Spicy Shami

The coach of Indian pace bowler - Mohammed Shami said that you can earn money but you also have to invest to upgrade your skills and for which, in his farmhouse at Alinagar UP, Shami has developed various pitches to polish his skills so that he could maintain his control over his bowling and stick to the basics - even when he is away from the game, the break does not hamper his return.

In the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup India – the Men in Blue are playing cricket at a different level. They are still unbeaten in the tournament and their commendable performances have created an aura of invincibility that has become a matter of fear for the opposing teams – England experienced it last night after digesting yet another heavy defeat in a low-scoring affair. Like Bangladesh, England crumbled on a tricky Lucknow deck and with that, their further progression in this tournament is over.

It was Mohammed Shami who ripped through the heart of the English batting line-up in a mesmerizing spell of high-quality bowling.

Shami claimed 2 for 4 from three overs inside the first powerplay in a breathtaking spell and Jasprit Bumrah 2 for 17 from five as England collapsed to 40 for 4 after 10 overs. Shami claimed two more and Bumrah one and it was all over over time.

For the first four matches, Shami was just a spectator and working as a mentor for his team passing out valuable advice with a smile on his face. If he was chomping at the bit or feeling frustrated at having to warm the bench, Shami did a great job of hiding it – with Hardik Pandya being in such a fine tune, the need for the third seamer was hardly felt because Pandya was not only providing the value with the ball but with the bat also.

Then Pandya was injured and India decided not to include a third spinner but give Shami a chance which the man grabbed with full hands.

Pandya's temporary exit took Shardul Thakur out of the equation, Suryakumar Yadav slotting in at No. 6 and Shami coming in for Thakur to lend greater teeth and potency to the bowling group.

In two matches, against New Zealand in Dharamsala and England in Lucknow, he has snaffled nine wickets – average 8.44, economy 4.47, and strike-rate 11.33. Among the top 15 wicket-takers, no one has a better average or strike rate and only Jasprit Bumrah, his partner-in-crime, has a better economy (3.91).

Shami could only achieve this due to his self-confidence and hard work. When he was not playing, Shami never allowed the grass to grow under his feet, but always kept himself engaged so that the pace bowler within him did not get lost by any means.

At Lucknow, he had not done something extraordinary to set jitters in the English batting line-up – rather maintained the spartan line and length consistently on a brownish deck where people thought that Ravichandran Ashwin could have been deadly. Well, India bowling under the lights for the time in the tournament showed that its pace bowlers are one of the best on any surface – the experienced Shami provided the cutting edge as Mohamed Siraj still rediscovering his mojo and Shardul Thakur provided nothing.

The spell to Ben Stokes was a treat.

The first delivery landed on a length and did not move but shaped away. The second ball was another goodish length which Stokes mistimed.  The third ball was another good-length delivery which was punched to extra-cover. The fourth delivery was a peach – it seamed away after landing on the same length from an angle. The fifth one was a full-length which Stokes played at mid-on. Stokes was getting restless because he was in an attacking intent so that he could break the shackles – but he cleared his front foot against a delivery that was too full to achieve that and had to depart.

Shami exhibited a superb display of length and seam bowling.

The seam that leaves the hand of Shami is as good as anyone in modern-day cricket and the amount of control he achieves over his bowling is just brilliant.

Hard work pays off, certainly!

Thank You

Faisal Caesar  

 

New Zealand end up as the tragic hero

How good a team you are is determined by the way you fight against the top teams in world cricket rather than bashing the lower-ranked sides and earning the number one tag – the bubble of which bursts after meeting the harsh reality. To be regarded as one of the top teams you have to show the intent of a Cornered Tiger and even if you lose the battle, earn the respect of everyone for displaying the courage to punch above the weight.

In one of the most beautiful cricket grounds in world cricket – Australia and New Zealand logged horns and while the local television channels in Bangladesh stopped showing the match for the sake of the contest between Bangladesh and Holland at Kolkata – New Zealand showed everyone why they are regarded as one of the most dangerous teams in world cricket.

No over-hyped players. No big stars. No so-called cult individuals. No Kings. No freedom fighter. No craze to gain a political shelter at any cost. No hunger for sponsorships - but consists of a bunch of passionate blokes, who enjoy the most whenever they take the field.

The Kiwis bowls according to the merit of a wicket. Field with the fullest of energies. And, boy, these Kiwis can bat and put chills down the spine of opposition – at Dharamsala, the Australians, not for the first time, experienced the fighting nature of New Zealand who fell short by just 5 runs in a crazy 771-run thriller that is part of Cricket world Cup’s folklore.  

Travis Head returned to the team and played shots as if he was never injured and never out of the team.  Head essayed a stunning 59-ball century as he and David Warner clubbed 118 runs in the opening powerplay and shared a staggering 175-run opening stand to help Australia post 388, becoming the first side in ODI history to post three consecutive 350-plus scores.

New Zealand replied in a positive fashion led by Rachin Ravindra, who became the first batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to notch up two centuries before the age of 25 in a Cricket World Cup. Daryl Mitchell added more meat to the run chase but Australia struck and at one point the Kiwis lost their way – stepped up Jimmy Neesham, who unleashed clean but cultural hitting that put New Zealand on the track of creating history.

 43 runs were needed off 18 deliveries and two wickets in hand for New Zealand – Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood missed their marks.

Trent Boult got some personal redemption for 2019 when Marnus Labuschagne stood on the rope at long-on to hand him six runs.

Starc was needed to defend 19 in the last over with only four men outside the circle because of Australia's slow over-rate. He delivered five wides in the second ball and the target was reduced to 13 off 5 – Starc dished out his lethal yorkers as Neesham failed to connect properly while the Australians sweepers made staggering saves before Labuschagne and Josh Inglis combined to run out Neesham off the second-last ball – memories of Lord’s Final in 2019 returned.

Lockie Ferguson could not finish the task and another World Cup classic was added to the archives with New Zealand as the tragic hero.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

South Africa dish out a thrilling victory, Pakistan left stunned

In a nail-biter – when the tail is exposed – all it requires for the tail-enders to maintain composure and steer the ship safely home, given the fact that there is no pressure of an escalating asking run rate.

Teams like South Africa, who has a history of crumbling under pressure, sink deeper in such situations, but tonight in the all-important match for the Pakistanis to stay alive in the tournament, Keshav Maharaj played the most important knock to prevail in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 classic. 

This match changed its colour like the Pakistan team in the crucial passages – The South Africans were always ahead of the asking run rate and Aiden Markram was well poised to finish the game, but all of a sudden Pakistan attacked to pick wickets – Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled with a lot of heart, Mohammad Wasim Junior meant business while Haris Rauf, though leaked runs, asked questions and picked wickets – he could have finished the match if the review didn’t stick to the umpire’s call.

But still – at one end – the spinners were badly needed to pile up the pressure and that is where Pakistan’s hopes shattered – Usama Mir, the first-ever concussion substitute for the injured Shadab Khan had his say despite not being effective but the consistent failure Mohammad Nawaz was needed to deliver yet again under pressure and as usual he failed.

