World Cup - Surprise picks and omissions

Similar to India's 1 surprise pick & Sri Lanka's 2 surprise omissions in their 2011 World Cup squads, most other teams had at least one selection that was odd.

Australia picked Brett Lee and David Hussey, who hadn't played any internationals for nearly 1.5 years. With the tournament being played in the sub-continent, Australia picked 1.6 specialist spinners (Steve Smith bowls 6 overs per game on an average). Now that's a bizarre pick. Australia's part-time spin options are David Hussey (2 overs per game before he was picked in the squad) and Cameron White (2-3 overs per game when he had the skipper's trust and had not even bowled a single ball since August 2009). With 5 quicks & an all-rounder, clearly Australia are relying on pace to win. Seems like a gamble to me.

Despite investing nearly a year in Craig Kieswetter and Steve Davies, England went back to Matt Prior. Other than that, the squad seems reasonably balanced, with a couple of bits-and-pieces players in Luke Wright & James Tredwell.

Luke Woodcock is the unknown player in New Zealand's squad. He hadn't even played an ODI before he was picked. The squad seems weak on the batting though, and the opening slot hasn't yet been sorted out.

Pakistan didn't have any major surprises in the squad, but they did come up with one bolter. They didn't name a captain! That said, the batting definitely looks shaky with only Younis Khan & Misbah having the skills to do a good job with the middle overs. Only 2 specialist spinners were picked, which seems odd for a Pakistani side playing a World Cup in the sub-continent.

South Africa, by contrast, picked 3 specialist spinners, 2 of who are newbies. South Africa's problem is with #6, #7 and #8. Having dropped Boucher, who used to come in at #6 & #7 and salvage a crisis, they don't have too many experienced players to fill up those slots. The batting essentially ends after Duminy (typically at #5).

West Indies have picked just 5 bowlers (3 quicks & 2 spinners) and are obviously hoping that Dwayne Bravo will bowl his full spell and pick up wickets regularly.

The other omission was that of Eden Gardens. The ground won't host the India v England game & the match will now be played at Bangalore. But there seems to be some ambiguity around it. Kyazoonga, the official ticketing partner, doesn't list the India v England game. Does this mean backroom negotiations are still going on, and Eden Gardens will get the game?

Actually, the Cricket Association of Bengal, which is really the main agency to be blamed for the fiasco, should just relinquish its hosting rights for the other games at the ground, each of which is guaranteed to bring in crowds of at least 90000.

Labels: 2011, 2011 world cup, australia, england, new zealand, pakistan, south africa, squad, west indies, world cup, world cup squads

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:54 am | Sledge/Read 97 sledge(s)
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2011 World Cup squads - Sri Lanka & India

Around 10 days ago, Sri Lanka announced the 15-member squad for the 2011 World Cup and it contained 2 bizarre omissions - Jayasuriya & Vaas. Now, why would you include these two in the preliminary 30-member squad two weeks earlier and leave them out without them having played any ODIs in-between to improve or worsen their chances of selection?

It's not like they have been active ODI players over the last 1-2 years. Jayasuriya last played an ODI in December 2009 while Vaas last turned out in August 2008! Why did they even get picked in the squad of 30 in the first place?

The BCCI did something similar earlier today. Piyush Chawla, who would most likely be the player Makarand Waingankar alluded to in the context of age manipulation, hasn't played an ODI since July 2008. Yet, he was picked in the 15-member Indian squad.

There are only 2 problem selections in the squad - Piyush Chawla and the absence of a reserve wicket-keeper. I am not sure if the playing conditions have been drawn up, but it is quite likely that if a player is coming into the World Cup with a known injury (i.e. didn't pick it up on/off the field during the tournament), a replacement player may not be allowed. Even when a replacement is allowed, the injured player cannot play any further part in the tournament.

The BCCI selectors are essentially punting on skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni not injuring himself through the tournament. That's a huge risk to take with someone who has played the 2nd most number of internationals since 2008, the triple role he plays and the multiple injuries he has been playing through.

