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.

IPL 4 : Chennai Blooper Kings Preview

Its IPL time and time for team previews.

Start with Chennai Super Kinks. 

The team consists of 2 men who are most widely disliked -- Srinivasan and Kris Freekanth.

One of them owns and the other is brand ambassador.

One of them is BCCI prez elect and the other is national selector chief.

Son of Freekanth plays for Chennai Kinks and Kanth would use IPL 4 as launch pad for launching his team into the national colors. May not be in ODIs now, but may be in T20Is. ODIs team tinkering wont be possible for long time since we are the world champions.

Okay back to the preview.

Captain : MS Dhoni, the Indian world cup winning captain

They retained 4 players -- Dhoni, Vijay, Morkel and Raina. 2 of this are world cup winners and one of them is a loser and the other a world cup discard.

The team:

Indian players : Dhoni, Raina, Ashvin, Dabri, Vijay, Junior Freekanth, Joginder Sharma (YAY YAY he is same bowler who got Misbah off Freeesanth), Jakati, Yo Mahesh, Tyagi, Abhinav Mukund, Saha and some Vasudevdas.

Abhinav Mukund was the other man in that monsterous partnership in Ranji trophy game in 2008 which saw Murali Vijay picked up and drafted in for banned Gambhir in 3rd test vs Australia in Delhi. May be when both Delhi lads get injured in Tests at one go (GOD forbid), Mukund could find himsef playing for India alongside opening with Vijay. May be then he would still pretend he is playing for Jaya and Karuna and Freekanth and Srini and RAJNIKANTH's state. 

So many almighties for Chennai Fooper Kinks and biggest of them MS.  Rajni's team. Oh man. Yenthiraan's team.

Foreign players:

Hussey, Styris, Kulasekra, Albie Morkel, Randi bhai, Hilfy, Bravo, Southee, Bailey,

Kicked out players:

Hayden, CHuckli

The team is defending champions and they say that they are the most consistent team in the IPL. They have always made it to the Champions league (2009 and 2010) and have been to the semi-final of IPL at all times. They won in 2010, lost in semis in 2009 and choked on the last ball in 2008.

The crunch players for CSK in past year have been Ashvin, Raina and Vijay. Vijay who knows to play only for IPL and is subdued for the other formats for India.  There is going to be no Hayden and Chuck this time around. Chuck is now playing for Mahila's team that is, the Tuskers.

Hayden was left out.

If CSK win this time, it shall be another glorious campaign for MS, but it might also see some more Boss DKs kinda players making way to the team as reserves.  We've had already enough of Vijays, Dabris and BossDKs.

BossDKs is furious at Freekanth cos he didnt convince Srini to buy for him and instead now he is playing for some other team.  Dunno which.

Batting shall wholesole depend on Indian players (or Chennai local players) as Hussey shall be coming in late and most of the foren recruits are bowlers.

Expected XI for tomorrow:

1. Vijay

2. Mukund

3. Aniruddh Freekanth

4. Raina

5. MSD

6. Dabri

7. Morkel

8. Southee

9. Ashvin

10. Randi

11. Kulasekra

Bollinger is out injured, Dwayne Bravo is out injured. So the team for first few games is going to bit on this lines.  Randi bhai is back and he wont be balling no bowls any more arbitarily. 

Lets see if this time CSK is Chennai Super Kings or Chennai Blooper Kings

Reflecting back!!!

4 years back in the runup to the world cup 2007 I had started writing cricket blog and most of those posts were related to the cricket watching experience from 1986 till date (2007). I had covered the world cup till the halfway stage and then India had exited in the first round itself. The days to follow were like being in the state of numbness and shock as none of us expected to lose so early. 

Greg Chappell was the most hated man in the country then and entire cricketing fraternity was shocked on Mar 18, 2007 when world learnt that Bob Woolmer died the night Pakistan lost to Ireland. Perhaps that was the start of decline of the Pakistan cricket which is still ongoing till today.

There was still a hope that India could still qualify to go to the super 6 by virtue of beating Lankans but it did not happen and I hated Dilhara Fernando more than I hate Jaywardhene and Sangakara now for dismissing Tendulkar on 0. Many thought that was the end of the Tendulkar saga in the World Cup.

