India's test team selection does not inspire confidence

Australia in India 2012-13

Is Test Cricket important? It is for some of us but I feel that India's selection committee and BCCI think otherwise. The selection, in my opinion has gone very wrong in recent times - specifically after the new coach is in charge. From being No.1 test side we are languishing near bottom.

I hope I am wrong and Indian team does well against Australia.

Let us look at some of the changes.

1. Shikhar Dhawan - I don't think he has the technique to survive at the highest level in Test cricket. He has done well in Ranji Trophy and he should be given a chance but limited over cricket will be better for him. Alas! There is no place in limited over cricket with India doing well.
2. Ravindra Jadeja - Almost similar case as Shikhar Dhawal and our captain thinks he is the greatest all-rounder ever born.
3. Ashwin & Pragyan Ojha - A country that has produced some of the greatest spinners does not even have a decent option. Both are defensive bowlers with little variation. They can contain runs but the question is can they take wickets.

Somehow the whole bowling unit does not inspire confidence. Only time will tell if my reading is wrong. I sincerely hope I am proven wrong and we win the series.

Dhoni - My way or the highway

About 2 years ago, I had written an article on Dhoni's courage and his strange ways.

 Dhoni's strange ways

This article was written before India's 2011 world cup victory. Since then India has lost many series. The team's form has gone from bad to worse. And there is no end in sight.

Former players, selectors and cricket experts are asking for Dhoni's head but all we hear is some promises made by Dhoni. What is happening? Let us try to dissect the current state of affairs.

Is Dhoni still a good leader? I think so. He stands by his players and his decisions. He usually does not find fault with system.
Has his courage deserted him? No, but he has become autocratic and has started thinking that he is right and others are wrong.
Should there be a change in leadership? Maybe, selectors would know better but they should not be influenced by BCCI's managing committee. Maybe they can give a break to Dhoni for upcoming Australia series.
What is the solution? There are number of things that can be done but firstly selection should be left to selectors; Dhoni and/or BCCI's managing committee should have no role in it.
Are there any other reasons for recent defeats? I think coaching staff is not up to the par. Read an article which I wrote about a year ago  Can this be the reason for India's recent performances?

Read another article which highlights Dhoni's role. Undaunted despite defeat

As a fan I can only hope that India goes back to winning ways soon...

VVS Laxman

The effect of VVS Laxman announcing his retirement

India is Very Very Sad

Australia is Very Very Satisfied

Can this be the reason for India's recent performances?

The Indian team went to SA just before the World Cup 2011 and put up a decent show against one of the best teams in world cricket today. The SA show was followed by World Cup triumph.

However, India's cricket team has had an horrendous run in recent past. An average show in WI (one of the lower ranked teams in test cricket), abysmal show in England and Australia. So, what could be reason(s) for string of unceremonious defeats, nay, abject surrender?

Think about it the team, the captain, support staff and (of course) BCCI's whimsical ways have all remained same. The team has the required pedigree. If I think about it only one major change has happened after SA tour - change in coach.

Only time will tell if this is the real reason...

India should be proud of recently concluded test series in England

India in England 2011

India lost 4 match test series 0-4 and also lost the No. 1 mantle to England

What is there to be proud of after this abysmal showing? Well, before the series a certain self proclaimed best spinner of the World GP Swann was most vocal; he claimed that India will find difficult to play his bowling and he will come out on top. The results are for everyone to notice. Swann's figures -
4 matches - 142 overs - 529 runs - 13 wkts @ 40.69

At least Indians have dented number 1 claim of Swann. This too when the Indian batting collapsed in all 4 test matches.

It hurts to capitulate in this manner...

Did Sehwag get his century?

India vs. SL
India-SL-NZ Trieseries, 2010

There is a whole debate raging on how SL/Sangakara/Randiv conspired to deny a well deerverd century to Sehwag. There is another aspect to the whole debate - did umpires decide correctly?

