Guys! Just leave Virat Kohli alone, for heaven's sake!

Amid an unexpectedly exhilarating test series, notwithstanding the current score-line that tends to suggest otherwise, Indian cricket has indeed witnessed the emergence of a brand new facet of combative leadership in form of its new age hero, Virat Kohli. Arguably the most promising young cricketer of the present generation, Virat, armed with a magnetic persona, an on-your-face attitude and a no-nonsense approach has managed to bring in this refreshing and much needed ruthlessness into the Indian side, that had hitherto humiliatingly suffered in the hands of its more aggressive oppositions time and again, on almost all overseas tours, despite possessing better skill-sets and the best of talents.

At the start of the series when most experts had predicted another 4-0 white-wash, if today we stand at 0-2 (that so easily could have read 1-1 or even 2-0 in our favor with a little bit of luck), a super-aggressive Virat Kohli has a lot to do with it.

Dhoni's retirement under mysterious circumstances, might have taken the focus temporarily away from this Delhi lad, ever so slightly, but there are enough experts out there, busy bombarding a flurry of advices upon him, justifying why his aggression could lead to his eventual down fall, so he should mellow down as soon and as much as possible in order to keep succeeding at this level.

Virat Down Under

Sanjay Manjrekar wants him to let his bat do all the talking as he believes only skills win matches and not aggression. Sanjay likes Pujara’s response more when greeted with sledging. That is, just ignore and go about the job on hand. Sunil Gavaskar repeatedly keeps mocking at Virat’s statement that India would go after whatever target is set. Sarda Ugra reminds Kohli of what Sachin had once said, “Cricket is played not with passion, but with awareness!” (Though I think the choice of words in her article ‘passion’ for ‘josh’ & ‘awareness’ for ‘hosh’ don’t completely do justice to what she meant to convey). Harsha Bhogle too, talking of attitude, prefers the good boy Pujara more than the spoilt brat Kohli. For him cricket is literally the age old gentle man’s game with no room for temper. If the opposition plays the aggressor, good luck to them, we would just smile and get on with our job, however ridiculous it appears. Pretty similar thoughts to Sanjay.

Ignoring all these uproars though, Virat meanwhile has sledged, led, battled and gloriously batted his way past records after records, that were earlier associated with all-time greats around the world. And the good news is, he has done so without making the slightest alteration in his approach.

At Adelaide, it was heartening to see his refreshing approach. The thought of going after a target in excess of 300 on a fifth day pitch would have crossed no other Indian captain’s mind, but Virat is different. He demonstrated that he doesn't mind risk losing a game in order to achieve victory. Not only did he ask his team to go full blooded for the win, he himself led from front by smashing a hugely entertaining yet responsible hundred and almost managed to cross the line for his side. Here is someone who not only talks about ruthlessness, but also walks the talk.

That verbal duel

Now then, why are these experts so much averse to Virat’s approach, despite of acknowledging the fact that he is our best bet to take us to that thus far elusive overseas success? I believe, the answer lies in our mind-set.

No offence to anyone, but we Indians are obsessed with this typical modest, soft spoken, genial understated mannerism for ages. This has got a lot to do with the success of gentlemen cricketers like Sachin, Dravid and Laxman over the past couple of decades. We have been so overwhelmed by these cricketers that we won’t approve of any other approach which we haven’t seen these players adopt.

Over the years, while we’ve taken great pleasure in enjoying a fiery spell of a Wasim or a Shoalb or a McGrath or the swagger of the great Viv Richards, notwithstanding the stuffs that was not entirely skills, we have never come in terms with a similar approach from an Indian.

But that is past. And what we see in Virat is the present India. Gone are the days when a Sachin would just nod to a mouthful from a McGrath. Today’s generation would settle the score there itself.

Coming back to Kohli, he is a naturally passionate guy who gets even more switched on when confronted with verbal duels. That's working for him. Why try and change it? He has fortunately found some support in Ravi Shastri, the team director, who is willing to back Kohli's natural instinct. Sourav Ganguly, Dean Jones and Viv Richards too have all endorsed his approach.

Why can’t we just leave him alone? 

Think Dhoni, think!!!

India’s expected victory against Netherlands has sealed their quarterfinal berth in the twenty eleven edition of the World Cup, but bowling still remains a sore area for them. They have been struggling in this department right from the word go. A weaker team like Bangladesh managed to score 283 against them, while England almost chased down a huge total of 338. Ireland threatened to go big with a 100-plus run third wicket partnership and it took a special effort from part timer Yuvraj Singh to restrict them to 209 with a five wicket haul. Against Netherland, their front line spinner Harbhajan Singh yet again went wicket-less, while Dhoni’s blue-eyed boy Piyush Chawla continued to prove more than a generous host to yet another associated nation.



It’s hard to decipher Chawla’s inclusion ahead of Ashwin, even when Dhoni says that he needs more practice, for I can’t see him taking any further part in the crunch games ahead with his current showing in the three matches that he has played. Dhoni is bang on when he says Chawla’s confidence is down, in fact that would be a gross understatement. His confidence and form has hit rock-bottom, almost to a point of no-return, at least in the near future. At this moment, nameless batsmen from the weakest of sides are looking like Viv Richards in front of him, and it would not take a rocket scientist to figure it out that his rightful place is nowhere else but the bench.

Backing a less than capable player has been the Dhoni’s hallmark for quite a while now. Remember Ravindra Jadeja? He formed part of Dhoni’s scheme of things for more than a year ahead of Yusuf Pathan, and it took a spectacular series of domestic performances on Pathan’s part and international non-performances on Jadeja’s part to save India the misery. In Chawla’s case Dhoni doesn’t have the luxury of time, as we are barely five matches away from the cup, if at all we get there. And if we really intend to get there, Ashwin has to be in. We can’t penalize a deserving bowler (Ashwin) for not bowling leg-spin, and reward an undeserving bowler (Piyush) who is going to feed international batsmen with club bowling-stuffs match after match. Dhoni has to put his thinking cap on, and get it right pretty quickly. We had discussed about his dilemma in a different post, but he stumped us all with an entirely different approach!

I wouldn’t read too much into their batting effort in this five wicket victory though. As explained by Dhoni, it was just an experiment, not only in batting order, but also in style. It did look like they were trying to go after the bowlers to hone their fluency, always aware of the fact that they had the depth to pull the shutters down and cruise to victory in a more traditional manner in case a few quick wickets went down in their quest to oil their big hitting machineries.

Yuvraj Singh helped himself with yet another half century, his third in this tournament and second without getting out while chasing. This augurs well for India. His confidence is on the ascent, and it’s evident in his body language. Make no mistake, he is far from the old match winner India had, at best, you could say he is just about sixty percent of his abilities. But what is heartening is, Yuvi is willing to take responsibility out there in the middle. He is still struggling to get right behind the line, to pick gaps in the effortless manner he used to do, to time the ball as gracefully he is capable of, but all that will come back. As the experts say, the best way to get back there is to spend time in the middle. Seems like he is putting his best efforts there, and the results are bound to flow sooner than later.

