Lord Jadeja and Sir Vinay Kumar are now Millionaires
04 February 2012 02:33:56
Ravinder Jadeja and R Vinay Kumar, the two most hated Indian players, are now also most highly paid IPL players. More than Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni himself. More than the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. More than likes of Zaheer Khan and Irfan or Yousuf Pathan.Life set for both this guys. Jadeja, as expected nabbed by MS Dhoni's CSK. Pune Warriors not taking part in auctions, serious fun for CSK. Now he would be undroppable, immovable, non-performing player for India. Who knows he might even make a Test debut soon.R Vinay Kumar based on some hidden talent, which noone except Kris Srikanth and now Vijay Mallaya have seen, rode to a million dollar booty. If this big money really inspires him to put up a credible show on the field, is a million dollar question. The answer is known. NO. There is no talent, there is no variation, no pace in the guy. Yet he is amongst rich players of IPL.There is no cricketing rationale or logic behind the high auction price for this 2 players who at the best are very ordinary and unbankable players. Yet their bank balance is all set to grow fat and fat. The patience of already frustrated fans would go more thinner and thinner to see this jokers get chances ahead of more deserving Irfan Pathan and Umesh Yadav. Why Umesh Yadav didnt play T20s is a mystery, but that's expected when you have Chennai Pooper Kinks boss and Brand ambassador heading Indian cricket.
Lord Jadeja all set to grab riches in Indian cricket
03 February 2012 05:30:53
First win down under, thanks to soop star Ravinder Jadeja would now mean he would continue to play at 7 in ODIs and would also grab a million dollar IPL contract. From what is reported in media, CSK are gunning for him and then if he does make it to CSK, then he would be a fake Tamilian and then the rest shall be taken care by N Srinivasan, K Srikanth and well of course MS Dhoni.Majjani life Jadeja bawa
Dhoni running short of ideas
01 February 2012 18:05:57
MS Dhoni is so defensive and insipid in his captaincy that a newcomer as captain beat him in field placings and tactical acumen in the first T20I yesterday. Pity what a stage MSD has reached in his captaincy within a year of winning the world cup. If that was a peak, then certainly the descend to the bottom has begun and begun very fast. And perhaps that's why he has been making some real weird statements like.We wanted to play Rahul Sharma bcos he has done in IPL.We wanted to play Ravinder Jadeja cos he gives the balance to the team. Wonder what influence Duncan Fletcher is bringing to the team.
MCG Test day 3 updates
01 February 2012 18:01:50
The Boxing day Test in MCG is at a very interesting stage with the result very likely on day 4 itself. The key lies to the time India spends to take remaining 2 wickets of Australian 2nd innings. Anything over 250 would be a tough proposition given the up and down pitch. Michael Hussey needs to understand that any runs he adds to his overnight 79 would be a waste of time for his team and himself.He is not anyways going to last beyond the end of this Indian summer, so why waste everyone's time. He and Ponting are now at the stage where one good innings would only delay the inevitable. The best bet for them is to just end the agony and walk into the oblivion.Their legacy would be remembered as finest cricketers who excelled with great players around and struggled when their team needed them the most. To see Ponting and Pussey struggle for that one career extending innings is a pain to watch, given the fact that this players were part of once formidable team that conquered the world.India were equally inept in the batting in the 3rd morning when they could have batted Australia out of the test match with Kohli, Dhoni and Laxman yet to come and edgy, lucky Dravid still on crease. But then Hilfy had some other ideas as he took his first 5-for and redeemed his career after the Ashes low of last year. Unless it was for valuable 31 runs from IPL Ashvin, the lead of 51 would have been lot more.Umesh Yadav has been a revelation since the 2nd test match in Kolkata vs WI. It was heartening to see him go over 150 mark and grab 4 wickets in this innings taking his match total to 7. The other bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma were superb too.All in all a very good looking pace attack from India and if the batsmen could get it right in the 4th innings and the remaining 2 wickets are drained quickly, the Indians should see themselves in a winning position. And its very crucial for Laxman and Gambhir to score runs. Laxman is playing on his worst Australian venue and the motivation for him should be the 4th innings chase, where he has been the best India batsmen to bat in recent past.But as usual the pace would be setup by one and only Viru Sehwag, if he gets going and scores some quick runs, India should be on course. And Sachin Tendulkar would want to make his final innings in MCG a memorable one, as would Dravid want it to be. What better than winning on a ground which has been cruel and horrible for the country in past.
