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Battle for
the Asian peak New kids Nadal on
greener grass Italian
Job |
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The camaraderie developed during the IPL will count for little as top cricketers from the sub-continent don national colours to fight it out for the Asia Cup, writes Abhijit Chatterjee
WE can forget the 25-run defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the three-nation tournament which concluded in Bangladesh earlier this month, India, on current form, should start firm favourites in the Asia Cup, beginning on June 24 in Pakistan. Even if Pakistan and Sri Lanka are formidable rivals on any give day, India should not find the going tough if they can execute a proper gameplan. The one thing, which can be said about the defeat in Bangladesh, is the fact that Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is still to make a mark in international cricket as a leader of men, even if he has won a nail-biting series against Australia in Australia. This defeat in Bangladesh will only help him to finalise his strategy for the Asia Cup with more focus. The three-nation tournament in Bangladesh helped the cricketers of the three nations to size up each other, hone their skills and plan with an eye on the Asia Cup. The deficiencies in the squads have been pinpointed and the drawbacks, hopefully, plugged. Therefore, even if the weather is not kind in the sub-continent at this time of the year the cricket should be competitive.
Even if they start as favourites it does not mean that India can take either Pakistan or Sri Lanka, winners of the last edition of the Asia Cup at Colombo, lightly. And it must be remembered that it were the underdogs Bangladesh who put paid to the World Cup aspirations of both India and Pakistan in the last edition of the tournament in the West Indies. This time around the Bangladesh team is in the processing of rebuilding and the defeats in the three-nation tournament at home can only have dented their confidence. But it does not mean that on a given day the underdogs cannot pull the carpet from under the feet of the more accomplished teams in the tournament. Therefore no team can let their guards down in the Asia Cup although teams like Hong Kong and the UAE will be there to pick up the experience of playing against more accomplished teams. For India to do well one thing is sure: the batsmen will have to play to their full potential, specially since the middle-order is yet to fire. In fact given the rollicking start given by openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag time and again, the middle-order has had very little to do. But in a crunch situation like the final at Dhaka the openers failed and the middle-order didn’t live up to the expectations. Now is the time for players like Rohit Sharma, Yusaf Pathan (who must understand that there is a lot of difference between the 50-over variety and the twenty20 game) and Suresh Raina to cement their places in the squad. This Indian team is a team of the future with stalwarts like Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid shown the door, probably forever. Test captain Anil Kumble has voluntarily opted out of the team quite some time ago. That leaves only master blaster Sachin Tendulkar from the squad, which took India to great heights in the last decade. But eventually Indian cricket will have to think beyond Tendulkar. For Pakistan the Asia Cup is important for more than one reason. In fact, a committee closely monitored the security aspect of the Asia Cup before the all-clear was given as late as last month. The ICC women’s World Cup qualifiers were shifted from Pakistan to South Africa and then Australia decided to postpone their tour of the country. So this Asia Cup does provide an opportunity to Pakistan to showcase itself that all is well. On the cricketing front Pakistan have to prove that their win in the three-nation tournament in Dhaka was not a flash in the pan specially after their 140-run defeat at the hands of India which ended their 12-win streak, even if they came against lowly Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
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New kids Hong Kong are grouped alongside India and Pakistan and are still trying to earn their tag as a minnow. The highest scorer for Hong Kong is their captain Tabak Dar with a total of 56 runs to his credit. This is the second time Hong Kong are participating in the Asia Cup after being a part of the 2004 edition of the tournament. With cricket not being big in the country, the team had demanded a few days of practice and some practice matches ahead of the Asia Cup. But the Pakistan Cricket Board turned down this request citing logistical reasons. Zakir Khan, the PCB's director of operations, had said. "We refused and said they must arrive on June 21, according to the Asian Cricket Council’s approval for every team." UAE had participated in the last World Cup held in the sub-continent in 1996. They didn’t exactly make their mark at the event but well having a World Cup display backing them up might, make them favourites for beating Hong Kong atleast. Saqib Ali will lead the UAE side, who are coming off a disappointing campaign in the ICC Intercontinental Cup, managing just one win in seven matches. Saqib was the only one to play all seven games, and he was the team's leading run-getter, with 690 runs at an average of 57.50. With 17 wickets each, medium-pacer Arshad Ali and left-arm spinner Khurram Khan were the top wicket-takers for the team, and will lead the attack in Pakistan.
