Why One Day Cricket will survive … and Thrive

It has become di riguer of late to lament the decline of ODI cricket and herald Twenty20 as the unstoppable David that will eventually slay the ODI Goliath. This week on the eve of the Champions Trophy the ICC has been struggling to convince all and sundry that ODI cricket is still in good shape. But the crickets governing body must also take the blame for creating the Frankensteinian monster that Twenty20 has become. Thanks to the ICC’s poor scheduling there will be 3 editions of the Twenty20 World Cup between the 2007 and 2011 ODI World Cups. Add to these 3 seasons of the blockbuster IPL and you can see why Twenty20 now has more top of mind recall for most cricket fans.

However not all voices speaking on ODI crickets future this week have been sounding the death knell, with outspoken Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh one of those coming out in support of the format. This disparity in opinion between voices within and outside the subcontinent is mostly likely due to the variance in the way cricket sits within sporting calendars in different nations. Cricket is a year-round phenomenon in the sub continental countries while in countries like Australia it has a narrow home season sandwiched between seasons of other popular sports like Rugby League, AFL and Racing. For the rest of the year cricket is a forgotten sport when Australia plays overseas, unless the contest is the Ashes or the Border Gavaskar trophy against India. As a result for the South African or Australian cricket fan it makes little difference if the handful of home ODIs gets replaced by Twenty20 matches with the added incentive of seeing international players like Andrew Flintoff in action.

By contrast for the sub continental fan cricket is a staple he can never switch off from. It is this obsession that sees him following the national team’s fortunes and live scores irrespective of the time of day the game is played. This devotion is absolute and lifelong, regardless if he’s an expatriate living thousands of miles away from the action in his native land. The cricket boards themselves have been overzealous never missing an opportunity to schedule an ODI tournament in narrow breaks between exhausting series. This is largely due to the current BCCI regimes greed in trying to maximize as much as possible from ground and TV rights and the need to strengthen its vote banks by obliging its neighbours and Associate countries with hastily scheduled tours.

In summary, despite the valid questions about the necessity for 2 short versions of the game the volume of ODI cricket is unlikely to reduce in the near future as long as there is fan support and marketing dollars to sustain it. With the Indian team playing so well under Mahendra Singh Dhoni such an occurrence is unlikely anytime soon.

India within reach of ODI Ranking Summit

Two years on from their humiliating exit from the World Cup 2007, India find themselves sniffing at the ODI top spot having had a quick 24 hour stay just days ago. Both administrators and players must be commended for the impressive rebound in the teams performances since the Carribean debacle. India's ascent has been forged on three planks: a refreshing change in leadership (coach/captain), an infusion of youth and to the detriment of opposition teams the renewed vigour of Sachin Tendulkar. Where the current No.1 South Africa is a collection of dour robot-like performers, India are a team with colour, flair and youthful exuberance. Most importantly at a time when long eulogies are being written about the futue of the 50 over game, India alone pack the charisma and following to pull in crowds wherever they travel. Combining the experience of the Tendulkars, Sehwags and Harbhajans with the exuberance of Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina this Indian team is a now a world-beater in all conditions. Previously a side dependent heavily on its batting to win matches, the side now has multiple match winners in its playing 11 as underlined by Harbhajan last night in the Compaq Cup final.

A look at the numbers since the last World Cup has India winning 44 out of 72 for a win/loss ratio of 1.91 while the current No.1 South Africa has won 29 out of 43 for a ratio of 2.41. Since Apr 2007, the 2 teams have met in only one tournament the Futures Cup in May 2007, with India winning 2 of 3 enroute to winning the title. If we compare performances against the dominant team of the decade Australia, South Africa hold a better 7/3 record while India have a more even 5/6 record against Australia. Only 10 of the 44 wins have come at home with a better W/L record overseas 1.92 than at home 1.66, and have also won 3/5 matches in tournament finals to improve upon their woeful record in the last stages.

Flattering as the stats are they do camouflage weaknesses like an inability to win finals without a significant Sachin contribution and deplorable ground fielding despite the abundance of youth. The decline of Australia raises hope that a subcontinental team may finally go one better after 3 being runners-up in the last 3 editions. Based on the evidence of of numbers and talent, India will certainly be the popular and experts pick to win when the World Cup comes home in 2011.

