Looking at 2007..
A lot has been going on in Indian cricket lately. The never ending Ganguly-Selectors controversy, the chappell-Ganguly spat, escaped e-mails, sachin being booed in bombay, the mumbai debacle, quiet dominance in ODI's and the list goes on. Building for the future has been the selection committee's mantra. I agree with the concept, but not with how it is being executed. Closing the doors on ganguly might not have been a bad thing for the future, but doing it after some decent performances leaves one bewildered at the goings on. Somebody has to pay the price for all the messy politics up top, and Saurav's the chosen victim. Although I sypmathize with how a great indian captain has been shown the door awkwardly, If I were building a team for the world cup, Saurav would not figure in the scheme of things as well. Ofcourse, a string of good performances, could get him back in, but as of now, he's a non starter.
Pace: The Indian pace department looks promising after ages. Pathan will continue to be the backbone, because of his ability to break big partnerships and his ability to swing the ball both ways (that is a terrfic skill IMO). Sreesanth has very good mechanics and uses his shoulder to generate good pace and bounce. Although there's not great swing, his length is impressive, and his attitude as a fast bowler has impressed me. Munaf patel, can bowl a lot of wicket taking deliveries on his day. More so than any other seamer in the team. But he is very unpredictable. Slips one way down the leg slide after two good attempts at a yorker and lets the pressure slip up. A little more grooming will help. RP singh, has the left handers line going for him, and has the knack of picking up wickets. A yard of pace added will suit him well. Zaheer khan is out as of now, unless he can get himself back in with a string of wonderful performances. Agarkar in my opinion should be out and not considered !
Spin: As for the spinners, the selectors seem to have got it into their head that playing kumble in ODI's will not work for us in the long term. So I guess he's out for sure. I don't quite agreee with this. You can call him old, and you can call him tired, but today, he's still our best bet for a wicket ! Harbhajan is a good one day bowler, and is a definite help and his selection is a formality. Piyush chawla needs a few more games in the domestic circuit. A few good tours, can make his case. Romesh powar is a bits and pieces cricketer at best, and I don't have a great feeling about this guy. He's about 5'5 and must weight like 200. He does field well and run well given his size. But he really looks unfit. And also, his bowling has nothing to write home about. If it were left to me, I wouldn't get his hopes up too much. It might be worth spending more energy on some richer, raw "er" spin talent than focussing on the likes of powar.
Wicketkeeping: This really is simple. Dhoni's gelled into the team real well. He has a great head on his shoulders. His keeping has been decent but can be improved. The important thing is that he's becoming a match winner that we have always yearned for (not just with slogging, but also with responsible batting). Dravid should don the pads, in case of injury to Dhoni. That way, we can save a slot, for another position.
Batting: Sehwag could have had a bad patch. But if he can find his groove, he can take the match away in a matter of a few overs. I will always take that chance with him. Sachin had a good run in pakistan and I believe his expereince should help India a lot. Gambhir will be my #3 opener in the event that he's required. Dravid at #3 and Yuvi at #4 pick themselves easily. Kaif I believe is a great team man and he should walk in at #5 and one good innings will make all the non believers eat their words. Raina is a great talent. Looking at his style, he's more a top order batsman than a #6. But till a slot opens up in the top order, he has to prove himself at #6. Pathan and dhoni add solidity to the line up. Venugopal rao and Dheeraj Jadhav will have to wait in the wings.
So here's my consolidated list (If I had my way):
1. Sehwag
2 Sachin
3. Gambhir
4. Dravid
5. Yuvraj
6. Kaif
7. Raina
8. Dhoni
9. Pathan
10.Harbhajan
11.Kumble
12.Chawla
13.Sreesanth
14.Patel
15.R.P singh
Waiting in the wings
1. V.R.V Singh
2. Venugopal rao
3. Ramesh powar (reluctantly :))
What do you have to say ? Do you have anybody else in mind ?
Pace: The Indian pace department looks promising after ages. Pathan will continue to be the backbone, because of his ability to break big partnerships and his ability to swing the ball both ways (that is a terrfic skill IMO). Sreesanth has very good mechanics and uses his shoulder to generate good pace and bounce. Although there's not great swing, his length is impressive, and his attitude as a fast bowler has impressed me. Munaf patel, can bowl a lot of wicket taking deliveries on his day. More so than any other seamer in the team. But he is very unpredictable. Slips one way down the leg slide after two good attempts at a yorker and lets the pressure slip up. A little more grooming will help. RP singh, has the left handers line going for him, and has the knack of picking up wickets. A yard of pace added will suit him well. Zaheer khan is out as of now, unless he can get himself back in with a string of wonderful performances. Agarkar in my opinion should be out and not considered !
Spin: As for the spinners, the selectors seem to have got it into their head that playing kumble in ODI's will not work for us in the long term. So I guess he's out for sure. I don't quite agreee with this. You can call him old, and you can call him tired, but today, he's still our best bet for a wicket ! Harbhajan is a good one day bowler, and is a definite help and his selection is a formality. Piyush chawla needs a few more games in the domestic circuit. A few good tours, can make his case. Romesh powar is a bits and pieces cricketer at best, and I don't have a great feeling about this guy. He's about 5'5 and must weight like 200. He does field well and run well given his size. But he really looks unfit. And also, his bowling has nothing to write home about. If it were left to me, I wouldn't get his hopes up too much. It might be worth spending more energy on some richer, raw "er" spin talent than focussing on the likes of powar.
