Well news has its say this time that the Chennai Super Kings will have to be prepared for losing players like Jacob Oram and Andrew Flintoff to injuries best known to the players mentioned. This makes Dhoni saying that he has faith in the local players who have done justice to their role if Dhoni's words are to be believed. Added to this, Dhoni also seems to be happy with the current rule of the IPL that doesn't allow more than 4 players from outside India making it to the playing eleven, for which so far no one has expressed their happiness.
However, the news also says that Muralitharan and Makhaya Ntini are not at their bowling best like they used to be a couple of years ago, which is not completely true if their caliber is considered. It is only because the aforementioned players have not been seen playing international cricket since past 6 months or so that such a bad and wrong conclusion is drawn. Muralitharan was last seen playing in the third test against India in November 2009 at Mumbai. And Ntini was last seen playing in the 2nd test against England at Durban. And both Ntini and Muralitharan could not see their team through in the last test they played, with both SL and RSA suffering an innings defeat.
Dhoni cites the examples of fellow players like Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and Badrinath who have made it to the Indian squad without going into the details of the same. It need not be specially cited regarding Raina making it to the Indian squad regularly since the 2007 T20 world cup. And Murali Vijay & Badrinath were included in the squad only on a trial basis and have not made a regular position for themselves in international cricket. Nevermind that Gony, Balaji and Tyagi have been decent for CSKs. But, given a chance will Dhoni opt for Badrinath over Flintoff and Tyagi over Oram?
If Dhoni has problems regarding the form of Ntini and Muralitharan as mentioned above, in what way does he guarantee the South African hard hitting all rounder- Justin Kemp who was last seen playing in the rebel league almost one and a half years back when he says that "batting has been the strength of the CSKs"? The only noted batsmen that can be found from the CSKs squad would be Mike Hussey - who has his international series against NZ, Mathew Hayden, Suresh Raina and Dhoni himself. So, if one goes according to Dhoni, 3 has to be more than 6 when he says 3 batsmen can overdo the job done by 6 bowlers.
And, the reason for Dhoni going along with the IPL rules is for the fact that at any cost, Dhoni will be there in the team owing to his captaincy which can guarantee him a place in the side. And, it doesn't matter for Dhoni regarding the number of foreign players that a team can play.
2 comments:
The unfortunate title ("What has Dhoni to lose") is preface to your weird theory that, "Dhoni will be there in the team owing to his captaincy which can guarantee [him] a place". Amazing!!! You state,"the reason Dhoni is going along with IPL rules is that it doesn't cost Dhoni his place in the team". Amazing!! What about, this line from a para above: CSK has "only [four] noted batsmen..[incl.] Dhoni"!!! Whilst whining about Ntini, Murali, etc, you hardly understand that Dhoni is No. 1 ranked ODI bat. He gets selected because he is the best in the world. (More on Raina later.)
You argue that foreign players (like Flintoff, Oram) should be very strongly favoured over Indian domestic players (indeed Indian internationals, as it turns out), despite the former batting/bowling tripe and the latter doing a good/very good job!! ("Given a chance, [-by IPL presumably-] will Dhoni opt for Badrinath over Flintoff and Tyagi over Oram?").
NB. Raina: You would be surprise that SURESH RAINA has the best Average & SR Combo for No.4-6 for any batsmen in ODI History!! Better than DeVilliers, Dhoni, Hussey, Bevan, Symonds, Clarke, Yuvraj, Dravid, etc. Remember Raina has batted @ No. 6 recently, which in effect means Raina has the best form of all ODI bats currently!!! Given the above, would you prefer Raina to M Hussey??
Coming back to your article: In remarking on THE Cricinfo article, you suggest India XV (known names) are favoured because of a significant ‘quota’ for local players; that in open competition with foreigners (if IPL restrictions were removed), many could be left out.. incl. MS Dhoni. This is a very poor take on that piece. You obviously have a reason for such stong views, but this certainly ignores the positives & purposes of the IPL (besides MONEY & ENTERTAINMENT!!). IE. You have missed the headlines.
Eg. 1) Foreigners will compete within themselves for better IPL performances (a healthy ratio of 4:10) - to ensure TOP-NOTCH performances; 2) IPL teams have to discover/ work with/ identify roles for unknown domestic Indians. (The discussion in 2nd part is much more interesting for these two reasons!!).
Also, IPL CREATES A WIDER POOL OF PLAYERS FOR TEAM INDIA TO CHOOSE FROM. ie. 3) Axed India players can stage come-backs – eg. Raina made the XI only after a stellar 2008 IPL; 4) Domestic players can either break-through or come in reckoning later; 5) India u-19 can be groomed for domestic/international cricket. Selectors still need to do a lot of thinking. IPL should not be blamed for bad selections. Remember, even if selectors don't: PLAYERS ARE NOT ALIKE!!
(Keep going).
Hi
4 da 1st time I'm replying to a comment. Reason being that your comment impressed me a lot.Coming to the point, I never doubted the performances of Dhoni or Raina.The discussion is restricted to players from CSKs and then a bowler cannot be compared with a batsman. But, the reason for Dhoni to be happy with the restriction on da no of foreign players has got to do with his place secured with no room of him being there to warm banches which need no necessarily be regarding his batting/keeping capabilities. Even as an experiment, gud players can be rested.
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