Jun 24 2009
Captains of The World
Cricket today is fast becoming a game played in the gray matter of the brain. The teams that possess a leader who excels in strategy and tactics tend to do well. While this may be true for all forms of the game, the recently concluded second season of the Indian Premier League is full proof that this rule applies to T20 more than anything else.
While the IPL was a contest primarily between captains who have either retired, Anil Kumble or Shane Warne, or are only in contention for leading their national sides, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag, the T20 World Cup in England will pit the captains of the world’s best cricket teams against each other. With the conditions supposed to be as treacherous as they were in South Africa, expect a major battle on the cards.
MS Dhoni, India:
Leading the defending champions is never easy and this year it will be totally different proposition for MS Dhoni for there will be a lot of expectations riding on the team this time around. Last time they came into the tournament having virtually never played a T20 game, but in two years’ time the scenario has changed completely as India has become the hub of the shortest format of the game. But look on the bright side, he has been captain now for two years running and that too in all forms of the game, therefore knows his players a lot better than he did the last time around.
Also the advent of the Indian Premier League has only helped him for he, along with the selectors, has been able to identify which players will form the core of the defending team. And he has had two seasons to do so. It reflected in the team that was selected for the tournament in the way they have identified players in a systematic way. Now that he knows what to expect of which player, Dhoni can inspire them in the way only he can and not bother about the element of surprise which the Indians won’t be having this time around.
Paul Collingwood, England
Yes, no, yes, no and finally yes! That is how Paul Collingwood came to be England captain for the T20 World Cup. And that is their primary problem. Not that Collingwood will be captain but the fact that while hosting the world championship of a format they invented, they can’t even select their first choice captain in the team, that is Andrew Strauss, simply because he isn’t fit for this form of the game. Then the leadership was offered to Kevin Pietersen and he said no, obviously still miffed at the way he was treated when he first became captain. After a lot of deliberations, it finally came to Colingwood, maybe just because no one else would do it.
Poor English fans, how do they expect their team to do well when this is the plight of the selecting the team captain. Now that he has accepted the job, it is a tough one indeed for him as he will have the onerous job of becoming the first English captain to win a major trophy for his country. And that he has to do at home, which makes it all the more a high pressure task. Not that he can’t measure upto it, for he did lead England in a few ODIs previously, but that was about fifteen months back and a lot of team dynamics have changed ever since.
Ricky Ponting, Australia
After 2007, it has been a long hard journey for the Australian team since their third consecutive ODI World Cup win in the West Indies. So much so that they didn’t pay too much attention at the shorter format’s gathering, and not only didn’t make it even to the finals but also suffered the ignominy of losing to Zimbabwe in the interim. Then they were upset with the way the Indians celebrated their win and ever since the story hasn’t developed really well for them. They have lost a bulk of their senior players in Adam Gilchrist and Mathew Hayden and it will also hurt them a lot.
For Ponting though the task couldn’t be clearer. He has a whole new bunch of players at his disposal. Now that could be good and bad; good because they don’t really have the scars of the previous defeat for the Australian pride is almost always hurt when they don’t win any world cup trophy, and bad because playing in England will be a new challenge for them altogether. But they are on their way up again as they showed in the win over South Africa in South Africa, and should be a force to reckon with.
Daniel Vettori, New Zealand:
Daniel Vettori has an onerous task on his hand for the Kiwis are certainly not the best team in the world. That they were able to beat the world champions at home earlier this year shouldn’t really fool anyone because the visitors still hadn’t accustomed to the conditions and the grounds there. They have all the fire power in the world in their team but something always seems to go amiss for the Black Caps.
And it is this factor exactly that they will have to overcome in the World Cup in England. In 2001, under Stephen Fleming, they last won an ICC event and the players they had in the team at that time all helped them overcome their frailties. This is not so the case this time around for almost all players are greenhorns, shorn of experience and therefore that makes the task a bit too hot to handle for Vettori. He will personally do very well though, after all spinners have taken to T20 like a drunk to alcohol!
Younis Khan, Pakistan:
This man has the most enviable task on his hand as he will be leading a side that sees little international cricket nowadays but expectations from them still remain sky high as their fan base refuses to vane. And in England, it will be like a second home to them for the Pakistani community there is quite strong and comes out in large numbers to support their team. Pakistani players will have to really play out of their skins to replicate the form from last time around and reach the finals.
Under Younis, the team almost made a perfect start giving good fight to the Aussies in the UAE but repeating that form in England might just be asking too much from them. There are many youngsters in the side and inexperience will be a force to contend with for the new captain for whom this will be the first stern test. And opinions in Pakistan cricket change almost every day so he will have to be on his guard whatever the outcome of the tournament for his team. Maybe a good run of form will save him if the team doesn’t do that well.
Graeme Smith, South Africa:
Their cricket has been on a rise since last year and they will look to continue that form into England. Centre to it all has been their skipper Graeme Smith and his form with the bat will be as much important as the way he leads the side. For if he fires at the top, they will inadvertently do well in their games and there will be a spring in his step as well. But he is not one of those skippers who let their poor form affect their team. Instead he will use his strength as a skipper should he not perform with the bat.
And that is why his team have continued to climb for some time now as they take all the positive energy out of him and egg him on in return to do well. Smith has been in and out of form in the last twelve months or so, but throughout his team have done well. The only time they failed was against the Australians recently where he missed out due to injury. If somehow he can keep fit, no doubt his team will be a force to reckon with.
Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka:
This will be the first full tournament for this team which suffered so much in Pakistan. While it will be great to get back on their feet and get going again, it won’t be easy for this will be the world stage and only a few of their players will have played in the IPL season 2. But even then the most important ones would have been covered since their captain has played an important role in Kings XI Punjab’s fortunes.
That alone will be the stand point for Sangakkara as he prepares to take on the leadership duties full time for his country. He has been there stand-in captain many a times but this will be a whole new challenge for him, one which he can expect to be a difficult one, starting especially with a world championship of a demanding format of the game.
Chris Gayle, West Indies:
By admitting his preference for T20 cricket, the West Indian captain has made sure that every one will be watching him with a keen eye in the world cup for his performance there if poor might just lead him to lose the top job there. West Indies might just cause the odd upset on their day but the conditions in England will be a major challenge for them as the young and inexperienced team will look upto their captain for inspiration, both while bowling and while batting. If Gayle can somehow get his willow to talk, the Windies might just make some headway in this tourney!
Mohd Ashraful, Bangladesh:
He will be leading Bangladesh and while they were ranked second in the official T20 standings sometime ago, it will be a tough ask for them to live upto that reputation in the unfriendly condition in England. Still the shortest format of the game remains their best bet to have a lasting impact on world cricket.
The others:
William Porterfield (Ireland), Joeren Smits (Netherlands) and Gavin Hamilton (Scotland) will only be too happy to just take part in the competition.
