Raina vs. Yuvraj

Yuvraj Singh's World Cup winning performance has once again seen him in contention for a test spot. He was unlucky to miss the Carribean Sereis because of a lung infection although he is in the 17 man squad for the upcoming test series. But, his place in the playing eleven is in serious doubt, as Suresh Raina currently stakes a bigger claim for the No. 6 Test spot. Raina impressed against the Windies by scoring 250 runs at an average of 47. He also scored an attacking century in lone warm-up game against Somerset which has underlined his great form and effectively seals his spot in the playing eleven for the first test. Yuvraj's duck of 4 balls doesn't help his case as well.

M.S.D.

“Dhoni doesn’t just lead a cricket team; he’s also India’s captain of hope. And he didn’t just win India the World Cup; he also taught India how to win.”-Time Magazine.

Dhoni’s impact as a captain cannot be summed up in better words. For once, Team India managed to live up to the lofty expectations and delivered the cup to its cricket crazy fnas. Dhoni, stepped up to the plate right when his team needed him the most and scored a match-winning knock  in the final. In Dhoni, we have a man who is a great man manager whose serene demeanour betrays his combative nature. He epitomizes the spirit of the 21st generation Indian youth who unlike his predecessors is fearless and ready to take-on the world.

A few people have said that M.S.D. has been lucky to have one of the strongest Indian teams at his disposal. But, one must not forget the role he has played in building this side. For instance, it was his backing that gave Sehwag and Gambhir a chance to turn around their fledgling careers, as a result giving India a stellar opening partnership in all forms of the game. Right through his captaincy tenure, he has backed each and every player to the hilt and given them ample chances to prove themselves. Add to the above leadership qualities, impeccable glove-work and consistent batting performances (ODI Avg: 48.78), we have a modern-day cricket legend who looks destined for more glory. Hats-off to M.S.D., there aren’t too many Indians who inspire us like he does.

The World Cup So Far

Going into the fifth day of the Cricket World Cup, no minnow has yet sprung a surprise. Netherlands came the closest to doing so, 50 overs gives big teams enough time to recover unlike the T20 format. So, here's review of the performances of the big teams.

1. India:

The opening game against Bangladesh was touted as a banana-skin. But, India faced the situation with calm. Put into bat, their batting was flawless. Virender Sehwag stuck to his promise of playing for longer and looked likely to surpass Tendulkar's 200. Virat Kohli, the other centurion, has silenced all doubters with a very mature knock. He adapted to the pressure well and this knock will give him a lot of confidence.

As fas the bowling is concerned, Munaf, Zaheer and Harbhajan controlled the situation well after Sreesanth went for plenty. Sreesanth is a great seam bowler but his inconsistency early-on means that he is always going to be a risk in limited overs cricket. He has certainly played himself out of the playing eleven. It'll be interesting to see whether India opt to play an extra-spinner or play Nehra. With Yuvi and Pathan in the side, spinning options are plenty and Nehra's inclusion will help in supporting the quicks. But, Piyush Chawla's good recent form and spinner friendly tracks may force Dhoni to play the extra-spinner. He has to choose between getting the balance right or playing eleven in-from players. India should look to play to their strengths, by playing the extra-spinner than trying to gain the Ideal balance.

 

2. Australia

The Aussies have found it difficult to play the Zimbabwean spinners. It is a worrying trend for Ponting's men who prefer to play quicker bowlers and have played in seamer friendly conditions for a major part of their cricketing summer. Their batsmen, Ponting included, need to adapt to the spinning conditions as most teams are fielding spin-heavy line-ups. Michael Clarke is currently the only player looking comfortable in combatting spin. Meanwhile, their bowling department didn't fail to perform despite the conditions not favoring them. Australia, are certainly looking to play to their strengths by playing three fast bowlers. But, one wonders whether they taken it too far. With Krejza being the lone specialist spinner they seem to be disregarding the subcontinent conditions.But, Aussie quicks have performed well in the subcontinent previously too. Their major concern is their batting. Australia's poor batting cost them the Ashes and their obvious inadeptness against spin bowling might be the reason why they won't defend the reason.

3. Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka had a perfect game against Canada. I believe, they have a great balance in their squad. If there is a weakness, then it is the heavy dependence on Sangakarra and Jayawardene in the middle-order. 

4. South Africa

South Africa no longer look like a one-dimensional side. Infact, most observers felt that they played an extra spinner. Imran Tahir, lived up to the hype. He has the quality that every leg-spinner yearns for, control over his line and length. South Africa fielded three specialist spinners against the Windies as a result, playing with only six frontline batsmen and expecting Botha and Peterson to bat well during the death overs. Including, Du Plessis and Duminy, South Africa have eight bowling options which is more than adequate especially with the quality of Steyn, Morkel, Botha and Tahir. I suggest they play an extra middle-order batsmen who will be crucial when the team chases a big total. Morne Van Vyk can replace Peterson in the side. Van Vyk is a good hitter of the ball and if he takes up the gloves, then South Africa can have the best fielder in the world, AB De Villiers back to where he belongs.

Team India World Cup Squad

Squad: Dhoni, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj, Raina, Pathan, Ashwin, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Nehra, Patel, Chawla, Praveen Kumar.

The Indian World Cup squad has been finalised. Some of the notable absentees were Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay and Pragyan Ojha. While Sharma has failed to capitalise on the many oppurtunities handed out to him, Vijay has to wait with giants like Gambhir, Tendulkar and Sehwag available for the tournament. Yusuf Pathan and R. Ashwin are the two spinning all-rounders picked in the back of their impressive showing in Blues recently. In the fast-bowling department, a fit again-Zaheer Khan will be leading an attack comprising of Munaf Patel, Nehra and Praveen Kumar. Patel’s good showing in the five match series has earned him a berth in the squad. Nehra has been the most consistent pacer for India over the past year and a half. The most surprising inclusion was that of Piyush Chawla as the second spinner alongwith Harbhajan. Chawla played his last ODI in 2008 while Pragyan Ojha has played regularly for the test team and could’ve been considered ahead of Chawla.

With the World Cup being played in the subcontinent, Dhoni’s men have a great chance of lifting the cup in front of the home crowd. Their opening tie against Bangladesh will be prove to be critical. India began their disastrous 2007 WC campaign with a loss against Bangladesh. The format of this tournament is such that Teams can afford to start slowly. But, the Men in Blue will be looking to kick-start the campaign by avenging that loss.

Team India Verdict- ODI Series

With the World Cup being the next competitive tournament that India will play, this series provides us with a few pointers about Team India.

Firstly, the performance of the young Indian top and middle order was pathetic. Kohli apart, no Indian batsmen showed any application in dealing with Steyn, Morkel and Tsotsobe. Raina was the most disappointing of them all as he averaged a lowly 22 in the five matches. Yuvi showed great application in the second ODI but it was just a one-off. Although, the World Cup will be played in more batsmen friendly conditions, these players need to take a leaf out of JP Duminy’s book, who shephered South Africa out of tough situations by curbing down the glory shots and picking the gaps for ones and twos. The return of Sehwag, Tendulkar and Gambhir will be very much welcome as the Indian batting looked hapless throughout the five match series.

But, it was equally encouraging to see the lower middle order perform well. Gary Kirsten’s have been spending some fruitful time with the tail-enders at the nets. Yusuf Pathan has certainly been the most succesfull Indian batsmen scoring a half-century and a century. His latter effort went in vain as he ran out of support from the opposite end.

If Dhoni contniues to play three fast bowlers then Pathan might replace either of Raina or Yuvraj in the playing eleven. His recent performance have strenghtened his case for inclusion.

The death over bowling of India was also sign of encouragement. Zak & Co, varied their lines well and dealt South Africa crucial blows in the final powerplay. The ground fielding has been tidy and the catching commendable. But greater effort in the fielding department needs to be done so that players like Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra need not be hidden in the outfield.

