DOWN and UNDER

I have always followed the BOXING day test match since I was young either on radio, TV or the internet .  The occasion demanded that it be followed I thought .  When 90K people gather for an event in a  single place, cricket becomes an afterthought on the first day and takes centrestage as the test match progresses to Day 2.   Honestly I thought that BOXING day related to the sport and when my dad asked me to look at the dictionary, the connection to Christmas was learnt.

Test matches linked to domestic festivities are nothing new ,  the Pongal test match at Chepauk or the new year test match at Sydney but when you are up early in the morning to get the first bite of the action,  the feeling is different and with India playing  it adds more spice to the occasion. 

The fixtures of India’s current tour of Australia feature the BOXING day as the first test match unlike earlier when we always started with the Gabba and moved on getting acclimatised to the conditions down under.   Indian cricketers are never known to be good travellers and normally we are the receiving end in the first test  unless there is a spark from the captain in doing something different where the opposition is caught unawares.  

Avid watchers like me would say India would lose Melbourne, win Sydney , lose Perth and draw or win at Adelaide either finishing all square or losing the series 2-1.   But  there is hope in the air for India since Australia and India both are teams searching for consistency and form,  Australia in their veterans and India in their youth and normally you expect the youth to up the ante and deliver whereas the old would fade away.  Australia has never been as brittle as this ever since Kim Hughes took over and the greats like Lillee , Thommo and Marsh retired.   Their bowling is lacking the spark to roll the opposition over even in friendly surfaces and the batting is not up to scratch in swinging conditions. 

India however shouldn’t forget that Australia is at home and have never been outplayed by India in a full test series though the character of the wickets in Australia has changed tremendously over the years with spinners having a fair say in the results.  The fab-3 ( down from 4 after Dada retired ) are on their last weary legs and the bowling is heaving dependent on Zaheer to make the early inroads.  The length to be bowled would be shorter than subcontinent and the ability to master the Kookabura would be key.  The fitness of the team would be tested with bigger grounds and the ability to throw from the deep ends in MCG and Adelaide. 
My predictions  with fingers crossed

MCG -> India draw/lose, SCG -> India win , Perth -> India lose, Adelaide -> India win

Pray that I would be proved wrong in the case of MCG and that really sets up and Indian series win.   Hope the weather stays fair and rain is only heard of and  not felt,  Remember the heartbreak of 1985, when rain washed out the last day. 

Short Waves

Cricket has always been a passion  whether playing , listening , watching or reading about it.   Was recently listening to test match special on the BBC being streamed on the internet .  It took me back many years when you could only get a glimpse of the action on the field by listening to the commentators  on the radio describing it in vivid detail.  The rest of the cricketing action was completed by reading the report in “ THE HINDU’  next day .

The earliest I listened to a test match which I can recollect is the 80s when you heard Anand Setalvad on the radio.  His voice was pleasing and distinctly Indian and ideally suited for a broadcast on All India Radio. But the charm of hearing the British and the Australian broadcasters was different.  Native English speakers could do immense justice to the language and their use of niche words gave the match a new meaning.  In fact even when DD started showing matches , many of the cricket telecasts were incomplete , interrupted by news broadcasts if you belong to non metro cities and this made me often resort to radio broadcasts as the only way of keeping in touch with my favourite game. 

Some matches which I remember listening were actually test matches played over 5 long days , India’s tour of Australia in 1980 (where you had  an injured Kapil Dev running in to bowl at Melbourne with very little to play and India winning despite a very good Australian batting order),   India’s tour of West Indies before the World cup ’83 ( even radio commentary was deferred and broadcast at a time convenient for Indians and a lot of people used to tune in to listen to it ), the Berbice one dayer which was the stepping stone of belief for Kapil’s Devils . While it was listening to a young Tony Cozier from the West Indies  in the dead of the night ,  Radio Australia early in the morning or the  BBC’s test match special team in the late evening, they all  made it a special treat though many of the matches were not featuring India.  It was a great feeling to switch on the radio either in the early hours of the morning or late in the night , sleeping , suddenly waking up when a wicket fell.  The description of the field placings , the stands , the weather all made  the match worth remembering for a long time to come and anything but dreary.

Today we keep in touch with cricket through cricinfo where the commentary is typed in by people taking turns watching TV which still it doesn’t give you a lucid account of what a radio commentator would give any time.  Perspectives , expert opinions are all extra either before the match or after the event and the commentators on TV are less verbose and restrained by the audience’s ability to see what is happening on the field.    Technology has changed so much that internet and TV have contributed to the death of the radio but if you have listened to a radio broadcast of a test match which ended in a tie you would probably fish out your old radios from the old trunks and tune in to Radio Australia or a BBC who make the test matches truly SPECIAL !!

Identity Crisis

The premier Indian tournament is here and after the World Cup excitement, the Indian Premier League has appeared to have lost some of its charm.   Watching the 4th edition is like watching a sequel to Mad Max which doesn't feature the original actors in their usual roles but different people with similar looks.  As in sequels, the interest is considerably reduced and it requires much more than plain acting ( playing in this case ) to make it attract attention.

BCCI has contributed to the event negatively by scheduling it just after the World Cup and India winning it didn't help matters either.  Some franchisees have also chopped and retained players to get a winning combination by forsaking the identity of the team with their loyal fans.  Giving a discount on the merchandise , reducing ticket prices does not necessarily guarantee that a KKR fan will not miss Sourav and come and watch the revitalised team. The others are more loyal to the game or the following they bring in and have  retained their top draws.   Still I am yet to see a fully packed stadium and definitely the numbers in the stadium will be better than the viewers on TV.

I seriously have a problem associating myself with any of the teams in IPL, having been born in Hyderabad ( Deccan Chargers ),  spent early childhood in Kochi ( Tuskers :(  ) ,speak Tamil ( CSK ), educated in Pilani for 6 long years ( Royals ?) ,worked in Delhi and Bangalore ( Daredevils or RCB ).  That leaves me only with 4 teams for whom my support  doesn't count at all.  Both at home ( my daughter supports MI, my wife  despises the antics of KKR Shahrukh Khan and is in awe of KXIP's Preity Zinta's costumes ) and anywhere in India ( 1 million of them would anyway  be Sachin fans ) ,  I would be a minority counting for little like the Indian middle class.  The World Cup had the best players of the countries and here you have a minimum 70 Indian state players who are still yet to sort out a Malinga or Warne.  The DLF maximums and Karbonn Kamaal catches are sensationalised branded outcomes of  normal cricketing events.  The commentators try to generate interest by crying hoarse for every single taken and the cameras showing filmstars have made it a movie where cricket is just an incidental thing.

Neverthless the game still enthralls the die hard despite the bowler being reduced to a " Thanks for coming" kind of role.  The pitches have slowed down and the ball not coming on to the bat make it more a mental thing and adjustments and recalibration are required in the middle of the innings to get to some total which you can defend.  This is where a cricketer like Tendulkar or Mahela's cool head counts and many a time the chase has not  been timed to perfection and results in a negative result. Slower bouncers, scoop shots are all played and these are the take aways from the IPL to the 50 over game.  Whether it has contributed to the global reach of the game, time will tell and definitely the game is vastly different from what it was and guess I have to to change to keep up with the times.

Last Step that Counts

The World cup is well and truly over and as expected India , the favourites won .  As history suggests, it is easy to be underdogs and surpass expectations than to be a favourite and win.    This is not to deny the credit where it is due, in '83 when India were not expected to win a single match and won the cup.  The matches were played in alien conditions in front of few diehard fans who wanted to have a glimpse of their famous heroes in test cricket rather than ODIs.  There was hardly any expectation at home even when India reached the final, when they were expected to be thrashed by the mighty West Indies.  Hopes had evaporated during the half way mark in the final and nothing short of Kapil Dev dare devilry and inspiration could help them resurrect themselves which they did.

