Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,700 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 45 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

 All will agree that India’s bowling is going to be their weak link as they head into the World Cup. They are also by no means the most athletic team on show so I expect their fielding to come up short at times as well.

However, despite the above I still feel that India can go the distance and win the cup. In my opinion their biggest obstacle to winning the 2011 World Cup will come down to how they handle the pressure of playing on the grandest stage of them all, the pressure of playing in front of a billion people who believe without a shadow of doubt that this time the Indians will be the World Champs and finally the pressure of playing a big final (should they get there) As most of us already know India have the worst finals record (only better than Bangladesh) in ODI tournaments featuring three or more teams over the last 12 years.

So if they can take care of the above, this World Cup is India’s to lose.

Sri Lanka

This is a simple case because as far as Sri Lanka is concerned their bowling is top notch and together with Australia and South Africa they will in my opinion be the three top fielding sides in the tournament.

The weak link and huge obstacle standing between Sri Lanka and their quest to win a second Cricket World Cup is their fragile and inconsistent batting. In the recent years (including most games of the 2007 WC) it was Sri Lanka’s bowlers rather than their batters who contributed substantially towards their wins and I can’t see that trend changing much during this World Cup either and this is also the reason as to why I feel that Sri Lanka will fall out at some stage before the final.

Sri Lanka’s chances of going the distance will depend greatly on how their batters perform especially Jayawardena and Sangakkara.

Australia

The loss of Mike Hussey was a huge blow and their already questionable batting has only been made to look a lot worse as a result.

The lack of a quality spinner will also hurt them just as much as their batter’s inability to handle spin.

I will be surprised if the Aussies go past the QFs.

South Africa

Something tells me that the perennial chokers of cricket will finally silence their critics and go a bit further this time and along with India I would rank them as one my favourites to win it all.

The ability to handle the pressure games in the knock out stages will raise its ugly head again and as long as the South Africans don’t fall victim to it ‘again’ they should feature in the final.

England

I just don’t think England have the team to be successful in the Sub-Continent. They were absolutely thrashed by India when they toured two years ago and Graeme Swann was neutralised by the Indian batters with consummate ease. While I expect the English batters to struggle I also can’t see their one dimensional bowling attack causing too many problems on Sub-Continental tracks.

Pakistan

Well their biggest obstacles will be themselves and their urge to constantly court troubles and controversies on and off the field. If they can remain focused and keep their head in the right place one will have to be very brave to bet against them.

Discuss the Cricket World Cup and much more on http://www.worldofcricket.net/phpBB3/

The Spirit of Cricket is a phrase that has been thrown around rather generously in the last few days as a result of an incident that occurred towards the end of the India vs. Sri Lanka first round match in the ongoing Tri-series in Dambulla last Monday. This incident has already been analysed and over analysed by the over-zealous and Bollywoodesque Indian media that operates more on fiction and sensationalism rather than facts.

But just to refresh our minds, at the end of the first round match between India and Sri Lanka in the micromax cup with India needing one to win and Sehwag needing one to reach his hundred, Dilshan was heard giving instructions to Randiv or more precisely letting Randiv know of an option he had when he said “If you want you can bowl a no ball” which was primarily to deny Sehwag his hundred. Randiv did bowl a no ball which Sehwag hit for a six but was denied the hundred due to a ridiculous rule which says that with one run to win the match ends with the no ball. The players shook hands and walked off the field and seconds later when Sehwag was interviewed this was his take on the issue -:

” Shewag says…”fair enough”..It happens in cricket. The other team doesn’t want anybody to score a hundred against them. They tried their best. Doesn’t matter to me, 99 or 100.

An hour later though at the post match press conference, this was Sehwag’s take on the issue -:

“They (Sri Lanka) should have shown sportsman’s spirit,” Sehwag said. “It was done deliberately. If there is a player on 99, it does not mean you bowl a no-ball. That has no place in cricket.”

Fair enough Sehwag but could you please clarify whether kicking the ball deliberately over the boundary line during the tense closing moments of the 2nd Test between India and South Africa earlier this year, to deny Hashim Amla (who was in the midst of an incredible rear-guard effort to save a Test with the last man Morkel) the strike for the next over and that too when there was only around two mandatory overs left in the game, has a place in cricket? Was that your way of exhibiting “sportsman’s spirit” when Hashim Amla (and Morkel) was playing the innings of his life with the result of the Test match, the series and the Test rankings among other things, at stake?

Sehwag, much to the pleasure of hardcore Indian cricket fans, in an apparent reference to the Randiv incident, tweeted as follows the day after the incident -:

“Worry n fear just make u frazzled n unsettled. And the truth is that win or lose , life still goes on.”

“If we play with energy poise and unselfishness, we will be playing the game the right way.”

So I would like to ask Virender Sehwag; Was it not your selfishness and fear of losing the Test series to South Africa and with it your team’s Number 1 ranking in Test cricket that made you frazzled and unsettled and made you play the game the wrong way by kicking the ball over the boundary line deliberately to deny Hashim Amla the chance to retain the strike in his desperate yet heroic bid to save the Test for his team and Country??? Pity Sehwag is not around to give me an answer. One has to be careful when pointing fingers at others.

The above is an incident that transpired about six months before the Randiv no-ball incident. The umpires were quick to award Amla the single and the boundary. However, what Sehwag did was a clear breach of the same spirit of cricket that Randiv allegedly contravened when he denied Sehwag his 100 by deliberately bowling a no-ball. Did the Indian media go to town about Sehwag’s ‘cricketing crime’ and accuse Captain Dhoni and / or bowler Tendulkar of being the mastermind behind this act or did the BCCI take any action against Sehwag or did Sehwag at least have the decency to apologise to Amla and the South African team?

None of the above happened and the issue was not even talked about.

But this is not the first time the Indians have supported, protected and covered up the disgraceful acts of one of their players. They did it when Tendulkar was caught ball tampering and then did it again when Harbhajan Singh racially abused Andrew Symonds, an issue that Tendulkar was once again in the thick of when he gave contradictory statements to defend his team-mate which made Adam Gilchrist say the following -:

Gilchrist in his autobiography has said that Tendulkar was a sore loser and questioned his honesty in the ‘Monkeygate’ issue, reported the daily ‘The Age’.

Coming back to the Randiv no ball, what made Sehwag take a U turn on the issue is something that I do not want to speculate but is not hard to understand. Sehwag’s contradictory comments at the post match press conference is what made this relatively harmless act by Randiv become a national event at least in India. I have always respected Sehwag as a cricketer but the way he responded to this incident especially with his second contradictory statement was very unlike the Viru that we all love and admire. His first reaction where he dismissed the incident as no big deal was typical Sehwag. I mean this is a guy who scores hundreds like eating bread and butter so why would he be bothered about missing out on one?

The BCCI’s position as the financial power house in cricket on whom most cricket boards (especially Sri Lanka cricket) around the world depends on to survive most likely drove the officials at Sri Lanka Cricket into a series of brainless acts which started with the SLC apologizing to Sehwag, the Indian team and the BCCI for this incident when no apology whatsoever was required from them. Their second brainless act was to call for an enquiry into this incident when no such enquiry was necessary. If at all the SLC officials should have had a quite word with Captain Sangakkara, Randiv and Dilshan after the series ended. Their third brainless act was to ban Randiv for one match despite the fact that the umpires or the match referee took no action whatsoever against Randiv.

This issue should have ended when Randiv apologized to Viru and when Captain Sangakkara had a word with MS Dhoni and the Indian coach Gary Kirsten. If the on field umpires had felt that Randiv had done something wrong they would have reported him to the match referee and the match referee in turn would have taken appropriate action, neither of which happened obviously because Randiv did not do anything wrong. In fact in this controversial match there was a moment when a player did breach the code of conduct and should have been penalized and this was when Rohit Sharma who was given out LBW by Asad Rauf (off an inside edge) stood his ground pointing his bat (not for the first time) to the umpire. This is an example of a player blatantly showing dissent to the umpires and is without a doubt a punishable offense. However, Sharma was not even reported and instead all the attention was on Randiv.

So at the end, the Randiv no ball issue was completely blown out of proportion as a result of Sehwag’s contradictory second statement, SLC’s desperate need to please the BCCI and of course India’s joke of a media looking to give a Bollywood twist to any story despite having no facts to support any of their claims. Players too have a responsibility to keep what happens on the field, on the field as was seen during the incident between Kumar Sangakkara and Nathan McCullum yesterday. Both had plenty to say to each other and there was a bit of pushing and shoving as well. But at the end both players had a chat after the match, followed by a beer and the issue was done and dusted. Cricketers need to grow up and deal with on-field events like the way Sangakkara and McCullum did yesterday instead of running to the press and crying their eyeballs out and then going on and on about it in the days to follow as well. The umpires are there to take the issue forward should they feel the need to do so and then the match referee will make a call as to whether a player or players were guilty of a breach of the player’s code of conduct. The players themselves as mentioned above must make sure to put the issue behind them and leave what happens on the field of play, on the field itself.

In the Randiv issue it was clear from both, the point of view of the player (Sehwag) concerned and the Indian media that there was a desperate attempt to drag the issue on and also implicate the Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara who was their prime target. Perhaps Sangakkara’s decision recently to question the validity of the ICC test rankings of which India currently holds the number one position did not go down well with the BCCI, the Indian media and Indians in general and the Randiv issue presented all of these parties the perfect opportunity to do their part to tarnish the reputation of the Sri Lanka Captain which they tried their painstaking best to do to no avail.

I really do hope that the good relations between the players of the Indian and Sri Lankan teams remain intact despite the ridiculous happenings in the week gone by. It will be interesting to see how the Sri Lankan fans react to the Indian cricketers on Sunday when the Indians play hosts Sri Lanka. Should they choose to be hostile (without going over the top) it will be understandable as that is how fans tend to react when their players are accused and vilified. Who can forget the racial abuse Andrew Symonds copped from the Indian fans after his spat with Harbhajan Singh.

