The Michael Holding column

stranger: : On paper Indian team appears to have it all that takes to win a championship. But the real test comes on field. I do agree that Indian team is very strong, much stronger than the team that won the world cup. But the major weakness of the side is its fielding.Going early to UK and getting adjusted to the playing consditions is a well thought idea, hope the indian team does that. My best wishes to the Indian team, may history repaet itself.

santhosh: gsanthoshkumar@hotmail.com: i fully agree with him, oniy thing indian team should be consistent in performing well.

Anand A Karyekar: karyeka@email.uc.edu: Yeah, he is justified in his optimism. But, as we all know, it all depends on the board. I am not sure, but the Indian team has only 3 warm up matches before the mega event. This may not be sufficient !!! (esp when star batsman Sachin is out of practice) Also playing in Sharjah may not give the requisite tuning since its a different ball game out there. The selectors are also playing their role (to add nuisance) by not selecting Kambli for World Cup at first instance, and then, sending him (with Sunil Joshi) to Sharjah

Shawn Ghose: aghose@airmail.net: Thank you Mr Holding. You are one of the best fast bowlers in the world and your views are more talking that from talking heads who give their oinions without having played top class cricket. Yes I think India can make it to the semis. Pakistan though has better fast bowlers and class spin bowler in Saqlain Mustaq.

Sheshadri: sheshadri_s@hotmail.com: Yes, I think that India will definitely win the World Cup

sriram: koo@ismail.com: i guess michael holding is trying to flatter the indians just because hes writing in rediff. india will be lucky if they beat kenya!!!

Sunil Kumar: krsunil@hotmail.com: Hi Mikey may be the greatest of bowlers, but he has not analyzed the indian team properly Indian team is very good on papers, due to very good record at home pitches and that is not the correct way to judge their stength. You need something more than skills and that is will to win matches. You would have seen the indian batting looked so vulnerable against pakis pace. It looked that they dont know art of playing pace bowling. No body even tried to leave outswinging bows instead they followed them so that to make the keepers job easy. They should learn from prasad the way he defended his wicket against Akhtar. What to tell about dravid, he is very good player of pace, but can u imagine player of such class playing on backfoot to a delivery which was just on good length what you can expect other than a plumb LBW. ganguly was thinking that akaram is a street bowler. And ramesh no where seems to trying to reach near the bowl and giving edge. remember SA has very good attack and so has England. India has to fight and overcome these deficiency in their skills to play fast bowlers to reach in super six. God knows what is going to happen Sunil K

Sumanth: sumanths@hotmail.com: I firmly believe India has a very well balanced and talented team. But when it comes to attitude, India's showing is few and far between. So all Indian supporters out there, look before you 'Reap' when the bookmakers open their doors.

ABHISHEK NAVRE: navre@emirates.net.ae: Yes Sir , I agree with you . Since i am an indian i believe that we have a good chance to win the world cup . We have strong batting line-up and a very good bowling side too but our fielding sucks so we have to agree with truth . so i wish to have a reply with some suggestions about my facts . yours truly abhishek ....

Murugan Gajapathy: mgajapathy@state.de.: Defenitely,

Dinesh: dine11@123india.com: yes!!......but i think mikey is just a little more optimistic...!!!.. his pounds may still be lost...!! south africa HAVE GOT to be the hands-down favourites..

Ketan Vira: vketan@hotmail.com: I like this new feature very much. U bet Mikey has got his thinking right, BUT there is a IF. India is playing ONLY 7 warm up games, actually the should've gone to England insted of Sharjah now

Jaydutt Joshi: jaydutt@hotmail.com: yes, ofcourse.... mike also forgot recently included mohanty who can swing the ball and would be very effective in english conditions... It's gonna be the repetition of 1983..

Mohan: mohan_raj@hotmail.com: Happy to read the article of "Mikey" Holding particularly what he had written about Indian players ability. But, I afraid those may become wrong thoughts on our players, when I saw the recent lost with the margin of 150+. Even if they couldn't won the matches in their home soil and batting track pitches, how could they make victory in the foreign soil which has fast bowling track. I do remember who got the small golden cup when ENG conducted last time. But, Here is the ?n of still we are having the same confidence of facing ace bowlers particularly from Pakistan ? May God Bless Our Team.

Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay: s_bandyopadhyay@mgmt.purdue.edu: It is nice to know that Mike Holding is placing his pounds on India, but I cannot. The team has too many of its components (players) untested, and they will be never tested as a team before the WC gets going. Where does Ramesh fit in? Ganguly? Khurasiya? Mohanty? Just to name a few... Winning once in while due to individual brilliance is one thing, taking a focused apporach of a set of dedicated individuals performing as a team (read South Africa) is another. My bets: SA, Australia, dark horse Pakistan. I would not be surprised (though mortified beyond recognition) is India fails to qualify for the final six. Harsh words, but heartfelt. Miracles like Kapil's Devils occur once in a lifetime (the Indian team, please, please, make me eat my words!)

