Dhoni Exposed !!!!

Selection Meeting Leak

This episode has clearly tested Dhoni's communication skills and has also proved that he will not hesitate to speak his mind. I am sure the younger players will have more confidence in Dhoni from now on and will also know that dhoni will fight for them if he feels they are good. I am sure the younger lot will try to keep dhoni happy in all possible way to be in his good books after this episode.

Why would Dhoni want to comment on some news article from a small time regional newspaper if it is not true. I feel its the BCCI duty to reply for the comments made in the news article and not dhoni. From the comments made by dhoni i am sure there was some heated exchange between dhoni and the selectors on R.P and if he had threatened to quit on selection matters and that too for a single player, it is not good for him and the team. Since the team is doing well and there is no real contender for the captaincy things have been smooth for Dhoni but i doubt if the same amount of hand holding and backing will be done by the BCCI in the future when india fails to deliver or his own form declines.

This episode has also exposed the other side of Dhoni "Too Much Too Early" No captain in the past has threatened the selectors and the BCCI and has approved that there was leak in the open. Since he has come out in the open to let the media know that this is a leak, he has confirmed that the news article is somewhat true and he his hurt that the discussions have been leaked to media by one of the eight sitting in the selection meeting. I feel Dhoni has to learn a few things from Ganguly on these things, many a time Ganguly was dragged by the media into the selection matters and he has almost all the time kept silent and left it to the BCCI management to handle things.

May be these are the reasons why it was said that its "Too much Too early for Dhoni"



On Expected Lines ................

As expected Team India won the ODI series winning the first 4 games and England true to its reputation of past performances in the sub-continent played poor cricket. I feel the series will end up with outcome as 5-2 and england will win the next ODI and the last ODI and come with some confidence to take on the Indians in the short 2 Test series.

Team India is having the best ODI run in the recent past and players have come up with some stunning contributions with ball,bat and fielding to make sure that winning has become a habit. Gambhir and Sehwag has just provided the start any team would love to have in almost all the games they have opened the innings and one of them have stayed till the crunch overs and made sure get a big score which is the big strength (I am not sure why Sachin should open when both these guys are doing wonderfully well, may be after all its the england side :)). Yuvraj,Raina,Dhoni all confidence cricketers have come up with some great innings which has changed the course of the match favoring India most of the time. Zaheer has been wonderful through out the season and backed up by some fine bowling from Ishant Sharma,Munaf and Harbajan. Dhoni as a captain has been consistent with the tactics, field placing,bowling changes and most importantly winning toss on crunch games.

Overall Team India is enjoying the best period under Captain Cool.

Yuvraj Yuvraj Yuvraj !!!

Yuvraj has yet again proved that he is real match winner and there is no stopping him when his confidence is high. The runs have come at the right time and must be pushing to claim the place vacated by Ganguly. Srikanth has also been impressed with yuvraj performance recently and has hinted that he is sure to find a place in the test team. As Srikanth rightly observed that Yuvraj is a confidence player and if his morale is upbeat he will perform well. Another striking aspect is when ever he is provoked for bad performance by the media and the past players, he has come out and answered them through his bat. His poor run in Australia and the Srilanka was the talking point and people started raising doubts on his attitude and future, i am sure the same lot of people will start to praise on his performance.

As expected it has been easy for India in the first 2 matches with brilliant performance from Yuvraj with both bat and ball backed by some good seam bowling from Zaheer and company. England has to re-group themself quickly and show some improved performance in the 3rd ODI to keep the series alive. England's main problem is their bowling, i fail to understand, how they could come to india packed with fast bowlers when the pitches here are not going to help fast bowling. Pieterson and Flintoff are the key players and if they don't get real big scores its going to be tough to see match winning performances from others. Both of them showed some glimses of their striking in the 2nd ODI and if they get into the rhythm, players like Collingwood,Bell,Shaw,Bopara can play around them to put up a fight. I think it will happen if they bat first and put some big score to back their ordinary bowling to restrict India.

For India there is lot of room for improvement in the bowling, except for Zaheer all the others have taken the stick.

I have a feeling that the current England team is like the SriLankan team in late 80's and early 90's, they will put up some good individual performance but fail to win matches.

Dhoni the Captain

India has found the most thinking and lucky captain in M.S Dhoni, what ever he does turns out to be a success. The 2 games he captained the tests, he won the toss and used some tricky strategy to overwhelm the Aussies. India and Dhoni must be wishing to repeat the same against the visiting England team in the ODI and the 2 Test Series. England might spring up some surprise in the ODI but i am sure Team India will dominate and win the Test series pretty comfortably. Having said that the ODI performance will set the tide for the 2 test series.

I am sure the England team must be worried with the current form of the Indian players and most importantly to see the whole team perform together. India starts as favorites and will try to dominate the series early on with couple good games and keep up the momentum to big victory.

Kevin Peiterson and team will be hoping to put up a good performance with contributions from the leading players in Flintoff,Collingwood,Bell,Prior,Shaw and Harmison. England has picked only one spinner in Patel for the whole ODI series and will be banking on the fast bowlers to perform well but in Indian flat pitches it will be a big task. The batsmen will have to play their best to win matches in batsmen friendly wickets and collingwood with his slow medium should be handy. If England has to put up a fight Peiterson and Flintoff should perform well.

