Well if a dashing opener from a team is expected forced to return back from a major tournament, most of the time puts the team in confusion as to whom to go in for in the remaining encounters of the tournament in case the team has to face a tough opponent. However, at times the absence of a similar player becomes a boon for the viewers if not for the team to see a tough fight between the two teams which would otherwise be just another game and just another win for that team. A tough fight can be a treat for the viewers' eyes more than a win or a loss.
Here as well, the situation is almost the same with Virender Sehwag having to opt out of the remaining matches of the Asia cup. There are matches against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to go for India, before they take on Sri Lanka in the final of the tournament. It was the win against Pakistan that mattered much for India and moreover, a win against Bangladesh is guaranteed if not for some unexpected mishaps like in the world cup 2007. If that would happen, it would be another Extremes case. Anyway that apart, with the presence of Gambhir, Dhoni and Yuvraj Sehwag's absence shouldn't matter much.
All the aforementioned names belong to the list of big hitters provided they are inform on their day. Prior to the ommision of Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar has been ruled out of the Asia cup for reasons not so important here but which hardly drew a response. Out of the two remaining games, one of them being a cakewalk, the other becomes inconsequential with India already having beaten Pakistan in their opening match and with Pakistan losing both their crucial matches against India and Sri Lanka. Bad luck was that both these matches were close encounters for Pakistan with the margin of defeat being 16 runs and 3 wickets.
The absence of Virender Sehwag though deprives the team of a powerful opener, at the same time provides the platform for another batsman to prove his myth on the big stage. There is Virat Kohli, Rohith Sharma etc, all of whom are waiting for a chance to prove themselves and have even done so in the past. But, with the playing squad restricted to just eleven, the rested players will have to wait for their turn either when a match is being played against a weak team or when the match they are playing is of little consequence. Worst come, one of the regular player gets injured.
Showing posts with label Rohith Sharma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rohith Sharma. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Why is Raina being made the captain?
Well it is not a breaking news about Dhoni's praise and confidence he has in the upcoming cricketer Suresh Raina which saw Dhoni allowing Raina to captain the Chennai Superkings side in the IPL a month back. But, one has to imagine whether Dhoni's selection of the captain in his replacement is justified in case Dhoni is responsible in making Raina captain the Indian side for the tri nation tournament involving Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe? Or did the selectors show faith in Raina upon Dhoni's choice as mentioned above? In either case, there are better people than Raina who could be given the reins.
One may not agree with me if I say that Suresh Raina still needs to find a platform for himself in the team as a player before he can think of stepping into the shoes of a captain. Not because of his failures in some parts of the team but for the only reason that there are better people and more experienced people than Raina who are eligible to lead the side. Of course, the list does not include Sachin Tendulkar who has shown to be exactly opposite as a captin compared to what he was and what he is as a player.
There are batsmen like Rohith Sharma whose caliber in the Indian team as a batsman is similar to what Raina enjoys. The only difference between the both being that Raina bats left handed while Rohith Sharma bats right handed. Both of them have had equal number of ups and downs in their cricket career. Or else, there are players like Dinesh Karthik who can replace Dhoni as a keeper but would not be a fair choice as a captain instead of Dhoni. And one more fascinating thing about the squad is that the vice captain of India will be Virat Kohli.
There is no doubt that these players have the potential in them both as batsmen and as captain to take the team forward. I thought of mentioning Yuvraj Singh but found that his name misses from the squad set to tour Zimbabwe. My sincere apologies for that. Other choices as captain would be Amit Mishra and Yousuf Pathan both of whom are equally talented and experienced like Suresh Raina. No doubt that not much would be expected from Suresh Raina when his team would return from Zimbabwe. There is no doubt that India will make it to the finals and in case they lose, it would be another loss in a final and nothing more.
One may not agree with me if I say that Suresh Raina still needs to find a platform for himself in the team as a player before he can think of stepping into the shoes of a captain. Not because of his failures in some parts of the team but for the only reason that there are better people and more experienced people than Raina who are eligible to lead the side. Of course, the list does not include Sachin Tendulkar who has shown to be exactly opposite as a captin compared to what he was and what he is as a player.
