Rajpal advises Dhoni to be always cool and aggressive

MS Dhoni knows how emotional India’s cricket-crazy janta can get. A defeat in the World Cup final may not hurt them as much as a loss to Pakistan would! Ditto with hockey. Despite the waning interest — err, isn’t it our national game? —it can’t get bigger than an India-Pakistan match.

For the record, the Indian hockey team defeated the Pakistan outfit on four occasions last year, losing just once (SAF Games in Dhaka). Starting with the World Cup, the Rajpal Singh-led unit registered wins in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, the Commonwealth Games and, finally, at the Asian Games to cap off an excellent 4-1 head-to-head record in 2010.

“We were under huge pressure before the World Cup. It was the opening match of the tournament and the build-up to the event was marred by controversies. However, 20 minutes into the game, the momentum was clearly on our side.

“And there was no looking back. Fans gathered at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi also played their part and we beat Pakistan 4-1. In the process, we also avenged the loss we suffered in the Champions Challenge in 2009,” India captain Rajpal Singh told DNA on Sunday.

Right frame of mind
The sardar wants Team India to be in the right frame of mind. “There were times when thoughts of the humiliating 1-7 defeat to Pakistan (1982 Asian Games) crossed our minds.

“That loss led to the downfall of hockey in our country. However, we tried to be positive during our training sessions and eventually won the match,” he recalled.

Avoid media, focus on plans
National coach Harendra Singh believes the players should stay away from the media. “I advised my players not to read the papers or follow the news channels. The incessant coverage adds pressure and buckles you down,” he said. He feels the players should distance themselves from the world and should concentrate on their plans. “It is important that you not let the expectations of a billion people affect your game,” the coach said.

And when the opposition is Pakistan, there are bound to be heated moments on the field. The coach clearly remembers the war of words between Gautam Gambhir and Shahid Afridi during the third ODI at Kanpur in 2007. “Such moments will be common during the semifinal game as Pakistan are an emotional side and they play with a lot of aggression. But I always tell my boys to play aggressively, not talk or abuse aggressively,” he added.

The former India defender recollected an incident during the Junior Asia Cup in 2004. “We were playing in Karachi and some boys from their camp were needling us. They even abused us and two of our boys lost their temper. However, we regrouped, decided to focus on the task at hand and managed to lift the trophy.”

Don’t lose your cool
Meanwhile, Rajpal said he makes it a point to keep his cool whenever India meet Pakistan. “I play aggressively against Australia and Holland. I have had a few altercations against these teams, but never against Pakistan. In any case, the atmosphere is volatile,” he said. Says Harendra, “I show my players a couple of scenes from the movie Border, play videos of Dhanraj Pillay’s electric moves and the famous Lata Mangeshkar number, Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon. It fires them up.”

While the melody queen’s inspirational song did the trick for the hockey team, ironically, it will be India’s ‘hockey anthem’, Chak De India, which will be blaring at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.

M S Dhoni falls down to No 7 on Facebook, Twitter; Sachin Tendulkar leads the chart

The Cricket World Cup has created a lot of buzz on the internet, but the most valuable cricket celebrity, Indian captain M S Dhoni , seems to be losing his appeal in social media even as brands are trying to join in online world cup talks.

Dhoni is ranked only seventh in the list of players most talked about on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs in the first three weeks of cricket's showpiece event, says a study by NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey company specialising in social media intelligence.

He was fourth before the start of the tournament on February 19.

Among brands, Pepsi is leading in social media interactions around the world cup, but some other official sponsors such as Hero Honda, Castrol and Yahoo! are trailing non-sponsors like Nokia, Adidas and Sony.

"Some brands have managed to keep their social media campaigns far more dynamic by altering content and stimulus during the course of the tournament," Nielsen India's Media MD Farshad Family said. Online buzz occurs when a person or brand or topic comes up in several social media interactions. The more times a name is discussed, the higher the buzz.

