Rahul Dravid - The Master Technician

I don't have privilege of watching any of the Sunil Gavaskar's innings. Never watched Gundappa Vishwanath batting. Don't have any idea how Geoff Boycott and Vivian Richards batted as I never watched them batting. But I am lucky enough to watch Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Jacques Kallis and Virender Sehwag batting. All these stalwarts have class of their own and quite unique also in their way of batting. But one man who stands tall among all these stalwarts is Rahul Dravid, simply because of his great technique which made him one of the finest batsman of all time. Yet lost in aura of all greats. 

I can say one thing for sure, among all the batsmen I watched, I found Rahul Dravid far superior when it comes to technique. Tendulkar have all the records in the world, Kallis is great all-rounder, Sourav Ganguly finest Indian captain ever, Virender Sehwag the crusader, VVS Laxman the elegant right hander. But among all Rahul Dravid stands tall, yet always remained in shadow of all these greats and never got the credit for what he did for Indian cricket. He is player who holds the distinction of scoring highest runs in the test matches which India won. So he is easily the match winner. With the retirement of Rahul Dravid, Team India lost the biggest ever match-winner of all time. When he started his career he was labelled as test batsman but  with his sheer determination and dedication to the game, made him one of the finest ODI batsman as well who went on to score more than 10000 runs in ODIs as well, which is no mean achievement.

What makes Rahul Dravid, the champion? I think its his patience which  make him the champion. I have seen bowlers getting tired because of aggressive stroke-making of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, which is quite natural. But Rahul Dravid is unique. He weared down bowlers and made them  look vulnerable with his slow batting which was quipped with great technique. He never scored runs at rapid pace, yet he succeeded in murdering the bowling with his killer patience and cool temperament. There is more to Rahul Dravid, apart from is batting. His advices proved priceless for many cricketers of his era who came to him for tips. Ask Younis Khan, how Rahul Dravid's words helped him in coming out of lean patch. Ask West Indian Kirk Edwards, who scored century after talking to Dravid. Ask Rohit Sharma who learnt to put  price on his wicket after Rahul's advice. Ask Ricky Ponting whose career was saved after getting advice from Dravid and this list is endless. Cricketers across the globe one way or other way benefitted from Rahul Dravid. 

With the retirement of Rahul Dravid, an era has come to an end and it is impossible to replace someone like Rahul Dravid who did so much for Indian cricket and that too selflessly. Truly a great team-man and greater batsmen of all time. I rate him above Tendulkar when it comes to winning matches for India. Rahul is the encyclopedia of batting and any batsmen who wants to make it big in international cricket, must watch Rahul's batting videos. Even he is captaincy record is quite good and most of the matches India won abroad in his captaincy.Team India won series in West Indies, England and also won test match in South Africa. So truly a great captain as well.

I hope BCCI will use Rahul Dravid's experience for enhancing the quality of Indian cricket, so that we get many more great cricketers in future.

Series win for Team India is a distant dream....

Yet again visitors lost the  1st test match of  series. It has happened end number of times in the past gets repeated again and again. This time also many excuses given but I think those excuses are of no use because, Team India reached Australia well in advance. So Team India had enough time to prepare for the series and get used to the conditions down-under. Team India can't complain about practice matches as well because they got 2 practice matches, which I believe enough for the preparation. Team India lost the first test match because of poor selection and some defensive strategy by its captain. So what lies ahead for Team India. There is close possibility of England tour horror show to continue. Series loss is confirm and I can bet on it anytime. I won't be surprised if result will be 4-0, which  is likely to happen, after watching India's performance in the 1st test match at Melbourne.

2nd test match of the series starting tomorrow at Sydney Cricket Ground, it is a happy hunting ground for few Indian players and conditions will be home like, so I think Sydney provides best chance to Team India for squaring the series. But this is not going to  happen because Indian team have the problems in plenty. Gambhir is not in form. Big question-mark on Sehwag's consistency. Captain Dhoni is going through rough patch in test matches. VVS Laxman didn't look in commanding position, as he was in past against Australia. To top of these selection will going to play crucial part as well. If team management decides to play Virat Kohli again, who failed to impress everybody, especially overseas, will back fire badly. Although, as I mentioned SCG is like home away from home for Team India but this time it is going to be a green top as per the curator and Team India will not going to get the rank turner which is the basic nature of SCG pitch. So ghost of trouble waiting for Dhoni and his men at Sydney.

