weekend Cricket

So the first T20I in US soil resulted in Kiwi win over Lanka. Lanka had the wicket its way.  Slow and low.  Low bounce and turn. Yet they lost by 33 runs. Failed to cross 100 in 2 of 4 T20Is.

In other game West Indies lost by 66 runs to South Africa.  Yawn!!!

Hashim Amla plays a ODI and scores a 100. Shows what kind of bowling attack WI has. They have not won in 4 years against SA in ODIs.

England are considering resting few of their victorious players against the low key BD series this week.  That includes Colly, Broad and few others. 

Indian biggies are resting and the C team would take on weakened Lankans and Zim in Zim after 5 years. Thats India's first tour of Zim in 5 years, the last one being a wretched one when Greg Chappell began his disastrous coach tenure with the team and soon after Ganguly was ousted.

Cricket would be yawning till the Pakistan vs England and Pakistan vs Australia series begin. Lets see if Pakistan win anything in Tests in Old Blighty. They have failed to win a Test in 3 years since 2007 or (prolly they beat SL last year once).

Post World T20 and IPL

Sri Lanka would take on Kiwis in the T20Is in Florida, USA. Its a bonus for Lankan cricketers to be in USA. Especially Kumar Sangakara and Mahela Jaywardhene. Next time they speak or write match posts, they would imitate Americans or pick up some slangs out of South East.

Had it been India playing other country in US or Singapore or Sharjah, the  critics would have been in open criticising it and questioning the move. But when its not India, everything is fine. 

Who is going to watch this T20Is after overdose of T20s in last 2 months and half. For that matter who watched WI vs SA T20s and who is going to watch India vs Zim when fake opening pair would open the batting thinking if they make 100 runs for 1st wkt they might dislodge Gambhir and Sehwag from opening in T20s and possibly Tests too in long term. 

England's deserving win

That’s an old news though but still holds relevance. England are new world T20 champions. Their first World Cup win and first non Asian team to win a T20 World Cup. They surely deserved the title after their fabulous run since the super eights.  The generation of England cricketers would be relieved on this achievement as they came close to winning World Cups 3 times in 1979, 1987 and 1992 but were undone every time.  And since then they hopelessly under achieved, bowing out of the World Cups every time before semi-final. They reached QF in 1996 to lose to rampaging Lankans, lost out in first round in their own backyard in 1999, lost out in 1^st round again in 2003 and performed hopelessly in 2007.

So this world cup win for 2 years should give them a huge relief. They invented T20 and they now win it.  Paul Collingwood joins elite club of MSD and Younis Khan as T20 World Cup winners. Like India they would hold the title for 2 years as of now.

They outclassed Australia on the final day and not many times Australia in modern days lose a final. They last did so in 1996 World Cup and since then they have either not reached the finals or have won it every time (Champions Trophy and World Cups).  But full credit to the Aussies who turned around their fortunes in this format of game after taking it timepass in first 2 editions. Way Hussey and KP played should be a lesson for Yuvraj Singh who once was best (one of ) limited overs batter, but today is a liability on the team (hopefully for short time).

Collingwood, KP, Sidebottom, Kieswitter, Swann and Lumb played exciting roles in this triumph and we can fairly say that best deserving team won in the end. Actually same could have been said of both the finalists even if Aussies had won.

India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan were non deservers as they faultered at crucial junctions.  Pakistan won same number of games as India did and they beat SA in the strong league just like India, but they did in super 8s and had India got better of WI or SL, they would have been through the semis too. But that was not to be. The defeat came at a very good time as it exposed the so called super stars and their frail attitude to handle the things.

Its better that the 4 players would be reprimanded for the alleged behavior in pub brawl incident and if they are axed should give chance to some deserving players sans Karthik and Vijay. After all they are not the only players who should get in whenever anybody is axed or injured.

Well Played England and a trophy victory well deserved!!!

Australia

Has got a wood on Pakistan with 14 wins in all formats over last 6 months. Not lost a test in 16 years, a odi in 1 yr and t20 since 11 months.

Match fixing

Allegations would start soon in Pakistan and heads would roll with more bans, inquiries and dramas. Keep looking.

Australia wins

In awesome style. Twenty three runs in five balls with three sixes to ajmal busted pakistan dream of third final backdoor. Best team won and in wat sstyle. They deserve to be finalists and my prediction of ashes t20 final comes true. I blog sitting in bus journey from Mumbai to Middletown.

