India wins Guwahati game

India won the first ODI in Guwahati by comfortable 40 runs. This margin could have been even bigger one should the 9th wkt partnership of 67 runs had been shortened. Yet next game in Jaipur, the Mallu lad Sreesanth would be on hattrick and if he gets wicket on first ball he would become 2nd bowler to take a ODI hatrrick for India. Kapil being the other one.

India had lot of positives from the game in all the aspects:

• Gambhir looked comfortable batting until he chased a wide delivery that got him out.
• Virat Kohli is soon maturing to a wonderful ODI batsman, with his 2nd consecutive century he is a certainity for the World Cup. He has gone past the likes of Vijay, Rohit Sharma and of course Sir Ravinder Jadeja in the utility to the team.
• R Ashvin was a very good bowler on this day and should he get more chances and he encashes them he would be good wicket taking bowler for India in ODIs.
• All bowlers bowled well in tandem with even Yuvraj Singh coming good with his off spin.

Nehra's ommission from the original squad was baffling and still its not sure if PK returns who would go out. I'd reckon it should be Munaf, as he has not been in the frame all this while and Nehra is India's most successful ODI bowler since June 2009 with 55 wickets in 37 games.

Kiwis now have lost 7 games on the trot in the subcontinental conditions and at this point of time Vettori/Taylor would be a huge fan of Mr Speakit Sangakara who every day gives us a new gyan on the cricketology and latest from his repository is "WC 2011 is going to be most  competitive and there is no clear favorite". So if going by this form, Kiwis are not the favorites for the world cup in subcontinent, but since this would be most open and competitive World Cup, the Kiwis can still surprise anybody. I would be happy if they surprise Sri Lanka every time they play.

MicroMax conquered

India won a final and Asia MicroMax cup. Wow. Good one. Both are rarity. Asia Cup after 15 years when none of this players debuted for India and when Azharuddin was still the biggest name in Indian cricket.  India won despite making a mess of final 10 overs scoring just 49 runs and losing 1 wkt.  Scarier part of it is to have hit just one boundary. And who hit it ? Our hero Ravinder Jadeja. 

Everybody got starts, none of them made big except Dinesh Bhai.  The 66 he made were at right time. Today the Test selection is due and he would know that one innings of substance means his place for next series is secured. So wont be surprised if he makes the cut into the Test side as well as backup keeper.  Not only Chennai-ites are fan of Dinesh Bhai, but also Chinese and Anon readers who don’t forget to shower their piece of praise in the comments section.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina got starts, none made big. 2 of this 3 would go out when Yuvraj and Sachin return.  Amazing to see Jadeja being given chances after chances despite failing with the bat. He was a batsman who could bowl, now he is a bowler who never bats.   He would continue to play and in all probability would be part of World Cup 15. 

Bowling was good. Nehra, Praveen and Zaheer were among wickets. Fielding was decent too.   Nehra showed glimpses of that memorable Durban night of World Cup 2003.

All in all good win for MSD who grabbed 3^rd multinational trophy in as many years (CB in 2008, Compaq in 2009 and Asia Cup in 2010).

Hopefully World Cup in 2011.

India score a face saving victory

Main observations in today's win over Bangladesh in MircoMini Asia Dambulla cup:

1. New ball bowling is a worry for India. The way Zaheer and Praveen bowled was not the prettiest of the sight and certainly not the greatest of signs we are looking forward to win the 2011 world cup. Ok they are coming after a gap of 1 month almost, still they gave away a lot of boundaries to Tamim and Keyes.  Nehra was off color too though he picked up 2 wickets in his 100th ODI.
2. Ravinder Jadeja continues to edge a specialist spinner to play in the final XI.  Much said.
3. Sehwag was unusual hero with the ball instead of bat. I had tweeted him to get a 100, instead he got a  4-for, 2nd cheapest in the history.
4. Gambhir's return to form or lets say runs is a good sign.
5. Sehwag should fire in the big game vs Pakistan, which we should not lose in any situation.
6. Rohit Sharma is back to his original ways. 2 centuries now seem fluke. The lad just does not seem to learn from the past.  If he does not mend up his ways he should probably kiss goodbye to his India career chances and look forth to Deccan Chargers only.
7. Dhoni was back among the runs.
8. Sehwag would be on hattrick next game. He should come to bowl when Afridi comes to bat and he should be hattrick victim.
9. Great to see DK and MV not opening batting for India.

Ok I stop.

World T20 : Day Two. India wins

India began its World T20 campaign in a relatively sedate note. They did what they were expected to do. Albeit in a warmup fashion.  The IPL stars were sedate, the batting was not the way we have expected to see.

The fast bowlers bowled steady bouncers and got  5 wkts to short balls. Perhaps sending a message to other team highlighting the weakness of Af team against short balls.

Nehra was the man of the match for his  3/19. 

Noor Ali was only Af batsman who batted decently and his partnership with StanikZai was the only highlight of Af batting which struggled to pick up the tempo.

Harbhajan failed to get a single wicket and Jadeja bowled within his usual limitations to keep the run flows in check. Kumar and Zaheer were adequate although later bowled quite a lot of full tosses in hunt of elusive yorkers.

