His innings of 124 in Nottingham against India before he played on Zaheer Khan was his last innings of substance in Tests.
He would surely be clubbed amongst the best English captains of all times and one of the best captains of this decade along side Steve Waugh, Saurav Ganguly, Stephen Fleming and to an extent Ricky Ponting.
in addition to some decent performers like :
indicates that the mission youngistan launched in 2008 CB series hasnt quite worked out as per the expectations. The core players who perform have remained the same all through out the 2000s. The ones who made their debut and mark under Sourav and Rahul. The top scorers in last 2 year bull run in ODIs starting Pakistan series home are same who have been the top performers in 2003 world cup and then in subsequent years.
Dravid was dumped after just one poor series in India vs Australia and more for his age. But the fact remains that India has found no good batsman than him in the conditions prevalent in WI series 2nd ODI. When the ball swings, there are no better batsman than Sachin and Rahul at the crease. I dont know if Rahul would ever play a ODI in his remaining career, but he is way better than the likes of Sharma, Raina and Karthik including Y Pathan even at 36.
The core batting group for India remains Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar (choosy in ODIs), Yuvraj, Dhoni even today which was no different than the Sourav era or even Dravid era. So what different has Mr Vengsarkar led selection panel achieved ? Threw caps at will to some undeserving players like Sharma and Y Pathan who has more ducks than 50s in his career so far. Vengsarkar was instrumental in rise of Tendulkar 22 years back, but he failed in the vision to bring similar players or half the 10% of talent of Tendulkar to the forefront. The replacements of injured players are those who cannot be relied to be long term players in ODIs.
You cannot expect the likes of Badri, Karthik or Sharma to play for India for even 2-3 years with their temparament. Screw quota allegations or being hater of TN charges on me, the field performances suggest that the likes of Raina, Sharma and Pathan -- the 3 next big things predicted in 2007 have failed. The mission 2011 has lost its direction a bit for now.
The bowlers look even more concerning. Barring Zaheer Khan and occasionally Praveen Kumar on swinging wickets, there are no express bowlers of caliber of even a Umar Gul who supposedly thinks reverse swing is an art gifted by GOD or even Bret Lee or Albie Morkel. Spin bowling is in tatters. Harbhajan is a bowler who likes more to contain than strike. Ojha is relatively new to the field, but its difficult for him to pip Harbhajan and find a consistent place in the team XI.
There is a question of intent on the so called young gifted players in the side. Are they motivated enough to play for the country? Why is it they shine in IPL, but fail to make any impact in ODIs or not considered worthy enough to replace a Dravid or a Tendulkar in the Tests. Laxman would be the last one to go of the Fab Five in Tests, but with whom he would rally along when Sachin and Rahul are gone ?
It took a while for Ganguly, Dravid and Kumble to make a mark in the ODIs. Tendulkar made his 1st 100 in 6 years but then a Indian 100 in ODIs was a rare phenomenon. It was hard to believe then that it was Siddhu who hold the record for most 100s in ODIs. If they took some time, but then there was never a question mark on their intent and competency. More over their attitude. It never struck to the viewers then that this players wont be the ones they turned out to be.
We dont even see the spin bowling today to be as reliable as it was when Kumble was in his peak in ODis. It was Azhar who used to throw the ball to Kumble in first 15 overs and he used to strike back immediately. Now is there anybody who has the attitude of Kumble, let go his skills. His attitude was even evident in IPL - 2 final which was inconsequential by every means. Not only he did lead by front, but delivered with the ball too. I bet if you can expect that today from his partner and so called lead of bowling.
A number 8 team in ODis beats the best ODI team of last 2 years with 100 balls to spare and 8 wkts in hand. Thats ridiculous to say the least. And picture turns even more pessimistic to see the way the likes of first 3 and then the next 3 after 4 and 5 went. If the likes of RP singh can last for 75 balls, then why not Mr Sharma or Mr Pathan ? Or for that matter Mr IPL Dancer ?
