Indian selectors, on Jan 18th, announced the squad that tours Sri Lanka in Jan-Feb 09. Out of Ravindra Jadeja, Pujara, Rahane and D Kulakarni who performed well in recently concluded Ranji Trophy, only Jadeja earned a place in the 15-member Indian squad. Dhoni, Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj, Zaheer and Ishant are sure selections.
It's a little unfortunate that Kohli wasn't selected despite his good performance. Badrinath is another unlucky one. He lacks the support to perform..Although he had given chances, he did not get a chance to bat most of the times.
Pathan brothers, Raina, Ojha and Munaf have retained their place. Praveen Kumar, who was left out for ODI series against England, has been recalled. A hamstring injury had ruled out Harbhajan Singh's selection.
I am eagerly waiting to see Uthappa back in the team who has been in good form..
The lineup is good but there are some questions to be answered.
Harbhajan was fit during the 2nd test against England and he hasn't played a match after that test. How and when was he injured?
Why are there two left-arm spinners in the squad? There is no right arm spinner in the squad. Either Piyush Chawla or Amit Mishra should have been selected.
Dhaval kulkarni could have been given a chance. He was the highest wicket taker along with Jadeja in the recently concluded Ranji Trophy. He should have been selected ahead of Irfan Pathan/Praveen.
Why is Praveen selected as extra seamer? Why wasn't he selected for ODI series against England if he is considered a quality bowler?
Jadeja has been awesome at domestic level..let's see how he performs at international level....
Showing posts with label Tendulkar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tendulkar. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2008 Review
India created a history yesterday by regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India is on its way to the No.1 spot in test cricket. It was not just one or two individuals who made this historic series win possible but a perfect team effort from India. Australia was outclassed in all the departments.
This series has seen two great Indian cricket legends retire, the wall cracking, master breaking the world record, Australians struggling in all the departments, Ishant evolving as one of the best bowlers in the world, Ponting under fire, and many more....
This is a sincere effort to review this entertaining series....
India:
Opening: Sehwag and Gambhir proved they are the best opening pair. They have been very consistent and they provided excellent starts in this series. The left-right combination also gone well with this pair. The understanding between these two is amazing. They played an important role in putting up big totals by scoring the runs quickly. Vijay, who played last test match in place of Gambhir, also gave India good starts with Sehwag.
Rating: 4.5/5
Middle Order: No doubt India has got the outstanding middle-order with players like Sachin, Laxman, Ganguly, Dravid and Dhoni. They all were upto their mark except Dravid who has to forget this series( in terms of his performance) as soon as possible. Sachin and Laxman came up with excellent innings at times they needed. Ganguly played well in his last test series. Dhoni too came up with good innings when the team was in trouble. This series is a disaster for Dravid in terms of batting and fielding. He dropped a few simple catches.
Rating: 4/5
Pace Bowling: This was the major difference between the two teams in the series. Everyone thought that Indian pitches are not suitable for the pace bowlers. The job of pace bowlers is to make the ball old, give it to the spinners and let the spinners do the rest. But Zaheer and Ishant proved it wrong. They made good use of reverse-swing. Australian batsmen struggled against these two bowlers. They have taken 26 wickets together.
Rating: 4.75/5
Spin Bowling: On Indian pitches, spinners have been threat to the visitors. This time it was not all their show though they contributed much to the series win. Anil Kumble was struggling in the first test and did not play the second test. He came back for the third test and yet he was not effective. He finally announced his retirement after he was injured during the third test. Amit Mishra, who replaced Kumble for the second and fourth tests and Harbhajan for the third test, was a hit on his debut match. But he had to fight hard in the third test. He came up with a good performance at an important time in the last test. Harbhajan was quite beautiful with his bowling. Actually he played an all-rounder role in this series. Sehwag too tried his hand at bowling and bowled well to take 5 wickets in the third test.
Rating: 3.5/5
Fielding: Indian fielders missed a few simple catches. Dravid, Laxman, Dhoni and Ishant missed many catches among them. Had Ishant taken the catch of Clarke in the third test, we would have won the series 3-0. Viajy did excellent to run out Hussey, Hayden while Mishra did well to run out Ponting. On a whole, fielding is a bit disappointment. Fielding standards are average and India should concentrate on this.
Rating: 3/5
Captaincy: Dhoni has already evolved as a successful captain in the shorter versions of the game. He is now the captain for India in all forms of the game after Anil Kumble announced his retirement during the third test. Dhoni had taken a very timely and wise decisions in the series (2nd and 4th tests) and India won both of them. Both Kumble and Dhoni were successful in inspiring the team. They came up with a plan and executed their plan to perfection without mistakes.
Rating: 4.25/5
Australia:
Opening: Hayden struggled through out the series, especially against Zaheer. He did well in the last match but could not win the match for Aussies. Katich was consistent throughout the series. But these openers failed to give good starts for Australia.
Rating: 3.5/5
Middle Order: With the batsmen like Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Watson and Haddin at the middle of the order, one would expect big partnerships among these batsmen. But that was never the case in this series. Hussey was impressive. Clarke made a century which helped them to draw the third test. Watson was OK... Haddin was a big disappointment with the bat and behind the stumps.
