MSD the Batsman saves the day for MSD the ODI captain

Dhoni, the captain was saved today by Dhoni, the ODI batsman. And he is a master class in ODIs batting.  Ice cool, soaks up the pressure, doesn't allow the things going around him affect him, doesn't even allow unreasonable plays from Ashvin and Jadeja batting around him. 

And today he has won India a game through his batting after long time, probably first time after that historical and forever cliched in memory the World Cup winning six. But probably it doesn't take away the question marks around his selection of the playing XI. 

Continued inclusion of Jadeja at 7 and rotation of openers is haunting the team even though it has been winning the last 2 games. But those games have been won too late and in first place they should not have gone this far after the knocks from Delhi lads. But Raina and Sharma have not been able to convert their starts to big ones. And probably once the tournament progresses and if this lads are not able to make big scores, then one of this lads will have to be dropped to accommodate all 3 openers

The bowling attack too looks predictable. Zaheer and Umesh have been top class, but the rest have struggled. Ashvin is inconsistent, Vinay Kumar ditto. And less said about Jadeja, the better. He just has nothing to prove that he deserves this prolonged run in the team. He has played 52 games and till today he has been on the mercy of captain, chief selector and BCCI chief to intervene and book #7 spot for him. He cant hit, he cant run, he cant bowl. Just fielding is decent asset for him. Gives long hop, gives away too many 6 hitting deliveries, no variations, no spin, short dolleys -- thats all he has got. 

And its futile to expect Irfan Pathan or his brother to comeback to the team soon. Any day he is better bowler than Vinay Kumar and Ravinder Jadeja. He is a good fielder and a good batsman too. Not to forget he was often promoted to # 3 spot in ODIs and Tests too and he has scored 50s and 1 Test 100 as well. He might not have pace, but he does have a lot of variations, lot more than Jadeja and for that matter he makes an ideal # 7 player. So that would give an option to play 2 spinners to MSD on a turning track.

But who is going to explain this to the team management ? 

It is correct to say in today's context :" Sachin Tendulkar was dropped / rested to accomodate Ravinder Jadeja". 

The team selection has been a laughing stock all over this tour and its the likes of Ravinder Jadeja and Vinay Kumar who are in the team based on external entities influence and not on basis of their performance. Guess if this was possible in the era of Sourav Ganguly, when there were no freebies places offered to players who didnt perform and it was the magic of Ganguly that converted then considered ordinary players to genuine match winners. 

India's failed tactics

India’s tactics in Melbourne for accommodating the new millionaires was baffling.  To play with all slow bowlers in Australia is something that would never win any game for you. When the attack reads PK, VK, RJ, RS and of course R Ashvin, the odds for winning go very high. 

Baffling to see the world cup winners Sehwag and Zak rested / dropped. Also Umesh Yadav who would bowl with much pace than VK+PK combined, was rested.

Tactics ?

No, mental disintegration of the team management whoever forms it. Selector, captain, vice-captain and of course good for nothing coach Duncan Fletcher. Such a move would have been impossible in the days of Gary Kirsten or even John Wright.

Lack of strategy or lack of vision. Stubbornness, adamant, hell bent to play Jadeja no matter if he doesn’t perform or gives too many Six hitting balls.  Whatever you want to call it.  MS Dhoni is now trying to sound as a captain who has a feeling of “I cannot go wrong any time”.  He’s got a 17 strong squad and 2 pace bowlers, 1 bowling allrounder who has proved his worth in this country are resting the bench and the lads like Vinay Kumar and Jadeja who for no worth of their own got million dollars in their bank played in the team.

Result : Jadeja was spanked for 41 runs off 16 balls.  How many runs did he make or save? If you sum them, they wont exceed 41.  So is that an allrounderesque performance?  One game on same ground (different format though) you give 16 runs in 3 overs and immediately the next game 41 runs off 2.4 overs? What about the confidence / momentum/  consistency? Now that he is in CSK, he would virtually be immovable in the team and none can touch him.