Though it is easy to compare the 83 win and the 2011 win, it would be more pertinent to compare the win against the closest India came to winning in 1987 and 2003 ( one at home and the other away).  India in 1987 , was the host and had the advantage of playing all their matches at home in an easier group.  In the semi final , they bowled first and conceded around 250 in the same ground and made heavy weather of the chase and eventually lost. Most batsmen played a shot too many whereas in 2003, India were on a match winning spree after the loss against Australia and came up against Australia in the final.  Strange selections of winning the toss and bowling first accompanied by the selection of Dinesh Mongia over Anil Kumble hurt India from the first over which Zaheer bowled.  India were chasing the dream from the first over and true to the script and contrary to million Indian hopes , Australia won emphatically.  

A few characteristics are unique to the eventual winner and while Australia had this in the previous editions, India had it in this one. The captain is as good as his team is the popular saying but the difference that a captain makes in crunch situations determines whether a side is on the winning side.    Dhoni is not one of the stereotypes , he is not like the previous world cup captains : the mercurial Kapil , reticent Azhar, process driven Dravid or the finicky Sourav.   He is one who combines all these virtues or deficiencies in one soul with a balance unseen till date from an Indian skipper.   He is blessed to have an allround skill of wicketkeeping and batting and being a keeper has a significant advantage of watching the action straight on rather than side on where you can guage the line and length of the bowlers effeciently.  Also on the lighter side , wearing a helmet and glasses conceals the pressure and reveals less to his opponents and his players about his state of mind which  has soaked up the pressure and sweat in equal measure.

He imparts belief in his team mates that causes are not lost the moment your opponent is going hammer and tongs at you and there is always a light at the end of the tunnel albeit a dimmer one.    A year ago in the IPL, one of my colleagues who has always been a fan of Dhoni remarked that he could pull CSK out of the dumps midway through the second season and he did at Dharmashala when it mattered most.  A similar situation was on offer in the final this time and he again promoted himself ,stuck to his task till the end and finished it with a flourish that would immortalise him in the annals of Indian cricket history. 

India are the World Champions today ,  the six of the last ball would find an equal footing with the Kapil catch of Richards and the world recognises and believes that India are the ruthless Australia of the late 90s.  Watching the World Cup from 1983 ,  I have also been a tiny part of the journey watching and supporting the Indian cause and this team has given me everlasting tears of joy and hope that we are emerging as a superpower in cricket atleast !!

Last but One !!

The semi finals match ups have been decided and though we have 3 sub continental teams which were predicted by many before the WC , few would have expected New Zealand to qualify and South Africa to get eliminated.  Many would say that South Africa's chokers tag is here to stay and the misery which could not be eradicated by Cronje's intellect could not have been removed by Smith's tweets before the World Cup.  SA would have thought that picking the most diverse bowling attack and hiding Tahir from the other teams would give the missing link and complete the circle . Instead they are back to the same vicious circle of mental strength to get out of tricky situations and hope that Gary Kirsten would oblige them at the end of his India assignment to break it.

The caravan moves on , we move on and what better than having a billion people supporters for the 3 subcontinent teams of the World Cup.  India meeting Pakistan at the close to the border city of Mohali is as close as these countries can get to war and the hand of Samjhauta has been extended by Manmohan Singh to Geelani for only the World Cup match of course. Pakistan will realise that this is their best chance for a world cup final not looking further to the title Mohali being the best pitch favoring their strong bowling and iffy batting while chasing.  The Indian team look like they are peaking and chasing a dream either for themselves or for Sachin.  Both teams have extrapolated the fact that beating the World cup champions is equivalent to winning the title. Pakistan may play Shoaib Akhtar to hustle the Indian batting lineup and use spin of Hafeez, Ajmal & Afridi  to stifle it from getting to a competitive total.  Mohali is a pitch where many would know that the toss would be irrelevant and the dew factor could come into play. Still the Indian line up whether batting or bowling looks fragile but it would be easy for Dhoni to paper the cracks and prevent it from total  breakdown for the vital two matches.

As the temperature rises in the city of Mohali going into the long summer, it doesn't require Gay Lussac's law to state the relationship to the pressure felt by the teams especially India.   So knowing fully well that it is the last but one, both teams will feel that it lasts till the end . 

Let the game begin , last the distance and make it enjoyable for the common man not withstanding chewed nails , heart breaks and higher TRPs.

3 Steps to GLORY ( Part 1 )

Ladies and Gentlemen , The quarter finals are here and no better way to start this series of matches than to have Pakistan playing the West Indies. This is one of those Ravi Shastri moments  before the start of the QFs and so I assume. The team that has won almost all the matches that they were supposed to win ( West Indies ) is playing the team which has won every match convincingly except one which was a convincing loss ( Pakistan ). Pakistan has been clinical in their performances which has been least expected since they are the team which were supposed to be unpredictable in every sense. The match against NZ was the only off day in a series of good bowling performances which proves the point that to go further in the World Cup , you need to make full use of your bowling resources. The bowling variety makes the captain spoilt for choice and the fact that Ajmal is still on the bench tells you a lot of the other team players and their performances. Only their middle order batting has still not been super good but has done enough to win them the matches. Asad Shafiq has compensated for the lack of form of Younis and Misbah and since they have not been threatened by huge totals , they have lasted the distance by and large.


West Indies in contrast have been poor against stronger opponents and again it is their batting which has failed time & again and not surprisingly on the mental front. The WI teams of the yore had the habit of always winning and lost it in the mid 80s.  They have not got it back yet despite some off and on heroics from one BC Lara. The team was angry and hurt that they were rated below Bangladesh in the ICC ratings and that was only fair as they had lost almost everything in sight and not beaten a team ranked above them at all. Statistics lie is the often repeated quote but nothing better than disproving it with your performances . West Indies under two names who never made it big ,Otis Gibson and Darren Sammy will be desperate to do and reach what and where their illustrious predecessors like Lara and Hooper couldn’t. They would be happy to assume that they are 1 match away from a semi final and as it happens in the knock out matches , you could have a blinder from a batsman like Pollard or a dream spell from Roach which makes the impossible happen.

Lets wait and see which Pakistan and which West Indies make their appearance today. Positivity helps and no better people to set the right tone than Chris Gayle with his batting or Umar Gul with one of his magical spells. It pays to be positive and doubly rewarding if it is a World cup semi final place at stake.

Momentum Shift

The World Cup caravan trundles on , from Chennai to Chittagong , from Bengaluru to Delhi.   The stomach bug continues to worry the Englishmen though strangely there has been no comment on the pitches as yet from any of the captains. Either they are getting used to the subcontinent conditions or loathe to comment since ICC monitors the preparation of the pitches.

The World Cup favourites are slowly gathering momentum and some teams appear in a daze and are looking at winning the last 4 to make it the " CUP that COUNTS".  Not many tactical innovations have been made yet except for SA opening with a spinner or India opting to take the batting powerplay early.    The momentum of the innings now hinges on the powerplays which are giving the captains headaches and the spectators value for money.  The bowling powerplay has still not been employed as a strategic tool with captains wanting to get rid of it as early as possible.  That leaves us with only the batting powerplay which can be used as a surprise weapon.  For a TV watcher who analyzes the match in threadbare detail ,  the momentum shift would be more relevant since it could happen any time in the match and the team which siezes it and pushes forward triumphs ultimately. Pertinent examples in different matches played till now are easy to quote though there would be divergent views one too many on what these moments are.   Earlier there used to be a TV programme on science called Turning Point on DD which was extrapolated to cricket with a sponsor added to it  and strangely it is absent today in the World Cup coverage.   An innings does not normally have more than one or maximum two turning points unless as Shastri says "  NOW,  Is there another twist in the tale ".