MCG defeat dissection
01 February 2012 18:01:11
So the away woes continue. 5th straight loss. 5th straight batting failure in a test match. None would have expected a team at 3/214 chasing 333 in first innings on day 2 close to lose the test match day and half later. But India always exceeds expectations. They lose when none expects them to and they win when none expects them to. This has been a close knit team for almost a decade. The batting names have remained same more or less same. The spots 1, 3, 4, 5 have been fixed for 10 years now barring injuries and other reasons, but they were undone by some quality pace bowling by inexperienced Australian fast bowlers. The attitude of the Indian players on day 4 throughout was questionable. The players seem resigned, the shoulders were dropped, the field was open and spread out to a no 9 and 11. Cmon, you don’t expect to give easy singles to tail enders. No sign of attack, no sign of keeping up pressure on the tailenders was visible from the world cup winning, IPL winning captain MS Dhoni.He has to own up this defeat. His captaincy on 4th morning was the worst, worse than Shahid Afridi or even a Dilshan (who won a test in SA).He didn’t attack the jack and 10, he allowed easy singles and allowed the target to cross 250 when it was no business chasing more than 240 at the max. Perhaps the time has come now to see that the ageing legends quit and allow the fresh blood to sneak in. And the culling must start through VVS Laxman. He is supposed to be 4th innings champion, but yesterday he was abject. Scores of 2 and 1 are too bad for a player like him when he is taking on his favorite team. Hell with the history and ground stats for him. Why did not he take up the responsibility to guide the chase.And same questions need to be asked to Virender Sehwag, why did he cut the ball when the trap was laid out for him through some imaginative captaincy from Clark. He just gifted his wicket away to the Aussies and that moment, the victory for them was sealed. Losing to an under rated team is frustrating, if this loss came in 2003 or 2007 then we would have been able to digest this, but hell the Australian team in transition with no big name firing has defeated a stalwart studded team. The lineup where top 5 has plateful of runs, but cannot stitch partnerships together to win a damn test match, they had no business losing.Gambhir has been successful in almost all conditions, but he has failed in England and now that’s carrying in Australia too. He has been a dogged character, not the one easily to give up. He has seen the frustration of being dropped and had even thought of giving up the game at one point, then why is he not so considerate enough to play a dirty innings to get some runs. Don’t poke outside off stump, this is a test match, not a T20 and you are not captaining KKR, but opening for India in a country where they are yet to win a test series in 64 years. Scorelines of 2 and 13 don’t do justice to this man and his temperament.Ditto 68 and 7 don’t work well for Sehwag. He has been successful in MCG before and very famously. 195 on day 1 of that test match in 2003 was a glorious innings and now both the men from Delhi would go in 2012 with no Test centuries to their name. They are not able to provide the fiery starts they are famous to provide. They have to own up and start producing runs freely. And that’s very critical for Indian batting to click. That gives the likes of Dravid and Laxman – the slow workhorses time to play their own game. Kohli has been a failure here, but again early days for him. First major away tour for him and he should be given another chance in the Sydney Test.MS Dhoni has to look up to his Test batting, he has been falling too frequently to soft dismissals and low scores. Yesterday he scored just 23, but he leaked far too many runs in the morning session. It would have been nice if he would have shown the captaincy skills he has been famed for past 4 years. If you leak runs through unimaginative captaincy to the tail enders, then at least exceed that amount by scoring runs, when you are a batsman of capability and over 8500 international runs, then some responsibility has to lie on your shoulders too.IPL Ashvin, who has replaced Harbhajan Singh should first learn how to bowl in a test match and moreso to a tailender in a situation when its do or die. He came on pretty late in the attack yesterday, but he just bowled ordinarily with no attempt to grab the wicket. Happy containing? Not that either. He leaked 9 runs in one of his overs with short dolleys and poor bowling. Even when he batted in first innings, he continued giving strike to no 11 on 2nd or 3rd bowl of the over of firing Hilfenhaus or Pattinson. What was the