for me i wouldn't say that i'm surprised because i know the majority favor teams who play in their home land all the time, they even thought Qatar could do something in the World cup, but in reality and throughout the last few decades i've seen very few countries manage to win tournaments in their homeland to the point i decided to never favor a team like Germany this time i Euro, and i agree with you that France and England have a way better chance to win it than Germany.
I have a feeling that Germany is a dying team. And I agree with your argument that France and England have a better chance to win the tournament when compared to Germany. The Germans have performed pathetically during Euro 2021 and FIFA 2022. They are unable to find fresh talent and are heavily dependent on players who are in their 30s, such as Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller and İlkay Gündoğan. They have some younger players like Lukas Nmecha, Karim Adeyemi and Youssoufa Moukoko. But these players are yet to prove their mettle at the international stage. |
|
|
|
If I'm not mistaken USA Mexico and Canada were selected in 2018 as hosts for the 2026 World Cup so it's been quite a while, and those who put themselves forward, and must have seen the huge advantage to be had by hosting. If an alternative covid emerges then there will definitely be adjustments like what happened at the Japanese Olympics and also the previous European Cup
We are still talking about COVID? It has been almost 3 years since the first cases spread from China to other countries (Italy and Japan). Here in India, hardly anyone cares about COVID anymore. People seems to have got the immunity against COVID, as a result of vaccinations and infections. Zero-COVID countries such as China have realized their mistake and are no longer trying to contain the infection. A flu virus similar to COVID may emerge in 2026, but I don't think that the current pandemic will last beyond this year (2023). |
|
|
|
It's hard to find a cool-headed smart captain like Dhani. He was a great captain. India won many matches only because of Dhoni's captaincy. KL Rahul feels like my Dhoni at times. He can take decisions with a cool head. But he is experienced and not lucky like Dhoni. But I would say if Rahul is in form, then India should rely on his captaincy. Because Rahul's captaincy is much better than Rohit's or Virat's.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was miles ahead of anyone in the current Indian team. He was the perfect captain. He can't be compared with KL Rahul. I haven't noticed much difference between KL Rahul and others such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya. Only improvement is that unlike Kohli-Rohit-Hardik, Rahul seems to be unbiased and never allows players in the XI for reasons other than merit. Kohli-Rohit-Hardik on the other hand have brought back nepotism and bias in selection, which was quite subdued after the Mohammad Azharuddin era. |
|
|
|
|
Too many T20 leagues going on right now, and it is really difficult to track all of them. The most important ones are the BBL, SA20, ILT20 and the BPL.
Perth Scorchers are ahead in the BBL, with 16 points from 11 matches. Sidney Sixers are trailing them with 15 points. 3 matches remain for each of the teams and as of now, it looks like either Perth or Sidney will finish as the champions. Sylhet has won all their 5 matches so far in the BPL, and they are on top of the table with 10 points. ILT20 and SA20 has just started. Sunrisers Eastern Cape won a close match against MI Cape Town yesterday, with Aiden Markram hitting 50. Gulf Giants won against Dubai Capitals in ILT20 at Dubai, and James Vince managed to hit 83 from 56 balls. Robin Uthappa scored 79 for the Capitals, but ended up in the losing side.
