Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
India wins T20 Cricket World Cup, 2007
What a game this has been. Went right down to the wire. Can't ask for more from a grand final. The crowd erupts as the Indian support staff, coaching staff and remaining squad members charge onto the field.
The Indian players do a lap of honour as the Indian flags in the stands are waved. The players go towards the stands and pick up a couple of flags ... almost every one has a flag now as they do a lap around the ground.
The celebrations are still on as the Indians run around on the outfield. Disappointment for Pakistan but they've put in a real good show here. Misbah held his cool till the end, only making one mistake, trying to be a bit too cute in the end.
The organisers bring the trophy out onto the field as the Indians and Pakistanis congratulate each other. A brief moment of calm and the Indians are again celebrating on the outfield. Dhoni gives his shirt away to a young fan and is walking around bare-chested as Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, comes around to offer his congratulations.
Stay with us and we'll bring you the post-match presentations just as soon as they get under way.
The players now make their way out to the middle from the dug-outs as it's time for the post-match presentation ceremony to begin. The Pakistanis are disappointed, desperately so, you can see it on their faces, and the Indians are elated.
The victors and the vanquished congratulate each other. Both teams were unfancied as the tournament began. Now they've played out a dramatic final where India's just about come out on top ...
The presentation begins and it is the match officials who come up first to collect their medallions - the umpires and the match referees.
The Pakistani players then come on stage, in alphabetical order, to receive their medals.
Shoaib Malik "First of all I'd like to thank people back home and the Muslims around the world. We gave our 100%," he says. "India have a strong batting line-up. We did well to restrict them to less than 160 but our batting didn't come through. The Indians bowled really well and we played some bad shots. That's why we ended up on the losing side in this game."
The Man of the Match award goes to Irfan Pathan who says: "It's a great comeback for me. I held my nerve and bowled in the right areas. The pitch was a bit on the slower side. It gripped a bit when I bowled slower balls. I tried to mix up the pace and keep things tight. In the end it could have gone any way. The bowlers all did really well when Misbah was batting well. We played as a team and we won."
The Player of the Tournament award goes to Shahid Afridi who says: "Winning and losing is part of it. But we played really good cricket. Congratulations to the Indian captain and the whole team. I struggled a bit with my batting but I concentrated on my bowling."
Mahendra Singh Dhoni "It's one of the things I will treasure for the rest of my life. I'd like to congratulate the boys and thank them for the response they have given me. No-one expected us to win and the way we played today we deserve a big celebration. Pakistan bowled really well today in the second half. But we knew we had runs on the board and we could bring some pressure on the batsmen. Bhajji was not 100% sure of getting yorkers in the death. I thought I should throw the ball to someone who really wants to well in international cricket. Jogi did a really good job."
The fireworks go off and the Indians celebrate wildly on the podium. New has just come in that the Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced a bonus of US$ 2 million for the team and a bonus of Rs 1 crore to Yuvraj Singh for his achievement of hitting six sixes in one over.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Points table ICC T20 WC, 2007
| Team | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | Net RR | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.375 | 354/40.0 | 339/40.0 |
| South Africa | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +0.950 | 154/20.0 | 135/20.0 |
| India | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.500 | 180/20.0 | 190/20.0 |
| England | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.600 | 294/40.0 | 318/40.0 |
| Team | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | Net RR | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +1.038 | 354/39.1 | 320/40.0 |
| Australia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +1.159 | 288/33.5 | 288/39.1 |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +0.775 | 303/40.0 | 272/40.0 |
| Bangladesh | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2.860 | 206/40.0 | 271/33.5 |
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
The Very Best Batsmen Under Pressure
The
They had cakewalked the first two Tests a zillion-nothing, and here, in the heat of the third and final Test, a few minutes into the opening day, it seemed to the worldwide audience, rubbing the sleep off their eyes over a
Brett Lee, steaming in from the Cathedral end at the picturesque Adelaide Oval under slightly overcast skies, had despatched Wavell Hinds without so much as an apology. Three runs later, Dwayne Smith fell in similar fashion, edging a thunderbolt of an outswinger to Hayden at gully. In walked Brian Lara, dogged by poor form and bad umpiring decisions all series.