The momentum shift happened in India - England tied match with Andrew Strauss's dismissal or in South Africa match it was Yusuf Pathan's dismissal.  When SA went into the dressing room at the innings break, they would have been justifiably buoyant that a 350+ total had been restricted to a sub 300 one.  The momentum of the game had well and truly shifted till the AB de Villiers dismissal in the second half when things were brought back to an even keel.  In the NZ-Pak game , things turned towards NZ in the Shoaib over where Taylor ransacked sixes and fours and Pakistan never recovered thereafter.  Matches involving England have entertained the average viewer /spectator not with the typical momentum shifts between innings but with  bowlers and batsmen obliging or strangling the opposition.

When coaches and captains deliberate in the change rooms and strategies are made,  we believe that the minute by minute account is considered and the jottings in the notebook of the coach would contain important moments of the match where the team was found wanting. So given that there was enough justification for Shoaib to be dropped in the next match for Pakistan,  is there enough now for Yusuf to be dropped now for Raina or Ashwin to be brought back because of Nehra's generosity  in the last over or will it be blamed on the captaincy of MSD which was supposed to be brilliant when his changes worked and jaded when it doesn't . 

There is not much time left in this World cup as Indians seek answers to the difficult questions and as the saying goes "  Only time will tell "

TIED to CRICKET

As we move on further in the loooooong tournament, slowly the fancied teams are getting their acts right and preparing themselves for bigger challenges in the quarters. As usual we have some one sided matches and some close ones as we would expect in the league stages.

The tied match  left me devoid  of any feeling for  the World Cup matches till the quarter finals.  Fluctuating fortunes left me emotionally drained and my facial emotions will necessitate creation of new  emoticons in the new chat softwares . Especially when India is playing , the feeling of surprise and joy when they win to the cursing and disappointment when they lose is normal.  In the last 5 overs of the tied match, you would have been overjoyed, disappointed, bewildered and finally relieved that India managed some points . Rarely do you get all these in one match and the match that provides all of these is a thriller. But there are some teams which come close in this respect as well , one is the mighty unpredictable West Indies and the other woeful England not to leave out the ever unpredictable Pakistan. 

When my daughter asked me for the prediction of the winner of the match between England and Ireland, I didnt bat an eyelid to say England especially after Niall O Brien was out.  But the difference this time was she didnt ask me why as she normally does.  I wish she had and that would have woken me up to the possibilities of Kevin O Brien scoring big ( not a century in the wildest of dreams !! ) .

The match yesterday left me speechless especially when I watched the highlights .   It also gave me a nice feeling that this performance can't be repeated in the next match .  Despite this India has a lot to watch out for and the curator will be well advised to make a turning track & Dhoni wins the toss to neutralise whatever advantages the Irish have in terms of momentum from their last win.

After yesterday's encounter,  I was disappointed that I am falling into the set of  run of the mill watchers and not a seasoned die hard.   The run of the mill kind  rarely see a possibility of a tie or a once in a life time innings happening and life beyond cricket watching becomes more important.    After this , the often repeated cricket saying of " It aint over till the last ball " rings louder.  If  some more World cup matches make this happen, it would definitely be the World cup which we are dying to be a part of and one dayers will get a fresh resuscitation. 

Disclaimer

People with heart problems would be advised to stay away from the TV and watch highlights instead.

World Cup 2011 - Part 1

The World Cup got off to a spectacular start, courtesy the opening ceremony in Bangladesh.  But as always the cricket has been average for the first 3 matches.  The India Bangladesh match promised a lot due to the historical significance of 2007 encounter.   When Sehwag put his first ball away for four, the die was cast for Bangladesh.  The decision to bat first by Shakib was probably more influenced by his spinners not being able to grip the ball due to the dew effect.  Also statistics would have played a major part in it where this ground  favoured the side batting second.   Statistics never lie so they say, but the conditions and the Indian batting line up has changed so much that it is virtually impossible to chase down 350 + scores that they put up even if you are Australia.  India's bowling needs some tweak possibly by bringing Ashwin to bowl opening spells with Zaheer but you would get caught out if there is something in the surface for pacers with only Munaf in the lineup.   Still the diehard Indian fan would miss DADA and Irfan as the allrounder option !!!

The second match was a disaster for Kenya and NZ batsmen didnt get anything out of it by way of batting practice. So much for minnows playing in the World cup and instead of proving ICC wrong , these teams are reaffirming the decision to cut down the teams.  One of my friends tweeted that school children should have been let free for the match.  Atleast 1 stand could have been free and reserved for this category in all matches is my take.  Let us set a trend which could be followed all over the cricketing world..

Canada versus SriLanka a tweet said was Punjab vs Srilanka , considering the number of people born outside and now playing for Canada,    Balaji Rao playing for Canada after playing in Chennai being one of them .   When the scoreboard  said WDBR bowling to DPMDJ , it made interesting reading for the number of letters of the english alphabet being used even in abbreviated form.   I had decided to watch the Canada innings till Cheema was around to get an idea of how effective his hitting skills are and he didnt disappoint is the verdict. This match also showed the inefficiency of the UDRS system being used in its current form in this tournament.  Atleast bring on the SNICKO !! .    We could also do with Bill Lawry and Mark Nicholas in the commentary team to add the extra Pepsi fizz to this tournament.   Probably the upcoming matches will promise more in terms of cricketing value...

2007 - The Disappointing World Cup

As the World Cup moved to West Indies , everyone was excited.  ICC was trying to expand the reach of the game and no  better place than West Indies which was very close to North America , the hotbed for consumption and where marketing would definitely help in getting television revenues.  So they thought and it was upto all the elements  to prove it wrong.   The spectators who were denied of their customary accessories ( in West Indies they come in droves and with music and beer ) and tickets were priced ridiculously high which negated the prospect of having good crowds.   The weather had to be favorable for the tournament to succeed and it was not.  India and Pakistan  had to to at least progress to the S - 8's and they did exactly the opposite.

People from subcontinent who were living in America had already booked their tickets to watch their respective team matches and they were hugely disappointed with the first match between India  and Bangladesh.  Watching on TV at uncomfortable timings,  Indians were in for a rude shock when the strong batting line up on paper was found wanting against the Bangladesh slow bowlers.  When Tamim Iqbal started blazing away at the Indian seam attack , the damage was done and Indian dream of moving past the 1st round was shattered. 

The other team which ICC expected to get through was Pakistan and they had an early setback with the mystery death of their coach Bob Woolmer .  When they lost to West Indies in the first match, they had a must win game against Ireland and their batting was found wanting once again in the face of good swing bowling.

With India and Pakistan out of the tournament, the only team which remained among the super powers was Sri Lanka and they did not disappoint.   The West Indies board was hoping that Chris Gayle's team would come through to the semi finals and they belied their initial promise and expectations to lose some of their crucial encounters.   The semi final line up was not too great to read and the favourites Sri Lanka and Australia easily won their matches . 

The final was characterised by Adam Gilchrist's golf ball gloves ( to get a better grip !!! ) century.  Again a big century in the final by an Australian made the match a cakewalk for Australia but not before rain interrupted drama and D/L methods being used.  Sri Lanka had too much to chase like India in 2003 and they were found wanting in the finals .  It must be said though that Srilanka have made it a habit of reaching the qualifying stages of the World Cup without much ado and are one of the top ODI teams in the world. 