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Nadal on
greener grass
Bjorn Borg was great on grass. But the Swede also excelled on clay. Five Wimbledon titles and four French Open crowns testified to his matchless class. And when he handed over the sparkling French Open trophy to Rafael Nadal — who lifted it for the fourth time on trot — with an indulgent smile on his lips, Borg was perhaps looking deep into a successor to his legacy, for he too had won the French Open four times in a row. Roger Federer, who has failed to exorcise the terrifying ghost of Rafael Nadal on clay at the Roland Garros Stadium, now faces the spectre of Nadal's larger-than-image looming over him in the Wimbledon Tennis Championship too (23 June-6 July). Nadal, the south paw, not only stands to gain the no. 1 spot if he does well in the All England Club arena, but will also shake off the image of a "clay court wonder". The Spaniard's title win at the Queen's Club grass court tournament in London, considered a "warm-up" for Wimbledon, defeating Novak Djokovic, a week following his French Open triumph, and a week preceding Wimbledon, has sent out unsettling signals to Federer, who is threatened to be dominated on grass as well. Nadal is the first player to win the French and the Queen's titles in the space of a week. If it’s not Nadal, then Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic, American Andy Roddick, David Nalbandian and Lleyton Hewitt of Australia can push Federer around. The withdrawal of former no. 1 Carlos Moya due to injury may not affect he men's field much, which has just one local star in the fray in Scottish-born Andy Murray. Federer really dreads Nadal, who recorded the quickest Grand Slam victory at Roland Garros, which rewrote Jimmy Connors' four-set Wimbledon sweep over John McEnroe in 1984. The 22-year-old Nadal's whipping forehand, accurate sliced backhands and superb athleticism will be too hard for the ageing legs of Federer to match, though Nadal will have to draw on all his skills and ingenuity to master Federer on grass. The Swiss can elevate his game to a different plane when on a roll, and this aspect will deter Nadal from taking the defending champion for granted. But rest assured, Nadal is not going to rest on his French Open laurels, for sure. Nadal leads Federer 11-6 in head-to-head series, and even Federer has accepted his namesis' formidable talent. "He’s much better on defence, much better on offence", Federer had said after his French Open defeat. To confound matters for the world no. 1, Federer has not had much success this year, his only two titles coming at the clay court event at Estoril (Portugal) and at Halle. In the women’s event, 20-year-old Serb Ana Ivanovic, with her first Grand Slam victory at the French Open in her third attempt, will add spice to the field, which will be dominated by Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva, the Williams sisters--Serena and Venus--and the strong brigade from Russia and its neighbouring little countries. Ivanovic gained the No 1 spot when she defeated fellow-Serb Jelena Jankovic in the semis. And if she display the same kind of determination that fetched her first Grand Slam title, then the women's contest will also witness a lot of fireworks, the spotlight shifting away from the predicables. India’s Sania Mirza has only flattered to deceive, as her lack of consistency, but for an upset win here and there, makes it difficult to put one's money on her possibilities. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will not team up for Wimbledon. The Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy entered the title round in the ATP event at Halle, to give their morale a big boost ahead of Wimbledon while Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna played a couple of ATP events together, though Mahesh will be partnering Mark Knowles in the richest grass-court championship in London.
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Italian
Job
Forget the defeat by Netherlands and the draw with Romania because Italy’s 2-0 win over France showed the world champions are finally on the move. The Letzigrund Stadium, where they sealed a place in the quarterfinals of Euro 2008 is more famous for athletics and the fabulous Weltklasse meeting featuring world and Olympic champions than it is for soccer. As every track fan knows, making a move at the right time, together with a little luck, are essential to winning races. They are also the key to success at major soccer tournaments and Italy might just be moving into top gear at the right time. If Euro 2008 was an 800-metre race, the potential medallists would now all be bunched at the bell at the end of the first lap, poised to start the sprint for home. Italy started very slowly, and had no luck, in the first few strides, conceding a controversial goal in a 3-0 loss to the Dutch when Christian Panucci played Ruud van Nistelrooy onside despite the defender being off the field at the time. But against Romania, Gianluigi Buffon saved a late penalty to earn Italy a point in a 1-1 draw, and versus France the tide turned their way as early as the 10th minute. Franck Ribery, the creative playmaker in the French side, injured his knee and was driven off the field on a medical cart after a rash challenge on Gianluca Zambrotta. France had to reorganise but left gaps in midfield and 15 minutes later suffered another calamity when central defender Eric Abidal was red-carded for a foul on Luca Toni and they had to play for more than an hour with only 10 men. Andrea Pirlo converted the subsequent penalty, Italy were ahead for the first time in the tournament and they consolidated their lead with a deflected second-half piledriver from Daniele De Rossi to secure a hard-earned 2-0 victory. Italy next meet Spain in the quarterfinal in Vienna. Indeed, this is not even the slowest start they have made to a tournament. In 1982, they began the World Cup with three dull draws against Poland (0-0), Peru (1-1) and Cameroon (1-1). Italian journalists whistled coach Enzo Bearzot when he took a training session before the last group match with the African side that nonetheless saw them squeeze into the next stage. Three weeks later Bearzot had the last laugh after his men were crowned world champions, beating West Germany 3-1 in the final with wins over Argentina and Brazil along the way. — Reuters
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Forget
From the Indian
perspective, the Indian skipper has shown maturity beyond the years,
specially in the tour of Australia when in the face of the gravest
provocation he did not lose his cool and marshalled his resources
extremely well. He also exhibited his leadership qualities in abundant
measure while leading his squad to a win in the inaugural T20 World Cup
as also while leading the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. Dhoni loves to
lead from the front, and here one finds a lot of similarities between
him and former India star Kapil Dev, although both performed different
functions in the squad. Like Kapil, Dhoni plays more by impulse and gut
feeling and that was probably his undoing in the Dhaka final when
Pakistan went past India after taking a pasting in the league stage.
