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! 

USA First-Time Co-Host of T20 World Cup-2024: New York to Buzz with Cricket!

Announcing the confirmed complete schedule of the forthcoming ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup-2024, the International Cricket Council has expressed its happiness at the expansion of the tournament with never-before 20 cricket nations participating and the United States of America coming in as a co-host, the first time ever for a manor ICC event. Referring to America as the biggest sports market the ICC said that this would provide a huge stimulus to world cricket in the coming years. The 9^th version of T20 World Cup is set to kick off on June 1^st in New York and conclude with the Final to be played in Barbados on 29^th of the same month, the West Indies being the other co-host. The tournament, divided into four groups of five teams each, will have 55 matches in all out of which 16 league matches are to be played in the USA, and 8 out of 16 to be staged at the 34,000-capacity new modular cricket stadium coming up at the Nassau County, Long Island, New York, including the blockbuster India-Pakistan encounter on 9^th June. Team India is placed in Group-A along with Pakistan, Canada, Ireland and the hosts. Top two teams from each group will make it to the Super-8 which is further divided into two groups and the top two teams from each group will make it to the knockout stage. All Super-8 and knockout matches are to be played in the West Indies.

The other two USA venues are Dallas and Lauderhill, Florida. The tournament opener will be played between USA and Canada in Dallas on 1^st June 2024. While the USA, Canada, India, Pakistan and Ireland are to play all their league matches in the USA, a few matches featuring South Africa, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Bangladesh and Nepal are also to be played there. The rest of the teams will be based in the West Indies for all their league plus Super Eight matches that are to be played in the six venues there: Guyana, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados. The group-stage league matches are scheduled during 1-18 June, the Super Eight encounters from June 19 to June 24, the two semi-finals are on 26^th and the 27^th in Guyana and Trinidad respectively and the Final on 29^th June in Barbados.

The League Stage—20 Teams:

Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, USA

Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman

Group C: New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea

Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal

The Americas are always known to us as the centerstage for soccer and tennis, apart from their excellence in Olympics sports. However, cricket used to be immensely popular there in the past till baseball took over in terms of popularity. And now, the reverse seems to be happening—baseball losing it and cricket gaining back popularity at a fast rate. The huge chunk of the South Asian immigrants there, the cricket leagues and the live cricket streaming platforms are largely among the factors to establish cricket as a major sport in the Americas, which is all very promising for the future of this money-spinning game as we mentioned earlier. This assumes more significance as Cricket returns to the Olympics after 128 years and for the fact that Olympics-2028 is going to take place in Los Angeles, USA. With the USA being one of the hosts for the T20 World Cup-2024, LA28 is set to further expand cricket not only in the Americas, but across the globe.

Having said all that, the format of the T20 World Cup-2024 remains disappointing: it’s too many groups all the way, except for just three knockout matches which basically means that nearly half of the twenty teams are never going to face each other. The round-robin format adopted in the one-day World Cup should have been there at least in the Super Eight stage of the tournament. In a genuine international event involving twenty cricket nations there are only 55 matches in all to be played in a period less than a month while the famed IPL features 74 matches for just 10 franchises, consuming around two months. The ICC should realistically rearrange its calendar to heighten the spirit of competition among cricket loving nations.

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! )

India Vs Pakistan Cricket: The Zing Seems to be Missing!

 

The cricket matches in all three formats of the game between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan have become a rare variety in the recent years with the ardent discerning cricket lovers waiting for their matches at neutral venues. The matches between them in the one-day World Cup, the T-20 World Cup, and the Asia Cup have always been eagerly awaited. However, in the last two years the fan enthusiasm seems to be dwindling with a sense of listlessness seeping in as regards both Team India and their matches. And risking being rough or grossly unjust I have to point the finger at the Head Coach Rahul Dravid who was appointed in the job in November, 2021. No doubt, he had taken over with the ripe legacies of India—not able to break the jinx of not winning a single ICC title since 2011; India’s group-stage exit in the T20 World Cup played in 2021; Team India management blinded by too many choices of young cricketers (courtesy IPL) thus ushering in the mindless and endless experimentation in the run-up to any international tournament; and the unshakable trust and dependence in the Team India veterans despite their continuous poor show on the field. But Rahul Dravid was appointed with high hopes that being player of legendary status he’d bring in the necessary changes and rejuvenate the team. Unfortunately, the opposite happened.

India lost the Series against South Africa; India’s group-stage exit in Asia Cup-2022; India got ousted in the semi-final in the T20 World Cup played in 2022 and India lost the World Test Championship again this year. What the team managed to do was to win a few scattered matches, mostly against the much weaker teams. All the legacies we mentioned above were continued with unabated energy or even further emboldened. For example, the experimentation-laden team was administered more severe shock treatment bringing in or dropping or inexorably sticking to key or non-key cricketers at mere will or whims or prejudice or favoritism or clout, so much so brazenly that nobody in the Dravid-led management even bothered to justify or make a bid to defend the decisions in some way. The ageing Captain Rohit Sharma followed by the record-breaking Virat and the shifting openers kept on failing the team while the Head Coach kept on looking the other way. The most notable player to gain unjustified faith, apart from the untouchables, is Shardul Thakur while the most-axed but trustworthy players to suffer are Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal at times and even Mohammad Shami and Surya Kumar Yadav who got dropped during the ensuing Asia Cup, in the most crucial league match against none other than Pakistan.