Read on it is an interesting article.

http://in.yfittopostblog.com/2010/08/17/sehwag-did-get-his-century/

I can add another point to the many convincing points already written in the article above. If the no-ball bowled by Randiv is counted towards Sehwag's score so why not the 6 runs.

Keep on munching!

Indian Team Selection

India in SL, 2010

Test Series

India and SL will be back for yet another series. Even ardent fans of SL and India will be bored by now. Have some heart, this time it is different. It is a test series and not any hastily organized one day tournament.

BCCI selection committee has declared the final 16 who will be playing for the country. Overall, I believe, it is a good selection except for two selections:

• Wriddhiman Saha as a reserve wicket keeper - What does BCCI want to achieve. Is he in fray for any future tournament? Did they forget Dinesh Karthik, the perennial prover. He is a decent wicketkeeper and much better batsman than Saha. Moreover, he has immense international experience; whenever a batsman  is injured, he is the first one to be called.
• Recall of Yuvraj Singh - Yuvraj has the talent to become one of the best batsman in the world. He is as talented as KP or even SRT. But his performance proves otherwise. Today he is not even as good as  Dada, whom he replaced. He has to value and respect his place in test side.

I think selection on Suresh Raina and Vijay was spot on. There are skeptics who believe Raina does not have the required skills to survive a test match; especially his weakness against the short ball. He has proven, time and again, in both one day and T20 cricket that he can survive short deliveries. His one day record, especially over last 2 years, is a case to the point. Raina should be give a chance to fail.

Vijay is another talented youngster who has not done too badly in test cricket. His Ranji Trophy record is excellent and is one of the better batsman in Indian cricket today. His T20 performances should not be used as a benchmark for test selection.

Talking about youngsters, the selection committee should start blooding some of the others as well. Selectors have to start thinking about the future. Big 3 may not be there after 2-3 years. They have taken us to the top of ICC ranking but new talent has to retain that top ranking. Rohit Sharma, Manish Pandey, Pujara, Kohli and Badrinath could be future of Indian test scene. Especially Badri and Pujara. Badri may not be a youngster but he has few years of cricket left in him.

All these players have been knocking on selection committee doors for many years. Of course selectors can't (and shouldn't) accommodate all but they should devise a strategy so that these youngsters can play with big 3 when there is still some time. The selectors can take following approach:

• Have a rotation policy in place.
• Always choose 16 players (even when the matches are being held in India) in the squad
• Drop Yuvraj - I would love to see him the team but not an usual irresponsible Yuvraj. 

Poor team selection

Team selection for Zimbabwe Tri series 2010

I wrote a post Let us pray! earlier this year. The title of this post could also have been same as I am writing about a similar situation. India were scheduled to play SA in a dead rubber and selectors rested top players of Indian team just to give chance to youngsters. And guess what, India lost. Even though that was a dead rubber and now we are talking about playing in Zimbabwe, we should be ruthless while it comes to playing international matches. We should select the best team possible. Remember it is a tri-series and we would be playing against SL as well.

I have no doubt about the talent of youngsters picked for the squad. They are all good players and proven themselves in IPL and other domestic matches. They would also be hungry to showcase their talent in International arena. But cricket is a team sport and individuals can win you only few matches. I feel that making wholesale changes tot the team composition is not a good idea.

A few factors that goes against the selected squad:
1. The squad has never played together as a team.
2. The coach and other support staff will have to guide an entirely new team.
3. All players are low in experience.
4. The experience is even lower when it comes to playing matches abroad.

An excerpt from my earlier post

It is true that the replacements are worthy and talented but all of them lack experience. It is a good idea to test the reserves and give bench some chance to secure a team for future. But wholesale replacements are not good even if it is a dead rubber. We must learn from Australia of old. They also had a rotation policy but never at the expense of a game. They never got complacent and were so ruthless that many games were won even before starting. We must make winning a habit.

Let us just pray that the team is able to win a few matches.

