Australian tour going England way

The Australia tour is turning out the England way. The maiden win is elusive and the pattern of defeats is disheartening from the fact that the Indian team is just not showing up the fight or desire to fight. The excuses are readymade and put up after every debacle. Rain in T20 defeat, the pitch in first 3 Tests and lack of fight in the 4th one. Seniors were the scapegoat for the Tests whitewash, who’d be the scapegoat for the T20I whitewash, which is a game away.

The new folks have arrived, the likes of Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and of course Lord Ravinder Jadeja, the next IPL multi-millionaire.  A lot of noise was made on why Rohit Sharma was not played in Tests especially in Adelaide when Lax was having disaster of time in the middle. He was supposed to be the god sent savior to the losing Indian side. Unfortunately he didn’t have any magical wand that could have turned the defeatist attitude, lack of fight to a winning one. He lasted a ball and was bowled to the daddy of international cricket,  Brad Hogg first ball.

The selection of the playing XI was ridiculous:

• No Zaheer Khan or Irfan Pathan in the playing XI. The seamers who played were Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar. One was returning from injury lay-off, the second one was exposed in Test in Adelaide, yet somehow he continues to find a place in XI.  He bowled decent enough, but not good enough to justify his continued selection in the team. No pace, no variation, no skills. Vinay Kumar for you,  the reason that seems he is in the team is just cos of South Indian lobby that now (Chennai, to be precise) rules Indian cricket.

• Ravinder Jadeja at 7.  He is deemed to be a person who gives the team as balance. Balance as in a bowling allrounder or batting allrounder?  He concedes 23 runs in 2 overs, he makes 7 runs and saves a few. Saving and making still fall short of conceding. So where is the balance?  He cannot contribute when needed and often plays when all is lost (like he did in England T20).  MS Dhoni is in awe of him and that is harming the team.

• R Ashvin.  Supposedly new age bowler who can bowl anytime, the bowler who can do no wrong. He proved his worth for CSK in IPL and CLT20, but when it came for impact on international stage, he froze. He continued bowling full tosses and down the leg side. Easy meat for someone like David Warner to display their switch hit skills.  The only reason he still plays every game and Harbhajan doesn’t is he is from Chennai and represents Chennai Super Kinks whose captain, owner and brand ambassador occupy strong posts in Indian board.

• Virender Sehwag is fast turning out to be a flat track bully. I hate to say this, as I still feel he is a great, but he has done his reputation no justice on this tour.

• Gautam Gambhir and Kohli would probably rue the way they got out and their dismissals gave Australia an opening that was match winning in the final context of the game.

• And MSD, the man who once could do nothing wrong, now can do nothing right.  He has been stubborn, defensive, defeatist and strangely passive and switched off from the proceedings. When Ashvin got hit for runs in 2nd over, he still found himself bowling 3rd over in trot.  Ashvin completed his quota before 10th over was bowled and that suggests the blind faith of MS in him and also a glaring proof of being stubborn and close to experimenting.  Rahul Sharma was introduced late in the attack and he did impress in bits and pieces.

• Part time spinners might work in India, but not in Australia.  And there were plenty of them. When the runs were scored, there was no pace around to put some brakes and get some wickets. Only options available were Raina or Jadeja or Sharma who might grab wickets in India, but would be hit for runs elsewhere.  I don’t get the fascination for part timers for Indian captains off late.  Ganguly did use part timers but they had some quality – Yuvraj, Sachin and Sehwag then did use to take wickets and break partnerships. Jadeja actually gifts away runs, easy runs to the opposition. He might have got few wickets against England, but then who wouldn’t against England? They are such pitiful spin players. And based of that success, he finds himself part of every limited overs team India puts up.

The patience is long running thin and unless there is a drastic change in the mindset of the captain and the team, the fans would be forced to switch off  from watching the games. I spoilt my night yesterday sacrificing 5 hours of sleep to watch the flop show of the team who once was world champion in this format.

What an irony, the team of country that hosts the richest T20 league in the world, doesn’t have players who can combine as a team and win games consistently.  The top 7 of this team or top  8 are star players for their respective franchisees in IPL, but in the Indian team they are zilch contributors.  That makes the fans pose questions on the mindset and attitude of this players – do they really want to play for India to win or just turn up and grab their booty from BCCI and not bother to show up a fight.

I think the latter one is fast turning out to be a reality and unless addressed soon, the IPL would become a monster who would be hated more than it is loved.