Its time to look for new players for the slots of Rohit Sharma and Yusuf Pathan. May be Pathan can be a good bet in WC'11 in home conditions, but he would certainly be a cropper in abroad. Its time to look for players who are hungry to make their mark in the international cricket, not necessarily the best of talented players but the ones who are ready to put their best and even beyond that for the country, not just IPL or domestic cricket.
I rest my case.
“I was a bit disappointed," Afridi told Pakistan's Geo TV. "It didn't appear to me by the attitude of the Indian players that they wanted to play against us. On the face, they said they would like to see cricket between the two countries but I think in their hearts they thought otherwise. Their attitude and behavior while playing against us showed this."
Oh really Shahid ? I thought Your team was royally thumped by Indians in a warm up game. 8 wkts is a huge margin. World champs then beat to-be world champs. Gee. Indians really didn’t want to play you? What makes you feel so? The collections of the match of the tournament went to Lahore victims. And this game saw the best possible crowd in the tournament. I find this statement really absurd and typical you showing off your arrogance as on the field when barring the semis and finals of world t20, you try and whack every ball out of the park and then meekly get out. No wonder you earn more critics than supporters dude. I hoped some sensible statement from the architect of the T20 World champion team and in return I find this totally insane and absurd statement. In fact 2nd in row after your infamous jibe at VVS after IPL last year. Your point that VVS isn’t a T20 player might have some merit in it, but the fact remains that he is a part of winning IPL team and you were not.
How come guys like you think you can have both sides of a coin? Your board, your cricketers want Indian board and teams to bail your cricket out of the mess it finds itself in (nomadic existence and stuff) and then you guys have to make such insane and uncalled statements. After Javed Miandad and Ijaz Butt, you are the third one in this category of anti-India brigade. Its simple and clear : if you expect Indian thing to help you out, just stop making this ridiculous statements.
Today it’s the first semi-final between South Africa and Pakistan. As per my memory suggests, the two teams haven’t clashed with each other in any major world cup since 1999. And till then its Saffers who edge past Pakistan easily. 1992, 1996 and 1999. So SA has a boogey over the Pakistanis. I don’t see that result being changed tonite. If Pakistan have Umar Gul, Saffers have Parnell and Steyn along with Albie Morkel. If Pakistan have Ajmal then Saffers have Botha, Duminy and VanDeMerve. If Pakistan have Spinach Razzaq, Saffers have Jacques Kallis who turned around his T20 fortunes, thanks IPL 2. Graeme Smith, Gibbs, AB, Kallis, Duminy certainly sound heavier than Butt / new kid, Younis, Afridi , Akamal, Misbah. But then this is Pakistan for you. Let me say this is not 1992 for them. The quality of that team isn’t just there in this team. Imran, Inzy, Wasim and Mushtaq were a class apart. Not to forget the Six-man Javed Miandad.
Saffers have had a great season this and a T20 world champs win would just ensure them a great capping off. Isnt it? Pakistan haven’t actually done anything great to suggest that they deserve to win this trophy this time except beating Ireland (their 2007 bogey), Netherlands and moaning Kiwis. Contrast that to SA who have now beaten Scotland, New Zealand, England, West Indies and outgoing champions India. Blame it to the format of the tournament or whatever, if Pakistan go through to the finals, they wont be the deserving champs. Though it would do a hell lot of good to the embattled country lacking the cricket and something good to cheer them up. But then do they have the ability to stop the Saffers on roll ?
We never termed India as favorites for T20 record owing to its record in T20 format post 2007. The only reason India were titled favorites was that they were defending champs. Just like Australia is a default contender for every ODI world cup. It’s a different thing that Australia live up to the bill, India did not. But then T20 is hardly a format to be taken too too seriously. Sour grapes.
