IPL10 - the awards go to...

After the completion of the IPL10 season, here are the awards we have chosen to award to the respective players. Have a look & feel free to comment!

1. Dad-Of-the-IPL - MS Dhoni. He was the captain of the Dads Army. Not only that,  if the videos were to be seen right after the final got over, Dhoni was seen playing with his daughter, leaving his team to relish the title win!
2. Bowler-Of-the-Tournament - All Leg-spinners. Indian or foreign, there were a large number of leg spinners in the tourney. Even Ashwin started off bowling leg-spin in many matches!
3. Catch-Of-the-Tournament - AB De Viliers Spiderman catch has to be it! Nothing other.
4. ABD-catch-of-the-tournament - Trent Boult came trumps with his catch to dismiss Virat Kohli!
5. Worst-team-of-the-tournament - RCB Back-room team, who picked the team that flops so badly despite containing the best two players in the world!Either the ex-players did well ( e.g. Gayle) or the players from the region did well (e.g. KL Rahul).But, not RCB. God knows if they will reach the last four in the next few years!
6. Jasprit-Bumrah-of-the-IPL - Basil Thampi, for his good showing and precise yorkers! He has to be given more chances to show his true mettle
7. Budding-keepers-of-the-IPL - Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant shone in the IPL, giving themselves a chance to target the national slot. Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel are still around while Naman Ojha was not to be seen!
8. Comeback-team-of-IPL - Punjab under Ashwin did well but could not go all the way!
9. Gentleman-of-IPL - Kane Williamson was a great guy leading SRH to the finals with his genteel nature & proactive captaincy. Too bad his team ran into Daddy's boys!
10. Power-hitter-of-IPL - Ambati Rayudu seemed to have developed new muscles this year to power his way through the opposition. Was it hyderabad Biriyani or Chennai Sambar? He only knows!
11. Confusion-in-IPL - Why Rohit Sharma did not open regularly was a question mark! Even when his team was not performing!
12. Irritating-opener-of-IPL - Sunil Narine for his terrific shows at the top of the order!
13. Youngsters-of-IPL - Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Prasidh Krishna, Shubnam Gill, Deepak Chahar impressed with their games & temperament. Worth looking for!
14. Flop-show-of-IPL - Glenn Maxwell, D'arcy Short - For all their hype, their performances were nothing to write about!
15. Openers-of-IPL - KL Rahul & Chris Gayle. Brought Punjab back from wild & cheer into Preity's eyes. Great chemistry in the combination!

Please note that this is is only for fun and not to be taken seriously. Do take it in the right spirit and share your thoughts please!!

T20I tri-series - Last-ball six gets India the Nidahas Cup

After the South African tour, the Indian selectors picked virtually a second-string Indian team to participate in the tri-series with hosts Sri Lanka and neighbor Bangladesh. No room for players like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya. In came new faces like Washington Sundar, Vijay Shankar, Rishabh Pant, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur. With such a galaxy of new faces, India stormed to the finals and won the Cup, thanks to a cool Dinesh Karthik!

The Indian team closed out the international season with a memorable win and a dominating performance in the tournament, even with a second-string team. Kudos!!

All images from ESPN Cricinfo website

Clearly convincing wins by the Indians  over Bangladesh by 6 wickets, 17 runs, 4 wickets in the finals and over the hosts by 6 wickets, Only one loss versus Sri Lanka in the first match dented the performance slightly!

Karthik fidgeted around in his case and changed the lengths of the eight balls he faced, to slap a quick 29 to seal the match and tournament for India.

Throughout the tournament, it was consistent performances by Washington Sundar, Y. Chahal, Shardul Thakur that caught the eye of the Indian fans and Management. It augurs well to see that the pool for the Indian team is expanding with new faces. If Vijay Shankar had contributed as well with the bat, as he did with the ball, it would have been brilliant. But, nevertheless, this tournament was a BIG gain for the Indians! Next is IPL, where I am looking for newer faces!

South Africa T20Is - India finish series at the pinnacle

After the ODI series drubbing,the Proteas decided to rest most of their seniors and announced a new-look team. With nothing to lose, the Indians continued their momentum to win the T20I series 2-1 to finish a great series for themselves (especially after the revversal in tests). The Indians won two matches by comfortable margins(28 runs, 7 wickets). Like the one-days, there was just one loss, mainly due to the weather. The confidence was so high that the Indians rested their captain in one match and still won!

