Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem

The series is over. India have been white-washed by the English team convincingly, 4-0 being the verdict. There was no doubt who was the stronger team and the No.1 ranking at the end of the series was apt for the winners.

The jury is out. Ex-players are out with their comments and suggestions on how to improve Indian cricket but one thing is common among all the commentators - they are like the Indian industrialists who do not want to support Anna Hazare in the Anti-Corruption Drive. For fear of being an outcast in the eyes of BCCI and thereby losing their potential income, they do not blame IPL as one of the reasons for the Indian loss.

No longer the No.1

Sanjay Manjrekar in Cricinfo states that India needs a few urgent repairs. Manjrekar talks about pace bowlers first and then spinners.

Stating that India needs to look beyond Zaheer Khan, Sanjay lists the likely bowlers who can lead India's new-ball attack - Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma - while being disappointed with two other bowlers - Sreesanth, Munaf Patel. From the period Javagal Srinath retired from the international scene, India has played quite a few number of pacemen.
Let us look at the ones who are still in the hunt:

• Irfan Pathan - played 29 test matches for India. Has a hat-trick to his name but lost his prodigious swing somewhere. Everyone criticized him for losing his pace which never was his strength. Injury further sidelined him, making it difficult for getting a look-in to the pace attack. Definitely should be in the plans for the future of Indian cricket. A fully-fit and in-form Irfan would have been a handful for the English attack with his swing and batting skills. 
• RP Singh - Eric Simons mentioned that he was selected over Munaf Patel because of his ability to swing. Neither swing was on offer nor pace was visible during his spell in the final test match. After having lost pace (more than 10kmph compared to the earlier English series in 2007), RP did not look like making any impact on the batsmen in any way. 
• Balaji and Ashish Nehra played test matches for India last in 2005. Injuries crippled them to cut short their promising careers. Though Nehra made a comeback to ODIs and has performed creditably, he has not been looked (by the selectors) as a possible candidate for tests (even though he was keen on coming back to the test arena). Balaji made a comeback two seasons ago in the IPL bowling at slower pace.
• VRV Singh, Jaidev Unadkat were given chances on the tour to South Africa but they never capitalized on the opportunities. While VRV has fallen away, Wasim Akram has spoken very highly of Unadkat and one might see him make a comeback (provided he can add muscle to his slight frame). Abhimanyu Mithun on the Sri Lankan tour (in the absence of the leading bowlers), however, performed better than expected. But, he has not been seen once again in Indian colors. Will the selectors revert back to him for the Australian tour?

Similarly, in the spin bowling department, Manjrekar feels that Ashwin should be given a chance in the home series against West Indies. Who else have played for India in the same time-frame as above?

• Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha are the ones who have been given the maximum number of chances after Kumble and in the absence of Harbhajan Singh. But, as Mishra showed in the recent series, on wickets that do not support spin, these bowlers do not make any impact on the bowlers. Pragyan Ojha should continue his previous assignment that was agreed with Surrey and gain experience on the county circuit. This will keep him in good stead for the future.
• Piyush Chawla and Romesh Powar are the other spinners who have played a couple of test matches for India. Though Chawla made a surprise comeback to the 2011 World Cup and has age on his side, he is not thought to be in the same frame as the other spinners. If he can be a bit faster in the air, Chawla can still help India in the long run. Powar continues to ply his wares in the Ranji tournament with average success.
• Murali Karthik is the other bowler who has performed well whenever given a chance (which is mostly in a crisis situation). But, the selectors seem to consider him as over-the-hill even though he plays with success on the county circuit.

Sanjay finishes the article by suggesting that VVS Laxman does not have much time to play for India. Just a few test matches ago, the entire sub-continent was singing praises for VVS but look at the reactions now. There are obviously no other players who are good enough to take his role, yet. Who are the other middle-order batsmen whom the selectors have given a chance so far?

• Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina have been given enough chances to prove themselves. Both have showed that they cannot translate their potential shown in the shorter format to the longer arena. How longer will they continue to get chances their way? Should the selectors not look elsewhere now? Probably yes.
• Cheteshwara Pujara, Virat Kohli and Badrinath have been given a few tests to show their prowess. Virat and Badri have shown that they have technical weaknesses against the short ball (Badrinath would have felt unlucky to have started his test career against the searing pace of Steyn). Pujara did well against Australia at home but in the series against Proteans, did not make a big contribution.  
• Rohit Sharma is the other name suggested by Anil Kumble in his comments after the debacle but these players should earn their spot in the playing eleven rather than being selected purely for youth sake.

In the opening department, Sehwag and Gambhir have been playing well but as this series once again showed, injuries and illnesses need to be planned in a proactive manner. 

• Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar had performed the role of opener very creditably on the tours to Australia and England. Though they still play domestic cricket, they are not on the short-list of selectors any more. Aakash would have been the ideal opener to replace Sehwag on the recent tour, even though it was a short-term option.
• Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund hail from the state of Tamil Nadu. They have done well in few of the opportunities given to them so far but it is injustice to them that they have not been given the exposure to challenging pitches overseas on 'A' tours. Will the BCCI make the necessary changes to groom these players?