So what then is the spirit of cricket and more importantly does any player or team play within this so-called spirit of cricket and is cricket such a noble and honest game as it is being made out to be? I don’t think the game has ever been played within the spirit of cricket because I don’t think anyone understands what it means. Did Douglas Jardine who devised the plan to knock Bradman’s head off during the infamous bodyline Ashes series and Larwood who executed his Captain’s plan to perfection play the game within the spirit of cricket? Does a batsman who stands his ground when he knows that he was out play the game within the spirit of the cricket? Does a bowler and a fielding unit who appeal for a wicket when they know the batsman was not out play the game within the spirit of cricket? Does a fielding team who purposely send in bounce throws to the keeper from the deep from the first over onwards to deliberately scruff up the ball, play the game within the spirit of cricket? Does a player who takes a catch on the bounce and then claims ignorance about not knowing whether or not it bounced in front of him play the game within the spirit of cricket? Do players and teams that sledge opposition players and indulge in what former Australian Captain Steve Waugh referred to as ‘mental disintegration’, play the game within the spirit of cricket?

There are so many more examples / questions that I could come up with but the bottom line is that the answer to all of the examples / questions above and to the many other similar examples/questions that I have not posted is an emphatic ‘NO’. In addition, in my opinion, every cricketer and team is guilty of one or more of the above mentioned acts that contravene the so called spirit of cricket.

I don’t deny the fact that I was pleased when Sri Lankan won the spirit of cricket fair play award. However, it is imperative that we need to come out of this mind set where we view the game of cricket romantically and religiously and perceive it to be some sort of a noble endeavour where everything is so prim and proper and perfect. Cricket just like any other sport is extremely competitive with a lot at stake (especially today) and players will give it everything to win and at times even go beyond the realms of what is considered acceptable, just in order to win. That is the reality and that is something that we have to understand and accept. In my opinion, the spirit of cricket is nothing more than a myth. As long as the players play the game within the laws of the game, that’s all that matters. Should they cross the line the on-field umpires and the match referee is there to look into it.

Gamesmanship and individual battles within the battle exist in all of sport and cricket is no exception. This is also what makes the game fascinating for us fans to follow and watch. If nothing else, what the Randiv incident showed was that playing for one’s Country means more to a cricketer than any other team or league that he is a part of or participates in. As a journalist aptly put it in the aftermath of the Randiv incident -:

“Few cricketers today have the courage to be dispassionate and call a spade a spade. And even fewer have the temerity to get under the skin of Indian players. Sri Lanka have won the ICC’s Spirit of Cricket award twice before and are unlikely to add to that tally anytime soon, but by having the courage to do what they did at Dambulla, they’ve done the ICC a huge favour. By over-stepping the white line, Randiv and his teammates have told cricket’s governing body that national colours hold precedence over the colour of money.

Thank you, Suraj Randiv”

The ongoing Test match between India and Sri Lanka at the SSC which is heading to a dull draw inspired (for the lack of a better word) me to take a closer look at the quality of Test matches that the Asian region has dished out over the last few years.

Given below is the stats of the home Tests in the major Test playing nations over the last six years or so.

Team———-Mat———–Won———Lost——-Tied——–Draw

Australia——-34————-28———–3———–0————3
England——–40————-23———–6———–0———-11
Sri Lanka——26————-18————2———–0———–5
South Africa—33————-17———–11———-0———–5
India———–32————-14————6———–0———-12
New Zealand—26————–9———–9————0———–8
Pakistan——-15—————6———–2————0———–7
West Indies—-25————–3————11———-0———–11

Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka (in that order) followed by England have produced the highest percentage of result oriented Test matches with Sri Lanka being miles ahead of its sub-continental counterparts, India and Pakistan. Between the Sri Lanka vs. India series in 2008 and the end of the Galle Test of the on-going series between the same two teams, 8 of the 9 home Tests played in Sri Lanka in the said period have produced results which in itself is a great advertisement for Test cricket in the sub-continent.

In Sri Lanka, the tracks in Galle and Kandy have been great Test match wickets while the SSC has over the course of the last three seasons or so lost its bite and spark. Last summer during the Sri Lanka vs. Pakistan Test the SSC track was great for batting even on the 5th day. The SLC should seriously look at the option of re-laying the track at this picturesque venue perhaps after the World Cup next year and until then Test cricket at the SSC should be suspended.

On a slightly different note, I have often been baffled by the standards which we Asian fans use to judge the quality of a batsman and the quality of a bowler. Ricky Ponting was not considered by the Australians to be a lesser batsman just because he averaged an abysmal 11 or so with the bat in India until a few years ago. Aussie fans could not care less about Ponting’s struggles in India and to them he was always the number 1 batsman in the world. Imagine the plight of a top Asian batsman who averages say 11 in Australia? Overzealous Asian fans would be quick to right him off as a flat track bully and what not. Perhaps it’s that colonial mentality that still lingers in the minds of sub-continental cricket fans which influences them to think that to be the best you have to be accepted by the west. The faster we grow out of this type of thinking the better it would be for all of us.

What makes the above thinking (particularly from Asian fans) even more ridiculous is the manner in which we judge the quality of a bowler. A bowler who does not perform on a track that has no help for him (batting friendly track) is excused but a batsman who does not perform on a track that has no help for him (bowler friendly track) is torn to pieces. If the bench mark to judge good batters is their ability to perform on bowler friendly tracks then the same should be applicable to bowlers as well based on their ability to perform on batting friendly tracks. Great bowlers of the game like Imran Khan, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitheran, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and so on have won matches for their respective teams despite bowling on tracks with little or no assistance on many occasions. I remember once when Wasim and Waqar absolutely destroyed Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka when they bowled Sri Lanka out for 70 odd and took Pakistan to a huge win despite not getting any assistance from the track. Allan Donald and Brett Shultz did the same during one of South Africa’s tours of Sri Lanka as well. More recently, in fact just last week Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitheran combined to destroy India on wicket that was still pretty good for batting. Performances like this are what tell us the true quality of a bowler.

I am firm believer that whether it’s a batsman, bowler or even a Captain, the way they go about their job when everything is going against them gives us an accurate picture of their true talent and capabilities. From a Sri Lankan point of view, Kumar Sangakkara is considered the top batsman in the team who can basically walk into any batting line up in World Cricket because unlike Mahela Jayawardena he has turned in many impressive performances with the bat in difficult conditions while under immense pressure. Two that immediately spring to mind are terrific 4th innings efforts against Australia in Australia where he saved a Test in 2004 by batting out an entire 5th day of the Test against Warne and McGrath who were at their very best and of course in 2007 when he nearly took us to a famous win also against Australia in Australia scoring a majestic 192 in the 4th innings of the Test which incidentally is the highest 4th innings score by a visiting batsman in Australia in the history of the game. Batting 4th against Australia in Australia has been such a daunting task that even the modern game’s two best batters; Tendulkar and Lara have averaged just 19 and 12 respectively while batting 4th against Australia in Australia. Tendulkar batting 7 times in the 4th innings in Australia has gone past 50 only once and his highest score is 52. If I am not mistake Brian Lara has not crossed 50 even once despite having as many innings batting 4th in Australia.

Any bowler can bowl well on a track with a bit of help for the bowlers. But the great ones know how to create opportunities even on tracks that present no help to them. In the current Indian bowling attack Zaheer Khan is one such bowler. Coming back to the on-going series between Sri Lanka and India I am sure the likes of Mithun from Indian and Suraj Mohamed from Sri Lanka will learn a lot from having made their debuts on tracks with very little help for them. Conversely, Raina who has just completed his first Test hundred in his debut Test at the SSC will be a driven into a false sense of security for sterner tests that I am sure Raina will not be able to handle at Test level awaits him in the not too distant future. There is no question in my mind that Raina will never make it at Test level. He just does not have the technique or the temperament needed for Test cricket and I don’t think I have to wait for Raina’s Test career to be 10 or 15 Tests old to come to that judgement. With some cricketers you can tell immediately. There is no question though that Raina will go on to become a terrific batsman for India in ODIs and T20s especially when playing on good batting tracks. In my opinion the young Indian batsman who has the quality both in terms of technique and temperament to become a batting great by that I mean a quality Test batsman, is Rohit Sharma. Why he was not preferred over Yuvraj or Raina is beyond me. I wonder whether Raina’s Chennai Super Kings connection with Captain MS Dhoni and Chief Selector Krishnamachari Srikankth played a role in Raina getting the nod ahead of Sharma.

Coming back to tracks in Asia, the authorities in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India must make a conscious effort to do away with wickets like those at the SSC and a plethora of other venues in India and Pakistan which are home to placid tracks and look to prepare tracks that provides a fair battle between bat and ball over the course of 5 days.

The 10th edition of the ICC Asia Cup is set to commence in Sri Lanka on the 15th of June 2010. Realistically this is the 9th ICC Asia Cup as the 1993 tournament which was suppose to be held in Pakistan was cancelled due to strained relations between India and Pakistan. Dambulla, which is a part of the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka in the central province of the Country will play host to the tournament between the top Asian teams this time around.

The weather has more often than not played spoilt sport for matches in Sri Lanka especially those played in June, July and August but this time around as all the matches will be played in Dambulla which is a part of the dry zone in Sri Lanka, I hope we will have a dry (weather wise) tournament right through.

The wicket at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium is a tricky one and as all games are going to be d/n games the team winning the toss and batting first will have an advantage. However, this will no longer be a surprise to the teams participating in the Asia Cup and nor should it be an excuse for losing matches in which they are asked to bat second under lights. Professional cricketers should by now have the ability to adjust their game according to what the situation demands and come up with game plans to overcome such obstacles.