India is in red hot form in ODI since 2008. They have won everything. CB series, SL ODI series, NZ series, Eng series. Big thing. SA comes close in that record. Won in all conditions with Australia and SL being the toughest. Only one series triumph at home. The point here I drive is India are strong contenders for the ODI trophies not withstanding its T20 record. Australia aren’t the same team anymore in ODIs. Pakistan play almost no cricket and when they play they are extremes. So beating them isn’t a big news this days for India. SL are on slide in the ODIs. But they cannot be discounted just cos they have Sanath and 3 Ms. West Indies, England and Kiwis would always be bridesmaid. The only strong consistent teams based on the current record in oDIs are India and South Africa who now have 8-2 record over Australia in recent times.
The next big thing is CT 2009 in South Africa. Something which would test India’s roadmap to 2011 which began in 2008 with the axing of Rahul and Sourav from the ODIs. I still doubt if Rahul is really not worth ODIs. Given the displays from the so called talented Rainas and Sharmas, Rahul would give complex to any youngster with his adaptability and consistency. It would depend on performance in CT to guess how good India is to win its 2nd title in 28 years – the CUP of LIFE that matters. Good thing about it is, the cup is being played in India and India have never lost before semi-final in home world cups, but then they have never won any semi-final in Indian world cups. So don’t host the world cup semi final in India in either of Eden Gardens and Wankhede.
Yes I know its over rating India right now, but then few days later there would be very little posts on Indian cricket in this blog as the rest season would beckon and Aussies would thump Poms in the Ashes, so that’s going to be the focus then.
My predictions : Australia 3, England 1.
There is an excellent post by Achettup on his blog on the media getting ridiculously hyper over not so big deal of India’s ouster from the T20 world cup. Here it is. Then we have Times Now and CNN-IBN going madly behind India’s decision to field first in the game against England. A lady reporter / fashion model / cricket expert constantly bantered about how wrong the decision to field first was. Then we have Bishen Singh Bedi claiming that Dhoni’s cricketing acumen is poor cos he hails from Ranchi and that his thinking is street level. Nonsense.
Then there are self proclaimed anti India bloggers who find sadistic pleasure in everything bad happening to India, be it the 26/11 or the WT20 loss.
Then there are some really derogatory comments like Mr. 3 liters Doodh a day for MS by one of his famed critics. What about the Dancer in the reality show sir? Is he good enough to pip Doodh drinker from his spot ? I would really wish to watch out this folks what they say when India gets next success – be it in CT or be it in WI tour or whatsoever tourney. Being MS is so tough this days. It doesn’t matter if you have won everything you captained, it doesn’t matter you won a test series against 2 of the most dangerous oppositions without losing even a single test. Doesn’t matter if you won 2 on the trot ODI series in Emerald Isle, which no other captain of India was able to do. Doesn’t matter if you won a ODI series and a Test series down under in NZ in 33 years. Doesn’t matter if you won the CB series for the first and final time in history. And doesn’t matter if you won the WT20 – 2007. The fact that he lost WT20 crown and the IPL – II, he is in for a serious hit. Brand Dhoni, honeymoon Dhoni, lucky Dhoni, Doodh peeta Dhoni. What not.
Former Test stars are blaming Gary on his hinting to IPL as one of the reason for fatigue that finally led to the loss. That’s on cricketnext.com.
IBN cricket “Expert” has following analysis :
“The decision to bat Suresh Raina at number three in the batting line-up despite his obvious weakness against the short ball was also hard to understand. With the asking rate (required run rate) not too stiff, could the skipper have given himself the role of seeing the initial England burn out and kept Raina in the dugout for an assault on the spinners?”
Not so long ago MS was reeled for coming at 3. So there is a problem. MS comes at 3. Criticise. Raina at 3. Criticise. Whats MS supposed to do? Bat Nishant Arora or any journo there. I doubt if the journo would even know the rules of the game.
Yes Jadeja at 4 was a mistake. Accepted.
Then there is this generalized article from PTI on what went wrong :
http://cricket.ndtv.com/cricket/ndtvcricket/WT20/storypage.aspx?ID=SPOEN20090097586
“Matches at home, the below-par attack of New Zealand and fine performances on the worn-out pitches of South Africa during the Indian Premier League (IPL) camouflaged the young Indian batsmen weaknesses against quality pace attack of West Indies and England, who were prepared to dig it short.”
