Cricket Blog

Well, its time to give out my opinion on the squad that has been chosen for the ODI series involving India, Sri Lanka and Australia. A lot is being said about the exclusion of some “Big” names from the squad and that the players selected are not right for this series. The selectors have flat-out cleared their criteria - Fielding. In a country where people are completely crazy about their stars, this is not a good enough reason. In my opinion, hats off to the selectors for finally putting a greater emphasis on the fielding capabilities of ODI players.

For years we have seen our team to be the worst in fielding, on paper and on Live TV. The bungling old players have had over a decade of playing experience, yet there has been absolutely no improvement in their fielding. Yes they are good in catching, and catches win matches. But catches don’t come every other ball. Every single run counts in ODI cricket, and every time the ball is placed to Ganguly and Dravid, the batsmen always take an extra run.

Well what about running between the wickets. It would be an understatement to say that both Ganguly and Dravid are the worst runners in the Indian squad. Saurav Ganguly has played 311 matches. He has been part of 145 losses. He has been runout 13 times averaging 34.92 every time. Almost once every 11 matches that India have lost. Almost always after getting a good start. Overall he has been runout 23 times. Dravid, on the other hand, has played 333 ODI matches. He has been involved in 160 defeats and got himself runout 20 times. That is once in every 8 defeats. He averages 30.65 and just like Ganguly gets himself runout after getting a good start.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark:

What a start and what a finish to the day’s play. Unbelievable scenes at the SCG. Australia, at one point 134/6, recovered to post a massive 376/7 at the end of the first day. Brad Hogg and Andrew Symonds orchestrated a sensational and mind-blowing recovery to see the home team on top despite losing the top and middle order during the second session. For India, they would be ruing a couple of decisions not going their way, but the brutality of the counter-attack from Symonds and Hogg would have left them shell-shocked.

Ponting won the first toss of 2008. As expected he decided to bat first hoping to get a big first innings total. What happened was completely against the run of play. India made just the one change to the playing XI. Ishant Sharma replaced an injured Zaheer Khan. The team could not find a spot for Virender Sehwag or Irfan Pathan - this could very well come back to haunt them.

RP Singh opened the bowling with Ishant Sharma and the two opening batsmen were quickly sitting back in the pavilion. Ricky Ponting then survived a close call, he was too damn lucky as snicko showed a clear edge. Ponting then countered some stiff bowling from RP and Ishant to get to another test fifty. Hussey gave him good support and the Aussies reached 95/2 at lunch. Ponting reached his 50 in the second session however got out to an unlucky call. Bhajji being his nemesis yet again. What then followed was a golden period for the visitors as they picked up 3 more wickets in quick succession leaving Australia rattled at 134/6.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark:

In what could be considered as one of the biggest surprises that the selection committee could ever conjure, out-of-form batsman Virender Sehwag has been given a spot in the Test squad that will tour Australia later this month. Many would consider this as wrong and mis-calculated, with Ian Chappell even considering Sehwag’s ommission from the list of 24 probables as India’s first mistake ahead of the tour. Looks like the selectors have given heed to his advice by recalling Sehwag back. The X-factor that Sehwag provides cannot be ignored. All he needs is a good score to get going. If he can start the series with a resounding century then he may just be included in the ODI squad as well.

Lets look at why his selection can be a bonus for Team India, provided he gets a place in the playing XI. Wasim Jaffer is in the form of his life at the moment, so was Dinesh Karthik a couple of months ago. Jaffer is not experienced in bouncy conditions as Australia, but Melbourne and Sydney are no longer fast, in fact they will actually be more suited to Indian players. The first match at the MCG offers Sehwag the perfect opportunity to reclaim his spot in the Indian team. He should remember that on this very ground he smashed 195 in the first day of play. Of all the Indian players, only Sehwag can demoralize the Australian bowling attack, especially Brett Lee and Shaun Tait. With not a lot of swing movement predicted, the pitches suit his style of attacking play.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark:

The BCCI selectors announced the 14 man squad that will take on the Pakistanis in the first 2 tests. Final impressions is that this is a squad that is based more on political-wrangling than any common sense. For example, why do they have 3 spinners in as we all know that only 2 will ever get to play. With Kumble the captain the other logical selection would certainly be Harbhajan Singh. Instead of strengthening the top order, the selectors have gone ahead and included Murali Karthik as another spinner.

Gautam Gambhir has failed to make it to the test squad which is a real shame as he has been one of the most prolific batsmen for India in the last couple of months. The selectors should have awarded his performance by giving him a test spot. The fact that hasn’t happened and Murali Karthik has found a place is really very annoying. Karthik has only performed in the last couple of weeks, and he gets a spot.

Atleast the rest is pretty predictable. The openers, Jaffer and Karthik did extremely well in England so they get to retain their positions. The Big 3 take care of the middle order. Dhoni is the wicketkeeper-batsman. The real tough decision would be the toss up between Yuvraj and Laxman. Yuvi has been in absolutely scintillating form in the shorter format and he should be given the first chance over Laxman who hasn’t played since the English Test series which was a couple of months ago. This is where Kumble’s first challenge will be.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark:

The Indian selectors announced the squad for the first 2 one-dayers against Pakistan:

1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk,capt)
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Sourav Ganguly
4. Gautam Gambhir
5. Virender Sehwag
6. Robin Uthappa
7. Rohit Sharma
8. Yuvraj Singh
9. Irfan Pathan
10. Praveen Kumar
11. Zaheer Khan
12. RP Singh
13. Sreesanth
14. Harbhajan Singh
15. Murali Kartik

Rahul Dravid’s omission is a big one. Besides that there are not a lot of surprises here, except for Virender Sehwag making a comeback and Praveen Kumar finding a place in the squad. Dinesh Karthik and Ramesh Powar have been left out. So has Piyush Chawla who has been struggling a little after his ankle injury during the T20 World Cup. Mohammad Kaif and Parthiv Patel have failed to reach the 15 yet again.

Bookmark: