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Gulf News experts dissect the showpiece as it nears the halfway mark
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00:00Hi guys, this is the Straight Bad with Gulf News, our weekly analysts of the Cricket
00:10World Cup. I'm Shyam Krishna and with me is Satish, our sports editor. We have two special
00:15guests today. We have Paddy Upton logging in from Cape Town. He's been with the South
00:22Africa national team as well as the Indian national team in various capacities. He's
00:25also been associated with the Indian Premier League, Pakistan Super League and the Big
00:29Bash League in Australia. Welcome to the show, Paddy.
00:34Thank you very much. Thanks for the invitation to join you and to share with your guests
00:37today.
00:38It's a pleasure to have you here. And we also have our regular guest, Chirag Suri, the UAE
00:44Cricket Opener. Welcome to the show, Chirag.
00:47Thanks. Thanks, Shyam. Thank you so much.
00:50And we really miss Ashfaq here. I mean, he's away. So, we had to make do with that.
00:56After Pakistan's tough loss, he left us.
01:00I would have wanted him to give inputs on what's going on in the Pakistan camp. But
01:05I think we'll have to go do without that. Now, 23 matches have gone through the tournament
01:11so far. And 24th match is being in progress. But one of the main features of the 23 matches
01:17has been South Africa's dominant batting. They have scored 1,400 plus and at least 3,
01:23300 plus totals. Paddy, you've been with South Africa. Tell us what is the secret behind
01:28that? What makes them, their batting tick?
01:33It's a good question. And they haven't necessarily come in as very much favourites. They don't
01:37have really seasoned campaigners there. So, it's a team that's probably building at the
01:43moment in terms of its experience. They've been lucky. Some of the wickets they've played
01:49on in India have been fairly flat wickets. The ball hasn't deviated much off the seam
01:53or for the spin bowlers. So, that does set up for fairly large targets. And sometimes
01:58when you set a large target batting first, the opposition goes up, they're over attacking
02:02and they end up making mistakes and fall well short.
02:07But they can take a lot of confidence at the moment from the way their batters are faring.
02:11Obviously, during the Netherlands, they were found wanting. It was only one game, but found
02:17wanting when it came to chasing.
02:19Yeah, that is the only one they chased. Chirag, coming to you. What are the impressions of
02:26the matches so far? It's been mainly a question of bat dominating. We've seen most of the
02:32matches where the batsmen winning the matches rather than bowlers. What do you make of it?
02:37Look, I think it's what you expect in India. Especially, the wickets have been so good
02:42to bat on. Especially early part of the tournament, we knew the ball will come on. They've prepared
02:48some good wickets out there. So, I think like we discussed earlier on as well, the teams
02:53whose top order has done well, we've seen them put high totals up. And then, of course,
02:59with runs on the board, it gets tough for the opposition. And I think that's the key.
03:04And especially that top three, top four batsmen. The teams that have done well, we've seen
03:09the openers give them good starts. Number three, get a lot of runs. So, it all comes
03:15down to… Yeah, it's been a batsman world cup so far, I would say. And the fast bowlers
03:21have gone the distance. But I think the spinners will come into play as the wickets get a bit
03:28older and tighter. But we'll have to see. We'll have to see. I think there's enough
03:34wickets out there in India. And they're so well-prepared with the structure and everything
03:38they have. So, I mean, we love a little run fest as an opener myself. I think I just love
03:44to see. And as a viewer, I think we love these high-scoring games. Yes, they've been a
03:48bit one-sided lately. But I'm sure we'll get competitive games in the coming ones.
03:53Yeah.
03:54Well, that has robbed us of some thrilling finishes, isn't it?
03:58Yeah. You can't have everything, Cham.
04:02Satish, coming to you. I have an India question for you. India has been the only unbeaten
04:09team in the fray so far. So, is there a Benavina-Peel match somewhere down the line? Something like
04:15what South Africa came up against the Netherlands?
