By Donn Morgan Kipgen
Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and a gentleman-game played by very intimidating players. In one-day limited overs cricket, especially the new 20 overs format, nothing can be said until the last bowl has been bowled. Unlike in football, hockey, tennis, rugby etc one just cannot predict the outcome of a cricket match.
One can bet in favour of Italian, Brazilian or French teams playing aga-inst Macedonia, Bosnia, Panama etc in competitive football matches, but in cricket, you just cannot do that with full confidence. In One-day International (ODI) cricket, there is no such thing as ‘upsets’ nor ‘lucky wins’ and this is the natural excitement and the appealing wonder of cricket. Every aspect of human character and psychology can be seen on field in nerve-wrecking one-day game of cricket. So important is the game of cricket, especially the ODIs, it is the only genuine and permanent factor which unites the whole of India in times of triumph and set-backs. During the bloody 1999 Kargil war, there was an unofficial ceasefire when India played majestically against Pakistan! In fact, all the long range artillery (155 mm Bofors) and heavy mortar rounds were actually fired off by both the warring sides in the LOC areas to celebrate 4 or 6 runs, fall of wickets, and also in 2003 World Cup match against Pakistan.
When on the morning of 25th Sep 2007 team India Captain ‘Lucky’ Dhoni won the decisive toss at the ‘even pitch’ of the Wanderers, he must have recalled the blunder made by India against Australia in 2003 final match.
History repeats itself in favour of young ‘20-20 calibre’ Team India this time around by out-leaping the Kangaroos by ‘Lucky’ Dhoni’s high-flying ‘death or glory’ boys to catch the final bus to the wonderful Wanderers, thanks to the outrageous 30-ball 70 runs knock of Yuvraj Singh.
To be a lucky winning Captain, one has to have an experienced and highly talented players. And to be a methodical and tactically successful Captain, he must have to have atleast 3 experienced strike bowlers and 3 or more top class batsmen and a genuine all-rounder. Bowlers hunt in pairs and batsmen notched big total runs with regular partnerships. A wicket-taking strike bowler called upon by a tactically sound Captain to break partnerships or dismissed dangerous top order batsman, naturally needs brilliant and very good fielders to take outstanding catches. Champion fielders have to stop the flow of the runs to frustrate even a well-set star batsman: a needless run out or reckless shots (to be caught or bowled) is a perfect example of a well-balanced team work. With the absence of the top 3 batsmen and two strike bowlers, MS Dhoni, with just 5 senior players out of 14 players, did exceptionally well to guide home the young and inexperienced but highly talented team India to 20-20 World Cup beyond one’s wildest expectation. His cool fielding placements at the right time at the right place along with superb rotation of his strike bowlers were truly amazing and highly exceptional. M.S Doni has multiple alternative game plans for each particular situation and gave full moral and mental supports to his players, especially the young guns. His handling of Indian strike bowlers and giving them attacking fielding positions against the Pakistani middle order batsmen in the Final and that of mighty Australians in the Semi-Final match was quite brilliant. His cool, calculated and brotherly attitude as a first time Captain in the first 20-20 World Cup tournament, even though he has never captained his own State Jharkand team nor junior Indian team before, was professionally astounding. In that thrilling final ‘shoot-out’ of equally deadly young guns, Dhoni did a (Erwin) Rommel to stunning effects by introducing Irfan Pathan and RP Singh, two of his most successful wicket-taking bowlers to bowl out their last over each before the 16th over instead of keeping them for the last two overs as would be done by other captains. With two dangerous Pakistani regular batsmen well-set at the crease, to be followed by a hard-hitting all-rounder and an useful batsman, Dhoni knew the only way to defeat the Pakistanis was to bowl them all out, otherwise, only 10-12 runs would be needed in the last two overs with 3 or 4 Pakistani wickets in hand. Pathan and RP Singh responded with one decisive wicket each with most economical overs. Later on, he introduced his last remaining trump-card in Sreesanth much early on who also duly responded with a tactically decisive wicket to leave the Pakistani with just one wicket in the last over needing 13 runs to win. Misbah-ul-Haq was psychologically put under tremendous pressure and his inexperienced showed when he tried to finish off the match instead of waiting for a loose ball in 4 balls to be bowled by nervous and equally inexperienced medium pacer in Joginder Singh. The proud Misbah did not trust the no. 11 batsman to face any ball in a situation where 3 single and a 2 run would win the match. However, the audacious challenge presented by Dhoni in bringing up the fine leg fielder to an unorthodox position between leg-slip and short fine leg to leave an invitingly open leg-side field paid off promptly as planned so specifically. The rest is history.
