By a predictable precedent, the T20 World Cup much like last year’s unfolds its knees and begins to jog with nobody clapping. In comparison to the IPL, every other cricket tournament is now being made to seem perfunctorily insignificant. Which brings me to a rather pertinent question: Is the IPL worth all the brouhaha? A hodgepodge of players from different nations clad in weirdo clothes, commentators reclining on cheerleaders’ laps and umpires droning ‘Taiyyaar Ho?’ before Ball One, millions of dollars hurled merely for playing 20-over games through a few weeks— has sadly reduced the viewer intensity that must exist (in a normal cricketing world) for a Country vs Country ICC tournament. The 2009 ICC World T20 AND the ICC Champions Trophy 2009 both had appalling Television Rating Points in comparison to a Chennai Super Kings versus Kings XI Punjab at Durban. Despite the conflict of opinion among players from other cricketing nations (West Indies, England et al) our cricketers firmly concur on a school of thought—playing for the country is paramount. Hope we viewers make that distinction too.
The moment a place like the Carribean is chosen for a major cricket tournament, you’d fall back on your chair with a pronounced sigh of satisfaction, assured of the ebullient response the tournament would receive and the rousing success it would invariably be. The 2007 ICC World Cup (the normal 50-over version) was, given the circumstances, a rude shock with regard to popularity and fan interest. a) The home team decided emphatically not to give their crowds enough to cheer about. b) India and Pakistan went evangelical towards their travel managers. c) The pricing of tickets for the stadia made the average West Indian cricket lovers feel they were scores of notches below the poverty line. Though the first couple of issues cannot have predetermined solutions, the third can be treated with an eraser used by sensible hands. Pity watching the 2007 WC sans the enchantingly spirited conventional Carribean flavor, instead having to scrutinize the renovations the stadia had undergone (yes, even the quality and color of the seats could be judged thanks to their lack of inhabitation).
Last June, majority perspective (or hope, as I’d like to believe) was vigorously toward an Indian triumph again. Once the tournament kick started with its warm-up games one began to realize how rhetorical those assessments were. This time around though, the tournament looks like it could land up in any of the top 8 nations’ Hall Of Fame (Glory To Thee, Cricket!) I’m looking at India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies as serious contenders for the title. Sans the riches of Sachin Tendulkar (He’s currently India’s best T20 batsman. No kidding) and the belligerence of Virender Sehwag, India will not be low on resources in any stretch of imagination. We still house a terrific batting lineup, beyond apprehension the best among the competing teams. The bowling looks comfortingly sane with Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh coming off decent IPL seasons. The most important factor, however, that must be taken into consideration before any analysis is the conditions of the region. West Indies are traditionally known to throw up slow tracks, some with spongy bounce and some without bounce at all. The four teams aforementioned have the best resources for the conditions on hand. Contrary to age-old tradition, South African batsmen have particularly improved through this decade in the way they play spin bowling. Jacques Kallis, AB De Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher have defied customary practices of South African batsmen and have become very fine players of spin bowling through the years. And spin bowling shall be the way to go about things in the West Indies. If watching a spinner opening the bowling frustrated you during the IPL, better turn the TV set off for good. Wouldn’t be a surprise to me at all if 12 overs of the 20 see slow bowlers turning their arms over. Sri Lankan conditions are nearly the same as those in the Carribean and they have some pretty handy slower bowlers in their armory. And you simply cannot count out the Windies when they’re playing at home. Besides having just about the right players for the conditions, their style of playing the game (all passion, flair, style, enigma and energy) is perfectly in synchrony with T20 cricket. If there’s one format of the game you could expect optimistically the West Indies to come good, it is this one.
Oh, lest I forget, only the stupid would dismiss the Pakistanis. Folly may thou not commit of writing off Pakistan. They're fickle as a biased commentator. They may very well knock you off the driver’s seat anytime or may gladly get mowed down. An interesting story behind their remarkable turnaround last year was Shahid Afridi. He realized, quite astutely, that there wasn’t an impending need for him to clobber every ball from London to Nottingham, acknowledged that he might as well let the ball come to him and do the needful, recognized his previous foibles and made attempts to correcting them. And what we saw in last year’s T20 WC was a restrained Afridi (bizarre though it may sound) winning them the semis and the final. He’s a pretty useful bowler too, mind you. Finished as the highest wicket-taker in the inaugural ICC World T20 in the rainbow nation. Wonder if captaincy will help his contribution as a cricketer this time around.
Never mind the lack of hype this tournament will generate. As an ultimate connoisseur of the interactions between bat and ball, following this tournament will sure be pleasurable. Serve up the beer, the party’s coming!
0 comments:
Post a Comment