Fire Srikanth

If Srikanth and his bunch of jokers are planning to fire Dhoni for T20 exit then they would be the men in the  country with no brains and no logic.  They would further harm the cricket in the country. Srikanth has his own agenda to see his limited talented players to be planted in the team and if for one / two exits he replaces MS, then he is going to be forever remembered as temperamental mad man. He had same approach to his batting, he is showing the same for the Indian team selection. He needs to go. If anybody needs to go then he is the one who needs to go.

His follies are just getting bigger and bigger.

First Test selection for SA test involved 3 TN players out of nowhere.  T20 World Cup saw DK and MV in the team at the expense of more successful batsmen in IPL but for other franchisees. They were ignored.

Who are the replacements over past one year in each of the formats whenever any batter has got injured – Dinesh Karthik, Dabrinath and M Vijay. I have never seen a Uthappa being brought back in ODIs or even Mohd Kaif in Tests at cost of struggling Yuvraj Singh or injured Yuvraj Singh or Laxman or Dravid. He comfortably fit Dabrinath in the team and in 2008 asked Ganguly to quit to have his cronies established.

Why is Dhoni being blamed for the debacle? Why doesn’t the BCCI hold Kris Srikanth accountable ? He is being paid 40 lacs for selecting duds and implanting his state players ? If they are talented and successful who cares where they come from. But are they worthy of the position in the team? Perhaps Srikanth thinks yes its advisable to have DKs, MVs and DBs in the team when the BCCI has its secretary from his state and his state franchisee is IPL champion. By that logic Dhoni should be safe, he is Chennai captain. Lol.

Dhoni has had imperious success as ODI captain. He won in every country and except series loss to Aussies and CT exit his record in ODIs as captain is impeccable.  He might not hit his helicopter and dhobi pachad shots any more, but he is one of the best finishers in the ODI cricket and the one role he plays, was played superbly in the mid 2000s by Rahul Dravid alongside Kaif and Yuvraj. So if Srikanth is unable to see this, we doubt his capability to be the chief of selection committee. Probably he should head TN selection committee not Indian.

Road Ahead

Anil Kumble has been spot on for his evaluation of the T20 debacle.   He is right to say we have not handled pacers well. We’ve lost Munaf (he was fast only when he played tour game vs England), RP Singh (so successful in first winning campaign in World T20 and IPL-2), Sreesanth (disciplinary problems),  Ishant Sharma (poor in LoIs) and many others who shone in domestic tourneys but did not succeed.  Irfan Pathan destroyed by Greg Chappell is seeming to be lost forever. He is million times more useful than his showmaker brother Yusuf Pathan who shows fake aggression on taking wicket of a tail ender.

In one of the other diagnostic article on cricinfo there is mention of this batting line to cope up with the pressure of top side in Tests. Fortunately none of this batsmen boomed in by IPL glitz and glamor play for India in Tests. Neither does Vijay, Raina, Yuvraj or a Pathan appear to be in contention for any Test spot near future.  That rests with Gambhir, who is still a world class batter, Sehwag, the one who was missed, Dravid, who should be back for ODIs world cup, Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni. 6^th spot should be for a debutant sans Dabrinath and Vijay.

So the test team has conquered everywhere – West Indies, England, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  Reason the work ethics of the top 5 of Indian Test batting line up has been different. The likes of Raina, Sharma lack patience. They come out and try to hit the ball out of park first minute they enter. There is no meaning of settling down or having a grip of situation in the middle. When its against a minnow it might work, but against  stronger team it just wont work.

T20 failure throws up a question on the composition of the ODI side which has to win the World Cup at any side. The oDI record for India is best amongst the top teams. That’s conveniently forgotten. Most of the players in XI chose themselves – Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj (??), MSD, Raina, Kohli.  The bowling attack needs an overhaul. Sorry to say but Harbhajan needs a kick up his back to remind that he is so called best Indian spinner after Anil Kumble. He can never be the bowler Anil was in his peak in 1990s home ODIs when Azhar used to bring him on in the 15 overs and he usually responded with crucial breakthroughs.

