Australia home tests - India beat Oz at home again...

It may not have been the whitewash everyone expected. The young team gave a fright to the Indians, even winning one test at Chennai, before going down to the hosts 0-2.

Dharamsala was a good place to finish the long domestic season and take India to the No.1 position under Kohli and Kumble.

NZ Home ODIs - easy chase after bowlers trick

The bowlers restricted NZ to a target that was easily chased down. With Kohli's good form, it was just a formality. But, MSD should be happy with his bowlers trick to restrict the Black Caps in the morning.

NZ Home Series - India win 500th test match easily...

India won their 500th test match easily against Black Caps, by 197 runs, thanks to a well-rounded team performance. Though the first innings score was below-par, the batsmen led by Murali Vijay and Chet Pujara put up a target for NZ that was way beyond their reach. The bowlers with the pitch helping Ashwin and Jadeja, produced unplayable deliveries to skittle out the NZ batsmen.

What  more did Kohli and Kumble want? Not a hamstring niggle to rule out KL Rahul or injury scare to Ashwin from next test at Kolkata !

NZ Home Series - Indian team selected

Image Courtesy: espncricinfo.com Website

After easily winning the overseas tour in West Indies, India come back home to host the Black Caps later this month. The Indian team was announced by the selection committee.The last day of the Duleep Trophy is still to be played as the squad was announced. Also, the India A team has to come back from Down Under - the selection could have been timed slightly better is the view. From the Duleep Trophy, what did we learn?

1. Cheteshwara Pujara has no rival in domestic cricket. But why is he given the second-hand treatment?Check what the coach thinks of him.
2. There is a big chasm of difference between Ashwin and his near competitor ( Pervez Rasool).
3. Similarly, Amit Mishra is not being pushed hard enough by Karn Sharma or Shreyas Gopal
4. Though there are options like Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson, the selectors wished to retain Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma based on potential and performances.
5. Anil Kumble will continue with Virat Kohli the same plan that MSD had successfully pursued at home soil earlier - look at the squad for an indication of the pitches we can see.But, how will Kohli as captain fare versus the master tactician MSD?Tough question and challenge!
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2016 USA Tour - Windies edge India in high-scoring thriller

India made their debut in USA, by conceding their highest score to any opposition but redeemed themselves to score the highest chase ever in a T20I only to lose by a single. MS Dhoni was on strike off the last ball to Bravo, who turned out to be more skilful of the two.But, MSD didnt disappoint - highlights of his innings were:

• He scored 43  runs off 25 balls - strike rate was in his Top-20 of T20I innings
• He added 107 runs with Rahul in 49 balls. Rahul was the only one who scored faster than him in the innings.
• He agreed that he had executed the stroke wrongly after guessing the ball.

MSD also took the blame himself, despite his batsmen like Rohit, Kohli letting him down!And bowlers like Stuart Binny letting him down, MSD praised them for pulling back the innings from a possible target of 270! Only he can do this!

Image Courtesy:espncricinfo site

2016 West Indies tour - India dominate match to go up 1-0

It was a team performance in the lop-sided first test match. Virat Kohli started the dominance with a 200, supported by century from Ashwin and fifties from Dhawan and contributions throughout the order. When it was the turn with the ball, the fast bowlers led the way in first innings with Umesh Yadav and returning Mohd Shami taking 4 wickets each. In the 2nd innings, Ashwin completed a fine match by taking 7 wickets on the last day. Kohli couldnt have been happier - great start to a series that the Indians can outpower the hosts now!

Image Courtesy: http://www.espncricinfo.com

2016 West Indies tour - Kumble and Kohli start their stint

Anil Kumble couldnt have asked for an easier start to his stint as Indias head coach - a tour to West Indies that need not be straight-forward but gives the management chances to experiment a bit. Let us see how it pans out.

Image courtesy: espncricinfo.com

The team looks no different to the previous overseas test tour. The keeper slot is iffy after Dhonis retirement but Saha has the confidence still. Both teams are coming after their respective T20 leagues - will it have any impact on the run-making?

India will win the series 2-0 is my prediction but the Windies can turn the series upside down if they put their mind.

