Disecting ODI series

India's 3-2 win over Sri Lanka is a good sign of fortunes for Team India but it doesnt pose a very good picture for the hopefuls that expect to transit into the huge huge shoes of Fab four and the skipper in Tests. A closer look to the results and the detailed scoreboard doesnt at all look good for the likes of Rohit Sharmas, Suresh Rainas, Badris and Yuvrajs.

Lets take a closer look at the gains and losses for India in this ODI series :

1. Batting woes : India has been traditionally a strong batting team. The next generation batters are class behind from the GODs of Indian batting -- Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman. Lack of opening partnerships in all games did dent India s chances of putting a big score in sluggish wickets. Gambhir couldnt carry forward his Test success in ODIs and that was a major blow to India s chances of putting a big score. Virat Kohli by no means looks an ODI opener. He couldnt hit big hits, neither rotate the strike to quick singles if not boundaries. Yuvraj Singh has been a major failure and didnt learn from his mistakes in all the games. Fielding for him was below par and the good starts were vanquished away to Mendis. Rohit Sharma -- well he s been the most hyped player since T20 triumph and he has been the worst performer of the young lot. Barring a 32 in 3rd game he has nothin to show in his CV. God knows how many more chances he is going to get to show his real class.

1. Middle Order Woes : The middle order barring lone warrior Dhoni never really fired. Raina was a bit ok with his 2 stretched 50s but the class or flair the old pros had was never found in the new debutant Badrinath. He played 3 games and a score line of 27*, 6, 3 is the talent he has ? And on basis of this score line he poses a claim to be part of most famed Test middle order ? Nopes, no chance. Virat Kohli did play some brave innings but once Tendulkar and Sehwag return he would be lucky to find a place in playing XI.




2. Peerless Dhoni : He was the saving grace for India. His scorelines of 45, 66, 76 in the games India won depict that he played the anchor role to perfection. And it was to a very well planned innings. The strike rate wasnt compromised and he did rally around himself the entire batting. And there has been a superb transition in his batting. Amazing. Besides being the captain cool, he has been best batsmen for India sans Tendulkar and Sehwag.
3. Consistent Bowling : Bowling has been a revelation in the series. Except for the 1st ODi and then the last 10 overs in final ODI, the bowlers had SL batsmen in snooze. Zaheer Khan led the attack from front with miserly spells and heap of wickets. He did nothing fancy, pitched the ball up and relied on the swing from the wkt to do the tricks. He also continued his supremacy over left handed batsmen after Graeme Smith and Strauss with Sangakara in this series. Munaf Patel came across as a surprise with improved attitude and the zest back in his run-up. Pathan and RP Singh continued to struggle. Harbhajan did make a good comeback and Ojha didnt get to bowl much in the ODI series.

Fielding wasnt at its best. Yuvraj Singh didnt field at his customary backward point area and the impact of knee injury was evident on his mind. Rainas, Sharmas, Badris, Kohlis dropped the catches at will. Are they going to be in the team just for their age and for no performance ? One of the main reasons why selectors groomed this half baked cricketers was the "agile legs" and superb performance in field. That was evident nowhere. No stopping runs and no scoring runs. That makes them liabilities in the field and in the team.

And then this people are expected to take place of the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman in the tests vs Australia ? Today we have an edge over Australia to regain the Border Gavaskar trophy, but with the "fresh blood" we would loose the test series 0-4 and in all within 10-12 days of Test cricket.

Test cricket is not a place where you would give away Test caps at will. The young guns got to prove besides their age that they have the real stuff in them to replace the batting greats.

Good on You

Captain Incredible ? The new Mr Cool ?

India s series win and DON s centenary

I return full fledged to the world of cricket blog. And a good day to return when :

• Sir DON Bradman completes centenary of his life.
• 
  India win an elusive ODI series win in SL for first time in 23 years.

Sir Don Bradman till date remains the greatest ever batsmen to have played the game to date. Critics might argue that he scored 5028 of his 6996 runs against one team of the 5 teams who played Test cricket in his times. But then it takes guts and challenge to score 5028 runs in 37 Tests against a single team.

The debate of the playing conditions then and now, the question of Don having played one dimensional bowlers more than variety of bowlers in his time would always rage but his aura and fame wont fade an inch. The fact that 60 years hence he played his last test, no batsmen till date has managed to reach the average of 65 in Test cricket says the huge difference between the class of Don and the rest of the Test batsmen.

India s win in SL ODi series is sure to rekindle the age old debate of senior Vs junior players in the Test team. And after failure of the GODs of Indian batting in Tests and "success" of the rookies in the ODI series, its but natural for the media to start the debate on their prime time shows. and yes there would be calls to replace Anil Kumble as Test captain with MS as well.

By the way I missed writing blogs on cricket hugely. But now I feel I am up for it and write it with more regularity.