World Cup Match Reports, Articles & Interviews

[Prudent]

Collection of articles and match reports from newspapers around the world. Colours that celebrate Sehwag's batsmanship The arena is Virender Sehwag's canvas and he brush-strokes it with hues of brilliance. The myriad colours celebrate the spirit of batsmanship.In the process, Sehwag conjures timeless masterpieces. These, indeed, are innings that are not clouded by the passage of years. These match-winners are a breed apart. The entertainer who walks the tight-rope wants to display greater responsibility in the 2011 edition of the World Cup. He still blasts 175 off 140 deliveries at a Strike Rate of 125.00 against Bangladesh which is higher that his career SR of 103.69. This is Sehwag for you. Not since the awesome Vivian Richards has a batsman consistently toyed with attacks in the manner this 32-year-old genius from Delhi has done. Sehwag does give bowlers nightmares in daylight. NEW APPROACH Yet, Sehwag has a point when he talks about a new approach — by his standards — in the larger interests of the team.He actually batted till the middle of the 48th over, rotating the strike, launching into the bigger blows and virtually settling the issue against Bangladesh. If Sehwag stays, the opposition is in serious trouble. Interestingly, Sehwag's previous highest ODI score, a rapid 146 at the expense of the Sri Lankan attack in Rajkot, 2009, consumed only 102 deliveries! Importantly from the Indian perspective, Sehwag built partnership around him at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka. He raised 69 with Sachin Tendulkar, 83 with Gautam Gambhir and a mammoth 203 with the impressive Virat Kohli. http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article1478184.ece

[Chandan]

Sort Sree out or rethink strategy Anil Kumble February 21, 2011 Shanthakumaran Sreesanth unsuccessfully appeals for a dismissal during their fifth and final...... It's still very early in the tournament but India need to get their bowling sorted. If they are looking to use Sreesanth up the order, then he has to get them wickets, otherwise, they need to rethink their bowling strategy. He was trying too much against Bangladesh and had a very poor game. Perhaps, his thinking was that with 370 on the board, he could experiment somewhat, but this is the World Cup, you have to bowl smartly and not give away anything you can avoid giving away. Munaf actually, and Zak, were very good examples of how a faster bowler needed to bowl — you have to bowl wicket to wicket and make it so it's just not easy to score runs. If you frustrate the batsmen and put them under pressure, in this situation, they'll make mistakes. I'm not sure what India's bowling strategy was and how bad Nehra's sore back is, but they have to seriously look at getting a second spinner into the XI. Bangladesh is a decent team at home, young and enthusiastic, but they were not seriously expected to stretch India, which they didn't, thanks to the runs on the board courtesy Sehwag and Kohli. But unless there is a dramatic improvement in the overall bowling and fielding, India might have bigger problems against teams with stronger and more consistent batting line-ups. Only 2 associates Meanwhile, the other two games we got to see over the weekend went along expected lines, with New Zealand creating a few records against a Kenya looking out of their depth, and Sri Lanka, waltzing to victory against hapless Canada. I've said this on air too, but I do believe that we should really look at giving only the two best Associate teams an opportunity to play in something like the World Cup — so 12 instead of 14 teams. One-day cricket isn't like the T20s, where it's not just about skill and it's much shorter, so Associate teams can compete much better. At the same time, Associates also need to play some top-flight competition regularly, not just once in four years, to help them get quality experience and the confidence that comes with that experience. For that, the ICC needs to look at a sensible programme that considers two things: ‘A’ teams of the top-level countries and geographical proximity. I'll explain this. Most top countries like India, Australia, England, Sri Lanka and South Africa also have very strong second XIs, the 'A' teams. Win-win situation Both benefit from this arrangement: Associate nations get quality opposition and ‘A’ team players get the opportunity to turn out for their country in international competition. The ICC could also look to use the fact that every country is not playing constantly. Perhaps, you could have Kenya and Zimbabwe play a few games in South Africa, Ireland and the Netherlands, go across to England or Canada, travel to the West Indies on exposure trips. In any World Cup, we'll probably get the odd upset, a big team having a bad day and a minnow taking glorious advantage, but for the most, if we want a tight, quality competition, we need it to be an even playing field.