And then one day writing from Kanbay office for that blog,I accidentally ended up deleting that blog which was more of a innocent blog with no digs at anyone, no hatred, no rants and no criticisicm of anybody. I rued that loss as i had already posted 45 posts by then. 

I got started with the other blog and the most memorable experience of blogging came with that when I blogged about the 2007 World T20 win, England series win and of course the victory over Pakistan in the last series played till date.

And then 2008 Sydney happened. It was heartbreaking, it was disgusting to see India lose to Ricky Ponting's antics. I was so anguished by teh happenings that I quit blogging and did not blog for another 8 months. Even IPL-1 came and gone, I did not blog. 

And then at the end of SL ODI series, I came back to the world of cricket blog yet again and this blog took the birth. 28 months of blogging and over 1200 posts. Drilling down Lankans, standing by the fab five of the Indian cricket and of course shredding apart the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Sangakara, Jayawardhena, M Vijay and Srikanth have been the features of this blog. 

I dont receive comments any more. I fretted initially about it, I cribbed and wrote about it, but in the end I adjusted to it not letting it affect me and my writing. I might not be the most popular blogger around, neither do I have penchant for laws of the game, neither do I have the ability to draw humorous cartoons, neither do I have ability to praise anything Sri Lankan. But passion for the game and standing by the team I like the best keep me going and I shall keep going for as long as I can. 

Dubious 15th member selection

The Indian world cup squad is announced and there are a few eye brows being raised over selection of few guys who have not played ODIs in 2 years time and none in home conditions. 

The most of the team chose itself and as expected there was a tussle for 2-3 spots only. 

The selection of Chawla and Ashvin would raise eyebrows. Pragyan Ojha played most of the ODIs before he was dumped for no good reason. He was not expected to play in SA where only one spinner plays and that luxury lies with Harbhajan Singh. But Ojha did a decent job in the run up to the SA tour and now he suddenly finds himself out of the favor from the selectors and the team management. 

Piyush Chawla's selection is equally baffling. He has not played an ODI in 2 years and is not expected to play in remaining 3 games before World Cup, so he is looking  to go to the World Cup with no match fitness and match practice.

There are just 7 batsmen and most of them will play in all games. There is no reserve keeper who also could have doubled up as a batsman.

What if injury happens to one of the 7 main batsmen? Who is the backup then? Rohit Sharma ? M Vijay? I am sure Srikanth has some plans for M Vijay, he must have told him something in Tamil that dude I shall get you in the team, let one of the batsmen get injured. 

What if MSD gets injured? Sehwag would be the captain in that case, but who would keep? Again Srikanth has a replacement ready. Dinesh BossDK Karthik.

Srikanth's croonies are well placed to be replacements for any one of the batsmen / keeper getting injured. 

Ashvin's case is debatable. It seems he might be benefited on the cost of Ojha. He has played 7 ODIs for India in 2010 and taken 14 wkts.  How much would he add up to the tally in the world cup remains to be seen.

Chawla has 28 from 21 games. There are plenty of part timers in the spin department namely Sehwag, Yuvraj, Raina and perhaps even Tendulkar. Not to forget Yusuf Pathan too. So why 3 spinners? Ideally Parthiv Patel should have been the part of the lineup in place of Chawla, so that he could have been a reserve batsman too and would double up as a backup to MS as well. 

But if Srikanth had mind and logic. He is roaming around all TV channels and cricket  websites saying this is the best Indian team and balanced to win a world cup in 28 years. Only time would tell.

Vijay is a quota selection

Murali Vijay is needlessly playing ODIs when he is not fit for it. Fit in the sense in the terms of temparament and attitude. Its disgusting to see this guy play quick form of cricket in IPL and flop in ODIs. 

He is a quota selection in the team. He is in the team cos first choice 3 openers are back home due to injury and the selection head is a headless chicken. And the next BCCI president is the boring pan eating Srinivasan from Chennai.

Now that Tendulkar has also returned home, he would play remaining 3 games and most probably Kohli or Sharma would open with him and Pathan would play at 7.

It could still be a back door entry for Vijay in the world cup. Who knows. One quick 40 and he would be fit in the team.

Vijay is one real lucky guy. The next Dinesh Karthik of course.