Shastri says groom a young captain for T20. MSD is not an old warhorse. And he is a good captain. Remember he is winning almost every ODI and Test series India is playing. T20s are being lost but that should not be that big a disappointment as losing a traditional world cup. We don’t want a repeat of 2007 when India failed to qualify in Super 8s in 15 years.  We need to have a look at the bowling attack and have 2 good fast bowlers who would have pace, take wickets and even though give runs. A figure of 4/55 would be much better than 0/45 and a speed of 140+ than 135.  There are a few players who need discard for good and besides the usual culprits mentioned on other posts of the blog – Pravin Kumar is one such bowler who would be ineffective on flat Indian pitches for WC.

Shastri, Ganguly and Gavaskar have been spot on with their comments, but the likes of Madan Lal or Jadeja, Maninder Singh are fool hardies.

MSD has won more than he has lost. So if he is reeled for this defeat then he has to be commended for other achievements too. If he has been stubborn for few players, then may be he would learn a hard lesson. If he is trying to do a Ganguly to Pathans, Jadejas, Vijays and Pravins then lets not forget that the players Ganguly nursed were awesome then (may be they are poor now), they were serious talents (Sehwag and Yuvraj prove this).

The golden generation of Indian batting prospered in short ball conditions, fast bouncy traks and slow pitches too. The same cannot be expected out of the likes of Rainas and others.  Simple, the work ethic is  the reason. The golden generation of Indian batting prospered in Tests, ODIs and IPL. The current generation excels in just IPL.  The players who made  500s and  400s in IPL flopped in the international format. The guy who made 600 in this IPL has proved what adaptability is and what work ethic is.  It’s a pity that the younger generation of Indian batsmen don’t want to learn from the illustrious men like Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly while sharing the dressing room..

Yuvraj Singh was a special talent and its delightful to watch him in full flow. When he scratches around he seems ugly. Off field reaons play a big reason in why he fails to deliver.  For the time being he is best suited to sit out the team till he solves whatsoever his problems are.

India’s next big assignment is the Sri Lankan Dambulla cup in June July. And that IMO should mark the beginning of preparation for ODI world cup, far bigger and important than the T20I world cup which keeps on coming every 2 years. 

All is not lost and in couple of months now we would be back to backing the team hoping that it learns from this mistakes, chucks out complacent IPL players and gets the dedicated hungry for success players. India can do it and we would still be able to achieve success in the ODI series lined up in next few months.  After all we are # 2 in ODIs and # 1 in Tests. Lets not forget that the personnel for the ODI and Tests, as next assignments would change and hopefully we wont need to see the same usual crop of retards playing for India and thus insulting the meaning of playing for country.

Aftermath

So India as expectedly is out of the T20 World cup just like they did in 2009. So its safe to conclude that they are not good enough in the format despite boasting of so called successful sporting league that’s none but one man show thus far. The worst effect it has had over the national team is that they forgot the intensity needed to display in the team as playing together. Dhoni famously said for the need to be in the semis for an IPL when the owners pay them so much money. What about the national team when more than billions watch the team play and put their hopes and expectations on the players to do well, if not win everything they play. At least they expect the best players could put in every game and then they lose, nobody would complaint.

We are not a good T20 team and we should accept the fact with the pinch of salt. IPL is not cricket and it can be watched for fun and excitement, but never it can replace the pride and honour to play for the country. Few players have felt that playing in IPL would get them the booty securing their lives and playing for India is an added bonus that gets them the additional money. So performance goes for a toss. Such players are:

·         Yusuf Pathan

·         Yuvraj Singh

·         Zaheer Khan

·         Rohit Sharma

·         Dinesh KArthik

·         Murali Vijay

·         Harbhajan Singh

The intensity this players shown in the IPL was amazing and sadly that intensity on the field in Indian colors was missing.  How many wickets did Zaheer and Harbhajan take in the games they played ? 0. They have 235, 208 wkts in ODIs respectively, 245 and 355 (approx) wickets in Tests respectively and are the leftovers of the side that Ganguly made in early 2000s. Sadly Lalit Modi has spoiled this cricketers.

