SRT IN TWENTY20

I am back. I could not blog over the last few days due to a problem with my internet connection, but that's over now. The bottom-of-the-table clash between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals has begun. Since I am not interested in any of these teams, I am not interested in this match either.

So when I was thinking of what I should blog about, I realised that it's 24th March 2010 today. Its exactly one month since Sachin Tendulkar scored his Double Century at Gwalior against South Africa. So I am back to my favourite topic... anything and absolutely anything related to SRT.

Sachin has carried his brilliant form into the IPL and is currently standing 3rd on the 'Orange Cap' List. He has 2 fifties already and is looking ready for more. Some of you might have noticed that his 176 runs have all been scored without a single 6. On the list of highest run scorers thus far in this IPL, he is the only one amongst the top-23 to have not hit a single stroke for half-a-dozen runs. The 24th batsman on the list, Mithun Manhas (with 83 runs), is the next one without a 6 in this IPL. It seems that SRT wants to pioneer a way of playing risk-free-yet-effective-cricket in Twenty20 format, something he has successfully managed in the ODIs.

Even without a single 6, SRT's strike rate reads 155.75, that's 9.35 runs per over from his bat. So if he faces 120 balls (entire 20 overs), he will score 187 runs. With that score, his team is bound to win 9 out of 10 games. So considering that SRT nowadays plays the role of a sheet anchor, around whom the others in the team blast their shots, his team should consistently score 200+ scores (which Mumbai Indians have done, to their credit).

Due to these numbers and the obvious influence that SRT has on any team that he is a part of, there have been calls by many cricket experts that Sachin should be a part of the team that tours West Indies for the World Twenty20 Championship starting from April 30. On various news channels, I have listened to the views of Navjot Singh Sidhu, Boria Majumdar, Vinod Kambli, Charu Sharma and more already.

One of the news channels claimed that they had received a text message from SRT saying that he is not going to be a part of the said squad and that he sees no reason to review the decision he made in 2007 (of quitting international Twenty20 cricket). There have been mixed reactions to such a claim. While some experts have agreed to his decision believing that a mature person like him must have had a solid reason to take such a decision, the others have not been so lenient and gone to the extent of saying that Sachin is putting money and club cricket above country.

I really do not have an opinion on this matter. I would obviously love to see SRT play T20 for India and hopefully, win us the World Cup in West Indies. However, if there is even the slightest chance that doing so might hinder his preparation for the ODI World Cup 2011, I would not mind him skipping such matches.

On one hand, Charu Sharma said that it's okay is SRT skips the T20 WC because his presence in the squad does not guarantee you a World Cup. On the other hand, Navjot Singh Sidhu said that if T20 WC is going to hinder his preparations for 2011 ODI World Cup and risk him an injury, even the IPL is no different.

None of these views are incorrect. So I think that this debate can be settled only if SRT himself states his exact reasons for skipping the World Twenty20 Championship. One thing's for sure: if I were to be Krishnamachari Shrikanth, and learn that Sachin Tendulkar is willing to make himself available for the T20 World Cup, he would be the first name on my squad - even before the captain.