Madras Brigade out to destroy Indian cricket

Sachin Tendulkar's decision to rest for the ODI series is not welcome and its time he plays some ODI cricket to get match practice before the World Cup begins. He has not played single ODI in 2010 after he scored 200*. Who rested Sachin is a question. Did he ask for it or did Srini/Cheeka combo pushed him aside to accomodate Vijay. Having an opening combo of Dhawan and Vijay is absurd. Its like havig Devang Gandhi and Vikram Rathore / Pankaj Dharmani / Sujith Somsundar open the batting in wretched 1990s.

Neither of the 2 players are going to be around for the world cup. Whats the use of having such players?

The run up to the 2007 world cup was better than this one even if india performed disastrous. They had a series in Malayasia in Sep 2006, series in Feb 2007 against SL, WI.  The final call was between GG and Uthappa with later emerging victorious.

Same players are not around this time.

We have just ST, VS, MS, ZK, Harbhajan from that side playing 2007 world cup.

There is no vision, no plan, no strategy to world cup 2011. All we have is a foolish and f**k agenda to promote regionalism and quota system in Indian cricket. I fear the 2-3 years when Srini would be at helm of BCCI would be worst for Indian cricket. Just like Ijaz Butt is for Pak, Srini is for India.

Somebody sue Srini and Cheeka to have a well laid plan to destroy Indian cricket. Charge them on severest of the count and jail them in Chennai jail may be in Jayalalitha's house and have them wear her sarees and bangles.

Lets kiss our world cup chances bye

Cheeka is at it again.  He has declared a virtual D class ODI team to  take on the mighty Aussies in the ODIs. Australia is number 1 in the ODIs and the world cup is just 4 months away. 

There are no openers in the team who would play the World Cup.

Tendulkar, Sehwag and Gambhir are out.

Sehwag has an injury? Gambhir is going to have a surgery. Tendulkar as usual is pick and choose. Surprising he has not played a ODI since 200. So is he willing to play the world cup ?

So in absence of this 3 lads Dhawan and Vijay are the openers.

Cheeka has pure regionalistic mindset. He replaced a Delhi guy with another Delhi guy. Whaddyaloser.

Middle Order: Raina, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Kohli

# 7 is as usual reserved for Sir Ravinder Jadeja and the great fact is he is going to be second specialist spinner.

A spinner who chokes, strangles and checks but does not take wickets.

Ashvin is other one.  No IPL Ojha and Bhajan.

Fast bowlers:  Munafa, Nehra, Vinay and Praveen

Where does Munaf come from? He was not even in the Challengers.

This selection proves that the this selection panel is no good than what Pak has. Ijaz Butt has an say there, Srini has a say here.

How many of this players are going to make it to the world cup team? Dhawan? Vijay? Munaf?

Jadeja still continues to be in the team.  No other player has been given so much chances. Bhaiya wo khelta nahi he, to kyu team me bana hua he?

Damn. This is a 3-0 win to Australia gifted on platter.

Lets kiss our world cup dreams good bye.  Whaddaunfortunatestuffdataworldcupwinningbuggerisruiningteamsworldcupchances.

Curious case of Vijay

Vijay scored a 100. First at international level. Ok congrats da.

I'd stop right here.

He is not going to be a permanent fixture in the side. For now. Whenever Gautam Gambhir gets fit, Vijay would be dropped.  Yes even after making a 100.  And that could be as early as first Test against NZ.

Vijay has been a fixed slot as reserve opener ever since his debut in 2008. That coincided with the dropping of Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik as openers and return of Gambhir to form in 2008 SL tour. The drop happened in 2008 Aus tour when Sehwag returned in style. That also coincided with the change in the helm of selection committee. DBV went out and Cheekanth came in. So did Vijay after he was in an epic opening partnership with Mukund.

Vijay has since then played T20s and ODIs for India too in 2010 with no success. He flashed in IPL and CLT20 this year. His temparament was monumental in whatever success and opportunities he had thus far. He has been decent in the Tests thus far.

Though he has got opportunities right now just cos he is from Tamil Nadu and Srini, Sreekanth hail from same state. Going on, he would need to exhibit similar patience and commitment as he did today to rightfully earn front door place and not a back door entry just cos he can blabber in same language as chief of selectors and BCCI president elect.

He was painfully slow today going from 87 to 100 and was stuck on 99 for 13 deliveries. In this process he not only slowed down the runs but also slowed down the runs that are scored in the end of the day.

