Viru's 219 and what it means to Indore

What a player. What a player.

219 is now a  benchmark for a captain's innings and that benchmark would be bettered very few times in the World cricket, at least in ODIs. 

A man who was out first ball duck in Motera scores a double hundred in Indore's Holkar stadium. The man who was best bet to score a 200 in ODI and he took 12 years to get there, but when he got there, he got in style when he cut Pollard for a four to go past his idol's 200*. What a player, if I can chant in Tony Greg style.

Virender Sehwag, the Indian captain for this series and the terrific Delhi opener has scored a 200 in ODIs, which is scored only for 2nd time in history of ODI cricket. And both of those scores of 200+ have come in the state of Madhya Pradesh, not famous for many things. But now its on the world cricket map. Indore is on the world cricket map to have hosted this incredible match which saw highest individual ODI score and highest ODI total for India. 

India's 419 is its highest ODI total ever making it only team to go past 400 4 times. The other teams have either not crossed this mark or at max done it 2 times. 

Virender Sehwag has scored 219 in ODIs as his highest score, 319 in Tests. And he also crossed 8000 runs in ODIs and he is 20 runs away in Tests. Too much for a man who didnt have a good technique and was dismissed as flop star in 1999?

Dilip Vengsarkar almost ruined the career of this incredible batsman in 2007 when he dropped Sehwag from the team to Australia in favor of Boss DK. Thanks to Anil Kumble who got the man back for Perth test and since then its been a revamped Sehwag.  The likes of Sehwag make the game more interesting to watch in the era flooded by T20 bandagwons and for this precise reason and the ODI highs India has seen this year, the ODI cricket must stay on. 

Sehwag makes everything in record book look obsolete and its not long before Sehwag gets a double double hundred in Tests too eclipsing Brian Charles Lara, another cricketing great.

South Africa would be relieved team today passing on the buck to West Indies to leak the highest ODI score.   Both 200 scores have come in MP. Gwalior and now Indore. Indore is now redeemed in the cricketing world and after the 1997 fiasco when a match was abandoned due to bad pitch, the cricket is truly back in the city of Poha Jalebi. 

Indore has had a rich cricketing history in India unfortunately, it didnt get its share of matches or didnt give country many players. CK Naydu, the first Indian captain, Narendra Hirwani, the current selector and famous 16 man are the 2 most famous cricketers from this city besides some domestic giants. And yes Indore is also the city where great Rahul Dravid was born!! But thats it. 

The pathetic Nehru stadium was a blot on Indore and this excellent cricket stadium in the heart of the city makes a grand return of cricket in the city of Indore. Like every other city in the country, the city of Indore has rejoiced on every great cricketing milestone of India and people have congregated in the heart of city -- Rajwada in thousands, lacs waving tricolor and chanting India India. Be it 2011 World cup wins (QF, SF and then final) or 1996 win over Pakistan or Dhaka win in 1998 or Lords 2002, people in this city have always celebrated with rigor and highest enthusiasm. Its not like Mumbai which boos its own heroes or is indifferent to the cricket in the town. Or like the other big centers where the crowd interest is dwindling. 

Holkar stadium today wrote the name of Indore with bright golden letters on world cricket map -- city to host highest ODI score in history of 40 years. And what a pity, I am not around in my own hometown to witness this epic moment in the history of Indian cricket and of course, the history of Indore.

Virender Sehwag well done, we Indoris are proud of you and thank you to redeem our city's cricket and bringing back the glory and respect it always deserved.

India go 1-0 up

India won the first one dayer in Cuttack after a lot of drama and a batting collapse which should not have happened. 212 was a very easy to achieve target even though 3 of the World Cup winners were not present in the team. 

Parthiv Patel has been very lucky to be getting a lot of chances recently (his 4th consecutive series post world cup), but he hasnt seized a single chance to cement his place in the team. He got a start today and threw it again. He can bat aggressively, we all know that but he needs to convert those starts to substantial scores. 