South Africa managed to get over the line. They rode their luck slightly but ultimately held their composure. Maharaj pounced on a short delivery from Nawaz that was totally not the ideal one in such situations, depositing him behind fine leg.

And it was Nawaz again who fell to his knees, while South Africa basked in the glory of that one thing they don't often manage: getting over the line in a nerve-jangler.

Babar Azam came alive with his captaincy regarding the fieldset and bowling changes – and suffocated South Africa in patches: if one or two overs looked good enough, three or four overs leaked runs and let the pressure evaporate in the Chennai air.

In the most important match of the tournament – Pakistan were needed to bat very well, but they failed themselves by throwing away wickets courtesy of attempting those cross-batted shots that triggered their demise against Australia and did not help enough against Afghanistan as well.

All Pakistan needed was to build partnerships and play out the fifty overs – sadly, they triggered their own button of destruction and to challenge South Africa on this deck 270 was never going to be enough.

Still, Pakistan fought – they fought harder – but tonight it didn’t prove fruitful and perhaps, such intent was much needed against India, Australia, and Afghanistan.

The late spark went begging as Maharaj celebrated with his teammates the victory in one of the most thrilling matches in the history of the Cricket World Cup.

With the Chennai crowd backing them - Pakistan were left witnessing the South African celebration - they know that their hopes of staying alive in the tournament is almost over.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

England sink into Sri Lankan quicksand

England’s Bazball was a craze among the youngsters and they thought that Brendon McCullum – the coach for the Test format - was the first coach ever to revolutionize such ultra-aggressive batting in cricket while in the past it was ever used – neither Sir Don Bradman nor Victor Trumper nor Gilbert Jessop nor Sir Vivian Richards knows what being ultra-aggressive with the bat is! Even in the ODIs and T20 format – under Matthew Mott – England kept their ultra-aggression intact and they were expected to crack fireworks in India.

And – there was the English discovery “The Hundred” that was expected to galvanize the English batting – sadly, it did not.

Came the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India - New Zealand let England and others know what aggression is and South Africa literally traumatized England in the heat and humidity at Mumbai – the catastrophic events at Mumbai triggered such a psychological blow to England that in Bangalore – during the clash between the eighth and ninth team in the points table – England sunk into the Sri Lankan quicksand.

No Bazball – but a collapse that England witnessed Pakistan manufacture at Ahmedabad against India a few weeks back.

They were going fine at 45 for no loss and then the Bazball blowout happened!

Angelo Mathews would not have been included but due to the injury of Matheesha Pathirana, he featured and at the age of 36 he showed the intent and hunger in his first over in an ODI for three-and-a-half years – a rinse-and-rise delivery that dismissed Dawid Malan.

And that was it – England panicked.

Joe Root was run out in a schoolboy fashion, in my opinion. Bairstow attempted to whack one outside off over mid-on and holed out. Jos Buttler had a waft outside off and walked back to the hut. Liam Livingstone was trapped lbw courtesy of lazy feet movement and Moeen Ali’s demise was a loose one.

Ben Stokes was fighting but as soon as he was dismissed – England lost 10 wickets for 111 runs – that made things worse for the defending champions as their chances now rely on serious mathematical twists and turns.

The Sri Lankans gained a sufficient amount of confidence after beating the Dutch previously and the injection of Mathews sparked them up which was evident on the field and as the English surrendered meekly – with every passing minute the Lankans were looking spontaneous and confident.

England were badly needed to bounce back from the South African nightmare but after losing within just 59 overs of the 100 – the ability to handle pressure by the whole team, especially by the coach and captain will come under the scanner.

In a 50-over format mega-event – there is little time for the dust to settle, rather, a team needs to rise and shine soon like the Australians.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Sloppy Pakistan watch Afghanistan celebrate

Pakistan change its colour from time to time – they are a bunch of freaks who, perhaps, don’t even know what to do in every game, and for which they are still a team that blows hot and cold. Just when the critics tagged that this Pakistan unit could pose a threat after chasing an impossible total against Sri Lanka – they collapsed against India, remained sloppy against Australia, and completed the circle of sloppiness by digesting a defeat against Afghanistan for the first time in the history of Pakistan’s ODI.  

Three times in a row – it had been a ridiculous Pakistan whose captain lacked the spark, while the rest of the players had no idea how to stick to the basics of the game rather than trying to emulate the extraordinary talents of the past unnecessarily.

If the collapse against India was hard to imagine then the sloppiness against Afghanistan is beyond imagination from a side that was at the top of the ICC ODI ratings before the commencement of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 – while, in between, the lackluster cricket against Australia is sandwiched.

Before the match – everyone suggested that the Chennai deck might be sluggish like the match between India and Australia – keeping that in mind, both the teams focused on spinners with Afghanistan including four.

To be honest among the two teams – The Pakistani spinners were the weakest links and time and again – they have made Pakistan suffer terribly and this match was no different.

When Pakistan started to bat after winning the toss, the deck never gave the impression of sluggishness but a good batting track where the margin of error in bowling was minimal. Even though the experts stated that on this deck anything around 250+ would be a competitive total - as soon as the match progressed – a total of 330+ seemed necessary.

And, Pakistan could have achieved such had their batsmen cut short the tendency to execute cross-batted shots. 

Imam-ul-Haq was dismissed again while attempting to pull and in the previous matches – he was dismissed twice while attempting such. Abdullah Shafique was dismissed while attempting to sweep against the wrong-un when he was well-set – another cross-batted shot. Then, Mohammad Rizwan was dismissed playing a sweep against a wide-of-a-length delivery – another cross-batted shot. Meanwhile, Saud Shakil ended up with eggs on his face by trying to whack a flighted delivery outside off towards midwicket – another cross-batted shot.

Four batsmen were dismissed while attempting shots that were not even necessary and were against the run of play, automatically, putting Pakistan under pressure.

A late burst from the Pakistani tail-enders gave the total a boost – but Pakistan forgot that the nature of the deck kept on improving and for players like Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran – this could be a paradise if the Pakistani new ball bowlers don’t get the basics right.

Till now, in this tournament, the teams that have fared well with the ball have invested more in attacking the stumps and maintaining an incisive length backed up by sharp fielding – the perfect example is India.

In three matches in a row – the new ball bowlers of Pakistan bowled wayward trying to discover swing for a mysterious reason, bowled with a lot of pace but without control, and surprisingly, none of them have attacked the stumps enough. Whereas the spinners are just there to ease the pressure with half-volleys and short-of-length stuff.

Then comes Pakistani fielding which remains a laughing stock, still, today – the board invests so much in various things for the players despite the economic crisis – but the effort on the field from the Pakistani players is like a 50-year-old playing village cricket in England who runs after the ball and fields too cautiously so that the bones don’t break. 

How many easy runs and boundaries have been given tonight the Pakistanis should look and think whether they deserve to don the Green Shirt that earned the respect of so many fans in the past.

And, how badly the Pakistanis have bowled tonight surely put the legendary bowlers of the past in shame – the sad voice of Waqar Younis at the commentary suggested how low was he feeling deep down watching the dismal show by the pacers.

