team india performace review...

our bowlers need helpful conditions to be successful...

our batsmen don't...

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what last 'draw' test tells us about team india chances in australia...

thank you golandaaz of 'opinion of cricket'... his latest post "India v Australia - An Early Preview" made me write at sp after a long time...

i liked the way he concluded the post...

Not all wins are equal. Neither are losses. Some loses reveal a lot more than we are willing to read into. India's 4 Test match losses in England were not just shocking and humiliating but it also served an indicator of many collective missteps that no one is willing to talk about. Also a win-loss transaction is not a zero sum game. What England gained from the 4 wins, India lost far more than that. England simply confirmed their standing, India brushed the loss aside as "bad luck" and swept their real problems under the carpet. India are no longer as good as they were a year back and it will show in Australia.

specially the last line... to me india is not as good as year back was so profoundly revealed in last test against west indies team... we somehow managed a 'draw' while weakened west india team was further weakened by injury to their captain sammy... we managed draw against west indies which was reduced to only three front line bowlers and a part timer in samuels at home on such a pan cake of a pitch where a debutant, well almost, in ashwin who is not even a proper batsman scored almost run a ball...

imagine if sehwag not made those runs he did upfront at the pace only he scores... we either would have lost or played for a draw... and that's the pinching reality...

it seems that its written in the contracts of our illustrated seniors that run making has to be left to sehwag they can just carry on doing things at their own pace and comfort...

in england we suffered from this aspect more than anything... there was no one in the team that could have forced the issue or arrest the slump despite no one from our illustrated seniors looked out of form there...

at the twilight of their careers they need the push from upfront more than ever and its not a joke if india looks like batting on different pitch once sehwag departs... so our chances in australia lies how well sehwag plays for if he fails there we might have a repeat of england... in spite of having the experience of more than 37000 test runs and more than 100 centuries at our disposal between fab 3 at the other end and dhoni stubbornly refusing to improve as a test bat...

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why dhoni the maahi never says naahi...

o yess... how well i slept yesterday and woke up a fresh after watching team india doing soopda saaf of aussies... only to be stirred and shaken by the friend and fellow bored member naked cricket's candid boredwaani... is one day team selection rigged...?

this got me thinking about our one day team... many usual suspects are rested and many usual suspects walk in without doing anything... as if the door was never closed on them... like they have the pass to the team that never expires irrespective of what they do... or to be precise not do on field which matters most to other players who get dropped even before one blinks an eye...

this brings me to an usual suspect who is, unusually, not rested despite being in visible discomfort... dhoni...

dhoni, inarguably, is the most busy international player today... reportedly his back is not holding well... his hands are swollen... his right hand's middle finger is badly damaged and taped so heavily that it takes an effort to fit it in gloves... if any player who needed rest more than anyone else from this farce of an odi series... it was mahender singh dhoni... mahi... but why he never says naahi (no) to rest is THE question worth wondering... specially the same dhoni who took rest from a test series sighting fatigue...

i have always wondered... why dhoni subject himself to be treated like a machine that has to be installed on every venue... every match... every series... however inconsequential...?

i fear, that dhoni becoming the most valuable player... the face of team india in corporate world... and lastly... his latest 200 crore endorsement deal has nothing to do with it... where he is required to feature in every game irrespective of its significance... and if it is not... i don't think he likes his middle finger that much... does he...? :)

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satisfaction!

though you might be thinking that i am indicating to the 2-0 soopda saaf (white wash) of australia in the latest edition of border gavaskar trophy... err... teri maa ki series as we call it on bored... and you won't be too off the mark...

but i am talking about the satisfaction of a different kind...

the satisfaction of next-gen looking capable of taking the charge as and when the time will come to hand over the baton...

i am sure the seniors of team india, past and present, will not only be immensely proud on winning the series this way but deep down they will be even more happy in knowing the fact that baton will get passed on to the capable hands... the legacy will keep going...