Arun: anatara9@hotmail.com: His reflections on India's chances are what always is true for our team - looks strong on paper but the will to win is missing. I wonder what Mikey thinks after the Pepsi cup debacle!

Ganesh Sundararajan: ganeshs@nortelnetworks.com: Mikey might be optimistic, but my bet is India at the most will reach the semi-finals. That itself would be a great achievement as far as I am concerned.

Vikas Gupta: iamvikas@hotmail.com: Hi Michael Yes I do agree with you michael, but on papers. Because in ground you don't play with your statistics. How sound and technical good batsman you are it doesn't matter. In ground what matter is that how much will you have for Win. Do you have killer instinct. Do you know how to behave in ground as a winner. Can you make your presence felt to your opponent. That's what we don't have. We are good individually but as a team we are nothing. Just one man army or you can say 10 clowns carried by one man Sachin. Vikas

Arvind Kumar: arvind.kumar@rocketmail.com: Yes. Finally, a team with all members chosen on merit! Even I might root for India this time. However, don't forget Pakistan. They have a talented team too.

Ramkumar: ramkumar@ieee.org: With all due respects to the legendary Michael Holding, I feel that he is being a bit too optimistic.The Indian team is still hugely dependent on Sachin Tendulkar and it has to play well as a team to stand any chance.{Now,how many times have we said that?!}.The weather conditons in England will make it a totally different ball game and I feel that it would be asking our boys too much to win the cup.{I would love to be proved wrong!}

Sandeep Kadam: samcomp@hotmail.com: 'Mikey' Holding is very correct about the team and its capability. I still feel that Vinod Kambli should have made the 15 member squad for World Cup keeping in mind his strike rate and his very helpful experience in the middle order. I feel he would have turned a best asset in the middle order.

ankur: ankurbhai@yahoo.com: I think he is right about the talent of indian team but at the same time indian team also have some drawbacks that he didn't consider. Such as indian cricket team lacks positive thinking and killer instints. World cup winner team must have these two things. overall, his optimism is correct.

D V Sridharan: sridharandv@vsnl.com: either mikey is being polite to his indian patrons or he has fallen asleep... the business of this indian team is not cricket but business...ensure your tenure, sign the contracts and devil take the hindmost... c'mon mikey this team wont get past the cliffs of dover let alone the super-six

Sandeep Shetty: sandeepniit@hotmail.com: Good Article, But seeing the current form of INDIA and the people who are being replaced one after the other in One days doesn;t seem to me good becoz the balance of the team is broken. In Sharjah they should the likely team who is supposed to go to the World Cup. Thank You Sandeep



Durga Nand: dnand@cbsinc.com: NO; what really makes a team winner is teamspirit,great leadership by the captain and the best cricketing brains as coach(like Sunny , Kapil or Ravi ) not just a good cricketer,if anything is missing we should reduce the winning chances by 10% for each of three criteria.

Rafay Rizvi: RAFAYRIZVI@YAHOO.COM: HE IS RIGHT BUT INDIA SHOULD PRACTICE A LOT. THEY SHOULD KNOW HOW TO PLAY WITHOUT TENDULKER HOPE INDIA WINS THE WORLD CUP



Nafees Khan: nafees@iiasa.org: Yes!...I do believe that Mr. Holding is right in his assesment that India will go all the way, and I do have the conviction that India have the ability to take home the World Cup.

Amit: agdeshpande@hotmail.com: Yes Mikey is quite right in being optimistic about India's chances. With so many batsmen who can bowl the Indian team should be the envy of other countries participating in the world Cup. But unfortunatley the recent reverses against Pakistan without Sachin and Azhar seem to have created the impressions that the Indian team would be also-rans of the World Cup. Dont forget Azhar has tonnes of experience in the English conditions and Sachin has not done too badly either. Ganguly was dubbed 'the man with a golden arm' in 96 by the english media and Dravid in his debut series scored two near 100s there. Ok they were in the test matches. But in the ODIs too these players would be no chicken.And the other teams better take Mikey's words seriously. Wasn't he the one who said Lara may not be the right person to lead. His statements were vindicated when the Windies lost 0-5 to SA. So let's sit up and take note. Amit

sekhar srirangam: sekhar.srirangam@rossnutrition.com: I think MH is justified in his optimism. The team has talent but lacks coordinated effort, motivation and strategy to win.

