BREAKING NEWS: Sir Richard Hadlee has just said that India deserved to be the number one test side. So, Ian O Brien is not the only New Zealander who reads this blog.
Yesterday, Ms Print wrote something about why India is not the absolute number one team in the world. I strongly recommend you read that one first before coming back here. Here is that post.
I somehow disagree as well as agree with Ms Print on this one.
I disagree because India is, among the current lot, the most deserving to be number one. We are playing the most consistent cricket.
And bear in mind that its a fan’s view, not a fanatic’s.
On the other hand, I agree because a comment on the same post by TifosiGuy led me to a bit of silent contemplation about the rankings system. Here is the said comment:
South Africa became #1 in the mid 2000’s after beating Bangladesh thanks to some quirky ICC calculations when all and sundry knew the rankings went : Australia, day light, night, and then the rest.
Never did anyone question it then ! So why this silly question now ?
@TifosiGuy When SA got the number one tag, it was because at that time they were playing great cricket and the Aussies were not playing that much away from home.
In my honest opinion, rankings are only plausible when all the stakeholders play consistently together, for example in tennis. In a game like cricket or hockey or international football, rankings should not be revised in real time. The rankings should be over the course of a full FTP cycle. What do YOU think? The comment’s section is all yours.
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The Indian cricket team is in some sort of a media-created crisis. Everyone worth his penny is coming out and sniggering at MS Dhoni’s comments and his leadership. The same people, of course, never stopped short of showering accolades for him. That is ok, though. Happens in the world where any footage is good for a career as a cricket commentator.
The ICC meanwhile, has not considered those comments. In fact, it loves MSD as a skipper, so much that he has been made skipper of both the World XIs in the annual ICC awards this year. That is little consolation for a guy who, for the first time, is being doubted by the best.
Here is the list of awardees this year:
The awards were based on the performance of the team and its players for the period between August 13, 2008 to August 24, 2008 which included events like the ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England, the ICC Women’s world cup 2009 in Australia, the ICC cricket world cup qualifier 2009 in South Africa and many other bilateral test and ODI series.
Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd headed the five member selection panel for the nominations. The panel included former cricketers like India’s Anil Kumble, Pakistan’s Mudassar Nazar, England’s bob Taylor and New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming.
Here is the World Test Team:
and the World ODI Team:
That’s it for now. I am tired.
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Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who made his television commentary debut at the T20 World Cup, in a rather boring avatar, has been invited to give a lecture at the University of Oxford in England as part of ICC centenary celebrations.
There are a lot of ideas on what he would lecture about? It can’t be on the resurgence of cricketing competence in India, as he was not involved in it and that will be too much for his ego.
It also cannot be about the spirit of cricket. Do not ask me the reason.
That leaves us to leadership. He can talk about leadership. Or can he?
What do you think Saurav Ganguly will talk about when he is on the dais at the said function.
There surely won’t be any shirt opening over there…feed your thought some of that.
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BCCI is meeting the ICL guys
now this should lead to something huge, but it won’t.
just like dada’s farewell series, if you know what I mean.
Seems that BCCI President Shashank Manohar is going to share a couple of drinks with the ICL bosses, and discuss the future of their rivalry and maybe even find a way out.
Everyone, including Lalit Modi, is asking the question. Why? Well, The Free Hit has the answers. BCCI is just doing this as the ICC is telling them to, cos the ICL guys went to the ICC and told BCCI off. Little does the ICC know that if the BCCI agrees to something, its for a profit, and nothing else. In this case, the profit might be a few free drinks, nothing else. A reconciliation with ICL is as likely as Akash Chopra and Wasim Jaffer opening for India in T20.
The date of the meeting hasn’t been finalized yet, but it is going to be sometime soon. I think the outcome is going to be something really funny for all of us to write about. I am waiting with bated breath.
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