INDIAN TEAM - FROM 15 TO 11

Well, Messrs Srikkanth and Co. are finished with their work (for now) and have given us a 15-member squad for India's campaign as co-hosts at the Cricket World Cup 2011... the 10th edition of the mega-event.

I have already expressed my opinions about 15-member squad and about who should not have been included and why so over here. But since I am not a member of Team India's selection committee, there is not much that can be done. So here, I am going to have a look at selecting the 11-man squad from the 15... and also possible replacements in case of injuries to any player.

Here is the team once again: MS Dhoni (c) (wk), V Sehwag (vc), S Tendulkar, G Gambhir, V Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, S Raina, Y Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, P Chawla, P Kumar, Zaheer Khan, A Nehra, M Patel.

In my previous blog, I had mentioned that my ideal first XI would be:

V Sehwag
S Tendulkar
G Gambhir
Yuvraj Singh
S Raina
MS Dhoni
Y Pathan
Harbhajan Singh
P Kumar
Zaheer Khan
A Nehra

The above XI will give India an amazing batting depth to make up for not-too-great bowling resources. The team will have 7 batsmen, with Harbhajan and Praveen who can hit big consistently, and then Zaheer who can also hit big, though not that consistently. And our No. 11 man Ashish Nehra also has hit 8 sixes in international cricket (3 in Tests, 3 in ODIs, 2 in T20s).

From the batting point-of-view, the man that I have left out is Virat Kohli. As I have explained in the previous blog, it is a difficult choice, but necessary to accommodate a big-hitter-cum-tidy-wicket-to-wicket-bowler in Yusuf Pathan. I know many would not agree to dropping Virat Kohli, and Freehit has already suggested that Raina should be dropped instead. But with India going pretty weak and thin on bowling resources, I am of the opinion that atleast 3 part-time bowlers will be needed in the XI. Dropping Raina means that only 2 will be available.

(Note: I have taken the liberty to assume above that Virender Sehwag has not sufficiently overcome his shoulder troubles and thus, his off-spin will not be available to the team.)

Looking at the bowlers now...

The new ball should be shared by Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar. I do not see conditions in India over February and March ever favouring the new ball bowlers. Maybe if India reach the semi-finals (which will be played at Mohali) and have to bowl under lights to defend a target, then possibly Ashish Nehra could be given a new ball. However, late in March, I don't think Mohali will also be kind to Nehra. So, Nehra should be the first change bowler.

Govind has rightly pointed out that Nehra tends to be expensive with the new ball, but is a much better bowler at the death. This is another reason why he becomes the first change bowler for me.

I would like to see Dhoni use Praveen Kumar between overs 20 and 34. His bowling does not provide a lot of pace to the batsmen... and with the spinners in operation at the other end, he will provide a nice variety to the attack. He can be a handful when he bowls his cutters with the softer ball. And unless the batsmen opt to take the batting powerplay when the ball is changed, Dhoni should use his part-timers and spinners after 34 overs till he sees signs of the batsmen starting to attack at the death. The reason is that with the harder ball being used after 34 overs, it becomes even more essential for the fielding side to take the pace off the ball.

The role for the reserves...

The four players that I have left out from my XI are Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla and Munaf Patel.

Kohli and Patel will be simple replacements for any injury or under-performance by a batter or a pacer respectively. The positive for India is that Kohli has been in tremendous form of late and Munaf's performance has also been quite up to the mark. So their presence should keep the top XI on their toes... for a couple of failures might result in being dropped (especially for Raina and Nehra).

The case of our reserve spinners is a little different. If there is an injury to Harbhajan Singh, I think Ashwin will be the ideal replacement. So then why is Chawla in the squad? I think it is obvious that Dhoni is thinking of 6 batsmen + 5 bowlers strategies also.

I think it is not too great an idea considering that we have not tried this combination in the lead up to the World Cup. So if he is indeed thinking of such a strategy, Chawla will get a game ahead of either Raina or Pathan or maybe even Yuvraj.

The problem that I see with such a combination is that Piyush Chawla's batting abilities (or should I say, hitting or slogging abilities) are quite a notch below those of Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar and some may say, even Zaheer Khan. So is it wise to sacrifice a good batsman who can bowl decently for a decent bowler who cannot bat at No. 7 or No. 8.

If someone like Ab De Villiers or Eoin Morgan (two very crafty batsmen against spinners) were to take the attack to Chawla on the dead pitches of Nagpur and Kolkata respectively, would he be able to find his bearings? I am not sure...

But while we talk of this, the good bit is that the tournament structure is such that each team will play 6 games in the group stage. And we can afford a couple of losses as we just have to be in top-4 out of 7 teams in the Group. Since 2 of those 7 are Ireland and the Netherlands and 2 others being Bangladesh and the West Indies, India should have plenty of chances to experiment in order to find the ideal combination.

Now lets just hope that this team remains injury-free, because the replacements like Rohit Sharma, S Sreesanth and Parthiv Patel do not inspire a lot of confidence.

Can't wait for the World Cup to begin...

