Australia's conundrum at World T20, 2016

Having witnessed Australia’s performance so far at World T20, it’s clearly evident that Australia certainly have a huge conundrum of picking right team combinations, if not team selection. Their team line up for first two matches comprised of as many as four all-rounders in Watson, Maxwell, Marsh and Faulkner. It’s good to have all-rounders, but having four of them playing together, that too, more or less of the same style defies cricketing logic and makes their batting vulnerable. One of them, probably Marsh or Faulkner have to make way for a specialist batsman like Finch who is unnecessarily and undeservingly warming the benches. Turning our focus to batting, Australia’s batting order certainly seems to be ill-ordered. What is David Warner doing at No.4? With his hard-hitting abilities and huge amount of experience of playing in the IPL under his belt, he should partner Khawaja at the top. Finch desperately needs to make a comeback at the expense of Marsh and should bat at crucial No. 3 position. Now, Smith, Watson and Maxwell can float around in the batting order, occupying No.4, 5 and 6 positions depending upon the match situation.

Smith and Australia must make amends in their team combination and batting unit to revive their chances at World T20

Thus, in spite of having talented bunch of batting unit, it was utterly disappointing to see Australia faltering in 142-run chase against NZ and crawling their way in the chase of 157 against Bangladesh. If their batting order just look unorganized, their bowling seems to be completely depleted. With Mitchell Starc unavailable due to injury, they are certainly missing their trump card who can bowl those lethal yorkers exceedingly well at the death and one who has an immense experience of playing in Indian conditions as well due to the IPL. Though Zampa has done a good job so far, Australia certainly missed the trick by not picking experienced campaigner in Nathan Lyon and opting Agar over him. Also, why is hazlewood not being picked and Hastings get picked? Hazlewood has been Australia’s workhorse for over a year now and is quite an intelligent bowler who knows his game quite well. Surely, Hazlewood deserved a chance, at least after his hat-trick against the Windies in the warm up match. So, Coulter-Nile, Hazlewood and Zampa should form Australia’s bowling line up and all-rounders should chip in as usual. Thus, with two more crucial matches to go against tough opponents like Pakistan and India, Australia certainly have the personnel to pull-off wins, but, they should get their team combination and batting order absolutely spot on.  

Celebrating the day when Little Master scored his 100th Hundred!!!

आपण कधी सचिन तेंडुलकरला रागावलेला, वैतागलेला पाहिलंय ? फारच क्वचित परंतु तो त्या दिवशी चक्क भडकलेला होता. तो दिवस होता ५ नोव्हेंबर २००९ व तो भारत वि ऑस्ट्रेलिया ह्याच्यातील झालालेल्या मालिकेतील पाचवा एकदिवसीय सामना होता. ह्या आधी मालिका २-२ अशी बरोबरीत होती व पाचव्या सामन्यात ऑस्ट्रेलियाची प्रथम फलंदाजी होती. पन्नासाव्या षटकाचा शेवटचा चेंडू जेव्हा सचिन पाशी आला तेव्हा त्याने तो चक्क रागाच्या भरात जमिनीवर आपटला व मैदान सोडले. त्या कृत्याचा तेव्हा कोणालाच काहीच अर्थ लागला नाही परंतु त्याचा अर्थ इतका लवकर लागेल याची कोणालाच कल्पना नव्हती. भारतासमोर आव्हान होते ३५१ धावांचे व सेहवाग तेंडुलकर  ही सलामीची जोडी भीम पराक्रमाचा पाठलाग करण्यासाठी मैदानात उतरली. पहिल्या षटका पासुनच दोघेही जण अत्यंत आक्रमक रित्या खेळत होते. क्षेत्ररक्षकांच्या डोक्यावरून फटके खेचत सचिन जणु आपल्या चाहत्यांना जुन्या सचिनची आठवण करून देत होता असेच वाटत होते. सचिनचे अर्धशतक होत असतानाच सेहवाग तंबूत परतला. परंतु सचिनने आक्रमकता कायम ठेवत झपाझप धावा केल्या व धावफलक हलता ठेवला. सेहवाग पाठोपाठ युवराज, ढोणीही बाद झाले व भारताची परिस्थिती नाजुक झाली. परंतु स्तिथप्रज्ञ राहुन सचिनने आपली झुंज चालुच ठेवली. सचिनने आपले शतक पूर्ण केले ते फक्त ८० चेंडूंमध्ये. जेव्हा त्याने अभिवादन करण्यासाठी प्रेक्षकांकडे बॅट दाखवली तेव्हा त्याच्या देहबोलीत जबर इच्छाशक्ती व कमालीचा आत्मविश्वास दिसत होता.

