Sehwag risking WI, Eng tour to play IPL

New Delhi: A World Cup win can bring satisfaction of a lifetime and champion players rummage around for a recliner to relax while the medal sits on the chest perpetually. But winds of change have refashioned perceptions, where the IPL money rules the roost and other issues move to the back-burner.

Virender Sehwag's niggling shoulder injury, which forced him out of the ODIs on the South African tour to be fit for the World Cup, is one such example where a player risks jeopardising his career for franchisee reputation and some extra zeroes.

Sehwag and BCCI's decision to delay the shoulder surgery until after the World Cup was in national interest, but postponing it for franchisee cricket defies logic.

In contrast, neighbouring giants Sri Lanka have issued marching orders to their IPL-serving players midway through the tournament to prepare for national duty for the tour of England.

This opens Sehwag's disregard towards his fitness to even severe scrutiny as India too have energy-sapping tour of the West Indies commencing just six days after the IPL final on May 28, followed by the tour to England.

What more, the delay has already cost India Sehwag's more than useful off-spin. Though it thankfully didn't hurt the team in the World Cup, the signs indicate his decision to delay can make it only worse.

So if the 'Devil' is planning to 'Dare' the scalpel after the IPL, it's almost certain that the most feared opener in world cricket has resigned to the fact that he won't tour the Caribbean.

Does it mean that Sehwag and BCCI have wilted under the pressure of big-spending franchises, treating national interest secondarily? Is India's tour of the West Indies trivial in comparison to domestic entertainment like the IPL?

These and many similar incisive questions are waiting to dissect Sehwag and the Indian board's decision to put off an imminent treatment. Hope it doesn't cost India a disaster in the West Indies after a fairytale in the subcontinent.

Source: http://cricketnext.in.com/news/sehwag-risking-wi-eng-tour-to-play-ipl/56541-13.html

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Dreams are made of these...

ridabad, jobs, 

"Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane." - Red to Andy Dufresne in the classic 'The Shawshank Redemption', 1994. 

India started the day with hope. Zaheer Khan was un-hittable by the Lankans, and the fielding made one suspect that coach Kirsten had injected some South African genes into the Indian team. What had been injected though was much simpler and much more visible: desire. The Indians were leaping, diving, running as if they had to train with Usain Bolt and the Sri Lankans found the going tough in the initial few overs. Visions were raised of a bowling choke, leading to a sedate chase. Then Dilshan and Sangakkara built a stand, after which Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene got the scoreboard ticking over much more regularly. Sangakkara went, and Mahela - who had started the World Cup with a 100 off 80 balls against Canada, before losing his form, decided the final would be the perfect place to recapture it on the way to a 100 off 84 balls. Sri Lanka scored 63 runs off the final five overs of the innings, turning a average-competitive total into a very tough one. Hope, that had been steadily growing in Indian fans' hearts, must have done a quick about-turn and headed straight into insanity territory. 

The scene had to be seen to be believed. It was midnight, there wasn't any store open and yet there was a teeming, swaying, gathering mass of humanity. Men and women, old and young, inebriated and sober, on vehicles and on foot - all bound by one fact and one only: They had discovered the Indian in them. 

Roads that had never seen this kind of movement at this hour were jam-packed. Vehicles were stuck, moving 10 metres in half an hour, but that was alright - no one was trying to get anywhere, everyone simply wanted to be a part of the festivities. At one point, I thought I should ask the group of people I was with to get back inside the car because I had spied a police car coming from the distance. Then I paused - there was a hand that was coming out of the police car as it neared a throng. That hand was raised in an unmistakable gesture of high-fiving the revelers. There wasn't going to be a crime committed today - not for the next two hours. Not when the country was in the throes of a collective happiness the like of which it had never seen. Tonight, the police were part of the delicious madness. I didn't get back in my car - I waited till I could bump hands with the man behind the wheel of the police vehicle. 

Sri Lanka had ended up with a very good total, it was true. No batsman hitting a century in a World Cup final had ended up on the losing side - this was also true. No side playing the final at home had won the World Cup, yes. And no side had chased as many as 275 runs to win in a World Cup final. Yet hope had not completely disappeared. After all, no chasing side had a set of openers like Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar did they? 

As it turned out, after just 6.1 overs India didn't have them either. Sehwag had gone off the second ball of the innings, trapped plumb in front by Lasith Malinga. He took with him a sizeable chunk of hope and one needlessly wasted review. However, Tendulkar was still there, and it is an axiom of an Indian fan's life that as long as he is there at the crease, hope is never fully banished from the heart. For 13 glorious balls he made us believe. It was written - he would get to his 100th century while anchoring India's chase and bringing home the trophy that he most wanted and yet had never got, in front of an adoring home-crowd. God had rested on the 7th day, in twice the number of balls, the God of Indian cricket chased a ball from Malinga that was going away and had to leave to stunned silence. 