We have two more important matches coming up in the group stages, and we would do well to use them to get our bowling attack right before the knock out stage comes up.

A re-evaluation of my world cup favorites

Even though it has come a bit late in the day, I guess it would still be relevant to evaluate my list of teams that I had thought were favorites to lift the twenty-eleven edition of the world cup, even before the first ball of the tournament was bowled. And since by now, we are already two weeks into the mega-event, we do have an opportunity to examine the validity of my initial predictions against some actual performances of the teams featured in the list.

Out of the ten teams that are participating, I had picked three teams in order of their strength, and added another as a dark horse on the basis of its sheer talent at the fourth position. Here are my initial choices, the reason behind, the till date performance and the revised ranking if any:



The Favorite

1. India: This home team was my clear favorite to lift the trophy, primarily due to the batting heavy weights it boasts of in its lineup. Any team which opens with the best ODI batsman of all times (Sachin Tendulkar) and the most destructive batter of his era (Virender Sehwag), follows them up with two top ten ICC ranked batsmen (Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli), then back them up again with two hardest strikers and match winners (Yuvraj Singh & Mahendra Dhoni) and is still left with a fearsome hitter of the cricket ball to come in next (Yusuf Pathan) has to be up there as the team to beat. The fact that all the above guys are in excellent form barring Yuvraj (even Yuvi has shown some early signs of getting back into touch), presents a strong case in their favor. They also have a crafty seam bowler in Zaheer Khan, an experienced off spinner in Harbhajan and some very useful part timers who can do the job in the sub-continent conditions. Hence despite the fact that they lost a recent series in South Africa, I thought, they had to be the favorites here under more familiar placid home tracks.

By now, they have played two matches, and having won one and tied one have already accumulated three points. With two relatively easier games in hand against Netherland and Ireland, their quarterfinal berth should be a near certainty. The only worrying factor is that their bowlers have looked clueless in both the matches so far. While Bangladesh managed to score more than 280 against them, England threatened to hand them with their first defeat in the cup as they weren’t able to defend a mammoth total of 339 in Bangalore. They have to do some serious re-thinking there before any further damage is done.

Hence, in my ranking system, even though they still appear there as the number one favorite, which is again due to their batting prowess and knowledge of the conditions, there is certainly some amount of doubt that has crept in at this point. What if on a knock out match, the batsmen don’t manage to score 300 plus? Still I am willing to give them the benefit of doubt at this stage.



The Lions

2. Srilanka: They are always a force to reckon with, in the slow and low sub-continent tracks and hence despite the fact that they have a relatively weaker middle order, I had ranked them as the second most likely side to lift the cup. To support my reasoning, I have to point out at a decent opening pair in Dilshan and Tharanga, followed by the classy duo of Mahela and Sangakkara and then a smart choice in Samaraweera at number five to lend some stability in the middle order. With the versatile Angelo Mathews and the hard hitting Tisara Perera to follow, they seem to have one of the most balanced sides in the tournament. In Malinga, they have a dangerous wicket taking fast bowler and in Muralidharan, they have that world cup winning experience, who could guide spinners like Herath and Mendis when the situation so demands. How I wish they had picked Jayasuria at least in their 16 member squad, in place of Chamara Silva or Kapugedara! A slightly out of form forty-odd year old Jayasuria is still ten times better than either of the above. The Lankan selectors may have missed a trick here.

Notwithstanding that, and their loss to Pakistan in their group match, the Lions are still my choice as the second most favorite even now. They have already secured five points and with two games against the Kiwis and Zimbabwe, they would probably back themselves to qualify for the quarter finals as one of the top two teams from their group. 

The defending champions

3. Australia: The Aussies, despite of their humiliating ashes defeat, have quickly bounced back with a six-one home series win against their traditional nemesis England and looked quite formidable ever since. The addition of the pace duo, Brett Lee and Shaun Tait, has added that extra spark to their bowling attack, and despite of missing Mike Hussey in the middle order, they are looking every bit the defending champions, if only marginally subdued. They have an invaluable player in Shane Watson, who coming at the top of the order, not only destroys bowling attacks, but also is adept at sneaking away those important wickets as an extremely handy seam bowler. While Mitch Johnson, as a first change bowler, doesn’t provide any respite for the opposition, Jason Krejza & Steve Smith look to form their other attacking option. Alongside the above six specialists, the world champions also have the option of bowling White, Clarke and David Hussey, and that undoubtedly ranks as the best bowling unit of the tournament.

Here again, my evaluation doesn’t change, and I still go with them as my third favorite to win the cup. I hear that they are in the process of getting a replacement for Doug Bollinger, and if they manage to get Mike Hussey, then, in all probability, I would place them ahead of the Lions as my second favorite beyond any doubt.



The unpredictables

4. Pakistan: Having selected my top three favorites to go all the way, I have the supremely talented but extremely unpredictable Pakistan team as my dark horse to lift the trophy. Coming into the tournament, they look a very flexible but strong batting unit and a very balanced bowling unit. In batting, Ahmed Sehzad and Mohd Hafeez at number one & two, Kamran Akmal at number three, Younis Khan at number four, Misbah at number five, Umar Akmal at number six, Shahid Afridi at number seven and Abdul Razzaq at number eight do make their batting look super-strong. In the bowling department, a mellowed-down but controlled Shoaib Akhtar still packs a punch as a fast bowler, and is well supported by Umer Gul and Wahab Riaz. With Shahid Afridi himself breathing fire with the ball, this team has the ability to defeat any opposition on its day.

The only reason why they are outside my top three list is because of their unpredictable nature, which yet again resurfaced & made them fumble against as weak an opposition as Canada, before Afridi rescued them with the ball.

England doesn’t feature in my list for obvious reasons and South Africa, in my opinion don’t have the ability to win three knock-out matches in a row, against three good oppositions, which severely dilutes their chance winning the tournament. This is the very reason why the Proteas have been unsuccessful, despite of looking really strong, in each of their previous attempts.

That sums up my list of probable winners of world cup 2011. But funnier things have happened in cricket, and who knows, a surprise might just be round the corner.

O Brien's Glory, England's Misery

The unlikely hero

Kevin O’Brien’s sparkling innings against England would certainly be up there as one of the best ODI knocks ever seen, for the simple reason that it turned an almost lost match on its head and helped his team achieve the unachievable. Even otherwise, you don’t get to see too many fifty ball-hundreds every other day! At this moment, the impact of this superlative effort is yet to be known in its entirety, but certainly it has the ability to cause some serious headache for England so far as the world cup quarter final lineup is concerned. Not that it would automatically put England out of the race straightaway, but it has rendered all the forthcoming matches for England that much more important.

From here on, England is scheduled to play South Africa, Bangladesh and West Indies, and none of these matches are going to be easy for them. Adjusting against Bangladesh’s slow ball bowlers is going to be as much a challenge as negotiating the quick bowlers like Steyn & Morkel. West Indies too, is running into some serious form and could multiply England’s problems. If England does lose to South Africa, the next two matches would turn out to be knock-out encounters for them. And because they have had a forgettable campaign till now, it only adds to the pressure.

