The big daddy of all the ODI tournaments is just round the corner and its time for their cricket board to send their best 15 to the sub-continent .The strategic,head breaking decisions must have done already and its time for all the boards to announce it in the following week. We have already done it and its time for us to announce it ;). Here's a look at the pick of the top most players from the 30 probables who shall make it to the final 15 .
OPENERS-Virender Sehwag,Sachin Tendulkar,Gautam Gambhir and Murali Vijay.
Undoubtedly,the opening pair would be Viru and Sachin with Gauti batting 1 down.Considering the recent injury to Sachin means Gambhir shall come back to open with Sehwag.We don't see Murali Vijay making the cut as there are 3 openers already.
MIDDLE ORDER- Virat Kohli,Yuvraj Singh,Rohit Sharma,Suresh Raina,Yusuf Pathan.
I think except for Rohit Sharma, everbody else shall make the cut . Rohit Sharma has't proved much in the recent times for India. Maybe , he loves playing for Deccan Chargers . Yuvi has been useful bowling his pie chuckers and his half century in the previous match made his position strong. Yusuf too has been pretty good with his bowling , though not much with his bat ,except for his blazing ton against the Kiwis at B'lore.Kohli has been in supreme touch of late . Raina, by default is in .
WICKET-KEEPERS - Mahendra-Captain Cool- Dhoni,Parthiv-Mini bullet-Patel,Wriddhiman-Buddhiman-Saha.
Nothing to say about MSD. There will be a toss up between the other two.Parthiv Patel grabbed the oppurtunity with both his hands scoring consecutive half centuries and impressive keeping , while on the other hand,Saha did not impress with keeping and batting at all. Patel's batting is flexible as he can open and also bat in the middle order.
SPINNERS - Harbhajan-Bhajji-Singh,Pragyan Ojha,Ravichandran Ashwin.
Considering the spin options which the part timers provide , the chance of 2 front-line spinners playing is very less,unless played at very slow tracks .Chances are that , only 2 spinners will be picked in the squad. Bhajji, being an offie, and the off-break options provided by Yusuf and Raina ,chances of Ojha making the cut is more . Sorry Ashwin, not this time around .
PACERS-Zaheer Khan,Praveen Kumar,Ashish Nehra,Sreesanth,Munaf Patel.
Zaheer has been the leader of the pack. No doubt about him being in the squad . Praveen Kumar has always been consistent. Ashish Nehra has been pretty good in the recent past too, although he has had his fair share of screwups.There is a stiff competiton between Sree and Munaf . Sree was excellent against the Kiwis and ofcourse , in the tests against Saffers . Munaf has been pretty consistent , picking up a wicket or two in every match . But ,we feel Sree might just sneak through.
So that is it . The 15 players have been shortlisted and this is how it looks -
1)Sehwag
2)Sachin
3)Gambhir
4)Kohli
5)Yuvraj
6)MSD
7)Raina
8)Harbhajan
9)Zaheer
10)Nehra
11)Praveen Kumar
12)Parthiv Patel
13)Sreesanth
14)Ojha
15)Yusuf Pathan
I think Munaf will make the cut instead of Sreesanth. Sree has never been a good ODI bowler. And instead of Parthiv, Rohit is likely to be in, for we're playing at home and 2nd keeper can travel with the team to help out with training sessions, etc.
ReplyDeleteIts a tough decision to choose between Munaf and Sree .Personally,I would pick Sree over Munaf. Rohit hasn't done much to enhance his chances.We have quite a few all rounders in the team already
ReplyDeleteWhy is VVS nowhere near the ODI side? I know he hasn't played since 2006, but wouldn't your dicey middle order benefit from some Laxman cement. It would be a very retrograde step, but home World Cups don't come round very often....
ReplyDeleteWow! totally out of the blue . Even VVS would have forgotten that he played ODIs. Leave the batting , there are other things to consider too . For ex. running between the wickets , fielding etc . His best partner in running between the wickets was Sourav-Dada-Ganguly :)
ReplyDeleteTOI was reporting MSD prefers Piyush over Ashwin, time will only tell.
ReplyDeleteBesides I think Saha will miss the bus. So, the final 15 you have picked are most likely the team given they are fit.
P.S. - I hope the VVS comment was a joke!
pretty much the squad luks gud except that parthiv Patel they should have played with Rahul dravid no doubt
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