The total absence of the top old guns was a blessing in disguise for India since new and young batsmen displayed their aggressive and explosive talents without any fear of being replaced by senior players if they fail to score decisive runs at good strike rates. They did not have to impress the captain and manager for a berth in the next one or two matches with over-cautious accumulation of runs at low strike rates. With a new refreshing Captain new players like R Sharma Yusuf Pathan and R Uthappa and non-regulars like Gambhir, Karthik etc played their games with full confidence. However, it was an excellent team work with stellar roles provided by Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Sharma, Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh in decisive matches which fetched them the most deserving inaugural T-20 World Cup 2007.
The main highlights of the tournament were the 6 sixes in an over by Yuvraj Singh against Stuart Broad of England and a hattrick by Brett Lee. Whereas Herschel Gibbs holds the 6 sixes record in 50 overs ODI, only two other batsmen had hit 6 sixes in an over in first-class cricket match. The first being Sir Garfield Sobers against Malcolm Nash of Glamorgan in a County match and the other being Ravi Shastri against Tilak Raj of Baroda in a Ranji Trophy match.
Well, all these rare feats would be hard to be achieved in future games, as hard as winning Twenty-20 World Cup by a half-strength and new look Indian team led by a first time Captain.
The Sangai Express
Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and a gentleman-game played by very intimidating players. In one-day limited overs cricket, especially the new 20 overs format, nothing can be said until the last bowl has been bowled. Unlike in football, hockey, tennis, rugby etc one just cannot predict the outcome of a cricket match.
One can bet in favour of Italian, Brazilian or French teams playing aga-inst Macedonia, Bosnia, Panama etc in competitive football matches, but in cricket, you just cannot do that with full confidence. In One-day International (ODI) cricket, there is no such thing as ‘upsets’ nor ‘lucky wins’ and this is the natural excitement and the appealing wonder of cricket. Every aspect of human character and psychology can be seen on field in nerve-wrecking one-day game of cricket. So important is the game of cricket, especially the ODIs, it is the only genuine and permanent factor which unites the whole of India in times of triumph and set-backs. During the bloody 1999 Kargil war, there was an unofficial ceasefire when India played majestically against Pakistan! In fact, all the long range artillery (155 mm Bofors) and heavy mortar rounds were actually fired off by both the warring sides in the LOC areas to celebrate 4 or 6 runs, fall of wickets, and also in 2003 World Cup match against Pakistan.
When on the morning of 25th Sep 2007 team India Captain ‘Lucky’ Dhoni won the decisive toss at the ‘even pitch’ of the Wanderers, he must have recalled the blunder made by India against Australia in 2003 final match.
History repeats itself in favour of young ‘20-20 calibre’ Team India this time around by out-leaping the Kangaroos by ‘Lucky’ Dhoni’s high-flying ‘death or glory’ boys to catch the final bus to the wonderful Wanderers, thanks to the outrageous 30-ball 70 runs knock of Yuvraj Singh.