Coming into their fifth match of the tournament, Afghanistan had never beaten Pakistan in an ODI rather suffered heartbreaks.  But in the Cricket World Cup, they finally managed to break the jinx. And they did it, in Chennai, by eight wickets chasing down 283 with six balls to spare, crafting their highest successful chase in ODIs in the process - it was also the highest successful chase against Pakistan in a Cricket World Cup game.

Gurbaz and Zadran batted like a monster – devouring every Pakistani delivery as if they were hungry for ages as the runs came thick and fast with the Pakistani bowlers vanishing all around the park. Their 130-run stand came like the movement of the Flash while the composure of Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi was like the Batman and Superman –just exploit the below-par Pakistani attack according to merit as a rush of blood would invite catastrophe.

The venue where Saeed Anwar smashed 194 in 1997 and Pakistan won a thrilling Test against India in 1999 which earned them a standing ovation – the venue where Imran Khan smashed a hundred in a Test in 1987 –witnessed the celebration of a unit that never lost heart and always pushes their limit to achieve something.

Afghanistan celebrated another victory in front of the sloppy Pakistanis.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

The technical and temperamental efficiency of Virat Kohli

Just rewind to 2020, 2021, and 2022 – all of a sudden, one of the best batsmen of the modern game was found struggling with his form. He was struggling against the moving ball and the struggle against the spinners. The critics of Kohli became vocal and in every dismissal – the Indian superstar was heavily criticized by the fans and former players.

According to an analytical article published at Wisden last year, it was stated that Kohli had been dismissed eleven times in Test cricket in India since the start of 2020. Nine of those dismissals came against spinners like Ajaz Patel, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dom Bess, Jack Leach, Lasith Embuldeniya, Moeen Ali, and Rachin Ravindra.

While against the pacers, the line outside the fourth and fifth stump line became a nemesis again.

In 2014, he explained to Naseer Hussain that while taking a stance, Virat's back toe was slanted and pointed toward the cover rather than the point for which he opened up more exposing his edge.

He expected the inswingres in the 2014 England tour whereas his wrong toe position took him towards the fourth and fifth stump.

He discussed with Sachin Tendulkar who worked on this and adjusted his toe towards the point. He started taking an off-stump guard which helped him weather the deliveries going towards the fourth and fifth stump and then he batted outside of his crease to play the good length as half volleys.

After 2019 and till now, the old problems had started to show up again - his toe was pointing towards cover and thus, the lean patch was prolonged – the back and across movement was not striking the right chord because of a defect in the basic.

Sunil Gavaskar stated at that time, “That method has been successful for him. He has got 8,000 Test runs with that back-and-across movement. But he is playing at deliveries way outside off stump and a little too early in the innings. This time around, the foot is somewhere else, the bat is somewhere else.”

At his peak, Kohli used to rock back and execute the short-am whip towards midwicket to get off the mark and settle at the wicket. He forced the bowler to bowl short of a length and played shots by staying deep at the crease – obviously, the back and across movement stayed and was helping him until 2020, and thereon, Kohli started to realize he needed to be a bit more square on rather than sticking to the old plan.

While against the spinners, he decided to go fully forward or fully back rather than getting stuck on the crease.

Kohli accepted that his batting needs a reboot and until and unless you don’t accept your flaws, you can’t get out of the hole.

Kohli went back to the basics – his intent was to spend more time at the crease, play the ball late with perfect hand-and-eye coordination, fix the back lift, adopt the two-eyed open stance while facing spinners and swing bowlers so that it complements the initial trigger movement on the back foot and rely more on strike-rotation.

The second version of Kohli is more like Javed Miandad – a mentality beast, who would hold one end firm and keep the scoreboard ticking at a rate so that the team never comes under pressure.

In the most anticipated match against New Zealand during the group stage match of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at Dharamsala – on a tricky deck, Kohli showed why he is highly rated as a player both technically and temperamentally.

The New Zealand left-arm orthodox bowlers had India under pressure and at one point India lost five wickets with still 83 runs to get.

But Kohli dug deeper and played the 50-over format like it should be played when the bowling attack is posing a threat and the deck is on the slower side.

His batting was not all about style but it was about the compassion of a man who never gives up and fights his way to rediscover his mojo. The Kohli of today occupies the crease and relies on depth touches rather than slicing the attack – he is the captain who steers the ship safely to the shore by absorbing the pressure – the more the pressure, the more Kohli flourishes.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

 

Mayhem at Mumbai

The defending champions England and one of the most rejuvenated sides of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 – South Africa logged horns at Mumbai against the backdrop of defeats against two underdogs of this tournament – Afghanistan and the Netherlands. Both the teams were down morally and the loss of South African skipper Temba Bavuma due to injury was expected to dent the Proteas while the return of last tournament’s Hero – Ben Stokes was expected to boost the English morale.

But as soon as the match commenced it was England who melted like an ice sculpture in the heat, humidity, and the mayhem of South African batsmen.

According to CricViz - South Africa and England are the two teams with the highest attacking shot percentage in this Cricket World Cup.

Despite knowing the fact that the South Africans are a dangerous unit while batting first – England won the toss and decided to field first.

Their new ball bowlers – Reece Topley and David Willey maintained the discipline that fetched the wicket of the dangerous Quinton de Kock and kept Reeza Hendricks quiet in his first-ever World Cup match.

With the sun shining brightly above – the track started to lose its life and Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen took control over the English bowlers by disturbing their discipline with attacking stroke play – at one point the South Africans were 18 for 1 in just 6 overs.

England brought on Mark Wood, who attempted to bounce out the South Africans with pace but he was smacked mercilessly – his three wickets in this World Cup came against Bangladesh and Afghanistan at an average over 70 and with the scoring rate escalating in a fearsome manner, Jos Buttler brought on Joe Root to tight the situation, but it hardly had an impact as the Proteas never let the scoring rate down.

England broke through and it seemed that they were making a good comeback but Heinrich Klaasen Marco Jansen slaughtered the English attack.

In the last 15 overs – England lost their way as the willow of Kklaasen and Jansen cut them into halves.

Klaasen was the smart bloke in the middle who ensured that he faced most of the deliveries and as soon as he reached his half-century all hell broke – the last 27 deliveries he faced fetched 57 runs and till now, this is the best hundred of this tournament.

Klaasen smothered Adil Rashid beyond deep midwicket and then plucked 19 runs off Topley in the next over. No sooner had he been felled by a yorker off Wood and had to take a breather in the exhausting weather at Mumbai, Klaasen pushed a low full toss from Wood over the fence at long-on then pulled a four wide of deep fine leg to reach his century.

Jansen then brought up a 35-ball fifty with a run of six, four, six off Atkinson down the ground, behind deep point and over midwicket. Jansen's ball-striking was sublime as he smashed Topley for three sixes in the penultimate over, which went for 26 runs in all.

Klaasen’s swashbuckling knock included  12 boundaries and 4 sixes as he shared a South African record 151-run sixth-wicket partnership with Jansen from just 77 balls, one of two century stands for South Africa with Hendricks  and Van der Dussen putting on 121 together for the second wicket 

Hendricks ended up as his side's second-highest scorer with an excellent 85 from 75 balls while Jansen was incredibly damaging in his own right with a 42-ball 75 not out.

