The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 West Indies began on 13th of May 2007, with the opening match being played between the host West Indies and Pakistan. India was placed in Group B along with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bermuda. 2007 Cricket World cup had four groups each of which having two strong teams, which were almost certain to qualify for super six, with only one probable exception of Group D which was known as Group of Death and had West Indies, Pakistan and Zimbabwe as strong contenders for the first 2 positions. On 16th of May 2007 India played their first League Match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 against Bangladesh. India was supposed to be in a good nick as it had won two series prior to the World Cup. Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the man of the series in the last series before world cup against Sri Lanka. Sachin scored a fabulous 100 off 76 balls against his last match before world cup. So, Everyone had high expectations from him.Also, Sri Lanka and India were favoured as the most probable teams from Group B qualifying for the Super Six round. India was shattered down by Bangladesh with Bangladesh wrapping up Indian team at a bare total of 191. Bangladesh easily reached the target, and there was no hope for the Indians as 191 was too small total to defend. There was not a single moment in the match when it seemed that the match could turn Indias' way. Meanwhile as we lost the match, the attention transferred to Pakistan's match who were facing a Do or Die situation. Their match was delayed due to rain and was truncated. The match continued and not surprisingly Ireland ousted Pakistan as they had put just 132 runs on board. So Pakistan played the world cup just for 4 days. Pakistan was the first team to be washed away from ICC world cup 2007.
India had lost their first World Cup match and that too against minnows. Their next match was against Bermuda, where the Indian batsman put up the highest total on board in world cup. India won that match. Indias last league match against Sri Lanka proved out to be its final encounter in the World Cup. Now India was in a must win situation. But to the dismay of lakhs of Indians clinical Sri Lanka washed away Indias hope. India was chasing a moderate total but there was no hope left when Sachin was clean bowled on duck by Dilhara Fernando. India's world cup campaign ended in a very poor manner.
Citing the reason for the Indias' ousted from the world cup is easier said than done. You can't just blame the teams Coach Greg Chapell for his uncooperative behaviour(as said by some cricketers). What have the Batsman done? India was all out on 191 against Bangladesh and was unable to chase a moderate total against Sri Lanka. Sachin,Sehwag just played against Bermuda. This has always been the case with Sachin, he always ditches the whole country when it is required the most. In 2003 World Cup final, when India were chasing a huge target of 361 Sachin was just unable to get runs. But we can't blame Sachin as he is not the only one responsible for scoring runs. When all discussion is made about batting we can't just ignore Saurav Ganguly. He was the only batsman who managed to gain some respect. He was making runs but at snails pace , this concept of making slow runs was clear when the contract of getting paid for the time you spent on crease was unveiled( The name of the player was not disclosed by the BCCI ). India's bowling was never good as such. But what can bowlers do when their are so less runs on the board. Sreesanth was not given a single chance. Also captain Rahul Dravid is unable to use his bowlers efficiently, there have been cases where a good wicket taking bowler bowls only 7 overs of his quota of 10. Dravid more or less is reluctant to experiment in the field and he relies a much on spinners. Talking about spinners one question that always bug me is that why was Kumble kept out of the playing 11? There had been so much discussion about the pitches of West Indies, that the idea of dropping Kumble is really insane. One of the big loss to India was that of Ramesh Powar, a talented off spinner who was not selected for the world cup and the reason given was that he just missed the bus because they had to choose only 15 players. Team's Selection panel was also equally responsible. So we can't just blame this on one person, it was a team effort. Summing up, we can say..........actually I can't sum up this topic in a single line.
India had lost their first World Cup match and that too against minnows. Their next match was against Bermuda, where the Indian batsman put up the highest total on board in world cup. India won that match. Indias last league match against Sri Lanka proved out to be its final encounter in the World Cup. Now India was in a must win situation. But to the dismay of lakhs of Indians clinical Sri Lanka washed away Indias hope. India was chasing a moderate total but there was no hope left when Sachin was clean bowled on duck by Dilhara Fernando. India's world cup campaign ended in a very poor manner.
Citing the reason for the Indias' ousted from the world cup is easier said than done. You can't just blame the teams Coach Greg Chapell for his uncooperative behaviour(as said by some cricketers). What have the Batsman done? India was all out on 191 against Bangladesh and was unable to chase a moderate total against Sri Lanka. Sachin,Sehwag just played against Bermuda. This has always been the case with Sachin, he always ditches the whole country when it is required the most. In 2003 World Cup final, when India were chasing a huge target of 361 Sachin was just unable to get runs. But we can't blame Sachin as he is not the only one responsible for scoring runs. When all discussion is made about batting we can't just ignore Saurav Ganguly. He was the only batsman who managed to gain some respect. He was making runs but at snails pace , this concept of making slow runs was clear when the contract of getting paid for the time you spent on crease was unveiled( The name of the player was not disclosed by the BCCI ). India's bowling was never good as such. But what can bowlers do when their are so less runs on the board. Sreesanth was not given a single chance. Also captain Rahul Dravid is unable to use his bowlers efficiently, there have been cases where a good wicket taking bowler bowls only 7 overs of his quota of 10. Dravid more or less is reluctant to experiment in the field and he relies a much on spinners. Talking about spinners one question that always bug me is that why was Kumble kept out of the playing 11? There had been so much discussion about the pitches of West Indies, that the idea of dropping Kumble is really insane. One of the big loss to India was that of Ramesh Powar, a talented off spinner who was not selected for the world cup and the reason given was that he just missed the bus because they had to choose only 15 players. Team's Selection panel was also equally responsible. So we can't just blame this on one person, it was a team effort. Summing up, we can say..........actually I can't sum up this topic in a single line.
1 comment:
hey dear u have quite a hand at writing things.....am impressed the way u put thgs in ur post...the discussion flows in a lucid manner and the analysis goes quite well...u cud have summed up more efficiently....all in all its a nice piece to read.....
Post a Comment