INDIA

While India will miss the services of ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar, the return of the destructive Virender Sehwag and the well rested regulars makes them without a doubt the strongest team in the tournament. To say that a batting line up comprising of Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina, Dhoni, Sharma, Kohli and Jadeja is strong would be an understatement. The return of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh should strengthen India’s bowling as well. Among the three main contenders (IND, SL & PAK) in the tournament, India have the best record in Sri Lanka in the last 2 years or so. So while Sri Lanka may be host of this year’s Asia Cup the home advantage as such is without a shadow of doubt with India. Since July of 2008 India have played 13 ODI matches in Sri Lanka and have won 9 and lost 4 (mostly dead rubbers).

Hence, in my opinion India are the clear favourites to win the 2010 Asia Cup. When you have the kind of talent that the Indian team has at their disposal, anything less than winning the tournament will and should be unacceptable.

PAKISTAN

Prior to their tour of Sri Lanka last summer, Pakistan had the best record in Sri Lanka for any visiting team to the Island. Lead by Shahid Afridi, Pakistan who will be strengthened by the return of pace ace Shoaib Akthar are a strong unit. Pakistan’s chances of going the distance in this tournament will depend greatly on which Pakistan team turns up on the day. They have the talent to do it but it’s their unpredictability and inconsistency that is bound to pose a bigger challenge to them rather than India, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh.

It will also be interesting to see how the Pakistani batsmen cope with the very tricky Dambulla wicket. They will for sure in my opinion, miss the services of their more orthodox batsmen like Mohamed Yousuf and Younis Khan.

BANGLADESH

The rapid rise of Tamim Iqbal has been the best news to come out of Bangladesh a team that has been perennial under-achievers ever since they entered the big league.

Tamim Iqbal will be the key as far as the Bangladesh batting is concerned and I have no doubt that their slow bowlers will also have a role to play.

In Imrul kayes, Mohamed Ashraful, Saqib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammadhulla the Bangladeshis have a strong batting line up at least on paper but they have been very inconsistent. Whether these players are able to contribute and support Tamim Iqbal is left to be seen.

SRI LANKA

The host nation lead by Kumar Sangakkara who lead a young and inexperienced Sri Lankan team to a memorable win the last time Sri Lanka played in a multi-nation ODI tournament in Bangladesh (India and Bangladesh being the other teams) earlier this year will look to bag another one by winning the Asia Cup at home. However, he has his work cut out as he will be up against formidable opponents who have enjoyed playing in Sri Lanka more than his own team especially in the recent years.

In the period between May 2007 and June 2009 Mahela Jayawardena’s Sri Lankan team played a total of 18 matches at home winning 8 (3 against Bangladesh and others being dead rubbers against IND and ENG) and losing 10. The losses included a humiliating loss to England (in October of 2007) who had never beaten Sri Lanka in a ODI series in Sri Lanka before this loss. In fact before beating Jayawardena’s team in 2007 England last won an ODI series in the subcontinent in 1986. This was perhaps the lowest point in Sri Lankan ODI cricket history.

Last summer thanks to new Captain Kumar Sangakkara and a rejuvenated Sri Lankan team with many new and young faces brought into the team by Captain Sangakkara, Sri Lanka finally managed to turn to tide and win a one day series against a major team at home. This was their first major ODI win at home since winning the Indian Oil Cup final against India in 2005.

So the above suggests that Sri Lanka is one place where no such thing as a home advantage exists at least as far as one day cricket is concerned for the hosts.

The dawn of Kumar Sangakkara’s term as Captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team just prior to the commencement of the 2009 T20 World Cup in June of last year also signified the dawn of a new era in Sri Lankan cricket with the team getting ready to step into the stormy waters of transition and rebuilding. Sri Lanka’s legendary match winners of the past two decades; Muttiah Muralitheran, Chaminda Vass and Sanath Jayasuriya were either well and truly past their prime or retired from the game.

As I have said many times in the past, leading a team that consists of super star match winners playing at the top of their game is no big deal. But having being entrusted to lead a team in which its key players are no longer the force that they once were and having to make do with a team of youngsters and in amongst them unearth the next generation of match winners for the team and at the same time ensure that the team does not lose matches too often and also make sure that your own form is in good shape, collectively tantamounts to an incredibly arduous task for a new captain. There can be no greater test than this for an incoming Captain and in my opinion those who go through such tough times and still manage to defy odds and build strong teams over a period of time and at the same time unearth quality young players and also manage to keep their own game in top gear are without a doubt the game’s best leaders.

From the years gone by the likes of Imran Khan, Arjuna Ranatunga and Sourav Ganguly fit the bill perfectly as far as what I have stated above is concerned.

In this context I would like to take a closer look at how the Sri Lankan team under the leadership of Kumar Sangakkara has gone about dealing with the most difficult and challenging phase that they have had to encounter since the early 90’s during the past 12 months.

Please note that the 12 month period that I keep referring to in this article is the period between 1st June 2009 to 1st June 2010.

Test Cricket

P——————-W——————L—————–D
8——————-4——————-2—————–2

ODI Cricket

P——————-W——————L—————- NR
21——————11—————–9—————–1

T20 Cricket

p——————-W——————L—————–NR
20——————11—————–9—————–0

All three formats combined

p——————-W——————L—————–D / NR
49—————–26——————20—————–3

It is indeed heartening to note that despite going through a re-building phase, Team Sri Lanka under the leadership of Kumar Sangakkara has managed to maintain a winning record in all three formats of the game during the past 12 months. This includes winning two of the three Test series that they played, one of which, vs. Pakistan being their 1st ever series win at home against them and it also happened to be the first Test series that Sri Lanka won against a major Test playing nation since the early 90’s without Murali or Vass playing any part in it. The highlight as far as Sri Lanka’s ODI performance in the past 12 months of course was the manner in which Captain Kumar Sangakkara managed to lead and inspire a second string Sri Lankan team to a Tri Series win in Bangladesh where they beat a full strength Indian team in the final. The Sri Lankan Captain lead from the front and was the man of the series of that tournament as well. As far as T20 cricket goes, Sri Lanka once again did very well during the past 12 months reaching the final of the T20 World Cup (unbeaten) in 2009 and then reaching the semi-final of the 2010 T20 World Cup.

Now let us take a closer look at the key performers during the past 12 months in the Sri Lankan team with both bat and ball.

Test Batting

Player———-Mat—Inns—-NO—Runs—-HS—-Ave—-BF—-SR—-100—–50

DPMD Jayawardene
8 15 1 869 275 62.07 1627 53.41 2 3

KC Sangakkara
8 15 1 785 137 56.07 1489 52.71 3 2

TT Samaraweera
8 15 2 669 159 51.46 1211 55.24 2 3

TM Dilshan
8 13 1 639 123* 53.25 808 79.08 3 1

NT Paranavitana
8 15 0 500 73 33.33 984 50.81 0 4

AD Mathews
7 11 1 379 99 37.90 635 59.68 0 2

HAPW Jayawardene
5 8 2 351 154* 58.50 582 60.30 1 0

KMDN Kulasekara
5 7 0 124 38 17.71 260 47.69 0 0

BSM Warnapura
3 6 0 98 54 16.33 165 59.39 0 1

M Muralitharan
5 6 2 78 29 19.50 91 85.71 0 0

ODI Batting

Player———-Mat—Inns—-NO—Runs—-HS—-Ave—-BF—-SR—-100—–50

TM Dilshan
14 14 0 757 160 54.07 703 107.68 4 0

KC Sangakkara
21 21 2 744 90 39.15 816 91.17 0 7

DPMD Jayawardene
18 18 1 660 123 38.82 745 88.59 2 3

WU Tharanga
15 15 1 640 118* 45.71 756 84.65 2 4

SHT Kandamby
19 17 4 466 91* 35.84 607 76.77 0 3

TT Samaraweera
16 15 4 426 105* 38.72 550 77.45 2 0

AD Mathews
13 11 1 284 52 28.40 333 85.28 0 2

ST Jayasuriya
12 12 0 277 98 23.08 289 95.84 0 1

CK Kapugedera
9 9 2 180 67* 25.71 264 68.18 0 1

KMDN Kulasekara
15 10 6 121 57* 30.25 149 81.20 0 1

T20 Batting

Player———-Mat—Inns—-NO—Runs—-HS—-Ave—-BF—-SR—-100—–50

KC Sangakkara
20 20 2 595 78 33.05 479 124.21 0 6

DPMD Jayawardene
20 20 2 550 100 30.55 390 141.02 1 3

TM Dilshan
19 19 3 520 96* 32.50 412 126.21 0 4

AD Mathews
20 18 8 293 58 29.30 232 126.29 0 1

ST Jayasuriya
19 18 2 280 81 17.50 258 108.52 0 1

CK Kapugedera
12 11 1 164 47 16.40 135 121.48 0 0

LPC Silva
7 7 0 68 14 9.71 71 95.77 0 0

LD Chandimal
4 3 0 57 29 19.00 55 103.63 0 0

NLTC Perera
6 5 2 57 24 19.00 49 116.32 0 0

J Mubarak
7 7 2 56 21* 11.20 48 116.66 0 0

Batting in all international matches (all formats combined)

Player———-Mat—Inns—-NO—Runs—-HS—-Ave—-BF—-SR—-100—–50

KC Sangakkara
49 56 5 2124 137 41.64 2784 76.29 3 15

DPMD Jayawardene
46 53 4 2079 275 42.42 2762 75.27 5 9

TM Dilshan
41 46 4 1916 160 45.61 1923 99.63 7 5

TT Samaraweera
24 30 6 1095 159 45.62 1761 62.18 4 3

AD Mathews
40 40 10 956 99 31.86 1200 79.66 0 5

WU Tharanga
15 15 1 640 118* 45.71 756 84.65 2 4

ST Jayasuriya
31 30 2 557 98 19.89 547 101.82 0 2

NT Paranavitana
8 15 0 500 73 33.33 984 50.81 0 4

SHT Kandamby
20 18 4 468 91* 33.42 610 76.72 0 3

CK Kapugedera
22 22 4 386 67* 21.44 469 82.30 0 1

Tilekaratne Dilshan as you can see from the stats above had a wonderful time with the bat in all three formats of the game during the last 12 months. What is most heartening though was the ascendency of Angelo Mathews from a player with a lot of potential to a banker that can be relied upon for Team Sri Lanka. Captain Kumar Sangakkara has to be given credit for instilling the self-belief in young Angelo Mathews and trusting him and giving him the confidence of performing at the highest level for the Country. Under no other former Sri Lankan Captain has so many promising young Sri Lankan cricketers been fast tracked into the national team like we have seen happen under the leadership of Kumar Sangakkara. Whilst unleashing many a young talent like Angelo Mathews, Suraj Mohamed, Thissara Perera, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimane, and many others to the big stage, Captain Sangakkara has also managed to convert ordinary players like Herath, Kulasekara, Thushara, Kandamby and Welagedara into match winners.