Gambhir and Raina fell early before Yuvraj and Vijay propelled the team to the win.  It seems Gambhir needs presence of Sehwag down the other end to play well. 4 off 6 is not what we expect of the best Indian batsman of 2008 and 2009. He is also the highest run getter for country in T20Is. And Raina though he got 67 runs in the IPL final against the likes of Zaheer, Harbhajan and Malinga, he failed to milk the weakest bowling he's faced till date in T20Is after 1 four and 1 six.

Still waiting for the day when he would display his IPL form in international format.

Yuvraj is slowly getting back to the groove. Vijay carried on his IPL form in this game albeit with a little low strike rate.  MSD hit 16 runs in 4 balls to secure a win that would seal super 8s spot but would leave a lot to be desired to top the group in the game against Saffers today.

India wins the 3rd ODI

So India win the 3rd ODI in Kotla by 6 wkts and now have a noose tightened across the Aussies. In last 7 games they have won 4 and lost 2 against the world champions. It also indicates that the Aussies are not the force anymore they were in ODIs.

If Yuvraj and MS were excellent today, then the Delhi kids were off color. May be they were pissed off the slow and low Kotla track, which is a typical Sri Lankan wicket. The more you talk high of MS and Yuvraj, thats less. The maturity of the guys led Indians to a 2-1 win. Sehwag was usually off color and Gambhir was cautious alongside Tendulkar who was looking good to go for a huge score ran out thanks to the fuckass bowler who came in his way.

Nehra another Delhi kid was off color. 0/51 in 9. Ishant Sharma, the other one went off color. So home kids were flop today.

The good thing about MS and Yuvraj is they bat well and bat fast. Quite like what Yuvraj did with Dravid before. Yuvraj and Kaif were one time poster pair of Indian cricket before Chappell finished off Kaif.

This batting line up looks more or less settled with just an occasional replacement for Tendulkar when he wont play.

I am not sure if Jadeja and Praveen Kumar have long role to play in this team. Jadeja doesnt inspire confidence that way.

For Australia Ponting opened just for 2nd time in 327 match career and gave a decent start to the side, but then the slow pitch was too good for their batsmen and they cud just post 229 runs.

Its very difficult to see Australia defending their 3 world cup titles in 2011. Tough.

4-2 or 5-2 prediction now seems very well possible for India. And hell, it would have been 3-0 for India right now.

Neehra

Neeeeeeeeehraaaaaaaaaaaa you beauty!!!!

Bowling worries India

India's bowling is a worry.

And their best bowler in the warm up game is not going to play the most important game of the CT. Not because he is a lowly bowler on talent, but because his captain doesnt put that trust in him.

This is South Africa and there is place for just one spinner. And that spinenr is going to be Harbhajan Singh who is fresh from a 5-for.

RP Singh had a fabulous T20 world cup in 2007. How far he goes this time is not very sure as he is not seeming to be in good form. He was clobbered for 66 runs in 8 overs by Neil Broom.

Ishant Sharma has been on and off. Praveen Kumar well I am not sure if he would be playing. Ashish Nehra seems to be the best bet to rely on right now.

Zaheer Khan seems to be missed big time in this tournament. A country where he has been tremendously successful except the match on 3/23/03 against Australia, the biggest match of his career.

Possible bowling line up looks like : Nehra, Ishant, Harbhajan and RP.

Batting more or less looks settled. Tendulkar, Gambhir to open with Dravid at 3, Yuvraj at 4, MS at 5, Raina at 6. 7th spot seems to be in a bit of doubt. I would rather give the benefit of doubt to Yusuf Pathan in the first game and then may be try Nayar in the game against dummy Bangladesh.....

If the bowlers do their job half decent, the Indians would be good to live up to their reputation as the best ODI team in last 2 years. They have now won 6 trophies on trot. No other team can boast of the same record.

Indians on welcome break

Finding no Indian cricketer in news for his performance on the field is a bit disappointing, but worth taking as this break would ensure the champs would be ready for the home series against SL, Australia and South Africa. Not to forget the Champions trophy, for which the Indians would be strongest contenders. With possible return of Rahul Dravid it would be a tough combo to beat.

it would be a retro move to get back Dravid, but then there is no cut for experience...

India gets to play 8 tests this summer, 6 against good teams and 2 against minnows. Sachin, if he plays all he would be one test away from Steve Waugh's record. Dravid would easily scale past Ponting and Border getting 11000 runs. Laxman all set to cross 7000 runs and the man at the top Sehwag crossing 6000 and the golden goose Gambhir crossing 3000 runs.

The biggest question for selectors would be the place of Ishant Sharma in the scheme fo things next season. He has been patchy in ODIs and T20s. Relatively OK in Tests. So I guess he should be played more in tests than limited overs format.

Ashish Nehra has proved out to be a good enough bowler in ODIs. Not sure how would he shape up, he could be a decent partner to Zaheer Khan in the ODIs if fit.

This combos are too far to discuss, but would be a lot of headache for the selectors to pick up right squad to continue mission 11 in right track.