Ravi Shastri, the IPL veteran, remarked in his column - It's time for Indian cricket to identify players who are specifically suited to the different formats of the game. A way has to be found to encourage those cricketers who want to give Test cricket priority. There ought to be superior remuneration or compensation. How do you suggest this will happen, Ravi? Especially when the BCCI is filling its coffers with IPL as well as CLT20 tournaments, how can young cricketers get encouraged by the longer version? Is BCCI planning to start a new tournament on similar lines? Or are they going to increase the prices of central contract? What is your detailed proposal to achieve this, Mr. Shastri?

Pataudi, who gave away the trophy (named after his father) to England at Oval, predicted the next action that one can expect from the BCCI very correctly - The BCCI is not going to show a great deal of vision. Cricket will continue [in India] the way it is, but I sincerely hope that some sense does come in.

Related articles

• Eng-Ind series - When India had a chance (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

India tour starts in England later this week

The Indians have still not played their last day in the Caribbean at the time of writing this post. They start their tour in UK on the 15th with a tour match - 5 days to move across multiple time-zones and much tougher opposition. The Indian team composition will also differ (6 changes from the one that is playing West Indies).

Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir will be the prominent reinforcements to the Indian team. Virender Sehwag will be available from the second test onwards - Abhinav Mukund will play the role of an opener in the first test after performing his role to the best abilities. Dravid, Laxman and Sachin will be the strong middle-order that can take on any team in any conditions. They will be probably playing their last series in England and definitely looking forward to a fitting farewell. Suresh Raina has shown that he has got over his earlier weakness against the short ball by scoring fifties in this series. The inclusion of Yuvraj Singh is a good option to have but will he be present in the playing eleven? Very unlikely.  

The bowlers on the other hand will get a boost with the return of Zaheer Khan. The best left-handed bowler in the business today, Zaheer will provide the guidance to the rest of the pace bowlers who must have been tired after the latest test series. How quickly the likes of Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar recover from the travel and test match rigors remains to be seen. Ishant has come of age in the WI series and he will be raring to go. Praveen Kumar showed that he can be an asset in the test match scenario just like the ODIs. Add Sreesanth and Munaf Patel to the mix and you have a world-class combination that the English team management will be worried about. W Saha and Amit Mishra might be the journeymen in the tour who will play the tour matches but will do no more duties in the test matches other than carrying drinks (unless a severe injury puts out the keeper or spinner).

Leading this team from the front will be the best captain of India (even better than the successful Sourav Ganguly) - MS Dhoni. He has already toured the Old Blighty (under the captaincy of Anil Kumble) earlier and with the company of Duncan Fletcher must be ready with the strategy to lead his team to victory in the series against the Andys (Flower and Strauss). He showed glimpses of his batting form while his captaincy with the beleaguered team has been brilliant and spotless as ever.

My take on the test series - an Indian win (1-0) or a drawn series (1-1).      

Related articles

• WI-India 2nd test - Laxman and Ishant nearly make it 2-0 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• WI-India 1st test - Dravid helps India take lead (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

World Cup 2011 - A team effort surely

We are the Champions of the World - Courtesy Castrol Cricket Site

The Indian team has been partying hard from the night of April 2nd - once MS Dhoni hit the winning six. All the team members played in a minimum of two matches in the tournament - no one was Valson-ed (for all the young bloggers, Sunil Valson was the lone player in the 1983 tournament who did not play a single match). A look at the statistics page reveals the contribution done but some of them go beyond just statistics. Let us look at their key moments in the tournament.