On day 4, India would need to bat quicker than they did on day 3.  They have the men -- Tendulkar and Dhoni to do it. If they bat well and secure a close to 100-150 run lead Vijay's time would not harm us, but if it does then his eating up of balls would surely hurt the team. And that would be a difference in a 1-0 and 2-0 series victory.

Preview : Bangalore Test

The second Test between the 2 best teams playing positive Test cricket starts tomorrow morning India time. And this would be the last one for lot of players in the country on both sides.

After an epic first, the expectations would be high on this series decider.

India has a strong record when they take the 1-0 lead. In last 20 years they have given up the lead only 4 times last being against England in 2006.

There are going to be a few changes in the Indian team and the hero of 9th wicket partnership wont be there. The Delhi lads give way to Southie guys. Vijay replacing Gambhir and Sreesanth replacing Ishant.

Laxman is in some kind of doubt starting tomorrow and if he does not play it would be a toss-up between Pujara and Mukund to occupy his slot. Conventional logic says Pujie should make his debut but we never know with Srikanth at helm and Srini's power could see Mukund make his debut too. (Kidding).

India has got some stupid record in Bangalore with not having won a test in 15 years. This is a great chance for them to rectify the record asap. They've lost to Australia twice, drew once and lost to Fixistanis in 2005.

Possible lineup:

India : Sehwag, Murali, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman / Pujie, Raina, Dhoni, Zaheer, Bhajan, Sreesanth, Ojhie.

Aus : Watto, Katto, Punter, Pup, Mr Cricket, South, Paine, Mitch, Hauritz, Hilfy and Georgie Boy.

It would be one more chance for Marcus North to slide his batting going down south and ensure his berth remains safe for Ashes...

All in all it should be a cracking contest between India and Australia once again and then the rivalry would take a break for one year and then it would kick off once again in 2011 down under. Not sure if the 3 greats would make it that tour.

Now that Mr Character Sanga Singh is injured he should watch this game closely to learn how to play positive cricket.

Chennai Super Kinks Vijay Gaan

Chennai Super Kinks ki Bara Bajau. 

Kya whistle podi hai

Sreekanth aaj khush hai

Srini aaj khush hai

Dhoni bahut udaas hai

Khush he zamana aaj

26 tareekh hai jee 

Chennai jiti he CLT20

Srikanth ka din he ji

Anni India ja raha hai

Dabri Chennai aa raha hai

Karthik Endhiran Endhiran gaa raha hai

Khush he zamana aaj Chennai diwas hai

Khush he zamana aaj Srini khush hai....

Chennai Super Kinks ki barah ka dher....

Champions League jeete hai aaj

Tamil Nadu league agla nishana hai

Endhiran Endhiran Endhiran!!!!!!

Curious case of Vijay, Dabri and Raina

Here are Raina speak:

I wanted to make sure we rotated the strike, and that we hit the loose ball for four," said Raina, who scored a commanding 87. "When you bat at number three it gives you time to build an innings. When you bat at number seven for India, it's very difficult to score a 50 or a century

Great he scored a match winning super stroked 87 for his home team. Great his one innings got Chennai a win good enough to go semis for now.

But he just spoke garbage. 

He bats at 7 for India ? Since when ? The no 7 spot belongs to great allrounder Ravinder Saheb JadduKha who has made the spot his own.  

At 7 its not necessary to score a 50 or 100 always. Quick cameos depending on situation (240 odd in 45 overs) or stabilising 50s or 100s are need (100 for 5 in 20 overs) are prescribed. 

I do not remember an occasion in last 3 years (since 2008 when he made a comeback post Chappell era) Raina Saheb has batted at 7 for India.  And except useless JadduKha many no 7 players have hit big runs for India -- Dravid at times, Kaif, Uthappa and Pathan have been successful for India at that position. 

Coming in 43rd or 44th over many players have hit quick fire 50s to change the complexion of the game altogether while chasing or setting a target.

Raina is just giving an excuse to prove his failure with bat for India. Here is the reason:

Raina plays for CSK in IPL (and hence for CLT20) and gets money from India Cements owner Nambiarayan Srini. No wonder he is topmost Indian run getter in IPL 3 editions thus far. 

