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.

Lord once again hurt India

 

While I am writing this post, the epic test match is in anti-climax stage and climax is more or less certain unless some drama happens before that, in anti-climax.

The first test match of 4 test match series between India and England got underway  on 21st July and four days are over with home team enjoying the distinct advantage while visitors are struggling hard to save the test match. This epic test match saw brilliant display of batting from Matt Prior, Kevin Pietersen and Rahul Dravid, as both  Dravid and Pietersen got brilliant hundreds on a testing surface, brilliant bowling spells from Praveen Kumar, Stuart Broad and Ishant Sharma. Misery of  great Tendulkar continued at this ground as he failed to cross the thirties on this very venue one more time and century on this ground is still far away from him.

If we talk about England I think they batted in tough conditions and also bowled in batting friendly conditions, while Indians got the best batting conditions to bat and best bawling conditions to bowl but failed to take advantage of that and England turned the tide in their favour by battling it out in tough conditions. But Indians were unlucky to lose its premier fast bowler Zaheer Khan on the first day due to injury and other 3 bowlers failed to make any impact on Day 1. Dropped catches of Trott and Pietersen also aggravated the wounds of Indian bowlers and it is pity that, captain who dropped those chances. So far in this match captain Dhoni dropped four crucial catches and India paid dearly for that.

Tactics of Indian captain in the field were also far from the reality so far. When Ishant was bowling well on Day 4, he didn’t continue him after lunch and that’s where match slipped from the hands of India. Mistake even became more visible when Ishant returned with new spell and immediately picked up the wicket of Eoin Morgan which clearly showed that, had Ishant bowled just after lunch India must have got into the comfortable position and could have thought of winning the match but Dhoni failed to take advantage of the moment.

Moreover, in first innings Dhoni batted for 102 balls and scored just 27 runs and didn’t force the issue, as if he was out there to save the test match in first innings of the game. Had Dhoni played his natural game, Indian would have reached closer to the English score in first innings but Dhoni kept playing defensively and finally got out to he new ball. Dhoni used these defensive techniques in his batting many times but he failed often while playing defensively. He has to understand that, he is not technically sound as Rahul Dravid, so he has play his natural game and score runs which will help Indian team in winning more test matches. We all saw when wickets were falling Matt Prior played his natural game and got his team out of the trouble by scoring brilliant hundred. Dhoni has to learn that. Also there is saying offence is the best form of defence.

In the past few matches, Dhoni’s wicket-keeping standard has gone down considerably and he is out of form in batting as well. We all know, how capable Dhoni is, with the bat but only when he play his natural game. I think time has come, when Dhoni have to think about his batting and have to accept the fact that he is not a technically sound batsmen and have to play his natural game under any circumstances and I can vouch, if he will play his natural game he will certainly score more runs in his test career and if he try to kill his natural instincts then I am afraid he will not survive much in the highest format of the game for too long.

So India is on doorstep of defeat at Lords and tough times ahead for Dhoni and his team which is also struggling with disease and injuries to its premier players.

Litmus test ahead for Dhoni and his men

 

After reasonably successful Windies tour Team India is confident of doing well in upcoming series in England. Although Team India won both ODI and Test Series in West Indies but that win is not emphatic enough considering the huge gap of ranking between the two teams. India, the No.1 ranked team expected to win the series with either whitewash or at least 2-0 but they won it by 1-0 which is not considered substantial win considering  the weak opposition and sub-continental like conditions. Although win is win.

Now Indian team will face the English challenge and this tour will establish Indian team’s supremacy in world cricket, if they will win this series and victory in English summer will certainly clears all the doubts over Team India’s ranking, which has been raised by various cricket experts world over. But series is not going to be easy as England is deadly dangerous in their own backyard, also they are confident side after five series win in a row which includes victory over Australian team in famous Ashes series down-under.

So stern test ahead for Dhoni and his men.From West indies tour India gained few things and one of them is the bowling. Before this West Indies tour there were doubts about Indian bowling especially in fast bowling department but those doubts are clear now and India have good fast bowlers in Ishant Sharma who grew in stature after this Windies tour, debutant Praveen Kumar impressed in batting friendly conditions and Munaf Patel also played his role. So as Zaheer Khan returned to the side,Dhoni have the option of going in with 3 quality fast bowlers and in helpful conditions of England Indian bowlers will certainly do wonders especially Praveen Kumar who has given born to lot of expectations because of his special swing bowling. So if England prepares the bowling friendly wickets then their batsmen will also go through the big test against the Indian seamers.

As far as batting is concerned, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman are in good form but return of maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who is in sight of his 100th ton in International cricket and opener Gautam Gambhir will certainly boost the batting of this Indian team. Form of Raina is also good and it will going to be a difficult choice for Dhoni to go with Yuvraj or Raina. Sehwag will join the team in 2nd or 3rd test match depending on his fitness and that will further boost the Team India’s batting but for one man this tour will going to be a very important and that man is Abhinav Mukund who had disastrous debut in West Indies but came back well in 2nd and 3rd test and hence earned the berth for England tour. If Mukund will play well in first two test then it will certainly boost his confidence as well as India will also get the new solid batsmen who will easily take the place of Rahul Dravid after his retirement.

So exciting series in prospect and Indian team have to play out of their skin to beat England in England and it will not going to be easy but also not impossible as Indian team defeated England last time when they toured under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid. India can take inspiration from that tour and that will definitely make their job easy.

Talking about success of the Indian batsmen, well they have to play  the deliveries late in English conditions and that is the only mantra to score big runs in this series. Remember No.1 ranking is on stake for Team India and win on this tour will going to shut the mouth of every person who doubts India’s No.1 ranking status on Test Cricket. Dhoni has not lost single test series so far in his career as a captain, so his reputation of no series defeat is also on stake.

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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