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...