Australia were 2/35 in 11 overs when rain stopped the game and when they returned they scored 181 in 21 overs out of which 167 runs were scored off spinners.  R Ashvin and R JAdeja are CSk properties and they would be given an extended run of play in all formats of game irrespective of their performance.

Compare the performance of Ashvin in IPL and then in international games where he has come in place of Harbhajan Singh. And the reason for Bhajji’s ouster ? Not taking enough wickets and more of containing bowler. So how has Ashvin corrected those to justify his continuous inclusion? Why would anybody not doubt that his allegiance to CSK and Srikanth is sole factor for him being in the team and not wickets / performance. He cannot run, he gets run out every 2nd game.

His performance from England tour :

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/26421.html?class=2;spanmin1=01+Aug+2011;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling

20 wickets in 15 games. 16 of which are against weak England team in 10 games. And if you remove them then the figures are very poor. 4 wickets off 5 matches. 4 of which are against West Indies in India. 4 in 4 in India are sorry figures. Where are the wickets? Where are the carom balls? Where is good damn performance?

A look at his T20I and T20 career reveals even more stark contrast:

T20Is

6 games, 6 wickets,  Average of 47.5, economy of 7.91 and best figures of 1/22.

Compare that with the T20, most of which are in IPL:

60 games,  74 wickets, 4/18, 6.35 economy rate,  S/R of 18.4 half of T20Is

He has to take wickets and become an aggressive spinner as opposed to the version he is now.

And if India has to compete in Australia and “defend its title”, then they have to respect conditions and chose their sides accordingly.

And you don’t have to rest a player who has hit the highest score in an ODI in his last game.  

My XI for today’s game:

1.      Tendulkar

2.      Sehwag

3.      Kohli

4.      Sharma

5.      Dhoni

6.      Raina

7.      Pathan

8.      Ashvin

9.      Praveen

10.     Zaheer

Lord Jadeja all set to grab riches in Indian cricket

First win down under, thanks to soop star Ravinder Jadeja would now mean he would continue to play at 7 in ODIs and would also grab a million dollar IPL contract. From what is reported in media, CSK are gunning for him and then if he does make it to CSK, then he would be a fake Tamilian and then the rest shall be taken care by N Srinivasan, K Srikanth and well of course MS Dhoni.

Majjani life Jadeja bawa

Dhoni running short of ideas

MS Dhoni is so defensive and insipid in his captaincy that a newcomer as captain beat him in field placings and tactical acumen in the first T20I yesterday. Pity what a stage MSD has reached in his captaincy within a year of winning the world cup. If that was a peak, then certainly the descend to the bottom has begun and begun very fast. And perhaps that's why he has been making some real weird statements like.

We wanted to play Rahul Sharma bcos he has done in IPL.

We wanted to play Ravinder Jadeja cos he gives the balance to the team.

Wonder what influence Duncan Fletcher is bringing to the team. 

 

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.

The road ahead

With great disappointment and disgust here is my take on the reasons why India lost so miserably in the 3 test matches so far.

Opening Pair is silent

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are best bet when it comes to open the innings in any format for India. This pair has been excellent in Test matches across all conditions barring Australia. This was an acid test for the duo and they have failed miserably in this tour. Not technically for Sehwag, because he doesn’t have much of it, but in mental thought process. Something which is surprising given his exploits in Australia over past 2 tours. Gambhir was expected to have come full circle on this tour, but he has failed to live upto those expectations.  Sehwag and Gambhir haven’t fired together or in solo attempt, which makes the task of ageing middle order a bit tough, something which has happened consistently in this tour. Barring the first innings in MCG, Sehwag hasn’t fired. Gambhir has showed some fight in last 3 innings, but that doesn’t redeem of 3 aghast failures in first 3 innings on this tour.

The reason why India was so successful in 2003-04 in Australia was the start Sehwag and Chopra provided. Chopra didn’t make more than 48 in any innings, but he played out the dangerous span of 15-20 overs from Gillespie, Brad Williams and company.  That Australian team was far superior to the one which beat India blue on this tour.

