Letter of the Day

I believe the current VB series in Australia is churning out some of the finest one day cricket seen in a long time.

The Indian think tank should see each game the Kiwis have played to learn how to play one day cricket.

We may be on a high right now but none of our cricketers (incl. Ganguly and Sehwag) except Tendulkar will last in the World Cup against these 3 sides that has shown great skills. The current Indian team has no chance to even reach next year's World Cup. They will surely disappoint the huge audience back home unless they improve leaps and bounds in one year.

Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and probably Pakistan have the best chance to win next World Cup.

Indian team's overall athleticism and physical fitness is woeful as compared to these 5 sides.

Some of the things our team can learn from the VB Series:

(1) Field Placement of Stephen Fleming for each batsman at his strengths and weakness rather than the conventional field all the time. Ganguly or who ever captain's India in the next World Cup can learn how Fleming guarded his troops for each batsman and continuously talked to his bowlers. Especially, for Herchelle Gibbs and Damien Martyn.

(2) How to win a run chase in a dire situation. India always buckles while chasing. Chris Cairns earlier and Michael Bevan today showed how to chase an impossible total. Every Indian team batsman should watch these two tapes so many times that it drills in their mind. Our players only seem to know to hit out of the ground or get out. See how Michael Bevan scored 5 two's in the 49th over. It is really worth watching many times over.

(3) Bowling of young Shane Bond, James Franklin, Shaun Pollock and Glen McGrath. Our bowlers are no where in the league to put pressure on other teams. They always look tired when hit for few boundaries.

(4) I think the biggest mistake India will do in the World Cup will be playing Harbhajan and Anil Kumble together. South African wickets do not turn as we have seen so many times and our big name spinners always fail to impress on the big occasion.

I am not a pessimistic person but just a simple fan who wants to see some improvement in the national record but the VB series is clearly showing how far back we are in one day cricket in terms of fitness, athleticism, fielding, planning and running between the wicket.

Hitting talent of Sehwag and Ganguly will be nipped in the bud by bowling to their weakness and they have plenty. Dravid is not a player fit for one-day cricket despite his big name. He does not have the plan or the strokes on how to play one-day cricket. His misfit personality was clearly visible in the concluded series in Sri Lanka where he could not score 6 runs in the last over. Only Sachin, Ajit Agarkar and now Ajay Ratra seem to me like thinking cricketers. Please ask the Indian team to watch these tapes or we will hear the same excuses next year.

Pankaj Sharma