What was also wonderful to see in this past 12 months is that despite taking over the leadership Captain Kumar Sangakkara’s role as his team’s premier batsman has not suffered by any means. In fact his Test average of 56 in the past 12 months is in line with his career average and he was also the only Sri Lankan batsman to score a Test hundred in each of the three Test series (vs. Pak, vs. NZ & vs. Ind) that Sri Lanka played in the said period. He was also incredibly consistent in the one day format of the game during the last 12 months scoring 7 fifties in 21 matches (more than anyone else in his team) and averaging nearly 40 with the bat which is above his one day career average of 36. In the T20 format, Captain Sangakkara was his team highest run getter and once again extremely consistent scoring 6 fifties in 20 matches (more than anyone else in his team) in the said period. Cumulatively when taking all three formats together, the Sri Lankan skipper was the team’s top run scorer during the past 12 months.

Despite the arduous task of leading a team in transition, batting at the pivotal number 3 position and keeping wickets, Sangakkara has still managed to perform magnificently. This despite the fact that he was not always at his fluent best with the bat during the past 12 months. That is the great ability of Kumar Sangakkara. Even when he is not striking it as well he still manages to deliver for his Country through sheer grit and determination.

Bowling in Tests

Player—–Mat—–Inns—–Overs—-Mdns—-Runs—-Wkts—–BBI—-BBM—-Ave—–Econ—SR—-5

HMRKB Herath
7 12 368.0 57 1150 34 5/99 8/209 33.82 3.12 64.9 4

M Muralitharan
5 8 274.5 32 908 22 4/73 7/161 41.27 3.30 74.9 0

KMDN Kulasekara
5 9 133.4 25 422 20 4/21 8/58 21.10 3.15 40.1 0

T Thushara
5 10 172.1 22 606 20 5/83 6/118 30.30 3.51 51.6 1

BAW Mendis
4 7 157.5 20 514 10 3/20 3/101 51.40 3.25 94.7 0

UWMBCA Welegedara
3 4 99.0 12 397 6 4/87 5/163 66.16 4.01 99.0 0

AD Mathews
7 10 89.0 14 302 5 1/13 2/39 60.40 3.39 106.8 0

KTGD Prasad
2 4 56.0 2 259 4 2/106 2/97 64.75 4.62 84.0 0

TM Dilshan
8 6 17.0 0 65 2 1/12 2/27 32.50 3.82 51.0 0

DPMD Jayawardene
8 2 6.0 1 19 1 1/10 1/10 19.00 3.16 36.0 0

Bowling in ODIs

Player—–Mat—–Inns—–Overs—-Mdns—-Runs—-Wkts—–BBI—-BBM—-Ave—–Econ—SR–4–5

KMDN Kulasekara
15 15 128.0 9 650 22 4/48 29.54 5.07 34.9 1 0

T Thushara
12 12 97.0 4 530 17 3/29 31.17 5.46 34.2 0 0

AD Mathews
13 13 89.0 5 432 16 6/20 27.00 4.85 33.3 0 1

UWMBCA Welegedara
8 7 60.4 3 360 13 5/66 27.69 5.93 28.0 0 1

SL Malinga
11 11 98.1 1 610 11 4/28 55.45 6.21 53.5 1 0

S Randiv
9 8 73.0 2 334 10 3/51 33.40 4.57 43.8 0 0

ST Jayasuriya
12 9 59.0 0 321 9 3/39 35.66 5.44 39.3 0 0

BAW Mendis
10 10 86.2 2 445 8 3/30 55.62 5.15 64.7 0 0

M Muralitharan
5 5 48.0 0 257 7 2/41 36.71 5.35 41.1 0 0

NLTC Perera
6 5 38.2 1 206 6 2/27 34.33 5.37 38.3 0 0

Bowling in T20s

Player—–Mat—–Inns—–Overs—-Mdns—-Runs—-Wkts—–BBI—-BBM—-Ave—–Econ—SR–4–5

SL Malinga
20 20 70.4 0 524 27 3/12 19.40 7.41 15.7 0 0

BAW Mendis
16 16 60.0 0 354 22 3/9 16.09 5.90 16.3 0 0

AD Mathews
20 17 47.1 1 346 15 3/16 23.06 7.33 18.8 0 0

M Muralitharan
10 10 39.0 0 239 11 3/29 21.72 6.12 21.2 0 0

KMDN Kulasekara
10 10 37.0 1 314 10 3/4 31.40 8.48 22.2 0 0

ST Jayasuriya
19 15 31.0 0 240 7 2/19 34.28 7.74 26.5 0 0

I Udana
5 5 18.0 0 164 5 2/17 32.80 9.11 21.6 0 0

S Randiv
5 5 13.0 0 90 4 3/20 22.50 6.92 19.5 0 0

T Thushara
2 2 8.0 0 78 4 2/37 19.50 9.75 12.0 0 0

NLTC Perera
6 5 13.0 0 80 3 2/19 26.66 6.15 26.0 0 0

Nothing signifies the changing of guard in the Sri Lankan team than its bowling stats during the last 12 months. For the first time in probably 15 years or so Sri Lanka’s legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitheran does not feature as the top wicket taker for his Country in any format. Despite this though Captain Kumar Sangakkara has managed to find other bowlers to do the job for him and they have stood up to the challenge and performed admirably well. Muralitheran is a legend that can never be replaced and his dwindling form and also that of the aging Jayasuriya and the ineffective Vass was inevitably going to become a major stumbling block as far as Sri Lanka’s quest to win matches were concerned. Despite this major set back, the Sri Lankan Captain, Kumar Sangakkara has marshalled his young and inexperienced team brilliantly and brought out the match winners in amongst his lesser players and has managed win matches in all three formats for his Country more often than not in the past 12 months. This in my opinion has been the hall mark of Sangakkara’s leadership and ability to get the best out of his players even those that are just making their debuts in the big stage. No doubt Sangakkara has had his share of off days as Captain but that is something that even the greatest Captains the game has ever seen have been through as well. The likes of Imran, Arjuna and Ganguly did not become the great captains that they eventually became, overnight. It took them years to stamp their authority and style of leadership on their respective teams and once this was done the results took care of themselves.

In conclusion, when one considers the ground reality faced by Sri Lankan cricket in the past 12 months and also for many more to come, the team in my opinion has done very well under the exemplary leadership of Kumar Sangakkara and is heading in the right direction. Today, Sangakkara finds himself in the exact same position that Arjuna Rantunga was in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Just like Arjuna astutely went about stamping his authority and style of leadership on impressionable young cricketers and managed to put together a team that took on the world without fear, I have no doubt that Sangakkara too will do the same with the team of youngsters that he is leading today. To his credit Sangakkara has already begun this process during the past 12 months and in the next 12 to 18 months we could look forward to seeing a very competitive Sri Lankan team taking the field under the inspirational leadership of Kumar Sangakkara.

17 May 2010

When the IPL was launched back in 2008, it was said that Indian cricket will be richer, both monetarily and talent wise as the IPL was going to be the stage on which the next generation of Indian cricketers will be unearthed. Three seasons and two T20 World Cups later everyone including the Indian captain seems to be pointing the finger at the IPL as a reason as to why India continues to perform in a rather dismal manner in World tournaments. Since the advent of the IPL India’s record in major ICC world tournaments read as follows -:

2008 Asia Cup – Beaten by Sri Lanka in the final.
2009 T20 World Cup – Lost every game in the Super 8’s and was knocked out in the 2nd round.
2009 Champions Trophy – Knocked out again before reaching the semi-final.
2010 T20 World Cup – Lost all their matches in the Super 8’s and was knocked out in the 2nd round.

For a team that boasts of such incredible cricketing talent the above is simply not acceptable. Despite having the strongest team on paper why has India failed so miserably at major tournaments in the past two years? Is the fact that the period mentioned also happens to be the period after the launch of the IPL just a mere co-incidence or has the emergence of the IPL played a role in contributing towards India’s dwindling fortunes at the World stage? In my opinion it is not just a mere co-incidence. The IPL has most certainly played its part in ruining things for Indian cricket and I will tell you how.

Before that let us deal with some obvious facts. Firstly the success of the Indian Test side is a completely different story. India’s journey to become the number one Test side in the world began when Saurav Ganguly, India’s greatest ever Captain took over the leadership of the team and when he was unceremoniously dumped in 2005 that journey was already 75% complete. Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble then took India forward a further 20% and when MS Dhoni became the lucky man to be at the right place at the right time, India’s journey to become the best Test playing nation was all but complete. India’s all time greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Harbhjan Singh and even the likes of Mohammed Azharuddin and Javagal Srinath were the men who were instrumental in making sure that India reached the apex of Test cricket which they most deservedly did a few months ago after a comprehensive win over the Sri Lankans.