• MS Dhoni. The captain led from the front, especially in the finals. He had his share of misses and hits with his decisions but as one could see, created the luck that got his team the World Cup.
• Virender Sehwag. He hit such a high in the first match against Bangladesh that everything else paled in comparison. That his 175 came just after he announced his intention to play 50 overs was more than coincidental.
• Sachin Tendulkar. Two centuries that took his tally to 99. A Man-of-Match in the semifinals against Pakistan that he would have not wanted. He would have given all of it away for the medal he received at the end of the tournament - Winner!!
• Gautam Gambhir - the final brought the best of a fighter who had made small contributions in most of the matches. He is one vital cog in Dhoni's future team that will continue his dream. 
• Yuvraj Singh. Even though he did everything right (only a perfect yorker could stop his run-flow), his innings against Australia was the high-point in this tournament. 
• Virat Kohli. Like Sehwag, he scored a century in the first match of the tournament and failed to match it. Virat, though, contributed several runs by his agile fielding skills.
• Suresh Raina. The fittest player in the Indian team, Raina played a critical knock against Pakistan in the final overs that helped in putting a decent score on the board. His contribution to the win against Australia was equally critical, if one can look over his fielding at all.
• Yusuf Pathan. Another player of the future, who could not get a look-in because of Kohli & Raina's better fielding skills. He played a good cameo against Ireland that hastened the victory much earlier than what one anticipated it to be.
• Harbhajan Singh. The wickets of Umar Akmal & Shahid Afridi would have to be the highlight of his bowling throughout the tournament. These two strikes were worth their weight in gold, catapulting the Pakistan team to defeat.
• Piyush Chawla. He was given the confidence by his skipper and partly repaid it. He kept his composure and dismissed Shezad after being stuck by sixes. He was hampered by lack of international match practice, which showed.
• Ravichandran Ashwin. There was a lot of crowd support for this lad that added to the pressure of Dhoni during press conference. He showed that he could be a good addition to the team with his diverse skills. His dismissal of Shane Watson against Australia started the slide.
• Zaheer Khan. What can one say about this bowler? He was on a mission to prove that his performance in 2003 final was an aberration. His spell against England to revive the match was stuff that dreams are made of.
• Munaf Patel. Often criticized for his uni-dimensional skills, Munaf delivered with the ball more often than not. His dismissal of Razzaq in the semis was well thought-out and executed to the point. Everyone is aware how dangerous the allrounder can be on his day - the slower leg-cutter of Munaf put an end to his aspirations. 
• Ashish Nehra. Another uni-dimensional bowler who delivered on a pitch that was helping the slower bowlers more. His spell in the slog overs during the Pakistan match was superb.
• Sreesanth. What can one say about this bowler? A gamble that was picked in the first and last match of the tournament - Sreesanth was the only one who did not contribute much - no wickets in the two matches. Economy rate of 8+. No catches taken in the tournament at all. Anyway, everything is forgotten, Sree. You were probably the lucky charm for MSD - one of the common links between the 2 World Cup victories under Dhoni.

World Cup 2011 - India wins the 10th edition of World Cup

India with the 2011 World Cup (courtesy Yahoo ICC Cricket Site)

After a disastrous 2007 World Cup performance, the Indians have come back and won the 2011 World Cup with a great performance by the team, soaking in all the pressure. This was one of the qualities that the Indians have displayed throughout the Knock-out matches in this tournament - not letting the targets get into their mind but concentrating on the smaller sub-targets to get the scoreboard ticking. Sachin Tendulkar's sixth sojourn turned out to be lucky for him, even though he did not make a big contribution to the final game.

MS Dhoni's selections may not have worked always but he had the courage to accept his mistakes in public. The Lankans had made wholesale changes in the bowling attack, considering that the opposition was India. Kulasekara was brought in to swing the new ball as well as utilize his high strike-rate against Sehwag. But, the Mumbai pitch did not favor him at any time - his bowling turned out to be the right cannon-fodder for the batsmen, releasing the pressure that was being built by Malinga. Suraj Randiv was again preferred to Ajantha Mendis since the Indians had worked out the leg-spinner very well. Perera was brought in as he was in the similar mould as Angelo Matthews.

After the controversy in the toss, the match started on the right note for the Indians. Zaheer Khan, after his disastrous spell in 2003 final, had made up his mind to put the ball in the right place and ask questions to the opening pair of Sri Lanka. The openers, also, were reluctant to be more aggressive than usual because of the loss of confidence over their middle-order. The loss of Angelo Matthews hit them more and the openers were looking to keep wickets in hand more than run-scoring. The hesitation led to the dismissal of Tharanga by a good delivery by Zaheer. Sreesanth, as Ian Chappell had predicted in the pre-game show, was a gamble taken by Dhoni - not working as much as he had liked. Munaf Patel was brought in his place and very quickly MSD realized that he needed to get rid of Sreesanth's ten overs quickly.

Harbhajan was introduced and started to bowl in a strange round-of-wicket line mostly. Luckily, he got the prize wicket of Dilshan with the help of an inside edge. Dilshan's stay at the crease was largely uneventful, not the kind that he would have been proud of. Jaywardene walked into the crease then and started consolidating the innings in a way that is unique to him. He was scoring at run-a-ball without making a 'shot in anger' (as the commentators would say). Sangakkara has liked the Indian attack so much that he makes big scores very frequently - he seemed to be on his way to another big score before he got out to Yuvraj Singh. Again, the left-armer picking up a wicket to break the partnership, as he has done all tournament.

Samaraweera and Jayawardene conjured a fifty-plus partnership, keeping wickets in hand while rotating the strike. The Indian fielding so far had been really impressive, just like their performances in the earlier two matches. Dhoni had an additional fielder in the circle to cut out singles that would have been on offer. All this came to naught in the last 10 overs - the Lankans through Mahela, Kulasekara, Perera hit more than 90 runs to post a challenging target for the Indians. At the innings break, one felt that the Indians had given 30-40 runs more than what was on par. The pitch was not difficult but the pressure of chasing a target in the final would be high.

