No Pace = No Peace !

My last post was my most serious ever. That emanated from the fact that I am depressed with the way Team India have struggled during this cup. But looking back, I gave India no chances of winning at all.

From the day Munaf got that Man of the Match award in South Africa, I knew India were doomed. Why do I believe so ? Just look at our opponents from that series. South Africa are playing this cup without the man who got more wickets and bowled much better than Munaf during the same match and the same series.

Why do I dislike Munaf Patel ? As much as the Team members, Captain and Selectors repose faith in him, I strongly believe Munaf is not the guy we need in our campaign if we want to win. And why do I 'believe' so ? Let us look at Munaf's repertory.

What He is: Decent line and length bowler. Can keep it in the corridor with the new ball.
What He ain't: At best a trundler. No Pace. No Yorker. No Bouncer. Not much Reverse Swing. Regularly bowls length balls at death. Can't run to save his own life or that of his wife. Batting is a single digit lottery; you win once in one million chances.

How can India depend on a bowler who depends upon the pressure created at the other end or by huge scores to survive ? He has got 9 wickets to his credit so far. But at what cost ? Except the Bangladesh match, he has consistently gone for runs when it mattered the most. People remember Nehra went for 13 runs in the last over. But they have forgotten Munaf went for 14 in the 48th over against Saffers. He also bowled a pathetic last over against England.

Unfortunately the wise men in the garbs of Selectors left Team India with no other options. Dhoni's zeal for Piyush Chawla is tough to understand. That boy hasn't played any meaningful ODI Cricket for ages. The selectors should have known with the "Handle with Care" tag that both Ashish and Zaheer come, we should have had one more Pacer in the 15 member army.

Piyush Chawla will go down in the history as the costliest blunder ever by a bunch of Selectors. I am not being wise in retrospection. I have from the beginning believed Nehra, Munaf and Piyush were misfits and said so.

We are now facing a possibility of a second successive first round exit at the World Cup. Many people believe India have already qualified for the Quarters. But that is far from true. There are so many possibilities.

Imagine England beat West Indies by a big margin tonight. West Indies then rout India on Sunday, again with a big margin. And Bangladesh upset Saffers, India will probably be pipped to the post by England. How do we like that ? Though there are a lot of ifs, it isn't impossible.

And if that happens, we needn't worry about our combination for the next round. Our highest paid players can straightaway start preparations for IPL-4. There is some relief. Only an Indian Team will win IPL, come what may !

What is the Carry Home message ?

Australia have Lee, Johnson and Tait; all doing well.
Saffers have Steyn and Morkel, the best pair in the business today.
England have a ready Pace replacement for every Pace bowler that gets injured.
Pakistan have Aqthar, Gul and Riaz and a factory of Fast bowlers.
Sri Lanka have Malinga and a bunch of disciplined medium pacers.
West Indies have Roach, Russel and a number of support bowlers.
New Zealand have Southee, Mills, Franklin and many slow medium pacers.

What do India have ?

Zaheer Khan !

Don't even mention Nehra and Munaf. We already have seen them, discussed them and done with. Sreesanth ? He doesn't have the confidence of his own Captain.

So the situation is simple...

No Pace = No Peace !

That is "The End" !



SPun Doctor

Cold facts from the Warm-up game !

*

Some interesting and random sub-plots from the warm up game.

What looked like a cake walk turned into choke walk for the Aussies.

The match looked all but over at Australia 118 / 1 in the 22 over.

But as was quoted by Yogi Berra, "It ain't over until it is over !".

13 people played for India on Sunday the 13th February.

One bad-boy [Sreesanth] welcomed another bad boy [Ponting] in a manner that suited both.

Australia couldn't warm up enough in the cold wintry Bangalore evening and collapsed like Pakistan. The Pakistani Umpire must have felt at home.

Krejza continues to pick the wicket of Sehwag when he least looks like doing anything on field.

Raina and Yuvi continue to compete with each other and we still don't know who is behind.

Chawla has at least for the time being, proved me wrong and put Yuvi and Raina in serious trouble.

If pitches continue to behave this way throughout the Cup, it might be 2 + 2 + part-timers for India. Nehra and Sree will have to fill in the second seamer's slot.

Yusuf Pathan will retire with more sixes than fours, singles or twos at the end of his career.

It looked as if Johnson had started the walk back even before Bhajji bowled the ball. He was very close to the boundary line when Dhoni removed the bails.

Ponting's slog sweep was neither a slog nor a sweep. It almost looked like a swog sleep or whatever.

Michael Clarke makes a better Captain than a batsman if that is any consolation.

Virat Kohli is good. But he still isn't Dravid or Laxman. Neither in the slips nor with the clips [of the hips].

Munaf Patel did a huge favor to us. We knew he'd be cannon-fodder on Indian pitches. Thankfully he proved that well before the curtain-raiser.

Mitchell Johnson again bowled twice as many wides as all the Indian bowlers together.

Australia bowled more than 4 additional overs thanks to wides.

In fact not only Johnson but Hastings, Lee and Dussey out-wide-balled India.

And to think I was one of the very few Indians who didn't get to bowl today because Aussies folded up in 38 overs.

Ashwin and Nehra won the match for India. The 44 runs the No. 10 / 11 scored was the difference.

Australia's part-time spinners appear to be better than the main spinner.

India's lower order looks better than the middle order [which is still in South Africa].

And finally, a sensational scoop, breaking news and revelation all put together...

Sachin and Zaheer are India's secret weapons being hidden from the opponents.



S-Pun Doctor