Sarwan fell, hooking the insatiable Lee to Symonds, his Achilles heel cruelly exposed, and
The dam burst after lunch. Lara launched into the spinners, ravaging them for 88 off a mere 107 deliveries. McGrath and Lee were treated with scant respect, and with stumps dawning, the genius went to his 200 by pulling the latter twice in front of square.
It was a magnificent display of defiance in the face of almost insurmountable odds, against a bowling attack of the highest class on their own turf. They would later christen Adelaide Oval as Lara’s lair. He averaged 94 there.
The next highest contribution to Lara’s 226 had been from Dwyane Bravo, with 34.
It was the last Test match that this prince among batsmen would play in
That wasn’t the only time Lara had turned the tables on the world champions from a seemingly hopeless situation. Nearly seven years ago, on a balmy day in
Innings like these make you wonder- how do the true greats of the game deliver in situations that call for blood and guts? How do they stare defeat and dishonour in the face and not blink while the rest are falling around them?
I decided to find out. Or rather Bheem did.
I asked him to reveal the batsmen who had the highest averages, coming in at worse than 20/1, 40/2, 60/3, or 80/4. Here’s his list.
Table 1. The Best Batsmen at <20/1>
| Batsman | Innings | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
| Bradman | 23 | 1726 | 86.30 | 6 | 2 |
| | 20 | 1390 | 81.76 | 7 | 3 |
| Headley | 17 | 1024 | 68.27 | 4 | 3 |
| | 16 | 1042 | 65.13 | 4 | 1 |
| Graveney | 20 | 1076 | 63.29 | 2 | 3 |
| Ponting | 42 | 2343 | 61.67 | 8 | 10 |
| Kanhai | 40 | 2307 | 59.15 | 9 | 3 |
| Sangakkara | 44 | 2383 | 58.12 | 5 | 13 |
| IVA Richards | 25 | 1388 | 57.83 | 4 | 7 |
| | 26 | 1229 | 55.86 | 4 | 6 |
| IM Chappell | 40 | 2033 | 54.95 | 7 | 8 |
| Dexter | 23 | 1193 | 54.23 | 2 | 9 |
| Dravid | 73 | 3523 | 53.38 | 7 | 18 |
| Younis Khan | 27 | 1373 | 52.81 | 6 | 2 |
| AH Jones | 29 | 1394 | 49.79 | 3 | 7 |
| Lara | 30 | 1423 | 49.07 | 2 | 8 |
Reads like a who’s who of cricket, doesn’t it? Bradman…
Ricky Ponting emerges as the batsman from the modern era who handles the pressure of batting at number three best, but you have to feel for poor Rahul Dravid down the table- he’s done it fully 73 times- more than anybody else in that list. While it underlines the value of Dravid to this Indian team, it also highlights the fact that on the relatively rare occasions that the Australian opening stand fails, Ricky Ponting stands like an unshakeable rock between the opposition and the middle order bats below him.
Let’s move on to the glamorous number four batsmen then.
Table 2. The Best Batsmen at <>
| Batsman | Innings | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
| Weekes | 20 | 1205 | 63.42 | 5 | 5 |
| Border | 28 | 1579 | 63.16 | 6 | 6 |
| Kallis | 29 | 1351 | 54.04 | 5 | 5 |
| Jayawardane | 30 | 1387 | 53.35 | 4 | 4 |
| Lara | 67 | 3548 | 52.96 | 12 | 12 |
| GS Chappell | 30 | 1311 | 50.42 | 4 | 7 |
| Tendulkar | 62 | 2900 | 48.33 | 9 | 13 |
| Inzamam | 31 | 1453 | 46.87 | 6 | 6 |
| MD Crowe | 46 | 1958 | 46.62 | 8 | 6 |
| | 25 | 1091 | 45.46 | 5 | 4 |
Again, an all time great shows the way- you don’t become one without being resolute. Look at the runner up though. When I published my decade-leaders, there was some dissent about how Border had got in ahead of the likes of Viv. That average of 63.2, coming in at the fall of two wickets for next to nothing, tells you why. A heart forged from steel, if ever there was one.
