Indian selectors get drunk together, make some call-ups, regret it in the morning

Thursday, January 28, 2010 , , , , , 1 Comment

So the squad for the first test against South Africa has been picked, and it goes like this:

MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, S Badrinath, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhimanyu Mithun, Wriddhiman Saha.

No Dravid, no Yuvraj, no Sreesanth - due to injury.

If the newbies were picked on the basis of form, I don't know what Badrinath is doing in the squad. Yes, his record is great, but Mohammed Kaif has scored a double century and a century in one week in domestic cricket and has experience at the Test level, Abhishek Nayar has been amazingly consistent and I've no idea why Cheteshwar Pujara continues to be overlooked.

This is probably not even an important selection but Saha? Really? What has Karthik done wrong?

The fast bowling cupboard suddenly looks bare again... Zaheer and Ishant are far ahead of everyone and seem to have cemented their places, but a while ago there was Irfan Pathan, RP Singh and Munaf Patel to fill in for an injured player. Now there's Tyagi, who seems a good prospect, and Mithun, who is a pretty good quick but it's only his debut season in first class cricket. Hasn't even played the IPL yet (yep, that's what we measure experience by these days).

Plenty of batting in the wings - Rohit Sharma can't suddenly be trusted to bat responsibly because of one triple century and Rahane, Mukund, Pandey and Dhawan have their days ahead of them.

The line-up for the first test is likely to be:

Sehwag, Gambhir, Vijay, Tendulkar, Laxman, Badrinath, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Ishant, Ojha.

Which doesn't look all bad. Except for the gaping Dravid-sized hole. Well, he doesn't have many years ahead of him - might as well face it early, right?

Right?

IPL 3 - Transfers - You read it here!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Right, so the auction has just got over, and here I am, at night, bringing you my immediate and (maybe) unbiased opinion.

Mumbai Indians : Kieron Pollard and Harshal Patel - Mumbai decided to use all their purchasing power on the hard-hitting Trinidadian Kieron Pollard, presumably based on his heavy displays at the Twenty20 Champions League. This doesn't seem to be the best choice for me - I'd have preferred a batsman with other gears than 'super-accelerate' - like Eoin Morgan, for example. I would get rid of Sanath and use Napier and MacLaren more... they are all-rounders, and from what Nita Ambani said, they wanted a 'batting allrounder' (Patel's one too). Makes no sense at all to me. But as a supporter, gotta stay positive.

KKR : Shane Bond - Of course Shahrukh Khan would want a tearaway fast bowler. Whose name is also Bond. Haaah. This can be a very good buy though, subject to Bond's fitness. And how's that turned out in the past, eh? Don't we all want KKR to fail...

Deccan Chargers : Kemar Roach and Harmeet Singh - A pace attack already consisting RP Singh and Fidel Edwards, now with Kemar Roach... this can only strengthen the current IPL champs. And now they have two guys named Harmeet Singh - I bet Gilly will get a kick just outta playing both.

Delhi Daredevils : Wayne Parnell - And another great left-arm quick for Delhi, after Ashish Nehra and Dirk Nannes... They're all great but I think the attack will have a same-ish feel to it.

BRC : Eoin Morgan and Ashok Meenaria - Eoin Morgan is a great addition to any side for his ability to improvise and change games suddenly, and in pressure situations too. In Meenaria, Bangalore attain another U-19 captain after Virat Kohli.

Kings XI Punjab : Adrian Barath, Mohammed Kaif and Yusuf Abdulla - Like many prefer to do, Punjab have often opened with a joke. No offense, Sunny Sohal / Karan Goel, but you're no Adrian Barath. Mohammed Kaif is a really interesting buy at 250,000. I hear several shouts of 'really?' and 'why the...' and 'whaaaaat?' - most of that is me - and I really can't understand this one. 'Really?' Yusuf Abdulla, hmm, was the the IPL's highest wicket taker last season up till a certain point where he was suddenly dropped to make way for shinier toy Brett Lee. Which actually makes sense.

Chennai Super Kings : Thissara Perera and Justin Kemp - A smart couple of buys there for Chennai, roping in two explosive all-rounders. Kemp is a big, renowned smasher, and Perera recently displayed his talent against India. Both are handy medium-pacers.

And lastly, because I hate them,

Rajasthan Royals : Damien Martyn and Adam Voges - Warney just keeps bringing his Aussie mates in... if first Lehmann, Watto and Quiney, now these two - I didn't even know Martyn was still playing! Knowing Shane Warne though, he'll probably get the best out of these guys. But they're still going down. Damn, I wish there was another division so they'd just get relegated!

Right, that's my expert opinion. Rishabh's believe it or not.

4.15 am and time to sleep.

Riiiight

Saturday, January 16, 2010 , , , , , , , No Comments

This is my first non-cricket post in a while... so I may be a bit rusty, though my 'rusty' could be probably be a pretty good standard for many! (don't take that as a braggy statement, though it may be one)

My education and I have now relocated to Canada's York University, where I am now residing. My days alternate between no free time and too much of it. As you may have guessed, today's a case of the latter - always a good time to blog.

The last couple of months in Dubai were pretty busy for me, compiling several stuff needed for my transfer... all I knew of York was from the website and endless paperwork. When I actually came here for the first time and saw the first banner with the logo on it, it suddenly came real - this was the place I'd call home for the next four to five months and in the long run, about two and a half years at a minimum.

And the cold. And the snow. Temperatures that were the same in Dubai at the time, though with a negative sign in front of it. From going in to escape the heat, I went to going in to escape the cold. The snow's still cool (no pun intended) though, don't mind that one bit.

It's all new, and it's all fun.

Now, enough of the awestruckness.

I've been watching some Saturday Night Live, and you gotta love the entire talented cast - they all turn in hilarious, memorable performances almost every episode. Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Abby Elliot, Kenan Thompson, Jason Sudeikis, Bobby Moynahan and especially Andy Samberg for the hilarious 'I threw it on the ground'.



Gotta go.

Kohli steps up

Thursday, January 07, 2010 , , , No Comments

India's T20 World Cup victory in 2007 may have slightly overshadowed another important happening: The U-19 World Cup win.

Virat Kohli, the captain, leading from the front, the tournament featuring a century in 70-odd balls against the West Indies. Earmarked for greatness, seemingly, as proved my math teacher at the time who said Kohli was a 'future captain.'

Good domestic performances allowed selectors to draft him into the senior squad, if only to get some experience on tour. Matches were limited, but he didn't fail. What we saw of him in those few matches and in the IPL was flashy and aggressive, typical of the young T20 generation.

Opportunity arose through Yuvraj Singh's injury, Sachin Tendulkar's rest and Rohit Sharma's slipping down the pecking order, and Kohli was promoted up the order to showcase what he's capable of.

The century against Sri Lanka under pressure in the final match showed he has class and an array of strokes, and that he isn't some lucky cow-corner-slogger.

Another 91 against Bangladesh, under pressure again, and he's beginning to be the solid young batsman India need in the middle order, as Suresh Raina is still weak against the short ball.

If he can keep up his performances and cement a place (only one is really available when Sachin retires), leadership would definitely be the next step.

That's all far away though.