harsha_take

Friday, June 26, 2009

England played better, with more intent and they won.

this is not the time to burn effigies since showing disappointment doesn’t mean demeaning yourself. india got it wrong tactically and that happens even to the most hardened, analytical business heads. dhoni made mistakes and i am sure he knows he made them and who knows he might emerge a better captain after this.

this is not the time to burn effigies since showing disappointment doesn’t mean demeaning yourself. india got it wrong tactically and that happens even to the most hardened, analytical business heads. dhoni made mistakes and i am sure he knows he made them and who knows he might emerge a better captain after this. 

if there is one aspect that stood out for me it was that india played cautious cricket. this is not a format that allows such an attitude and maybe india were uncomfortable with their new reputation and felt the need to play to it. it is an interesting evolution that has many parallels. 

teams that are not expected to win play fearlessly and surprise people, even win sometimes. then the expectations around them rise and they feel the need to play differently to live up to those expectations. but that is something they are neither comfortable with nor experienced at. the trick (and as i write this i am acutely aware, as i have often stated, that the game is easier from 100 yards away!) is to stay as close to your natural style as possible. 

you could sense the caution in the thought behind sending jadeja at no 4. it was a situation that was crying out for yuvraj. people rise in the eyes of the world when they take on the opposition and play a match winning innings. this had to be yuvraj’s moment. i am sure as a senior player he could have made a strong case for batting himself and hopefully he did. 

there will be much breast beating, much analysis but in the end the better team on the day won. india had the greater potential, were the better side on paper, but that counts for little. england played better, with more intent and they won. 

in the end, it is a sport and we must move on.

Little things determine the big verdicts!

there has been much criticism of mahendra singh dhoni’s tactics in this world t20. i am not trying to stand up for him or absolve him of misjudgement, he has admitted to most things anyway, but i think we need to take a step back and look at things dispassionately sometimes.

dhoni’s instincts were lauded when he threw the ball to joginder sharma for the last over at the 2007 world t20. he could have asked harbhajan to bowl but his instinct told him that joginder was a better option. and instinct is something a leader must follow in a crunch situation. now if misbah’s paddle sweep had got a couple of more yards on it, dhoni would have been roasted. we would have used the great boon of hindsight and told him what he should have done and everyone would have called for his head. 
agreed the decision to send jadeja at no 4 wasn’t the greatest, or using an out of sorts ishant for an extra over, but think about this. if stuart broad had been three inches shorter, jadeja’s shot might have cleared the boundary and the game might have turned. again dhoni went with his instinct and fell marginally short. often it is the little things that determine which way the big verdict goes. 
personally i am delighted that the west indies and sri lanka have got so far. sri lanka are again showing, like delhi daredevils did, that if you have a fine bowling line up and a couple of batsmen in form you can go far in this format. the return to form of jayawardene could well be the clincher for sri lanka because they have seemed a bit short of ideas when the openers have failed. i think the best time to attack sri lanka is in the first six overs when they bat and in the first four when they bowl because they are a bit uncertain of when to begin using malinga. 

sri lanka v south africa would be the fairest final but sport never works that way! pakistan are looking dangerous after razzaq because it is taking the pressure off afridi. if they get a good start they could trouble south africa.