I thought Pujara would be there in the test series against England....But the luck was not with him....
I told my self then "Don't worry...he will surely be there in the test squad against New Zeland"..... I am once again disappointed as he was left out once again....
What the hell are the selectors thinking?....He has been very unlucky not to be selected even when he is scoring heavily in almost every match...
Pujara should have been selected in place of M Vijay...Dinesh Karthik can open the innings in the absence of one of the regular openers....So I think M Vijay as the reserve opener is not a good choice...
And also Sreesanth in place Munaf Patel should have been the right choice...And the team has only one left arm seamer(Zaheer)...There should have been another left arm bowler...May be RP Singh is the right choice...
Coming to the ODI team, Uthappa would have been a right choice ahead of Dinesh Karthik..
Showing posts with label M vijay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label M vijay. Show all posts
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Advantage India
Just 3 days after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India is ready to take on England.
India has the destructive opening pair of Sehwag and Gambhir (M Vijay as back up opener) compared to England's Ian Bell and Matt Prior (A Cook as back p opener).
Both teams have a good pace attack. England has no quality/experienced spinner while India has got Bhajji.
Both teams have strong middle-order. England's middle order has players like Pietersen, Flintoff, Collingwood, Bopara and Owais Shah while India has Rohit Sharma, Raina, Dhoni, Kohli and Yuvraj.
The teams are almost equal in terms of their batting, bowling and fielding.
But India is mentally strong after winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-0 while England goes into the series after thet were humiliated by Mumbai Cricket Association XI in the 2nd practice match and Stanford Super Stars in the Stanford Twenty 20 match.
India has clearly an edge over England.
It will be interesting to see how the new powerplay rules are going to effect the game.
India has the destructive opening pair of Sehwag and Gambhir (M Vijay as back up opener) compared to England's Ian Bell and Matt Prior (A Cook as back p opener).
Both teams have a good pace attack. England has no quality/experienced spinner while India has got Bhajji.
Both teams have strong middle-order. England's middle order has players like Pietersen, Flintoff, Collingwood, Bopara and Owais Shah while India has Rohit Sharma, Raina, Dhoni, Kohli and Yuvraj.
The teams are almost equal in terms of their batting, bowling and fielding.
But India is mentally strong after winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-0 while England goes into the series after thet were humiliated by Mumbai Cricket Association XI in the 2nd practice match and Stanford Super Stars in the Stanford Twenty 20 match.
India has clearly an edge over England.
It will be interesting to see how the new powerplay rules are going to effect the game.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
A great final day ahead
An awesome day of test cricket this......India dominated Australia in pre lunch session, Australia came back strongly and dominated dramatic post-lunch session and India was back in the game in post-tea session mainly because of Ponting's bowling changes.
India resumed their innings with an overnight score of 0/0.
Virender Sehwag and M Vijay scored 116 in quick time for the first wicket, before Vijay was trapped, just after lunch, in front of the wicket by a beautiful delivery from Watson. Viru demolished Krejza in the first over after lunch by taking 14 runs in that over.
Shane Watson dismissed Rahul Dravid for 3 with a beautiful outswinger. Dravid edged it to Haddin. Dravid's poor form continues. Dravid should not have been sent at No.3 today.
What's next Dravid? Are you going to announce your retirement tomorrow? Or are you going to take some rest and come back ?
Brett Lee dismissed Virender Sehwag for 92 to reduce India to 142/3. And then Krejza brought Australia back in the match by dismissing VVS Laxman(4) and Sourav Ganguly(0) in successive deliveries. Krejza's delivery to Laxman was a beauty. It pitched outside off and turned a lot to hit the stumps. Ganguly was dismissed for a first ball duck. A disappointing last innings to a great career.
Sachin Tendulkar (12) was run out in the last over before tea. It was an unncesessary run.
The post lunch session raised hopes of series levelling victory for Australia. India were in a losing position at tea.
But after tea, Dhoni(55) and Harbhajan(52) shattered Australia's hopes by scoring 108 runs for the seventh wicket, there by got India to a decent total and set a target of 382 for Australia in 92 overs thanks to the slow overrate of Australia which made Ponting to use his part-time bowlers.
Hussey took a great catch to dismiss Dhoni in Krejza's bowling and then Krejza dismissed Zaheer. After reaching his 6th test fifty, 4th Vs Australia and 2nd in this series Harbhajan was dismissed by Watson by a good delivery. Watson bowled Amit Mishra to bowl out India for 295 in their second innings.
Krejza and Watson took 4 wickets each.
Ponting surely cost Australia the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Why did he use his part time bowlers instead of trying to win the test match by using Watson who was bowling so well at that moment ?. Becuase, he thought of his suspension due to slow over-rate. He wanted to save himself from the suspension. Slow overrates have been the problem for Australia throughout the series.
