Showing posts with label ICC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ICC. Show all posts

January 16, 2011

Sloshed Prediction-Indian WC'2011 squad.

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



October 6, 2010

ICC Awards 2010

    Yet another gala nite organised by the ICC or was it, the 2010 ICC Awards had the makings of a special kind. The sheer emergence of India as the no.1 test playing nation and some super performances had seen Sachin, Sehwag dominate the nomination list for the top honors. So was 2010 gonna be the year when Sachin was finally receiving something new, after he has claimed several man of the match/series honors across the lengths of his playing career, apart from that the top honor he received from the state and central government, the wax statue at Madame Tussads and most recently the the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force. Ah! the list can go on... So, easy to say the focus of the awards nite was certainly the little master.

   Dutchman Ryan Ten Doeschate won the associate player of the year hands down. England's 21 year old, 6 ft 7 in fast bowler Steven Finn was named the Emerging player of the year, ahead of the likes of Umar Akmal and Angelo Mathews. It was surprise indeed. T20 performance of the year was a close one with two big knocks from Mahela Jayawardene and a match winning effort from Mike Hussey but, it was Baz who stole the honor for his whirlwind knock against the aussies. The Kiwis took the Spirit of cricket award, where I felt the Lankans deserved to have played India so so so many times their spirit needs to be applauded the most. Umpire Aleem Dar won the Simon Taufel award of the year, and Billy Bowden dint even get a nomination. Sachin bagged the people's choice award needless to say.

ODI team of the year : Ponting©, Tendulkar, Shane Watson, Michael Hussey, de Villiers, Paul Collingwood, Dhoni, Daniel Vettori, Stuart Broad, Bollinger and Ryan Harris.

Test team of the year: Dhoni©, Sehwag, Kumar Sangakkara, Graeme Swann, Tendulkar, Hashim Amla, Simon Katich, Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis, James Anderson and Doug Bollinger.

   AB De Villiers won the ODI player of the year after scoring 855 runs @ an average of 71.25. phew! Virender Sehwag took home the Test player of the year honor with 1282 runs to his name and figures that will blow your mind. Shelley Nitschke  was named the women cricketer of the year. So, with 2 big awards already out of the way Sachin had the biggest baddest award left to fight for. So, it was Sachin, Sehwag, Swann and Amla fighting for the top honor of the nite and Sachin swept it and made it one more happy moment for the millions of Sachin fans. Another feather added to the humble man's cap. Take a bow!

The Winners:

Associate Player of the Year - Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands)
Emerging Player of the Year - Steven Finn (England)

People's choice award- Sachin Tendulkar (India)
Spirit of Cricket Award - New Zealand
Umpire of the Year - Aleem Dar (Pakistan)

T20 performance of the year- Brendon Mc Cullum - ( 116* v Australia.)

ODI player of the Year - AB De Villiers (South Africa) 855 runs, 71.25 avg, 103.38 S.R., 4 100's
Test player of the Year - Virender Sehwag (India) 1282 runs, 85.46 avg, 97.34 S.R., 6 100's, highest score - 293

Women's Cricketer of the Year - Shelley Nitschke ( Australia)
Cricketer of the Year - Sachin Tendulkar (India) 1828 runs, 9 100's (Tests + ODIs)

April 1, 2010

Innovations in English Domestic

England is known for its innovations in cricket like the T20 which has revolutionized the cricket. So the much hyped Pink Ball and Night test match has become a reality . Here are a few pics of the pink ball and the night match.Hope it becomes a hit too.



February 17, 2010

Shockers...NOT!

While theres lots of stuff happening in the intl arena like Bang fightback and the Indian fightback ... theres lot more happening at the domestic arena. The World Champs were blasted by the Pakistan A team. Razzaq's quick-fire 39(17) at the end ensured Pakis a decent score of 143. Pakistan A had no problems in chasing. They chased it with no hiccups, eventually winning by 7 wickets. Way to go Champs!


