India Clinch the One-Day Series

Just minutes before, it was announced that the 4th and final ODI between India and West Indies has been called off due to heavy rain. The ground was soaked with heavy rain and unfortunately the series was decided by the weather. India won a good toss to elect to field in a pitch which had bounce and swing for the fast bowlers. Ishant Sharma was able to exploit the conditions to pick Gayle for a duck and start the match on a high note for the Indian team. The two batsmen spend ample time to give West Indies a steady start until the match was halted due to rain. Both the team’s fans would have rather seen some cricket, then to see the match called off due to rain. Unfortunately, the rule of allotting a spare day to a cricket match has been removed and the series has been clinched by India 2-1.
Final Scorecard: - West Indies 27 for 1 in 7.3 overs.

FIA Vs. FOTA

It is time that Max Mosley takes a step back from his status as the president of FIA board. Until now, the FIA has not been able to achieve any negotiation with the FOTA board. Briefly, it was announced that both the boards had come to a compromise and had opted to scrap the budget cap for the coming Formula One year. However, it turned out that none of the boards had agreed to such a statement and still none of them are ready to compromise on their situation. In fact, the situation has worsened over the last couple of weeks, where Max Mosley and Montezemolo (chairman of Ferrari and FOTA) have been found mocking each other in the news media. The FIA is determined to maintain its budget cap rule and the FOTA is unwilling to participate in Formula One with the same ruling. Nevertheless, both the bodies cannot survive without each other in this recession crunch. A negotiation is the only way both boards can survive in the motorsport business.

Thrilling Victory

The third ODI between India and West Indies came down to the wire and was decided with merely one ball to spare in the match. India chased a moderate 186 runs to ensure that from here on, they cannot lose the ODI tournament. The match was delayed due to rain and was shortened to 41 overs. Henceforth, many rain interruptions disallowed the West Indies team to attain any momentum in posting a huge total. The match, due to rain, was shortened from 41 to ultimately 27 overs. Not a single expert understands the Duckworth Lewis method but all agree that this is the best solution available in cricket today and India certainly got the best of the system. When India was chasing the total, the team had merely lost 2 wickets to face their rain interruption. This factor worked in their favor and they had to chase a meager 64 runs in 51 balls. But the match came down to the last over, from which 11 was required. A huge six from Dhoni set the match for India and the team was able to seal the win on the second last ball of the last over. From here on, India will want to win the tournament but West Indies will try their utmost to draw the series in front of their home crowd.

Back to Basics

The 2nd match between India and West Indies was an embarrassing loss for the visiting team, not because of the defeat but the manner in which the Indian team suffered a defeat. You certainly can’t win all the matches and our media and fans are certainly unforgiving when we lose any cricket match. But the way the team applied their cricket basics to the 2nd ODI was appalling. At the toss, the Indian captain, M.S. Dhoni and the rest of the experts certainly misread the pitch to expect to bat first and post a total well above 300. Expectations can be made before the commencement of play, but once the players came onto the pitch, they failed to apply themselves according to the wicket. The batsmen, having a mental target of 300+, did not throw any caution to the seaming and swinging ball. If the players would have applied themselves and had seen the 1st 10-15 overs through, they would have then been able to post a total of around 250-275. A batsman has to play the game according to the conditions and not according to a predetermined goal.

Breakaway

The war between the two organizations of Formula One, i.e. FOTA and FIA has finally come to a standstill and has eventually split the F1 teams into a separate entity. The FIA initially was reluctant to meet the demands of the F1 teams and stated that no team should be allowed to dictate the rules and regulations of the sport. The governing body refused to meet any demands of the car manufacturers which led to the breakaway of Ferrari, BMW, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, Brawn GP and the two Red Bull teams from Formula One. FOTA said that "these teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners." Truly, F1 cannot exist without the big guns like McLaren and Ferrari, and a breakaway series will definitely hold more prestige and freedom to the motorsport industry.

It's all about Team Spirit

T-20 is certainly unpredictable but no one can remove the equation of team spirit in the cricket game. Most experts and bookies expected India to reach at least the semi – finals of the T-20 world cup tournament but that didn’t happen. It was certainly not fatigue and the absence of key players like Shewag and Sachin, but due to the fact that the team was unable to gel together as a unit. When Jadeja was struggling to get India through, did we ever see Yuvraj encourage the amateur? His facial expressions displayed nervousness and the lack of encouragement from the senior players did not help him either. On the other hand, the Pakistan team, which was written off from the series as a failure, has now reached the finals of the world cup. Most experts rated them as pathetic performers before and during the commencement of the tournament. But they performed commendably to squash the hopes of South Africa to win their first ever world cup tournament.

Farewell India

Tonight, we saw the departure of the defending T20 champions from the world cup. A very close match indeed, but India never played the match to their full potential. India looked jittery and nervous when they won the toss and opted to field. Many simple misfields showed that the team was not at all confident to defend their crown. However, Indian bowlers did do a decent job in restricting England to 153. The Indian batsmen got off to a poor start but the downfall of India came when the decision to send Jadeja came about. England was already exploiting India’s weakness to play short pitch bowling. In a time where the team was struggling, India should have sent their senior players like Yuvraj to handle the situation.
The next game of India is versus South Africa, and I wouldn’t be surprised if their pace attack further exploits the weakness of the Indians to play short pitch bowling. Back to the practice pitch boys!!!!