Sunday, April 29, 2007

Australiaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!!!

Yes, - Australia are the World Champions yet again!!!! That is a hat-trick as was Gilchrist's performance in the 3 consecutive finals !!! What a performance by Australia!

If ever there was a clear winner in a WC tournament since the West Indian dominance ended, it was Australia in WC 2007 !

Let us not taking anything away from the fighting Lankans, in fact they bowled excellently and batted like fighters in the most difficult conditions!!! But after Jayasuriya and Sangakara, there was no one left to take them home against the Aussies!

I think that both teams played excellent cricket and were fitting finalists and there was only one difference in two sides - Adam Gilchrist!

And that difference won Australia the world cup and deservedly so - they have dominated the cup right from onset and it would have been unjust if they would have lost today! As my friend Kannan pointed out, it makes one think that there should be more than one match for the finals - may be best of three or something.

Coming back to the nicest man in the 'baddest' team, Adam Gilchrist played an amazing innings on a track where others like Hayden, Ponting, Jayasuriya etc. struggled to stroke the ball with same ferocity as his. Gilly was on his way right from the beginning while Haydos was surprisingly subdued and Gilly set the on side on fire and in fact equalled the record for maximum sixes in an ODI innings jointly held by Ponting and Imran Nazir! One has to only see the wagon wheel of Gilly's innings to see how much he scored on the leg side! Amazing strokeplay, exhilarating display of batting by the ever-dangerous Gilly! Paisa Wassool !

Others played their part in the whole match and so did the spoilsport weather, but it was a good game of cricket overall and the side that deserved to win, did! That brings me to another point that a final should not be curtailed and definitely not be decided on the D/L method, but more on that in some later post.

But this game was not all about Gilly's strokelplay and it was also an important game for 3 people retiring / moving on from their current roles:

Ever-accurate and nagging Glenn McGrath, an awesomely effective John Buchanan and also the fighter Russel Arnold!


McGrath capped his career by the player-of-the-tournament award (which I personally feel should have gone to Hayden), but what a man he has been! He has been accuracy personified in the world of cricket and no bowler even comes close to the accuracy with which McGrath bowled in both forms of cricket. Often disliked for his aggressive sledging by lot of people (including yours truly), one has to applaud the discipline and effectiveness that this great man brought to Australian Cricket and world cricket.
Glenn McGrath - Take a bow!

I was fortunate to listen to and meet John Buchanan in person and he is no doubt effective as Gilly called him a legend today! It has been a fairytale for John and his team and kudos to them for showing and teaching others how cricket should be played!

Congratulations and a big "thank you" to Australia ! The True World Champions!

(Images Courtesy: Cricinfo)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

GILLI THE BEST!!
A mind-blowing inning he delivered. Absolutely fantastic!!

Why don't we have one like him in our team???:-(

Well! Ranjeet, I enjoyed participating in discussions about WC2007 at yr blog. Thanks for sharing your views:-)

Cuckoo said...

I was wondering till now as what happened to Gilli this time and look he hasn't disappointed me !

I agree with you, he made the difference. He is a treat to watch... Hmmm on second thoughts... everyone from that team. :)

I am happy with the result. It was expected, only regret... we couldn't watch real fights between teams with some killer instincts.
Looked like as if they have all surrendered in front of Aussies after a few sparks.

I enjoyed very much discussing cricket on your blog & hope to do the same in future as well.

Keep this blog alive !!

Ranjeet said...

Malhari: No one has a Gilly in their team, man. In fact Slater said that Gilly is a 'one-off' man which means that there is no other like him and in fact Gilly set the expectations such that other countries started looking for a keeper who can bat like Gilly! Hats off to him! I particularly like him because he 'walked' on one ocassion - so unlike the Aussies.

Well, I am glad that you enjoyed my views and I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you as much as you have.

Thank You!

Ranjeet said...

Cuckoo:

I knew you would be happy after the results! I agree with you that they are by far the best team in the world today and a treat to watch!

About Gilchrist, all I can say is that I was lucky to watch the innings!

Yes, the blog will be alive and 'Thank You' for your valuable comments, I appreciate the same.

Amit said...

Arre ata straight drive marayla barech divas thambava laagel. Toparyant itar kahi lihaycha vichar aahe ka fakta cricket eke cricket?

Ranjeet said...

Amit : It is and will strictly remain a cricket blog. And I will be updating it regularly as I follow the game playd all over the world!
Cricket eke cricket aani cricket daahi cricket!!! :-)

abhijit said...

What next buddy..worldcup to khatam ho gayaa. :-)

What is your comment about using SQUASH ball inside gloves, Using DuckWorth system in FINAL when they had one reserve day?

Yogesh said...

Gilli was truly wonderful. We will miss him.

Ranjeet said...

Hi Abhijit,

Cricket goes on - world cup is just one ODI tournament!

I plan to write a separate post on the Squash ball, D/L usage in finals and so many other issues which were witnessed in this WC.
Thanks.

Ranjeet said...

Yogesh: Why will we miss Gilly? He will be still around for 1-2 years.