Tag Archives: T20

Crunch time for Team India in ICCWT20C

Posted on 14 June 2009 by | 7 Comments

India is in almost the same situation as it was in the 2007 edition of the ICC World T20 Championships. Back in 2007, having lost her fist Group-E Super8 game to New Zealand, India had to play England in game-2 and then South Africa in game-3 of the Super-8 stage. India are in much the same position now. It is an opportunity for India to re-write the history books or a chance for England and South Africa to exact some revenge!

Stuart Broad, in particular, will want to forget that night at Kingsmead, Durban on 19 September 2007! He got taken to the cleaners by an angry Yuvraj Singh who was made angrier after a sledge from Andrew Flintoff! The repeat of Stuart Broad Vs Yuvraj Singh should make compelling viewing.

There are cries of gloom and doom already in the Indian media. Obituaries are already being written and workers at effigy-making factories have booked in for over-time while their masters are already rubbing their hands in glee!

Someday someone will realise that this is only a game!

India, in my view, is not playing the right team. One can’t do anything about Virender Sehwag’s injury. Them’s the breaks and you can only play with the cards you are delivered.

I can understand the teams’ reluctance to play R. P. Singh ahead of Ishant Sharma because, if R. P. Singh were to play, the team would have Zaheer Khan, R. P. Singh and Irfan Pathan as the pace bowlers. There would, as a result, be a sameness to the bowling. Understood.

However, this analysis is predicated on the presence of Irfan Pathan in the team! I can’t be certain that that is a foregone conclusion.

I’d much rather the team play Zaheer Khan, R. P. Singh and Praveen Kumar instead!

The absence of Irfan Pathan would result in a weakening of the batting though. To make up for this, I’d like the team to play Ravindra Jadeja instead of Pragyan Ojha.

Moreover, I think M. S. Dhoni is wasted at #3. He is a clinical finisher and is a bit of a misfit at #3. I’d like to see Suresh Raina at his more familiar #3 position.

I believe India has defined a hitter/defender role for each player. Rohit Sharma appears to be the designated “hitter” while Gautam Gambhir is a “defender”. So, should Gautam Gamhir fall first, Dhoni walks in as a “defender” replacing another “defender” while, should Rohit Sharma fall, Raina would come in as a “hitter” for “hitter” replacement (as he did in the game against West Indies).

All of this sounds excellent on paper.

This represents another twist in Dhoni’s reading of the game and works well provided, of course, that it doesn’t become an obsession. Some six months back Dhoni was obsessed with the left-right batting combination strategy and ploughed on with it regardless of the situation or the opposition. Formula captaincy does not a Dhoni make though! His strength is his alertness and nimbleness and he should fall back on that rather than a formula.

Although, having said that, having a few set templates in a game as fast and furious as the T20 game is not necessarily a bad thing.

The problem with implementing this strategy blindly is that Dhoni’s form has not been that great lately. Given that, I think he should stick to the knitting and back himself as one of India’s strongest finishers in recent memory. He has this uncanny ability to hold one end up, rotate the strike and score at a run-a-ball without getting fazed. THat ought to be his role in the team.

So, I’d like India to go with the following team (in batting order) in todays’ game against England:

Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, M. S. Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, R. P. Singh

– Mohan

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ICCWT20C :: Groupings and Points

Posted on 2 June 2009 by | 6 Comments

Time for a reminder on the ICC World T20 Championship Groups.

Defending champions India is in an easy group A along with Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Having said that, let us not forget that Bangladesh beat West Indies and Zimbabwe beat Australia in the 2007 edition of the ICCT20C!

Anything is possible in this version of the game. The gap between the best and the rest is narrow and all it takes is a few mistakes for a team to be blown away. India will have to be on her toes.

The groupings do not really make sense to me, but given that they were developed nearly 2 years ago (thanks to an ECB request to boost ticket sales) and given that they were based on the results of ICCWT20C-2007, we have a crazy situation where Australia, Sri Lanka and West Indies are in the same group!

For what it is worth, the groups are:

Group A: India, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe Ireland
Group B: Pakistan, England, Netherlands
Group C: Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies
Group D: New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland

The preliminary league stage of the tournament will see each team play other teams in its Group. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the “Super Eights”.

Unless there is a miracle or bad-luck through rain-affected matches, I expect the Super Eight line-up to be:

India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, England, Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa

Of course, having said that, anything can happen in Group-C the “Group of Death”

In the case of tied points, ranking within the Group will be determined by, in order, (a) the total number of wins, (b) net-run-rate, (c) higher number of wickets taken per balls bowled, (d) winner of the group match between the tied sides, or (e) lots.

