As most of us know, the initial few years of his ODI career was not that great. He scored ducks in his first two international matches and took 5 years to score his maiden ton. But it was not as bad as someone imagines. In that period itself, he scored one of the best innings in a test match at the WACA and some fine test centuries in England. Although Sachin didn’t scored any ODI centuries until 1994, He come up with a scintillating knock against Pakistan in the 1992 World Cup to demolish Pakistan. His half-century paved way for India’s first victory against the arch-rivals. The maiden century came up against Australia in Colombo in 1994, which was only a beginning. After 16 years, he tailored an elusive 200, the first time in the history of ODI Cricket, also went on to become the highest individual score in ODI’s. In those 16 years, 46 centuries were made in almost all part of the cricketing world and against all the teams. 9 ODI centuries against Australia itself is a testimonial of his performances.

The long 20 years hasn’t been easy for the ‘Little Master’. Plenty of injuries, surgeries, cramp and hits, but he rise to the top after fighting with all these. He might be the only cricketer in the world, who hasn’t been dropped from the team for lack of form or being charged for on/off field scandals. What makes him so humble or how can a man be so simple after achieving this much in his life? Sunil Gavaskar reckons there is still a 16 year old boy in Sachin, who has the hunger to score runs and the passion to play for India. Whenever we think he has reached the Everest, he would have started his journey to conquer another one. Yes, this it would be the World Cup in 2011. It is played in India and the finals are played at the Wankhade Stadium in Mumbai, where he started his cricketing journey. A World Cup triumph would be the best culmination of a legendary career, which has made the billions of Indians proud.

In the last 12 months, Australia have played 14 test matches, won 8 matches, drew 3 and lost 3matches. In the Same period, India have played 9 test matches, winning 5, drawing 3 and loosing one. South Africa’s performance is – Played 8 tests, won 3, lost 3 and drew 2. So the Winning percentage of Australia, India and South Africa is – 57.14, 55.55 and 37.50 respectively. That means according to the winning percentages, Australia stays at the top, then comes India and the South Africans are way down! According to the ICC Rankings, India have a rating of 125, followed by South Africa with a rating of 120 and Australia at the the 3rd position, with a rating of 118. Australia have played 5 tests against England, 3 each against Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies. India have played 3 each against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, 2 against Bangladesh and 1 (so far) against South Africa. South Africa have played 3 against Australia, 4 against England and 1 (so far) against India.

So, after seeing the aforementioned stats, Does this ranking system makes any sense? The points and ratings are given of the basis of the win/loss at home/away criteria.That’s simply absurd. If a team is playing against comparatively weaker opponents like West Indies, Bangladesh and New Zealand, the chances for getting all the points are much high. Instead, If the ICC implements a weightage system, then it would add some credibility to this ranking system, if they are really serious about this. In the weightage system, teams will get lesser points, when they play weaker oppositions like Bangladesh and will get higher points, when they play Australia. Based on the past 1 year’s performances, teams can be alloted specific weightage and review it after every season. This would make the ranking system more competitive.

Too many matches
Fast bowlers are prone to injury than spinners and slow bowlers. So we have to use them wisely and make sure that they get sufficient rest. Australia, now, have 8 fast bowlers in the reckoning, whom can be rotated. All these 8 bowlers have the ability to bowl at more than 145 KMPH. See the case of India. They have just 4 or 5 guys that too only 2-3 guys with some international exposure and the other factor is that India plays more international cricket than any other team! The result is India carrying a team of fatigued and injured bowlers, who are forced to play again and again despite being unfit.

The snubbing of the Pakistani players has sent a strong signal across the cricketing globe that, the players cant take the IPL for granted. If they are willing to lay majority of the matches, then they will get  contract. Many Australian players lost the contact due to this and Pakistanis lost it due to the animosity among the two nations.

So, after all the auction and broadcasting drama, the stage has set for breathtaking season of the Indian Premier League. Shane Bond is coming for his maiden IPL year, so is Keron Pollard. There are lot of quality bowlers and hard-hitting batsmen in this years IPL and we hope we will witness some scintillating matches like in 2008 and 2009.

A real Coach should be a very good Communicator for providing clear instruction and feedback to the team and Individual players. Coach should be a good Teacher for developing the players’ skills and team tactics. Coach should be a very good Motivator for maintaining and controlling interest in players. Coach should be a very good Leader for organizing training, match day activities. Coach should be a very good Psychologist for dealing with various individual’s need and team. Coach should be a very good Manager for dealing with a wide range of players, officials and supporters. Coach should be a very good Sports supporter for developing fitness programs, injury prevention, care and management. Coach should be a very good Selector for selecting the team to best represent the club. Coach should be a very good Student for seeking continually to upgrade his knowledge of the game. Coach should be a very good Public Relations Expert for representing the club at official functions and community activities. Furthermore, there are some fundamental qualities of a coach viz; respect the individual, should have professionalism, capabilities to keep goal setting, using assistants, should have virtual planning for the preparation of innovative sessions, responsible for safety & fitness, should keep communication with learners, should have player discipline, should have potentialities for developing team spirit, should have ability to praising players’ responsibilities and skills, and capability to sustain team plan etc.. Moreover, a coach should summaries key points learnt from the exercise and encourage further practice.

It is a rhythm of coach that he never ever be a negative character or possessing discouraging attitude. Normal theory is that a coach should merely love the game and his players. It is not in a way of compelling students to improve their game and spirit. Real coach should express his views and skills and convert it into the mind of his/her students. Never ever use any abusing language in front of any learners, never demoralize any learner and do not create any misbehaving situations. Praise well, treat well and love them always, so that he could create a quality sportsman or a sportswoman.