Dinesh Karthik would have been a good 2nd choice wicket-keeper especially given his ability to keep reasonably well and play counter-attacking innings. But his last 5 ODI innings produced 30-odd runs.

With Virat Kohli (unlikely to regularly feature in the playing XI), Suresh Raina & Yusuf Pathan the only decent fielders, and the likes of Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Yuvraj Singh (a pale shadow of his 2000-2006 days), Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh & Praveen Kumar being first XI choices, India's opponents will have loads of opportunities to pick up at least 1-2 extra runs an over without even trying to hit a boundary or six.

Labels: 2011, 2011 world cup, india, squad, sri lanka, world cup, world cup squads

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:38 pm | Sledge/Read 8 sledge(s)
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Rahul Dravid's selection just doesn't make sense

I'm a huge fan of Rahul Dravid. Anyone who has talked cricket with me, and anyone who has followed this blog over the past 5.5 years, would have realized it.

Yet, I really believe it was totally stupid to get Dravid to dust off his blue gear. The very fact that he was named in the list of 30 probables for the ICC Champions Trophy obviously meant that he was always going to be in the final 15. On Sunday, he was picked for the tri-series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy.

There are various reasons bandied around for his selection, including the inability of India's young batsmen to cope with short-pitched bowling at the T20 World Cup, Sehwag's absence, the need to get Dhoni to play his natural swashbuckling style, Dravid's ability to play the short ball, the fact that the Champions Trophy will be in South Africa (where bowlers get significantly more help), and that Dravid proved he still had his limited-over skills & exhibited them in the 2009 edition of the Indian Premier League.

There are many reasons why Dravid's selection makes no sense.

• If Dravid has been selected because the likes of Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, etc. got found out against the short ball, what happens if he succeeds in Sri Lanka and flops in South Africa? Do the selectors recall Rohit Sharma? Even if Rohit hasn't shown any improvement in skills against short-pitched bowling?
  
• What happens if Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir, etc. show a marked improvement in handling quick bowling? Do the selectors give Rahul a vote of thanks for his guest appearance?
  
• What happens if Dravid fails in Sri Lanka and South Africa?
  
• What happens if Dravid succeeds in Sri Lanka and South Africa? Do the selectors keep picking him until he announces his retirement?
  
• What happens if Dravid fails in Sri Lanka but succeeds in South Africa? Given that the next World Cup is in the sub-continent, how would that do the Indian team any good?
  
• For all the talk about his performance in the 2009 IPL, he averaged 22.6 with a quite pathetic strike rate of 116.
  
• He hasn't played a single domestic one-day game since March 2008.
  
• He doesn't seem to have played in the Buchi Babu or the KSCA tournaments. So he's basically going into the two series without any sort of match practice.
  
• Even England, and let me re-emphasize that, ENGLAND, after so much talk around recalling Ramprakash, Trescothick, etc., didn't do something stupid!

Interestingly though, in 2006, Ganguly was picked in the squad of 30 probables but left out of the final 15.

An related rant, written nearly a decade ago - "Azhar's recall a retrograde step".

Labels: 2009 champions trophy, champions trophy, dravid, gambhir, raina, rohit sharma, selection, squad

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:57 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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A very predictable Indian squad for first test against Australia

With no intention of rocking the boat, for e.g. by agreeing with Ricky Ponting's claim that Ganguly was going to be left out, the new bunch of selectors have included Amit Mishra and S Badrinath in the 15-man squad for the first two tests against Australia.

It was always on the cards that Ganguly would be included. I never understood the fuss. A new selection committee was highly unlikely to take a bold decision like leaving Ganguly out, especially when Australia was the opposition.

There're a few surprising aspects of the squad though.

• Ganguly has been included without any sort of serious match practice. He wasn't in the Rest of India side for the Irani Trophy. He wasn't playing for India A. He played a couple of local tournaments (JP Atray Trophy & Pearls Trophy).
  
