MY DREAM INDIAN CRICKET TEAM
The Cricket World Cup (http://www.cricketworldcup.com) is in progress in the West Indies and yesterday, we lost to Bangladesh.
In my opinion, Dravid erred in choosing to bat. Perhaps, the plan was that we would get good batting practice for the later matches in the first innings and then we could restrict them. Of course, the Bangladeshi bowlers had other plans ;-) The morning "juice" in the wicket was rather venomous. In the early part of our innings, the ball moved around just enough to keep our batsmen quiet. It took Yuvraj's belligerence to cut the shackles loose.
I wish Dhoni had built on Yuvraj's knock. I expect that the two of them will be very important for India's chances in the World Cup, particularly against Sri Lanka. In my view, Dhoni has the maturity to play a steadying role in the middle overs since he can also run well between wickets. Yuvraj and he are the two best runners when we bat. If they come to bat in the middle overs, they need to run well. That should be their primary responsibility until the 40th over. Both of them also have the capability to hit the big shots. They should keep this ability for the slog overs. It will be crucial for us if we are to progress to the Super Eight stage.
This World Cup is said to be the most open one since Australia looks beatable after their recent losses against England and New Zealand. The South African team is on the ascendant, as is New Zealand. Those three teams seem to be the likely semi-finalists as of now. The West Indies appear to be the best among the rest.
Where does this leave India ? Here is my SWOT analysis for the Indian team in the World Cup below !
Strengths : The obvious one is "experience", but to me the ability to handle close matches is the bigger strength. Since Chappell and Dravid combined in keeping the batting order flexible in the recent past, India has played a few matches where the result was in doubt. A few players (Dhoni, Raina, etc.) showed the ability to keep a cool head and take India to victories chasing challenging scores. This ability, particularly in chasing scores, is something that we should capitalise on. It makes Dravid's decision to field first against Bangladesh all the more puzzling.
Weaknesses : In two words, I summarize it as "poor fielding". Excepting Yuvraj (and to some extent) Dinesh Kaarthick, our fielding is ordinary. In matches with stronger teams like South Africa and Australia, this will hurt us.
Opportunities : The playing conditions in the newly laid grounds in West Indies appear to favour "batting" sides, particularly those batting second or even teams who have wickets in hand for the slog overs in the first innings. The wickets are more or less similar to what we have in India, after the first 15 overs or so. If we survive the first hour, a tall score is very likely with the batting line up we have.
Threats : Our immediate big challenge is the match against Sri Lanka. I am assuming that we will win convincingly against Bermuda. Sri Lanka (and the other teams favoured to win the World Cup) have begun well and all of them appear to be "peaking" at the right time. Our think tank must come up with strategies to counter Muralitharan and Vaas in the match against Sri Lanka and must also start thinking of different approaches against the other teams.
Let us see how the World Cup unfolds. Meanwhil, quite a few web sites have asked people to nominate their "Dream Eleven". Take a look at Fantasy Manager in http://www.cricketworldcup.com itself and also http://www.timesdreamteam.com/. For the Indian team, I have my own thoughts about what it should look like. With a view going beyond the world up, here are my thoughts :
* My feeling is that every team has three "undroppable" players : the captain, the vice-captain and the wicket keeper. To me, the best leader for Indian cricket today is the veteran Sachin Tendulkar. I would re-instate him as captain and nominate Sourav Ganguly as his deputy.
In my opinion, a good wicket keeper is worth more than a mediocre one who can bat very well. So, my vote for the Indian wicket keeper would be Dinesh Kaarthick rather than MS Dhoni. This sounds rather unfair to Dhoni. In fact, I personally feel that Dhoni and Yuvraj will be two key players for India in the world cup. However, going strictly by wicket keeping ability, I would still prefer Kaarthick to Dhoni.
* One big shortcoming with the Indian squad is the lack of genuine all rounders. Good all rounders are players who can bat as well as they can bowl. There are very few players who fit in this general definition in India :-( Players like Yuvraj, Sehwag, etc. are batsmen who can bowl a few overs. I don't want these "bits and pieces" players :-( Examples of all rounders in India are players like Kapil, Shastri, Prabhakar, etc.
