May 05, 2007

A fine Saturday morning, Australia won the toss and opted to bat first, rain shortened the match to 38 overs per side, Gilchrist went berserk, Sri Lanka fought back, Tharanga went cheaply, Jayasuriya departed at a crucial stage, Sangakkara couldn’t take things ahead on his own, and finally Australia won the Cricket World Cup 2007; they made history by doing it for the third consecutive time.

Before the beginning of the ninth version of the biggest event in world cricket, every team wanted to win the World Cup 2007. But, it was reality that most of the teams never wanted to face. Starting from the host, West Indies never looked to be confident enough to lift the prized trophy. They were playing on their home tracks but it seemed as if they weren’t feeling comfortable enough. I guess the pressure of being the host was more than enough to stress them out.

Pakistan was without their seam bowlers, Muhammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar but that was fortunately not the reason of Pakistan’s early exit from the World Cup. And then the death of Coach Bob Woolmer ruined the fun of the remaining tournament as most of the cricket lovers had a very good relationship with ‘Bob Bhai’, as the Pakistanis respectfully called him.

Australia, the defending champions and arguably the favourites of the grand event, proved their superiority by not losing even a single match in the World Cup 2007. There was no team that seemed to trouble the Aussies throughout the tournament, while the roos were eyeing to win the World Cup for the third consecutive time and they surely did it in style.

Sri Lanka, the best team as far as the Asians are concerned, made sure to show some sort of a resistance to the rest of the world. Sri Lanka’s performance throughout the tournament was very impressive indeed and it gave them a chance to repeat what they did 11 years ago at Qaddafi Stadium, Lahore. But, unfortunately for them, there was no Aravinda D’Silva who could handle the Australians the way Adam Gilchrist did, and give them a dose of their own medicine.

The least said about Zimbabwe the better. Since the beginning of the controversies between the cricket board and the players, Zimbabwean cricket has completely lost its colour and is struggling to keep up with the scenario of world cricket.

‘Chokers’ as the cricket gurus call them, South Africa promised to lift the World Cup and end Australia’s winning streak, but that was all before the beginning of the World Cup. As soon as the tournament began, the South Africans started to lose their confidence slowly and gradually. But the struggling qualification into the semi-finals was an indication of the fact that they might once again taste success in choking when it matters the most.

England entered the World Cup with hopes of turning things around. They recalled Michael Vaughan to the side just for his captaincy abilities and not as a batsman. Their strength in the batting line-up was only Kevin Pietersen. England once again failed to impress the world, and could not qualify for the semi-finals, courtesy the South Africans. It would surely take England some time to regain their confidence and come back to answer a number of question marks that hang above their heads after such a sorry performance in the World Cup.

The ever-impressive Kiwis were the only ones who seemed to be the best option to defeat the Australians. With a balanced side comprising bowlers Shane Bond, James Franklin and Daniel Vettori and batsmen of the calibre of Craig McMillan, Stephen Fleming and Scott Styris, New Zealand seemed arguably the hot favourites of the tournament, but unfortunately fate had something else in store for them.

India, unfortunately, were one of the two Asian giants who failed to qualify for the Super-8 stage. India, very much like Pakistan, was playing against their natural abilities and simply could not cash in on the great experience of Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Virendar Sehwag and many others. Defeated by Bangladesh and thrown out of the tournament very early, India could not have been humiliated more than this.

Ireland came out to be more than just minnows, they defeated Pakistan and threw them out of the World Cup very early and then they went on to qualify for the Super-8 round where they defeated Bangladesh as well. It is said that the Irish team comprised players who generally play the game at weekends and it was a mountain of shock that hit world cricket when they ended their World Cup 2007 campaign with two victories and a tie.

Bangladesh seems to grow better and better every second day. They had defeated New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan and India before the beginning of the World Cup. They went on to defeat India and end India’s World Cup campaign and then defeated South Africa in the Super-8 round. Dav Whatmore seems to have worked very hard on the Bangladeshi players and it is seen in the way the Bengalis throw themselves to save runs.

Last World Cup’s surprise package, Kenya, proved to be nothing more than just minnows and the least said about Canada, Scotland, Bermuda and Holland the better.

Well, the ninth version of the biggest event in world cricket has come to an end with Australia once again dominating the world scenario. An advice for our team would be very simple — they do not need to put the World Cup 2007 at the back of their minds and make the same mistakes again. They should now start working from the Abu Dhabi tournament to build a side which would win the World Cup 2011. It needs no rocket science but common cricketing sense, if our new skipper has some.

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