The final was another match where Dhoni knew that he had to answer the public for his selection of Sreesanth. His form was patchy but he decided to take the brave move of promoting himself ahead of the hot-favorite Yuvraj Singh. This was not only for the right-left combination but also because of Yuvi's well-documented record against spinners, especially Murali. What a master-stroke the promotion turned out to be - Dhoni combined very well with Gambhir after the early dismissals of Sachin/Sehwag to produce a partnership that kept the required rate under control without taking undue risks. Kohli had done his bit to settle the nerves once the openers had been dismissed till Dilshan took a wonderful one-handed catch to get him out. Gambhir has been orchestrating run-chases successfully many a time in the last 2 overs - this was the occasion when he could use all the learnings of those chases.   

Yuvraj Singh was regarded before the tournament as one of the biggest hitters of the ball and how truly he justified his reputation. He came into the crease when nearly fifty runs were required by India. Dhoni had whittled down the target considerably and all that was required was to stay till the last run was scored - nothing beyond Yuvraj's capability. The batting PowerPlay was a mixed experience for the Indians throughout the tournament and they rightly decided to keep it away until the last five overs of the innings. In the Batting Powerplay, Sangakkara relied more on Kulasekara than Murali (more so because of the dew) only for him to falter. Murali did not have a farewell that he expected, partly due to his injury and partly due to the dew factor.

The Indian team sounded confident even before the tournament and were very keen to get the victory for Sachin Tendulkar. The team was well-prepared before the tournament and that proved vital for them in the final analysis.

WELL DONE TEAM INDIA!!!


CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ENTIRE NATION.

Related articles

• Dhoni hails team effort (skysports.com)
• India Takes the World Cup in Grand Style (hindu.com)
• 'I couldn't control my tears of joy' (espncricinfo.com)

World Cup 2011 - Mother of all battles

Castrol Index puts the semi-final between India and Pakistan at 153-149, quite closer than what would one expect looking at the rankings of the two teams.

Let us cut the hype that is out in the electronic media and see clear facts:

• The Indians have not lost to Pakistan in World Cup in four matches played so far. Sachin Tendulkar has played in all the editions and is very much aware of the pressure that comes as part of such matches. Will the streak come to an end? Do not think so - Pakistan has not lost to Sri Lanka in World Cup and the streak continued here as well. Similarly, New Zealand has beaten South Africa in KO matches in World Cup. Similarly, India's streak is set to continue. The Champions Trophy in 2009 saw the Indian team lose for the first time in an ICC tournament. There are quite a few players from both teams who played in this match but the one missing is the Player of the Match, Shoaib Malik. 
• The Pakistan team has not had anyone who has scored higher than the top twenty batsmen. There are 3 Indians in the top 10 who have scored heavily. 
• In the bowling department, Shahid Afridi comes up at the beginning of the table. Zaheer Khan has taken more wickets than Umar Gul. Similarly, Yuvraj Singh and Munaf Patel have taken more than the others in the Pakistan team. Obviously, Indian batsmen have to stave off the danger of Umar Gul more than Afridi, being better batsmen of spin.

The Indian team has been more consistent and even the only match that they lost was because of a poor last over by Ashish Nehra. Despite the big collapses, the team has not scored less than 200 any time. The top 3 batsmen have had starts almost every match and Yuvraj seems to be doing little wrong. The bowling has gained teeth thanks to the inclusion of Ashwin, who has given MS Dhoni an option to rely on other than Zaheer Khan. Harbhajan Singh has not been among wickets but restrained the run-scoring to a large extent. Yuvraj's bowling has been a bonus and there is no reason to think why he will not be able to continue his wicket-taking ways. Suresh Raina, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli will roll their arm over to compensate for any bowler who might have a bad day. So far, it has been Munaf Patel who has been taken apart but tomorrow will be a team that will give him rewards for his consistency of line and length. No changes are expected to the eleven unless Dhoni has another master-stroke up his sleeve. Gary Kirsten has clearly articulated to his team that they will have to raise their levels to beat their 'dangerous' opponent tomorrow.

Afridi suggested that Indians will be more pressurized tomorrow because of the home support. This is where the Pakistan team does not have a mental conditioning coach like Paddy Upton - the Indian team will definitely be the more cooler team on the ground, thanks to inputs from the coaches. MSD in fact, told his players clearly to be not worried by the hype that has been built up.

Shoaib Akhtar is doubtful for the match and one wonders whether there is any other story gaining ground there. The Minister had given a warning to the team two days back about match-fixing - the timing of his statement must make ICC stand up and take notice. Razzaq is key to the balance of the playing eleven as he has proved quite frequently in recent times. The spin department will be taken care by Hafeez and Ajmal, both off-spinners. The batting is brittle for Pakistan with Younis and Misbah expected to prosper against an attack that they have scored quite a few runs of. The Akmal brothers will come to the party hoping to repeat their success so far - once again, no one is sure about the catches that Kamran will take in this match. Coming to the fielding department, this is again one match that the Indians will be better equipped than their opponents.