Even in ODIs, Sachin Tendulkar single-handedly won India the CB series final against Australia in 2008 and also the Compaq Cup final against Sri Lanka in 2009.

Indian Captain MS Dhoni has always had his senior super stars to hide behind when things got tough and invariably one or more of them always bailed him out and adequately covered up his gross inadequacies as a Captain. But on two occasion where MS Dhoni had no senior star to hide behind (2009 T20 World Cup and 2010 T20 World Cup) his flaws as a Captain were exposed in no uncertain terms. Not only did he run out of ideas and make tactical blunder after blunder on the field but he has also failed to deliver for his Country with the bat. In that must win super 8s game against Sri Lanka in the 2010 T20 World Cup he came into the bat as early as the 9th over of the Indian innings but just could not give his team the impetus that they needed from him to post a match winning score. When he recently won a must win game for the IPL team that he plays he was seen upper cutting his jaw and celebrating. Such was his passion to win for his IPL franchise which pays him US$ 1.5 million per season. Where was that effort and passion when playing for his Country? I might be coming across as being too harsh here but these are all legitimate questions based on occurrences that did transpire.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing personal against MS Dhoni. I quite like him as a cricketer and enjoy watching him bat. As a leader though I have always had my reservations about him as in my opinion he was and still is lucky to be leading the most talented team in the world and as usual the Indian media and their fans showered him with the kind of praise that he most certainly did not deserve. I always knew that Dhoni will be exposed the day he will no longer have his senior pros to hide behind and this day is not far away. I am a firm believer that tough times especially when a team is losing will tell you everything you need to know about a leader. Good Captains will find ways to win even if they no longer have their superstar match winners in their side. Captains who have that uncanny ability to create match winners out of young and / or average players and win matches for their respective nations are in my opinion the better Captains in the game. The Asia Cup in Sri Lanka next month will be a huge test for Dhoni. However the return of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag will make matters that much easier for Dhoni and I expect India to be the favourites to win the 2010 Asia Cup.

Coming back to the IPL and its negative impact on Indian cricket, prior to the first all player IPL auction held on the 28th of February 2008, exciting young Indian cricketers like Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, RP Singh and Piyush Chawla were all very much a part of the Indian national cricket team set up and were seen and identified as the youngsters to replace the Indian legends and take Indian cricket to the next level in the years to come.

Ishant Sharma was hailed as the next best thing in Indian fast bowling while Rohit Sharma was certainly hailed as the next batting prodigy of Indian cricket with Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar just stopping short of calling him the next Tendulkar during the VB series played in Australia in 2008. Piyush Chawla was talked of as India’s Shane Warne.

Then came the IPL carnival and with it the big money for the proven veterans and also for the youngsters who had achieved next to nothing for Indian cricket at the time.add to the above list other promising young Indian talent who were paid big money

The following are the sums paid out by franchises to the Indian youngsters in 2008 -:

Ishant Sharma -: US$ 950,000 (age 19 at the time)
Robin Uthappa -: US$ 800,000 (age 22 at the time)
RP Singh -: US$ 875,000 (age 22 at the time)
Rohit Sharma -: US$ 750,000 (age 20 at the time)
Piyush Chawla -: US$ 400,000 (age 19 at the time)

Manoj Tiwary US$ 675,000 (age 22 at the time)None of the above cricketers had achieved anything significant at the time these huge sums of monies were being thrown at them by franchise owners of the IPL.

Since then, Ishant Sharma has become a bowler that India rather not have in their line up, RP Singh and Rohit Sharma have long left the Indian national team set up or performed poorly whenever they did get a chance. Piyush Chawla has also become a forgotten factor as far as Team India is concerned.

You have the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly, Kumble and others from that era who worked hard in fact very hard and performed and proved their mantle as cricketers against the very best the world had to offer in the ultimate format of the game, after which they deservedly went on to earn what they earn today.

In today’s context you have youngsters like the ones mentioned above and then other young talents like Manish Pandey, Virat Kohli and many others who currently are and come September 2010 will most certainly be paid massive sums of monies to play in the IPL. The next generation of Indian cricketers like Kohli, Uthappa, Ishant & Rohit Sharma, Manish Pandey, RP Singh, the Pathan brothers, Raina and many, many others have been paid and will be paid huge sums of money by the IPL owners for 6 weeks of cricket despite the fact that they have achieved next to nothing for Indian cricket thus far.

Why then would these guys have the hunger and / or the desire to work hard on their respective games relentlessly and get into the Indian team especially the Indian Test team? Too much money especially at such a young age does crazy things to people and these young cricketers are earning the big bucks, walking the ramps, partying with bollywood beauties and so on when they should be dreaming about playing Test cricket for India and working hard to make that dream become a reality some day.

Most of us educate ourselves and then look to land great jobs and work hard because we want to have a good life and provide the same to our loved ones as well. But imagine this. If you had an option of working say for 3 months of the year and earning about 25 times more than what you are earning now which option will you take? The 9 to 5 job year around or the job that pays you so much more for such little effort, work and time? Surely you will opt for the easier option that also makes you more money than you can ever imagine. In a sense you may even say that you have got the best of both worlds.

This is exactly what is happening to Indian cricket and their young cricketers. Lalit Modi has given young Indian cricketers an easy way to make money which in turn will discourage them from having to work hard and put in the hard yards to one day realize the dream of playing Test cricket for their Country. So who suffers at the end of the day? Indian cricket. This is why the young Indian cricketers mentioned above and many other promising young talent waiting in the wings will now just concentrate on becoming good T20 cricketers and that too the kind capable of playing on Indian dustbowls only and through it attract big contracts in the IPL that will give them the opportunity of making more money in 6 weeks than what they would playing Test cricket for India in 10 years. I am quite sure that in the long run Indian cricket, especially Test cricket will suffer as a result of this especially when their legends like Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and perhaps even Zaheer call it a day. When Ganguly retired, Yuvraj Singh was seen as the natural successor to that number 6 slot but what was this based on? Most likely because of the perception of Yuvraj Singh more than any other reason of substance. Yuvraj is not Test match material. His attitude is such that he should currently not be playing in any format for India. But Indian cricket continues to pamper Yuvraj and Yuvraj just does whatever he feels like and gets away with it. I found it rather hilarious to see some Indian fans who were defending Yuvraj during his abysmal performance for the Kings XI Punjab side were the first to lash out at him when he failed for Team India. The injured wrist was not a good enough excuse when Yuvraj failed for India but was often used as an excuse when Yuvraj repeatedly failed for Kings XI. Players go through phases of good form and bad form. Even the very best go through such things. While bad form can be forgiven one thing that must never be forgiven and / or tolerated is the lack of effort and that don’t care attitude which is what Yuvraj Singh is all about. Now this is just one slot in the Indian batting line up that we are talking about. What happens when Sachin, Rahul and VVS leaves? There is no one even in the horizon who can put their hand up and say I am ready to take one of those slots. This is because young Indian cricketers of today are too focused on getting the next big contract in the IPL and living the glamorous life. Playing Test cricket for India is certainly not on their minds.

It was hilarious to watch Robin Uthappa repeatedly talk during the last IPL about having done weight training which in turn was the reason behind his new found power and form. Those who saw Uthappa in the recently concluded IPL would have seen that the fat around Uthappa’s waistline was threatening to bulge out at most times even when he was just standing still. Yet he goes on about weight training and then of course doing what he loves to do which is play to the camera by bouncing a ball around just before going into bat. All theatrics that young Indian cricketers seem to love to indulge in for the camera. Then we saw Virat Kholi identified by many as a future Indian Captain having the audacity of presenting the middle finger to his home town crowd in Delhi after taking a catch. Where did that come from? Was that the brashness of fellow team-mate Kevin Pieterson rubbing off on the impressionable Kohli? Not really for if Pieterson’s brashness were to have rubbed off on Kohli then he would display that arrogance with a bat in hand while facing the opposing bowlers and not with his middle finger directed towards men, women and children in the crowd.

A few days back during the T20 World Cup match between the West Indies and India, I saw something that I have never seen before. Rohit Sharma was caught off his arm and Billy Bowden did not give him out straight away and while he was taking his time and looking towards the square leg umpire we could see Rohit Sharma vigorously indicating to Billy that ball had hit his arm and asking Billy to go to the 3rd umpire. I was like what on earth are you doing Rohit? I still can’t believe that Rohit got away scot free for his ridiculous actions. I seriously wonder as to what kind of cricketing culture (post IPL) these young Indian cricketers are growing up in. It is obviously nothing close to what India’s legends grew up in. Prior to 2008 every young kid would have wanted to bat like Tendulkar or Dravid but is it the same today and more importantly will it be the same tomorrow? Soon you might see young kids who want to bat like Suresh Raina or Yuvraj Singh or Yusuf Pathan. Is that good for the future of Indian cricket? Only time will tell. Back in 2008 during the CB series it appeared as if the transition from India’s batting legends to the next generation stars will be a smooth one. Such was the kind of talent that was on display through the likes of Rohit Sharma and so on. Two years later those replacements have been reduced to nothing more than cheap imitations. In my opinion it is not a con-incidence that the said two year period also happens to be the period in which the beast called the IPL came into existence.

Indian fans may say foreign cricketers are also playing in the IPL and how come they are not affected? Well the difference with the foreign players playing in the IPL is that the big money earners (among the foreign players) or at least most of them are the top players of their respective nations and most of them are also quality Test cricketers who are already proven world class performers and are not going to fall for the IPL money, glamour or glitz. They will use the IPL to make big money and also as a place where they could without pressure experiment and improve their individual games as T20 Players. Tilekaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena and Jacques Kallis are some of the foreign players who were not that great in the T20 format prior to the IPL but used the IPL to become top T20 cricketers. The IPL for foreign cricketers is like a six week practice session for which they get paid huge sums of money and also get the opportunity of becoming better T20 cricketers for their respective nations.