murali vijay in first and second innings... and the moment cheteshwar pujara (CHE) stepped in at no.3... he ensured the game was team india's by the time he left the crease for sachin to take over... and it was only fitting that two veterans of the team gave finishing touches to the comprehensive win... the soopda saaf...

kumble, when he took over as test captain, made a very big and important statement... as future course for team india...  that he would want india to play to win taking pitch out of equation... and when i saw him in stands applauding cheteshwar pujara, i could sense how mightily pleased he must have been seeing it happening for actual in front of him... the satisfaction on his face could be seen and felt even from the distance... transcending the live stream straight to the heart...

so sleep well today... not only for that we have established yet again that why there is no other team right now that deserve no.1 spot more than team india for we don't depend on toss... or fixed eleven to win matches as this series has shown... but sleep well knowing that we have the next-gen players who have it in them to ensure many such wins in future once the baton... the legacy... will be passed on to them when their time will come...

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talk about cricket fitness...

this is what murali vijay said after the end of day's play... after scoring a well deserved hundred...

"It was really special knock for me. I would like to dedicate this to my mom. It was a dream come true for me to play with Sachin. I was just focused on each ball and not try to think too far ahead. In that regard Sachin paaji helped me a lot. He gave me pep-talks through the day. After the tea I got tired; I didn't want to give my wicket away but ended up playing a bad shot. I am trying to just keep things simple and work on my basics; whenever I get my opportunities I want to do well."

this is a significant statement coming from a youngster of about 26 years of age just into international cricket... who batted alongside the veteran of 21 years of almost non-stop international cricket at the age of more than 37 year... and still batting as strong and as relaxed as if he has just come to crease... taking quick singles or twos with youngsters like murali... raina.... and later with dhoni... during his marathon innings of 190+

yes... age is just a number... right murali...?

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14000 reasons to salute sachin...

 they say he has been playing international cricket for about 21 years...

to me... he started batting at international level the momement he picked up the bat... its not sachin's fault that they don't play international cricket for that age...  so cricket waited patiently for him to become a teenager...
so that we all could feel privileged to watch him bat ever since...
its not only us who feel privileged though...
even milestones feel honored to have their name taken alongside sachin... thank you sachin!  

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can india do bit differently at bangalore...?

after the thrilling finale of mohali test all eyes are now on bangalore test... and rightly so... the farce for a test series is still living up to its hype and fans from both sides can't wait for the next test to begin...

should india go for the kill and whitewash the series 2-0 to silence its critics or can selectors show some balls by distancing themselves from the hype of expectations and take stock of things...?

did i say stock of things...? what is there to take stock of... you say...?

well... you will know in a minute...

murali has shown in past that he has this un-flustered temperament about him... that is why he could fit in the side seamlessly in short notice in past... plus he is high on confidence now so i don't think there is much to dispute his selection as sehwag's partner...

ishant's place will be replaced by sreesanth and more than his bowling we might miss him for his rear-guard play when he bats... which tells us a lot about the kind of bowling ishant is dishing apart from his consistent over-stepping problem that can make even dilhara fernando proud...

india has nothing to lose as far as this series goes... even if they lose the next test... we will retain the border-gavaskar trophy... as well as the no.1 status... but being bit more proactive we can still gain something out of bangalore tests... in real sense...

this leaves us only one place where i would like selectors to use their discretion and look for future at the same time...

however much one wants to see vvs bat after mohali test... it will be nothing short of a risk india could ill afford given the number of tests we are going to play in near future...

so i would give vvs the precautionary rest... and replace him with cheteshwar pujara and play him at no.3 with dravid taking the spot vacated by vvs laxman...

the reason being... dhoni is not in greatest of form these days... his test batting is regressing by each outing... so having che and raina followed by dhoni will be bit of a risk and i think dravid's experience will be best used there...

of whatever little i saw of che in field... he appears to be a good close-in fielder... stays low till the last possible moment... no hurried movements... and more importantly looks relaxed... no wonder he took a very good catch fielding there... plus he is coming at the back of mountain of runs on every platform he has been given the opportunity to perform... so its time he is given the nod to see what he brings in to the table...

as i said... india has nothing to lose... not the series... not the border-gavasker trophy... not even the no.1 position... on the other hand we can test how murali, sreesanth (who is making bit of comeback in test team) and of course che cope with the pressure when oz will be trying their best to make a comeback in the series...

to me its another god send opportunity (after they missed on the bangladesh tour) with a win-win situation for us as well as che & co. and if we can use this opportunity to provide them glorified net-practice against exhausted australia team i think we must enchash it... until unless we want to have bragging rights on them for a while and lose focus on the impending transition...

