A Rare Tie! But With Such Bowling Forget Winning World Cup!

A target of 339 is huge one for any team on earth. Team India set that today going all out (literally) for runs against England in a world cup Group B league match today. It was good seeing India making the efforts for amassing maximum possible runs. Sachin Tendulkar gifted a sterling innings with five huge sixes making another record of scoring maximum centuries in world cups. He has now scored 98 international centuries including Tests. But that innings almost or has gone waste. Most of the later Indian batsmen tried to hit only sixes rather than looking for singles and twos. Learn guys learn!

Chasing a target of mammoth 339 England was never seen to be under any kind of pressure except for the last ten overs when Zaheer Khan delivered taking three quick wickets. They were going merry taking runs at will, so impotent was the Indian bowling. And, India opted for only four specialist bowlers out of which Chawla and Harbhajan were always suspect. In fact England spinners bowled much better than the hyped Indian ones.

This is not the way for thinking about winning the world cup. At this standard India will have to score at least 500 runs against the likes of South Africa, Australia, Sir Lanka or Pakistan and still not be sure about winning. Fielding is also listless. Act now or forget about winning the Cup. You cannot put pressure on a team after scoring 338, then how come you dare think about winning. At the knockout stage you will be knocked out against any team. Yes, South Africa chased 434 successfully against Australia, but that was only one match in a bilateral one-day series and not world cup.

Feeling sorry for England, they should have won after those incredible innings by Strauss and Trott. Okay they did not lose either.Anyway it was a match going down the wire for crowds who preferred shouting gesticulating and posing for the cameras whenever that came their way.

From tomorrow minnows take over again and we will have to wait till the weekend for big matches.

Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka: Fantastic Cricket!

Pakistan win again in World Cup against Sri Lanka, for the seventh time. SL yet to win a WC match against Pak. This is a very significant win as it was achieved in SL with Lankan home crowds and typical Lankan conditions.

And the cricket was fantastic, giving the first taste of true genuine cricket of the highest order in this World Cup. SL managed to restrict Pak to a total which was achievable though difficult. Then Pak made sure SL could not win, but again SL fought hard and came very close to win it. Both teams played very intense and hard cricket. Pak showed patches of exceptional fielding too apart from batting and bowling. While Misbah excelled with the bat, Afridi was magical with the ball. SL made to struggle for runs. The crowds could not believe what they witnessed.

Now for tomorrow's big match, India Vs England. Team India is still troubled with fitness problems. Somebody said about possibility of rains! The ticket fiasco is threatening to become a scam. If only VVIPs are complemented with tickets then India should never again host a World Cup. It is because of the cricket crazy millions that cricket has become so lucrative in India for the Board, the marketers and the sponsors. If common people are forgotten in the process...well...

Let cricket win tomorrow!

Cricket World Cup So Far...

First week of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. And surprisingly nothing much to write home about. Only minnows in abundance so far. Almost all of the matches extremely one-sided with only England allowing Netherlands to come a little closer perhaps. India-Bangladesh opener had some suspense due to Bangladesh's upset win in 2007 packing India out of that World Cup.

Only two big matches played so far and both unfortunately were one-sided affairs. South Africa thrashed West Indies on 24th and Australia thumped little brother New Zealand in a listless encounter today. The most absorbing one of the week just got over, Bangladesh defeating Ireland by 27 runs in a low scoring match. But one minnow defeating another minnow--does the result make any difference?

On the positive side, South Africa made a good impact. Pakistan came strong with good showing in both batting and bowling. Australia growing stronger with two easy wins and somebody must stop them before they run away with the fifth title!

Pak faces Sri Lanka tomorrow in a crunch match. India take on England in another big match on Sunday. The weekend is packed for you!

But has this World Cup become only weekend excitement? Big matches are very few and sparsely placed. By the time the tournament hots up it's already knockout stage and the knockout stage has just seven matches including the final.

I feel disappointed with the 2011 format. Too many minnows, no super six or super eight or super league. To find out more Read Here! And give your views.