|
|
|
|
If this were the Sri Lankan team that had all the famous players such as Dilshan, Sangakkara, Malinga, etc., then I would have said that Sri Lanka is going to be playing very competitively against India. However, you should take a look at the current Sri Lanka squad. In my opinion, Sri Lanka does not have a high chance against India at this point. Unless India makes big mistakes, Sri Lanka are not going to be able to win against them. Anyway, the series is over now. Now the New Zealand vs India bilateral will start from tomorrow onwards, with the first ODI being scheduled in Hyderabad. It is going to be a series of 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is. And after that the test series against Australia will start. It will take another 2 months to find out whether Sri Lanka will gain automatic qualification for the ODI world cup or not. They have 3 matches remaining, all of them against New Zealand (away matches). Currently they have 77 points from 18 matches. They need to win at least 2 out of the 3 matches. |
|
|
|
|
There was a major upset yesterday, as Slovenia managed to defeat Poland. Poland were the favorites as per the betting odds. And the Montenegro vs Iran match turned out to be closer than expected, with Montenegro sneaking in with 34-31. Odds for today's matches are as follows:
Egypt vs Morocco: EGY -5000, MAR +6600
Norway vs Argentina: NOR -3333, ARG +2000
Denmark vs Bahrain: DAN -5000, BHR +3900
Croatia vs USA: CRO -5000, USA +2500
Germany vs Serbia: GER -139, SRB +190
North Macedonia vs Netherlands: MAC +500, NED -400
Belgium vs Tunisia: BLG +425, TUN -345
Qatar vs Algeria: QAT -455, ALG +600
|
|
|
|
|
The ongoing ICC Women's Under-19 T20 World Cup 2022/23 has witnessed a rare incident. Yesterday there was a match between the UAE U-19 women's team and the Scotland U-19 women's team. All the 11 players in the UAE team were Indian citizens. I believe that this is the first time in the history of ICC that all the players in one of the "national" teams is represented by another nation. Also, all the 11 players in the US team (in the match against Sri Lanka) were of Indian origin, but a majority of them were citizens of the United States.
Despite the presence of experienced Indian players such as Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh, the match between India W U-19 and South Africa W U-19 was not as one sided as we expected. South Africans made 166/5 in their first innings and India won with just 3.3 overs to spare.
Today there are 4 matches, with Rwanda and Indonesia playing their first matches ever in an ICC tournament:
Pakistan vs Rwanda
Ireland vs West Indies
England vs Zimbabwe
Indonesia vs New Zealand
|
|
|
|
|
Well.. I never expected Croatia to lose by such a big margin. Anyway, good luck next time. And despite overwhelming odds, Morocco lost to USA by a tiny margin of 27-28. Yesterday's matches turned out to be quite interesting actually.
Let's discuss today's matches. Here are the odds that I got from various sources:
Iceland vs Hungary: ICE +115
Poland vs Slovenia: POL -125, SLV +160
Montenegro vs Iran: MNT -1111, IRN +900
Portugal vs South Korea: POR -1250, KOR +1200
France vs Saudi Arabia: FRA -850, KSA +850
Brazil vs Uruguay: BRA -1650, URU +1650
Spain vs Chile: ESP -1550, CHL +1550
Sweden vs Cape Verde: SVG -1350, CPV +1350
The first two matches are going to be close, apart from that others are going to be one-sided.
|
|
|
|
8 of the IPL franchises have expressed their interest in having WIPL teams, as per the communication from the BCCI. Sealed bids will be opened by January 25 and by then we will get to know who have won the franchises. The bidding process is not very transparent this time, as the BCCI has said that they are not "obliged to accept highest monetary offer". The tournament will be conducted in March 2023, with 5 to 6 teams participating. The bids for WIPL media rights will be known by January 16. BTW, the women's U-19 world cup is going to start today. A total of 16 teams are participating, with full members being given automatic entry (obviously Afghanistan is not there, as they don't have a team). There are 4 groups of 4 teams each, and final will be played at Potchefstroom on 29th January. Rwanda and Indonesia are taking part in an ICC tournament for the first time ever. India is being captained by Shafali Verma, with Richa Ghosh and Soumya Tiwari also included in the squad. |
|
|
|
|
^^^ Squad looks OK for me. I would still prefer Ishan Kishan ahead of KS Bharat. Kishan is in terrific form and he was unfairly treated by Rohit Sharma as Shubman Gill was selected instead of him. BCCI has persisted with Mohammed Siraj, however I would have liked then to provide one or two chances to Umran Malik (his bowling style is more suitable to test format). One disappointment is that Abhimanyu Easwaran has been dropped without getting any chances to represent India. BTW, I don't know why Jaydev Unadkat is in the team.
|
|
|
|
The media did their best to kick Ronaldo out of Manchester United. The coach of the Portuguese national team did the same, keeping him in reserve. I don't even know the man's name. The name of the coach who will leave Ronaldo in reserve should be deleted from football history. Now there are critics for transferring to the Saudi League. He got rid of the unnecessary words of the media and earned a very good income. What could be more beautiful? He has already performed at a high level until this year and has broken unbreakable records. I don't think Ronaldo has been given the respect he deserves. I think it is wrong to ignore what Ronaldo has done for football by giving examples from his flamboyant life. Let's see what the answer will be when Messi is offered the same level. In my opinion, Messi should earn big income from football in his last years like Ronaldo.
