Sri Lanka in 1999

Well that was the world cup where the defending champions Sri Lanka had evoked a lot of interest and expectations among the fans and among the board as well after they had not only won the championship in 1996 but also had done so without losing a single match en route to the final triumph. Sri Lanka was the second nation to do so after the mighty West Indies led by Clive Lloyd in the 1975 and 1979 editions. Sri Lanka was led by Arjuna Ranatunga who was the captain in 1996 world cup as well needless to be said.

In the 1999 world cup all that the Sri Lankans were able to extract from the more or less world cup winning squad was a win against Zimbabwe and Kenya, the least that any test playing nation can be expected to do. Worst come, in the match against Kenya at Southhampton, though Sri Lanka managed a win in that inconsequential match after losing to England, South Africa and England, the man of the match was awarded to Maurice Odumbe of Kenya for scoring 82 runs from 95 balls. In the game against Zimbabwe, Sri lanka lost 6 wickets en route to their successful chase of 198.

Luckily, the man of the match was awarded to a Sri Lankan batsman Marvan Atapattu for reasons not so important here. Going back, in the 1^st game the Sri Lankans faced against England, Sri Lankans were the favorites not only against England but also against any opposition but for RSA. Sri Lankans were bowled out for 204 and the English batsmen chased down the target in 46.5 overs losing just 2 wickets en route. In the next game against South Africa, though not rated as favorites, Sri Lanka would have had it share of betters after RSA was bowled out for 199 with Klusner remaining unbeaten on 52.

But, forget about winning, the Sri Lankans should have thanked their Gods for not having them all out for a score less than 100. A margin of 89 runs chasing 199 on board is just unforgivable. Then comes the game against India where once again, Sri Lanka were termed as favorites but once again thumbs down. Sri Lanka started off on a positive note after scalping the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Sadagoppan Ramesh not before handing themselves to the hands of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. The two contributed together 328 runs with extras apart. Sri Lankans slogan might have been "Welcome to My World"

Sri Lanka were left with no choice but to end up on a winning note in their inconsequential match against Kenya with a lot of compromise.

Are Sri Lanka favorites to win the Asia cup?

They might have done it in the past two editions of the Asia cup in 2008 and 2004 when it was held in Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively. And, much to anyone's amazement, Sri Lanka faced India in the finals of the mega tournament and once again needless to be said won the same. This time as well, with India being the contenders for the title, the question (though not worth million dollars) is whether Sri Lanka still have the commitment to perform the same task which they did in the previous two editions of the same and a couple of days back?

Sri Lanka managed to beat India by 7 wickets in the league stage encounter of the Asia cup just a couple of days back and then they recently did India out of the race in the tri series involving Zimbabwe as the 3^rd team in Zimbabwe just a month back. At the same time, citing India's chances, India have been beating Sri Lanka since the past two years or so in most of the bilateral series which involved both the teams. Prior to that, India won the tri series involving India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand which set the scores level for both the teams under discussion when it comes to triangular series.

No matter what the past speaks regarding both teams, one has to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the teams ready to battle it out on the big stage. The guess is not like picking one from a set of Random Images and instead is a prediction as to who stands front to grab the title. Statistics also suggest that India have been the underdogs when it comes to the finals of a tournament containing three or more teams. Some exception to this being the T20 world cup 2007 and as mentioned earlier the tri nation tournament involving India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

But this time the onus is on India not only for their past performances against Sri Lanka but also due to the fact that they are a better opposition no matter where the game is being played. India is not dependent on any one player like it was some 7 years ago when the absence of Sachin Tendulkar hindered their performance. There are likes of Gambhir, Sehwag, Yuvraj to name a few who can deal with any opposition. Sri Lanka on the other hand are here in the final this time only due to the fact that they are the hosts and have been lucky as the hosts most of the time.

How come Afridi could do it!