To measure it, NM Incite studied world cup related messages on blogs, message boards, groups, videos and image sites, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. It's like a Google search done on social networks with brands, cricketers and teams as key words along with cricket world cup. The Nielsen-McKinsey joint venture did it with a proprietary tool called Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

Top batsman Sachin Tendulkar continues to lead the chart, followed by Australian captain Ricky Pointing , Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi and English medium pacer Stuart Broad .

Among marketers, Pepsi dominates with more than 17% share. "This is the first Cricket World Cup where social media has such kind of scale," PepsiCo India Executive Vice-President, Marketing, Sandeep Singh Arora said.

PepsiCo runs online contests for every match and it has mopped up over 9.2 lakh fans on its Facebook world cup page and more than 500 followers on Twitter.

"While they (social media users) form just 1% of our consumer base, they are evangelist or opinion leaders for our brands," Arora said. Pepsi is followed by handset maker Nokia and durables maker LG with 11% share each. Nokia is not an official partner. In fact, several non-sponsors have outdone some official World Cup sponsors, who have spent hundreds of crore for the rights, in online world cup campaigns. Take for instance Vodafone and Airtel, which have cornered 10% and 6% share, respectively, in online buzz compared to official partner Reliance Communications' 2%.

Ditto for official sponsor Reebok that has lost ground to Adidas in creating higher connect with World cup on social media networks in the first three weeks on the tournament.

While Adidas' association with Sachin Tendulkar must have helped, there are other triggers too. "We launched the pure cricket campaign almost a year before the tournament began, which helped us create a huge fan base," Adidas India Sales & Marketing Director Tushar Goculdas said.

The Adidas cricket Facebook page has more than 7 lakh fans now and counting.

"In today's world we need to acknowledge the presence of digital media, especially if the target audience is youth," LG India Chief Marketing Officer LK Gupta said. Before the world cup, LG had 50,000 fans on our Facebook page; today the numbers has gone up to 3.5 lakhs, he added. There are surprises for cricketing nations too. While no one thought of Ireland as worthy opponents to the Men in Blue on the cricket pitch, the minnows are ranked fifth among the teams that are discussed the most in social media.

India still leads the chart, but its share has dropped to 17% from more than 26% at the start of the tournament.

Now that the knockout stage has started, the buzz online is sure to heighten.

Yuvraj Singh carries on tough times

The angry young man of Indian cricket is back in full swing.

The arrogance and the flair is forming a deadly combo as Yuvraj Singh, with every passing day, is looking like the Yuvi of old. There's this intent to show the world that he is still very much the same player that helped him become one of the hottest properties of Indian cricket a couple of years back.

"There's no change in me since the beginning of the World Cup, I am the same old..." Yuvi may try to tone down the upswing, but deep down the swashbuckling left-hander knows that a few things have turned around for him. Not that every move of MS Dhoni has worked in this World Cup so far, but one thing's for sure, his confidence in the southpaw just ahead of the quadrennial showpiece is paying dividends. When someone had asked the skipper whether it's Yuvi's bowling that is keeping him in the team, Dhoni had said: "It's an added advantage no doubt, but I have full faith in Yuvraj Singh the batsman.....Just see what he does if he gets a couple of fifties."

The words have turned prophetic, the Punjab boy got the fifties early on, and since then he hasn't looked back. All those breathtaking shots are coming back thick and fast and the century against the West Indies is bound to boost his confidence going into the quarterfinal against Australia at Ahmedabad later this week.

"I have worked on my batting and the results are showing. I had my quota of injuries and poor form, but as you know, tough people stand out in tough times," Yuvi said, with the smile still intact.

Even as the likes of Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina were coming up, Dhoni believed before the beginning of the tournament that No. 4 is the best position for the southpaw. Yuvi, himself, too believes the same as that gives him "more time to build an innings".

"When you come at No. 5, you may not always get the same number of deliveries that you get if you are playing at 4."

