One Day Internationals... A thing of the past?

Well.. the Asia Cup 08 is underway. Its for the supremacy in cricket in the sub-continent. Three big teams of the sub-continent, viz, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are gonna fight it out for the top spot in Asian Cricket. Looks like this tournament has got everything needed to be a cracker of a tournament. Isn't it?


But has this tournament been how it should have been? Any tournament involving India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have always been interesting. But Asia Cup '08 has been anything but that. It is boring to say the least. Even the much-awaited Indo-Pak contest was a no-contest.


There has been no excitement about this tournament anywhere. The media has pushed this to their last few pages. Wimbledon and Euro Cup have been much more interesting. The attendance in these matches has been really poor. Even the blogging community has suddenly gone little quiet. I don't know about the TV audience for this tournament. But I really believe that even that must have gone down. I have only seen the match between India and Pakistan in this tournament. By the end of it even I was continuously surfing between different channels. My mother who had left watching the saas-bahu soaps during the IPL has gone back to her serials. The Asia Cup has turned into an absolutely inconsequential tournament.


I have been wondering why? I was discussing with a friend whose reply was prompt. He said that it was really boring to watch ODI's after the IPL. I guess that is the sole reason for the fate of Asia Cup. It was already predicted by many of us that T20 will definitely affect the ODI's. The response to this tournament definitely proves that point. People have got used to 3 hour matches after the IPL. Watching the match for one whole day in such a busy world is something not many are able to do. After IPL, people want to see big hitting throughout the match. Its not that interesting to see batsmen taking only singles during the middle overs in an ODI.


Also the no-contests are contributing to the failure of this tournament. There are 2 teams which are there as fillers. Hong Kong & UAE have been thrashed by all the teams. If tournaments have to be made interesting you cannot have matches where strong team thrashes the minnows black & blue. Then there is Banlgadesh who it seems just doesn't want to improve. They always want to remain minnows who are able to spring a surprise once or twice. Then there are the big names in Asian Cricket: India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. Among these India and Pakistan have played between them and even that was a poor contest. Pakistan in that day definitely looked like minnows, esp their bowling. Now the tournament is in its II phase. Hope to see some good contests here.


However the bottom line remains that T20 is making ODI' s suffer. It seems that ODI's were a thing of the past which people want to forget. The reason for which people thought T20 will replace test are true in case of ODI's. And by the look of it, ODI's are suffering more.


I don't think that three versions of a game can co-exist at the same time. Imagine a tournament having 3 test, 5 ODI's and then 3/5 T20. Imagine the time taken to complete this kin f a tournament. As for me, I see ODI's being thrown out of the window to accomodate tests and T20's.


ICC will definitely have to look into this matter and find a solution. There is no point in continuing with tournaments like this Asia Cup if they are not going to be successful.

Pakistan Wins Kitply Cup

So its Pakistan who have won the Kitply Cup. Quite a surprise seeing the Pakistan team perform against India in the first match.


This was a really short tournament considering the general format used nowadays. A tournament between 3 teams consisting of only 3 matches is shorter than short. I never quite realised when it happened. Unfortunately my TV has been down for a week now and I havent been able to watch any of the matches.


Coming back to the match, Pakistan batted well today. I have been reading so much about Younis Khan in the other blogs. Everyone probably wants him out. He probably decided to answer his critics today. He made a century along with Salman Butt to help Pakistan post a good score. Two players who were not is very good form during the IPL contributed today. From India's point of view, Piyush Chawla went for big runs today. 10-0-85-0 is a crime in ODI's. Even Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma were expensive today. And Dhoni didn't have an answer when it came to the 5th bowler. Everyone went for runs.


The score of 315 was gettable at this pitch. However India had to make sure they got a good start. However, Sehwag couldn't last long. But with Gambhir and Rohit Sharma playing well, India still had hope. That was until Nasir Jamshed and Umar Gul decided to hunt in pairs and got rid of both.


Yuvraj played well but couldn't last long to see his team through to victory. So finally it was all left to Dhoni who tried his level best but couldn't find the support he was looking for from his team-mates. Finally India were bundled out for 290. Umar Gul was the pick of the bowlers picking up 4 wickets. Another one of those players who wasn't in good touch during the IPL.


After 2 big wins, India faltered when it mattered the most. However this series was only seen as a rehearsal for the upcoming Asia Cup. India must surely have picked up something good from this series and will probably not falter again at the big stage.

Should batsmen walk?

Should batsmen walk?

This is a question that was asked a few times during the IPL.

This has also been an issue of debate for quite some time.

Should the batsmen walk if they know that they are out....irrespective of the umpire's decision?

In this edition of IPL we saw a few times when the batsmen went when the umpire had given them not out. The two instances that I remember now are Srivats Goswami for BRC and Kumara Sangakara for KXP.

We have also seen Gilchrist walk every time he thinks he is out. In the last decade I can remember Azharuddin doing the same thing.

A more frequent scenario in cricket is a batsmen given out wrongly. During these occasions he has no choice but to go back to the pavillion without making much noise. There have been instances when such a decision has decided the match. So when the luck goes in favour of the batsmen for a change, why should he not take advantage?

Yes, on moral grounds he should leave. But then again, how much of that is really left in the game now? And why should it only apply to the batsmen?

Even the bowlers should then start to call back the batsmen if they feel that he is not out.

The fielders should take the responsibility to tell the umpires whether they have taken a catch cleanly or not. Why are these decisions refered to the 3rd umpire?

Imagine if a batsmen is given out wrongly in a match. Should't he be given a chance to say that he thinks he is not out. If the umpires take the word of a batsmen when he walks, wouldn't it then be fare to ask them if they are out or not?

Showing disrespect to umpires decision is punishable in cricket law books. If a batsman walks when the umpire hasn't given him out, then isn't he disrespecting the umpire's decision. Why do we praise him this time?

If you think morals should be there.. imagine a fielder claim a catch which is not cleanly taken. In some of these cases it is quite obvious that the fielder knows too well whether the catch is clean or not. But still he appeals and the case is refered to the 3rd umpire. Should't this fielder be punishable for showing immorality?

And if we feel that the players should be good enough to take the decisions themselves, why do we need the umpires?

I may be wrong in what I have written. Even I like it when I see players like Gilchrist & Sangakara who still have some morality left in them in this hard fought world of cricket. But the question is whether this show of morals is apt in today's scenario?