TEAM INDIA FOR WORLD CUP 2011

The selectors have come up with their 15... and MS Dhoni, Gary Kirsten and the team management looks like they have had a say in the final selection. Here is what the squad of 15 looks like:

MS Dhoni (c) (wk), V Sehwag (vc), S Tendulkar, G Gambhir, V Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, S Raina, Y Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, M Patel, P Kumar, A Nehra, R Ashwin, P Chawla.

Well, for me, the first 13 names were on the expected lines. I had assumed that Ashwin and Chawla would be discussed for the 2nd spinner's role and we will have an additional pacer.

I am not at all satisfied with Chawla's selection. Here are the reasons why (I have already enumerated these by way of comments in SP's blog):

1. Piyush Chawla has never played an ODI in India. As Cricinfo pointed out, all his 21 ODIs have been away from home. So if he plays in the World Cup, he will be making his debut in India in ODIs. It may be argued that he knows the conditions well... but I still feel that bowling at international cricketers in the middle overs of an ODI is a different art from the other experiences that Chawla must have had in India.

2. Piyush Chawla has not played an ODI for India since 2008. Even if he does play the next 3 ODIs against South Africa, I wouldn't call it a selection based on performances. Plus, all those ODIs will still be outside India!

3. Chawla has been selected as a spinner, who will be bowling in the middle overs. But from what I have last seen, Ojha would be a much better bowler in the middle overs. He is more crafty and though he may not get you many wickets in Test cricket, but in ODIs in home conditions, I would select him over Chawla on the recent viewings.

4. A lot of people have opined that Chawla is handy with the bat and in the field... and thus he got a shoo in. If this is the reasoning, then why not go for Rohit Sharma? He is a better batsman, a better fielder and even though he is a part timer, he has been bowling pretty well for India in recent ODIs. And for a bowler who is handy with the bat, we already have Harbhajan and Praveen Kumar. I am not sure why we had to pick Chawla for another one!

5. This is the MOST IMPORTANT REASON. We know India will be going with a 3 pacer + 1 spinner combo and allow part timers to do the rest. So it's baffling that we have just 1 backup for our 3 pacers and 2 backups for our 1 spinner. The numbers just don't sound good. Plus given the fact that pacers are more likely to be injured than spinners, it puts an even bigger question mark over the selection.

If the extra spinners have been selected for the reason that India may go in with a different combination (maybe 3 pacers + 2 spinners and sacrifice the place of Yusuf / Kohli), then I think it is a foolish idea.

It would have been a good idea had it been tried earlier (with or without success) and then implemented at the World Cup... because we would have had some experiences to learn from. But to try something novel straight away in a World Cup is not called "planning", it's called "gambling".

But apart from Chawla's selection, I like the look of the team. I like the fact that our replacement pacer (Munaf Patel) is in good form and has got some good overs under his belt recently. If any of our first choice pacers were to underperform or get injured, our replacement should not give us too many headaches. But if two of our pacers were to underperform or injure themselves, then God help Team India!

In our batting lineup, contrary to many other opinions, I have a feeling that Yusuf Pathan will play ahead of Virat Kohli. I know Virat is in tremendous form, but the reasons why Yusuf could get in ahead are:

1. Yusuf Pathan can bowl very decent and wicket to wicket brand of off-spin during the middle overs, whereas Virat's dibbly-dobbly bowling may not work in Indian conditions.

2. Yusuf has experience batting low down the order, whereas Virat has been tried out mainly at No. 3. Since our top-3 are packed and there is little scope of coming in at 4 or 5, Virat's chances look slimmer to me.

3. Raina and Yuvraj may bowl out the 5th bowler's quota... but they may not be able to cover up for another regular bowler who has a bad day. But with Yusuf in the squad, India can give a little more comfort space for the main bowlers.

4. Yusuf's biggest drawback in recent times has been his inability to play the short balls. But in Indian conditions, this problem will be mitigated. For sure, there will be a few good short balls bowled to him when he comes in. But even the best fast bowlers will find it difficult to sustain a lengthy peppering of short balls to Pathan in India. And when the length is not short enough, those balls become long hops and we all know what Yusuf Pathan can do with those!

So here's my first XI:

Virender Sehwag
Sachin Tendulkar
Gautam Gambhir
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
MS Dhoni (c) (wk)
Yusuf Pathan
Harbhajan Singh
Praveen Kumar
Zaheer Khan
Ashish Nehra

It's very reminiscent of the team India had for World Cup 2003. The same opening pair - both in batting and in bowling (assuming that Nehra opens the bowling with Zaheer). The same spinner also, and a very similar middle order. On the whole, this team is more attacking in terms of shot-making than the one we had in 2003. But the question is: CAN IT GO ONE BETTER?

300*

It's coming a couple of weeks later than I had originally intended... but here it is. This is my 300th blog post on CRIC - SIS, and on this special occasion, I have decided to select my 10 favourite sporting moments of 2010. The 10 below are listed chronologically... because try as hard as I might, I just couldn't rank them in an order of preference.