04:19I don't think so, Cham. Because what has happened is, the Indian team is not reliant on one
04:25particular individual. There have been several different scenarios, several different individuals
04:29have put their hands up and played. Of course, the central figure has been Kohli. And because
04:34Kohli has been performing well, Rohit Sharma gets that little leeway to play much more
04:39freely at the start. So, I don't think… In fact, to be honest, the low-run has not
04:45been tested at all. Like, you look at maybe last game, Jadeja getting some runs under
04:49his belt must have come in quite handy as the tournament progresses on. So, I think
04:55since the Asia Cup, the Indian team has gone through several ups and downs. And there have
05:00been several testing moments, especially take the first match case in point where India
05:05were three down for two runs. And from there, you go on to score a comfortable win against
05:10Australia on a difficult wicket. These sort of small, small things that make it into a…
05:15When it comes to collectively, that gives you the confidence going forward. I don't
05:19see anything that India is going to slip up anywhere down the line, like what happened
05:25to South Africa. Because they have been in various situations. And of course, India probably
05:30need only about two more wins from the next four games. So, I am sure it should not be an issue.
05:36But yes, semi-final is again, anybody's game. It's an awkward game. Anything can happen on that.
05:41But until that time, I don't think India is having any trouble at all. Because even the
05:46bowling is doing well as well. It's complementing the batting pretty well. And it's a well-rounded
05:52team, I would say. And in the last match, we saw South Africa blowing away in England.
06:00What is actually happening to England? Three bad losses. And they are not… Essentially,
06:05they are pretty much the same players, really. But they lost three matches and are struggling
06:10to qualify for the semi-final. What went wrong there?
06:14You know, Shyam, I take a step back from this and I look at how do these tournaments,
06:20particularly these long format tournaments where there's a lot around Robin Games,
06:24which for example, happens in an IPL where each of the eight teams play up to 14 games.
06:30The general trend, more than 80% of the time in fact, is teams that go on to win or teams that
06:36have an average first half or even an average first two thirds of the tournament. And then
06:42just to walk that average time, it takes the pressure off them. They learn lessons. There's
06:48a humbling that comes into place. They start earning the tag, a little bit of underdogs.
06:53And when those teams win their last two games, just make it into the semi-finals,
06:59they start finding form late. They come in as the underdogs. They've learned a lot of lessons.
07:04They've made mistakes and they're still mentally fresh. Compared to, for example,
07:09if India go on to win eight or nine out of games, they haven't yet been tested. They don't know what
07:16it's like to play. Well, they were tested for a short while against Australia, but only one man
07:21really. Kohli is the person who took it away from them with some support. They go in as the favorites
07:27and going into a tournament like this, into a semi-final or final as the favorites in India,
07:35it puts a lot of pressure. And I would almost sort of flag that as an orange flag for the
07:39Indian team. If they go on and win eight out of nine, the odds are stacked in their favor and
07:46against them from one perspective. So the fact that England have done badly, if they manage to
07:53win three or four games and just qualify, it makes England a very dangerous team. If they don't
08:00qualify, I think they'll be kicking themselves and need to really go and have a debrief and ask,
08:04where did we get it so wrong as the previous champions? They know how to win. They're the
08:08world test champions. So it's been quite a dismal showing. But obviously last weekend as a South
08:14African, we played England, South Africa played England in the World Cup and in the World Cup
08:18rugby on the same day. And it was nice to go to bed, you know, up from the day.
08:28Carrying on from what Paddy said, Paddy pointed out about Virat Kohli's influence on the Indian
08:33team. We have seen the last few matches, how he bossed the chase for India. So will a scenario
08:38where a Kohli flop show will affect the Indian chase or the Indian score? I have one more question
08:44following up that. And we also saw Shami come in and pick up a five-wicket haul there. Now,
08:50if and when Pandit Pandya returns, will they drop Shami?
08:58Look, whether or not a Kohli not performing will affect India, you know, I still don't know
09:08whether we're completely relying on a Kohli. Yes, we've been solid. KL Rahul has stepped
09:13up. He's been doing really well for the Indian team. The openers are looking good. Of course,
09:18we're still waiting for a big score from Shubman. But it'll come. He's in good form. You know,
09:22he came back from Dengu and things like that. So, he's getting back into it. And it's good
09:27that he's on the park. I think it's very good for team India because he's a match winner.
