I was wondering about the coming series against Pak & about the best team for this fantastic series. My 11 would be: 1.Sachin [2. Uthappa 3. Sehwag 4. Gambhir ]5. Yuvraj 6. Dhoni 7. Pathan 8. Harbu 9. Zaheer 10.RP 11. Murli.
According 2 me 8 of the 11 select themselves, Bowling looks settled , From Murli 2 Yuvraj + Sachin gives the 8 selected players. So, only 3 batting places are left. 5 players come out as automatic 1st choices , Uthappa,Sehwag,Gambhir, Saurav, Rahul. Uthappa has been in very good form + excellent fielder. Gambhir looks 2 b the most accomplished player of spin in the current lot of players, Thats y he would b my #4 , to tackle the likes of Afridi,Rahman,Malik,Hafeez etc, coz he is so aggressive yet looks safe against spinners however given the magnificant form of Yuvraj , yuvi should be pushed up the order every time if the start is good. Sehwag would b in my team for the initial matches at least coz he is the big intimidating factor for Pakis, ala Hayden,Symonds r for India, I say "the initial matches " coz if he doesn't fire , India should go for Ganguly/Dra . So these r the reasons for my first 3 choices. V just have 2 look ahead with the youngsters now, btw , even with the above mentioned 11 even without gangu & dravid, the team looks accomplished & uthappa,gambhir,sehwag have played enough cricket already 2 take any1 on.
However , if any1 doesn't click, Gangu/Dravid can come back in the team, I think v might need them in Aus. After Aus , we should look at the youngsters even more seriously, 1 hearting factor is that all new faces like Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwari, Raina, Badrinath, Dinesh Kaartick r all excellent fielders. I might add that Kaif could also b given a game or two.Also Yusuf Pathan, He impressed so much in the T20 Final. I think v have plethora of these new faces that v can try , there r only 3 places, after some time Sachin should also b rested & called only for Imp. games.
I saw the first match of challenger series, & mann do v need some pace bowlers there. I think Sree & RP are good finds as they bowl 85Mp + , so if they hit the right areas , both can b handful. None of the pacers impressed, leaving u wondering , y were they selected in the first place, Only Ishant was getting some decent pace, even he has miles 2 go before he can bowl in international matches, Bose was okie. Also when u r showcasing the youngsters of India can't we get a decent stadium with no dew factor + good bouncy pitch.
Among all rounders Praveen Kumar impressed, I think if v go in with RP & ZK in a match then v can give P.Kumar a game instead of Pathan 2 just try him out & that will give Pathan must needed rest too, Make no mistake Pathan is the 1 who brings so much 2 Indian cricket , team looks balanced with him, but no harm 2 giving somebody else a chance.
Kohli also impressed & so did Amit Mishra who got the 2 set batsmen with well disguised googlies, Mishra was okie with the bat too, he needs 2 improve his fitness & all round game 2 give Chawla a run for his money.
One more thing that most people don't realize with the new players coming in is the running between the wickets, Gambhir a competent fielder is brilliant between the wickets, so is Uthappa, Dhoni , Yuvraj & all others coming up, I will b back tomorrow after seeing the next match.
5 comments:
Manoj Tewary, Badrinath & Praveen again shone today, staking a claim in the 11. Pankaj Singh was impressive bowling around 80Mph at a good lenght , but needs 2 improve. Munaf needs 2 work hard at his game, Needs 2 bring his pace up. Yusuf again gave us a glimpse that he can b a handy allrounder. Gambhir is more of a senior now in the team. Goel & Kohli were also impressive, but the competition is so much with such good players coming up that they need 2 make big scores.
Again, Pitch wasn't conducive for stroke play & dew factor was in, Y can't they produce good pitches in spite of being the richest Board in the world says a lot about the people who run it.
Karan Goel was also very impressive with the Bat, so was Paresh Patel, who could b groomed 2 become a useful left arm spinning allrounder. Also , I was impressed with the form of Parthiv Patel's batting, certainly he has worked hard on it. Adios for now.
Coming later to the Dravid issue,, Lets have a look at the players who are ready for the big stage, I say ready coz there r so many youngsters giving a good show , but they just have 2 keep the same intensity & keep up the consistency. Manoj Tewary, Badrinath, Raina are the 3 players who r more then ready 2 test their mettle on the highest level, then there is Kaartick also. Rohit Sharma might have 2 be the 12th man in the on-going series, which shows how much the competition is . In todays game Yadav played very well, the few shots that he played off the spinners were really timed well, May b he read the article on cricinfo which says that most people need hard work & luck & some just the last name ( he is son of shivlal yadav), he proved he was certainly good enough for this level (at least if not more), Also Anirudh Srikkant played okie in his brief innings, Yusuf Pathan was a disappointment in this series with the bat.
I think the decision 2 leave Rahul out is a good one, Ganguly has shown that he is in sum kinda form in the last 2 series, However pressure is there on him 2 make runs in the 1st 2 games, Fielding & running between the wickets is very important in ODI cricket these days. The young guns who are coming up have shown that they are very good with the Bat & the other areas too. As for Sachin, he is in brilliant form of late. Performance is the only criteria here.
C ya later slater.
Interesting time 2 select a India A team:
1.Srikkant 2.Parthiv (WK)3.Tiwari (C)4.Badrinath 5.Raina 6. Kaartick 7. Joginder Sharma 8.Paresh Patel 9.Mishra 10.Pankaj Singh 11. Bose
Extras: Munaf,Ishant,Piyush,Powar
Just Missed: Kaif,Niraj Patel,Kohli,Arjun Yadav,Karan Goel,Yusuf.
Raina & Kaathick today again showed that both r in prime form & should b considered in the remaining ODI's against Pak. One player that I missed seeing this year was the opener Shikhar Dhawan, who played so well with Uthappa last yr.
Along with this young brigade of real promising batsmen r the wk-batsmen, Previously in Indian cricket v just could not find a keeper who can bat, players like Mongia,Karim,Deepdas,Dighe,Yadav,etc were tried 2 no avail, now we have Dhoni, Kaarthick, Parthiv & Mahesh Rawat who impressed today, May b Mahesh would have easily gotten a few games had he played a few yrs ago.
What v hav seen in this competition r wonderful young batsmen , Spinners were okie , Mishra,Powar were good, All rounders P.Kumar & Jogi were good, However none of the Pace men impressed much, Munaf,Pankaj,Bose,Trivedi,Yo,Ishant were just not good enough, btw where is VRV Singh, India needs 2 find bowlers with some real pace.
Laterr..
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