South Africa fell one short of 400 but it was enough to crush an exhausted English unit.

Within 12 overs England had lost six wickets for 68 and from there, England melted and vanished.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

 

Brazil is not on right track

After crushing Bolivia during the opening match of the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 – it seemed, the interim coach Fernando Diniz had arrived to rescue Brazilian Football – but in the following matches, harsh reality struck Brazil – who rediscovered that they are not on the right track, rather slipping down fast to the rock bottom from where it may take a while to bounce back if the think tank of Selecao doesn’t take positive steps.

In Lima, Peru stranglehold the Brazilians until the late goal by Marquinhos came to the rescue and at home, against Venezuela, Brazil were left chasing shadows against the pace and counter of the South American neighbours. The defence lost its shape consistently and the midfield never looked creative enough – the fear was whether this would be able to handle the rejuvenated side of Marcelo Bielsa – Uruguay at Montevideo.

The fear became a reality as Uruguay totally outclassed Brazil and conveyed the message that the tactics of Diniz may be fruitful in the average domestic football of Brazil but at the international level, it is not up to the mark.

Since the defeat against Croatia in the Quarterfinal of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar –the Brazilian National Team is going through a lean patch. The defeat at the Education City Stadium witnessed the end of coach Tite’s era, whose record may be astonishing but his tactics and choice of players backfired severely and lost the faith of the critics and Brazilian fans as a whole.

After every World Cup disaster Brazil fans are habituated to witness a lot of changes in the Brazilian national team — change of coaches, choosing the wrong ones at first and then opting for another wrong one, no vision from the think tank and the cycle tends to repeat.

After the upset in Qatar, the think tank of Brazil Football is adamant about going with a European coach because since the start of the last decade, surprisingly, Brazil have struggled immensely against the top European teams whereas once upon a time — it was the teams from Europe, who followed Brazilian style of play the most.

But as the Europeans mastered the game, Brazil, gradually, lost its sting. They gave rise to talents, but not special ones with a tough mentality, and their production of world-class coaches has taken a setback.

The appointment of Ramon Menezes proved to be disastrous as Brazil digested defeats against Morocco and Senegal. He left the way for Fernando Diniz, who is a very popular coach among the locals because of his success at Fluminense.

 The Brazilian Football Federation has stated that Carlo Ancelotti will take over as the coach from next year before the start of Copa America, but until then, Brazil will stick to the idea of an interim coach.

But at the moment, Ancelotti is giving a different statement regarding his appointment and Ancelotti has given up the idea of becoming the coach of Selecao then Brazil may have to stick to Diniz, whose appointment is turning out to be like Menezes.

Who is Fernando Diniz?

Fernando Diniz was a professional footballer in the past and started his playing career with Juventus-SP in 1993. In 1996 he moved to Guarani but agreed to a contract with Palmeiras shortly after. In 1997, Diniz moved to Corinthians, featuring regularly during his two-year spell at the club. He subsequently represented Paraná, Fluminense, Flamengo, Juventude, Cruzeiro, and Santos, all in the top tier. In 2006 Diniz signed for Paulista and later played for Santo André and Gama. He retired with the latter in 2008, aged 34.

After retiring from football Diniz decided to build a career in football coaching.

He was appointed head coach of lowly Votoraty, where he was crowned champions of both Copa Paulista and Campeonato Paulista Serie A3. In 2010 he moved to Paulista.

In 2011, Diniz was named Botafogo-SP head coach, but was fired after only four matches in charge — He was appointed at the helm of Atletico Sorocaba in 2012. Despite achieving promotion from the Campeonato Paulista Serie A2, he was relieved from his duties in October of that year.

In 2013 Diniz joined Audax and introduced the tiki-taka, style of FC Barcelona, the club which would change his fortune a decade later.

Diniz returned to Audax for the 2016 Campeonato Paulista, which he managed to lead the side to the finals, but lost to Santos.

After leaving Atletico Paranaense, where he was replaced by Tiago Nune, Diniz joined Flumeninse but was sacked — later on featured as a coach in teams like Sao Paulo, Vasco da Gama, and Santos — but the journeys were not chummy and in 2022, he returned to Fluminense, where he won his first major trophy and earned the accolades.

Diniz and his tactics

Diniz is widely known as the New Guardiola in Brazil for his tactics because of the way Fluminense has been playing since he rejoined the club.

Diniz himself said, “My game itself is heavily inspired by Guardiola, in the sense of wanting to impose the game, dominate, and have fun, I think we similarly understand football, possibly. But it’s curious: when I saw his teams’ games live in the stadium, it became very clear that the way of executing is very different.”

“His team is positional; it’s a game in which players hold positions in the areas of the field they occupy. And the game comes to them. The exceptions are the center-forward, in this case, Aguero, and the first man, Fernandinho. My team today, for example, is completely different. We have a lot of positional interchanges, we keep fewer positions in the midfield and upfront, we try to apply a dynamic game, and it’s a different collective participation.”

The model

Contrary to most modern managers and their constant battle for space through positional play, Diniz adopts a fluid possession-based tactic based on constant approximation and numerical superiority.

A narrow 4–2–3–1 or 4–2–2–2 is used with different individual roles based on each player’s style — no place for rigidity but free-flowing football.

Defence: Press after possession loss.

Offence: Slow Build Up, possession.

Set-Pieces: 7 players in the Box, 4 on corners and free-kicks

Goalkeeper: Sweeper and come for crosses

Centre-back: Default

Right-back: Balanced and overlap

Left-back: Balanced and overlap

Right defensive midfielder: Cut passing Lanes, balanced attack, cover wing, and drifting wide

Left defensive midfielder: Cut passing lanes, stay back, cover wing, and drifting wide

Central attacking midfielder: Stay on edge, drift wide, and basic Defence

Left and right attacking midfielders: Come back, Wander like a free bird, and get into the Box

Striker changing to Centre-forward: Provide balanced width, target players in opposition defence, at times play the role of a decoy and stay forward

The striking thing in Diniz’s tactics

The most striking aspect of Diniz’s tactics is loading one side of the pitch and building from there by relying on one-to-one short passes and creating opportunities from the flanks.

In this system, Diniz has rejuvenated the old-fashioned number 10 where Ganso becomes the key player who remains close to the sideline, facing the field and dictating associations, pausing and providing technical efficiencies. The two defensive midfielders provide the pivots and the left and right attacking midfielders play the role of very good options on either side — both central and attacking midfielders direct the build-up play according to the respective interpretation, dropping between the centre-back and allow the striker to make incisive runs.

Without the ball — Diniz switches to a 4–4–2 formation and his intention is not to create spaces but with the spaces and advance forward.

Diniz exploits the half-spaces as a surprising element and in that case, his wing-backs come into action.

Diniz and his Relationalism style of football

In the world of Diniz, positional football has little value, rather it emphasizes relationalism.