Hemant Jaswal: hjaswal@rkinc.com: Mikey has it 'feel good' right. As Mike pointed out that the Indian team needs to get used to the seaming pitches by playing practise games.And they should play full strength with all seriousness 'cause all Indian fan agonizingly know the Indian team never takes practise games seriously and would still be trying players who would not make it to the playing eleven anyway. Let Azhar,Ganguly,Jadeja, Khurasia,Ramesh,Sachin in that order get a feel of the moving and seaming ball before the Cup begins.And of course the tailenders too need to get 'serious' batting practise too!

Mallik Bulusu: mbulusu@hotmail.com: I think dropping Kambli is a mistake still. Our batting is not consistent, barring Tendulkar and Ganguly. Rahul played well in the recent times, but that does not guarantee us a whole lot. With Azhar you never know? He is not producing runs of late. I think Khurasiya is not tested enough on foriegn soil for him to secure a place into the world cup. It still tickles every avid follower of Cricket, for a player of Kambli's stature is being ignored time and again. This might be a costly mistake by india for this world cup. If his rhythm gels with his former schoolmate, india can be on a great song. i am sure, he can not be ignored for such a long time.

Mohan Kulkarni.: kulk_mohan@hotmail.com: Micheal Holding is fully justified in being optimistic about india's performance in the world cup.Often india has looked strong on paper but has failed to deliver when the opportunity comes. i think inconsistency and passive leadership of azhar are some of the problems india will have to overcome in the world cup.

BISWAMOHAN PANI: pani@rock.enet.dec.com: I think Mikey is overly optimistic. One never had any doubts about the "capability" and talent of the Indian team. Its just the execution and performance that turns out to be damp squib.

Vijai Saran: saran@stud.ntnu.no: Everything looks very fine on paper. Sadly it is altogether different ball game on the field. I saw the Pepsi cup final Yesterday and except for Azhar and Sachin all others were present. Together they managed 170 runs while yielding 291. The desire to win is sadly missing. Unless the very keen desire to win comes in all 11 players on the field India will be a team of exceptionally talented players but an extremely poor team.

vivek chaudhary: vivekc@primenet.com: Mikey, I totally aggree with you regarding your opionion about Indian team. Only problem is that they don't have confidence in themselves and secondly they don't have hunger to win the matches. Besides they look vulnerable side without Sachin as once WI looked without Richards.

Sriram.venkatachalam: sriram_4@hotmail.com: Are U kidding???there is no way in hell a team like India is gonna qualify for the supersix even.All those who expect India to do it,I suggest that U expect to be dissappointed also U guys have no Idea how much match fixing is going on here...heh he he India is gonna go all the way...Ok for a laugh just to see the reactions of those who hear it but it's never possible with Azhar around.

senthil: rvsganesh@hotmail.com: What can I say, Pakistan seems to have a better team.

Kedar : kadongre@hotmail.com: Way to go Mikey !!

Ramprasad: rpmvadi@hotmail.com: Each one of the players in Indian team is accomplished and performer in someway - barring the new comers Amay Khurasia and Ramesh (in One Day arena). So this team looks strong on paper. But if the players can put their talent together in a team work, surely we stand a chance of clearing the first round, atleast.

Jai Angle: jangle@excel.com: Mikey's opinion about Indian team is very impressive and is definitely morale boosting for Indian team. It's very nice to hear such good things about India from such an excellent player. I think he is justified in his optimism.Thanks Mikey

Kalidas: kalidas@cwix.com: Dear Rediff, While Mikey (and Boycott and Gavaskar) are ever optimistic with the Indian team, and I would be the most happiest person if the Indians go home with the world cup, what these great cricketers always miss is the unpredictable nature of the Indian cricketers - they loose from winning positions and win from loosing poistions it is this unpredictability that can be easily exploited by the teams which form good strategy (both SA and SL come to my mind). So I would take it as it comes instead of being a dissapointed fan at the end. Also one cannot reject both Kenya and Zimbabwe so easily as done by Mickey, they are no minnows and on their day can upset to the entire planning of a team. Good luck India and bring home the bacon. Kalidas

Manoj Kulwal: kulwal@hotmail.com: Yes I certainly agree with 'Mickey' Holding. We have always had a good team on paper and the one we are taking to worldcup this time is the strongest cricket you will eversee. But as always we have problem of lacking killing spirit and loose feilding. That's what carried SriLanka to the World Cup Trophy last time. I hope our cricketers can fill in these gaps this time.

Shailesh: shaileshkm@hotmail.com: Mikey is bit too optimistic abt ever-so-unreliable Indians. The most important point is, Cricket is a team game and India never performs as a team. Only when individuals like Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid performs, it wins. It surely doesn't deserve to cross preliminary round, forget win the world-cup.