Bhuvneshwar Kumar's good performances throughout the series was remarkable for his consistency, irrespective of the format - he started with a five-wicket haul in the first match and ended as the joint highest wicket taker in the series!

Suresh Raina chipped in with fast-paced knocks that were not convincing - his skills and temperament though will be useful to the Indian team in days to come.

The Indians on the field were super, probably better than the home team in some cases! If they can continue this progress for few more years, it is difficult to stop them!
In MS Dhoni, Kohli has a great guide and friend on and off the field - he can only get better from here!

The emergence of Jasprit Bumrah as a dependable force in the limited overs format was another BIG takeaway for India!

Shikhar Dhawan shone in the limited over variety but could not translate the same to whites! But, he was a revelation in the T20I format!

All images from ESPN Cricinfo website

Zimbabwe Series

What can I say about this one when I said this about the ongoing tri-series.

What was interesting is not the team selected for the ODI series against Zimbabwe but the 'A' team selection for tour to South Africa.

India A squad: Cheteshwar Pujara (capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Parvez Rasool, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shami Ahmed, Stuart Binny, Ishwar Pandey, Jaydev Unadkat, Siddarth Kaul

The team is captained by the current No.3 batsman and contains both the openers who played against Australia in the last test match (well, Dhawan would have played if he had not been injured). Then, there are couple of folks who are in contention for the No. 6 slot (Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina). If Stuart Binny can redeem himself with a good performance, he could well given Irfan Pathan a run for his money for the slot of the coveted all-rounder position in the senior team.

Definitely, a good move by the selectors to ensure that the young players from the Indian team get a chance to experience the conditions first-hand before the test series starts later. There is no doubt that the test matches will be a different cup of tea with the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, but nevertheless this experience will be handy. One would have liked Ravindra Jadeja to be part of the tour as well since he is Dhoni's No. 7 batsman (and as Dhoni has admitted that Jadeja has to work on his batting).

The bowlers in this list seem to be relatively new and unknown (with only Shami Ahmed having some recent experience and Unadkat with that unexpected test debut during the last South African tour). The selectors have to be credited for this move to get the youngsters some exposure - another feather in the cap for Sandeep Patil and Co. 

IPL4 Match 57 - Dinesh Karthik helps Punjab beat Kochi

Dinesh Karthik came to form at the right time in the match against Kochi to take his team to victory. Punjab stayed in the hunt, though theoretically, to qualify for the top 4 slots. 

Yuvraj back for Sri Lanka test matches - Why?

Image by Dhammika Heenpella / Images of Sri Lanka via Flickr

In the test squad announced for the Sri Lanka series, Yuvraj Singh makes a comeback. Is it because of a lack of choice or was it based on a century he scored for his company in a minor match earlier this week (to show his return to form)?

Whatever it might be, test cricket is definitely not his cup of tea, even when he is usually in good form. Now, with the series being played in Sri Lanka against the likes of Murali, Mendis and Herath, he will definitely be uncomfortable with the thought. Further, there is a doubt whether Yuvraj thinks of himself as a test player. Doubtful. Of course, if the selectors had not selected him, there would have been a furore but that fact should not have influenced the selection in anyway.

With the Fab-Three (Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman) in the middle-order and MSD at No.7, there is one slot available for selection.

What were the other choices available to the selectors? Suresh Raina is present in the squad. Murali Vijay is also available as a backup to the openers (he has also shown how comfortable he is at No.3). Looking forward, the selectors might have selected Badrinath in the squad in place of W.Saha (as they did in the ODI series, they could have gone without a reserve keeper and asked for one only when required).

Did the selectors fear that the selection of Karthik (as reserve keeper) or Badrinath (as reserve middle-order batsmen) will cause everyone to accuse selection committee head, Srikkanth, of bias towards his home state? Rohit Sharma could have been given a chance in the squad in place of Raina for he is definitely the better suited in terms of technique in the longer version. 

In the bowling department, the first three selections in the spin department - Harbhajan, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha - pick themselves. The new ball options is taken care by Zaheer, Sreesanth and Ishant. Yes, there is consistency in the attack from the previous test series but what have the latter two done in the meanwhile. Only IPL matches!!! Could they have not been sent to the A tour to England? What were the other choices then? Ashish Nehra - why not? The team does not seem to be inclined to choose Nehra for the longer version of the game. He would have been handful for the Lankans with his pace and bounce.

