No Substitute for Experience

It’s not how old you are, but how good you are that matters. Look at the big performers in this Cup.

PICTURE SPEAK

Aussies seem to be the strongest, but even champions can have a bad day.

For some strange reason, in virtually every tournament where teams qualify for the semis after playing in different groups, it’s the team that finishes number one plays the team that ends up being fourth, while the other semi-final is played by the teams that finish second and third respectively. Perhaps, to make the semis more interesting, the number one team should play the number three team and the number two team should play the team that has finished fourth. The thinking is simple, and that is, the gap between the number one team and number four team might make that semi-final one-sided, so it may be better to play teams that are closer in terms of points, and that can happen with number one playing number three while the number two team could take on the number four team.

It may make little difference to the Aussies, who are steamrolling the opposition and playing a brand of cricket that has been unmatched so far. They simply seem to be too strong for the others and have hardly broken into a sweat in any of the matches they have played so far. Even champion teams have the odd bad day, and as Canas has shown in tennis by beating Federer twice in three weeks, the champion can be caught on the wrong foot. But it is crucial to catch them thus in a major event and not one of the tournaments. The Australians were found short in the tri-series at home and then in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in New Zealand, and they too will be hoping that if they do have a lousy day, it should be at the Super 8 stage and not the knockout stage that follows.

Host West Indies are pretty much out of the tournament, having lost all three matches they have played so far in the Super 8 stage. They simply haven’t raised their game to the level required and have left their supporters pretty disappointed by the lack of application. None of the batsmen has fired in a big way and there have been no big partnerships that can propel the team’s scoreboard. For sometime now, the Windies bowling has lacked teeth, and it is evident in the manner in which their so-called quicker bowlers are getting carted to all corners of the field.

Bangladesh did so well to beat India, but have done little of note since then, strengthening the belief that they are a ‘one match’ team and after that one win they go back to their losing ways. It will be interesting to see the result of their match against Ireland, for the Irish certainly are going down fighting, which can’t be said of the Tigers after their games in the Super 8 stage so far.

After India’s unexpected exit from the tournament, there have been plenty of cries for the sacking of the senior players from the team, which is understandable in a youth-obsessed country like ours, but if one takes a careful look at the big performers at the World Cup so far, one will find that those who have batted well or taken wickets are mainly from the over-30 age-bracket. What players like Sanath Jayasuriya, Matthew Hayden, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Muttiah Muralitharan and Stephen Fleming are telling the world is that it is not how old you are, but how good you are that matters. The two players running neck and neck for the Player of the Tournament award are Sanath Jayasuriya and Matthew Hayden, showing that there is no substitute for experience.

That’s food for thought, isn’t it?

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar will be writing an exclusive column for INDIA TODAY all through the World Cup.

Index