I am not against the IPL. To be quite honest I am a fan of the IPL and am all for an IPL where cricket is respected and remains the focal point and a competitive sport. The IPL must rid itself completely from the Bollywood razzmatazz and get back to being all about the game of cricket. Jack Nicholson has been a courtside season ticket holder at the staples center since the days of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. But that is where his association with the Lakers begins and ends. Even on the rare occasions that he is interviewed he strictly speaks Laker basketball and nothing else. In other words he does not fakely indulge in praising players and then promote one of his forthcoming movies like we have often seen Bollywood stars doing during and after IPL matches. Unsurprisingly three teams that have had absolutely no Bollywood connections have been three of the betters team in the IPL. They are the Chennai Super Kings, the Deccan Charges and the Mumbai Indians. One could throw the Delhi Daredevils into that lot as well. Modi through the IPL made cricket a form of entertainment. A medium which he used to fill his coffers and those of the people that mattered to him. It was also a medium he provided to his cronies to convert black money into white. Neither Modi nor any of the others gave a damn about the game of cricket or the development of Indian cricket. Hence, Modi’s ouster from the IPL and the BCCI is a blessing in disguise for Indian cricket.

If the BCCI does not strictly regulate the IPL and the earning potential of young Indian cricketers, Indian cricket will be the biggest losers in time to come.

The entertainment format of the game is just over a week away from witnessing yet another World Cup, the second in 11 months, scheduled to kick off in the West Indies on the 30th of April.

One has to either be brave or foolish to predict anything in a T20 game. Such is the unpredictable nature of this format where the lowest rank team has just as much a chance as the others of beating the top ranked side in the world. Of the twelve teams that will be competing against each other in the Caribbean to be crowned as the game’s best entertainers, I believe that eight are equal favourites to go all the way whilst the other four are certainly capable of beating more fancied teams on their day. Pakistan, India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, England and Sri Lanka are all capable of going the distance should their respective teams click as a unit from the group stage itself. However, as Sri Lanka found out in 2009 being the best and most consistent team in the tournament does not guarantee the winning of the overall championship. Bangladesh and Ireland (as they did in 2007) along with Zimbabwe and Afghanistan are all capable of upsetting the favourites in their respective groups on their day. Hence, no team can be taken for granted or lightly in this format. Ricky Ponting’s Australian side that played the 2007 T20 World Cup will vouch for this for sure.

Pakistan

The defending champions and the team that is deservedly ranked number 1 in the world in this format will go to the Caribbean looking for a repeat of their sterling performance in 2009 in England. Lead by Shahid Afridi Pakistan has in their ranks some of the top most exponents of T20 cricket. However, they are likely to miss the services of the likes of Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik and even Rana Naved who is a useful T20 all rounder. The injury to Umar Gul is another major blow for them as Gul along with Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka are in my opinion the two best quick bowlers in the world in T20 cricket. Having said that though as we all know Pakistan have this habit of unleashing raw talent to the big stage when you least expect, just like they did with Mohammed Amir last year and therefore don’t be surprised if we see more of the same this year as well.

The last eleven months have been an extremely difficult period for Pakistan cricket both on and off the field. A plethora of loses in all formats of the game, allegations and counter allegations of rifts within the team, seasoned players being banned indefinitely, Afridi’s ball tampering incident in Australia, Shoaib Malik’s marriage to Sania Mirza becoming a public spectacle and many other unsavoury occurrences has put Pakistan cricket in the news for the wrong reasons. However, facing a Pakistan team coming out of a crisis like this could be one of the most dangerous prospects for opponents as history has shown us that adversity (on and / or off the field) somehow tends to bring the best out of them. All eyes will be on Shahid Afridi and how he leads the team in a high profile tournament for the first time. By his own admission the will to win at any cost and the pressure got the better of him in Australia and he will be keen to put that terrible blunder behind him by leading his team to another T20 World Cup win.

As is most often the case with any Pakistan team in any format, they have what it takes to go the distance in this tournament too but they themselves (and not their opponents) will be their biggest obstacle as they look to repeat their 2009 success.

India

Despite their incomparable pedigree in T20 cricket, MS Dhoni’s boy’s had an atrocious T20 World Cup campaign in 2009 and will be determined to put the record right.

In Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik and Jadeja and even Harbhajan Singh India have the strongest and most destructive batting line up in the format by a Country mile. Zaheer Khan will spearhead their bowling attack along with Harbhajan and they will be well supported by the likes of Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar (one of the top bowlers of IPL 3) and Piyush Chawla. In amongst their batters India have so many spin options in the form of Sehwag, Yuvraj, Sharma, Pathan, Raina and Jadeja to give their attack variety on those spin friendly West Indian tracks. Sehwag’s injury will be a blow for India but even amongst their reserve players they have guys who are better T20 cricketers than most players in the starting eleven of the other teams.

With such incredible talent at the disposal of Captain MS Dhoni (A luxury which no other Captain in the tournament has), anything short of winning the tournament, would and most definitely should be unacceptable.

Australia

A team that has failed to make an impression in this format thus far will arrive in the West Indies hoping to perform a lot better than they did in 2007 and 2009. On paper the Australian team has the makings of a strong side. Whether they will be able to adopt and execute their game plan effectively on those slowish West Indian tracks will be something that we have to wait and see.

In their batting department, a lot will depend on how Shane Watson performs at the top of the order along with the destructive David Warner. Their middle order comprising of David Hussey, Michael Clarke, Cameron White and Brad Haddin (or Tim Paine) looks formidable too. Down the order, Mitchell Johnson (who has scored a Test century vs. SA in SA) is more than capable of hitting the long ball. However, none of the Aussie batters (with the exception of Shane Watson) who played in the IPL in India has managed to get going. This will be a worry for the Australians as the conditions in the West Indies are likely to be similar.

In Dirk Nannes, Doug Bollinger, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait, the Australians will have on show the best fast bowling unit in the tournament. How effective they will be on those West Indian tracks is something that we have to wait and see. I also feel that the Australians will miss not having a quality spinner (no disrespect to Hauritz) in their side.

In 2009, the Australians were placed in the group of death along with Sri Lanka and the West Indies and did not go beyond the first round after being comprehensively beaten by both Sri Lanka and the West Indies. This year too the Australians find themselves in the most difficult group amongst the lot with defending champions Pakistan and the unpredictable Bangladesh set to be their first two opponents.

South Africa

This is a team that has always managed to do well in major tournaments but consistently lost (or choked) when it really mattered. Hence, one really cannot blame those who might take it as a given that the South Africans will once again have a similar tournament where they do well in the first two rounds and then do what they do best which is get knocked out in the business end of the tournament.

However, this is T20 cricket and anything is indeed possible and South Africa must use the unpredictable nature of this format to their advantage and press hard to go one step further this time around in a major ICC world tournament.

The form of some of their key players will be a worry for the South Africans. After starting off the 3rd IPL season in red hot form with the bat, Jacques Kallis faded away in the second half of the tournament. His form with the ball has also been poor leaking runs at crucial times for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Captain Graeme Smith was out with an injury during the first week of the IPL and has not played any competitive cricket for some time now. Herschelle Gibbs and AB De Villiers have had a forgettable IPL with the bat as well. Fortunately for the South Africans, JP Duminy seems to have found form just at the right time while playing for the Mumbai Indians.

Their bowling as always will depend a great deal on Dale Styen but as with the case of Australia, the lack of a quality spinner (again, no disrespect to Botha or Van Der Merwe) may hurt the South Africans as well on those slowish West Indian tracks.

West Indies

Lead by a man who has openly admitted his preference for T20 cricket over Test cricket, West Indies playing at home will most definitely be a force to be reckoned with and one of the key favourites.

This is a format of the game that the West Indian players enjoy very much and they have the kind of players that could take them to the knock out stages of the tournament (as they did in 2009) this time around as well. I was one of the many who believed that the Mumbai Indians paid way too much to acquire Kieron Pollard during the IPL auctions early this year, but to their credit both the Mumbai Indians and Pollard himself have proved doubters like me wrong. Pollard in the few opportunities that he has got to showcase his skills had done what was required from him and his match winning performance in the semi-final alone may have justified the hype and the demand for the big West Indian all rounder in the IPL.

Kemar Roch (another big signing in the IPL auctions) has spent most of his time with the Deccan Chargers on the bench but I expect him to be a key player for the West Indies during the T20 World Cup. Dwayne Bravo has not been at his best of late and the West Indian fans will be hoping that Bravo gets it right during the world cup.

Sri Lanka

After a dismal showing in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007, the Sri Lankans lead by their new skipper Kumar Sangakkara (who was on his first assignment as Sri Lankan Captain) in 2009 emerged unscathed from the group of death (which also included Australia and the West Indies) and eased into the final of the competition at Lords, unbeaten. In the final against Pakistan, the Sri Lankan batting fell apart and Captain Kumar Sangakkara was the last man standing, battling for his Country on his own while his team-mates capitulated in a big final and fell like nine pins around him. The all round brilliance of Shahid Afridi in the final forced Sri Lanka to finish second best on the day while Pakistan deservedly were crowned as the T20 World Champions.