motive ? The aim was to cut short the lead as much as possible, good that Yadav did not fall and showed decent character to block out the balls. But this is something IPL Ashvin will have to learn. May be a quick word or 2 with Anil Kumble would be good on how to bowl Yorkers to tail enders. He is the attacking spinner in Tests after having replaced out of form Bhajji, but if continues to play the same role as Bhajji did, then let Pragyan Ojha come in.Throw this lad out of the team if he continues to make elementary mistakes.All is still not lost. Before its too late work on the mindset first. Come out all attacking, take 20 wickets as soon as you can. Australian batting is fragile and prone to collapse any time. 4/27 to 240 was an unforgivable crime. And it shouldn’t be repeated.Don’t leak too many runs to the tailenders and block runs. Play SL brand of cricket if possible to dry out the runs. Set 7-2 field like you did in Nagpur 2008. Who has stopped you? And have batsmen take up some responsibility.New year, new test match, hopefully new mindset. All is not lost yet. But if they don’t improve in Sydney, then all would be lost and the legends would not like to sign off with a defeat in the test series, but with a series win. How much hungry the legends are, that remains to be seen.
BCCI isnt serious about the Test defeats
01 February 2012 18:00:26
If you have a look at Mr Srini, the BCCI chief, comments then you’d probably bite your own head or hit it on the wall bang bang. That gives you how much seriously the board has taken the disasters of England and Australia. Yes, India are not the bad team, as the results show in this 2 tours, but there is something that needs to be fixed. Either that’s the mindset that’s suddenly deteriorated or it’s the quality that’s gone begging. Or it’s the coach regime that’s plotted the downfall more than anything else.The media has been equally negative, and so have been the ex-players like Bapu Nadkarni or Kirti Azad or even Kiran More. This players were no good in their playing days, played negative all their careers and today they are echoing the thought that Tendulkar should retire. So much for 22 years of international cricket the man played for India.The headlines in ToI or NDTV say “Another green pitch awaits India”. Cricinfo reads “dry pitch could help under the pump Indian batting lineup”. Who’s more reliable? Perhaps cricinfo. The media hasn’t played less role than the ex-players in forming a negative opinion against the beleaguered cricketers who are being hammered down under. The next venue is Adelaide, where India hasn’t lost in last 2 series, or rather last 13 years. So much for the historic facts.The board is busy in arranging logistics for the IPL-5 and Srikanth’s Tamil Nadu are in Ranji final after hammering Mumbai in the semis. But the defending champions are edging them out of the tournament race by being ultra-slow in their batting. 2/404 in 180 overs is heinous. But if Tamil Nadu wins the trophy, again the likes of Boss DK, Vijay, Mukund, Dabrinath and L Balaji would find their way to the Indian team on the name of fresh blood and injury replacements. But if Rajasthan win again, then there won’t be any players from Rajasthan finding their way to the Indian team. Zimply because Srikanth is head of selection committee, which has been unaccountable for the 7 defeats overseas.Whose heads is going to roll after the test leg of this tour is completed? The ODIs are expected to be little bit more successful than the tests cos the team is world champion in this format. And it has won the previously held tri-series in that country with exact same combination of teams participating then and now. MS Dhoni might find his aura back after ODI success (read few wins, if not tournament), the selection committee would then hold its head high “See, we selected this team”. Certainly it wont be the case of “Oh, we also selected the teams that lost 4-0 (or 3-1 or 3-0) in both England or Australia. “ And as Bishen Bedi perhaps for first time said something right in ages “Every test team would be forgotten once IPL starts”. But if there wont be any viewership for IPL, then where would the unaccounted for selection committee head and officials who have hefty share in IPL franchisees find rest in? N Srinivasan and Kris Srikanth are the 2 biggest culprits to have landed the Indian cricket in such a pitiful state. They probably take more solace in the fact that they are part of the team that has won past 2 IPLs and one CLT20. But they fail to understand they also hold the biggest posts in the board that manages the national cricket team. The statements from this 2 buffoons is good enough to reveal the fool hardiness with which this folks have taken the defeats.