09:31Shreyas gets good starts, gets in. But he's getting out, you know. And he's getting out
09:36on his own doing. Like, he took on that pull last game. Then, you know, he got that really
09:41nice 30. He looked like good for 100. And then, he gets up at 30-40. But I want him to get a big
09:47score. Because when Ishaan and Hardik get fit, depending on the combination, whether, you know,
09:52you keep Shreyas in the mix or you maybe go to Surya. I don't know what's with Surya Kumar in
09:57ODIs. Let me tell you that. You know, last game, he got a bit unlucky. You know, that run-out.
10:02The whole, you know, Kohli's just ball-watching. It was his fault. But in these kind of situations,
10:07you know, when it's… Sometimes, you just have that jinx. I just feel, you know, whenever he
10:12plays ODIs, it just doesn't go for him. You know, these small things that, you know, just go against
10:18him. But he's doing some runs. And I would love to see maybe in these 3-4 games. Because we've
10:23qualified already. They might give him a chance in number 4 or 5 just to, you know, give him some
10:28batting time in the middle before the big games. We'll have to wait and see. But you can't do too
10:34many changes as well. It's a World Cup at the end of the day. I think that's pretty much it.
10:40Virat is looking great. I think that's so good for the Indian team. He is so responsible in the
10:45middle. And the way he is just taking the team, I mean, so, it's world-class. You know, it's what
10:50the best in the world do. So, you can't really say much to that. Yeah.
10:56Satish, since Chirag dug the question out, Shami, let me put that to you. Do you think
11:01Shami will continue to figure in the team and Hardik Pandya comes back into the team?
11:07I think India should do that, Sham. Because, see, at the end of it, you have to trust Hardik
11:12Pandya's batting capabilities. I think that's where there is a lack of trust there. And of course,
11:18Hardik played almost a match-winning knock. Not a match-winning knock. Important knock
11:25in the first match of the Asia Cup where India were 44-4 against Pakistan. So,
11:30you got to trust Hardik Pandya's capabilities and play Hardik Pandya and Shami instead of
11:36bringing in Shardul Thakur, who is going to give you 50-60 runs without taking a wicket. And that's
11:41going to put pressure on the batting. But at the end of it, again, the Indian team also must be
11:48managing Shami's workload as well. So, it depends on the workload. Again, it depends. Maybe next
11:53game is England. Shami should play. And supposing India is playing against Sri Lanka or Netherlands,
11:58they can probably take it a bit easier with Bumrah or Shami playing one match or the other
12:05between them in these games so that the workload is well-managed.
12:10That's about India. Yes, India has got a few more matches to go in the league. But across the border,
12:17Pakistan's fortunes have not been good. They have lost three matches in a row.
12:21Paddy, you've been with the Pakistan Super League. So, you have some idea about the players there. So,
12:26give us some insight into what is triggering this poor run for Pakistan.
12:33You know, it's always difficult. I know having played for so many years against Pakistan and
12:38plotted against them. You know, I've been involved in five Cricket World Cups now between T20 and the
12:4350 over, either for South Africa or actually I've spent more time working with the Indian team
12:48in lead-up to the World Cup. So, the conversation is always pretty much the same around Pakistan.
12:55On their day, they have the skill, they have the flair, they can blow any team away on their day.
13:03But things need to go in their favor. On any other day, you can blow them away
13:09with ease. So, they seem to be this confidence team where things are working well, they do great.
13:15If things aren't working well, they do really badly, which suggests, and I'm not saying it's
13:19the case because I'm an outsider when it comes to the national team, that they don't have clear
13:24structure, they don't have clear plans, they don't have clear roles and they don't practice
13:30repetitively with those clear plans and those clear roles. Because teams that go in with plans,
13:35with roles, with strategy, knowing what to do, even if you have a bad game, you can still be
13:40very competitive and even win. But Pakistan seems to, over the years, blow very, very hot and cold
13:47and they seem to be doing it again. And certainly, a long tournament like this,
13:53you can't rely on a couple of lucky flair confidence games to be able to go the distance.