Rating: 3.25/5
Pace Bowling: The fast bowlers had a lean time. If I had to pick one bowler from Australia who bowled quite well in this series, I would prefer Shane Watson. Watson bowled beautifully in the last test match. Mitchell Johnson bowled well and is the leading wicket taker for Australia in this series. Lee and Stuart Clark were average. The weakness of Australian bowlers was exposed when they could not break the partnership between Harbhajan and Zaheer in the first innings of the first test.
Rating: 2.75/5
Spin Bowling: Australia struggled through out the series with their spin department. Krejza was very impressive in his debut match. He was smart and patient. White, Clarke and Katich were the other spinners who were below average.
Rating: 2.75/5
Fielding: Fielding was good except for a few occasions where they dropped some catches. Haddin was not good behind the stumps. He gave away many byes.
Rating: 4/5
Captaincy: Ponting never looked like a captain he used to be. A captain has to lead his team from the front. Except for a century in the first test, he did not play a big innings. His tactics in the last test match, where he used his part time bowlers instead of pace bowlers, raised questions over his captaincy. Instead of trying to win the test match, he was afraid of his ban because of slow over-rate and used his part-time bowlers. He could not inspire his team in this series.
Rating: 3.5/5
India has to be consistent in order to be the No.1 in the test cricket... But with this hectic schedule, India need to protect its players from injuries by rotating the players which would otherwise be an obstacle for its aim to be No.1... India has a great bench strength in the form of many youngsters like Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Vijay, Munaf RP Singh, Irfan Pathan etc...Use them wisely and protect the players...
Congratulations and all the best India....
This series has seen two great Indian cricket legends retire, the wall cracking, master breaking the world record, Australians struggling in all the departments, Ishant evolving as one of the best bowlers in the world, Ponting under fire, and many more....
This is a sincere effort to review this entertaining series....
India:
Opening: Sehwag and Gambhir proved they are the best opening pair. They have been very consistent and they provided excellent starts in this series. The left-right combination also gone well with this pair. The understanding between these two is amazing. They played an important role in putting up big totals by scoring the runs quickly. Vijay, who played last test match in place of Gambhir, also gave India good starts with Sehwag.
Rating: 4.5/5
Middle Order: No doubt India has got the outstanding middle-order with players like Sachin, Laxman, Ganguly, Dravid and Dhoni. They all were upto their mark except Dravid who has to forget this series( in terms of his performance) as soon as possible. Sachin and Laxman came up with excellent innings at times they needed. Ganguly played well in his last test series. Dhoni too came up with good innings when the team was in trouble. This series is a disaster for Dravid in terms of batting and fielding. He dropped a few simple catches.
Rating: 4/5
Pace Bowling: This was the major difference between the two teams in the series. Everyone thought that Indian pitches are not suitable for the pace bowlers. The job of pace bowlers is to make the ball old, give it to the spinners and let the spinners do the rest. But Zaheer and Ishant proved it wrong. They made good use of reverse-swing. Australian batsmen struggled against these two bowlers. They have taken 26 wickets together.
Rating: 4.75/5
Spin Bowling: On Indian pitches, spinners have been threat to the visitors. This time it was not all their show though they contributed much to the series win. Anil Kumble was struggling in the first test and did not play the second test. He came back for the third test and yet he was not effective. He finally announced his retirement after he was injured during the third test. Amit Mishra, who replaced Kumble for the second and fourth tests and Harbhajan for the third test, was a hit on his debut match. But he had to fight hard in the third test. He came up with a good performance at an important time in the last test. Harbhajan was quite beautiful with his bowling. Actually he played an all-rounder role in this series. Sehwag too tried his hand at bowling and bowled well to take 5 wickets in the third test.
Rating: 3.5/5
Fielding: Indian fielders missed a few simple catches. Dravid, Laxman, Dhoni and Ishant missed many catches among them. Had Ishant taken the catch of Clarke in the third test, we would have won the series 3-0. Viajy did excellent to run out Hussey, Hayden while Mishra did well to run out Ponting. On a whole, fielding is a bit disappointment. Fielding standards are average and India should concentrate on this.
Rating: 3/5
Captaincy: Dhoni has already evolved as a successful captain in the shorter versions of the game. He is now the captain for India in all forms of the game after Anil Kumble announced his retirement during the third test. Dhoni had taken a very timely and wise decisions in the series (2nd and 4th tests) and India won both of them. Both Kumble and Dhoni were successful in inspiring the team. They came up with a plan and executed their plan to perfection without mistakes.
Rating: 4.25/5
Australia:
Opening: Hayden struggled through out the series, especially against Zaheer. He did well in the last match but could not win the match for Aussies. Katich was consistent throughout the series. But these openers failed to give good starts for Australia.
Rating: 3.5/5
Middle Order: With the batsmen like Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Watson and Haddin at the middle of the order, one would expect big partnerships among these batsmen. But that was never the case in this series. Hussey was impressive. Clarke made a century which helped them to draw the third test. Watson was OK... Haddin was a big disappointment with the bat and behind the stumps.