Dhoni goes into series with in-form batsmen in Sehwag,Gambhir,himself in full form, R.G.Sharma,Yuvraj and Kholi having good time in the domestic cricket should be raring to go in these kind of wickets. The bowling looks a bit ordinary without Ishant Sharma but Zaheer in great form should lead from the front. India will have the problem in picking the correct combination and it should take Dhoni a few games to settle the team for the long and grueling 7 ODI.

I am not sure why BCCI and ECB should plan a tour packed with ODI, already the season is full and we saw empty stands for such great 4th test in Nagpur. The scenario is not great in Rajkot the officials hoping at least half the stadium will get filled, its a little bit of a overkill. Today the crowd is not coming to the stadium and it will not take long for the people to stop watching the games in the TV, which is feeding the game of cricket with huge sums of sponsorship money.

Exciting Final Day's Play

Will Australia successfully chase the big total on the final day of the final test of the series ??? I am sure it will not be easy but i am confident that the Aussies will not settle for a draw.

If Australia does not loose Hayden and Ponting before lunch, we have a great game in the final two sessions. I wish Hayden or Ponting plays their life time innings and lite up the day. Clark,Hussey can help the chase and with Watson and white in the side it will be a great chase to watch.

For India, if we manage to get the top order (Hayden,Ponting,Clark,Hussey) before tea, we have a great chance to win the series 2-0. If Dhoni is going to use the negative tactics like he did on the 3rd morning, i think it will kill the charm of test cricket. Dhoni and India were lucky to find break through on 3rd afternoon and make a match. If Australia had been successful in the 1st innings with some lead India would have been in trouble.

I feel the session before lunch is going to set the days progress and the series outcome, for Aussies its a great chance to solve some pride and draw the series. Aussies will go all out tomorrow to make a match and in all probability will go to chase the score.

This is one great chance for both Dhoni and Ponting to help keep up the great charm in this longer version of the game. Looking forward to watch a great final days game.

Farewell to Data the leader.

Ganguly the most aggressive and successful captain India has ever had will be playing his last test match in Nagpur. Its been a long and eventful journey for Ganguly starting with a brilliant hundred in England and gaining strength on every encounter to finally take over captaincy and rest is history.

Ganguly stands apart for his natural leadership and the strong decision making capability which transformed the team in believing in them self. He was the most aggressive captain India has ever had, he never chose to keeps things with himself and showed the world that he is a fierce competitor and enjoys every bit of it (can any one forget the stripping of t-shirt in the lords !!). He made things very comfortable for the youngsters and he was instrumental in the successful carriers of Harbajan,Youraj,Sehwag,Dhoni and Zaheer. He also managed his senior partners well, that they were never felt ignored and not wanted. The high point is the oversees victory's and taking the team to Worlcup finals in South Africa.

Ganguly was always pegged by the critics for taking selection matters to his hands and made changes as he liked but that was his strength. Ganguly some how pursued the selection panel to get the team he wanted and also enjoyed the board backing to do that. As a player he was immensely successful in both formats of the game, i personally feel that he was more successful in ODI when compared to the tests. In his long carrier he has picked few important wickets which mostly were very vital in the context of the game.

One aspect on Ganguly i really admire is the fearlessness, he never chose to hide his emotions. I doubt if any other player would have come out so strongly against the national coach and still fight back to find his place in the team. Team India was fortunate to have a leader like Ganguly, who just transformed the way the game was played in India.

I wish him all success and sure he will soon start the second innings as Team India Coach.

Jumbo the Gentleman :)

AnilKumble == Commitment & 200% all the time

Over the past two decades Jumbo Anil Kumble has been the bowling success for India after the aging Kapil retired. Anil is known to be the well behaved and level headed guy in the sport and considered to be the true ambassador for team india. Kumble has been the reflection of a true hard worker with great amount of determination and dedication, he has set a very high level of commitment for the youngsters to learn and practice the same.

Its a very tough decision to retire from the most celebrated profession in the country and that too when one is performing and leading the team with fair amount of success. Kudos to Anil for taking a decision and its meaning less to talk/write that he was forced to retire, In India no one can be forced to retire and if done will not escape the media so lets hail the bold decision and wish no one scrutinize the legends performance.

The great thing about Anil is, even though the country did not recognize his contributions initially because the people were obsessed with batting stars like Azharuddin and Sachin, he did not let that affect his performances.He just kept things simple and settled to basics all the time, even when the whole world of former spinners criticized him of not turning the ball, he never just changed his style of bowling and proved that line and length is more important and has been successful in all formats of the game. He has actually created a new style of bowling leg spin which has proved a success and we already see another person in Ajantha Mendis following the same. We can easily say that he is one bowler in the international context who has not been fined for verbal abuse or on-field/off field issue and has never showed his anger on the field, even though he is aggressive on the field.

Wish him all success in his future engagements.