espnstar.com's Ayanjit Sen and Rajarshi Gupta debate a host of issues as the ICC Champions Trophy draws to its business end.

Sloppy India?

AS: India's fortunes are hanging by a thread after weather Gods decided to play a prank on Dhoni's men. The equation is simple. India will first need to defeat West Indies while hoping Australia loses to Pakistan by a huge margin. It is indeed an irony when Indian fans will pray for a Pakistan victory.

Now, whether it was a strategy failure or the absence of three of their top cricketers is a debatable issue. The sex dossier has not proved beneficial, at least, until now! A victory against a depleted West Indian side is expected. But will it be enough to see Dhoni's men through? Remember, there is still a chance for the Indian team to march into the semi-finals. Pray!

RG: Debateable issue, is it? India went into action without three of their top match winners. No Virender Sehwag. No Zaheer Khan. No Yuvraj Singh.

Well, all is not lost yet and even as we argue here, Pakistan might crush Australia and India might blow the West Indies away and still qualify for the semi-finals but skipper MS Dhoni will not be happy man with what he has seen so far.

The loss against Pakistan will rankle. With three down for 58, India’s arch rivals went on to muster over 300 runs and in reply, Dhoni’s batsmen made a mess of it.

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The bowling lacked sting without Zaheer and Sehwag and Yuvi’s absence meant power hitting had to face the back-burner. Rahul Dravid, making a comeback to the ODI side after two years made a laboured 76 but would that have been enough? Ever? Never.

This is not an excuse. It is a fact. More than being sloppy, India depend on Sehwag, Yuvraj and Zaheer to win them ODI’s. You need ammunition to fire, don’t you now?

The Caribbean charisma

AS: The West Indies side came to South Africa with a whitewash in one-day and Test series against Bangladesh. Their performance was on expected lines in SA except for the first few overs in their first match against Australia. The Aussies lost their first wicket without a run on the board. What a start! But then, slowly the Windies bowlers realised who they are playing against. Australia managed to put up a big score in front of West Indies which the second string side could not get past. The West Indies team had won the trophy in 2004 followed by a final loss to Australia in 2006. Those heroics, sadly, cannnot be repeated now. The experience factor says it all. All players in the squad had an experience of 108 one-day internationals just before this tournament!

RG:The Calypso Kings are a sight to behold. It was a pity Chris Gayle could not lead the West Indies to South Africa and the once world beaters had to settle for Floyd Reifer. No one expected these guys to win and they did not too.

However, they fought. Pakistan had to dig in deep to chase down 133 in their first encounter (losing five wickets in the process) and Australia got a mighty scare before Mitchell Johnson played a stunner with the bat.

Nikita Miller, Reifer Gavin Tonge Kemar, Roach and David Bernard may not be household names yet but they sure played their part in salvaging some Caribbean pride after a bitter pay dispute between their top stars and the Board.

What went wrong for the Proteas?
 
AS: Chockers! Something the South African team hate to be called so. The world's No. 1 ODI team bowed out of the Champions Trophy. The country's press criticised the players. Why do they fail just when it is required to win. Captain Graeme Smith did his bit with the bat to some extent but then he offered no excuses when his team lost to England. Remember, it is the same England which lost a oneday series 6-1 to Australia before the Champions Trophy. Undoubtedly it was one of their poorest bowling performances against England. It is all about the application of skills under pressure. Better luck next time!

RG: No, let’s not even get there. South Africa did not choke. They just played poor cricket and strategised poorly and planned appallingly.  It is as simple as that.

Why did Graeme Smith invite Sri Lanka to bat after winning the toss and risk chasing under lights? That was arrogance, if not shoddy thinking. The bowlers kept spraying it all over and reached the depths of incompetence against England.

When you let teams cross the 300-run hurdle against you twice in three matches, there is something to think about. And the Proteas did not even try. Except Smith of course. He played a captain’s knock in a desperate bid to take his team home against the Pommies but his men did not rally around him.

The South Africans did not fight when it mattered and now they must fight the demons within.

A turnaround for England?

AS: Andrew Strauss and his men have done it even at a time when expectation did not go out of the ceiling top. What a turnaround for the Englishmen! After a 6-1 drubbing in the hands of the mighty Aussies, the England team, sans Andrew Flintoff, showed a lot of character, grit and determination. The England team director, Andy Flower wanted change badly and it flowered on his boys miles away from their home. They are now waiting with bated breath who they play the semi-finals against. One cannot do a pre-mortem but they are a side to watch out for in the Champions Trophy, specially after knocking out the hosts. The positive mindset is working wonders for the team. Remember they hit 12 sixes in the match against South Africa!

RG: Okay, so England have finally had something to cheer about. After being thrashed 6-1 at home by Australia, no one gave them a hope in heaven of making any waives at the ICC Champions Trophy.

Now as things stand, Andrew Strauss’ team has made it to the semi-finals after winning their first matches against Sri Lanka and South Africa. That is some achievement.

However, to say that is a turnaround for the English is a little over the board. They have won two matches against two brilliant outfits but look at it this way. England’s seamers had first use of helpful conditions against the Lankans and Broad and Anderson exploited them well. South Africa were too ordinary in any case and apart from some big mouths, nothing clicked with the hosts.

The heat will be on when the final four brace up in the next two days. If England do make it to the finals, that will be something to talk about. No, I am not being harsh on my English friends. They have done jolly little in ODI’s so far. Is it their domain now? We will soon find out.

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