• There're only two openers - Sehwag and Gambhir. I'd have thought three openers would need to have been named to account for illness or injury. Of course, if the selectors, in their immense wisdom, wanted Rahul Dravid (batting avg. 32 as opener from 17 innings, with 2 centuries and 1 fifty) to open, then there's a huge disaster around the corner.
  
• What's the need to have a 15-member squad for a home series?
  
• Why is RP Singh included when his Irani Trophy performance (9-0-31-0 & 13-2-49-0), as well as his recent test record (no wickets from the last 4 innings he bowled in), give no hope?

PS: Over an hour after the squad was announced, the BCCI website has no such update.

Update: The BCCI website now has a press release.

Labels: aus v ind 2008, ganguly, india, squad

Thus spake Jagadish @ 4:24 pm | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
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Australian test squad for India tour announced

Cricket Australia have named a 15-man squad for the tour of India which has a couple of tour games and four tests. The tour begins Sep 27 and the fourth test is scheduled to start on Nov 6.

Cricket Australia had hoodwinked the BCCI (or perhaps the BCCI got itself a wonderful quid pro quo in the form of half a dozen ODIs against Australia in Maseru, Lesotho) into agreeing to an extra tour game before the first test despite the fact that there was only one tour game before the first test during India's recent tour to Australia. In 2004, the BCCI had agreed for a a one week break between the second and third tests!

In addition, there are tests at the Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bangalore) & Vidarbha Stadium (Nagpur). If you excluded the Nehru Stadium (Madras) which no longer hosts tests, these two are the only two venues in India where Australia have never lost at. The three venues where Australia has a poor record are at the Wankhede (being renovated for the 2011 World Cup), Green Park & Chepauk (which hosted tests against South Africa).

Andrew Symonds is not included. There're a few 'bolt from the blue' selections, such as Siddle & Krejza. I am of the opinion that Krejza (an off-spinner) is included in the alphabet quota as a like-for-like replacement for Kasprowicz. Either that, or the Australian selectors admire Ekta Kapoor.


Andrew Hilditch was trying his best to justify Jason Krejza's inclusion.

Jason Krejza had a good season for Tasmania last year but is a selection very much for Indian conditions. The selectors felt right-arm finger spinners would perform well in India and Jason now has a chance to prove himself at the international level.

I don't know where he got his numbers, but Krejza took 18 wickets from 7 games with an average of average of 47 and a strike rate of 79 during last season's Pura Cup. That's a "good season"? Okay!

As for finger spinners performing well in India, there's only one finger spinner for a touring side who has at least 10 wickets at an average under 30, and that finger spinner is probably better than any finger-spinner in Australia's history.

Nice spin, Andrew!

The bowling attack is very likely to have Lee, Clark & Johnson with McGain being the first-choice spinner. In the absence of Symonds, Shane Watson or Simon Katich will provide extra bowling options, along with Michael Clarke. Of course, Watson's inclusion is unlikely since he will definitely slip in the aircraft toilet and break a bone.

The batting is good enough to take care of itself, under most circumstances, with Hayden, Jacques, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey & Katich. Surprisingly, there's only one keeper chosen - Brad Haddin.

There's still some doubt over whether Hayden and Ponting will be fit. I have no doubt that they will be, since there're 4 weeks before the first test starts. Even if they are not fit, they will play. We saw how unsettled Australia were against India at Perth when Hayden was missing.

I guess Australia's first-choice XI will be: Hayden, Jacques, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Watson, Haddin, Lee, Johnson, McGain & Clark. I think Watson will play ahead of Katich since Clarke can do the part-time spinner role. In addition, as was the case in the 2004 series, Australia's plan will be to choke off the boundaries, and not bowl anything wide of the stumps. So Watson is a much better choice compared to Katich, who's more prone to bowling some half-trackers or wide balls.