Well the cricketing world has so far seen the Pakistani hard hitting batsman - Shahid Afridi as only a blind slogger of the cricket ball rather than a batsman who would play a calculated innings. But, as a matter of surprise, it was the same slogger who took his team to the zenith when they faced Sri Lanka in their first encounter of the Asia cup at Dambulla yesterday. It was really interesting to see that Shahid Afridi played one of the innings of his life when the lonely handled the Sri Lankan bowlers despite there being no support from the other ends.

Even today, the fact is that Shahid Afridi is a blind slogger of the ball though the batsman has two out of the top five fastest hundreds against his name in one day cricket. In addition to the fact that Shahid Afridi played a calculated innings, the other interesting thing to be noticed is that Shahid Afridi took to the crease at number six after the dismissal of Shoaib Malik. The entire Pakistani innings consisted of 7 sixes, all of which were hit by none other than Shahid Afridi. While, the entire match saw just 8 hits out of the ground and the next is needless to be said.

There have been batsmen like Sanath Jayasuriya, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds who are big hitters and at the same time play a calculated and responsible innings and as a result of the same, the team can rely upon such players which confirms their position not only in the team but also in the playing XI squad. But, with the most important thing missing in Afridi, one has to wonder as to how on earth did Shahid Afridi manage to play more than 250 one day matches. Leaving that apart, one has to wonder even more as to what on earth makes the selection to go in for Afridi even when selecting a test team!

Whatever, this time as a rare case, Afridi could manage what he couldn't in all these days of his cricketing life when he played one of the innings of his life with the wicket hardly supporting the batsmen no matter to which team they belonged. A target of 243 was in no way a non chasable one for either of the team and more so for Pakistan. No other player from Pakistan managed even one fourth of what Afridi could. This I consider as the one more than his 37 ball hundred he scored against Sri Lanka and the 45 ball century he scored against India in 2005. For, those were on batsmen friendly pitches and without any sort of pressure.

A good decision by SLC

Well the Sri Lanka Cricket is found to make two major decision regarding the selection for the upcoming Asia cup. One the Sri Lankan selection committee has dropped the veteran opener but exhausted as well at the same time and then also has excluded Ajantha Mendis who, two years ago played a massive part in Sri Lanka's thumping win over India to win as well as retain the Asia cup which was held in Karachi a couple of years back. Of course, even Sanath Jayasuriya's role and contribution was not too less in the last two editions of the Asia cup.

Sanath Jayasuriya scored two hundreds in the Asia cups, both in 2004 and 2008 as well. Coincidentally, Jayasuriya's hundreds in both the editions mentioned came against Bangladesh and India in the second stage of the tournament. Sanath Jayasuriya scored one of the fastest hundreds of that time when he scored a 54 ball century against Bangladesh as mentioned above. However, I personally don't recommend Sanath Jayasuriya's name to be included in this year's Asia cup for reasons best known. One, Jayasuriya who is now aged 40 is not only old but is also too exhausted to be part of the squad.

And secondly, Jayasuriya not only has been off from his blasting days of glory in recent times but was also dropped by the selectors and the captain. Sanath Jayasuriya was dropped for major part of the Indian Premier League earlier this year may be regarding his trouble over his age by Sachin Tendulkar who himself had forgotten that his age was also moving towards dawn by time. That apart, in the world T20 held at the Caribbean, none of the scores Jayasuriya put forwards could prove his myth as a hard hitting batsman that he was some 4 years back.

Finally, Jayasuriya was dropped for the triangular series recently involving India and Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe which Sri Lanka won at the cost of a depleted Indian team led by Suresh Raina. Sanath Jayasuriya now holds the record for two out of the top ten fastest hundreds in one day internationals but still deserves to relax with his wife and kids. He holds the world record for hitting the maximum number of sixes in ODI but is made to sit at a place where the ball lands when it is hit for a six. He holds the record for 2^nd highest run getter and 3^rd highest scorer and 2nd highest number of ODIs played. But......time is up.

