Dhoni 's masterclass 224

So finally India conclude the hard fought win in Chennai by 8 wickets, the largest over Australia in terms of wickets. It was a foregone conclusion since day 3 when MS Dhoni surprisingly scored a career best 224 of 265 balls and that swinged the match India's way.

MS Dhoni is the sort of guy who keeps you on his toes. You cannot form an opinion about him and stick to it. He shall always surprise you. When the entire world  thought, he has lost his TEST mojo, he came back with the innings of 99 and 224 in last 2 completed innings. One of them resulting in a draw and other swinging an even match in India's favor.

One must admire the cool and calm nature of MS when it comes to leading the team. Surely he has got issues in backing his favorite players who more often do not perform, but he surely steps up when needed. In the recently concluded ODI series vs Pak, when India were 5 for 29 on this very ground, he stepped up and scored a 100.

His hair have greyed out and so has his beard, but one thing that still amazes the cricket mad fans of this country is the coolness and calmness he brings to the crease. And several players have attributed that. He might have issues in handling of Sehwag or Yuvraj or Harbhajan, but one thing he never lets go and that is his ability to hit the bad balls and dent the confidence of spinners. 

I am not a very big fan of Dhoni's captaincy in TESTS post 2011 for all he has done is backed his franchisee players and sidelined the real performers and that debate is still on and will continue in future. He has promoted himself to # 6 spot in the lineup, once occupied by VVS Laxman when Sourav was around and later was a musical chair between Yuvraj, Kohli and Raina. Now that the greats are gone and the young lads have stepped in, the #6 spot is now gone to Dhoni. And the impact is immediately visible. 99 and 224 on # 6 in Nagpur and Chennai.

Later today in  the press confrence he did mention that India has found a "Settled" combination at least for this series. What this means is there is not going to be major changes in the batting lineup and the bowling lineup.

What this also means is Jadeja will continue to play at # 7 in Indian conditions and continue to perform poorly with the bat. And yes take 3-4 wickets in a test match with his "hard to get away" bowling.  And with Harbhajan in the team, the best bowler of England series -- Pragyan Ojha will continue to sit out. 

Vijay is not going out so soon and so is Sehwag after the 1st test failure. And so Gambhir, Rahane and Dhawan shall need to wait for their turns to play in the final XI.

Ideally in my opinion the #6 spot should have gone to Rahane and Dhoni should have played at 7 or swap the positions. And Ojha should have come in at an expense of one fast bowler, who seem surplus in the kind of tracks Chennai offered.

But for now let us savior the master class effort of Dhoni, the wicketkeeper batsman in this test and ignore the selection anomalies and follies of Dhoni, the CSK and India captain.  

At times I have felt the need to switch off Indian cricket ever since the likes of Ashvin, Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar have come in and started playing for India. But then for every Sharma or Jadeja, there is a Kohli and Pujara which ultimately overcomes the need to switch off.

I do not like the current team as much as I liked Ganguly or Kumble's test team or for that matter Dhoni's test team until the IPL kicked in its evil sons in the Test teams as well.  For me the nostalgia of Ganguly and Kumble's eras will always override momentary wins of Dhoni's IPL shaded test teams.

Similar route taken by Dhoni in Chennai test

India allowed Australia to post 380 from 5/153, thanks to yet another 100 from Clark(e) and heroic efforts from Henriques and Siddle. And that has become a familiar story in Indian test arena. Timid captaincy, favored selections, neglecting certain individuals and getting rid of them selectively.

Jadeja and Ashvin bowled most of the overs on day 1 and day 2. Harbhajan bowled only 25 overs. And I agree with what Laxman said of Dhoni's handling of Harbhajan. Harbhajan needs some favor, some prolonged spell of bowling. And before the rise of Chennai Ashvin, Harbhajan had the favor of Dhoni in all formats. But due to some pressure from Srini (dont want to believe this, but have to), there are some weird selections in final XI. Jadeja ahead of Ojha as bowler and Jadeja ahead of Rahane as batsman.

