India Needs a Genuine Pace Attack

Success of a team in cricket is in the hands of opening batsmen and also the pace bowlers. The role of pace bowlers is as important as they can disturb the opponent batsmen with their pace and swing. Indian bowling department is not as impressive as it was in the past. Kapil Dev, a legend, is the best bowler of Indian cricket. In his captaincy India won the world cup in 1983 and it’s purely because of a bowler who cleaned the opponent. Few decades back Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad were the pace bowlers and they were the successful opening bowling pair for Indian cricket. The variety in their bowling fetched quick wickets and they were responsible for victory.

After their retirement from international cricket the bowling department of India was found helpless. Zaheer Khan is the most reliable pace bowler at present and he is prone to injuries most of the time. The left arm pacer is a perfect attacker with new ball and also expert in reverse and in swing yorkers that can surely clear the defense of a batsmen. There were many bowlers like Ajit Agarkar, Debasis Mohanty, Aavishkar Salvi, Sreesanth and Ashish Nehra who were in the team but couldn’t mark their presence permanently in the squad due to the loss of variety. Indian team suffered a lot without quality bowlers and faced many loses. Javagal Srinath carried the bowling till 2003 world cup. After his retirement there was no strong bowling attack in Indian team.

Irfan Pathan stepped in to the squad as a bowler and surprised everyone with the ability of swinging the ball into the batsman. He was successful in fetching quick wickets but lost his form and is out of squad for long time. Ishanth Sharma and Munaf Patel are the other bowlers picked for Indian squad who were admirable at the beginning but as days passed on they too failed at important situations.

On a whole the team fully relies on Zaheer Khan and his absence is noticed in all series. RP Singh has not found permanent place in the squad and Praveen Kumar is being impressive till now with his ability of swinging in air and troubling the opponent. Mithun another pace bowler has the ability to bowl well and he must be developed to be a star bowler for the team. Pace bowlers are the key players in any match and if players like Praveen Kumar, Mithun, Ishanth Sharma are trained well they could be the best in sharing the bowling attack with Zaheer Khan.

What are your views on Indian pace attack?

What RCB should do?

This is not written keeping in view of today's match...

1. KP and Ryder should open
2. Uthappa doesn't look confident at the top and he has not been aggressive. It will be good if comes down the order, may be at No.5
3. Dravid is the only batsman for BRC to score consistently ...He came to bat when the team had almost lost the match....He can't do anything when he comes to bat in that situation... He should come at No.3...Unfortunately for today's match he is not available...

Finally the batting order should be like this

1.Ryder
2.KP
3.Dravid
4.Kallis
5.Uthappa
6.Taylor / B Akhil
7.Kohli
8.Praveen
9. Pankaj Singh/ Steyn
10. Vinay Kumar
11. Kumble


For today's match, it's going to be interesting who's gonna replace Dravid. Will it be Gaurav Dhiman or Wasim Jaffer?

Was the selection good?

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....

Probable Indian Squad for ODI series against England

The selectors will meet today in Nagpur to pick the 14-member Indian team for the ODI series against England starting on Nov 14. Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, who missed the last ODI series in Sri Lanka, are set to return to the Indian squad. The squad may consists of 8 batsmen, including wicket-keeper, 4 pace bowlers and 2 spinners.

Batting:
There is no doubt about the selcetion of Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Dhoni, Yuvra, Raina. So the remaining two slots may be filled by Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Uthappa and Virat Kohli. There is a tough competetion among these four. But I think the selectors will stick to Rohit and Badrinath considering their recent performances. Uthappa may have to wait for some more time before he gets a call up. Yusuf Pathan, a big disappointment with bat in the Challenger Trophy, is likely to be left out.

Pace Bowling:
Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma lead the pace bowling attack. The other options for the remaining two places are Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan and Praveen Kumar. The selectors may stick to Munaf and Praveen Kumar. Irfan Pathan's recent performance, except in the Challenger's trophy, is not upto the mark. But if one of Zaher and Ishant is rested, Pathan might get a chance.

Spin Bowling:
Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha and Piyush Chawla are the other options for the second spinner besides Harbhajan. Amit Mishra is a better option for the selectors considering his form in the on-going test series against Australia. There are also a few chances for Pragyan Ojha to be selected.

Probable India Squad: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, S Badrinath, MS Dhoni(captain & wicket-keeper), Suresh Raina, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra.

My Favourite Playing XI (in that oder):
Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Rohit Sharma
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
MS Dhoni
Zaheer Khan
Praveen Kumar
Harbhajan Singh
Ishant Sharma