From Captain Marvel to Captain Zero...

Entire media is after Dhoni's blood after 6 consecutive test defeats overseas. The same media which called Dhoni ' The Captain Marvel' or 'Captain with Midas Touch' or 'Captain Cool' is now projecting the him as a villain and zero. What a turnaround this has been for Dhoni. But this is the cruelty of life. Faster you climb up the stairs of success, eventually come down at double speed. Dhoni, man who made Indian team World T20 Champion, World Champion in ODIs and also made Indian team No.1 in Test cricket has become the biggest threat for Indian cricket nowadays, according to media.

But I must say this has not happened overnight. It all started with the transformation in the mindset of Dhoni some two years back when he changed his batting style from offensive to defensive and similarly that mindset also affected his captaincy. Dhoni won matches in last 2 years but more with luck and not because of his captaincy skills. I wrote this in my earlier posts as well, that although Dhoni is winning matches but he has become defensive captain and lacks vision. But the damage has been done and now situation is such that if India lose next two test matches down-under then that will end the Dhoni's career as captain.

Team India won many matches under Dhoni's captaincy but he failed to win test series in England, South Africa and Australia. India only won test series outside sub-continent was one in West Indies and another in New Zealand and everybody know that both, West Indies and New Zealand are bottom ranked teams in world cricket. So Dhoni has not done anything special overseas in his captaincy stint so far. We won in England and West indies under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid. But failed to win series in England under the captaincy of Dhoni last summer and lost the test series in shameless manner where England white-washed Team India. We drew the series in Australia under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly but there is no possibility of winning or draw in ongoing series against Australia under the captaincy of Dhoni. So I don't think that Dhoni is extraordinary captain as he made out to be by media and he has become villain overnight for same media. But fact is that zing and buzz we used to see in Sourav's captaincy is completely missing in Dhoni.

There is no denying that India won the World Cup of ODI under his captaincy, also won the inaugural T20 World Cup and became No.1 team in Test matches but one should not forget that the team through which Dhoni achieved these success were built by Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. So giving full credit to Dhoni for these successes will not do justice with former captains whose blood and sweat involved in building this Indian team. Dhoni also lacks the sight of picking up talent. Sourav Ganguly was excellent in picking up talent. If we look at Dhoni's captaincy stint, we will fined that none of the players picked up by Dhoni. Players, whom selectors found suitable got into the team which was not the case with Sourav Ganguly who gave us fabulous players like Zaheer Khan. VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra and list continues. 

I still believe Dhoni lacks leadership qualities and I think Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble were far better captain and man-managers than Dhoni. End of captain Dhoni has already begun. 

Master, Disciple and Double Ton

It was Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 when 'GOD of Cricket' Sachin Tendulkar created world record, hitting first double ton in One-Day Internationals against mighty South Africans at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. No player in the history of ODI format achieved this feat before Master. It is unique club of double ton where Master ruled for almost 19 months but finally his record broken by his disciple Virender Sehwag on Thursday, 8th December, 2011 against depleted West Indian side at Indore co-incidently again in the state of Madhya Pradesh. 'Nawab of Nazafgarh' joined 'GOD of Cricket' in this unique club of double ton in ODI format. 

Well lot has been said about these two amazing records but everyone forgot that after hitting 200 Tendulkar clearly said in one of his interview that only one man can break this record and that is Virender Sehawg. How true Master was in that interview. That's why Sachin Tendulkar is known as 'GOD' because god knows everything well in advance. Now I must say, it is unfair to compare both the innings but I feel Master's inning was much better as he played that innings against world's best bowling attack of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. That innings of Master was chance less while Viru was dropped twice. Master remained not out but Viru got out.  I must say  Master's innings was artistic and all his strokes looked beautiful. Viru played the brutal innings where he butchered and muscled the West Indian attack. It was completely different innings by Viru.

After this innings of Virender Sehwag, entire media started calling him GOD but I believe it is unfair to compare Viru with Sachin Tendulkar because both have different approach to the batting and this unnecessary comparison definitely put additional pressure on Viru. No doubt Viru is master class and he is biggest entertainer in modern cricket and I can vouch nobody will ever match Virender Sehwag in batting, the way he bats nobody today or even in future will bat like him. He simply kills the bowler and their bowling skills on his day. it is impossible to break majority of Sachin's record while it is impossible to bat like Virender Sehwag and that too consistently. Look at Viru's record. When he started his career everybody labelled him batsmen of limited overs game, but over the period, he is more successful in in longer format of the game. His record in test matches is awesome. Every cricket pundit criticised his lack of footwork and technique, but he proved every cricket pundit wrong as he has scored close to 8000 runs in test matches so far with an outstanding average of 53. while in ODIs he crossed 8000 runs recently. He has scored more than 16000 runs in international cricket and in all these, he had hit 37 hundreds which is no mean achievement for a player who relies purely on hand-eye co-ordination.

