Sunday, April 10, 2011

Team India 2015


2011 saw what is in my opinion the best World Cup ever and what made it even more special for me and rest of the 1.21 billion people in India was that our team finally won the world cup after 28 years of waiting.
Winning in front of the home crowd under the immense pressure and scrutiny of the cricket crazy public I’m sure made it an even harder task. Team India richly deserves their victory and so does the great Sachin Tendulkar.

That said in all likelihood this was his last world cup campaign. He has already given up playing T20 internationals and in the next year or so I fully expect him to give up ODIs too so as to prolong his test match career and as much as the thought of him retiring from the game completely hurts I believe this eventuality will occur before the next world cup comes around.

We may yet see him at the world cup in Australia continuing to mesmerize us with his sheer cricketing brilliance, though it will most likely be in a suit from the comforts of the commentary box.
This brings me to contemplate what the Indian team that will be sent to defend its crown in Australia four years from now might look like. 
Those that will in all probability be missing from the current world champion squad will be;
  •         Sachin Tendulkar – As mentioned before he will have most likely retired from the game.
  •         Zaheer Khan/Ashish Nehra – Both fine bowlers, Zaheer who has been the lynchpin of our bowling attack for the last 2 or 3 years has been ably supported by Nehra. Both will be well and truly past their prime as they will be 36 years of age by 2015 and even in this day and age fast bowlers simply can’t last that long.
Then there are those that in my opinion just won’t be good enough in four years time;
  •         Munaf Patel – Although he is 28 at the moment and should establish himself as a regular in the team in the next four years, though I doubt he will be among the top 4 fast bowlers in the country in 2015. So in my opinion he misses out on a spot.
  •         Yusuf Pathan – Currently occupies the allrounder’s spot in the side with his hard hitting batting and slow offspinners. Has performed admirably especially when the team has been in trouble. That said in Australia the team will need a fast bowling allrounder as there are many others in the team like Yusuf who will provide the spinning options.
  •         S Sreesanth – Here is a bowler with a fantastic bowling action, perfect seam on release but one with a suspect temperament will sadly struggle to find a spot in the side. He is more suited to the test matches as he often proves too expensive in the sorter formats. I hope he proves me wrong and ends up being the bowling leader that his natural talent deserves.
  •       Piyush Chawla – He is young and he is talented the captain fights for him too. So you say why I do I think he won’t make it to the squad for the next world cup. Well its simple, with the world cup in Australia the team is more likely to take the extra seamer rather, 2 spinners and Piyush Chawla won’t be among the top 2 spinners in the shorter formats. Yet again I predict he will be a big part of the Test match squads in the future.
So with seven current world cup winners missing, our next world cup squad will be one with a few new faces.
Heres who I think barring injuries will constitute the 15 man squad in Australia come 2015.

The Batsman
·         Virender Sehwag
·         Gautam Gambhir
·         Murali Vijay
·         Suresh Raina
·         Yuvraj Singh
·         Virat Kohli
·         Rohit Sharma/C Pujara/S Tiwary

The Wicket Keepers
·         MS Dhoni (c)
·         Parthiv Patel/Robin Utthappa

The Bowlers
·         Harbhajan Singh
·         R Ashwin
·         Praveen Kumar
·         D Chahar/Umesh Yadav/ Varun Aaron
·         Ishant Sharma
·         Irfan Pathan

Ideally it would be nice to have some one other than Irfan Pathan vying for the fast bowling allrounder, but as of now I see no other player who could fill that spot apart from him.

The likes of Chahar, Yadav, Aaron, Pujara, Tiwary will no doubt have stiff competition from other young up and coming players but I have named them here based on my current knowledge of young talent in India.
Well there it is then in 2015 we will have a new look team with a good balance of experience and youth. I believe if some of the youngsters coming in fulfil their talent then we will have a real shot at defending our title.  

Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians Preview

Mumbai vs Delhi, Tendulkar vs Sehwag, the star studded lineup vs one short on match winners, there are many ways to look at this clash of two cities renowned for for producing cricketing heroes for this country. This is truly a match that excites the cricket crazy Indian public regardless of who they may support to actually win the IPL. I hope this match lives up to its blockbuster billing, and even though my allegiance lies with Delhi, a closer look at the two teams I find the richly assembled Mumbai Indians squad as the favorites.

Mumbai Prospects

As always Mumbai and all of India(including delhites) will be hoping for a Tendulkar masterclass and even if he fails they still have a lot of firepower to fall back on with the likes of Symonds, Rohit Sharma, and Pollard all very capable of singlehandedly posting a daunting target.Rohit Sharma in particular will be looking to prove once again that he is a force to be reckoned with and that he deserves a place on the Indian cricket team.

As with the batting Mumbai again seem to have the advantage in this department too. Even though they are missing out on the services of Zaheer this they seem to have enough strength with Sri Lankan slinger Malinga, towering Fernando, a fired up Harbhajan and the ever consistent Munaf Patel bringing in a lot of experience and skill. Sachin also has at his disposal a host of bowlers to fill up the 5th bowlers slot with Symonds, Pollard, Rohit Sharma and himself if needed.

