World Cup: Sri Lanka:

[raj2rif]

It was a pleasure seeing the clinical manner in which Sri Lanka won their semi final game against New Zeland. Mahela Jayawardhne played an innings of life time. The way he planned his innings was brilliant. Having faced two wrong LBW decisions the Tigers did not loose heart and went on with their task.

The bowlers and fielders responded to the call of the captain. When you are a popular captain, players respond to your call and performance.

Nothing went right for the NZ. They played a good tournament but were beaten a by a better team.

Here I remember the time when choice was being made between Tom Moody and Greg Chappell. We went for a more fancy Coach. I think Chappell broke the bond among the players even though it was required to shake up players from their comfort zone. I think Dravid may be a good player, but is he really a good captain?

We need some one to unite the team and get best out of every one. I hope Ravi Shastri uses all his intelligence to do that.

[navingulia]

tavathia sir
the sri lankans, they deserve it. i am glad for them. A war ravaged country the size of Haryana playing for their pride.

Indian team? Doing all the hallabalolo while going for world cup doesnt mean indian team will win. When you mean serious business you have to behave as if you are on serious business not like you are going for a party.

[yatinder19]

It was a pleasure seeing the clinical manner in which Sri Lanka won their semi final game against New Zeland. Mahela Jayawardhne played an innings of life time. The way he planned his innings was brilliant. Having faced two wrong LBW decisions the Tigers did not loose heart and went on with their task.

The bowlers and fielders responded to the call of the captain. When you are a popular captain, players respond to your call and performance.

Nothing went right for the NZ. They played a good tournament but were beaten a by a better team.

Here I remember the time when choice was being made between Tom Moody and Greg Chappell. We went for a more fancy Coach. I think Chappell broke the bond among the players even though it was required to shake up players from their comfort zone. I think Dravid may be a good player, but is he really a good captain?

We need some one to unite the team and get best out of every one. I hope Ravi Shastri uses all his intelligence to do that.
Tavathia sir
I find it unusual that you are also cursing Chappel for indian team debacle in the world cup.Its players who play in the ground.Sachin has got such a vast experience and still he is not performing than its not fault of the coach.
Srilanka played well because they have match winners in their team like murali,vaas and sangkara.we are going with players like kumble,pathaan who are not in form how can we win.
Gavaskar was quite for some time now he is blasting chappel.Its time to evaluating system.Again much changes has not made in the indian team.Vengsarkar is saying Sachin / sourav are resting not dropped.Why he dont have courage to say they are dropped.
Tom Moddy/Chappel/Shastri will not going to make any difference till indian players dont improve their attitude.They make century in one game and will play stupid in next 3-4 games because they know now they can play many matches as they have scored century.
Australia lost Ashes last year and they dropped Hayden,Gillespie???
Can Indian take this sort of decision???

[rohittewatia]

What about today's match? Would australia able to continue or SA gives them a surprise? Cricket is full of surprises. May the best team wins.

[raj2rif]

Tavathia sir
I find it unusual that you are also cursing Chappel for indian team debacle in the world cup.Its players who play in the ground.Sachin has got such a vast experience and still he is not performing than its not fault of the coach.
Srilanka played well because they have match winners in their team like murali,vaas and sangkara.we are going with players like kumble,pathaan who are not in form how can we win.
Gavaskar was quite for some time now he is blasting chappel.Its time to evaluating system.Again much changes has not made in the indian team.Vengsarkar is saying Sachin / sourav are resting not dropped.Why he dont have courage to say they are dropped.
Tom Moddy/Chappel/Shastri will not going to make any difference till indian players dont improve their attitude.They make century in one game and will play stupid in next 3-4 games because they know now they can play many matches as they have scored century.
Australia lost Ashes last year and they dropped Hayden,Gillespie???
Can Indian take this sort of decision???