[Feed]

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly More.. osted on February 22, 2011 by Prem Panicker The 2007 World Cup in the West Indies was an unmitigated disaster — not only because of the murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, or because of the impossibly extended nature of a competition that, as my friend Rahul Bhattacharya once put it, is still going on somewhere in the Caribbean, or because the early exit of India and Pakistan robbed fans from those two countries of any desire to endure the rest of the tournament, but because the organizers made the mistake of forgetting that cricket is, finally, all about the fans. Stringent measures in the name of “security†meant that the locals couldn’t bring their preferred alcohol into the grounds. Musical instruments were banned as well. And cricket in the Caribbean without liquor and music is, well… it’s just not cricket, put it that way. Realization dawned only midway through the tournament — and then the organizers made a bad situation (empty stands) worse by giving away tickets for free — a proceeding that pissed off those who had spent hard earned money on procuring the exorbitantly priced tickets. Long story short, 2007 was a disaster. Rather than learn from it, the organizers of the latest edition have walked further down the path of reducing ticket-buying fans to irrelevance. As pointed out in an earlier post, the bulk of the tickets go to the ICC and to the local clubs; genuine fans are left to scramble for the handful of tickets that remain after all the interest groups are satisfied. And then the online ticketing site goes down. Ratnakar Shetty, head of the organizing committee, unwittingly underlined the problem when he said that only a few tickets could be offered to the general public because the BCCI had to fulfill “contractual obligationsâ€. The question is, obligation to whom? To the clubs within the umbrella of the BCCI and its state associations, because they are the ones who vote office-bearers to power, and hence must be sweetened with hand-outs. Clearly, neither the BCCI nor the ICC believes that it has any sort of obligation to the fans — thus, each “stadium renovation†is primarily intended to extend the size and scope of the “hospitality boxes†for the sponsors and officials, and each such extension is at the cost of seating space for the general public. Any other sport that dared to so thoroughly ignore, even humiliate, the fans that are its lifeblood would have collapsed long ago — but cricket, especially here in India, grows apace, because of the passion the lay person brings to the game; a passion the organizers have not been able to kill, despite their best efforts. In that context,consider this story of Ikhar, a little village in Gujarat most natives cannot even identify on the map; of the lanky seamer who put that village on the cricketing map; and of how one man’s Cinderella story is inspiring an entire region to emulation. A clip:

By making his way into the national squad, the 28-year old Munaf has spurred the imagination and aspirations of the people in several villages across Bharuch. Many boys and teenagers want to follow the footsteps of the pacer, who is in the World Cup squad. His achievements have triggered a trickle-down effect with hundreds of children taking to cricket seriously in southern Gujarat. Children travel several kilometres and sometimes hitch-hiking rides to pick up the basics of the game at the academies that have mushroomed in the wake of Munaf becoming a star. The coaching camps in Bharuch are flooded with requests from parents to admit their wards. Shoaib Sopariya, 17, is one among them and he travelled 28 km to Bharuch to attend a special coaching camp organised by the Bharuch District Cricket association recently for a talent search by MRF Academy. Those in the talent hunt felt the boy was promising and Shoaib came in for praise from T Sekhar, who had coached Munaf. Shoaib virtually breathes cricket and gets excited while talking about the game. He reels out the teams playing in the World cup. He is happy that his role model, Munaf and Yusuf Pathan from the neighbouring district of Vadodara are in the World Cup squad.

That is where the soul of Indian cricket rests — not in the hospitality boxes populated by sponsors, nor in the seats filled through “contractual obligationsâ€. Now if only the BCCI had the vision to see that, and to tap into it… Shoaib resides in a one-room tenement along with his parents and two siblings in Ikhar, Munaf’s village. Many days, he does not get to eat his favourite mutton as his father cannot afford it. His father, Ibrahim Sopariya, travels 28 km from the village to Bharuch to earn his daily wage. All he can make after drudgery is around Rs 2,500 a month. But the father is willing to give part of the earnings for his son’s future.

