The Cup that counts, is it?

The pinch
The world cup fever has died down a natural death over the last few years. While celebrated with much hype all over the world it falls only in line after the football league matches. In something like a soccer World cup which comprises of 32 competing nations, the matches go on for a span of one month. The number of the competing nations are decided after pre-qualifiers that last 3 years and with a bigger number than 32 nations- 190! On a completely different scale, the matches do not take over 2hours unlike a cricket match which goes on for the entire productive 8 hours of a day. Taking into consideration of a world cup scenario, there are, on an average, 42 matches inclusive of two groups and then these are followed by, essentially, 7 knockout matches. It is not entirely difficult for a person to calculate the number of matches and hours spent in the total 49 games but is it possible for that person to spend his entire time watching them, irrespective of the nation he belongs to? And more so, would he prefer watching a Kenya Vs Canada to SA vs. Sri Lanka, with respect to the standard of the game?

In a country like India, where cricket is and has always remained a religion, the pace and style of viewership has changed drastically over the past few years. In the present case scenario, the world cup fever favours more of the diehard cricket fans rather than the average man who watches the game for the sheer love of it. And with respect to WC 2011, there has hardly been any crowd in support of international cricket. They are either not interested in watching minnows play and want to head for the knockouts straight or are plainly uninterested in watching when the host nation plays only once a week.

Run down timeline and changes in format
To run back on the timeline of how-it-all-started, one has to go back to its inception in 1975, the first official World Cup when it was better known as the Prudential world Cup. The first 3 editions of the tournament since 1975 had only 8 teams participating in 2 groups each. The top 2 from each group ended up making it to the semis. This curtailed the tournament to a mere 2 weeks and an altogether of 15 matches each. The matches were over a spread of 60 overs and were played in England. This particular factor was seen until 1983, when India won the cup.

In the 1987 tournament, the Cup saw a change in venue for the first time when they moved to the sub continent with Pakistan as the co hosting Nation. The duration was brought to 50 over per innings, which is the current standard. Ironically, this happened only due to the factor that, unlike England, the Indian subcontinent had shorter daylight hours. the organizers felt that playing each other once in the group stage was not enough and there was a double round robin league to give teams a fair chance at playing each other. The matches almost doubled up to 27 and so did the time to a month.

1992 has the longest world cup cricketing history ever. Every team played against every other team and is said to be the longest tournament ever in the history of world cups. But despite that, the year saw a lot of other significant changes like coloured jerseys, day/night matches, white balls and amendments in the fielding instruction. This took place in Australia and New Zealand.

The subcontinent became hosts again for the second time in the 1996 world cup when India and Srilanka hosted the World cup. The year is still remembered for the riots that broke out in Eden, Kolkata when India played Sri Lanka and the fans raged over the dismal performance from the Indian side. Srilanka was awarded victory by default. They went to win the world cup that year playing against Pakistan in Lahore, becoming the first host nation to win the cup.

1999, game was hosted by England. That world cup introduced the Super Six stage which increased the tournament length without arousing any fan interest. Australia had won.

The next WC was held by South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe. There was an increase of 2 teams to the usual 12. Kenya had, owing to pushes and pulls reached the semi finals. But in the final, India Vs Australia, The latter won, yet again in 2003.

2007, held in West Indies, hit an all-time bottom due to the Super 8 stage where India and Pak were knocked out in the group stage and Ireland/Bangladesh made it to the super 8 which became a huge farce as they suffered heavy defeats effectively leaving the Super 8 stage more of a Super 6 stage. The tournament featured 16 teams allocated into 4 groups of 4. The top two teams from each group moved to the super 8. The year saw more of a revenue based tournament and India’s and Pakistan’s early removal from the game did not particularly help the TRP viewership and investors. However, Australia beat Sri Lanka in the finals thereby creating record of the first nation to win the cup in three consecutive years.

When 50 0vers became too much.
The 2011 WC in India, Srilanka and Bangladesh is happening post the emergence of IPL matches and in a phase where ODI viewership have been fairly and brutally won over by the shorter crisper version of the T20s’ and IPL matches. They have almost hit the nail in the coffin of ODI viewership and it is quite evident from the matches currently telecasted. The crucial nail biting crunch match of England Vs India which led to a tie could have done wonders for TRP ratings. But even in the 48th and 49th over, Star Cricket could not broadcast any advertisements except for the channel produced ones. The fact clearly shows the lack of investors in the game, this year. Whether the Indians are waiting for the long painful world cup matches to get over so that they can get started with the exciting IPL4 is yet to be known and leans more on the Host’s performance in the knock out stages.