Well, I cannot represent the fans spread globally for Team India, but I can say for myself that I had lost interest in Team India matches played inside or outside, including the most-awaited Indo-Pak encounters. For example, I never even bothered to find out when India was going to meet Pakistan in Asia Cup-2023 that had moved back to the 50-over format which should’ve been matter of keener interest. No doubt, the weather gods too didn’t like the way India prepared to meet Pakistan and the match had to be abandoned. Of course, India successfully moved to the Super-4 stage by defeating Nepal (a Dravidian achievement?). Now, tomorrow, the 10^th of September 2023, India is set to play the arch-rival again, and I’m not seeing any kind of keen interest, far from the usual hype, demonstrated in the fan-fares or in the media for the match. And feeling the guilt somehow I’ve decided to write out my or our agonized frustration.

There is another crucial factor though for the seeming lack of interest—the obstinate rains there in Sri Lanka. Today, I read what Sunil Gavaskar wrote about the organizers not willing to consider changing the venues despite the looming rain threats. He indicated the organizers must be under acute pressure that is most often exercised by the influential players, not just Team India players, but others too. Maybe, this is being my guess; some team would like to play it safe by sharing a point with their rivals rather than working it out in the field and hope for the best. For example, if the Indo-Pak match in Colombo washes out despite having a reserve day Pakistan will get to three points having already vanquished Bangladesh and India just getting one which would mean that to qualify for the Final India will have to beat both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the coming matches, no minnows by any standard.

I never imagined even in my wildest of dreams that one day I’d not only be upset with Dravid, but would also write about his wrong ways, conclusively in my way only; because I always loved and admired that great Wall of a cricketer who stood for the pride of the nation in the most adverse conditions, more often in the Test arena. If you search for him here in this blog you’re sure to find at least one piece written about Rahul Dravid in his glorious years. Ultimately, this is a matter of sadness only, that, a player of that level of excellence should fail the national team so utterly, so miserably. I was never a pessimist, particularly in my cricket writings. But at the moment, I feel no surge of optimism as regards Team India’s progress in this Asia Cup, or much more importantly in the upcoming One-day ICC World Cup-2023—a tournament that is to be played in the subcontinent, and the Head(ache?) Coach prepares well by axing out Ashwin and Chahal, although it’s presented as only a provisional team which, in a more monstrous way, would mean that experimentation is still a far way off from being finally over.

England White-Ball World Champions! And What of Pakistan and India?

After being crowned with the ODI World Champions title in 2019 England today has completed the global white-ball supremacy by defeating Pakistan by 5 wickets in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Final in Melbourne. Pakistan has almost done an India just managing to post a meagre target of 138 and consuming 15 overs to score 100 runs after being put into bat by England like in the semi-final against India; but the target came to be even less than India's 169 thanks to Hardik Pandya. However, their famous pace bowlers gave England a hard time and but for the resurgent Shaheen Afridi's injury who was unable to fully bowl the last two overs of his quota the match could've gone down the wire at the death. 

Like India, Pakistan openers failed once again to build the momentum and other Pak batsmen stumbled along, scoring a pitiful 18 runs in the last four death overs. But again, unlike India, they attacked England batsmen from the first over putting up two slips and not at all asking their wicketkeeper to come up to the stumps as if, in India's case, Bhuvneshwar Kumar got converted into a spinner. Like in the semi-final against India the magic-spinner Adil Rashid of England cast a spell over the  Pak batsmen, taking vital wickets and not giving away too many runs. The supposed countries of the legendary spinners and masterclass-strokers of spin have failed miserably to do the needful in the respective matches. 

Thanks to the Pak diehards we at least had a worthwhile Final keeping us glued till the last moments. Both the semi-finals were more agonizing in terms being extremely one-sided rather than only disappointing the respective fans: in the first it was kind of a cricketing enigma as to why New Zealand were so intimidated, not able to play even their usual in all departments of the game; and in the second the Indian scoring strategy, the bowling tactics and changes and the overall defense system were eye-opening examples about how not to play cricket. 

The once-upon-a-time colonial masters of both countries, mercifully, were not much discriminatory in dealing with them: defeating one by 10 wickets and the other by 5 wickets; and not at all resorting to the famous divide-and-rule policy which, unfortunately, continues to dominate politics of both countries. 

Any solace for the two Asian cricket giants? Well, first of all they must realise the fact that none of them looked the Champion stuff from the beginning of the tournament: Pakistan were on the brink thanks to their incredible defeats to India and Zimbabwe and finally they l made it to the semi-final due to another cricketing enigma of the Champion-looking-stuff South Africa losing to the Netherlands, and in a historical perspective, Pakistan always seem to make it big at the sole expense of New Zealand; and riding on their freaky wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh India only needed to defeat the Netherlands and Zimbabwe which they did convincingly after being rendered clueless by the Protea pacers to notch up 8 points-- the only team in the tournament to do so. However, in Pakistan's favor we must say that they tried very hard, winning three successive do or die matches convincingly and then only doing the waiting for the miracles, sort of. 