So, What India can look forward to in 2nd test match at Sydney. I think to win SCG test, they have to play out of their skins. Gambhir, Dhoni and Laxman have to get among runs and Rahul Dravid will have to rectify the chinks in his technique, which often result in his downfall. Incoming delivery which passes between his bat and pad, get crash into the stumps. As far as master is concerned, I think he has to forget about his ton of tons and play naturally. Sydney is happy hunting ground for master where he averages over 200. After Sachin, if anybody like SCG the most, is VVS Laxman, who has distinction of scoring 3 consecutive hundreds on this very ground in last 3 outings, if he scores one more here than I believe Indian team have the chance of winning this match but that is highly unlike at the moment because of poor performance in first test. 

I believe, time has come for Rohit Sharma to make his debut. We all know how much capable and talented Rohit Sharma is among all the youngsters but team management have to take this call by dropping out of form Kohli, who don't have the technique to survive in test arena. For Gautam Gambhir, this test match is going to be a do or die game. One more failure and he will be out of the squad as Rahane is waiting in the wings to replace him, so he will be under immense pressure going into this test match. But we all know Gambhir is a very good batsmen and hopefully will get into the form in 2nd test match as he has done in the past and he is class act. But to come out of the slump he has to play straight and play few shots through cover, mid-off and mid-on rather than playing them through slips and gully. He also have to bring out his pull shot which he used early in his career. If Gambhir does this minor adjustment, I am confident he will get big runs. 

Aussies are ready with all their arms and ammunition to tame this Indian team. They successfully did that at MCG and they are sighting victory at SCG to take that unassailable lead. Mindgames started once again which includes, putting Sachin Tendulkar under pressure by talking about his 100th ton. They are talking because they have fire power to tame this Indian team and top of it all their experienced pros in Hussey and Ponting are back in form, thanks to the poor strategy of captain M.S Dhoni. Aussies have very good bowling unit and will go on all out attack tomorrow at SCG. 

So, looking at the situation, this time also, series win is a distant dream for Team India and I am sure about it. I hope they prove me wrong but that is highly unlike. Experts like Sunil Gavaskar and Ian Chappell has already written-off this Indian team. This is centenary test match for this Sydney Cricket Ground and both team will give their best to make it more memorable.

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Defensive strategies of captain Dhoni not helping Team India

Once again Team India started the series on a losing note on foreign soil. Australia won the test quite  easily at Melbourne and Team India is sulking in exile, so are the fans. What a pity, on a part of the team which was No.1 test team in the world few months ago and remain No.1 for more than 2 years but suddenly England tour happened and all those fake imagination of Indian fans washed away as Indian team was white-washed by England. With defeat in Melbourne Indian team lost 5 test matches in a row, now on foreign soil. Captain who was proud on his record of not losing any test series in last 3 years, now suddenly under grief of losing 5 test matches on foreign soil, But I think captain Dhoni have to blame himself for this debacle rather than giving any excuses about batting bowling or fielding. I believe its a case of poor defensive strategy and nothing more than that.

When Dhoni made his debut on International scene in 2004 , he made his reputation of aggressor but over the years he lost his aggression and became to defensive. Especially, after becoming captain, sudden change happened in his batting and captaincy approach. From hard-hitting Dhoni to nudger and pusher, this is quite extra-ordinary transformation. Dhoni's batting transformation affected his captaincy as well and he has become too defensive in his strategy and field placings. Although India have done well under his captaincy but I must say India lost many opportunities in new last few years where they could have easily won the series or match but lost it because of the defensive tactics of captain Dhoni. Latest example is Melbourne test, where India failed to seize the advantage twice in a match. Once Australia was reeling at 214-6 but Dhoni allowed the Australia's lower-order batsmen to get past 300 run mark by setting defensive field. In second innings Australia were 27 for 4 at one stage but Dhoni opened field for Hussey and Ponting and allowed them to pick singles easily which reduced the pressure on Aussies and that 115 run partnership proved too costly for India. Not only that, even last wicket added more than 40 runs for Australia in same innings as Dhoni allowed them to do so. Hence, India lost the game.