This is a world cup where I hardly remember any match in great detail , this is possibly because of the ridiculous timings of the matches and weather not being very favourable for cricket. Mcgrath's  man of the series award was a reward for his tireless , hardly acknowledged match winning efforts ( possibly in his entire career !! ) .  ICC as expected was blamed for the long , boring, dreary , damp World Cup and they were not the only one to lose revenue.  ESPN Star the official broadcasters were left in shambles after this dismal tournament and hoped for the other ICC events of 20-20 etc to bail them out. 

As expected after such a huge loss, the cash cow had to be milked again and the World cup moved back to India, Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to improve the balance sheets.  The ODI format is  in danger of becoming  extinct due to the 20-20 fever and this could be the last chance of resurrection and redressal. However the millions hope that the 28 year itch ends this time and we break some established myths of  home teams not winning the tournament

2003 - World Cup of Controversy

This world cup was dogged by controversies before it even started and during the event as well.  This was supposed to be the free and fair World cup since it was hosted in South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe and ICC and SA wanted to make a statement to the world.  Shane Warne tested positive for a banned substance and sent home before the matches started,  New Zealand refused to travel to Kenya , Olonga and Andy Flowers black arm band protest accompanied by England's refusal to travel to that country.

The first match was a cracker and SA finished second best due to another gem from Brian Lara who had made it a habit of scoring against the South African bowling and the hosts were left panting from day 1.  There was a similar innings of Stephen Fleming against the same opposition opening the batting and the predictability and lack of variety of the SA bowling was getting exposed time and again.  The other big innings from Andrew Symonds put paid to Pakistan hopes in their first encounter after Australia had lost 4 for almost nothing.  I saw the match highlights again last week on Star Cricket and that was a brutal counter attack from "Roy".  Pakistan, I guess never recovered after that and I presume if you get on the opposite side of an innings like that, it is very difficult to get a move on and build the momentum.  India on the other hand had a stroll against Netherlands before being caught out against Australia.  The Indian spectators did not take the defeat too lightly and they were only pacified after India started putting in some match winning performances in the Nehra match against England where Ashish was deadly under lights.

The matches were following a predictable pattern with the James Anderson match ( Pakistan vs England ).  James Anderson exposed the familiar Pakistan frailities against top quality swing bowling under lights. The balls to remove Yousuf  (then Youhana ) and Inzamam were absolute beauties. Probably he had watched Nehra in the previous game.  Chasing under lights was becoming more and more difficult because of the dew and the lights freshening up the pitch exposing the sub continental teams.

The India Pakistan match where the broadcasters hoped to break even after the losses of the boycotted matches ,insipid encounters involving the minnows was an exciting match for all Indians of course. The very size of the Pakistani total was making all the indian watchers sweat during the lunch time.  SRT however had other plans and didnt bother about the batsmen getting out at the other end.  Remember that  Abdul Razzaaq dropped SRT  and " Pata hai, Tuune *****   " quote   from Wasim.  Dravid and Yuvraj got India past the winning line after Tendlya had fallen for a masterly 98.   India meanwhile also beat NewZealand in the Super 6s and were winning almost everything in sight and were on a roll.

Australia meanwhile was quietly progressing but they had a disastrous match against England which many would remember as the Michael Bevan match.  With Andy Bichel , he made sure that Australia came through with a smart level headed innings and was hailed as the best finisher after these efforts .  This made him the perfect foil for the aggressive top order of the team.

The semi final line up was set and Australia was playing Srilanka and India was playing Kenya . Kenya had qualified by default since they had a super six walkover from New Zealand as well.  South African think tank had some hard explaining to do for messing up the rain calculations and they were as a result one run short of the required target and possibly a place in the semi final.

India was having an easy match against Kenya and everyone in India was hoping that the Australia juggernaut will be halted by the SriLankan spinners.  Australia meanwhile were well aware of the slippery ground of 1996 and played with utmost caution and professionalism.  This match was characterised by the Gilchrist walk ,  whether he would have walked if Australia was 20 for 1 is a moot point . But now the image had been set and he had no option but to walk every single time he thought he was out - Precedents created by Accidents. 

India easily won their encounter against Kenya and this was the first time that 2 momentum sides were meeting in the final and it was obvious that one who blinks first would get knocked out.   Ganguly won the toss and put Australia in  and Zaheer bowled a dreadful over giving 15 runs.  Suddenly Australia seized the intiative by putting the sword to Srinath and though Hayden went quickly ,  still Australia were motoring along with Ricky Ponting and Gilchrist putting away almost everything that the spinners and pacers offered. By the time Australian innings was finished, the writing was on the wall.  Getting 7 + in a world cup final was never easy and despite the Sehwag innings, the great opportunity of winning the world cup was well and truly over. 

Big centuries for winning causes from Symonds, Fleming and Lara , great swing bowling from Nehra & Anderson,  Michael Bevan's innings against England,  Gilchrist walk against Sri Lanka , miscalculations of DLL which made the electronic scoreboard display the total after each over in the subsequent matches,  Shane Warne ( not surprising !! ) and India's golden chance of winning GOLD  were the moments to remember from this World Cup.   The ICC initiative of spreading the game to other countries was still not taking off despite including so many teams in the World Cup.

1999- World Cup of Swing & Super Sixes

The World Cup was back in England without the Prudential tag attached to it. Expectations were high for India since they had won the last World Cup played in England. The gap between the previous one and this one was 3 years , strange but probably ICC did not want a millenium event, most strange. This was a swing country where the Indian pace attack could be a handful with Srinath and Prasad accompanied by some good swing bowlers in Sourav Dada and Robin Singh. ICC was trying out new formats in the form of Super Sixes being introduced for the first time. India was again led by Azhar and had a solid batting line up in Sachin, Sourav followed by Dravid, Azhar , Jadeja and some allrounders in Robin Singh and Anil Kumble with Mongia the keeper not to forget the elegant lazy Sadagopan Ramesh.  Many would remember the pleasing Indian attire of  television friendly blue with yellow birdies if I can call it that.

I was watching the World Cup this time at distant Ambasamudram in southernmost part of India ,England was possibly around a day away from here by flight. Indians may also need to look at the map to locate this  place. These were the days when India was at the mercy of cable operators who would jack up the price of the channel just before a major event , the audience had no choice but to pay. The timings were quite convenient for us to return from office and still manage to watch some decent cricketing action. India losing their first match was becoming common place and they did here as well to South Africa. The match against Srilanka at Taunton was a match to remember, Ramesh was out to Chaminda Vaas and this brought together two great young cricketers in Sourav and Dravid together and they played out of their skins liteally and dismantled the Sri Lankan bowling. I still remember Sourav dancing down the track to hit Muralitharan out of the ground and with Sourav and Rahul scoring big hundreds, the result was a foregone conclusion but the margin was reminiscent of a West Indian victory of the older times.

Tendulkar was forced to take a break due to his father's sudden demise and India played without him against Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe are a team who regularly cause upsets in this format of the game as they did to Australia in 1983 and almost put it past India as well in the Kapil 175 match. The total they scored was just average since 250 was now becoming easily gettable for most teams. Andy Flower, Grant and Neil Johnson were good players and were experienced in these conditions since they were already part of the county circuit. Ramesh got India to a great start and India was cruising towards an easy win when suddenly wickets started tumbling and Olonga was made to look like Glen Mcgrath by the late order. Robin Singh , Srinath and Prasad were all cleaned up in one over and India needing 9 off 2 overs lost by 3 runs. This derailed the momentum somewhat and India had a potential elimination encounter with England which was the best match for me from India's perspective and I still remember the two days on which this match was played, the match was continued from where they left off on the second day. I was back home early again and it was around 4 pm when the match started on the second day. Debhasis Mohanty was amazing and catches were automatically going to Azhar at slip with the batsman nicking almost everything.