A look at his ODI stats in the 3 years say the picture : 

He has played 58 innings and made 1832 runs at 40 runs per game with 3 hundreds and 12 fiftees.  Great record. Last time he played at 7 for India was in 2008.  In 2009-2010 period he has mostly batted at 5 or 6 for India. Increase the spot by 1 in matches when Tendulkar does not play. 

Deflated figures without consistency.  Good in one tourney, average in other. 

And contrast those figures with the IPL. Awesome records in all 3 seasons.  600, 400 and 500 runs.  Amazing strike rates, innovations, big hits, short balls negotiated and what not. 

When playing for India constantly getting out to short balls, ugly hits over square leg leading to dismissals. Why ? 

Is he fixing the games or chosing the games to play well ? Play well in more money games like IPL or CLT20? Be an average batsman in games for India ? What if BCCI matches ODI match fee as money he gets for IPL game? Will then he play consistently ?

Ditto for Dabri and Vijay. ZVijay today made 68 at amazing strike rate of 130.  He had great IPL. But contrast that to India matches.  

ODIs : 4 games 71 runs and 17.75. Against Zimbabwe, the weakest of ODI playing teams (forget associate teams) he was scratchy and made 10 off 40 balls. 

Tests : 6 games for 259 runs. Highest of 87 vs SL last year.  Just 2 50s. Why ? Is he content with 30s and 40s for India? Does his talent go hiding when playing for India and it comes out in open for CSK and Tamil Nadu?

This guys have to sort out their priorities right, else they would / should be kicked out of the national team for there is no dearth of deserving batsmen. Why is it that all evils today emanate from Tamil Nadu in Indian cricket? Selection issues? Quota selections? Rigged auctions?  No state has had more fringe players than Tamil Nadu in last few years, yet none of those Tamil Nadu players have been able to fix their spots.  Is TNCA and CSK so insecure that it has to fire a coach for not playing a bowler in A tour ? 

filtered

2008-2010

67

58

12

1832

116*

39.82

1897

96.57

3

12

3

148

51

Another selectorial wisdom from Srikanth led panel

India's selectors never learn from their previous mistakes. And thats one of the big reasons India's ODI campaign seems to be in murkier water after running a high on 2008 and 2009.  The selection panel showed its wisdom and richness of thoughts and vision in the selection of BP XI for the warmup against touring Aussies later this month in Mohali.

There are just 6 specialist batsmen in the squad who would obviously play the game should no injury happen. But what if injury happens ?

Here is the breakup squad:

Openers : Gautam Gambhir and Abhinav Mukund.

Middle Order : Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane (in no particular order)

Wicket Keeper : Wriddhiman Saha

Spinners : R Ashwin, Piyush Chawla

Fast bowlers : Jaidev Undakat, Mithun, Sreesanth,

Allrounder : Jadeja

Crap!!

Jadeja is still being pronounced as allrounder. He is not even allrounder at domestic level. Still he finds a place in every team is surprising and disastrously ridiculous. I'd stop following Indian cricket the day he makes it to Test team replacing any of the batting greats.

GAmbhir is rightly in the team as he is short of the match practice owing to injury and the poor run in the Galle Test.

R Ashvin, Mukund are from TN. Mukund is deserving one though. He was at the other end in the partnership that saw M VIjay being rushed in 2008 owing to GG ban for 3rd Test.

Piyush Chawla is as a leg spinner and Ashvin is as a off spinner. If Ashvin comes good then he would exert some pressure on off colored IPL Ojha and Harbhajan Singh. Chawla is unsure commodity as he is being given lot of chances and he has not grabbed them with both hands.

The other side of selectors wisdom is if any of the 3 IPL teams make it to the semis or the finals of CLT20, then one of Dhawan, Kohli and Ashvin would miss out on the tour game as it starts on 9/25. CLT20 ends on 9/29.

So if this teams reach semis or 2 of the teams reach final some vital cogs of Test team would need to rush to India immediately to be part of the Test team......And switch from T20 mode to Test mode.

Dravid, Tendulkar, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Raina and MSD.  4 of 7 batsmen and 2 of the 4 bowlers.  Wow what a good scheduling we've got for the Test series and the tour game for Australia.

Good side of this selection is there are no Rohit Sharmas and Dinesh Karthiks.  What if Cheteshwar Pujara comes good in this tour game ? WIll Srikanth under influence of N Srini include him ahead of Suresh Raina (a CSK member)? or at least as a reserve batsman for the 14/15/16 member team for first test ?