There are batsmen like Rohith Sharma whose caliber in the Indian team as a batsman is similar to what Raina enjoys. The only difference between the both being that Raina bats left handed while Rohith Sharma bats right handed. Both of them have had equal number of ups and downs in their cricket career. Or else, there are players like Dinesh Karthik who can replace Dhoni as a keeper but would not be a fair choice as a captain instead of Dhoni. And one more fascinating thing about the squad is that the vice captain of India will be Virat Kohli.
There is no doubt that these players have the potential in them both as batsmen and as captain to take the team forward. I thought of mentioning Yuvraj Singh but found that his name misses from the squad set to tour Zimbabwe. My sincere apologies for that. Other choices as captain would be Amit Mishra and Yousuf Pathan both of whom are equally talented and experienced like Suresh Raina. No doubt that not much would be expected from Suresh Raina when his team would return from Zimbabwe. There is no doubt that India will make it to the finals and in case they lose, it would be another loss in a final and nothing more.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Unlucky Rohith!
Well it is really difficult to decide whether Rohith Sharma is to be considered unlucky or is the ICC rightly justified in fining the mentioned Indian batsman for showing dissent towards the umpires' decision. As far as my memories go, this is the second time that Rohith Sharma has been fined for showing dissent towards the umpires' decision. The first time I remember Rohith Sharma showing dissent towards the umpires' decision was way back in late 2007 in the Commonwealth Bank tri series involving Sri Lanka, India (obvioulsy) and Australia (which is obvious as well). That was in the game against Sri Lanka at Brisbane.
Then, Rohith Sharma was fined 10% of his match fees when he showed reluctance in heading back to the stands when the main umpire raised his finger against the batsman regarding which Rohith Sharma was far from being convinced. And suporting Rohith Sharma, the video replays showed that Rohith Sharma had not even touched the ball in that particular encounter. That was the initial stage of Rohith Sharma's career and that match would have been a full stop in his career had the Indian batsman not shown reluctance in heading back to the stands. This was even worse than the 10% fine imposed on him.
One such poor performance by a youngster is more than enough for his cricket board's selection committee to sack him with dozens of other youngsters more eager to make it to the playing eleven. And, one can quite understand Rohith Sharma's anxiety when he was shown the doors with no mistake of his. And, this time once again Rohith Sharma has found himself in shambles when he once again did the same mistake by not willing to head back to the stands despite the onfield umpires raising his finger against the wishes of the batsman. This time as well, the umpires were more than convinced by their error than the batsman's doubt.
This is one such area in the game of cricket where the benefit of doubt does not go to the batsman. Instead, the benefit of the human error of the onfield umpires most of the times favors the bowlers who would be having a wicket against their name and the fielders who would be having a catch or a run out against their name. However, hardly any batsmen are found to be punished like it has happened for Rohith Sharma or may be that I have hardly come across a batsman being unlucky one for falling prey to a wrong decision and two for facing a penalty. If you readers come across such a scene please let me know.
Then, Rohith Sharma was fined 10% of his match fees when he showed reluctance in heading back to the stands when the main umpire raised his finger against the batsman regarding which Rohith Sharma was far from being convinced. And suporting Rohith Sharma, the video replays showed that Rohith Sharma had not even touched the ball in that particular encounter. That was the initial stage of Rohith Sharma's career and that match would have been a full stop in his career had the Indian batsman not shown reluctance in heading back to the stands. This was even worse than the 10% fine imposed on him.
One such poor performance by a youngster is more than enough for his cricket board's selection committee to sack him with dozens of other youngsters more eager to make it to the playing eleven. And, one can quite understand Rohith Sharma's anxiety when he was shown the doors with no mistake of his. And, this time once again Rohith Sharma has found himself in shambles when he once again did the same mistake by not willing to head back to the stands despite the onfield umpires raising his finger against the wishes of the batsman. This time as well, the umpires were more than convinced by their error than the batsman's doubt.
This is one such area in the game of cricket where the benefit of doubt does not go to the batsman. Instead, the benefit of the human error of the onfield umpires most of the times favors the bowlers who would be having a wicket against their name and the fielders who would be having a catch or a run out against their name. However, hardly any batsmen are found to be punished like it has happened for Rohith Sharma or may be that I have hardly come across a batsman being unlucky one for falling prey to a wrong decision and two for facing a penalty. If you readers come across such a scene please let me know.
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.
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