how do you feel about upcoming oz series...?

shared by straight point on Thursday, August 26, 2010

despite virtually non existent middle order... hue and cry over our youngster's performance in ongoing tri-series... india have made it to yet another final with sri lanka being the other team...

the pattern of this tournament is very consistent... no team has reached any level of consistency... every team's campaign has been 'blow hot blow cold' type with win or loss coming with equal massive margins... which shows that the matches have been more or less like lotteries where rather than team efforts the wins have come from the individual brilliances from player like sehwag in india's case...

although team india's youngsters performances have been disappointing with no one coming close to make an effort to stay at wicket and make his innings count... hence not a single score of even 50... in fact at times they could not even muster 50 runs collectively...

the allrounder in jadeja neither could help team india finish 50 overs after coming to crease when there were more that 10 overs left in the match (which could have proved crucial) nor he was deemed fit to bowl even at no.10, 11 batsmen...

so jadeja is neither a grafter... certainly not a hard hitter... can't be trusted to even bowl at tailenders... basically he fails in every department of what is expected from no.7 player...

but our presumed weakest link... bowling has shown that given the helpful conditions we are as good as any other bowling attack if not the best...

so what if someone from our young crop goes on to play a blinder of innings in finals and we win yet another final even with the some unresolved problems at hand...?

i would have certainly liked them to be tested against oz at home before making a final decision... but thanks to test cricket saving brigade... and bcci generosity of providing ponting some lifeline... we would be playing only three ODIs instead of at least five (though it was originally a seven match LOI series)...

although dravid or vvs would not agree with me... but two test series in the midst of world cup season is nothing but a distraction...

i would have loved to see the full LOI series with world cup being just a few months away and some question marks looming large on our young crop... the oz series could have given us strong pointers...

the three odi series is too brief that would be over before anyone could notice it... what will happen is... there will be so much pressure to win every game in that brief series and given the pressure exerted by media (and fans too) we can safely say good bye to seeing any experiment in that series in terms of combination or strategy...

apart from a scoreline... what we will gain from that series...?

this is why one wonders... what the 'save test cricket romantics' smoke..?

16 comments:

Keshto said...

Completely agree, while I find it good to have more Tests(although a two test series?) I think that might not be the priority right now for India knowing that we are close to the WC.

straight point said...

welcome keshto...

yes... but sometimes we just go with the flow that "oh how i like tests" but sometimes even the best of things life needs to be prioritise in life and we must see what is more beneficial...

here 7 odi series, however pointless test brigade or expert may claim, would have been just what the doctor orders for india... we could have tired various combinations and strategies in a long series... but thanks to romantics now... we can not...

Mahek said...

We've played two 7-ODI series against Australia in the last three years. I see no reason for us to play another one this time. Heck I'd have loved it if they'd scrapped all the ODIs and played 3 tests instead. We've played plenty of ODIs this year so there is no question of youngsters not getting the chance to show what they're capable of. We've played 21 ODIs this year, played 4 in December 2009. We have 8 more at home - 3 against Australia and 5 against New Zealand. There are 5 more in South Africa early next year. Look at the number of ODIs Nohit, Kohli, Vijay, Karthik have played during this time. There is no way anyone can claim these guys haven't been tried.

straight point said...

agree... but just like two test series is not a series... 3 odi series is same in my eye...

another significance is that this series is happening at just the right time before we could finalise the combination to try and then stick to in rest of series to come to keep everybody match fit and in form... but tell me what purpose this 3 odi series will serve now...?

Anil Singh said...

You are very right that India's bowling attack has shown that it's good; if not the best; no matter what is being said.

Jadeja, needs soem tiem to get accustomed to international cricket. He has shown his desultory nature when he tried to negotiate his transfer before last IPL. It also points to Indian fascination with All-rounders. International cricket needs experts not jack of all trade. Take for instance Praveen kumar, right now he's bowling well as the team has thrust on him the bowling department.

You are right, that current focus should be on ODIs. A more matches series would have been better; as a final dress rehearsal.

straight point said...

ab... jadeja has played more than 30 odis and if still he needs more time to get accustomed to international cricket then we are already knocking at the wrong door... :)

though i agree with you that from now on... the odi series have larger prospects than just being series in isolation... dress rehearsal is the apt word here... hence my grudge that a golden opportunity is being wasted here for playing two tests and 3 odi series which won't serve any purpose...