Its clear that selectors have not gone wise from the Nagpur experience earlier this year when RD, VVS had injuries and W Saha had to play as a specialist batsmen last moment when Rohit Sharma also injured himself.

For sure there are similarities between Ijaz Butt and K Srikanth for they never learn from the mistakes and commit new folly every time.

Srikanth reveals his wisdom on IBN live

Nagpur, Aug 29 (PTI) BCCI selection committee chairman K Shrikant today said the preparations for the forthcoming World Cup were going smoothly and no one should worry about it. "The players are doing well, selectors and the BCCI are also doing their best," he said. "Every series is like a world cup for us, You (media) are talking about future we are talking about the present," Shrikant told reporters on the sidelines of annual awards function of Sports Journalists Association of Nagpur here today. "We are sporting talent and you don''t know who will emerge from behind to make a mark in the world cup," he said.

Citing examples of previous cup, Shrikant said Mohinder Amaranath, Kirti Azad and Madanlal were no where in the picture but emerged from behind the scene and did their best. Selectors are keeping an eye on all important Cricket matches be it under 19, Ranji and Irani trophy matches to pick up the right talent for our future cricket. Talking about injuries hit Indian team, Shrikant said injuries are part of the game and sometime it is difficult for right replacement at the eleventh hour. About yesterday''s match against Sri Lanka where India lost, Shrikant said,"we lost wickets at crucial time."

He however complimented youngsters for doing well.

Wow Mr Srikanth, you were smoking ganja? Youngsters did well ? Are you fucking joking ? You prove your incompetence and impotency dude. You dont know who would make the mark for World cup ? Thats why your step son Dinesh Karthik is still played in the team and he spits on you by making 0s ? What talent are you talking about ? BossaDk ? Rohit Sharma ?

India make it to the final.

So India lump into the final, actually they limp to the final. Riding on the back of a superb Sehwag ton and seamers performance, the Indians would fancy to take on Lankans and avenge the 209 ball defeat to them in the 2nd league game.

It was story as usual for Indians -- the batting collapsed except the skipper and the Sehwag factor. He was on a different pitch altogether. While wickets crumbled around him, he played his natural game and was the sole factor behind 223 on the board that gave something to bowl to the 4 prone Indian seam attack. Never in recent history I remember 4 pacers playing together and none of them was named Zaheer Khan and one of them was named Munaf Patel.

He took 3 wickets and got himself to into a slight contention for the world cup berth. Too early for to say anything for Munafa as he always deceives. Ishant Sharma bowled awesome and touched 140 mark consistently. He should get the confidence back which would be very vital for India's campaign to the World Cup.

There was no spinner on the squad. Specialist one though. There was JadduKha, but he leaked runs as he always does. So he met the expectations. He made 17 with the bat and gave 21 off the ball including 3 sixes. So is he worth calling an allrounder ?

Its like "Kasam BCCI ki khate hain, allrounder Jaddu ko hi banayenge".

His India career lives up to one more day. Nehra took 2, Ishant and Jaddu Kha 1 alongside Munaf and Praveen's 3. Praveen has been the bowler of the tournament. Forget all others, this man from Meerut has got quick breakthroughs in almost every game he has played. 2nd ball today, 1st ball in two games. Wish he could play Tests too though he's got a superb first class record. Only if Srikanth would go up north a little bit over Karnataka.

The batting was worrisome and the Rainas, Kohlis and Yuvis did themselves no favor. They need runs, they may either wait till the home series against Australia or try getting some runs in the final against Cheaters. Raina, UV would be part of the XI playing in World Cup and it would be only good for themselves and team if they are in runs. May be the seaming pitch of Dambulla has not helped them, but they would need to correct their run making spree soon.

Karthik made a duck, Jaddukha made a 17. Period. They wont be needed further this tournament end.

Few words for Sehwag. Actually i have no words for him. He is peerless, awesome and add up all adjectives you can, they'd still fall short of what Sehwag actually means to India. He has not been playing in the World T20s now and India has been crashing out too early than they should.

He has been peerless in Tests and doing the same in ODIs. Given the form Tendulkar is in this year, he and Sehwag should make an explosive opening pair in the world cup.