Sehwag and Gambhir are the best bet to continue opening for India in long run, since they are not supposed to tour for another year or so outside subcontinent, they would need to find their mojo back very soon. The replacements for them, the TN implants don’t look promising either.

Ageing Middle Order

When your middle order is past the prime, the usability date, such failures are long due. And sadly India did not learn through the mistakes of England tour.  No one expected India to lose 0-4 in England and so badly in Australia. Perhaps this was the best chance for India to beat Australia first time in Australia. Instead they ran to their worst defeat in Australia in 13 years.  Dravid,Tendulkar and Laxman are ageing stalwarts and they look no good to extend their career beyond this tour. Tendulkar has been under severe pressure for that elusive 100th century from the media and perhaps that has got to him. As a result the team has suffered. He has been the best batsman on this tour and every time he has walked on the crease, he has looked assured in the start only to grow nervous in the end of the innings. He is going to be 39 in April and perhaps he is the only man who looks to play a few more series at home before he calls it a day.

Dravid has been in superb form in 2011 with 5 hundreds and topping the run charts, but he has been back to 1999 form on this tour. Worst, his defence has been breached. He finds unique ways to get bowled and that is a sign for you to go.  Its time for the fans and selectors to say thank you to the great man and move on. It’s a disgrace for fans, his loyal fans over the years to see him get bowled, given the fact he has been THE WALL and one of the most complete Test batsmen of the history, something very rare this era.  He has made few runs, but they are not enough and they are not the premium that would extend his golden career beyond this tour.   He has to sign off post Adelaide and since he is already 39, he would be remembered to have retired still at top (little lower than that though).

Laxman has to be dropped from the team after the Perth test. He was expected to make runs against his favorite opposition, but he has struggled miserably. Silken Hyderabadi should read the writing on the wall and should announce his retirement immediately. He hasn’t been dropped in ages and if he is dropped for Adelaide, then it would be a blot on his career. Again, a time to say thank you to Laxman for his contribution to the Indian Test arena in past 16 years.

Until England tour, we believed that the golden generation of Indian cricket has turned around the way it plays cricket in away series, but last 2 tours have diminished that notion, that belief which was installed by this very men in 2000s under the lion hearted Sourav Ganguly.  It would now take perhaps another decade or so (less the better) to turn around from this moment of darkness in Test arena.

Defensive Captaincy

MS Dhoni, the ODI captain and MS Dhoni, the Test captain.  Two different personalities, split personalities may be.  MS Dhoni in limited overs is a different batsmen and captain altogether than what he is in Tests. The morning of MCG test, day 4 was the turn around for Indian team which pushed the team to the darkness it find itself in. And the culprit has to be Dhoni himself. Spreading out the field to 10 and 11 is aghast. When you have the last pair of an insecure batting lineup on the crease, you’d rather look for wiping out the tail and have less target to chase than what was actually. But those visuals implant a permanent memory in Indian fans that the captaincy from the world cup winning captain was insipid and timid. The timid captaincy in England and Australia have cost 7 tests on the trot.

Way ahead

The winds of change have to start blowing and the replacements for Dravid and Laxman have to be handy.  Kohli has promised a lot and he should be persisted despite uneven scores in Australia. He is a prodigy and he has to be preserved from the evils of IPL to ensure he is transformed to a complete international batsman in all formats of game.   There is a lot of young talent coming through. Rohit Sharma is certain to debut sooner than later and along side Suresh Raina, provided he cures his short ball weakness, the middle order for Indian Test team should be good, if not as formidable as in 2000s at least for few seasons. It took a few years for the likes of Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly to blossom into the batsmen they were. And similar chances have to be provided to the next generation of Indian cricket.  The good news is there is a lot of young talent that is shining. Ajinkya Rahane,  Cheteshwar Pujara, Manoj Tiwary, Ashok Menaria,  Manish Pandey etc are few very good prospects in the pipeline that should find their spots in the Indian team very soon. It’s the dawn of the new era in Indian cricket and it has to be ensured the evil clutches of easy money of IPL doesn’t hamper the transition from golden batting to the new gen batting.