Weather could play a crucial role in this particularly since, to the best of my knowledge, points from weather affected games cannot be carried into the Super Eight stage! If all 3 games of a Group are washed out, the original seeding will prevail. In other words, if all three Group C matches are rained out, Australia and Sri Lanka will advance to the Super Eights without any points being carried forward!

In the Super Eight stage, teams will be tagged as A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, D2. These tags follow the teams’ seeding except if A3 knock out A1 or A2, in which case A3 takes on the tag of the team that it knocked out.

Super Eight Stage groups:
S8G1: A1, B2, C1 and D2
S8G2: A2, B1, C2 and D1

This will be followed by two semi-final games and a final.

The warm-up games have commenced. Bangladesh has played a few warm-ups against the likes of Netherlands (won), Scotland (won) and Australia (lost). West Indies beat Ireland. India started its campaign with a loss to New Zealand while South Africa beat Pakistan.

– Mohan Ire

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The ICC World T20 Championship

Posted on 30 May 2009 by | 17 Comments

With IPL-2 now over, we can now turn our attention to The ICC World T20 Championship. It starts on 5 June in England with a match at Lords’ between England and The Netherlands.

Even though Shoaib Akhtar is out with warts in his unmentionables, Wasim Akram reckons that Pakistan will start off the tournament as his favourites. Sachin Tendulkar initially refused to rate title holders India but has cautioned her players (especially Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir) to rest prior to the tournament. More recently, he has indicated that India, the title holders, will start as favorites and has termed India as the “most balanced side in the world.” Dilip Vengsarkar, former Team India Chief Selector, echoed Tendulkar’s sentiment and warned Team India of fatigue, to which, M. S. Dhoni, the captain, simply said, “Fatigue is part of Indian cricket.” In other words, for those players who complain of fatigue, there is an option: shape up or ship out!

The fact, however, is that Zaheer Khan is still not 100% fit. He did not play the last half of IPL-2 tournament for his Mumbai Indians. His shoulder is still not fully recovered from a clumsy tumble/fall in a Mumbai Indians IPL game.

I do think that Australia will be the favourites with South African and India being close seconds.

In my view, if her players fight off fatigue, India stands a good chance. Having just come off a huge IPL-2, the Indian team would be match-hardened and ready.

But as Mickey Arthur, the South African coach says, “what would matter in the Twenty20 tournament is the speed at which the teams adapt to conditions in England next month.

India will play two warm-up games — against New Zealand on June 1 and Pakistan on June 3. India then take on South Africa in her opening match of the campaign. Not much time to get things right. But the problem, in my view, is one of figuring out which option works best. You just can’t afford to blink in the T20 World Championships. You’ve got to hit the ground running.

India have a good/strong team that is capable of winning the ICCWT20C.

For the practice matches, I’d go with the following team and take it from there.

Virender Sehwag (V-Capt)
Gautam Gambhir
Suresh Raina
Rohit Sharma
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni (Capt)
Yusuf Pathan / Ravindra Jadeja
Irfan Pathan
Harbhajan Singh / Pragyan Ojha
Praveen Kumar / Zaheer Khan
RP Singh / Ishant Sharma

The only question mark in my mind is Ishant Sharma and the necessity for a second spinner in Pragyan Ojha. I’d have preferred Abhishek Nayar instead of Pragyan Ojha in the team. Having said that, I would not deny Ojha after his excellent performances with the ball for Deccan Chargers.

The team looks excellent on paper. There is strength, balance and the presence of a few “game-breakers” (in Mickey Arthur’s words).

I am looking forward to a terrific ICCWT20 Championship.

Mohan

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T20’s challenge to Tests

Posted on 15 May 2009 by | 5 Comments

Chris Gayle has announced that he would rather play T20 cricket over Test matches. This may have come as a shock to many, but I am quite surprised that people didn’t see this coming. Expect to see more of this in the future.

I am part of the minority that loves Test cricket the way it is – spread over 5 days, each team playing 2 innings and the game sometimes changing direction from session to session when evenly matched teams play. I believe that Test cricket also separates the players from the pretenders – You have to be sufficiently skilled to survive in this genre of the game compared to the 20 over version. And you have to be sufficiently crazy to enjoy watching test cricket over five days, too.

I know I am.

Most cricket fans around the world these days would rather watch T20. The proof is in the dwindling crowds even in places like India which traditionally attracted large crowds for Test matches.

In a Test match, you pretty much know what the result between Australia and Bangladesh is going to be. T20 on the other hand, makes for a level playing field – you could even have a team like Bangladesh beat South Africa or KKR beat DDD. Okay, KKR winning a match is a bad example :) – but you do get the picture, right? And fans love that.