The captaincy was baffling, he made same mistakes every now and then. Preferring over Jadeja even after his class was exposed time and over, ignoring Chawla (though he did not deserve to be here at first place) playing 2 spinners on a fast bouncy tracks, having pedestals as bowlers (Zaheer, Nehra, Vinay LKUmar can never bowl short balls the way Indians faced from mediocre West Indies team) and repeatedly coming down the order despite the fact he is well known player for short and spin bowling than the likes of JAdeja, Pathan and so forth.  Bowling first was good option when they had the form of 2006 in ODIs when they won everything chasing. But then they had Dravid and Tendulkar in the team who can face short bowling with aplomb.  It was pathetic to see Gambhir jumping to the likes of Dwayne Bravo, Kemar Roach in the T20s when he has had dominated better bowling attacks home and away.  

So what are the factors that led to Indian exit in the World T20s when the weaker and pathetic teams Lanka and Pak got through to the semis:

·         Poor team selection : Everybody said so, I say the same. Srikanth erred in his Chennai prem and ignored the better in form players of IPL – Manish Pandey, Robin UThappa and Virat Kohli who’s had wonderful ODI season this year. In the bowlers he preffered Nehra, Zaheer, Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar who never form a quartret to frighten the opposition. Dinesh Karthik was opener and Vijay was replacement to Sehwag, whose absence in both T20 editions was felt. Needless to say he is one of the 2 batsmen successful in ODIs and Tests for India over a year now.  What can you expect of team that has Vijay and Karthik as openers in comparison to Watson, Warner (Aus), Jaywardhene(SL),  Keiswetter, Lumb (England) and even bugger Akamal (Pakistan). Not to forget Gayle for Windies.

·         Sehwag’s absence was hugely felt. He cannot be replaced by duds like Karthik or Vijay, even they hail from CSK.

·         Dhoni’s fascination for PAthan and Jadeja. He is turning the mules to horses when they do not qualify even as Asses.

·         Its time to call curtains for Jadeja and Pathan in the LoIs. They are not just good enough for the highest level of cricket. Not good ethically and not good physically.

·         Dhoni erred in tactics. He kept taking on bowling first and then opted for part timers.  When the track was bouncy, he opted for spinners.  Many times he came lower down the order than Pathan and Jadeja.

·         Selectors chose the team on reputation and not on the form and fitness. Regional favoritism was shamelessly displayed.

So who are those bakras who should be axed but wont be:

·         Harbhajan Singh from T20Is. He is best bowler for Tests but no more for ODIs and T20Is.

·         Yuvraj Singh from all three till he comes back leaner, meaner and fitter.

·         Vijay

·         Karthik

·         Pathan

·         Zaheer Khan from T20s and possibly ODIs too. He is not that effective in LoIs now.

We have had enough of IPL ruining our chances in international formats. None of the cricketing fraternity is gonna remember IPL winners years on from now, but yes the world cup winners would be. I don’t find anything wrong in Dhoni’s statement that IPL parties played a big role in the exit. Likes of Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Raina, Rohit, Zaheer, Pathan were regulars in IPL nights.  They were exhausted and by the time real test came, they were croppers.

IPL should be scheduled far away from the ICC events. Next year India hosts its biggest sports event in CWC ( way bigger than C’wealth games). So if IPL is scheduled before it, we should kiss the dreams of a world cup win good bye.

If a large responsibility lies on coach, skipper for this debacle, a lot of it lies with selectors too and Kris Srikanth at the max for the continuous dubious teams he is selecting.  The replacements for Yuvraj, Pathan and Jadeja are right here.

Kohli  for Yuvraj

Uthappa for Pathan with an added bonus of wicket keeping. That’d keep DK away

Pandey for Jadeja.

Yuvraj Singh is more on reputation than the form now.  He deserves rest to sort out his off the field problems whatsoever. Jadeja and Pathan are not over franchisee class, perhaps they should stick to the franchisee cricket. Dinesh Karthik, Vijay and other lesser TN players would keep coming and harming the chances of Indian team as long Srikanth, the worst selectors chief ever in memory, is around.  Sacking Dhoni and Kirsten for T20  failure would be a unfair thing to do as they have done commendable tasks in Tests and ODIs, the formats that really matter.

After all lets accept that T20 is not India’s cup of tea despite boasting of a chicken tandoori item called IPL.

Dinesh Karthik in numbers

Dinesh Karthik is a hot issue debated over and over on this blog. Does he deserve consistent selections in all 3 teams despite his consistent inconsistent performances with ball (oops he does not ball), bat and gloves (he seldom keeps).