The Indian team management went with Yuvi at No. 4 on Sunday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium and reaped the benefits. He took a little time to settle down and once he started playing the shots, runs flowed. A century in 112 balls isn't exactly breathtaking Yuvi, but then it gave the left-hander his first international century in two years and huge boost in confidence. "Oh was it the first in two years? You guys keep count..." the left-hander said with the laugh, but everybody present in the press-conference room on Sunday night could see that there was a sense of relief in his body language.

The bowling form, too, has helped Yuvi to feel confident about the situation. On a wicket that has a bit in it for the spinners, he now has the confidence of giving the ball a little bit of air, which allows the delivery to turn away from the batsmen. With offies Harbhajan Singh and R. Ashwin likely to be retained for the quarterfinal match, Yuvi's left-arm spin can provide the much-needed variety against Australia.

"The wickets are coming and that is good for me and Australia are no longer the Australia of old....Gilchrist and Warne are gone, Ricky Ponting is not in the best of form. We have it in us to beat them," Yuvi was brimming with confidence. It's to be seen whether it's the same for his team members as well as they prepare to turn the table on the four-time world champions.

Dhoni must make right decisions

Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backwards. What the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard said in another context applies equally to cricket, and in particular to the World Cup.

England have, in the quickly evolving cliche of the day, played like Pakistan; Australia have laboured where they ought to have breezed through; South Africa and Sri Lanka have looked unbeatable one day and vulnerable the next; the West Indies look like an incomplete team; Pakistan are hoping that “their day” comes on at least two successive occasions, in the knockouts.

In short, this is an open World Cup, and we haven’t learnt anything about the teams that we didn’t know already.

What of the so-called favourites? You could make a list under the heading, ‘Why India will not win the World Cup’ and another under ‘Why India will win’, and discover a curious overlap. In the former will be such much-discussed drawbacks as playing at home, medium-pace bowling, spin bowling, middle-order batting, fielding, captaincy and in the other list will be the advantages of playing at home, spin bowling, middle-order batting and captaincy.
This is not as strange as it sounds.

When the quarter-finals begin (or, as some would say, the real World Cup begins), India know they can convert their handicaps into match-winning advantages.

Spinners will find the wickets rather more in their favour than a month ago when the tournament began. The performance of the debutant West Indies leggie, Devendra Bishoo, who took three against England on Thursday, may be a sign of things to come.

Harbhajan Singh has improved with every game, and even if he has not taken wickets as befits a bowler of his skill and experience, he has kept the runs down after a shaky start to his campaign.

Should Ravichandran Ashwin do well on his home ground against the West Indies, India will suddenly find their spin options giving cause for optimism. Yuvraj Singh’s five-in-an-innings might have come against Ireland, and against better teams he might not be so effective, but he is the best among the second-best.

The middle-order batting has been affected by a strange impermanence. Now that the top three are among the runs, and the numbers five and six are Yuvraj and Dhoni, the question mark is over the positions four and seven.

After his century against Bangladesh (at No 4), Virat Kohli has been off centre stage for a while, but he is too good a player to miss out. All he needs — and this applies to a number of players — is the captain’s confidence.

Once the middle-order settles down, the pressure will be off the medium-pacers, none of whom barring Zaheer Khan has looked the part.

It will also mean that India can hope to score the additional 25 or 30 runs needed to make up for their abysmal fielding. Yusuf Pathan at No 7 looked such a good option till Dale Steyn turned him inside out. But that was at four, and he should be back at seven.

The key to India’s progress, however, will be the mind of skipper Dhoni. Leading by instinct looks spectacular when gambles pay off, but when they don’t, the captain looks silly and innocent of any cricketing knowledge.

India’s team selection, their batting order, field placing, powerplay tactics, have often appeared strange. The refusal to give the entire squad at least one match in the early round — especially against the lesser teams — has meant that players who might be needed in crunch situations don’t have sufficient match practice.