So, if the fans themselves would rather watch T20 cricket, why should the players feel any different? It makes perfect sense, actually – you spend less time on the field, get paid more and don’t have to be as skilled as a test player. And add other things like less chances of getting injured (due to less cricket), and you have a strong case for playing just T20 cricket.

This is also one of the main reasons that even young players decided to go against their Cricket boards and sign up for ICL in hordes, even if it meant they would be giving up their chance to play cricket for their domestic side and country.

So, if players don’t play for their state and country – how do they get into the T20 teams, you ask. We could be looking at a whole different model. Take Kamran Khan of the Rajasthan Royals, for instance. Forget the fact that he has a "suspect" bowling action, he was pretty much pulled out from obscurity and made into a star of sorts – watch out for more such things happening in the future, when IPL scouts scour the country looking for raw talent.

It is also the consumers that drive the product. With consumers hungry for more T20 games, the people who run the game will oblige. We may also end up having more domestic T20 tournaments for upcoming players to showcase what they’ve got.

Chris Gayle may eventually soften his stand by saying that he was misquoted or whatever, but the fact remains that more and more players would start thinking along similar lines. T20 cricket is going to thrive at the expense of both Test and ODI cricket. I am not actually writing the obituary for Test cricket. Not yet, anyway – but unless Test cricket reinvents itself, it is going to struggle to justify its existence. It may not happen tomorrow or next year,  but it is eventually going to happen.

As much as I love watching T20 cricket, for someone who also loves Test cricket, it is a frightening prospect.

-Mahesh-

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IPL-2: A Preview…

Posted on 15 April 2009 by | 15 Comments

The second edition of the IPL will now be played in South Africa. Matches will commence at odd times in South Africa to coincide with peak TV audience times in India! Eight teams and all their hangers-on will now be based in various cities around South Africa.

One wonders why Egypt or Russia were ruled out as IPL-2 hosting-country choices! It is fair to say that we (at i3j3Cricket) haven’t been great fans of the IPL’s relocation — away from the people that made IPL-1 such a success! We even wondered out aloud whether India was capable of hosting “major events”!

It will be interesting to see if IPL-2 is as successful as IPL-1.

Be that as it may. The second edition of the IPL will go ahead as planned. If some fans had trouble identifying with a specific team in IPL-1, their difficulty has suddenly increased by an order of magnitude this time around! I can’t see a fan in Nagpur or one in Bowral zeroing in easily on either the Kolkatta Knight Riders or The Rajasthan Royals (say) — they won’t know whether their team is going to be based in Durban or Pietermaritzburg!

Either way, eight teams will line up to face each other barely 3 days from now. The Cricinfo site — one of the most frequently used and updated cricket portals/sites — still says that the games are going to be played in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi! It is just symptomatic of how Indian cricket is organised and run! Things will fall into place at the last minute, one hopes!

Time to assess the teams and see which one has the potential to come through:

Rajasthan Royals:

No one expected the Royals to come out victorious in the finals last year. They did, thanks to some Shane Warne magic! I did not rate them last year. I do not rate them this year! Without Shane Watson (likely call up for Australia ODI duties) Kamran Akmal and Sohail Tanveer, they are short on a few options. I’d be surprised if they make the semi-finals. if this team does make the semi-finals, it might be due to some Shane Warne magin once again! Shane Warne talks highly of uncapped Kamran Khan, a left-arm seam bowler they picked up from a Mumbai bowling competition/camp.

Below is a possible list of 22 players that the Royals might pick in batting order — with names of possible replacements for each “role” in brackets, remembering that only 4 “foreign” players can play in any team in a match.

Edited on 16 April 2009 in view of the news that Mohammed Kaif and Dinesh Salunkhe have been “let go” by the Royals! This is most surprising. Kaif did not exactly set the world on fire in IPL-1, but apart from his leadership qualities — apparently he was Warne’s go-to man in the team in IPL-1 when he wanted to communicate to some of the younger players who did not perhaps know enough English — one would have thought that he had it in him to make strong contributions to the team! Suddenly, this team looks even weaker to me!

Likely team (22 players):
1. Swapnil Asnodkar, 2. Graeme Smith (Shane Watson, Rob Quiney, Justin Langer), 3. Mohammad Kaif, Raiphi Gomez 4. Niraj Patel, 5. Yusuf Pathan, 6. Ravindra Jadeja (Dinesh Salunkhe), 7. Tyron Henderson (Dimitri Mascarenhas, Morne Morkel), 8. Naman Ojha (Mahesh Rawat), 9. Shane Warne, 10. Lee Carseldine (Shane Harwood, Shaun Tait), 11. Munaf Patel (Siddharth Trivedi, Kamran Khan, Amit Singh)

This is a bits-and-pieces team. I think their weaknesses are #1, #3 and #11 with an additional unknown on the wicket-keeping slot! That is one too many question marks for my liking. From a Team India point of view, it will be interesting to see how Shane Warne whips Munaf Patel into shape in season-2 of the IPL.