Kumble, MSD , KohliAnil

Anil Kumble was the captain who handed over the reins to MSD in test matches. Dhoni retired from test matches Down Under and passed the baton to Virat Kohli. Now, who has Kohli got company as coach?Anil again!Graduation of Kumble happened so quick, too quick to believe.

Sri Lanka series - ready to start

The Indo-Lankan series is ready to start after a long time. In fact, I did read that the Indian team has not won a series in Lanka for 22 years! It was probably Azhar who won the series with help of Sachin and Kumble in the team (the lone win was well-planned out by Indians). Even Ganguly and MSD could not achieve a win - wonder what the new permanent captain will do.

The Lankans are vulnerable this time after series defeat against Pakistan in multiple formats. The aging Sangakkara will play his last test match in this series and in my view, will hold the biggest challenge for Indians. If they can get him out quickly, the Indians will have a good chance to win the series.

The bowlers have done well in the warm-up match, especially Ishant Sharma. But who will the management pick as part of the playing eleven - Bhuvi and Umesh? Along with the three, two spinners will be picked and my suspicion is that it will be Harbhajan who will miss out.

The batting will be made of Dhawan, KL Rahul, Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane - Pujara seems to be out of favor at the moment with Rohit edging ahead. If Rohit cannot make runs in the first two tests, it will be back to Pujara.

Saha will have all three test matches to prove himself. Especially with his batting, Saha is one who has not contributed much. There are players like Samson, Uthappa are waiting in the wings.

If the rains do not disturb the series, India should edge Sri Lanka. But, it looks like rain will have the last say. My guess is that the series will be shared.

Dhoni the unconventional hero

MS Dhoni was always unconventional - when I thought of writing a blog entry about him, there were many thoughts that entered my mind. But, Rahul Dravid's post was just superb, on the spot about what MSD stood for. Hence, I will try to write this post a bit differently.

When Ganguly announced his retirement, he was merely a player. What did MSD do? Watch this video for a timely gesture.

When Anil Kumble announced his, he was taken around for a lap by his team-mates (no, just one man)

Thanks to Times Group for image 

When Sachin Tendulkar's famous last match finished, this was the fitting finale

Thanks to Cricinfo for image

Having done all this, MSD also watched the likes of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman walk away into the sunset without any fanfare. He was also witness to his friends like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag fade away from the limelight. 

Would he have scripted a better farewell himself than what he did? Probably not. Taking India to safety on the last day of the Boxing Day test match was the best way for him to say goodbye.

Thanks to Cricinfo for image

His records speak for themselves and there is no comparison for a wicket-keeper who captained his side so well. 

Finally, what did his workload look like? In 2014, he captained his team in nine tests, twelve ODI's and seven T20 internationals. Other than this, he led CSK in 16 T20 matches in the IPL as well as six T20 matches in Champions League. 

It was probably a choice of letting go one of the formats or one of his occupation (wicket-keeping or captaincy). Since he would continue to keep wickets (he is not a good fielder according to himself) as well as captain the side (his CEO would demand it always), one of the format had to give way. And that is exactly what MSD opted.

Vaseline and Batsman Recalls

Two off-field incidents made news in the second test between India and England - one obviously was the decision by MS Dhoni to recall Ian Bell after he was run out by the Indian team in the second innings. This led to a huge discussion all around the world whether it was right or not. The Indian ex-players also joined the noise-bytes made over the decision - Anil Kumble and GR Viswanath being two ex-captains from the state of Karnataka who praised Dhoni's decision. Nobody spoke about Viswanath's decision to recall Bob Taylor in the Golden Jubilee test between India and England - a pity that such a decision was not given the right advertisement.

The other incident was about the tweet given by ex-English captain Michael Vaughan. Vaughan suggested that VVS Laxman might have used Vaseline to cheat the HotSpot machine. Obviously, this led to players like Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar to voice strong opinions on Vaughan - in fact, Sunny Bhai even went to the extent of asking VVS to consult his lawyers!! Vaseline too had an earlier connection between India and England test matches - ask John Lever about it. Tony Greig gives a good spin over the incident but this only goes to prove that the English media has very short memory about incidents that do not show their team in a poor situation.