Both the media and the ManU fans played their part. When Ronaldo was playing for them, they were constantly complaining about his performance. Jose Mourinho treated Ronaldo better when comapred to the treatment Ronaldo got at the hands of Fernando Santos, but that alone was not enough to retain him in ManU. And the joke is that once he announced his decision to quit ManU, all those fans who were complaining about him previously went up in arms and accused him of being greedy. This is a classical example of sour grapes, I would say. |
|
|
|
You are right,the moment Ronaldo retires from football,Messi will have more rival in football. Al Hilad will not have interest in Messi if Ronaldo quits football,now is the time they need him to come and help the club win their league,since Ronaldo will help his new club this season. Messi is not a player that is after money,if you check his record,he has never become the world most highest paid player and that doesn't bother him,all his concentration is to play quality football. Ronaldo loves a flamboyant life style and I guess consider money first in his career based on his quality.
Again.. I don't think that earning money through honest means should be looked down upon. In my job-sector, employees frequently jump from one organization to the other, if the latter offers a better compensation package and work conditions. Club football is just like any other career option. It can't be compared to playing for the national team (where a certain amount of patriotism is involved). Lionel Messi is not under any compulsion to remain in PSG. The decision is entirely up to him. If he feels that the offer from Al Hilal is better for his career and future prospects, then he should move to that club and stop bothering about what others say about him. Even when Ronaldo signed up for Al Nassr, a lot of the losers were calling him greedy. And the joke is that those who call him greedy would struggle to earn 0.1% of what he earns in a year. |
|
|
|
It depends from which side are you looking at the World Cup 2022. If you watched it on a TV from your home, everything was great and most of the games were interesting. However I'm sure that fans that were stopped in the airport because they didn't get their visa on time. There was a situation where two guys payed almost $3000 for a game and airplane ticket to go to one game. One guy got his visa and the other guy didn't get it in time. The guy without a visa got stopped from entering a plane in Frankfurt, Germany and his friend didn't want to go alone. In the end not only have they lost $3000, they had to buy another plane ticket to get home from Frankfurt.
And then there were those discriminate situations where something that is normal in "our" world was forbidden in Qatar, but I won't go into that.
Visa issues during 2026 edition will be much worse than what they had in 2022. Qatar at least issues tourist visa without much delay, unless you are from the pariah states such as North Korea or Cuba. Getting a tourist visa for the United States is next to impossible for most of those who are residing in the third world nations. I am not sure whether they will make some exemptions for the 2026 World Cup, but we are going to witness a lot of ugly scenes at the airport. Perhaps football fans need to wait until 2030, if they don't want to waste their hard earned money. But we don't know about hosts for the 2030 edition yet. Right now there are at least a dozen bids, including those from Morocco, combined Uruguay–Argentina–Chile–Paraguay, combined Spain–Portugal–Ukraine, and the joint bid from United Kingdom-Ireland. Voting will be held sometime in 2024. |
|
|
|
|
Now Pakistan are the favorites to win this ODI series. Despite losing Shan Masood early, they got to a very respectable total of 280/9. New Zealand bowlers were expensive today and Mitchell Santner and Lockie Ferguson leaked more than 6 runs per over. But to their credit, they bowled well in the end. At one point Pakistan was 225/4 after 42.3 overs. In the next 7.3 overs they could score only 55 runs and lost 5 wickets. Apart from Agha Salman, no other batsmen contributed for Pakistan towards the end. Unless there is a miracle, Pakistan is going to win this match.
|
|
|
|
The reality is India is dominating the cricket world either its ICC or thi SA franchise , they are controlling everything which obviously is because of their strong cricket boards and thier economic stability.