Since when England and West Indies had a quality pace attack? If they had they wouldn’t be at 7 and 8 positions in the ODI cricket and at 5th and 8th position in Test cricket. One off victories for both the teams don’t make them have a quality pace attack. Matches at home? Does that mean India should not play matches at home?
“Individually, captain Dhoni's admission that he can't hit sixes as of yore is welcomed, but his assertion that he is working on it isn't true as the team hardly practices. The jibe at media for making an issue out of the team's absence from practice sessions is misguided.”
Didn’t media create an issue out of the supposed rift between MS and VS ? Is media’s role glorified here? When the journos who never would have stepped on the cricket field rig the Indian cricketers, they assume they are the rulers of the game and have the audacity to pass the verdict on the topics they hardly know of.
And on one hand the lesser ex stars of Indian cricket – Patil, Borde and Rajput are reeling MS, the legends of the cricket in country who actually made it the way it is today have backed up MS. None other than Sunny Gavaskar. He has backed the skipper. There is nobody better than MS to lead India in any form of the game. And if there are polls and discussions on whether MS should resign on any tv channel or newspaper, then its just simply ridiculous. MS has accepted his fault, he has apologized. What else he needs to do? We need to move on from this defeat of course with lessons learnt. And the first lesson is that the T20 defeat shouldn’t be taken seriously. Something Younis Khan suggests.
Entire media circle has gone haywire on this loss. And till the next success this topic would be red hot and even small moves by the team would be monitored and aired as Breaking News. And not to wonder if some more derogatory synonyms pop up for MS. Yeah somebody sitting in Al Manamah, Middle East is so good at doing it.
The T20 world cup failure is just not a big deal. Not as big as ODI world cup 2007. We would lose the title in a week’s time. But thanks to ICC scheduling we have a chance to regain it in March 2010 again. So the new champions keep the world title only for 9 months. Whats the use? This is first failure for MS and it should be just about ok. True his few decisions didn’t work. But then this has always been his style. More often than not they have fired and that’s why he was a darling of the media and public. Now one world cup loss and he is termed as no more cool. Namakewl. Yes he did mistake in promoting Jadeja over Yuvraj and himself, in bowling out Ishant Sharma while Zaheer and RP, better bowlers than Ishant were under bowled. Jadeja was bowled one over more than required. Again the stage wasn’t set for experimentation. But then what can you do when you don’t have a Virender Sehwag in the team? The starts that win you matches in Tests, ODIs and T20s were missing. Make shift openers don’t always become Sehwag. And if they are IPL stars and India flops, then just forget it.
Indians were performing consistently below par their true potential. Not like their mercurial neighbors whom we don’t know which side they would be. Winners one or whiners one. Call it luck, they are still in the contention and we are out. We lost to 2 teams against whom we were never expected to lose. It was a collective slump. Batting, bowling, fielding. Just like Australia in 2009 World T20 or the Border Gavaskar trophy or the SA series. So why cry foul and focus on one man as reason for loss. If MS didn’t fire, then so did not Raina and Rohit Sharma who were IPL stars. Yusuf Pathan and Irfan Pathan didn’t fire as they did in IPL. Yuvraj did his bit. Zaheer wasn’t consistent as he has been since England 2007. RP Singh wasn’t the same bowler we saw in IPL. So whats Dhoni ’s fault here? He tried his best to do the stuff he could do. But then every team has off days. So did India. Unfortunately at wrong time. If I have to axe somebody I would kick out Mr. IPL and Mr. Useless Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma and put Raina on the fringe. A notice service must be done to the people who take their places for granted. IPL success is fine, but they gotta play for country too and do it with responsibility. By no means today Sharma and Raina can be said as replacements for Tendulkar and Dravid in Tests. These lads don’t even have 10% of commitment the senior pros have. Tendulkar and Dravid made money, this lads are doing better than the senior pros. But then didn’t the senior pros deliver when it came to ? 2007 was an aberration. 2003 was peak for the trio of Indian batting.