India are placed 3/182 and  this is the last batting pair on the crease.  After 4th wicket there is Dhoni and then there is Jadeja.  Good for nothing test batsman.

So it is very important Tendulkar and Kohli carry on as long as they can on day 3.

Starting XI for India in Chennai Test

Harbhajan Singh will play his 100th Test tomorrow vs his favorite team Australia and that is a very heartening news to hear. That was the only hint India provided on what its final playing 11 would be. A lot of suspense still remains on the composition of the team.

• Opening Partner to Sehwag

Who will open alongside Sehwag in the first Test ? Dhawan or Vijay or for that matter Ajinkya Rahane ? I think Vijay will get the nod. First he has some experience against Australia, two he has had some runs under his belt coming in the series. And foremost being this is his home ground.   Dhawan is in team replacing Gambhir, but it is unlikely that he shall play. Ajinkya Rahane should be lucky enough if he finds a spot in the playing XI. 

So let us assume it is going to be Murali Vijay.

The next 4 slots are pretty easy. Pujara, Tendulkar, Kohli to follow.  Dhoni either at 6 if Jadeja plays or at 7 if Rahane playes. 

My hunch says it shall be Jadeja for his so called allround capabilities. 

So let's say Dhoni at 6 and Jadeja at 7.   Harbhajan at 8.

• How many spinners

How many spinners will India play ? 3 or 4 ? If 2 cant do the job then certainly 3 and 4 can't do. And Harbhajan being a certainty the questions remain who will sit out out of Ashvin and Ojha ? On basis of form, it has to be Ashvin. He did not get much success against England and off late he has struggled. But if Dhoni decides to do his own thinking, then I am sure he will play both spinners.

So Ashvin at 9, Ojha at 10. 

If he decides to go with 3 spinners (Jadeja included), then 2 places remain open for fast bowlers. And I feel India should go with 2 fast bowlers. 

No Zaheer Khan, no Umesh Yadav. Only Ishant Sharma, Dinda and the new guy Bhuvi.

I'll go with 2 fast bowlers -- Ishant and Bhuvi. But if Dhoni plays 1 fast bowler, then it will be Ishant Sharma. 

So there are two versions of the teams:

Dhoni's team : Vijay, Sehwag, Pujara, Tendulkar, Kohli, Dhoni, Jadeja, Ashvin, Harbhajan, Ishant, Ojha

My team  : Sehwag, Vijay, Pujara, Tendulkar, Kohli, Rahane, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Ishant, Ojha and Bhuvi.

Needless to say this is a very crucial test series for India given its pathetic record over last year and half in the longest format. One more series loss and Dhoni loses his captaincy.  Any victory of 2-0 or 3-0 shall be sweet. But practically speaking a 2-1 victory for India shall be a distinct possibility.

The 4 venues, as per Cricinfo stats, have been fortress for India with a rare loss coming way back in 1999. And if India plays out the young Australian pacers, then India will have done a good job.  The key to winning tests in India has always been scoring a huge 1st innings score and then unleashing the spinners on the opposition.  This was the winning formula for so many teams in home soil, but this team after the retirements of Dravid and Laxman, has failed to score high scores consistently.

So  it's a make or break series for quite a lot of cricketers especially Sehwag, Tendulkar, Harbhajan and captain Dhoni himself.  

The Indian pace bowling is inexperienced, the spin bowling is not. But there are too many doubts and questions on the quality of Indian spin especially after England trumped them few months back. And Indians falling to Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann was a shocking sight to see for all the fans. 

And as they say, this is a new series, new opposition. So let us hope that the team does not let us, the fans and bloggers down this time. And not to forget this series is against Australia. Even though there are lot of new players on both sides, the zip will be missing, but still the modern rivalry between this 2 teams is second to none.

So let's go boys and get back to the winning ways.

CSK players excel out of IPL too thanks to Uncle Srini's persuasion techniques

This article is written in satire mode. Take it seriously on your own peril.

Chennai Super Kinks really rock in every format of the game even beyond IPL. It's players, administrators, owners excel in every field. And even though they might not be very fair in their practices and not win many fans on the basis of their practices, they still ensure their players excel.

