Miscellaneous responses

The Michael Holding column:
Abraham: aidicula@nse.co.in: yes, he is .. only the team should gel together.

muralik: muralik@excite.com: I think Mikey is justified in his optimism.The more underrated the team, it fights better in the world cup. remember '83?

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
cricfan: cricfan@hotmail.com: The phrase that would describe this article is "Wishful thinking". He fails to point out who, in his mind, will make the super six from group A. Just saying such and such team has a good chance is not good enough. For my money, I think the 3 teams from Group A will be S. Africa, India, Sri Lanka (in that order). From group B it will be Australia, W. Indies and Pakistan (in that order). The teams making the final four will be Australia, South Africa, India and Pakistan (in that order) and from there its anyone's guess. At this point physical/mental fitness, nerves, and a lot of luck come into play. I'm not brave enough to predict who will win.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Mok: : don't see lanka wining,



The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Raj: rajkumarpjain@hotmail.com: Sri Lanka Again... No Way !



The Indian World Cup squad:
Vishwanath Mantha: mantha@isip.msstate.edu: Drop Ramesh and take Kambli



The Indian World Cup squad:
Sanjay Pandit: pandit@emirates.net.ae: KAMBLI FOR KHURASIA CONSIDERING KAMBLI HAS PLAYED CRICKET AT CLUB LEVEL IN ENGLAND & IS AWARE OF THE CONDITIONS. IS THE ONLY BAD DECISION BUT PLAYING JOSHI AFTER PANDEY BOWLED SO WELL IS AS STUPID AS EVER.Nikhil Chopra has not played any match in Sharjah. I was at the stadium the night India played England second time.After scoring 220 odd the side was immediately on the field all bowlers on the field 45 minuted before start of play heartening ti note was Andrew Kokinos with a base ball glove helping the team to practice & Dr Ravinder Chadha hitting the ball to fielders t o warm them up. DISSAPPOINTMENT: THE BODY LANGUAGE & PARTICIPATION OF THE COACH MR GAEKWAD WHO SAT LIKE THE MAHARAJ OF BARODA NEVER BOTHERED TO EVEN WALK TO THE FIELD & IN THE LAST 5 ,MINUTES BEFORE THE START WALKED TO THE FIELD LIKE A HALF DEAD MAN FOR WHAT??

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
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The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
NAVEEN SRINIVASAN: naveen_srinivasan@vsnl.com: Asanka Gurusinghe has been right in pointing that India's bowling is very good for English conditions. More than Srinath, Prasad, Agarkar & Sourav Ganguly are the bowlers to watch for in this World Cup especially after their performance in the Coca-Cola Cup at Sharjah & Pepsi Cup in India. Of course the batting still revolves around Tendulkar but the Indian team could be the surprise packet of the tournament along with Zimbabwe which also can surprise many people.



The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
NAVEEN SRINIVASAN: naveen_srinivasan@vsnl.com: One more thing which I would like to add is that this World Cup is more likely to be dominated by the bowlers rather than the batsmen



The Michael Holding column:
perikaruppan: perikaruppan@usa.net: Mikey... wow it is just amazing to hear a west-indian comment so good about india. Well being an Indian, and a die-hard fan of Indian cricket... i shall always beleive and say that "Indian's are 99 champs" so will millions of indians.
The only concern for indians is consistency... if they can be consistent - no body, even god can't stop the indians from getting their hands on the cup. What a line up - saching,ganguly,dravid,azhar,jadeja,singh.... the best in the world... even if one click's we can easily cross 250+ (200+ in english conditions)... just think if all click!!!! it will be a run riot!!.
Bowling srinath/prasad/kumble/agarkar.... well one of the best bowling line-ups in english conditions....the few bowlers who can challenge the indian batting are "white lightining" donald, pollock, the ever great Akram and McGrath.
Mcgrath - I am not sure what shall happen if the master (Sachin) lashes after him as he usually does against the Aussies.
Spin - wont cause worry for the indians.
The way they has improved the game in sharjah will cause raise many eybrow's - no tendulkar/azhar/ganguly and we defeated Pakistan (full-fledged team) and England (Worldcup Team)... what can you say about the talented Jadeja who is part-time acting captain - spectacular!.
Well, if everything clicks and if indians get aquainted to the English climate quickly .... NO ONE CAN STOP THE MIGHTY INDIANS!!
World cup is ours! (If just one man clicks - Tendul, what if all click?)



The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Indranil Chandra: ichandra@edd.ca.gov: Why waste our time publishing articles like this? Anyone who understands the most rudimentary aspects of world cricket already knows everything the author has written.



