WHAT WERE OUR REALISTIC CHANCES BEFORE THE WOLRD CUP?
Let us assume that world cup format was such that top 8 teams compete with each other. India’s chances against Australia and South Africa were not bright. Against NewZealand and Srilanka chances were only 50-50. England, West Indies and Pakistan were the only teams, which we were confident of beating. We would have reached or missed semifinal berth by a slender point.
WHY WE LOST TO BANGLADESH?
1. Players were circumspect not positive enough.
2. Bangladesh are no more minnows, they are developing into a good team.
3. Poor display in all departments of the game.
WHY WE EXITED FROM WORLD CUP EARLY?
1. Bad luck.
2. Format is such that there is no way for bouncing back. I am not blaming the format but saying the fact.
3. We failed to display killer instinct in the crunch game against Srilanka.
4. Our loss against Bangladesh did really cost us.
HOW DO THIS TEAM COMPARE WITH 2003 WORLD CUP TEAM?
1. The bowling trio of Srinath, Zaheer and Nehra were at peak of their form. The current trio of Zaheer, Agarkar and Munaf are not close to them even though they are good.
2. Sachin was at best of his form. Sachin clearly out of sorts.
3. Ganguly was fluent and positive (Even though it is against Namibia and Kenya). Ganguly is scratchy and struggling even though he scored two 50’s.
4. Shewag was at peak of his form (Though personally he had average world cup. He gave quick starts to the team). Shewag is at lowest point of his career (Though he is leading run-getter for India in this world cup).
5. Our fielding unit was better with two outstanding fielders Yuvraj and Kaif. We have only one outstanding fielder in Yuvraj and our fielding unit is weakest.
6. Harbhajan was at his peak. Harbhajan is no more wicket taking nowadays even though economical.
7. Positives are transformation of Yuvraj into a leading batsman, Dhoni (unfortunately failed to click in both the important matches), Pathan (unfortunately out of form) and Munaf Patel.
FACTORS THAT DERAILED OUR PROGRESS
1. We should have included Romesh Pawar as first choice spinner ahead of Kumble and Harbhajan. A figure of 3/50 in 10 overs is better than 1/40 in 10 overs, since all three wickets were top-order batsmen.
2. Pathan was clearly out of form that clearly upset our team balance.
3. When Sachin was not available for West Indies tour because of injury, our team management should have tried either Robin Uthappa or Gambhir. But Uthappa was given only one chance in the entire one-day series and instead Dravid was opening. Had he given enough opportunities Uthappa would be refined now.
4. Selection of Jaffer ahead of Uthappa and Gambhir for South African one-day series was a retrograde step. Even though Jaffer is our No.1 test opener and his performances in recently concluded domestic one-day tournament were fantastic.
5. Yuvraj’s untimely injury during championship trophy was a great misfortune. Because of this our team plans got unstable. Sachin was forced to play in the middle-order just before the world cup. I personally feel that Master is best at opening slot.
6. Every good thing failed to click and all the bad things clicked.
a) Examples of good things not clicking: Kaif, one of the best fielders of our side and good team man, was not able to lift his game to another level like Yuvraj. Suresh Raina, a great potential and the best fielder of our side, was terribly out of form after some initial success. Pathan was not able to regain his bowling form.
b) Examples of bad things clicking: Obviously return of Ganguly. He returned to Indian team because of team’s poor performance not because of his performances in domestic cricket. Agreed he scored runs after returning but they never counted towards team’s cause. He was selected into Indian team ahead of talented and performing Rohit Sharma and Badrinath. If Kaif and Raina has to be replaced it should have been Rohit Sharma and Badrinath not Ganguly. Ganguly definitely created some negative vibes among the team.
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