Looking back at the moral sapping defeat to SA

So India lost the first game of the tournament and in an insipid style.  In a way it was good they didnt deserve to win after spineless performance from the lower middle order and the middle order.

Yuvraj Singh attempted what he does the best — hit successfully, but Saturday wasnt his day. MSD has forgot to hit fours and sixes and like dogs he scratches around and then stands infurirated and gives some spectacularly inefficient statements in the press. Yusuf Pathan is a mug and he shines occasionally to seal his spot for next few games. He has never delivered when needed the most. The best he can do now is to focus on IPL career. No more needed in the world cup.

He is useless in all departments. Cant bat, cant bowl, cant field.

Same goes for Virat Kohli. After that opening 100, he has faltered away. He has been bowled, caught & bowled, run out in last 4 games. What was he attempting on Saturday is best answered by him.

Coming to the fielding, it was the best display in the tournament unforunately didnt come good. Munaf Patel continued to be lax and listless with ball and field. Do we really need him? He is too passive and Sreesanth is too charged up. Extreme characters in the team.

He leaked runs in 48th over in England game too and here again. Both times he got the opposition in the game again after Zaheer Khan and Harbjhajan respectively had got India back into the game.

Foolish stuff.

Ashish Nehra, I guess his India career is almost good as over. No imagination, no yorkers like Zak and no wickets. Giving last over to him was a big mistake. Well if he did manage to get RP out and somehow stop 13 runs from being leaked, India could have hailed him as hero. But he did a good favor to the side by leaking 18 runs to a tail ender.

India needed this defeat at this stage and hopefully after the 8 day break they shall come out all guns blazing. The quarters scnario would be clear by then. They shall know what they’d need to do to go through should there be some upsets in this next few days.

Hopefully they will learn something from the games so far and make some changes in the personnel :

Suresh Raina for Virat Kohli in his IPL home ground

R Ashvin for Munaf Patel in his home and IPL home ground

May be Sreesanth for Nehra

Sreesanth is drama queen / king, is erractic and all the negative things, but only one thing he’s got what others in the pace department dont have — PACE. And if he is ready to play in the team cause and not let his emotions get better of him, he can very well turn out to be surprise package for West Indies.  But dont know predictions dont always come true in Indian team combination.

There is a very little chance India might not make it to the final 8.

The remaining games are:

SA vs Ireland : SA expected to win and get 8 points

WI vs England : England need to win this to stay afloat. if they do they shall end up with 7 points.  If they lose, they are out and BD go in. India also go in.

SA vs Bangladesh :  SA should win this and top the group with 10.  If BD win they go through and if SA lose this one they should still make it provided they dont lose to Ireland.

India vs WI : If India lose to WI and BD win their other game vs SA and WI lose to England they could go out depending on how bad they lose. If India win they end up 2nd in the group and go through.

I guess the turning point in Saturday’s game were:

1. 9 for 29 in 9

2. One additional over for Zaheer in batting power play where he leaked 17 runs and if he was saved for last over, he could have got India 2 points.

3. Nehra over Harbhajan

Hopefully this was the bottom India saw and hereon they shall rise to the occasion and not squander the 100s from Tendulkar and starts from Delhi dashers.

India’s main men!!!

India’s chances in the World Cup would depend on following men besides form of Sachin Tendulkar.

1. Virender Sehwag

2. Yuvraj Singh

3. Yusuf Pathan

4. MS Dhoni

Viru and Sach would no doubt the most explosive opening pair in the tournament.  How Yuvraj Singh shapes up and how he plays would also define India’s chances. 

He has not been in his best in last few months, but this is the biggest platform for setting his critics right. It does not get bigger than this. If he plays a pivotal role in the World cup win for India, he would be forgiven for all his antics off the field and of course for his swelling belly..

Yusuf Pathan has come of age after that career turning century against Kiwis and he did an encore of that in the final ODI in Centurion, but how he fares in the premier ODI tournament would depend on how he plays and in what situation he plays. He has shown right temparament all this while in the latest lease of life for him. Its good that he has his priorities and ambitions set out at right place to play for India inspite of IPL money. Only thing he needs to do is to keep patience and let his bat do the rest. If he is at the crease, the runs shall come automatically. 

MSD is other bat who would be crucial to India’s chances. He has not been in best of ODI form off late. He didnt figure in Kiwi series and was off color in SA. But he has been the best finisher for India after Dravid’s decline in 2007.

This 4 together would define how far India goes and we expect them not to lose a single game after QF.

India’s games are on:

19th Feb at Mirpur vs BD

27th Feb at …… vs Eng

6th Mar at  Bangalore vs Ireland

9th Mar at Delhi vs Holland

12th Mar at Nagpur vs SA

20th Mar at Chennai vs WI.