These are the changes that the cup has evolved through over the different editions, some for the good, some even better; but in the end, it still remains as The Cup that Counts.

A kingdom well built!

Last week, we saw how India overcame the challenge to its reign and made short work of the potential threats which did indeed loom large for brief perior. In the world cricket scenario, apart from the draws in the Ashes and Sri Lanka-West Indies contests, nothing interesting has happened. Australia pushed their luck too far and met with resistance from England’s top order, ending up thereby with a tame draw. After two draws, Chris Gayle’s triple ton in the first Test was the only commendable feature in the SL-WI series. It was only to be expected that Indians would finish the Test series against NZ with their no. 1 Test ranking intact. However, the challenge from hereon lies in battling those jitters of uncertainty, if any, in South Africa. But, is the current formidable Indian Test line-up the best in the world? Let us run through an analysis of the Indian line-up with the others in the top-five – South Africa, Sri Lanka, England and Australia.

Virendar Sehwag – Gautham Gambhir, arguably the best opening pair in the world today in any format of the game, are closely followed by the England pair of Andrew Strauss – Alastair Cook. While South Africa still struggles to find a dependable partner for opener Graeme Smith, Sri Lanka has trouble with the inconsistency of Tillakaratne Dilshan at the top of the batting order. With Shane Watson proving his destructive versatility, something is lacking in Simon Katich for the pair to make it to the top league of Australian openers. Considering all this, India enjoys a humungous advantage over any other team as far as the opening pair is concerned.

The middle order slots of 3, 4 and 5 look very formidable, occupied as they are by Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S Laxman. The weak link is the No.6 slot, which is being juggled between Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh after the departure of the great Sourav Ganguly. While the middle order boasts of 34000 runs between them in Test cricket alone, does any other middle order come even close to matching the credibility of this trio? Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB De Villiers and Ashwell Prince of South Africa are consistent enough, while Sri Lankans Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews have only performed well enough to put some decent scores on board. England’s middle order comprising Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell hold the key for a potential England win in the ongoing Ashes series; and the rejuvenated Michael Hussey led Australian middle order consisting of Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Marcus North need more stability right now. India is way ahead even in this aspect.

MS Dhoni, the deadly unorthodox player, complements his work behind the wicket with scintillating batting in the lower middle order. He takes the slot all for himself, with no competition from any other wicket-keeper batsman. Although Australian Brad Haddin has made his comeback from injury, he needs time to prove his worth. South Africa’s Mark Boucher, England’s Matt Prior and Sri Lanka’s Prassanna Jayawardene are spent forces now, included in their respective sides only as specialist batsmen and not as all-rounders.

The second weak link of the Indian team is their bowling. Although Indian bowlers have proved their ability to take 20 wickets in a Test time and again, they are not at the apex, the only exception being Zaheer Khan.  Pragyan Ojha and Ishant Sharma have been performing decently. Harbhajan Singh seems to enjoy working with the bat more than bowling. South Africans Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Johan Botha and Paul Harris seem to be in excellent shape. England’s James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, and Graeme Swann need more fire in their performance to rout Australia, whereas Australia’s Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Xavier Doherty are totally out of synchronization. Sri Lanka’s bowling combo keeps changing with every match, but the absence of Lasith Malinga has hurt them badly.

India taking top place in three out of the four aspects discussed above can only mean that India is also very strong in terms of their reserve players like Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and S Sreesanth. The other teams are clearly lacking bench strength. And they are in no way a threat to India’s current dominance. With South Africa performing as befits to their second position, they can bully India and it will be a good contest between Indian batsmen and South Africa’s bowlers performing under favourable conditions. With Ashes followed by the India-SA series later this month, it will not be long before Test cricket commands the highest TRP ratings – and this is what a true fan is waiting for!

N-India shining?

In 2003, India faced an acute power shortage of 70,000MW. Seven years later, the country isn’t doing any better, although it is the fourth largest producer of power after USA, Russia and China. Despite power sector being an inherent part of industrial growth, India still lags behind demand and potential. Traditional technology of thermal power is by and large causing problems, with the high-ash content of coals from Central India and the high-Sulphur content of coals from the North-east. A report from Jharsuguda, Orissa, says India’s largest power plant of capacity 2400MW came into operation for a single day. The affair was restricted to the length of a T20 match, not because of intricacies in the Power Plant but, the smoke cloud and the ash rain that followed. Even though the country has the potential to outstrip standards previously set, environment concerns hinder progress.