I must say India bowled really well in Melbourne but Dhoni's defensive field placing didn't sync well with Indian bowling and robbed the chance of winning the first test match of the series. This year in Edgbaston test match, Ishant Sharma had taken 3 wickets in 16 deliveries. England had slipped to 62 for 5 . India were back in the match. There was even an outside chance of the winning it. Suddenly there was a competitive atmosphere. England went into lunch with a knot in their stomachs. India chewed with a renewed sense of vigour. But Dhoni again failed to seize the advantage and din't gave bal to Ishant after lunch who tormented England innings before lunch. Matt Prior and Stuart Broad took full advantage of this move and got out of the tangle by scoring easy runs off Praveen Kumar who looked completely exhausted in his spell. Normal service was resumed by the end of second session as England fought back to take charge of the match. 


Poor strategy of Dhoni cost India a test win. Similar tactics, Dhoni also applied last year in South Africa and lost the test match. We have also seen how opposition tail hurts Team India regularly. Actually opposition tail wags not because of India's poor bowling, it is because of poor strategy and field placings by captain Dhoni. We saw that in home series against West indies where West Indian top-order scalped quite easily by our bowlers but their lower- order batsmen made life difficult for Indian bowlers only because of defensive field placings.

I believe Dhoni must talk to Sourav Ganguly, who always played and captained aggressively throughout his career. This will help Dhoni big time in understanding the mechanism of seizing the advantageous moments of the match. Dhoni's poor form with the bat in test matches is also a cause of concern for Team India. his batting form has dipped badly in test matches which is not a good sign.

To Dhoni's advantage, Sourav Ganguly is in Australia on a commentary assignment, so he can easily approach Sourav and immediately renew his magic touch.

Run-rate dipped in absence of mighty Sehwag….

 

He made his debut for India as a middle-order batsmen and scored century against South Africa at Bloemfontein in his debut game. Looking at his batting style Sourav Ganguly who was captain of Indian team during that period asked Sehwag to open the innings and after that move history of Indian cricket changed many times  and new chapters added to the history of Indian cricket.

Currently Sehwag is the most ballistic opener in world cricket, in all forms of the game. His sheer presence in the middle, creates nightmarish situation for the bowlers around the world. Nobody expected this success of Sehwag considering his unique hand-eye co-ordination technique in which footwork is minimum. But lack of footwork did not  affected Sehwag’s progress in international cricket, especially in test cricket where technique is considered above everything.

Indian team won many test matches in last decade only because of Sehwag’s quick start at the top and it is Sehwag’s brilliance which helped Indian team in becoming the king of World Cricket. Sehwag is a completely unique batsmen in world cricket not because of his style of playing but also because of his views and thinking about his own batting. There is no complication theory in his batting as ‘ball is there to hit he will hit it’ and in doing so sometimes he dispatches good balls out of the ground as well. He is having clear mind and simplistic approach which makes him stand out above all the cricketers.

Why did I wrote so much about Sehwag. Answer is simple Indian team is missing him badly  So far in 3 innings of two test matches,  Indian opening pair of Vijay and Mukund struggled badly and their pair didn’t survive for even 5 overs. So in the absence of Sehwag Indian team is missing some zing at the top but good starts are not only the factor, Indian team’s run-rate also dipped badly in the absence of Sehwag. Indian team with Sehwag at top, scored at an average rate of 3.70 runs in last decade in the test matches they played and in first session of the test match, team India scored at an average rate of 4.60 runs in last decade.