Hopefully by the game on 12th India would have already qualified for the Quarter finals.

Dubious 15th member selection

The Indian world cup squad is announced and there are a few eye brows being raised over selection of few guys who have not played ODIs in 2 years time and none in home conditions. 

The most of the team chose itself and as expected there was a tussle for 2-3 spots only. 

The selection of Chawla and Ashvin would raise eyebrows. Pragyan Ojha played most of the ODIs before he was dumped for no good reason. He was not expected to play in SA where only one spinner plays and that luxury lies with Harbhajan Singh. But Ojha did a decent job in the run up to the SA tour and now he suddenly finds himself out of the favor from the selectors and the team management. 

Piyush Chawla’s selection is equally baffling. He has not played an ODI in 2 years and is not expected to play in remaining 3 games before World Cup, so he is looking  to go to the World Cup with no match fitness and match practice.

There are just 7 batsmen and most of them will play in all games. There is no reserve keeper who also could have doubled up as a batsman.

What if injury happens to one of the 7 main batsmen? Who is the backup then? Rohit Sharma ? M Vijay? I am sure Srikanth has some plans for M Vijay, he must have told him something in Tamil that dude I shall get you in the team, let one of the batsmen get injured. 

What if MSD gets injured? Sehwag would be the captain in that case, but who would keep? Again Srikanth has a replacement ready. Dinesh BossDK Karthik.

Srikanth’s croonies are well placed to be replacements for any one of the batsmen / keeper getting injured. 

Ashvin’s case is debatable. It seems he might be benefited on the cost of Ojha. He has played 7 ODIs for India in 2010 and taken 14 wkts.  How much would he add up to the tally in the world cup remains to be seen.

Chawla has 28 from 21 games. There are plenty of part timers in the spin department namely Sehwag, Yuvraj, Raina and perhaps even Tendulkar. Not to forget Yusuf Pathan too. So why 3 spinners? Ideally Parthiv Patel should have been the part of the lineup in place of Chawla, so that he could have been a reserve batsman too and would double up as a backup to MS as well. 

But if Srikanth had mind and logic. He is roaming around all TV channels and cricket  websites saying this is the best Indian team and balanced to win a world cup in 28 years. Only time would tell.

5-0

India has blanked NZ 5-0 and there were some good performances in this 5 ODIs from fringe players. This not only poses some good and happy selectorial choices for the world cup, also augurs well since the world cup is going to be on the home pitches.  It would be selectorial decision who those 15 men would be to represent India. Most of those slots are fixed and frankly enough there are just few spots which need some mind crunching.

This are interesting contenders:

Yusuf Pathan

Parthiv Patel

R Ashvin

Sreesanth

Parthiv Patel’s success in 2 ODIs is a slap to Srijkkanth and company who consistently ignored this lad from Gujarat and kept going for losers like BossDK.  PP has always been a better batsman than Bossedeshwar and he has had a strong desire for success built up in the years he was out of the team. He might not be the first choice keeper again, but he can certainly be the backup keeper on the tours abroad.

He is a better batsman and keeper than even Wriddhiman Saha who is going to SA as backup keeper.

Sreesanth’s wickets in first 2 games have brought him in contention and if he repeats his success in ODIs in SA, then he would be a seriou contender for 3rd seamer spot.

Zaheer, Praveen and Nehra are certainities. The fourth seamer could be a choice between Ishant, Sreesanth and to an extent Munaf.

R Ashvin would pose a threat to IPL Ojha for the  2nd spinner in the team and if he takes wickets instead of containing or holding the batsmen it would be a huge bonus for India. Its been ages we’ve had a wicket taking spinner in ODIs since decline of Anil Kumble in ODIs.

Challenger update : India Red vs India Blue

Challengers trophy began today in Indore. Indore, the land of Pohe Jalebi holds a special place in my life. Its the best city to be in.

Ok enough on that.

It was India Blue vs India Red today and India Red won by 3 wkts.

India Blue made 9/251 in 50 overs.

Main contributors:

Rahane 84*, Manoj Tiwary 40, Saha and unfortunately Jadeja 58.

Sudeep Tyagi starred with the ball.  YP got 0/37 and Dinda got 2.

Player Watch:

Focus on India Blue :  Rahane, Yuvraj and Jadeja.

Rahane came good again in ODI after a 5 day game. 191 in Irani trophy followed by 84  off 95 balls. Fairly good.

Yuvraj Singh made 6 off 10 and lost the game in captaincy after a high of Irani trophy win.  Damn he was caught by Bosseshwar.