A pity that DBV kept him out of the team for full 2007-08 until he made a comeback in the Adelaide test in Australia. Since then he has been a different player altogether. In the same league of 4 Indian modern greats in batting.

Whaddaplaya.

So tis going to be another India SL final and the emotions would be high. I would love to see India roll back SL inside 100 and then have a look at Sangakara's reaction.

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.

Sangakara's character exposed

Kumar Sangakara wants to be in thick of action. He wants to be seen everywhere. In match conferences, match referees rooms, sledging with fellow captains, appealing for catches and lbws that aint existing, saying huge moral stuff and constantly showing character by appearing casual in official team functions.

Question arises is he insecure ? Is he fearing that SL would be back to minnows stature after departure of Jayasuriya, Vaas and Murali? What is his motive? He openly encourages his bowlers to ball negative lengths, enforces fair FTPs and questions India's motives in open, blasts Virender Sehwag and of course cannot complete any sentence without uttering character. 

Ditto with Mahela. I guess Mahela and Nanga are building character factory for Sri Lankan cricketers. So much so that they often display lack of character. One of them validates boring SSC kinda pitches citing challenge to bat long as long as they can. The other sets negative fields. 

He questioned India's stature in world cricket when his board wants as much as cricket with BCCI to fill its empty coffers. He questioned Viru's character after Randigate. Guess the pasting he got from Sehwag in past 2 years is not good enough for him to question Viru's "character".

we don't hide behind the Board and we don't hide behind the media" when it came to being hauled up for creating unpleasantness. He added: "If we make a mistake we take the responsibility. If it's serious, we take it on the chin. We take it like men and move on." 

Really ? Who called up Indian manager to apologize for Randigate ? SLC. 

Who's pressing for more fixtures with India ? Who's pressing for aid to build SL stadiums for World Cup ? SLC.

He (Hurst) did ask me whether McCullum did it intentionally," said Sanga, "I said I don't want to comment on any other player. Sometimes players are ruled LBW, they show the bat and no action is taken. Yesterday's incident, it was without seeing whose fault it was and without seeing the footage (that I was summoned),

Clearly he is agitated on being summoned by Alan Hurst over colliding with Nathan McCullum. This after he was cleared of any wrong doing. Hasnt SLC intervened here as well ? It got Murali playing after coaxing ICC to bend 15 degrees rule. And now in accommodating an useless keeper skipper. 

When Gambhir was banned for elbowing Shane Watson in 2008, BCCI did not throw his weight around Gambhir, as a result Srikanth got an opening and he got Murali Vijay in the test squad.  Since then he hasnt left the Indian squad.

When monkeygate happened in Australia in 2008, Harbhajan Singh was let off after Sachin Tendulkar deposed before ICC. And if Bhajji says typical Indian stuff (Boss DK, MaaKey and Dunga, what Yusuf Pathan said to Umar Gul) to Sangakara, I am sure this bugger would cry more. 

He questions BCCI, its clout, its intentions and then goes on to play IPL for KXIP. Ends up as wooden spoon holder and gets a peck from Zinta babes. Hypocrisy ? 

He is not happy with the schedule for the tri-series, he is not happy with the FTP. He is not happy with anything but his wife most prolly. Unfortunately there is Ijaz Butt who takes all the mud and eggs for being diabolical, else that stuff could very well can be served to Sangakara, the perennial loser.

Praveen Amre fired for not playing a regional bowler

It has been reported in ToI that Praveen Amre was sacked in the middle of India A tour to England in May and June this year and was replaced by B Arun. This move was initiated by the man in fire : N Srinivasan, the powerful BCCI sec who is also the owner of Chennai Super Kings franchise and perhaps head of TNCA.  He is also at loggerheads with Lalit Modi and is seen as the man behind downfall of Modi from the top position he occupied in the board ranks.

That apart, the reason why Praveen Amre was sacked?  Very much the same which I have thought is behind the sudden influx of Tamil Nadu players in the Indian team as replacements for everything – keepers, batsmen, spinners, bowlers, fielders and waterboys.

Its been said that bunch of Southie players complained to Srini that coach is not playing Ganapathy in the final XI and instead giving chance to Mumbai bowler Dhawal Kulkarni. Dhawal was selected for Indian tour to New Zealand and perhaps he did not play (I don’t remember he did).  Praveen Amre hails from Mumbai too and is one of the famed disciples of Ramakant Achrekar (Sachin being the other).  Pravin Amre had a decent career which began superbly with a debut hundred vs SA in SA. He has had successful coaching stints too with different teams at domestic level.

