CLT20 : Mumbai Indians Preview

Mumbai Indians are placed top of group B in the CLT20. And they are led by Sachin Tendulkar, so that should make it an interesting watch.
Sachin had an awesome IPL 3 at home and he remodelled his game to suit T20 switching from the ODI mode and excelled in it. He had just made a 200 in the ODI at Gwalior vs SA and he had excelled in IPL too.
The MI squad is:
Shikhar Dhawan, Sachin Tendulkar, Ambati Rayudu, Saurabh Tiwary, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, R Sathish, Ali Murtaza, Dhawal Kulkarni, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, JP Duminy, Lasith Malinga, Ryan McLaren.
The starting squad could be:

1.
Tendulkar
2.
Dhawan
3.
Rayudu
4.
Bravo / Tiwary
5.
Duminy
6.
Tare
7.
Pollard
8.
Zaheer
9.
Harbhajan
10.
Malinga
11.
McLaren / Kulkarni
MI team does not look very strong and if you take out Tendulkar then there is virtually nobody to anchor the innings. The team looks prone to collapses and should Tendulkar not excel this team does not look good to go through the semis.
The fortunes of the team depend a lot on Tendulkar and subsequently on the middle order which looks a bit weak. Tiwary has not had any match practice despite being part of 2 teams in SL.
Zaheer would be back from shoulder injury and he would surely be a little rusty. Harbhajan Singh has not been in great form recently in the Tests or ODis or T20s. He bowled well in IPL but went wicketless in world T20 and was a shadow of himself in the SL test series.
Kulkarni has had a good A tour of England in May - June and Malinga was in top form in the test series with India.
Key players:
Tendulkar, Malinga, Duminy, Bravo and Harbhajan Singh
Prediction : Semis if Tendulkar fires and first round if he does not.

Why England cannot win Ashes

A team suffering with frequent collapses cannot expect to win Ashes. A team that has its skipper without a 100 for 22 innings and its best batsman without a 100 for close to 2 years and 26 innings cannot expect to win Ashes. A team which has a frequent violator of thin line between aggression and arrogance cannot expect to win Ashes.

When a new kid on the horizon skittles out a team proposing itself to be # 1 despite 5th on rankings, that team cannot expect to win Ashes.

Playing in a country when they last lost a series 0-5, they cannot expect to win Ashes.

In short, England cannot win Ashes at this point of time. Or in MoYo style for now.

By the way can we lure Mohd Aamer to play for India rather than play for Pakistan ? In India he would have a calmer dressing room and good IPL money would beckon.

Worth a thought ? Super bowler.

CLT20 : RCB Preview

AirTel CLT20 kicks off on Sep 10th in South Africa in their earlier summer and 10 teams play in the 2nd edition of the premier tournament. No England and Pakistan teams here due to clashes with the domestic season and political reasons respectively. For England's absence blame it on the lack of the FTP window for IPL and CLT20.

There are 3 teams from India, 2 each from SA and Aus, 1 each from WI, NZ and SL.

Its MI, CSK and RCB for India. Only RCB made it to the first edition in 2009 where they failed to make it to the semis.

Let me start a series of preview for the teams I know of -- 3 IPL teams.

Starting with the team I shall support : Royal Challengers Bangalore. Just bcos its led by legendary Anil Kumble.

The squad of 15 is :

Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Virat Kohli, Cameron White, Ross Taylor, Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis, Dillon du Preez, B Akhil, Abhimanyu Mithun, Nayan Doshi.

There are foreign players in Cameron White, Ross Taylor, Dale Steyn, Kallis, Preez. No Boucher. Kallis, Taylor, White were eligible for playing their home teams too, but RCB has eased out its wallet to retain this key players.

I presume CLT20 also allows IPL teams to play 4 foreign players and in that case the RCB has 5 foreign players to chose from. Not sure about du Preez who he is and what his credentials are. This could be the starting XI for RCB in their first game:

*
Kallis
*
Pandey
*
Uthappa
*
Taylor
*
Kohli
*
Dravid
*
White
*
Praveen
*
Steyn
*
Kumble
*
Vinay Kumar / Mithun

White and Kumble would be the spinners. Kallis, Steyn, Praveen and one of Vinay and Mithun would be the pacers. Having Steyn and Kallis in the team and playing in the home conditions actually helps RCB.

Prediction : I'd assume RCB would make it to the semis given the golden run they had in SA conditions in 2009 IPL.

They are in group B ranked 4th with Mumbai Indians as top rank team.

The other teams are Guyana (WI), MI (India), South Australia (Australia), Lions (SA).