Their captain MS Dhoni is World Cup winning captain, whitewashed captain, home Tests loser captain of India. A One Day charmer, helicopter shot player, richest cricketer in the world, man who has played almost every game for India since that dreamy night in Mumbai on 2nd April. 

 Image Courtesy : Google search results from sports.ndtv.com

 

Ravinder Jadeja, until few days back, was the richest IPL player. He plays for India in all 3 formats. Look at the irony.He will play against Australia as chief spinner ahead of the man who has tormented them the most in every series in India -- Harbhajan Singh.  Not to forget Ravinder Jadeja is the most hated cricketer across India, but his haters have consistently dwindled in past few months and even though that number might go up any time on a single failure, the guy is unperturbed with the hate following he's got. He continues to perform only against England in limited overs cricket.

We all know how good R Ashvin, Mr Cricket, Suraj Randiv (now released) are. Their 4 players are representing India in Test team.And then there is Suresh Raina who is more of a Chennai man than a UP man now.

And the latest one to make Uncle Srini proud and have tears welled up in his eyes is Faf Du Plessis who has been named as T20 captain of South Africa.  Not long back George Bailey, Australia's T20 captain used to play for CSK too. Now he stands released and unsold in this year's auction.

That means, one more captaincy material for Srini's CSK if MSD rests or is injured. Du Plessis has already had a good start to his Test career too and he now enjoys captaincy of the T20 team as well after AB stepped down.

It will not be a bad idea to assume now that Uncle Srini has started to terrorize the foreign selection committees too to select CSK players for top jobs like captaincy or vice-captaincy.  South Africa being founder member of Champions League, was most happy to oblige.

Gambhir proves his point

Mr Vijay, please get injured or drop off the team citing personal reasons. You gotta make way for the centurion Gautam Gambhir who has given Sandip Patil a tight slap for his exclusion from the team.

Pakistan surprise themselves by gaining a top hand in 2nd Test

Saffers are Ajmalled in Cape Town on day 2 of 2nd Test. 5 wickets down and 199 runs short of a Pakistani total of 338. Thanks to the 2 double nelsons from YK and Asad Shafiq followed by some firework down the order, the team reached 338 from 4/33.

And now it is an uphill task for # 1 team in the world how they handle Ajmal on day 3. AB is on the crease with Elgar and that is the last "recognized" batting pair in the crease. 

The  spin is providing some turn and later in the day 3 and 4, turn shall be more prominent.  So how South Africa comes out of this situation shall tell a lot about their character. 

On the positive side even if Pak takes a lead of say 100 runs and then scores 250 odd runs taking the lead to 350+, Saffers will proudly say "HAMARE PAAS GRAEME SMITH HAI" (We have Graeme Smith) who possesses a formidable 4th innings record.

And we know Pakistan. If they made 338 in the first innings, days like 49 are not spread too far apart in their cricket history.

So the test match for sure shall take some more funny and curious turns.

Indian cricket in off season

According to FirstPost.com report MS Dhoni, the Indian skipper skipped the Corporate Trophy held by BCCI.  And that was a smart move by the captain who might be leading his last Test series unless he does something miraculous to keep the captaincy for the next Test series. 

Potentially he prevented another controversy -- club vs domestic cricket. He skipped Irani trophy, Sehwag did too. And around same time he was made VP of India Cements.  So if Dhoni skipped Irani trophy and played corporate cup or trophy, whatever it is, then the hell would have broken loose. Fresh allegations of unholy nexus between Uncle Srini and Bhateeja Dhoni would have been made.

R Ashvin and Che Pujara also skipped the corporate cup. Pujara married his long time girl friend on or a day before Valentine's day.

Hail No, the wife of # 3 is not from Nagpur and I guess she is not even Doctor. So the comparisons between #3 now and ex #  3 should stop now. 