To be a lucky winning Captain, one has to have an experienced and highly talented players. And to be a methodical and tactically successful Captain, he must have to have atleast 3 experienced strike bowlers and 3 or more top class batsmen and a genuine all-rounder. Bowlers hunt in pairs and batsmen notched big total runs with regular partnerships. A wicket-taking strike bowler called upon by a tactically sound Captain to break partnerships or dismissed dangerous top order batsman, naturally needs brilliant and very good fielders to take outstanding catches. Champion fielders have to stop the flow of the runs to frustrate even a well-set star batsman: a needless run out or reckless shots (to be caught or bowled) is a perfect example of a well-balanced team work. With the absence of the top 3 batsmen and two strike bowlers, MS Dhoni, with just 5 senior players out of 14 players, did exceptionally well to guide home the young and inexperienced but highly talented team India to 20-20 World Cup beyond one’s wildest expectation. His cool fielding placements at the right time at the right place along with superb rotation of his strike bowlers were truly amazing and highly exceptional. M.S Doni has multiple alternative game plans for each particular situation and gave full moral and mental supports to his players, especially the young guns. His handling of Indian strike bowlers and giving them attacking fielding positions against the Pakistani middle order batsmen in the Final and that of mighty Australians in the Semi-Final match was quite brilliant. His cool, calculated and brotherly attitude as a first time Captain in the first 20-20 World Cup tournament, even though he has never captained his own State Jharkand team nor junior Indian team before, was professionally astounding. In that thrilling final ‘shoot-out’ of equally deadly young guns, Dhoni did a (Erwin) Rommel to stunning effects by introducing Irfan Pathan and RP Singh, two of his most successful wicket-taking bowlers to bowl out their last over each before the 16th over instead of keeping them for the last two overs as would be done by other captains. With two dangerous Pakistani regular batsmen well-set at the crease, to be followed by a hard-hitting all-rounder and an useful batsman, Dhoni knew the only way to defeat the Pakistanis was to bowl them all out, otherwise, only 10-12 runs would be needed in the last two overs with 3 or 4 Pakistani wickets in hand. Pathan and RP Singh responded with one decisive wicket each with most economical overs. Later on, he introduced his last remaining trump-card in Sreesanth much early on who also duly responded with a tactically decisive wicket to leave the Pakistani with just one wicket in the last over needing 13 runs to win. Misbah-ul-Haq was psychologically put under tremendous pressure and his inexperienced showed when he tried to finish off the match instead of waiting for a loose ball in 4 balls to be bowled by nervous and equally inexperienced medium pacer in Joginder Singh. The proud Misbah did not trust the no. 11 batsman to face any ball in a situation where 3 single and a 2 run would win the match. However, the audacious challenge presented by Dhoni in bringing up the fine leg fielder to an unorthodox position between leg-slip and short fine leg to leave an invitingly open leg-side field paid off promptly as planned so specifically. The rest is history.
The total absence of the top old guns was a blessing in disguise for India since new and young batsmen displayed their aggressive and explosive talents without any fear of being replaced by senior players if they fail to score decisive runs at good strike rates. They did not have to impress the captain and manager for a berth in the next one or two matches with over-cautious accumulation of runs at low strike rates. With a new refreshing Captain new players like R Sharma Yusuf Pathan and R Uthappa and non-regulars like Gambhir, Karthik etc played their games with full confidence. However, it was an excellent team work with stellar roles provided by Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Sharma, Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh in decisive matches which fetched them the most deserving inaugural T-20 World Cup 2007.
The main highlights of the tournament were the 6 sixes in an over by Yuvraj Singh against Stuart Broad of England and a hattrick by Brett Lee. Whereas Herschel Gibbs holds the 6 sixes record in 50 overs ODI, only two other batsmen had hit 6 sixes in an over in first-class cricket match. The first being Sir Garfield Sobers against Malcolm Nash of Glamorgan in a County match and the other being Ravi Shastri against Tilak Raj of Baroda in a Ranji Trophy match.
Well, all these rare feats would be hard to be achieved in future games, as hard as winning Twenty-20 World Cup by a half-strength and new look Indian team led by a first time Captain.
The Sangai Express
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