WELCOME DRAVID

Guys trust me.
I was very sleepy just when I looked to cricinfo for getting a glimpse of the warm up game. and my drowsiness went miles away as got to know about the inclusion of Rahul Dravid, the Wall of Indian cricket in upcoming ODI series against currently well dominating England team.

Sachin, Sehwag, Gautam, Raina, Dhoni, Kohli, Rohit... I mean upto this its normal. But got the happy shock when read the name of RD in absence of Yuvi.

Just got a thought that English condition and situations always had something special for him and always granted him a lot of opportunities.

The time when everyone was praying for first century at Lord's, Mecca of cricket, for Sachin Tendulkar, the English cricket offered the same to RD.

Every single batsman is getting troubled in this test series, but still it offered a success to RD.

And now at a time (not so far from this) so called old player for limited over version is been asked to join the 'just won World Cup' team.

This is like Home of Cricket pays homage to Mr. Indian cricketer.

Everytime they need someone to get them out of trouble, the Wall is been called for help. Likewise, for this such a tough series, he is called back. Otherwise he is too old to play.

Sound proud and angry. Proud for RD and angry at everyone else.

Now just wait and watch Strauss army....!

Generous Team India





World Cup 2011 had spoiled everything for this blog and its first author, Ankit Poddar. Cricket was not the same fun anymore. But not for me, I am one of those eternal lovers, who never get enough of the game.

So, what is it that makes me make my debut on All Padded Up? The "Ian Bell Run Out" episode. Or as some would say, "We have already lost the match, we don't want to lose the crowd too" episode. 

The question that is persistent in my mind is why the hell did MS Dhoni be generous on the Ian Bell’s bizzare runout?

Yes, there might have been a few incidents of batsman been recalled. But in the similar incident in the India-England ODI, England team put their arms up when asked by umpires to reverse their appeal.

I mean if it has happened due to collision or something then it is still understandable. But claiming that Bell assumed it was a four and was just walking for tea is clearly absurd and can not be supported by live feed or highlights. It is a merely a defensive statement made as everyone must have noticed, if I could, that he ran halfway for the fourth run despite been stopped by his partner.

Still Dhoni and Co. bring Bell back from the dead post tea!

Yes, you can go yada-yada about the great piece of game spirit shown by India which earned them nothing but some respect in cricket media world. But what did Dhoni fear? The "Boos" from the crowd?

This incident has definitely set an example of spirit of the game in front of the other captains (specially those who are well known for their anti game spirit) in this ‘Kalyug’ of cricket. Appreciated, if the motive of test matches was to be Lord Ram!

But there have been mixed reactions over the issue by the spectators and cricket lovers. May be you could even say that MSD had done this just to gain respect as the presence or absence of Ian Bell would not count for the loss for India. In short, India had already lost by then


The controversies apart, what all has happened in the second match?

Has India learned from their mistakes in the first match? I don't think so. When their tail enders are scoring above 50 in each game, why our top order can’t even stand for that much of deliveries? 

Agreed, as a home team, like India, England are very difficult to beat on their soil. But this much? Really? I, for one, don't find England to be such a brilliant test side. And if India were asked questions about their No.1 position for over a year, how can we let England take that position so quickly?

That one question the cricketers have been asking for some time in commercials. “Have I made it large?” Well, this time they really made it large in both. That is, the margin of loss - 319 runs. 

World Champions 2011 - India

What can I ever say to add to that?

Thank You Team India!

Thank You Sachin!

India v/s Australia - Quarter Final 2

Would you have missed this one match, even if it were not a World Cup Quarter Final match? Hardly anyone would utter a no as an answer to this one question if it were posed on national debate. Such has been the intensity in both the sides of India and Australia whenever they take field against one another. And why wouldn't there be? In the past one year, these are the two sides that have regularly been among the top 3 ODI sides in the World, with South Africa making up the third party.

It is the most high profile match of this high profile Quarter Final line up and almost everyone is geared onto it. The only regret is, at the end of this match, one of the best sides in World Cup cricket will be out of the tournament, no matter which way the result swings.

Let us have a look at the World Cup 2011 campaign of the two teams:

Australia

Versus	Result	Runs Scored	Wickets Lost	Runs Given	Wickets Taken
Kenya	Won	324	6	264	6
Sri Lanka	Washed  Out	-	-	-	-
Canada	Won	212	3	211	10
New Zealand	Won	207	3	206	10
Zimbabwe	Won	262	6	171	10
Pakistan	Lost	176	10	178	6
Total	W - 4 L - 1 NR - 1	1181	28	1030	42

Bowling:

Australia are certainly not the side of the old and you must be tired to hear that by now. Hell, even Yuvraj Singh has mentioned that already. However, that does not mean that you could afford to take the World Champions lightly. They are wounded but they are wild and the wounded wild are the most dangerous. The table shows that they have managed to take 42 wickets in 5 matches that could be completed. That is one dangerous figure as this shows that Australia have managed 8.4 wickets in every match and that is almost cleaning up the entire line up. In fact, Australia have failed to clear the line up only twice, once in a match that they lost to Pakistan and surprisingly the other in the match to Kenya. They have fearsome bowlers and the numbers show the fear.

