[thechat] World Cup predictions

[Madhu Menon]

At 04:51 PM 02-03-03, evolt at funkwit.com wrote:
>That leaves an Australia/India final, which Australia will of course win
>comfortably.

+1, except for the result of course. ;)

(Remember 1996? I was in Oz at the time.)

Australia's win against England chasing a target of just 205 was painful.
Didn't look at all like "steamrolling". If England had just made another 20
runs...

(Actually, I think it was because England were mentally prepared to lose.
There just wasn't enough aggression. That match *could* have been won. What
the hell was young Anderson doing bowling the final overs? What was Hussain
thinking?)

Australia plays a solid game and as a well-integrated unit. They've got a
whole crew of 7/10 or above players. Yet their performance against England
shows that they too are vulnerable to a batting order collapse. If that
were to happen after another side had scored 250+, things will be
different. Only old reliable Bevan saved the day.

India, on the other hand, clearly is weak in the "plays as a team" area,
though I've seen bits of it in the last couple of games. What it does have,
however, is individual brilliance. If that can come together all on the
same day, it's going to be a wall. Its strength is very clearly in the
batting department. Tendulkar is without a doubt the best batsman in the
world today (and the highest scoring in the cup so far) with over 12000
runs. Sehwag is a mini-Tendulkar who needs to work in one or two areas but
can be very dangerous. Rahul Dravid's nickname is "The Wall" for his
stability in the middle order. If Sehwag and Tendulkar are on fire, backed
up by Dravid, India will post a huge total. Against England, the 100 came
up in just 12 overs.

>a little more batting depth wouldn't go astray. India's bowling is
>perhaps a little weak

MORE batting depth? With 7 specialist batsmen? You've got to be kidding.
Yes, bowling is not good enough, though Nehra's massacre of England was
inspiring. For the first time in a few decades, we have what we can call
genuine pace bowlers. The spinners (Kumble and Harbhajan) have been
disappointing so far, but this is a game of glorious uncertainty. Case in
point: Kenya in the super sixes. Kenya! Beating former champions Sri Lanka.

To be honest, the weak link in India's team is the captain, Saurav Ganguly.
His batting has been pathetic for the last few months and I don't
understand why he doesn't chuck Dinesh Mongia out for a real bowler instead.


Will Brett Lee be replaced by Andy Bichel, I wonder. Lee should stop trying
to break Shoaib Akhtar's 160 kph pace record and try to just bowl well.
That's Akhtar's problem too. He can think only of bowling fucking fast,
which is pointless. A batsman able to handle 150 kph will not flinch at 160
kph. That's how Tendulkar hammered him for 18 runs in his first over.


It's going to be an interesting World Cup, what with so many records being
created. McGrath, Bichel, Chaminda Vaas, and Ashish Nehra now have 4 of the
top 6 bowling figures in World Cup history.

Regards,

Madhu

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Madhu Menon
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