Catching-up time

They have come into this tournament on back of a six-one loss against the Aussies, and done nothing here to get their confidence back. They have somehow managed to scrape through against Netherland, tied a match against India and then lost to Ireland. With two of the relative easier matches out of their way, they have to quickly regroup, if they want to travel any further in this edition of the world cup.

South Africa and the West Indies are sitting pretty with two wins each. Since both these teams are due to play against Ireland, you could safely assume that they would comfortably book their quarter-final berths. India too are playing against Ireland, and that should provide them a chance to secure two more points, and hence a claim on the third QF spot. It would be too much to expect O’Brien to repeat his heroics yet again against any of these sides.

So, in my opinion, only the fourth quarter final spot in Group B is logically up for the grabs and England has to race against Ireland and Bangladesh to secure that.

But then Destiny and O’Brien might have other ideas.

Dhoni’ Dilemma

A lot to ponder over

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a lot to think about before India takes field against South Africa on 12th March 2011 at Nagpur. He has got this unenviable task of settling the demons of his side’s hapless bowling performance against England. Unfortunately, the games against Ireland and Netherland are not going to help him much in finding the right answer, for, theoretically, India could win those matches with its batting strength alone.

But it’s going to be a different matter all together against stronger opponents, during more important matches. If we are unable to defend 339 runs against a team who notwithstanding its Ashes form, is not considered the best of sides in the limited overs format, how are we going to do so against top ranked sides in the later stage of this tournament?

Now, Dhoni has always preferred to go with four specialist bowlers, which he seems to have inherited from the age-old Indian practice that has been prevalent since time immemorial. This is primarily because India never had that elusive all rounder at their disposal since Kapil Dev’s retirement. Occasionally we have had guys like Irfan Pathan, who rather than providing a long-term solution, have flattered to deceive after some amount of early promise. And because we have had to deal with quite a few batting collapses intermittently, we have not been too inclined towards including a specialist bowler in place of a batsman. As a result, we have had to be satisfied with, batsmen who could turn their arm over to fill in the fifth bowler’s slot. And that has worked for us most of the times. But the question to be asked is, how long? It could well be a blessing in disguise that the tied match against England has posed that question right at the outset.

Let us try to answer that for Dhoni:

Option 1: Stick to the same combination, try Ashwin or Nehra in place of Piyush

Experience could prove handy

Now, if Dhoni goes for this option, which looks more likely at this moment, his reasoning could be this - it’s too early to change a long successful strategy only after a single reversal. We must also be mindful of the fact that our field placing was woeful during that match. We were only following the ball rather than being proactive. If we can tie that loose end up, this four-bowlers-three-part-timer-strategy might look formidable yet again. The upside of sticking to this combination is that we are that extra bit protected against the ever round the corner batting collapse, and we would also be able to maintain the on paper mighty look of our lineup. The downside is that, if one specialist bowler has an off day, It becomes that much more difficult for the part-timers to fill in those extra overs. This weakness could be exploited by better oppositions, as we saw in the match against England.

In my opinion, even if we go with this combination, we have to have three pace bowlers and only one spinner, since all our part timers are spin bowlers. In a spinning track, even Yuvraj or Pathan could be as effective as anybody. And in matches like the one we tied, it would be always harder to hit a pace bowler out of the park for sixes in the closing overs. Had there been a seamer to bowl that penultimate over in place of Piyush Chawla, we still could have ended up in the winning side.

Option 2: Play an additional bowler in place of a batsman

Yuvi could be dropped

If Dhoni finally plans to get the balance right by going for this option, a further confusion awaits him here. Who does he drop? Virat Kohli could be a natural choice. But as rightly pointed out by Rajiv during a recent conversation, if there comes a bad batting day, only guys like Gambhir and Kohli are more likely to bail you out of that, not our Yuvraj or Pathan. If today the line up looks strong, it’s because the former two are in red hot form, and hence it would be a mistake to leave Kohli out. Now dropping Pathan would not be advisable because he is a game changer, who could turn a few matches around for you, all by himself, not to forget his bowling. And the fact that he is in some serious form, can’t be ignored. That leaves us with Yuvraj, who is still struggling with the bat, and you would most definitely not pick him for his bowling alone. The matter further worsens when you do decide to drop Yuvraj, because, yes, you preferred Pathan over Yuvi due to the reason mentioned above, but how about Raina? Could you include him in place of Pathan? Would that be better, as he is more reliable than Pathan and is in better form compared to Yuvraj? Perhaps yes. That would give a completely newish look Indian one-day side, which despite of being logical, I am not very comfortable with. Forget about me, it doesn’t matter, but would Dhoni be comfortable? I doubt.

We will have to wait and watch.

Ashes 2010-11 and World Test Cricket

Sweet taste of victory

With a convincing victory in the Ashes over Australia in Australia’s own backyard, England has established itself as a serious contender for the No.1 spot in test arena. England’s coach Andy Flower too has echoed this view, “It’s realistic, and it’s achievable.” Not many would disagree with that. England team has been on the ascent for quite some time now. Right after Andrew Strauss had taken over from Kevin Pieterson, they have gone from strength to strength. With the most balanced test side in world cricket at this moment, they indeed looked too hot to handle for the Aussies right from the word go during the Ashes. In the end the result of 3-1 all but confirmed their dominance. Clearly the better side had stamped its authority over the other.

Perfect Farewell

England’s awesome batting line up, superbly penetrating bowling line up and brilliant fielding unit, both close-in and otherwise, ensures that they start as favorites almost against any side in the world at this moment. Even Paul Collingwood’s retirement has come as a blessing in disguise to this immensely talented side as that was the only position which would be up for discussion at any selection committee meeting. With Eion Morgan breathing down his neck, Collingwood was under serious pressure all the time and it reflected in his recent performances. With him retired for good, in my opinion, Ian bell should move to the number three position (Bell batted at number six in the Ashes, he is too good a player to bat that low down the order) after Strauss and Cook, followed by KP at his customary number four and Trott at number five. Eion Morgan should take up the crucial number six position to make it one of the most formidable batting line up in the world. At seven Mathew Prior would provide the desired impetus, where as Tim Bresnan or Steward Broad would bat at number eight. Number nine is taken by Swann beyond doubt and would have to be followed by James Anderson and Cris Tremlet. Looking at the team, one would feel that such a combination comes once in a life time, as the experts opine, “This is the most settled side in world cricket.” And no, I am not getting carried away by their Ashes triumph alone; I am never bothered by results. I was impressed by how this team went ahead with the task in their hand. They played aggressive cricket right through the series, with a lot of self belief and showed everybody that they are indeed a force to reckon with as far as the test top ranking is concerned. 

The faces say it all 

On the other hand, Australia are reeling at number five in the ICC ranking at present and I truly believe that they are placed at their rightful place. They don’t accept it, as Mike Hussey said a few days back after losing the test series to India, “I don’t think we are the number five side in the world, obviously there is something wrong in the ranking system.”