From Football writer Jamie Hamilton’s article, we come to know, “Relationism (a term I first introduced in November 2022) is a paradigm of football; it is a translated twist on what Jozsef ‘Hungaro’ Bozsik first called Jogo Funcional back in 2018. Relationism is a lens through which the game can be theorized, practised, and developed. Positionism is also a paradigm of football, albeit a fundamentally different one.”

“Relationism is not just players standing close together nor can it be reduced to players ‘being friends’ with one another.”

“Relationist players move together while communicating through signals and cues often undetectable by those schooled in various other strains of football thinking.”

This concept seems very adventurous but if it is not executed appropriately then a team is sure to be doomed!

Why the tactics of Diniz are not working at the international level?

Despite having such a talented unit, why the philosophy of Diniz is failing remains a moot question.

Relationalism of Diniz has its drawbacks as well as it creates confusion among the players while on possession because of the lack of positional sense and thus can lose ball-holding abilities or script missed passes that could trigger a counterattack because, in tactics offered by Diniz, spaces are left like the previous adventurous coaches of Brazil.

Diniz emphasizes the ​​shorter touches of the ball and does not leave players occupying spaces before receiving the ball and while following this philosophy this is what happened in this move below: Vinicius Junior came out from the left and Rodrygo occupied the field in the same sector as Neymar and Gabriel Jesus. This is what Arias, Keno and Ganso do at Fluminense: the wingers together in a sector on the side, forming a ladder so that everyone has short passing options.

Bruno Guimaraes is the only one to pass the ball and really give Neymar a passing option. The full-back on the opposite side takes a while to support, and the wingers in the sector stay still, without looking for space in Uruguay's marking to receive the ball to make matters worse, as Neymar retreated, only Vinicius was really behind the defence, providing depth.

Now such positions leave dangerous spaces for the opposition to counter freely and against Venezuela and Uruguay – Brazil were caught more often.

Diniz cares a lot about style like Guardiola, but at the top level style or philosophies don’t win you matches rather tactics that would be understandable and suitable for the top players like Vinicius and Rodrygo to execute.

For the tactics of Diniz to see results at the international level it would require extraordinary players like Pele, Garrincha and those players from the team of Mexico 1970, who adapted to any system easily and even if the opposition caught them on the counter – that team would fire more goals to win a match.

But at present – Brazil does not produce extraordinary players like Romario, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho or Kaka; let alone the players from the teams of World Cup 1958, 1962 and 1970.

Be it Neymar or Vinicius or Rodrygo – all of them are talented but not extraordinary and they need to be nurtured on a system that suits them more rather than satisfying the philosophy of a coach whose so-called stylish football looks good on local TV channels only and at an average football league.

Brazil need to win matches and not hearts like the 1982, and 1974 Dutch side or the Magical Magyars of 1954.

Does Brazil need Neymar anymore?

The direct answer would be – No!

When Neymar arrived on the international scene he was supposed to be the heir to the legends of the past and take the thorn of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – but till now, he has been a frustrating figure for Brazil. His numbers are good but that does not display the fragile mentality of a player who crumbles under pressure and his lacklustre attitude has only done damage to his career and Brazil football.

In the match against Uruguay, he was injured again and with the increase of age – he would crumble more.

Neymar has passed his best and since 2010 – he only wasted opportunities rather than focusing on the game seriously - thus, for a better future Brazil need to move without Neymar and start to rebuild under a better coach like Jose Mourinho or Carlo Ancelotti, who would not only develop an ideal system for Brazil but work on the mental aspect of the players.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

Australia and Pakistan repeat Taunton 2019

Pakistan is kind of a team that always gives hope to fans like me but this Pakistan team is not like the 80s and 90s when they used to walk on water rather than sinking like today. This Pakistan team is overrated by the fans and media and yes, they fare well against Nepal, Afghanistan, Ireland, or out-of-form Sri Lanka — but against the top sides, when it matters, they are shown the place where truly belong — just an average side.

Four years ago — at Taunton, during a crunch Cricket World Cup match against Australia — the fielder at deep dropped David Warner and the Australian’s century made the difference four years later — Pakistan dropped him again — this time it was another dolly and replacement of Shadab Khan, who was also dropped four years ago — Usama Mir- failed to hook the big fish.

Aaron Finch and Warner punished the Pakistani attack for their sloppiness on the field and four years later — Mitchell Marsh and again, Warner sliced the Pakistani attack in pieces, spiced them well according to the South Indian recipe, and served the dish to the whole team so that they could learn something.

Pakistan pacers, who are rated highly by the fans and media, bowled poorly — it seems, these Pakistani bowlers don’t wish to keep it simple and always try to emulate Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, and Waqar Younis — and someone should tell them, they will never be like the past legends, rather, they are just good, who needs to focus on the simple things.

Hasan Ali lost his line consistently, and Haris Rauf looked for pace and lost his control — as a result — he vanished from Bangalore. Usama Mir did not know what he was doing on the field and with the ball and that below-par Mohammad Nawaz was gifting free bees like a minister distributing relief to the poor.

The Pakistani fielding? Well, that was so Taunton — they dropped catches, committed errors in the field, and gave away easy singles like the traffic police officer in Dhaka, who let all the cars move and create chaos.

Pakistan was a chaotic unit on the field and Babar Azam stood like an idiot on the field like Sarfraz Ahmed four years ago — out of idea, out of sort, and desperately searching for a place to hide.

It was Mohammad Amir who brought Pakistan back to the game at Taunton — four years later — Shaheen Shah Afridi brought them back with a five-wicket haul.

Pakistan, in response, oscillated between composed, dismal, and distinguished.

Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq played with enough composure and posted 134 in 21 overs.

Then the ever-cool Shafique dished out a no-stroke from the out space and walked back to the hut and all of a sudden Imam and Babr Azam had their pants on fire and three wickets fell in no time. It was up to Mohammad Rizwan and Shaud Shakeel again to repeat the heroics against Sri Lanka — but this is Australia and not Sri Lanka — who knows very well that Pakistan would crumble under pressure as the players are not the strongest mentally.

Australia had the last laugh — Pakistan paid a heavy price for their sloppiness and perhaps, their hope for a place in the final four have been lost tonight at Bangalore — the venue where they lost their World Champion crown to the arch-rival in 1996.

It's time for the Dutch to party

How many of the cricket fans around the world were interested following today’s match between the red-hot South Africa and Holland at Dharamsala remains a moot question. Perhaps, the cricket fans thought of having a break because of the popcorn blockbusters coming up. But after Afghanistan tamed England a few days back, Holland thought of dishing out one of their own to create history.

The Dutch featured in the ICC Cricket World Cup after a hard-fought qualifier and the matches they played in this tournament have earned the accolades. They have a history of taming the big guns in the T20 format — but not in the longer formats, they were yet to trigger a shockwave.

After the dominating victory against Sri Lanka and Australia South Africa, having won by more than 100 runs, after posting totals of 428 and 311,– South Africa became the Team to beat in this event along with India — and their start against Holland in a rain-affected match was going according to the script.