For a squad of 16 players, excepting the three "undroppables" I would like to have four batsmen, five all rounders and four bowlers. I would qualify "bowling all rounders" as bowlers who have a batting average of around 22. I will exclude batting all rounders from my team : this means that there will be no Sehwag or Yuvraj in my squad ! I do this because if the batting all rounder fails in batting, I don't see much value add from him in the bowling department, as that is not his primary role. This is particularly true in test matches. If a Yuvraj or Sehwag fails in batting, it would be unfair to expect him to make amends in bowling - particularly in test matches. Such bowlers can "fill in" a few overs in one day internationals but not in test matches. So, I would groom five "genuine" all rounders.
This brings me to the question : Who are the five best all rounders in India? The top name in my mind immediately is Joginder Sharma of Haryana, who has had a good Ranji trophy season. Joginder (see http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/29976.html to read more about him) bowls medium pace and bats in the middle order. He is 24 years old and is currently one of the best in the country and he would certainly fit in to my dream eleven ! He did play a match against West Indies in India when they came just before the world cup, but his performance in that game was lacklustre. I would give him at least five tests to prove himself. Abhishek Nayar of Mumbai (see http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/32091.html for more information on him) is another name that springs to mind. He is another medium pace all rounder. I would groom Piyush Chawla (see http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/32966.html for more information on him), the leg spinner touted as the successor to Anil Kumble as an all rounder. Of course, Irfan Pathan also qualifies as an all rounder. The fifth spot in the all rounders group goes to Yusuf Pathan (see http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/32498.html for more information on him), who is Irfan's brother. He bats in the top order and bowls off spin.
* Keeping the future in mind, who are the four best bowlers in India ? Munaf Patel, Ranadeb Bose of West Bengal, Romesh Powar who flights the ball more than Harbhajan does and Zaheer Khan get my nods.
* The last job is to select four batsmen who will not bowl unless all the regular bowlers have their arms tied up :-) The four are : Dravid, Uthappa, Tanmay Srivastava (the young India under 19 opener, see http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/35401.html for more information) and Ambati Rayudu (the under 19 skipper, see http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/33141.html for more information on him).
So there is my complete squad ! All put together, it is : Tendulkar, Ganguly, Kaarthick, Joginder Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Piyush Chawla, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Munaf, Ranadeb Bose, Romesh Powar, Zaheer Khan, Dravid, Uthappa, Tanmay Srivastav and Ambati Rayudu.
What does my dream eleven for India look like ? It would be : Uthappa, Srivastava, Dravid, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Kaarthick, Irfan Pathan, Joginder Sharma, Romesh Powar, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel.
Of course, there are a few big names missing ! Also, I feel that the bowling attack is too dependent on medium pace. I would consider using Yusuf Pathan instead of Joginder Sharma. So he would be my twelfth man. With a team like this, developing the all round talent, I feel we can go far be it five day tests or all rounders.
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NOTE:
I had originally written this blog in another site. Since that site is no longer accessible, I am uploading it in this blog at http://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.in/ using the same date as the original blog dates.
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===== COMMON TEXT FOR ALL BLOGS =====
++++++ BEGINS ++++++
When I created my first blog, I thought I was
being clever by being "anonymous" and let my
opinions speak for themselves (see the archive !)
Imagine my embarrassment when I saw my name
displayed ! So now, while I still retain the blog
name as "Anonymous Expressions", I will only
request you to ignore my name and concentrate on
my opinions instead !
ALL COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS ARE ACKNOWLEDGED
AS THE PROPERTIES OF THEIR OWNERS.
The opinions expressed in the Weblogs are my
personal opinions. Please tell me if you spot any
factual mistakes or don't like the way I have
expressed a view. If I can see your point, I will
correct the mistake. You can email me at
kiran.suma@gmail.com.
