How can you rally round the West Indies?

West Indies have ignominiously crashed out of yet another world cup. This one is fourth such tournament. When I started watching cricket West Indies were already on wane but had some respect primarily because of their bowlers but also due to Lara. The quarterfinal against South Africa was not won by a team but a handful of individuals. Brian Lara and Curtly Ambrose were two shining stars of that victory. But it was a matter of time when even vastly talented individuals were not able to rescue them. It is not for nothing that Cricket is known as team game.

They kept on plummeting. In between there were flickers of hope. At least I was hopeful. I was wrong. Today West Indies have not only broken hearts but may be broken themselves too. I hope ICC splits WI into constituent island nations. Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago will give better performance than these jokers and mercenaries.

"Gutted"

Saying "gutted" after India's early exit is an understatement but that is because I can't think of any other word to express my feelings. The defeat is not always unwelcome. We lost in 2007 WC in first round. But that defeat helped us improve. We found victory in Twenty20 WC 2007. We also got a deadly combo of Gambhir and Sehwag. Harbhajan was back to his old ways. RP Singh and Sreeshanth were clocking 140ks. As if this was not enough we got new talents in Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar. Rohit Sharma batted with gutso and elegance in Australia, that place for ultimate test. Less than a year had passed since our World Cup fiasco but we were right at the top.

All this was followed by the IPL 2008. An event which was thought to give impetus to Indian Cricket. It gave. It gave money. It gave Yusuf Pathan, Manpreet Gony, Swapnil Asnodkar etc. Rohit Sharma was a major success here also. Yusuf Pathan and Manpreet Gony were drafted into Indian squad. Gony lasted as much as his abilities but I am sure that Yusuf Pathan has outlived his ability. Thank God, Asnodkar failed in subsequent editions. After that our 'fast' (forgive me for using this word) bowling resources have taken a beating. The new talents (Tyagi, Mithun, Vinay) have not been tried well. On the other hand Ishant, RP,Sreeshanth and Munaf are so woefully out of form that barring Sreeshanth (due to his state team lacking quality) no one can be assured of place in the state team. Our batters could hit the ball miles on benign pitches but that illusion also gave way after yesterday's performances. They can still hit miles but only against below par domestic bowlers.

Who to blame? MS Dhoni, Gary Kirsten, Lalit Modi, Sharad Pawar, Niranjan Srinivas or Srikkanth? I don't know.

What now? I thought last year's defeat would be an eye-opener but no it wasn't. I do not have much hope this year around. I did not follow the IPL this year and I wish Pakistan wins this time around too. For full two years Pakistanis will go gaga about their performance in all dirty web fora and all those IPL following Indians will bear them. May be that would be an eye-opener because it is cricket following public which needs to open its eye now.

Rally round the West Indies

Are West Indians coming to the party finally? Well there have been many false dawns in last 15 years or so but this one looks genuine. Adrian Barath, Kemar Roach, Kieron Pollard and Narsingh Deonarine look to be a very good prospect for West Indies cricket's future. I am very eager to see Roach team up with Edwards and Taylor (not against India though). Add to it this line up Gayle, Shiv, Sarwan, Bravo and Benn. This team now looks decent enough to me as far as limited overs cricket is concerned. The Twenty20 world cup is in Carribean this time and I hope we have a much better organization and contest than 2007 ODI world cup. I have a lot of expectations from this West Indies side. Having only heard of the aura of Lloyd's men I want to see the passion of West Indies crowd after they put up good show as hosts on and off the ground. Best of luck West Indies.

India in West Indies

India are in the West Indies to play a 4 ODI series. I don't know why the BCCI scheduled just a 4 match tourney, but then many decisions of the BCCI are beyond my comprehension. However, this event gives a chance to a cricket crazy nation to see whether the debacle of Dhoni boys' in England was just an aberration or the team is in decline.

West Indies don't seem to be a formidable opposition esp. in absence of Fidel Edwards, but those who watched last ODI series India played in Carribean would vouch for the fact that West Indies can be very menacing in their home condition. India have looked a very good side in ODIs in last season triumphing over Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand in style. This time bowling looks more potent with RP Singh, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar in pace department and Harbhajan in spin. Also, to assist these players we have more-than-just-decent part-timers in Yusuf, Jadeja and Rohit Sharma.

It is going to be interesting to see how Murali Vijay and Badrinath perform. Vijay has looked solid as a batsman and should make most of the opportunity he has got in absence of Tendulkar and Sehwag. Badrinath has one more chance to prove he is worthy successor to legends of Indian Cricket in not just limited over format but also in the test cricket.

Around a week's break must have rejuvenated Indian players and now the run-a-ball innings of Dhoni and Jadeja could prove to be very useful in this format. There are not much expectations from this Indian team and it will only help them. For me, India are the favorites to win this series provided they are still not carrying niggles.