Talking about Viru, I must say Virender Sehwag always admitted that he is disciple of Sachin Tendulkar, tries to learn from Sachin Tendulkar and I believe he is absolutely correct because Sehwag tries to copy Tendulkar everytime he bats and succeeds most of the time, so Sehwag is real disciple of Tendulkar and thats why he is succeeded in breaking Tendulkar's unique record. Now what else lies ahead, I believe now Tendulkar will certainly look to score another double ton in ODI, i am saying this because knowing Sachin Tendulkar for so many years, he always likes competition and take unique challenges and achieve them. 

So Nobody will be surprised, if Sachin Tendulkar go on and break Viru's record. Difficult but certainly not impossible for a man who has scored 99 hundreds in International cricket. I must say no one else will achieve the feat of scoring double ton in ODI and this privilege will remain with Master and Disciple only, for very long time.

Lastly if 'Tendulkar is GOD of Cricket' then 'Sehwag is Yamraj for the bowlers'.

Team India aims for white-wash at Wankhede

 

After a gap of 4 years, ‘Test Cricket’ is returning to the Wankhede Stadium, a ground which saw Team India lifting ICC Cricket World Cup trophy this year. Third and final test match between India and West Indies will begin tomorrow at this historic venue and Team India will aim for the white-wash.

At the moment Team India is dominating the series with 2 assailable wins and series is already pocketed by Dhoni and his men. So what lies ahead for Team India to achieve in this  final test match. Well it’s a good time to test the bench strength.I think selectors have done good thing by dropping Yuvraj Singh and included Rohit Sharma, who is in sublime form at the moment. Sharma has done no harm to his reputation this season, as he scored two magnificent big hundreds in Ranji Trophy, so it is good time to get him in the playing eleven. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane also deserves the chance but only one of them can be included but for that team management have to rest either Dravid or Laxman which is highly unlike but if it happens then this move will give clear idea about the selection for Australia tour. Kohli got his chance in West Indies as he played 3 test matches their but failed to deliver that time, so it is right time to test him in the final test match before selecting the team for Australia.

Experiment can be done in bowling as well, if Dhoni and Fletcher wish. I think it is wise to give chance to Varun Aaron by replacing him with Ishant Sharma who failed to grab the opportunity in two games played so far. Aaron have the pace and he has already promised a lot during the ODI series against England. In spin department, I think Rahul Sharma must be included in place of Ojha or Ashwin. So good time  for experiment, if team management wants to do. Third test match is equally important for Sachin Tendulkar as well. So far Tendulkar has managed only one century on his home turf in his illustrious career. Tendulkar is also on the verge of creating history. His epic 100th ton is much awaited in cricketing fraternity, as well as among the fans and everybody hoping that it will come in Mumbai, but I think we have to wait till One-Day series because it is highly unlike that his epic hundred will come in this test match looking at his performance on Wankhede in past, so we have to wait for sometime.

I think Team India must try youngsters in this final test match. Look at Umesh Yadav and Ashwin, both grabbed the opportunity with both hands and performed very well. So I think we can trust on youngsters and must blood them in.

As far as pitch is concerned, it is going to be fairly quick at Mumbai as per curator but remember in Mumbai pitch is made of red soil which have little carry initially but from Day 2 onwards it becomes dust bowl and support spinners. Who can forget test match between India vs Australia four years back on this venue. Pitch turned square in that match and troubled the mighty Aussies, so I don’t go by curator’s word and I firmly believe pitch is going to be a turner with little carry initially. Dhoni’s injury scare is also a worry for Team India as he skipped the morning practice session. Let’s hope Dhoni gets fit in time to lead the team at Wankhede.

As far as West indies is concerned they are coming in this match with series loss, so they will definitely try to redeem themselves and will look to save some pride. Second innings of last match must have given them some confidence of how to tackle the Indian spinners. But they have to work hard on their basics if they want to win the final test match. They have very good young and talented batsmen, who can do well but these youngsters have to show application like Darren Bravo showed in the last match. Bravo scored brilliant hundred at Edens and took Windies score past 400 hundred.  If West indies have to  win this test match then their bowlers have to bowl in channel otherwise strong Indian batting line-up will eat them.

West Indies also looks in little trouble as Shivnarine Chanderpaul picked up calf injury in last match and that has not healed yet, so there is suspense on his inclusion in the final eleven. if Chnderpaul don’t take the field tomorrow then it will dent the Windies chances of winning the final test match of the series.

So far this test series remained one-sided, let’s hope Windies give some fight and make the final contest exciting enough to watch.