Lungi Ngidi took the new ball ahead of Kagiso Rabada but it was the latter who struck first, with his first ball of the match no less. Marco Jansen joined the show followed by Coetze and Ngidi leaving the Dutch reeling.

Another South African supremacy was on the cards with the Dutch having slipped to 50 for 4 then lurched to 140 for 7.

Well, the Dutch skipper Scott Edwards showed up from nowhere like the Dark Knight and started attacking.

Edwards’ crucial stands worth 64 with Roelof van der Merwe — 29 off 19 and an unbroken 41 with Aryan Dutt as the Dutch piled on 105 runs from the last nine overs. Edwards finished on 78 not out off 69 deliveries, Dutt added an excellent 23 off nine and, at 245 for 8,

Edwards, Dutt, and van der Merwe executed some extraordinary strokes that dented the confidence of South Africa and it was evident when the Proteas came out to bat.

The Dutch bowlers just kept the basics right — on a deck that had a bit of something for the bowlers after the rain and clouds overhead, they kept on pitching the ball consistently around the off-stump and nipping it back and away when needed.

Quite surprisingly, the South African top-order, lacked the footwork and ideal backlift against the Dutch bowlers — Ackerman accounted for the dangerous Quinton de Kock with a full and flatter one, the Bull Dog van der Merwee tamed Temba Bavuma with a length delivery angling towards middle and leg, Aiden Markram was stunned with an accurate nip-backer and the deadly Rassie van der Dussen — who was shut down for a while and then succumbed to a reverse-sweep against van der Merwee — 44 for 4 and all the in-form batsmen were back in the hut.

The Dutch grew in stature and South Africa started to melt. The body language of the Dutch became more confident and threw more bodies on the field that never left the pressure off as the South Africans looked for a recovery. But the Dutch kept on attacking like a pack of wolves and with every delivery they hunted for the prey — the persistent pressure paid off — and the Dutch triggered another upset of this tournament.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

King Kohli

Before facing the Indians in the group stage match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 — Bangladesh had a praiseworthy record against them. The Tigers beat them in an ODI series last year and a few months back, they held their nerves to beat the mighty Indians in the Super 4 of the Asia Cup. In a fascinating week where Afghanistan and the Netherlands punched above their weight — surely, Bangladesh thought that they might punch the Indians again if they could post a competitive total and pick the important wickets early on.

The start to the Bangladesh innings — minus the unfit Shakib Al Hasan — was good. The openers built a very good foundation and whenever there was a chance of a collapse as the Indian spinners took the upper hand led by Ravindra Jadeja — they did not let the ghost of Pakistan take place, rather, arrested it with good partnerships. Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan Mahmudullah Riyadh, and Mushfiqur Rahim helped Bangladesh post 256 for 8 — but when the Bangladeshis came out to bowl at Pune — the Indians showed why they are rated as the best in the business.

Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma batted as if they were playing with friends in the gully of Old Dhaka with no ultra-pressure — effortless strokes came out off the middle bat and the ball consistently vanished beyond the boundary rope. The Bangladeshis did trigger a breakthrough but they had no answer to the hunger and class of Virat Kohli.

The Bangladeshi tried to bowl the line along off-stump, pitched it up, attempted to dry up the runs, and attempted variations — sadly, nothing could the chase artist, whose hunger for runs and the ability to chase down totals at ease just don’t put the viewers in monotony, but in every match, they become even better to watch.

Kohli had two free hits off his first four balls that he converted into a boundary and a six and from there on, he didn’t look back. He drove well, ran hard, maneuvered spin expertly, and also treaded caution, especially against Hasan Mahmud, and later on, smothered him all over the park.

82, 77, 67, 72, 66, 26, 34 not out, 1, 85, 55 no out, 16, and 103 not out — 684 runs at an average of 76.00 and at a strike rate of 94.47 with one century and seven half-centuries and 6 sixes and 58 boundaries — this is what Virat has done in the last 12 innings of Cricket World Cup.

It has now become a big challenge for the rest of the teams to stop this Indian team — the team that would outweigh India may just have the last laugh in this tournament.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

Australia register first win

After the defeat against Pakistan, despite being in a better position, Sri Lanka threw it away again - this time, it was against Australia, whose bowling attack was taken to the sword, and Sri Lanka was well poised at 125 for 0.

ICC Cricket World Cup has witnessed three collapses in three days and Sri Lanka is the latest edition.

Pat Cummins started it by dismissing both the Lankan openers.

The short ball from Cummins let Pathum Nissanka, hook and hole out to David Warner who ran from deep square leg.

Cummins came around the wicket to dismiss Kusal Perera with a ball that angled in and squeezed him.

Adam Zampa - who looked out of sorts early on, shrugged off his spasms and started producing wicket-taking deliveries.

He tossed one up to the in-form and stand-in captain Kusal Mendis who swept to Warner and was dismissed cheaply. Sri Lanka looked up to Mendis again, but Zampa had planned to target him by reducing the pace and automatically, the attacking intent of Mendis invited the demise.

As soon as Mendis was dismissed - Sri Lanka lost their way.

Australia strangled Sri Lanka from everywhere and the deck started slowing down - Sri Lanka failed to adapt and graft a better partnership to arrest a collapse.

10 wickets fell for 84 runs - and Australia were left to chase a small total on a tricky deck.

Warner and Steve Smith walked back early as Madhusanka raised hope which shows the top-order's problems against the left-arm quick during power-play - the Australian batsmen averaged below 20 since Cricket World Cup 2019.

Marnus Labuschagne is known for being slow in ODIs but his slowness was the key to Australia's survival and provided the perfect foil to the fluency of Josh Inglis at the other end.

It was a tricky phase where resolve from one end was much needed and Labuschagne was that composed factor.

Australia have earned a point and from here, we can only hope for their revival until and unless they don't lose it mentally.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Afghanistan tame England

“Cricket is the only source of happiness in Afghanistan, recently there was an Earthquake, and many lost everything, this will give them some happiness — this is for them.”

Rashid Khan

Be it in sports or life when the expectations are low, the lesser disappointments show up. Then you stop being in a hurry, remain calm and composed, the inner peace is installed and you start enjoying whatever you are doing while the whole world remains upset — that is when the upsets in sports happen. And, in cricket, they come from unlikely sources in the mega-events that simply become the ideal advertisement of this game of glorious uncertainty.

After being steamrolled by Bangladesh and hammered by the all-conquering Indians — Afghanistan’s next appointment in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 was against the defending champions England who rediscovered their mojo by burying Bangladesh in the mountains of Dharamsala.

Rahmatullah Gurbaz Ibrahim has had an excellent 2023 while batting together. There have only been three ODI opening partnerships of 200-plus in 2023, and this Afghanistan pair has scored two of them, which is remarkable.

It was a bright start for Afghanistan, at the expense of Chris Woakes, whose expected bowling average with the new ball is 39.99 which is the worst since 2014 according to CricViz. 31 of the 35 runs they scored in the first five overs came while Woakes was bowling. He began with 5 wides off the game’s first ball, and while Reece Topley has kept things quiet at the other end, Gurbaz in particular has enjoyed himself against him.