Well, I agree with him for the second part, that the current ranking system is not the most perfect as it gets, but certainly, it has got it right by ranking Australia at number five. The reason being, England, India and South Africa beyond doubt and Srilanka probably by the skin of their teeth would deserve to be placed ahead of the fast sliding Aussies. Shane Warne was bang on when he urged them to accept that they are indeed at the fifth position, because only by doing that would they strive to improve.

Time for serious introspection

Indeed, Australia has to shed their arrogance in a hurry. Ricky Ponting, if he wants to play for a couple more years, has to let go of the captaincy and concentrate on his game alone. And they just can’t play Steven Smith at number six; he is just not good enough for that position. He can’t be played as a batting all-rounder. They need some drastic changes, may be a near complete revamp. I don’t follow their domestic cricket that much, so can’t really comment on who should be brought in, but all I can say is that the current bunch of players are victims of so much negativity at this moment that they simply don’t seem to be able to move forward. They have been losing almost every match they are playing and that’s certainly not a great feeling.

All said and done, the Ashes, in my opinion, has put things in perspective for two of the top five sides in world cricket. While it has helped the cricket world to sit up and take notice of England as one of the best three sides (even you could call it one of the best two- we would discuss that in a different post) in the world in terms of ability and not ranking, if also has confirmed the Aussies to be at the bottom of the top five.

India wins 5-0 as expected

When Yusuf Pathan said that the knock of 123 not out against the Kiwis might just prove to be the turning point in his career, he was right in many ways, or so it seems. At least history is on his side, for New Zealand has regularly allowed Indians some truly career-transforming moments, ever since I can remember.



Yusuf played a blinder

About a decade ago, on 2nd August 2001, Virender Sehwag played his life changing knock of 100 off 70 balls against the Kiwis, coming at the top of the order. He has not looked back ever since. Go back seven more years, and on 27th March 1994, yet again New Zealand witnessed a young Sachin Tendulkar playing that unforgettable inning of 82 runs off 49 balls opening in absence of Navjot Singh Sidhu, a knock that would re-define his batting position and in turn his LOI career forever. You could probably add to that a hattrick in world cup to Chetan Sharma, or the only one century of his career to the original little master Sunil Gavaskar, or the other 123 to Rahul Dravid that resurrected his one day career, but we need not go that far.

Today, if Pathan feels history may repeat itself yet again, you can’t blame him for sure. But then the onus is entirely on him. What this particular knock has done for him is that, it has allowed him a fresh lease of life in this over competitive Indian batting line up. To say that this knock has cemented his place in the world cup side would be logical, but slightly tricky. That’s because, the timing of this epic innings has made Pathan a certainty for the five one day matches against South Africa, and if due to any reason he fails there, it might just go against him when the wise men sit for picking the world cup squad.



Pathan handled the short ball well

But from what I saw in that knock of his, Pathan was in fact handling the short ball much better than he used to, something that would stand him in good stead while dealing with the likes of Styens and Morkels in the bouncy wickets of South Africa. Also, since all our big guns would be back there in the squad to test themselves in match conditions for the final time before the world cup, Pathan would only be batting only during the last few overs, if at all. That he should be able to manage.

One more demon should have been laid to rest as a result of this performance of Yusuf, i.e. the unreasonable competition with Jadeja for the number seven slot. In all fairness, going by ability alone, this comparison should never have been made, for Yusuf is a game changer and a match winner, where as Jadeja is just an accumulator of runs even though a slightly better bowler. Though both have similar kind of records in international cricket thus far (request Sankara to provide us with a qualitative analysis on this piece of statistics), we need an impact player at the number seven slot, which tilts the scale towards Pathan beyond doubt.



Gambhir lead from the front

Now coming back to the series against the Kiwis, a five nil white wash has given India a very good momentum and self confidence, especially due to the fact that they were able to achieve the result in absence of quite a few regular players.

It has helped Gambhir, Kohli and Pathan immensely, and to an extent Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma have also benefitted from their knocks. In the bowling department, Sreesanth, to my surprise has done quite well and Pathan and Yuvraj chipped in with wicket when needed. Ashwin did justice to the faith that was reposed upon him, carrying the mantle of the lead spinner role with élan, in absence of Harbhajan. Parthiv Patel too, helped himself with a couple of half centuries in as many matches. I am not sure, where he features in the future plans of the selectors, but all credit to him for grabbing the opportunity and showing that he is now a much improved batsman and wicket keeper who can be considered when Dhoni is not playing. Dinesh Karthik has competition here.

Of course, like Sankara, I too would have preferred to give Rayudu or Robin Uthappa a go in such kind of a series, but can’t really complain much especially the way Patel batted and kept.

The biggest dissapointment of the series emerged in terms of Murali Vijay, who despite of a fair run at the top of the order for three matches, could not capitalize on the oppotunity. It is extremely difficult to get your chances in this Indian batting line up, more so, at the top of the order, as we have stalwarts like Sehwag, Sacin and Gambhir in our wings, hence it's absolutely important that Vijay should have grabbed the rare chance that came his way. This was the second time after the series in Zimbabwe, where Vijay was seen wasting the opportunity.

Now the focus shifts to South Africa, where the battle for the number one position in test would take the center stage to begin with, and then to the ODI series, which would, as I mentioned earlier, be a defining series for the Indian world cup campaign.

An on-the-go update on the one day series against New Zealand

By the time this post is published, India has already secured yet another series win over the Kiwis, having pocketed three out of the three matches that have been played so far, and are looking good for a emphatic white wash, given the form and confidence of the opposition.

Kohli & Gambhir have batted well

But I wouldn’t read too much into it, as even Bangladesh had handed the same team a similar result only a few weeks back. That the Kiwis were able to give India a good run for their money in the test series, is entirely the fault of the curators or the authorities who do not have any interest to advance the traditional form of the game, and continue to prepare flat tracks that would help only piling up the runs. The very fact that Harbhajan Singh could treat test bowlers the way he did, proves my point. Mind you, this is not to take anything away from the sardar. He batted extremely well, but the tracks did play their part.

The one-day series has had its own benefit though. It has brought somebody like Gautam Gambhir to terrific form. He looks to be quite intimidating on the crease, and that is no good news for the oppositions. Virat Kohli has helped himself with some good knocks, and Yuvraj Singh too has looked to be getting back to some kind of rhythm. Sreesanth, though not one of my original choice for the series, has bowled quite beautifully and before being rested for the last two matches, has done enough to earn himself a place for the one day series in South Africa.

Sreesanth celebrates a wicket

As I had mentioned earlier, I would have liked to see Yusuf Pathan bat up the order just to let him score some runs and gain some confidence ahead of the world cup. That doesn’t seem to be happening, and it should be ok as long as the lack of opportunity doesn’t work against him while picking a team in near future. Our selectors are good at that, I mean, good in dropping some players without providing them enough opportunity. Not everybody is as fortunate as Ravindra Jadeja after all!

The real test of character is awaiting them in South Africa, and a win there would be invaluable in their preparation for the world cup in terms of confidence and self belief.