1. MICHAEL HUSSEY STEALS IT FROM PAKISTAN AT SYDNEY

6th January 2010

There may have been lots of questions asked about this match later... but when it happened, it was incredible. I was certain of a Pakistani win for most part of the match, but one of my friends was certain that if there is any team in the world that can throw away a match from such a position of strength, it is Pakistan. And throw away they did, as Michael Hussey scripted a century for himself and a win for his team that really couldn't be deemed possible.




2. 200* (147)

24th February 2010

This one had to be there! How could it not be there! 147 balls, 25 fours, 3 sixes... and 200 runs! Sachin Tendulkar created history (once again!) at Gwalior and accomplished a feat that no man had ever done before him... and Double Century in ODIs. Like it's said, many have scaled the peak of Mt. Everest... but no one looks beyond Sir Edmund Hillary!




3. INIESTA PAINTS THE RAINBOW NATION RED

11th July 2010

It happened late in the second half of extra time when Andres Iniesta finally helped Spain breach the defense of the Dutch team. And as soon as it happened, we knew it! Spain had become the Football World Champions (in addition to being the reigning European Champions) in South Africa. Spain was one of the three teams I had backed right from the start to win the tournament... and they did!




4. PAKISTAN ERASE THE SYDNEY NIGHTMARES AT LEEDS

24th July 2010

Usually, when a team is bundled out for 88 on the first day of a Test match, there can be only one result possible. But with this match, no one could be quite certain. Eventually though, Pakistan managed to beat Australia at the end. This match comes in my list because of events that preceded it. Pakistan was thrashed at Lord's by Australia and Shahid Afridi resigned from captaincy. Salman Butt took over and had this amazing result straightaway. Whatever may have conspired behind the scenes, there is no doubt that at that moment, Salman Butt had won a lot of credibility for Pakistan cricket (unlike another Butt).




5. WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS: AISAM-UL-HAQ QURESHI

10th September 2010

It was written somewhere up there... this entire journey! The unheralded 16th seed pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (alias the Indo-Pak Express) reached the finals of the last Grand Slam of the year... the US Open at Flushing Meadows. Though the scoreline might not suggest it, it was a very hard fought match with both teams throwing everything they had at each other before the better and the more experience team prevailed. The match in itself was brilliant, but what Aisam said after the match was even better. It was heart-warming to see the standing ovation that Aisam got when he finished his speech that told the world that Pakistanis are not terrorists! What a way for Aisam and Rohan to finish their campaign!




6. RAFA!

12th September 2010

Rafael Nadal became just the 7th man in history to complete a Career Grand Slam (and the youngest to get there as well) by winning the US Open at Flushing Meadows. A tremendous final, a brilliant opponent in the form of Serbian Novak Djokovic... and Rafa capped a brilliant year for himself and his country Spain!




7. LAXMAN = HOUDINI

13th October 2010

Even Houdini wouldn't have managed the escape that VVS Laxman engineered for India in the company of first Ishant Sharma and then Pragyan Ojha (and of course, Suresh Raina all the while). It was the closest Test match in India after the tied Test of 1986 between the same teams - India and Australia! There is no way this list could have been completed without this event. And yes, CRIC - SIS had it highest ever number of hits after this match... so that's another reason for the match to be there in the list.




8. CHE ARRIVES AT THE BIG STAGE

13th October 2010

I had waited for young Cheteshwar Pujara's chance for a long time. When he did get his chance, he also got a wretched shooter third ball from Mitchell Johnson. His Test career couldn't have started with much worse luck. But he came back... given a chance to bat at No. 3 in what could have been a tricky run chase, Che impressed everyone by taking the attack to Australia and when he reached his half-century in the illustrious company of Sachin Tendulkar, we all knew that Che had arrived!




9. VETTEL PULLS OFF THE UNEXPECTED

14th November 2010

The day dawned at Abu Dhabi with anticipation high in the Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber camps. Though Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were also in the race, nobody gave them much of a chance. At the end of that race, it was Vettel who sported the biggest smile as he realised that he was the World Champion... the only German other than Michael Schumacher to lay his hands on the sport's biggest prize.




10. THE URN IN THE BAG, THE SPRINKLER ON THE FIELD

29th December 2010

England managed to retain the Ashes away from home for the first time in almost a quarter of a century... so the celebration was bound to be different! And different it was... the Sprinkler dance! What a way to finish a brilliant year for England... a year where they also won their first ICC Trophy - the Twenty20 World Championship.




I do know that there are a few moments that were very close to making it to my list... but have missed out! There was Razzaq's monstrous hitting to steal a game for Pakistan, there was Afridi's monstrous hitting to almost steal a game for Pakistan... there was Chris Gayle's triple hundred, there was India's win at Durban... there was Barcelona's 5-0 thrashing of Real Madrid, and there were a lot of others.

But the list endshere... and I do hope that my readers have enjoyed my journey of 300 blogs as much as I have enjoyed writing them. Now for the next target: Brian Lara's 400!

THE C-WORD: A COMPILATION

Everyone is saying it... South Africa had no business losing to India the way they did yesterday at Johannesburg. The dreaded C-word can be heard everywhere. So this match, and the thought of the forthcoming World Cup put together, prompted me into making a compilation of some not-so-fond-memories for South African supporters.