One of the reasons why the Indian Premier League was launched a couple of years back was to bring out the best of the talent in domestic cricket so that the international team does not suffer due to wrong selection if the BCCI and the IPL chairman Lalit Modi are to be believed. Lalit Modi confirmed this further by making it mandatory for all teams to have not more than 4 players outside India. But, records suggest something different. If the Indian team post the inaugural edition of the IPL is given a deep look at, the players who have featured in the 15 member international squad has hardly found to vary.
The IPL has seen a batsman in V V S Laxman who features for the Deccan Chargers and was also in the elite list of icon players but has been almost ruled out when it comes to playing in the limited overs game. Of course, the senior trio of Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly were shown the gates long back which need not be an issue. In addition, there have been may batsmen like Ambati Rayudu who has shone for the Mumbai Indians with the bat. And then we have Shikar Dhawan, Chetheshwar Pujara and others who have done a satisfactory job for their team.
But, none of these players are found to make it to the selection panel's list when it comes to selecting the 15 member squad for any tour be it at home or outside. The young players in the international team is found to contain some names which are heard commonly like Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Rohith Sharma etc. And, in case anyone is injured by freak chance, their places are taken by Piyush Chawla(in place of Ravindra Jadeja), Pragyan Ojha and Sudeep Tyagi. On the other side, the BCCI has not been able to handle with the existing players itself like Robin Uttappa who has been in the international squad before.
There was no reason for someone like Abhimanyu Mithun to make it to the international 15 member squad with just 1 T20 game in the IPL behind him. So is the case with Saha. There are players like Monish Mishra, Rahul Sharma, Tirumalasetti Suman who shone with the bat for the Deccan Chargers to name a few. But, the reason behind the BCCI sticking to its old strategy of having familiar faces in the 15 member squad is somewhat confusing. Though the team has seen Pragyan Saha, Piyush Chawla and Saha, they are hardly played unless there is a freak injury to any of the familiar players.
If the BCCI doesn't want to cast its eyes on the mentioned players, the words of the same doesn't make any sense when it claims the IPL to bring in talented young players up the ladder.
Showing posts with label Abhimanyu Mithun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abhimanyu Mithun. Show all posts
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
India lose for a reason
For the second time, one could see Sachin Tendulkar having a test drive on the cricket ground with the car he won as a man of the match award, the first instance being the one in Sharjah, where 2 back to back 100s made him an inevitable choice for the man of the series award in the tri series involving New Zealand, Australia and India (obviously) . This is one of the several instances where a team rejoices over losing a match not before taking an unassailable lead in the series. However, as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts regarding Dhoni's approach to the game, India did lose the game.
But, not before the youngsters had a run on the field facing an international team that is placed in the 3rd position in the ICC's ODI rankings. There was Ravindra Jadeja, Abhimanyu Mithun, Rohith Sharma among others who proved more than what were expected out of them. The loss at Ahmedabad was worth a whitewash on the visiting side. As the scorecard suggests, lesser known players like Yousuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja bowler 10 overs which would not have been the case had India not won the series in the 2nd ODI. Then, Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun bowled 8 overs.
Added to that was that Virat Kohli and Rohith Sharma were also given the ball no matter how many overs they bowled. Despite the absence of players like Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir & Sehwag the score of team India read 275 with a run rate of above 6.0 an over. No matter that India could not play the allotted 50 overs they were entitled to. One can imagine the situation of the South Team been, had Dhoni not rested SRT and VS and there'd been no injuries to Gambhir & Yuvraj. And with bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, South Africa could not even dream of a victory.
With bowlers like Dale Steyn and Morkel being around, South Africa should have restricted to a score below 200, taking into account the squad with which Dhoni had for the last one dayer. However, South Africa made good use of its batsmen, with the fact that none of the frontline bowlers were available for India when they put up a score of 365 on the board. Much to everyone's surprise, Mithun scored 24 runs despite coming in at number 10 and was coincidently the man who hit 2 sixes which was more than any other Indian batsman in the match. With so many positives for India, losing would have hardly mattered for anyone.