Anil Singh said...

SP, I didn't say that Jadeja should be given more opportunities. In contrast I assume him to be still unfit for international games. He appears to be like a guy who wants to grow more than his means. That became pretty clear when he started negotiating his transfer before last IPL. May be a break for him will be good.

straight point said...

ab...i don't know whether break will do any good to jadeja... but it will certainly not harm india... :)

Balajhi said...

Yes in hindsight the hastily arranged two test series looks ill-timed. Now with just 3 ODIs not much can be tested. All said and done series victory against Aus is important, that too in India. A defeat will further rise our doubts.

Our complacency denied us victory against a weakened Aus side last year. How will this Indian team fare?

straight point said...

its not hindsight bala... i opposed it with same reason when bcci was just proposing it...

having said that it has gained much more significance now after our youngsters performance in zimbabwe and now in sri lanka...

the answer is hidden in your question bala... complacency... once it wont be there and we will be focused on job at hand i don't think it is beyond us... but remember it is sudden death series so i am not sure much can be read into it...

Mahek said...

One could say a 3-ODI series is exactly what you need because there is no room for error.

We already know our XI. Well, Jadeja's is the only place up for grabs. So it's not like the selectors don't know who they have to pick. As for fringe players, can you honestly say we haven't seen enough of Kohli, Nohit, Vijay, Karthik, Ishant, Ojha? Okay, Mishra and Ashwin haven't played as many ODIs as we'd have liked, Uthappa and Irfan haven't played any. But these guys wouldn't have got a chance against the Aussies anyway because the selectors will pick a full-strength squad to face them.

Anil, I'm no fan of Jadeja but I don't know why you have a problem with him negotiating a contract. His contract with the Royals had run out and they didn't re-sign him. So what was he supposed to do? Sit on his ass and watch others in the IPL? He was made the scapegoat because the league values team owners more than its players. Just look at the percentage of total revenue that goes toward player salaries and compare it to that of other leagues and you'll know how players aren't getting paid as much as they should. I know this sounds outlandish but it's only because cricketers have always been underpaid.

Balajhi said...

In my 'hindsight' SP :)

Yes, if we shed complacency and focus we should do it. It's better we realise it than the Aussies or someone else make us realise.

straight point said...

mahek... i do not have to tell you that the world cup squad consist of 15 players... we all talk about final xi but conveniently ignore other 4 players that make up the team...

final x1 is the ideal situation which is not guaranteed to happen... there can be some niggle or some freak injury in the morning of match like what happened to rohit about to make test debut... so we need to have all FIFTEEN players which are not only fit... but in form... hence the importance of series at home against world no.1 team in that format to try out combination and strategies...

straight point said...

It's better we realise it than the Aussies or someone else make us realise.

killer line bala...

Mahek said...

Alright, let's look at the 15 then.

Batsmen:

Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
Virat Kohli/Nohit Sharma/Murali Vijay

Keepers:

M S Dhoni
Dinesh Karthik/Robin Uthappa

"Allrounders":

Ravindra Jadeja/Irfan Pathan/Yusuf Pathan

Spinners

Harbhajan Singh
Pragyan Ojha
Amit Mishra/Ravichandran Ashwin

Seamers

Zaheer Khan
Ashish Nehra
Praveen Kumar
Ishant Sharma/Munaf Patel/Abhimanyu Mithun/Sreesanth

Now, how many of these players haven't been tried enough in the last two years? How many of them do you think will play against Australia?

straight point said...

i think i have already made myself clear earlier that its not about chances but the loss of opportunity about the culmination of those chances... the lost opportunity of final dress rehearsal before the finals that too against the tough team like oz almost at perfect distance from worldcup...

so if you don't think its a waste of an opportunity than you are perfectly entitled to your opinion... hence the questions i asked... 'how do you feel...'

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BCC!straight point (sp) is restless... relentless... but a fun loving guy... likes to live life to fullest... trying to discover himself through cricket... welcome to this little world of his...

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