[satyam1729]

Winning mental war against Aussies World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga speaks on winning the mental battle over the Australian cricket team in the lead up to the 1996 World Cup final and being angry after finding that almost the entire Sri Lankan World Cup squad has gone to see a carpet exhibition in the morning of the day of the final. He also dwells on the roles of some of the key members of the World Cup squad such as Aravinda de Silva and Asanka Gurusinghe and not so key members like Upul Chandana. Here are the excerpts. Question: Was the tour of Australia in 1995-96 the ideal preparation for the World Cup? Ranatunga: Well, we had a lot of issues. Murali was called for throwing and then the ball tampering issue came up. We had sleepless nights on that tour to Australia. Every night, every single night, I used to sit with Duleep (Mendis) and discuss issues. This was a time where Roshan was struggling with his form. I suggested to Duleep that we should try out Kalu (Romesh Kaluwitharana) as an opener. Duleep looked at me and said; ‘Arju, we have enough issues, do you want to create another?’ Then I said; ‘There is no point in letting Kalu bat at number seven. He gets into 30s and gets out. If we open with Kalu, we can push Roshan to the middle-order.’ Then Duleep said; ‘No, let’s not do this because we have plenty of problems already.’ Then I asked him this; ‘Let’s go to sleep and think over it and take a decision in the morning.’ Whenever I go for breakfast, I call Duleep and we discuss a lot of things. His knowledge was vast. The next morning I asked Duleep; ‘What do you say?’ He said; ‘Well, that’s not a bad idea’ and asked, ‘have you spoken to Kalu?’ Then I said; ‘I will have a chat with Kalu and you speak to Dav.’ As we were finishing our breakfast, Aravinda walked in. I told Aravinda that there was a suggestion like that. Aravinda is not a person who worries too much. He’s easy going. The only thing he asked was this: ‘What about Roshan?’ Then I said; ‘Well, we’ll ask Roshan to bat down. Then he said okay and went off. When I told this to Kalu, his immediate response was; ‘Mawa billata dennada hadanne’ (Are you going to make me a victim?). I said there was nothing like that, but we just wanted to try out a new ploy. Then he said: ‘I have never opened’. Then I said; ‘Well, there’s a first for everything.’ What happened afterwards is history. Question: What made you to believe that 1996 could be your tournament? Ranatunga: Our batting. The fact that we had two openers who could change the context of the game within the first 15 overs and then we had a solid number three batsman in Gurusinghe followed by probably the best batsman at that time in Aravinda. Then we could do anything with our middle-order. If things were not working, we could push a guy like Roshan to bat higher in the order like we did in the semi-final. Our batting was flexible and that was a big advantage we had. Question: Muttiah Muralitharan was called for throwing in the tour of Australia. Was it a bit of a gamble to pick him for the World Cup? Ranatunga: It was a huge gamble. There’s one administrator who is claiming that the board never allowed me to select the squad I wanted for the 1996 World Cup. That guy had no say in matters relating to the team then. One good thing with Ana Punchihewa, the Board President then, was that he never interfered. Cricket was handled by Duleep, Dav and I. Dav looked after the coaching part while Duleep was the Manager and Chairman of Selectors. We took a big risk in picking Murali. When I went to the selection meeting, I was told that if Murali was called, we are g`oing to play the World Cup with just 13 players as only 14 players were allowed for the World Cup squads at that time. The very people who claim that they protected Murali during those problematic days told us not to pick him for the World Cup as we would have been down to 13 players. I told Duleep; ‘Let’s take this risk even if we are to go with 13 players. He was convinced and supported me. We had a few chats with the selectors and they were concerned about going with 13 players. I said, don’t worry, no one is going to call Murali in a World Cup. I told them that this tournament, where neutral umpires were running the show, the chances of Murali being called were remote. We were so lucky that people like Roy (Dias) and Ranjan (Madugalle), whenever we had issues, supported us. They don’t get the credit for the World Cup win, but, nevertheless, their contributions were crucial. Our discussions used to go on for hours and there were lots of arguments, but ultimately, when it comes to the final decision, those guys used to tell me, ‘look, you are taking the team to the field and if you are comfortable with someone, we are with you.’ Question: Was that the best you have seen of Aravinda de Silva? Ranatunga: His knock in the semi-final was fabulous, but I have seen him getting hundreds on really bad tracks. Not bad tracks, but difficult wickets where the ball either moves or keeps low and not easy to bat. It was a treat to watch him from the other end. He was pure class. I always tell my son that the most enjoyable thing about my cricket is being able to bat with two extraordinary players. One is Roy and the other is Aravinda. Watching Aravinda’s battles with fast bowlers from the other end was priceless. When I get beaten a couple of times, I look for the single and Aravinda would hit the next ball from the middle of his bat. In that Brisbane Test Match (in 1989), when we came for lunch, Ari was on 80 and I was 20 odd. I went and checked his bat to see whether his bat was wider than mine. I felt his bat was larger than the usual ones. He made it look all too easy and he’s easily one of the best cricketers in the world. Question: During the entire World Cup you preferred batting second. Given the way the pitch behaved in the semi-final in Calcutta, could Sri Lanka have been in trouble had you won the toss? Ranatunga: Why we opted to chase was because we were comfortable with chasing. In the semi-final, until Tendulkar got