13:59So, I really think the structures and their organization, their disciplines is something
14:04that's been lacking in that team for a long time. And if they were to bring that to the kind of
14:09flair they've got, I think they would be a lot more dangerous for their talents than what they
14:16are currently posing opposition. Chiran, one of the crippling losses for Pakistan
14:24has been against Afghanistan. Afghanistan has won two of the matches. And tell us something
14:30about their growth. We've seen Afghanistan growing straight up because UAE has been their home
14:35ground for quite some time. So, tell us about their rise in World Cricket, specifically this
14:41World Cup. Look, I think we know without a doubt they have the players. They have the talent pool
14:48over there as well. And I think it's a lot to do with confidence as well for these teams when they
14:54start well and when their big players step up. I think it's been a bit disappointing to see.
15:02I think I was expecting a lot from a Babar Azam in this World Cup. That team really relies on
15:10their skipper to stand up and shell that confidence to the whole team. I think that's
15:15what's been lacking. But on the contrary, you've seen Mujib do really well over here. Rashid Khan
15:21do well. Their big players have really stepped it up in these big games and they've led from
15:27the front. And I think that's what we've seen. Even the batting. The bowling has always been good,
15:32especially in these conditions. I feel the spinners will control the game and that's what they've done.
15:37Pakistan haven't had that spin attack. I think Afghanistan has a very good spin attack in this
15:43World Cup. Pakistan rely more on their fast bowling. But on these flat decks, I think Shaheen
15:48up front hasn't done the job for them. They're missing Naseem Shah. Harish Rauf hasn't been as
15:54lethal as he is because of the wickets. But Afghanistan has on the other side had that
16:00spin attack. They open with a spinner. They control middle overs with spin. And the wickets have just
16:05suited their bowling attack more. And it was only about whether the batsmen would be able to give
16:10them a fighting total. And wherever they gave them a fighting total, you see that the bowlers have
16:16always been good. They've defended. But if you give their bowlers only 220-230, then it's difficult.
16:20But if you give their bowlers 270-280 to defend, they do it. And even when they restricted teams
16:26to 270-280, they had a very successful chase. So I think it's really good to see the rise of
16:32Afghanistan cricket. I've played a lot of cricket against that team. They've always had good,
16:35talented players. And it's all about giving them more confidence, giving them that exposure.
16:42And believing in each other. I think in World Cups, you've got to back your guys and
16:46keep instilling belief and really make it a good atmosphere. I think they're in a good stead. I
16:52think Jonathan Trott as a coach, I feel that they've really benefited from having such an
17:00experienced campaigner over there. They might not all be understanding what he says. But I'm sure
17:06they're translating and that sort of calmness. Like Paddy said, they're focusing on their
17:11plans. They have clear plans. They know what they're doing. They're very clear with what role
17:17and who's doing what and what we need. So I think that makes it clear for a player. And that's why
17:22that team is doing well. Yes, you said about the plans. I'm sure it is coming from Jonathan
17:29Trott. He's been really, really the man behind the scenes for Afghanistan. Now, Paddy, coming back to
17:36New Zealand. New Zealand has been flying under the radar, but they've been winning matches,
17:39except for their loss to India. They've done pretty well. Just talk us through that.
17:44New Zealand, they're always a team that punches well above their weight. There are only four
17:50million people in New Zealand. There can't be more than a few hundred thousand cricketers.
17:56So there's less people in the whole of New Zealand than play cricket in Mumbai almost.
18:01So they really do punch above their weight. They don't have a big talent pool. So they know they
18:06have to get the absolute best out of what they've got within their playing squad of 15 or 18. It's
18:12been like that for a long time. They know they have to get every single. The one percentages
18:18are so important for them. And it's something that they managed to do really, really well.