Secondly and as a corollary to the first both countries must feel contented that one made it to the semi-final which was the best possible result for their 'playing' team and the other made it to the Final against all odds and fighting it out very well too. 

Last but not the least, both countries do have their special areas of country-specific solace: Pakistan performing excellent in the shortest format despite not being a part of the 'empowering' IPL; and India having the solace of being able to defeat Pakistan, however incredibly. The biggest fools are those cricket mandarins and those crazy fans who expected and prayed vociferously for a India-Pakistan Final: pure business considerations for the former and the sheer frolic of the usual but rare subcontinental rivalry for the latter. 

T20 WC-2022: Virat Plays His Most Incredible Innings Ever As India Win the Most Incredible Match Ever Against Pakistan!

More than ninety thousand spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) watched spellbound as Virat Kohli scripted his most incredible innings ever to propel India to an incredible victory over archrivals Pakistan in their opening Group-2 match of the Super-12 stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup today. India-Pakistan matches are always exciting, nail-biting and full of ups and downs. However, in my lifetime experience of watching Indo-Pak cricket today’s match is perhaps the most incredible one, considering the unbelievable climax. When most of Indian fans, including this writer prominently, were almost giving up on Virat Kohli, he has chosen today’s match to prove what champion matter he’s made of. He has made the impossible possible, snatching the most improbable victory from the jaws of sure defeat. No doubt, he has thus bettered the memories of Sachin Tendulkar against Australia in Sharjah. Well, Virat’s innings of 82 in 53 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes is not without precedents, but in the context of the depressing circumstances of the Indian chase it is momentous and unforgettable. Giving him the most enthralling company is of course Hardik Pandya—their match-winning partnership worth 113 runs.

 

India started the match in tremendous spirit capturing two early Pak wickets to Arshdeep after Rohit won the toss and put Pakistan into bat. As is usual in an encounter of the archrivals Pakistan recovered thanks to Iftikhar Ahmed and recovered again after being reduced to 98/5 in 14 overs and 120/7 in the 17^th over to post a very competitive target of 160 thanks to Shan Masood. In reply India lost both the openers at the pitiful score of 10 in the fourth over, and when India were reduced to 31/4 in the 7^th over even the most optimistic fans gave up hope despite the fact that the very capable Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya were at the crease still, basically because the scoring rate was extremely poor and the asking rate climbing all the time. As India labored to reach just 45/4 runs in full 10 overs it became too much to expect them to score 115 in just 60 balls more. To confound matters both Kohli and Pandya looked nonchalant and were going about in ways that suggested they themselves had given up any kind of a chasing dream.

 

If their total laidback approach was a clever ploy it really had its impact on the Pak players who apparently thought the victory was theirs and they went on perhaps a bit complacently, just trying to contain the batsmen with the spinners to make the target go beyond their reach. Pak captain Babar also made the cardinal mistake of not keeping one of his strike pacers for the last over by bowling out Afridi, Naseem and Rauf. Of the Indian pair Pandya first showed signs of aggression after 10 overs were bowled and then, of course, Virat started attacking in the most spectacular manner. Yet, the run-ball equations continued to be uphill for India. And, the Indian fans who were starting to live up nearly gave up hope when India needed 48 runs in the last three overs; lived up again as Virat plundered Shaheen Afridi’s last over, the 18^th of the match; and finally got resigned to fate when India needed 28 runs in 8 balls. In that penultimate over by Rauf Kohli hit two mouth-watering sixes to bring the last-over target to an immensely possible 16 runs.

 

However, Babar did not have a strike pacer for the last over and he had to hand over the ball to Nawaz Mohammad who was hit robustly in his third over. But even then, the last over was the most eventful of the match. Pandya gets out first ball, India needing 16 in 5 now. Karthik comes in and takes a single—15 in 4. And Virat takes a couple—13 in 3. Next ball was hit by Virat for a six just missing the onside boundary fielder’s hands and the umpire declares a no-ball, leading to Pak protests and debates on the field—so then now it’s a very easy 6 in 3 balls. Next ball was a wide again--5 in 3 even as the free-hit ball remained to be bowled. In the free-hit ball Virat loses his stumps, but smartly runs three byes as the ball ricochets from the stump to third man, the umpire not heeding Pak protests—now it’s up to Karthik to seal the match by taking 2 runs in 2 balls.

 

Dinesh Karthik, however, gets out stumped in the fifth ball and Ashwin comes in needing 2 runs in the last ball. The most agitated bowler under extreme pressure Nawaz then bowls another wide and finally, India need 1 in 1 ball to win as by that time the match is already tied, open to a deciding super over, and Pak players coming in closer to prevent the single. Ashwin lifts the ball over the mid-off fielder and India win by 4 wickets. What a match! What an incredible victory! And what a start for an ‘experimenting’ Team India in their World Cup campaign! The scenes unfolding on the field indicated as if India had won the T20 World Cup-2022!

