India on top of the tree

The manner in which India played against New Zealand in their opening match of the tri series for the Compaq Cup at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 11 there was hardly any element of doubt in them being the number one ODI team of the world at the moment.

I do agree with the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni that the rankings and ratings are bound to improve when you are on the winning spree. He deserves the credit for having extracted something close to their best from his teammates during the past couple of seasons and India have finally moved on top of the tree as far as the ICC rankings for the One-day Internationals are concerned.

The emphatic victory over New Zealand under floodlights in conditions that were not typical of what one finds in the sub-continent was a near-perfect start for Dhoni and his boys after two months layoff from international cricket.

It would have only been perfect if India had cruised to victory without hiccups while chasing a modest target of 156. They did romp home quite leisurely in the end after being guilty of opening up in the game by losing three wickets in quick succession.

New Zealand must have fancied their chances of claiming an unlikely victory when the trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh was sent back in the dressing room within flash of an eye. Mind you they are three of the top batsmen in the game and it’s not often that they follow each other so quickly.

India certainly were in a spot of bother when their fourth wicket fell with more than 70 still needed for victory. Daniel Vettori was living up to the reputation of India-killer and the match had become wide open against the run of play.

Dhoni, as he has done frequently, kept his cool and curbed his attacking natural instincts to construct his innings. Suresh Raina, demoted in the batting order following his failures earlier this year, survived a few anxious moments before opening up.

Dhoni and Raina were happy to see Vettori off. It’s incredible that the Indian batsmen are supposed to be the most proficient in tackling the spinners but time and again they also prove to be the most vulnerable against slow bowling.

Dhoni did concede in the post match presentation ceremony that things could have been more difficult if New Zealand had another quality spinner in their ranks.

Vettori probably didn’t know exactly how much the Indians could suffer at the hands of the spinners, irrespective of their class and guile. He would have been better off accommodating another spinner in place of one of the fast bowlers.

Talking of the fast bowlers, the Indian trio of Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma and Rudra Pratap Singh was right on money and there were no escape routes for the Black Caps. The pressure was sustained by the spin duo of Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh who sent New Zealand crashing to 155 all out.

The target of 156 was unlikely to test the supremely confident Indian batters. Sachin Tendulkar’s stroke-play delighted the spectators while Rahul Dravid got the opportunity of spending some time in the middle.

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11:06 AM

India is going to become top ranked ODI side

The Indian team has had the habit of disappointing their fans with the most horrible performances against the run of play. For some reasons they have not been consistent enough despite being in the possession of a quality outfit.

At times one gets the impression that the movers and shakers in the Indian Board are quite content in watching their team take the second position when they appear quite capable of being on top of the three.

The Indians don’t really look all that keen to attain the number one position. It’s hard to comprehend their reluctance to occupy the top slot. Be it a tournament or the rankings of the International Cricket Council (ICC) they make others feel that they are more than happy to be placed among the top teams rather than being the leading outfit.

There have been numerous tournaments over the years when the fancied Indian outfits have fallen away in the final after being in the driving seat throughout. I think they have lost more one-day finals than any other team.

The latest ODI rankings issued by the ICC, following the conclusion of the recent Zimbabwe-Bangladesh series show India just one point behind leaders South Africa. It very clearly means that Mahendra Singh Dhoni stands a very good chance of taking his team to the top of the points table if his team plays to its potential in the upcoming triangular series in Sri Lanka.

That’s a million dollar question. Will the Indians aim for the number one ahead of the Champions Trophy being held in South Africa next month or will they remain contended with the second spot.

We have seen it so many times the Indians giving it away against unfancied opponents. Neither Sri Lanka nor New Zealand have that kind of powerful team as India but one can’t be sure if Dhoni’s men would be pushing hard for victory.

If the Indians do go hard at both their opponents there’s very little chance of them not accomplishing the goal of winning the tournament and taking the number one position in the rankings. We need to wait a little to know that.

South Africa currently occupy the top position in the ICC’s ODI ranking with 127 points while India are just a solitary point adrift at second position. Australia are placed third with 119 points while England are number four with 111 points.


New Zealand (110), Pakistan (109) and Sri Lanka (104) are not that far behind on the next three positions but the West Indies have only 78 points to be at the eighth position.

Bangladesh, on a high of late, are fast closing the gap having accumulated 55 points to be ranked number nine. The tenth position is taken by Ireland with 27 points with Zimbabwe having slipped to the second last position on the list with only 26 points. Kenya remain at the bottom, not having gained any point yet.

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10:07 PM