The poor form of Tilekaratne Dilshan (the player of the tournament in 2009) will be a major concern as Sri Lanka of late have repeatedly looked to Dilshan to provide them with the early impetus by giving them good starts. Mahela Jayawardena, after his prolific run as an opener for Wayamba in the Sri Lankan domestic T20 tournament and for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, will most certainly open the batting with Dilshan. The good form of Captain Sangakkara and former captain Jayawardena and talented all rounder Angelo Mathews is good news for Sri Lanka. In the bowling front, Lasith Malinga has without a shadow of doubt been the IPL’s (all three seasons put together) number 1 fast bowler having picked up 33 wickets in 25 matches at an econ rate of 6.59 which is incredible for a man who bowls inside the power plays and in the death overs. Malinga’s numbers are even better than that of Dirk Nannes who has in my opinion been the other stand out fast bowler in the IPL’s first three seasons. The Sri Lankans will be hoping that Malinga continues his wicket taking form during the T20 World Cup in the West Indies a place where Malinga famously picked up his double hatric in the 2007 World Cup match against the South Africans and came perilously close to picking up 5 wickets in 5 balls and turning a match that was well and truly lost to the most unlikeliest of wins in cricket history.

Sping wizard Muttiah Muralitheran has also been in good form and should do well for Sri Lanka in the West Indies.
To be a successful in T20 cricket a team must have batsmen who are capable of clearing the ropes at will and this is where Sri Lanka will be found wanting. The lack of power hitters in their middle order and lower middle order will be a huge problem for Sri Lanka, more so due to the poor form of Dilshan at the top of the order.

New Zealand

Another team that has consistently performed well in the shorter formats of the game but have failed to go the distance despite their good showing in the early stages of the tournament.

Semi-finalists in the 2007 World Cup, also played in the West Indies and finalists of the 2009 Champions trophy, Daniel Vettori’s men will be hoping to go one step further and get their hands on a World Cup for the first time. In McCullum, Taylor and Ryder the Kiwis have in their ranks the kind of power players to be successful in this format of the game. However, Ryder is coming back after a long injury lay off and neither McCullum or Taylor set the world on fire during their time in the IPL with their respective franchises. Jacob Oram is another player who is returning to the side after a long injury lay off as well. During the domestic T20 competition in New Zealand, Vettori often batted at number 3 for Northern districts and did a great job for his team and therefore to say that this New Zealand team has great batting depth would be an understatement.

As far as their bowling is concerned, Shane Bond in my opinion is in the best physical shape that I have seen him in and he is bowling close to his best (if not at his best) at the moment and this augurs well for the Kiwis as far as their chances in the T20 World Cup is concerned.

England

The inventors of this format of the game and also the inventors of the game itself have failed thus far to lay their hands on a major ICC World Cup and that must be most disappointing for them. Quite frankly I don’t see Paul Collingwood’s team changing that rather hopeless record in the coming weeks in the Caribbean.

The good form of their skipper Collingwood and their top batsman Kevin Pietersen is good news for the England camp. Michael Lumb and Ravi Bopara started off strongly for their respective franchises in the IPL but faded away during the back end of the tournament. Eoin Morgan never really got going in the IPL and eventually lost his place in a side which had so many quality international players to choose from. There is no doubt that an England team inclusive of a fit and in form Andrew Flintoff would have been a major contender for the tournament and there is no question that he will be missed by them. Graeme Swann has been England’s key spinner of late and it will be interesting to see how he goes for them in the West Indies.

In conclusion, it would be fair to say that smart money will no doubt be on India to win the T20 World Cup in the West Indies, with minimum fuss. Such is the strength of their line up. Pakistan can never be ruled out as on their day they are a mercurial side and they will be eager to put to rest all the controversies on and off the field by winning the tournament. The West Indians disappointed their home fans in 2007 and will be keen to get it right this time. Last but not least, watch out for the Australians who have won just about everything else but have failed miserably in this format and more precisely in this tournament and will be determined to put that record right.

Mike Brearley, Imran Khan, Steve Waugh, Arjuna Ranatunga and Sourav Ganguly were men who were considered as great leaders to come out of their respective nations. Then there were others like Nasser Hussain, Stephen Fleming, Michael Vaughan and Mahela Jayawardena who were also considered to be very good captains.

But what is, or more importantly what should be the standard by which the quality of leadership in the cricketing world be measured? Is it the number of wins a skipper leads his team to coupled with his own consistent performance and his ability to bring out the best in his team-mates? Should we also take into account the quality of the sides that these leaders have had to lead as after all they say that a captain is only as good as his team. Should we also take into account the timing as to when these leaders took over the leadership of their respective teams by that I mean did they take over the leadership when their team was strong and on the way up or did they take over the leadership when their team was weak and on the way down?

All of the above factors in fact every single one of them are mighty important when analyzing the efficiency, quality and impact of a Captain on his team.

I believe without a shadow of doubt that Imran Khan and Arjuna Ranatunga are two of the best ever Captains to have graced the game of cricket simply because they had it in them to create World beaters out of teams that were known for its volatility and inconsistency. Both Imran and Arjuna instilled in their respective teams the self belief and the will to win against all odds and that is why to me, in the time frame that I have followed the game, Imran and Arjun are way ahead of the pack. It was only fitting that these two charismatic cricketing leaders of their respective nations were also involved in the final act that brought their respective teams their greatest cricketing achievement. While Imran accounted for the last English wicket that sealed Pakistan’s triumph in the 1992 World Cup final, Arjuna Ranatunga performed the last rights on the much fancied Australian team by hitting the winning runs 4 years later in the 1996 World Cup final. What has to be highlighted here is the fact that Arjuna Ranatunga managed to lead Sri Lanka to a World Cup win when Sri Lanka was still considered to be a minnow in the cricketing world having played their 1st ever Test match only 14 years before that.

Imran Khan celebrates taking the final English wicket as Pakistan clinch their first World Cup, Final: England v Pakistan, Benson & Hedges World Cup, Melbourne, March 25, 1992.

Sri Lanka win the World Cup, Final, Australia v Sri Lanka, Wills World Cup, Lahore, March 17, 1996

I never saw Mike Brearley Captain England but having read extensively about him, it is not entirely a surprise that Brearley is considered by many to be one of the best (if not the best) Captain the world of cricket has ever seen. Brearley lead England in 31 Tests, winning 17 of them and losing 4. His own performance during his time as Captain was nothing really to write home about as he averaged a dismal 22 with the bat. Former Australian fast bowler Rodney Hogg once described Brearley as a “man with a degree in people” Such was Brearley’s perceived man management skills. I believe that most of what is made of about Brearley’s man management skills was further enhanced as a result of what he managed to accomplish during the Ashes series in 1981. Brearley had already been replaced by Botham as the Captain of the England team in 1980 but Botham’s horrendous winless run as Captain coupled with his own form declining at a rapid pace, made the England all rounder relinquish the captaincy just prior to the start of the 3rd Ashes Test in that 1981 series. This paved the way for Brearley to return as Captain for that famous Headingly Ashes Test match in 1981. The sudden rise of Botham from zero to hero in that Test match and the remaining 3 matches to follow in that series which England went on to win 3-1 was largely attributed to Brearley’s ability to bring the best out of Ian Botham who was down in the dumps after the 2nd Test. As we all know there is nothing bigger for the English as far as cricket is concerned than the Ashes and Brearley’s stupendous achievement during a triumphant ashes series predictably earned him the tag of the greatest captain the cricketing world had ever seen.

Moving on to Australia, Steve Waugh took over a well settled Australian team which was overflowing with incredible talent. Despite this Steve Waugh over the years earned the reputation of being a hardnosed leader who was never shy to demonstrate his in your face type of leadership that took Australian cricket to a different level. Waugh’s aggressive style of leadership where he enjoyed the process of mentally disintegrating his opponents, became infectious within the Aussie ranks and it showed in the way they approached the game itself and suddenly we entered an era where a run rate of 4 per over in Test cricket came into being and the Australians were the pioneers of it. Waugh was a gutsy cricketer who played his cricket and lead his team fearlessly. His battles with Curtley Ambrose were legendary and his ‘ugly hundred’ in an ashes test in Sydney when horribly out of form and both his captaincy and his place in the side were on the line, personified what Steve Waugh was all about, a man who truly relished the prospect of performing under immense pressure.

Waugh’s successor Ricky Ponting in my opinion was nothing special as a leader especially in his early years as Captain of Australia. While Ponting remained incredibly consistent with the bat in all formats of the game, the success that his team had between 2004 and 2007 largely came thanks to Ponting’s team having all time greats such as McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist, Hayden and Langer who were at the top of their game and helped the Aussies steam roll past every side that they came up against. I must confess though that my respect for Ricky Ponting the Captain has grown leaps and bounds after watching him lead an Australian team sans their legends mentioned above, particularly in the last 12 to 18 months. Ponting has come out of the shadows of riding on the deeds of his legendary players and has finally shown that he is a wonderful leader as well and has managed to galvanise a group of young Australian cricketers and lead them in an exemplary manner. Australia’s Test series win in South Africa in early 2009 followed by their ODI series win against India in September of 2009 were both high points in Ponting’s career as Captain of Australia. In my opinion this is what leadership is all about, the ability to lead from the front with your own performance and convert average players to match winners and win against teams even without the contributions of your proven match winners. Such leaders are the ones that all teams would like to have at the helm.

Mohammed Azharuddin brought about a winning culture and attitude to Team India and went on to become one of the most successful Captains India ever had. That is of course before Sourav Ganguly took over the leadership of Team India. Despite the fact that a majority of Azharuddin’s wins as Captain came at home, India managed to win a bit more consistently under his leadership. If Mike Brearley was one of the best Captains the cricket world had ever seen, then Sachin Tendulkar will go down as one of the worst Captains that cricket world had ever seen. While Tendulkar has been, is and always will be an incomparable genius when it comes to batting, his Captaincy period was shockingly abysmal. Tendulkar lead India in 25 Tests and won just 4 (a 16% winning record) of them and lost 9 while the remaining 12 Tests were drawn affairs. He also lead India in 73 ODIs and won 23 of them and lost 43 matches. Despite his colossal failure as a Captain, there is no question that Tendulkar, as the modern game’s greatest batsman went on to handsomely contribute towards the success of all of his Captains.