In the first ten overs, the Afghans set the tone for a challenging total but they have a history of collapsing — at Delhi, it did not happen, rather, maturity was shown by the middle and lower order batsmen, who arrested collapse whenever the English bowlers struck.

There were meaty blows at the end that took Afghanistan to 284 where against pace they scored 189 runs by losing three wickets — in the first ten overs they scored 10.8 runs per over against the over-pitched deliveries and 8.5 against short-of-a-length on either side of the wicket.

The English spinners had a great outing though picking five wickets for 89 at an economy rate of under 4 runs per over, which was an indication that the Afghan spinners may enjoy a great evening under the floodlights at Delhi.

The breakthrough came from Fazalhaq Farroqi whose inswinger left Jonny Bairstow clueless and then Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Mohammad Nabi, and Rashid Khan took over.

Mujeeb ur Rahman cleaned up Joe Root with a flipper forcing Root to go backward where he was in no position to adjust for the ball which kept low. Nabi at Dawid Malan holed out at short cover, Liam Livingstone played all around a straight one from Rashid Khan, and in between Naveen ul Haq had broken through the defence of England skipper Jos Buttler with a mind-blowing inswinger.

Harry Brook was the lone fighter and kept the hopes alive for England — but the Afghan spinners were on a roll — they were enjoying in the capital city and dished out all the tricks under the belt to keep England checked — Mujeeb’s carom ball and quicker ones were like the rattlesnake while Rashid’s leg-spin and wrong-un were like a spitting cobra against whom the English turned blue by the venom.

Afghanistan have broken the jinx in the Cricket World Cup by taming England who played their first-ever match in 1739 whereas Afghanistan in 2001 and in - 2023, at the heartbeat of the once-great empire of the Mughals — England has surrendered.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

A different Pakistan with the same outcome

The crowd at Eden Gardens, Kolkata was vociferous and started to party when an unknown Salim Malik walked out to bat against India during the second ODI in 1987. Pakistan had lost the cream of their batting lineup while chasing an impossible 239 runs in 40 overs back in those days and with just eight overs remaining, Pakistan needed 78 runs for victory which was impossible to a young Malik whose only contribution in ODIs was 72 against Sri Lanka a few years ago.

The World Champions — India seemed to have tamed Pakistan and a victory was just a matter of time.

All of a sudden, Malik’s bat started to treat Kapil Dev, Madan Lal, Maninder Singh, and Ravi Shastri like school kids and smashed a 72 off just 35 deliveries. The Eden Gardens was stunned to silence and the young Pakistan of Imran Khan conveyed the message to the world — no matter what — they strongly believe Pakistan can beat India and punch above their weight.

The Pakistani domination over India continued for a while and back then, it was India who used to lose against the arch-rivals mentally and tactically — but over time, India worked harder to get out of the vicious circle of defeats and developed a system that would produce players that would not only dominate world cricket but steamroll Pakistan regularly.

These days, Pakistan loses matches against India even before taking the field — psychologically, Pakistan just can’t believe that they can beat India and in the ICC Cricket World Cups — the defeats are making Pakistan a laughing stock all over the world.

Pakistan is an unpredictable side and you never know which Pakistan would appear on a given day — a different Pakistan appeared at Ahmedabad after the heroics at Hyderabad but the outcome was the same — defeat number eight against India in a Cricket World Cup match.

In the ultra-hyped match of the World Cup — Pakistan was put into bat by the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq looked determined to weather the storm and after they went back to the hut — two of Pakistan’s most dependable players — Babar Azam and last match hero — Mohammad Rizwan silenced the big crowd at Ahmedabad with a steady partnership.

Both of them played through the line and found the gaps well to give Pakistan hope for a challenging total.

Babar scored his first-ever ODI half-century against India and then, played a cross-seamed delivery from Mohammed Siraj with an angled bat rather than the full face — the seam hit the pitch and came up in an angled manner to Babar, who executed a poor shot with n angled bat which was surprising from a batsman like Babar.

Then Kuldeep Yadav reduced his pace and produced a delivery that did not spin against which Saud Shakeel went back to a good length ball and it skids through to rap him on the pads — another poor batting display due to lack of application.

 With two quick wickets lost, Sharma brought on Jasprit Bumrah and produced an off-cutter against which Rizwan anticipated so early that he had to depart and open the floodgates for one of the worst collapses in the history of Cricket World Cup — Pakistan lost eight wickets for 36 runs whereas, at one point, Pakistan were well poised for posting around 280 o 300 runs on this tricky wicket.

The psychological advantage that was achieved against Sri Lankan the other night has been dented after today’s match and after three matches, the Pakistani bowlers are consistently proving that they are over-hyped and lack the killer instinct — pace is the rhythmic factor but without control and wicket-taking intent, it is a waste.

On and off the field — Pakistan is only clapping the successes of the arch-rivals.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

What is wrong with Australia?

Which Australian side are we witnessing? It is giving us the impression of a unit that loses the match even before the first ball has been bowled — Tired. Not fully focused. Lack of application on the field. Apprehensive. No sign of aggression. We are not accustomed to this Australia and for which the sloppy fielding, average bowling, and a dismal batting display force us to think, what is wrong with Australia?

Australia won the toss and decided to field against a batting order that had played the least percentage of false shots in the previous match at Delhi against Sri Lanka — their range of attacking stroke-play was on full display at Lucknow as well with the Australian bowlers losing their line and length early on.

Pat Cummins looked like a shadow of the past. Adam Zampa failed to extract enough from a track that was getting slower after each over — since 2016, his ability to turn the ball has reduced from three-degree to two according to The CricViz Analyst.

Mitchell Starc did not bowl the ideal length on this deck and was smothered earlier while the line and length of Josh Hazlewood were lost in the South African forest as Quinton de Kock smashed his way to back-to-back hundreds — it was the 12 century from just 10 matches in this tournament. 

South Africa is habituated to more centuries per match in India than any other visiting team in ODI cricket South Africa has scored 21 centuries in 47 matches with Australia at 0.32 and New Zealand at 0.28 — they have kept up their astonishing record till now.

Glenn Maxwell appeared to be the best bowler who could use the slowness of this deck and chain the South African acceleration to an extent — still, 311 for 7 on this deck was always going to be challenging for a team that had a horrible outing at Chennai against the left-arm orthodox bowling of India.

Well, the spinners did not have to sweat much as the pace trio of Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, and Kagiso Rabada had set jitters and steamrolled the Australian top order that was unsure of using the feet and lacked the trust towards their defence — the hand and eye coordination along with footwork took a setback again as the Australians lost six wickets for 65 within 17.2 overs.

Australia has only been four wickets down inside 12 overs, in one World Cup chase before which was in Port Elizabeth 2003 on a tougher deck than this — but Michael Bevan and Andy Bichell pulled the match out of the fire with sheer grit.

Sadly, this Australian team lacks the grit and determination, which is the hallmark of Australian cricket and a role model for every cricket nation around the world.

Normally, while chasing a big total or the tricky ones, Australia unleashes their attacking intent with clean hitting by keeping the basics of the technique intact, and even if they lose wickets early — the middle order comes to the rescue by injecting stability with strike rotation and controlled aggression — again, by maintaining the basics of batting technique.