Gambhir should have batted for longer period and he must be very angry with himself to have let gone a very good chance to bat longer in a ODI. Ditto for Kohli, Raina and the captain himself who continued his trend to hit the very first ball to boundary he faces. 

The move to promote Patel as opener was inexplicable given that the best openers were  around to bat. I think Gambhir and Sehwag should resume opening together from Vizag ODI.

Jadeja, a changed player (till now) supported Rohit Sharma (who is redeeming himself) for a good 83 run partnership before the brain fade returned to haunt Ashvin yet again.  He has got a  ridiculous running. His running in Mumbai Test cost India a golden chance to whitewash West Indies and yet again today he showed he is useless when it comes to running. 

Probably when he bats a burning cracker should be put up his ass to keep him on his toes. Or probably a sight of Mumbaikar makes him nervous enough to complete a 2nd run. 

Rohit Sharma fell just before the victory and in the end it was left to the 2 worst batsmen in the side to complete the job. They played out 15 dot balls amongst themselves and in the end with the help of Darren Sammy, they got India home.

It should have been Kemar Roach to bowl that over instead of Sammy, but then he is captain and the decision to bowl himself backfired. 

India won its 10th game in row in home soil  and are now 1-0 up in the 5 game series.

Eden Gardens Test : Day 2

India have scored the highest score in last 11 games for themselves. And also crossed 300 first time after 10 innings. Something that reflects the torrid times the team had in England quite unexpectedly.  The 2nd day at Eden Gardens saw quite a lot of milestones:

1. Dhoni scored a hundred after 32 innings and 21 months on the same ground. Last one being against SA in that hard fought victory.

2. Laxman scored # 17, 5th in Edens and first in 15 months. He also became highest scorer in any ground in India.

And with a mammonth 631 on board, the bowlers did a good job in sending back 2 West Indian openers to hut for only 34 runs. And then bad light came to WI's help. Else few more wickets would have tumbled.

The biggest thorn in Indian flesh is going to be Shiv Chanderpaul and if he is accounted for soon, then India would have a very strong chance to win sooner than the case when Chanderpaul gets going with his irritating (though effective for West Indies) batting style.

There are few questions going to be asked after this Test is over for Yuvraj Singh -- how many more chances he is going to get to prove he belongs at the Test level. He is  the most talked about player right now in terms of players who are insecure or whose position in thet eam is not secure. There are too many incumbents around to take his place and Yuvraj isnt helping his own case with low scores like he has had in 3 innings so far. He might not be coming out to bat again in 2nd innings, but I feel he should be given a free run of 4-5 tests and then a judgement call be made if he belongs to the test level or not. He has rarely got more than 5-6 Tests at stretch to prove himself. Most of the chances have came after Sourav retired in 2008.

And since then Kohli, Raina and Pujara have been tried for # 6, none being successful to make that place his own for different reasons (form or injury whatsoever). Yuvraj should make it to the touring party to Australia where his left arm spin would be handy to break partnerships. India is not going to play 2 spinners in Australia and most probably its going to be a toss up between Harbhajan(experience), Ojha and Ashvin to occupy that slot of lone spinner. Sehwag has a dodgy shoulder and he doesnt bowl that much now as he used to say a couple of years back. So Yuvraj would be one handy person to turn to roll his arm over to break a partnership. Having said that, the primary responsibility of Yuvraj would still be to score runs and score big. And if fails over course of next 2-3 Tests then may be it would be apt to ignore for the future.

I also feel once the holy trinity of Tests is gone, Yuvraj would be one of the replacements, but again depending on how good he comes through this set of opportunities.

And as of Sachin's most awaited 100th 100, the only folks continue to be worried are the mediamen and those impatient fans. The man himself, as Rahul Dravid mentioned, isnt bothered about the impending milestone. The 100 would come when it has to. The media is continuing to create some needless pressure on the man who today completed 22 years in international cricket.