Australia were at 13/0 at the end of day-4. Bad light stopped play with 3 more deliveries to go. Australia need 369 more to win from 90.3 overs.
A great final day ahead...
India resumed their innings with an overnight score of 0/0.
Virender Sehwag and M Vijay scored 116 in quick time for the first wicket, before Vijay was trapped, just after lunch, in front of the wicket by a beautiful delivery from Watson. Viru demolished Krejza in the first over after lunch by taking 14 runs in that over.
Shane Watson dismissed Rahul Dravid for 3 with a beautiful outswinger. Dravid edged it to Haddin. Dravid's poor form continues. Dravid should not have been sent at No.3 today.
What's next Dravid? Are you going to announce your retirement tomorrow? Or are you going to take some rest and come back ?
Brett Lee dismissed Virender Sehwag for 92 to reduce India to 142/3. And then Krejza brought Australia back in the match by dismissing VVS Laxman(4) and Sourav Ganguly(0) in successive deliveries. Krejza's delivery to Laxman was a beauty. It pitched outside off and turned a lot to hit the stumps. Ganguly was dismissed for a first ball duck. A disappointing last innings to a great career.
Sachin Tendulkar (12) was run out in the last over before tea. It was an unncesessary run.
The post lunch session raised hopes of series levelling victory for Australia. India were in a losing position at tea.
But after tea, Dhoni(55) and Harbhajan(52) shattered Australia's hopes by scoring 108 runs for the seventh wicket, there by got India to a decent total and set a target of 382 for Australia in 92 overs thanks to the slow overrate of Australia which made Ponting to use his part-time bowlers.
Hussey took a great catch to dismiss Dhoni in Krejza's bowling and then Krejza dismissed Zaheer. After reaching his 6th test fifty, 4th Vs Australia and 2nd in this series Harbhajan was dismissed by Watson by a good delivery. Watson bowled Amit Mishra to bowl out India for 295 in their second innings.
Krejza and Watson took 4 wickets each.
Ponting surely cost Australia the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Why did he use his part time bowlers instead of trying to win the test match by using Watson who was bowling so well at that moment ?. Becuase, he thought of his suspension due to slow over-rate. He wanted to save himself from the suspension. Slow overrates have been the problem for Australia throughout the series.
Australia were at 13/0 at the end of day-4. Bad light stopped play with 3 more deliveries to go. Australia need 369 more to win from 90.3 overs.
A great final day ahead...
Saturday, November 8, 2008
An absorbing day of test cricket
It's been a hard day for India. Had the catches been taken, India might have got a bigger lead. But they finally managed to get a 89-run lead.
Resuming at the overnight score of 189/2, Hussey reached his fifty in the third over of the day and Katich reached his hundred after he was dropped by Dravid at first slip when he was on 94. That catch did not cost India in terms of number of runs. But, he played for nearly 2 hrs from there on and scored just 8 runs from 63 balls. Had Dravid been taken that catch, India might have got 1 or 2 wickets in the pre-lunch session and put pressure on Australia. Katich has been consistent in this series.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni deployed 8-1 field against Katich and Hussey when Ishant and Zaheer were bowling. Both these bowlers bowled outside off and the bastmen never tried to play those balls. When it came to Harbhajan, Dhoni deployed in and out field, close-in fielders around the wickets and fielders at the bounderies. Zaheer dismissed Katich for lbw with a beatiful yorker. Katich played very well for his 102. Soon after Katich fell, Michael Clark was dismissed by Ishant.
Excellent fielding by Vijay sent Hussey back to pavilion when he drove a ball from Harbhajan to silly mid-on and went for a run. Great reflexes there from Vijay. Harbhajan struck in his next over by dismissing Watson. Haddin and White offered a bit of resistance for sometime and scored 52 for the 7th wickets before Mishra removed Haddin for 28. Ishant dismissed Krejza, Harbhajan dismissed White and finally Mishra got Johnson.
Australia were 355/10 in their first innings, giving a first innings lead of 89 to India.
India played 1 over before the day ended and is on 0 for no loss.
The contest is still alive. If India bats tomorrow and declare one hour before the end of the day by setting a target of around 350 for Australia, they have chances to win this game. But if Australia manages to get 2-3 quick wickets before lunch, I think India will surely play for a draw.
A lot depends on Sehwag. If he stays there till lunch, India can easily set a huge target for Australia.
Ganguly at No.3 ahead of Dravid ?
Field Setting:
Dhoni deployed a defensive field in the first session and an attacking field from the post-lunch session. Mahendra Singh Dhoni deployed 8-1 field against Katich and Hussey when Ishant and Zaheer were bowling. Ishant and Zaheer kept on bowling outside off and controlled the batsmen from scoring the runs.