One common thread between these two incidents and the second test match was that England won the matches concerned!

Related articles

• 'Stupid' and 'naive' Bell benefits from India's spirit of the game (guardian.co.uk)
• Vaseline cannot affect Hot Spot - BBG Sports (espncricinfo.com)

World Cup 2011 - Captain Cool lives his dream

Dean Jones had commented that MS Dhoni must have been dreaming if he thought that he could win the World Cup with this team. MSD not only dreamt the World Cup win but also planned very well to execute his dream at Mumbai. April 2nd will now appear in the same league as June 25th (in 1983).

The country has not stopped celebrating two days after the final was won by the Indians. The news-channels were talking about the victory to the players, celebrities, politicians and whoever else they could lay their hands on. Looks like this is going to be a long party for now.

Dhoni will realize that all the hoopla around the win will die down quickly and life will be back to normal in a week's time (when IPL4 starts). But, this is his and the team's moment of glory - they have deservedly won the World Cup by beating most of the teams that mattered - Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan (all from the opposite group, coincidentally) - in the Knock-out matches. Though they lost to the Proteas in the group matches, one can argue that it was a group match and also that they lost in the last over. A tie against England was the other result that they would probably have liked to better.

Back to the captain then - all the tournament, he was being chided for one reason or the other. Whether it was for supporting Piyush Chawla or bringing on Ashish Nehra for the last over against South Africa or not selecting Ashwin until the last group match or promoting Yusuf Pathan higher the order. All these moves probably did not work but it was a matter of time when Dhoni's tactics started working. As mentioned earlier, it takes courage to admit that he made a mistake and that was exactly what MSD mentioned about his selection of Nehra over Ravichandran Ashwin in the semis. Similarly, his selection of Sreesanth and promotion of himself in the final were tricks that worked well in the final result.

His batting was not upto his high standards and that was good enough for all to criticize him - to be frank, most of the matches he batted in the earlier stages, there was no time to settle down. Yes, he failed in the critical stage against Australia and Pakistan but Dhoni knew that the big knock was around the corner. For a man who was the No.1 in ODI rankings, it was a matter of having the time at crease that would bring back the runs.

Dhoni was quick to thank the golden quartet of Indian cricket - Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble - for the transformation that has happened. The sense of the occasion was not lost to the young captain. MSD knows that his team is now responsible to pass the baton to the next generation and continue the Indian domination of cricket for time to come. Dhoni has more examinations that will come his way - hurdles that will test the true character of the team and himself. As Geoff Boycott mentioned in one of the shows, for the next four years wherever the team goes, they will be called as the ICC World Champions.

How the team will deliver under the continuous pressure of the crown will determine the amount of time they will stay on top. One thing is for sure, they have a captain who knows exactly what steps to take further now. Dhoni may not be with his coach, Gary Kirsten, any longer but the lessons learnt during the association will come of use. He will have to see the retirements of the legends (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman) do not impact the Indian team - this will be the next biggest challenge on hand. Knowing Dhoni, he will relish the challenge and come up with his own path to tackle it.          

Related articles

• Tendulkar won't stop - Kirsten (espncricinfo.com)

World Cup 2011 - India-England aftermath

It is now official - the Indian-English ODI on the weekend ended in a tie not because of the abilities (or lack of) of the players - it is more to do with the venue - Bangalore. There might have been a pact between ICC and the new administration team led by Anil Kumble to make the World Cup more exciting.

If the first set of news was about the movement of the India-England match from Eden Gardens to down South, the next few days saw the controversy over the tickets. Once the match started, both teams tried to outsmart themselves on their incapability to win a match and in the end, it ended in a stalemate that would have done a chess player proud. Today again, the Irish team stepped up the gas and defeated the English team in a chase that was the highest-ever.

The English team would now go back to their drawing-board and try to decipher where things went wrong - the same type of exercise the Indian team must have been doing from Sunday. What can India do from here?

The bowlers must feel happy in one way that they managed to tie the match that was 'lost' but they must be the first to put up their hands on why they reached such a situation after their batters had scored 330+. In both matches put together, the Indian batsmen have scored at an average of 7 runs per over. But, even this seems to be insufficient considering the lack of sting in the bowling and fielding.

