Category: Cricket

The SA Tour is going to be a tough one for India. With Viru out of the first ODI and Yuvraj out of the series, it gives the team and its players a golden opportunity to unearth some new talent and possibly make a final call on a few players. The pace department seems to be a good mix of youth (Sreesanth, Munaf) and experience (Zaheer, Agarkar). (Pathan is best treated as an all rounder). But the spin department is where India’s real experience lies in Kumble and Bhajji.

It might be a safe bet to play three seamers (Munaf, Sreesanth and Agarkar) and two spinners (Kumble and Bhajji). Dhoni, Sachin, Dravid, Kaif, Dinesh Karthick and Pathan to make the rest of the team for the first ODI. It might be worth giving Dinesh Karthick who is known for his ability to accelerate the scoring rate with unorthodox shots, a chance in place of Raina, who appears to have run into horrible form. In Viru’s absence India might do well to send Dhoni out with Sachin, followed by Dravid at number three. This would leave the task of accelerating the scoring in the last 10 overs to Karthick and Pathan.

The Ashes fever has certainly picked up down under. Deniss Lillee, Bobby Simpson and others have criticized the lack of youth (or rather the presence of too many 30+ aged players) in the Aussie side. Richie Benaud meanwhile has gone on record that Ponting is the best Aussie captain ahead of the likes of Mark Taylor and Waugh. England meanwhile is struggling and have already lost Trescothick. The Aussie selectors has brought in Tait, Stuart Clarke and Mitchell Johnson to back Brett Lee ands McGrath. Along with Shane Warne, this seems like a more than formidable bowling attack.

On paper the Aussies appear way too strong. It remains to be seen how things turn out on the field. My guess is that England will do a lot better than anticipated.

The Aussies pushed Sharad Pawar to pose for photos after the victory at the ICC final. Prior to that Ponting gestured with his figures asking Pawar to part with the trophy! Poor show from the otherwise super talented team. I wonder why a quick apology hasn’t been forthcoming from Cricket Australia. Mr. Pawar was nice enough to say “It was a small thing, a stupid thing, I don’t want to react.”

The WI showed the world the other extreme of what they are capable off. A shameful show at final after a series of good performances. One could argue that any of the other teams could have put up a better show in the final.

Referring to the WI Sidhu put it as only he can, “Beware of the naked man who promises you his shirt!”

The ever unpredictable WI completely destroyed SA. What looked like a decent defend-able total was made to look relatively easy thanks to Gayle. Despite this performance its highly possible that the WI batting might collapse in final for under 100 runs. The Aussies in peak form are going to hard to take on. The good news is that both teams have fought hard and deserved their berth in the finals.

The Aussies thrashed India, not surprisingly. For the first time in a long time, I checked the score only a couple of times while the match was in progress. I never thought India stood a chance. The Aussies in their current form are simply too good for the Indians. The India team on the other hand has way too many problems and simply does not have the skill or the depth to really challenge the Aussies. Oh well…

After restricting SA, Pak crashed to defeat on a lively pitch. Younis Khan played a pretty iressponsible shot. None of the others appeared to threaten either. Pak is out of the series after all the off the field action (which is bound to start again!). I thought Boucher deserved the MoM award. His batting was crucial and he took a brilliant catch behind the stumps. Had he failed with the bat I doubt SA would have had a decent score to defend.

A side note on Younis Khan — his English is pretty bad! Inzy seems like an authority on English compared to this guy. How does he communicate with Woolmer??

Its great to see pitches that help bowlers. This ICC championship has been a low scoring affair with bowlers dominating for the most part. Wonder what’s in store for India against a 5-pronged Aussie pace attack!

India put up an insufficient score and was severely handicapped by two of its main bowlers (RP, Pathan) failing miserably.

• Firstly, its a shame that India went into this tournament without Sreesanth. The sooner Pathan is replaced the better. His bowling is an embarrassment. Defending a small total, India’s opening bowler starts off with 20+ runs in the first two overs! His batting is unlikely to survive the Aussie attack and his bowling has been consistently unpredictable. Its best to drop him for the next match at a minimum.

• The other selection mystery is the preference for Raina ahead of Kaif or Mongia.

• As for Viru, the man badly deserves to be dropped. It’s hard to understand why the likes of Shastri continue to praise him to the skies. His success in ODI ever since the last world cup has been dismal. When the likes of Hayden can be dropped its hard to understand why the Indian selectors persist with Viru for so long.

• The other descision that backfired was the one to drop Powar. He has been in good form and has a decent record in ODIs lately. The wet ball theory for dropping him was a huge mis-calculation. With a small total to defend, his wicket taking abilities could have made a huge difference.

Given the strength of the Aussie team, India chances are probably over with this defeat to the WI. In any case, there appear to be way too many issues with the team starting with the selection. If the Indian think tank wakes up and smells the coffee, they should bring in Powar, Mongia and Kaif in place of RP, Pathan, and Raina. Unfortunately, there is no Uthappa or Gambhir in the 14 to replace Viru.

I am surprised as to why Watson is being asked to open the Aussie batting. Mike Hussey has proven to be a great ODI bat and is clearly wasted down the order. Watson hasn’t really clicked as the opener. Moreover, Watson has been opening the bowling. Isn’t that an overkill?

I was surprised to hear that SL crumbled against SA. On the slow turning wickets in India and based on current form, I thought SL had a good chance of scoring the fairly achievable target. But credit to SA bowlers. In general, this Champions trophy seems to be a low scoring affair. Its nice to see bowlers dominating. The ODIs have almost unfairly shifted the balance in favor of batsman. Its a nice change to have the batsmen earn every run!

Its a pity India is not playing Kumble despite having so many turning tracks. India will do well to play Mongia in the next match ahead of Raina, perhaps?

Dennis Lillee makes an important point about the ageing Australian batting line up. It is interesting that he has come up with these comments despite the fact that the Aussie team has been performing quite well while England is struggling. This is probably what makes the Aussies so good. Even when things are going well they constantly look to the future. I won’t be surprised if the Aussies try for a blend of youth and experience when it comes to the Ashes.