I think Dhoni wanted to control the run rate and let Aussies try to score runs. In that process, they may loose the wickets which helps India to gain a big first innings total. Finally after Katich was out, he brought in the spinners and attacked the Aussies batsmen and put them in pressure.
I am sure Dhoni came up with a perfect plan and he executed it to perfection. The match was completely changed after the post-lunch session once India started attacking. They got wickets at regular intervals, but Australia managed to get closer to India's total.
Many people said that this is a negative tactic by Dhoni.
But what have Australia done throughout the series ? The way Mitchel Johnson bowled throughout the series is no different from what Indians did today.
Resuming at the overnight score of 189/2, Hussey reached his fifty in the third over of the day and Katich reached his hundred after he was dropped by Dravid at first slip when he was on 94. That catch did not cost India in terms of number of runs. But, he played for nearly 2 hrs from there on and scored just 8 runs from 63 balls. Had Dravid been taken that catch, India might have got 1 or 2 wickets in the pre-lunch session and put pressure on Australia. Katich has been consistent in this series.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni deployed 8-1 field against Katich and Hussey when Ishant and Zaheer were bowling. Both these bowlers bowled outside off and the bastmen never tried to play those balls. When it came to Harbhajan, Dhoni deployed in and out field, close-in fielders around the wickets and fielders at the bounderies. Zaheer dismissed Katich for lbw with a beatiful yorker. Katich played very well for his 102. Soon after Katich fell, Michael Clark was dismissed by Ishant.
Excellent fielding by Vijay sent Hussey back to pavilion when he drove a ball from Harbhajan to silly mid-on and went for a run. Great reflexes there from Vijay. Harbhajan struck in his next over by dismissing Watson. Haddin and White offered a bit of resistance for sometime and scored 52 for the 7th wickets before Mishra removed Haddin for 28. Ishant dismissed Krejza, Harbhajan dismissed White and finally Mishra got Johnson.
Australia were 355/10 in their first innings, giving a first innings lead of 89 to India.
India played 1 over before the day ended and is on 0 for no loss.
The contest is still alive. If India bats tomorrow and declare one hour before the end of the day by setting a target of around 350 for Australia, they have chances to win this game. But if Australia manages to get 2-3 quick wickets before lunch, I think India will surely play for a draw.
A lot depends on Sehwag. If he stays there till lunch, India can easily set a huge target for Australia.
Ganguly at No.3 ahead of Dravid ?
Field Setting:
Dhoni deployed a defensive field in the first session and an attacking field from the post-lunch session. Mahendra Singh Dhoni deployed 8-1 field against Katich and Hussey when Ishant and Zaheer were bowling. Ishant and Zaheer kept on bowling outside off and controlled the batsmen from scoring the runs.
I think Dhoni wanted to control the run rate and let Aussies try to score runs. In that process, they may loose the wickets which helps India to gain a big first innings total. Finally after Katich was out, he brought in the spinners and attacked the Aussies batsmen and put them in pressure.
I am sure Dhoni came up with a perfect plan and he executed it to perfection. The match was completely changed after the post-lunch session once India started attacking. They got wickets at regular intervals, but Australia managed to get closer to India's total.
Many people said that this is a negative tactic by Dhoni.
But what have Australia done throughout the series ? The way Mitchel Johnson bowled throughout the series is no different from what Indians did today.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Master reaches another century
After Indian skipper Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first, India got off to a flyer on day one of the second Test against Australia in Mohali before Australia came back to remove 3 wickets in quick succession.
After being selected into the side to replace the banned Gautam Gambhir, Vijay started confidently and played well for his 33 before being dismissed by Watson. Sehwag and Vijay scored 98 for the first wicket. The debutant Krejza took 3 wickets on day-1. But Sachin was not his first test wicket :). He dismissed Dravid, Sehwag and Laxman. But he gave mway any runs. Sehwag was looking dangerous but got out playing a bad shot. Rahul Dravid once again failed to score and was out for a duck. The wall is cracking... The pressure is on him and I think we are going to hear about his retirement soon.
After the collapse both Tendulkar and Laxman played some beautiful strokes and rebuilt the innings. Theyscored 146 for the 4th wicket. Laxman scored another fifty in this series. Ganguly came to the crease after Laxman departed. Tendulkar reached his 40th century after being dropped by Lee when he was on 98 and was dismissed by Johnson for 109. He was dropped by Haddin already and missed a run-out chance too.
India is on 311/5 with Ganguly and Dhoni are on 27 and 4 at the end of the day. This was Tendulkar's day. Jason Krejza made a decent debut too. India need big runs from Dhoni, Ganguly and the lower order if they want to make the best use of winning the toss and batting first.