Note: Amit Singh’s name was included in the above list after a comment from Chandan in the comments section of this post.

Chennai Super Kings:

Like every other team, CSK has also announced a 25+ member team. I have no doubt this will be trimmed down. I have only taken into account the cohort of players that I think will play in the final mix! Some of the 29-member CSK squad will probably watch the IPL from the comfort of their living rooms! I predict big things of the Chennai outfit in IPL-2. I won’t be surprised if they meet either Mumbai or Delhi in the finals.

Likely team (23 players):
1. Srikkanth Anirudha (Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund), 2. Matthew Hayden (George Bailey), 3. Suresh Raina, 4. Subramaniam Badrinath, 5. Andrew Flintoff (Michael Hussey, Jacob Oram, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan), 6. MS Dhoni (Parthiv Patel), 7. Albie Morkel, 8. Palani Amarnath (Manpreet Gony, Joginder Sharma), 9. Lakshmipathy Balaji (Sudeep Tyagi), 10. Ravichandran Ashwin, 11. Makhaya Ntini (Muttiah Muralitharan, Thilan Thushara) [Coach: Stephen Fleming]

The success of this team will, I think, depend on how the max constraint of 4 overseas players is used. Other than that success will depend on #1 and #8. I do think, however, that there are several sound options and alternatives for each of these two ‘vulnerable’ positions. The rest of the team has a very settled look to it. I therefore rate the chances of CSK quite highly.

Note: Again, thanks to a comment by Chandan, I have included Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan’s name in as a replacement for the #5 “role”. This is because Andrew Flintoff will leave the team in 2 weeks and there is a question mark over the participation of Michael Hussey and Jacob Oram.

Mumbai Indians

Of all teams that did not make it to the big league last year, the most surprising omission was the Mumbai Indians! I did expect them to make the finals of IPL-1. But through a combination of poor form, a rudderless ship, an unfortunate post-match slap and through Sachin Tendulkar’s absence, their season never quite took off. I expect bigger things from this team this year. They have a stronger team this year and have made some smart acquisitions in the break (Zaheer Khan, Duminy, to name two). I expect them to make the semi finals.

Likely team (22 players):
1. Sanath Jayasuriya, 2. Sachin Tendulkar, 3. Ajinkya Rahane (Shikhar Dhawan, Saurabh Tiwary), 4. Jean-Paul Duminy, 5. Abhishek Nayar, 6. Luke Ronchi (Yogesh Takawale, Pinal Shah), 7. Ryan McLaren (Graham Napier, Dwayne Bravo, Mohammad Ashraful), 8. Harbhajan Singh (Chetanya Nanda, Jaydev Shah), 9. Zaheer Khan, 10. Dhawal Kulkarni, 11. Dilhara Fernando (Lasith Malinga, Kyle Mills)

This is a well balanced team. I suspect that their success will be determined by how number 3, 5, and 11 fare in the above list. If the team plays the first named in the above list, it could have as many as 9 bowlers. That is, if Sachin Tendulkar is included as one of these bowlers. These would be Fernando, Dhawal Kulkarni, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ryan McLaren, Abhishek Nayar, Duminy, Tendulkar and Jayasuriya. Provided Fernando (or his ‘replacements’, Malinga or Mills) bowl well, this is a strong bowling team. Provided Rahane and Nayar click as batsmen, this could turn out to be a really strong team.

One somewhat unfortunate selection is that of a wicket-keeper as an overseas player. Luke Ronchi is a terrific player and I rate him really highly. In matches that he plays, either Sanath Jayasuriya or an overseas bowler has to make way for him. If Jayasuriya sits out in games that Ronchi plays, the ‘keeper can open the innings. He is an explosive bat in the jayasuriya mould. In matches that Ronchi sits out, Takawale or Pinal Shah could keep wickets.

Given its overall balance, I rate Mumbai very highly in IPL-2.

Delhi Daredevils:

This team flattered to deceive last year. They started strongly and then faded away as the competition progressed. It has a strong look to it, especially with their off-season recruitment of Dirk Nannes and David Warner. Moreover, with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir being in such explosive recent form there will be a battle to see who opens for this team. Opposition bowlers should reach for their prayer beads prior to grabbing the ball! This team should be disappointed if they do not reach the semi-finals.