The IPL has to be toned down and one more moderate or flop viewership would ensure that this monster is grounded, if not buried totally.

The ODI team looks well set and the transition from the oldies to the new gen was almost smooth. Sure, there were few hiccups in between, but the victories came more than defeats and the ODIs ahead do look promising and they evoke some kind of hope after the doom of the tests.

May be a different captain for ODIs and Tests could be a theme to follow just like 2007-08 or what South Africa follows, or England follows (they go to a maddening extreme with one captain per format).  MS Dhoni has looked clueless in Tests in batting and captaincy. May be the one test ban might serve as a deterrent for him and he could arrest the slide.  He looks top notch in ODIs, but he has to catch up on the Test front. And if he is making way for another captain, then may be somebody young as Virat Kohli could be an option, but that would be too soon for him for now. Once he finds his mojo in Tests too, he wont make a bad captain. And the need of the hour for India’s test team is to play aggressive cricket, something they did over past 2 tours in Australia.  And they need an aggressive captain for that.

Coaching regime

The coaching regime has to undergo a change and 7 tests is good enough to judge the resume of Duncan Fletcher. To me, he seems the biggest culprit for the disasters.   Something which Gary Kirsten did in 2 years, it didn’t take even a year for Fletcher to demolish all the good work done by Kirsten and of course John Wright. So for sure he needs to be shown the door.  5-0 for England in 2006-07 laid the foundation for their success running into 2011 and similar whitewash for India (England and probable Australian) should lead to a change in coaching regime and a new coach has to be found out.  May be likes of Wasim Akram could be a good option to start with for the bowling department and hire somebody for batting too, as the transition begins. Something which Justin Langer does for Australia.

Duncan Fletcher has escaped the media attention and the buck has to stop at this man, the culprit to sow seeds of disaster by making the team negative and defensive.

The signs were visible in 3rd test in West Indies when India decided to close the shop with 86 runs to get in 15 overs and 7 wickets in hand. In modern T20 era, this is a cheap target and then even though Laxman, Dravid were at crease, the runs should have been gotten. For me that was the turning point when the team stopped belief. And the same set of batsmen performed credibly in South Africa, almost winning the series. And sooner, one tour later, the technique and attitude of the same batsmen were found deficient. Hard to believe. More to do with the external advice coming from the so called coaches.  India struggled to bowl out weaker Windies team in Windies in 2nd and 3rd test and as a result 3-0 became 1-0 and then the famous cold act of R Ashvin which ensured India let go of whitewashing a team again in the return tour.

And not to cite the numerous occasions, which were encountered in England where some defensive and inexplicable tactics led to a 0-4 rout.

Hard decisions bestow,  some culling to follow and probably more than anything else, the mental belief and attitude of winning and aggression needs to return for the remainder of the tour and the next series India plays at home against England and then Australia should dawn the new age and a scoreline of 3-0 and 4-0 should be aimed at least in home.

SCG Test dos and donts for India

Glenn McGrath really sucks. 

A look at his famous habit of predictions suggest that he has been failing miserably in past 2 years. He predicted 5-0 whitewashes for England twice in 2009 and then in 2010-11. 

Both times Aussies lost the series. 

He has predicted 2 things for this series:

1. India would lose 4-0

2. Tendulkar wont score 100th ton in SCG this time.

The onus is now on the Indians  to prove this predictions wrong. The time has come up for the famed batting order to step up and deliver. They havent crossed 300 once in last 5 away tests and if they dont do it this time the chance of squaring test series is lost. 

This part of world, you got to score runs. And India has capable batsmen of doing it.  The time has come to the glorious batsmen to fire and prove the critics wrong. 

The bowling isnt a weak link, but the batting is.  India has capable bowlers who would run through the opposite batting lineup, but its the batsmen who are unable to put up fighting totals.  2 of 6 have to bat long and long. Score runs as they did in 2003-04.

And yes MS Dhoni needs to shut up and find ways to wipe out the tail. This habit is now sucking and leading to a habit of losing Tests from winning positions. From position, India was on day 2 in MCG, there was no business losing the test.