Watch out for this as they seem to have all the makings of being IPL champions.

Delhi Prospects

Delhi on the other hand have a  top heavy batting line up and a lot will depend on the Sehwag and Warner partnership. They will need one of the two to play through majority of the overs and guide the young members of the team. Delhi have a few up and coming local lads in Unmukt Chand and Vikas Mishra though I doubt they will get much game time during this IPL season. They also have in the form of James Hopes and Andrew Mcdonald two multi-dimensional players who have the typical Australian fighting spirits but somehow I feel both lack that extra firepower which makes them good solid options rather than match winners.

When it comes to the bowling again it might just come down to a couple of players and how they perform at the start of the innings with the new ball. Morne Morkel and Irfan Pathan will share the bulk of the responsibility to skittle out the opposition batting.It is also yet to be seen if after the long injury lay what kind of form Pathan may bring to this team. That said depending on the team composition the daredevils might have Ashok Dinda, Agarkar, Hopes and Mcdonald bowling the other 12 overs. This indeed looks to be a very weak one dimensional bowling attack one that will be missing a good spinner.

Prediction

All in all Mumbai have a far superior batting and bowling line up and barring a Sehwag special I see them winning this comfortably.

Match Details

Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla






Date: Sunday, April 10 2011
Start time: 1600 IST (1030 GMT)

Online Streaming Links

http://mencricket.com/

Friday, April 8, 2011

IPL Fantasy Team on Cricinfo

Well the world cup is over and the IPL is here. Never too early for a good cricket tournament even if it's just T20. Give me the IPL over the pointless Aus v Bangladesh 3 match ODI series any day of the week.

As much as I would love to own an IPL team there is a serious issue of not having enough cash stopping me. So I did the next best thing make a fantasy team on the cricinfo website along with a couple of other mates to see who comes out trumps once the dust has settled on this years IPL.

Anyhow I support the Delhi Daredevils they are after all my home team, though I don't see how such an inexperienced side will actually beat the experience of the MI or the CSK outfits.

Bad start by my fantasy team to the IPL T20 game. Thank you Gautam Gambhir for coming in at number 6 for a start and then conveniently running like a headless chicken and getting out.

Hope today the team fares better, have Dilshan, Kohli, Hodge, Zaheer and Chahar in action today.

Leave a message if anyone else reading this is playing the game. Also let me know if you would like to join my league.

Cheers


Fixing The Match Fixing Situation: Steps That Need To Be Taken

Over the last month, the cricketing world has been rocked by one scandal after another, with the Pakistani cricket team and its members having been at the centre of it all.

Match fixing isn’t a new phenomenon in cricket. It has happened before with South African and Indian players being at the forefront on those occasions, people involved were given harsh punishments with life bans handed out to a few.

The game has recovered from those scandals, but what will be really important this time is the procedures that will be put in place to prevent this from happening ever again and gaining the trust of the viewers.

Unless the ICC is able to do that, there will always be a little doubt in peoples mind whenever a catch is put down, a wide or a no-ball bowled or when two players converse on field.

Here are a few things that need to happen according to me to rectify this situation:

  • The Pakistan cricket board needs to first accept that there is a fault within their ranks and they need to realize that the world isn’t against them. Cricket needs a flourishing Pakistan team, but one that plays to win fairly.
  • Some of the talent that comes out of Pakistan can’t be produced anywhere else and one truly feels privileged to watch them in action. I, for one, watched in awe the performances of young Mohammad Amir, Asif and Umar Gul against Australia and England.
  • The Pakistan cricket board then needs to show that they mean business and therefore as they have done in the past with the likes of Salim Malik, they need to punish the guilty with harsh punishments.
  • The ICC is running the game and therefore this is the time for them to stand up and be counted. It’s not only Pakistan where the problem is, there is a lot of illegal gambling in India and I am sure that players have been approached, it could be the international players or IPL stars or could even be the domestic cricketers.
  • I am not saying that matches have been fixed or that spot fixing has been going on, just that the possibility of it happening in Indian cricket is high and if something isn’t done it’s only a matter of time a player in need of some fast cash takes the wrong route.
  • The media need to be thanked for exposing the spot fixing that went on during the Pakistan and England games, but it highlights the fact that the Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) setup by the ICC hasn’t done its job.
  • The ACSU was setup in the year 2000 and its objectives were investigation, education, and prevention. So in the 10 years of its existence in my opinion, it has achieved none of its three objectives.
  • They say that as part of the education process, players are given details of the ways in which corrupters may seek to 'groom' them from an early age as well as the penalties that exist—not just for fixing all or part of a match, but also for accepting money, benefit, or other reward for the provision of information or failing to disclose the inappropriate conduct of others.
  • If this was actually done properly then we wouldn’t be in a situation where we might lose a talent like Mohammad Amir. The ICC would do well to rectify this situation and maybe restructuring the unit completely is the drastic step that needs to be taken.

These are just a few things I think need to happen, let's hope from here on end we don’t have to question a players performance and we don’t lose another great talent for these reasons.