++++++ ENDS ++++++
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
The Cricket World Cup (http://www.cricketworldcup.com) is in progress in the West Indies and yesterday, we lost to Bangladesh.
In my opinion, Dravid erred in choosing to bat. Perhaps, the plan was that we would get good batting practice for the later matches in the first innings and then we could restrict them. Of course, the Bangladeshi bowlers had other plans ;-) The morning "juice" in the wicket was rather venomous. In the early part of our innings, the ball moved around just enough to keep our batsmen quiet. It took Yuvraj's belligerence to cut the shackles loose.
I wish Dhoni had built on Yuvraj's knock. I expect that the two of them will be very important for India's chances in the World Cup, particularly against Sri Lanka. In my view, Dhoni has the maturity to play a steadying role in the middle overs since he can also run well between wickets. Yuvraj and he are the two best runners when we bat. If they come to bat in the middle overs, they need to run well. That should be their primary responsibility until the 40th over. Both of them also have the capability to hit the big shots. They should keep this ability for the slog overs. It will be crucial for us if we are to progress to the Super Eight stage.
This World Cup is said to be the most open one since Australia looks beatable after their recent losses against England and New Zealand. The South African team is on the ascendant, as is New Zealand. Those three teams seem to be the likely semi-finalists as of now. The West Indies appear to be the best among the rest.
Where does this leave India ? Here is my SWOT analysis for the Indian team in the World Cup below !
Strengths : The obvious one is "experience", but to me the ability to handle close matches is the bigger strength. Since Chappell and Dravid combined in keeping the batting order flexible in the recent past, India has played a few matches where the result was in doubt. A few players (Dhoni, Raina, etc.) showed the ability to keep a cool head and take India to victories chasing challenging scores. This ability, particularly in chasing scores, is something that we should capitalise on. It makes Dravid's decision to field first against Bangladesh all the more puzzling.
Weaknesses : In two words, I summarize it as "poor fielding". Excepting Yuvraj (and to some extent) Dinesh Kaarthick, our fielding is ordinary. In matches with stronger teams like South Africa and Australia, this will hurt us.
Opportunities : The playing conditions in the newly laid grounds in West Indies appear to favour "batting" sides, particularly those batting second or even teams who have wickets in hand for the slog overs in the first innings. The wickets are more or less similar to what we have in India, after the first 15 overs or so. If we survive the first hour, a tall score is very likely with the batting line up we have.
Threats : Our immediate big challenge is the match against Sri Lanka. I am assuming that we will win convincingly against Bermuda. Sri Lanka (and the other teams favoured to win the World Cup) have begun well and all of them appear to be "peaking" at the right time. Our think tank must come up with strategies to counter Muralitharan and Vaas in the match against Sri Lanka and must also start thinking of different approaches against the other teams.
Let us see how the World Cup unfolds. Meanwhil, quite a few web sites have asked people to nominate their "Dream Eleven". Take a look at Fantasy Manager in http://www.cricketworldcup.com itself and also http://www.timesdreamteam.com/. For the Indian team, I have my own thoughts about what it should look like. With a view going beyond the world up, here are my thoughts :
* My feeling is that every team has three "undroppable" players : the captain, the vice-captain and the wicket keeper. To me, the best leader for Indian cricket today is the veteran Sachin Tendulkar. I would re-instate him as captain and nominate Sourav Ganguly as his deputy.
In my opinion, a good wicket keeper is worth more than a mediocre one who can bat very well. So, my vote for the Indian wicket keeper would be Dinesh Kaarthick rather than MS Dhoni. This sounds rather unfair to Dhoni. In fact, I personally feel that Dhoni and Yuvraj will be two key players for India in the world cup. However, going strictly by wicket keeping ability, I would still prefer Kaarthick to Dhoni.
* One big shortcoming with the Indian squad is the lack of genuine all rounders. Good all rounders are players who can bat as well as they can bowl. There are very few players who fit in this general definition in India :-( Players like Yuvraj, Sehwag, etc. are batsmen who can bowl a few overs. I don't want these "bits and pieces" players :-( Examples of all rounders in India are players like Kapil, Shastri, Prabhakar, etc.