सचिन शतकानंतर प्रेक्षकांना अभिवादन करताना 

शतकानंतरही आपल्या धावांची गती कायम राखत तो भारताला आपल्या ध्येयाच्या जवळ जवळ नेत होता. क्रमांक ६ वर आलेल्या रैनाचीही सचिनला सुरेख साथ लाभली व रैना-सचिन जोडीने  भारताची बाजु मजबुत बनवली. परंतु ही जोडी खतरनाक वाटतीये तोच ऑस्ट्रेलियाने रैनाचा अडथला दुर केला. त्या सुमारास सचिनने  आपला १५० धावांचा टप्पा पुर्ण केला.  आता जडेजाला बरोबर घेत सचिनने आगेकुच सुरु ठेवली. संयम व आक्रमकता यांचा सुंदर मिलाप राखत सचिनने भारताची नाव अगदी विजयाच्या उंबरठ्यावर नेउन पोहोचवली. परंतु मोक्याच्या क्षणी जेव्हा भारताला ३ षटकात सुमारे २० धावा हव्या होत्या तेव्हा मकायच्या  धीम्या गतीच्या चेंडू वर शोर्ट फाईन लेग करवी तेंडुलकर १७५ला झेलबाद झाला. स्टेडियम सुन्न झाले. सर्वकडे एकच शांतता पसरली व मग मात्र सगळ्यांना समजले की एक वादळ शांत झाले होते . कारण ती सचिनची खेळी म्हणजे जणु एक घोंघावते वादळच होते. त्या वादळाने  ऑस्ट्रेलियाला संपूर्णपणे झोडपले होते.
सचिनची ती खेळी मला सदॆव लक्षात राहिल कारण ती खेळी एकाग्रता, ध्यास, जबर इच्छाशक्ती व कमालीचा आत्मविश्वास या सुवर्ण गुणांनी खचाखच भरली होती. तसेच त्या खेळीमुळे माझा क्रिकेटकडे बघण्याचा दृष्टीकोनच पूर्णपणे बदलुन गेला, माझ्यातला खरा क्रिकेटप्रेमी जागा झाला व मला उमंगल की खरंच क्रिकेट माझ्या आयुष्यातला किती महत्वाचा घटक आहे ते आणि त्यानंतर मी क्रिकेट बद्दल खऱ्या अर्थाने भावुक झालो.
इतक्या अप्रतिम खेळीनंतरही भारत अवघ्या ३ धावांनी पराभुत झाला, तो पराभव अगदी प्रत्येक भारतीयाच्या जिव्हारी लागला पण सचिनने जी काही खेळी केली ती पहायला मिळाली हे आपले भाग्यच.

Does ICC really want to promote the game and make Cricket a Global Sport?

Watching the qualifying stage of ICC World T20 2016 is a hard thing to do if you are a true Cricket lover. With only two teams set to qualify for the main draw (one from each group of 4), does not do any justice not only to associate nations but also to World T20 and Cricket, if we look at the bigger picture. To make the matters worse, a double-match washout between Ireland-Bangladesh and Oman-Netherlands at Dharamshala meant Ireland and Netherlands, two potential associates who could seriously compete the main draw nations were knocked out of the World T20 2016. Emotional post-match conference speeches from Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland’s skippers speaks about how distraught they are with ICC and it’s policy regarding handling the associate member nations. Scotland’s captain Preston Mommsen asked a simple but an eye-opening question to ICC: “how could I improve my skills if I play just one international game in 1 year” and condition of all other associates is no different.