Likely team (22 players):
1. Gautam Gambhir, 2. Virender Sehwag, 3. David Warner, 4. Mithun Manhas (Manoj Tiwary), 5. Rajat Bhatia, 6. Paul Collingwood (AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Owais Shah), 7. Dinesh Karthik, 8. Andrew McDonald (Dirk Nannes, Farveez Maharoof, Daniel Vettori), 9. Yo Mahesh (Ashish Nehra, Aavishkar Salvi, Pradeep Sangwan, Umesh Yadav), 10. Amit Mishra, 11. Glenn McGrath

In my view, the teams’ success could depend on #4, #5 and #7. The team has some excellent overseas players and it is likely that several of them will be with the team for almost the entire duration. So, much will depend on how these players are used and rotated.

Overall, this looks like a well-balanced team with some explosive batsmen and some sound bowling options. One of the reasons I fancy Delhi (apart from the top-3 batsmen who would drive any T20 nut into bouts of salivation — is because most of their players are available more or less through the tournament. Once Collingwood (and perhaps Owais Shah) leave, they will have de Villiers settled in for the long haul!

I certainly expect Delhi to make the semi-finals and perhaps even reach the finals — perhaps along with Bangalore!

Kings’ XI Punjab:

This team performed much better than I thought it would in IPL-1. It is, in my view, a slightly over-rated team! I’ll be surprised if they make the semi-final cut this year.

Likely team (24 players):
1. Shaun Marsh (Luke Pomersbach), 2. Tanmay Srivastava, 3. Karan Goel (Sahil Kukreja), 4. Mahela Jayawardene (Simon Katich), 5. Yuvraj Singh, 6. Kumar Sangakkara (Uday Kaul), 7. Ravi Bopara (Yusuf Abdulla, Burt Cockley), 8. Irfan Pathan (Ryan Ninan), 9. Brett Lee (James Hopes, Jerome Taylor), 10. Ramesh Powar (Piyush Chawla, Sunny Sohal), 11. VRV Singh (Ajitesh Argal, Wilkin Mota)

This is another team that has 5 o/s players in the list included and presented above and that is because of the presence of Sangakkara. In matches that Sangakkara plays, I suspect that one of the other o/s players will have to sit it out. I suspect that that might be Shaun Marsh (with Sangakkara opening instead). In matches that Sangakkara sits out, Uday Kaul could keep wickets.

This team has too many question marks for my liking. I do not believe it has the right mix of overseas players. With Sreesanth’s injury and with the likelihood of Brett Lee’s early departure, the backup is just not there in my view.

Bangalore Royal Challengers:

This is a team with the maximum number of players on its list prior to being trimmed. I suspect that the list will be trimmed drastically and soon. Even after an initial cull, I am left with 27 players! I have only included in the list below those that I think will make the final cut.

The Royal Challengers was touted as a Test Team in IPL-1. It was a Test team.

Thanks to a few off-season purchases and one clever transfer, the team looks set for a better showing in IPL-2. I have a feeling that the team will make the semi-finals along with Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi with the Rajasthan Royals being the dark horses (again!). Time, as they say, will tell!

Likely team (27 players):
1. Jesse Ryder (Wasim Jaffer, Bharat Chipli), 2. Robin Uthappa (Jagadeesh Arunkumar), 3. Rahul Dravid (Gaurav Dhiman), 4. Kevin Pietersen (Ross Taylor, Jacques Kallis), 5. Virat Kohli, 6. Mark Boucher (Shreevats Goswami), 7. Cameron White (Roelof van der Merwe, Dillon du Preez), 8. Praveen Kumar (Balachandra Akhil, Vinay Kumar), 9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Pankaj Singh, Tinu Yohannan), 10. Dale Steyn (Nathan Bracken), 11. KP Appanna (Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi)

I quite like the balance of this team. I can’t see too many weak spots. The teams’ overseas purchases and the acquisition of Uthappa has plugged some glaring gaps. As I said earlier, the team ought to be very disappointed if it doesn’t make the semi-finals.

Like the Mumbai Indians (Luke Ronchi), Punjab (Kumar Sangakkara), Deccan Chargers (Adam Gilchrist) and Kolkatta (Brendon McCullum), Bangalore has also gone for a ‘keeper as an overseas player. This is why I have included five o/s players in the above list for Bangalore.

However, I suspect that Boucher will play or not depending on whether or not Jesse Ryder is used as the opener. Sreevats Goswami, the backup for Boucher is quite solid anyway. I suspect that if Jesse Ryder plays Goswami will ‘keep wickets instead of Boucher. In games that Boucher plays it is likely that Bharat Chipli may open (or Goswami may play as an opener-batsman)! So that may have worked out well for this team.

I would be most keen to see how Bhuvneshwar Kumar goes in the IPL. Last season, he handed Sachin Tendulkar his first duck in domestic cricket in India. He has a nippy action and had a wonderful domestic season last year.