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.

Ranji form of incumbent Indians

Tracking Test contenders:

Suresh Raina :

Hit a double ton against Punjab. Good show of form, but would depend on how Yuvraj and Kohli fare in the Tests. A comeback seems far off for now. 

Harbhajan Singh

No favors done playing in the Ranji game on a lifeless track. Went wicketless and only delaying the possible comeback for the Tests.

Rohit Sharma

A century against Railways shows good recovery from injury. Could comeback in the ODI team.

Manoj Tiwary

A hundred in the game vs Gujarat would mean he can retain his place in the ODI series should some seniors chose to rest before Australia tour.

A thing about Sharma and Vijay

There are 2 reserve players who are sure shot replacements for every injury or dip of form of the first choice players. They are Mural Vijay from TN and Rohit Sharma from Mumbai. These lads are pretty rich fellows after their exploits in the IPL seasons and they are having hefty bank balances.

The last innings of substance Rohit Sharma played was way back in 2007-08 CB series final when he made 66* against Australia in partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. 

The last innings of any importance M Vijay played was in 2010 October when he made his first Test 100 against Australia at home.

Since 2008 he has been repalcing Sehwag or Gambhir at the top whenever these lads get injured. And off late in ODIs too since he had reasonable IPL3 in 2010.

Have a look at their performances in the ongoing ODI series in SA. None of them have the desire or firepower or the ambition to play for India and to play well. They are getting most of the chances on every replacement. We have the likes of Rahane, Pujara, Pandey, Uthappa and others who play well in domestic cricket. They are reasonable in IPL as well, but the fact is this lads do not have selectorial backing from their region. Sharma had backing of DIlip Vengsarkar, Vijay has Srikanth's backing and Srikanth, DBV were team mates for years in 1980s.

My point is how long this 2 players would get their chances? Isnt it time to show them the door for the time they sort out their temparament, attitude and most importantly find an answer to the question: "do they really want to play for India?"

Its good that they wont play the world cup, else they would have been easy walking wickets.

Last note, on current form Virat Kohli should easily replace Raina in the starting XI.

Raina has had 20 odd innings without a half century and even if we take the fact he is batting mostly at 6, he has not showed the temparament to bat responsibly. He had every thing going his way. He was retained by CSK, he was chosen to play Tests in SL ahead of Yuvraj Singh, he got a debut 100 and then he lost it. He hasnot showed the willpower to claw back to the reckoning by some responsible batting.

Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Kohli, Pathan, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Praveen, Nehra would be my starting XI for Mirpur.

ODI series preview

The IPL auction has hogged the limelight away from the upcoming ODI series with South Africa. This ODI series is last series before the world cup and how India fares in it would give a fair idea how the team would perform in the world cup.

The injuries are looming around the corner and the team management has done a fair job in resting/ sending Gambhir, Sehwag and now Praveen Kumar back to India to recuperate in time. That leaves Murali Vijay or Rohit Sharma as contenders to partner Tendulkar on the top.

The bowling attack looks good with Zaheer and Nehra as new ball openers. They would remind us of the epic 2003 campaign in the same country in which India raced back to the world cup finals. Srinath was the leader then, its Zaheer who is the leader here.

It should be a fairly fought contest with a possible scoreline of 3-2 for either team. It wont be horrible as 0-4 last time, but it wont be easy either to conquer them.

Let the game begin in the prologue to the upcoming grand event back home, even bigger than the IPL. The Cricket 50 over world cup.

Tri series lessons!!

There have been 2 massive defeats in the ongoing tri-series in cheater land for India and that puts up serious question marks on the backup batsmen.

India is without 2 of its first choice batsmen in this series and their replacements have not fired any imagination at all.

Dinesh Karthik and Rohit Sharma have failed spectacularly in this series. And this should be their final series thus putting a closure on their aims to play the world cup. They simply have not shown any fire or attitude to grind in the middle and make runs. They dont have a plan B once they are cornered by lesser pacers of cheaterland.

Ravinder Jadeja should be seen for final time in the Indian blue for he is neither a bowler neither a batsman. Actually he is a nothing player. He should soon be replaced by Irfan Pathan, who even at his skewed pace of 120 kmph should be a better bat than RJ. Why selectors ignore IP and continue to have DK in the team is baffling. I doubt if Srikanth has got any vision for the team in the world cup. And if he has not then his head must be rolled soon than later.

