why this fixation with 'domination'...?

shared by straight point on Tuesday, March 08, 2011

look around almost everybody is so animatedly disappointed with team india's performance so far... the reason being...?

we are not dominating while still winning... we should blast our opponents out in our quest to win world cup...

since the fall of oz empire... no team can be called the true dominating team in the world... in fact any of first 5-6 teams can defeat one another on its day... and for no reason this world cup is being called the most open world cup so far...

but still the narrative seems set... just dominate...

as if the world cup trophy will value less if we were to win in anything less than the domination fashion... as if it is written in holy books of world cup that only the team that win... sorry blast its opponent is entitled to the world cup trophy...

the better suggestion to those seeking domination from team india will be to watch or play cricket on play-station where they can make team india do what they want it to do on field... coz i am more than happy if we score just one run more or restrict them to just one run less in our way to the win the title... specially given the conditions this world cup is being played in... the resources and limitations we have in certain aspect of game like fielding etc...

in fact i feel better that team india is winning more and more consistently despite not playing 'dominating cricket'... which means team india accept, understand and yet prevail over the limitations instead of cribbing about it... which is the beauty of sport and the team i follow...

25 comments:

Golandaaz said...

expecting India to dominate Ireland is just asking them to play to form.

The way India struggled against Ireland shows weakness in bowling and a shaky middle order when the opposition bowl well, field well, and spin the ball

namya said...

COmpletely agree SP.. look at teams like Sri Lanka.. they will always dominate a Canada but come out cropper against a Pak.. Rather prefer consistency over domination of minnows

straight point said...

are you talking about same ireland that won chasing 330 odd runs against arguable better bowling attack than us...?

one lucky run-out in kohli and one freakish out in gambhir is what you call shaky middle order...?

straight point said...

namya... sanga has already started cribbing about playing last league match in bombay... oops mumbai... sorry raj... :)

Govind Raj said...

Whatever we say, the current Indian batting line up can't be called shaky or wobbly.

We have seen teams crumbling like cookies against sustained pressure on difficult pitches. Saffers did. Lanka did. Pakistan did [against Canada]. England did and so did all the minnows.

At 100 odd for 4, it was a tough situation. But India lost just one more wicket and won with 4 overs to spare in spite of a crawl. This proves we have the best batting line up.

SP, like it or not... Pathan @ No. 7 is like a Dagger hanging over the head for opponents. You have repeatedly advocated dropping him in favor of any Tom, Dick and Chawla.

But if India are to go any where near the title, it won't be without Pathan ! He is the Cricket's version of Rajnikant :-)

straight point said...

exactly that is why i am saying no team is dominating in the world cup...

sa looked unbeatable till the england match... england just about managed to scrape against netherland... so instead of criticizing our team we should be praising ireland team that they made us sweat it out in the middle for future battles...

regarding pathan... minor correction there... i am not against him... i am against no.7 batsman that happens to be him... :)

Golandaaz said...

So 100-4 against Ireland is a solid performance?

I am not making a general statement about India's middle order.

Just that India played like pussies in that particular one game.

It could be a one-off but I think it signifies something bigger. Perhaps we can't handle the pressure of the world cup

straight point said...

what i am saying that two of that wickets were freakish that does not happen everyday... but can happen even against 'minnows'...

sometimes i feel even if we show trust on our team we show on the shallow performances of other teams... we and our team will be better... ;)

Govind Raj said...

Gol and SP...

Two sides of the same coin...

India were a bit over confident to start and Viru and Gautam were freak dismissals. Virat was an unnecessary run out. So in the given circumstances, it was not a bad thing, considering India managed to win with wickets and overs to spare.

But on the flip side, what will happen if we have two more freak dismissals and a run out against Saffers or in the worst case in a knock out match ?

So... This can be taken as a learning curve.

SP, go through our records over the past 7 years. You will realize India have done better with 7 batsmen than with 5 bowlers !

Golandaaz said...

by the time virat got out, we should have won the game

straight point said...

But on the flip side, what will happen if we have two more freak dismissals and a run out against Saffers or in the worst case in a knock out match ?

doc... matches are not played with this negativity in mind... is it...?

this team is way more professional to be perturbed by that...

in past seven years how many times we have played with 5 bowlers in first place...? think can be counted on single finger... way too short to form a judgment that we have done better... :)

straight point said...

gol... sometimes giving due credit to opponents... even if minnow... doesn't harm anybody... :)

Vidooshak said...

SP, I agree that winning is more important than it's prettiness or dominatrix (there, I just coined a word). The problem seems to be that India are neither efficient, nor dominating. They just seem to be fumbling to victory or somewhat lackadaisical. Even against Bangladesh, Tendulkar was carelessly run out and the kittens (i can't bring myself to call them tigers) were allowed to score 280+. Will this brand of winning sustain itself to win a World Cup?

Unknown said...

I don't know why is there so much of negativity surrounding the Indian team.

It's not as if these shortcomings have suddenly appeared... they have been there for a sustained period of time. Despite this, India as managed to maintain a No. 2 rank in ODIs.

Ireland played a wonderful game that day... as they have played in the entire tournament. Let's give credit where it's due!

