Can this team win the next world cup down under?

A simple answer to the question is yes. This team has that tenacity to do well in adverse conditions as they have shown in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. I do not think any Indian team has managed to win all the matches of a particular ICC tournament. There was an argument in sections of media that this team might be better than the one which won the World Cup in 2011. I think there is merit in this argument.

If you think about the heroes of 2011 World Cup triumph, a certain Yuvraj Singh will come straight to the mind.  He ended up with the Man of the Series award in the premiere ICC tournament. Zaheer Khan who finished up being the joint highest wicket taker alongside Shahid Afridi. Gautam Gambhir who narrowly missed being the Man of the Match award in that World Cup final played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Virender Sehwag who has been the fear factor for last so many years for the opposition bowlers. Harbhajan Singh, the turbanator, picked up the crucial wicket of Umar Akmal in the Semi final to turn the match in India’s favor. Does India miss these set of players anymore? I think not.

Let’s look at the guys who have replaced these yesteryear stars. Shikhar Dhawan is fast developing the reputation of instilling that fear factor for the bowlers around the globe. It only augurs well for Indian cricket. Rohit Sharma once again showing the kind of talent and skills he possesses with amassing 177 runs in 5 innings. He was overshadowed by the free flowing southpaw from Delhi who aggregated 363 runs in as many innings. Virat Kohli, the vice captain, collected 176 runs to continue his good run of form. These 3 players were in the list of top 5 run getters in the competition which has been a huge factor in avenging the short ball threat which was omnipresent in the minds of erstwhile players. All of these are terrific cutters and pullers of the ball emphasizing the importance of employing the horizontal bat shots to good effect.

Ishant Sharma often gets clobbered around in the final stages of a one day innings simply because he doesn’t have an effective yorker in his repertoire. Despite that he grabbed 10 wickets in the series with his nagging length and high arm action. He along with Ravindra Jadeja made the list of top 5 wicket takers in this edition of the event. Who would have predicted this at the beginning of the Champions Trophy? Jadeja was adjudged Man of the Match for his all round show with the bat and the ball. He has come up leaps and bounds in the shorter version of the game and he has the backing of the captain too. He became the highest wicket taker with 12 wickets at an average of 12.83 and economy rate of 3.75. He also contributed with the bat against South Africa in the closing stages of the innings as he did in the final against England. Astonishing feat indeed when you think that he was the only bowler to grab a five wicket haul in the entire tournament.

This win has come without any significant contribution from the skipper M S Dhoni. It is also a big plus as it tells the other teams that this team is a serious contender for the World Cup title down under in 2015. He now has the distinction of being the only captain in the world to have won all ICC trophies. The selectors also need to be congratulated for their foresight and fearless approach. Keeping in mind, the pace and bounce of the Australian pitches, the selectors will be well advised to make sure that the fast bowlers are given enough rest in between tours to keep them fresh for the Kangaroo sojourn as they are crucial cog in the wheel for that particular event. For now though, well done to Team India.

Brown Washtralia

First, congratulations to M S Dhoni and his team for putting up a pulverizing performance against the mighty Aussies. Secondly, I think we need to congratulate Sandeep Patil & Co. who seem to have managed to muster a lot of courage in taking some bold decisions after the catastrophe of losing at home against England. They dropped Zaheer Khan at the end of the series against England. That was the sign of things to come for the non-performers. They showed the door to Gautam Gambhir at the start of the series against Australia. And on the top of that, Virender Sehwag was also axed during the ongoing series after taking the lead of 2-0. That sends a strong message to the team that they will either perform or will perish.

Let’s look at the new faces that were brought in to replace some of the experienced players. Although Murli Vijay is not entirely new but he ended up at the top of the list of run getters in the series with 430 runs in 4 matches. He showed lot of maturity during his two hundreds at Hyderabad and Mohali. His leg side play reminds me of Mark Waugh who always relied on silky touch rather than brute force. If anything, he needs to tighten up his defensive technique as it will be tested in India’s next assignment in South Africa. He tends to hang back a lot and doesn’t come fully forward when the ball is pitched slightly further up.