India were in the S 6's but were considerably at a disadvantage since Zimbabwe had also qualified and they could only take points of the teams whom they had already played.  The opening match of the S 6s was a disaster,  Australia easily scored 280+ and India had lost almost half their side very early with Glen Mcgrath at his very best.  This match had Jadeja scoring a memorable 100 and his partnership with Robin was entertaining .  Also interesting was all the others made single digit scores ( how many times has this happened before ??). India against New Zealand was another losing match which Roger Twose scored a match winning kock to put India out of the World Cup.

The South Africa against Australia match was a cracker of a contest even better than the final , not before Pakistan had easily put it past New Zealand in the other semi final . Saeed Anwar looking in ominous form made the total look very easy.   SA had done a fantastic job in the first half getting Australia all out for 213 and it was only South Africa who could lose the match.  Kirsten and Gibbs had got a measured start but a constant stream of wickets put the chase under doubt with Warne turning it on.  South Africa were pressing the self destruct button at regular intervals till Klusener had other ideas.  The final wicket was all drama and this mixup was similar to the Raju /Srinath mixup in 1992.  I still remember Allan Donald at the other end and Klusener hitting the ball to cover. BTW , Waugh had brought the entire field up inside the circle and that was courageous captaincy but many will say nothing to lose for Australia ,everything to lose for SA since it was the last wicket.

The final was played at Lords , the mecca of test cricket which had a nice and attractive press box at one side of the ground but nobody expected the final to be as one sided as it was. Abdul Razzaq was promoted to number 3 and didn't make much of a difference to the contest and Pakistan was bowled out for 132. The only hope for Pakistan remained early wickets and Waugh and Gilchrist didnt give Pakistan much of a chance and half way point was reached without much of damage.  Pakistan were regretting the decision of batting first which was in fact the sensible thing to do since in a pressure chase , they would have crumbled anyway.

The take home moments not in the mentioned order were of course the Indian win against Pakistan in the S-6s,  Indian win against Srilanka where our batting was consistently good ,  Indian win against England fashioned by good quality swing bowling, South Africa getting the chokers tag after the Klusener Donald mixup, Australian professionalism at its best in the tied match and clinical victory in the final.  The pinch hitting concept was not too evident here since the swinging ball made the batsman circumspect. Zimbabwe cricket was revitalised by their victory against India and the tailenders had made Olonga a household Indian name to remember and hate.

1996 - World Cup of belief in Spin

The one day cricket action started picking up momentum and slowly but steadily colors were replacing the white attire ,cricket was becoming more of an entertainment and tradition was slowly being abandoned for the benefit of the TV and less for the spectator at the venue. 

The World Cup moved back to the sub continent and after the damp WC of 1992, atleast it was moving to more favourable weather. However the safety concerns in Sri Lanka made Australia, West Indies forfeit matches by not traveling there ,SL were undoubtedly disappointed since they wanted to prove a point by hosting a trouble free event. 

India were again led by Azhar playing his 3rd World Cup and the team was again packed with the usual variety of spin and pace. Srinath, Prasad and Prabhakar were potent with the new ball, Kumble miserly and Raju added the left armer angle.  However some shocks for India were in store against SL when playing their round robin game.  India had posted an above average total of 270+ in the match with SRT easily making a century  at the small Kotla but Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya had other ideas.  They tore into the Indian bowling especially Manoj Prabhakar and repeatedly the ball was flying over the in field .  This was pinch hitting at its best and Ranatunga had made one of the best opening pairs out of average players in the middle order.  The pressure gone , SL romped home winners and the whole world started taking SL seriously.

Since there were minnows like Netherlands, UAE, Kenya , the World Cup started picking up momentum only at the QF stage when there was an  India Pakistan match at Bangalore.  Surprisingly Wasim Akram pulled out of the match citing injury and they were led by Aamir Sohail.  Tongues started wagging in India and Pakistanis the next day were throwing stones at Akram's residence. India were brimming with confidence and made a not so imposing total .  It was left to the bowlers to make the intial dents and build the pressure which they did exceedingly well.  I still remember the pumped up Indian side aided by the partisan Bangalore crowd which cheered every run of the home team and jeered every run of the Pakistanis.  I was equally excited watching on the television and when Salim Malik and Inzamam fell , I believed India were on the road to their second World Cup win.  Every Indian felt that beating Pakistan was the ultimate achievement and probably the team didnt bother winning after that.

The other QFs were equally interesting , West Indies against South Africa which was decided by one man Brian Lara and it was a calculated assault and exposed South Africa's lack of variety in the bowling .  Australia on the other hand had made short work of New Zealand despite Chris Harris scoring one of his best knocks and the ever classy Mark Waugh contributing to the Australia cause. 

The stage was set for old rivalries to be renewed when Australia met the West Indies.   I was home early that day with tooth ache and watched the first ball which was a perfect in swinger  from Ambrose to Mark Waugh who tried to flick it to mid wicket and was caught plumb in front . Australia had lost almost half of their batsman without much on the board and it was left to Law and Bevan to grind the bowling and Bevan nudged , prodded and hoicked in the end to get Australia to some respectability and belief that they could pull it off with  the never say die Australian spirit.  West Indies as usual had done all the hard work and were cruising but some ill luck and cramps for Chanderpaul accompanied by some good death bowling and horrible batting saw them lose.  West Indies had scored all the points but Australia as is their wont had won the moments that mattered and the match.

The first semi final  had the 2 host nations fighting for a place in the final  and India surprisingly elected to field when they knew that Eden would become a mine field with the late night dew.  Probably it was justified when the intial wickets fell and Eden had probably more people in unreserved seating who were cheering every wicket.  The team probably didnt realise that SL was doing exceedingly well with the run rate and there were clawing back through Aravinda and Ranatunga.  Aravinda didnt bother much about the crowd or the lack of cheering and proceeded to play a Richards kind of knock.   The total was a good one and made better by the failure of Sidhu at the top.  When SRT and Manjrekar were playing, it was just a question of seeing through the overs and getting the runs.  But suddenly the pitch started behaving like a minefield  with SRTs dismissal and  when Azhar and Manjrekar also fell in quick succession , the hope began receding. 

Srinath was a pinch hitting failure and the Indian batting was crumbling to Jayasuriya who was pushing the ball through with some assistance from the pitch . The dew, fog combination was also not enough for the batsmen to get some runs against the spinners.  When the Indian batting imploded and the 2Ks at the crease, the crowd decided that it was enough and decided to interrupt the match.  That they didnt have faith in the batting abilities of Kumble and the efforts of Kambli was understandable since one had never seen Kumble bat and Kambli was not looking like getting India out of the self created dark tunnel.  Indian chances were buried in the black soil of Eden, houses of the players were stoned and several careers cut short.  

This didnt deter Sri Lanka from traveling to Pakistan for the final against a super good Australia.  The final was the never say die spirit of the underdogs against the professionalism of the champions.  2 captains who led their teams with great poise and instilled confidence in the team to a point that in commentators language " Something had to give ".   A final has always the key moments which sometimes go your way ( the Luck factor ) or individual brilliance which galvanises the team to pull of something spectacular.   SL bowled decently well except for their medium pacers and did not deviate from their well defined formula of strangling the batsmen and then allowing the batsmen to commit hara kiri.  