Piyush Chawla might be considered a lucky mascot by the skipper, just as S Sreesanth might be seen as bad news. Dhoni said after the South Africa match that his batsmen should stop being selfish and remember they are playing for the country.

The same applies to the skipper too. He must put aside his personal feelings and choose teams that will serve the country best.

The captain who built up a reputation for clear thinking under pressure and a positive approach now plays safety-first. This, added to the lack of fire while fielding, gives the team a slightly rudderless look when things are going against them.

This, more than anything else is the attitude they will have to overcome, and quickly. And hence Dhoni’s crucial role.

Decisions that originate in cricketing logic can go wrong too, but at least the skipper will have the satisfaction of knowing he did the right thing.

Had Harbhajan bowled the last over against South Africa to the left-hander Peterson, India might still have lost. But at least that would have been the right thing to do. Dhoni has been very good at absorbing pressure, and this Indian team is vastly experienced.

What they need to do before they play the quarterfinal is to take a deep breath, and start their campaign afresh.

There have been enough ‘positives’ (to quote captains at the post-match interview) to take from the preliminary stage. The openers are in top form, Gautam Gambhir has got among the runs, and Yuvraj has been relishing the return to the role of the finisher.

Dhoni is due for a big one. Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan have been carrying the bowling — India will need to pick their best bowlers rather than a combination based on theory. The fielding, as the captain never tires of telling us, is beyond repair.

All teams in the quarterfinals know they have to get it right for just two matches and they are in the final. That can cut both ways. A bad day, and the campaign is over. The time is right for an individual to take the World Cup and make it his own in the manner that someone like Aravinda de Silva did the last time the tournament was held in the subcontinent.

Batting Powerplays continue to confuse the skippers

The batting Powerplays have become a headache for most teams and no one is more eager to solve the puzzle than India captain MS Dhoni. The Indians were at the receiving end twice — losing too many wickets trying to score maximum runs from the five overs. Against South Africa last week, Dhoni promoted Yusuf Pathan to bat the opposition out of the game when India were 267 for 1 after 40 overs. But the plan backfired and they lost nine wickets for 29 runs.

It's not just Dhoni who is trying to find the right way to utilise the Powerplay. Even New Zealand stand-in skipper Ross Taylor is unsure when to take the Powerplay, despite his team having the best track record in scoring maximum runs in the five overs.

"When is the best time to use the Powerplay, I don't think any team has mastered it but at the same time I don't think any team has been particularly poor at it either," said Taylor, who took the Powerplay against Canada soon after Brendon McCullum reached his century. "It is logical to take the Powerplay when you have two set batsmen at the crease."

McCullum perished soon after but the team still managed to score 74 runs from the five overs with Taylor scoring 45.

However, the big-hitting New Zealander insisted that teams would have to be more innovative with Powerplays in the knockout stages to be effective.

"Powerplay is just not all about scoring a lot of runs. Quite often it's getting their best bowler back and using them up for the Powerplay and then catching up with what you might not have got in the Powerplay later on — maybe against lesser bowlers."

Perhaps Dhoni is also thinking on the same lines.

Dhoni looks for improvement in batting

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni says there are areas that India needs to work on, following his side's five-wicket win over the Netherlands in a Group B match of the cricket World Cup in Delhi on Wednesday.

"Quite a few of the objectives have been achieved, but there are areas we need to improve. The powerplay overs, the lower order shouldn't have come in to finish this [Netherlands match] off. And fielding, we have been consistent," Dhoni said after India chased down the Netherlands' target of 190 in 36.3 overs to register their third win of the tournament.

World Cup coverage

He reasoned that Ashish Nehra was replaced with Yusuf Pathan only after one over with the new ball owing to lack of assistance for fast bowlers on the Feroz Shah Kotla wicket.