Analysis 2010 continued

ICC T20 World Cup 2010

This is a followup post to my last post Analysis 2010 on potential weakness of each team playing in the Super 8.

Why can SL lose?

• They are not looking like the side they were last year
• In both their group games they lacked intensity
• No other batsman apart from Jayawardene has fired

 Why can Australia lose?

• They have been inconsistent. They performed well against Pakistan but lost the track against Bangladesh.
• So far they have an extremely poor record in T20. Read my earlier post Australian Team is favourite

Why can India lose?

• The dreaded C word - Complacency. They are the champions or so the Indian Media and fans think.
• The weakness from last world cup might haunt them again - short pitched bouncers.

Why can WI lose?

• The dreaded I word - Inconsistency.

Evey team has chinks in its armour. And in T20 form on the match day matters more than anything else. However, I think it will be extremely difficult for NZ, Pakistan and SL to reach the semis.

Analysis 2010

ICC T20 World Cup 2010

This post is similar to my last year's post on second edition of ICC T20 World cup.

Analyze this

Like in last year's post I have analyzed what chinks hinder a team to not go on and win the tournament. I am writing this post just before the start of Super 8s. We have had a look at teams' form while teams have had a look at weather and ground conditions.

According to Lardbrokes, at the time of writing, Australia are still favourites with odds at 3. In fact they have improved their odds since tournament beginning. India and SA hold the next 2 positions with odds at 4 and 5 respectively. Also look at my last post

Australian Team is favourite

Let us see why a team can lose.

Why can Pakistan lose?

• The dreaded I word - Inconsistency. One their day they are world beaters and another day they are worse than a club cricket team.
• Nothing remains permanent in Pakistan cricket - They have a new captain who has a history of being on the wrong side of cricket administration and a new team which is low on experience.
• Batting looks weak as compared to other teams.

They can take heart from the fact that their batting fought hard against Australian bowling.

Why can NZ lose?

• The dreaded D word - They are perennial Dark Horses. They raise the expectations of their fans by giving a good fight but never go on and win a big tournament.
• They are a formidable unit but they struggled against lackadaisical SL.

Why can SA lose?

• The dreaded C word - They are not called Chokers for nothing. They inspire hope, excitement and confidence till they lose at the final frontier.
• They were unable to put up a decent fight against India team who were missing key players. Their batsmen struggled against part-time spinners.
• They were unable to put up a decent total against a inexperienced bowling attack of Afghanistan.

Why can England lose?

• The dreaded F word - They are a formidable unit but at the same time fickle in nature. They played well against WI only going on to lose due to DL system but against Ireland their batting failed miserably. And this time DL system helped them to post a win.
• Their country is the home of cricket but till now they beli all expectations of their fans in major competitions.

 Watch out for my next post for rest of the analysis.

Let us pray!

India vs. SA
3rd ODI
Season 2009-10

This post is a continuation from the last post

Headlines and the art of selling news

I also want India to win and make a clean sweep but I have certain apprehensions. The first ODI was close. India, of course, had an upper hand till 44th over or so but they became complacent and let the advantage whittle away. While batting also the batsmen gave away good starts otherwise the total could have been higher. The second ODI was put beyond SA reach by only one man - Tendulkar. Remove him from the equation and you have evenly matched teams. And introduce new and inexperienced blood, it is advantage SA.

We already have depleted team with injuries to Gambhir, Yuvraj and Zaheer - all top 10 players as per ICC ranking. On top of it the selectors have rested Sehwag & Tendulkar and have extended Harbhajan's rest. Again all three are top 10 players. Tendulkar's rest is justified but resting Sehwag and Harbhjan when team is already depleted is not a good idea. If anybody needed rest it was Dhoni. He has been playing non-stop in all form of the games and he has a tough schedule ahead.

It is true that the replacements are worthy and talented but all of them lack experience. It is a good idea to test the reserves and give bench some chance to secure a team for future. But wholesale replacements are not good even if it is a dead rubber. We must learn from Australia of old. They also had a rotation policy but never at the expense of a game. They never got complacent and were so ruthless that many games were won even before starting. We must make winning a habit.