Team India eyeing series win at Edens

 

Second test match of the series between India vs. West Indies going to start on Monday 14th November, 2011 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Team India will go into this test match with series victory motto. On the other hand West Indies will look to tame the Indian team and will try to level the series. Hence, contest at Eden will become very interesting.

Team India won the Kotla test after conceding the  lead of 95runs in first innings and that must have given great confidence to this MS Dhoni lead team. Openers and middle-order batsmen except Yuvraj Singh had decent outing at Feroze Shah Kotla and got into the form very early which is very good sign. Bowlers did fantastic job for Indian team at Kotla and will certainly continue their good work at Edens as as well.

 Pitch will not be the same, as it was at Kotla, as per the curator of Eden. According to curator, pitch is hard with little shine on the top and will assist spinners on last two days of the test match which will definitely rejoice the West Indian pace battery but remember India also have a very decent pace attack at the moment and that will definitely come into play, if pitch will assist the pace bowlers. Ishant and Umesh bowled brilliantly at Kotla but without much luck, so they will definitely cherish the carry on the wicket. As far as spinners are concerned, I think bounce will assist them as well, especially R.Ashwin, who is tall and definitely use the bounce because of his height.

Everything went well for India in the end at Kotla but there were few jitters which haunted India on Day 2 of the Kotla test especially in batting and Indian batsmen have to be careful in approaching their batting and ensure that no batting collapse happen as it happened in Delhi in the first innings. India also have to plan the wicket of Shivnarine Chanderpaul because Chanderpaul is the man who has scored tons of runs against India and he simply loves batting against India. MS Dhoni and the team think-tank have to find the way to get Chanderpaul out without scoring too many runs. If Chanderpaul fell early then West Indies will not be able to score much runs.

This will also going to be a special test match for Sachin Tendulkar, if he succeeds in getting his epic hundred on  epic Eden Gardens. Epic ton of Tendulkar is much awaited among fans and cricketing fraternity but somehow it has not come so far. Let’s hope this epic ton comes at Eden. I also feel it is right time to try out Ajinkya Rahane or Virat Kohli in place of Yuvraj Singh which will give us fair idea about the new talent as well.

As far as West Indies is concerned, except Chanderpaul none of their batsmen clicked in Delhi and that is the irony of this new look West Indian team. Guys are young and this tour will going to be a good learning curve for these young West Indian players. Brathwaite, Kirk Edwards, Kieran Powell and Darren Bravo looks promising but failed to deliver so far and if West indies have to do well then all these batsmen have to score big runs and support Chanderpaul who is an anchor in this West Indian line-up. I think if West Indies promotes Chanderpaul at No.3, then this will certainly boost their batting because at the moment there is too much inexperience prevailing in that West Indian top-order. If Chanderpaul bats at No.3 then he will definitely guide the young batsmen and help them to score big runs which eventually help the cause of West Indian team but that is unlikely to happen and Chanderpaul will bat at No.5 for sure.

As far bowling is concerned, young leggie Bishoo had shown lot of promise but he has to convert his potential into performance because pitches are very supportive to the spinners atleast in sub-continent. I think if West indies drop one batsmen, either Kirk Edwards or Kieran Powell and go in with additional seamer Kemar Roach, then definitely their attack will look more potent. So according to me, they have to try 5 bowler formula.

Second test match at Eden will going to be an interesting affair as India will look to seal the series and West indies will try to tame the Indians and in between there will be an eye on great man who is on the verge of creating history.

Wait is getting longer and longer for epic 100.

 

The ‘GOD OF CRICKET’ once again missed on his epic 100th international hundred and fell for 76 at Feroze Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi on 4th day of 1st test match between India and West Indies. Wait is getting longer and longer for the epic ton. Master batted beautifully for his 76 runs and increased the curiosity of spectators by playing an authoritative cricket, especially today morning. The way Sachin was batting it looked like he will reach his goal but to his and fans disappointment, he fell well short of his epic hundred while pulling short ball of leggie Devendra Bishoo. Decision looked 50-50 but umpire ruled it in favour of the bowler and great man walked away from the ground to pavillion after putting India in commanding position but without completing his 100th ton. This shows that even GOD can’t get everything when he wants. Now fans and GOD have to wait for Eden Gardens. I think this epic hundred is destined to come on this historic ground.

As far as Indian team is concerned, they regained their confidence of playing test match which was  vanished in the last series against England. Season at home , so far has been good for MS Dhoni and his men as they white-washed England in ODIs and now won the first test match against West Indies and will be hoping to win the next one at Eden Gardens. Although first 2 days belonged to West Indies in this test match which really disappointed the fans but Indian team clawed back very well on 3rd and 4th day and won the test convincingly in just 3 and half days.