For a squad of 16 players, excepting the three "undroppables" I would like to have four batsmen, five all rounders and four bowlers. I would qualify "bowling all rounders" as bowlers who have a batting average of around 22. I will exclude batting all rounders from my team : this means that there will be no Sehwag or Yuvraj in my squad ! I do this because if the batting all rounder fails in batting, I don't see much value add from him in the bowling department, as that is not his primary role. This is particularly true in test matches. If a Yuvraj or Sehwag fails in batting, it would be unfair to expect him to make amends in bowling - particularly in test matches. Such bowlers can "fill in" a few overs in one day internationals but not in test matches. So, I would groom five "genuine" all rounders.
This brings me to the question : Who are the five best all rounders in India? The top name in my mind immediately is Joginder Sharma of Haryana, who has had a good Ranji trophy season. Joginder (see http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/29976.html to read more about him) bowls medium pace and bats in the middle order. He is 24 years old and is currently one of the best in the country and he would certainly fit in to my dream eleven ! He did play a match against West Indies in India when they came just before the world cup, but his performance in that game was lacklustre. I would give him at least five tests to prove himself. Abhishek Nayar of Mumbai (see http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/32091.html for more information on him) is another name that springs to mind. He is another medium pace all rounder. I would groom Piyush Chawla (see http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/32966.html for more information on him), the leg spinner touted as the successor to Anil Kumble as an all rounder. Of course, Irfan Pathan also qualifies as an all rounder. The fifth spot in the all rounders group goes to Yusuf Pathan (see http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/32498.html for more information on him), who is Irfan's brother. He bats in the top order and bowls off spin.
* Keeping the future in mind, who are the four best bowlers in India ? Munaf Patel, Ranadeb Bose of West Bengal, Romesh Powar who flights the ball more than Harbhajan does and Zaheer Khan get my nods.
* The last job is to select four batsmen who will not bowl unless all the regular bowlers have their arms tied up :-) The four are : Dravid, Uthappa, Tanmay Srivastava (the young India under 19 opener, see http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/35401.html for more information) and Ambati Rayudu (the under 19 skipper, see http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/33141.html for more information on him).
So there is my complete squad ! All put together, it is : Tendulkar, Ganguly, Kaarthick, Joginder Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Piyush Chawla, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Munaf, Ranadeb Bose, Romesh Powar, Zaheer Khan, Dravid, Uthappa, Tanmay Srivastav and Ambati Rayudu.
What does my dream eleven for India look like ? It would be : Uthappa, Srivastava, Dravid, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Kaarthick, Irfan Pathan, Joginder Sharma, Romesh Powar, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel.
Of course, there are a few big names missing ! Also, I feel that the bowling attack is too dependent on medium pace. I would consider using Yusuf Pathan instead of Joginder Sharma. So he would be my twelfth man. With a team like this, developing the all round talent, I feel we can go far be it five day tests or all rounders.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
NOTE:
I had originally written this blog in another site. Since that site is no longer accessible, I am uploading it in this blog at http://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.in/ using the same date as the original blog dates.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
===== COMMON TEXT FOR ALL BLOGS =====
++++++ BEGINS ++++++
When I created my first blog, I thought I was
being clever by being "anonymous" and let my
opinions speak for themselves (see the archive !)
Imagine my embarrassment when I saw my name
displayed ! So now, while I still retain the blog
name as "Anonymous Expressions", I will only
request you to ignore my name and concentrate on
my opinions instead !
ALL COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS ARE ACKNOWLEDGED
AS THE PROPERTIES OF THEIR OWNERS.
The opinions expressed in the Weblogs are my
personal opinions. Please tell me if you spot any
factual mistakes or don't like the way I have
expressed a view. If I can see your point, I will
correct the mistake. You can email me at
kiran.suma@gmail.com.
++++++ ENDS ++++++
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
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