and night match.

India won the toss and elected to field first. A decision that irked the whole nation including the surging ones at the majestic Eden Garden grounds. The Eden Gardens pitch had been a slow turner always, particularly in those years and so, team batting first seemed to be favored.

But Sri Lanka did not go off to a good start losing two wickets for one run and finally managing to score 251 for 8 which seemed a good score, but quite within reach of the famed Indian batting strength. Though India lost Sidhu early Tendulkar and Sanjay Manjrekar put the team a commanding 98 for 1. And then all hell broke loose.

From that position of strength India lost seven wickets to reach a tottering 120 for 8. The already irked huge crowd could accept it no longer. They started a mini riot with throw-ins and bonfires. After a twenty minute break the match was restarted, but to no avail. The match referee Clive Lloyd awarded the match to Sri Lanka.

The significant facts so far: Decision to field first, sudden collapse, skipper Azharuddin scoring zero and Vinod Kambli remaining not out on 10 and returning to the pavilion crying inconsolably. The Indian team management justified that the decision to field first as a collective one and that the Eden pitch crumbled suddenly. Another significant fact coming out here was that the best spinner of the world Murlitharan got just one wicket.

But fifteen years had passed after that. And, the crying Vinod Kambli made allegations now that the match was fixed. He cried more in the act of doing so on a private TV channel. The significant facts here are that Kambli had always been a undisciplined and inconsistent player; despite being the classmate of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar he failed in cricket; he tried everything from politics to movie acting and failed everywhere; and he was famous a crier and dramatist.

MuhammadAzharuddin, the then captain, refused as strongly as expected. He gave the same reasons for the debacle and made a mockery of Kambli waking up after fifteen years. More significant facts about one of the most elegant strikers of the ball are: Azharudding lost his place in the team in 2000 due to match fixing allegations; Indian bookers linked him to former South African captain late Hansie Kronje who was also the main accused in late nineties; and though Azharuddin was cleared of all charges in 2006 he could not come back to the team.

The Indian sports minister made a statement asking the richest cricket board of the globe, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), to probe the Kamli’s claims and  on its failure to do so his ministry would step in. The significant fact here is that the minister had been trying very hard to make the BCCI accountable and bring it under right to information. Vested interests of the highest order had been preventing him from getting his policy sanctioned.

All the significant facts about this cricket comic may just make it a little more worthy of attention. With the convicted Pakistani players for match fixing in backdrop, this episode may just make the fight against fixing a little stronger.

But Indian cricket deals in huge money. And, huge money inevitably invites fixers, bookers, betters and all dirty minded agents to have a share in the loot!

Pakistan Back To Inexplicable Ways!

As late as the 43^rd over Pakistan had the New Zealand innings and the match in control. The expected target was around 220—quite achievable considering Pak batting strength. But mayhem broke loose then.

Pakistan already fielded badly dropping several straight forward catches, but the bowlers managed to keep NZ batsmen in check.

Shoaib Akhter, the fastest and the most experienced campaigner started it all. Suddenly he became so generous that fours and sixes just rained apart from wides. As many as 28 runs were scored in his 9^th and 46^th of the innings. Is this the most expensive WC over ever? Other Pak bowlers did no help to their team either. Last 30 balls yielded more than 100 runs! As happens in one day games teams score maximum runs in the last ten, but today after being in absolute control Pakistan seemed to give up. Crossing 250, okay possible. But more than 300 (303 target to be exact) was just the impossible made possible by Pak.

When we say Pak bowled horribly in the end we must also say about the incredible batting by New Zealanders. Ross Taylor scored a brilliant century consisting of 7 huge sixes and 8 fours. The seventh wicket partnership lasting hardly four overs was the most destructive from Pak point of view. Nothing much to write about Pak batting. They were just blasted out of the match. With subdued body language the Pak batsmen tried to hit out blindly and fell easy prey to tight NZ bowling. All out for 192.

Back at their unpredictable best, Pakistan is capable of doing anything from now onwards. It will be very difficult for them to go back to hard intense cricket of late. With England around just don’t put your bets on any team in the knockout stage. True to cricket anything is possible. India take on Netherlands tomorrow, but days to go for the much awaited Ind-SA and Ind-WI matches.