As I said earlier, I don’t see too many weaknesses in this team other than the fact that Pietersen is only available for 2 weeks! Don’t be surprised if this team meets Chennai in the finals of IPL-2!

Kolkatta Knight Riders:

The team looked good on paper in IPL-1. They lost their way. It looks like the team has already lost its way before IPL-2 commences, with signs of infighting or confusion. Chief Coach, Buchanan wants a team full of captains. Perhaps he thinks that a team with “Many Chiefs and No Indians” will work?

Despite its on-paper strength, I’ll be surprised if this team makes it anywhere near the semi finals.

Likely team (24 players):

(Edited on 18 April to record McCullum as captain, replacing Sourav Ganguly. With Ganguly no longer the captain and with McCullum declaring he will open, this opens up a few possibilities and tweaks in the batting order. It is no longer necessary for Ganguly to play all games. Hence the order below sees a change!)

1. Chris Gayle, 2. Brendon McCullum (Wriddhiman Saha, Sheldon Jackson), 3. Sourav Ganguly, 4. Cheteshwar Pujara, 5. Brad Hodge (David Hussey), 6. Gnaneswara Rao (Aakash Chopra), 7. Moises Henriques (Mark Cameron), 8. Laxmi Shukla (Sanjay Bangar, Ajit Agarkar), 9. Ishant Sharma, 10. Ashok Dinda (Murali Kartik, Saurasish Lahiri, Iqbal Abdulla), 11. Ajantha Mendis (Mashrafe Mortaza, Charl Langeveldt, Angelo Mathews)

It is a bit of a mixed bag really. I am not too fond of the look of this team, although they did well by picking up Moises Henriques in the off-season. The team has 5 o/s players in the above list. Again, this will depend on whether McCullum is a keeper/opener or ‘keeper with Gayle opening the batting. For me, however, #6 and #8 are big risks in this team. Investing in Shukla, Bangar and Agarkar does not a T20 competition make!

However, if some of the overseas players in this team click early, we could be in for a bit of fun with McCullum, Gayle and Hodge in the mix! I feel that Brad Hodge is one of the best T20 batsmen going around and it looks like the KKR will have him keep the teams’ company for a long time in IPL-2. It will also be a first sighting of Ajantha Mendis for a lot of the players in the IPL. However, I somehow doubt that this team will make it to the semi-finals. I would be happy to be surprised though.

Deccan Chargers:

The Deccan Chargers commenced IPL-1 as the favourites. The team had a delicious line-up that included Herschelle Gibbs, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, V. V. S. Laxman and Shahid Afridi. Some would have said that that was a dream line-up! However, this was another team that promised a lot, delivered little and then bickered through the off-season.

In the fall-out of all of that, Laxman was replaced by Adam Gilchrist as captain. I am not sure that will make too much of a difference to this team. But I rate them as an outside chance of making the semi finals because of the presence of Gilchrist, Gibbs, Rohit Sharma and Symonds.

The teams’ weak-link is its bowling and in an attempt to bolster that department, the team invested in Fidel Edwards and Dwayne Smith in the off-season. These were not what one would call inspired picks! I’d have expected them to battle hard for an Andrew Flintoff or hit the transfer market hard. But then they sat on their fingers instead!

Likely team (20 players):
1. Herschelle Gibbs (Chamara Silva), 2. Adam Gilchrist, 3. D. Ravi Teja, 4. VVS Laxman, 5. Rohit Sharma, 6. Andrew Symonds (Ryan Harris, Scott Styris), 7. Venugopal Rao (Arjun Yadav), 8. Fidel Edwards (Dwayne Smith, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa), 9. RP Singh, 10. Pragyan Ojha, 11. D. Kalyankrishna (P. Vijaykumar, Shoaib Ahmed)

There are too many weaknesses in this team. Much like KKR, this team has invested far too much in the talent pool from its catchment area. The team has many such unknown players that I have left off the above list. I also feel that it hasn’t invested wisely enough in its overseas recruits to plug some glaring gaps in its pace bowling stocks. I have a feeling that Ravi Teja will have a good IPL-2. He is an attacking opener who might have to come in at #3 because of the presence of Gilchrist and Gibbs/Silva as opening options. But he is an attractive player and is one to watch.

Conclusions:

Overall, it should be interesting to see how IPL-2 pans out. I do not believe it will be as exciting as IPL-1 but I’d be most happy to be proved wrong. I expect the 4 semi-finalists to be Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore — with Rajasthan being a dark horse in all of this.

– Mohan

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Teams for NZ Tour

Posted on 14 February 2009 by | 42 Comments

The Indian cricket selectors have, I think, done well to pick good/strong teams for Indias’ tour of New Zealand. Some selection highlights for me are:

  • Continuing to invest in Ravindra Jadeja — he gets a gig in the T20 team.
  • Investing in Dhawal Kulkarni.
  • Re-investing in Lakshmipathy Balaji.
  • Continuing to invest in M. Vijay in the Test team.