And Rahul Dravid continues to be in golden run of form when he has almost 1000 test runs and 5 hundreds, most by any batsman in 2011. He is all set to finish up with 1000+ runs and 13000 runs by the year end (2 more tests India plays before year end). He is just 21 runs away from the 13000 run mark -- 2nd Indian and 2nd in the world to do so when he reaches there.

India vs West Indies : First Test at an interesting stage

India are 124 runs away from a win in Delhi Test.  This has been an attritional Test match, albeit an old school classic. One team ending up dominating a day's play followed up by comeback by the other next day. Something I hope wont be the case on day 4 and in almost session and half India shall be home with a comfortable win in the end. 

The pitch has been slow, low and having variable bounce. Not that it has impacted a lot of stroke playing or resulted in dismissals of a lot of batsmen. If one is ready to grind on this wicket and have patience, the runs scoring would be lot easier. Chanderpaul showed it in both innings, Dravid has shown in both innings aided by Tendulkar in 2nd innings. Sehwag too had said that the collapse in the first innings had to do with the soft dismissals rather than the demon in the pitch.  

India were typical of them in the first innings when they batted, collapsed. Worrisome part is they havent got to 300 more often than they would have liked to in past 8 Tests (starting WI tour, disastrous England tour). 209 is not a  score that reflects the batting might of the line up India has, but it does say of the sorry state of mind India had on day 2.  They self destructed, which they so very often have done in the 2nd part of this year in longest format of the game. It seemed that India were still stuck in the ODI mode. The likes of Tendulkar, Laxman and Yuvraj fell to soft dismissals. Sehwag and Gambhir fell to freak ones.  And Dravid in first innings was setup off a short ball by Rampaul which invoked wild celebrations by WI captain Sammy.

Can you believe 3 wickets in first innings fell to Sammy and he further had a hand in 2 more wickets.  Barring openers and Dravid, none reached 25 and India conceeded 95 run lead. The highlight of the first innings was the approach from Sehwag that showed that he is almost back to full fitness.  Dravid continued his good form and barring that nothing much to write about. Chanderpaul continued to torment Indian bowlers for 10th year in row now which began in 2002. 3 hundreds then followed by 2 this year in back to back tests.  His stance has grown weirder than ever before and he has been dour and ugly to watch. But he continues to make runs, valuable to the team which boasts of youngsters and has inexperienced batsmen.  

Ojha got 6-for and Ashvin got 3. 

2nd innings, West Indies had a chance to extend the lead to 350 plus and shut the door on Indians but they collapsed in the end and except Chanders and Sammy, none of the batters contributed. Ashvin got a dream debut with a 9 wicket haul, 2nd best to Hirwani, current selector.  Ojha got 7 wickets in the match, Ashvin got 9, Yadav got 2 and Ishant Sharma got 2. 

Ishant Sharma impressed with his rythm and pace. He almost got 3 wkts on 3rd morning but for crooked ignorance of Dharmsena to a plumb lbw and a drop catch (tough) from Ashvin, he could just show for 1.  Umesh Yadav showed pace, but leaked runs at critical juncture on 3rd morning just before lunch to ease off pressure on the Windies. Still early days for him in Tests and he would (should) learn in the future.  Both spinners earning wickets mean more bench time for Harbhajan Singh. He going wicketless in Ranji game didnt help his case either.  Except for injuries and dramatic collapse on day 4, the team for 2nd Test shouldnt change.

India's 2 most experienced batsmen are on crease and they would want to ensure on day 4 that they do the job for India rather than leave it to the next 3.  They survived the day 3 with some resolute batting and gritty determination. 

IPL Ashvin has evolved a great deal and I have to eat my own humble pie when I said previously I wasnt a big fan of Ashvin.  He would need to continue to be in the wickets for the remaining 2 Tests to be able to remain in contention for Australian tour later this year. 

Gambhir and Sehwag need to bat longer than just 12 and 9 overs in this game and convert 50-100 to a 100-150 as they did in the past.   Laxman and Dhoni would need to get some runs under their belt too. 

All and all a good Test match with a classic finish in sight.