A quick update on the 1st test of Ashes 2010-11

And the coin goes up

As I write this post sitting in front of my television, watching the second test in this Ashes series, on this early Friday morning, I experience perfect bliss. It doesn’t get better than this, I think, as there is no better feeling for a avid cricket lover like me to go to bed thinking about the buildup of the oldest rivalry in this great game and then waking up to find Australia three down with just two runs on the board! No good news this if you are an Australian fan though.



Last week saw England walking out of Brisbane holding their head high after a high scoring draw, despite of Ricky Ponting’s tall claims about how the visitors were going to struggle under the difficult batting conditions of the Gabba. Peter Siddle, with a six wicket haul including a hattrick in the first innings did everything to prove his captain right, but Andrew Strauss’s men never felt they were out of the game except for the start of the second innings, when they were staring at a mammoth lead of 221 runs with two and half days to go. But very quickly, the captain in the company of Alistair Cook, wiped up the deficit and then England went on to pile up the runs on Australia in an authoritative manner.

 

Finn claimed six wickets in the match

The positives from this drawn test would be a high level of confidence for England, given the fact that deep down, they still have this feeling of the Aussies being kind of invincible at home To their credit, England played aggressive cricket over the entire five days, despite of being pushed back early in the match by the Siddle-storm, and then by the Hussey-Haddin partnership. But then they knew they blew their chances by poorly using the UDRS, which costed them Hussey’s wicket when he was in his eighties. I also liked the way KP and Trott approached their knocks in the first innings. Even though they didn’t score a lot of runs, they did manage to set the tone for the rest of the match by their positive approach. Pieterson was greeted with a customary bullying, but came and settled like he does, before unleashing some stupendous shots.



Trott in fine form



I had no doubt, KP bats only one way, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the way Trott played. Here is a player who has got a tight technique, knows how to mix the right amount of caution and aggression in his batting, strong on either side of the wicket and most of all is unfazed by things around him when he is on the crease. He lend solidity to the top order of England much like what Ponting used to do for Australia a decade earlier. I can’t really compare his with a Dravid of a Kallis because he unlike the former two guys, doesn’t miss out on any scoring opportunity. Mind you, I’m also not comparing his game with that of a young Ponting; they are as different as chalk and cheese. Only, the effect of their knock could be similar on their sides at the crucial one down position.

I am unable to comment of Ian Bell’s knock for I missed that part of the match, but I am told, his was the most defining innings on day one. He played superbly to pull the England score towards that respectable 260, which kept them in the game.  



A dissapointing Johnson



For Australia, the two most disappointing factors were yet again Mitchell Johnson and Marcus North. Both failed to make any impact in the match and are looking like a burden on their team. As of today, we are aware that Johnson has lost his place to Doug Bollinger, but North has still got another life line in the second test.

It does look like England are a much better side and are in with more than a decent chance of retaining the Ahses, but it remains to be seen, if they can beat the Aussies in their own den. It's gonnabe a long series as Ashes are, and this English side, despite of the absence of the towering Andrew Flintoff, does look capable of beating the Aussies. Much would depend upon how they keep up the already created pressure though,

Much more excitement to follow in days to come! Will update you on the second test ASAP.

My take on the squad for the first two one day internationals against New Zealand

The selection committee

Despite of managing more than a decent job for the most part over the past few months (at least!), the selection committee headed by Kris Srikkanth, keeps on repeating at least a couple of blunders, every time it announces a squad for any series. This time too, it was no different for the first two one day internationals against New Zealand. Let’s try and find out what they have done right, or wrong.

The squad: Gautam Gambhir (captain), M Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Saurabh Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja.

First things first, let’s give credit where it is due. The selectors have done an excellent job by bringing back Yusuf Pathan into the side, which goes to show that they are thinking in the right direction, so far as the upcoming world cup is concerned. To his credit, Yusuf has played a couple of excellent knocks (195 off 138 balls against Haryana and 89 off 42 balls against Gujarat) in the on-going domestic tournaments) and also bowled with purpose(Ten wickets against Uttar Pradesh). We had discussed in an earlier post about his utility in the subcontinent at the number seven position in the Indian batting line-up. Against the Kiwis though, the team management would do well to give him a few opportunities to bat up the order to boost his self belief (assuming he would be picked up for the entire series.).

Gautam Gambhir makes a come back to the one day scheme of things after his injury lay off and this series would give him a chance to get back into rhythm at the top of the order. Murali Vijay Is going to be his partner, which is a really good thing. For Vijay’s sake, I hope that, he grabs this opportunity and scores a few big knocks. There is no dispute in Kohli, Yuvraj and Raina’s selection. Saurabh Tiwary too, deserved to be persisted with.

I am a bit baffled with Sikhar Dhawan’s exclusion though; he was just given a solitary chance against the Aussies and then discarded. This is not going to do his confidence any good. No point picking a player if you are not going to allow him to play at least a few matches to showcase his potential. Dhawan was better off not at all being picked; at least he would have remained positive that way.

Ravindra Jadeja

Coming to the ridiculous part of this selection, Ravidra Jadeja still continues to find a place in the side despite of his indifferent showing in the many matches he has played till now. Nobody in the past decade has found this much backing from the selectors and the team management. Or wait! I get a déjà vu feeling here, was not Ajit Agarkar the blue eyed boy for a long time in the past? He used to be a permanent feature of the side irrespective of his many match-losing performances. We are bent on repeating the same in Jadeja’s case as well. And at least, Agarkar had some amount of skills, which he didn’t use, for reasons better known to him. On the contrary, Jadeja is a clear case of lack of ability. I fail to decipher any apparent reason why he should be persisted with.

Wriddhiman Saha

The second inexplicable case is that of Wriddhiman Saha’s selection, who seems to be a bit of personal favorite of Srikkanth. He had even played as a batsman in a test against South Africa, remember? Agreed, that was a forced choice then, but for limited over cricket, especially when we are in the process of building a team for the world cup, the selection of Saha over Dinesh Karthick is just non-sense. Only a few matches back, Dinesh was considered good enough even as a specialist batsman in the team! Strangely enough, he is out of favor despite his undeniable talent and spirit. I have always maintained that he is an automatic selection, when Dhoni is not there in the playing eleven, irrespective of the format of the game, for I am dead sure, Dinesh even without a bat is a better batsman than Saha, and is not too far behind him when it comes to wicket keeping. And if Dinesh is injured, which is not the case now; the second closest replacement for Dhoni has to be Naman Ojha.

Vinay Kumar

The third unimaginative selection happens to be that of Vinay Kumar, who without doubt is a mediocre bowler, which anybody with the slightest of cricketing sense would know. He proved me right against the Aussies when he was carted all over the park by Clarke and White. Perhaps 22-runs in the penultimate over was okay with our selectors! Make no mistake; he is perfectly capable of replicating that performance any day. To me he is a Praveen Kumar type of bowler without Praveen’s swing and common sense. Would you pick such a bowler even for your club matches? Why not pick an Umesh Yadav or an Unadkt in Vinay’s place, if they are considered such good options to play against the South Africans?