But in West indies, now , run-rate of Indian team shattered badly as their average run-rate in two test match is paltry 2.20 runs and in first session it is worst as it dipped to 1.80 runs which clearly shows what impact Sehwag has on the game when he bats. Looking at other aspect of this, Sehwag, with his blitzkrieg batting dented the psyche of the opposition bowlers which helped middle-order batsmen to play comfortably without any pressure. Hence Sehwag factor made batting  easy for the great Indian middle-order. Credit for much of the Indian middle-order success in last decade goes to Sehwag and now we can see easily how Team India’s batting and run-rate is struggling without Sehwag and that too against weak bowling line-up of West Indian team.

So Sehwag is the man for all season for Team India and lets hope he returns to cricket with England series next month and increase the run-rate once again. His batting is like rock music which force bowlers to dance on its tunes

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International Cricket is back......

So IPL is over and its time for International Series. Sri Lanka already playing in England and lost the first test match dramatically and after that loss Sri Lankan media held IPL responsible for that loss. Now all eyes on 2nd test match starting tomorrow at Lords. Pakistan already played series in West Indies and Ireland. In West Indies Pakistan won the ODI series by 3-2 and square the 2  test match series. They white-washed Ireland in 2 match ODI series. 

Another series will start in couple of days,  between India and West Indies. This is first international series for Team India after their World Cup triumph. Indian team already reached West Indies where they will play 1 off T20, 5 ODIs and 3 test matches. Indian team which play in this  tour will not have the services few seniors who are out of the series. Some of them will skip T20 and ODIs. Some of them decided to skip entire tour on the account of injury and fatigue. Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag will skip entire tour due to injury while great Tendulkar decided to skip the entire  tour for spending time with his family. Regular Captain MS Dhoni and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan will skip only T20 and ODI series. They will join the team for  test series alongwith Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. s.Sreesanth is selected only for the test series. 

It is fact that West Indies team is not that great as it was in 70s and 80s. This West Indies team is one of the weakest and leaving out Taylor, Gayle and Pollard will certainly make it more vulnerable but  Indian team is also not playing to its full strength, so contest will be even. Also it is difficult to beat any team in their home conditions is always a challenge, so in that sense series becomes interesting. It is chance for Indian young guns to show their talent and pose big challenge to senior players position who opted out of this tour for various reason.

It is also interesting that none of the players will make debut in ODI series because all of them played for India in the past and didn't perform well. Shikhar Dhawan, Manoj Tiwary, R.Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha played for India earlier but failed to impress so its a second chance for them to prove their worth in the absence of seniors. Good performance in this series will certainly help few youngsters to feature in the series against England which will follow this series. 

Selectors have selected best possible team and good thing is that they did not selected players on the basis of IPL. Its good that players selected on this tour had very good domestic season behind them. However, Saurabh Tiwary of Jharkhand, Manish Pandey of Karnataka and Deepak Chahar of Rajasthan missed out unfortunately. These three players had a great domestic season but fortunes didn't favoured them because of the limited berth. Saurabh Tiwary also led the Jharkhand successfully in Vijay Hazare Trohpy and scored lot of runs in last season in domestic cricket.

India have the great chance of beating West Indies if they will play to their potential. I don't think this Indian team is second string team because all the players except Abhinav Mukund played in the past for the country and looking at West Indian team they are in process of rebuilding their team, so great chance lies ahead for Team India in Caribbean. Leaving out Chris Gayle will certainly going to hurt West Indies because he is a big player and he is in scintillating form right now. 

So Indian team is ready to dance on Calypso music? With this series India's new coach Duncan Fletcher will also make his debut as a coach of Indian Team and there is lot of hope in cricket lovers that will carry on the legacy of Gary Kirsten successfully. Suresh Raina also have lot to prove about his leadership skills in this series because last time he failed to lead this team successfully in Zimbabwe. Great challenge ahead of new coach and new captain.

Team India - The World Champions of Cricket

In 1983, Kapil Dev achieved it. In 2003 Sourav Ganguly gave it near miss. In 2011, Mahendra Singh Dhoni achieved it again. Now Team India is World Champions of Cricket and its a great gift to the 1.2 billion people. All the prayers and wishes heard by God and he gifted Indians with most precious gift and that is World Cup. It will remain in memory of the people for long time because it happened after the wait of 28 long years. On 25th June, 1983 I was too young to understand the cricket and World Cup but as I grew up I understood that achievement and now 2nd April 2011, I experienced that thrill and joy which I missed in 1983. It was mighty West Indies  in 1983 which tasted defeat and Sri Lanka in 2011 lost to Team India.