Overall, a match that India should win convincingly if they can retain their head over the shoulders tomorrow. They are way above their opponents in form as well as quality of players in their lineup. But, will the media's hype play spoilsport? As far as my prediction goes, I will still go for an Indian-Sri Lankan final (Sri Lanka at this point is cruising in their semis today).

World Cup 2011 - India end up 2nd in group

West Indies had not won a match against teams other than Bangladesh (or lowly ranked teams) for almost 2 years. India is currently the second-ranked ODI team in the world, going into the World Cup. Of course, they were one of the favorites to win the tournament at home. If one sees the scorecard after 2-3 years, the first thought that will come to mind is that it was an easy win for the Indians with 80 runs separating the two teams. Castrol Index also suggests a 34 difference between the 2 teams (165-131)

But that was not the way the match went. India started on the back-foot thanks to the perfect ball from Ravi Rampaul, who is another bowler who fancies taking wickets against the Indians. Gambhir threw his bat at a wide one to be taken on the boundary. Virat Kohli and Yuvraj then started a rearguard action to get the batting back on track. Yuvraj was lucky to be dropped twice by Sammy in two consecutive overs, both difficult chances. Kohli was his usual self, scoring runs at a confidence that seems to be growing every match.

Yuvraj was suffering from 'stomach cramps' (as he mentioned in his speech) and it was difficult to understand why the team management did not ask him to come back. He is invaluable now in his bowling avatar and one did not know whether he will get well for the second innings. He continued and stuck to his job gamely while Kohli decided to throw his bat at an inopportune time. The long batting order has somehow given the Indians a sense of over-confidence on the next set of batsmen to follow. Hence, those who are settled feel that they should start taking more risks with the sense of security based on the lineup on paper. This game, the batsmen were a bit careful while the overs were running away but even then, could not help in avoiding the collapse.

Dhoni had mentioned in the previous match that batsmen should not play for the gallery but one could blame him for the same error in this match. Bishoo was bowling so well that either he or Yuvi were not able to get him away. MSD thought that he could do his skip down the track like yesteryears and hit him off the line. But, he was second best this case. Raina fell sweeping and Yuvraj was out just before the Batting PowerPlay was supposed to start. Familiar tale once again - Pathan was yorked by Rampaul while Harbhajan was dismissed by a great catch by Pollard. Ashwin threw his bat around but the others did not stay with him again. Here is where the attitude of Munaf Patel was irritating to say the least. He deems that he is in the eleven to bowl only and hence need not contribute with the bat or field - once this campaign is over, the first thing the selectors have to do is to dump him.

The presence of Ashwin in the team gives Dhoni an opportunity to use him in PowerPlays along with Zaheer Khan, something he promptly utilized. Patel was not to be seen even after 25 overs. Harbhajan was bowling as usual but things were looking good for Windies with Devon Smith and Sarwan rotating the strike and scoring runs quite easily until Zak was brought back to make use of the reverse swing.

Once the breakthrough was obtained, the innings went on a downward spiral - Dhoni attacked with the spinners at one end and pace at the other to pick up wickets frequently. Yuvraj again picked up wickets with his loop and spin, something that is missing when Bhajji bowls! The fielding was decent and the Indians did not need any further invitation to win the match.

Ashwin performed well and that meant that the Indian team has another wicket-taking bowler to its arsenal. How it utilizes him and the others in the Quarter-final remains to be seen.

World Cup 2011 - Yuvraj's all-round skills help India win

Yuvraj Singh - allrounder
India reached the top of their Group after a not-so-easy win against the Irish team. They did not have it easy as they would have liked to. The bowlers were troubled by a lengthy partnership after two early strikes. Similarly, their batting was rattled when they were little more than hundred for four wickets. Experience was one weapon missing in the arsenal of Ireland - if only they had it, the match would have been closer. There was no lack of effort though - the fielding and effort to support the bowlers was tremendous. Also, the pitch helped the Indians more today - hint of generous turn was on offer for the slow bowlers (the pitch seemed to resemble the warm-up matches once again).

The Indians went with an unchanged lineup today and opted to field first - Dhoni had hinted that this was his preferred way to go before the match. Zaheer Khan put his hand up and got the initial breakthroughs for the team to put the Irish back on the ropes. His standard trick, that of bowling two balls away from the batsman and then getting it back in, worked today. Even in his latter spells, he was consistent and on the dot. That could not be said of his partner, though. The selection of Munaf Patel somehow generates a feeling that Dhoni is on the defensive and likes to go for a steady bowler rather than one who can take wickets. Patel again went for runs and hardly bowled half his quota. Dhoni, in his mind, must now hope for one of his bowlers like Munaf or Nehra to get injured and ruled out of the tournament - for, that is one way to bring back Praveen Kumar (if he is fit) to the team. The team is missing PK at the top of the attack when he could complement Zak and get critical breakthroughs regularly. For now, Munaf has to make way for Nehra in the next match.