100th Ton

Let the 100th ton come in the first inning Tendulkar plays against West Indies in Kotla. A worried media would sigh a big relief.

Selection anomalies

The first test vs West Indies at home after 9 years is 4 days away and the Test team for it is declared. The usual suspects in batting have returned, the injured players have returned and the selectors have chosen to revamp the bowling attack altogether. They have committed as usual blunders and thats going to cost heavily to the team.

Here are the anomalies:

1. Harbhajan Singh has been dropped from Test squad on the basis of his England Test form and previous ODI form of 2011. He hasnt had that bad tests altogether as selectors think so. He bowled fairly decent in SA and in West Indies before failing in England. The problem with him has been he has had quieter periods with the ball followed by a 3 or 4 wicket haul in Test. The consistency he used to have in 2002 - 2006 days is no longer around. And that probably takes selectors and his critics to think that he is woeful in Tests too.

A look at his 12 month record doesnt paint a very sorry picture that deserved him to be dropped.

Over last 12 months he has played 11 Tests and accounted for 38 wickets at not so decent average of 38. This figures involve a poor return of 2/287 in England. And fairly decent returns of 15 in 3 in SA and 11 in 3 in West Indies.

SA and WI are countries where he hasnt had much of success in the past. Whats worrying though is in last 12 months he's got just 1 5-for. And that was against SA in SA.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/29264.html?class=1;home_or_away=1;home_or_away=2;spanmax1=02+Nov+2011;spanmin1=02+Nov+2010;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling

I think he should have been given one more series to prove his mettle and if another failure, then perhaps he should have been then dropped. Alternatively, the second aspect of this drop can be that he would get to play 3-4 Ranji games and if he gets some form in it, that would be handy in Australia as he would be the only spinner to have some experience in there.

Replacements

The replacement for Harbhajan is R Ashvin who showed up decent figures in ODIs vs England. 11 in 5 with most of them holing out to the middle. Not sure if that should count in judging him to be a very good spinner. His carrom balls and doosras were easily negotiated. And basis of this and some decent success in IPL Ashvin has got in the team. Also dont forget that the selection head has pushed out TN openers out of the team and so to keep N Srinivasan happy, he's got Ashvin in the team. Thats for the conspiracy mongers to be happy.

Pragyan Ojha is back after some good performances in domestic circuit and Rahul Sharma is also finding a place in the Test team after ODI team. Worse, he has even got a contract in Grade C with IPL success. Superb!! His domestic record for Punjab is patchy. 18 wickets off 10 games. Average of 45 and best figures of 6/92. Last outing in whites got him 2 wickets in the entire game. Betetr thing would have been he should have playing in Ranji games.

Exclusions

Whats baffling is the ouster of Praveen Kumar. Dunno whats the basis of his ouster. He was the one of the very few performers on that ill fated England tour. 15 wickets in 3 games @ 29 is not a bad performance inviting an axe. 27 wickets in 6 tests with a strike rate of 59 and average of 25 is very good figure for a bowler once touted to be only ODI specialist. What forms the reasons for his ouster are beyond comprehension. Worse, the selectors didnt even offer an explanation if he was injured or has some other constraint. Performance is certainly not the reason why he is dropped. And if it is, then selectors are real jokers.

Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav are supposedly pacy bowlers in the nation and they found a place too soon in the test squad. They havent really been in wickets in the games they played and except for few pace deliveries, they havent shown real hope that they would be knocking the timber off the batsmen.

In absence of Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth, a half fit Ishant Sharms shall be leading the pace attack before the Australian tour.

Ajinkya Rahane shall be confined to the benches unless somebody (2 at least) get injured in the first choice XI.

Yuvraj Singh should find a spot in the starting Xi given he made a 50 in his last test innings before he got injured.

