Champions Trophy Game 1: Post-Mortem

I decided to wait a bit before I wrote this piece about yesterday’s match. I’m known to have emotional outbursts immediately following big events (esp. those of the sporting nature) and I just wanted to give myself a moment to breathe and allow the cricket analyst in me to have a chance to throw in atleast a few lines before the cricket lover/manic India fan went on some melodramatic rant.

So, I was trying my hardest to avoid the hype. It was the first match during which I wasn’t going to go all out and put on my Team India t-shirt, whip out my dad’s 30year old khadi Indian flag or have my Pakistani friends on speed dial to gloat whenever a crucial Paki batsmen fell or Raina lofted a ball over mid-off for a 6 (I some how had a premonition that he was going to put a few deliveries away). However, despite all my attempts, I found myself gobbling my lunch in a record 3minutes, yelling at everyone around me to stop talking so I could say a (4-minute long) prayer to the Cricket Gods for MSD and the boys, and sending out last minute e-mails/twitter updates/facebook birthday wishes before my computer and Blackberry were indiscriminately switched off at 1:50PM sharp. So yeah, the hype was definitely given in to.

Let's start with the before-a-ball-is-delivered aspect of the match. It’s no secret that I utterly and totally detest the Pakistani cricket team, especially the one that has come into being over the last 3 years or so. Ironically they (well, Shahid Afridi) were the team that first got me into cricket in the summer of 1996. However, as the years have progressed and as I’ve watched them go from a talented, brave team with guts to a team that plays like a bunch of annoying, unpredictable, sulky, entitled firecrackers…my fondness for the team has steadily diminished. And to add to it, there was something so disgustingly obnoxious (borderline insulting) about their mind games and general rhetoric before this match – it made me want to punch my TV set multiple times. Despite all of that, I tried my best not to swear (out loud) at the 11 men as they lined up for their national anthem at Centurion. [Also, it was SO hard not to laugh at the poor South African singer who had to mouth the Urdu lyrics of the anthem…Umar Gul looked like a lost caveman (more than usual) for most of it.]

OK, so India had a couple of big injury blows – namely no Yuvi, Viru or Zaheer. And then Mahi went and lost the toss :P Our bowlers then went out there and got the living daylights whacked out of them - lekin, despite the pummeling and the resultant mammoth total to get, I think India could have won the game. Reminiscent of team India of the mid-90’s, however, we lost all the big moments – at times our own fault (two run outs…thanks Rahul Dravid), at times the stars aligned inauspiciously (shocker of a decision to say Suresh Raina was out lbw) – and just didn’t take the game the way we c(sh)ould’ve done.

Some tactical mistakes/Self-made disasters:

- not giving our best part-time spinner (Suresh Raina – check recent scorecards if you don’t believe me) a go even when our “best” spinner is leaking runs from his backside

- truckloads of short deliveries just outside off stump – allowing the Pakis to cut balls to the boundaries like there was no tomorrow.

- question: why does Ishant Sharma (our fastest bowler) not start the innings – why does he come on as first change?? Shouldn’t the swing of RP Singh (although if someone could point to me more than 4 balls that swung for him) be more handy after the ball is a little older/softer??

- a preposterous batting line-up. Disclaimer: I am a huge R “the wall” D supporter/fan, but I’m sometimes perplexed as to what his role in the team exactly is. We were told that RD’s been brought into the ODI team because India is incredibly weak playing shorter deliveries – but how many bouncers do the boys actually have to face during a 50-over game (and don’t say “technically 50”, because we all know a 35over old ball will NOT knock your head off)?! There is no doubting the class and genius of Dravid, but he just doesn’t rotate strike like he needs to during big chases – if anything, he ends up putting more pressure on the fellows that come after. The required rate more often than not is pushed up to 6.5+ rpo after his stay at the crease. My ideal batting line-up from the guys that were playing yesterday: Gambhir, Tendulkar, MS, Rahul, Raina, Kohli/Yusuf Pathan, Yusuf Pathan/Kohli.

Ultimately, despite all the efforts they made, I really wish the boys hadn’t played like such twits – not being able to maintain a good line/length and the many instances of really bad decision-making during the chase really didn’t help the very difficult cause the team had on their hands.

Having said all that, I’m very proud of the team. A weak Indian side was playing a fully-fit Pakistan. And what more – a Pakistani team that believes beating India is more important than any other victory. We gave them a good fight. And, I am always in awe of MSD’s brand of leadership – he is an honest, no-nonsense kind of man -- critical when necessary but always supportive of the team. I am very proud of how India approached the politics of this match and the disappointment of our subsequent defeat. As much as the Indian press tried to ram it into our heads that this was “the first India-Pak match since 26/11”, the team decided to stay away from irresponsible, masaledar journalism and focus on what the game really is – a group stage match in the 2009 Champions Trophy. It makes me really proud to see our boys play this game as if it’s any other – one they’d really like to win, because as sportsmen, that’s what they’re supposed to do. Of course I’m not denying that we all wanted to win it that much more because it is against Pakistan – but we weren’t looking to win because it was against Pakistan. The maturity with which MSD and the rest of the team handled the pressure was fantastic. I can safely say, for myself and for most Indian cricket fans out there (please don't go out and ask your friendly, BJP-supporting neighbour ok?), on any given day, beating Australia (oh please Cricket Gods, PLEASE) is 10 times more satisfying than beating a Pakistani side. What say you?

Ultimately, India’s back under pressure again – it’s a knock-out tournament for us now. We have to beat both Australia and The West Indies to qualify for the semis. It will be far from easy, but we have more than enough talent in our squad to do it. I hear that Team India is thinking of playing 5 specialist bowlers in the next game against Oz. God forbid there’s a “batting collapse”. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this (potential) decision – MSD’s known to stick to the same squad throughout a tournie to show faith in his players (remember T20 World Cup), but maybe this shuffling will do us some good. Let’s see. This is the worst part about being a spectator – you just never the get the opportunity to jump onto the pitch and bowl the perfect spell: Shaon Bhattacharya – 3/24 off 6 overs *sigh*

Although, maybe it’s good I’m not allowed to be on a cricket pitch when Pakistan is too – I don’t want to be put on death row for murdering Younis Khan (I usually have a great deal of respect for this man – he’s just been really annoying during the last few weeks), Afridi and motor mouth Gul in cold blood. I want to be able to see India lift the World Cup at least once before I die…

Cricket fever love,

S xxx

** Favourite quote from pre-match buildup: “More than us, Sachin would be under enormous pressure since now so much rests on him to deliver the goods” – Younis Khan at a Press Conference on 25/09

Oh yeah, this is definitely the first time that Sachin Tendulkar has ever faced such pressure in his 20 year long batting career. And obviously, he’s not a good enough player to overcome such pressure huh? Especially seeing as "he’s not a super-natural creature or ghost” (Khan’s words, not mine). Really, Younis? The greatest batsman in the history of the game was under more pressure than your entire team during a first round match in the Champions Trophy?! Aren’t you just the most modest (and delusional) mouse in the barn…