But, not before the youngsters had a run on the field facing an international team that is placed in the 3rd position in the ICC's ODI rankings. There was Ravindra Jadeja, Abhimanyu Mithun, Rohith Sharma among others who proved more than what were expected out of them. The loss at Ahmedabad was worth a whitewash on the visiting side. As the scorecard suggests, lesser known players like Yousuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja bowler 10 overs which would not have been the case had India not won the series in the 2nd ODI. Then, Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun bowled 8 overs.
Added to that was that Virat Kohli and Rohith Sharma were also given the ball no matter how many overs they bowled. Despite the absence of players like Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir & Sehwag the score of team India read 275 with a run rate of above 6.0 an over. No matter that India could not play the allotted 50 overs they were entitled to. One can imagine the situation of the South Team been, had Dhoni not rested SRT and VS and there'd been no injuries to Gambhir & Yuvraj. And with bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, South Africa could not even dream of a victory.
With bowlers like Dale Steyn and Morkel being around, South Africa should have restricted to a score below 200, taking into account the squad with which Dhoni had for the last one dayer. However, South Africa made good use of its batsmen, with the fact that none of the frontline bowlers were available for India when they put up a score of 365 on the board. Much to everyone's surprise, Mithun scored 24 runs despite coming in at number 10 and was coincidently the man who hit 2 sixes which was more than any other Indian batsman in the match. With so many positives for India, losing would have hardly mattered for anyone.
Friday, February 26, 2010
South Africa can hope to win the last one dayer
The series between India and South Africa is the one between the number two team and the number three team in one day cricket. But, if the series is given a deeper look at, this is not evident from any angles. South Africa are found playing cricket as though they are legally committed to it. There is no sense of seriousness of any sort from the South African players. South Africa should have won the first one dayer played at Jaipur when none of the batsmen played upto the mark and left it to the tail end batsmen who can bowl a yorker but not play one.
South Africa had to rely upon the number 8 and 9 batsmen in Parnell and Steyn who were comparatively better than Mark Boucher, Petersen and Albie Morkel who got out scoring single digit scores. And in the second one dayer, South Africa lost it the moment a score of 401 was out up on the board which is needless to be said. Luckily, South Africa crossed the 200 run mark. But, this time the South Africans need not fear defeat and can consider themselves lucky enough when they will not be bowling to either Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag in the 3rd ODI scheduled at Ahmedabad.
The Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has decided to rest the aforementioned batsmen for the inconsequential match scheduled in Ahmedabad tomorrow. Instead, Dhoni will be playing some new faces like Abhimanyu Mithun, Rohith Sharma and Murali Vijay who are supposed to just get some international exposure in the match against South Africa. One can see the South Africans making fools out of them every time they rejoice during the fall of an Indian wicket without realizing the intention behind Dhoni playing the 3rd one dayer. However, the opposite of the same is not welcome by anyone when one keeps the smiles off the ground.
However, there will be batsmen like Yousuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Rohith Sharma and Dhoni himself who can prove something with the bat. Dinesh Karthik was no less when he came to batting in the 2nd one dayer when he scored 79 runs aided with three fulltoss hits to the fence and one need not be reminded specially regarding Rohith Sharma who belted the South African bowling in the inaugural edition of the T20 world cup held at South Africa and flopped their chances of making it to the semis of the same in 2007. Whatever, if South Africa fail to win the 3rd ODI despite all these chances given by Dhoni, I wish they appeal to the ICC to include them in the list of minnows.
South Africa had to rely upon the number 8 and 9 batsmen in Parnell and Steyn who were comparatively better than Mark Boucher, Petersen and Albie Morkel who got out scoring single digit scores. And in the second one dayer, South Africa lost it the moment a score of 401 was out up on the board which is needless to be said. Luckily, South Africa crossed the 200 run mark. But, this time the South Africans need not fear defeat and can consider themselves lucky enough when they will not be bowling to either Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag in the 3rd ODI scheduled at Ahmedabad.
The Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has decided to rest the aforementioned batsmen for the inconsequential match scheduled in Ahmedabad tomorrow. Instead, Dhoni will be playing some new faces like Abhimanyu Mithun, Rohith Sharma and Murali Vijay who are supposed to just get some international exposure in the match against South Africa. One can see the South Africans making fools out of them every time they rejoice during the fall of an Indian wicket without realizing the intention behind Dhoni playing the 3rd one dayer. However, the opposite of the same is not welcome by anyone when one keeps the smiles off the ground.