Wicketkeeping: This really is simple. Dhoni's gelled into the team real well. He has a great head on his shoulders. His keeping has been decent but can be improved. The important thing is that he's becoming a match winner that we have always yearned for (not just with slogging, but also with responsible batting). Dravid should don the pads, in case of injury to Dhoni. That way, we can save a slot, for another position.
Batting: Sehwag could have had a bad patch. But if he can find his groove, he can take the match away in a matter of a few overs. I will always take that chance with him. Sachin had a good run in pakistan and I believe his expereince should help India a lot. Gambhir will be my #3 opener in the event that he's required. Dravid at #3 and Yuvi at #4 pick themselves easily. Kaif I believe is a great team man and he should walk in at #5 and one good innings will make all the non believers eat their words. Raina is a great talent. Looking at his style, he's more a top order batsman than a #6. But till a slot opens up in the top order, he has to prove himself at #6. Pathan and dhoni add solidity to the line up. Venugopal rao and Dheeraj Jadhav will have to wait in the wings.
So here's my consolidated list (If I had my way):
1. Sehwag
2 Sachin
3. Gambhir
4. Dravid
5. Yuvraj
6. Kaif
7. Raina
8. Dhoni
9. Pathan
10.Harbhajan
11.Kumble
12.Chawla
13.Sreesanth
14.Patel
15.R.P singh
Waiting in the wings
1. V.R.V Singh
2. Venugopal rao
3. Ramesh powar (reluctantly :))
What do you have to say ? Do you have anybody else in mind ?
posted by dinesh at
7:22 AM
9 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
By
Sriram, at 8:46 AM
Regarding ODI and WC 07...some things I think..
1. Sachin - His form really worries me. He has become extremely inconsistent and over-cautious. Seems like he's playing not to get out. Extremely untendulkarish. Maybe his health concerns have slowed him a bit. I really hope his re-emergence can be a 'good' story for our WC-Chase. If not, it will end uglier than the Ganguly saga.
2. Spinners - You are right. Its BS to keep Kumble out of the ODI team. He is India's best spinner. Chawla is a future project - looks promising, but I feel he is a post Kumble work. Powar is an excellent all-rounder. I think he should be in the mix. Probably ahead of Chawla in the depth chart.
3. Pace - Very promising future. Agarkar is already out IMO.
4. Batting - With the emergence of Pathan and Dhoni as viable batting options, I think there is lot less pressure on the pure batsmen. It should be a good thing, but for some reason its working the other way. Outside of Dravid, no one is performing. Thank god Ganguly is not in the mix. It'd have only complicated things further. At least now, we have the opportunity to try out new talent.
Overall, I like the direction we are heading.
By
Sriram, at 8:48 AM
machi,
ticket vaangu da
polaam world cup ku next year!!
Un vayala " I will take care of things" nnu sonnenaa nan kavalaiya vittuduven :)
By
Prabhu, at 7:51 PM
nee solradha partha, indha team a apdiye aada vitta podhum nu solra madhiri irukku.almost!
to my mind
idhey form la irundha Sehwag,
Gambhir and Kaif positions ellam doubtful.
Sachin is definitely ok in ODIs.
but it remains to be seen if he will improve or change for worse....
thalaivar oda last WC a irukkum probably!
powar from what i read bowls like an orthodox offie. West indies la chinna grunds dhaan ninaikiren.
polandhuruvanga..
i am not convinced abt Kumble's ability in ODIs.
He is a completley different proposition in tests. 40 overs JLT poduvaan.
ODI if the stars r not good even muralidharan goes for 99 runs in 10 overs!!!
dravid stand in keeping ellam velaiku avadhu. oru captain enna enna ellam seivaan?
Vijaya T Rajendar padam edukara madhiri batting, bowling, wicket keeping,innum vitta 12th mana a kooda varuvaan! amazing team man! but we need a good proper keeper as a stand-in.
By
expertdabbler, at 10:43 AM
What do you have to say ? Do you have anybody else in mind ?
Good that you didn't have Ajith Agarkar in your mind. I would have bloggingly killed you had you had his name :)
By
Anonymous, at 11:00 PM
Next post please!
By
Prabhu, at 8:20 AM
I dont think its a good idea to pick your 15 for WC. For a big tournament like that we could certainly need a back up keeper. It would be overdoze for Dravid if he is asked to keep if something happens to Dhoni.
Kumble won't be there in 15. We have so many unorthodox bowlers and more over westindies wkts dont aid spin much. Gambhir is still doubtful we need to try out other openers like Uthappa.
By
Anonymous, at 9:35 AM
Sriram,
I don't think the sachin saga will end uglier than the ganguly saga. Though the "one match memoried" indian fans can be real bad with perspectives, he'll be sent home well ! Let's wait and watch. Powar has been performing well, I agree. But he looks like a slob. He should do something about it.
Prabhu,
Serious a ? polaama ? Nee "umm" nu sollu, namma povom. I am serious !
PK,
Gambhir doubtful dhaan. But sehwag and kaif, I feel can be valuable if they can regain their form. For dravid as stand in keeper, I think that gives us one more position. Apparam avlo naal keep panni, avan back up keeper a irundhu enna prayojanam ? I am not asking him to be the main keeper. Just a back up. That doesn't sound too un reasonable to me. Because I odn't want to waste a position on dinesh karthick or parthiv.
By
dinesh, at 11:36 AM
Sridhar,
:). Don't know why he keeps figuring in the scheme of things. Nobody seems to want him !
Anon, am not saying, "pick my 15 and you'll be fine". Just a probable list at this point of time. A lot of room for change, but keeping an eye out for the future, that's all. Yeah, uthappa can be tried. Will have to wait and watch though !
By
dinesh, at 11:38 AM
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