The Michael Holding column

Vinod: vinodrk@hotmail.com: INDIA IS A TOTALLY INCAPABLE AND IMPOTENT TEAM, AND ONLY FOOLS WOULD PLACE THEIR BET ON AN INDIAN VICTORY!!!

Prof. M. N. Viladkar, Hongkong: camvilad@hotmail.com: Yes, Mike Holding is very well justified in his opinion. India has adequate talent, potential and courage to win the World Cup. But adjusting to the actual weather conditions is also important and falls within the strategy for gaining the victory. I am confident that Indian team will make it.

parag patil: patil_parag@hotmail.com: Just too optimistic about india. Don't think wer have a chance unless sachin clicks in evry match which is bit too much too expect.

Dravid: dravid@hotmail.com: I think if Sachin Tendulkar takes off well India will make it to at least the last four - no problem.

Suresh Anand: sanand@writemail.com: Indians of course have the potential, but going by their performance against Pakistan in the recently concluded Pepsi Cup, i have little hope of their making the final. They almost invariably buckle under pressure. My bets are on Pakistan, they have a superb team right now.

shamik: shamik45@hotmail.com: I respect the judgement of Micheal holding .. but at the same time .. isn't the team more or less the same for a long time and yet we have not won anything major.. My best wishes are with india and i firmly believe that we can do it .. but a few days more in England is not what they need.. they need a dose of confidence. best Of luck India

Amit Shaligram: amit.shaligram@csfb.com: No, simply becuase Indians are not consistent enough . They are too mercurial and dependant on a couple of brilliant individuals for success

Srikanth P S: srikash@wipsys.soft.net: Being an Indian, I am very happy with what Mikey is thinking, however, the strengths of India as mentioned by him, can also be seen in South Africa and Australia and probably are more dominant in those teams. Biggest challenge in front of India is (a) get used to English conditions as soon as possible and (b) Show real depth in their batting line up. Probably Tendulkar should not open the innings and we should find out a proper pinch hitter replacement for tendulkar so that tendulkar can play more responsible innings down the order (considering the importance of his wicket on mental balance of Indian team and the opposition team).

P B Madhavan: pbmadhavan@rediffmail.com: India has a history of throwing away matches from winning positions. Only a team that can win from losing position can be said to have a fair chance at the World Cup. I am an Indian and and my heart goes out to her cricketers. But they must work on their mental toughness. We definitely need a better captain. He is the most irresponsible captain in the world. He might be talented and all that crap. His man-management skills sucks. One cannot stand at slips and just watch the game go on saying that the fellows should know their duties. He should be one who motivates the team when the team is on the back seat. What India lacks is the will to win. When one guy gives up, it is kind of infectious, the whole team just gives it up. But look at the Pakistanis, they are fighters. Shahid Afridi might not even be as classy as Ajit Agarkar with the bat, but he delivers, more often than not. He has a captain who takes 4 brufan tablets and leads from the front. Look at Ranatunga, he won't even be half as talented as Azhar, but whenever Srilanka needs him to score, he plays like a responsible captain. All India needs is a guy who can fire up his team mates when the chips are down, which is precisely what Azhar is not doing. When the team is winning, the captain has almost no role to play, which is what Azhar prefers. A captain needs to be imaginative, he must assess all his players and chalk out schemes for each and every player and must know how to get the best out of him. People like Sachin or ganguly need not be told what they should be doing, but for people like say, Agarkar, you might have to go up to him and tell him that you have full confidence in him and you will give him full support though he is getting carted all around the place. Does he do it ? He can't, it is just not being himself. Then ask him to step down. He might be a good batsman, but the worst CAPTAIN in the world right now.

Vinod R. Nair: zeteufel@rediffmail.com: Absolutely not. To borrow a phrase from Boycott. Roobish. India would do extremely well to even get into the Super Six. Anything from there on will be a bonus and nothing else. How would you expect a team made up of eleven individuals to come up trumps against an opposition of South Africa, England, and Sri Lanka. And then Pakistan, Australia and WI. The semi finalists based on current form and recent history are likely to be Australia, England, Pakistan and South Africa. With a SA Pak final if they dont meet each other in the semis.