Lot of positive things happened in this test match for India as they found new hero in R.Ashwin who single handedly crushed West Indies batting on 3rd day when all were hoping of another disaster in Indian cricket. This offie from Chennai bowled with lot of guile and variation to which West Indian batsmen had no clue and fell like nine pins in their second innings. Indeed it was spectacular performance by R.Ashwin on debut. Now this performance of Ashwin will certainly jeopardies the situation of Harbhajan Singh who is fighting hard to make comeback in Indian team.

Harbhajan have played one game so far in Ranji Trophy and remained wicketless even after bowling 28 overs in the entire match. After such a sterling performance of R.Ashwin certainly selectors will not favour Harbhajan. So now it is upto Harbhajan to do something extraordinary in domestic cricket if he wants the ticket to Australia. Two more test matches to go in the series against West Indies, if Ojha and Ashwin continue their good form in next two test matches then certainly Harbhajan will go out of the schemes of selectors, so either Harbhajan have to bowl brilliantly in Ranji Trophy or Ojha and Ashwin have to bowl poorly in remaining two test matches. in only either of the scenarios. lies the chance for Harbhajan Singh.

Pacers Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma bowled with their best of the ability but didn’t get much help from the slow-low wicket of the Kotla but nevertheless both Ishant and Yadav looked impressive while bowling and given lot of hopes to the Indian team. Finally India found real fast bowlers who can trouble any batting line-up in the world. Both of them bowled  with lot of pace and line-length were emaculate. Both claimed two wickets each in the match. I think if they will get little support from the wicket then they can do wonders. Talking about Indian batting, I think Sehwag made an impressive comeback to the side, scoring half century in each innings of the test. Gambhir was bit disappointed as he got out after getting a decent starts. Rahul Dravid lived upto his reputation and bailed India out of the trouble in first innings by scoring patient half-century. Laxman as always played crucial knock in the second innings and helped India in  winning the test match. For Yuvraj Singh this test match was quite disappointing as he failed to score big runs in both the innings after getting good starts. I think time has come now to try out Ajinkya Rahane in next test match instead of Yuvraj Singh, as Yuvraj got the plenty of chances in a test team but failed to cement his place.

Dhoni’s captaincy was remarkable but he disappointed his fans with the bat as he couldn’t continue with his good form of ODIs in this test match. Overall good test match for India and they will go with positive frame of mind and confidence in the next test match at Eden Gardens.

Team India geared up to face Windies.

After disastrous 2 months in England where Indian team lost its No.1 ranking in tests, Indian cricket is back on track with 5-0 whitewash of England team in the home ODI series recently.  Now West Indies is in India to play 3 Tests and 5 ODIs and Indian is beaming with confidence to beat West Indians. Injured players returned to the side with full fitness and that will boost the team composition further. Induction of few youngsters in the team reflects the thinking of Indian selectors which clearly suggest that Indian Cricket is looking toward future.

It was nightmarish 2 months in England for MS Dhoni and his team but this team forgot that disaster and pulled itself back and now eager to challenge any team in the world once again.  This series against West Indies will give us idea who will be going to take the flight to Australia which is very important series for Indian Cricket. Everybody, from cricket experts to media created hype of Australian tour and forgot the West Indies series, but one must not forget that performance of Team India in the series against West Indies will give the correct idea of how Team India will going to perform in Australia, so series against West Indies is most important. This series is going to be a make or break series for few youngsters like Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, R.Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. If these guys come good in this series then I am sure Indian team will do well in Australia as well.

Rahane, Aaron and Yadav had a wonderful tour of Australia earlier this year with ‘India A’ team and they have the experience of playing in Australia which will going to benefit Indian team to an extent. But before that series, all important series against West Indies beginning tomorrow at Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi. It is important series for few stalwarts as well. Likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj and Sachin are going to make a comeback to the Indian team and they have to play out of their skins to get into the top form. This series although remembered for the long time if Sachin Tendulkar gets his epic 100th century in International cricket. Already there is talk about Sachin’s hundred and that’s the way this series is promoted by the media. But I think it is ridiculous to hype the series on one personal landmark. Such kind of hype will create pressure on Sachin Tendulkar, so according to me it is advisable to ignore this fact and look at it as normal series and leave great Tendulkar alone to achieve it.

This series is also in news because of the exclusion of Chris Gayle from the West Indian team. West Indies board once again ignored the giant  which certainly robbed little bit of competitiveness from the series. Without Gayle, West Indian team looks a club side but one must not forget that cricket is a funny game and anything can happen in this game. Who knows West indies get one more Gayle from this series. Although recent series against Bangladesh has given enough idea to the West Indian team about the conditions prevails in subcontinent and they will come well prepared so even without Gayle they will compete hard, no matter how their team is termed in media. There bowling have little upperhand compared to india because Indian team will go in with 3 debutant bowlers in this series.

