This aint a "I told you so" post

Team selection for Zimbabwe Tri series 2010


Last month I wrote a post about poor team selection for Zimbabwe tour.


Unfortunately my premonition about a poor series for India came true. Far from being poor, we were dismal in Zimbabwe. The sad thing is that it was bound to happen as there is no system governing Indian cricket - both BCCI and Media are at fault.


What has BCCI achieved? Are there any new finds? Have they identified any new talent which was unknown before? Have they boosted the moral of new players? Have they done justice to the fans?


Far from it. Team India has been relegated to number 3 position in ICC ranking...


On the other side of system, Media is blind even after having the advantage of the hindsight. In last few days there have been many media stories castigating the players and the team. How callous and irrelevant? They could not recognize that young inexperienced team, however talented, was never going to win matches on their own. I am sure if 1 or 2 players were part of the regular squad, they would have excelled. Alas! that never happened.


All is not lost though. We can still learn some lessons:
1. BCCI should only play reasonable number of matches in a year so regular players are rested for important matches.
2. BCCI should adopt a rotation policy to give young talent a chance and build bench strength rather than making wholesale changes.
3. Media should not become over-enamored by young talent and try to provide positive criticism.


Whether it will happen. I have my doubts but we all have to do our bit to "save the tiger"...

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.

Why India is serious contender for the ICC T20 World Cup?

India team is not only the defending champions but is also considered to be favourites to win ICC T20 World Cup again. Pundits, critics, media-personnel and fans alike have put their bets on India.

The betting sites have also given best odds to India closely followed by SA and Australia. At the time of posting this articles the Ladbrokes' odds for India were 5/2 while for SA and Australia were 7/2 and 11/2 respectively. The odds would change as tournament will progress. One can check the betting meter of various online sites at

Twenty20 World Cup Win Market Betting Odds

I am not a betting man but I like to analyze the cricket happenings. Why is everyone considering India as favourites? Is it because:

1. India has a very strong team with fine balance.
2. Indians have much more experience of T20 format than rival team players (courtesy IPL).
3. All the 15 individuals in the team are proven performers - swash bucking batsmen, excellent fielders and wicket taking bowlers.
4. Most of the players are is excellent form and are coming after a successful stint in IPL2.
5. Dhoni is considered to be a fine leader with a cool head and astute thinking.

All these points definitely make India a world beating team. These points have been analyzed threadbare by media and cricket pundits; there is no point in repeating them here. SA and Australia too can run close if we just consider these points. Man for man SA and Australia too have brilliant team.

World Cup squads
India - http://www.cricinfo.com/wt202009/content/squad/402820.html
SA - http://www.cricinfo.com/wt202009/content/squad/402863.html
Australia - http://www.cricinfo.com/wt202009/content/squad/402963.html

So what is it that makes India favourites? Where is the wow factor? Why are odds what they are? I think there are more important points. These are:

1. The bench - Out of 15 individuals in the squad only 11 will play. The bench strength of India is much better that rest of the teams. Dhoni has happy problem of who to take in playing 11 and who to leave. Indian team has the strongest bench among all teams playing in the world cup. One just has to consider how India thrashed Pakistan in a warm up game when their premier bowler (Zaheer) and the regular opener (Sehwag) were injured and warming the bench.
2. Beyond the bench - Players like Karthink, Nehra, Munaf, Mishra, Balaji are not in the 15 member squad. These players performed exceptionally well in recently concluded IPL and have donned India colours before; they can walk in any other international side based on their performance. Alas! There is no space for them in Indian team. And I am not talking about the other young guns who also performed well in IPL but do not have the international exposure. Surely they will put positive pressure on the players in world cup squad.
3. Fear Factor - There are very few players in world cricket who induce fear in the mind of opposition. These players are reverved by fans and opposition alike. India have couple of them - Sehwag, Yuvraj and Dhoni. Australia also used to have few before they lost them to retirement and indiscipline (read Symmonds).
4. Pressure situations - Most Indian players are accustomed to pressure cooker like situations. Over past two years they have seen extremely adverse conditions (both in one dayers and tests) where they have come out strongly. They have won matches from extreme odds. As an old adage goes - been there, done that. Players like Dhoni, Yuvraj, Rohit, Pathan brothers, Zaheer, Harbhajan and Raina have won matches on their own from seemingly impossible situations. They are all big match players.

Did anyone say odds in a T20 match change very quickly?