Indian Cricket Update

I can safely put up one of my previous reviews on India-Sri Lanka encounters and it might still seem up-to-date. India has been playing Sri Lanka for quite sometime now and I have not bothered to keep track of the results. India has had the edge when it came to test cricket between these two teams while the fortunes have fluctuated wildly in ODI cricket. I am happy that there will be no further cricket of whatever form played between these two teams before they square up in a 2011 World Cup clash.

India will be playing Australia in two test matches and three ODI matches in October. While Australia will be looking upon this tour as a dress rehearsal for the upcoming Ashes series, India will be expecting their aging superstars to defend the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

India then host New Zealand in another two-test, three ODI series. After that, India head to South Africa to play 3 test matches, 1 T20 I and 5 ODIs which would culminate ten days before the start of the 2011 World Cup.

It makes no sense in playing cricket in the bouncier wickets of South Africa at a time when India should be back home practising bowling on dead wickets where scoring 350 will almost be the norm. But the BCCI has always been on a different planet when it came to cricket administration. We can only hope that the Indian team doesn’t face another ignominious premature exit ala 2007.

Where from here?

After another ignominious exit from the T20 world cup, India find themselves in familiar territory.

As if the grilling interviews after the defeat to Sri Lanka were not enough, Dhoni will have to face a barrage of questions from the scribes after returning home too. Dhoni has already run out of excuses.

While there is no doubt that India weren’t good enough to compete with the best at the International level, the reasons  for this abject failure extend beyond technique and weariness.

The team selection was done on the basis of reputation and not on form. While this is not something new to Indian cricket, the number of batsmen out of form were too many for comfort. Yuvraj Singh was hardly in any hitting form in the IPL. If his IPL form was any indication (notwithstanding his attitude, which is far from tolerable), he should not have been picked in the playing XI.

Piyush Chawla’s inclusion ahead of the purple cap winner Pragyan Ojha and Mishy is equally another surprise. Chawla just couldn’t handle pressure in the must-win game against Sri Lanka and went for many.

This is not the first time Zaheer Khan has put financial interests against playing for the country. He feigned injury to keep himself fit for the first season of the IPL. In West Indies, he dropped himself out of a crucial game against Sri Lanka, which has forced the coach Gary Kirsten to question the attitude of some of the Indian bowlers.

Harbhajan, despite his economical bowling in the series, was nowhere close to picking up wickets. India expected more from their frontline spinner than just bowling four overs for 15 runs.

Ashish Nehra, though good in the death overs (barring the aberration against Sri Lanka), was hopeless with the new ball. Considering the way Vinay Kumar bowled in the crucial game, one wonders why he was picked only for India’s last game in the tournament.

Pace and bounce contributed to India’s undoing for the umpteenth time. While the frailties of Yuvraj, Raina, Yusuf and Dhoni with the short ball was bound to be exposed, the fact that Gautam Gambhir, an accomplished opener with a better technique would be exposed as well, is difficult to digest.

If this series is enough indication, India have absolutely no player to represent the test team in the bouncier wickets of South Africa and Australia.

IPL Update

Though we are midway through the third edition of the IPL, we still aren’t certain about the semi-finalists. Though Mumbai Indians and Bangalore Royal Challengers look strong contenders, we can expect Deccan, Delhi and Rajasthan to definitely give them some competition.

What is rather evident is that the Kings XI of Punjab and Chennai Super Kings will be finishing in the bottom half of the table. Unless a miraculous turnaround follows, Kolkata look all set to join Punjab and Chennai at the bottom. While Kolkata’s batting has been a bit scratchy this year, it has been the bowling of Chennai and Punjab that has let them down.

There is a mathematical possibility that these three teams can still reach the semi finals. The teams should be banking in the arrival of Michael Hussey, Brendon McCullum and the other folks to engineer this turnaround. However, one gets the feeling that the chances of these teams (barring Kolkata) have been damaged beyond a possible rear-guard action.

The ICC World T20 2010 – West Indies

India have announced their squad for the upcoming ICC World T20 in West Indies beginning next month.

All the usual suspects are there.

Piyush Chawla is an interesting inclusion to the XI. However, it is highly unlikely that India will play him ahead of Harbhajan Singh. Moreover, considering that India will have the part time services of Sehwag, Yuvraj, Yusuf, Raina and Rohit Sharma, it is more or less evident that Piyush will be warming the benches.

One can always question the selection of Piyush over Ojha and Mishra who have done well in this year’s IPL. But sensemaking is not something that we associate with selection decisions in India. The selection is more or less done impulsively, often resulting as a knee-jerk reaction to abominable performances, and sometimes to ensure that there is a state-wide representation (As a nation, we are fixated with reservations). No matter whatever the criterion is, merit and form definitely take the backseat.

India are more likely to play a settled XI. The batting is strong as ever. Going by the way Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina, Yusuf, Rohit and Dhoni have been batting in the IPL, there are no worries for Dhoni’s men. What has been worrying for a while is the Indian fast bowling in limited overs cricket. If not for Zaheer, the stock available with the Indian team is not so healthy to pick from.

India did well when they went as underdogs to the inaugural version of the World T20 in 2007. After that year, the subsequent Indians teams to the event have been overhyped and had to contend with stratospheric expectations. They carried an injury-laden team to England last year and exited in the early stage itself. Though lessons have been learnt this time, and the selection has been done on the basis of fitness, nothing still stops the Indians from underperforming.

The form of Yuvraj Singh with the bat, if any, is a cause of concern. But with the others batting the way they are, India should not be seriously worried about Yuvi’s batting.

However it looks highly unlikely that the Indian bowlers will win them matches. It has to be their batters to do it for them the umpteenth time.

Turning back the Clock

Since I don’t get much time to blog about cricket, I thought of sharing this youtube video of an innings by Sachin which I admired the most. TheMatchReferee.com seem to have an interesting collection of cricket videos on youtube. Visit their channel sometime.