Something similar happened at Dubai in moments after the Pak game... Poms were thrashed by Poms A (Lions). Poms were really struggling at 109-6 when Wright and Prior joined hands and hit some lusty blows and they finished with a score of 157/6. Not a bad score to defend ..is it ? Considering the recent form of Sidebottom,Swanny and Broad... but not to be... Lumb 58*(35) and Keiswetter 81(66){ prospective Poms keeper , maybe} got off to a flyer. But then, since they are English players, there was a slight screw up at the end. 14 reqd of the last 5 balls . Lumb's meaty blows at the end ensured that they just cross the line in time.


With the ICC World T20 coming up in a couple of months... this should be a wake up alarm for the respective teams and the boards.
P.SMock feels: Pakistan don't deserve to be T20 champs. Its not that i am against them, its just that they don't deserve to be ..

January 27, 2010

First-Aid

Due to some unpredictable circumstances the forthcoming test championship battle between the top two test playing nations South Africa and India (read in order) now seems more like a battle of chimps. Yes, first the saffers monkey around sack the coach and then the entire selection committee. Mean while self appreciating team India go to Bangladesh for a two test series, the toughest there could ever be and result in injuries. It started with captain MS Dhoni, Bhajji, and then spread like wild fire to Sreesanth, VVS, Dravid, Yuvraj and some bits of Sachin to add. Although MSD and Bhajji have recovered since and Sachin looks okay it raises the basic question whether the two teams are ready to play for the top position. The Proteas don’t seem to be bothered with Mickey and the rest of the Disney gang changing but, India need some serious replacements if they are to retain the no.1 spot in the ICC (mindless morons inc.) test ratings. So, who are capable to replace the likes of Dravid, VVS and Yuvi in such short notice let us see.

Mock’s pick:
Well, with Dravid out with the jaw fracture, I just can’t see a better replacement than S Badrinath. He has got what it takes to be a 1 down batsman. Skill, technique, good hand eye coordination etc. He has been the backbone for Tamilnadu in the Ranji Trophy for years now.
Vijay is sure to hang on to his place since Laxman isn’t playing against the Chokers... Oops Saffers. Though Vijay did not score much in this test, his technique did stand out. Confident and elegant.
An aggressor replacing another aggressor, a lefty replacing another lefty. Yes, it’s none other than the one who sends the ball screaming to the cow corner, Suresh Raina. Though he hasn’t played an Intl test yet, he has proved himself time and again in the county circuit. He has come of age and has proved he’s matured enough to play at the test level. Can be a handy part time bowler too and about his fielding…you know it .

Quite a coincidence that all the 3 replacement players are from Chennai Super Kings… HAIL CSK!

Steam’s angle:
There’s no point in pondering about who will when it’s the matter of who can. There is no question in the ability of Murali Vijay so, regardless whether Gauti plays at the crucial no.3 or opens with Sehwag, Vijay can play either ways. Considering Sachin is fully fit he bats at no.4, otherwise a whole new slot opens another debate. No.5 spot presently belongs to VVS playing his twilight years of cricket. Now that he is injured he should be replaced by Badrinath who has been in and out of the side for quite some time. But going on current form and the Pied Pipers tune I am tempted to opt the not so forgotten and lucky monkey of 2010 Md. Kaif. Kaif has the experience and the caliber to play the long game. His high bid in the IPL auctions and recent burst in the zonals have only helped him appear once again in the selector’s radar. Whether or not he is chosen is another case. (Remember he dint attract a single bid in the 1st round of auctions. But, what happened last lasts longer.) So, good for the chap. MSD will have to now bat at no.6 in place of Yuvi and someone can take his place batting with the lower order tail. Raina would be one contender but, recent form again points towards Virat Kohli. The boy is now a man so why not test him. Raina is in good form himself but, honestly Kohli looks more solid (tried and tested down under) and Raina’s history with the short pitched stuff will only bring smiles to Saffers. So, Badri and Raina could make the squad but not the playing eleven.

One’s who closely missed out: Pujara – he’s still got time till there are permanent openings. One opportunity and you don’t want to end up ruining your chances forever. Manish Pandey – good season of domestic cricket, still have time. Probably play some ‘A’ tours abroad. Rahane – all izz well! But not tested against international attacks. Rohit Sharma – no.