Out of Box thinking was missing in the Semi Finals

All of us were happy when we got to know Proteas knocked out Australia. This defeat bought Aussies to the No 2 position in the table. And that made India to face New Zealand instead of England and we were to play on Thursday at Edbaston 11th July. Many cricket buffs had also booked well in advanced their tickets to watch this match. People had to change their plans as our match got advanced as we were to play the Kiwis in the first Semis. 

We were the favorites as New Zealand had lost all their last three matches. And their wins with other team was also not so convincing. But we cannot forget we lost to them in the first practice match. The toss was vital but we lost the toss and had to bowl first. We bowled well and restricted to them to achievable total in spite of not having Shami in the eleven. 

When our innings started there was always fear of Boult and Henry getting advantage of the over cast skies and the assistance the wicket will be for the first 10 overs. As it happened they bowled well and ripped us apart with the cream returning to the dug out in no time. As a team we could have taken some bold decision by not exposing Virat and also sending Dhoni early to stem the rot but the think tank thought the conservative way and we finally had to fight very hard before we lost the match for 18 runs as MSD ran out of partners and the run rate just shot up. 

A great world cup campaign ended in a sad note as we exited the semi finals. A favorite right from the beginning of the tournament had to bow down after a great world cup campaign. There are several learning's from this world cup and we need to a close introspection and get our act together for the next tournament. 

Revival of school and university cricket will only bring in great test talents.

 I am not sure how many of us remember the Rohintion Baria trophy and the Vizzy trophy ? . If the BCCI pumps in good money like the way they conduct the money laundering IPL you will see lot of talent blossoming in university cricket. I can easily remember that  players like Kapil Dev, Arun Lal, Sandeep Patil, Arun Lal etc.. are all products of school, college and university cricket. It use to be a great moment for many cricketers to get selected for their colleges and universities as it was a step away from getting selected for to play for a ranji team .

Most of these university matches used to be played on underprepared wickets and you could see the budding university boys struggling and fighting to play on them. With so much of money floating in cricket, if some sizable fund is earmarked for university cricket to bring in some keen competition then one will definitely spot few stars for India. Let’s hope that a separate focus is given to university cricket across the country to spot some great talent to replace our aging test cricketers. 

Will Sehwag get his last call in One day matches ?

According to the prince of Kolkata Sehwag’s career in the ODI is still not over. While he was dropped for the first three matches of England but there is still some cricket left in this dashing opener who has won many matches for India one handed. With poor performance from Ajinka Rahane and Gambhir it looks like Sehwag will get one more call.

We have no time to keep experimenting especially when the Aussies are here for some matches. Also we don’t have great options available on the opening slot. So while it is risky to try Sehwag again but with no other options the selectors should take a bold step to include him.

I think Sehwag should also speak to some of the  senior cricketers like Gavaskar  to know where he is going wrong and they will be able to guide him.  It is a risky proposition to include him but no harm in trying one last time.  Some time known devil is less riskier. 

Tony Grieg is a great loss to the cricketing world

Tony Grieg whose full name was Anthony William Grieg started his early cricket in South Africa. Since opportunity was limited in South Africa in those days he moved to England and  played for England as an all rounder With a height of 6 feet 7 inches he was a terror as a fielder when he stood at the close in position of Silly point. The SP  position became famous after he created that spot by standing tall next to the batsman with out any head gear. When he visited India under Tony Lewis's team he became very popular with the Indian crowd as he looked like a Goliath in front of Sunil Gavaskar standing in the close in field.
Tony Grieg was a great all rounder who bowl pace initially and then his off spinner with a very high harm action. His long legs also helped to tackle the Indian spinners by reaching to the ball and smothering the spin.When he knew he did not have much cricket left  and money was big to him he joined and promoted Packer and later on became a key commentator in channel.9 A great commentator who always had a very negative views about Indian cricket. The cricketing fraternity will miss him but his voice will linger for every and so is his great white hat which he always donned  it  when he went to interview the captains at toss or did a pitch report. 

SANDEEP PATIL SHOULD BELIEVE IN MERITOCRACY

The BCCI surprised everybody by selecting Sandeep Madhusudan Patil as the new Chairman of the selection committee. Sandeep Patil was a great cricketer and I am sure his cricketing brains will immensely help the Indian cricket board building a great team before the next world cup in three years time. It is important that he should not follow the foot steps of his predecessor who had regional bias when it came to selection.Sandeep needs to ensure that talent is spotted from across the country by ensuring that the regional selectors be present in all local matches to get a first hand feel of the players who are really demonstrating good performance consistently. 

Just to refresh people's memory Sandeep Patil was one of the finest stroke players in the early 80's. His innings in Australia against Len Pascoe is still top of mind after he was hit on his head by his fiery bouncer. Patil was also a useful medium pacer who could bowl some sharp off cutters. His vast experience should be a great asset for the selection board. 

Here's wishing Sandeep all the very best. 

Kolhi’s consistency helps India

After the warm up match against the Pakistanis India played their first match against Afghanistan yesterday. What seemed to be on paper an easy match turned out to be a close shave for India? Both the Indian openers never took off and it was finally India’s new batting find Kohli to come and play a sheet anchor role to take India out of woods. Kohli over a period of time has turned into a solid and matured player by holding the middle order batting. Somewhere I get a feeling that he has replaced the void created , after the departure of The Wall.

As the T20 tournament progresses further we can will see lot of action from Virat Kohli for India to shine this time. No wonder his great consistency got him the One day International cricketer of the year from ICC. A well deserved recognition for a cricketer who has demonstrated his true talent and colors.

Well done Virat and look forward to more great innings from you.

Warm match -A let down

As the T-20 world cup is all set to begin India had a nice chance of winning the practice match to boost their morale. Unfortunately we did not capitalize the same gave a psychological advantage to our neighbors Pakistan by easily surrendering the match today at the Premadasa stadium. This win will help the Pakistanis to raise their confidence to regain the T-20 world cup. Hope MSD has done a quick analysis to find out what went wrong today and adequate measures are taken to ensure that India consistently performs well in the entire tournament.  

We need to make some quickly thinking  on the balance of the team in terms of bowlers and the batsman. While Ashwin was the lone strike bowler today the rest including the dependable striker  Zaheer was hammered to all the corners of the stadium. Hope MSD and Duncan Fletcher comes out with some killer strategy for the entire tournament.