All said and done, if I were to select a playing eleven out of this side, I would go with Gambhir, Vijay, Virat, Yuvraj, Raina, Yusuf, Saha, Ashwin, Praveen, Sreesanth and Munaf. I wouldn’t be too happy with Saha and Sreesanth in the eleven, but in any case would go with them for lack of better alternatives.

Whatever happened to Yuvraj’s test and Laxman’s one-day career!!!

Laxman and Yuvraj are undoubtedly two of the most talented cricketers India has ever produced. If one is amongst the toughest nuts to crack when the chips are down in the test arena, the other makes sure that India doesn’t lose a limited over match as long as he is out there in the middle. Yet, both have a common regret in their careers, that of not being considered good enough for both the formats.

Laxman-Yuvraj in Sydney

As ironic as it is, a super-brilliant batsman of the calibre of Laxman, notwithstanding his phenomenal success in the longer format of the game over a decade, shall never get to play for India in a world cup match, a dream he had nurtured right from the day he had held a cricket bat in his hand. On the other hand, an extremely gifted and highly regarded batsman like Yuvraj, who can send down a few scares to any bowler when on crease, could never cement his place in the longer version of the game, something that is regarded as the ultimate goal of any cricketer. Certainly some bitterness to carry at the end of your cricketing career!

Now, before analyzing the reason, we will have to counter the argument that their individual games don’t suit both the formats. I would defy anybody who says Laxman was not good enough a batsman for the shorter version (one-day matches at least), due to his strike rate, for the simple reason that he was(is) a much more positive player compared to Dravid, who has managed to accumulate in excess of ten thousand runs under his belt in the limited over international matches. Not only that, Laxman was a much more free-flowing batsman and with the kind of wrist work that he possesses, he had got a much better chance of piercing the field as against Dravid at any point of time. He also has six one day hundreds to his credit, most of which he had scored under trying circumstances against the best of bowlers. A phenomenal bowler like Brett Lee pays him this tribute, “I have been playing against Laxman since my under-16 days and nothing has changed. He used to smash me then, and he smashes me even now all over the park.” Steve Waugh paid him yet another after the breath-taking Sydney hundred, “This has been the most blazing stroke-play I have seen in a long long time.” Even though the later  was a test knock, our focus is on the kind of shots that Laxman can play, which makes him an excellent top order player even in one-day matches. And Cricinfo editor Sambit Bal rightly points out that Laxman is the only player who has the ability to play the same ball on either side of the wicket in a manner that would make you believe that there could not be a better shot than what you just saw. So it’s not his game for sure, it has to be something else.

Similarly, if Sehwag can be a phenomenal success in the test arena defying all the logic of technique, foot work or the so called traditional wear-down-the-bowler-over-time strategy, why can’t Yuvraj replicate the same? Again it’s not Yuvraj’s game that is holding him back. What’s it then? Read on, and in case you have another point of view, please put that down here at the end of this post. 

VVS Laxman

Laxman’s lack of success in the shorter format of the game is largely due to his inconsistency in the initial years of his career. He was one batsman who would score heavily in a series and would not go beyond a quick 20 or 30 in another. He never looked out of touch mind you, but more often than not, would play a careless shot and gift away his wicket, at time over doing it beyond the tolerance level of the spectators and selectors alike. His fitness too was not up to the mark those days. The selectors were running out of patience with him, and as it turned out, Laxman’s loss indirectly proved Dravid’s gain. After being kept away from the limited over matches for a good year and a half as punishment due to his over defensive approach, Dravid was kind of cementing his place at number five as a make-shift wicket keeper batsman, and following his phenomenal success against Australia in both form of the game, Laxman was given yet another opportunity to bat at the number three slot. But after playing a few mind-blowing knocks yet again his inconsistency got the better of him. Eventually, he lost out his place in the 2003 world cup squad to Dinesh Mongia, whose only claim to fame was a 150-odd against a lowly Zimbabwe attack. With his kind of limited ability, Dinesh was never going to be in the side for long, and his departure brought Dravid back to the number three slot, which he grabbed with both hands. And with the consistency Dravid showed thereafter, it was hard to dislodge him from there. Then, as you know, arrived younger players like Yuvraj and Kaif, and filled the lower middle order for India. Thus the door was permanently shut on Laxman. So, I feel, Laxman himself is to blame for his failure in the shorter version of the game, where his inconsistency and lack of fitness, coupled with Dravid’s consistency made sure that he was not going to get another look in.

Yuvraj Singh

Coming to Yuvraj’s test place, as it stands today, Suresh Raina is the one who has replaced him in the number six slot, which Yuvraj had earlier managed to inherit after Sourav Ganguly’s retirement. Yuvraj struggled and struggled in the number six slot and finally one fine day, when Raina got the opportunity to bat at that spot owing to Yuvraj’s injury, he grabbed it with a century and a few more strong performances. Yuvraj’s problem lies entirely in his mindset. He somehow can’t seem to take his mind off from the label of an one-day player that was stamped on him by his detractors. He come to the wicket and tried a bit too hard to prove them wrong and ends up being caught up somewhere in between, neither playing aggressively, nor being able to defend with conviction. By trying to defend too much, he ends up ignoring his natural game, which is attacking, and playing a game of somebody else, a situation that any opposition would like to put a batsman into. Then on he becomes a sitting duck for even a part time bowler. His strength is his assured drives of the full deliveries and his brutal pull shots off the short balls. He is the only batsman in the current lot, apart from Dhoni, whom you would not fancy bowling short stuffs. Jacques Kallis, Allan Donald, Brett Lee, Glen McGrath, Waqar Younis, all these fast bowlers have discovered that the hard way. His major weakness lies in his tentativeness outside his off stump at the start of his innings. If he manages to overcome that with a bit of discipline and gets his eye in, he becomes as destructive as anybody you could ever imagine, his high back lift only helping him sending the ball flying out of the stadium. The sooner he realized this better for him. I have always seen him as the Indian version of Kevin Pieterson. Confident to the point of being arrogant, assured on the crease, a rock star in stature just like KP, when in full flow; Yuvraj can just dismiss the bowlers out of their self belief. Any team would love to have an unfair advantage at number six of his caliber.

Unlike Laxman’s one day dreams, Yuvraj’s test career is far from over. With Suresh Raina showing signs of running out of steam, he still can get another chance to prove his true class, only, that would be his last chance.

What Sachin and Rohit have in common....

In a recent post on Murali Vijay, I had incidentally drawn a comparison between the youth brigade of Indian cricket (Rohit-Virat-Raina-Vijay) and the ‘fabulous four’ of the past decade (Sachin-Dravid-Ganguly-Laxman). Even though the occasion was entirely different, I really meant what I mentioned there. I had received some off-line feedback on that article from a friend, which eventually prompted me to elaborate on the topic. While he was fine with the other comparisons, he had kind of taken offence on the Sachin-Rohit parallel. Viewed in isolation, he was quite justified in saying so, but the context in which I mentioned the one-on-one past verses present does need some explanation. In this article though, we would try to address the most controversial comparison of the lot while still touching upon the others just briefly.