Interestingly though, aside from Clark, Australia don't have a metronome type of bowler. They had 3 in the last series - McGrath, Gillespie and Kasprowicz. Will that be a problem? During the tests in the West Indies 4-5 months ago, among the 3 quicks, only Clark had an economy rate under 3.

You can vote in a poll on who the weakest link in the squad is. Your choices are McGain, Krejza, Jacques & Ponting.

PS: Any bets on which Aussie great is likely to pass away during Australia's tour of India? In 2001, it was Bradman. In 2004, it was Miller.

Labels: aus v ind 2008, australia, india, squad

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:00 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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Squad announcements: India's tour to Sri Lanka & Champions Trophy

The BCCI announced the Indian squad for the test series in Sri Lanka today. Since Dhoni had opted out, citing overwork, there is no designated vice-captain. I guess Sehwag, who was sacked from the role during India's tour of South Africa in 2006, will step in when required. In any case, Kumble has more than enough people to chip in with suggestions (Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Zaheer & Harbhajan).

Dhoni had opted out since he was obviously tired, stressed & probably getting burnt out from having played out his multiple roles as captain, wicket-keeper & star batsman almost continously for over a year without ever getting a chance to sit out a game or two. He has done the right thing. On his personal website, Gary Kirsten touched upon the necessity to give Dhoni a break.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is probably the most obvious example of a man needing a break. In my own experience, by the time a player is feeling tired or 'flat', it is already too late to rest him. The rest needs to happen before fatigue sets in. MS is a brilliant cricketer and the sort of man who is happy to play every game, but he knows that it is not practical. Fatigue can lead to loss of form as well as injuries, both of which can adversely affect a player's long-term career.

Like I've mentioned before, the responsibility and right ultimately rests with the player. Unless the players have a mechanism to be actively consulted when the board draws up schedules, they have to play when required to.

My take on there being too much cricket is that players always have the option of opting out of series. Typically the only players you'll see complaining about too much cricket are those that play the most often, and hence are the 'star' players. Surely they've performed well enough to risk skipping a game or a series and not face a piquant situation where they won't be included next time around. Also, if a sufficiently large number of players keep opting out of tournaments, cricket administrators will realize that they may be doing a lot of damage to the golden geese.

Thankfully, the selectors have lost patience with Yuvraj. After his blazing century against Pakistan at Bangalore, he has been quite hopeless. He'll keep saying all the right things about the need to make an impact in test cricket, but personally, despite the fact that he is only 27, I think he should just stick to limited overs cricket. I'm sure he'll do a very good job.

Presumably Dravid & Ganguly have been 'rested' for the ICC Champions Trophy later this year, since they don't feature in the list of 30 probables.

Labels: bcci, burnout, champions trophy, dhoni, fatigue, india, squad, sri lanka

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:34 am | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
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Wanted: Twenty20 specialists for India

I started writing this piece a couple of days ago, after reading reports of how the ECB selectors picked a non-specialist Twenty20 side against West Indies and instead decided that those who played the fifty-over game would also fit into the scheme of things in Twenty20.

This led me into thinking about how the BCCI should also not make the same mistake. There're a few one-day players among those who played against South Africa recently who would be misfits in Twenty20. The list starts with one of my most favourite cricketers of all-time, Rahul Dravid. He's a brilliant batsman, and has totally turned it around in one-day cricket over the past 6-7 years. But he's unsuited for Twenty20. Simply because of his strike-rate (71) is not good enough in a game where teams score at between 8 and 10 runs an over.

The second person who shouldn't figure in the list is Sourav Ganguly, for similar reasons (strike rate 74) and in addition, his average fielding. His bowling is never going to be threatening in a Twenty20 game anyway!