Series against West Indies will going to be interesting and Indian team will look to dominate the series and try to regain its lost reputation in this Test Series. On the other hand it is going to be a rebuilding series for the West Indian team. Also I am certain that Indian team will not going to miss Harbhajan Singh after watching his performance in Ranji match against Uttar Pradesh, where he remained wicketless for 2 days.

Important Ranji Trophy Season in the history of Indian Cricket begun today.

Future of Indian cricket will depend largely on this Ranji Trophy season which begun today with 13 games across India on opening day. Now why current Ranji Trophy season is so important for Indian cricket? Answer is simple our stalwarts like Dravid, Laxman and Tendulkar will retire with in next six months or one year probably and Indian Cricket Team will be in need of the players who can replace these stalwarts and take the Indian Cricket forward. Although it is difficult to replace these stalwarts because till date Indian cricket failed to replace Sourav Ganguly, the most successful captain and great batsman of Indian team. But the way few players are emerging from the domestic scene it looks like Indian cricket is moving forward in good way and selectors are also experimenting with the youth and preparing them to take more responsibilities.

Team selection for the series against West Indies is one such step towards the future of Indian Test Cricket. Now who are the players to watch out this domestic season? There are many talented youngsters who will replace our stalwarts in next one or two years in test team. These cricketers are Manish Pandey and Robin Utthappa(Karnataka), Saurabh Tiwary(Jharkhand),  Abhishek Nayar and Rohit Sharma(Mumbai),  Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara(Saurashtra) who made dream debut in a test match against Australia last year at home. Abhinav Mukund and Murali Vijay(Tamil Nadu), Suresh Raina(Uttar Pradesh) and Manoj Tiwary(West Bengal). Apart from these fairly known faces there are few relatively unknown faces will also be under the eyes of selectors and they are Unkmukt Chand(Delhi), Mandeep Singh(Punjab) and Ashok Menaria(Rajasthan). These are the batsmen to watch out this Ranji Trophy season because these players are considered as future of Indian  Cricket as far as batting is concerned.Ajinkya Rahane(Mumbai) and Virat Kohli(Delhi)already selected to play for India against West Indies in coming home series.

Now who are the bowlers and all-rounders who will represent the Indian Test cricket in future. Well options are plenty  in bowling as well. We  have many potential bowlers who will definitely make a mark,   S.Sreesanth(Kerala) is  very young and will be watched out closely by selectors this season. There are many fast bowlers  who are itching to get into Indian team and they are Praveen Kumar, Sudip Tyagi and R.P Singh(Uttar Pradesh), S.Aravind and Abhimanyu Mithun(Karnataka), Deepak Chahar and Pankaj Singh(Rajasthan) and Abu Nechim(Assam) are the major fast bowlers. Talking about spinners well we have quite a few talented youngsters and they are Iqbal Abdullah-Left-Arm Spin(Mumbai), Bhargav Bhatt-Left Arm Spin(Baroda) and Amit Mishra-Leg Spin(Haryana) . As far as all-rounders are concerned Irfan Pathan is the first name which comes to the mind who has recovered well from his injury and looking forward to make a comeback in this domestic season. Apart from Irfan Pathan there are 3 more potential all-rounders are there and these are Yusuf Pathan(Baroda), Baba Aparajit(Tamil Nadu) and Bhubneshwar Kumar(Uttar Pradesh). Fast bowlers Varun Aaron(Jharkhand) , Umesh Yadav(Vidarbha) and Ishant Sharma(Delhi) already selected to play for India against West Indies in coming series. Spinners R.Ashwin(Tamil Nadu), Rahul Sharma(Punjab) and Pragyan Ojha(Hyderabad) have been selected to play for Indian team in a  test series against West Indies.

As far as wicketkeepers are concerned, Parthiv Patel(Gujarat), Dinesh Karthik(Tamil Nadu), Wriddhiman Saha(West Bengal) and Naman Ojha(Madhya Pradesh) will be looking to draw the eyes of selectors this season. Although it is difficult for the wicketkeepers to make it to the Indian team till the time Mahendra Singh Dhoni is there.

So this Ranji Trophy season is going to be important season in the history of Indian cricket as there are plenty of talented player compete hard against each other to get into the Indian Test team and only time will tell how many of them will successfully cement their place in the team after the retirement of our stalwarts.

No scarcity of fast bowlers

 

Batting of Team India don’t have any worry as there is enough talented batsmen available in India anytime. It was shortage of quality fast bowlers which caused lot of worry and raised lot of questions whenever our experienced fast bowler decided to retire. India never had luxury of six seven quality fast bowlers playing in same era. India always had only one quality fast bowler who carried all the load of fast bowling and around him few mediocre bowlers played but never gave enough support. So question raised who is next? Right now Indian cricket is going through purple patch and everything falling in place. India is No.1 in test ranking, won the World Cup, No.2 ODIs, doing well in T20 but only question that haunts among all these success and that is do India have the quality fast bowlers or who is next Zaheer or next Kapil or next Srinath?