Murali's absense a gain for Lanka

Well it is written as a curse or a major setback for the Sri Lankan team in the ongoing world T20 in the Caribbean. But one has to think that the absence of the veteran off spinner is a blessing in disguise for the Sri Lankan team. There is no one disputing Muralitharan's contribution to the Sri Lankan for the past 15 years or so. But, one has to more than realize the fact that Murali's contribution to the Sri Lankan team is restricted only to test matches and one day internationals and that too which is a now only a history.

Muttiah Muralitharan reached the zenith in late 2007 when he took his 710^th test victim to surpass the Australian legend Shane Warne who ended his career with 709 wickets just a year before Murali overtook him. And since then, there has hardly been any news about the off spinner who even surpassed Wasim Akram when he claimed his 503^rd victim in one day internationals against India. Is has been almost two and a half years since Muttiah Muralitharan overtook Shane Warne to become the highest wicket taker in test cricket and by now, if one has to listen to his fans, they'd expect much more from Murali.

By now, Muttiah Muralitharan should have crossed the 800 wicket mark which is still due. Muralitharan didn't make news when he claimed the 750^th test victim. And when it comes to the one day internationals, Muralitharan should have atleast crossed the 550 mark but both of which are yet to happen. And in addition to these facts, the indisputable fact about Muralitharan is that his elbow bends when he delivers the ball which have made most of the western teams raise their voice against Murali. The Aussies should be proud for having a major share in that which is a different issue here.

However, the fact that is recent about Muralitharan is that he will not be available for the remainder of the T20 world owing to a groin injury. The Sri Lankan cricket selection committee is found to be clueless regarding whom to picl and whom not to. This is quite evident from the selection of Sanath Jayasuriya who by now should have seen either shouting in front of the mike in the commentary room or else warming himself with his wife and kids. And the 2^nd disaster is the selection of Muralitharan who can hardly be of any use in the shortest format of the game. This could in turn harm Murali's performance in the other two formats of the game as well which he intends in playing for a couple of years more.

Tendulkar's lone six in the IPL

The fact that Sachin Tendulkar has hit only one six in the IPL is quite hard to believe not only because it is Tendulkar who is under discussion at the moment but also due to the fact that he stands in the second position when it comes to the highest run scorers in this edition of the IPL. Sachin Tendulkar might be kicking himself when he would have learnt that a bowler in Harbhajan Singh has hit more shots out of the boundary than him. However, if the same is seen from the discipline point of view, Sachin has to be heading in the right direction.

As said earlier, Sachin Tendulkar is the second highest run scorer in the IPL second to only Jacques Kallis with 493 runs from 10 games. He has 3 scores above fifty and an equal number of man of the match awards. Sachin Tendulkar has hardly been the man to hit sixes when compared to someone like Sehwag, Gilchrist, Jayasuriya and Afridi to name a few. Big hitters like Gilchrist, Sehwag, Symonds and Jayasuriya have not been doing exactly what is expected from them and Sachin Tendulkar indeed deserves a lot of applauses for what he has been able to do.

It doesn't mind as to how many sixes a batsman has been able to hit when the team for which he plays is found to top the charts after ending in the second position from the last in the 2009 edition. In the 2008 edition, it was Sanath Jayasuriya who hit the maximum number of sixes when he hit 31 of them only to see his team not make it to even the semis of the same. If Sachin Tendulkar was to hit more sixes, he wouldn't have had so much success in the areas mentioned above. It is the job of a tail end batsman like Harbhajan whose sole duty with the bat is to whip it through the air and see the ball fly over the ropes.

Harbhajan is not responsible if he fails with the bat when his duty is to bowl the opposition. But, Sachin Tendulkar is gifted with the responsibility to take the batting further with no other experienced batsmen in his side. One can see signs of the great Australian captain Steve Waugh whose individual records hardly speak for him. Steve Waugh has been able to hit only three hundreds in his entire ODI career lasting 324 matches. But, all those three centuries have been referred to as "captain's knock" with the 120* against South Africa in the super sixes being the highlight of them all.

How long will we see them play?