I'm ambivalent about Sachin Tendulkar. He can really score quickly in one-dayers, when the mood seizes him. He's a pretty decent fielder too, especially in the outfield and he's snapped up quite a few nice catches after his return to the slip cordon. I'd pick him for the tournament because of his batting and fielding and I hope he doesn't ask the captain to let him bowl :)

Ramesh Powar has been quite impressive with his bowling, but his batting and fielding have so far been very unconvincing. Hence, he too must not figure in the final squad.

Sreesanth still doesn't seem to have figured out how to bowl in one-day cricket. His bowling length, which is a great asset in test cricket, allows batsmen to belt him around in the limited overs game. Hence, he too must not feature in the final squad.

Update on 7 July

The BCCI announced a 30-member probables list for the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar don't feature in the list, because they asked not to be considered. I'm hoping that the BCCI selectors weren't seriously considering them anyway! While you're at it, you might as well vote on if they should be picking and choosing when/where to play.

The list of probables has quite a few recent rejects: Varinder Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Mohammad Kaif and Irfan Pathan. In addition, there're quite a few players from the under-19 and under-22 ranks: Manoj Tiwary (who'd have been cursing himself after injuring himself in Bangladesh), Cheteshwar Pujara, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Rohit Sharma, Joginder Sharma, etc.

The two interesting names in the list are Aniruddh Srikkanth and Niraj Patel. Aniruddh is the son of former India opener (and someone who'd have potentially felt extremely at home in Twenty20) Krishnamachari Srikkanth. As for Niraj Patel, I've seen him play quite a few extrely mature Bevanesque (or perhaps we can now call it Yuvrajesque?!) innings in a few domestic one-day games and I was wondering if he was lost to Indian cricket. Turns out that he's been very consistent for his state/zone over the past 2-3 years and scored lots of runs, fairly rapidly, in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season.

I wonder who the captain would be. My pick would be Yuvraj or Dhoni.

Labels: dravid, ganguly, india, squad, tendulkar, twenty20, twenty20 world cup, world cup, world cup squads

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:28 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Massive cleanup

The BCCI selectors today announced the test and one-day international squads for the tour of England. The three major omissions are Sehwag, Harbhajan and Munaf. On the face of it, it is tough to argue with their exclusions. Munaf's body is probably as fragile as Nasser Hussain's fingers and Shane Bond's bones. Pathan misses out too - he's obviously shot on confidence.

Joe Bloggs/Ramdin/Ramakdin Sehwag has been pathetic in both forms of the game for a year now. After nearly making a century before lunch at St. Lucia, his test match innings scores were 31, 65, 0, 4, 4, 33, 0, 8, 40 and 4. Essentially, a walking wicket 60% of the time.

His one-day numbers are even worse and he should have been dropped a year ago or so. He, along with the likes of Slater and possibly Stuart Clark, will forever make cricket fans scratch their heads: Why on earth have they not adjusted to one-day cricket, given the way they play test cricket?! In the last year, his one-day scores are 9, 8, 1, 10, 9, 17, 65, 0, 18, 11, 19, 12, 46, 2, 114, 48, 30, 21, 45, 52 and 8. The one hundred in that list came against Bermuda.

He scored, on an average, 26 runs every inning. Is that acceptable from a top-order batsman in one-day cricket, when that's the slot everyone's queuing up to bat in? Look at the top run-makers in ODIs - seven out of the top 10 batted in the top four.

It really is high time he was dropped.

Harbhajan's exclusion from the one-day team was expected. In the last year, he's picked up 20 wickets from 13 games, but in 8 out of the 13 games, he picked up just one wicket. Given that he was the sole spinner most of the time, and except for the series in South Africa, the rest of the games were played on wickets which would definitely provide some sort of assistance to spinners, his performance was pathetic as well.

But it is strange that he was dropped from the test team. He played a key role in India's series win in West Indies, picking up 11 wickets in the 2 tests he played, including cleaning up the tail at St. Kitts and bowling beautifully in West Indies' first innings at Jamaica.