Probable XI :

1. Sehwag

2. Gambhir

3. Dravid

4. Tendulkar

5. Laxman

6. Yuvraj

7. Dhoni

8. Ashvin

9. Ishant

10. Ojha

11. Yadav / Aaron

The other sad aspect is the rushing of the injured players in the team. Sehwag, Tendulkar, Sharma and Yuvraj return from the injury. Except for Sehwag who has played some form of cricket to gain fitness, the others havent played much cricket to prove they are ready for internation cricket once again. Specially Tendulkar who has been busy with waving chequered flag to the Indian GP F1 race and moving to new house. And the mad hype for his 100th 100 would be on once again.

It would be a pity that he would be playing his first test against West Indies in 9 years time. The last time he played was in 2002, the last series WI played in India. He missed the 2006 and 2011 tours to West Indies on the pretext of injuries and rest.

India look good to go 2-0 up

The 3rd and final Test of this series is seeming to be going India's way should weather permit on day 4 and day 5. If weather would have been good all this far, India would have been 2-0 up in the series thus far.

Its just good for India that the man who leads them in all 3 formats of the game and their World cup winning man has got back some form, some runs before the tough England tour begins in few days time. He had been scratchy and pathetic in all the 4 innings before today's 50 and in this process he also got to 3000 Test runs in 57 Tests, not bad for a man who was considered untechnical and ugly to watch when he came 7 years back.

Laxman is continuing his good form in the series and this would only mean better in the tougher England series in few days time. 3 50s in as many innings is sureshot welcome from the man who likes to bat in crisis. He may not need to bat in the 4th innings depending upon the size of lead India gets on day 4.

Raina has almost sealed his place for the # 6 spot in England and he would be keeping Yuvraj out for while from the Test team with a super 3rd 50 of the series. But the biggest beneficiary of the first Indian innings was ABhinav Mukund who not only grinded hard but also made some runs to boost his confidence. Its almost certain he would be walking out in Lord's test with Gautam Gambhir as Viru is yet to get total fit and might not make it to the Lord's.

A lot depends on how much Dhoni and Bhajji make on the first session of the day 4 and another 50-60 runs would be very handy given the brittle batting of West Indies and weather permitting, India shouldnt find going 2-0 up so difficult.

Why does Badrinath fail?

A 30 ball 17 followed by a 28 ball 11 and a run out with bat lost and struggling to make it to the crease even with a dive. 

That figures dont do the justice to the rant "I have made my game suitable to the T20s and ODIs" from a man who has been given ample opportunities in past 3 years and he has fluffed them all. He happens to be from the state which provides national selection committee chairman, the most powerful man in the BCCI and of course the 2 time IPL champion franchisee with a luck that the franchisee is captained by the man who captains India and the stand in skipper is also a part of the same franchisee.

All of that ideally shouldnt matter though, in the long run its the temperament and the attitude that decides if a player belongs at the highest level. And we aint bridesmaid now, we are goddman world champions in the ODIs and top ranked Test team. So no player should come in on the back of few hundred runs in the IPL. To me this man is like Ajay Sharma who scored tonnes of runs in the domestic circuit, but when confronted at the highest level, just came a cropper. 

Why do lads like Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina who are way younger than this lad find success at highest level and he doesnt? Why do even contemporaries like Gautam Gambhir find success but he doesnt? Gambhir was also treated in the same way as this lad was, but when he got his opportunity, he seized it and today he is best player of spin in the country after 3 greats and forms one of the vital cogs of India's best Test opening pair and possibly world's best opening pair at the moment. 

Both this lads got their moments on the same tour -- 2008 tour to Lanka. Gambhir got in Tests, this lad in ODIs. Gambhir had been decent in the ODIs then and hadnt got the success in Tests by then. A solitary hundred against BD in 2007 was all he had. Even though he didnt have 100s in that tour, but his handling of M&M when the more famed and great names failed in reading them got him the place he deserved and since then hasnt stopped and looked back. 

So what stops this lad? Self pity? Self inflicted daemons? Whats holding him? Is he scared? Or is he content to just play a few games for India and happy making millions in the IPL? Who would remember him few years down the line? Who remembers Padmakar Shivalkar today in the same breath as say Bishen Singh Bedi or Chandra or Prassana or even Venkat? Or Ajay Sharma? Or Pankaj Dharmani ?

