ICC World cup is on the verge of completing the first round. The Indian team will take West Indies on Sunday. No doubt it's going to be a crucial match for both, India is still struggling to secure the entry in the quarter final. Honestly, it’s not a surprise looking at the performance (?) in the last 5 matches. Though 100 million Indians are hoping to see India in the final, for me it would be shocking if India enters the final. And further, it would be a miracle if we bring the cup home.
Most of the critiques, sports columnists are discussing right from the beginning on the team formation. Should we play with 7+4 or include one extra bowler? The million-dollar question is do we have 7 and 4 in the first place? I do understand you need 7+4 or 6+5 to form a “Team”. But what you will call if you see 2 +2 on the ground? You can’t get thru every time with one or two heroes. Cricket may be the game of chance but surely it’s not a solo event.
I believe when you play 7+4 then one can expect most of the runs coming from all of these sevens. But if you look at the data of the last 5 matches almost 49% runs are scored only by two batsmen (Sachin and Sehwag). We could not even complete 50 overs against S Africa and England as well.
Now, look at the top partnerships (by runs) in the tournament. We will consider 100+ runs partnerships put on the board. Till now there are 30 such partnerships scored in the 2011 ICC world cup. Out of which Indians are appearing in four. Not to surprise one common name “Sachin Tendulkar” is appearing in 3 out of these four partnerships. He had one with Sehwag (142 runs against S. Africa), and two with Gambhir (one each against England & S. Africa). The fourth century partnership was put by Sehwag and Kohli.
It is hard to believe that all the points that we gained are by beating “B grades” teams like Ireland, Netherland and Bangladesh. We could not win against England and S. Africa. The reason is very clear. We had only 2 out of 7 against these mainstream teams. If you look at the data it shows Sachin scored 71% of his runs against England and S Africa and Gambhir scored 61% of his total 197. The rest performed better only against Kachha-Limbu (B grade) teams. So, we had hardly 2 all the time and not seven.
In spite of scoring 1342 runs in 5 matches which is the topmost in the tournament till now, we are yet to make the quarter-final. On the other hand, Australia is almost certain for quarter-final though they are far behind (932 runs in 5 matches). It’s obvious 942 is good enough for Ausi bowlers to challenge the opposition. When we talk about 7+4 we can think of four amongst Zahir, Munaf, Nahra, Harbhajan, and Chawla. To check the performance we need not consider R Ashwin till Dhoni remembers that he have him.
Here too we saw only two on the ground and not four. More than half of the wickets (54%) are taken by Zahir and Munaf. Both of them captured 21 wickets out of a total 39 wickets. The rest of the main bowlers took only 23%. More than 25% of wickets are taken by spare bowlers.
Zahir was most economical with an eco rate of 4.31. Munaf though the 2nd in most wicket-taker his eco rate is close to 6. Indian bowlers gave 1279 runs. England and India are the only teams giving more than 1000 runs till now.
In the bowling department too, Australia stands apart. Aussie bawlers gave only 960 runs and captured 35 wickets. No wonder they made it to the quarter-final remaining unbeaten. Let's see whats happen tomorrow against Pak.
So, will we get thru quarter and semi with such 2+2 formation? Yet we have time to recover. If everything goes fine then we will be entering quarter at least on a run-rate basis. It all depends on Sunday. This would be the last chance for us to bounce back else we will have no option left but to come back.
Like all the other 100 million me too hoping for the best because whatever statistic I saw I still believe “miracles do happen”. Keeping my fingers cross.
Let's wish ALL THE BEST to Sachin for his century of tons.
