Harare’s lesson: keep scoreboard ticking

It’s absolutely necessary to keep the scoreboard ticking with a minimum of 5 runs per over without losing many wickets. Ideally, the score should be between 90 to 100 runs for one or two wickets at the end of the 15th over. Another hundred or 110 runs in next 20 overs and, if most of the wickets are intact, say 110 to 120 runs or more must be scored by the end. Mind you, with our kind of fielding, our batsmen have to get 20 or 25 runs over and above the target.

This would also give our bowlers the chance to go all out and capture the wickets of the opposition, however strong it is! If not, it would pose a problem for our bowlers, whether to contain the batsmen or go for the wickets. With the result, they and their captain find it difficult to arrange the field placing and give away unnecessarily more than 5 runs per over in the mid-period without taking any wickets and allow them to go all out in the slog overs.

I just did not understand as to why our public and the so called experts made such a hue and cry over India’s defeat to the best team in the world. Maybe the manner in which India lost without putting up any fight might have caused that uproar. We were certainly not expected to win against them at such an early stage in the event! Didn’t Pakistan lose to them too?

The first objective of any team is to get into the Super-Six. I think India are cruising, though not that smoothly. They are already up with 8 points from two wins so they only need to win one game, or two at the most, to be in a position to qualify.

The most persistent problem with the Indian team is that it takes time to warm up like any other young Indian who takes time to mature.