World T20 2014: Why we think that India cannot win the championship

The world T20 is around the corner and all the teams and fans are warming up to put up the contender ship for their respective countries. A total of 16 teams will be fighting for the title, 8 out of which would undergo a qualifying round before the main tournament starts.

The Indian team which has been on a bad run since the South African tour has a lot to worry about in the limited over format of the game. They have now lost 9 of their last 12 games, winning only two. Now the T2o format is an entirely different scenario than that of the 50 over format, but you can’t deny that the basic of the game is the same. India has not been able to give a complete team performance since the champions trophy now, and the lack of balance in the team is clearly visible. Here we take a look at the area of concern for the Indian team in the shorter format.

Now we are not talking about the IPL or any other domestic league, what we do want to put forward is that the Indian team last played a t20 international match on 10th October 2013 against the Australians, which they did manage to win due to career best figures from Yuvraj Singh. Before that India had not played another T20 in another 10 months, so for the records, they have played only one T20 international in the last 15 months. We can always argue that they get enough experience in the IPL, but we should also not forget that even the IPL was a year back

The bowling department has been one of the flaws that India has now carried for generations with themselves. We have never produced a bowler that can literally scare an opponent. Yes, there have been moments of brilliance by someone or the other and there has always been promise, but that never expands into anything. The team that is going to the T20 world cup is carrying the same bowling attack as the previous tournament. A bowling attack that has shown promise in the one day format, but T20 again is an entirely different format and we have seen again and again how the Indian bowlers crumble under pressure

The Indian middle order is far from what you can call as balanced. Yes we do have returning names like Yuvraj and Raina, who are huge when it comes to the T20 format but then even those two have not played any games at the international arena in the last 6 months or so. When it comes to cricket, practice and form matters, and these two far away from what you can call as good form, plus you also have the short ball problem with both of them. One might think that M S Dhoni would prove to be saviors as far as the middle order is concerned, but his record in T20 internationals doesn’t say much either as he is yet to score a half century in the shorter format. His strike rate also happens to be only 114.88 per 100 balls; something that is highly under achieving as far as M S Dhoni is concerned.

Another major concern is regarding the selection of the spinners, the team has management has yet not been able to decide about whom to play and whom to not. Since Ravindra Jadeja sure to play, considering his all-round performance in the recent tournaments, the team management will have to take a decision on whether to give chances to a newly sparked Amit Mishra or to maintain their Ashwin love affair, a love affair which doesn’t seem to bring about any profits when it’s required the most.

With so much to improve and so many hurdles to overcome, it seems very unlikely that the Indian team has any major chance of winning this world T20. We do believe in miracle, and one can give the example of the 2007 t20 world cup triumph as one, but a team can be one time lucky. Will luck do a favor on the Indian team for the second time? Only time will tell.

Copyright : india.com

UAE to host first stage of 2014 IPL cricket - organisers

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host the first leg of this year's Indian Premier League cricket (IPL), the organisers said on Wednesday.

The lucrative Twenty20 tournament this year clashes with the parliamentary election in the world's biggest democracy.  A staggering 814 million Indians will be eligible to vote from April 7 in what would be the biggest election the world has ever seen.

Voting will be held in nine stages, staggered until May 12, and results are due to be announced on May 16.  With poll security being the government's priority, UAE would host at least 16 IPL matches from April 16-30, the Indian cricket board said in a statement without naming the venues.

Local media claimed Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah would host those matches. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has approached the interior ministry for permission to host the May 1-12 matches in states where polling would be over, but has kept Bangladesh as a standby in case the government cannot provide security.

"BCCI will abide by the decision of the authorities in this regard. If it is not possible to play in India during this period, IPL matches will be held in Bangladesh," the board said.  

The last set of matches culminating in the June 1 final would be held in India, the board said, promising to share tournament schedules soon. South Africa hosted the second IPL in 2009 when the cash-awash tournament clashed with the multi-phased election that year.

Copyright : sabc.co.za

RCB is a place where I can express myself: Yuvraj

BANGALORE: Indian Premier League's costliest player Yuvraj Singh feels that Royal Challengers Bangalore is a team where he can express himself in the company of star cricketers like Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle.