 

Lets have a look at his performance in each of the 3 formats over last 15 months to give him some benefit of doubt.

 

Tests

 

Last 12 months he has played just 1 Test against lowly Bangladesh and has scored just 27 runs. So let’s rewind a little bit more in the past and have a look at his figures:

 

Okay for 24 months:

 

Here are his figures:

 

4

69

27

9.85

0

-

-

-

-

9

0

 

Played 4 Tests, made 69 runs with a highest 27 against BD. Average of 9.85.  2 of this tests were against SL, 1 against NZ and 1 against BD. Made 36 in 2 against SL in a series which saw dooms for the Fab Four of the Indian Test lineup. So if the fab four failed who is he to succeed ?  And then in 2009 he played one against Kiwis and made just 6.   Took 9 catches and no stumpings.  Career average is 28 odd runs per innings in 23 Tests, major chunk of which he played in 2007 when Sehwag was out of the Test squad thanks to DBV.

 

So whenever any player in Tests gets injured he is named in. Mostly when MS rests or injured.  In SL he was competing with Parthiv Patel who played his last Test till date in 2008.

 

Tests Verdict : Failure.

 

Reason he is in : Selectors fail to see beyond him as reserve wicket keeper in Tests and though he is said to have worked over his batting, the same does not reflect in the figures.  So the only reason he is in is due to the quota system reinforced by Mr Srikanth.

 

Now lets have a look at his T20I numbers:

 

He has played just 8 games and he has made 87 runs in those 8 games. Highest is of 31* he made against SA, India’s inaugural T20 game, Sachin’s only T20I and his only match winning innings for India.

 

8

87

31*

17.40

0

-

-

-

-

4

2

 

Average of 17.40 for a frontline batsman opening or in the middle order is very poor. He has not kept for India in T20Is in recent memory thanks to the captain who is a keeper. 

 

T20I verdict  : Failure.

 

He is in just cos Srikanth blah blah.

 

ODIs

 

In 2 years he has played 15 games and has scored 439 runs with an highest  of 79 vs SA in the same game when Sachin scored 200.

 

filtered

15

439

79

39.90

0

-

-

-

-

4

2

 

High average of 40 almost, thanks to couple of not outs he’s had and that’s bulged his average to a flattering figure of 40.

 

 

Further breakup of his figures against teams show following:

 

v Bangladesh	1	34	34	34.00	0	-	-	-	-	0	0
v New Zealand	1	4	4	4.00	0	-	-	-	-	0	0
v South Africa	3	134	79	44.66	0	-	-	-	-	0	0
v Sri Lanka	5	115	48	57.50	0	-	-	-	-	3	2
v West Indies	5	152	67	38.00	0	-	-	-	-	1	0

 

He has played as keeper in 2 of this 15 games and as a fielder in 13. Has not played against any strong opposition barring SA and the innings of 79 takes his average to 44.66 from 21.  Has had just 2 50s in the 15 innings he has played.

 

Further breaking down to his scoring pattern he suggests following:

 

5 scores of less than 20 with one not out.

2 50 plus of 67 and 79. 

6 scores between 30 and 48.

 

He has not played a single game against Australia, England and Pakistan – teams with better bowling attacks than Sri Lanka or West Indies or NZ.

 

He has got a decent record in the ODIs in this time frame yet he does not draw any awe getting him into teams consistently.

 

He is in for the Zim tri series ahead of Pandey and Uthappa besides many other players who succeeded in IPL 3.  What’s going to be his role in the ODI team keeping the WC’11 in frame of mind which has already a settled batting line up : Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Raina, Kohli.

 

Where does he fit in ? Does he compete with Kohli along side Uthappa and may be Pandey who are less likely to appear in the ODIs ? Is he going to be a replacement for either of Tendulkar / Sehwag should one of the two get injured? In that case Gambhir steps up and opens. What does Karthik do there ?  And if he has to be played in the capacity of a keeper, then a lot better replacement for him would be Uthappa who kept decently for RCB in IPL 3.  But would Uthappa get a chance to play few ODIs to claim his lost place ?

 

His cameos in  England 2007 ODI series are forgotten but they did play a major role in cementing him as a floater in the middle order which still had Dravid and Ganguly in the team along side Sehwag, Tendulkar,Yuvraj and Dhoni.