Why women need to know (more) about Cricket

..So the wretched cricket world Cup has ended but if all you women think the worst is over, you are mistaken. For though India crashed out early, the coach of the neighbouring country got murdered and we got beaten by two minuscle neighbours, I can guarantee your partners, fathers and boyfriends will be infront of the idiot box again come the next series. The unfortunate incident of Mandira Bedi defaming the Indian flag once again lowered the already dim perception of the average Indian woman's cricketing acumen. So how do you beat them at their own game. Well for starters educate yourself on the finer nuances of the game. Learn the fielding positions, arm yourself with stats and most importantly pick a team other than India to infuriate your partners. I'm not suggesting you switch allegiances forever but if you had picked a team like SriLanka before the World Cup that would have shamed your male counterpart's armchair predictions. Most men regurgitate borrowed knowledge they pick up from cricinfo and rediff cricket channel. But being primitive, they lack the brain power to sift through data the way women are more equipped to do. While India has a few quality journalists like Sonali Chander (NDTV), Sharda Ugra (India Today) and Kadambari Murali (Hindustan Times), this list needs to be substantially longer. Surely if Indian television can accommodate the likes of Chetan Sharma, Madan Lal and Kris Srikkanth, a few beautiful and intelligent women with a fresh perspective couldn't fare much worse. So good luck with your endeavours ...in the meanwhile I will go back to my favourite issue of Maxim and study Mandira Bedi's views on cricket.

Why SriLanka Must Win The World Cup

Two years ago I was lucky enough to spend a fortnight in Colombo and Dambulla during a triangular in the Emerald Island closely observing the start of SriLankan crickets revival under their new coach Tom Moody. That tournament victory sparked an enthralling run by the SriLankans that has taken them back to the cricket World Cup final, one game away from usurping the old enemy Australia again. So just why is it more important for SriLanka to win than for Australia to complete crickets first World Cup treble. Some may accuse me of a sub continental and personal bias having long since adopted SriLanka as my honorary second nation. But biases aside ... Cricket desperately needs a new champion team, one that can rule for the next four years, winning on the field but also bringing in new audiences to the game. One suspects that Australia with their all conquering stint and tasteless sledging seemed to turn off both purists and casual spectators - many tired of their one sided conquests and boorish on-field behaviour. In any case Australia have won the World Cup prize twice and a loss in their third final will not diminish but only add to their legend just as Bjorn Borg's loss did in his last Wimbledon final. While South Asian teams have reached the final in the last 4 editions they have suffered embarassing losses to Australia the last two times. If Srilanka goes on to win on Saturday, slaying the Australian dragon it will go a long way in restoring some subcontinental pride. Finally SriLanka must win because that beautiful nation and its ever smiling inhabitants deserve a bit of providence and success on the cricketing field where they come to forget the strife that frequently engulfs their tiny nation. Not only will Jayawardene's Army be perfect ambassadors for the game, rest assured they will be far more well behaved than their predecessors as a certain Mr.Sharad Pawar will testify. Come April 28, I hope Percy that undoubted talismanic figure and enigmatic #1 fan of SriLankan cricket will be all celebratory smiles and holding aloft his SriLankan flag with pride.

India exit cricket World Cup

In an anti-climatic end, the Indian team has crashed out out of the Cricket World Cup. A team that until a year ago was being touted as the only one capable of overcoming Australia, lost easily to its two smaller neighours SriLanka and Bangladesh. As a young kid, I watched Arjuna Ranatunga adopt defensive tactics in game after game as he knew his team was no match for India's might. A decade later the same team now erupts with glee everytime they force a collapse and usurp their bigger neighbours in a crunch game. As an Indian fan, the lingering memory will not be the loss to Bangladesh as will be the sight of my heroes from a decade ago struggle against inexperienced bowlers who weren't even playing cricket when India were in the finals of the last World Cup. To see bowlers like Mortaza, Asif and Malinga regularly castle Sachin Tendulkar's middle stump is deflating to the morale. Starting late 2005, this team had broken new ground and given hope of a stronger mental mindset if not a second World Cup trophy. A 17-match voctory streak while chasing, the discovery of a genuine all-rounder in Irfan Pathan, the appointment of legendary Greg Chappell as coach all gave rise to visions of a new meaner Indian team winning more than in the past. Alas it seems, that ever present Indian fraility to crumble in crunch situations proved to be the weak link. Perhaps we should be picking players who measure up on this parameter rather than on pure runs volume in our meaningless domestic tournament.