Sachin versus Rohit: When I compare the talented Rohit Sharma to the batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, I do not; by any means propose that Rohit is as good a batsman as the little master. Nobody can be, I only mean, if anyone comes even close to be compared with the great man, it has to be Rohit, and logically he is the one who should be batting in the number four position that’s going to be eventually vacated upon Sachin’s retirement.

I have got some strong logic going on this theory, which I have gathered from watching and analyzing Rohit’s batting, and listening to cricket experts discussing the approach of this youngster on the batting crease.

Sachin

If you look closely at Sachin in action, you would be sort of surprised to find the simplest of technique there. The little master just does the basic things right, absolutely no effort to do a copy book act, it looks as if his eyes, head, feet and every part of his body just glide through the motion when his bat meets the ball. How many times have you seen him standing out of his crease to negate the swing, or deliberately trying to move back and across while negotiating express deliveries on lightning quick pitches? Very rarely. Everything just comes automatically to this man. How does he manage to do that so effortlessly? What’s that one thing which separates him from the rest? Certainly not technique, as Sunil Gavaskar, Jeff Boycott and even the contemporary Rahul Dravid undoubtedly are known to have tighter and better technique than him. What sets Sachin apart is the amount of time that he possesses when he plays a ball. He has more time to negotiate a delivery than any other batsman I have seen. Nice and easy on the crease, he is never hurried in his stroke play, executing the most breathtaking shot with the least of fuss. Even the great Brian Lara, with that extra-ordinary amount of natural talent, looked hurried at times. This extra time-factor, coupled with a highly disciplined mind has taken Sachin to a place which others can only dream of. 

And this is exactly where Rohit is blessed. He too has that extra amount of time at his disposal. You would never see him hurried just like his idol Sachin. And this is precisely the reason why he was so successful in negotiating a rampaging Brett Lee on a super quick track in Australia with ease, when everybody else was struggling to find his bearing. That one glimpse of class turned the great Ian Chappell a fan of this young lad from India for ever, as he often asks what a batsman of the caliber of Rohit is doing outside the test team.

Rohit Sharma

Pretty much like Sachin, Rohit too has a simple technique; he looks to plays late, straight and close to his body, right under his nose. He has this lazy elegance that simply oozes class when he is on the crease. Just try and recollect any knock that he has played so far, and you would be reminded of poetry. He doesn’t have the amount of runs under his belt to make people believe in him as yet, but that’s just a matter of time. As you are aware, class is permanent.

Where Rohit lacks is not ability, but application. And he needs quite a bit of that very quickly. So far he has failed not because of short supply of talent, but discipline on the crease. He still features in the current scheme of things only because the Indian selectors have seen what Ian Chappell had seen. But if Rohit doesn’t grab the limited opportunities that come his way with both hands, he is going to miss the bus. Indian cricket is just too competitive.

Now to round it off, we would try to quickly touch base upon the other three comparisons too.

Dravid versus Kohli: I compare Virat with Rahul only due to the mental strength factor. Both are quite different players with Virat being as much aggressive as Rahul is technically equipped. But when it comes to fighting it out there in the middle or batting right through an innings under pressure, both are amongst the best of the best.

Ganguly versus Raina: Natural talent is the common factor here, unless you are mentioning the susceptibility against the short ball, which both these players have displayed. Now, Raina has to manage this weakness of his like Ganguly has done over an illustrious career. The other factor that induces this comparison is that both are aggressive left handed batsmen, who like to stamp their authority on the bowlers.

Laxman versus Vijay: I had already addressed this in a previous post, wherein I mentioned about the sublime stroke play of these immensely talented batsmen. Despite of batting at different positions, they approach the task at their hand with a similar lyrical smoothness that simply mesmerizes the viewers.

To conclude, I must reiterate that all these modern day players have much to prove before their names can even be taken in the same breath as the yester year’s greats, but they certainly have the potential to succeed on the big stage.

And India’s success lies in their success.

A probable side for the ICC World Cup 2011

We are round about ten matches away from the all important world cup and for the first time ever it does look like we have a team at our disposal that matches the pre- cup hype

Unlike the earlier occasions, we now have excellent bench strength which not only makes the management feel secured when team India starts its campaign come February, it also keeps those in the playing eleven on their toes all the time. The fact that the world cup is staged in the sub-continent does have its own advantage for our team, as even a few otherwise good players might look unassailable under home or home-like conditions.

Under such circumstances, it would not be too bad an idea to put together a probable playing eleven and over all a sixteen member squad for the mega event, going by the current form of our players. There are certain players who would walk into the side by their sheer class; there are a few who would do so by form, and at least one that I can think of by his name.

We would go by batting positions as that would give us a chance to evaluate each of the players as per the requirement of the order in which he would most probably play.

Number One: Virender Sehwag walks into this position by talent, experience, name and whatever you can think of. He is ‘the one’ who has the ability to single handedly carry India on his shoulders to the title. Known as the most dangerous batsman of his era, it does not take much time for this destructive player to turn any game on its head, when in full flow. And by making opposition constantly think about his frightful presence on the crease, Sehwag allows batsmen at the other end to score freely without any pressure, till he is out there in the middle. The only negative about this awesome stroke maker is that he takes too many risks and in the process provides that many opportunities to the opposition to claim his wicket. But all said and done, with the kind of impact he makes, he is the most automatic choice for any side in any type of match irrespective of its nature. Hence, without any dispute, he plays in our team at the number one position.

Number Two: This position belongs to the little master Sachin Tendulkar by his choice. And his choice is our choice with pleasure. He is in the form of his life, even otherwise, twenty years of experience is just mind boggling. His name alone could elevate any side to an entirely different level both mentally and otherwise. We are fortunate to have the master in our side and his name does send down a few scares to all the oppositions. He can bat through the innings, attack or defend at will or just control the game with his mere presence out there in the middle. I would prefer him to play right through though, as that would keep the advantage with India all along, what with all the destructive players coming in at the other end. So no dispute here as well for the number two position.

Number Three: This has got to be the most controversial position in terms of selecting a batsman. Ever since Rahul Dravid has(read has been) stopped playing limited over cricket, this position has been up for grabs and a number of players have batted here with varied amount of success. Of late, an automatic selection into the side, Gautam Gambhir had made this position his own, as he didn’t get to open due to the presence of Sachin and Sehwag in the lineup. Batsmen like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina and sometimes captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has also batted in this position. My vote though, would go to Virat Kohli as he is one of the most talented young players India has in the recent times. He is aggressive, he has got a tight defense and more than that he has got the ability of batting under pressure. This might look a bit unfair to Gambhir, but Virat to me comes into this side as much due to his mental strength as his undeniable talent. Gambhir is just an excellent back up for the opening slot, in event of injury to Sachin or Sehwag. 

Number Four: Who else can bat in this position when Yuvraj Singh is fit? He has been a clear match winner for India at number four for many years now and we all know what kind of impact he could make to the lineup. He just has to get back his confidence in the forth coming ten matches before the world cup. This is yet another position which has got no dispute to it with Yuvraj sealing it easily with his sheer heroics over the years. He has got unbelievable respect of all the oppostion, something he thoroughly deserves. When in full flow, he is truely a sight to behold. The fact that he has been around for close to a decade now, is another fact that can't be ignored. From whatever we have seen of him in the solitary match against Australia, he looked tremendusly hungry and determined and that augurs well for India's world cup campaign.