The road ahead
01 February 2012 17:57:38
With great disappointment and disgust here is my take on the reasons why India lost so miserably in the 3 test matches so far.Opening Pair is silentVirender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are best bet when it comes to open the innings in any format for India. This pair has been excellent in Test matches across all conditions barring Australia. This was an acid test for the duo and they have failed miserably in this tour. Not technically for Sehwag, because he doesn’t have much of it, but in mental thought process. Something which is surprising given his exploits in Australia over past 2 tours. Gambhir was expected to have come full circle on this tour, but he has failed to live upto those expectations. Sehwag and Gambhir haven’t fired together or in solo attempt, which makes the task of ageing middle order a bit tough, something which has happened consistently in this tour. Barring the first innings in MCG, Sehwag hasn’t fired. Gambhir has showed some fight in last 3 innings, but that doesn’t redeem of 3 aghast failures in first 3 innings on this tour.The reason why India was so successful in 2003-04 in Australia was the start Sehwag and Chopra provided. Chopra didn’t make more than 48 in any innings, but he played out the dangerous span of 15-20 overs from Gillespie, Brad Williams and company. That Australian team was far superior to the one which beat India blue on this tour.Sehwag and Gambhir are the best bet to continue opening for India in long run, since they are not supposed to tour for another year or so outside subcontinent, they would need to find their mojo back very soon. The replacements for them, the TN implants don’t look promising either.Ageing Middle OrderWhen your middle order is past the prime, the usability date, such failures are long due. And sadly India did not learn through the mistakes of England tour. No one expected India to lose 0-4 in England and so badly in Australia. Perhaps this was the best chance for India to beat Australia first time in Australia. Instead they ran to their worst defeat in Australia in 13 years. Dravid,Tendulkar and Laxman are ageing stalwarts and they look no good to extend their career beyond this tour. Tendulkar has been under severe pressure for that elusive 100th century from the media and perhaps that has got to him. As a result the team has suffered. He has been the best batsman on this tour and every time he has walked on the crease, he has looked assured in the start only to grow nervous in the end of the innings. He is going to be 39 in April and perhaps he is the only man who looks to play a few more series at home before he calls it a day.Dravid has been in superb form in 2011 with 5 hundreds and topping the run charts, but he has been back to 1999 form on this tour. Worst, his defence has been breached. He finds unique ways to get bowled and that is a sign for you to go. Its time for the fans and selectors to say thank you to the great man and move on. It’s a disgrace for fans, his loyal fans over the years to see him get bowled, given the fact he has been THE WALL and one of the most complete Test batsmen of the history, something very rare this era. He has made few runs, but they are not enough and they are not the premium that would extend his golden career beyond this tour. He has to sign off post Adelaide and since he is already 39, he would be remembered to have retired still at top (little lower than that though).Laxman has to be dropped from the team after the Perth test. He was expected to make runs against his favorite opposition, but he has struggled miserably. Silken Hyderabadi should read the writing on the wall and should announce his retirement immediately. He hasn’t been dropped in ages and if he is dropped for Adelaide, then it would be a blot on his career. Again, a time to say thank you to Laxman for his contribution to the Indian Test arena in past 16 years.Until England tour, we believed that the golden generation of Indian cricket has turned around the way it plays cricket in away series, but last 2 tours have diminished that notion, that belief which was installed by this very men in 2000s under the lion hearted Sourav Ganguly. It would now take perhaps another decade or so (less the better) to turn around from this moment of darkness in Test arena.Defensive CaptaincyMS Dhoni, the ODI captain and MS Dhoni, the Test captain. Two different personalities, split personalities may be. MS Dhoni in limited overs is a different batsmen and captain altogether than what he is in Tests. The morning of MCG test, day 4 was the turn around for Indian team which pushed the team to the darkness it find itself in. And the culprit has to be Dhoni himself. Spreading out the field to 10 and 11 is aghast. When you have the last pair of an insecure batting lineup on the crease, you’d rather look for wiping out the tail and have less target to chase than what was actually. But those visuals implant