 

Questions still remain though about the selection of India’s playing eleven, particularly in regard to the pacers and the spinners. However, amid such incredible moments we leave the questions and instead join in the celebrations—Diwali, the Festival of Lights, happening tomorrow all over the country. Happy Diwali! Meanwhile on the first day of the Super-12 stage yesterday New Zealand scored the most emphatic win over the reigning Champions Australia and England beat Afghanistan in Group-1 matches. After a tough fight in the qualifying stage Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Ireland and Zimbabwe proceeded to the Super-12 while terribly inconsistent West Indies and an unlucky Namibia were eliminated. 

Asia Cup-2022: Teams Playing for National Pride, India Played for IPL Pride!

That India had been kicked out of the Asia Cup-2022 should hardly come as a surprise or some kind of a setback for the Indian cricket board, the Selectors, the India captain and the India coach, because this tournament too has been another clog in the machinery of experimentation for determining a ‘national’ squad for the ICC T20 World Cup-2022 that starts in October in Australia this year. While the ICC had been trying laudably hard to provide valuable practice in the shortest format for all the contesting national sides Team India or the franchises thereof or the team management had been basically trying to justify the IPL and to vindicate the selections therefrom. During this time most of the cricketing superstars of India had been rested or allowed to recuperate from supposed injuries, and as a crucial part of the experiments the superstars, all IPL-captain stuff, were brought in for this international tournament which totally neutralizes the earlier experiments with the IPL stars and rookies. No doubt, as we indicated in an earlier post, after the epochal revenue deal struck for the IPL, cricket in India has virtually become IPL-oriented, and so the endless experiments that are set to continue even during the upcoming big international event. Since the IPL is the future of Indian cricket there’d hardly be any national side for any international event in the coming years, and therefore, in this particular tournament Team India has right royally played for IPL pride, thus disappointing and frustrating the genuine cricket lovers and fans of the country.

 

We see no other alternative but to stick to this opinion after considering the ‘decisions’ regarding the playing eleven in Asia Cup-2022. First of all, knowing fully well that most of the crucial Super-4 matches are to be played in the pacer-friendly Dubai pitches the selectors included only three pacers in the squad, that too consisting of two IPL rookies, and fielded four spinners. Apart of course, from the ‘definitive’ all-rounders like Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja and it has not been clear at all if they were bowling or batting all-rounders. Perhaps, the absolute drive to make Jadeja a superstar batsman, also an IPL-must, contributed toward his becoming unfit in quick time and repeatedly over the last two years, and he being ruled out of the tournament seemed to have made the entire team utterly useless, even making Pandya so frustrated that he could not bat nor bowl effectively. And all the while the team management talked of a cohesive and fighting playing eleven.

 

Dinesh Karthik, the experienced keeper-batsman, was included in the squad and was allowed to face just one ball in the group matches, and was dropped inexplicably from the Super-4 matches. As the India batting saga in the Pakistan and Sri Lanka matches unfolded it was Karthik who was missed sorely and almost fatally; in both matches India fell short by 15-20 runs and lost both. A genuinely promising batting all-rounder Deepak Hooda was included in those crunch matches; but Pandya superseded him in the batting order every time, and in the bowling department despite Pandya being hit mercilessly and ceaselessly Hooda was not at all tried by the ‘experienced’ India captain as the sixth bowling option. Why? Because the promising IPL-captain stuff had to be promoted at all costs.

 

Of the pacers, the rookie called Avesh Khan got injured and was ruled out of the tournament; therefore, the other rookie Arshdeep Singh had to be included along with the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Now who is Arshdeep Singh? That he was trolled for the simple catch he dropped in the penultimate over against a struggling Pakistan just could not be a national news with all the masala ingredients. It was simply a reaction of the hapless fans, caught in the continuously frustrating chain unleashed by the selectors or the captain or the coach or the Board or the IPL mandarins or whoever concerned. There are other more pertinent questions that are integral to the experiments: where is Deepak Chahar? Where is Mohammad Shami? Where is Mohammad Siraj? Where is the fiery Umran Malik? Of course, the superstar captain-stuff Jasprit Bumrah is too delicate to be wasted in the mundane international matches or minor tournaments. Of the spinners if the experienced Ashwin was to be considered he should’ve been considered from the beginning of the Super-4 stage. However, when he was finally considered he replaced Bishnoi who, though another IPL rookie, fought spiritedly in the Pakistan game instead of replacing the listless Yuzvendra Chahal. Well, contradictions are bound to happen in a mindless quest!

 

After the Asia Cup hosts Sri Lanka came roaring back into form eliminating an equally determined Bangladesh at the last group match the Super-4 stage was bound to be tough and fiercely competitive. Pakistan too asserted their determination after routing Hong Kong, and Afghanistan was waiting eagerly for their encounters, being the group topper along with India. With the exception of India all the three teams have fighting-fit national sides not beleaguered by the senseless changes, and are fighting for sheer national pride, determined to enter the World Cup as serious contenders. In cricketing terms the basic differences between India and the three teams are the former’s batting inconsistency cum a haphazard batting order and their bowlers, particularly the spinners, lacking the intensity required in such competitive tournaments.

