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| krishna |
Posted
on 17-Feb-03 08:31 AM
Following India's uncharacteristic and inept performances in the Cricket World Cup 2003, angry fans have taken to the streets of Calcutta and Bombay burning pictures of Indian Captain Saurav Ganguly, Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, Virendar Shehwag, and Mohammad Kaif.
India, seen many as the strong contenders to lift the trophy, scored an unimpressive win over Holland in their opening game before being completely thrashed by Nine wickets by Australia on Saturday.
Disgusted fans took to the streets of Calcutta after the match and burned an effigy of the captain Sourav Ganguly, before staging a mock funeral for the player.
India have arrived in Harare ahead of Wednesday's game against Zimbabwe, on the back of two inept performances by its top order batsmen.
It remains to be seen whether India will come out firing on all cylinders after those fan disgusting performances but for now those who believed that the Indian batting line-up was the best in the world, are silent.
In my views, If you can run up a big score batting first, you immediately put the opposition under tremendous pressure. But if you bat the way India did, then the toss becomes irrelevant because the result would have been the same either way.
The captain should be leading by example, especially when the team are low on confidence. But you cannot describe the way Ganguly batted as a captain's innings. It was a very irresponsible shot he played to get out in both innings against Australia and underdogs Holland.
How can he expect the rest of his team to fight against the Aussies when he plays like that? If you look at the 1999 World Cup, it belonged to Australian captain Steve Waugh. He lifted the spirits of the team whenever his country needed a big score from him. He always came good, playing vital innings time and time again.
Ganguly is not doing that, neither he is captaining to mark. I believe its time he is set aside and bring someone who can captain the side and lead the team from the front, some like Mohammad Azharrudin or Ajay Jadeja. Ganguly needs to be sacked right now or India are in serious trouble even entering the super sixes, if they play like that.
Its Krishna.
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| ruck |
Posted
on 17-Feb-03 08:59 AM
Thanks krishna for the update..
No wonder their performnace... What else can you expect of them if they've been so busy shooting for commercials and making big bucks throughout the year.. ????
THOROUGHLY DISSAPOINTED :-((
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| oys_chill |
Posted
on 17-Feb-03 05:43 PM
hahah! not a big surprise !
the funny thing is i still keep getting pop up's of .....world's greatest batsmen's biography......ganguly, dravid n tendulkar....... hahah.......I can't wait for the India/Paki match..with the hungry wounded bowlers prowling on the chickens ;) .....I wish them strength to last more than 10 overs.......
talking bout world cup.........darkhorses, all blacks are back :) I hope they kick Aussie azzzz too in the supersix!
Oys
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| krishna |
Posted
on 17-Feb-03 11:29 PM
Ruck and Chill,
Who in their right frame of mind would put India as the third favourites? I do not see anything in this Indian line-up that can win them a single match against a healthy opposition. To me, the only match India seems to have a fair chance is the Zimbabwe one. Even that, at best is a 50-50.
The Indian team lacks it all. The have no confidence, no will, and no commitment. The greatest batting line-up in the world lacks temperament and patience. And more often than not, they have been found wanting in terms of technique as well.
The bowling is mediocre. Zaheer Khan is military medium at best. There is absolutely no fire power in the bowling department. Opposition can shred it any day. Fielding lacks dedication. What, I ask, is left?
It will take a miracle bigger than ever in the history of cricket if India are to make it to the super six's stage. The final is a far way off, it can't even be dreamt about.
I wonder how the bookies have rated India as third favourites behind Aussies and SA for the title. I don't even understand as to how they are hyped as world's best batting side. Neither did they play against good attack nor on bouncy tracks before.
India should stop playing cricket. It is an insult to the game and the millions of fans who watch it world over. I think Mr Ganguly should pack his bags and leave before he executes some more excuses to his pathetic showings.
India's dismal batting performance is clearly the result of over-rated players like Tendulkar and Ganguly who have piled up enormous runs while playing on dead Indian wickets.
As soon as they play overseas, their batting performance gets below average. It has been a very long time since Tendulkar has bailed India out single-handedly or played a vital innings. Why is he the most prolific batsmen then?
The problem basically lies with the Indian Cricket Board, for not grooming cricket properly in India (look at cricket grounds and domestic cricket).
There are not enough players on the bench to give a scare to people like Ganguly, Kaif and others that they can be removed from the side. They know there is nobody to take their place, no matter how pathetic they play.
Enough of the excuses! Ganguly and the Indian Cricket Board are too quick to blame the pitch (how many times have we heard "the ball didn't come up to the bat"), the weather, and everything else except themselves!
The Aussies proved that the best line-up in the world is theirs, as is the claim to the best batsmen (note the plural!) in the world.
I refuse to believe that a nation of over one billion people cannot produce 11 good players who can perform and deliver as a collective unit.
What went wrong is the media hype and I totally and completely agree with Ruck. Hype in the US has turned 12-year-old girls into Britney wannabes. In India it has created ad stars who pander off as cricket players.
Australia's game illustrates this difference between cricketers and ad-boys. India does not have the greatest batting line-up but Australia does. They can afford to drop the Waughs and still pull themselves up from behind in the Pakistan game. Class and commitment at its best for you.
Its Krishna again...
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| toilet paper |
Posted
on 18-Feb-03 01:52 PM
A match where India, a team that got their butt kicked by a side that dropped Waugh brothers and played without Shane Warne (even though he hasn't been successuful against Indian players), says a lot about both the teams. I don't understand how people consider the Indian batting lineup as the best in the world. We have seen many times that India only performs good on their own soil. Once they go abroad to play, they hide their tails like a scared dog. I agree with Krishna, that many of the Indain players have been over-rated. India in no way is going to win this world cup. I wonder how they were one of the three favourites. The players have been performing bad, I mean worse than Bangali players. In a situation where individual players haven't been playing good, the only way than can assure team's success is the team work only. They they suck as a team. The man incharge of putting the team together, captain, sucks. Indians have no leadership qualities and that is why we haven't seen a good Indian captain for a long long time. So this world cup will just be their summer vacation in South Africa.
On the other hand, Australia has been playing solid. It looks like they are going to take the cup back to Australia again. But this is cricket, you never know what will happen. If you recall the past two world cups, especially the last one, South Africa dominated the league mathces. They beat all of their opponents pretty badly. And once they got to Quater final (in 1996) and semi-final (1999), they lost. Australia were not perfomring that good in their leagues matches but once they entered quater final in both 1996 and 1999, they played very good. So let's not assume, a particular country to win the world cup. This world cup has brought many controversies and suprises.
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