Akshay: akshayrao@hotmail.com: I guess Holding is right! Indian team has the potential of being match winners and going all the way is a definete possibility. I sincerely hope it does and it better do! I hope like micheal that we have no problems in beating zimbawe and kenya and beat one of the 3(atleast) -- SA/SRL/ENG. Once we are in the super six,the boys will be be pumped up to deliver!I Hope. I would bet on India for 2 reasons--their match winners in the team and Patriotism(I might sounding stupid here but I cant bet on another team winning against India and hope to loose the bet). Akshay.............

Sandeep Rao: srao@cs.umn.edu: I don't think so, India surely has the talent but India lacks consistency. But's let's hope that they can turn things around this time and perform well and win the cup, All the best to India.

P.Ananthakrishnan: panantha@cbsinc.com: Looks good. I hope, the Indian team stands to our expectations. The team ,in general, lacks killer instinct and buckle under pressure easily.

S.V.Arvind Kumar: ahmd_arv@hotmail.com: Feel Michael Holding's views are totally justified. India is packed with the right choice of players for a one-day tournament. Indian team has one of the greatest batsman of the present era.On the paper the Indian team looks to be a well-balanced one. But its the mind-frame of players that counts on the d-day. Moreover,no one can deny the fact practice makes a man perfect. Indian team would do no harm to their objective of winning the world-cup by going to England and adapting to the weather conditions. Ganguly is definetly going to be the trump card for India. With his military medium,we could just see another 'Jimmy Amarnath'performance. If indian team does the inevitable..well i can assure u every indian on this globe is definetly will be proud. May the best team win.. Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandhar..

S.V.Arvind Kumar: ahmd_arv@hotmail.com: Feel Michael Holding's views are totally justified. India is packed with the right choice of players for a one-day tournament. Indian team has one of the greatest batsman of the present era.On the paper the Indian team looks to be a well-balanced one. But its the mind-frame of players that counts on the d-day. Moreover,no one can deny the fact practice makes a man perfect. Indian team would do no harm to their objective of winning the world-cup by going early to England and adapting to the weather conditions. Ganguly is definetly going to be the trump card for India. With his military medium,we could just see another 'Jimmy Amarnath'performance. If indian team does the inevitable..well i can assure u every indian on this globe is definetly will be proud. May the best team win.. Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandhar..

S.V.Arvind Kumar: ahmd_arv@hotmail.com: Feel Michael Holding's views are totally justified. India is packed with the right choice of players for a one-day tournament. Indian team has one of the greatest batsman of the present era.On the paper the Indian team looks to be a well-balanced one. But its the mind-frame of players that counts on the d-day. Moreover,no one can deny the fact practice makes a man perfect. Indian team would do no harm to their objective of winning the world-cup by going early to England and adapting to the weather conditions. Ganguly is definetly going to be the trump card for India. With his military medium,we could just see another 'Jimmy Amarnath'performance. If indian team does the inevitable..well i can assure u every indian on this globe is definetly will be feel proud. May the best team win.. Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandhar..

Mahesh Bhimshetty: maheshbhimshetty@yahoo.com: I think Mikey is slihlty over optimistic. He is forgetting the aggressive attitude of S.Africans, Pakistanis, and Australians. Not to forget the talent they have. Looking at the reputation of Indians in the recent tournaments, I don't see this task of conquering the same feet they did in 1983 to be as easy as Mikey thought!

Koustubh Warty: koustubh_no1@hotmail.com: Mikey seems to be very impressed with the composition of the Indian team with good names. Anyway being an ardent fan of Indian Cricket I would say that Holding is very optimistic about the team's performance. He always speaks well of Ajit Agarkar and it is of little doubt that if he bowls within his limits then the England pitches would be a paradise for him. One only hopes that he succeeds. Also Srinath would be a terror.Prasad has to repeat his previous performance in England. As Holding said I know as would all Sachin's fans that there is nothing like pitches or spin or fast bowling that can challenge Tendulkar. In one interview Sachin had said that a bowler can take him by surprise only once not always. And remember Sachin still has to settle scores with Shoaib Akhtar since that run out in the test. So lets wait and watch Holding's dream come true.

Ramesh B: rameshb@cisindia.com: To a large extent Mikey is justified in his opinion. But one-day cricket prediction is unreliable but considering the present pictute Mickey is completely justified.

Iyer Ramaswamy S: ramaswamy_i@hotmail.com: Mikey is very much justified in his optimism of India lifting the cup. The only point that I would like to add to his comments is the lack of aggression ( which the Sportsmen call ' the Killer Instinct' ) displayed by the Indian cricketers on the field.