out, there were no issues with the wicket. Maybe one odd ball jumped and stuff. Aravinda was very keen to bat first, but the rest of us, all 13, were very keen to field first. We had won our games chasing and we didn’t want to change that method. We knew the wicket could turn, but we were comfortable handling the Indian spinners. We didn’t want to change our concept that had won us games for the previous 15 or 20 days. From the quarter-finals onwards in a tournament like the World Cup, you need a bit of luck and I had that luck. Azhar (Mohammad Azharuddin) didn’t have that luck. Question: Aravinda says his biggest worry in that tournament was ahead of the quarter-final fixture against England. Was it the same with you? Ranatunga: Yes, mine too. I was a bit worried playing England and I remember picking the side the day before the match. Upul Chandana was supposed to play the quarter-final because we felt that England didn’t play leg-spin very well. At about 10 in the night, Upul came to my room and said he wanted to speak to me. And he asked me why we were changing the team. ‘Why don’t we go with the winning combination,’ he asked. Then I asked him; ‘Are you scared?’ ‘We have six batsmen and you can bat in the lower middle-order.’ Then he said; ‘No, I am not scared, but it’s all about experience. I would love to play one game in the World Cup, but why do we have to change the winning combination?’ I said; ‘Okay, but, anyway, be ready to play the match. We will have a chat in the morning.’ In the morning while having breakfast, I told this to Duleep and he said, ‘Arju it’s not a bad idea.’ He felt our batting was our strength. So we managed to convince Dav, who was very keen to play the leg-spinner, but eventually he too agreed. Then I called Roshan and said; ‘You will probably play, so bring your kit.’ Then Roshan said that if we wanted to play leg-spin, do so and added; ‘I don’t have any issues. Let Upul play.’ Then I said; ‘We are still thinking about the two options and there’s a cloud cover as well. Anyway, be ready to play. During the run chase, when I got out, we still needed 40 odd runs to win and it was Hashan and Roshan who finished the game. These were the contributions from people like Upul. During the semi-final in Calcutta, Aravinda was fielding at deep mid-wicket when they started throwing bottles at us. Upul, who was the 12th man, was fielding at short mid-wicket. I was fielding at extra-cover. Upul came running towards me and said; ‘Let me go to the deep and let Aravinda come to the ring.’ I asked why? Then he said; ‘Well, if he gets hit, we might lose him for the final.’ He took a chance and went to the deep. Marvan (Atapattu) and Pushpa (Ravindra Pushpakumara) too were great for us and I am lucky to have captained such a bunch unselfish guys. Question: Your thoughts on Asanka Gurusinghe. Those who were involved with the team in 1996 say that he’s the unsung hero of that campaign? Ranatunga: There’s no doubt that he’s the unsung hero. His contributions were massive during our World Cup campaign, but they don’t get mentioned in the same breadth like that of Aravinda or Sanath. That’s mainly because his style, I guess. When it mattered, he came up with goods and was consistent throughout. He’s a fighter and given the opportunity, I will always play him at number three on any day simply because I haven’t seen a better fighter than him. Gura is a very good team man as well. Both of us had the same kind of attitude. He always wanted to win and hated losing. Question: The Aussies used to sledge at you during the Benson & Hedges series in Australia in 1995. Was there a fair bit of sledging during the World Cup final? Ranatunga: Not really. I took them on in the pre-match media conference. I said that the Waugh brothers were ordinary cricketers and that they were highly overrated. I said the same thing about Shane Warne and repeated that in an interview just before the toss and made sure the word got across to the Australian dressing room too. It’s a mental battle. Having gone to Australia so often, I felt that we get caught in that kind of mental battles. I felt they all work in unison. The media goes after us right from the moment we land there. My fight started the day before the final. I said plenty of nasty things about them. That had an effect on them and when I walked in to bat, they started saying, ‘Oh, here comes the greatest batsman on earth. We all are ordinary cricketers.’ I said to myself, ‘Wow, this is working’. I knew they had got the message and they were desperate to prove a point. Question: What did you do in the morning of the final? Ranatunga: On the day of the final I felt slightly under pressure. My shoulders were a bit tight and that’s not a good feeling. There was a bit of stress. This is a World Cup final mind you. Then my mother and wife came to see me together with my son. They had come on that charter flight. I went down for breakfast in the morning and could see Roshan and Hashan were seated in a corner. The entire Australian team, meanwhile, was very well dressed and were having breakfast on one side. After serving my breakfast, I sat with the two of them and asked where the others were? They said there’s a carpet exhibition downstairs and they have all gone to see the carpet exhibition. I asked Roshan; ‘What, carpet exhibition?’ I told myself, ‘Oh! God!, this is the most important day in our lives and these guys are gone shopping. I was mad. Then, after breakfast, Hashan said; ‘Let’s go and take a look.’ So the three of us went down and I could see Kumar (Dharmasena) was bargaining carpets. Pushpa was bargaining carpets. Of the entire team, the only guy who was not there was Aravinda. Everyone was bargaining carpets. That’s the time I told myself; ‘Look, the Aussies are very tensed, our guys are not putting any pressure on themselves and this is ideal.’ That’s the time I thought, well, what’s the point in me getting stressed and I also started bargaining. I realised at that point that we were going to win this World Cup. http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=19064

