The champions played outstanding cricket to retain the crown. This is a great Australian team, and it has this priceless ability to have players deliver when needed most. Adam Gilchrist had not done much so far, but in the final, he was so brutal that Jayawardene couldn’t quite get the slump out of his shoulders while the plunder was going on. The damage he caused to Sri Lanka’s psyche was incalculable. The Lankans would have fancied their...
Expert Comments - Preview to the FinalsExpert Comments - South Africa vs EnglandExpert Comments – Australia vs Sri LankaExpert Comments – New Zealand vs South AfricaExpert Comments - Sri Lanka vs New ZealandExpert Comments - West Indies vs South AfricaExpert Comments - Australia vs EnglandExpert Comments – England vs Sri LankaExpert Comments - West Indies vs Sri LankaExpert Comments - South Africa vs Sri LankaExpert Comments - India vs Sri LankaExpert Comments - India vs BermudaExpert Comments - India vs BangladeshExpert Comments - New Zealand vs EnglandWhy was Ganguly left out in the first place?Great way to end World Cup preparationThis year could be that of Chappell or chappal
Sri Lanka have to perform at 105 per cent to succeed for a second time within a decade, while Australia can do with 85 per cent to win the seventh edition of the World Cup in Barbados on Saturday. After Australian cricket, I admire the Sri Lankan brand of the game. It has much to do with the fact that their cricketers came into Test cricket back in 1980 with the aggression and adventurousness of ODI practitioners which they really were.By then...
My predictions seem to be coming true. When I said if any team has to challenge Australia in the final it has to be Sri Lanka I didn’t say that because I wanted one of the Asian teams to bring back the Cup. It was because of the way they have been playing as a team, as one single unit with a tremendous will to do their small country proud. They don’t seem to believe in individual achievement only, quite like the... Why did Sri Lanka
It was no more than a typical Board cover-upChappell believed in boss managementNever treat your legends with such contempt'What wrong did Dravid do?'Lankans played as a team, unlike us'Rudeness is in Aussie blood and heredity'India are unlikely to have it easyIt’s necessary for the coach to take pro approachA bright spark, but it’s not over yet for India
Can the Sri Lankans win? Yes... You still get the feeling that Australia’s batsmen and fielders are making the bowlers look better than they... So after a mundane, tedious and colourless World Cup we have the final pairing we wanted. Hopefully it means a great final awaits us, though big occasions tend to prefer anti-climaxes. High expectations and great encounters tend to walk with their backs facing each other. Australia are the jugge
A horses for courses selectionNeed no ambiguity in selection of team for BangladeshCricket should look for a few good men with no stakes'Ego brought Team India to its knees'I’m not sure if playing 4 bowlers is the way to goA pinch of self-belief will make the brew perfect for IndiaIndia’s assessment in the middle could be rightSachin must now measure his success differently
The World Cup had been as sterile as a surgery theatre in a major hospital so far as tactics and strategy were concerned. And then, suddenly, Tom Moody and Mahela Jayawardene sprang a strategic surprise — or was it a shocker? — in leaving out Vaas and Murali from their showdown with Australia while the slinger Malinga was out recovering from injury. The Aussie cricket machine needed no such favours to steamroller its way to a 26-match...
India went past Bermuda without much ado and now face the acid test on Friday. It would be a big game, almost as any India will play in this World Cup. From now on, there are no second chances for India. On the positive note, a win which is very much on the cards will really put them on a roll. One doesn’t want to read too much into India’s performance as Bermuda is a below average side. But try telling that to Virender Sehwag who must have...
If reports that suggest a row between senior players and coach Greg Chappell are true, then Indian cricket is in its most messy state. What I have been unable to fathom in the whole issue is the regular leaks to the media, especially if it is to do with a report from Chappell. Everyone except the intended recipients seems to have the news much in advance.The ‘seniors’ have been in the news for quite the wrong reasons. Let us get this right....