There must be simply some way that the Indian team must make way for Ashwin. His carrom ball and other tricks in his bag are more than enough to bamboozle any international team. His lack of international experience means that there will not be many tapes about his bowling action. This only means that he can take wickets and by the bushel. Harbhajan is surely not doing what he can do on such wickets and on the back of such high scores. Piyush Chawla's lack of international experience shows up when he bowls boundary-balls in between wicket-taking ones. The next two matches are against the minnows - Netherlands and Ireland. Both have given the English team a tough time. This will be an ideal time to blood Ashwin in place of Chawla. Zaheer can be rested in one of the match in favor of Nehra if fit - it is very important to keep Zak in cotton wool wherever possible. Yes, I am saying this despite today's result but it is better to be careful in this case.

The batsmen could have scored more (now I am greedy, right) in the second match - the last few overs were not made use of, to the extent that they are capable of. Tailenders need to keep their head together and give the strike to the better batsman at the crease - something that was not followed. This mattered in a difference of few runs that could have won the match for India.The Batting looks settled comparatively with the top-order in good form.

The Indians needed this kick in the rear, to lift up their game after the wins they have been having (warm-up matches and vs Bangladesh). Will they crush their opponents in the next two matches? You bet.

Related articles

• World Cup 2011 - Sound-bites from the Indian team (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

English World Cup for Sachin in 1999

The Indian team went to the 1999 World Cup in England in a positive frame of mind. 16 years after the World Cup win under Kapil Dev, one thought that the same location will inspire the Indians to give their best and bring back the Cup. Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly at the top were giving Sachin Tendulkar enough reasons to think that this would be the year the Indian team will click - look at the partnerships that were forged by the trio during 1999.

But, Sachin would have never dreamt of what happened during the initial stages of the tournament. His father, whom he has admired all his life and still does so, passed away in Mumbai. Tendulkar has credited his father for all the good he has acquired in his life and this loss was shattering.

Anil Kumble couldnt get the same returns as he found in the 1996 World Cup while Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad could not be consistent enough in all the matches. The loss against Zimbabwe would upset the team's morale before the Super Sixes stage where they would further lose to Australia and New Zealand.

Moments to remember from an Indian perspective

• The inexplicable batting by Sourav Ganguly in the first match against South Africa. Though he had made a decent score, he did not kick on to score more aggressively at the end of the innings in pursuit of his individual century. He failed to do both - get his century as well as getting a winning score. Only 5 wickets were lost by the Indians but the score of 253 was overtaken by the Proteas with 16 balls to spare.
• The fall against Zimbabwe - Sachin had to make a dash to India to attend to the final rites of his dad. In his absence, the Indians lost in a collapse against the determined bowling of the minnow nations. This would be one of the worst defeats for an Indian team in the World Cup until 2007. The match was also critical as it cost the Indian team two points for the next stage.
• Sachin back against Kenya - After completing the rituals, Tendulkar played the next match against Kenya - what an emotional moment it was, when the Master scored his century in the company of Rahul Dravid. Though the opposition was not strong, it showed the true character of the champion.
• Carnage against Sri Lanka - The match against Sri Lanka in Taunton witnessed one of the cleanest six-hitting by an Indian - Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid blasted the lankan attack on a relatively smaller ground to post a total of 373. All the bowlers, including Mutthiah Muralitharan, were mauled badly.
• Win against Pakistan - India kept up the traidition of defeating their arch-rivals in the World Cup by defeating them by 47 runs. Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad were the stars of the match, taking the initiative away from the Pakistan team.

Sachin was determined to continue playing the World Cup despite his personal loss but a lean patch from him after the Kenya match contributed in its own way to the decline of the Indian performance in the Super Sixes. They joined Zimbabwe as the other team to be knocked out of the Super Sixes stage. Yet another disastrous performance by the Indian team at the World Cup, providing very few moments of delight for Indian fans.

It would be the last World Cups for players like Ajay Jadeja, Mohammed Azharuddin, Nayan Mongia, Robin Singh. Jadeja played well to support the trio of Sourav, Sachin and Rahul but could not make the difference good enough to make the semi-finals. He was also involved in match-fixing charges but later was cleared of any wrong-doings and is now a television analyst.

