Cricket twenty four seven.. Sorry twenty eleven..

With the South Africa tour currently in progress, the World Cup, the Indian Premier League (IPL), a tour of the West Indies, one of England, probably a tour by the West Indies, then a tour of Australia, and the Champions League, the year 2011 makes one ponder whether the product ‘cricket’ is forced on us. Who knows a t20 World Cup may pop in out of no-where. Meanwhile, let’s not forget the advertisement commitments of players too. It seems pretty obvious that none of the international players in IPL would have hunger for Champions league, it being the only optional tournament. Another funny thing to note is the interval between the World Cup finals and inauguration of IPL 4.. its a paltry 5 days. What it implies is that, the winners don’t even get time to cherish the cup!!

With the likes of Zaheer Khan and Nehra who are injury prone, it remains to be seen as to how India can handle the resources wisely. And giving kids like Unadkat, a chance to perform at too much pressure, at such an early age (when body of a fast bowler is not even half developed) can certainly be counterproductive to their career. I would recommend a rest to Zaheer for ODIs against South Africa.

Sachin Tendulkar is expected to retire at the end of world cup from ODIs. However, this is a relatively an issue of ‘NATIONAL IMPORTANCE’ to us Indians. It will be an emotional farewell after seeing him going through all the possible highs in the past 2 decades.

Another funny thing that I came to know was that the format of the world cup has been designed such that even if dhoni and co want breathing space, they can’t be eliminated in round one. Man! you gotta appreciate the organisers for their prowess. In fact, it is like India can proceed to next round after forfeiting a couple of matches and winning 3 out of other 4(including Ireland, Netherlands and Bangladesh).