It is a cup of billion hopes and it will impact the psyche of the people of this country. The country which is going through tough phase where corrupt politicians and their policies haunting the public. I believe World Cup victory certainly brought smile on the faces.We must thank our heroes who made it possible for us after 28 years. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Team India did few mistakes in initial stages of the tournament. He was out of form and faced lot of criticism for his decisions but I must say 'Cometh the hour, Cometh the man'. Since quarter-finals he did not falter for a single moment. He learnt from his mistakes which he committed in league phase and corrected them in the knockout phase. He played crucial innings in finals and lead his team to the glory after failing with bat in entire tournament. It looked like he saved his best for this game and delivered  when it needed the most. He is a leader and perfect role model for new generation. He showed the courage to admit his mistakes and he also did not forget to mention the contribution of his seniors in this victory when he gave credit to Dravid, Kumble and Ganguly for this victory. I think he is not Captain he is a Leader.

Next comes our very own 'GOD' Sachin Tendulkar who was the inspiration and instrumental in this victory. After playing sixth World Cup he achieved what he wanted to, which show his immense patience. He waited for 22 long years and worked hard without getting disheartened from the losses in earlier World Cups and had the belief that he will achieve it before his retirement. It is this belief and hard work which has given him the status of 'GOD' in this country. He is  inspiration for this entire team and every member of this team motivated to do it for Sachin Tendulkar. Great example of motivation and self-belief indeed. Finally 'GOD' achieved what he wanted to and its great and most important news that 'GOD' will continue to play cricket even after World Cup victory and I hope he never retire. At the age of 38 he is playing like never before and it looks like we will watch him in action in next World Cup as well. 

Yuvraj Singh, gone through tough phase, dropped from the test side, future as a cricketer looked bleak, struggled with various injuries and thought of quitting cricket as well but I think whatever happened with Yuvraj was just a lesson to him from the destiny because he got everything easily before this bad phase but last one year changed him completely as a player and turned him into match-winner for Team India when it mattered the most. This also shows how bad time makes people tougher and  invincible. So bad time also have its advantages and it certainly does wonders and it is proved from the Yuvraj's life. He is declared 'Man of the Tournament'. Now I hope he returns to the test cricket as well and do wonders in longer format as well. He is one player who got the new lease of life in this World Cup and came out much improved cricketer as it also added another dimension to his skills and that is his much improved bowling. he was gifted with immense of talent and but that was not channelized. This World World Cup did that.

Apart from these 3 people there 12 people who played good supporting role and they were as important as these 3 players were. Sehwag, Gambhir, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Nehra, Munaf, Chawla, Sreesanth, Virat Kohli, R.Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina, all contributed towards this huge success and according to me they were unsung heroes of this World Cup. Each of them delivered when it mattered  and they kept the interest of team above everything. Hats-off to them for providing such a glory to this great country called 'INDIA'. Apart from players,  coach Gary Kirsten and his support team did wonders from behind the curtains and their contribution  to this victory is cannot be measured by materialistic things. Its pity that Kirsten is leaving Team India after this glory but I think he has given new heights to this Indian team and if possible, keep him with this team.

Now, Dhoni's match winning sixer will also be remembered along with Kapil Dev  catching Vivian Richards in 1983 World Cup. India needed this victory badly and it will give birth to hew hopes and aspirations. This victory also established the fact that India is driving force in World Cricket and World Cricket and ICC is nothing without India. Let's hope our team keeps winning and bring lot more glory to us. It is 'Cup of Hope' because people who made it possible, most of them came from the places which are very difficult to find in the map of this country.

UDRS: Boon or Bane to cricket....

