ICC 2009 Champions Trophy Predictions

With the Champions trophy approaching the semi final stage , with three semi-finalist confirmed - England,New Zealand and Pakistan my prediction is as follows

> Until and unless a miracle happens Australia will be the 4th semi finalists and will top the group.
> 1st Semi final - Australia Vs England - Australia will win
> 2nd Semi final - Pakistan Vs New Zealand - Pakistan will win

Final - Australia Vs Pakistan - Winner - Bookies would favour Australia , but I would say that it depends on how mercurial Pakistan behave on that day ...however I would favour the Pakis to go ballistic during the finals and win a close encounter.....

Whatever the result hats off to Younis Khan and the team for performing well in international tournaments inspite of not having played much cricket in the past 12 months unlike their high profile neighbours ...you know what I mean....

How Chappell and Packer changed the face of cricket.

Cricketing purists have always been ruing over the fact on how the popularity of test cricket been dwindling with the introduction of the one day format.Well if we go back into the 1960's-70's we would realize it was the bureaucrats of the game who forced the phenomenon of the one day format to come into existence.Its always interesting to know how some events / actions change the course of history.The Genesis of One Day cricket format was not out of the sheer drive of the cricketing bureaucrats to introduce a new format to draw more crowds to the stadium.Neither was test crickets popularity diminishing in any way during the 1970's.It was the sheer frustration of a handful of Aussie cricketers led by Ian Chappel with the Australian Cricket Board ably led by the great Sir Donald Bradman.It all started with the request from the then current Australian side for a pay hike which was rejected by the ACB citing umpteen number of reasons which had no rationale.Repeated requests by the cricketers for a marginal hike was met with sheer negativity.But as a sagacious man once said " When God closes one door , He opens another one."This time the open door for Chappell and his men was that of the Aussie business tycoon Kerry Packer.Packer approached Ian Chappell with the concept of one day cricket and off course with a lucrative remuneration.The concept was launched and the first world series of cricket was scheduled , critics and board members coined the format as pyjama cricket and involved players were levied with a life ban for never to play cricket for Australia.Chappell was responsible for selecting players to be involved in the World Series format and was also looking after the branding /marketing of the game on behalf of Packer.
Met with resentment from the governing authorities the game was played and was accepted by the public as an exciting form of cricket with colored clothing , under lights ...in a way just mirroring baseball in North America.
The rest as we know is history , the ODI format has changed the face of cricket and is permanent fixture of any cricket tour.With advent of Chappells intervention with endorsements and the new game , the current crop of cricketers owe a lot to the struggle and sacrifices Chappell and his men made to make One Dayers a reality.
Food for thought - will Lalit Modi deserve the same for introducing T20 ...only time will tell...