Dhoni usually gives his players a long rope and backs them to the hilt - Piyush Chawla is also facing the same generosity right now. But, MSD will soon realize that Piyush's lack of match practice is haunting the team clearly. The pitch was offering turn and it was for all to see in the very first over of Chawla but the leg-spinner did not help his cause by not sticking to a good line and length. Forget taking a wicket, giving away seven runs every over was not on considering the pitch conditions. Similar to Munaf, Chawla has to make way for Ashwin in the next match.

There is no point in blaming only the younger spinner when the senior spinner in the team, Harbhajan Singh, continued to bowl on an average manner. The figures might look good against him on the scorecard but bear in mind that the bowler was operating against the Irish team who do not have much experience against spin. Dhoni supported his bowlers by giving close-in fielders regularly but somehow the mindset that the spinners are operating are not the same that someone like Shahid Afridi or even Imran Tahir is trying. It was finally left to the all-rounder of the day, Yuvraj Singh, to salvage the situation for India.

His fielding has gone down and he is no longer as mobile as he used to be few years ago but his bowling has gone up a notch - an area that has kept him in the squad compared to Suresh Raina. He was bowling with pace that would ensure that the balls would stand up even more than normal. Check out the shot that Porterfield hit while getting out, for example. Yusuf Pathan also chipped in with seven overs so that the bowling of Patel was not required later in the innings.

In the reply, Sehwag and Gambhir fell early in their innings. Sehwag was again beaten by a ball that stood up, making him play early. Gambhir guided the ball to the fielder within the circle on the leg-side and could not believe the accuracy of his shot! Sachin and Virat Kohli came together and produced a good partnership - they managed to get rid of the initial butterflies and rotate the strike to keep the scorecard moving. As is his wont, Tendulkar got out to a youngster once again - he wanted to go for a review badly but his partner was not so keen about the same (rightly so, one must add).

Kohli was run-out in a mix-up with Yuvraj - probably the only blot on the copybook of Yuvraj Singh today. Yuvraj's running with his skipper was more confident and comfortable - probably the lack of partnership with Kohli was a factor in their misunderstanding. The young lad must have surely eyed another big score in a chase but it was not meant to be. Another fifty-plus partnership between Yuvi and the skipper meant that the target was being depleted slowly and surely. The departure of the Indian skipper after a typical knock of busy-ness at the crease, meant the arrival of Yusuf Pathan.

Pathan very clearly outlined why he is important to the team - a reasonable ask of forty one in little less than ten overs was reduced in the space of four balls by sixteen runs (a boundary and two sixes of Dockrell). Once the task was made innocuous, both the batsmen just kept their heads and took India to victory. Yuvraj completed the double of scoring a 50 and five wickets.

In passing, I would like to congratulate the Irish team for their performance today. They did not disgrace themselves on the field after the highs against England. With proper exposure, they have a role to play in future World Cups (though ICC might still keep them out by having only ten countries participate). What the ICC should instead concentrate on, is to ensure that players like O'Brien's, Dockrell are not poached by the English cricketing team. If this goes on, it would mean a further setback to the team's future hopes.      

SA ODIs - India level the series with luck

India equalized the ODI series with a show of determination and luck. Thanks to the Man-of-Match Munaf Patel  and the fielding efforts, the Indian team squeaked through the narrowest margin.

There were quite a few things that became more evident if they were not clear earlier

• The absence of Kallis in the South African playing eleven creates a gaping hole as well as increases pressure on Greame Smith. Picture his reluctance to leave the crease when he was dismissed. It was as though he knew that South Africa will fall into disarray very soon.
• The Batting Power-Play is still a mystery to all teams. Last night, the Indians were 14-4 whereas South Africa were marginally better (20-3). Most often than not, this plays into the bowling side when the batsmen try more than required to hit the big shots. One was again wondering why Greame Smith chose to take it when there were 19 overs and an asking rate of around 3 runs per over. Strange!
• Pressure and South Africa will continue to be mentioned in the same sentence for some more time. They cannot shed the tag of chokers completely, it looks by their current performances. How else can you explain such a collapse of wickets, leading to the eventual loss. MSD was not complaining however.
• The Indian part-time bowlers (Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina) are good enough, if not better, than most spinners of other teams. Together, they have bowled 26 overs in the 2 ODIs and taken four wickets for 125 runs. Botha, in comparison, has given away 81 runs in 17 overs while taking the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar last evening. This should give an idea to the team management for the upcoming World Cup. They should do well to emulate the Sri Lankans of 1996 by packing the squad with part-time bowlers to support Harbhajan Singh.
• MS Dhoni has not lost his magic touch - he won the toss yesterday and the match eventually. But more than that, his field placements were on the dot. A slip was present forever when Harbhajan was bowling and he brought in Yusuf Pathan in the last over to the position where the next catch came.   
• Sachin Tendulkar is supposed to travel back because of a hamstring scare. This will put more pressure on the Indian batting lineup but one feels that South Africa will still miss Kallis more than the Indians missing Tendulkar. Yusuf Pathan will come into the squad, moving Rohit Sharma higher the batting order.