He has to deliver through bat and through captaincy -- aggressive at that.

If India does most of the above things right and the weather is right, then we are going to have a favorable result.

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 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.

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.

Mumbai and Kings XI win

Mumbai prevailed over Bangalore yesterday with Sachin continuing his super run into this tournament as well. The best thing about his innings was he allowed Rayudu to take over and he was happy playing second fiddle. And the gesture to share the MoM award with him was even better. 

Zaheer was struggling and that was the difference between defeat and victory for Bangalore. Virat Kohli now needs to be little less innovative to find new ways to get out. 

In other game Praveen showed how dangerous he is when ball swings and how ordinary he is when ball stops moving.  Vijay and Dabri showed how good they are for IPL. Dhoni continued his superb batting run. No matter how many runs he makes now from this point, his super six off Kula would itch forever. That 6 got India the world cup.

Paul Valtathy hit a super 111 to see Kings XI home in a tough chase of 189 runs. Given the fact that CSK have been exceptional while defending scores of 180+,the effort from Kings was kingsman. They have had a brittle batting lineup, but today promoting Valtathy to opening spot was a master stroke.

CSK havent got going this tournament, but they are led by MS and thats the singlemost USP for them. As long as MS doesnt run out of the ideas, they are always in the contention to go the distance. 

Rajasthan, Pune and Mumbai are the only  teams to have won 2 games of 2. 

Randi bhai

Randi bhai just got hit for 14 runs in a single over and has effectively sealed the game for KKR.

No oh he has got Tiwary out. Randi has got a wikat. And he did not even bowl a no-ball. What has Randi done? He's got Tiwary stumped but not off Sanga Nanga, but off MSD.....Oh boy Randi!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

World Champions India

What an emphatic win in the end to become the World Champions. Its still takign a huge time to sink in. That the Indians are the world champions after 28 years. The country swung into celebrations and into wild frenzy. The world cup win rejoiced India after a long long time. Every one was happy. Every one rejoiced for Indian team which amongst everything won the world cup as the most deserving team. Going through the entire campaign as almighty just makes this victory even sweeter.

There were a few jitters in the game on Saturday, but in the end super Dhoni and cool Gambhir proved that they are the best team in the world. Doesnt matter if India lose  Sachin and Viru early, there are few other guys in the hut to do the job. Yuvraj all the while and Dhoni in the final.

What a way to rise above the occasion and lead as they say by front. Setting an example, captain's innings, return to form. Call any adjective to it. Dhoni would fulfill all of that. Having had a quiet tournament with just 150 runs in 8 games and then suddenly coming at 5 ahead of man of the tournament Yuvraj was a super move that paid off in the end. It was very apt in the end that MSD hit the winning runs.

He was cool as cucumber in the entire game. He kept his nerves, he soaked the tremendous pressure for good 6 weeks and in the end emerged triumphant.  He came in at edgy 3/114 and Dilshan on fire, but he kept the score board ticking and kept pacing his innings even when Gambhir was stuck in 90s between 38 and 42nd over. 

There were wild celebrations in the entire country. And I missed being part of those celebrations. Couldnt scream, couldnt dance and couldnt shout with all the might I have fearing a ticket, but witnessing those scenes on NDTV made me almost compensate the loss. All celebrations I had were few beers in the end with friends and cursing Sangakara big time.

Sri Lanka Innings:

SL started off cautiously living up to the billing that they become minnows against strong teams. 1/31 off 10 overs was their slowest start of the tournament. Their opening pair which plundered runs against minnows and hapless Kiwis and Pommies were subdued and off color.  Dilshan made edgy 33 and Tharanga fell to Zaheer for single digit score. Zaheer had unbelieveable figures when he was done with his first spell. 1/6 in 5 overs with 3 maidens.  Munaf bowled within his limits and all the pressure they built was quickly released by typical 'I - am - nuts' Sreesanth. He somehow finds himself in the world cup winning team every time. And for this very reason he shall be rememebred in the future as a moron mongrel who figured in 2007 and 2011 World event winning teams.