Ravindra Jadeja is renowned as ‘million dollar baby’ on IPL circuit but he showed that he can be good enough in the longest version of the game too. This was second series for him and he had the backing of his skipper. He did not let him down or the selectors for that matter as he performed admirably with the ball in this series. He managed to take 24 wickets in 4 matches at an average of 17.45. I think he will be saying to his team mates that Michael Clarke is his bunny after dismissing him 5 times out of 6 innings. Not only did he bowled well but also fielded well. Keeping the long term interests of the team in mind, Dhoni would love if he becomes a full-fledged all rounder so that he can become a permanent fixture in the line up.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was a debutante at the start of this series but he used his domestic experience to good effect on these unresponsive pitches. He swung the Mohali test India’s way with his triple strikes. He also provided the initial break-through in Hyderabad test and went on to take 3 wickets on what appeared to be batting wicket. He also quite capable with the bat as he showed in that partnership with his captain when Dhoni was going great guns in Chennai. It will be interesting to see how he goes in pacer friendly conditions in South Africa. He looks like a bowler who will not compensate swing for speed but sometimes at the highest level you need combination of both to make inroads in the opposition batting line up.

Shikhar Dhawan is a household name by now. He batted like a man possessed. In many ways, that knock of 187 at Mohali reminded viewers of Sehwag. If anything, Shikhar Dhawan looks to have a better footwork than his more illustrious team mate from Delhi. Such was his dominance that Allan Border, former captain from Australia, had to ask his fellow commentators, “Where were the Indian team hiding this young left hander”. It was the fastest century by a debutante which says it all.

Finally a word on Ajinkya Rahane. He got his chance after warming the bench for 18 months. He was slightly unlucky that he got to make his debut on a 3 day wicket. He could not score much on a pitch where spinners were ruling the roost but everyone knows what he is capable of. He should get more chance to shows his mettle. The selectors need to be lauded for their effort. They seem to have the right approach.

Selection Dilemma

The selectors have decided to go back to veteran off spinner Harbhajan Singh again. It will be 100^th match if he is part of the final eleven and a second come back in less than a year. The selectors are not to be blamed for this one as there are hardly any new spinners on the horizon. Mumbai won the Ranji trophy yet again but there were not many five-for achieved by the spinners during the course of the premier domestic tournament in the country.

The advent of T 20 cricket seems to have had an adverse effect on the mind-set of the spinners. They wait for the batsmen to commit an error in the limited overs cricket and the same mentality is affecting the way they bowl in the longer version of the game. How many times do we see them deceiving the batsmen in the air these days. It’s an art long forgotten. Look at the way Parvez Rassol has performed with the use of the flight. He grabbed the headlines by picking up 7 for 45 against the Aussies on the opening day of their match against Board President’s XI.

In a move that is bound to send strong message to the players that non performer will not be spared by the selectors. Gautam Gambhir has lost his place in the squad. He has failed to reach three figures in his last 26 matches. Wasim Jaffer has been overlooked again and it appears that the door will remain closed for him as he is not getting any younger at 34. It will be little surprising if Shikhar Dhawan makes it to the playing eleven as M Vijay was part of the squad that lost to England not too long ago. Virender Sehwag is also facing the heat because of the indifferent form he has shown right throughout the season. Ajinkya Rahane may not be a bad choice for the openers slot should any of the others fails.

As far as middle order is concerned, Pujara has cemented his place with superlative scores under his belt. It will be his first series after getting married and the fans will be hoping that he continues his run of good scores. Sachin Tendulkar will be raring to go after his exploits in the domestic tournaments. Virat Kohli will be looking to replicate his performances of 2011 and 2012. The skipper, M S Dhoni, appears to be a different batsman in the test matches. Bowlers don’t fear him in test matches as much as they do in shorter versions of the game. Perhaps, it is time for somebody like Duncan Fletcher to remind him about the kind of skills he possesses. It will not be a surprise if Fletcher’s contract is not renewed as he has failed to resurrect the techniques of the batsmen especially on overseas tours.

Coming back to the team selection, Ravindra Jadeja gets another opportunity to showcase his all-round abilities. Pragyan Ojha will be handling the responsibility of bowling the bulk of the overs along-side R Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh. The fast bowling attack looks to be in shambles with the unavailability of the likes of Umesh Yadav & Varun Aaron. Ishant Sharma will share the new ball with Ashok Dinda most probably. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar gets rewarded for his good showing in the One dayers against Pakistan as well as England.

Both India and Australia are going through a transitional phase with quite a few of the players having retired. It will be interesting to see how the Aussies employ their fast bowling resources on this tour. It promises to be a great series. May the best team win.