a permanent memory in Indian fans that the captaincy from the world cup winning captain was insipid and timid. The timid captaincy in England and Australia have cost 7 tests on the trot.Way aheadThe winds of change have to start blowing and the replacements for Dravid and Laxman have to be handy. Kohli has promised a lot and he should be persisted despite uneven scores in Australia. He is a prodigy and he has to be preserved from the evils of IPL to ensure he is transformed to a complete international batsman in all formats of game. There is a lot of young talent coming through. Rohit Sharma is certain to debut sooner than later and along side Suresh Raina, provided he cures his short ball weakness, the middle order for Indian Test team should be good, if not as formidable as in 2000s at least for few seasons. It took a few years for the likes of Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly to blossom into the batsmen they were. And similar chances have to be provided to the next generation of Indian cricket. The good news is there is a lot of young talent that is shining. Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Manoj Tiwary, Ashok Menaria, Manish Pandey etc are few very good prospects in the pipeline that should find their spots in the Indian team very soon. It’s the dawn of the new era in Indian cricket and it has to be ensured the evil clutches of easy money of IPL doesn’t hamper the transition from golden batting to the new gen batting.The IPL has to be toned down and one more moderate or flop viewership would ensure that this monster is grounded, if not buried totally.The ODI team looks well set and the transition from the oldies to the new gen was almost smooth. Sure, there were few hiccups in between, but the victories came more than defeats and the ODIs ahead do look promising and they evoke some kind of hope after the doom of the tests.May be a different captain for ODIs and Tests could be a theme to follow just like 2007-08 or what South Africa follows, or England follows (they go to a maddening extreme with one captain per format). MS Dhoni has looked clueless in Tests in batting and captaincy. May be the one test ban might serve as a deterrent for him and he could arrest the slide. He looks top notch in ODIs, but he has to catch up on the Test front. And if he is making way for another captain, then may be somebody young as Virat Kohli could be an option, but that would be too soon for him for now. Once he finds his mojo in Tests too, he wont make a bad captain. And the need of the hour for India’s test team is to play aggressive cricket, something they did over past 2 tours in Australia. And they need an aggressive captain for that.Coaching regimeThe coaching regime has to undergo a change and 7 tests is good enough to judge the resume of Duncan Fletcher. To me, he seems the biggest culprit for the disasters. Something which Gary Kirsten did in 2 years, it didn’t take even a year for Fletcher to demolish all the good work done by Kirsten and of course John Wright. So for sure he needs to be shown the door. 5-0 for England in 2006-07 laid the foundation for their success running into 2011 and similar whitewash for India (England and probable Australian) should lead to a change in coaching regime and a new coach has to be found out. May be likes of Wasim Akram could be a good option to start with for the bowling department and hire somebody for batting too, as the transition begins. Something which Justin Langer does for Australia.Duncan Fletcher has escaped the media attention and the buck has to stop at this man, the culprit to sow seeds of disaster by making the team negative and defensive.The signs were visible in 3rd test in West Indies when India decided to close the shop with 86 runs to get in 15 overs and 7 wickets in hand. In modern T20 era, this is a cheap target and then even though Laxman, Dravid were at crease, the runs should have been gotten. For me that was the turning point when the team stopped belief. And the same set of batsmen performed credibly in South Africa, almost winning the series. And sooner, one tour later, the technique and attitude of the same batsmen were found deficient. Hard to believe. More to do with the external advice coming from the so called coaches. India struggled to bowl out weaker Windies team in Windies in 2nd and 3rd test and as a result 3-0 became 1-0 and then the famous cold act of R Ashvin which ensured India let go of whitewashing a team again in the return tour.And not to cite the numerous occasions, which were encountered in England where some defensive and inexplicable tactics led to a 0-4 rout.Hard decisions bestow, some culling to follow and probably more than anything else, the mental belief and attitude of winning and aggression needs to return for the remainder of the tour and the next series India plays at home against England and then Australia should dawn the new age and a scoreline of 3-0 and 4-0 should be aimed at least in home.