Surely if Dhoni is good enough to be a ODI vice-captain (presumably that implies he's being groomed for the captaincy), he can function as a test vice-captain too, ahead of Tendulkar. Exactly what did Laxman do wrong in South Africa?

Labels: england, harbhajan, india, irfan pathan, munaf, sehwag, squad

Thus spake Jagadish @ 10:10 pm | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
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World Cup squads: England, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe

England, Pakistan and Zimbabwe named their squads yesterday while South Africa and West Indies did so today.

England have largely retained the core of the squad which won the triangular series in Australia, shocking everyone! Michael Vaughan (hamstring problem, knee problem and stellar one-day batsman) will lead the side, one of the rare instances where a team would have gone into a World Cup without quite knowing if their leader was a specialist batsman, bowler, fielder or an all-rounder. In fact, England don't even know who their vice-captain is.

<DIGRESSION>I remember reading in Sunil Gavaskar's "Sunny Days" book that there was an occasion when the incumbent captain (Pataudi?) went off the field without letting anyone know who was in charge. There was apparently a lot of humming and hawing and the contenders were Bedi, Venkataraghavan, Gavaskar and Engineer. Then Pataudi sent in word that Gavaskar was to take charge.</DIGRESSION>

England really ought to try and get the rules changed to allow Vaughan to be named as a non-playing captain. Perhaps 18 months ago, they'd have had the BCCI's support, given Ganguly's travails then. Ravinder Bopara was the only sort of surprise. Mal Loye definitely did hit some exhilarating sixes over fineleg off the quicks. But aside from that, he was pretty unidimensional.

Pakistan, totally out of the blue, picked Danish Kaneria in the squad. Kaneria has played just 16 one-dayers since making his one-day debut in 2001. Against the major teams, he's taken 7 wickets from 10 games at an average of 57, economy rate of 4.9 and strike rate of 69. All of which point to a huge punt by the PCB. The fitness status of Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif can at best be speculated, which is what you could say about the potentially scandalous rumour that Asif and Shoaib have failed YAIDT.

South Africa's squad is as predictable as their cricket. Most of the chaps have played a lot of games throughout the summer, against India and Pakistan. They're on a roll, just about everyone is in great form and if New Zealand defeat a depleted Australian side in the Chappell-Hadlee trophy, South Africa will become #1 in the asafoetida brand rankings.

The hosts, West Indies, had no surprises either. Without meaning to pronounce Samuels guilty, I wonder if he leaked out the squad information too! Speaking of West Indies, I remember seeing this Indian-origin fast medium bowler Ravi Rampaul a few times in one-day cricket. He seems to have disappeared after that. The only question that may have nagged the selectors was if they should replace Ramdin with Baugh. That didn't happen.

The last of the full members of the ICC, Zimbabwe, announced a squad which I can barely recognize, with Stuart Matsikenyeri (1 game at the 2003 World Cup) and Gary Brent being the only ones to have made a debut before 2004!

Labels: 2007 world cup, england, pakistan, south africa, squad, west indies, world cup, world cup squads, zimbabwe

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:00 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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World Cup squads: Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Sri Lanka

Australia, who've lost three out of their last four one-dayers, have included Brad Haddin, Brad Hodge and Shaun Tait in the squad and left out Cameron White and Stuart Clark. Gilchrist is expected to join the squad only around the end of the first stage.

Across the Tasman sea, Daryl Tuffey has popped in out of nowhere to be picked in New Zealand's World Cup squad after Kyle Mills' injury last month. In an unprecedented move, Shane Bond has been declared fit to play two consecutive series.

Yesterday, Sri Lanka announced a predictable, well-settled squad for the tournament. Nuwan Zoysa and Upul Chandana have been left out, despite not getting any opportunity to present their cases during the on-going one-day series in India.