He leaked 52 runs in 8 overs this time and was little less comical in the field. Sanga Nanga and Mahila continued what they do best. 62 runs for the 3rd wicket and Nanga was gone. 

Mahila continued her good innings and joined the list of elite players who made a world cup final 100. Kulasekra and Parera in the end ensured SL made 274. Zaheer messed up in the final 5 overs and those 63 runs could have been dear, but it was not to be.  274 was going to be a  difficult chase given they had Murali and Malinga in the attack. They also beefed up their pace attack getting in Kulasekra and Parera who had tormented India in past with 2 5 wkt hauls.

Also came in were Randi bhai.  They proved to be easy meat for Indians in the end.

India Innings

India couldnt have asked for more worse start than losing Sehwag in 2nd ball of the innings and that got SL into thinking that they could win the game from there. They also got Sachin in 7th over and they had a premature celebration. There on, they had no chance. Kohli and Gambhir, then Gambhir and Dhoni got them to the target good 14 balls before to spare.

The best part of the chase was India neevr lost the self belief and promoting himself to 5 ahead of Yuvraj was a master stroke.  Gambhir played equal crucial role in this chase and he lost his nerved 3 runs before a well deserved 100.

Murali, Malinga, Randi bhai, Parera and Kulasekara were rendred ineffective in the end and they blamed the loss to the wet ball. But for this they should kick Sanga Naga in his ball who controversially didnt speak anything in the toss confusion. That for you is Sri Lankan spirit. They cheat, they want to win the game by hook and crook, but they cant win it by either.

They tried hard, they spoke, they cheated and they didnt walk. In the end they ended up 2nd best. They had to be. They didnt beat any strong team except England. They couldnt get past Australia, India and Pakistan.

On the other hand India had tough games against Australia, Pakistan, England, South Africa and West Indies. Except NZ, they played almost every test playing team and got through each of them. Some through defending, some through chasing. Every one came good except Pathan and Sreesanth, they should soon find themselves out.  Raina chipped in with valuable 30s in both knock out games which are well better than all other runs he has scored in his life. Yuvraj's 362 runs and 15 wickets would give him immense satisfaction through out his life / career.

Sehwag gave starts in all games almost, though much more was expected out of him. MS if not batted well before final captained team well. He's a colossus.  Kohli got runs, though he got out many times when he should have scored big. Gambhir got 4 50s, the most valuable of them coming in the biggest stage.

In the end India ended up being world cup champions. Deservedly so.

India through to the finals

What a feeling it is. To be in the world cup finals beating Pakistan for the 5th time in the world cup. Its just difficult to digest. Goosebumps in the  tummy. Butterflies flew all around, screaming and abusing was a bit low key thanks to being in the foren country.

The tension to see in the finals after 8 long years and this time go one step further to lift the cup of glory in homeland was unpalpable. All superstitions were followed. Unmoved at times when things went right for India and when runs were leaked, when wickets didnt fall. Reeling Munna and Bhajji when they leaked runs. Blowing off Kamran Akamal when he showed his stupid poker face on screen during keeping and batting was all done.

Facebooking and watching cricket has been the trend this world cup. Update the status message on FB, update stats on FB, update number crunching there and put on some superstitions like Cmonnnnnnnnnnnnnn and to see a wicket tumble moments after that was all fun. Dont have the luxury to watch on TV on any channel, so have to rely on  the ISP and host of live streaming sites to watch the action LIVE.

It all happened on a day remarkable for Indian cricket, what a day it has been. Reaching 3rd world cup final, 2nd in 8 years and almost with the same group as it was in 2003.  Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Nehra are the survivors of that match India lost in Wanderers to rampaging Ponting and co. This time its a step to go further. Win the world cup in Mumbai, the hometown of Sachin Tendulkar, country's greatest sports icon and perhaps the best ever batsmen to play cricket in all times.

