by a Thinker, Sailor, Blogger, Irreverent Guy from Madras

Life has a way of showing you up in the Woe Cup


That is especially true in the game of Cricket.  Whether it concerns society, politics, economy or sports, often we find people predicting a course of events, which just do not pan out as expected.  In the aftermath starts the funny game of pointing fingers (no pun intended).  Not for nothing did JFK said ‘Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan’.

When such planning failures are analysed and the reasons enunciated, another expression is thrown our way - ‘With 20/20 hindsight, everything could be foreseen’.

The reason for wrong conclusion is most probably that the initial assumption is erroneous due to bias, misinformation, preference for a particular turn of events or to commit outright malfeasance.  Then, when things do go wrong, the hunt starts for the orphanage.
:-)

But there are instances when
  • initial assumptions,
  • understanding of the situation,
  • probable future conditions, and
  • assessment of involved personalities,
are absolutely on the spot.  When such conditions occur, we expect the conclusive events to stick to the script. 

Yet life, karma, kismet, or fate (call it what you will), has a unique way of outflanking and showing one up - like the take on the Quarterfinals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.  All of the evaluations in the post ‘Toss me the Woe Cup’ proved to be true, but with the exception of the 4th Quarter Final, the results were startling.

It is too atrocious to believe that teams read this blog and assume that the match will play out as scripted here.  But, trust me, most of the teams played as though they would win
  • if this blog said that they had the edge, or
  • if they just did what was written here, and nothing more.
The 1st Quarter Final between Pakistan and West Indies is a case in point.  The West Indies won the toss and chose to bat, which was recommended.  Except they seemed to have forgotten that they have to actually bat well.  The Windies played as though winning the match is a given one and crumbled - proving correct the earlier assessment.

The 3rd Quarter Final between New Zealand and South Africa was where the result was completely wrong with South Africa tipped to win.  Again, it seemed that the South Africans assumed a Kiwi Kebab once it has been written here.

To be frank, no one expected them to choke this early, though they would eventually in the tournament was written as far back as 19th of January in the paragraph ‘current forms of teams’ - and they admit that the chokers tag maybe true.

The 4th Quarter Final between Sri Lanka and England was where the result was exactly right with Sri Lanka tipped to win.  The English did win the toss and chose to bat and had a fighting chance, but fight they didn’t.  Their top batsmen just waited around for boundaries to ‘happen’ and their bowlers that day couldn’t have picked up 10 wickets, even if they had bowled to 10 stumps instead of the usual 3.
:-P

Then comes the stunning 2nd Quarter Final between India and Australia where the edge was given to Australia.  Again, the Aussies, once they won the toss and chose to bat, seem to have assumed victory.  For some time they batted like tourists taking a stroll picking jewellery in Ahmedabad streets and unconcerned when Gambhir and Kohli were surreptitiously gathering singles and victory.

Thus it was during the Quarter Finals, where every assessment -
  • that West Indies tend to crumble;
  • that South Africa are chokers;
  • that England had a chance if they fight;
  • that Australia are the one with the edge;
proved true, but 2 of the 4 semi-finalists were not as I thought!

I guess that is life.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Support - Donate

Your Blog is

Donate thro ECWID

Contact Form