However, there will be batsmen like Yousuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Rohith Sharma and Dhoni himself who can prove something with the bat. Dinesh Karthik was no less when he came to batting in the 2nd one dayer when he scored 79 runs aided with three fulltoss hits to the fence and one need not be reminded specially regarding Rohith Sharma who belted the South African bowling in the inaugural edition of the T20 world cup held at South Africa and flopped their chances of making it to the semis of the same in 2007. Whatever, if South Africa fail to win the 3rd ODI despite all these chances given by Dhoni, I wish they appeal to the ICC to include them in the list of minnows.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Why Not R P Singh & Balaji?
It was all praise for new comers Abhimanyu Mithun and Subramanium Badrinath when their names were announced for the test series against South Africa that would be starting the coming month in India. However, as far as test cricket is concerned, the above mentioned names can never guarantee any sort of help in the bowling line up. For, test cricket is the area where a player's real skills are tested. Unlike in limited overs cricket, where the batsmen can get rid of a particular after the bowler has finished his quota of 10 overs, in test cricket, the bowler keeps on haunting the batsman every now and then.
This is one of the many examples of the nerve testing nature of test cricket. May be that is the reason why the format is referred to as "test cricket". Coming to the inclusion of the aforementioned bowlers, a strong justification is the need of the hour one can suppose. If at all the selection panel wanted to give chance to young blood, the very same players could have been given a chance against a weaker opposition in Bangladesh rather than a South African team that is fresh from its moral victory against England. And who is Wriddhiman Saha replacing?
Badrinath and Mithun can be considered a replacement for Yuvraj Singh and Sreesanth respectively if the selection committee is to be believed. And in case the BCCI wants to groom youngsters, in what way does the same classify players as young and old. Players' profile reveals that Badrinath is aged 29 and is yet to make a test debut. On the other hand, Saha is aged 25 and can be given a slight consideration. One point that is to be made clear is that Sreesanth has so far been a substitute for others rather than someone else coming in place of him. Most of the time, Sreesanth has been warming benches or rehabilitating himself at NCA all owing to injury.
In case the BCCI wants to include some young players, why wait for an injury to one or many of its players? Why not rest some senior pro and include the same? There have been many players who are waiting for their chance to be included in the test squad since years. Few names that include in the list are Robin uttappa, Rohith Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina who have been playing ODIs from past 5 years. But, their names are never bound to hit the selection panel's list when it comes to picking up batsmen. And one last question is "will Mithun, Saha and Badrinath be included in the playing XI?".
This is one of the many examples of the nerve testing nature of test cricket. May be that is the reason why the format is referred to as "test cricket". Coming to the inclusion of the aforementioned bowlers, a strong justification is the need of the hour one can suppose. If at all the selection panel wanted to give chance to young blood, the very same players could have been given a chance against a weaker opposition in Bangladesh rather than a South African team that is fresh from its moral victory against England. And who is Wriddhiman Saha replacing?
Badrinath and Mithun can be considered a replacement for Yuvraj Singh and Sreesanth respectively if the selection committee is to be believed. And in case the BCCI wants to groom youngsters, in what way does the same classify players as young and old. Players' profile reveals that Badrinath is aged 29 and is yet to make a test debut. On the other hand, Saha is aged 25 and can be given a slight consideration. One point that is to be made clear is that Sreesanth has so far been a substitute for others rather than someone else coming in place of him. Most of the time, Sreesanth has been warming benches or rehabilitating himself at NCA all owing to injury.
In case the BCCI wants to include some young players, why wait for an injury to one or many of its players? Why not rest some senior pro and include the same? There have been many players who are waiting for their chance to be included in the test squad since years. Few names that include in the list are Robin uttappa, Rohith Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina who have been playing ODIs from past 5 years. But, their names are never bound to hit the selection panel's list when it comes to picking up batsmen. And one last question is "will Mithun, Saha and Badrinath be included in the playing XI?".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)