The Wasim Akram interview:
Sanjay Patel: spat9710@postoffice.uri.edu: What Akram needs to learn that right now his team is on a roll like India was last year.But this is only for short term. Didn't he suffer a defeat yesterday against India at Sharjah? What happened to his killer instincts? He thinks the Indian team is too mellow, but the Pakistani team is also the same. Most importantly, they won without Tendulkar,Srinath,Azhar and Ganguly. This shows me that India is a very tough opponent if they keep repeating what they did yesterday. Sanjay



The Sachin Tendulkar interview:
Sanjay Patel: spat9710@postoffice.uri.edu: I agree with Sachin and I also think that India has a very good chance in winning this cup. When all the players come together they can show that they can tear apart any team of the world as they did yesterday against Pakistan and won by 6 wickets. The reason I think why the Indian team loses consistently is because they become very scared against Pakistan. They get so intimidated that they cannot play the game, and also that they put too much pressure on themselves sometimes and I would blame the media for it. Although they are right, but sometimes you need to understand the players'situations. They are only human beings. Please let them do their jobs. As fans we are not gaining anything out of their loss or winnings. We do not receive any awards.People think that the Indian team has lot of losers and I absolutely disagree with that. We have Tendulkar and Jadeja who can really motivate the team even if Azhar does not do anything. Stop blaming Azhar for the losses. When India wins no one says anything, but when they lose, everybody blames Azhar and the coach. I think We have a very good fielder in Azhar and a very good wicket keeper in Mongia and they are not extra luggages. It is so sad that people in India have such a low opinion about this team. No wonder why this team loses. It is because the fans think this team is not capable of doing anything. Actually, it is the fans' fault in thinking this way. Just leave them alone. If you think you are winners then may be you should go out there and play. It is so easy for us to analyze the situation, but if you go there in the middle it becomes a different story. Sanjay



The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Harish H: hharish@cbsinc.com: HI, In my knowledge, srilanka wont make it to the supersix. Because the srilankan batsmen are all free scoring guys, they always played in the knee high bumpy pitches. In the seaming pitches they cant afford to play shots. Last year in england they won the cup, but the conditions were more like back home. Except Aravinda and Atapattu, all the other batsmen will suffer. In the bowling front they dont have variety. We are now watching warne after operation. So Muralidaran wont be that much terror to the opponents in England. In england the ball wont spin. So this is a major disadvantage. They have Vass. But he was a bowler. Now he is a club cricketer. So he is very ordinary. Only Aravinda and Atapattu can make miracles. They can rely on Little Jaya too. But Its not the Allround team that will bring World cup to TEARDROP NATION. "SRILANKANS WILL DEFINITELY LOSE THEIR WORLD CHAMPIONS TAG THIS YEAR"



The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Comments: krishkar@hotmail.com: I agree to some points above mentioned at the same time disagree to others. I agree Indians lack consistency but the dependency on Tendulkar is not correct. In the last 8 ODI that India has played recently it has won five of them. Which I believ is an encouraging factor. From now on, the presence of tendulkar would just be an bonus or advantage. Lets wait for the results. But I admire your detailed analysis and agree to them.



The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
manav agarwal: longhorn20@hotmail.com: bunch of hogwash!



The Sachin Tendulkar interview:
Suresh: suresh_can@hotmail.com: Sachin definitely needed the well deserved break. India's chances to win the world cup are very high. We are very optimistic and look forward to a great cricket extravaganza, especially from the master blaster SACHIN TENDULKAR. Good luck Sachin and to the Indian Cricket Team.



The Sachin Tendulkar interview:
Suresh: suresh_can@hotmail.com: Sachin definitely needed the well deserved break. India's chances to win the world cup are very high. We are very optimistic and look forward to a great cricket extravaganza, especially from the master blaster SACHIN TENDULKAR. Good luck Sachin and to the Indian Cricket Team.

The Wasim Akram interview:
amit: amitk@mid-day.mailserve.net: Good reading. Have to grill him abut mental preparation and general aggro while playing against India



The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
vasudev: vasu@raptor.com: SL are nowhere close to their last world cup form . It will take a lot of effort from them to get into the super six league . Once a team is in the super six ,it is any ones game .



The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Hemant Kataria: koolkats@bigfoot.com: We don't need Sri Lankan opinions...They played wellin one tournament and that's it...they are never goonna repeat 96

The Sanjay Manjrekar column:
ivan: ivan@rediffmail.com: Jadeja should be captain but azhar should be selected.this would be like kapil in 83



The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
abcd: abcd@hotmail.com: I think Rediff editors better not ask a lankan to write comments coz every lankan is over estimating his team with actualluy analyzing it properly .Srilanka is not at all equiped to play in english conditions that to in groupA .might be srilanka would have had a chance if group A is some what like this" kenya scotland bangaladesh,uae(supposing it qualified) malaysia.