IPL 7 Auction: Full Coverage | Who got whom | Team compositions

Yuvraj was brought by RCB for a whopping Rs 14 crore on the opening day of the two-day IPL 7 players' auction on Wednesday, thereby becoming the most expensive player purchased at the IPL auctions.

Even though he is conscious about the expectations he will have to face after getting the top pay packet, Yuvraj feels RCB will provide him the perfect platform to "express" his talent.

"I am very happy to go to RCB and I am looking forward to playing alongside the likes of Chris Gayle and AB (de Villiers) and all the other great guys in the team. I just feel that I am going to a place where I can express myself," he said.

"Everyone is talking about my being the highest-paid player and being bought for so much at an auction, that also means that there is a lot of focus on you and on how you have to win matches, it adds responsibility.

"In RCB, we've got a lot of guys who are match winners on their own -- Gayle, AB, Virat (Kohli), Albie (Morkel), (Ravi) Rampaul all can just take games away single-handed. It's a great bunch. It is great that in that kind of environment, I can go and express myself," said the flamboyant left-hander, who was the player of the tournament in India's 2011 World Cup triumph.

Yuvraj outpriced Gautam Gambhir who was the most expensive player before IPL 7 auctions, with a price of Rs 11.04 crore from Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011.

Yuvraj's whooping price tag came as surprise for many as of late he has been out of the Indian team due to poor form.

Although he got a cold shoulder from the national selectors for the 50-over Asia Cup in Bangladesh, Yuvraj has found out a place in Indian squad for the ICC World Twenty20 to be held in Bangladesh after the continental ODI championship.

"But the World T20 is up first and that's what I'm focussed at the moment and I am trying to play as much domestic cricket as I can to prepare myself for that. I hope for the best," said Yuvraj, who made a remarkable comeback to international cricket after successfully battling cancer.

"I'm not looking at making any big statement. At the end of the season, it's not like I have to prove anything to anyone else (about) what I can do. I have to prove to myself that I have it in me," he said.

"You are not going to be thinking about what others are thinking and what you must prove to them. You have to prove things to yourself and that is what I am looking to do with all the opportunities I get," he added.

Copyright : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Ashes whitewash fear prompts England selectors to rest captain Andrew Strauss

By Derek Pringle 

The grim spectre of the Ashes whitewash three years ago is what has driven England's selectors to rest Andrew Strauss.

At home, Bangladesh will not be the walkover many assume, but England will see that as a small and justifiable risk to take if Strauss and his team defeat the Australians in 12 months' time.

The primacy of the Ashes is the motivating factor here. Last time England defended them in Australia, Andrew Flintoff was made captain ahead of Strauss with dreadful consequences.

Floored by the 5-0 drubbing, the England and Wales Cricket Board set up an inquiry, the Schofield report, whose main finding was that England's cricketers played too much cricket.

To remedy this, Schofield advocated fewer games: a suggestion ignored by the ECB, who have brazenly committed their players to more cricket.

To minimise burnout in their ever-expanding universe they need to rotate players, a system that appears to have begun with Strauss and James Anderson, who is being rested from the Bangladesh tour to cure a chronic knee problem.

The England captaincy is a gilded appointment and, predictably, some of those who have held its office have been critical of Strauss for abandoning his team. Michael Atherton, who captained England in 54 Tests, said that fatigue and dips in form come with the territory while Nasser Hussain said the job is meant to consume you 24/7, 12 months a year.

Players have always missed tours in the past but the last captain to do so was Ray Illingworth, who absented himself from the 1972/3 tour of India and Pakistan.

At the age of 40, Illingworth felt he needed a rest and to spend time with his two daughters, something Strauss, with two young children, will also feel under pressure to do. The selectors didn't hold it against Illingworth and he was brought back in as captain the next summer, beating New Zealand but losing to the West Indies.

So far so similar except that Illingworth reckoned his tour fee was less than he earned from his winter job. Strauss's central contract will ensure he will be handsomely remunerated while resting, yet more grist to the mills of those who think modern players are mollycoddled.

Great honour or not, the demands on captains such as Strauss are far greater than in Illy's day. Andy Flower, the team director, and Geoff Miller, the national selector, recognise the dangers of overload, which makes them far more enlightened than the selectors 40 years ago.

Back then there wasn't a tour of equivalent status to Bangladesh, which makes it the perfect opportunity to rest your most important player.