The Indian team for World Cup will be selected on Monday, before the third ODI starts. How the selection will have an impact on the Indian team remains to be seen. MSD has suggested resting his pace bowlers - Zaheer Khan most likely. Sreesanth will make a return to the ODIs at his expense but how the Proteas make the mental adjustment remains to be seen.

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NZ ODIs - India win series with a resounding win

India won the 3rd ODI match, wrapping up the series quickly and quite easily with a convincing all-round performance. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, yet again, showed up with a masterclass for the Black Caps and took the Indians home in a canter. There was no pressure on the batsmen at any given time. The way Gambhir was playing, the Indians did not miss Sehwag at any time. But the match was just not about these two players.

The chart to the left shows the economy rate of the Indian bowlers (red line being the players' lifetime rate while the blue line shows the performance over this series). This could be due to the weak performance put up by the NZ team or the captaincy skills of Gautam Gambhir or the maturity of Eric Simons as India's bowling coach. Whatever it is, the result is heartening to see. The Indians seem to have found a bowler in Sreesanth to bowl effectively at the death, taking wickets to stem the run-flow. They have found a bowler in Munaf Patel, who bowls the line and length that would have made Glen McGrath proud.

Similarly, the performance of Ashwin as an effective bowler in the Power Plays gives the team a good option when the flow is tough. Yusuf Pathan has not had a chance with the bat but his bowling gets wickets whenever he comes on to bowl - isnt that good news for the team management. Yuvraj Singh has contributed with the ball so much that the thinking of an all-rounder could stop with this series - he can very well do this in the World Cup along with Sehwag. The picture to the left is similarly a comparison of the bowling average in this series versus the lifetime averages.

Back to the batting. Murali Vijay has been having a torrid time, trying to make his starts go on to a bigger contribution while Gambhir or Kohli have no such issues. For the next two matches, the team management will have to make changes to the playing eleven so that the players who havent got a chance (Sourabh Tiwary, Rohit Sharma) play in the remaining matches. Kohli will probably be the player who will get rest as Gambhir has to continue his role as a captain. Similarly, Praveen Kumar will make a comeback in place of Ashish Nehra or Zaheer Khan. All in all, a good series for the Indians who managed to beat the NZ team convincingly even after resting their top six or seven players.

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Pointers from the Indian selectors and Ranji matches

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Two pointers from news incidents that happened today:

•  The new contracts were given by the BCCI - Yuvraj Singh being the surprise movement in the list of contracts. Suresh Raina replaced him while Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay and Pragyan Ojha have moved up to Grade B. Rohit Sharma has been demoted to C. RP Singh and Munaf Patel, who were previously in Grade B, have not been offered contracts. This definitely shows the thinking of the Management involved in the selection. Raina has made good progress in test cricket while cementing his place as a dependable player in ODIs. Yuvraj has fallen out of contention in test matches and his ODI form has been nothing great to write about.
• Similarly, the Ranji matches has thrown up performances from fringe players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Vinay Kumar, Robin Uthappa has increased our hopes that the bench strength remains as a good pipeline for the national teams. Let us hope they continue this performance and reach greater heights.

Yuvraj Singh has the matches till the ODI series against the "Black Caps" starts, where he will play at least 5 matches. This should give him good practice period to get back to his groove.

India, meanwhile, start their 2nd test against NewZealand tomorrow at Hyderabad. Rain could play a major role in this test match, which should see the Indians win if the match is played in full-time. VVS Laxman is playing his first test at home - hope he makes a century in front of his friends and family.

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3 formats - India's player pool

After my previous post of the Top-30 players for the Indian team (World Cup), I received an email from hemnath janakiraman on his teams for all the 3 versions - tests, ODIs and T20. I have represented the same below in a tabular fashion.

Players	Test Team	ODI team	T20 team
Virender Sehwag	Yes	Yes	Yes
Gautam Gambhir	Yes	Yes	Yes
Yusuf Pathan	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sachin Tendulkar	Yes	Yes
VVS Laxman	Yes
Suresh Raina	Yes	Yes	Yes
MS Dhoni	Yes	Yes	Yes
Harbhajan Singh	Yes	Yes	Yes
Munaf Patel	Yes	Yes	Yes
Zaheer Khan	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sreesanth	Yes
Dinesh Karthik	Yes		Yes
Ishant Sharma	Yes	Yes	Yes
Viraat Kohli	Yes
Amit Mishra	Yes	Yes	Yes
M Vijay	Yes
Yuvraj Singh	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pragyan Ojha	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ashish Nehra	Yes	Yes	Yes
RP Singh	Yes	Yes	Yes
Praveen Kumar		Yes	Yes
Saurabh Tiwary		Yes	Yes
Irfan Pathan		Yes	Yes
Robin Uthappa		Yes	Yes
Rohit Sharma			Yes

Hemnath also commented on his selection - have copied it below:

Test matches - This team, as everyone knows, is a great one. But, if players get injured, the correct persons are not being selected for their place. True but where are the alternates? Badri is definitely one option to consider, looking at his good start in test matches.