Kallis’ position at 3 is not unexpected.
A special mention for Nasser Hussain, the doughty ex-captain of
Much to the chagrin of Inzamam’s fans, he is roundly pipped by the rather unfairly maligned Tendulkar, who has had to deal with such situations twice as often as the Pakistani legend. Who handles pressure better? The stats tell their own story, and they rarely lie. By the same token, Brian Lara outshines his legend-in-arms, having played even more innings in strife, with a superior average to boot.
Let’s look at the number fives.
Table 3. The Best Batsmen at <60/3>
| Batsman | Innings | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
| S Waugh | 37 | 1775 | 52.21 | 7 | 6 |
| CL Hooper | 25 | 1145 | 52.05 | 2 | 5 |
| A Flower | 36 | 1596 | 51.48 | 4 | 7 |
| GP Thorpe | 24 | 1028 | 51.40 | 5 | 4 |
Out of hundreds of batsmen that have steadied the rudder of their ship at three-down, only four emerge with distinction. Steve Waugh, Flower and Thorpe were all known for their nuggetyness, respected the world over for their love of battle, but the presence of Carl Hooper in that list is a real eye opener, this a man who was the epitome of wilting when the heat was on, despite his enormous, almost unbounded talent. How revealing can statistics be! What heady myths they shatter in such stark, unembellished figures!
Look how Waugh and Flower are united in the pantheon of greats- two men from teams at the opposite ends of the table. Would you commit the cardinal sin of over-analysing their merits, and disenfranchising one at the expense of the other on some contrived grounds because of the relative strength or weakness of the sides they featured in?
I hope not. Do take the table at its face value.
Let’s examine the four-downs.
Table 4. The Best Batsmen at <80/4>
| Batsman | Innings | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
| Ponting | 10 | 808 | 80.80 | 4 | 2 |
| Chanderpaul | 10 | 506 | 56.22 | 1 | 4 |
| Greig | 22 | 1074 | 51.14 | 4 | 4 |
| JV Coney | 16 | 571 | 47.58 | 1 | 3 |
| Ranatunga | 20 | 847 | 47.06 | 1 | 7 |
| Botham | 21 | 876 | 41.71 | 2 | 4 |
| Border | 18 | 556 | 37.07 | 1 | 4 |
| McMillan | 15 | 543 | 36.20 | 1 | 3 |
A pattern emerges. A list populated by street fighters- Chanderpaul, Greig, Coney, Ranatunga, Botham, Border, McMillan, raging against the dying of the light. Ponting, though, outshines them all at the head of the table, in the days when he batted down the order, with an average that towers over the rest, an astonishing four tons and two half centuries scored in ten innings.
Those are the figures. They show that the weakness or strength of your team is no bar to men appearing on such lists. It is fallacious to contend that if you play for a strong team such as
Neither did Nasser Hussain appear in two of those tables due to a statistical aberration. Remember the side he lifted from mediocrity with his sheer cussedness?
I apologize for not being able to choose between these men. I truly cannot separate the all-timers, the Bradman from the Weekes or Waugh. There is no doubt in my mind however that Ricky Ponting can stake his claim to the sobriquet of the greatest batsman of the modern era when it comes to performing under pressure. To head one list is tough, but to appear ahead of his contemporaries on two of them, one by a proverbial country mile, is a phenomenal achievement, one that doesn’t deserve to be belittled by fence sitting.
Thank you all for reading, and Bheem, as ever, for your sorcery with numbers.