Right now India have good young quicks and waiting for their opportunity. First and foremost name is Deepak Chahar   from Rajasthan. He is 19 years old and made his Ranji  debut  this season against Hyderabad and what a sensational debut that was. Rajasthan bowled out Hyderabad for just 21 runs in that match and Chahar was instrumental in that collapse as he picked up 8 wickets for just 10 runs. He is among Top 3  wicket-takers, this Ranji season. His bowling played crucial role in Rajasthan’s first Ranji triumph. He possess lethal out-swingers with good pace.

Another guy who stormed into the scene is Varun Aaron from Jharkhand. He is 21 years old. He is currently India’s fastest bowler. He came into lime-light when he bowled the fastest ball which clocked 153.7 km on speed gun in Vijay Hazare ODI tournament against Gujarat. He consistently bowls at 150+ speed. He struggled with few back injuries earlier in his career but he recovered well and now  known as Jamshedpur express in domestic cricket. Currently he is playing in IPL for Delhi Daredevils. One more shining star from  Jharkhand after Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Saurabh Tiwary.

Umesh Yadav play for Vidarbha in Ranji Trophy. He is 23 years old. Umesh is very sharp and quick. He consistently hits the 145 km mark. His bouncers are very lethal, ask Sachin Tendulkar, who was hit on the  head while practicing against Yadav in nets. He is playing for Delhi Daredevils in IPL. He got into Indian team and toured South Africa last year but did not get the opportunity to play the game on that tour. He played couple of ODI games for India last year. Good prospect.

Ishant Sharma, everybody knows about him. Very talented young bowler, made sensational debut in Australia couple of seasons back. He is 22 years old. He came into lime-light when he troubled Ricky Ponting and picked his wicket. After that he lost his way somewhat and did not play consistently for the country. He missed the World Cup as well. But IPL 4 has given him new life as he is bowling fast and looks in great rhythm.  He picked up his first fiver of IPL yesterday against Kochi where he bowled unplayable deliveries to Kochi batsmen. It looks like he worked hard on his fitness and on his bowling during lay off.

Jaydev Unadkat is more bowler who emerged from Saurashtra. He is 19 years old. He came into lime-light in last year’s IPL when Akram praised him and express high regards for this youngster. He is left-arm bowler. He had consistent Ranji season. He was selected for South Africa tour last year  and made his debut in 3rd test match of the series. Although that outing was not impressive as he remained wicket-less in that game. But he is young and under Akram’s guidance, he will become real force in future.

Abu Nechim, playing for Assam in Ranji Trophy.  He is 22 years old. Another very talented young quick bowler. Abu bowls at the speed of 140+ km consistently with very good line-length. He is playing for Mumbai Indians in IPL and done well at domestic level.

So India have serious bowling talent and this talent is waiting for their chance eagerly. They are raw and quick. Good thing is that they all are under 23 years of age and bowling at 140+ km speed consistently. BCCI have to give them chance in coming series against West indies and nurture them for future as India have to play lot of cricket this year. Currently India is blessed with good fast bowling talent and BCCI and selectors have to blood these youngsters in the team and give them enough opportunity and also support them even if they don’t do well in 2 or 3 games. In past, India never had so many options in fast bowling, but now India have the option and its time preserve these young fast bowlers and help them in becoming world class performers. The country which had scarcity of fast bowlers, now have plenty of them at their disposal but will BCCI give them enough opportunity is a big question because talent is nothing without opportunity.

Confident KXIP will take on depleted Delhi at Kotla

 

Magical story of KXIP continues as they are now in top 4 on points table and what a performance against all expectations. 3 wins out of 4 is commendable achievement for the team which don’t have many stars. On the contrary Delhi Daredevils performance has been under scanner as they lost too many matches. 1 win from 4 matches is not good for the team which has players like Sehwag, Warner, Finch, Morne Morkel and Irfan Pathan.

Today Delhi will take on KXIP at Feroze Shah Kotla in Delhi. Daredevils in all sorts of trouble and their problems have been futher compounded because their captain and dashing opener Virender Sehwag failed to fire with the bat.  Delhi team is much better if compared to Kochi, Rajasthan or Punjab atleast on paper but their performance is not upto the mark. One of the main reason why Sehwag is not scoring, is the shoulder injury which he is carrying for a long time and this injury stops him from playing free flowing shots which he likes to play. So shoulder injury is hampering Viru’s performance but franchisee pressure and big money forcing him to play in IPL. Delhi’s top-order is very inconsistent and it is Venugopal Rao who comes in at No.5 is scoring most of the runs for them. Naman Ojha, David Warner, Aaron Finch, Irfan Pathan failed to make any impression with the bat so far. Delhi have to win today’s game at any cost, it will be going to be an uphill task because KXIP is in winning rhythm. They have to think of promoting in-form Venugopal Rao.

