I have a simple explanation for our ODI series loss. We lost because we did not win one game that we were supposed to win (Mohali) and because we could not hold our nerve in the key moments of the tighter contests (Vadodara and Hyderabad).
 
Come to think of it. MSD and company had everything in their favour. A fully fit batting unit, home conditions and an opposition racked by injuries. No Michael Clark, no Nathan Bracken, no Brad Haddin and mid-series exits of Brett Lee, James Hopes, Peter Siddle, Tim Paine and others -- for all purposes, this was Australia's B team.
 
Yet Ponting's men played like true champions. What a shame MSD's million-dollar boys couldn't even take the series to the wire. Faced with circumstances similar to Australia's, the Men in Blue would have probably lost the series 7-0 or 6-1.
 
Let's analyse the larger reasons for our defeat:
 
1. We lacked batting consistency at the top: Barring MSD, no other batsman played with any degree of consistency. Sehwag offered two blistering cameos but failed to score even a single half century in six knocks. He is a genius but he needs to be shaken out of his comfort zone. Similarly, barring his magical 175, Sachin was a disappointment. True, he got a rough decision at Mohali but what about the other knocks? Gambhir started brightly with 68 and 76 but ended up with 6, 8 and 0. Yuvraj played one fabulous match-winning knock in Delhi but had little else to offer. With the new Fab 4 failing regularly, India were bound to struggle.
 
Now compare their performance with the three key Australian players at the top: Watson, Ponting and Hussey. Watson scored 5, 19, 41, 49, 93 and 49, apart from claiming a bagful of wickets. Ponting notched up 74, 12, 59, 52, 45 and 25, while Hussey made 73, 53, 81, 40, 31 not out and 35 not out. These three seldom allowed Indian bowlers to have an early view of Read more...

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Overview

With the Champions Trophy out the way, many sides can now switch their focus to building toward the 2011 World Cup.

This series will give Australia and India the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Of course, there’s a trophy and bragging rights at stake so it’s unlikely that there will be too much experimenting for either side.

The hosts’ form in limited-overs competition has been extremely patchy in recent months. They struggled to stamp their authority against the West Indies in the Caribbean, were offered hit-and-miss cricket across the Compaq Cup in Sri Lanka and then flopped in the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

On paper they remain one of the strongest outfits in world cricket and the selectors have one of - if not - the biggest player pool to draw from, but unfortunately they just cannot get the combinations right. Rahul Dravid, Abhishek Nayar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Dinesh Karthik and Yusuf Pathan have all come and gone in recent tournaments.

The constant chopping and changing has not helped the core of the team and captain Mahendra Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma have all had one good game followed by a poor one. It’s about time they each string together a good run of form and with seven matches lined up, they won’t get a better opportunity to do so.

On the up side for India, Virender Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh have all recovered from injury and will strengthen the batting line-up considerably. Bowling-wise, despite Zaheer Khan’s absence through injury, Ashish Nehra, Sharma and Praveen Kumar will be favourites for the fast-bowling slots. Throw in spinners Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra and you’re met Read more…

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The rains that were predicted accurately arrived at 5.40pm on Monday, disappointing everyone but the weatherman who got it right. Australia, after choosing to bat, were 234 for 4 from 42.3 overs and were just getting ready to launch a final assault when the match was called off.

India and Australia took home a point each and the result meant that Pakistan became the first team from Group A to qualify for the semifinals. For India to make the cut now, Pakistan must beat Australia on Wednesday and India have to get past West Indies later on the same day with a better net run rate than Australia.

Ashish Nehra picked up from where he left off in the last game, hitting just the right lines and lengths. He troubled both Australia’s openers and surprised Shane Watson with a ball that kicked up from a length. Committed to the pull, Watson only managed to spear the ball into the air for Harbhajan Singh to catch.

Tim Paine, who has settled nicely into the Australian ODI set up, then set about laying into the Indian bowling. Ishant Sharma, a pale shadow of the bowler who tormented Australia 18 months ago, banged the ball in short, and it disappeared for six over square-leg sooner than you could say “bad ball”.

If getting the length wrong wasn’t bad enough, Ishant provided plenty of width as well, and was taken for six fours and a six in the 7.3 overs he sent down before the rain Read more…

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