30 Probables announced for the T20 WC

Squad: M.S. Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, S. Sreesanth, Sudeep Tyagi, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Piyush Chawla, Abhimanyu Mithun, Manish Pandey, R.P. Singh, Munaf Patel, Murali Vijay, Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Virat Kohli and R. Ashwin

The Jokers at B.C.C.I. are at it again.. News comes in with the 30-man probables list announced for the T20 World Cup in West Indies. I'm not aware what the cut-off dates are to announce the 30 probables but, as always the selectors have left us unsatisfied. Good to see Pandey and Mithun get their neck in. Nayar too has made it, very positive indeed. Saha and Naman Ojha spell disaster in every scale of measurement. Clearly someone was caught napping. The other Ojha is back and Mishra-ji dint have to pay for it. In fact, Piyush "Fuze" Chawla, R Ashwin, add Jadeja to that list.. how many spinners do we need? Durby is the 1st choice in any case!!

P.K., Sree, Munaf, Nehra birds of the same feather... and Ishant is not far behind. Pradeep Sangwan might have been unlucky. But, where is Irfan? Pujara still not finding space in the selector's radar surprises me. Goswami is a talent over-looked as well. Rahane missed the bus. Perhaps the IPL 3.0 will raise more eyebrows in this 30 member squad. Hopefully, the final squad is not a mockery.

Indian Squad for 1st two ODI's

Just when no one seemed to be bothered the national selectors have announced the ODI squad for the 1st two ODI's against South Africa. Yuvi remains injured and is ruled out but joining him is Gauti in that injury list. Bhajji wants to share some brother love so he's missing the ODI series as well to attend his sister's marriage. So, lots of seats up for grabs one might think. Here's how they faired.

• IN

Sachin(yes, as he missed the ODI tri-series in B'desh)
Yusuf P (some mad monkey hitting gets him a berth)
Abhishek Nayar (Finally!)
R Ashwin (spinner & Tamil)
PK (Praveen Kumar)




• OUT

Yuvraj (waiting for IPL)
Gambhir (new delicate dolly of the team)
Bhajji (family comes first, country goto H***)
Ishant (picked, dropped, picked again, dropped again...)
Sree (manages to puzzle everyone)
Ojha (ahem.. who? why?)




• Lucky

DK (still there.. backup wk??)
Jadeja (In the news lately for all the wrong reasons, very very lucky indeed)
Tyagi (dint play much, doubtful that will change anytime soon)
Mishra-ji (now the spin leader, No Bhajji, no Ojha PARTY!! :D)




• Unlucky

Pandey (With 2 batting slots open he should have made it purely on merit)
Mithun (If he was chosen in the Test squad, he deserved a chance here.)

So, the team: M S Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan and Amit Mishra.

• 1st ODI - 21.Feb - Jaipur
• 2nd ODI - 24.Feb - Gwalior

W.W.W.S. - SAF's tour of India Begins

• The Proteas started the Indian tour on a bold note against the Board President’s xi crucial warm-up match. Captain Smith had his intentions clear giving all his bowlers and his batsmen good bowling practice ahead of the most awaited (read retarded) 2 match test series yet. His frontline pace attack made mince meat of the top order. The day was severe on high reputations, as Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Abhinav Mukund all failed miserably. Pandey disappointed as well but, since he outscored all named previously and he attacked the bowlers he is pardoned. Biff gave his spinners a dozen overs each and this allowed Abhishek Nayar and Shikhar Dhawan who came 6-down (can you believe that) to build a partnership. Nayar scored a ton exactly and Dhawan was dismissed at 70 and thus the BPxi bundled out for 318 on day 1 of the warm up game. Saffers looked happy, Biff satisfied.. nice lunch I suppose.



• The Duleep trophy final also started with very less attention as both teams looked depleted due to players unavailability. South Zone led by Dinesh-butter-fingers-Karthik won the toss and decided to bat first. West zone ran through the top order and then entered captain Dinesh-I-can-fukin-bat-Karthik. He took the responsibility once again and restored some respect at the end of day one. Karthik unbeaten on 161 with the help of Gautam and Sathish have taken the SZ’s score to 356/6 at stumps.



• Meanwhile, the bite-gate controversy only involved more cheers. Shahid BoOm bOom Afridi claimed he was only trying to smell the ball and feel it. You can do that Shahid but please, avoid doing that with your teeth next time. Since he is banned for 2 T20 internationals and they are playing just one against Australia and he is the captain of Pakistan in T20’s PCB have announced Shoaib Malik will lead the team for the game against the Aussies.



• Ottis Gibson will now take over as the new coach of the West Indies confirmed WICB. Only, he won’t take over immediately but, from the home series against Zimbabwe.

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.