We can still win today's game but chances have diminished. Let us pray for today's win.

Headlines and the art of selling news

India vs. SA
3rd ODI
Season 2009-10

All major previews for the 3rd ODI suggest that India has a upperhand while SA will try to avoid clean sweap. Consider the following:

India target first sweep against South Africa

India seek series sweep at Motera

SA look to avoid a clean sweep

Depleted India seek series sweep at Motera

I think the headlines are created in line with the expectations of the readers - in this case the fans of Indian cricket team. We always want our team to win and are prejudiced by what are our team's strengths rather than dispassionately reviewing the whole picture. But that is another story...

Let us pray for today's win.

Tendulkar's Double - The moments of agony

India vs. SA
2009-2010 Season
2nd ODI

Experts have written and filled many a reams to eulogize Tendulkar's double. So much praise, bordering upon adoration, has been showered on him that I do not want to add more to it.

Sachin's double has broken many records and along the way it had its side effects as well. One of the pleasant side effect was Cricinfo's servers breakdown. Here is a truthful admission from Cricinfo

Tendulkar breaks Cricinfo records

I was among the many unfortunate ones who was not able to watch Sachin's innings live on TV. So I did the next best thing by following it online on Cricinfo. And Cricinfo's server glitch left me heartbroken. I had to go through many agonizing moments when I couldn't follow the online commentary.

May I have many more 'Sach' agonizing moments.

Blessing in Disguise

South Africa in India
Season: 2009-10

Indian team is carrying long list of injuries – VVS, Sreesanth, Dravid and Yuvraj. Sreesanth, Dravid and Yuvraj have been left out while VVS may not play the first test. It is, of course, not an idle situation; the frontline players are cannot play and the opponent is supposed to be the best team in World cricket today. The competition will be all the more difficult as it could decide the number 1 spot in ICC test ranking.

Sreesanth absence will not hurt Indian team. His services, in all probability, will not be needed given that Zaheer and Ishant are bowling well. Dravid is a great player and his absence cannot be compensated. On the other hand Yuvraj has done little to prove that he values test berth and is a fair replacement for Dada.

I think the situation presents a very good opportunity to India if VVS plays. In the absence of Dravid and Yuvraj, Vijay and Badrinath are likely to play the first test. Vijay, in a short tenure, has already impressed with his solid technique and unflappable temperament. Badrinath has been on fringes of Indian team and has been knocking the doors for long.

Will Badrinath grab the opportunity and do justice to his debut? Only time will tell. If he does well and gets more chances, India can look forward to another good middle order batsman. The situation is a blessing in disguise and let us hope for the best.

I hope Indian selection panel can learn something from this situation. They rotate the players to test the bench strength. Australia could rotate players in first half of the last decade; India can do it now and they should do it well before Big 3 will retire.

Oh! Not again.

Sri Lanka planning visit by India

An excerpt.

In the past five years, in fact, Sri Lanka and India have been involved in over 50 contests - nine Tests, 39 ODIs and three Twenty20s.

Gimme a break!

An ordinary Bangladesh

India in Bangladesh
1st test, 2009/10 season

It is true that Sehwag called Bangladesh an 'Ordinary' team. Was it a figure of speech? Or Was it an hyperbole? No, it was straight talking. Sehwag does not mince words while talking and he talks straight from the heart. Read my previous post on the same subject.

An 'Ordinary' Sehwag

However, Sehwag shot himself on foot, or so it seemed, when India got out at 243. Media went GaGa over it and Bangla fans went delirious. But did anyone realize that India had one poor session when they lost 6 wickets. In the morning session they were going great guns and last session too was OK. It was only after lunch that they floundered.

To further substantiate my point, I did some research on the past performances of Bangladesh. I checked test match data of last 2 years and compared it with India's. It is considered that in last 2 years Bangladesh has improved tremendously. But the data proves that there was nothing out of ordinary in Sehwag's comments.


