Can India Retain the Crown ?

In an incredible display of power batting, R Sharma and Gauti put on 140 runs for the first wicket off 16 overs and India won the match effortlessly. Sharma scored 80 off 53 balls and Gambhir 52 off 47.

In this warm up match, Praveen Kumar got an early breakthrough, when he got Shahzaib, but Akman and Shehzad threatened to take the match away from India. From 4 overs 40 runs were on the board, most of them through dashing hits to the fence. Then Raina ran out Akmal ! Afridi lashed at Irfan and was well caught by Dhoni for a blob. Suddenly Pak were 63/5.

Indian fans were elated as the day belonged to India. The swing bowlers shone. Also the spin duo of Ojha and Bajji. India appears to be a well balanced side.

In the other match, RSA proved to be too formidable. They contained SL to 109/9. We had said that their bowling is lethal in these columns. They have now thrashed two former World Champions !

Can this Indian team retain the Crown ?

Here is their individual perfomance

( Star, International Match, Runs, IPL, Runs )

Dhoni 5 61 30 746
Sehwag 5 56 25 604
Gambhir 5 102 29 820
Raina 5 96 30 855
Rohit 4 19 29 766
Yuvraj 4 114 29 639
Yousuf 3 42 29 678

Bowlers stats

Bajji 4 3 16 17
Zaheer 3 2 17 19
Irfan 5 5 28 32
R P Singh 1 1 30 38
Ishant 4 2 24 18

It was an inexperienced India, who pulled off that spectacular upset - The T20 World Cup 07 ! That too surpassing formidable teams like SA and Australia ! Then India's experience was one T20 match !

After the 07 World Cup, India has grown by leaps and bounds. Not only in T20s, but in ODIs and Tests as well. This is a more experienced India, after two IPL seasons, their stars have become more famous. Their batsmen are amongst the runs, their bowlers have got wickets, as the tables show.

When India beat Pak in the 07 final, it was the 46th match. T20 has grown up after that. When on May 07, in Dubai, when Aussies met Pak, it was the 89th match. After the Johag 07 final, 43 international T20 matches were played . Even though not international, two IPL seasons saw T20 Cricket rise high.

Now the doubt has crept into the Indian mind ? Can India retain the Crown ? Will Dame Fortune or Luck or Chance or Providential factor or whatever you call it, will She grace India ? Logically it should, as the present Indian team is far more experienced than the 2007 side, which won the 07 Cup.

After that Johag final, India did not retain their reputation as the best side. They lost to Australia Down Under, lost to NZ twice in NZ and floundered against NZ again in the warm up match.

But in the last warm up match, which was played yesterday, they thrashed Pak by nine wickets. With R Sharma and Gauti putting on 140 for the first wicket !

India's performances are always mercurial. They win the World Cup sometimes. They lose to some of the weakest teams ! A mercurial team !

Indian players play well in IPL, like professional footballers who play well for their clubs, but not for their nations ! This allegation in football has crept into cricket also !

The tables show that Raina, Yousuf etc had played magnificent cricket in IPL. Can they continue the same form in 09 WC T20 ? And Indian bowlers ? If they do, India can retain the Crown !



Article by G Kumar,astrologer, writer & programmer of
www.eastrovedica.com. He has 25 years psychic research
experience in the esoteric arts. He gives free tips at
http://www.eastrovedica.net and stock market investment
advice can be got at http://www.stockmarketastrology.com