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This country misses Ajay Jadeja or does it not ?

Yesterday, Indian news channels were buzzing with the India's win over Australia at Mohali. Just move from one channel to the other and one will find a panel of experts discussing the win and of course, the VVS.

On NDTV India, Sunil Gavaskar and Ajay Jadeja were doing the honors. Sunny, though at his sarcastic best when taking on British and Aussie commentators; looked a bit subdued. i think, the part of the damp sunny was the not so fluent anchor, but the presence of Jadeja was affecting Sunny too. Jadeja -- Someone who speaks his mind without much laag-na-lapet (approximately means ' With no value Addition on aesthetics')

Jadeja has been with NDTV for more than a year now, and most of the times I find him very accurate with his predictions. In the recently concluded Sri Lanka Test series, in the second match when all the experts , Indians and others alike, were saying Sri Lanka has chance, that too during the lunch break discussion; Jadeja pitched a very non-ambiguous stance in India's favor.

I even go a step further, i believe, if the match fixing incident would not had happened Jadeja would prove to be a good captain too. What do you say ?

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australia lost mohali test on another dustbed...

Let's get one thing straight: losing to India in the subcontinent is no disgrace.

Plenty of great Australian teams have returned home from those dry dustbeds with their tails between their legs.

no it's not me... this is what ben dorries said who's article got published in herald sun, australia... thanks for the hat tip by friend and fellow blogger bala...

back to the dust-bed...

i wonder which test match ben reported and herald let it publish... so although the date of article seems october 6, 2010, but correct me if i am wrong... is he referring to the same mohali test that went on till almost the tea of fifth day... the same test match in which pace bowlers took 25 wickets out of 39 wicket that fell during the course of match with two run outs being other mode of dismissals...?

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new poster boys... vvs laxman... ishant sharma...

first there was spell from ishant and then vvs laxman decided to cast his own spell on aussies...

so move over vvs-dravid... vvs-ishant is the new classic poster...

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india vs australia: another test series... another rambling...

the farce for a test series will be played between 'arch rivals' india and australia in a few days time... but the rambling in the name of 'mind games' is already on from oz team...

that how indians (specially sehwag) don't like short pitch bowling... there will be chin music... blah.. blah... blah... coming from a team that got thrashed last time when they toured india... why they forgot to implement this 'strategy' last time is the question best left un-answered as far as ponting goes...

can't they find some different expressions... thoughts... to talk about game...? and if not... keep shut like indian camp that is instead of delivery these yawning beauties are just focusing on the preparation for the series...?

coming to preparation... australia's only chance, if there is any, lies in the first innings of team india's batting... that too if they manage to cause damage big enough that can't be recovered in the second innings... as india continue to suffer from this perennial problem of not hitting the ground running... and if australia can't exploit this weakness first up... they can safely say good bye to this series...

...and this is my rambling about india being slow-starters... :)

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how do you feel about yuvraj getting dropped from test team...?

so yuvraj singh is dropped from the test team...and not 'rested' as they mildly put for more accomplished players...

he was recently dropped from an odi team owing to 'fitness and form' and then was allowed to sleep walk later both in test and odi team without proving either fitness or form so i am not reading too much into him getting dropped...

or should i...?

if i were yuvraj i would punish myself no less than spending a day with ijaz butt for squandering a spot which was presented to him on platter after ganguly's retirement... for not respecting the highest form of cricket enough although one can hear the tape recorded statements that how one loves and yearns to be a test cricketer...

he was seen as natural successor of ganguly but with more attacking game if not grit to fight it out... and that is where, i think, he let it go...

we might never know whether yuvraj could offer us only that much or with more application he had it in him to seal the spot for competition...

so on a day when yuvraj being dropped from the team seems much bigger news than the selection of cheteshwar pujara... sadly i don't feel sad about yuvraj getting dropped from the test team...