Like SP said, I have no problems if India is winning even by a margin of 1 run. Yes, there are people or performance below potential in every game, but that is bound to be there no matter how goo we get!

Leela said...

Agree with you SP... I am happy the team is winning, happier that they are sort of under the radar!

straight point said...

vidoo... i tweeting something similar to this before the start of world cup... hope you will get the hint as the answer of your comment...

although as cricket lovers we want to see minnows creating upsets or at least pushing major teams to sweat it out in the middle... but not necessarily against the teams we follow... :)

straight point said...

yes shri... but somehow we want to make this india team what it is not...

guess we are still living in the hangover of oz empire days... :)

straight point said...

welcome leela... long time...

yes... the way we slip very easily into a complacent mode without even an invitation... i am glad that ireland stretched us a bit... :)

Ruchik said...

Its not about dominating; its about the balance of the side; the bowling in particular; our bowling looks weak very weak..On pitches that are flat our batting may not compensate for the bowling;Hence the criticism; India never were overwhelming favorites; just the media in India hyped it up.Hence the criticism seems harsh compared to the worshiping earlier before the tournament,

straight point said...

Its not about dominating; its about the balance of the side; the bowling in particular; our bowling looks weak very weak..On pitches that are flat our batting may not compensate for the bowling;

ruchik... india have become no.1 in tests and no.2 in odi by playing on these so called roads and with so called weak bowling... :)

Govind Raj said...

SP... india have become no.1 in tests and no.2 in odi by playing on these so called roads and with so called weak bowling.

They have done this also because they have played with 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers.

This logic was perhaps seriously implemented by Ganguly with Dravid's support during the 2003 WC. India benched Kumble in favor of Dinesh Mongia and they did well on bowler friendly South African pitches because Srinath, Zaheer and Nehra bowled superbly till the final.

Ever since, more often than not, India have tried to bury the opponents under volumes of runs in both tests and ODIs. India have scored more 300+ totals than any other team since then and chased down bigger scores more often than others.

But this idea probably took wings thanks to the 325 chase against England.

Perhaps if India were to nurture Irfan Pathan in a better manner, we still would be playing with 5 bowlers.

And... more importantly, You said you had nothing against Yusuf Pathan and it is just about the 7th batsman. I believe if a batsman has to be benched in favor of a bowler, then it is NOT Pathan. It has to be Gambhir / Kohli / Sehwag. Reason is simple, these three are not bowling much. So, only two of the 3 can be accommodated in the 11, not all 3. Sachin too doesn't bowl much, but he is beyond discussion in India. So logically the axe should fall on Virat and not Pathan.

This is my take on 7 + 4 vs 6 + 5 !

straight point said...

doc... we would have been no.1 in both... tests and odis... if we used 6+5 in odis... this is my take... :)

Unknown said...

SP, on your response to Govind, I cannot say whether India would have been No. 1 in both Tests and ODIs. But whatever the case, it's very apparent that India is uncomfortable playing 6+5 in any format.

I have nothing against trying out a 6+5 strategy... I see merits in both of these strategies. But as far as the World Cup is concerned, I think it would be foolish to even think of trying out 6+5 right now... having never tried it out in the lead up to the World Cup!

Maybe for 2015...!

Govind Raj said...

Shridhar, I too agree with you that 'THIS' is not the time to experiment.

Howsoever low the level might have been, I too have played cricket till I was engulfed by my profession. And I was a bowler and a,leg spinner at that. So I am always for bowlers. I too believe we should have '5' bowlers. But that can be possible only if you have a bowling allrounder of the quality of Kallis, Cairns, Oram, Styris, Watson, Shakib, Angelo or Broad.

Unfortunately only one such guy in India is Irfan Pathan. And it is doubly unfortunate that our selectors never think of nurturing special talents.

Dhoni himself is not a great supporter of Pathan brothers. Yusuf has bulldozed himself into the team. Else it would have been His Highness Ravindra Jadeja playing !

When we can't have a world class bowling all-rounder, it makes sense to have two or three batting all-rounders who can chip in with 10 - 15 - 20 overs collectively.

As long as we don't get someone like the Irfan Pathan of 2003 - 2005 days, we will have to play with 7 + 4 !

straight point said...

shri... doc...

after losing the match in champions trophy dhoni said that batters will have to take more responsibility and played 5 bowlers instead and won the match...

playing 5 bowlers is NOT an 'expertiment' per se... it is the question of strategy like sending pathan up the order if the platform is good to encash it... which does not require 'practice'...

here is link from past from sp what dhoni said at that time... please read it before making comment...

http://www.straightpoints.com/2009/09/one-match-too-late-dhoni.html

about me...

BCC!straight point (sp) is restless... relentless... but a fun loving guy... likes to live life to fullest... trying to discover himself through cricket... welcome to this little world of his...

sp is also a bored member at BCC!

sp tweets

     


    © straight points
    straight points by sp is licensed under a creative commons attribution noncommercial-no derivative works 2.5 india license. based on a work at straightpoints.blogspot.com
    this blog takes no responsibility for statements posted by participants

    this blog is best viewed with Mozilla FireFox at a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels
    thanks for the visit!!