Jadeja made a  50 again in a losing cause. Does he have a premonition that he would lose, so he should make a 50. Loser.  1/42 with the ball.  Got Pathan with e ball.

India Red won by 3 wickets with 8 balls to go.

Contributors:

Yusuf Pathan with a fiery 63. 5 fours and sixes. Good stuff but one solo performance wont be good for him to regain his place in India team. Would prefer anytime over Jadeja though.

Cameos from Abdi and somebody Mishra.

RP Singh disappointed, Chawla got spank and Jaddu got 1/42.

Players Watch :

Focus on India Red : Bosseshwar, Kohli, Pathan

Kohli flopped, Pathan was usual self. Bosseshwar continued pretending he is playing Test cricket or some crap 5 day game vs Pudducherry club,  27 off 57 runs with just a 4.  What a crap player he is. Enough said.

Player who stands ou : Rahane, makes a good claim to a spot in Indian team. Few more innings of substance should see him knocking door strongly. But will Cheeka and Srini bother to look?

We need to ban Karthik, Vijay, Yusuf Pathan and Jadeja

Following lads need a ban for indefinete period.

1. Murali Vijay
2. Yusuf Pathan
3. Ravinder Jadeja
4. Dinesh Karthik

We need an Ijaz Butt who’d ban them for indefinete period. And then we need somebody who would not revoke the ban from this players.

They have done the country shame with their inept and pathetic display in the international games post IPL where they glittered and blasted to fame on doctored pitches giving out a picture that they are future stars. Actually they are worse than the players who played solitary games for India in their history.

Nothing can justify the kind of start the Tamil Nadu duo gave against Zinbabwe. The opposition didn’t even have a specialist new ball bowlers.  21 runs off 56 balls and 33 off 71 balls are good enough to nail this duo and kick them outta team.

They must be partying around and watching out a Rajni flick. And even thinking of dancing along some pretty actress. Their erstwhile Tamil Nadu colleague Sadgopan Ramesh did so. Mr Karthik has already debuted in TV reality show. So the next destination for this IPL stars and India duds is TV / Kollywood cinema.

Spare us the torture guys.  I have vowed never to watch a game in which either of this 4 players would play for India. They are shame, they are black spots on what we call the pride for playing in Indian team. They are curse to the national anthem being played before every ICC tourney game.

Curse to the tricolor. Let this bigots play from Chennai against Coiambatore.   Ban them from playing for India.

Aftermath

India’s fourth or fifth string team lost to the enthusiastic and committed Zimbabwe second time in a week. How pathetic it is. Who owns up this defeat ? Skipper Raina, coach Kirsten or selector head clown Srikanth?  It was pathetic to see that there was no intent or will to score runs from the openers. What was Murali Vijay thinking ? He is a star ? IPL is long time over kid. If you cant play against Zimbabwe, there is a little chance you could play against anybody else.  56 ball 21 in PowerPlay overs with no boundaries whatsoever. Ditto for his Tamil Nadu skipper Dinesh Karthik, who by far should have been dumped in the dustbin of Marina Beach or Golden Beach in Chennai for his hyped talent, zero on delivery.

What happened to Amit Mishra who got a 5-for on his Test debut substituting for Anil Kumble and fast tracking his retirement?  Why do our spinners fail to take wickets in ODIs and T20s whereas little known spinners of lesser countries are rich in wickets. Pragyan Ojha, another big IPL name, purple cap holder of IPL-3. He ended up with one wicket. Why ? Did he forget spinning the ball ? Or did he think playing a game or 2 for India is good enough ?

Ashok Dinda, poor fiery chap from Bengal, wrote highly by Sourav was other failure. His off cutters and Yorkers were safely negotiated, half volleys were spanked to boundaries by young Zimbabwe kids.  Umesh Yadav bowled only 4 overs.  Yusuf Pathan was never in sight bowling with his fire in his eyes.  He had chance to score runs on a flat track, which he always does in IPL, he gave away the chance.  Rohit, Raina fell to sharp fielding from Zimbabwean kids.  Jadeja was selfish enough to complete a 50 and fall.

Did not he think to accelerate or at least try for it? He was contend taking singles and rotating strike in 45-50 overs when India scored just 18 runs.

This team is pathetic. If they are called future stars, then lets stop watching cricket for good. Once the greats are retired from Tests and this lesser souls take over, we would be soon languishing in the lower bottom half of the Test rankings. But wait are they even good to play for India again ?

Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay,  Yusuf Pathan, Ravinder Jadeja should never play for India again unless they prove hard in the domestic cricket that they belong and not just IPL.  