The series is already in the bag and its time to test out the few players who havent got the chances so far. One of them is the original young player well before Kohlis and Rohits made their mark. Manoj Tiwary, who debuted in 2008 (after Rohit) but lost out to injury then.. He would be due to come in for a game or 2 before he heads back to India. So this lad hasnt done any favors for himself by making those slow starts. Yet, the backing he has, he might still get a chance to play the 3 Tests replacing Tendulkar ahead of Kohli. And that would mean there would be at least 1 walking wicket in the Test team.

"Focussed on contributing consistently" making 30 ball 17

I don't want to say what exactly what I want to do. The first thing is that I need to cement a spot in the Indian team. I am just focussed on contributing consistently."

He said he is aware of the need to constantly work on his game and has been seeking the help of coaches in honing his skills to suit all forms of cricket. "I have been working with the coaches. The IPL experience has helped me a great deal. It's been lot of hard work but I enjoy improving my game and want to play for India for as long as possible."

When you make this kinda statements, you'd want to ensure you score runs at good S/R in 50 over game too. Having said that consistent displays of 30 ball 17 isnt going to help this lad any further and to longer extent. 

So buddy backup your words and score runs as much as you can, otherwise 2008 encore is almost inevitable.

Backing Ashvin for success in West Indies ODIs

R Ashvin, the tall 24 year old spinner from Chennai and one of the vital cogs of CSK's twin IPL titles. He has been hailed   as country's second best spinner after Harbhajan in ODIs at least. He has just played 9 ODIs, 2 in World cup, 5 in NZ series and 2 in that ill fated Zimbabwe tour. But he has earned a place amongst fans to be brave hearted and a constant trier. He doesnt held himself back from tossing the ball up in the powerplays in ODIs and T20s, he  gets thrashed but more often than not he picks up wickets. 

He proved that in the IPL and CLT20 that he can be a very good new ball bowler and he often started the attack in the world cup (against West Indies and Australia - 2 games he played).  Got Watson in the Quarters in the first 10 overs. And then he was dropped for  the next 2 games. He again proved his mettle in the IPL when he constantly grabbed Chris Gayle in the final and a game before when later was rampaging. 

MSD has handled this man very well and its fortunate for Ashvin that MSD is also India captain. When he returns for the England ODIs, Ashvin would be keen to perform well in the West Indies ODIs and sneak a place in the starting XI ahead of Harbhajan Singh. Its most likely that Harbhajan would always play ahead of him in conditions favoring just one spinner, but if Ashvin could keep Bhajji on toes, only the Indian bowling attack would be benefitted. 

After Kumble's shoulder surgery of 2001, India hasnt had an attacking spinner in the ODIs. Harbhajan fitted that role very well in early 2000s but in last few years he has become more of containing bowler than an attacking bowler. He cannot be always relied to grab wickets in pressure situation, something which Kumble always did for Azharuddin and Tendulkar in 90s. 

India has tried a lot of spinners in supporting role to Harbhajan after Kumble bowed out of ODIs -- Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra (very few ODIs), Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawala, Ravinder Jadeja etc. But none of them have been able to cement their places in the starting XI. Also Sehwag's dodgy shoulder in last 2 years havent helped India's cause,  he has proved many times he is better off spinner than Harbhajan Singh. 

If Ashvin is able to replicate his IPL success in ODIs and T20Is for India then not only he would be a serious contender for Tests but also India would have much better bowling attack as compared to now. He is in the team in West Indies only for the ODIs, but if he puts up a strong performance, say 2 wickets on average per game and giving away 4.5 - 5.5 runs an over, he would be very tough to ignore for the tougher tours coming up later this year. 

And thats when Ashvin would be just Ashvin and not IPL Ashvin.

