Group of Death has made Cricket World Cup 2011 interesting.

Group of death is open and interestingly poised with the victory of England over West Indies. England did everything right from winning the toss to batting first and posting more than par total on a pitch which have the reputation of rank turner. Although match got interesting with opening onslaught from Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy but fall of regular wickets didn't help the cause of West Indies. Andre Russell gave some hope later in the innings with good clean hitting but West Indies lost too many wicket upfront, so they couldn't sustain the pressure and ended on losing note.

Andrew Strauss and his men got the oxygen they required to stay in the tournament with a win over West Indies. Had they lose yesterday they would have been packing their bags right now to go home but to their credit they were lucky with the toss, played superb cricket and also got little help from the West Indies in the field. England's journey in this World Cup is like Hitchcock's story. It is full of thrill, suspense and drama. Now with the victory over West Indies hopes of England are alive and tomorrow if Bangladesh lose to South Africa which is most likely then England will go into QFs and from here onwards I won't be surprised if England go on and win the trophy as well. Remember Pakistan was in similar situation in 1992 World Cup and won the trophy.

Tough time ahead for West Indies and they have to win against India and they also have to pray for South Africa's victory over Bangladesh with big margin. If Bangladesh win tomorrow then Bangladesh will qualify and  West Indies have to win the game against India at any cost and if Bangladesh lose with big margin against South Africa then West Indies don't feel  much pressure going into the game against India. So far West Indies won matches against minnows in this World Cup and they lost to big teams like South Africa and England which will not put them in good mental state and they will be under tremendous pressure because one more mistake can result into their exit from the tournament. So they will be hoping to do well against India and  have to pray for Bangladesh defeat against Proteas.

All of sudden match between South Africa and Bangladesh became very important and this is the match which will going to decide the fate of West Indies, England and India too an extent. So in short South Africa holds the key because South Africa is already qualified for QFs and their win or loss against Bangladesh will not matter much to them but that result will decide who will go into QFs apart from South Africa. World Cup started on a dull note but as it getting closer to the business end it has become more and more interesting. I think first time in the history it will happen that cricket lovers of England, West Indies and India will be praying for South Africa's win.

Really cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties.

Increase the number of teams in International cricket

1st half of the South Africa and Ireland match was dominated by the Ireland when they reduce Proteas to 105-5 but Duminy came to the rescue and took the Proteas score, past 250. Ireland clearly lacked the experience and that showed in their performance when Duminy took on their bowlers and put Proteas in good position. Had Ireland played more International cricket then they could have easily tackled that situation but lack of exposure in International cricket proved costly to them and this is not the situation of only Ireland. I think all the minnows playing in this World Cup suffering due to lack exposure on International level. Netherlands and Canada showed that they have the potential and only thing they require to compete hard with big boys of cricket is exposure at International level.

At this moment ICC has 105 members: 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 35 Associate Members, and 60 Affiliate Members. I think ICC must identify 20 members  from these 95 members who are having domestic structure in place or playing active cricket.After identifying these 20 nations ICC have to give them test status. These 20 countries have to play each other in ODIs and Test Matches which is specifically designed for them. Their test matches should be of 4 days and that will give them ideal exposure to International Cricket like arena. ICC can take a leaf out Indian domestic structure and have to organise similar kind of tournament for the identified 20 members and this will help these minnows in developing cricketing culture in their respective countries. Although ICC have many tournaments for associated and affiliated members but that is not working well as most of the countries play cricket at amateur level. So ICC must try something similar to Ranji Trophy in order to spread and develop cricket globally. Ranji Trophy format is ideal for the ICC to adopt  and implement at associate and affiliate level. Formats like Ranji Trophy will  also increase the skills, temperament and stamina of the players of these small teams and they will be able to compete hard in big ICC tournaments and can even think of winning also. This will also give the financial security to the players of these associate and affiliate countries as they will be playing cricket regularly and in more professional way. So they will not leave the cricket for earning their bread. 

Currently there are 27 teams playing in Ranji Trophy tournament in India. Starting with the 2002–03 season, the zonal system was abandoned and a two-division structure was adopted: the Elite Group and the Plate Group. For the 2006–07 season, the divisions were re-labelled the Super League and Plate League respectively.

The Super League is divided into two groups of eight and seven teams, while the Plate League is divided into two groups of six teams each. In both divisions, the top two teams from each group advance to the knock-out phase. The finalists from the Plate League are promoted to the Super League the next year while the two teams at the bottom of the Super League are relegated.

New Ranji format from 2008–09 season, the top two Plate teams join three teams each from the two groups in the Super League to play a knock-out from the quarter-final stage. The new format, thus, gives a relegated side realistic chance of winning the title.

Points summary

Points in the league stages of both divisions are awarded as follows:

Scenario	Points
Win Outright	5
Bonus Point (for innings and 10 wicket wins)	1
1st Innings Lead	3 *
No Result	1
1st Innings Deficit	1 *
Lost Outright	0

note^* – If match ends in a draw.

