The Kitply Cup (round-up)

After the IPL that never seemed to end, India went to Bangladesh to play an insignificant tri-nation tournament.

India carried on their good ODI form that saw them triumph in Australia for the first time in so many years following the World Series Cup in 1985.

In their first match, India thrashed Pakistan by 140 runs. This was Pakistan’s most ignominious defeat against India in a limited overs international match.

India then went on to annihilate Bangladesh when they chased down a target of 222 in 35 overs.

The final jinx, that haunted India under Ganguly, came back to haunt them once more, in the Sher-E-Bangla stadium on the 14th of June 2008.

Pakistan batted first and got on to a slow start. They went at around 4 RPO after the first twenty overs losing just one wicket. Salman Butt, who takes a special liking to Indian bowling got to his fifth century against India out of his total six ODI centuries.

Younis (or Younus) Khan, who was in absolutely no form whatsoever also contributed a century at better than run-a-ball. His 200 run partnership with Salman Butt coupled with some late flourish from Misbah took Pakistan to a competitive 315/3 in 50 overs.

Sehwag and Gambhir, who were sublime at the top of the order in thie whole series could not continue their good work in the final. Sehwag perished early attempting to flick a ball on the leg side and managed to get a top edge. Gambhir, Rohit, Yusuf and Raina promised, but fell to poor strokes.

Yuvraj and Dhoni with some help from Irfan Pathan looked to take the match close to the fiftieth over. However, India lost by 25 runs on a day when their bowling let them down.

Piyush Chawla, the boy wonder, went for 85 runs from his 10 overs without picking up a wicket. Irfan Pathan looked more of a batting all-rounder. He cannot be a permanent member of this team if he doesn’t improve his bowling. Yusuf Pathan has been disappointing with both the ball and the bat, which was expected from someone with a poor batting technique.

India still have a lot of positives to take from this tournament. Their youth brigade is firing and Raina in the team in place of Uthappa lends them the right balance. The return of Sachin would mean the ouster of Yusuf Pathan and India can be an unbeatable ODI side that can take on Australia with some consistent cricket.

Their bowling desperately needs some improvement. Ishant and RP Singh were bit on the expensive side. India lack a genuine spinner who can dry the runs and pick up wickets at the same time. Harbhajan might be back anytime, but India must look beyond him and identify a genuine spinner (not Pragyan Ojha, please) who can lend more variety to make ours a more balanced attack.