Dhoni needs rest for he has appeared jaded and tired. His captaincy has appeared wanted most of the times. It seems the media trial has taken its toll on him.

Next series to follow is the CLT20 and this would be a good opportunity to try out Robin Uthappa and few others.

My line up for World Cup would be:

1.
Sehwag
2.
Tendulkar
3.
Gambhir
4.
Yuvraj
5.
Raina
6.
Dhoni
7.
Pathan I
8.
Zaheer
9.
Harbhajan
10.
Praveen
11.
Ishant Sharma
12.
Ashish Nehra
13.
Pragyan Ojha
14.
Virat Kohli
15.
Uthappa / Any new player discovered in next 2 months

No Jadeja, Karthik and Sharma.

Will bunch of jokers listen or will they continue to push regional players to the squad now that the world cup is just 6 months away and India do not play a ODI series until late October.

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.

Rohit Sharma delivers a bit on his promise shown earlier

Rohit Sharma has shown some sync up with the promise he shown in the CB series with 2 back to back hundreds in Zimbabwe. Cant say though if he has arrived on the scene totally, but for sure he is a better batsman than the times when he used to score 20s and 30s.

There are still some question marks over his choice of format to score runs -- India or IPL.

If he plays consistently for India in next 9 months  he would earn a berth in the World Cup.  But will he do it, that remains to be seen.

Awful India hurts its chances in World T20

India's performance against Australia was pathetic and ridiculous at its best. Bowlers did not turn up, Srikanth's implant in the team continued to fail as expected, captaincy was insipid, the bowlers like Jadeja and Pathan continued  to baffle and the batting was at max awful. Rohit Sharma turned up for sure, but his brain freeze in 18th over cost India the game, howeverr the chance to win was very little.  I believe Jadeja would be shown the door in the next game. He is not a T20 player. He gifted game to England last T20 with bat and today to Aus with ball.

Period. Nothing deserves more on this shambolic performance by India in years. Thats worst in years.

Rohit

Rohit Sharma falls for a similar ugly hoist in the 3rd spot playoff. 2nd consecutive game he has played a similar shot to get out. 

He is going to be a part of WCT20 squad and if he plays the same way GOD forbid the fortunes of his team. 

PS : Somebody now at some random blog is going to post a post in response to this post and claim me to be anti Mumbai too. I cant be writing to soothe everybody's opinions and view points. Expression of views is a skewd thing which not many take it kindly.  Little bit of broad mindedness is all what is required. 

And as for Srikanth's decisions as head of selection committee, we have a lot to debate against him.  In recent memory the Test team for 1st test vs SA, the W20 squad last year and for this year. Dig out and you'd find such instances even more.  On what basis likes of Dinesh Karthik is persisted in the team and Uthappa is not even given a chance since 2008. Ponder over stats and you d find the essence of regionalism favor. Period.

Do an Aircel to relaxed lads

Its time to do an AirCel (MoveOn) from this guys from Indian cricket. Yes Indian cricket exists and its not just about the IPL.

So those guys are :

Ishant Sharma from ODIs and T20s.
Dinesh Karthik from all formats
Rohit Sharma from all formats
Piyush Chawla from T20
S Badrinath from all formats

Put Raina, Praveen Kumar on notice that being lax and assured of place in the squad would come with a price and that would be a hefty amount to be paid.

The "in" guys are :

Manish Pandey for ODIs and T20s
Virat Kohli for T20s and Tests
Amit Mishra for ODIs and T20s
Naman Ojha for T20s

If that happens remains to be seen.

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai rolled over again while defending the tagret of 180 to Deccan Dischargers...And the stars were Chotta Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu.....

In the bowling Zaheer and Bhajan starred and once again the captaincy of the man was awesome though he has shown shades of frustration never seen before on his face for 21 years. But thats how the lesser known players shell it out...Not known to the pressure and suddenly pulled into high profile Bollywood corporate Cricket circus would put them in a spot of bother.

Deccan are fast fading into shell and unless their big batting stars -- Gilly, Symmo and Gibbs do not fire they have feeble chance to reach semis to defend their title. Rohit Sharma is an useless guy and now he does not play even in IPL. Yet say it a DBV effect -- he finds a place in T20 squad .

Mumbai are there and with 14 points they are secure in the semis. I care for Mumbai just a bit cos the man is there. Remove him and the team is no different than Rajasthan Royals. If Shane Warne was a batsman then Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians would have been twins that carved different paths at the birth just like Amitabh Bachchan's classic Deewar in 1975.