Well it was a boon in the form of IPL which saw players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly play in the T20 format of the game since the BCCI closed all the gates for these three prior to the inaugural T20 world cup in 2007. And, with India winning the same without the services of these gentlemen, the BCCI became even more firm with its decision which towards the end also extended their omission from T20 to ODIs. On the other hand, the IPL also provided the fans with a chance to watch players like Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne play despite retiring from international cricket.

And in addition, there were players like Shaun Marsh, David Warner, David Hussey to name a few whose hard hitting capabilities were hardly known to the cricketing world and it was possible only because of the IPL. However, with time the players are also found aging themselves which would surely put a break from featuring in the T20s and obviously the IPL as well. The list includes a lot like Anil Kumble, Shane Warne, Sanath Jayasuriya etc to name a few. If a player can play the comparitively longer versions of the game until he closes in on late 30s, he should be able to play T20 matches atleast until 45.

If this has to be true, one should be able to see all retirees from international cricket play in the IPL and should be picked up by the franchisees in the upcoming auction next year when the contract for the three editions of the IPL would have expired. Sacin Tendulkar - who is now just above 36 if picked would be playing until the age of 40, which is now being done by Sanath Jayasuriya and Shane Warne. Both Jayasuriya and Warne are now aged 40 and Jayasuriya has lost his place in the playing XI though not being justified. And on the other hand, Shane Warne is found playing for the lone reason that he is the captain.

Warne would be 43 and Jayasuriya 45 if picked. And there is no problems with Gilchrist, Sachin and Hayden who would be aged 39 respectively and will play until 43 which is still less than 45 and should have enough fuel in them to take their team forward. Anil Kumble is now 39 and if picked will be there until he reaches 43. Likewise, Glenn McGrath has not featured in the 15 member squad of the Delhi Daredevils and Chaminda Vass has been made to follow Sanath Jayasuriya despite at one stage of the tournament found wearing the purple cap.

At the end of the day, the million dollar question is irrespective of whether they have the potential in them to make it big or not, will the team owners go for these old warhorses? And in addition, though their body supporting them, will these players' mind support them which has seen them doing the same since more than a decade? Well, there is money involved and so nothing can be said in particular.

Big guns yet to fire in this IPL

It doesn't matter for the audience if Shane Warne doesn't get the ball to turn like it used to happen in the Ashes. There is no one complaining if Sachin Tendulkar doesn't get a hundred in the IPL or becomes the highest run getter like he has done in the 2003 world cup in South Africa. But, if someone like Virender Sehwag fails to hit a six in almost every match, the fans are disappointed outside Delhi as well. And much to anybody's surprise, this has been going on for the past three weeks in the current edition of the IPL.

The big guns from whom fire crackers are expected happen to be Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Sanath Jayasuriya, Yuvraj Singh etc to name a few. However, none of them have kept up their word which they meant when they were paid huge sums. Sanath Jayasuriya can be given an excuse with Sachin Tendulkar not making up his mind to include him in the playing XI. And, there have been quite a few players like Andrew Flintoff and Jacob Oram who can be as punishing with the bat as they can get. But, injuries have overpowered them once again unfortunately.

And then, there is McCullum and Ross Taylor who have made their entry into the IPL just a day back after finishing their full fledged series against Australia. Though Jacques Kallis and Sachin Tendulkar are found doing justice to the money paid to them and the expectations the fans have had in them, their nature of play can hardly be paralleled with someone like Gilchrist or Symonds. So far Gilchrist has had just one score above 50 and an aggregate of 118 runs from 8 games played so far. And, when it comes to Symonds, his record is just above Gilchrist's with the batsman scoring 2 half centuries and aggregating 232 runs but at a strike rate of 122 compared to 174 by Gilchrist.