Number Five: This position goes to the prodigious Suresh Raina for the kind of talent he brings into the side. Here is a batsman who can play freely, take up the role of a Virat Kohli or a Yuvraj Singh depending upon the requirement, can bat during the power play or slog overs, clear the field with the most amazing shots and most importantly can change a match in five to ten overs. Even the critisism that he doesn't handle the short stuffs well enough can't be held against him in the sub-continent pitches, as here, he is not going to get that many short-pitched balls. He is quickly proving to be yet another match winner for India in the shorter version of the game.You could argue that Dhoni should bat at this position, but then I feel Dhoni could bat at any position, when not batting at his customary number six position.

Number Six: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has looked to bat at this position of late and in probability, will continue to do so as a rule. He is a batsman who can both be aggressive and defensive, can control the game much like Sachin, and most importantly can provide a sense of security to the dressing room. An excellent reader of the game, it only helps that he has the coolest head on his shoulders. He also plays the role of a floater to the perfection, who can bat at any position, when the occasion so demands. This is going to be his first world cup as the captain and expectations are certainly going to be sky high. But Mahi, being Mahi, has never allowed any pressure to get to him or his team, which in itself is a tremendus achievement. He has already been proved to be one of the most successful captains India has ever had, and a victory in the world cup would be just about perfect.

Number Seven: Undoubtedly the most difficult position to fill in, India has perhaps too little options here. Ideally a side needs a genuine all-rounder at this position, which India has been struggling to unearth ever since Kapil Dev hung his boots. Utility players who could do a bit of everything have not been good enough in the international scene as we have noticed in the past. We have tried Robin Singh, Sanjay Bangar, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Abhishek Nayar to fill in that slot over the past decade, but Robin was the only one who at least looked like a temporary solution. Others have been far from it. Recently, the team management has backed Ravindra Jadeja for quite some time, to bat at that position, without realizing that the lad is not ready for such a task. At best, Jadeja is a push-and-run player who can succeed only in first class level with the amount of batting talent he has. Dhoni seems to have taken Shane Warne too seriously when he called Ravindra the ‘rock star’ of Rajasthan Royals.

In my opinion, the best man for the job out of the limited options that we currently have could have been Irfan Pathan, who could have provided the much needed fifth bowler option and a more than useful lower order bat, who had the ability to handle the pressure of international cricket. By not selecting him, we are not only demoralizing him, also doing tremendous injustice to Indian cricket.

Since due to some inexplicable reasons Irfan can’t be picked in the side, we must pick his brother Yusuf Pathan in this slot, as we are playing the world cup in India, where the conditions are going to suit his kind of stroke play, and this powerful striker has the ability to clear any ground on his day. Also, Yusuf does provide the option of batting a bit up in the order when spinners are operating. He can even chip in with a few overs to fill in that fifth bowler’s slot, doing almost a similar job with the ball as Jadeja does. To be fair to him, he has not been given a decent run in the side, considering the complexities that come with the role.

More than anything else, he is a far better choice over the can’t-bat-can’t-bowl Ravindra Jadeja.

Number Eight: This position goes to the most experienced spinner of India, Harbhajan Singh. He has hardly done anything great of late, but experience can’t be ignored. And we don’t have too many choices as well. The only competition you can think of for this sardar is Ashwin, who can also be a decent batsman, but when the stage is as big as the world cup, your number one spinner has to be there in your side. Guys like Piyush Chawala don't even come close to be in a second string side, so Harbhajan make it in our team by the sheer strength of his experience. Harbhajan’s ability with the bat too seals the position in his favor, beyond any kind of doubt whatsoever. Of course, as you are goiug to find later, we shall have Ashwin as a back up for this sole specialist spinner in the side.

Number Nine: Zaheer Khan, one of the best quick bowling options that India has, walks into this position. He is everything that a captain needs as his bowling spearhead. Zaheer bowl with a probing line, provides early break-throughs, contains runs, comes back in a second spell to break partnerships to hand India the advantage. He guides the junior fast bowlers and takes off a lot of responsibility from Dhoni's shoulders. His ability to reverse the old ball comes in handy in Indian conditions. The only thing that has been missing in his armory has been that potent yorker that was his main strenght when he broke into the Indian team as a rookie pacer. But he more than makes up for it with his variation of pace and length. He has been amazing over the past few years and there need not be any debate here.

Number Ten: Ashish Nehra, too, seems to have done enough in the recent past to grab this position, due to his ability and experience. He has been excellent for the past one year or so and it would be really difficult to ignore him. Ever since he started to get back his rythm bowling for the Mumbai Indians, he has pretty much looked the potent bowler of the past. The fact that he was one of our main bowlers alongside Zaheer in the 2003 world cup where India made it to the final, also makes a strong case in his favor. In recent times he has spearheaded the Indian pace attack, whenever Zaheer has been out of the side due to either injury or was given rest to manage work load. Nehra has accepted this challenge and has come out with flying colors.

Number Eleven: We have to choose between Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel for this position and we would stick to Ishant to start with, more due to the steely resolve that we saw in his character in the recent Mohali Test. He is a handy customer to have, when he is disciplined and this is something he seems to be working on. We have been hearing a lot of positive feed back about Ishant of late, and even if a part of that is close to true, we have a much improved fast bowler in our side. Even otherwise, he is the only one bowler we have who could be called a fast bower in its real sense and it worth a risk to have him. In event of his leaking runs or proving ineffective, we will have back up in Munaf Patel, who could be brought into the side.

That completes the playing eleven. We have seven batsmen and four bowlers in the line-up. As has been seen in the past, the fifth bowler’s quota has to be shared between the part timers. In this eleven, we have Yusuf, Yuvraj, Raina and Sehwag who could share the work load. In spinner friendly conditions of the sub-continent, they should prove more than sufficient for the job.

Having selected the playing eleven, the next task is to select five back up players. That doesn’t look too difficult though. Gautam Gambhir, who could not find a place in the first eleven walks in here in strength of his invaluable experience, whereas Rohit Sharma comes in as a back up to the middle order due to his class. We need to have Dinesh Karthik as the backup for Dhoni, who could also be used as a batsman at any position. A spinner in Ashwin and a medium pacer in Munaf Patel would complete the lineup.

One could notice a couple of important omissions here. Murali Vijay is one such batsman who has performed superbly in the recent past, but Gambhir’s experience and Dinesh’s wicket keeping are too hard to ignore, especially when both these guys can be played as openers. Similarly, Praveen Kumar might look another notable omission, but to me, he is a very hittable bowler in Indian conditions. He is good when the ball does move around, which is rarely the case in India.

Well, that, in my opinion, is arguably the best line up that we can field for the forth coming world cup and I’m sure we are not going to see too many deviations from this list when we do see the actual squad being announced.

We just hope, all of them are fit at the end of the South African series