Ricky Ponting recently said,”Test Cricket is a test of Physical and Mental Toughness”. He is very right. Even if you don’t like it, it is the stage test cricket is now at. So, if you want to win a game, you need to strategize the downfall of 20 wickets. Putting aside unfair means used by Douglas Jardine (Bodyline), John Lever (Vaseline), or unethical means like the Martin Snedden Catch of Greg Chappel or the Trevor Chappel ball of century (underhand bowl), you have to agree that one batsman bats twice -so it is easier to defeat him mentally than on the wicket. And that’s the way Australians have learnt to play the game. India have not been able to get this knack (surprisingly most of the teams around the world are coached by Australian Coaches but this is one thing I feel they have held back).

How do you strategize?
- you list down each batsman’s weakness
- you also list down their strengths
- then you hammer on weaknesses and don’t allow the person the balls which are his strengths
- you learn which rule can easily be broken by the opponent

If the batsmen is mentally weak (verbally aggressive) then you break him down on the field (people like Harbhajan and Sreesanth are sitting ducks). Either trap them into situations where they walk the thin line, by goading the person into responding (a thorough understanding of rules is required here so that you don’t overstep while prompting the opponent to overstep). This is actually easy game for trapping the immature. For trapping the mature, you have to start early.

Let us see some of the ways/ statements you get opponents:
If you know the team composition, then praise the first player likely to sit out (or depraise the ones in the team). Especially if this person is likely to be an easier catch. For Example,

“Yuvraj should be in the team”
“Virender Sehwag has the potential to win matches”
“Dravid is the most technically correct batsman”
“Harbhajan is unsuccessful on flat pitches”
“Muralidharan’s action is doubtful”

This way you’re entering the minds of selectors, captains, and public (this is also a big force in India). So more likely you can manipulate the team to serve you a combination you like.

Inside the match, early praise can also get you the man. Example, as soon as Yuvraj hits the first ball, if you say,”Wow, that was some shot”, you’re likely to goad Yuvraj into start hitting early.

Not that the opponents are immature, but subtle statements can surely make things flow the way you want them. Even unethical is OK like the Martin Snedden catch or recent Ricky Ponting catch or even the Trevor Chappel ball, as long as it is not illegal. Regular doubts raised at forums against Muralithran caught his ire and he refused to come to Australia for a season and the strategy worked successful in removing the most dangerous man in the opposition team.

The bottom line is that there is no point bowler trying to toil to get each wicket. Each person has a part to play and there’s a possible set of strategies for each person. So, all players can make the task easy for the bowler.

I just hope this article reaches Anil Kumble before the start of the 3rd match.

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It appears that everybody connected with Indian cricket is out to excel each other in putting this most popular sport in the country in a complete mess. As if the underperforming heroics of Team India in the World Cup or before that were not enough to bring shame to the nation, deeper embarassments have been subsequently engineered by those who are supposed to manage the game at Administrative level and there appears to be no serious efforts to revive the game. Refusing to take lessons from the past failures, BCCI still seems to be quite happy with adhoc arrangements rather than to have a tight control over the situation.

One is forced to feel that this could be because everybody who has got some say in managing or should we say meddling with the affairs of Indian cricket, considers himself to be an institution in himself, rather than an individual, and tries to run the affairs in his own way. How else could we achieve the recent coach fiasco. We do not happen to like a man, with a proven track record, ready to take the challenge and who was better expected to agree to the terms of BCCI. May be because we did not like the colour of his shirt or the perfume used by him or any other such thing about him. Instead our brilliant boys come up with their own fantastic ideas and got hit in the face. But there appears to be no sense of remorse or embarassment anywhere in the concerned quarters. Even in the face of such humiliation, we are not in a mood to consider our own countryman on some permanent basis and keep groping in the dark. It would have been quite fair to explore the possibility of considering Mohinder Amarnath who was a candidate at the previous coach selection process and was quite willing to accept the responsibility. He could be tried at least for one year.

The mismangement has gone far too long now. All talks of performance oriented selections or payments appear to have been conveniently forgotten after initial euphoria about reform process. It would again be a great blunder to feel complacent on the recent successes in Bangladesh or Scotland. Inspite of their victories in the world cup, Bangladesh still continues to be a weak team at this level. Our real test would be against stronger teams on the circuit. To be ready for tough competition and regain our lost glory, there should now be no place in the team for a non or underperformer, irespective of his stature. Quick and firm actions need to be taken to build a consistently performing team. Weak kneed policies have been persisted with for too long and should now be done away with. More transparency and accountability needs to be brought about in team selection processes. Effort should be made to build a strong young team much before the next world cup.

In case lessons are not learnt from the past failures and frustrations, Indian cricket could also go the hockey way with no one to lament other than the fans. Or maybe this article about a hidden agenda in indian sports is really true after all - Indian Sports Strategy

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Sri Lanka has been playing cricket like chess. They have been playing upto potential on the field like some other teams, but you’d notice a scheming strategist behind their World Cup campaign. We’ve discussed their strategy earlier too and had always backed them to be the finalists.

In fact, New Zealand too copied them and kept out Styris and Oram out of their match against Australia - a wonderful copy - since if they were to meet up Australia again they’d have a different team than the one that lost to Australia in the Super 8 ensuring that there is no psychological advantage to the winning team.

Finally, Australia and Sri Lanka are in the finals. Full marks to both for a relentless campaign. If you see at both, there is a difference in the way they approach the matches. Australia approaches them in an office like fashion, playing to heir full potential every time. Here lies the difference. Sri Lanka plays a different game in crucial matches. Murali’s grin widens, as does his seriousness. Vaas and Malinga don’t give even little room in the first 10 overs. And this strategy has not been exposed to the Australian openers yet. Sri Lanka also tightens up the screws in the middle overs through Murali and Jayasuriya (who looks the easiest target to the batsmen between these tough bowlers and hence batsmen try to go for the kill here and wickets start falling). Sri Lanka and Australia are the only teams that don’t try to contain the score, their only aim is to get the team out.

It’s not about playing to potential, it’s more about not exposing your cards, especially the Joker (Lasitha Malinga in this case).

There are 2 theoretical possibilities:

1. The Joker plays to potential and wrecks the Australian batting line up
2. The Australian Team focuses on wrecking the Joker so much, that the other bowlers wreck the Team.

It’s not whether they may win or not, but it is in their best interest not to show their Joker, who incidentally is also their least undocumented and studied weapon. This may not work for weaker teams, but when you have Vaas and Murali in the attack, you can take these chances.

In comparison, Australia, is psychologically weaker in the spin department - with the exit of Shane Warne, the big match player. Hogg, who is kind of a similar unexposed/ undocumented weapon on their end, doesn’t exactly categorize as a “different” bowler in terms as Murali on Malinga would. And without the big stage exposure - I expect Jayasuriya (if McGrath doesn’t get him) to take him to the cleaners. It’s going to be an interesting battle nevertheless.

Onedayers.com has a different Ranking System than the ICC and am sure if you go by this, you’d be better off at predicting in the Twenty20 World Cup. I used the same system to predict the following:

It seeded Ireland at No. 6 before the world cup
It predicted Bangladesh bowling attack to be one of the best in the world cup (alas their batting didn’t come up to the same standards).
It also put Sri Lanka as the team to watch for before the World Cup if Jayasuriya maintains his form.
It predicted Jayasuriya as the man to watch for!

There were no guesses but it was this ranking system that was used.

Well, in the final match I’d put my money on Sri Lanka, since both teams have a successful set of bowlers and batsmen, but Sri Lanka have a huge variety in their bowling.

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