Hydro-power is a viable alternative. But the river-sharing problems amongst the states and the neighbouring countries have put the option on hold. India claiming zilch expertise in tapping renewable sources of energy, bio-fuel and solar energy are restricted to High school Science text books with little practical relevance. Wind energy finds itself scattered in territories where it finds its solace.

On a last resort, India turned to the prohibited word, “N-Deal”. Currently producing 4500MW from 20 nuclear power stations, India is exploiting the power play to maximize output to 63,000 MW by 2032. The target would bring a closure to current crises, but as time advances with growth and technology, will it suffice the needs then?

With depleting Uranium resources, India had no place to look for and the blockade seemed tough to overcome by mere search of alternate routes. Thus, India had to sign the N-Pact in 2008, but, stood its ground firmly, ignoring the Non-Proliferation Treaty and making the stand clear that India meant only business. The blow came when India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010 was written in American English. The Americans had already defended their stand in their engineering collapses which paved the way for extinction of certain species. Once again, they had been provided with the leeway, thanks to India’s Bill. Obviously, the recent handling of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and the Gulf of Mexico fiasco has not prompted our politicians to stay cautioned; achieving their target of abolishing power shortage has taken the centre-stage over strong legal issues.

No doubt nuclear energy is the fore-runner for the future, but, it cannot be at the cost of safety and credibility. Allowing France, USA, UK and Canada to set-up Indian Nuclear power stations and assisting in operation during smooth periods is not an issue. But, disembarking them during mishaps is not a reason to be proud of. Technology at the expense of lives is unacceptable and the weak link in these episodes is India’s Bill which in a way is the messiah for India’s power shortage.

Numero Uno India?

Test cricket is back on its feet again. The amazing finishes, rewriting of records, splendid bowling performances and dazzling batting display are all a part of the rekindled euphoria. Eight out of nine Test nations are playing some sizzling Tests in the current season. But, has India retained her No.1 team because of her superlative performance or because the other teams have fallen behind in the quality of their play?

With a last-minute breakthrough reminiscent of “Lagaan”, India won a crucial series against Australia last month, brought the eye-balls back to Test cricket. The mediocre Australian team was routed by an ordinary fielding side, which with great bat and ball display, clinched the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2-0. The question arises whether India are really a balanced no.1 side? Carrying the torch forward, India won comfortably against the No. 8 New Zealand, who were earlier thrashed 4-0 by Bangladesh in a Limited-overs One Day International (LODI) series. With nothing more to lose, the NZ team threatened the No.1 taggers time and again, but, lost it all in the final test. Here again, the Indians weren’t performing well enough depending on a specialist bowler to bail them out in batting, not once but twice.

Coming to the world scenario, let us take the UAE series being played between South Africa and Pakistan. Beset by controversies of chasing easy Euros over the runs/wickets, Pakistan was in no position to win the series, dubbing it as dead rubber even before it's start. Lacking the brutality to nail the coffin, South Africa at No.2 instills hope in Pakistan to pounce back. Clearly, a lack of focus is on display from South Africa as they fight their own blacks/non-blacks quota issue.

Having discussed the credibility of Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa, it is now time for the cricket’s king-turned-pauper West Indies. With rows over policies governing the players’, shifting the power balance in the team, the fresh looking No. 7 team under their young captain, are giving Sri Lanka a torrid time at home. Has the No. 3’s quality deteriorated due to the complacency that has set-in after their recent concluded Australian series? We will have to wait and watch.

With the humongous Ashes series starting now, and for the first time in the living memory of this correspondent, No. 4 England is having the upper-hand in away-Ashes. With Australian’s fluctuating performance in the recent past, England with its formidable side is to beat the No.5, in Australia.

The observations in all these brief descriptions carry a single inference - All the international teams have seen inexplicable dips in their performances and have given no room for predictions. The present state-of-affairs of “any team winning” does not augur well for India, being the No.1 test playing team. Despite this fact, India has fared well and maintained consistency in winning. But, the real test is the forthcoming away series in South Africa which will be the best starter to be enjoyed before the Grand Indian Run Feast – World Cup 2011.