 

Afghanistan was extremely unlucky to falter in the last over against Pakistan, losing a low-scoring match while Pakistan’s fighting spirit till the last man outstanding must be appreciated. With that win by one wicket Pakistan entered the Final to meet Sri Lanka on 11^th September, making their Super-4 encounter on September 9 inconsequential, but of great value for both in gaining confidence for the Final. Meanwhile as expected, Team India experimented in an exemplary manner in the match against Afghanistan with the captain dropping himself (read resting himself) and giving another go to the franchisee captain KL Rahul. In some kind of a sadistic joke the selectors included Dinesh Karthik again and also decided to try Deepak Chahar. My God! What apathy and total disregard for the national spirit of the country!

 

With the ICC still providing more T20 practice by facilitating two three-match T20 series of India Vs South Africa and India Vs Australia India later this month in India the India experiment-juggernaut can still go on testing their IPL rookies priding itself of having the strongest bench-strength in the world with limitless choices of players and give a much-deserved rest to their superstar cricketers, again. But unfortunately, at almost the same time the glorious Selectors will have to finally announce their ‘dream’ squad for the World Cup even as the dream of an India-Pakistan Asia Cup final, the third much-awaited encounter of a rare variety of cricket, got cruelly dashed by that same bunch of businessmen of cricket.  Amen!

T20 Cricket: Why Should Team India Need Batsmen?

Well, as far as the three batting stalwarts of Indian Cricket—Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul—are concerned they’re needed all the time irrespective of the relentless experimentation process with promising youngsters and whatever frame of mind or form they’ve been in recently. They can come anytime anywhere and for all key white-ball world tournaments they are a must, and they’re always justified in displacing batsmen like Deepak Hooda, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan and even seasoned campaigners like Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan. However, it stops just at that point. After they do or don’t do their bit in their batting the all-rounders take over. No doubt, all-rounders like Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya have been doing great in recent times. But putting in them all the responsibility to bowl, to bat and to win the matches cannot be a long-term strategy. Besides, as has been witnessed in recent months, the in-form and specialized batsmen like Suryakumar Yadav and Dinesh Karthik are demoted down the order to facilitate the all-rounders and the hapless Karthik is even asked to bat after Axar Patel if that all-rounder figures in any of the Team India franchises.

 

Again beyond doubt, the new ‘batting’ order has been delivering in terms of wins. In the second match of the Asia Cup-2022 hosted by Sri Lanka in UAE against the archrivals Pakistan Team India Rohit Franchise managed to win in the last over thanks mainly to the all-rounders, Jadeja and Pandya. But as we’ve said this cannot be long-term strategy, because the presence of Shaheen Afridi in the Pakistan team could’ve altered the course of the game and in that eventuality the demoted batsmen couldn’t have offered suitable resistance to win the game. This is very obvious that putting bowling all-rounders ahead of the established batsmen would inevitably affect their confidence and performance adversely. On the Australian pitches in the upcoming ICC World Cup T20-2022 this strategy is fraught with the gravest of dangers, if the previous T20 World Cup in UAE is any indication. The ICC has been doing everything to help the international teams prepare well for the event including that of converting the format of the Asia Cup-2022 into T20. But unfortunately, Team India with all its varied franchises, all-rounders and experiments is not able to reap the benefits in the desirable way.

 

Now to Dinesh Karthik of whose peculiar position in the team we’d mentioned in an earlier post too. It’s being said that in that crunch match against Pakistan he was preferred over the inimitable Rishabh Pant due to his ‘experience’. If that is so, then his ‘experience’ as a batsman who can dramatically change the course of a game with his furious shots must have weighed more than his ‘experience’ as a wicketkeeper. And if that is so, then why he was sent after all the bowling all-rounders to face just five balls when India needed seven runs of that. But for Pandya’s six in the fourth ball of the last over the match could’ve ended in any direction. The Indian bowlers did a great job to get the Pakistan side all out to a total less than 150 and with Team India’s batting strength it should’ve been an easy chase. But for the ‘superseding’ experimentation you know…!  Anyway, a lot has to be been seen yet in this tournament. An upbeat Afghanistan routed a crisis-laden Sri Lanka in the first match of the tournament and has emerged as a strong contender for the Super-4 stage from Group-A with Bangladesh being the third team. India is set to face Hong Kong next before proceeding to the Super-4 and we can expect one more encounter of the rarest variety, India Vs Pakistan, at that stage, and a possible third one if both teams make it to the Final.

Imran Khan: Defiance, Diplomacy And Friendships Of The Unconstitutional Kind!

Imran Khan became the first ever Prime Minister of Pakistan to be voted out of power through a no-confidence motion after a daylong high-voltage drama yesterday that finally culminated in a midnight climax in Islamabad. Perhaps this is the reason as to why the Pakistan parliamentary system had never been used to such political games behind a confidence move unlike in India where such games are very common and often the transfers of power are more or less smooth; Pakistan being more used to army coups and abrupt, often violent, changes. However, the delaying tactics indulged in by Imran and team were not at all constitutional. The irony gets more emphatic as Imran Khan was a democratically elected Prime Minster in 2018 general elections. The monthlong political theatrics had seemingly ended on 7^thApril when the Supreme Court of the country ordered the confidence motion to take place on 9^th April thus reconstituting the dissolved National Assembly. But Imran had other ideas still.