Bangladesh, who've won 11 out of their last 12 ODIs (v/s Zimbabwe and Scotland) and lost 13 out of their last 15 ODIs against teams who can play ODI cricket (the two wins coming against Sri Lanka and Australia), have picked Mushfiqur Rahim as the keeper, leaving out Khaled Mashud. Khaled Mahmud's non-inclusion could mean he's definitely retired now.

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, bond, new zealand, squad, sri lanka, world cup, world cup squads

Thus spake Jagadish @ 4:06 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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India wins the World Cup squad naming race

Assuming that squad announcements by Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland don't really matter, India are the first major cricketing side to announce the 15-member squad for the 2007 World Cup.

The squad isn't worth arguing about. It's quite predictable, which isn't a bad thing in itself, come to think of it.

In alphabetical order of last name, it reads: Ajit Agarkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Rahul Dravid (c), Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik (wk?), Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, S Sreesanth, Sachin Tendulkar, Robin Uthappa, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh.

Sreesanth is in, after missing out on the ICC Champions Trophy last year, despite his horrendous run in one-day cricket. Perhaps his showing yesterday at Rajkot against Sri Lanka saved him from being axed.

The selectors have taken a few gambles. There're four possible opening batsmen, with Ganguly set to be a fixture at the top. With Tendulkar doing quite well in his middle-order role, Sehwag will have to compete with Uthappa for the opener's slot. Uthappa has been inconsistent (86, 12, 0, 70, 28, 7), averages 34 and has a frightening strike rate. That description fits Sehwag too! There're at least 4 horrible fielders (Ganguly, Sehwag, Munaf and Kumble). That's four too many for a side which aims at winning a World Cup. There're at least 3 bowlers from whom anything more than 5 runs per game is a bonus (Sreesanth, Kumble and Munaf). Once again, that's three too many!

Yuvraj, Agarkar and Pathan are as yet unfit. But given there're 3 weeks to go before India's warm-up game against the Netherlands on March 6, those are reasonable bets worth taking. But they could be really short of match-practice and a lot will depend on their performances in the two warm-up games.

Outside of this 15, the only ones with a semblance of a chance to be picked were Raina, Powar and Kaif. Kaif and Powar should feel particularly hard done by. Almost everytime they've had an opportunity, they've done reasonably well. If I had to make one change, I'd pick Powar instead of Sreesanth. Even on the smaller grounds in the Caribbean, Powar's more likely to get wickets compared to Sreesanth, who doesn't know what length to bowl in one-day cricket. If the newly relaid pitches in the West Indies aren't going to help fast bowlers, which is very likely to be the case, Sreesanth could be a liability. In addition, India needs someone who can rival Chris Gayle in the 'cool dude' stakes.

Dinesh Karthik and Sourav Ganguly must be pinching themselves. Until as late as 3 months ago, neither would have been close to selection. But a combination of several factors, including their brilliant ability to make the best of the situations that fell into their lap, have ensured that they're on the plane. It's in fact wrong to mark Dinesh Karthik as a reserve wicket-keeper. He's in the side as a middle-order batsman. He's impressed just about everytime he's gone out to bat in the last 2-3 months. He has the ability to score at close to a run-a-ball and hit a few boundaries. For a wicket-keeper, he's one of India's best outfielders.

My predicted XI for India's first league game, against Bangladesh on 17 March (11 years after I was the lone person in a hostel TV room in Singapore watching Sri Lanka beat Australia at Lahore), in batting order, is: Ganguly, Uthappa, Dravid, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Pathan, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Kumble, Munaf. Unless Sehwag impresses in the warm-ups (Netherlands and West Indies), I can't see how he can get in as a middle-order player (especially when Dinesh Karthik has done more than enough to justify being picked in that slot) or as an opener (if Uthappa does well in the warm-ups too).

I started writing this, saying that there wasn't too much to argue. Now, proof-reading it, I get the feeling there's quite a lot to argue about. So, "I declare the arguments OPEN!"

Labels: 2007 world cup, india, squad, world cup, world cup squads

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:27 pm | Sledge/Read 12 sledge(s)
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