Aus - Are they the Invincibles ?

Now, with straight 5 defeats in One Day Internationals and with many better players sidelined due to injury, many people are ready to write off Australia.

But I'm not one among them. Because, I believe that this Australia team will rise from the dead and rise to such strength that it will still be the favorite for winning the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

Being an Indian fan, I've noticed that the Indian media, which is one of the biggest task force in the world, is highly critical of anything and everything that is happening in the world of cricket in India. At the lose of every game, the cricketing media will analyse each and every aspect of the game such that the team management or the team of selectors need not even have a meeting to discuss the reasons of the lose. Sometimes, it so feels that there is not need for the team of selectors or team management as the media fraternity themselves will do everything require. And then letz see if India wins all the matches. I don't think so.

The Australian team plagued with injuries to its front line players and Adam Gilchrist opting to sit out of the Chappell Hadley series, it was always tough on Australia's 2nd XI to defeat a Newzland team working towards opening the world cup road in success. But, the defeats that Australia had to handle were not as bad it seems to be. Maybe the first match in the series that they lost, would have been because of sheer carelessness that their batsmen showed in the application of technique and calm on the field. But, the next two games where toughly competed and the best of the XI won. It could not be blamed on anyone specific. As always said "Catches win matches.", they should have held on to more catches than popping it out of their hands.

Maybe, their over-confidence would have got the better or them. Taking nothing away from South Africa and Newzland, we have seen the 3 highest run chases have come against the strongest cricekting nation in the world. It suggests that they become complacent when they have bigger scores and letz the pressure out of the opposition. These defeats would have equally stunned the Australian team as it has the world and I think that it would be an eye opener for Australia and they would start coming out of the loosing streak with a bang, starting at the world cup. All team beware, of the Invincibles.

This is a team which had habituated itself to win all the time. Even when they had lost the Ashes after a period of more that 50 years, they never let down their strong hold on the International cricket arena. The Aus team proved everyone wrong and cupped the Mini-Worldcup which had escaped their grasp for such a long time. So, its just a matter of time that they return to their winning ways. But their defeats have been over hyped and analysed. The media has even named the days of defeat as 'Black Friday' and 'Bloody Sunday'. I'm sure that the team would derive inspiration from all these media reports and prove them wrong in the World Cup. I wish the Aus team good luck.