Both in Chennai and Lucknow — Australia’s batting has been disappointing.

The Australians are cornered and when they find the going tough, they start to unleash their true colour — but to do such, they have to rediscover the mental toughness for which they are famous!

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

 

Two warriors from Pakistan lift the spirits

On a battlefield warriors may come in various forms — they may enter the battle as a genuine underdog or battle-hardened champion who has learned to endure until they overcome all the adversities facing them. But in both cases, these warriors don’t worry about fear because if you are afraid, you can’t even think of winning the battle — strength and growth come through continuous effort and struggle.

When Imam-ul-Haq and the Pakistani skipper Babar Azam went back to the hut, the fate of the Men in Green seemed to walk through the same path — another defeat while chasing a mammoth total and history suggests, Pakistan had never won a match in the ICC Cricket World Cup while chasing more than three hundred runs. The last time Pakistan won a Cricket World Cup match while chasing a challenging total was way back in 1992 at Auckland during the eventful semi-final against New Zealand.

32 years later, the jinx has been broken and as usual, no one was expecting it.

To the dissatisfaction of the fans and many experts in Pakistan — the think tank put Abdullah Shafique at the top of the order instead of the hard-hitter Fakhar Zaman. To chase a total like 345 in 50 overs, surely, someone like Zaman was needed to give a cracking response but in the longer formats, there is something called resolve — the value of which can never be underestimated even in this era of power-hitting.

No matter how big a total you are chasing, one batsman at the end must remain steady so that wickets don’t fall at regular intervals. Shafique has already proved his worth in the five-day format and the 50-over format, he proved, how valuable his stability could be for Pakistan.

Shafique possesses a very sound technique among the Pakistani batsmen after Mohammad Rizwan, in my opinion. His stroke play may be limited, but the most important aspect of his batting is picking up the gaps and rotating the strike consistently so that the team does not melt under the pressure of a high asking run rate — boundary-based batting is highly applauded by the Pakistani fans, but how could they forget the value of strike rotation and no run chases in cricket can be successful without this.

Meanwhile, if Babar Azam is the poster boy of this team then the backbone is certainly Rizwan, who is proving his importance again and again. Rizwan is one of those cricketers who would run if can’t fly. He would crawl if he can’t walk — by all means, Rizwan would move on. He would hold things together when everyone would start thinking, and the innings would fall apart — the intent to keep the stored energy going despite the cramps indicates what a great warrior Rizwan is!

Pakistan bowled badly and deserves criticism but that may be done another day because two warriors from Pakistan have lifted the spirits and seem to have grabbed the momentum of this tournament.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

 

Australia frustrate

At Gwalior during the group match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996 — India and the West Indies logged horns. The Gwalior deck was on the slowish side as usual but good for batting and West Indian skipper Richie Richardson won the toss and elected to bat first.

India struck early with two wickets that included the price wicket of Brian Lara, who was caught behind at the fifth ball, apparently off his pad!

The West Indian skipper Richie Richardson and the ever-steady Shivanarine Chanderpal led an excellent recovery with a partnership of 67 for the third wicket.

Then the West Indian madness showed up — with the team well-set, Richardson attempted a needless pull shot against Manoj Prabhakar and holed out to the deep. Richardson’s departure sparked the first of two West Indian collapses — curiously, both of three wickets for eight in 12 balls against good bowlers but not good deliveries.

The West Indies were bundled out for 173 and in reply, India was left reeling against the pace of Curtly Ambrose who had the stumps of Ajay Jadeja and Navjot Singh Sidhu cart-wheeling. The vociferous crowd went silent and had their heart on their mouth when Sachin Tendulkar, batting on 22, skied one towards the evening sky only to see the West Indian wicketkeeper Courtney Browne dropping a sitter.

Automatically, the West Indian chips went down and Tendulkar grew in stature to win the second consecutive Man of the Match award.

27 years later — on a slow and low Chennai deck, surrounding an army of blue, the Australian skipper Pat Cummins decided to bat first with the intent to defend later on as the deck would be tougher to chase later on the day. It was a good decision, but to back it up, the batsmen needed to put in a very good total of around 250–270.

For a team like Australia that had toured India at the start of this year and played a three-match ODI series before the start of the tournament — should have learned their lessons very well of how to exploit the conditions.

Mitchell Marsh was gone for a duck.

Australia built on — They were 74 for 1 at the time with Steve Smith and David Warner looking comfortable against the quickies and just needed to invest faith in backfoot play and astute footwork against the spinners and play the ball as much late as possible — Australia learn and adapt better than other teams, but at Chennai, they brought back the memories of West Indies at Gwalior in 1996.

Ravindra Jadeja then took all three of his wickets in the space of 2.3 overs, as Australia lost 3 for 9 and any platform built by the top-order batsmen was quickly eroded.

Nonetheless, it was Jadeja who stole the spotlight, swiftly dismissing the surprisingly pressured Steve Smith and an unusually subdued Marnus Labuschagne

Scared of getting trapped leg before wicket, Smith was consistently trying to keep his pads outside the line of Jadeja’s deliveries — that was certainly not an Australian style of batting.

Jadeja, who was bowling at a pace around 96–97 km/h and not turning it much, started to feed the apprehension of Smith — he produced a delivery a tad slower than the previous ones as the ball turned way more than usual. In his bid to negate the leg-before possibility, Smith didn’t cover the delivery which turned past his bat to dislodge the bails.

With Australia in a spot at 110 for 3 and run-rate taking a hit, Marnus Labuschagne went for an uncharacteristic sweep shot, which isn’t his forte, and the under-cutter bowled by Jadeja found a faint edge into KL Rahul’s gloves.

Alex Carey, with not much wherewithal to survive against spin, also got a skidder, which should have been negotiated with the front foot, instead the back foot was used and the India crowd came alive.

From 110 for 2, Australia slumped to 119 for 5 and there was no looking back for Indian bowlers.

Australia ended up with 199 for 9 and for the first time, no Australian batsmen have reached a fifty in the Cricket World Cup match since 1983.

The India start was shaky like the India of Gwalior 1996 and for the first time in the history of the Cricket World Cup three Indian batsmen were dismissed for ducks — the situation became critical and while batting on 12, Virat Kohli skied one which was dropped by the Delhi Franchise player Marsh — if Marsh was a Pakistani, his dropping of Virat could have been accepted because the Pakistanis are sloppy on the field but when an Australian drop such dollies it not only surprises everyone but at the same time raises doubts.

 Virat and Rahul built on and when they were looking to set free, Pat Cummins should have tried the combination of Josh Hazlewood and Adam Jampa — Hazlewood has 4 wickets against Kohli at a strike of 16 and Zampa has 3 wickets against Rahul at 6.01 runs per over.

Cummins persisted with the spin of Glenn Maxwell, who consistently released the pressure from one end.

Cummins tried the Hazlewood-Zampa combination that led to the dismissal of Kohli but it was too late.

Australia frustrated themselves and their followers big time.