Azharuddin has won the local elections and become the Member of Indian Parliament, again after clearing himself of fixing claims. Robin Singh picked up a five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka in the league stage and played for some more time before the selectors started thinking he was old to be in the playing eleven (even though he was among the fittest in the entire country). He became the fielding coach for the Indian national team before getting associated with IPL as a coach.

Nayan Mongia retired in 2004 after being dropped from the team after dissent and allegations of match-fixing. Incredible to see three players in this team accused of match-fixing!! Debashis Mohanty and Sadagopan Ramesh also played their only World Cup with few good performances in this Cup.

Next is 2003 World Cup in South Africa

Sachin vs Kenya


Ganguly & Dravid against SL


India vs Pakistan in 1999 World Cup

Related articles

• First Home World Cup for Sachin - 1996 World Cup (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• What the 2011 World Cup means to Sachin Tendulkar - 1992 World Cup (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Man of multiple talents - Anil Kumble

A multi-talented genius
Anil Kumble retired from all forms of cricket on 4th January 2010, citing his various off-field involvements. This should be seen as a selfless gesture from the aging warrior. Kumble has taken a conscious decision to forego the option to earn millions in IPL while continuing to work on other areas that are directly impacting the next generation of players.

Anil made a presentation to the BCCI on having a session with younger players of India, on how to manage their fame, money and other matters. This was a wonderful gesture by the thespian for this is one area where youngsters often fall prey to the vices. If Kumble and BCCI agree on the proposed solution, many a parent will be thankful to Kumble for the directions provided to the young cricketers. His management skills will be very much needed for the NCA to get to the next level.

More recently, he contested the KSCA elections for the post of President and registered a landslide victory. His team consisted of ex-players (like Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad) who are keen to contribute to the cause of Karnataka cricket. Now, his team is running the show and all eyes are on them to see how they improve the standards (whether it is the team performance, stadia infrastructure, public amenties, etc). This will, no doubt, be the blueprint for all ex-cricketers who want to make a mark in the cricketing world of Management.

Kumble has also been appointed to the athlete’s commission of the WADA from 1st January 2009. I feel that he has been selected to help convince the Indian team on the random testing stipulations of WADA. No further news has come out in this area but it looks like the matter has been either put on the back-burner or resolved amicably.

Coming to his on-field activities, Kumble retired from test cricket in 2008 as the highest wicket-taker for India in test matches and ODIs. He continued to play for RCB team in the IPL, graduating to become its captain after the initial stints of Rahul Dravid and Kevin Pietersen. He led his team gamely with performances that made his supporters wonder why he had left the game at the highest level.

The wickets he took, especially at the strike-rate and average he obtained them in, was reminiscent of the good old Kumble. No wonder, the initial reaction to Kumble’s decision was that of surprise. Time spares no one and Kumble is not an exception here – he must have surely felt his bowling shoulder and muscles ache at the sight of playing a minimum of 15 matches in a span of 6-8 weeks.

Right from his early days, Kumble has always put the team’s interest ahead of his own. Ever the team player, the current decision would have been discussed in detail with his franchise. It was no wonder that Vijay Mallya wanted to have the veteran help his team as a Chief Mentor. Knowing Anil Kumble, he will do his best in the role given to him.

Related articles

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2011 - Cricketing Wishes

After India finished the year 2010 successfully by winning the Durban test, my wishes for 2011 have increased. There are quite a few accomplishments I would like India to achieve in the New Year:

• First would be the Ongoing test series - India should win the final test match against the Proteans and win their first series there.
• India travel to West Indies, England and Australia. The last time they visited the same countries, they have won in WI and England while they lost in a controversial series in Oz. If they can repeat the performances in the first two tours while winning the one Down Under, that would be really great news
• India host West Indies also in the New Year. Considering the opponents position and (in)experience, it will be a surprise if there is a result less than 2-0 (for India)
• Sachin Tendulkar will score 15,000 runs very soon, considering the form he has been in the last one year. He will retire from ODIs after guiding the Indian team to victory in WC2011 to focus on test matches for the next few years
• Harbhajan Singh will reach the milestone of 400 wickets very soon - quite a landmark considering the fact that there are not many Indians who have taken so many
• Rahul Dravid makes a graceful exit by playing his last series in England and topping the runs scored
• VVS Laxman starts making contributions in First Innings of test matches so that he is not required to bat in the Second Innings
• Sehwag stops falling to spinners and left-arm pace bowlers after dominating the bowling completely
• India agrees to play test cricket with UDRS in place for all their test matches
• Sreesanth stops fighting with rival batsmen - he focuses his attention on his pace and bowls regularly at speeds of more than 145kmph
• Ishant Sharma stops bowling no-balls in matches
• Gary Kirsten agrees to continue coaching the Indian team for 3 more years
• Anil Kumble contests elections at the national level and wins!!!

Do you have any other hopes for the Indian team in the New Year? Let me know.

Related articles

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Anil Kumble back as captain

Image via WikipediaAnil Kumble is back in limelight - not as a Wildlife photographer. Not as the Director of NCA. He is now making an attempt to get into administration of KSCA - standing in the elections against Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar. 


In a press meet yesterday, the leg-spinner showcased his team and answered questions about their capability in administration. His team-mates in this cause are ex-colleagues, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad among other players. Brijesh Patel has wisely teamed up with them but it remains to be seen what role he will play.


Though this is a good move by the ex-players, one wonders how much time they will be able to spend on the activities of KSCA. Kumble has an answer for this:

People ask if we have time... we will have to make time and we will make time for this game

Whether they can break the image that players dont make good administrators remains to be seen. But, the attempt to make a change is commendable. The following statement definitely resonates among those who have seen the world and the facilities other countries provide:

When we go around the world, we look at the facilities, the way things are organised, how academies are run, how cricket is played; and then when we come back here, it hurts us. But what’s the point if we only complain and not do anything about it? So this is why we thought of getting into the system and doing things

Let us wish Anil Kumble and his team all the best. Hope this is just the beginning of a long era. May he get into the national committee after his stint in KSCA and cleanse the ills that is bogging down the national body. If this works, I am sure Indian cricket will have another reason to say thanks to the veteran leg-spinner. Commendable, indeed.

Related articles

• Kumble and Srinath to take over Karnataka cricket reins (topinews.com)
• NCA to focus on character as well as cricket - Kumble (cricinfo.com)
• Adaptability will be key in CLT20 - Kumble (cricinfo.com)

RCB needs to get its batting order right

Image via Wikipedia

RCB failed against Deccan Charges on 10th April - 4 losses in the last 5 matches.

This is mostly due to the fact that the bowlers did not defend the score but more importantly, the strip was so good that Deccan batsmen could chase the score easily.

The top-order of RCB seems to be very heavy - especially if you have Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid in the Top3. Manish Pandey and Kallis seem to be the right opening pair for the team but Rahul is not the right No.3.

The Team Management would do good to give a chance to Srivats Goswami - he can do the role of a wicket-keeper (though Uthappa is doing a fairly good job in his role). He scored heavily in the recent ODI matches and hence would give a better balance to the team than Dravid. Though I hold Dravid in high esteem, he seems to be out of sorts in this format - it is better that he is rested for the remaining matches.

Of the four foreign players in the playing eleven, Kallis, Steyn, Ross Taylor and Cameron White would be the ideal players in the Top seven. Manish, Uthappa and Goswami will finish the remaining slots in batting. The bowling will be taken care by the captain Kumble, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar and Appanna. This will be a good balanced squad for RCB - containing the dashers as well as the steady batsmen. Of course, Virat Kohli is missing - maybe he might be swapped for Appanna.

This eleven will give a better chance to win the match against Kolkata and in the future games.

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Making RCB the Indian T20 team

Image via Wikipedia

The Indian selectors have come up with their team for the World T20 Cup on expected lines.

Though I more or less expected the team that was selected (except for Piyush Chawla), one another thought struck me today.

Why not take the RCB team that looks solid in the ongoing T20 World Cup and change it to suit the Indian team?