Netherlands skipper Peter Borren is distraught with ICC during a post-match conference following their knockout

Looking at the present scenario, one wonders whether ICC confines only to BCCI, CA, ECB or it is really a global cricketing body? Does ICC really want to promote the game and make it a truly global sport or it is just here to fill the big pockets of fat bosses of big three boards? And one more reason to worry about is that why the hell is ICC trying to cut down the participation of associate member nations in World events? In first place, the associate nations don’t get to play any bilateral series against main teams and if ICC denies them their right to play in global events, how in this world are they going to improve their skills, how are they going to taste different conditions and face the crunch-time situations and ICC’s statement stating that 2019 50-over Cricket World cup to be a 8-nation tournament has already not gone down well with associate nations and if ICC does say so, how the game is going to be promoted? Why the fans from these nation would watch, follow and learn Cricket if ICC does not want to include them? And to be honest with these associate member nations, these teams have delivered when they were given a chance. In spite of being under must-win situations all the time, these nations have fared well and we have had many instances in the recent past where these so called minnows have challenged the top-draw nations. Consider the example of 2015 world Cup that was played down under. England, the nation that brought the game to the world, were knocked out in the first round, thanks to their defeat at the hands of Bangladesh, Ireland defeated West Indies. Bangladesh reached the quarter-final stage, Ireland’s progress was significant as they managed to win three out of six matches and at one point of time were in serious contention of qualifying for the quarter-final stage. Looking at the present World T20 scenario, 5 teams viz Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan seriously deserve to have a place in main draw of the Tournament and unfortunately only 2 out of 8 teams are going to make the cut. This is T20 and undoubtedly an ideal platform for spreading the game worldwide, while on the contrary, ICC just wants a 10-nation world T20. It should have been at least a 12 team affair if not 16. To add to it, World T20 2016 is in India, it is for the 3^rd consecutive time that an Asian country is hosting this event with 2012 and 2014 editions being played in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively. If we were to live in an ideal World and if ICC had been seriously proactive, it would have not only increased the number of associate nations participating in the event but also would have given the opportunity of hosting the 20-day event to a country say like Ireland. In such a scenario, it would have been a showcase event for all Irish fans and more importantly it would have sent a strong message to all other associate nations indicating that ICC is open to experiment and seriously wants to promote the game even in lesser known territories and make Cricket a truly global sport. Well, though such plans can be made, they look to be far from executed at least as far as ICC’s current style of functioning is concerned. As an Optimist and a true Cricket lover, I see nothing is lost and ICC can still make this sport a global one. Well as a matter of fact, apart from increasing the participation of associate nations in global events, these nations basically are Cricket Starved, starved of good quality Cricket and the only way to bring them up in Cricket is to arrange bilateral series between associate nations and full member nations. For example, if Australia is touring England for the Ashes, instead of Australia and England playing a long inconsequential ODI series after the Ashes, a tri-series between Australia, England and Ireland or Netherlands can be arranged which will help the associates to get involved in good quality competitive Cricketing environment or instead, say Scotland can tour South Africa, India or England for a 3-match T20 series. These measures would not only help these associate nations play good quality Cricket but would also help them in getting familiar to overseas conditions. Playing with top-draw nations and playing more and more Cricket is the only way by which associate nations can improve their skills and ICC as a global Cricketing body should ensure that this happens and a team is not left to play just a single International game in a year’s time. It’s already a high time and ICC should take the required steps and globalize the sport or otherwise there would be hardly six to eight contenders playing this beautiful game jeopardizing it’s future.