T20 World Cup Fixture is Buggy

The fixtures and schedule for the ICC T20 World cup 2009 are faulty. The concept of pooling them into groups based on the previous world cup rankings is pretty justifiable but ranking them this time based on their last world cup's performance is sheer stupidity. For instance, even though England and South Africa have topped their respective pools this time they have been named as B2 and D2 and hence they have to play against the tougher teams A1 and C1. So for the super eights you have a pool which has teams like India,England,South Africa and West Indies. Three out of these four have topped the tables this time around. And the other pool has Pakistan,Ireland,New Zealand and Sri Lanka, only one pool topping team among the four. Ideally the pools for super eight should have been decided based on what ranks the teams achieve this tournament. Now, this has resulted in huge imbalance among the pools for the super eights. Another effect of this mistake is the the last few matches have become inconsequential. For instance, the match between West Indies and SriLanka and the match between New Zealand and South Africa. They just served merely as a practice match where teams tried to seize the momentum as they go into the next round.
I believe the reason for making such fixtures was to boost the sale of tickets and advance bookings as it was known well in advance where will the teams meet for super eights match unless there is a upset like the ousting of Australia. It is time the organizers think beyond petty gains like this which kills the competitive spirit of the game and makes the series a lackluster one.

Me:A part of History

There are times when you are short of words but you have the strong urge within you to express. I did not know how to start this blog but then Shahrukh Khan came to my rescue with a statement of his. " I am a part of history". True indeed. Yesterday all those present in the Wanderers and all those who witnessed the breathtaking T20 finals sitting in their house or at office or wherever through whatever means are a part of history. India had surpassed arch rivals Pakistan in a humdinger by 5 runs , a match which went on till the last over and which was equally poised throughout the match. I bet there can't be any one who did not feel the pressure. Two teams knocked out at the first stage in the world cup held in West Indies, what would have one expected out of them. But destiny had different plans. A team going through crisis had in its fate the most coveted trophy of all. And what a way it was achieved. With 13 runs required of the last over and a very tense but firm Joginder Sharma began with a wide delivery all of us had our heart in our mouth. A dot ball followed and then a six on a full toss. Indians held their nerve and Joginder Sharma bowled the decisive ball which was a slower one and Misbah-Ul-Haq , the Pakistani Star of the day tried a backward scoop, one of the recently invented shots in one day cricket only to find Sreeshant who held on to the heaviest ball he had ever held in his life. He had weight of crores of Indian fans on his shoulders and his able shoulders did not fail India. As Misbah knelt on the ground out of disappointment the Indian celebrations began not only at the Wanderes but throughout the world. One of the sample of the celebration in Bangalore. A mob stopped a moving car in the middle of the night and asked everyone to shout "Hindustan zindabad" before letting them go.
The youth and freshness of the Indian team did the trick for me. The way each player backed each other and Dhoni held his nerves at all crucial junctures made us all witness history.
Jai Hind!!

The joy continues!!

Back to back..this is my second post on cricket which shows I am excited. Yes I am indeed. T20 cricket fever is catching. The new format of the game the twenty twenty cricket or T20 cricket is a fun to watch . With matches ending in about 3 hours we are guaranteed full entertainment. For the first time cricket appears more to be a team game than individual game. Players no longer bother about their personal milestones of 50s and 100s. With more importance to all rounders and team effort this appears like a corporate culture using the scrum model. After a lackluster world cup of 2007 ( not only because of India's early exit but because no team dared to challenge aussies) we have this T20 world cup is a good break. Just when we thought aussies supremacy is over after their humiliating loss to Zimbabwe , we saw them bouncing back with victories. When we thought they had found their way back they suffered a surprise loss to a determined Pakistan yesterday. With "minnows" like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe putting up a good show, one thing is guaranteed, T20 world cup will be entertainment and pure entertainment.