Lets look at the team composition -
Batsmen - Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Eoin Morgan, Virat Kohli
All-rounders - Jacques Kallis
Wicket-keeper - Mark Boucher
Bowlers - Praveen Kumar, Dale Steyn, Vinay Kumar, Anil Kumble


There are four overseas players and 2 players who no longer play T20 (Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid). Replace these 6 players for like-to-like players from other teams and this might be a good composition. Who can be these replacements? Let us see

• Rahul Dravid can be replaced by Suresh Raina - a solid player who can take the middle-order slot.
• Eoin Morgan - Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are the 2 players who walk into the team. They currently play for Delhi Daredevils team.
• Jacques Kallis - Yuvraj Singh (the most explosive player in the first T20 World Cup) can offer options on the ground in all the departments.
• Mark Boucher - no more discussions here as MS Dhoni brings in his presence to the team
• The Dale Steyn effect can be brought in by the experience of Zaheer Khan
• Anil Kumble gives way to his successor in the Indian team, Harbhajan Singh

All these players have been anyway playing together in the other formats for some time now. The flair of Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa will bring in a whiz of fresh air to the team.

Of course, it usually does not work most of the times but it does not stop us wondering what might be, does it?

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Players who have shone in IPL3

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The IPL3 has thrown up a number of performers (old and new) in the 14 matches played so far. Some of them are already certainties in their international squads but there are quite a few youngsters (and veterans) who are making the mark. 

Saurabh Tiwary has been consistent in his outings so far and he seems to have impressed his captain SRT so much that he has been asked to come ahead of superstars like Bravo and Pollard - his idol is MS Dhoni and that is very visible in his run-scoring. After non-performance in the first 2 versions, Saurabh has come of age both with his shot-selection and power-hitting. Similarly, Manish Pandey has been giving Jacque Kallis good company for boosting RCB's score in the initial overs - the lad is showing all the signs of playing international cricket in India and this experience will definitely help in the long run. Robin Uthappa is showing signs of form after a long innings of failures. Individual sparks of brilliance have also come from Manvinder Bisla (ex-India Under-19 captain), Abhishek Jhunjunwala and Manoj Tiwary.

The ICL returnees are making a mark in this version of the IPL with their abilities whether it is Ambati Rayudu with the bat, R Sathish with bat and ball or Amit Uniyal with the ball. They have shown that they are not out of place in this tournament and repeated their heroics from the now-defunct ICL.

Among the bowlers, it has been R Ashwin and Vinay Kumar - both have been part of the India squad (though not playing) already earlier in the season. They have taken wickets and made sure that their teams have benefited by their street-smartness. Jaskaran Singh is another bowler who seems to have attracted the attention of his captain - how he repays the faith of his captain seems to be seen.

Angelo Matthews was long touted as the ideal T20 player for Sri Lanka - he has shown that very visibly in this season for KKR and has been a vital cog in the wins that KKR has notched up this season so far. Yusuf Pathan scored a quick century in the first match but has not been able to score heavily in the following matches (the teams seem to be targetting him with short-pitched balls). But, he has been continuing to contribute with the ball, that has been vital for his team.

Among the veterans, it is quite interesting to see one topping the wicket-taking list (Chaminda Vaas) while yet another scoring the highest number of runs (Jacque Kallis). They were criticized by their teams and the initial perceptions of the think-tank was that they are not material of  the shorter version. They have now shown that they still have enough gas in the tank that is applicable to all the formats available. Similarly, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar, though not playing in the T20 format, have contributed to the team cause - they do not seem to be out of tune with the game at any moment. Andrew Symonds and Justin Kemp - both players of the similar calibre and both neglected by their boards for whatever reason known. They have shown the capabilities their national teams are missing. Whether the boards change their minds and select them for the World Cup remains to be seen.

A Tare of the Mumbai Indians has a lot of potential to be considered for higher honors (at least in the domestic version to start with, maybe the India A team). The others like Parthiv Patel and W Saha have not shown any great glimpses so far and hence Dinesh Karthick seems to be the replacement for MSD in crises. 

How many of these players perform consistently to be considered for the national team remains to be seen. Let us hope more players do well - it will only keep their national teams happy.

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