BCCI and Captain MS Dhoni always opposed the UDRS (Umpire Decision Review System) ever since ICC started using it in International Cricket.  BCCI found  that technology used for UDRS is costly which sounds bit funny because BCCI is the richest cricket administrative body in the world. Indian captain Dhoni found it inadequate to tackle with the demands of International Cricket and he is right too an extent because when they got the chance of using it in the test series against Sri Lanka they got it all wrong and only 1 decision out of 22 went in their favour. So apprehensions are appropriate but now ICC made it mandatory in the 10th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

For the first time at a World Cup, each team has the right to question at least two decisions which go against it during an innings.A third umpire uses the available technology to determine if the on-field officials were correct. But it has not been an easy debut for DRS in the showpiece event.The Indian Cricket Board, infuriated by Ian Bell's apparent let-off for lbw in the tied India v England match, wrote an angry letter to ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat pointing out the inadequacy it perceives in the system.

The statistics will calm the nerves a bit for the ICC, which revealed that correct decisions in the World Cup have risen from an average of 90.18 per cent to 97.82 per cent due to the DRS."It is a fact that the number of (appealed) decisions in this event is way above the normal average for ODIs," ICC general manager Dave Richardson said in the statement."This is because of the type of wickets that prevail in the sub-continent where the bounce is often lower and where there is a greater amount of turn."

This UDRS also suffered due to lack of 'Hot Spot' technology which was used in the series in Ashes and ODI series between England and Australia. Now what is 'Hot Spot' technology? Hot Spot is an infra-red imaging system used in cricket to determine whether the ball has struck the batsman, bat or pad. Hot Spot requires two infrared cameras on opposite sides of the ground above the field of play that are continuously recording an image. Any suspected snick or bat/pad event can be verified by examining the infrared image, which usually shows a bright spot where contact friction from the ball has elevated the local temperature. Where referrals to an off-field third umpire are permitted, the technology is used to enhance the on-field umpire's decision making accurancy. Hot-spot imagery is also used to show which part of the cricket bat hit the ball, as ideally the batsmen try to "middle" the ball i.e. hit it where the sweet spot lies. Hot spot camera provides some valuable information while analyzing the strokes played by a batsman.

The Australian-based company who owns 'Hot Spot' have said they will not be able to provide the service. They have not said why, but apparently they need special dispensation from the Australian Defence Force to use it. This stuff is military technology. I also suspect due to the late decision to use it and the logistical nightmare it would be to set up the cameras, they've decided it's just too hard to lug it around. I also suspect the ADF may be concerned about the security situation in India particularly and someone else may get their hands on the technology who the ADF doesn't want to and thats where UDRS failed too an extent. However without hot-spot also UDRS is used somewhat effectively in the World Cup but it certainly raised eyebrows of many captains and coaches. 

In a match against Australia, Kamran Akmal was found in front of the stumps twice. First umpire given him not-out and when Australians reviewed,  found that ball was hitting leg-stump, so on-field umpire stuck to his decision. Second time when Kamran Akmal found in front of the stumps umpire given him out and Kamran Akmal reviewed its and found that this time also ball was hitting leg stump but on-field umpire stuck to his decision and ruled Akmal out. In this instance both the times ball hit the leg stump but first time given not-out because appealing team reviewed it so it went against them because they challenged the on-field umpire and second time given out but because batsmen reviewed it and he also challenged the on-field umpire's decision. So this technology is partly depends on the discretion of on-field umpire as well. Moreover this UDRS failed completely in detecting edges of the bat and in that case batsmen are getting benefit of doubt. Ashoka DeSilva, the Sri Lankan umpire became first victim of UDRS as his decision were found wrong on most occasions when reviewed. Hence he was removed from the umpiring in important matches of the World Cup.

I think if UDRS have to be used then it should be used with 'Hot Spot' and 'Snickometer' technology as well. Otherwise UDRS will not going to succeed much and lot questions will be raised on its accuracy.

Today Capetown will witness crucial encounter between Team India and Proteas

After long debate on World Cup selection between all the TV channels, selectors and citizens,  finally 15 men selected to represent the country in what we call Olympics of Cricket. I believe now we have to stop debating on the team selected and start supporting the men who are selected to do the job and hope that these men will bring glory and happiness for us. 