This is good that SA League Is developing because of Indian coverage but question is how they'll handle this in long run?
SA20 need to find acceptance among the local fans first. But that is going to be difficult, because cricket is not as popular as football or rugby within South Africa. That is the reason why the CSA want to derive most of the revenues from India. I don't know how viable this idea is. Other leagues such as the BBL, Hundred and PSL derive most of the revenues locally. Even the CPL has a strong domestic fan base. I am not sure whether the market in South Africa is large enough to support this. In that case they can consider expanding the league, by adding one team each from Zimbabwe and Namibia. |
|
|
|
South Africa has established a new franchise T20 league after crossing various obstacles. They wanted to start a CSA in 2017 but it didn't happen in the end. In 2018, Mzansi also failed at one stage and later MSL also had to be cancelled. But in the end they continue to strive to establish SA20 very well. But this time they will be successful, as all concerned have opined. This franchise league like IPL is trying to be successful.
Even now I don't like their idea of being heavily dependent on the Indian market for revenue and viewership. It needs to be seen whether the SA20 will gain much traction in India. One advantage is that JioCinema is streaming all the matches for free. So Indian fans don't need a cable TV connection to watch these matches (although the matches are being shown in Sports18 and Sports18HD as well). There is a limited potential within South Africa, because cricket is not one of the top-3 sports there unlike the case with Australia or England. |
|
|
|
|
New Zealand got the good start, as Ferguson got the wicket of Shan Masood in the second over. Now Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam are at the crease and they are 18/1 after 6 overs. Pakistan has included Mohammad Hasnain in the squad to replace Naseem Shah (injury?). Shan Masood was included in the place of Imam-ul-Haq. New Zealand squad is the same one that played the second match. Once again, spinners will be playing a decisive role today, with Bracewell, Santner and Sodhi included in the XI for New Zealand.
|
|
|
|
There are several countries which have been trying for a long time to improve their cricket but they are not able to do so. But Afghanistan is a cricket team that has improved so much in a short period of time even the big countries have started thinking of them as a big opponent. Both their batting and bowling have been able to make a significant difference. Now they are lagging behind only for experience but in a few more years they will improve from that position and become known as another cricketing powerhouse country.
There is no doubt that Afghanistan is perhaps the team that has shown the maximum improvement in the last 10 years or so. But that doesn't take away the fact that that are the only test nation without a women's team at this point. ICC stresses a lot on gender equality and for cricket to qualify as an Olympic sport, they need to show that the sport is being played equally among the men as well as the women. Asian boards such as the BCCI and PCB may tolerate this issue, but as we have seen CA has already raised this on the big stage. ECB and CNZ may follow soon. And it will have negative repercussions for the Afghan cricket board. |
|
|
|
Look at it this way, at least Rohit is not going with his MI teammates (Kishan and SKY). It's exactly the opposite of Virat.
LOL.. agreed with that. Anyway, I believe that Ishan Kishan and Surya Kumar Yadav are two of the best batsmen available for India at this point. Rohit doesn't want to consider them, then fine. India can win without these two players, because they have so much depth in their player pool. And currently none of the other teams are having this luxury. Not even England, New Zealand or Australia. Now choosing between Virat and Rohit for the captaincy is like making a choice between Botulinum and Potassium Cyanide. |
|
|
|
~~~
I disagree mainly because you are comparing apples with apples with a different color. Democracy is dictatorship with a different face. But also the evidence suggests otherwise. If you want to compare, you have to compare countries based on their own situation (geography, population,etc.) and over time.
~~~ Completely agreed with this. My country (India) is being regarded as a democracy, but sometimes I feel that having a dictatorship was way better. Just 2% of the population pays income tax and 60% of the jobs and university seats are reserved for people from certain ethnic groups. Farmers don't need to pay any tax, even if they earn billions every year. The state governments come up with increasing amounts of freebies during every election cycle in order to win votes. Groups that reproduce rapidly are given priority as they command more votes. A few decades earlier, China was much poorer than India. Now the per capita income there is three times that of India. So what is the point in being a democracy? |
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