CSK fixing

There have been news reports on CNN-IBN that 2009 auctions for IPL were fixed. Now foes, then friends N Srinivasan and Lalit Modi fixed Flintoff for CSK. The news reports also suggest that Srini actually tried convincing MI this season not to go for Keiron Pollard but unfortunately Ambanis did not heed to him when the tiebreak was broken (MI tied with CSK for Pollard).

It seems that Srinivasan is a true manipulator besides the screen and no wonder this reports lend some credibility to the earlier report of sacking of Pravin Amre as coach of India A. Now this two things are unrelated to each other, but this for sure indicates how strong CSK owner is.

More dirt comes out of the IPL closet and this also indicates how the corporate relationships are fragile. There have been some email leaks from IBN which indicate Srini saying "you are sweet" to Modi. What does that indicate.

Lalit Modi is tweeting videos exposing Srinivasan in this scenario but is not saying a tweet on his role in fixing Freddie for CSK. He was all powerful man in 2009 edition of IPL and if this fixing happened, it sure had (must have) Modi's blessings.

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.

Pakistan's rare vision and India's lack of it

Pakistan have what India dont right now. A vision for world cup. They have been comical, losers and butt of all jokes. One point of time they did not appear to win anything.  Out of nowhere they now have a strong bowling lineup in Asif, Aamer, Gul, Wahab and Ajmal. Not to forget that Sohel Tanveer is out since long.  They bat pathetic, but at least the selectors while chosing the ODI squad showed some sense and welcome at that given the selection blunders they have been do ing at Butt senior's behest.

The selectors in Pakistan dance to Butt's tune. Thats why Younis Khan is still out and MoYo is in.

In India the selectors themselves are dancers and charmers. Thats why the dancers are in the team.  I dont see a point in trying out a dancer opening the batting with Viru when we have 3 openers playing at top 3. Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir should form top 3 provided none of them is injured.

Yuvraj comfortably occupies 4 and one of Raina and Dhoni go at 5 and 6.  Concern is for 7. Who goes at 7? An allrounder? Or a specialist batsman who can be a floater like Kaif and Uthappa in the past.  A look at the allrounders and we have 3 names:

Jadeja : Nothing player

Y Pathan : Given enough chances did not cement his place. Continued losing his wicket to mindless slogs.

I Pathan : Not played for India since Feb 2009. He is an ideal # 7 even with the way he bowls right now. Even if he bowls 6 or 7 overs and makes 40 odd runs he would be more than handy for India in home conditions. Not to forget that he had a lot of success as # 3 in ODIs in Chappell era.

If we look for a floater kinda batsman then we have 2 options for now:

• Virat Kohli : He is too good a player to be left off. He has to play in the XI and if he is willing to flex his bowling arm and bowl good 4-5 overs then he could be a good floater.
• Robin Uthappa : Bat and keep. Was effective at 7 in England tour.

Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra and Sreesanth would be the bowlers to pick from.

Harbhajan Singh, IPL Ojha and Amit Mishra along side R Ashvin would be the slow bowlers.

I wish India loses the game against NZ and goes home to get some rest. From Sep 10 7 players who would be around in WC would play T20 cricket in SA.

Tendulkar, Zaheer, Harbhajan for Mumbai Indians

MSD, Raina for Chennai Super Kinks

Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar for RCB

And then immediately we have the Australia Test series coming up where 6 of the participating players would take part (5 + Rahul Dravid).

So the coming fortnight is of crucial importance for India as it would provide the jaded and tired players an opportunity to rest. Likes of Viru, Gambhir, Yuvraj would have close to a month off. Good for them. When they return for Australia Test series, they would know they would rest next only after World Cup, the best chance for India to win after 1983. Does Srikanth want so ? Dont know. But if he does not then may be some spank off his ass from BCCI would make him want to and we would see likes of Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik and Jadeja confined to just playing IPL and MPL.

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.

Cheating returns

Best way to win when you cant win on basis of fair play and within the spirits of cricket is to have the umpire on your side and give wrong decisions against the whistle blower of cheating...Virender Sehwag.

I thought Viru was tough to get out so get Dharmsena  on your side and give a ball outside off stump out.

Perennial cheaters. 

Who cares even if India crashes out before final. No point in playing against cheaters led by worst captain ever in the history of the game.

Sanga's character in videos

http://www.islandcricket.lk/videos/sangakkara_nathan_mccullum_collision_controversy_video_sri_lanka_new_zealand_2010_cricket

A look at the video clearly suggests Sangakara pushed Nathan McCullum while taking the 2nd run and it was his mistake rather than being McCullum's. 

Other one : 

He goes behind Younis Khan now. 

And just when he was shown the way by Saeed Ajamal, Ashoka DeSilva intervenes. Where is he when Sangakara appeals for non existent catches and lbws.

3 videos good enough to expose Sangakara's character.

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.