Invincible Aussies vs the Unpredictable Windies

India fizzled out once again despite a very achievable target of 213. The Indian batting has struggled throughout this tournament. Viru is woefully out of form (bowled in three successive innings is a sign of serious loss of form) and needs a rest. It was very heartening to see that Dravid dropped down the order after the series of failures in the opening slot. (One can easily speculate that in same situation Ganguly would have continued to open the innings :-). Also, dropping Yuvraj was a fine move. He is another player badly in need of a rest. It was great to see Mongia seize the opportunity. It just goes to show that there is plenty of talent outside of the current bunch provided the selectors are willing to give others a chance.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the lower order batsman practicing their batting. Given this it is shameful that Bhajji, Agarkar, Munaf and RP combined could barely make 5 runs! This an area the Aussies always excel. After having lost the top half, the rest fought back to take the score to 213. Haddin is slowly being groomed to take over from Gilchrist. Clarke and Watson had to sit out this match. This just shows that the Aussie bench strength is simply unparalleled. On paper (and most often on the field), the Aussies are far ahead of all other teams. India for sure does not have what it take to beat the Aussies. At best, India can pull off an odd ODI victory or two.

The only thing that can stop the Aussies is some superlative on the field performance. At the present moment I think the only team that is likely to come up with of such a superlative on the field performance are the “hit and miss” WI. They are capable of such extremes that most teams are incapable off. The final tonight will be another test of the WI unpredictability as much as it is a test of the Aussie invincibility.

Author: Pran Kurup

Pran Kurup is founder and CEO of Vitalect, Inc. View all posts by Pran Kurup