31/2 in 6.1 overs with the two principal match-winners back in the pavilion. Bye-bye hope, welcome Insanity. 

There was a man in a corner waving a giant India flag. He didn't look like he had come with anyone else, and yet he was bear-hugging every body within arm-reach. He was draping the flag over someone else, and high-fiving every passer-by on vehicle. There was a man on a motor-cycle. He didn't have anyone riding with him. And yet, from a moving vehicle he found the energy and the insouciance to holler a 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and exchange fist-bumps with whoever seemed to be passing him. There is a pedestrian, but he's not on the footpath. He's in the middle of the road. And he spontaneously starts a chant of 'Sachin...Sachin'. what feels like 50,000 voices immediately join in. They might have come alone, but there was nobody who was alone on this night. 

Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli. Two Delhi boys. Two future India captains maybe. Also most importantly, two men with limitless stomachs for toughing it out and who had the cojones to probably think to themselves, "So what if Tendulkar and Sehwag have gone? We are still there." 

They dusted off the early dismissals and focussed on the task at hand: how to get India to 275 in little steps. Gambhir looked fluent from the start, Kohli first settled down and then started opening up. Visions of this match cropped up. Irrestible parallels were drawn - India chased a much higher total in that match and the combined score of Tendulkar and Sehwag was 18 then too, as it was today. Would Kohli and Gambhir repeat their heroics? Kohli, it turned out, would not. 114/3 in the 22nd over, and India was once more on the back-foot. Out walked MS Dhoni, ahead of the in-form Yuvraj Singh. He had - he said later - a point to prove: to himself. And he backed himself to prove it. It was a courageous decision on the part of a man who hadn't been scoring too many runs so far, knowing that if it back-fired, he would have had to face a barrage of questions. 

It didn't backfire. Dhoni didn't allow it to. Gambhir and Kohli had taken India from despair to uncertainty. Dhoni and Gambhir took them from uncertainty to looking increasingly likely winners. Gambhir had already got to a superb fifty, and during the course of the stand Dhoni joined him. "We see your Mahela," the Indian fans seemed to be saying, "and we raise you a Gautam." The stand had crossed the century mark, and Gambhir was nearing his own. He would have got it too, except for a rush of blood that saw a fairly straight 'you miss, I hit' ball from Perera duly miss Gambhir's flailing bat and head for his stumps. Nevertheless, with 97 off 122, while chasing in a World Cup final, Gambhir had entered the pantheon of the select few who have played great World Cup final knocks. 

Out walked India's World Cup talisman - Yuvraj Singh. The game was in the balance, with India having a slight advantage. Recognizing the moment and realising that he needed to seize it, MS Dhoni turned it on. He had been scoring at almost a run-a-ball until Gambhir's dismissal. After Yuvraj's entry, he unleashed a brutal square-cut for six. When Malinga came back for his final spell, there was one quiet over, after which he was taken for 11 runs, with 9 of them coming off Dhoni's blade. With that, India's required rate was 5 runs to win off 12 balls. 

Grown men are not supposed to dance like this. Since when did the streets of a city become a post-midnight celebratory meeting place? And India will not be allowed to forget this party. 1983 exists as televison recording. 2011 will half be remembered by the street videos. For every man who is dancing, there is one taking a video - on a cellphone, on a camera, on possibly other sophisticated devices whose names I don't know. Yes, India will not be allowed to forget this party - there are just too many recordings of it! 

However, perhaps I should pull my friends - respectable, intelligent, mature men in ordinary lives - away from the throng where they are dancing without a care in the world, without a music beat to be heard and with only the accompaniment of a thousand screaming voices? I would, but I find that I'm part of the throng. My voice is contributing to the collective roar. My two left feet are dancing in wild abandon. 

5 off 12, becomes 4 off 11 with a single and MS Dhoni is back on strike. He finishes it in the way only he can. Ice-cold eyes, even cooler head and a mighty swing over the sight-screens. He's had a previous highest of 34 in this World Cup, and he ends it by scoring 91 not out off 79 balls. For the first time after 28 years, a nation erupts with joy. 