To put in a nutshell, the batting was disappointing while the rest was up to the mark.

And They Choke Again

India pulled off an improbable victory against South Africa at the Bullring. Dhoni's men were clearly the second best side for the first 70 overs of the game but rallied back to snatch victory. It was a day where Dhoni couldn't put a foot wrong. He won the toss and chose to bat first. But, the Indian batsmen failed to utilise this oppurtunity to gain some confidence leading into the world cup.
The batsmen started off slowly as the conditions were overcast and the deck assisted seam movement. The three man pace attack of Tsotsobe, Morkel and Steyn quelled the Indians for runs with some disciplined bowling.

With Kohli, Tendulkar and Vijay back  in the hut, Yuvi and Dhoni had to start from scratch. The duo scored runs at a brisk pace and put up a stand of 83 runs. It was reminiscent of the many innings these two have played for India over the years, shepherding India out of critical situations. But the good work was followed by the fall of four quick wickets in the powerplay which restricted India to a paltry total of 190. The Indian lower middle order played poor and unreasonable shots which led to their downfall. Tsotsobe picked four again as the continued his good run of form in ODIs. His consistency, bounce,angle of attack and subtle seam movement makes him a difficult customer especially when you have mean bowlers like Steyn and Morkel complementing you.

The Proteas began their reply steadily thanks to Graeme Smith's ruthless batting. The South African captain
punished the bad balls and countered the seam movement well. Munaf Patel got Amla early but Colin Ingram and Smith got some quick runs and looked to play India out of the match. While Munaf Patel and Zaheer Khan stuck to their lengths, Ashish Nehra once again faltered. Pitching it up too often and was smashed around the park by Smith.

Dhoni then decided to bring in Harbhajan Singh in the 8th over and things changed as Smith and Ingram looked to play out Harbhajan's overs and this allowed India to come back in the game. First Harbhajan trapped Ingram and then a rejuvenated Nehra got one to move away from  AB De Villiers and take his edge.
Dhoni also got his slow part-timers into the fray. Soon, Duminy got himself caught at deep mid-on trying to slap a half tracker from Rohit Sharma. Yet at this stage, hopes of an Indian comeback looked dim as Smith kept scoring and he looked to guide South Africa till the end along with David Miller.

Around the 30-over mark, Dhoni reintroduced Khan and Patel and by the 34th over the pair were both back into the pavilion. Munaf bowled a well disguised slower delivery which Smith played on and Miller holed out pulling an offcutter from the experienced Zaheer. Botha was the next man to go as he was wrongly judged lbw off Zaheer. Despite a collapse, with Parnell at the crease, South Africa needed just four runs with two wickets in hand and were favorites. Dhoni got things right once again as Morkel hit the first ball of the 42nd over straight to Yusuf Pathan at point, who was just brought in the previous ball. With two runs away from victory, Parnell went for a similar shot as Morkel which was pouched by Yuvraj and it sparked wild celebrations from Team India.

Parnell on the other hand looked shell shocked. With another major competition coming up, this result means more than just a close game for South Africa. Certainly, it must have reminded Protea players and fans of the five letter ch-word which has plagued them for as long as one can remember. The albatross is still hanging around the neck and Smithwill now be desperate to kill it in his last home ODI Series as Captain.

A Humdinger of a Test

This final test is test cricket at its very best. To my surprise, the Indian team is no longer a weak team who are susceptible to verbal disintgeration. Contrastingly, they have given it back as good as they've got. I personally feel that the South Africans are making things tougher for themselves by going hard at Sreesanth and Zaheer when the duo came out to bat. Sreesanth reacted well to his verbal battle with Smith, while Zaheer always loves to engage one. The last time Team India got involved into such a heated banter was in England in 2007. The englishmen were guilty of throwing jelly beans by the pitchside which irked Zaheer. Zaheer then responded with a match winning performance with the ball which took India to an overseas victory. I hope the same transpires this time too.