"There was nothing really for fast bowlers with the new ball. The batsmen were just hitting through the infield. It's always better to use the spinners up front and use the fast bowlers later with the old ball."

Cup Camera: Are fast bowlers being overshadowed?

Despite chasing a modest total, India, for the second successive time, faced some worrying moments before Yuvraj Singh led the way with an unbeaten fifty.

"Yuvraj batted brilliantly again," Dhoni said.

India's batting line-up is one of the most formidable in the tournament and Dhoni is pleased to have such an array of stroke-makers in the side.

"They are the pick of our batting. We rely on good starts," he said when asked about Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.

"We have got 2-3 batsmen who can attack the opposition, and also have 2-3 batsmen who can attack as well as defend, play according to the situation. It's a good mix," Dhoni said.

About the chase, he said "It's always challenging to chase a modest target against good opposition."

Dhoni denies to criticize police,but sorry for observers

Indian captain MS Dhoni today sympathised with the cricket fans who were lathi-charged in Nagpur during a mad rush for tickets for the high-profile India-South Africa World Cup clash but refused to blame the police for the incident. "It is difficult to react when you are not at the exact place where the incident happens. But I think police must not be happy to do that. They must have taken the action when they felt it was needed," said Dhoni.

"Police must have done that to avoid a stampede-like or a very bad situation. It is not ideal to always project the police as bad. But of course everybody feels bad when fans get beaten up," he added.

The Unbeaten Indian team will look to solve the bowling troubles

An unbeaten Indian team will look to find a few answers to their bowling woes when they meet a hot and cold Netherlands in their World Cup Group B match at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on Wednesday.

Co-hosts India are leading the group with wins against Bangladesh and Ireland and a nerve-wrangling tied match against England.

While the batting has shown depth and maturity with the team crossing the 300-run mark twice, the bowling has lacked punch [ID:nLDE7260LO].

India has vowed to play seven batsmen in their team with the part-time spinners handling the fifth bowler's job and it has meant that there has been a lack of wicket-taking options.

But the hard-fought victory against Ireland on Sunday has only made captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni more determined in playing seven specialist batsmen.

"The most important thing was everyone got a chance to bat and we were batting under pressure. It was very good exposure for all the batsmen," captain Dhoni said after their five-wicket victory against Ireland.

"These are the games where you feel it's always good to have a batsman at number seven."

Although Yuvraj Singh will occasionally silence the critics with his part-time spin, India will need their regular spinners to fire more often.

Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, while showing a lot of variation, has been expensive and there has been talk of bringing in off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for Chawla.

"We are showing signs of improvement," Dhoni said about his team's bowling.

"I think it's important to peak at the right time since it's a long tournament. What we have seen is slow and gradual improvement in the bowling side."

Netherlands, for their part, started the tournament on a high, racking up 292 for six against England in their first match.

But their form has declined ever since as they got shot out for 115 against West Indies and 120 against South Africa in their next two matches.

They are lying at the bottom of Group B with three straight losses.

WI, Bangladesh captains declare that there is no issue with UDRS

DHAKA: The Indian cricket board is backing captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni over his controversial statement about the implementation of the Umpire Decision Review Decision (UDRS) after a decision went against them in the thrilling tie against England but not many skippers in the World Cup are willing to throw in their hats in the ring.

West Indies captain Darren Sammy refused to be drawn into the affair saying, "You have to ask the BCCI to answer this not me".

About his view on UDRS Sammy said, "I think it's a good asset to have in today's game as it minimizes errors. It brings out the correct decision most of the time. I've have no problems with it. It's a good addition to the game."

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan, too, felt that the UDRS is more beneficial than detrimental. "I have no complains, I don't know about the others," he said.

"Technology helps, maybe not 100 per cent of the times. I still feel we should use it," added Shakib.

Dhoni had said that "adulteration of the technology with human intervention wasn't good for the game".

India on its part hasn't approved the use of UDRS stating that the technology isn't true at all times.