In hope of a comeback
01 February 2012 17:56:48
The prospects of 4-0 on Australian tour are bright and perhaps that is a sad story for Indian cricket. At this point of time, it seems that this team under MS Dhoni has basically undone all the hard work taken under Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble. Whats more saddening fact is that the culprits are the same stalwarts of the past. The same heroes who scripted epic innings in past 2 tours have been the culprits in the 2 tests now. VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. When this 3 names come into the mind, the innings of 167, 178, 270, 195, 151, 93* on those golden test matches of the past 3 series come into picture. And when you see this heroes struggle on this tour to a substandard Australian team which is nowhere near to the mighty teams of 1999 or 2003-04 or even 2007-08, it pinches you even more.Sydney has now come to be associated with painful bunch of memories for an average Indian cricket fan.Sydney 2008 and Sydney 2012.Two extremes. The former reminds us of ugly incidents on the field and the remarkable statesmanship displayed by then captain Anil Kumble who gave the memorable statement “Only one team was playing with the spirits of the game”. And the latter, reminds of the meek struggle India showed on day 1 of the first test match of 2012. Much contrast even if you roll back an year to Capetown, which India almost won in South Africa.In 2008, the monkeygate propelled India to a famous win in Perth and this time it’s the talks of another 4-0 rout that could possibly propel India to a magical turnaround.The worst feeling associated with this losses is the fact that you know your team isn’t that bad, it is made out to look from the media of both countries. The failing stars are the same people who have scripted infinite comebacks and have changed the perception of Indian cricket worldwide in past decade. When you know your team isn’t that bad, then its causing you even more agony and pain. So much so that you want to switch off totally from cricket. For me its been a total off thing. I deleted all apps from my gadgets which read “CRICKET”, turned off all those sites which reminded me of the painful defeats in MCG and SCG.The MCG test was in the hands till day 4 morning when some strange defensive tactics from MS Dhoni gifted the momentum to Australia and they are too good to let it slip from their grabs.India needs to do a few things different from what they have been doing in this 2 test matches and most of those things are in the mental thought process. The Indians are too experienced to not let the turnaround come into their mind. Defensive attitude has to be buried and the days of Dadagiri have to be remembered. Sourav Ganguly’s presence is the most critical thing that’s needed now and nobody other than the legend himself can do a pep talk kinda thing to the boys and then the results would be up for everybody to see.He himself has said “Get rid of the cobwebs and play fearless cricket”. That had been the mantra behind those memorable victories India has secured in past 12 years or so. The time has come to relive that attitude and get rid of any defensive crap Duncan Fletcher might be bringing from his English experience. Also it’s a time to rethink to have Fletcher as coach. Is he really worthy and is he really bringing any value to the table?May be a change in the bowling department could do wonders. Getting rid of Ashvin who has been ineffective should be replaced by Pragyan Ojha. 0/157 is a stark reminder to him that Test cricket is not always fairytale and his honeymoon period is over.And for a change try batting 2nd on a wicket if you win the toss. Let the opposition bat first who are also suspect against quality fast bowling and India does have quality in that. When Australia came out to bat on day 2 and 3 of Sydney test, the pitch was totally flat and had India batted on those days, they would have scored the same runs as Australia did. The batsmen did show some glimpse of return to form in 2nd innings and that should be the founding stone for the possible comeback.Its time to rally behind the team, not disown it.And I am going to watch the Test match on willow.tv through You Tube hopefully awaiting that magical moment that could script a remarkable comeback from the cornered tigers.