Farewell Time

Sachin Tendulkar has announced his retirement from One day international cricket. We will no longer see him in India blues, but the little master, as he is affectionately known in the cricketing world, will continue to be seen in whites in the longest format of the game. It was way back in 1989 that he arrived on the scene as a child prodigy, under the captainship of Krishnamachari Srikkanth, and made a mark in an exhibition match by hitting Abdul Qadir out of the park.

Not many know that Sachin had gone for the MRF pace foundation camp as a cricketer wanting to bowl fast but he was rejected by none other than Dennis Lillee. But he was more than useful with the ball as he has shown on many occasions during his illustrious ODI career.  In 1991-92 tri-angular series down under, he was handed the ball with only one wicket remaining. He got the wicket of Cummins and match ended up as a tie. In front of 100,000 spectators, he showed plenty of guts by asking his skipper to give him the ball in the famous Hero Cup semi final at Eden Gardens against South Africa which was also the first Day Night match at the venue. He conceded just 3 runs from 6 balls and helped India go through to the final. And in the final of that 1993 Hero Cup, Saching again did the trick for his captain by removing Brian Lara’s off stump.

He got his first chance as an opener in a match at Auckland in 1994. Waking up early, Indian viewers were pleasantly surprised to witness that innings of 82 runs which came in 49 balls. It was also the year in which he made his first ODI hundred against the mighty Australians at Colombo. Then came the world cup in 1996 where he showed tremendous form right throughout. In the semi final of that tournament, he gets stumped chasing a total of 250 odd with scorecard reading 98-2. Within seconds, the score becomes 120-8.

Over to Sharjah in 1998, India were on the verge of being thrown out of the series and Sachin comes to their rescue with a scintillating knock of 143 in 131 balls versus Australia and helping India to go through to the final. Even a desert storm could not stop him during that day such was his dominance. In the final, on his birthday, chasing a stiff target, he scored a well compiled hundred. That year was special for him, more so because he got invited to meet Sir Don at his home in Adelaide. Another match, this time in Dhaka, against his favorite opposition Australia, he comes up with a performance of 141 runs with the bat and 4 wickets.

2003 saw him getting the Man of the tournament for his superlative performance in the world cup but he couldn’t fulfill his dream of lifting it. Four year later, in the next edition of the ICC event, India got knocked out in the first round, bringing him to tears. Then came the Commonwealth Bank series in Australia, where he batted marvelously in both the finals to help India win the series in Australia for the first time. One more gem came against Australia, this time in Hyderabad, chasing a mammoth target of 350. He almost single-handedly took India to the brink of victory with an innings of 175 which made Mark Taylor, the former Aussie captain, feel that Tendulkar has had a rebirth.

This piece will be incomplete without mentioning that double century making him the first batsman in the history to reach that landmark in ODI history. This superhuman effort came against the likes of Dale Steyn who is by far the best fast bowler in the modern era. That was class personified. He is also very proud of India’s record of never losing to Pakistan in a world cup match. He has made significant contribution in those matches too. People still talk about his onslaught on Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis & Co. in that crucial match of 2003 World cup. 23 years, 463 games, 18426 runs, 49 hundreds, 96 fifties, 154 wickets…an era has ended. Thank you Sachin for the entertainment.

Time for a change?

One more failed campaign in one more edition of World T20. Let’s just say that India was done in by the format of the tournament slightly. Pakistan, Australia & Sri Lanka managed to go through to semis winning four out of five games. India, on the other hand, won identical number of games but they could not sneak in whereas the West Indies won two out of five games and still managed to get through to the semis.

So the big question: is it time for changes in the T20 team. May be yes, may be no but the issue as of now is whether to stick with senior players like Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag or not. Both of these players have dubious fitness records. They are not live wires in the field either. And as far as Gambhir is concerned, he needs to find his off stump otherwise his place might be up for grabs sooner than later. His record has dipped alarmingly in all forms of the game.

Dhoni seems to be under-utilizing himself as a batsman. He has not even managed to score a half century in four World T20 events thus far. He is a prolific scorer in shorter versions of the game so he should not have any hesitation in batting at number 4. He has made big scores in ODI cricket batting higher up the order. It just may be that he has run out of luck with 0-8 away losses in Test cricket and failure to make it through to the final round of Asia Cup as well as World T20.