After being selected into the side to replace the banned Gautam Gambhir, Vijay started confidently and played well for his 33 before being dismissed by Watson. Sehwag and Vijay scored 98 for the first wicket. The debutant Krejza took 3 wickets on day-1. But Sachin was not his first test wicket :). He dismissed Dravid, Sehwag and Laxman. But he gave mway any runs. Sehwag was looking dangerous but got out playing a bad shot. Rahul Dravid once again failed to score and was out for a duck. The wall is cracking... The pressure is on him and I think we are going to hear about his retirement soon.
After the collapse both Tendulkar and Laxman played some beautiful strokes and rebuilt the innings. Theyscored 146 for the 4th wicket. Laxman scored another fifty in this series. Ganguly came to the crease after Laxman departed. Tendulkar reached his 40th century after being dropped by Lee when he was on 98 and was dismissed by Johnson for 109. He was dropped by Haddin already and missed a run-out chance too.
India is on 311/5 with Ganguly and Dhoni are on 27 and 4 at the end of the day. This was Tendulkar's day. Jason Krejza made a decent debut too. India need big runs from Dhoni, Ganguly and the lower order if they want to make the best use of winning the toss and batting first.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
India Vs Australia 4th test preview
India is going into the 4th test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy with 1-0 lead. Australia must win this test match to retain the Trophy.
Indian team composition:
The selectors called up M Vijay as back up for Gambhir as Gambhir is banned for one test match. Vijay has been in good form. He scored a double century against Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy. If he gets a chance, it's Vireder Sehwag who has to score for the team as Vijay will be under pressure in his first match. This looks to be the only change in the indian team apart from Bhajji returning to team in place of Anil Kumble. Bhajji is one wicket away from his 300 test wickets. Amit Mishra is confident and is bowling well.
There is also a possiblity of Dravid and Sehwag open for India and bring Badrinath in. But I do't think it happens. Dravid is under pressure as he hasn't played a big innings in the series. If he is sent to open the innings, it will add more to his pressure.
So, Vijay will make his test debut.
Indian Team(Probable) : Virender Sehwag, M Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Gangly, MS Dhoni(captain & wicket-keeper), Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra
This is the last test for Sourav Ganguly and the 100th test for VVS Laxman.
Australian team Composition:
Australia won the series in India after nearly 34 years by winning a test match here in 2004. It was for that match Ganguly and Harbhajan were absent. Gilchrist mentioned this in his auto-biography.
Asutralia is in a better position to win/draw the 4th test as all their batsmen are in good touch and have got some runs in the 3rd test match. Australia's only concern is their bowling line-up. They are looking at all possible options for the last test match. Ponting indicates that Stuart Clark may have to sit out and Krejza might debut. But I think Australia should drop White and bring in Krejza. White never looked dangerous and he struggled against the Indian bastmen.
Australian Team(Probable) : Simon Katich, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting(captain), Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin(wicket-keeper), Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Jason Krejza
Gambhir's ban might help Australia and they might be happy as he is not playing. He is the leading run scorer, with 463 runs with 2 centuries and a fifty in three matches, in the series.
They have to concentrate on their bowling and come up with a better team effort to win the test and retain the trophy.
Indian team composition:
The selectors called up M Vijay as back up for Gambhir as Gambhir is banned for one test match. Vijay has been in good form. He scored a double century against Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy. If he gets a chance, it's Vireder Sehwag who has to score for the team as Vijay will be under pressure in his first match. This looks to be the only change in the indian team apart from Bhajji returning to team in place of Anil Kumble. Bhajji is one wicket away from his 300 test wickets. Amit Mishra is confident and is bowling well.
There is also a possiblity of Dravid and Sehwag open for India and bring Badrinath in. But I do't think it happens. Dravid is under pressure as he hasn't played a big innings in the series. If he is sent to open the innings, it will add more to his pressure.
So, Vijay will make his test debut.
Indian Team(Probable) : Virender Sehwag, M Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Gangly, MS Dhoni(captain & wicket-keeper), Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra
This is the last test for Sourav Ganguly and the 100th test for VVS Laxman.
Australian team Composition:
Australia won the series in India after nearly 34 years by winning a test match here in 2004. It was for that match Ganguly and Harbhajan were absent. Gilchrist mentioned this in his auto-biography.
Asutralia is in a better position to win/draw the 4th test as all their batsmen are in good touch and have got some runs in the 3rd test match. Australia's only concern is their bowling line-up. They are looking at all possible options for the last test match. Ponting indicates that Stuart Clark may have to sit out and Krejza might debut. But I think Australia should drop White and bring in Krejza. White never looked dangerous and he struggled against the Indian bastmen.
Australian Team(Probable) : Simon Katich, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting(captain), Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin(wicket-keeper), Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Jason Krejza
Gambhir's ban might help Australia and they might be happy as he is not playing. He is the leading run scorer, with 463 runs with 2 centuries and a fifty in three matches, in the series.
They have to concentrate on their bowling and come up with a better team effort to win the test and retain the trophy.
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