 

His defiance has been phenomenal, not bothering about the constitution or even about the directions of the Supreme Court. On the historic day of 9^th April 2022, termed by many as a sad day for Pakistan democracy, the National Assembly reconvened as ordered, but the motion was not introduced. Imran Khan directed his foreign minister to ask the Speaker for a debate on the foreign conspiracy, and as a result the session was adjourned repeatedly with the opposition having unsuccessful parleys with the Speaker to introduce the motion as ordered by the apex court.

 

Imran stuck to his foreign conspiracy theory even after clarifying in his second national address on 7^th April that the supposed ‘secret cyphered letter’ could not be shared in public as it’d then compromise national security. He, however, said that he’d share in with the Supreme Court. All throughout he openly implicated America as the perpetrator of the conspiracy thus delivering a vital blow to the country’s bilateral relations with the US which is totally contrary to normal international diplomacy apart from his earlier indiscretion of visiting Russia during Ukraine invasion. He also stuck to his praise of India’s non-compromising foreign policy which also would make him unpopular among various Pakistan circles in near future. Imran appealed to the people to come out on the streets and start a revolution in protest against the ‘horse trading traitors’ who were welcoming slavery of a foreign super power again might which might eventually lead to unrest and violence in the country, already on the brink of a looming economic crisis.

 

Contrary to his resolve to play on till the last ball Imran in actuality evaded not only the last ball but the full over yesterday. He did not show his sportsmanship of yore as he never visited the National Assembly along with his PTI supporters and instead, kept on making the unconstitutional moves sitting at his residence. He called for a cabinet meet in the evening and also planned to file a review petition in the Court.

 

From late evening things started happening in quick succession as it was apparent that the Supreme Court deadline was going to be breached. The Chief Justice ordered the doors of the Court to be opened for a midnight review, and the local police began posting forces including a prisoner van in front of the parliament house. The ghosts of a case of the contempt of court, imminent police arrests and a possible Army intervention finally convinced the Speaker to reconvene the session minutes before midnight. And, more appalling scenes were in store.

 

It was unbelievable to behold an almost crying Speaker of the National Assembly demonstrating the ‘foreign conspiracy’ letter before the members and stating emotionally that he had been a worker of the PTI (Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) for decades along with a deep friendship with Imran over the last decades, and that was why he could not betray his leader. He resigned then and there. His Deputy who was delaying the no-confidence vote on 3^rd April followed suit. So then, personal friendships came in the way of observing the sacred democratic and constitutional norms. The newly assigned Speaker occupied the chair now and he introduced the motion moments before midnight.

 

The laboriously manual counting process went for more than an hour, and finally, the results were declared that the motion was passed with 174 votes in favor and none against as the PTI members were not present and the defecting 22 PTI members also did not vote in fear of being disqualified. In the meantime, Imran Khan vacated his official PM residence and shifted to his private residence.

 

The National Assembly is set to continue its full five-year term and the new Prime Minister designate Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of the three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, of the PML-N (Nawaz’ Pakistan Muslim League-N) party to take over charge tomorrow, Monday, the 11^th of April 2022. The 70-year-old Shehbaz Sharif, the three-time Chief Minister of Punjab, does not however have a clean record as he was arrested for money laundering in 2020.

 

Pakistan is looking at an uncertain future, because it is not sure how long the coalition government with PML-N and PPP (Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party) political parties plus the PTI defectors would last as they have a lot of differences on various issues. Of course, the first priority for the new government would naturally be setting the damaged international diplomacy right apart from taking on the economic crisis. Further, the cries of the PTI supporters like ‘bringing back the looters’ or ‘a good man sent home’ combined with the thousands of Imran supporters seen on the streets in Lahore last night are not going to augur well for Pakistan’s secure democratic future. We hope another neighbor of India does not go the Sri Lanka way. 

Pakistan Supreme Court Hits The Imran Khan Foreign-Hand Bouncer For A Six!

The high-voltage political drama in Pakistan has seemingly ended today with the Supreme Court of the country dismissing Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decisions to dissolve the National Assembly and holding general elections within 90 days that he announced moments before the no-confidence motion on 3^rd April 2022. The Court held the decision of the Deputy Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly to reject the motion quoting the constitution as illegal. The Court has now fixed the date for the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan on Saturday, the 9^th of April by reconstituting the National Assembly. The no-confidence motion was brought by the opposition alliance on 8^th March and the date for the motion was postponed to Sunday, the 3^{rd of} April. It has been apparent since the beginning that Imran Khan’s government was reduced to a minority with many of the members of his own party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) defecting to the opposition.

 

In an emotional address to the nation on 1^st April Prime Minister Imran Khan hinted at a ‘foreign conspiracy’ to dethrone him from power and appealed to the people of Pakistan to defeat this in national interest. He also said that like in cricket he’d continue till the last ball is bowled. This ‘foreign hand’ theory, apparently implicating the US, has been termed widely by the international media as ‘Imran’s bouncer or googly’ and the full strength of his ‘bouncer’ stunned the world when he announced his crucial decisions moments before the confidence vote. However, the Supreme Court today has hit it out of the boundary.

 

The opposition party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari questioned the decision of the Deputy Speaker as unconstitutional and appealed to the apex court to give its verdict on the constitutional crisis. In the following days the election commission of the country said that it was not possible to hold elections in 90 days and then, more significantly, the Pak Army termed the ‘foreign hand’ conspiracy as not true.