Dear M.r Chikara,
1. I am not cursing Chappell. What I am saying that best players may not make a best coach. Historically, it has been proved. So while Chappell had been a very good player himself, it may not be true that he is a good coach.
2. In a team game, it is the team one has to carry along. There will be weak links and poor performances. Some one among the group has to rise above ordanary to achieve the team goals.
3. A good Captain/Manager should ideally lead with example. Dravid to some extent does that. But most important is to keep the team united, where Dravid has failed. Further, when it comes to performing yourself or making under your command perform, a good leader is the one who ensures that people under him perform. His own performance is just the iceing on the cake. The cake itself has to come from the people one commands. And that is how you define a good leader. Dravid has failed in this and should not have been continued.
4. Experimentation is good. Full credit to Chappell for that. But exeprimentation that instills fear and uncertainity is not good. Probably that happened to the Indian Team. There is a difference in Flexibility and Uncertainity, and that is what needs to be understood. Probably experimentation went more towards uncertainity than flexibility. It was the job of Coach, Captain, and all those supporting staff to ensure that the correct meaning of the experimentation was understood.
5. We practiced and preached about young blood. What we actually carry to world cup. Old horses. Not only that we are still doing the same. Only cosmetic changes have come.
6. Some one say that the board prevailed over selectors and the Coach in team selection. The straight forward and brave person who had the love for the game and pride for the country would have raised his voice against it, and not accepted whatever the masters said even though it was not in the interests of the game. Dravid may learn few lessons from Younis Khan of Pakistan.
7. I think both Dravid and Chappell were more centered in preserving their job rather than doing any thing good for Indian Cricket.
8 When we talk about young blood: Where are Suresh Raina, Md. Kaif? Not even for Bangla Desh Tour. Sehwag has been excluded from Tests where his test record has been the best. Why did they carry Kumble to World Cup and not play him. For money? No doubt if Captain is from Karnataka then a Karnataka player can always go. Robin Uthappa was taken with one performance. As against it Joginder Sharma was dropped after 4 overs and one innings of batting.
9. There is a lot one can talk about it. Chappell and Dravid should have had courage to stand up against the system and do the right thing.
10. Vengasarkar seems to me a yes man. We don't need those kind of people at responsible places.
11. Gavaskar to me has always been a manipulator. I prefer Shastri, Kapil and Amarnath than Gavaskar or Vengasarkar.

11. We are talking about young blood. Why Wasim Jaffar is still there. Why has Laxman come back. There are more than enough young player who can replace these people. Do we have the courage to test/try them.

[satyeshwar]

I Am guessing that Australia is gonna rip apart the Sri Lankans in the final.... Thoughts anyone?

[amitchhikara]

I think the Australians are too good and have to have a really bad day...

This stupid rain is ruining everything....:mad:

[kabir]

It was brutal. Highway robbery in broad daylight by the Oz. Off color in whole tourney, Gilly fired when it mattered most -- in the final. In fact he's now clicked in his third consecutive WC final! wow! I might be made to eat my own words but I feel, at half-way mark, itz almost as good as over for the Lankans

[spdeshwal]

You may be right Kabir in predicting Srilanka only reaching halfway mark.

They have already lost Tharanga. Jaisurya dropped once. He doesn't look confident. All this is happening when they are struggling in 20s. It all depends on Old warrior

It looks like mission imposible for Srilanka at this stage!

[samranwa]

Satyeshwar sir,

Your Guess coming true!! The commentary says "yahan se run banane ki dar 10 se oopar chali gayi hai!!" The required run rate for Sri Lanka is over 10!! And it needed to be a 195 runs here.... but they are just 150!! Jayasurya lost his wwicket, a turning point came the way for both!!

Hope some surprize happens!!

regards,

Sam,


I Am guessing that Australia is gonna rip apart the Sri Lankans in the final.... Thoughts anyone?

[kabir]

No I m not talking about the result. But what happened towards the end. Everyone was clueless.

First the batsmen are offered light, they refuse only to accept it later. The match, it seems, has been awarded in the favor of the Oz. Ponting and his men are celebrating. Great man McGrath takes a stump as a memento. Batsmen back in the hut. Everyone on their feet appreciating the champs. Suddenly umpires come and say, ''Easy mate! you're required to complete the match.'' So what if Lanka have no realistic chance to win. Crap!

To make the matter worse, its absolute dark in the middle! IN a sense it summed up what a sham this World Cup had been. Too lengthy, too boring and in the end too mismanaged.

Anyway Congrats Punter! Only Australia deserved it.

[satyeshwar]

One more world cup, one more victory for the Kangaroos! Every world cup seems to become a foregone conclusion these days. There was a brink of hope when South Africa was doing well before, but seeing how they surrendered so meekly to the Aussies was disheartening. Obviously, we all would have loved to see India going into the finals but they didn't even have the heart to pass the first round.

I sincerely hope that someone else becomes the World cup champs next time. I don't really care who, just not the Kangaroos! Here's hoping that someone else gets the guts to achieve this feat next time!