The flat track bullies of Chepauk, Mr Vijay forgot that he is playing ODI and not a first class game.  He plays  faster than this in 4 tests that he has played for India and he had given impression that he is gutsy enough to play for India long time in Tests. Now that impression stands dusted. Not so long ago he was thought of future # 3 in Tests, a big spot held for 14 years by Rahul Dravid.

Unfortunately this kids don’t have work ethic, their seniors have.  Easy money from IPL, fast tracked selection by ex cricketers from their zone makes them believe that they have arrived on the international scene and hence they fail to do whatever it takes to succeed on the highest level.

Just need to illustrate the case of 3 Best ODI players India ever produced.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.

Success did not come to this lads instantly. Sachin took 78 games and 6 years for his first ODI 100 and thereafter no looking back. 45 hundreds more he scored in 16 years.  He had the promise, he showed it, he delivered it in his younger days. Remember the tour of 1991 to Australia, when bigger Test players (then) than him flopped, the guy scored 2 sublime 100s in Perth and Sydney.

Rahul Dravid, considered by many a misfit ODI batsman (even today) got off to a disastrous start to his ODI career in Singapore and Sharjah tournaments just after 1996 world cup, till 1999 world cup when he emerged as top run getter, his place was never fixed.

When Yuvraj Singh and Mohd Kaif along side Virender Sehwag arrived in early 2000s, Dravid was once again questioned if he belonged to the ODI arena. He remodeled his game from a # 3 to a # 5 or # 6 player as finisher and scored countless innings to win games for India. His partnerships with Yuvraj and Kaif are epitome to the fact.

Ganguly had a disastrous ODI debut in 1991 down under and for 5 years he did not play another game until one day he was selected in Test team to England post 1996 World Cup. The success story thereafter is known to everybody, how he evolved from a “quota selection” to become India’s best captain ever in the formats that matter.

Story of Virender Sehwag could be inspirational too. Dropped after disastrous ODI debut in 1999 and back in the team for Tests in 2001 and then dropped again in 2006-07 and bouncing back in 2008 Adelaide Test could be benchmark for this so called young kids of the Indian cricket team.  They ought to remember that T20s and IPL is not the only thing they need to play well in. Who remembers Swapnil Asnodkar and Kamran Khan now who shone in 2008 and 2009 editions? Do they even play first class cricket and get noticed? Nope, not at all.

Anil Kumble was mocked by Kapil Dev in 1990 England tour when he debuted. For next 2 years he did not play a Test until 1992 when he made a comeback to grab 6/59 in Wanderers Test in SA. And post 1993 he changed the story of Indian spin.

Can Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra, known for aggressive send-offs and fire in the bellies learn from the senior pro on how to take wickets and then show the aggression? Take wickets and then do whatever, all is forgiven and forgotten.

Heads would need to roll for this pathetic show.  Its not a show, the team just did not turn up. They just ran through the motions. They pretended that they are playing. The hearts were just not there, that were somewhere else.

Pitiful and shameful performance this.  That’s the least 2 cussing words I can use right now.

Try Irfan over Jadeja

Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni;s fascination on Ravinder Jadeja being used as regular spinner bowling 10 or 4 overs in ODIs and T20s is dangerous. I believe MS and SR dont take Jadeja to be Gary Sobers who can bat and bowl with equal talent and skill.

I dont know what Jadeja brings in the table on both counts (bat and ball) in ODIs and T20s. He is not a big hitter, he is no more than a stock bowler in ODIs and he often slips the balls through his hands.

Irfan Pathan is more of a batting allrounder whose bowling might be doubtful, but he is certainly better batsman than his brother and Ravinder Jadeja.

So why not bring him in the side and have him bat at 7 or 8. He could do the same role as Mathews does for Sri Lanka.  But will MSD and Srikanth listen.

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.

Awful team selection

If likes of Jadeja and Pathan are going to play ahead of Chawla and the IPL heroes Ojha and Mishra, then GOD bless India and its world campaigns. If on basis of 1 innings of IPL likes of Pathan are going to be given chances galore when the fact is proved that he is a lame duck in international games,, then god bless MSD and his team.

The team selected for this campaign was always flawed where one or 2 IPL games were benchmarked and the so called stars were rushed in. Pathan and Vijay are prime examples of this selection headed by Mr Srikanth.

For the must win game tomorrow if India has to win a game then Jadeja should be replaced by Chawla. Jadeja cant bat and cant bowl.  Unfortunately Vijay cannot be replaced. Karthik is even poorer than Vijay.

India’s campaign right now resembles 2007 when they lost opening Super 8 game but it could soon go 2009 way if they lose on Sunday.

A lot will depend on which Xi plays tomorrow.