In Ranji Trophy whoever emerge as  winner get the chance to play against Rest of India in Irani Trophy. In the same way out of 20 associate teams, whoever emerge as winner must get the chance to play atleast one test series and one ODI series against bottom 2 ranked  test playing teams for next two years and if their performance remains consistent then ICC must promote that team to the league of top test playing nations. ICC must give chance to top 3 associate teams of that tournament to play in atleast 2  ODI triangular series and 2 ODI bilateral series with top test playing nations in a year and this will help these minnows in a big way to develop their cricketing skills according to the demand of International cricket. More they play at International level, more beneficial it will be for these teams as well as ICC. 

I think these measures definitely develop cricket globally and ICC associate and affiliated teams will get the exposure to International Cricket and this will also increase the teams  in World Cricket and also help the teams like Netherlands, Ireland, Canada, UAE,etc. to grow in International cricket.

Chokers beat Jokers. Tough times ahead for Team India & arrogant Dhoni

Finally Team India faced defeat in the World Cup after giving signs of losing all the previous matches they played. The choker Proteas beat India and got rid of their chokers tag and India got the jokers tag. Even small teams like Zimbabwe took a dig  over Indian team's performance, Alan Butcher, coach of Zimbabwe said in a press conference that we are not as bad as Indian team  and even we don't lose atleast 9 wickets for 29 runs and media across the globe is laughing on India's batting debacle and Dhoni's poor strategies. One more harsh fact, India has not done well in the ICC tournaments since 2007 so I request cricket lovers and fans, not much keep  any big expectations from this poorly led team. This is not Team India, it is Team Dhoni 

We just bask in glory that Sachin made so many hundreds, we have best batting line-up in the world. But what is the use of such batting line-up when they fall like nine-pins after dominating the most part of the game or series. If we see this World Cup we will find that on two instances we played big teams and we lost on one instance and tied on another after dominating the game. Team India even faltered against minnows like Netherlands, Ireland and Bangladesh, however Team India was lucky enough to win these games in the end. India's chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals is also in jeopardy now after their poor show against Proteas and one or two upset can keep India out of the Quarter-Finals.

First and important thing required for winning or doing well in the tournament like World Cup is to have a settled batting order. But due credit to MS Dhoni's arrogance, that hasn't happened. We saw in first match when India went with proper batting-order they put up huge score on the board. Team India needed that settled look in next matches also but Dhoni shuffled batting -order so much that player like Virat Kohli after scoring brilliant hundred in the first match has just accumulated 55 runs from next 4 games. So what is the ideal and settled batting order? Its not a rocket science but Dhoni don't want to understand that. Tendulkar and Sehwag are ideal openers, No.3 belongs to Gautam Gambhir, No.4 belongs to Virat Kohli, No.5 is Yuvraj Singh, No.6 is Yusuf Pathan and No.7 is Dhoni.. This is ideal batting line-up but what Dhoni did, he shuffled the batting-order and lost the momentum in batting which India got in first match against Bangladesh. The person who were affected most because of this shuffling are Virat Kohli and Yusuf Pathan who are now in doubt about their role in the team. Pathan and Kohli now in two minds and that is not a great sign for Team India.

Bowling is also big worry and that is also because of Dhoni's poor strategies. I think bowlers could have done well had Dhoni given them attacking field but Dhoni kept defensive fields and allowed opposition batsmen to take easy singles and which did not put any pressure on opposition batsmen and forced them to play rash shots. Moreover he did not field best combination. Sreesanth although gone for plenty in first match and sitting out till now just because of one poor performance. But what about Nehra and Munaf. They also gone for plenty but they are not out of the squad. Dhoni kept Sreesanth out on the basis of just one performance and kept playing other bowlers even after their repeated failures only because he is having personal grudge with Sreesanth. You need to give space to your bowler and help him rather than warning him through media. Sreesanth is a match-winner and have the knack of picking up wickets. Its fine he is bit aggressive but fast bowlers have to be aggressive. I never heard Ponting or Smith warning their bowlers even their bowlers behaved in worst possible manner on the ground. If guy is having potential then you have to back him. Take a example of Sourav Ganguly, how he backed Bhajji in his initial years. Bhajji was more worse than Sreesanth. He was expelled from the NCA because of his behaviour, yet Ganguly backed him and never criticised him and look where Bhajji is today.

I believe World Cup is over for Team India and if fans are thinking India will go into semi-finals then forget it. It will not going to happen. The team which was considered main contenders for the title before the start of tournament are now considered doubtful even for the quarter-finals forget about winning the trophy. Poor captaincy and brainless strategies of Dhoni cost India dearly so far and going to affect in coming days as well. When any captain says in a mid-tournament 'that one defeat is certain', one can easily understand what kind of mind-set captain is carrying and what message he is conveying to his team. Even personal performance of Dhoni with the bat is also dipped badly in last 1 year. World Cup is over for India if Dhoni continues to make mistakes. If you don't have any brains then atleast you have to listen to the people who have some brain but in arrogance Dhoni is not listening to that as well. He said in post match interview that we are not playing for crowds. Mr. Dhoni, tell me one thing if crowd stop watching the game then from where you will get those big fat endorsements.Its the cricket lovers money which drives the game so stop making such non-sense statements and concentrate on the job which you have to do and improve your performance rather than targeting cricket lovers.

Missed catches cost Pakistan dearly. Dutch face Indian challenge

 ‘Unpredictable is dangerous but it is vulnerable as well’ and that’s what proved in the yesterday’s game between Pakistan and New Zealand where everybody expected Pakistan to win this game but once again unpredictability haunted Pakistan in this game. What went wrong with most mercurial side in the world in this game? Was  It  great hitting by Ross Taylor or was it poor bowling by Pakistani bowlers, well I must deny to all these reasons. There is an old saying ‘catches win matches’ and yesterday  Pakistani wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal dropped as many as 4 catches and when you drop that many catches then you never end the game on a winning note.

I believe Kamran Akmal is completely out of sorts since that Sydney test-match saga where he dropped too many catches and came under scrutiny of match-fixing. Since then his confidence is down and he is not even performing well with the bat and he is dropping catches regularly. I think Pakistan have to find his replacement as early as possible because if he drop catches in knockout round then it will be difficult for Afridi and Pakistan to win the elite trophy which entire Pakistan is  hoping for. Else Pakistan team management have to give him confidence and back him to do well behind the wickets.

Pakistan will never forget those last 4 over overs in which Ross Taylor hit as many as 92 runs and Taylor hit those runs after getting 3 reprieve from the wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal. Taylor was dropped on zero and after that he was dropped thrice. Taylor hit 7 towering sixes and put Pakistani bowlers under enermous pressure. I think dropped catches also affected the morale of the Pakistani bowlers especially Shoaib Akhtar who bowled erratic spell at the death and gone for plenty at the hands of Ross Taylor. Once Pakistani bowling was taken for task it became difficult for Pakistani team to forget that dangerous hitting and that played big time on their minds when they came into bat and lost their wickets in a hurry. I think they were completely under shock and awe of that power hitting by Ross Taylor which they never expected from Kiwis who were tagged as losers before this game.

Kiwis now back in contention for the spot and now looks very threatening. They will now certainly pose few problems to the oppositions in coming matches. From their point of view form of Ross Taylor was important and till yesterday Taylor was not in great form but this match against Pakistan provided Taylor that oxygen which he was waiting for past few months. Taylor scored brilliant century after long time and celebrated his 27th birthday with this blitzkrieg knock. Now Kiwis look formidable side and can beat anybody because they are not short of talent at all. They needed a kick and they got in the last match and now  they can also hope for going into semis. For Pakistan it is better that they erase this game quickly from their minds and focus hard on coming matches and don’t repeat the mistakes they made in this match. Top-Order failure is the big concern for Pakistan right from the start of the tournament and their top 3 batsmen Hafeez, Shehzad and Kamran Akmal have to fire in coming matches. Everytime they can’t rely on Misbah, Younis and Umar Akmal to bail them out of the trouble.

Dutch face Indian challenge

Today Dutch will face Indian Challenge at Kotla. Win in this match will seal the  quarter-final berth  for Team India and loss will bring lot of embarrassment. Dutch side is very good side and we all saw how well they played against England and fought till the end. Batting of the Dutch team is quite good and Indian team can’t afford to take them lightly. Team India and Dhoni faced  lot of criticism from media and cricket lovers due to the persistence with Piyush Chawla in previous 2 matches where leggie Chawla did plenty of charity with the balls and failed to pick up wickets. Considering that 2 top wicket-takers(Shahid Afridi and Imran Tahir) in this World Cup are leg-spinner,  it was expected from Chawla also to pick up lot of wickets but he failed to live upto the expectations and now he has to face the axe.

I think India have the chance to experiment in this match and they have to rest Zaheer and pick up Nehra and give him match practice ahead of the big games and knockout stage. It will also be intersting to see whether R.Ashwin get into the final squad or not. If he’s included in the squad then it will be interesting to see how Harbhajan Singh bowls in tandem with Ashwin as both of them are off-spinners but both are completey different in style. So its time for the  experiment for India to find out right combination ahead of the big matches.  Dutch team however looked impressive in this tournament so far although they failed to win the matches but whatever cricket they played is really impressive and they can pose lot of threat to the Indian team. Peter Borren and his men are hoping of pulling out an upset and if Dutch side play well and execute their plans successfully then we can also expect the unexpected.

Kotla pitch is always known for its slow and low nature and it will be difficult to score runs on Kotla track and I think total of 250 runs will prove winning total. Remember this is the gorund where legendary Indian spinner Anil Kumble  picked up all the 10 Pakistani wickets in an innings of the test match and became second bowler in the world after Jim Laker to achieve this feat and he is the only Indian bowler who holds this record.