O Captain, my Captain! Our fearful trip is done, The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won. [Link] 

The events of the night play back in memory. The first of many re-runs. The men who have won the Cup will be over the moon. And I'd wager that the men who might not have been a part of the winning squad, but who had just as much of a hand in bringing India to this summit on this day, will be just as happy. I raise a silent toast to Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. To Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. To John Wright and Javagal Srinath. And of course to the entire Indian team of today. And to Sachin Tendulkar. You beautiful champion - who cares if you did not score runs. You had a date with destiny and you kept it. 

The images continue to flash: There was emotion on the field from MS Dhoni. There were tears from many Indian players and millions of fans. I had walked out in the streets after the win. I was greeted, hugged, and fist-bumped by people I did not know. The last time I had greeted and hugged so many strangers was at my wedding. 

Eleven men have won a trophy in a sport that only 10 countries in the world play at any sort of competitive level. But don't tell me that it's 'just a game'. 

"Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." - Andy Dufresne, in reply to Red. From, 'The Shawshank Redemption', 1994. 
Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/39475/dreams-are-made-of-these

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Yuvraj injured ahead of England clash

Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh injured his hand during nets on Thursday, raising concerns about his fitness for their World Cup Group B match against England on Sunday.

Yuvraj picked up a minor injury on his hand after being hit by a delivery from bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, a Reuters cameraman said.

The explosive middle-order batsman was seen applying ice to the injury before he aborted the training session to seek medical attention.

"It was a minor niggle and he should be fit to play on Sunday," an Indian spokesman said.

Yuvraj is the latest Indian player to suffer injury woes as openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag picked up knee problems at the weekend.

Sehwag, who skipped practice for the last two days, was back at the nets on Thursday and showed off his batting skills at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

A billion dreams are resting on the Indian team's shoulders as they seek to become the second Indian team, after 1983's 'Kapil's Devils', to bag the 50-over World Cup.

Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/37028/yuvraj-injured-ahead-of-england-clash

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Pakistan look for flexibility in batting order

The emergence of Ahmed Shehzad has settled down Pakistan's opening partnership for the near future, but it has complicated matters for the rest of the batting order. Shehzad partnered Mohammad Hafeez at the top in the ODI series win over New Zealand coming into the World Cup. Both players had successful series, notching up a maiden century each but didn't put on a significant partnership in any of the five games they batted together.

Shehzad's return has meant Kamran Akmal moving down one spot to No. 3 in the order. But Akmal and Hafeez formed a successful partnership in the ODI series against England last September and would, in all likelihood, have been the first-choice pair here had it not been for Akmal's brief exile from the side in between. That absence allowed Shehzad to return to the side for the first time since 2009, an opportunity he has fully utilised.

Hafeez has also been a stabilising influence since his own return to the ODI set-up last summer, averaging 35.73 in 16 ODIs since then, with a hundred and three fifties. He has also turned in useful spells of offspin, picking up 11 wickets. Hafeez and Shehzad will start as the opening pair but the pushing down of Akmal and the return of Misbah-ul-Haq in a middle order that also includes Younis Khan often resulted in Pakistan not gathering enough momentum in the middle overs of an innings.

Pakistan are keen on keeping both Younis and Misbah in the XI as insurance against collapses. But batting them at four and five as happened in New Zealand has meant that Umar Akmal, potentially Pakistan's best batsman in the format, has come in with too few overs left to have an impact. It is an issue that will require flexibility, said Pakistan's captain Shahid Afridi ahead of their tournament opener against Kenya.

"If we lose the first wicket early, then Kamran, who has been an attacking batsman and has opened, comes in so we will have advantage with him and fielders in the circle," Afridi said. "After that it will depend on how many overs we have so Umar can come after Younis. We don't want Misbah and Younis batting together so that we can keep momentum and the scoreboard ticking."

Pakistan also look set to include Shoaib Akhtar in the line-up for Wednesday, despite concerns over his match fitness; only yesterday coach Waqar Younis said Shoaib was improving but not fully fit just yet. That means Saeed Ajmal is likely to miss out as Pakistan open up with three fast bowlers. Junaid Khan, the late call-up who impressed in a warm-up game against England in Dhaka and has experience of Hambantota, will also probably sit out. Irrespective of the opponent, Afridi said, Pakistan will be at full strength.

"I don't think it's an easier game for us," he said. "The first game is always very important for us. There are a number of examples where big teams have lost so we want to be at full strength."

Pakistan chose not to train on Tuesday, having arrived in Hambantota on Monday and undergone a distinctly energetic and enthusiastic practice session soon after arriving. Afridi acknowledged there was more attention on off-field issues surrounding the side but maintained that a semi-final place was a realistic target. "I take that as challenge that no one is considering us for the semi-final. I want to see my team in the semi-finals."

SOURCE: http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/story/502473.html

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