The teams are

Test squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, M Vijay, Amit Mishra, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dinesh Karthik (wk)

ODI squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik (wk)

Twenty20 squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik (wk)

Is there a TN-bias to the selection?

The presence of L. Balaji is seen by many as TN-bias on the part of Kris Srikkanth, the Chief Selector. That would be unfortunate as well as unnecessary, although somewhat understandable. The Test team has provided passage for three TN players in the form of M. Vijay (ahead of possibilities such as Wasim Jaffer, Aakash Chopra, Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Uthappa), L. Balaji (ahead of Pankaj Singh, Ashok Dinda, Irfan Pathan and Praveen Kumar) and Dinesh Karthik (ahead of Parthiv Patel).

However, Vijay did shine in the one Test opportunity he got and must be persevered with, in my view. One can feel sorry for Ajinkya Rahane. He was the 2nd highest scorer in the Ranji season (with an aggregate of 1089 runs @ and avg of 68.06 that included 4 centuries). He has had a stunning domestic season and is, along with Cheteshwar Pujara, one to watch for the future.

Dinesh Karthik has had a stunning year with the bat and has pipped Parthiv Patel at the post. The Gujarat ‘keeper has done nothing wrong and must just continue to put in the hard-yards in the domestic circuit. Dinesh Karthik has done everything right. He was the 10th highest scorer in the Ranjis with an aggregate of 634 (3 centuries) and an average of 63.4 runs. Having said that, Parthiv Patel wasn’t really too far behind (with 526 runs in aggregate, @ 47.81, including 1 century). But when the cards fell, Dinesh Karthik just had the right number on his side. He was also the highest scorer in the Duleep Trophy with two centuries in three Duleep Trophy games for South Zone. The fact that Karthik had opened well in England may have also counted in his favour. Both Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel are very young. Karthik is only 23. Both of them will have hurt badly from the experience in Sri Lanka. Karthik played badly in the first two Test matches. He batted poorly and his ‘keeping also fell apart. However, Parthiv Patel, who played in the 3rd Test fared worse! So, both of them needed a strong domestic season, lest upstarts like Wriddhiman Saha usurp their position. Both of them did put in a good showing. However, when the cards fell, Karthik had the numbers.

L. Balaji has been, in my view, somewhat lucky. Yes, he was the 4th highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Season and also had a good Duleep Trophy outing. Given that the highest wicket-taker was already rewarded with a ticket to New Zealand (Kulkarni) and given that 2 and 3 on the pecking order were spinners (Ravindra Jadeja and the now-banned Mohnish Parmar!), his ticket could have been seen as reward for a good showing. My own view is that he need not have been rushed into the Test arena. Its just been a year since his comeback from injury. His first major step on the big stage was the IPL. Since then, he has, no doubt, been bowling well. But to get him straight back into the Test side may have been a bit too much.

But then, these are the rewards of a good showing in the domestic circuit. The current selectors seem to be rewarding strong domestic showing quite consistently — set in the context of long-term team-development — and for that, they do deserve some credit.

Bits-and-pieces players:

I have been saying for sometime now that players like Abhiskek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja are the future of India’s ODI and T20 mix. It is good that these guys are getting a clutch of games at the highest level to prove their mettle. The press in India tags them with the moniker “bits and pieces players”. This is erroneous. It is also a disrespect to the quality that these guys bring to the table in the T20 and ODI arena. They are not “bits and pieces players”. They are clever players who bat and bowl well! I’d like to see opportunities given to players like Abhishek Nayar and Rajat Bhatia in the near future too.

Experimentation

M. S. Dhoni has shown the way in handling players like Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina in recent ODI games. In the final ODI against Sri Lanka, I felt he took it a wee-bit too far by bowling as many as 9 bowlers in the game! That’s a bit much. But you need those kinds of options in the middle overs. Even though the pitches may not turn much in New Zealand, I think the middle-overs bowled by Virender Sehwag, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma will be quite crucial.

From that point of view, it is good to see the selectors invest strongly in Jadeja. Yes, he is not part of the ODI Team. After the two T20 games at the start of the series, Jadeja makes way for Sachin Tendulkar. That is fair enough!

I think the selectors will only drop Tendulkar from the ODI scene when he himself says that he has had enough! I suspect he won’t say that until after the next World Cup. He seems to want that silverware in his cabinet more than anything else! Given that he has served Indian cricket in the manner that he has, one could afford him that luxury, I think!

