The Countdown Begins

Re Saad,

I must say you have a knack for writing about cricket history. Have you considered providing some analysis (not neccessarrily match summaries, but rather ``putting the goings on in a historical context``?) for the upcoming World Cup on chowk?

Myself, I don`t remember much before the tragedy that was the ``Reliance`` Cup (Is it just me that sees the irony of the angrez beating both India and Pakistan in that competition). `87 I would like to add Imran Khan also messed up by miscounting overs and giving the last one to Saleem Jaffer, who got hammered for 18. (We lost by 18)

Also, in `92 (which I have memorized ball by ball) I think Pakistan made 249 and not 250.

Thanks for the wonderful historical commentary though.

Faraz

Soem indelible memories of previous World Cups:

In 1975 ...

- Murray and Roberts in last-wicket stand against Pakistan. Pakistan lost that group match to the West Indies (eventual champions) after they had them 9 wickets down needing over 60 more runs.

- Clive Lloyd`d century in the final.


In 1979 ...

- Brilliant 167-run partnership for the 2nd wicket between Zaheer Abbas (93) and Majid Khan (81), as Pakistan chased 296 in the semi-final against the mighty West Indies. The later order could not maintain the initiative and Pakistan lost by 40-odd runs.

- The incomparable Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (138) and the formidable Collis King (86) in an unforgettable partnership in the final, which was followed by Joel Garner`s unplayable spell to complete a crushing defeat for England.


In 1983 ...

- All the great memories from 1983 have to be of India. Prior to 1983, the only Indian victory in World Cup competition had been against East Africa. In the final they faced an outstanding West Indian team which was generally acknowledged as the best team of the time and one of the best in the entire history of international cricket. Although the West Indies were chasing a modest Indian score, they started badly when Balwinder Singh Sandhu bowled the legendary Gordon Greenidge with an in-cutter that Greenidge had decided to leave well alone. Then Kapil Dev pulled off a catch off Viv Richards for which he had to run several yards and which came from behind his right shoulder - it had seemed a physical impossibility until Kapil actually caught it. The stage was then set for Mohinder Amarnath to rifle through the rest of the West Indian might and win the cup for India. [RanaRansher, please share your memories of the Indian World Cup win with us.]



In 1987 ...

Both India and Pakistan were formidable throughout the tournament, but lost in the semi-finals. India were undone by Graham Gooch, who scored an impeccable hundred in the semi-final. Pakistan were undone by Umpire Dickie Bird, who erroneously gave Imran Khan caught off the pad to Border when Imran and Miandad were consolidating the Pakistan total at a crucial stage.



In 1992 ...

- The memory of Inzamam-ul-Haq effortlessly butchering the New Zealand bowling attack in the semi-final will live on forever. He came in when Pakistan were in dire straits, having lost crucial wickets cheaply and with the required run-rate climibing steeply. And then he set about picking boundaries, virtually at will. At the other end, the immortal Javed Miandad kept things ticking with machiavellian ones and twos. After Miandad got out, Moin Khan came in and belted a six onto the grandstand balcony. I think he probably also hit the winning run. Up until that match, New Zealand had been flawless, with Greatbatch as the slog opener, Martin Crowe as the batting anchor, Deepak Patel and others as the highly methodical and accurate attack, and everyone throwing themselves into a perfect fielding routine. Unfortunately for them, right at the last minute Unpredictable Pakistan got in the way.

- In the final, Imran Khan and Javed Miandad again came together at a crucial moment in Pakistan`s innings and this time they buried the demons and exorcised the ghosts of Lahore, 1987. Their long partnership set the stage for Inzamam and Wasim Akram, who had superb late-innings knocks to take Pakistan to 250. England started badly, losing Ian Botham in the first over to Wasim Akram off a questionable decision. Then Aaqib Javed had Alec Stewart caught behind. Before they could recover, Mushtaq forced Gooch to mistime a sweep. He then bamboozled Graeme Hicks with a googly that Hicks jabbed at like a novice and was caught plumb in front. Alan Lamb and Neil Fairbrother tried to regroup for England and slowly built a partnership, but just when they were thretening to run away with it, Imran brought Wasim Akram back into the attack. There is no need to try to imagine the most theoretically unplayable delivery because Wasim Akram bowled it in that over to Alan Lamb. Travelling with genuine velocity, the ball pitched at a perfect length heading for leg stump, then sharply cut away and smashed Lamb`s off-stump. When Akram hit the bails on the next delivery by slicing Chris Lewis in two with a huge inswinger, everyone knew it was all over.



1996 ... later.

Saad

I think the bits-n-pieces utility players will play a big role in the coming WC99. The 1st 15 over run blitz will not be that easy. Matches will be low scoring.

In the upcoming games India should try and blood all rounders like Shukla. Choices between Robin Singh, Agarkar & Shukla will be made. I think they should all be included even if it is done at the expense of Prasad. THe other allrounders in the reckoning are part time off spinners (Kanitkar and Sehwag). Also I do not think 2 specialist spinners are required. A choice between Kumble and Chopra should be made. Tendulkar can fill in the spot of the other spinner. Between Ganguly, SRT and Robin Singh they can cover 20 overs.
THe middle order has a lot of contenders. Kambli, Khurasia and Jadeja are vying for 2 batting spots.

With regards to Pakistan. I think Sohail should be included. I recently read an article where Rameez Raja pointed out that the only reason Sohail has not been included is because he is a difficult individual to handle (bribery accusations in this matter may be irrelevant). He is too good to exclude just because of that. Check out his web site www. aamirsohail.com and you will realise what exactly Rameez means.

Lanka is in a bit of fix. They are weak in the bowling department. But if all their batsman fire it will be a different story.

South Africa has the best battery of utility players. Klusener, Kallis, Pollack are all ideal England players. My bet would be South Africa.
But then the `83 Indian team was very weak on paper and they still surprised the mighty Windies with a battery of utility players (Binny, Maddi Paa, Prabhakar, Azad) and wicket to wicket bowling.

I would not write off the Windies as of yet. They were runners-up in the recent Dhaka mini world cup. THey have good bowlers who are accustomed to English conditions. THere problems lie with batting. However, the recent Test victory against Aus has raised some hopes. If Lara becomes Lara again, then it will be a new look Windies squad.
There biggest problem is that only one member (Chanderpal) is below 30 !!

Well Rana Ransher had made the point in the other article about Pakistani fans being fixated on Imran and Miandad. While it was Akram`s heroics that were the main contribution to WC `92 (ahh...such memories), it was the two old men that led us to victory.

The challenge for Akram is the same. If he can lead Pakistan to a world cup win at Lords, he will get the same level as Imran and Javed.

Regarding the potential line up; the Sohail situation needs to be resolved now instead of two dayd before the deadline (which is probably what will happen). Also Ijaz? I think not. Too old, too streaky, never-when-it-counts kind of guy. Waqar is trickier. If he`s not playing, the attack will definitely be lacking but if he does play...Pakistan will give up a lot of runs.

The Groups:

Group A: England,India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe,Kenya

Group B: Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand,West Indies, Bangladesh, Scotland

So one decent team from each group will get eliminated in the first round. Probably Windies and Lanka.

Wonder who I`d like us to play and beat in the final at Lords?

Faraz

Personally,

I don`t think Pakistan stands a chance. I will be happy if they make it to the semi final. The lack of batting depth will kill them in there.

I am looking forward to some good batting from Tendu and Anwar individally though. Akram hopefully will light up with Akhtar in England.

Also, I think S. Africa has a good realistic chance of getting it this time.