SL !!!!
01 February 2012 17:56:27
13 for 6 to 24 for 7 and now 35 for 8.That looks like a pitiful score SL used to heap on the minnows in the haydays of Vaas and Murali. Poor them, they are undergoing the same hammering now.Wonderful.Cant stop laughing out loud.Go bundle them out below 54. Revenge would then be extracted for that pathetic Sharjah night 12 years back.Where are those talks of character and stuff now ?PS : I logged onto cricinfo after 2 weeks reading out a superb jab on SL cricketer names on FakingNews.
Indore ODI
22 January 2012 17:17:31
Cricket returns to the Holkar land once again after 3 years. In a new stadium, first day nighter ever in the history of city famous for its eating culture. Called as Mini Mumbai, given the diversity it has in its population and also famed for its poha jalebi world wide, Indore has hosted few ODIs on the older and pathetic Nehru stadium before. I had a chance to watch 3 of those ODIs, Australia playing in all of those,Steve Waugh playing in all of those. 1987 World Cup ODI, Aus vs NZ, 1996 Titan Cup Aus vs SA and 2001 India vs Aus when Tendulkar scored yet another ODI 100 and reached 10000 run milestone.India goes in the 4th ODI as favorites despite losing the 3rd game which they should not have. And they are 1 win away from taking the series. Previous 2 ODIs on this new ground (Holkar stadium, much apt given the Holkars have ruled this city before Freedom and the Ranji team has had a glorious past), India beat England twice. Sreesanth took a 6-for in 2006 and Robin Uthappa made best Indian ODI debut then.India's top order has been sluggish with lack of runs for Sehwag, Gambhir and Patel. Patel has been a disappointment and he is hampering the run flow on the top. Expected to bat longer or provide brisk start, he has failed to provide both. Him batting on top means Gambhir continues to bat at 3, his World Cup slot. He has failed to score much runs at 3. I think he should move back on the top as in the future he would be opening once again with Sehwag, now that we know Tendulkar would not play any ODI in the future.And so does Sehwag who has been off color with the bat this series.And so does Suresh Raina who was in prolific form in Ranji, but has no runs in ODIs.Rohit Sharma is in pristine form, Kohli has got runs, but besides 2 no other batsman is so confident to take the team through.The bowling attack is confused once again. Umesh Yadav is flying to Australia early, so he isnt playing remaining 2 ODIs. Vinay Kumar is so flummoxed in the slog overs when hit that he forgets how to bowl yorkers. 99 runs in 2nd ODI and then 73 in last 5 in 3rd one say pitiful figures about this useless lad from Karnataka, once famed for providing 2 of best modern day bowlers to India (Srinath and Kumble). Irfan Pathan is back for two ODIs and it is heartening to see him back. And if he gets a chance to play and he performs, nothing better than that.Ideally he should have been on the plane to Australia for tests, but again some cryogenic freeze in Srikanth's non existent brain made a nod to Abhimanyu Mithun ahead of Pathan. Now the pace attack in Australia reads Yadav, Aaron, Mithun, Sharma and provisional Zaheer Khan. So if the latter 2 break down, the 3 inexperienced lads are expected to take 20 wickets for India along side IPL Ashvin 'who cant run sala' and Pragyan Ojha. All of whom test experience hardly adds to 50 tests.India needs its openers (Sehwag, Gambhir) and Raina to fire immediately and seal the series in Indore, which has been a happy hunting ground for India in last 5 years.Leaving anything to the 5th ODI would just make things difficult and India wont want to lose a home ODI series in land where it was crowned World Champions 8 months back.
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