Then we have Sehwag whose fastest fifty against Chennai Super Kings was overshadowed by 6 innings with scores less than 20. And, when it comes to Mathew Hayden who held the orange cap in the last season of the IPL, the only highlight this time would be the score of 93 he scored against Delhi Daredevils. And, nothing needs to be specially said about Yuvraj Singh who has had series of scores as follows: 4, 9, 4, 43, 15, 24, 2 and 36 which total upto 137 from the 8 games he has played so far. There have been situations in the past as well when a few or may be most of the expected batsmen disappoint. But, this time it is all the expected batsmen who have disappointed without any exceptions.

Dropping Sanath Jayasuriya?

It is fascinating to see the Mumbai Indians and especially Sachin Tendulkar doing what they couldn't in the previous editions of the Indian Premier League. Mumbai Indians are found topping the chart in the current edition of the IPL after failing to get past the first stage on their previous two occasions. Moreover, Sachin Tendulkar is found taking the charge of his team's batting which was not the case in the previous two editions. Sachin Tendulkar stands in the second position only behind RCBs Jacques Kallis when it comes to the race for the orange cap this season. Added to this, he has had two man of the match awards as well.

But, one thing that has been noticed in this edition is dropping of the Sri Lankan veteran Sanath Jayasuriya after playing him for just 3 games against Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers. One has to think of a reason for dropping Jayasuriya when his performance in the three matches that he played was not that bad at all. Jayasuriya scored 23 runs in the 1st game against the Rajasthan Royals at a strike rate of 164 and 7 in the match against Delhi Daredevils before he was taken off by a stunner by a substitute fielder in Y Nagar.

In that game against Delhi, Jayasuriya took 2 wickets with the ball giving away just 17 runs and was the only bowler to have bowled his complete quota of 4 overs in that match. However, bad luck struck for Jayasuriya when he was a part of the Mumbai Indians' squad that lost their only encounter till date against the Royal Challengers. And, in that particular game Jayasuriya had his most miserable time with both the bat and the ball when he scored just 2 runs and bowled an equal number of overs giving away 16 runs before losing confidence in his captain's eyes.

Despite his absence, the Mumbai Indians are no doubt doing well. But, this time, another fact that is responsible for their success is that Sachin Tendulkar has adjusted himself to the T20 format of the game which has seen him score 4 half centuries out of the 7 games that he has played. And, Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the man of the match on three occasions. But, dropping someone like Jayasuriya is totally against the rule when he can be so entertaining with the bat no matter how seldom he does that. Jayasuriya has always been a crowd attractor even by non Mumbai Indians' supporters.

Jayasuriya's sixes have always been welcome no matter what the team's result at the end of the match has to say. As a matter of fact, Jayasuriya was the leading six hitter in the inaugural edition of the IPL a couple if years back. But statistics apart, it is the performance a player on that particular match that matters. And if the substitute for Jayasuriya - Shikar Dhawan is considered, Tendulkar once again is showing how bad a captain he can get. An all rounder being replaced by a under-rated batsman! Dhawan has had two half centuries so far and is not a bad choic. But in a tournament like IPL which is launched to entertain cricket lovers, having Jayasuriya would be welcomed by the fans rather than Dhawan.

Shahid Afridi's Role in the Pakistani side?

Well if the ongoing one day series between Australia and Pakistan is considered, one name that is found to strike everyone's lips is that of Shahid Afridi's. One, for his hard hitting capabilities which has seen him emerge as the batsman who has scored two fastest hundreds in one day cricket, at positions number 1 and 2. Afridi scored the world's first two fastest hundred in terms of the number of balls faced against Sri Lanka when he scored 102 off 37 balls and against India when he scored the same runs in 45 deliveries. However, if his batting capabilities are of that importance, why is he made to take the crease at position 6 in the first one dayer against Australia?

Another interesting feat about Shahid Afridi's career is that his strike rate in one day internationals is 111.24, which I heard is the highest by any Pakistani batsmen. And moreover, Afridi also is the only player in the Pakistani side to have played 200+ one day matches and maintained a strike of above 100. However, if the videos of his batting are watched, all that would be evident is that Afridi blindly waves his bat in the air. And if the bat makes contact with the ball, the ball either clears the ropes or if the batsman is unlucky lands in the fielder's hands.