Batting:

They have also managed to score a fair number of runs, considering only 5 matches have been counted. However, what is important to note is that Australia have managed to score these runs and win matches without losing too many wickets by the end of it. This signifies a good start and good support from at least two in the middle order. Australia have been all out only once, and as we will see in the analysis on India, a solid middle order might be the daunting factor.

India

Versus	Result	Runs Scored	Wickets Lost	Runs Given	Wickets Taken
South Africa	Lost	296	10	300	7
Netherlands	Won	191	5	189	10
Bangladesh	Won	370	4	283	9
Ireland	Won	210	5	207	10
England	Tied	338	10	338	8
West Indies	Won	268	10	188	10
Total	W - 4 L - 1 Tie -1	1673	44	1505	54

Bowling:

India have a similar record as to Australia in this World Cup and that is something that every Indian fan who has followed cricket in the period of 1996 - 2010 would be proud of. In fact, from the looks of the table, India seem to better off than their opposition. What comes as a surprise is that Indian bowling which is clearly its weak link has managed to take 54 wickets in 6 matches, which leaves us with an average of 9 wickets per match, which is clearly an astonishing figure. It is true that these wickets have been to a concentrated few like Zaheer Khan, but then again this is entirely the reason why they are called match winning bowlers. However, one fear factor for India is that they managed to give away a lot of runs too. Hopefully, MSD would continue with Ashwin now and not allow Nehra, Sreesanth and Chawla to play havoc with the ball.

Batting:

This Indian batting line up is certainly the best India has ever had in terms of numbers, and variety. However, while the runs have been up on the board, the batting hasn't lived up to its full potential except in the match against Bangladesh. India have had some spectacular collapses at the end of innings against England, South Africa and West Indies, with the collapse against South Africa being the most dramatic where they lost 9 wickets and scoring only 29 runs. It was a certainly a match where the fall of wickets cost India a minimum of 50 more runs. They can not afford such a collapse against Australia, as the South African side did offer some chance to the Indian bowlers, Australian middle order and openers would not give any.  

India v/s Australia

One look at the table and you know you are eagerly waiting for the contest to begin. Pakistan have already won their match against West Indies and booked themselves a place in the semi finals. There can be nothing more mouth watering than a clash of Pakistan and you know who!

The match is being played at Motera tomorrow. The match might have some personal milestones crossed but that is not what is on my mind. All that I have on my mind is 

INDIA!! INDIAA!!!

Pakistan v/s West Indies - Quarter Final 1

This is one match between two unpredictable teams and I would be a fool to predict the outcome of this match. However, one thing can be said at this point of time. One of the two teams that wasn't expected to reach the semis at the start of the tournament would do so, as none of these two teams were considered to be strong enough. It is stroke of luck for the winner of this match to have been matched up against the other!

Let us look at the performances of these two teams in the World Cup in the league stage.

Pakistan

Versus	Result	Runs Scored	Wickets Lost	Runs Given	Wickets Taken
Kenya	Won	317	7	112	10
Sri Lanka	Won	277	7	266	9
Canada	Won	184	10	138	10
New Zealand	Lost	192	10	302	7
Zimbabwe	Won	164	3	151	7
Australia	Won	178	6	176	10
Total	W - 5 L - 1	1312	43	1145	53

Thus, Pakistan has given a very strong performance throughout the tournament, which is the very reason why they managed to top their group. However, their journey has been a funny ride, as you would expect from the unpredictable Pakistan side. They managed to stun Sri Lanka and halted the Australian juggernaut of wins and thus managed to defeat both the stronger teams of their group. However, they lost to the weakest of the top 4 in their group by a very huge margin and that must have been the eye opener for their bowlers. They also made quite a match out of the one against Canada for more than half the match, and the precision in butchering minnows was missing. However, that precision was on full display against Kenya and Zimbabwe. 

West Indies

Versus	Result	Runs Scored	Wickets Lost	Runs Given	Wickets Taken
South Africa	Lost	222	10	223	3
Netherlands	Won	310	8	115	10
Bangladesh	Won	59	1	58	10
Ireland	Won	275	10	231	10
England	Lost	225	10	243	10
India	Lost	268	10	188	10
Total	W -3 L - 3	1359	49	1058	53

West Indies have won against the minnows and Bangladesh and lost to all major test playing nations other wise. However, their performance hasn't been as bad as the result suggests. Out of the major teams that defeated them, West Indies had India and England on the mats for most of the time in the match, only to see their batting collapse. They suffered a clinical defeat from the hands of South Africa but that was early in the tournament. The wins that they have scored against the minnows in Bangladesh and Netherlands have been achieved after thorough precision. Ireland seemed to have troubled them to some extent, but then the Irish team created troubles for almost everybody.

Pakistan v/s West Indies

If you see the tables, both West Indies and Pakistan have managed to score in excess of 300 only once. Pakistan have recorded wins against big teams and hence their confidence would be better than West Indies. The tables show that West Indies have scored more runs than Pakistan and given away fewer runs. However, that might not be a fair comparison, considering that West Indies have managed to give away fewer runs in the total figure only because of their performance in the matches against minnows.

My money would be on Pakistan. West Indies might have bigger players in Gayle and Pollard, Pakistan are the team that plays with unpredictable precision in big matches. Umar Akmal is the man I would want to see performing big in this match, apart from Pollard and Afridi.

The match is being played at Mirpur tomorrow. Pakistan would be wary of West Indies and West Indies would be vary of stones. Stay tuned!