Thanks to Pakistan to turn up in India despite the hot and cold diplomatic relations, thanks to them for making the match living all the hype it had before this game even began. Thanks for them to provide us yet another opportunity to savior this victory. Beating Australia, Pakistan in the route to finals is amazing. The contests with this 2 countries have always been intense, thrilling and top quality. And Pakistan did go out in a proud fashion, forget what Misbah did in final overs, they have done their nation proud with almost flawless and mostly controversy less performance in the world cup. None expected them to come this far given what happened in past year in their build up to the world cup, so Afridi must be a proud man given how his men have delivered.

Sachin Tendulkar has played all 5 victorious games against Pakistan in World cups and he has been man of the match in 3 of them. He has scored 54, 31, 45, 98 and 85 in this 5 games. He has played with great Kapil Dev to Azhar to Jadeja, Mongia, Venkatesh Prasad and the great trio of Dravid, Ganguly and Kumble. Not to forget Javagal Srinath.

India won its first semi final at home. Previously it had lost its 2 semi finals, both chasing in 1987 to England and pretty controversially in 1996 to SL. This time India defended a 260 and won. 

The biggest turning point of the game was the dismissal of Gambhir in the 20th over which led to a mini-collapse in the 25th - 30 th over and a score of 350 became 260. Sehwag in his super assault on Umar Gul had set India on another huge total, but once he was out and the rest just went in the shell. Gambhir has been erractic this tournament. he has thrown away his wicket in almost every game. Something not expected from man of his stature.

Tendulkar was cratchy, scratchy and whatever, but his 85 set India to cross 250 and that proved to be the difference in the end.  MSD is excelling in captaincy, but his batting is concern.

What was too heartening to see was only 5 bowlers were used and everybody took 2 wkts each. Zahee was little bit off color, but he was made up by super Nehra and surprisingly Munaf.  Ashvin;s dropping was a debatable issue, but I still feel he will be a key man in the final and he should replace Munaf in the XI. Nehra got his rythm back in the 2nd spell and at helped him in the super final spell when he just gave few and got Riaz.

It was a day when the bowling and fielding excelled yet again and the batting was iffy.

In the end Younis and Misbah combined together to stall the stanis chase and its likely that this guys wont be part of the LoI set up in the future.  Misbah is test captain, but then who knows what happen in Pak cricket. The others -- Shafiq, Hafeez and UKumal didnt quite turnup to play long innings that could have won their team this game. Yet they came this far and thats applaudable.

For a change there was no sledging this time and there was no "war cry" on the ground at least.  Expecting Pak to react to this loss graciously back their home and not call for the people's head who featured in this tournament. They've got some very good positives in form of Riaz, Shafiq etc and once they are given chances they could come up as well finished product.

But for now lets savior the superb Indian victory and rally behind them to trounce the cheats of the world to avenge the painful defeats of 2007 and 1996. Lets burn the Lanka this time in Mumbai 8 months before the Dusshera festival.

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. 

Sangakara is afraid to play in Mumbai

We were surprised when we learned that we will have to travel to Mumbai to play that game. I thought hosts play at home," he said. "Playing the New Zealand game is beyond our control. You can't change that now. That's gone now and we need to be up for the task."

The man is hell scared to play in India, especially in Mumbai cos its here in this city his team was streamrolled by Sehwag in 2009 Test series. 

But how come he didnt know the itinerary before hand the tourney began? Is he scared to play in India? Well of course, he wont have the slow, low turners on the Wankhede track and of course he  wont have Russell Arnold singing constant praise of every Sri Lankan player in the team. 

Listening to Russell Arnold is even worse than listening to the trio of Athers, Hussein and Beefy or Arun Lal, Sivramkrishnan etc. 

Just a FYI to captain articulate, India is also one of the host countries of this world cup and they played their first game in Mirpur, BD. We didnt hear any such weird comments from Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

They were lucky to have escaped with a no result against Australia. They now play against Zimbabwe who would be crushed and then they play against New Zealand in Mumbai when they would be crushed. 