India win by 16 runs in the first T20I

India began the tour well by winning the 1 off T20 against a depleted West Indies side. This win was India's first ever in T20Is against West Indies. Strange fact given how weak the Windies has been over years now and yet India had to wait so long for the win. 

The short ball woes, it looked would return again to haunt the inexperienced lads, when Dhawan got out to Samy in 3rd / 4th over. That was a nothing shot and Dhawan had no clue what to do for the delivery. Patel and Kohli then rebuilt for a while before Sammy returned to take 3 more wickets to leave India at 4/56.

Kohli, Raina and Patel dismissed.  And then our Chennai hero Dabrinath settled to a run a ball knock which was sufficient on the uneven, turning pitch and alongside Rohit Sharma he led India to a decent 159/6 after a miraculous 72 runs off last 5 overs. 

West Indies were given early blows by Munnabhai and IPL Ashvin, but Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo batted without sense and urgency till 16th over without losing further wicket and any sense of urgency to win. And when the surge came, it was too late for them as run rate had already climbed 17 a over. Hyatt and Barnwell put up a fight though, it was an easy win for India by 16 runs. 

What is very disgusting to see is 3 good players of T20 -- 2 of them hyped in the IPL were not part of Windies team. Gayle, Pollard and senior Bravo. WICB has to get its act straight to get its best players playing in a team to have any chances of revival in the international cricket, else its all downhill for them.

16 men to Windies

The 15 for the ODIs and T20 leg of the Windies tour:

 

1. Gambhir

2. Patel

3. Kohli

4. Raina

5. Yuvraj

6.  Sharma

7. Pathan

8.Ishant

9. Harbhajan

10. Ashvin

11. Munaf

12. Saha

13. Dabrinath Bussumaniam

14. Vinay Kumar

15. Mishraji

16. Praveen Pehelwan

 

Except a couple of choices or make it 3, the selection looks all rite.

 

Dabrinath, Rohit Sharma and Saha.

 

Sharma was ignored for the world cup team. Since  the world cup and now, Sharma hasnt played any domestic cricket or international cricket except the IPL. So if selectors have

decided not to keep IPL as benchmark for this team selection, how is Sharma back in the team?

 

On the similar grounds how come Dabrinath is rejected for World cup and selected for this tour when the only form of cricket he has played is IPL.

 

And if IPL is the criterion for selection, then why have selectors ignored Rayudu, Rahul Sharma and may be Manoj Tiwary?

 

And what good has Amit Mishra done between World Cup and now except in IPL?

 

The positive side of selection is good to see no Vijay and Boss DK in the team, however DK is spurred on having being left out in favor of PP. He has hit 5 sixes out of nowhere in my home town IPL game.

 

May be a reminder to Cheeka that if somebody gets injured and there is an opening may be I can play. Not as keeper but may be as a batsman.

 

Aka India's Kamran Akamal.

Fact about West Indies

Before writing off England against the most crucial game of Group B later today one must remember the fact that West Indies has not beaten a serious Test opposition in an ODI since June 2009.  Plus how they play on turning track (if ) of Chennai would be an observation for MSD and team to decide on the team composition for the Sunday's game. 

Fake batsmen in Indian ODI team

Lol.

Typical DK stuff.

A bit of nudge here and there.

Few runs in the belt.

And then a poke at the ball outside off stump.

Dismissed.

The dude wards off to the pavillion shaking his head as if he was planning smthin great and got out accidentally.

Fake dancer cum wicketkeeper.

And what about that asshole Rohit Sharma ? Any more proof needed he is a waste to be dumped in dustbin ? I dont have words more to mention on this 2 useless people who are in the team just cos they are young and they hail from states which have had chief selectors.

Dhoni should now awake and realise that he is carrying an useless piece of dirt in the team who dazzles in club cricket, glows up in ads n fashion shows and fails at highest level. Pissing rat!!

DK to replace Beeru ?

I hope now with Dk scoring 67 in 1st ODI, nobody would say he would replace Sehwag in ODIs as opener. He tried doing it in Tests for a while, got thrown out. Mr Useless did it in T20s for a while but was found wanting against good teams in Super Eights.