Sourav Ganguly’s tenure as Captain of India was perhaps the period in which Indian cricket changed for the better and Team India’s journey to become the best team in the world (which they currently are) began around this time and by the time Ganguly was unceremoniously dumped as the skipper of the team back in 2005 the journey to become number 1 was 75% completed. Such was the impact of Ganguly’s leadership on the team. He became the first captain (during that phase where the Aussies dominated world cricket) to lead a team to Australia and come out with a dominant series draw in 2003/2004 which should in effect be considered a series win as at that time every team that toured Australia were not just beaten in every game but humiliated as well. While that series will be remembered for the heroics of Dravid, Sehwag, Laxman and Tendulkar the man who really set the tone and stamped his and his team’s authority on the series was the Captain Ganguly himself with a magnificent hundred in the 1st Test of the series. Under the inspiring leadership of Ganguly the Indian team finally began to believe that they are perfectly capable of beating the very best of teams away from home as well.

Sourav Ganguly celebrates his hundred, Australia v India, first Test, Brisbane, December 2004

I find the mere notion that Stephen Fleming was a top Captain to be rather baffling and a tad confusing. He lead New Zealand in 80 Tests and won only 28 of them (A win percentage of 35) and of those 28 wins 20 (71%) were against lesser teams like Zimbabwe (6) WI (5) SL (5) and BD (4). Fleming’s record as an ODI skipper was far more successful winning 98 of the 218 matches that he lead the black caps giving him a 44% win percentage.

Mahala Jayawardena will go down in Sri Lankan cricket history as it’s most successful Captain since Arjuna Rantunga. The team under his leadership won consistently in Test cricket and did very well in ODIs as well reaching the final of the 2007 World Cup. Jayawardena like MS Dhoni is a very cool headed leader but his brain usually ticks at a rapid pace. There is no question that Jayawardena was fortunate to have Tom Moody as head coach of Sri Lanka during his time as Captain and also had the luxury of calling on the services of Sri Lanka’s perennial match winners like Muralitheran, Vass and Jayasuriya who were at the top of their respective games at the time. Jayawardena lead the team from the front in an exemplary manner averaging well over 60 with the bat in Test cricket when leading the side. Jayawardena’s debacle as a Captain began to set in after the 2007 World Cup final and not surprisingly it also coincided with the departure of Tom Moody as coach and the deteriorating form of his three key match winners in, Vass, Muralitheran and Jayasuriya who had been instrumental in making him the successful captain that he indeed was.

Looking at those who are leading their respective nations today, I would say that Graeme Smith of South Africa stands head and shoulders above the rest as the best Captain in World cricket. He was handed over the leadership of the team in 2003 when South Africa were still reeling from their infamous World Cup exit at home and since then Smith has lead his team admirably through the ups and downs of South African cricket, and has lead the team from the front and has confirmed his position as the best Captain in the game today. As mentioned earlier Ricky Ponting has also finally proved his credentials as a leader after finally coming out of the shadow and success of his legendary match winners like McGrath, Warne, Gilly, Hayden and Langer and has proved that he has what it takes to win without those guys.

MS Dhoni as we all know is a very cool headed skipper and why not particularly when you have the luxury of leading such colossal talent like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. Incidentally all of these guys made their international debut for India long before the world knew of the existence of MS Dhoni. Such is the incredible match winning talent and settled nature of this Indian team that MS Dhoni was lucky to inherit and lead. Dhoni’s credentials and quality as a Captain would be tested once these guys who have and still are winning matches for him day in and day out decide to leave the game. I will make an informed judgement of Dhoni’s credentials as a skipper at that time. The one rare occasion in which Dhoni came under pressure as a Captain during the 2009 T20 World Cup which India came into as a clear favourite and as defending champions only to leave having secured an unconvincing win against Bangladesh and a rather comfortable win against Ireland, Dhoni not only failed on the field to galvanise his players but also failed off the field in the way he conducted himself in the face of the normal pressures faced by losing captains from the media which included stories about alleged rifts in the side between the Captain and a senior player.

Given the above it will be interesting to see how Dhoni as Captain leads an Indian team in tough times when in transition once their greats retire. This is of course if Dhoni opts to remain as the Captain of the side and takes on the challenge of re-building his team and leading them through the stormy waters of transition. He could always opt to hand over the arduous task of leading an Indian team in transition to someone else and let them take all the flack that comes with it from the usually unforgiving and impatient fans and media.

Andrew Strauss and Kumar Sangakkara are still relatively new to the job of leading their respective teams and it might still be a tad early to make an informed judgement on their leadership abilities. However, during their short stints as Captain both Strauss and Sangakkara have shown that they have what it takes to become good leaders of their respective teams. Strauss lead England to an ashes win and then went on to lead an England team that did very well in South Africa. Kumar Sangakkara, took over the leadership of the Sri Lankan team when it was down in the dumps. Vass, Muralitheran and Jayasuriya were no more the match winning force that they had been for Sri Lanka for years and years. Sangakkara had the thankless and arduous task of leading a side going through a transition and a re-building phase. In amongst his new and young players he had to unearth the next set of match winners for Sri Lanka in the years to come and has done a wonderful job thus far in that regard. In his 1st eight months as Captain of the national team Sangakkara went on to lead his team to the T20 World Cup final (unbeaten) in 2009 despite being placed in the group of death along with Australia and the West Indies. He then went on to do what no former Sri Lankan Captain since the days of Ranatunga had been able to do and that is win a Test series without Muralitheran, Vass and Jayasuriya and also win a one day tournament without them as well. Sangakkara did the latter with virtually a Sri Lankan club team and brought the almighty Indians down to the ground. As Captain he lead a bunch of young and inexperienced Sri Lankan club cricketers from the front and ended up being the Man of the Series of that tournament as well.

Angelo Mathews, Thilan Thushara, Rangana Herath, Chanaka Welegedara, Thilina Kandamby and so on made their debut long before Sangakkara took over the leadership but for some reason never really performed to potential. In came Sangakkara as skipper of the side and instilled self-belief and confidence in all of these guys and suddenly these average cricketers started to perform like match winners and were winning matches, tournaments and Test series for Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka’s very first match in the T20 World Cup against Australia in 2009, Sangakkara shocked everyone when he gave the new ball to a little known Angelo Mathews. This move by Sangakkara obviously told Mathews that his Captain has tremendous faith in his abilities and that spurred him on to perform even better. Mathews had the daunting prospect of bowling to the destructive David Warner and went on to get Warner’s wicket in his very first over and the rest as far as Angelo’s career graph from that moment on is concerned is indeed history.

Leaders, be it in cricket or any other aspect of life will encounter situations where they will be forced to rise to the occasion against staggering odds and carry their troops with them and go on to achieve what was deemed impossible. Imran Khan, Arjuna Ranatunga and Sourav Ganguly are three leaders in the World of cricket who did exactly that. Time will tell us as to who among the current set of cricket captains have it in them to emulate the heroic deeds of the three illustrious Captains mentioned above.

A blog by Incredible Shoaib who posts on http://www.worldofcricket.net/phpBB3/index.php

Young Piyush Chawla put down a high ball from Chris Gayle which got Ganguly (A very serious kind of bloke who hardly smiles) in a fit of laughter along with his KKR colleagues in their team dug out.

Not so long after the above, Murali Karthik of KKR accounted for the wicket of Kings XI opener, the young Manvinder Bisla and then followed it up with a needless bout of sarcastic clapping and a filthy send off.

Within the next 30 to 45 mnts everything went pear shape for KKR and the man who clapped sarcastically put down a dolly of a catch offered by Kings XI centurion Mahela Jayawardena when he was on 51 and the man who laughed hysterically after Chawla had dropped a catch earlier in the evening was laughing no more and instead was seen yelling at the man who clapped sarcastically while he lay on the ground contemplating the fact that he may have not only dropped the catch and with it the match but also KKR’s chances of making it to the Semi Final of the IPL 2010. No wonder they say that the game of cricket is a great leveller!

At the end of the match there was only one man laughing the loudest and that man rather fittingly was young Piyush Chawla while others who laughed at him from the KKR dug out earlier in the day were busy sulking.

Elsewhere in the IPL, Virat Kohli (considered by some to be a future Indian Captain) took a straight forward catch at long on in the game against Delhi in Delhi (Kohli’s home town I believe) and then showed the middle finger to the crowd that was behind him. Of course when Kohli returned to his fielding position he was deservedly greeted with a few objects that were thrown at him by the crowd. I for one hope that a few of those objects did hit his head and hopefully would have brought him back to his senses and in future will make him concentrate more on his game rather than his hair or Katrina Kaif for that matter and take a leaf out of the book of his illustrious Team India seniors like Tendulkar, Dravid and so on and remain grounded and work hard to realize his immense potential for the greater good of Indian cricket.

Gautam Gambhir had always come cross to me as this very simple and hard working cricketer who lets his bat do the talking and his shoulders do the shoving (every now and then). Hence, the reason as to why I was shocked when I heard Gambhir disrespect and put down the Rajasthan Royals team at the post match presentation after his Delhi side secured a fairly comfortable win over Shane Warne’s team a few days ago. There is nothing wrong in indulging in mind games and trading punches prior to the start of the game (like Viru did to Bangladesh before the start of the Test match). But to run a team down like that especially after you have beaten them is in poor taste and not to mention very poor sportsmanship Mr. Gambhir!

I would still put the above down to a moment where Gambhir’s brain went to sleep. Gautam Gambhir is a very level headed young man and a brilliant cricketer and hopefully we won’t hear him rattle off like he did at the post match presentation mentioned above.

A blog by Incredible Shoaib who posts on

http://www.worldofcricket.net/phpBB3/index.php