Rating: 3.25/5
Pace Bowling: The fast bowlers had a lean time. If I had to pick one bowler from Australia who bowled quite well in this series, I would prefer Shane Watson. Watson bowled beautifully in the last test match. Mitchell Johnson bowled well and is the leading wicket taker for Australia in this series. Lee and Stuart Clark were average. The weakness of Australian bowlers was exposed when they could not break the partnership between Harbhajan and Zaheer in the first innings of the first test.
Rating: 2.75/5
Spin Bowling: Australia struggled through out the series with their spin department. Krejza was very impressive in his debut match. He was smart and patient. White, Clarke and Katich were the other spinners who were below average.
Rating: 2.75/5
Fielding: Fielding was good except for a few occasions where they dropped some catches. Haddin was not good behind the stumps. He gave away many byes.
Rating: 4/5
Captaincy: Ponting never looked like a captain he used to be. A captain has to lead his team from the front. Except for a century in the first test, he did not play a big innings. His tactics in the last test match, where he used his part time bowlers instead of pace bowlers, raised questions over his captaincy. Instead of trying to win the test match, he was afraid of his ban because of slow over-rate and used his part-time bowlers. He could not inspire his team in this series.
Rating: 3.5/5
India has to be consistent in order to be the No.1 in the test cricket... But with this hectic schedule, India need to protect its players from injuries by rotating the players which would otherwise be an obstacle for its aim to be No.1... India has a great bench strength in the form of many youngsters like Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Vijay, Munaf RP Singh, Irfan Pathan etc...Use them wisely and protect the players...
Congratulations and all the best India....
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, October 18, 2008
What a day
for Bangladesh, especially Shakib Al Hasan and India, especially Ganguly.
Shakib Al Hasan ripped through New Zealand to boost Bangladesh on the second day of the first of 2 tests against New Zealand. A six-wicket haul from the left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan allowed Bangladesh to make an impressive start to their test match against New Zealand today. He took six for 32 from 24 overs at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium to make New Zealand struggling at 155/9 at stumps on day 2 after they bowled out Bangladesh for 245. New Zealand pinned their hopes on Oram , McCullum when they were 57/4 at tea. But both these players got out looking to play big shots. Vettori is batting on 48 and they still trail by 90 runs.
India had an excellent day at Mohali they could be proud of. Brilliant performances from the captain MS Dhoni(92) and Sourav Ganguly(102) took India to a good total of 469. Dhoni was a little unlucky to be given out. He deserved a century. Dhoni played his natural game after a long time. Dhoni played agressively and carried the momentum set by Sachin Tendulkar. It was nice to see him playing this way. Ganguly makes his last test series a sweet one with his hundred in the first innings of the second test and a good performance in the first test. He was cool and confident throughout his innings and did not play a too many unnecessary shots. He constructed his innings with ease.
Here is what Ganguly has got to say after the day's play "This will be my last series, I will not reconsider coming back (smiles). It's been a fantastic batting quartet. Our overseas performances have improved over the last few years. I knew I wasn't going to be selected any more"
Zaheer Khan got the early breakthrough by removing Hayden for 0. It's Zaheer Vs Hayden now after Harbhajan Vs Ponting. Zaheer gets Hayden three times in a row in this series. Debutant Amit Mishra took 2 wickets. Australia is 102/4 at the end of day2. The day completely belongs to India. Australia keeps its hopes on Hussey.
Shakib Al Hasan ripped through New Zealand to boost Bangladesh on the second day of the first of 2 tests against New Zealand. A six-wicket haul from the left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan allowed Bangladesh to make an impressive start to their test match against New Zealand today. He took six for 32 from 24 overs at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium to make New Zealand struggling at 155/9 at stumps on day 2 after they bowled out Bangladesh for 245. New Zealand pinned their hopes on Oram , McCullum when they were 57/4 at tea. But both these players got out looking to play big shots. Vettori is batting on 48 and they still trail by 90 runs.
India had an excellent day at Mohali they could be proud of. Brilliant performances from the captain MS Dhoni(92) and Sourav Ganguly(102) took India to a good total of 469. Dhoni was a little unlucky to be given out. He deserved a century. Dhoni played his natural game after a long time. Dhoni played agressively and carried the momentum set by Sachin Tendulkar. It was nice to see him playing this way. Ganguly makes his last test series a sweet one with his hundred in the first innings of the second test and a good performance in the first test. He was cool and confident throughout his innings and did not play a too many unnecessary shots. He constructed his innings with ease.
Here is what Ganguly has got to say after the day's play "This will be my last series, I will not reconsider coming back (smiles). It's been a fantastic batting quartet. Our overseas performances have improved over the last few years. I knew I wasn't going to be selected any more"
Zaheer Khan got the early breakthrough by removing Hayden for 0. It's Zaheer Vs Hayden now after Harbhajan Vs Ponting. Zaheer gets Hayden three times in a row in this series. Debutant Amit Mishra took 2 wickets. Australia is 102/4 at the end of day2. The day completely belongs to India. Australia keeps its hopes on Hussey.
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