What we have seen in recent T20 games and ODIs is that Dhoni is really his own man when it comes to executing batting plans, setting the batting order and exploring bowling options. In a recent interview, he said that this was because he wanted each player to experience different roles in order to have an appreciation for what a #3 needs to do and what a #6 needs to do in different match situations.

In a perverse manner, this is exactly what Guru Greg Chappell tried to instil in the team when he was at the helm! The difference was that Guru Greg, instead of just doing it, wanted to preach his ideology, convert everyone to his way of thinking, convince everyone that he was right and then hail him as a messiah and a saviour! He started the “process is more important than the outcome” mantra. He was subsequently lambasted and lampooned in the media for “experimenting” too much! The word “experimentation” was taboo during his reign. Guru Greg choked on his own mantra and was caught in the headlights, with nowhere to go.

Instead of aspiring to be a messiah and a saviour, Dhoni just does it and lets others write about his method! The outcome is a more flexible Team India! Ironically, Guru Greg’s method survives after he has been buried!

Possible Teams:

The T20 and ODI teams select themselves:
Possible Twenty20 squad: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar
Subs: Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rohit Sharma

I’d take Praveen Kumar ahead of Ishant Sharma and would take Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Rohit Sharma. But these are possibly the only two debatable spots in my view. There are questions being asked about Pragyan Ojha’s selection in the T20 and ODI teams, given that pitches are unlikely to offer too much spin in New Zealand. However, from a team-development point of view, I think this is a good move. Ojha did bowl really well in recent ODIs. He should be part of the team mix and should get a gig, in my view.

Possible ODI squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar.
Subs: Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rohit Sharma,

I’d take Praveen Kumar ahead of Irfan Pathan. And I’d take Raina ahead of Rohit Sharma. Who knows? With a lot of cricket around the corner, should India go ahead in the series — as it did in Sri Lanka — it would be an opportunity to play Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan and Dinesh Karthik instead of (respectively) Harbhajan Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and M. S. Dhoni.

Possible Test squad: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel
Subs: M Vijay, Amit Mishra, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dinesh Karthik (wk)

The Test team is the one that selects itself most emphatically. There can’t be too many doubts or questions in the composition of this team. It is unlikely that the team will go with more than 4 main bowlers (with Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Tendulkar as other possible bowlers to relieve the strike bowlers). The only question, in my view, is whether Munaf Patel gets the gig ahead of Dhawal Kulkarni. I’d go for experience ahead of raw pace for the first Test. Moreover, Munaf Patel does seem to have the ability to swing the ball more in conditions that are likely to be presented in countries like NZ, South Africa and England. So, he might get the nod ahead of Kulkarni. But it may not be a bad idea to give Kulkarni a go in one of the Test matches.

The selectors have continued to invest in Rahul Dravid — as they should — in spite of his poor showing in the Duleep Trophy finals. Having said that, I am not sure they would be as patient with him after yet another poor tour. They have also sent a clear signal to Yuvraj Singh that he is in the mix for a long stint in the Test middle order. This should settle him down and should allow him to cash in on this opportunity.

Overall, this has been a good selection effort by the selectors.

– Mohan

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Home team (dis)advantage in the IPL…

Posted on 30 May 2008 by | 5 Comments

Dileep Premachandran has written an excellent article in Cricinfo, in support of Shane Warne’s anguish at the organisation of the IPL finals series. Because the Mumbai Indians spent most money in buying their franchise, they got the “right” to host the two semi-finals and the IPL Final. Bangalore Royal Challengers, by virtue of being the team that bid the second highest franchise-purchase, won the right to host the opening ceremony and the first game. This does not strike me as a sensible or fair framework.

Luckily for the IPL, Mumbai Indians did not make the semi-final cut. Or else the home-team advantage would be far too huge a leverage for the other teams to overcome!

It also does not make a huge amount of sense to me to have half the competition to be in the reckoning in a “Finals Series”! After playing over 50 matches over 40 days, surely, one should be able to separate the wheat from the chaff — although I will be the first to admit that the margin between wheat and chaff is far less in T20 than in ODI and Tests! Yet, to have half the teams participating in a knockout Finals Series that does not have a home-team-advantage to a top-performing-team makes a mockery of the hard yards that, for example, a team like Rajasthan Royals have put in to get to where they have got to.

My reckoning is that the “Finals Series” should be conducted in two simple rounds organised as follows (this borrows from the Aussie Rules approach):

Only the top-3 teams go through to the “IPL Finals Series” numbered T1 through T3 on the basis of their final league standings.

  • T1 gets a “bye” in Round-1 of the IPL Finals Series.
  • T2 plays T3 at T2′s home ground. Winner is W1 and loser is eliminated!
  • T1 plays W1 in the FINALS.

This is a fairer system and allows for a travel-day if one were needed. Views?

– Mohan

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