This loss could be a minor setback for 2011 mission. Every player in the squad has little bit of experience in the international arena. Most of the lads have played cricket now for an average of 3 years. Dhoni has 5 years, Yuvraj, Zaheer have 9, Harbhajan has 11, Gambhir, I Pathan have 6, Raina has 3, Sharma bandhu have it for 2 years, RP has it for 4 years, DK has it for 5 years. So the experience going to the 2011 world cup would be there. How much the lads would perform remains a different story. We need to identify the backup for openers. Sachin Tendulkar won’t be forever playing ODIs. Sehwag ’s injury exposed us. Gambhir looked fatigue after an outstanding year in the international scene. Who after this 3? Who if one of the 2 gets injured ? Rohit Sharma? Joke. Manish Pandey ? Karan Goel ? May be. They need to be groomed. What if Rohit Sharma doesn’t deliver again in ODIs ? Who to replace him ? Manoj Tiwary was one of the man after 2007 debacle identified to replace one of the batting greats, but injury forced him out of reckoning. What about Cheteshwar Pujara? Doesn’t he need to be given a chance to prove before ODI world cup ? Or some successful IPL stars ? Just identify them and test them in the upcoming ODI series in WI and Zim (if it happens). Rest the key players, send a good A team to play oDIs. May be a comeback for Uthappa ?
This are few of the questions the think tank of Indian management along with 5 wise old men would need to do including Gary Kirsten. Later this year, his contract would come up for renewal (hopefully would be extended). The debacle might not be of huge impact as compared to 2007 World Cup, but still some glaring questions need to be asked of fading stars like Rohit and Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina.
Time to look beyond Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan in T20. Rohit Sharma isnt a talented guy. Lets accept the fact. He could be a star of IPL, be a part of defending champs Deccan Chargers, but when he plays for India, he is an ass. Worst part is he doesnt learn from his mistakes. Doesnt matter if he plays for Mumbai or Madras or Melbourne, he doesnt perform, he doesnt get in.
MS is a natural victim for criticism. And people would be ridiculous in criticising him. They would blame him why was DK not played. May be media would reel him. "Luck and honeymoon" have ended for him. But still he remains the best man to lead India. I think IPL should have been shortened or scrapped. But then money power. Isnt it.
Next assignment for India is CT and India are in red hot ODI form. They should take a well deserved break now and get freshen up for the CT and the home Test series against SL followed by West Indies.
Its disappointing loss, but its not the end of road. Certainly its not 26/3/2007. Arm Ball would be alive and would continue to be behind Team India and its skipper MS. I now favor SA to go win the tourney. Semi finalists : SA, WI, Pak/NZ, SL.
England would anyway join Australia and India on Tuesday night. Time for madness in Indian media, Indian blogs (few) and few commentors.....
“We had options for back-up openers, Yusuf and I were also spoken about. But Rohit was in good form in the IPL and has grabbed his chance with both hands”
MS was speaking on the options for opening in absence of Viru. Heavens gracious, he didn’t open. Just imagine what would have been the reaction if MS was opening. Flood gates would have been opened. He is reeled for coming at # 3, he is being accused of leaking the news and being arrogant with the media. He is now no more the captain kewl.
Rohit Sharma has been pretty decent with the opening spot in England. However he must soon realize that opening is not his cup of tea and its just that he is filling in for Viru in his absence. Ditto for DK. His first test comes today when he takes on his Deccan Chargers team mate Fidel Edwards (subject to play) in the first super 8 game India plays tonite against West Indies at Lord’s. Yes the same ground where 26 years ago India beat WI by 43 runs to win their World Cup.
India would have one challenge to stop Gayle, who has tormented them in the past since 2002 or even old since 1999. Remember the Singapore tri-series followed by Toronto 3 game series when Ganguly first time captained India. Another question India would need to find an answer to is the place of Irfan Pathan. He has been pathetic with the ball. If he opens the bowling today, Gayle is for sure to run away with game. May be Praveen Kumar would be an option to go with as he swings the ball and gets more wickets than Irfan does. Yeah India would lose a batting all-rounder, but then there is enough firepower in the batting department.