Looking at KXIP, its dream run for them. After loss in their 1st game of IPL everybody written-off KXIP, but what a surprise turnaround by them. After first loss they just kept on winning match after match and recorded hat-trick of victory. Names which were unknown before this IPL are suddenly in lime-light. Adam Gilchrist has done great job as a captain because it is very difficult to win the games with inexperienced and new players. Confidence of KXIP is sky high after 3 consecutive win. Valthaty is the one man who deserves big credit after Gilchrist, because his century against CSK given hopes to KXIP. Valthaty is orange cap holder and it is commendable achievement for any young cricketer. One more ‘Valthaty Special’ is expected today. KXIP now looks like a settled side and they are playing like a unit but on paper Delhi looks far more strong.

Great contest in offering as Delhi will be keen to break the shackles in this match and KXIP will try to continue their winning momentum.

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Team Info:

Delhi Daredevils

Virender Sehwag (Captain), Irfan Pathan, Naman Ojha(Wicket-Keeper), Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav, Venugopal Rao, Aavishkar Salvi, Prashant Naik, Rajesh Pawar, Robin Bist, S Sriram, Tejashwi Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Varun Aaron, Vikash Mishra, Vivek Yadav, Yogesh Nagar, Shahbaz Nadeem (Foreign) David Warner, James Hopes, Morne Morkel, Aaron Finch, Mathew Wade, Roloef van der Merwe, Andrew McDonald, Travis Birt, Collin Ingram, Robert Frylinck. Greg Shipperd(Coach)

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Team Info:

Kings XI Punjab

Dinesh Karthik(Wicket-Keeper), Abhishek Nayar, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Love Ablish, Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty, Shalabh Srivastava, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh, Vikramjeet Malik, Amit Yadav, (Foreign) Adam Gilchrist (Captain/Wicket-Keeper), Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Stuart Broad, Ryan Harris, Dimitri Masceranhas, Nathan Remington.Michael Bevan(Coach

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Gayle Hurricane blew away Knights.

Finally RCB broke the shackles and registered their 2nd win in the tournament. Their gamble of playing Gayle also paid off as Gayle blew away his ex-team by hitting big booming sixes. He also gave befitting  reply to Kolkata Knight Riders and West Indian Cricket Board.

Chasing 171 of Kolkata score, RCB started their innings cautiously. First Dilshan opened his hands and hit few boundaries but once Gayle started hitting the ball, Kolkata bowling looked mediocre as none of the bowlers spared. It was Gayle show all the way as he scored brilliant century which included 7 towering sixes. He hit two of the longest sixes of the tournament as one of them gone 104 mt. far and another gone for 101 mt far.  Virat Kohli and Dilshan also played good innings but both innings over-shadowed by Gayle’s clean hitting. He literally massacred the Kolkata bowling and won the game single-handedly for RCB which was struggling to win the games before this match.

Earlier Kolkata fielded Brad Haddin in place Brett Lee. Haddin and Kallis opened the batting for Kolkata and both provided quick and solid start to the Knight Riders but just when they looked settled Haddin got out out to Aravind. Kallis and Gambhir continued their innings but soon Kallis  became victim of Daniel Vettori. Gayle took absolute blinder in covers to sent Kallis back. Pathan Joined Gambhir and both build fantastic partnership. Kolkata reached the score of 170 plus which looked like winning score on the pitch which turned square in previous matches and forced Gambhir to drop pacer like Brett Lee. Pathan once again played superb innings and scored brilliant half-century.Not playing Brett Lee in this match certainly back-fired.

But 170+ score couldn’t help Kolkata to win the game as the man called Gayle was in no mood to do anything silly and he left Shahrukh Khan with a question, why didn’t you pick me in the auction?  RCB won the match with 9 wickets.

Man of the Match

Chris Gayle

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Mumbai Indians were too good for Super Kings

It was the match where bowling and batting of the both the teams were quite par but it was fielding which decided the fate of this match. Mumbai Indians fielded brilliantly and created the opportunities for themselves while Super Kings failed to grab the opportunities which came their way.