 

Nobody could ever forget Imran Khan, the fiery fast bowler of yore who took the world of cricket by storm and captained and led the Pakistan cricket team to the only victory in the ICC Cricket World Cup in1992. Imran had been the cynosure of cricket lovers thanks to his handsome athletic physique, his bowling action and his never-say-die attitude. He has also been having numerous relationships and several wives, often leading to controversies. After retirement from cricket, he entered politics forming his own political party, the PTI in 1996, got elected into the National Assembly in 2002 and served the opposition till 2007.

 

After many ups and downs in the following years Imran Khan’s PTI won the elections in 2018 and he became the Prime Minister of Pakistan that year. His policies and actions, particularly his relations with India, have not been anything to write home about and he was often criticized by other political parties. His political career is now set to be decided on 9^th April, 2022. As a self-professed fighter till the last ball Imran Khan is definitely not going to say quits after the no-confidence vote which is almost decided against him. His nationalism and personal charisma would possibly continue to attract some followers. After the near-certain defeat of the present government on 9^th April there would be an opposition-led interim government in the country with Imran Khan in the opposition till the general elections are held.

India Vs New Zealand: Incredible 10-Wicket Haul By Ajaz Patel To Become Only The Third Bowler in Test Cricket History!

photo: espncricinfo.com

History is repeated at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai today, the second day of the second and last Test match between India Vs New Zealand, when the New Zealand left-arm orthodox spinner Ajaz Yunus Patel captured all the 10 wickets in the India first innings total of 325, to become only the third bowler to take 10 wickets (10/119) in a Test innings after Jim Laker in the 4^th Test between England and Australia at the Old Trafford in England in 1956, and Anil Kumble did in the second Test between India and Pakistan in 1998-99 at the Firoz Shah Kotla ground, Delhi. However, both Laker and Kumble achieved the incredible feats in the second innings of the opponent’s batting respectively while Ajaz becomes the first bowler to do so in the first innings of a Test in world test cricket history. The 33-year-old spinner made his Test debut in 2018 against Pakistan and has also been playing in the T20Is since that year. So far, Ajaz has played only 10 Tests for New Zealand with 29 wickets and also played a handy role as the last batsman like he contributed toward a sensational draw in the Kanpur Test.

 

Significantly, the English right-arm off-spinner James Charles Laker took an almost perfect haul of 19 wickets (19/90) in that historic test match which came to be known later as Laker’s match. His haul of 19 wickets in a test match is still unbeaten. Laker played 46 Tests for England taking with 193 wickets and made his Test debut in 1948 against the West Indies during England tour of West Indies in 1947-48 taking 7 wickets in the first innings on debut. Laker was an all-rounder too with two half-centuries in Tests and 2 centuries and 18 half-centuries in first class cricket. He took 9 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket (an incredible 127 fivers in first class cricket) and over 10-wicket hauls in a test match 3 times. His best was his historic 10/53 against Australia, the first time ever. He played his last Test in 1959 against Australia and passed away in Wimbledon in 1986.

 

Anil Kumble, one of the greatest leg spinners in world test cricket history, became the second bowler to take 10 wickets in a test innings in 1998-99 during the Pakistan tour of India, taking a total of 14 wickets in that 4^th Test match. Kumble played 132 Tests for India and had a massive tally of 619 test wickets—the fourth highest wicket-taking bowler of the world so far. He had five-wicket hauls 35 times in test cricket with over 10 wickets in a match 8 times and 72 fivers in first class cricket. His best was 10/74 in that historic match against Pakistan batting in the second innings and it was reported later that the other bowlers/players of his team helped him achieve the feat by bowling wide of stumps or not trying to take catches off them! Kumble made his Test debut in 1990 against England and played his last Test against Australia in 2008. He had also been a handy batsman having 1 century and 5 half-centuries in Tests. The 51-year-old great cricketer has always been engaged with Team India in various roles apart from the IPL.

 

It seems Ajaz Patel is not going to have a real chance of increasing his tally in this historic match for him as the Indian pacers, in sharp contrast to the NZ fast bowlers, mopped up 3 early wickets (all 3 going to Mohammed Siraj who replaced Ishant Sharma in this match) and later, the three spinners—R Ashwin, Axar Patel and Jayant Yadav (replaced an injured Ravindra Jadeja, making a comeback to India Test team after a record 9^th wicket batting performance for India with Virat Kohli in 2016 at the Wankhede only)—taking 1 each and making New Zealand reel at 38/6 at Tea. The Kiwis are missing the injured regular captain Kane Williamson sorely as the stand-in captain Tom Latham falling for just 10 runs, after a good performance in the Kanpur Test. As was inevitable the Kiwis got all out for a mere 62, giving India a massive lead of 263 runs. Ashwin finally made it 4 wickets for him for 19 runs and 3 for Siraj, 2 for Axar and 1 for Jayant Yadav. Surprisingly, India did not enforce the follow-on, and therefore, Ajaz gets a chance to increase his match tally.

