22nd Sept, India defeats 4 times world champion Australia and shows them the exit door of T-20 World Cup Championship. Then two days later I read an article by Ricky Ponting titled "Sree Santh got away with ordinary stuff" in TOI, the article can be found here and as well pasted below.
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Sree Santh got away with ordinary stuff
Ricky Ponting
Its obviously disappointing not to be part of the team in a semifinal game. Watching from the sidelines, it was the 30-ball explosion that Yuvraj Singh unleashed on the Aussies that took the game away.
It ensured that India reached a total that would be difficult to chase. And once Indias bowlers discovered the happy knack of picking wickets at the crucial junctures, we were always playing catch-up cricket.
Yuvraj has always had great ability and in this tournament he has hit boundaries at will. The Indians will be hoping that he will carry this form into the finals as well.
The lack of match practice for most of our batsmen cost us dear on Saturday. The openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden have been doing such a great job chasing down totals, that the other batsmen had hardly got any time in the middle before Saturday’s game. I feel the Indian new ball bowlers got away with some ordinary bowling, particularly Sree Santh, whose figures were better than what his performance deserves. Our players lost momentum in the last three overs.
With an asking-rate of over ten an over it was difficult for the likes of Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin to up the scoring rate, and the injury to Michael Hussey was a big blow. We have been struggling with fitness right through the tournament, and viewers would notice the number of runners that have been used so far. This form of cricket is intense, and the travel between games can take its toll. Perhaps the organisers underestimated how taxing it would be.
However, with only one day between games and twohour flights between venues there has hardly been any recovery time.
We did the maximum traveling in the tournament, having played games in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban over the last six days, which is why we were not as fit as we would have liked to be for a semifinal encounter. (GAMEPLAN)
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Ever since I read this article, I have been wondering why Aussies are such bad losers.
Is it because after making it a habit to win such huge competitions the defeat has not sunk in yet and they are in a shock, or is it because they are so arrogant that they can't accept defeat sportingly and appreciate the opposition team for a better show.
Ricky Ponting
Its obviously disappointing not to be part of the team in a semifinal game. Watching from the sidelines, it was the 30-ball explosion that Yuvraj Singh unleashed on the Aussies that took the game away.
It ensured that India reached a total that would be difficult to chase. And once Indias bowlers discovered the happy knack of picking wickets at the crucial junctures, we were always playing catch-up cricket.
Yuvraj has always had great ability and in this tournament he has hit boundaries at will. The Indians will be hoping that he will carry this form into the finals as well.
The lack of match practice for most of our batsmen cost us dear on Saturday. The openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden have been doing such a great job chasing down totals, that the other batsmen had hardly got any time in the middle before Saturday’s game. I feel the Indian new ball bowlers got away with some ordinary bowling, particularly Sree Santh, whose figures were better than what his performance deserves. Our players lost momentum in the last three overs.
With an asking-rate of over ten an over it was difficult for the likes of Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin to up the scoring rate, and the injury to Michael Hussey was a big blow. We have been struggling with fitness right through the tournament, and viewers would notice the number of runners that have been used so far. This form of cricket is intense, and the travel between games can take its toll. Perhaps the organisers underestimated how taxing it would be.
However, with only one day between games and twohour flights between venues there has hardly been any recovery time.
We did the maximum traveling in the tournament, having played games in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban over the last six days, which is why we were not as fit as we would have liked to be for a semifinal encounter. (GAMEPLAN)
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Ever since I read this article, I have been wondering why Aussies are such bad losers.
Is it because after making it a habit to win such huge competitions the defeat has not sunk in yet and they are in a shock, or is it because they are so arrogant that they can't accept defeat sportingly and appreciate the opposition team for a better show.
Look at the list of excuses the captain has given for his sides exit from the tournament. He says that Sreesanth had bowled ordinary that day, then how on earth the highest run getter of the tournament which happened to be Aussie opener Matthew Hayden was not even able to connect to his deliveries. Even Allan Border had praised Sreesanth for his superb bowling which earned him the important wickets of Gilchrist and Hayden.
And then he goes on to say lack of match practice was a factor, what a silly excuse and I have no words for it... he further goes on to say about fitness and traveling, did other teams not travel too and fitness is the players' own problem and even India, Pak have had fitness problems with their front line players. Lastly, it might have been difficult for Clarke and Haddin but didn't Misbah and Tanvir not almost turned the tables for Pakistan in the final?
And then he goes on to say lack of match practice was a factor, what a silly excuse and I have no words for it... he further goes on to say about fitness and traveling, did other teams not travel too and fitness is the players' own problem and even India, Pak have had fitness problems with their front line players. Lastly, it might have been difficult for Clarke and Haddin but didn't Misbah and Tanvir not almost turned the tables for Pakistan in the final?
I read in another blog that Ponting has started to play mind games through this article for the upcoming series against India, but I believe its just plain arrogance and even if it's a mind game the charged up Indian team will not give a damn. Overall India deserved to be in the finals and go on to become the world champions, Australia was not even a near 3rd or 4th place in the tournament with 3 defeats.
CHAK DE INDIA!
