Sports
What Australia and England can learn from Indian airports
Rex Clementine
in Hyderabad
India’s airports in the last ten years have improved so much. They are top class. Delhi, Bombay, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Trivandrum and many other international and even smaller domestic airports have come a long way.
Delhi for example immigration and customs will take you less than 15 minutes to clear. Yes, 15 minutes. Our neighbours have become so efficient. Australia and England have much to learn from India. You spend easily an hour or even more at Heathrow, Manchester, Melbourne, Sydney or Adelaide to clear the formalities. Therefore, don’t judge India by Madras. The south Indian city of course is still in 1970s; grumpy immigration, lousy duty free, unclean toilets and total chaos.
Bangalore can be ranked world’s best airport and across the Kaveri river Madras can be categorized as the world’s worst airport.
Of course, Delhi is of immense importance both politically and for cricketing reasons.
Some of Sri Lanka’s best moments on the cricket field have come in the Indian capital like the first ever ODI hundred by a Sri Lankan when Roy Dias achieved the milestone in 1982. The old timers are still obsessed with Roy’s class and style.
A frequent question that is asked when you travel to India is how come we keep producing such elegant batters. Be it Anura Tennakoon, Roy Dias, Aravinda de Silva, Marvan Atapattu or Mahela Jayawardene, we have them in plenty. Not bad for a tiny island. You keep telling them that it is the quality of the coaches in the country. Which is why Aravinda harps on that we need to invest a lot on coaching because they eventually produce our match winners.
Delhi pops up some interesting topics too. It seems when Sri Lanka declared on 952 for six at RPS instead of going for the magical figure of 1000 runs in 1997, India’s coach Ajit Wadekar had appealed not to go for that milestone and declare instead. Sri Lanka apparently didn’t want to antagonize the big brother. The claim needs to be verified though. Soon after the World Cup, good chunk of time will be dedicated speaking to our heroes of 1990s to find out whether there was any message asking not to achieve the milestone of 1000. Or else, did Sri Lanka put India out of the misery on their own.
Talking of Delhi, this was also the venue where Sanath Jayasuriya ended local boy Manjor Prabhakar’s international career following the hammering in the World Cup fixture.
Apparently after the Jayasuriya mauling for the next game between the countries – the World Cup semi-final, India ended up spending the whole team meeting setting plans and traps for Jayasuriya. It worked. Both him and his partner in crime Rumesh Kaluwitharana fell in the first over. India had blundered by not preparing for a certain P.A. de Silva. The rest is history as the maestro came up with a stunning innings to knock India out of the World Cup.
Next stop is Hyderabad, the capital city of Indian state of Telangana. It is also known as the city of pearls.
When India gained independence in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad decided to remain independent not wanting to join the Indian union. However, a year later, after government intervention, Hyderabad also became part of India
The city famous for its biryanis has produced some of India’s finest cricketing talents, particularly some of their finest captains.
M.L. Jaisimha, Tiger Pataudi and Mohammad Azharuddin are all from Hyderabad and so is VVS Laxman, one of greats of Indian cricket.
Azhar heads the Hyderabad Cricket Association and could one day go onto become the President of the Indian Cricket Board.
The traffic in Hyderabad can be a killer and that is why most people use the metro service, which is quick, clean and efficient. It’s a pity that Sri Lanka said no to a metro in the capital city on flimsy grounds a few years ago.
An efficient light rail service will certainly ease out the traffic in the city and the sooner Sri Lanka finish it the better it is.
The Pakistan team has been in Hyderabad for the last two weeks and there’s tight security around the team. The relations between the nuclear armed neighbours have remained tensed since the terror attack in Bombay in 2009 and bilateral cricket series between the countries have ceased. The only time they play sports against each other is at ICC or ACC events.
There is lot of criticism that visas for Pakistani fans have been delayed by the Indian government. It is easy to run down the Indian government but if you properly analyze things you’ll find out that 14 Pakistani fans landed in Hyderabad prior to the tournament and authorities are struggling to trace their whereabouts.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
US sports envoys to Lanka to champion youth development
Rahuman questions sudden cancellation of leave of CEB employees