Anyway, the team leaves the shore this time with the best option to win a test series in Sri Lanka - hopefully the batsmen and bowlers fire together to bring the series win. All the Best, India.

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Forget the 15-year jinx, look at the 28-year one

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 The Indians broke one jinx that was prevalent for 15 years now - Asia Cup victory - it is time for them to look forward to the 28-year jinx next year. The World Cup victory (last in 1983).

The Indians have achieved great success against Sri Lanka, in Sri Lankan soil. No wonder, it was against their favorite opponent on their best overseas venue (of late), that their jinx was broken. In the process, they defeated their arch-rivals Pakistan in the league stage as well.

Though they missed Sehwag (once again due to injury), Dinesh Karthik ensured that the Indians won the final by scoring a decent total on this ground first. The seam & swing bowlers made sure that the advantage provided by the toss win was not lost - they wrapped the game quite early with their early wickets. Ashish Nehra has done well in the Isles and he proved it once again.

The positives for the team - Rohit Sharma continued his good form from Zimbabwe. MS Dhoni had good hits at the crease and regained the No.1 spot. Dinesh Karthik has taken the spot of the reserve wicket-keeper and opener. Ravindra Jadeja did well in the series and looks to have taken his gap over Yusuf Pathan forward. Harbhajan loves bowling here and turned out good spells other than the win with his bat. Praveen, Zaheer and Ashish utilized the conditions to their advantage in the finals - how they can continue in the same zeal needs to be seen.

The worries - Gambhir's running between the wickets has worsened from series to series. Suresh Raina, once again, showed his weakness against the short ball of Malinga - the gap till the next ODI series should give him time to sort it out. What happens to the bowlers when there is no support from the pitch is a concern still. The backup spinner could have been taken by Ashwin if he had been given chances. Sehwag has missed quite a few series in the shorter version - is it pure coincidence or lack of interest in the shorter game?

A good series win to the boot and the media must be happy to see MSD back to his winning ways. The crux of the team for the next World Cup is there, barring 2-3 slots. Let us hope for the best.

The next is a series of test matches - good to see the return of the veterans.

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Nagpur Post-mortem

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An interesting link on the day when India lost the first test at Nagpur against South Africa, while browsing hit my attention - especially this block of text

Winners become sinners when confidence turns into complacency and arrogance. They over-estimate their own invincibility and under-value mundane disciplines. Whenever someone feels on top over a long period of time, they are tempted to neglect the very fundamentals that helped them succeed in the first place. They might even start to feel that the rules don't apply to them.

The article was about Toyota's current issues but I felt that the Indian team would do well to read this article as well as introspect. If anyone thought that the Indians could face the No.2 ranked side in the world (having the No.1 ranked bowler), they needed to check their head first. The Indian think-tank also probably under-estimated the strength of the South African team (did they not remember the fact that India was all out for 76 in the last series in 2008) - If they did not forget, why did they not prepare for Steyn? One cannot plan against such a bowler - agreed. But, did they think they could get away with the practice they had prior to the test series?

Not to say that this was the only reason for the loss against South Africa. There were plenty of others as well.

• Luck - VVS being added to the team was not luck - it was bad planning. How come a player who was 50-60% fit on the eve of the match added to the fifteen?  Rohit Sharma getting injured on the morning of the match was purely bad luck. No one can dispute that!!! Saha must be thanking his stars that he was lucky to play one test match - something that many players in the yesteryears were not so fortunate.
• Injuries - The injury to Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman obviously played a big role in the test match. The middle-order had no or minimal experience. Badri played a good innings in the first innings but gave it away in the second. Vijay had played well in the opportunities he had received so far - this was his first failure. This lad deserves another one or two chances.
• Bowling - Because of the attention Steyn received, the Indian bowlers might not face the heat but the truth was that the bowling was downright bad. Harbhajan and Amit Mishra bowled well in patches but not well together to take wickets. Ishant could not get any wickets at all - surely Sreesanth must be back in the next test match.

Will the Indians prepare a track for the South Africans like last time? Will we see the pitch of Eden Gardens take turn from the first session? Time will tell if the Indians draw the series to retain No.1 or go down to No.2.

So far, the selectors have changed their team by calling up Raina, Sreesanth and Dinesh Karthik - the best option to shore up the batting would be to hope VVS is fit again.