Raj and Prabu(h missing) would be happier men for a while.

Not quite endemic for India

"If swine flu is a pandemic, this [the trouble with the bouncer] is becoming an endemic for India. "

Fazeer Mohammed uses an interesting analogy during commentary to explain India's travails Jun 26, 2009

Not quite true for any Indian except Mr Useless. Mr Useless as in Fake Mumbaikar Rohit Sharma.

Reason behind WI series

Those who say the ongoing India - WI series is useless and uncalled for, let me just state here for the record that this series is in response to the WI series prior to the world cup 2007 in India. This is a return series and was under "agreement" between BCCI and WICB.

4 ODIs then, 4 ODIs now. Before world cup then, after world cup now.

And yes that series was last time BC Lara played official international cricket last time in India. Its a pity that he didnt play a Test in India after 1994. Blame it on the scare tours WI make to India. 1983, 1988, 1994, 2002. 4 times in my life time.

Fuckin Rohit Sharma!!

Why the fuck on earth Rohit Sharma is retained in the team? Asshole. Enough is enough now. He cannot be tolerated any more on name of so called talent. Fuckin bastard....

Starting Xi : India vs WI

My XI for 1st ODI against West Indies tomorrow :

Openers : Gambhir and Vijay

They have never played together in any format. Vijay was replacement for Gauti when latter was banned against Australia in the test series. Providing a good start would be key for Gambhir and Vijay. More onus woud be on Gambhir as senior partner. Replacing Sehwag is not a mean task you see. Now its upto you to decide Vijay is replacement for Sehwag or Tendulkar. Replacing Tendulkar ....

Middle Order :

Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sharma, Pathan, Jadeja

Dhoni is a natural # 3 here in absence of Raina. Yuvraj at 4, Mr Useless at 5 and Pathan at 6. Jadeja at 7. No KKD and no Badri bhaiya.

Bowlers :

RP, Nehra, Harbhajan and Ojha/ Ishant.

Actually opening with Yusuf wont be a bad idea. Take Windies with surprise. i dont quite support the idea of fixed batting order. It has helped us in ODIs in NZ and SL, so why discontinue with it now. It worked for us 7 out of 10 times. So why change just for one failure in England.

Last 9 ODIs India have won 4 and lost 5. To cut down even more, out of last 4 India has won 3 and lost 1. Prior to 2007 world cup. Painful memories.

Where Sri Lanka erred and the return of ODIs

King Sanga erred in 18th over when he gave ball to Isuru Udana, the foot soldier who lost it for SL. Till that time Murali and Malinga had 1 over each left to ball. Had Murali or Malinga given the ball, there would have been a bit more pressure on Pakistan. 26 off 18 balls. And then it read 8 off 12 balls after Udana's over.

Besides over reliance on Dilshan proved costly. Blabba king failed. Simple dolly to Younis. Talking high is different and implementing those high things is different. Besides Matthews and Sanga the batting let down the Lankans and yesterday mystery of Mendis went off for a vacation.

Mendis isnt proving effective against teams who have played him more often. India and Pakistan are examples.

All in all it was another false dawn for SL as they had an unbeaten streak throughout and got punctured in the final when it mattered the most.

With this final, the T20 overdose ends and we now switch to ODI cricket starting in West Indies where Indians script their comeback. And then the talk of the season -- Ashes. England declare their pre-Ashes squad today. It would also be a d-day for Michael Vaughan.

By the way this Indian team has broken the jinxes associated with it everywhere it has gone. It beat Pakistan in India first time in a home series in 2007, won CB series in Australia first time, won back to back ODI series in SL and then 33 year draught in New Zealand. West Indies has some painful memories for India. 1-4 defeat in 2006 followed by ODI World cup loss. Besides India has won just 1 of the 5 bilateral ODI series in Carribean. So this is another chance for Indians to set the record right and return back to winning ways before embarking on a well deserved break.