India an overrated team?

[King]

Re: India an overrated team?

Is Indian an overrated cricket team like England soccer team? Cricket is a way of life in India. As they say in the advertiserment we eat and sleep cricket. As as fans we always expect our team to do really well. But over the years, we cannot deny the facts. Australia and South Africa are probablly the best cricket teams in the world. India has an excellent crop of players. But as we have seen when it comes to a final the pressure mounts on the player and they crumble. We have seen improvements in recent years but is it enough to rate it among the best 4?. Often times just before a major tournaments the stakes are too high and people expect a lot from their team. Are we expecting a lot from the team just before this world cup? Is it realistic to think that India is going to enter semifinal looking at the dismal performance at West Indies and SA in ODIs. You are welcome to agree and disagree...

I have said this to you once and will say it again, looking at the responses here do you think India is overrated? The fans are plain just. I don't quite understand why do you keep digging this every time? Why do you get an impression India is over rated and in particularly over rated by whom in your opinion? I don't see that pattern here on this MB. As a fan you hope and expect a team to win. If that is being labelled by you as "OVER RATING" then you need to revisit your thinking. Looks like you have already decided the team is overrated.

[head coach]

Re: India an overrated team? Cricket is enjoyable when you have realistic expectations. As Indian Cricket fans sometimes our expectations exceeds the real deal. And this would in turn lead to disappointment when we face a loss. Are we just pumped up to say India would reach finals or semifinals of WC or is it in line with the peformance of the team or in comparison with other teams? As many said here India is overrated by its fans alone which I left out to mention in the title of the topic...

[King]

Re: India an overrated team? Among the 11 voted for a pool about WC, 7 didn't even think India will reach the finals of the WC. That pretty much says it all. I think you are in a dilusion about Indians over rating their team. India have a decent team and people expect decent results. You don't expect the fans of a team to expect a loss everytime the team takes the field.

[MundaPakistani]

Re: India an overrated team? As an outsider i feel that if IND play brave cricket then they have a fair chance of making it to the semis and from there on you never know. I also see what head coach is saying because considering IND's record over the past 6 or 7 months it doesn't seem likely that they will do anything worthy in the WC but i feel that all this team needs is 1 or 2 good games and they will be right up there with the pack catching AUS.

[Guest BossBhai]

Re: India an overrated team? -- Removed on request of the user --

[yoda]

Re: India an overrated team?

Cricket is enjoyable when you have realistic expectations. As Indian Cricket fans sometimes our expectations exceeds the real deal. And this would in turn lead to disappointment when we face a loss. Are we just pumped up to say India would reach finals or semifinals of WC or is it in line with the peformance of the team or in comparison with other teams? As many said here India is overrated by its fans alone which I left out to mention in the title of the topic...

This team has beaten ENG, PAK, WI and SL in recent ODI series. So, why shouldn't someone expect them to be in the finals? I for one don't expect us to, but can understand why someone would. We just won 17 ODIs in a row chasing and 8 in a row with a team that is not very different from the one going to WC. It is not like we are a team languishing in last place which is being overhyped and overrated by it's fans.

[kabira]

Re: India an overrated team? I feel SL or WI will win this world cup.

[MundaPakistani]

Re: India an overrated team?

I have been following Cricket for almost 30 yrs now ... and face it guys one day cricket is almost a lottery .... Dont take my word for it ... check out the win/loss ratio of all Teams ... it hovers around the 45-55 % rank .. ours is almost 50% ... the kind of odds you would expect from a coin toss. Only Australia / SAF have a better win/loss ratio ...... (~60% IIRC) Its all about who plays better cricket on that day , week , month ... it doesnt really mean that Team is Good. Even the most outside under dogs will have their chance and We should that in 1983 and SL in 96 and Pak in 92 that on our day we can beat the very best. Now if the world cup was on a Test Match format then that would be something else.

45% to 55% is a massive gulf and i am sure it's like that in most sports Now e.g NZ sits about 44% and their record is 216 wins and 270 losses Compare this to PAK who sit at 54% and the record is 349 wins and 282 losses. So in other words NZ are 54 games under 500 while PAK are 67 games over 500! The point is that even in "lottery" cricket the good teams seperate themselves from the average ones

[King]

Re: India an overrated team? History will mean nothing and current batting form will contribute about 40% to the result. 20% will depend on bowling form, 20% on a fielding form and the rest of the 20% on an individual brilliance. ODI is a batters game while test matches are bowlers. If the batting sucks in ODI the team can't quite do well.

[Guest BossBhai]

Re: India an overrated team? -- Removed on request of the user --

[MundaPakistani]

Re: India an overrated team?

So in other words NZ are 54 games under 500 while PAK are 67 games over 500! The point is that even in "lottery" cricket the good teams seperate themselves from the average ones

Thats not a big margin considering the amount of ODIs that are in the sample .... And the reason why I say its lottery is due to the fact that some rank minnows have been able to beat some very very good teams ... and this has happened on more than one occasion. Few sharp catches / runouts or a few really good overs or some extra moisture at start or some lusty+lucky hitting can change the game ... Not so in test cricket. That is why the minnow nations (in past or current) took a looooong time to get results. You have to Well and Truly beat the opponent over 5 days and varying conditions to register a win ... not so in ODIs Iam afraid.

A record of 349 wins and 282 losses is obviously a lot better than 216 wins and 270 losses...PAK are +121 compare to NZ and that right there is one-fourth of the matches NZ have played in their history so the margin is absolutely massive. An upset can happen in any sport but i would argue that an upset is far less likely in ODI cricket than say football (soccer).

[Guest BossBhai]

Re: India an overrated team? -- Removed on request of the user --

[MundaPakistani]

Re: India an overrated team? I am not debating that ODI cricket is as good a gauge to judge a player or a team's cricketing ability as test cricket, all i am saying that it is not right to call ODIs a lottery. The lusty hitting, brilliance in the field, tight bowling etc are all facets of the game and a cricket world cup is not more unpredictable than a WC of any other team sport.

[Holysmoke]

Re: India an overrated team? nope. not overrated.

[King Tendulkar]

Re: India an overrated team? Not overrated we are underrated. We are the best in the world and will prove it at the world cup :wtg:

[Anakin]

Re: India an overrated team?

Not overrated we are underrated. We are the best in the world and will prove it at the world cup :wtg:

:hmph: :wtg:

[Chandan]

Re: India an overrated team?

Do you (who is not a fan of Indian cricket team) rate India?

Chandan, Should you jump to a conclusion while others dig for facts?

What conclusion and what facts, coach? I just asked a question, "overrated by whom"?

[Predator_05]

Re: India an overrated team?

We got to the final of the last WC. England football could only dream of such a thing. The comparison is crazy.

No, it's a valid comparison. What has India done over the last two decades ? A semifinal ('96) and a final ('03). England have also had two excellent results; semifinalists (3rd place) at Italia '90, and a semifinal at Euro '96. Both teams have had only two outstanding tournament results, interspersed by a series of failures or poor performances. Both teams field superb XI's on paper, often failing to live up to their reputations. ...and it's not just in terms of results. Look at the fan hype, the media expectation. The manner in which the English rags put their team on a pedestal is no different from the way garbage Indian rags like the TOI hype up the Indian cricket team. Not to mention the immense fan following; English suporters outsold the Estadio Da Luz in the Euro '04 QF vs Portugal, outnumbering the HOSTS 60% to 40 !! and that is simply when you account for the supporters who HAVE TICKETS. Similarly, India's overseas contingent turn any stadium into a sea of blue. I think the comparison is spot on, to be honest.