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India complete the win at Chittagong

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Thanks to a good spell of bowling by Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan, the Indians trounced the Bangladesh team by 113 runs. The bowlers picked up wickets regularly to make the score 170-7 but the bowlers somehow took the pedal off the gas.

The lead bowlers were tired by their bowling spells and the backups (Sreesanth and Amit Mishra) could not finish the tail. Amit bowled well but without luck - the edges went to boundaries spoiling his figures.

The Indians did well at the end and as Sehwag mentioned, the Bangladesh team did not take 20 wickets!!!

The match was completed well before light had any impact on the match on the final day.

The Indians must feel happy that Ishant Sharma came back to form - the sight of the 3 pacers bowling well in tandem should be good news for India before the South Africa series.

The batsmen are doing well but the team would miss the services of VVS Laxman in the next test because of injury. Whether Rohit Sharma will be played or will the selectors continue with Dinesh Karthik is to be seen.

As far as Bangladesh is concerned, the team is still learning in test matches. They have a long way to go before they can get competitive. As far as bowling is concerned, only their captain is consistently effective. While their batting is still fragile, it is their lower order that helped out in both innings. The series is going to be a 2-0 finish for India - very little doubt about the result.

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India suffers from over-confidence

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Bangladesh are an ordinary side, said the vice-captain (till yesterday) and captain of this match, Virender Sehwag. This was very much reflective of the mood of the Indian team - bordering on the arrogance and a pinch of over-confidence. The Bangla players were hurt by these statements - they thought of taking silent revenge on the Indians.

When the Bangla captain won the toss, he elected to field. Wrong decision, said Sunil Gavaskar. Sehwag started off in his familiar fashion - the run-rate was more than 6 and India reached fifty very soon. The ball was talking but the openers were lucky to survive the odd danger and reach yet another fifty partnership.

After lunch, the Bangla bowlers started their tricks - especially Shakib Al Hasan and Shahadat Hossain. It was more themselves than the bowlers to be blamed.

Sehwag was taken aback by the pitch, Gambhir by the extra bounce, Dravid by the reverse-swing, Laxman by his one-second laxity, Yuvraj by his hestitation.

Sachin Tendulkar carried on, completing 13000 runs in the process and scoring yet another fifty in his career. Dinesh Karthik fell to the swing while Amit Mishra was dismissed by a well-directed yorker. The bowlers were chipping away ever so slowly. With Harbhajan Singh not playing in this match, the Indian spinners are under pressure to perform here - the ball is turning with bounce. Amit Mishra needs to come to the party and strike. The faster bowlers also have support on this pitch and it would be interesting to see how Ishant and Sreesanth support Zaheer.

At the end of the day, the bad light halted the charge but Sehwag must have got the message repeatedly throughout the day - the Bangladesh team is no more a pushover, not in their backyard.

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Will it be India's Garden at Eden?

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India play Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens tomorrow (24th) with the series 2-1 in their favor. A win will give the series to the Indians once again.

India will miss Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni in their batting lineup. Virat Kohli will be expected to make up for the omission while Dinesh Karthik proved to be an able contributor to the Indian team. The pace bowlers need to pick up Dilshan, Tharanga and Sangakkara early to put pressure on the middle-order.

The Sri Lankan team should bring back Sanath Jayasuriya and drop a bowler so that they can beef up their middle order even though he seems to be uncomfortable there. His spell during the 1996 World Cup at the same ground is fresh in every one's mind.

Can the spinners do it again for the Indians?

Interesting battle on cards at Cuttack

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India start their match against third ODI against Sri Lanka at Cuttack without their captain MS Dhoni. Yuvraj Singh is expected to take his position while Dinesh Karthik will come in place of Virat Kohli (who will consider himself unlucky to be dropped after scoring a 50). The bowling needs a change - maybe rest Ashish Nehra and give a chance to the promising Sudeep Tyagi. Virender Sehwag will be the cynosure of all eyes as he will lead the side for the next 2 ODIs.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will miss Angelo Matthews in both departments (especially after his heroics in the last match). Sanath Jayasuriya will probably make a comeback to the playing eleven. The batting wears a good look, especially the first three batsmen who are in top form. The middle-order wobbled a bit after the fall of the initial wickets. That might cause a problem in case the top 3 have an off-day. Malinga coming into the match will prove to be handful for the Indians.

Without MSD, Sri Lanka are the favorites to go up 2-1 in the series.