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Champion's trophy is here. Where are you??

Filed under Cricket

You are expected to save your crackers. ICC champions trophy ain't over as yet. In fact, it has just started to hot up. Following are some points that you may care to know.

The Points table :

The next match in ICC Champions trophy schedule is South Africa vs Sri Lanka on 24th of October. Whereas India vs West Indies is

on 26th and India vs Australia on 29th.

If we talk about the points table, only one team has gone out of contention for Champions trophy semi-final berth and that's England. India, West Indies and Pakistan needs to win at least one of their two matches, South Africa needs to win both of their two remaining matches while Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka must win their last league match.

Now the match on 24th at Ahmedabad will clear two things - how the pitch is playing (as Indian team also play their match against West Indies there) and who among South Africa and Sri Lanka is not going into semi-finals.

The Pakistan vs South Africa match on 27th may be of no importance for African team is they don't win against Sri Lanka, whereas West Indies vs England match is a dead rubber for the English team. West Indies may require to win it if they lose to India.

And lastly, Australia must win that India vs Australia at Mohali on 29th October.

What all of the above may mean is three teams from each group finishing with 2 wins each. In that case, win between those teams and NET RUN RATE will be the deciding factor. Read this for more.

The performance of grounds and their pitches --

To tell you frankly, I am not one who watches cricket matches for fours and sixes. I like matches were both team calculate every aspect of the game, pitch being one of them and then playing their cards smartly. And in the end - the thrill of last 10 overs gets into our heads.

Are Champions trophy pitches really that bad?? Here's what has happened on them so far -

The Brabourne pitch :

The first match at Brabourne stadium was Sri Lanka vs West Indies where West Indies were bowled out for 80. After 2 days, New Zealand vs South Africa match yielded 195 that South African couldn't chase. The third match - West Indies vs Australia match produced 234 runs for West Indies

which Australian couldn't chase because of some "Chris Gayle aggression".

And then they called up Andy Atkinson - the ICC pitch expert and applied PVA (Polyvinyl acetates) glue on Mumbai pitch to bind it together. Result - New Zealand bowled out for 165 which Sri Lankans chased down fairly easily.

Now the only match remaining at Brabourne stadium is the final of ICC Champions trophy 2006 and thus, the pitch curator and pitch expert have plenty of time to fix the problems and make it FLAT.

The Mohali pitch :

Probably the best of them all in 2006 Champions trophy but very "due factor" prone. Mohali is yet to host a league match in champions trophy and we are yet to see what happen's there as Mohali will be hosting 4 matches from now on. More on Mohali cricket ground.

The Motera Pitch :

Same is the case with Motera pitch in Ahmedabad where none of league match has been played so far. They will be hosting three matches on 24th, 26th and 28th of October. Know more about Motera cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.

The SMS Pitch :

Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur has hosted three league matches, England featuring in two of them so lets not discuss about them. England is not a good enough ODI team to mention about. The third match at Jaipur was Sri Lanka vs Pakistan which produced 253 and Pakistan chased it.

Frankly, I can't really the problem in pitches. Of course, except Mumbai - which they are working on hard and only one match remains to be played. I think nearly every team is rusty and not ready for sub-continent challenges. Let Indian team come back from Diwali break and show you how to score runs on their pitches...!!!

The due factor :

Well, the monsoon has just finished here in my country so the due factor will always be there. Which might prove tough for spinners to grip the ball but also provide zip for fast bowlers. May become tough for fielders to field the ball but also stops the ball from reaching the boundary. And probably this is what makes a cricket match different and more thrilling than a soccer or baseball or basketball. Every next match, every new ground, every other country has new conditions to counter and the teams who adapt better - ultimately wins the crown.

So who's your guess??

Its Only Cricket

Champion's trophy is here. Where are you??

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