Wait till India wins the world cup and the same media would fall upon each other to hail MS as Captain Kewl.
Lets have some accountability for the media and let them be answerable to some body for the "raaita" they spread everytime. The tendency to show smoke when there is no fire must stop.
I must say here the media in India is real jerk and it needs lot of maturity up its ante.
I was away from the world of cricket and internet travelling to a distant land. So missed the LIVE action of World T20. However, the excitement is just about unfolding with the 7 games being over and results being a mixed bag. 4 teams have almost made it to the Super 8 stage and 2 would be decided almost today. Not an open format though, the IPL was more closer than this when the final 4 were decided in the last league game. The minnows have had it, the stronger teams have been punched hard on their face, the world champs have began emphatically and the runners up are in the dangers of being knocked out in the first round itself.
The world t20 began with a very exciting result when Netherlands beat England by 4/6 wkts in the tourney opener. English media was quick to rub the loss as the worst ever and blackest day in the history of 195 years of Lord’s. Too quick though, when in their next do – or – die league game, England thumped Pakistan by 48 runs, which is a big margin in T20. This result means England are through to the super 8s. And today Pakistan would need to win big against Netherlands. So that’s two fold a task. Win and win big.
SA and NZ had no difficulty in brushing aside Scotland who began well surprisingly in the rain shortened game on Saturday. This 2 sides are through to the next round and the winner of the tie between this 2 teams would decide the groups, the teams go in. SA have looked the most convincing team in the tournament thus far, though they played against a weak side. That has been the SA story. Start well, win all the games and then choke when it matters the most. Hope that this time, Graeme Smith would have different script for his team.
India beat Bangladesh convincingly by 25 runs though the critics would have their share of Dhoni bashing when he struggled to hit the ball. Ojha looked strong and Bhajan deceived. Zaheer was rusty. The way India played as a team sounds warning to the other teams in Super 8 stage that it would be very tough to beat this team. The only matter of concern is when Sehwag returns, who goes out?
Australia have suffered a great deal with the loss of Roy and perhaps they should have thought if sending back Roy was a wise move or it was an battle of egos between Roy and Pups. They face a do or die situation tonight and if they lose, they would be out for the first time in 17 years in the first round itself in any ICC tournament. (1992 World cup being the last). Ponting and Watson disappointed in the batting, Lee was treated like a school kid by Gayle during his 50 ball 88. Australia still might get through the Super 8 stage given they play SL who have been lackluster in the run up to the tournament. Australia have very little time in their hands to turn around the things. If SL lose, they still have a game to go against WI to make up for the loss.
One word on Pakistan. You cannot expect a team which has not won a single game in the tour to scamper through and go to the finals. Be it for cricketing reason or be it the emotional reasons. Pakistan have been simply rubbish over the tour. They have had no plans, they have had no will to play through. Emotional outbursts over Lahore wont always buy them a cover for their shabby performance. If they have to show their might, they have to show in the cricketing paradigms. “I have no idea why our fielders are unable to field properly. Maybe they are under certain pressure. It is not as if we are not working hard but we are not just getting it right for reasons unknown to me.” This kind of answers are lamentable. And then this one “"Even if Butt scored 28 as an opener we'll have to think about him [for the next game] because of his fielding,". Public outcry no no. He has demotivated the opener. And then this one “Kamran Akmal is a senior batsman but he can't somehow take the responsibility. We need a senior guy in the top order who can play the anchor role”. Rustiness and lack of cricket won’t be an excuse to cover their below par performances for long. Another loss and the entire Pakistan team could be renewed including the ouster of selection committee and the PCB management. That’s how it’s always been across the border. For me they were never the side who looked good to go to semis. Why doesn’t Younis Khan go up the order at 3 and anchor the innings. # 5 is bit too low for this man, who is unfortunately the best batsman of the team. Will he take the leads ?
I fancy Ireland beat Bangladesh and Australia beat Sri Lanka.