When chasing , around 50 runs can be added to the total because of pressure of chasing and when Jayasuriya and Kalu fell trying the big shots , it looked as if Australia was in the drivers seat.  Gurusinha had failed in the previous match and was desperate to make amends and was complementing Aravinda who played spin and pace with equal conviction. The cover drives of Aravinda were gorgeous and Ranatunga put in the finishing touches.   Australia was caught unawares by the planning of the chase and probably didnt see the Australian coach on the other side.  The great Warne was rendered ineffective partly by the due on the ground and Ranatunga Aravinda combination who  have oodles of time at their disposal to play the dab and the sweep.  Many would say that the Mark Waugh over cost Australia the match but Srilankans were continously chipping away at the total and reducing it to manageable proportions where the pressure of the final became non existent.

The take home moments of this World Cup were the refusal of the teams to play in Sri Lanka ,  the collapse at the Eden,  West Indies embracing defeat against Kenya ( there were completely hopeless ) and Australia from a winning position,  India crumbling with the Eden pitch against SL,  Manoj Prabhakar reduced to bowling off spin when Kalu and Sanath were going berserk , the meticulous Sri Lanka who had clinical strategies for each match.  Quite a long World Cup in which many matches were forgotten as soon as they were played but for Sri Lankans & Australians a world cup to remember.

1992 - The World Cup of COLOR

As Australia won the World Cup in 1987,  they were the strong favourites to win the next edition held in their own country and New Zealand.  New Zealand was also one of the likely semi finalists since they would play most of the matches at home and not many players of the World Cup had played in cold wintry conditions of that country.  This was also the birth of pyjama cricket as it was called , the advent of coloured clothing and lights adding to the excitement of watching the 50 over game.   This also marked the official end of white clothing in one dayers , after which it became evident that the game had to be played on holidays and weeknights  to get more people to watch the game.   The top 4 teams would eventually qualify for the semi finals after each team would play the other once.

India had a good team but were distinctly unlucky in this edition.   They had a good attack comprising Kapil,  Srinath , Prabhakar and spinners in Ravi Shastri , Venkatpathi Raju with Tendulkar bowling his seam ups and spinners in case of necessity. They are poor starters and it proved with the match against England going to the wire and India had lost it by 9 runs despite some good bowling and decent batting.  I distinctly remember this match watching it on  a B&W TV and Kapil and Botham face to face.  Botham was opening the batting and bowling for England and Kapil was doing likewise for India in the bowling department before Azhar decided to ask him to open the batting for the rained off match against the SL at Mckay. It was unfortunate since India was widely tipped to win this one for sure.

The matches which India expected to win were all getting shortened and the absurd Duckworth Lewis rule was playing havoc with the rain affected matches adjusting targets disproportionately.  India was unlucky against Australia where we saw splendid batting from Azhar and Manjrekar .  Manjrekar was never a one day batsman but he showed that batsmen orthodox batsmen can also can make their presence felt in the shorter game.  The most crucial moment in the match came at the end when Srinath and Raju were involved in a mix up which resulted in Australia winning.  India never managed to get above the 250 mark in any match and that proved the difference in the matches against NZ and West Indies.   The match against Pakistan was truly interesting and it showed how the team could play some good cricket against a strong opposition and eventual winners. Tendulkar showed some great maturity in scoring 50 of those runs and getting India to a winning total.  The Indian swing bowling was a revelation and they managed to get Pakistan all out which made many a fan in India happy though we never won anything of relevance in the entire competition.

New Zealand on the other hand were progressing extremely well in their matches and they had a dibbly, dobbly , wobbly seam attack in Watson , Larsen, Latham and Harris.  Opening the bowling was Dipak Patel bowling off spin when the restrictions were on and  an unqualified success to say the least. They also started pinch hitting with Greatbatch in the opening slot who would go after the bowling in the initial stages when the ball was hard and new and the field was up.  He was a great success compared to Kapil and Botham and England persisted with Botham at the top till the final while India had abandoned the concept very soon.  South Africa playing their first World Cup after readmission were playing hard cricket and showed the world the importance of fielding in the limited overs format where the opposition totals were reduced by atleast 20 runs each match.  Allan Donald was steaming in for almost every delivery and it was difficult for  batsmen to get bat on ball.   Many can remember the Jonty Rhodes run out of Inzamam falling on the stumps at full stretch.

The semi finals line up read South Africa vs England and Pakistan vs New Zealand and again the world thought that it would be New Zealand vs South Africa in the final. However the rain had other ideas in the SA vs England match which reduced the equation to an absurd 22 runs off 1 ball and SA was knocked out.  This was a lucky world cup for Imran's Pakistan , they had a match rained off against England where they most certainly would have lost scoring an insipid 74 on the whole.   The match against New Zealand was another lucky escape with Miandad and Inzamam playing some good innings.  Inzamam was supposed to be equal to SRT and he tried to prove it in this innings which was measured and was built on calculated assault on the weaker bowlers.

The final was England vs Pakistan with England appearing in the final many a time but still had not won the World Cup ,  Pakistan were the team with momentum and had luck coming their way too.  They had the brilliance of Wasim Akram, the swing of Aaqib and the spin of Mushtaq Ahmed.  The raw talent was being channelised extremely well by Imran who was keeping the team together through the World Cup and they were believing in themselves like India in 1983.  249 was not a great total posted by Pakistan and their bowlers had to win it for them.  England were losing wickets steadily in the chase until Fairbrother and Lamb started slowly progressing to the target. But once Wasim got Lamb and Lewis , the die was cast in favor of Pakistan and Imran's team were worthy world champions.  Nobody in the remotest dreams including Imran would have believed that he had a team which was called that.

The moments to take home from this World Cup were colored clothing and white balls,  Raju and Srinath mixup in the match against Australia,  Dipak Patel opening the bowling ,  the class of Martin Crowe's batting and captaincy,  Imran's captaincy,  Jonty Rhodes run out of Inzamam,  Akram bowling Chris Lewis with a peach of a delivery and of course last but not the least the Duckworth Lewis rule which robbed South Africa of a place in the World Cup final on debut. 

It must be said that there were 2-3 young players  making their presence felt for their teams, one was the great SRT ,  Brian Charles Lara for  West Indies and the third Inzamam ul Haq for Pakistan.  These were the youngsters who would excel for their respective countries in the future.

1987 - The Cup of Reliance

India had won the World Cup in 1983 and were entering the World Cup as defending champions,  quite a lift for the team which had no pretensions of being a one day team in the previous one.   India had won the World Championship of Cricket under Gavaskar's captaincy and the team had an unbeaten record in that tournament.  Also it had won the Asia Cup in 1984 which made it a strong contender in the one day space especially since the World Cup was being played at home.

India started off on the wrong foot in Chennai by losing the first match ever so closely by a solitary run and the star of this World Cup was born that day. Steve Waugh the Mr Cool in Allan Border's Australian team bowling the last over.  Like Mohinder in 1983, Steve Waugh was a gutsy cricketer who could bowl a bit and bat outstandingly well and had a temperament which was so crucial to success.  Like Amarnath, he also had a red handkerchief sticking out of his back pocket as well.

India's only threat in its group was Australia and India managed to win one and lose one against the Aussies.  The other teams New Zealand and Zimbabwe were no threats on the spin friendly Indian tracks which were prepared probably under special directions from BCCI.  At that time , ICC was not in charge of the venues like it is today and the pitches were host friendly.