Once the man is out the match loses interest and lest there is no Indian legend on the other side, the match is not watched. Its good that the local imperfect stars of Mumbai -- Shahane, Raje Gaje Baje, Takawale, Rahane and Nayar are chucked out.....Perhaps they would be best suited for Pune IPL team with Rohit Sharma as iconic player....Lol.

This lads were given more than necessary chances in first 2 editions and they were a liability. This season Rayudu and Chotta Dhoni have excelled in chances they;ve got. The Mumbai Indians is all about Sachin Tendulkar and the trio of Zaheer , Harbhajan and Malinga make a fair distant attraction at second place...

Improper balance of money and performance in IPL

Poor fielding, insipid captaincy, alleged rude behavior from Australian coach, Lankan camp in dressing room and lastly rift between 3 of the bigger players of the franchisee has led to yet another Bollywood team bite the dust in IPL.

Last season it was SRK's KKR and this time its Zinta babes KXIP who's left no tide unturned to make a mockery of themselves. 

Till there are coward owners like Ness Wadia who reportedly ran to BCCI's arms when Yuvraj contemplated moving to grandfather led team, the team cannot be expected to make tough decisions.

Whats the use of retaining a player who is not interested in playing from a franchisee ? Just money ? If so then no player would have contemplated moving to other team. 

This corporate and Bollywood bigots hardly know a thing or 2 about the game, all they know is money and returns. If they had knowledge of the game then the likes of Uthappa, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Praveen Kumar could not have been that pricey that they are.  Add RP Singh to that list for this season as well.

Anil Kumble is not even an iconic player for RCB and their iconic player has little to do this tournament, yet the man is more successful than all of this so called young new bright stars of Indian cricket.  The likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly are top scorers of IPL from country edging past the likes of MS, Yuvraj, Raina and Sharma who plays(ed) well only in IPL.

So whats their price tag all about ?  Performance or hype?  Sangakara is worth 675000 $, he has not even made 675 runs in 3 seasons included. Ditto for Mahela Loserawardhene. This lads are very good speakers, show a lot of sophasticated vocab when they speak, but when it comes to execute they show a forlorn face. 

The owners of the franchisees would need to evaluate the player potential before bidding for them in wild amounts. Kemar Roach, Andrew Flintoff, Mortaza, KP, Keiron Pollard and Shane Bond's performances have shown that they are not worth the price tag they have got. Murtaza was signed for 650000 $ but he has not even turned up to play a single game for KKR......

Seeing the mad money IPL generates there would be more such cases of splashing money on players who play one bright knock of 10 innings and then encash on that for the rest of the careers. Now if today Rohit Sharma does not get selected for a Test or ODi team for India would he care ? 3 seasons of IPL would have given him good enuf money to move from Borivali to Colaba or Nariman Point and own a posh flat over there.....

Poor team selection

The team has been announced for world t20 and to say in one word it’s a disappointing selection.  There are many players who are in with a questionable form, there are many who are injured and there are many who are dropped and many more who are not even considered despite strong performance in ongoing IPL bandwagon.  

The culprits:

Praveen Kumar : Except a IPL hattrick, he has nothing to show against his name and he finds a place in the team. The pitches in Windies wont offer swing, so this pehelwan from Meerut is not going to have any impression in the opening spell. And if he is going to be an one change bowler, then he is wasted. Irfan Pathan would have been a better choice given his form with the bat in the ongoing IPL.

Rohit Sharma: What has he done ? He has not played a ODI in long time and has not fired in IPL for Deccan too. Why is he in the team ?

Ashish Nehra : Injured his ribcage. Would he be fit ? And if he would be, then would he be match fit? When he would return to play ?

Piyush Chawla : Out of blue selection?  How come this lad came in ? And from where ? Mishra and Ojha forgotten!!!

Dinesh Karthik : Has not set IPL on fire and in his captaincy DD have lost 3 and won 1. (lost 2).  Cant bat, cant keep and cant stand straight without a dance. In the team thanks to Kris Srikanth.

Missing Links:

Irfan Pathan: He should have been in the team as batting allrounder. He is more consistent than his maverick brother and offers variety than the dibbly dobblies of Yusuf.

Robin Uthappa: Man in the form and the architect of the superb run for RCB in IPL 3

Manish Pandey : First Indian to score an IPL 100 and Ranji top run getter. Solid opening partner for Kallis in IPL 3 for RCB.