The team for Australian series is announced. Gambhir is out. Dhawan is in. Delhi guy out, Delhi guy in. Jadeja, Vijay, Raina, Ashvin and Dhoni from CSK remain in the team. And the 5 are starters in the final XI. Ahh, the CSK shall make its Test debut vs Australia with a caveat that there should be 6 foreign (to Chennai) players in the CSK team that shall play the Tests.

Oh no, no Raina.  Only 4 players from Chennai. 

And they are keeping up the trend of Indian cricket. The strongest team in domestic cricket continued to have most players in national setup. Mumbai in early days of Indian cricket.  Then Karnataka in 1990s. Delhi off late with 3 or 4 players.

But now its Chennai's turn. Not Tamil Nadu. Not TN Ranji trophy. But Chennai Super Kinks. And they dont even play Irani or Duleep or Ranji trophy. They play IPL and since 2012 they have started playing ODIs, T20Is and now Tests under the disguise of Indian team.

Sehwag is not in great form too.  It was a great chance for another Chennai anna Abhinav Mukund to make his case, but he flopped in the tour game vs Australians and for now he is out of contention.

Dhawan for sure shall not make the cut in final XI. And here is what the test team will look like. Oh man, the first test CSK shall play in its own backyard. The Chepauk stadium with Uncle Srini witnessing the big moment. 

Sehwag, Vijay, Pujara, Tendulkar,  Kohli, Dhoni, Jadeja, Bhuvi, Ashvin, Ishant Sharma,  Ojha

That is the probable XI that shall take field against Australians in Chennai from next Friday with Sehwag, Pujara, Tendulkar, Kohli, Ishant Sharma and Ojha being foreign players.

Change of guard in SL

Change of guard in SL. No more character barbs from the 2 of their modern greats. One of them is out injured and the other one is in wrong books of SLC. And to make matters worse, the chief selector now is the same lad, the bald marauder from Matara, whose career was destroyed by this 2 great men.

Angelo Matthews is the ODI and Test captain. Good to see a Pune Warriors player become a captain of his national side. IPL indeed rocks. 

2 Pune Warriors players are now captains of their national teams, but none of them shall lead the IPL team. Hell, the team would even play the IPL 6, there is a doubt.

Dinesh Chandimal is now the T20 captain. Split captaincy. 

Third country. Oh no 4th. No not again. 5th country to go for split captaincy. 

Australia, England, Pakistan, South Africa and now Sri Lanka. 

A lot of new faces have been named in SL team. A squad of 20 players for a series against Bangladesh. Hallelujah.

How many of those new kids shall start their careers with inflated averages and with false sense of prides. After all SL leaves all chances to its kids to make it big in making all sorts of records. But only against minnows. 

This year, unless BCCI schedules something in July - August, the Lankans are playing only against BD and then Zimbabwe. 4-0 in offing and lot of records.  Many triple hundreds, double hundreds, 10-fors, 5-fors are in waiting.

The first campaign, Matthews says, will be to improve rankings. SL have been 6th in Tests and 5th in ODIs. SL have been hopeless in Tests like India.  In ODIs they are winning consistently in Australia than in SL.  And they are # 1 in T20s.

The ageing players Samarweera and P Jayawardhena have been dropped.  Probably end of the road for them.  SL bring in new players, dump them a lot. Only few of them go on and become notable ones. Matthews and Chandimal have been few of them. 

Let us see what the new regime of captains and Matara Marauder can do to revive SL Krikat.

Valentine Cricket Pairs

Sachin and Saurav

Gautam and Sehwag

Raina and Dhoni

Jadeja and Dhoni

Dravid and Laxman

Gavaskar and Srikanth

Kapil and Shastri

Srinath and Prasad

Yuvraj and Kaif

Harbhajan and Kumble

Dhoni and Ashvin

#Happy Valentine's day

IPL Auction 2013

The IPL auction 2013 was a relatively low key affair with most of the franchisees having a settled squad and only a few making all out effort to strengthen their squad.  The highlight of this auction was the low key players getting big money, the players who were really unheard of outside their home countries. 