The plates are full for Sandip Patil & Co., the new selection committee. Sandip Patil was a courageous batsman and I guess he will require courage aplenty in the next few months. In 2007, the committee had selected few unknown names in World T20 in South Africa and their fearless brand of cricket brought India the glory. May be it’s time for an overhaul of the team. This goes for Test team too due the retirements of stalwarts like Dravid and Laxman, earlier in the year. Testing times ahead for all the parties concerned, with England series looming large on their heads. Good luck team India!

Tondulkar has done India proud

At last the moment has arrived where we will all celebrate Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th 100. He has become the first batsman to achieve this feat. The first time I heard about Tendulkar was when he had scored over 600 runs in that amazing partnership with his childhood friend Vinod Kambli. After that day his was given few sobriquets like “wonder boy” and “small wonder”. That small wonder has achieved something very huge by scoring that ton against Bangladesh on 16 March 2012.

Century of century sounds so unrealistic and insane. The fan waited and waited for a year and four days for it to happen but the wait is finally over. They say that great things come in small packages. He has proved it right time and again. He keeps the statisticians busy while he is at the crease scoring those centuries. In ODIs, he has scored small amount of 49 hundreds which is a world record. He has made hundreds against 11 different countries. He was the first batsman to score a double hundred in an ODI.   In tests, he became the first one to reach 50 tons and both the innings were against the formidable attack of South Africans. Wisden named the Indian run machine as the leading cricketer in the world for 2010.   

It is a monumental effort when you sit back and think that he made his debut way back in 1989 and he is still around to provide us the entertainment in 2012. He has achieved long cherished dream of being part of a world cup winning team. It was disappointing that people were not that talking about India losing the match. Everyone was talking about the milestone. Perhaps it is easy for us to say that may be nothing is left now for him to achieve and he should hang his boots. But it is best left to the man himself to decide when to declare the innings as it were.

Everything said and done, I think people will agree with me in saying that we are all lucky that we live in the same era as Sachin. May the entertainment continue.

Brick has gone missing from the wall

Surprise surprice! India have lost the test match for the 6th time on the trot away from home. Now if this doesnt set the alarm bells ringing , nothing will. M S Dhoni won the toss and to his credit he chose to bat first which was a bold move. But India failed to cross 300 yet again! Its a shame when you consider that the famous indian batting lineup has scored something like 40000 runs between them.

Sehwag continues to throw his wicket away like he usually does. Gambhir does not know the whereabouts of his off stump. Laxman seems to have lost his silky touch ever since the year began. Although, Tendulkar has looked in great touch but he has failed to bail out india again. I think he will dislike one statistic about his illustrious career that he failed to win a single test series in Australia as well as South Africa. And less said the better incase of Virat Kohli. When he won the under 19 world cup, he was being looked upon as future captain of India. But if he continues to indulge in things like the fingergate then God only help him.

One man needs to be praised undoubtedly is the Aussie skipper Michael Clarke. Not only did he batted brilliantly but also declared without thinking about the personal glory. He could have achieved greater heights but he chose to keep the bigger picture in front which was to win and win they did inside 4 days. Clarke was very impressive in the previous edition of the T20 world cup in the West Indies too where he captained the side aggressively. Its amasing how many fast bowlers they have in their ranks. Apart from, Hilfenhaus, Siddle and Pattinson, they have the likes of Harris, Cummins, Johnson, Bolinger and Nannes to fall back upon. Seems as if McDermott has had a great influence in the performance of their bowling unit.

As far as India are concerned, thay have to turn things around in a big way to come out of this mess. Scores of 49, 30, 2, 2, 24, 1, 58*, 176*, 32, 31, 57, 15, 2, 1, 2, 66 is not a good reading if you are a supporter of VVS Laxman. Those magical wrists are not working anymore to bail India out. With only one major score of 176* in last few matches , and that too on a placid track of Eden Gardens, tells you that he is past his prime. Rahul Dravid has had a brilliant 2011 but in this series he has looked below par to say the least. His mode of dismissals would suggest that the brick in the 'wall' has gone missing. In four innings,he has been cleanbowled thrice;if you add the no-ball that stupefied his defenses in the Melbourne Test too,it is an alarmingly high percentage.The scorecards show that since 2011,he has already taken this exit route 8 times.

All in all, well played Australia !