Should Dhoni play Viru Sehwag? India @ World T20

With a new selection committee announced, I guess Dhoni has a control, albeit temporarily - over who plays in the final 11. Should he keep Sehwag out? I think he should. Will he? I think he will..

Dhoni - when he started his captaincy was known to take bold decisions. He is slowly degrading to being too defensive especially in the last year. He has take a few good decisions - in sidelining Harbhajan, in playing a part in Laxman's retirement (not to take away any credit from the great batsman, but his time was up, really) and in rotating and letting seniors know that they can become a burden.

Now is really the time for him to go for the kill. He must ensure that right decisions are made in an un-emotional manner - which will improve the chances of India in the long term. If that means getting rid of Sehwag, so be it. If it means, preserving Zaheer only for 1/2 formats of the game, so be it. Ideally these decisions should be taken by the selection committee. But the Indian Selection Committee is a hopeless entity. They don't even feel it important/confident to convince the press about their selections.

I think the decision to open with Irfan Patahn is a good gamble with a hope to groom a future all rounder. Even if he is used as a pinch hitter, no issues he will more often than not make up for it with his bowling.

I will really look forward to this decision more than anything else for India in the coming matches of World T20. May the decision in the best interest of the team, be taken...

Selection of Indian Cricket Team for West Indies Tour - ODIs

Its been more than a month since the Day Of Joy. When the Indians held their nerves just a bit more than the Lankans and lifted the World Cup trophy for the second time. It was an unforgettable match and tournament for all of us alive in India. To me it was an experience of the purest forms of joy.

With that victory in mind, it will be very interesting to see what comes out of tomorrow's selection committee meeting. The Indian team will travel to the West Indies later this month to play an ODI series and then a Test Series. I think the following two factors should be most important when considering the team

• Rest to Key players. Dhoni, Zaheer, Sachin have been playing without rest for months together now. They definitely deserve rest. Almost everyone deserves rest. But the best ones will get it. Seniors will definitely get it and the juniors will have to take up their tasks. E.g. Gautam Gabhir might replace Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a captain. I think it will be a very good move to do something like that.


• Phase out the seniors and bring in more youth. I think this is the key if India is to keep up the good form of the last decade into the next one or two. E.g. Harbhajan Singh should slowly be phased out and a new spinner or two should be groomed. Pacers who were tried and tested should be asked to work hard. And new ones should be given a longer run in the national team. E.g. the Sresssanths, Nehras, Irfans & Ishants should be phased out with young talent, who need exposure E.g. Vinay Kumar & S. Aravind. This is a perfect opportunity to groom the next pool of cricketers since India has won a big series and is going on for a relatively easy assignment.

And hence it will be interesting to see if the selectors take these risks for long term rewards. Hope that the new coach Duncan Fletcher also gets a say.

3 Cheers to the World Champs and Bring it On in the Caribbeans

Cricket: India Vs. South Africa 2nd Test Match - Day 1 @ Eden Gardens, Kolkatta

My quotes:

• Why did Pieterson come in as an opener when Aswell Prince was in the line up? It proves that Prince is the non-preferred opener. Not good for the team balance.


• One of the most famous turnarounds. 8 wickets in 50 runs! No wonder that they call this team Chockers :-)


• Talking about Bunnies of opener captains, Graeme Smith is the biggest bunny that I can remember. More than Darryl Cullinan of Shane Warne. Hats of to ZAKS.


• Zaheer Khan, match after match, looks like a better and better bowler. OLD WINE :-) Much like Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Javagal Srinath. Very un-like Anil Kumble :-)


• Harbhajan Singh also keeps making comebacks. Another great bowler in the team


• India still miss an all-rounder. Even he is a national level and not international class, he must be given a chance in Tests. Candidates? Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Yousuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar. Anyone else? I always believe in Long Term Vs. Short and Higher Risks for Higher Returns. Got to make the difficult choice sometimes. I am hugely disappointed that Dhoni has not tried it yet.


• Hats off to Ishant Sharma for being the rawdy fast bowler that every good team so desperately needs


• Is Amit Mishra good enough to deserve so many chances in Tests? Or are there no other good enough spinners in India anymore? Why not Ramesh Powar?

India South Africa 1st Test @ Nagpur Day 2

My comments:

• Who selects the playing 11 for India? Selection panel / team management (including captain Dhoni, Coach Kirsten and Vice captain Sehwag)?


• The bowlers did not bowl good enough to get 10 wickets. But did they disappoint? Were they BAD? Even on the 2nd day, at least 2 chances were dropped, one plumb LBW missed. Its all so pathetic. India's fielding has plummeted in the recent past. They deserve a kick from the board (and by they, I also mean the coaches)


• Has Sachin stopped bowling? Why?


• Kallis was too slow. Looks like he was shooting for a draw instead of going for the kill. 3 runs or so per over is so 1990's! I feel that it is this difference between South Africa and other good teams (sometimes India and Australia) that becomes a hurdle in their way of becoming champions. Lack of Knockout Punch


• Where has the Active Sports option in DTH gone? Tata Sky, are you listening?


• AB Devilliers looks like the next star for South Africa. After JP Duminy has failed after achieving the stardom. ABD showed great attitude today, I think he can become a future captain.

Should Anil Kumble resign from the Indian Cricket Team?

In the 1st test match of the India Vs. Australia Border Gavaskar series, Kumble went wicket-less. Its the first time that this has happened in India. There is a clear cut case of Anil being in the playing 11 only because he is the captain and not because he belongs to the best 11 in the country right now.

On top of that - he carried an injury in this test match. Did not bowl when he was needed the most. And when he returned back to the field, he reversed Mahendra Singh Dhoni's aggressive field placements. All and all, a poor performance form the veteran. I think Saurav Ganguly has made a right decision in calling it quits. And Anil Kumble needs to take a clue. In the last test series for India Vs. Sri Lanka, Anil Kumble took 8 wickets in 3 matches at an average of 50 and a strike rate of 100! Prior to that, in the home series against South Africa, he took 4 wickets in 2 matches at an average of 60 and a strike rate of 150!!

At the start of this series, Anil announced that this would be his last test at Bangalore. However, at the end of the match, he made a shocking statement "One bad game doesn't make you a bad player". Maybe, his manager or someone else needs to remind him of the above statistics so that he can find out how many bad games he has had in the last year or so.

I am a firm believer of performance dictating selection, and on basis of both - current form, and captaincy skills - I would choose Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the skipper and Piyush Chawla as the leg spinner to play against the Australian team in the remainder of the series. It will be interesting to see what the Indian selectors say. Incidentally, the team for the last 2 test matches against Australia should be selected soon, so we will come to know what their opinion is.

Of course it goes without saying, that Anil Kumble has been India's only match-winning bowler on all wickets for the last decade or more. However, I think the age is taking its toll and he is near the end of his career.

Cheers,
- Ashutosh