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what you would be doing if you were cheteshwar pujara...?

selectors are not going to wait till BPXI game... they will be meeting today to select the test team for the home series against australia...

so another potential selection awaits CHE'teshwar pujara...

how will the day end for him...?

will he be looking forward to the BPXI game to justify the faith selectors would show on him by selecting him...? or will he look at that game to show that there is no cure for the myopia selectors are suffering from...?

in my team CHE would have made it far ahead of rohit sharmas, suresh rainas but that is my team... in team india... he will have to wait till endless chances would be bestowed on players like yuvraj... rohit sharmas to make it certain that there is no test cricket in them...or drag seniors like dravid, sachin and laxman till there is no test cricket left in them...

but then will pujara be able to hold the forte without assurance of performance appreciation coming for that long or will he let the disappointment of consistent ignorance without explanation eat his trusted companions like talent... temperament... that have kept him going till now...

we shall see in not so distant future...


update:

guess who said this...

but i am not losing on hope and my gut feeling is that he will be selected (if not play) for oz home series...

finally selectors could not afford to keep him out... cheteshwar pujara has finally made it to team india... lets see when he breaks into final xi...

the team:
MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, M Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Sreesanth and Amit Mishra

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

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..?

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dhoni langde pe mat ro...

only the name has changed but not the fate... earlier i wrote about gambhir... yesterday dhoni did the same... with same result... and surrendered the advantage of winning the toss on platter to australia...

at the cost of repeating myself... i believe t20 is too abbreviated a format to let go any advantage that you have over your opponent...but it seems like legacy that one captain after another chose to chase in pressure cooker matches as if the pressure to perform is not enough in world events...

to quote what soulberry succinctly wrote at his blog...

Indian captains exhibit the strangest behaviour ever known when they are confronted with Australia and a won toss in a crucial encounter in a tournament or ICC tournament - they, almost predictably, opt to field first! It doesn't matter who the captain is - Azza, Ganguly or Dhoni - they exhibit the same unlearning behaviour.

team india thinking seems like they do not want to bat themselves out in first innings when the pitch is helping bowlers... but it is seen time and again... when they chase they bat themselves out of not only just the match but also from tournament...

another argument is that our bowling is weak so we decide to chase... but this is also wrong on two counts...

first... in all probability batsmen will not muddle things in middle as often as they do while chasing...

second... the pressure of a total on board coupled with pressure of a world event gives additional teeth... additional potency to the weak bowling...

so to me... the decision to bowl first is an utterly defensive and inexplicable decision... i hope the lesson is learned...

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but what about no.1 ranking in ODIs...?

bcci has shown willingness to re-schedule the upcoming seven odi series in october in india... to two tests and three one day series in order to appease their newly found 'test loving' stance... purists are already celebrating the news as if heaven has opened the gate for us... but sorry for spoiling your party... i would like to differ...

bcci in its zest must not forget that they are what they are coz of one day internationals... much before t20 and more precisely ipl happened in india... it was ODIs that kept bcci laughing all the way to its banks... and now that the health of ODIs is in danger... how can they leave it high and dry to die unattended...?

but more importantly what about no.1 ranking in ODIs...?

we are currently happily placed at no.1 in tests already and as homer argues here at bored nothing is going to change even if we sweep the two test series... but if we win the 7 odi series it will not only avenge last series loss but it will also help us inch towards being numero uno in ODIs too...

besides... the seven match odi series will also help our young guns to get into groove... to get some tough match practice just before the 2011 world cup due to be hosted in february in subcontinent... and team india think tank will get close to identify the combination of players to make squad for the world cup...

so, as homer said at bored... JUST SAY NO!!!

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