I had the opportunity of experiencing the World Cup at the LB stadium in Hyderabad where New Zealand was playing Zimbabwe.  I distinctly remember the ever classy Martin Crowe of New Zealand who was batting so fluently and the cover drives which he played were something that I had never seen before and the 70 odd runs were scored with ease.  Also remarkable was the Zimbabwe fielding and John Traicos bowling his off spinners to a well set field and not letting the batsman get away at all.   Zimbabwe were the underdogs , but Dave Houghton had other ideas and scored a blistering century .  The century was unique because as Kapil Dev in 1983, it was big and he was running out of partners at the other end till Butchart came together to forge a partnership.  I was hoping for a Zimbabwe win but Martin Crowe took a catch similar to Kapil running backwards always keeping his eyes on the ball and put paid to Zimbabwe hopes. It made me realise the importance of watching the ball till the last instant while fielding and since the catch was taken very close to where I was parked, it made me feel elated.  I ran back home to watch the highlights of this match and also some replays of the dismissals and wanted to spot myself on TV as well.

The other group was in fact more keenly contested with Pakistan moving forward with England .  West Indies on the other hand had lost quite a bit of steam and were no longer the side they were in 1983.  What will remain of the West Indies from the WC 87 would be the Walsh spirit ( where he refused to run out Salim Jaffer who was backing up too far ), I still remember the incident so vividly even today.

The semi final line up was strong and two home teams playing against England and Australia respectively.  The results were also a foregone conclusion  India vs Pakistan final and India winning the world cup again.  A million people were hoping for this result and the TV broadcasters as well.  

Things were already not going to plan in the 1st semi final where Pakistan had already disappointed against Australia and Pakistanis were obviously supporting England for the 2nd semi final.   The England batting at the Wankhede and I was watching on TV @ home.   The early moments were going to plan until Gooch started playing the sweep shots against the indian spinners.  It seemed that India were running out of ideas bowling to him and he would place the ball at will. Maninder and Ravi Shastri were clueless and were letting things drift and Kapil's captaincy was suddenly looking ordinary.  India began the chase as if in a daze with regular wickets falling.  The England bowling was not great but the total was good and after Gavaskar and Srikanth went , it was upto Azhar.  Chandrakant Pandit was playing as a batsman since Vengsarkar was injured and when Kapil hit Emburey high in the air , the die was cast for an Indian defeat.   Eddie Hemmings was made to look like Muralitharan by the Indians who were throwing their wickets away.  Why Kapil played the shot etc will be reflected upon many a time by Kapil himself but probably what went wrong was the bowling and the failure to contain Gooch & company to a manageable total.

Two unlikely finalists England and Australia and many a Calcuttan would have purchased tickets for the final hoping for an India Pakistan one.  Every one in the ground was supporting Australia because England had knocked out India and Australia had ensured that Pakistan didnt make it as well.   The final will be remembered for the Australian meticulous way of playing the game and the way they go about every aspect it.  At no moment, they were out of the game and the pressure exerted when England was chasing was unbelievable.  To the credit of England , they were in the chase when Bill Athey and Mike Gatting were at the crease till Gatting played a shot similar to what Kapil Dev played.  Allan Border was waiting for mistakes to happen and Gatting obliged with a reverse sweep which he skied.   Wonder what Border told Gatting after that ala. Steve Waugh & Gibbs. When Border lifted the Reliance cup in the fog filled Eden Gardens and the fireworks erupted in the sky, one couldnt help feeling that cricket was the winner ( how many times  has  this been said :) , the best team eventually won the cup and the Australian team  had been rebuilt  by Allan Border. 

However the moments which still remain for me are Walsh folding his hands when he had the opportunity to run out Jaffer ,  the cool Steven Waugh final over against India in the first match , the catch taken by Martin Crowe of Dave Houghton ,  Gavaskar's attacking shots against Ewen Chatfield outsmarting Srikkanth at the other end ,  the Graham Gooch sweep shot ,  the Kapil Dev hoick which landed in deep mid wicket's hands and most important of all , the brain freeze of Mike Gatting when he played the reverse sweep. All in all the record turnouts made the sub continent the favoured venue for many more of the cricket tournaments.

West Indies - India Final 1983

The stage was set for India - West Indies match , " THE FINAL " , hope & expectation against strength, confidence and complacency.  This was the final , where millions in India were praying hard for the hope to translate into a trophy of credibility.  Doordarshan on its part decided to telecast the match uninterrupted and you still had to bear with Anupam Ghulati  and Narottam Puri popping now and then indicating that they had lost the feed and it would resume shortly.

Srikkanth started attacking the West Indian bowling as his wont, Gavaskar was in a horror run and didnt contribute much and it was left to Amarnath to do his usual rebuilding effort. When Holding got Amarnath bowled, I still remember seeing the stump cartwheeling towards the wicketkeeper, no one would have thought that India would get a defensible total let alone a winning one. The middle order and the tail made a total of 183 which was not mammoth by the standards of West Indian batting.

After the break when West Indies started batting, all Indians were watching with despair and hope and so was I. Sandhu struck with Greenidge getting a peach of a delivery ( some still call it FLUKE ) but it was one of the game changing moments. The next remarkable moment,  the Kapil catch united the Indian team and made them believe that the floodgates were truly open.  Lloyd was injured and when batting , Binny produced the best ball to an injured batsman where the batsman had to play on the front foot, leaning forward to drive.  The ball as it happens always went  in the air straight to the cover fielder .

Dujon started the rebuilding effort and it was Amarnath who deceived both Marshall and Dujon with great bowling ,a traditional outswinger and the usual in cutter and Dujon chopped on.  When Holding was lbw, fans storming in to the square and Indian flags fluttering made it truly memorable for every patriotic indian. 

There were so many key moments in the match , the first innings was characterised by the West Indies winning the important exchanges and the second winning part all going to India.  Of course you could not do anything without that L factor.  There was no "CRICKET EXTRA" and " STRAIGHT DRIVE " during those days and all the cricket lovers were awake exchanging views over balconies and porches.  The self made experts would make sure that " THE HINDU"s  R Mohan concurred with their views and feel elated about it.  

The West Indies were wounded tigers and it showed when in the 1984 test and ODI series against India , they won almost everything on offer.

World Cup Moments - 1983

Compared to the previous WCs , this World cup attracted the maximum attention in India, towards the final atleast and I vividly remember this World Cup possibly for the desperation to hear and later watch each match and the other World Cups were all opinions made on hearsay.  This was the World Cup which made me take cricket watching seriously.

The seeds of the Indian triumph were sown much earlier in Berbice where India triumphed in a one day international against the mighty West Indies.  India was combined with Australia , West Indies and Zimbabwe ( ICC Trophy winners ) and all the teams were much stronger on paper than the Indian team. As India went into this World Cup, the team believed in themselves which was very rare for an Indian team and that too against the West Indies. This self belief was reinforced in the first match against the mighty Windies.   The over confidence of the West Indian line up was shattered in the opening match and probably they took it a little lightly to allow the lowly ranked Indians the taste of victory and probably the sweet scent of the World Cup as well.  This contagious positive feeling spread across the team and India began moving forward with every match and achieving greatness and moving to unchartered domains ( where no Indian had every been before !! ).

Along with West Indies , India had Australia in the same group who were quite powerful since the Chappell brothers had returned and Trevor ( the most famous of the Chappell brothers for reasons other than cricket ) scored a century against India .  In the match against Zimbabwe at the relatively unknown Tunbridge Wells ground,  India was struggling at 17 for 5 and with the top half gone , people thought that the match would be over before lunch.  Kapil came in and along with Kirmani slowly started getting the Indian innings back on track. The innings was marvellous ,  for it involved many phases of reconstruction and then taking control and then moving into an attacking position so that it could result in a victory.   For me , it was an old transistor for company and so it was for many people around the world since BBC was on strike that day.   It was similar to listening to a HAM broadcast constantly crackling and frequently going off air.   Kapil finally made 175 not out and the Nataraja pose of Kapil Dev in B&W photographs still adorns many a house. After scoring 175, he came back to take 5 wickets as well in match making him truly the MVP.   India beat West Indies and Australia once in two matches and Zimbabwe twice to qualify for the semi final . 