According to him, Y Pathan is a great player but not getting enough time in ground to show his talents. One must not forget his 200+ in domestic test match. Agreed, but again, his technique is in question. Only after he sorts out his weakness against the short ball, he can make a comeback into any format, forget test cricket.

Rahul Dravid is a good player but now his performance in test matches is not so good as before. Last 10 test matches, he has scored only one hundred. Now his batting technique is not good. Against South Africa, India lost one test match in the series when Dravid's runs were low (that hurt the team). Same against Srilanka. I would prefer Dravid to play the next two series before making any decision on him. He is too classy a player to be tampered with.

ODI matches - When Yusuf Pathan comes to play at 5 or 6, he is under pressure when the team has lost 6 wickets and less number of balls remaining. Hence, he must be come at One down. If M Dhoni did get opportunity coming at No.3, he wouldnt have scored against Srilanka(183) and Pakistan(143). His talent would not have been noticed. As I said before, he should sort out his weakness first.


Robin Uttappa is a good striker and fast player. I don’t know why our selectors are not selecting him for ODI side. He is the only one option as an alternate player for V Sehwag. One cannot forget his knock against Pakistan in 1st match of T20 2007 World Cup, when other players did not perform well. He also performed well in IPL 2010. He was injured till now. That is the only reason he was not selected. I am sure if he performs well in the CLT20, he will be selected for the next series.

India team must give a chance to Sourabh Tiwary in the playing 11. Our team gave enough time and matches to R Sharma, Jadeja and Virat Kohli. If Tiwary had chance to play in Micromax Mobile series the results would have changed. Giving Tiwary a chance will really help India in upcoming World cup. He is a player like Yuvraj Singh. Tiwary is definitely a good prospect - he could have been blooded on the Zimbabwe tour. Anyway, there will be a lot more options to play him.

T20 matches - For T20 also Y Pathan must come at One down. Robin Uthappa can play at any position in T20.

What are the thoughts from the others? Do you agree? Please leave your comments.

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India's lineup for SriLanka - still unsure about bowling

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India finished their only warm-up match against a Sri Lankan team today, before their first test match.

The batting attack seems to be settled with Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman & Yuvraj occupying the first six slots. Yuvraj made his case count with a half-century in the match even as others (excluding Gambhir) disappointed.

The bowling line-up, though, is a different issue - the main strike bowlers are missing, thanks to injuries to Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth. The opening bowlers will be Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel. Mithun being too inexperienced, will be left out from the playing eleven. Ishant had match-practice in the warm-up match while Munaf could not make it to the match in time. Whether the bowlers will make an impact - in fact, it is quite challenging for the bowlers to take early wickets also. The performance in the match was not anything to evince any confidence in the attack.

In the spin department, Harbhajan was down with fever this week and hence didnt play in the lone match - SriLanka is his favorite venue in general - hopefully, he will be able to make a mark. The Indian team is looking at him to take the lead role for taking 20 wickets. Pragyan Ojha seems to have edged out Amit Mishra for the supporting role, having taken more number of wickets. Of course, most of them might have come at a time when the Lankans were trying to score quickly but nevertheless, the attack looks weak.

Both teams would struggle to take 20 wickets and therein lies the Argentina-like strategy that India should take (for lack of other choices). You score-We score more. What happened to Argentina was visible in the World Cup 2010. Will the Indians succeed? Time will tell.

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World T20 Cup squad for India

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The Indian selectors will announce the World T20 Cup squad on 26th March - 2 days to go. The selection committee must have seen enough of the provisional list to prune it down further.

The Probables list is given below with the ones I feel will not be selected:

• Batsmen - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Naman Ojha, Manish Pandey, M Vijay
• All-rounders - Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nayar
• Pace Bowlers - Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, S Sreesanth, Sudeep Tyagi, Ishant Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun, R P Singh, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar
• Spinners - Harbhajan Singh,  Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin
• Wicket-keepers - Dinesh Karthik, M S Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha

 Ashish Nehra is doubtful considering his injury situation - if he is not available, Ishant Sharma might come in again. The all-rounders list have players who can contribute well with their bat and bowl useful spin - the recent matches between West Indies and Zimbabwe showed that the grounds helped the slower bowlers - makes sense to have these part-time bowlers in the T20 squad. Dinesh Karthik is capable batsman and gives backup to MS Dhoni in the wicket-keeping department. The rest pick themselves. Injuries might change the names mentioned above - already MSD, Ashish Nehra, Gautam Gambhir are on the sidelines so far - hopefully, there are not many more to this list.

Many ex-players wanted Sachin Tendulkar to play the World Cup but the veteran has ruled himself out.

Whom do you think you would like to see in your team? Do let me know.

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