I remember the ICC Champions Trophy match between India and Pakistan, where India were bundled for a moderate target of 200. And Pakistani innings also didn't start the way it was supposed to, with Pakistan losing wickets at regular intervals.The Pakistani scoreboard read 152/6 from 40.2 overs when Afridi entered the crease. All he did was to smash the ball haywire that saw him end up scoring 25 runs from 12 balls. His effort neither could pull Pakistan from the pressure nor could he notch up a decent score. Finally, Pakistan reached the target just 2 balls prior to completion of the innings. A little bit of planned innings from Afridi could have seen Pakistan in a better position.

Though most of them rate him as one of the most threatening batsman in world cricket, his batting average in ODI is 23.17 and has scored less than 6000 runs in international cricket from 290 games. Someone like Yuvraj Singh has scored above 7000 runs from just 250 games at an average of 37.09. However, if Afridi's bowling is given a closer look at, he has so far taken 272 wickets at an average of 34.51 that includes 3 five wicket hauls and a best bowling performance of 6/38. Except Sanath Jayasuriya, I can hardly see any batsman to have captured 6 wickets or more in ODIs in the last decade. Only 3 bowlers from India have been able to take 6 wickets in an innings of an ODI.

Added to that is the variety with which Afridi bowls. The bowling variety of Afridi is far better than someone like Anil Kumble. But, Afridi is hardly considered as a bowler by anyone though he is found bowling 10 overs frequently. His bowling is compared with someone like a part time bowler may be Yuvraj, Sachin, Sehwag etc. But, Afridi can be considered a better bowler than the ones mentioned. Finally, one has to decide whether Afridi is a batsman or a bowler or an all rounder or a pinch hitter?

Sanath Jayasuriya Pushing Himself Towards the 2011 WC

Well it was thought to be all over for the veteran Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya after the 2007 world cup that was held in the Caribbean. However, Sanath Jayasuriya had different plans one can suppose, which is evident from the fact that Sanath Jayasuriya is found taking to the crease even today for Sri Lanka. Aged close to 40, fans have already given it up one can guess. And what can and what will anyone expect from a 40 year old when he had made it to the record books for the wrong reasons when he became the batsman to have scored most ducks in ODI?

Yes, Sanath Jayasuriya has the maximum number of ducks in one day cricket at 34 ducks out of the 444 matches that he has played. Just a couple of months ago, Sanath Jayasuriya had given the world a hint that he would be playing in the 2011 world cup despite his age being close to 42 then. Nevermind, that Sanath Jayasuriya is one of the most entertaining batsman the world has ever seen. In fact, it was Sanath Jayasuriya who started with the big hitting especially in the 1996 world cup in that particular game against England in the world up quarter finals at Faisalabad where Sanath Jayasuriya scored a 44 ball 82.

However, if his recent performance is given a close look at, Sanath Jayasuriya is found to be just waiting for the 2011 world cup that is scheduled in the sub continent so that, Sanath Jayasuriya can bid adieu to all forms of cricket I suppose. His test career ended in December 2007 after the second test against England-which is a memorable one for Sri Lanka that saw Muttiah Muralitharan becoming the world's highest wicket taker in tests surpassing Shane Warne. Even that match can be considered a memorable one for Jayasuriya when he scored 6 consecutive fours off James Anderson at Kandy.

In the recent past, the Sri Lankan captain had a little bit of hesitation in including Sanath Jayasuriya for the games against India. And moreover, Jayasuriya didn't even look to be a decent fit for the openers' slot despite doing a fair job for Sri Lanka in that position since decades. And moreover, Sanath Jayasuriya's place in the squad was not justified not only in the series against India but also prior to that. All these despite him being at the second position number 2 when it comes to the number of ODIs played, number of hundreds scored and the number of runs scored in ODIs.Finally, it would not be a surprise even if Sanath Jayasuriya continue to play T20 cricket until the age of 50.