Now its time to focus on the ongoing series between India and South Africa. Series is levelled after India's victory in Johannesburg and what a cracker of the game that was. India clinched cliffhanger by holding the nerves and once again Proteas proved chokers. Now focus is on 3rd ODI in Capetown. It is crucial game for both the teams in terms of series win. Both the teams will be keen to win this encounter and whoever emerged as winner will be having clear advantage of winning the series because winning team have to win just one match out of the remaining two and losing team have to win both the matches to win the series.

If we talk about Team India then I must say their confidence will be sky high after that last victory but with this  confidence they are also facing lot of problems in terms of injury to the key players. Sehwag, Gambhir and Praveen Kumar were already out before the series commencement. Team India also got big shock in last ODI as Sachin Tendulkar also got injured and ruled out of the series. So problems are plenty for MS Dhoni and this reduces the chances of Team India to win today's ODI. M.Vijay, the another opener who is in team is not in good form and his hghest score in International ODIs is just 33 with paltry career average of 19. Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma are also struggling with their form. Ashish Nehra is struggling with line and length. In first 2 ODIs Yusuf Pathan was not included but he will certainly play in today's game. I feel Dhoni have to drop Vijay and pick Parthiv Patel to open the batting. Parthiv being a left hander and Kohli being a right hander will also create problems for the opposition bowlers in terms of adjusting their line and length to the left -right combination. Also not to forget that Team India failed to play out their entire 50 overs in both the matches and that is also an area of concern for the team's think tank

Now talking about Proteas I believe they have settled opening pair in Smith and Amla. Both Amla and Smith have 50 + scores under their belt in the series and both are in good form. Smith almost won the last match for Proteas as he played superb knock of 77 but dismissed by Munaf Patel at crucial time. However middle-order of Proteas is a big concern because Kallis is injured and both Ingram and Miller failed to create any impact in the series so far. DeVilliers is in good form and that is positive sign for Proteas. I believe Ingram and Miller are definitely looking to cement their place in the side by putting good effort in today's match because this is a golden opportunity for them. In terms of bowling and fielding, Proteas are far superior and stronger than Team India. Trio of Steyn, Morkel and Tsotsobe are in good form and also created lot of impact in both the matches by not allowing Team India to play out their entire 50 overs. Off-spinner Botha also supported this trio by holding one end and bowled tightly in the series. Parnell I feel is the only bowler who did not live upto the expectations so far but he has done reasonably well. 

Overall, I believe Proteas hold better chance to win today's game and also the series because Team India have the confidence but don't have enough resources to back their high confidence. This series is also very important in terms of gaining confidence for next month's mega-event ICC Cricket World Cup. Whichever team wins here will go into ICC Cricket World Cup with great momentum and confidence under their belt.

India's perfect 15 for ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan.

Above are the 15 players on whom five men selection committee led by K.Srikkanth have put in faith to win ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Now this 15 men squad have to carry the burden of billion people's dream of winning the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 for next 3 months.

I feel selectors have picked up near perfect squad and this squad is picked up according to the conditions of sub-continent and thats why selectors have picked up 3 spinners in Ashwin, Chawla and Harbhajan. It is good that this ICC Cricket World Cup is happening in sub-continent and our players will get lot of home support to win it. I feel it is correct decision but to me back-up wicket-keeper is also essential because Dhoni is carrying few finger injuries and if something happens to him during the tournament then I don't think so anybody else can do keeping. In last 2 World Cups we had services of Rahul Dravid but this time he is not around so who will keep wickets if Dhoni gets injured before any key match. I feel instead of Ashwin if selectors had chosen Parthiv Patel then it would have been considered more wise decision. Although Ashwin is very good bowler and deserves the place in the side but we have too many off-spinners now. Sachin,Raina, Pathan and Bhajji can bowl off-spinners, so additional off-spinner is not required.

Over all I feel team is good and I hope they bring glory to the country by winning ICC Cricket World Cup and make our dream true.