Drupad Patel: drupad@hotmail.com: Absolutely right. Players need to play few games and practice in English conditions. Plus they need to exercise a lot to be physically fit. From my perspective, physical fitness boosts confidence and player will have extra stretch for those catches, fielding, run outs, running between wickets etc. We play Mid Atlantic tournament in USA. Teams from Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Bermuda, Florida, Atlanta come to Charlotte and Raleigh to play. Man, the bounce they get, I like that. Will like to read your columns during World Cup. Till then I am enjoying Brian Lara's magnificent batting scores. Have a nice day.

Raja M.: myraja@hotmail.com: It is this kind of support by the former players which helped countries win the world cup in the past. In 1992, it was Sunil Gavaskar (for Pakistan), in 1996, it was Syed Kirmani (for Sri Lanka). Let us hope that the luck continues.

Sriram "Coverdrive" Duvvuri: gt7866a@prism.gatech.edu: I think Mike Holding is stating these because he is told to write for readers, who are mostly Indians. If you get down to serious thinking, Indians will probably get through the initial hurdle, but whether they will win or lose the final hurdle(s) will really depend on whether they can shed their tendency to use excuses like "we fielded badly" - they need to get down to business when it matters. A person of Mike Holding's experience should give the assessments of other teams as well - so that a realistic picture of the WC situation could be drawn.

arjyo sarkar: sarkar@hotmail.com: I don't think he is justified with his optimism. As usual the Indian team looks good on paper. But what it needs is a change of captaincy, Jadeja does seem to be a good bet. Azhar should be dropped from the team. Although he has experience in english conditions, players like him, Jadeja and Robin Singh will probably be out caught behind in each and every game for a score less than 10.Jadeja should be captain simply because he is a better motivator.I don't see India doing well with Azhar in the team.

Siddiq Qidwai: siddiq@aero.tamu.edu: I think Mike is only pampering you fellows :-). No offence meant.

cricfan: cricfan@hotmail.com: Mikey has no clue what he's talking about. I don't think India has much of a chance unless Tendulkar plays a series of his life (much like last year's sharjah cup against Australia). Our bowlers will be average at best and the rest of our batting will be average at best. It has become painfully obvious that Ganguly doesn't play with the same confidence and rhythm as he does with Sachin. He looks much more relaxed with Sachin there. I think it takes the pressure off of him to score quickly. He can settle down at his own pace. We saw against Pakistan how he got out trying to score quickly. I'm sure he wouldn't have done that had Sachin been playing with him. Anyway, the only way India wins is if Sachin plays consistently well against the big guns. His consistency will then rub off on the others (especially Dravid and Jadeja). Good Luck India and I'm sure the whole of India is praying that Sachin's back gets well soon. That's our ONLY hope and chance of winning the cup and the world knows it.

Suresh Patel: venusgroup@aol.com: Yes, definitely.

It's Me.: :-): I guess, that was pretty optimistic of Micheal Holding to say that India could go all the way. Well, on paper Indians do look a formidable team, but on their day, they can mess up and can loose easily to any team. That the indians are in the toughest group and out of the teams South Africa, England, SriLanka and Zimbabwe apart from india , only 3 go into the semi finals, it would take quiet an effort for indians to do that. Bobby Simpson is one man whom we need to rely on and wait and see if he can make this talented Indian team perform. Another man, who really needs to fire if India has to have any chance in this world cup is Azharuddin. There were days when this classy player would come to the crease and start working the ball around. 'cos of his wristy stroke play the bowlers would have tough time stopping him and he could work balls outside off stump to the on side. But then, it seems like a decade ago when that happened. Perhaps the knock of 93 against Australia in 1992 world cup and the knocks against england in the 1993 season linger in my memory. If he fires, it would be ideal combination with Sachin, Gangs, Dravid and Jadeja. Also, once he starts firing the boost the team gets will be all together different. All the best Azhar. Please don't let me and Micheal Holding down.

Vijay: vdevad@sapient.com: No. I think Michael Holding is way off. I think India is maybe the 6th or 7th favorite to win the title and I'm not saying this purely from frustration at yesterday's defeat against Pakistan. India have always been paper-tigers especially in away tours and I think our batting is going to be a big wash-out. I have trouble imagining us putting up 200 aginst the attacks of Australia, SA, Pakistan and WI, unless Tendulkar scores about 150. We have no killer instinct, no fire, no team-spirit, no intelligent human being in our board or team of selectors and worst of all no morale at this point. So, I have trouble seeing India get to the last 6 stage, leave alone going 'all the way'. All the talent we have is just useless! At this point, only divine intervention can make me eat my words.

Gee whiz, thanks for writing in, guys -- it takes 2 hours to just sort out the mails, these days... you readers are singularly responsible for Rediff having to go in for emergency recruitment of extra hands to deal with this influx.

Needless to say, we love it. One word in passing -- Michael Holding is contracted to write a certain number of articles for Rediff. The contract is signed -- and even if he were to turn round and say the Indian team is a bummer, he would still be paid the same amount. Just thought we would mention it.

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