Dhoni won the toss for CSK and put Mumbai Indians into bat. Soon his decision gave him result as both Sachin and Sathish got out within six overs. Morkel and Bollinger bowled one of the best opening spell of the tournament. Mumbai again tried new opening partner with Sachin but  experiment  failed once again. Mumbai Indians are winning matches but they failed to find out perfect opening partner for Sachin so far. They tried David Jacobs, James Franklin, Ambati Rayadu and R.Sathish without any success. Rohit Sharma came in after Sachin’s departure and he had other ideas. He came in and took charge of the situation immediatley and played some gorgeous shot on a pitch which had some help for the seamers. It was Rohit’s brilliant innings which bailed Mumbai Indians from the shock of 2 early wickets. Ambati Rayadu also didn’t last long. But Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds stitched superb partnership and achieved the par score of 164. Bollinger was pick of the bowler for CSK as he kept the pressure on. Albie Morkel bowled well in his first spell of 3 overs. It was good bowling performance from CSK.

Chasing 165,  Murali Vijay once again failed to impress. Raina came and gone without troubling the scorers much as Harbhajan caught him off his own bowling and CSK lost their 2 wickets for 36 runs in 5 overs. Badirnath and Hussey kept CSK in hunt as both scored freely after early loss of Raina and Vijay. But Pollard who failed with the ball took brilliant catch of Hussey at short mid-wicket and opened the gate for Mumbai. Confidence of that catch also looked in Pollad’s next over as he sent back captain Dhoni cheaply who got out unluckily. Rohit Sharma took blinder at third-man to dismiss Dhoni. After that it was all Harbhajan show as he tormented CSK middle and lower order and ended up with IPL career best figures of 5-18. 3 wickets in space of 5 balls decided the fate of CSK. Badrinath played superb innings but did not get enough support from other end.

Finally CSK lost their 3rd match on a trot and Mumbai Indians are sitting on top with 8 points While CSK is 2nd from the bottom. Mumbai Indians also took perfect revenge of their last year’s IPL final loss.

Man of the Match

Rohit Sharma

Stars missing from West Indies tour.

 

 West Indies tour is starting right after the IPL and first T20 game will be played on 4th June. Indian have to play 1 T20 game, 5 ODIs and 3 test matches on the tour of West Indies. Hence it is very important tour and it is the first International tour for the Team India after World Cup.

Indian team is playing cricket non-stop since last one year and this tour of West Indies have also come at the time when Indian players will be completely drained out after playing IPL for almost 2 months in hot Indian summer. So six star players have requested BCCI to give them rest after IPL, these players  Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. So that means India will play with ‘B’ team on the tour of West Indies atleast for the T20 game and ODI series. Except Virender Sehwag, rest of them will feature in Test Series. Virender Sehwag was supposed to go under knife for his shoulder problem right after the World Cup but delayed it, just  to play in IPL. So he will undergo surgery after IPL and will probably miss entire West Indies tour.

Now looking at cricket board and players attitude it looks like playing for franchisees is more important than playing for the country. This clearly suggest BCCI is greedy after money and also forcing players to run after the money.  No doubt Sehwag is a big player but it is not wise on his part to jeopardize his international cricket career for few franchisee bucks. He had the option of opting out of the IPL but he decided to play in IPL knowing that he will miss the entire  West Indies tour which is more important than IPL. So this clearly shows that player like Sehwag runs after money rather than playing for the country which is biggest honour for any sports person. Same apply to the other players who has requested to opt out from the Caribbean tour. BCCI is also equally responsible for this.

Looking at this year’s schedule of Indian team, Team India will go to England directly from the West Indies. After England tour Champions League T20 is scheduled. Right after Chamipons League, West Indies will tour India  followed by England. After two home series Team India will travel to Australia for ODI and Test Series and BCCI is also planning to schedule 3 or 5 match ODI series with Pakistan in October or November. So not a single month spared. So non-stop cricket will continue for next 12 months. Players can easily opt out from the IPL if they are injured but big money attracts them to play in IPL. Its good platform for the youngsters but it is not good for the players who are playing in Team India because it increase lot of work load which will cut short their careers because body also have its limitations and in absence of experience and skillful players National team’s performance will also suffer.

There is one advantage of such busy schedule, youngsters who are playing in domestic cricket and performing well, get the chance to play for the country if senior players opt for the rest. It will be a huge opportunity for the youngsters to perform well in the absence of the seniors and cement their place in the team. So if six of our players not going to West Indies then it will provide opportunities to the players like Rohit Sharma, Saurabh Tiwary, Paul Valthaty, Robin Utthappa, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Deepak Chahar, Manish Pandey, Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, R.Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra. If chairman of selector don’t use his veto power and get the players like Murali Vijay in the team,  then only these deserving players have a chance. So seniors opting out from the West Indies tour can prove to be a blessing in disguise as well.

Too much cricket will definitely reduce its charm and there is saturation point for everything and cricket is also in the reach of saturation. But whom to blame. Players are contracted with BCCI and BCCIs soul aim is to make money at any cost.