Australia struggled terribly in the ICC World T20 and this was followed by an abysmal effort in the Ashes series which made them look pretty ordinary. An almost white wash by Australia in the ODI series against England was just a beginning. Even then, there were those who believed that Australia did not have the arsenal to defend the Champions Trophy they clinched in 2006.

In the initial stages, Australia’s performance justified the skeptics and they were almost on the brink of another oust. After winning that nail-biter against Pakistan, Australia peaked at the right time by winning the semi-final and the final matches comprehensively.

So we might see another strong team in the next World Cup that is not so far from now. This will intensify the battle for the World Cup as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa have strong bids for the next World Cup.

The ICC has refashioned the Champions Trophy by trimming the no of teams to 8 and just 15 games to make it more attractive. But that has been an utter failure as just 1 match was decided in the final over and all the other games, including the Semi- Finals and Final were one-sided.

England and New Zealand did really well to knock out South Africa and Sri Lanka in the preliminary stages of the competition but couldn’t replicate that in the later stages when it mattered. South Africa continued their woeful outing in the ICC events and re-affirmed the ‘Chokers’ tag, which they were desperate to throw away. India was also no exception. They couldn’t justify the rankings and were crashed out in the first round. The absence of the pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, Explosive opener Virender Sehwag were added to India’s defeat but the retreat of Yuvraj Singh ,just before the start of the tournament had put India’s preparation in complete disarray. Sri Lanka looked mediocre in the absence of a fully-fit Muralitharan and an out-of-form Jayasuriya.

Australia peaked at the right time and that was perhaps the biggest difference of the tournament. They struggled early for the rhythm, however as the tournament reached the summit clash, they started to fire on all cylinders. New Zealand did well to reach the finals but held back in the crunch match. Australia are back at the helm, however it won’t be easy for them to sustain that.  They will face-off against India in 3 weeks time, which would be a hard-test for their rookies, who failed terribly in the last Indian tour.

The next 12 months will be a real test for ODI Cricket as during this period, as the world will witness the prime T20 tournaments like the Champions League T20, IPL 2010 and the World T20. The competition has been really stiff in the bi-lateral series but lacked that vigor in the multi-team tournaments and that has been the reason of plunge in the excitement as far as the ODI cricket is concerned. If things get worse, then we wouldn’t even see the 2011 World Cup and instead a T20 World Cup. It’s better to keep the fingers crossed until the 2011 World Cup.

• Start every Routine with a good warm up followed by stretches.
• Focus on building a lower body and core
• Use low-weights or free-weights to built a strong foundation
• Mix long distance running and sprints to improve endurance and speed
• Shuttle runs will improve the running between the wickets
• Regular abs-workout can help you to improve your bowling.
• Do small warm ups on match days and don’t try to work harder as you tend to become tired as the match starts.

Nutrition plays a very important role in fitness. If the workouts are not supported by proper nutrition, then the entire effort will go waste.  There are different aspects to be considered as far as nutrition is concerned. It is quite different for match days and practice sessions.

• Drink more fluids to avoid de-hydration; especially salt-lime
• Avoid consuming soft-drinks.
• Avoid fatty and fried foods on match days as it can make you more tired and also fried foods
• Consume more fruits and vegetables as it can increase your metabolism
• Avoid food supplements unless you are a professional cricketer
• Drink more water and fruit juices when your body is resting- This is the time where the nutrition comes in to play

All these points when combined will give you basic fitness. However, for a professional cricketer, a more structured program is vital.  If you are a beginner, remember that you must consult a doctor before starting any sort of work out regimes.

Hard to choose the winner....

Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan captain has started the verbal-battle by saying that Sachin Tendulkar is not as threatening as he was in 2003. In that match, Sachin single-handedly demolished the Pakistan attack that included Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akthar.

India- Pak matches has always been real feasts for the spectators due to the hype it creates and the quality of players in both teams.  Pakistan had the edge in ODI’s in the 70’s, 80’s and till the mid 90’s, before the arrival of the Little Master (perhaps, the little demolisher) Sachin Tendulkar. The primary reason behind the success was their quality pool of fast bowlers, which India had lacked greatly.

Post 2000 saw the dominance of India as they evolved drastically under the helm of Sourav Ganguly.  They outplayed Pakistan in majority of the matches including India’s undefeatable run in the World Cups against Pakistan. India became much stronger after 2005 and they managed to win the majority of the matches against Pakistan. The Epic win at the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup reaffirmed India’s dominance against Pakistan.

It’s after 14 months that the arch rivals are locking their horns again and we can’t ask for a better place than the Super Sports Park at Centurion. The memories of the 2003 match will be big confidence booster for India, while Pakistan would be looking for turning things this time around. A win will not only change their fate against India at the big-stages but also seal a place in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy.

This edition of Champions Trophy is perhaps the best edition according to format. It is short, sweet and would provide plenty of high-voltage contests due to the participation of all the strong teams. A mediocre West Indies would remain as an aberration, however most of the matches promise high-octane contests.

This is the first ICC tournament after a draggy World Cup at the Caribbean in 2007. The criticisms raised from that tournament could be decisive in the growth of ODI’s.

If the Champions Trophy turns out as a failure, then ICC would be pondering on different ideas to improve ODI Cricket. And, if it turns out as a success, then also ICC would have to take some measures to make this attractive, as at present, several bi-lateral series are being played in front of fewer crowds. So this Champion’s Trophy would be either give some extra-time for the ODI’s or it will mark its demise.