Bangladesh scored under 200 in 11 innings out of 21 completed innings - more than 50% times. If we consider under 250 scores the percentage jumps to 80%. If we think scores of 254 and 259 are also under par than the percentage jumps to 90%.



India, on the other hand, just has 4 out 28 under 200 innings - a very low 14%. India also had 11 450+ scores in last 2 years whereas Bangladesh had none. Another interesting inference is Bangladesh lost 20 wickets more often than not - 21 out of possible 24 innings.

It is not a comparison between India and Bangladesh. India is at the top while Bangladesh is at the bottom of ICC test ranking. I collated the stats just to prove the veracity of Sehwag's statement. Bangladesh are truly 'Ordinary'.

Temprament vs. Talent

Australia vs. Pakistan 2009-10

The title of this story could also have been Australia vs. Pakistan. Pakistan always had talent in abundance and they are a team of brilliant individuals. Yes they are more like a bunch of talented individuals than a team.

The Australia, as far as memory goes, never had such a weak team. But it is still a team. They might lack talent and experience but they are can more than make it up by grit and determination to succeed. They carry a strong will and temperament to succeed.

Also read my earlier posts

http://fifth-umpire.blogspot.com/2009/06/analyze-this.html

http://fifth-umpire.blogspot.com/2009/12/life-mein-pyas-honi-chahiye.html

Refer to a news item http://www.cricinfo.com/ausvpak09/content/current/story/440513.html where Ponting also conveyed the same message

"As a package, if you look at their team they've got a number of exceptional players," Ponting said. "If they stick together as a group and play well together as a team, they can be very dangerous. Our job is to make sure we don't let them gel too much and combine too well. We've just got to make sure that we've learnt our lessons from this series and we get on with playing some good cricket."

Let's pray for the talent to overcome temperament. You can call be selfish but, for a change, I will support Pakistan since I want India to remain number 1 test team.

Life mein Pyas honi chahiye

Aus vs. WI - 3rd Test
2009/10, Perth

There is an aspect of Australian cricket which is barely written or talked about - Hunger for success. This aspect again came to fore much through the 3rd test. The team might be a shade of what it was about 2 years ago. But the commitment to the game is paramount.

This aspect of Australian cricket is in addition to other aspects which have made them a very strong team. They might not be number 1 team but they still are very strong. Read my earlier posts.

http://fifth-umpire.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-is-australia-number-1-team.html

http://fifth-umpire.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-australia-is-best-test-team-in.html

A few would remember the first game of 1987 World Cup - India vs. Australia. Australia was on verge of losing but won by 1 run. That world cup could be the turning point in Australia's fortunes. Australia won the recent one day series against India, when their team was depleted and was missing 6-7 front line players. They also won the one day series handsomely against England after being beaten in Ashes this year.

I was reminded of a old Pepsi commercial which aptly describes Australian team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvmFiGVoNEc&feature=related

In my opinion they would not be able to dominate world cricket as they had but they still will be very good team to contend.

Let's pray for England win in England vs. SA test series

England start their test series campaign against SA tomorrow. Let us support and pray for them to win the series handsomely for India's cause. Lest they do, South Africa can inch up towards numero uno slot in ICC test ranking.

Consider this the other two top teams, namely South Africa and Australia, are playing 7 and 10 tests respectively in next 12 months. And India is playing only 2 tests and that too against low ranked Bangladesh. Only God can help India in retaining the top ranking.

Indian fielding was good at Rajkot

Sri Lanka in India ODI Series - 1st ODI
2009/10 season
India dropped only 3 catches while fielding in one day international at Rajkot against Sri Lanka. 3 catches in 50 overs compares favourably to 11 catches dropped in last T20 internationals (40 overs).

I wonder how India win matches even after pathetic fielding and patchy bowling! Indian batsmen must be really very good.