18:22They managed to have a very professional approach. And they go into games very often because of this
18:29being the small nation and being the little brother of Australia, very often sort of in
18:33the context of world cricket or the way people look at them. They're always going in with the
18:37underdog tag and they're going in very often with that underdog where they're so used to the
18:41underdog mindset. And I can't emphasize how advantageous to a degree that having the underdog
18:50tag and mindset is in a big tournament like a World Cup, particularly one in India, where there's
18:56so much noise, so many eyes, so much visibility, so much pressure on every game that there really
19:02is advantage. So Afghanistan, you know, as Chirag said earlier, they're doing a whole lot of things
19:06right, but they also go in grateful to be there and as the underdogs and just I'm sure the message
19:12is let's go and fully express ourselves, go and play without the expectation or pressure of needing
19:18to win, which creates pressure or being fearful of losing, which creates fear. And New Zealand,
19:23similarly, they don't have, they've got more pressure to win now because they've made a few
19:27finals and they've been threatening to be champions. Where on the same token, you know,
19:34the pressure of winning and fear of losing would be higher for Australia's and for England's and for
19:39India's who've done it before. So there is advantage and I think New Zealand take advantage
19:45of that underdog tags in cricket to go, be, express themselves, not desperate to win and not
19:51fearful of losing. And that is such a critical mindset to go into a game. I'm not, I want to win,
19:57but I'm not desperate to win and I don't want to lose, but I'm not terrified of losing. That frees
20:02someone up to be in the moment and play their best game as it unfolds in front of them, ball by ball,
20:07over by over, which New Zealand do really well. Thanks, Paddy. And Satish, coming to you,
20:14one team which never has an underdog tag is Australia, five-time winners. Australia,
20:19they say winning is a habit, but this Australian team started off badly. But the last match,
20:25I think they have come back to the form they want to. And how do you see Australia's
20:30performance in the rest of the World Cup? Shyam, the sad part with Australia is that
20:36they are backing on only those three or four batsmen. Warner, Smith, I think Labushane
20:42has come good in a couple of games. But the problem is Mitchell Marsh, one match he scores.
20:47Maxwell has not come good at all. So there is a, the batting or bowling, they are relying too much
20:53on a couple of individuals. When they come good, they're able to translate that into a performance
20:58or rather a winning performance, I would say. But if it doesn't come good, then they are in trouble.
21:04So that's what is happening to this Australian team. I think they are relying more on the
21:08fast bowlers, I think three fast bowlers with just one spinner, Zampa and Maxwell doing that
21:14job. I think they need to get, they probably missed that trick of adding an extra bowler,
21:20left-hand spinner or somebody in the team, maybe that would have helped them. But yes,
21:25Australia, they have the experience. Whatever they are doing right now, they are going back
21:30to the drawing board. They are looking at their experience and trying to win matches based on the
21:35strategy than their skill. That's what I would say. And again, Australia, you cannot write them
21:40off because they can come back. They are in the striking distance right now. They have got four
21:45points. So it's not a complete trouble like England where they have lost three, whereas
21:54Australia just lost two. But yes, Australia, look, I think I said it earlier also. The team looks a
22:03bit hollow because it's revolving around only a handful of individuals completely. And if they
22:10come good for batting, Warner or Smith has to be there till the end with bowling, Zampa has to get
22:17some wickets. And Hazelwood with his experience is doing well as a containing bowler. He's not
22:22giving runs, but he's not able to get the wickets because he's containing runs. So this is very
22:27tricky. Mitchell Stark is not the same as we have seen him. So that is another problem for them. He
22:34is not able to get the ball moved, nor is he able to get those yorkers in. So these are all some of
22:40the issues that are going on. But again, as they are going, as they get more wins under their belt,
22:44their confidence will grow. And once they get the confidence, they are in difficulty any time.
22:50Yes, Bangor, because South Australia, you can never write off. I remember the
22:55T20 World Cup in the UAE a couple of years before last, I think. And they came out of nowhere to
23:00win the tournament. So you could never, never, ever write off an Australian side. So that's it
23:06from us Trade Mad. Thank you, guys. We'll be back with our next analysis next week. Thank you,
23:12guys, for watching, for breaking news and more updates. Please log on to gulfnews.com and all
23:17our social media channels. See you next week. Bye-bye.
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