Indeed, you could spin it further by suggesting that Alastair Cook's appointment as captain for Bangladesh, far from preparing him to take over from Strauss, is actually helping to prolong his time at the helm.

Most recent captains reckon there is a four-year shelf life to the job. England's goal of being the No1 team in the world will take at least that long.

If the selectors see Strauss as the man to take them there, and to beat Australia away for the first time in 24 years, resting him now could prove a masterstroke.

Alastair Cook appointed England captain for Bangladesh tour

 
Cook steps up to let Andrew Strauss rest
James Anderson also omitted from February tour

• Rob Bagchi
• guardian.co.uk, Article history
• Alastair Cook, right, has been appointed to stand in for Andrew Strauss as England captain for the Bangladesh tour. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images
  
  Alastair Cook has been appointed to captain England on the tour to Bangladesh. The selectors have decided to rest Andrew Strauss from the tour and he will be replaced to lead both the Test and 50-overs sides by the current Test vice-captain, Cook. Paul Collingwood will continue as Twenty20 captain and lead the team in the two T20 internationals against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates which precede the tour of Bangladesh.
  
  Geoff Miller, the national selector, said: "Andrew Strauss has provided outstanding leadership for the team in both forms of the game over the past 12 months and the selectors feel it is important that he takes a break ahead of an extremely busy programme of international cricket leading up to and including the Ashes series in Australia and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011.
  
  "Our decision to appoint Alastair Cook to the Test vice-captaincy last year clearly demonstrated the belief that he has the potential to be a future England captain. Alastair will now have an opportunity to develop his leadership skills still further by leading the side in both forms of cricket in Bangladesh and I know that he is excited by the challenge and looking forward to working closely with Andy Flower."
  
  James Anderson has also been rested from the tour in order to see a specialist and undertake a programme of rest and rehabilitation for his chronic right-knee injury. It is hoped that following the rehabilitation period, he will be fully fit and available for selection for the World T20 tournament in the Caribbean in late April.
  
  Two uncapped players, the Yorkshire pace bowler Ajmal Shahzad and the Kent off-spinner James Tredwell, have been named in both squads while another uncapped player, the Hampshire batsman Michael Carberry, has been included in the Test squad.
  
  "We are delighted to welcome Ajmal Shahzad to both squads for the first time," Miller siad. "He enjoyed an excellent season with Yorkshire last year, made a strong impression while he was in South Africa with the EPP squad and is a bowler with the potential to make a real impact in international cricket.
  
  "James Tredwell and Michael Carberry have also continued to impress the selectors over the course of the winter and we expect both players to make a strong challenge for inclusion in our starting line-up on the forthcoming tour."
  

  Test squad

  Alastair Cook (capt) (Essex), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Michael Carberry (Hampshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Steven Davies (Surrey), Graham Onions (Durham), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Matthew Prior (Sussex), Ajmal Shahzad (Yorkshire), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), James Tredwell (Kent), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).
  

  One-day squad

  Alastair Cook (capt) (Essex), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Joe Denly (Kent), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Matthew Prior (Sussex), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Ajmal Shahzad (Yorkshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), James Tredwell (Kent),Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).
  

South Africa v England

Rob will be here from approximately 7.55am, so why not prepare for the day's play by reading Mike Selvey's report:

The rain came an hour after lunch, curtains of it, obscuring the stand at the Golf Course End of the Wanderers. Fifteen minutes later, as the thunder crashed overhead, the ground was awash, and the PA was playing John Fogerty's old hit Have You Ever Seen the Rain.

The draining qualities of the ground, together with miraculous work by the groundstaff, meant that rather than an abandonment for the day play was able to resume three hours and 20 minutes later, although to little avail as after just three and a half overs the light closed in and off they all trooped again. Worth waiting for. It saved England from further embarrassment and may yet contribute to a draw and hence a win in this series that the tourists scarcely deserve.

No wickets fell after the evening resumption and only two in the 49 overs possible before the storm, the second of them Graeme Smith, who edged Ryan Sidebottom's away swing into the midriff of Andrew Strauss at first slip even as the storm clouds gathered. By then, though, South Africa's captain had diligently collected the 20th Test hundred of his career over the course of four and a quarter hours, an inevitability almost to those who recognise a supreme competitor who saves his best for the toughest of times.