[ganeshran]

That is true IMO, Australia lose only when they are rattled by mental games and a belligerent attitude which isnt awe of their achievements. Clearly old style sportsmanship wont work with them

[flamy]

Fabulous read :)

[Online]

enjoyed it

[Chalks]

Good read. Love how he gets up Aussies' noses, even now. :D

[achilles]

Superb read.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

great insights frm Arjuna, the last captain to defeat the aussies in worlcups. come on guys lets start bargaining for somthing

[hemanthjava]

The orange city Nagpur is ready to host the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 match on Friday. Two group 'A' teams, Australia and New Zealand will play their second match in this tournament at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium. Watch on Sportsbun

[Prudent]

England and India tie and breathe life into the World Cup - Vic Marks - The Guardian What a gargantuan effort by both sides for a point apiece. The consequences of this astonishing tied match are nowhere near as significant as the first one in the World Cup, the semi-final between South Africa and Australia at Edgbaston in 1999. But this epic contest provided the perfect tonic for the tournament. It suggested that England, for all their frailties, have a much better chance in this World Cup than we thought 24 hours ago and that India are not quite so invincible upon their home patch as their status as favourites indicates. It also told us that any obituaries for the 50‑over format are premature. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/feb/27/india-england-cricket-world-cup-2011

[Cricket_Guru]

Shoaib akhtar interview he looks stoned, sleepy but cool :cantstop: Ade5bAM8UiE

[PakSwinger]

well he performed against srilanka....hope he continues his form

[punjabi_khota]

:nice:

[Ranvir]

Inzamam better than Tendulkar? He must be stoned!

[future star]

World fastest bowler and very honest man

[Clarke]

Best Batsman : Inzamam Greatest achievement : honest man Honest about his stupidity :agree:

[gaurav92]

^True :giggle:

[pakexpress]

whataaaa playaaa...a legend... agree with him on BL and Inzi...