For example,

• Chris Morris
• Kane Richardson
• Akila Dhananjaya who made it big in SLPL and played a couple of games in World T20, but since has been warming benches for SL team.

A lot of players went "unsold" like:

• Aaron Finch
• Ravi Bopara
• Matt Prior
• Suraj Randiv
• Martin Guptill
• Test sensation Vernon Philander

The Aussie greats Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting were picked up for their base prices, although none of them are hot T20 commodities, it remains to be seen if Mumbai Indians play Ricky Ponting alonside their most famous player, Sachin Tendulkar of India. 

Michael Clarke had retired from T20 format couple of years ago and is not a typical T20 player. However he might offer some valuable tips to the Pune Warriors captain, most likely Yuvraj Singh.

The defending champions were the most complacent side as they bid for only two players:

 

Sachitra Senanayake and Ryan McLaren.

Mumbai Indians again made the news by bidding a million USD for Glenn Maxwell who celebrated the day by 4/63 and a first ball duck against West Indies. They also bid successfully for Ricky Ponting, Phil Hughes and Nathan Coulter Nile, all Aussies.  And  the neighbouring Jacob Oram. 

Kings XI Punjab also bid for only 2 players in Manpreet Gony and Luke Pomerbausch. 

Wooden spoon holders Pune bid for Ajantha Mendis, the guy who has a formidable T20 record (albeit against minnows), Kane Richardson and over hyped Abhishek Nayar.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, the new name for now defunct Dhakkan Fusers got a few players in their kitty too, but none of them impact players. Sudeep Tyagi, Darren Sammy,  Thissara Pereira, Nathan McCullum etc. Serious doubts exist if new name and new management might improve the fortunes of the Hyderabad team or they continue to disappoint like last 2 seasons.

Uncle Srini proved his coach Stephen Fleming wrong who had said his franchisee wont go for foreign players. Instead CSK went for 5 foreign players -- Dirk Nannes, who as per BCC! has good chance to earn an India cap, Akila Dhana....., Jason Holder of WI, Chris Morris of SA and Ben Laughlin of Australia.

Rajasthan Royals went in for few players too and the players who'd now be Rajputs will be James Faulkner, Fiddy Edwards and Kushal (or Kaushal) Pereira (or Pareira) of SL. 

Uncle Mallaya does not have money to revive his defunct Kingfisher airlines or pay the salary to pilots and other cabin crew, for sure he has lots of money to choose a Kingfisher calendar girl and few players like RP Singh etc. 

I do not care who wins IPL or who does not. I also do not care which player makes it big or which player fails. I worry about the fate of Indian cricket when few very ordinary players like Ravinder Jadeja, Rohit Sharma and R Ashvin make it big in IPL and on back of those strong performances continue to play for India. That, to me, is the saddest aspect of IPL.

MSD, the India Cements Vice President

MS Dhoni for sure has been one of most busy players for India in all three formats of the game, not to forget the IPL and Champions League duty days too.  And a rare 3 week break between the England ODI series and the upcoming Australian Test series is a rare but welcome one for the captain. Unfortunately his boss and the boss of BCCI, Mr N Srinivasan has some other plans for the skipper. 

He made him skip the Irani trophy starting in few days time and offered him to play for India Cements in the unofficial Corporate Cup. Not sure if he or R Ashvin is going to lead the IC team, but MSD has been offered a rich bounty to play for IC in this  tournament. He is also the Vice President of India Cements now. 

The nexus between Srini and MSD is not a holier one. We have seen in the past that MS Dhoni has got away with his failures in the Test cricket and often CSK implants have played ahead of deserved ones. Jadeja ahead of Rahane in Tests, ever failing Ashvin continuing in all 3 formats of the game and so forth. 

It remains to be seen if the Test captaincy switches the hands for the upcoming all important Australian test series. This is the last chance India has got to arrest the dramatic slide in the home shores as well. The cocoon of home series is going to end later this year when India travels to the # 1 test nation.  So if India is able to beat the Aussies 2-1 or 3-1 or 4-0 (very unlikely), the home season would be less horrible than it has already been till now.