Saurabh Tiwary : Chota Dhoni not needed as long as Bada and original Dhoni is around

When this performances are not to be counted what is the use of the chief selector sitting around in every Chennai game? Is he just as a brand ambassador for a franchisee or also a part time job to have a look at other impressive performers in whatever game he sits in yellow color jump suit?  We are once more carrying too many injured players and flop players in the squad no different from 2009. The core – Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Dhoni, Raina  would be omnipresent but then wont other slots be given to players in form and with some consistency on the display ?

Another poor team selection and perhaps time for Kris Srikanth to quit his job and take over a role in upcoming Kochi franchisee of IPL.

Rohit ka sach

Did Rohit Sharma reallly get injured or did he refuse to play Test Cricket as T20s were around the corner ? Time to ring up inquistive Aaj Tak and India Tv reporters to find out "Rohit Ka Sach".

Biraat Kohli

PS : A posht in heartland Englis which desi readers wud understend.

haz giben a prablem aff plenty to the Keptain and the koach of Indian team.

End aalso a prablem aff where to fit this guy in and bich pozition ? Who goes out ?  Yubraaj and Dhoni bud return soon then laterz.

DK baba wud go out bonce MS komes beck. So the abvious kendidate to go aff is Sures. Yes you read it right. Kanpur ka chora Sures.

Some kanspiracy theory going aan in the team. After the 2nd ODI, the Sures bay did not bet (bat) any time. Biraat Kohli kame up the arder and betted. And he played bell. Biraat is from the Dilli.  Des's kepital. And the keptain of the team in last 2 ODIs was Beeru, Nazafgarh ka sultaan aur Multaan ka shenshaah, Chennai and Bambai ka dan. (DON).

So Dilli Dilli bhai bhai and Sures ki naak katai.

Sures also gets some pressure naw to perfrarm else go out. He sud take himself seriously now and think ober the T20 cheez. T20 is nat total kireeket. It izz jusht one farmet of the game.  And Biraat's Biraat innings against the Lanka team which houses demons like Sanga and Jayawardhene has sent out a messege  to the team to take him with full Gambhirpan.

So  this izz a good sar dard and matha fodi for Dhoni to hev.  Sirikanth 's agenda is ruled out naw which is to bring the 12th man Boss DK ebery time somebady gets injured / benned. Karthik naw wont kome beck in the team far lang.   And Beeru piromoted his own Dilli da munda and that munda sowed hiz cherecter. Bell cherecter is a word firam Lankan dictionary.  So baat, they hevant patented it. So I barrow it.

Good jab Biraat and Beeru. 

India loses to SL for one just reason

Usual suspects are back and the usual results -- losses are back.

Why even Yusuf Pathan, the duck king is playing. Dhoni is bit too fascinated over this guy's IPL 1 pyrotechniques.

Long gone. Time to think beyond him and of course Rohit Sharma.

Fresh blood and fresh youngsters in T20 and then sneak them to ODIs.

Twenty Twagon begins

today in a schedule which would see India playing just 2 tests in next 6 months thus fuelling its critics that it doesnt take Tests serious any more.

Thats not true.  India has  toured every test playing nation in last 3 years. Windies in 2006, England in 2007, SA in 2006, Australia in 2007-08, Pakistan in 2006, SL in 2008 and NZ in 2009.  The cycle starts soon next year when India tours Saffa.

Back to the Twenty 20, the campaign today would be the beginning of the mission to get the crown back in 2010.

SL may be the finalists of the last campaign, but today they stand bruised and battered.

Good thing for them is that Slinga Linga returns.

Bad thing for them is Murali doesnt play T20.

Good thing for India is Gambhir returns.  Bad thing is that Rohit Sharma returns along side Suresh Raina, the 2 lads that live the life T20 way.

SL are bruised team right now. Sangakara is a tired man. He has spoke enough on how his team lost. I promise that after the 2nd T20, he would not have any thing more to speak and by the end of the ODIs (1-4) he would go with tape on his mouth.

Me fir se team me aa gaya Niki!!!!

Dancing baby is back as an opener........Hmmmm

For him we should lower the bar like we say a batsman scored X 100s and Y 50s..

We should say 60s and 30s for KKD/DK/DB.

Then yes likes of Rohit Sharma and Dancing Babes would be among the greats of the ODI. And they would thrive when ODIs would be split. 20-20 you see. Just that they would have to bat for 2 times.....