Lankans have rode all the luck in the previous world cups  to have been called the most consistent team in the world cups post 1996. They got 2 forfeits and one default in 1996 and then they won the tournament. Ditto here. 3 easy wins against Canada, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Defeat against Pakistan, no result against Australia and a possible defeat against NZ in Mumbai is making Sangakara make such weird statements.

THooo

Why India should win the world cup and no other country should

I support bloody men in blue. Men in blue which hail from the land of corruption, land of Sonia Gandhi and MMS. Its a big thing that I support bloody men in blue despite all their faults, their falliability to the mistakes on the field, their larger than life stature on the field, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and of course MS Dhoni, the man from Jharkhand.

These men are good enough to give any team run of their money, be it from the down south Sri Lanka or neighbour Pakistan or even down under Australia.

We do have falliables like Freesanth bholaram sakharam DK but we also have the likes of GOD, his look alikes, Dhoni, Kohli, Sardar and of course Appaam Chu***nandan shiromani Sreesanth. But when combined this bloody men can give any team in the world a good pasting, a good defeat by the virtue of the cruel bat. These men inflict wounds, scars on the soul, long lasting impact good enough to decode people of their mystery, This men prompt the likes of Kumar Fungasakara to ask his bowlers bowl deliberate no balls or even prompt the likes of Graeme Swann or Ravi Bopara to speak high like "bring on the bloody Indians" or "silence the Indian crowd".

Yeah we are bloody Indians, corrupt, mismanaged and of course pampered. We dont  have the best of infrastructure in the world, we may be corrupt and regionalistic. We might bother about Gandhis, Kalmadis, Rajas, Karunas and other Mamtas, but we bloody care about our cricket. We want revenge, we want the bloody world cup to be in India. Snatch it from bloody Aussies and keep it in India. Not to win it for an individual but for the spirit of cricket, for that unknown cricket fan that spends  invaluable time of his life watching his idols. Idols in infalliable guys like Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Yuvraj and of course Harbhajan.

We want the cup to be ours. Not of the bloody Lankans who want to win for a chuck. We want to win it for a man who has played cricket with all purity, divine intervention and bloody cold blooded humility and honesty for 21 years, who did not ask any rule to be bent for his brand of game or who did not break any tv set in his life or did not ask any umpire to give the opposition players out on any illegal catch. Or somebody who talked big and delivered less or nothing. We want to win for men who keep low profile and do the talking on the field when it matters, We want to win the cup for bloody top Test playing nation, we want to now capture the topmost ODI crown too.

Yup, we bloody Indians want to win the world cup. No matter where we are, in India or USA or troubled waters of Mid east, we want to win the damn world cup. That would quench out thirst for a world title. None deserves to win the title as bloody Indians as much we have waited for 28 years  to get the coveted trophy to where it deserves, bcos we play our cricket clean, we dont have chuckers, we dont have Pricks, we dont have slingers, we dont have spot fixers, we dont have cheaters, we dont have womanizers, we dont have idiots, we have cricket playing men whom we adore more than the national icons. We want the cup to be called bloody world champions Indians.

Yeah the cup belongs to India and only India.

Team Preview : India

Finally its time to preview the team that is best suited to win th world cup. India. Did you hear the drum beats? India. India.

The team that plays the best brand of cricket in all formats, is very successful and has got attractive, aggressive and awesome players who excel in stroke play and positive brand of cricket. Its all about adopting to the situations, the team has players that can set a match alight to the fire and thrill the people.

You have Virender Sehwag, you have Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan and then above all you have Sachin Tendulkar.  No sight is better in One day cricket when Sachin and Sehwag bat together.  I bet if anybody can find better sight than that. No ugly swipes, no Dilscopps, all delight, all improvisation and something that gives you a cricketing orgasm....

You've got Kohli, Dhoni, Yuvraj to come in the middle order, may be at this point Yuvraj and MS are not in the best of the form. Yuvraj in full flow would be a dangerous proposition for any team, something Stuart Broad would testify.

India has the power, ability, hope and fanbase to go all the distance to lift the World Cup trophy on April 2 in Wankhede stadium when everybody in the world would watch.