In the other group,  Pakistan was making decent headway ( they were always stronger on paper than India) and England was living up to its name as a cricket ODI super power.   It was no surprise that Pakistan and England made the semi final from the other group. 

The stage was set for interesting semi finals , India vs England and Pakistan vs West Indies.   Doordarshan at last started believing that history was beginning to unfold and if they didnt telecast the tournament from then on , they would be at the receiving end of millions of cricket watchers.  These were the times when the Govt had to release precious forex to the state owned network to get the overseas feed.  We didnt have  a TV at home and I had to run across and park myself at  my neighbour's house from 3:15 IST to the late hours at night.  The interruptions for news and other irrelevant local farmer programmes did make matters easier to time your dinner and snack breaks.  Delhi viewers were the priveleged ones since they didnt have local programmes and got to watch the telecast when it was there. 

The India England match was characterised by good swing and middle overs bowling,Kirti Azad was playing the spinners role with great aplomb and Mohinder Amarnath was swinging the red cherry a great deal with a red handkerchief tucked in his pocket.  The bowling attack which was supposed to be toothless suddenly had fangs of a serpent all ready to attack.   England was contained to a manageable total but it did require a good determined batting effort to make sure that India finished on the winning side.   The middle order of Yashpal , Mohinder and Sandeep was not the batting which the opposition would panic especially since they had Botham , Willis , Dilley and Allott.  India went hard at the Englishmen and were rewarded with a place in the World Cup final . 

The other semi final was eagerly followed where many an Indian did not want the wounded West Indies in the way and would have gladly swapped it for Pakistan instead.   West Indies didnt break a sweat brushing aside Pakistan and the stage was set for another India - West Indies match .  The match merits a separate blog post  and so continue reading on to the next one.....

World Cup - 1979

Since my earlier blog on the 1975 WC did not attract many eye balls and comments  because it was history and in a decade when I was born, here goes the next one about the 79 World Cup. 

Nothing changed when compared to 1975 in the cricketing world during this period except for Kerry Packer becoming one of the household names, Australia fielding a weak team  and Channel 9 getting into the act in Australia. 

Australia was just stepping into the " Border" era and was weakened by the Chappell brothers moving over to the Packer circus.  Obviously that left only Pakistan and England as the leading challengers to the West Indian title defence.  England had a balanced side ,  Geoff Boycott opening ( in a one day !! ) and the middle order comprising of Gooch, Gower and Botham was solid .

Collis King and IVA Richards quashed any dreams of other teams of winning .  King was destructive and the West Indian batting added to their 5 pronged pace attack made sure there were little hiccups in any match.

The notable moments for me were the word " Minnows" came into being with Srilanka coming into the one day equation. They were no minnows since they beat India in the round robin and had an interesting line up of attacking stroke players like Roy Dias. Roy Dias was class personified and would probably inspire the likes of Aravinda De Silva while Duleep Mendis would do the same to Arjuna Ranatunga (looks as well !! ).


India did not do any damage to their reputation of being poor in limited over games , BTW. Venkat was still captain and Sunny was still the opener and improving his averages and strike rates. Surinder Khanna was the wicket keeper and would eventually play a part later opening the batting  in 1984 Asia Cup which India won.

World Cup Moments -1975

The World Cup 2011 is here and so the advertisers say.  Heard that Sachin is looking down from an ad and announcing it with huge countdown boards in the various stadia in India.  ICC at last has taken the event to where it should belong.  Cricket is not a universal game like football and has more followers in Asia-Pacific than anywhere else.  It was logical that this part of the world should host the premier event atleast every decade.

The event takes me back many years to the times when I was a kid when tests were the TEST and one day was just another format played once in four years.  The world cups of 1975 and 1979 though I was too young to comprehend ,was characterised by the complete dominance of West Indies.  The two other teams which were just about competing with them were Australia and England.   These teams were competing more against each other than against the mighty Clive Lloyd's team as they were called.  

I remember watching some of the highlights from these matches on a video cassette called "Wills video of One day Cricket".  The sight of Dennis Lillee running up and bowling to Roy Fredricks , Fredricks hit wicket falling over on the hook shot,  Clive Lloyd's century characterised by brutal and assured strokeplay, Gilmour's five for and of course Richards' fielding to get the most important Aussie wickets.

Many people would remember the Indian lows , where Sunny scored 36 when we were chasing England's 300+ runs , Glenn Turner hitting a century in the India-NZ match.  Few would remember that Venkatraghavan was the captain and Mohinder Amarnath played as an opening bowler. Those were the days when it was a 60 over contest and where conditions were more favourable to swing and India had spinners who found it difficult to grip the ball.  Does that explain India's poor showing ??  

What remains etched however in us from this world cup is Sunny Bhai's 36 which Sunny himself tried to undo in the later part of his one day career and was fairly successful.

First ball blues

Players in whites and the red ball makes a huge difference, so they say and I feel it is more in the mind and less about solid technique especially in the opening overs.  Openers walking out into the middle, butterflies in the stomach after the captain has done the honours with the toss, crowd backing the home team, nerves everywhere, bowlers and batsmen alike , fielders feeling their palms and making sure everything sticks.  The conditions are tailormade for you to fail as an opener.  Test matches are the real test and compared to the instant quick formats they make for a delightful concoction if the curator has left a bit of grass and the weather is kind to the faster bowlers.  The first ball which you face up to after the umpires and the crowd have settled down adds that extra dimension to viewing both in the ground and on the television.

Was watching the first ball of a test match , Zak running up to Smith , a left arm bowler bowling to a left hand batsman , how many times has it happened before ,was tempted to check the statsguru on cricinfo for more details.  Thought it would be better to feel the experience and  remember the past which transported  me in the time machine back several years to the Dyanora T481 black and white television, the cricket addiction and the inner feeling on whether it would be a wicket first up.  

Many first balls dismissals immediately came to mind ,  Kapil Dev to Mohsin Khan in a match where a wicket was as rare as rain in Pilani and Mohsin was out lbw.   Sunil Gavaskar, the master technician nicking Malcolm Marshal to Dujon in Calcutta, the first ball of the test match again.  Two great bowlers who used to be bang on from the first delivery, Marshal with his pace and bounce and Kapil Dev with his accuracy and swing.  Kapil had to make use of the new ball as much as possible, would probably be bowling with a spinner at the other end , and would get only 5 to 6 overs to get all that he could in terms of wickets.  Marshal in contrast used to be warmed up and raring to get at the batsman with his brutal bouncers and swing at a pace above 140s.  Contrast this to Shoaib Akhtar who runs up full tilt and bowls the first ball well wide outside the off stump and Sehwag lets it go or upper cuts it for 4. 

The modern day test cricket has no express bowlers , no uncovered pitches, Kookaburra balls  are used where swing lasts only for 10 odd overs and wickets in Australia are as barren as Faisalabad in Pakistan. The pitches have become batsman friendly some would say, still the first use of conditions from a bowlers point of view makes a huge difference to the outcome of the match especially with early moisture and cloud cover. 

All said and done watching the first ball in a test match is a feeling unmatched by any other.

PS : Just watched Anderson bowling to Shane Watson in Sydney as well !!