Rehan Quereshi: rehan007@hotmail.com: Hell no!! i think indian team is struggling right now. His opinions are prolly favoring Indian team cuz he is being paid by rediff for this artice ;)

V Shankar: vshan@rocketmail.com: A VERY VERY optimistic opinion by Mike Holding. But if I were to bet, I would not definitely bet on India. The way the Indians are playing, they had better fly kites instead. It is not enough if we win tournaments against teams like Zimbabwe, Kenya and Bangladesh (and a declining Srilanka). We need to beat teams like SA and Australia. And to do that we need to begin by beating (or atleast fighting till the death) Pakistan. Pak is no power house in cricket right now but could still decimate the Indians. That exposes the weaknesses in the Indian team. If I am cricket savvy I would bet on countries like Aust, SA, England (being the hosts) and maybe even WI and Pak but definitely not on India. It remains to be seen whether we make it to the super league stage. I am sorry to say that the future of Indian cricket is very bleak. As an icing on the cake, the selection policy for the world cup too has its share of zonal quota policy - how the hell did Mohanty figure in the line up? The selectors are proving once again that they are indeed a "bunch of jokers". What a incorrigible lot. they had better make the cricketers sell Coke and Pepsi during the world cup to teh fans who come and pay to watch real cricket. The Indians' cricket is a farce.

deepak gupta: deepakgupta@rediffmail.com: No doubt, he is absolutely correct

Giri Narayanan: v2giri@us.ibm.com: Perfect analysis!!!

Chezhiyan.A: chezanand@hotmail.com: ==NO==NO===NO===NO= ==NO==NO===NO===NO= ==NO==NO===NO===NO= ==NO==NO===NO===NO= ==NO==NO===NO===NO= ==NO==NO===NO===NO= ==NO==NO===NO===NO=

pramod gupta: pramodgupta@hotmail.com: yes michael is right. Mohanty & nikhil chopra will also be useful.

Sunil Bhatia: sunil@polysindo.co.id: I think Mike is quite justified but India is quite unpridictable and known for snatching defeats out of jaws of victory. India needs to work quite hard and needs to be calculative. Much would depend on Azhar's captaincy. Regards, Sunil Bhatia

Ramakrishnan K: ramki@ece.ac.ae: Mikey is quite right in his judgement. It all depends upon acclimitisation.

yogi: ypjoshi@hotmail.com: OH HALE YEH!!!!!!!!!

sumeet durani: sdurani@orionauto.com: well, he might be having some reasons.... well, if history is something to go by then INDIA sure has a chance..... Except for the first two world cups (even the third one) when only the carrebians ruled the roost ...it always has been the underdog who has done well.... INDIA was a nothing at all in 83... AUSTRAILIA ...won in 87 as an underdog... PAKISTAN....came back from almost being eliminated to win.... SRI LANKA....well. it was something unexpected before the world cup.... well, if the present form of the indian team is something to go by...then they should be underdogs.....and we all know that PAKISTAN has not won against INDIA in the world cup.....so it just MIGHT happen......no point in being a favorite......unless u can do it.... well, they have the talent.....but i feel application is lacking.....none of the members have a well defined role....except for maybe TENDULKAR....what the batsmen must realise is that atleast 2-3 must click....if that happens then no one can stop us...... so out of the top 6 atleast 3 must get around 50 in a match...coz slogging won't work in those conditions...... so SRI LANKA take care.....

C.V.Kannan: cvkannan@worldnet.att.net: Though the thought of INDIA going all the way to win the CUP is heavenly, It may be remembered all the teams have talents in abundance. The best this article does is enthuse confidence.

Arvind: ArvindSingh@MailCity.com: Mr. Holding seems to have very little knowledge of Indian team and players. He names Jadeza before Tendulkar in the list of Indian batsman. I don't know if it is an accident or he really rates Jadeza this high. Mr. Jadeza has never been successfull in seaming conditions so far. To call Robin an allrounder is a big joke. Tendulkar, Ganguly are much better allrounders (?) than him and given enough bowling event Dravid, Ramesh, Jadeza, Azhar, Mongia (?) can become better allrounders. From batting side I think Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly will be key to India's success. Prasad will be main bet as bowler with Srinath and Agarkar/Mohanty supporting him. Yes, he can bet $5 on India. He has lot of money afterall. Rest of us can not dare to do so.

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