So if the reports of Amre being sacked on not playing Ganapathy are true, then they reflect to a very serious and a wrong trend in Indian cricket – regional bias and quota system. I have constantly believed that the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay,  R Ashvin, Dabrinath have been in and out of the teams with an alarmed frequency. A look at their performances does not paint a rosy picture though, but they still keep coming in.

Dinesh Karthik is out one series for non performance, he is back next one without doing any substantial. Right now he is playing in SL riding on 66 he made in Asia cup final.  On 10^th, he misfielded, failed with the bat and blah. He would still open with Sehwag on 16^th replacing Virat Kohli. Tough for Delhi lad cos he has had an awesome ODI year in 2010. He has been consistent in batting and is a wonderful fielder. He floats around, makes runs whenever he is in the team. Way better than Dinesh Karthik, who is forever young. He has been around now for 6 years and is just 24. Unbelievable. Where is Ajay Ratra?  Deep Dasgupta? Parthiv Patel? This lads have been redundant now in Indian cricket as the keeper right now is the captain of team in all 3 formats and does not seem to be failing in near future. 

Saurabh Tiwary is travelling since 2 series now and has not played a single game despite hailing from Dhoni’s own state. What does that mean? Is there a diktat to the tour selection committee to play one or 2 Tamil Nadu players every game? Murali was automatic replacement for Gambhir in Tests, Karthik is replacement for Gambhir in ODIs.  Awesome man!!

Cheekanth is into a deep running mission to Tamil Naduise Indian cricket and that would end in a disaster. No offence for anybody from TN, but are the players selected from TN right now worthy of playing? If there are 3 glittering TN players who are playing awesome domestic and A cricket, get them in the team. But don’t get in the failing stars who are just in cos they have Cheekas and Srini backing them up owing to the clout they enjoy in BCCI.

Sachin, Gambhir -- one of the 2 ODI openers for India are rested and Srikanth's one of the step cricketing sons Dinesh Karthik is back. And he is going to open with Virender Sehwag. Enough said. 

The pace attack looks shoddy even more and if this is the pace attack Srikanth plans to field in the ODIs leading to the world cup, GOD bless billions of India  fans. 

Like Suresh Kalmadi being ugly face of Indian sports, Kris Srikanth is ugly face of Indian cricket. 

And some anonymous dickheads fucking readers might say I am ugly face to Cricket blogging.  Sore cunts!!!

Cheeka is disappointed man today

Cheeka is disappointed man today : 

• No TN player is in the Indian team today playing Board Prez XI.
• Dinesh Karthik is unable to be drafted in the team as none of the batsmen is injured. In his training as fast bowler DK was bowling in a way the ball reached the other side of wickets in 3 bounces and every ball was termed as no ball. Srikanth fought hard with the local ump to allow the ball to be legal, but umpire was a Modi supporter. So DK cant be drafted in as fast bowler to replace Appam and Zaheer.
• M Vijay was shooed away by MSD. 
• Fringe players are failing to shine.
• TN does not produce fast bowlers as it produces film stars or DKs, Vijays so no pacer from TN cant play for India.

Cheeka is a disappointed man today. He is planning to talk to TA Sekhar and Dennis Lillie to train Aniruddh Srikanth in gully of his bungalow in Chennai in fast bowling. He reasons that when Pakistani fast bowlers can jump to international cricket straight out of gully cricket, why not his son. 

Cheeka is impatient man today.

MSD snubbed Srikanth in his wedding

MSD must surely not have invited Kris Srikanth to his wedding in DehraDun.....Srikanth must have said if he came to the wedding he would be accompanied by his croonies -- BossaDK, Dabri and Vijay.

MSD is not comfortable with BossaDK as later is always a replacement for him in the team. So he would not like to have taken any chances to invite Bossa just to avoid any further embarrasment in the wedding.

Srikanth is fumed over this snub and he is planning to dislodge MSD from skipper hood next series and looking forth to make one of Chennai Fooper Kinker captain.

PS : Post meant for fun. Srikanth fans from Japan (somebody posts comments in Chinese/ Japanese/Korean stuff on every post), please do not get offended.