 

photo: wionnews.com

The good part about the second Test in Mumbai is that the debut sensation Shreyas Iyer was not dropped as speculated with Ajinkya Rahane going out due to reportedly a hamstring niggle and not being fully fit, even though he was facing the specter of being dropped after poor batting and not being able to force a win in the Kanpur Test. The regular captain, Virat Kohli, coming in for this Test was out for a duck following Pujara’s. Not just because of this, but in general the BCCI would do better to appoint captains for the full series, rather than dividing the matches between two or three. India progressed to a pitch-specific good total of 325 runs in fits and starts, and largely thanks to opener Mayank Agarwal’s brilliant century (150 off 311 balls), his third Test ton, sticking on almost to the end of the innings, aided by an equally brilliant half-century by Axar (52), 44 by opener Shubman Gill and 27 by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.

T20 World Cup: Who Will Be The Top Two Teams In Group-2?

Pakistan have almost sealed their berth in the semi-finals as probably the top team in Group-2 winning three out of three matches and notching up 6 points so far. What is more significant is the fact that Pakistan have crossed the main hurdles by defeating the toughest opponents in the group, namely India, New Zealand and Afghanistan. Now they have only two teams to overcome, considered to be weaker rivals. Of course, Namibia, creating another historic chapter by winning their first ever Super-stage match against Scotland, and Scotland are not pushovers. However, considering the roaring form Pakistan are in now winning against those two teams is not likely to be very tough, and in that scenario they will have 10 points—the maximum any team can manage in the group. The Pakistan team has arguably the best bowling attack of the tournament—combining pace and spin—and a very balanced team with someone up or down the line to finish the game. Captain Babar and wicket-keeper batsman Rizwan have shown consistency among quite a few others.

 

Afghanistan earlier trounced Scotland in the way of a champion and gave a tremendous fight against Pakistan taking their 5 wickets with 24 needed from the last two overs. But for finisher Asif Ali’s four sixes in the penultimate over the match could have gone in any direction. Their decision to bat first after winning the toss was probably due to Rashid and Nabi, but they could’ve done better by putting Pakistan in as the latter has not been tested so far in their ability in setting a target in the sluggish pitches. Unfortunately, Afghanistan could not manage to preserve one of their best strike bowlers for the death. The team has arguably the best spinners of the tournament in Rashid Khan and Nabi with the latter almost taking the game away from Pakistan in the 18^th over. Rashid Khan is in the seventh heaven capturing his 100^th scalp in 53 T20I matches. Already with 2 points Afghanistan have at the moment two tough opponents in the form of India and New Zealand apart from Namibia. With their spirit and talent they can really hope to get to 6 points to remain in contention. Their thundering six-hitting prowess has also become an important factor in their favor.

 

For India it is a must-win situation tomorrow against New Zealand; they have to win at least three out of the four remaining matches to get to 6 points to be in contention for a semi-final berth. The depth of their batting is yet to be tested, and Rohit, Rahul and Virat must fire against New Zealand—a very tough opponent with quality fast bowlers and super fieldsmen. As per the first match against Pakistan the Indian bowling attack seems the weakest in the group and there are several niggles in the team selection. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has not shown his strike-bowler abilities either in the IPL-2021 or in the crucial match against Pakistan and he is a prime candidate for being replaced by Shardul Thakur who can also bat. Captain Virat Kohli’s obsession with Hardik Pandya is another hassle, because Pandya has not been bowling at all in the previous matches and his batting of late is also not promising. That puts the team in a crisis of not being able to find a sixth bowler in need. Ideally, Pandya should be replaced by Ravichandran Ashwin who has shown his prowess as a genuine all-rounder recently. But reports suggest that the same eleven will be fielded tomorrow. If India manage to beat New Zealand the future course would be relatively easy, at least to get 6 points.

 

New Zealand must be boiling hot and gearing up for a much-needed win after losing narrowly to Pakistan. If they manage to beat India with their ferocious pace attack then the future course would also be easier for them to notch up the minimum of 6 points to remain in contention. They would hope to overpower Scotland and Namibia, and even Afghanistan if they handle their spin attack successfully. New Zealand beat India in the famous World Cup-2019 semi-final and lost the final against England under controversial circumstances. Their super fielding is an additional asset for all their rivals concerned.

 

Therefore, we can imagine a situation of three teams of Group-2 ending up with 6 points each where the net run-rate would come into consideration to decide the second top team from the group, provided Namibia and Scotland do not cause any upsets. Tomorrow’s India Vs New Zealand encounter is perfectly setup with both teams facing a desperate must-win situation. As per the pitch behavior in UAE we can possibly expect a low-scoring cliffhanger or a one-sided affair if the Indian batting potential gets real with their spinners finding the deadly turn or if New Zealand fast bowlers manage to destroy Indian batting. As usual, the toss would be crucial as the dew factor would come into operation later in the night. For commercial reasons India figure in the second slot in all matches, but the toss and the dew factor may finish off commerce totally if India are unable to make it to the semi-finals.

 

Interestingly, in any world cricket tournament the India Vs Pakistan match is always of tremendous importance for the Indian fans. If India beat Pakistan in the round-robin then the fans feel as if the final has been won and if the opposite happens like in this tournament, although it was for the first time in one-day and T20 World Cups, most of the fans stop caring who goes on to win the final and the Cup. Nevertheless, if India manage to get to the semi-final stage the fans, barring the bigots, are expected to come roaring back to support their team.