I am just wondering why Team India should tour SriLanka now, the team has got the wonderful chance to take a break and re-group for the tough NewZeland tour. BCCI did the right thing by requesting for an additional test in NewZeland and that is justified but i don't understand why we should be touring SriLanka after we have played a full 5 ODI series just a few months back.
SriLankan board is bankrupt and hence would want their team to play all through the year to make ends meet. Srilankan Cricket administrators proved that some how they need to make money, they have sent their full team to Zimbabwae and Bangladesh just to make sure that they get some money to run cricket. Their fill up for India in Pakistan is also to help them and Pakistan board to make some money. BCCI is one of the richest sports body and why would India need to tour SriLanka now.
This break would have been great if the probables and the team management grouped for a camp and prepared well for the NewZeland tour. Team India has not done well in NewZeland in the past and we need some special performances to make sure that we do well, if not great. We must basically get used to the icy whether in the island and batsmen in purticular should get used to the natural big swing in the island. It would have been ideal for the team to practice in chilly conditions like Dharmashala (the facility in the stadium is just too good to conduct a camp).I think playing this short 5 ODI series is not going to help our fight to get to the top of the test rating, event though these rating business is a scrap (hope you read the joke of top 20 all time greats rated by the ICC). Team India is the best balanced team now in all formats of the game and hope BCCI shows some respect to the players and help the team to reach the top.
Agreed that BCCI has done a lot to its players in terms of monitory stuff but when it comes to planning the schedule it has always been behind big money and not friendly towards the players. Its a long season ahead for Indian players, after NewZeland all the players have to play the cash rich IPL in the hot summer and get ready for the ICC 20-20, then get ready for the series against WestIndies. I am sure none of the senior players would have been willing to travel to SriLanka now. The other reason for their reluctance will also be the war in SriLanka.
On the team to Srilanka, its a good move to bring in the young R.Jadeja he has been wonderful ever since we got to see him the Under-19 worldcup,IPL and in now in the Ranji Trophy. I would have liked to rest Sachin,Ishant and ZaheerKhan for this ODI series, these players full fitness is critical for TeamIndia's success in NewZeland. I was praying that L.Balaji should not be rushed into the international side for ODI series and should be picked for NewZeland, as he is a natural swing bowler. I am sure Cheeka should have played his part in making sure he gets the right chance. I am not sure how Irfan pathan is being picked for the series with such poor performances, cheeka must be pleasing a few other selectors and may be even Dhoni who is very particular in making sure the players part of that historic T20 world cup team should some how be in his team.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Pragyan Ojha
Monday, January 19, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Welcome 2009 - TamilNadu Cricket
Wishing all the readers a very happy,successful and prosperous 2009.
Back to cricket, its the same old story from the TamilNadu Ranji Team, but i should say this young team did well as a team and i hope this team if stays together can scale great highs.
It was a spirited run for the young and talented TamilNadu team to have reached the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy and my congratulations to W.V.Raman and Team.
On way to the semi-finals there were lot of good performances from TamilNadu. Abhinav Mukund, ArunKarthick, M.Vijay, Balaji and Ashwin and a brilliant run with the bat from the captain Dhinesh Karthick. In spite of their brilliant performances in the league phase and some good knocks in the knock out stage TN was not able to beat the UP side in the exciting finish for the first innings lead in the semi-finals.
After such a great opening stand of over 150+ and at one stage 280+ for 2 to being bowled out for 445 is very unfortunate and the middle order just did not click to put a big score on the board to take advantage of batting first. Badrinath and Karthick the senior most players in the squad with over 50+ on end of day 1 and starting a fresh day should have gone further to come up with big hundreds and raise a big total but the quick dismissal did not go well with the other middle order batsmen. Vidyuth has not been in good form through out the season and failed again but for Dhandapany breezy 67 it would have been very difficult to have posted the respectable 445.
It was even more disappointing to have let the game to the opponents after taking the crucial wickets of T.Srivastav,Raina,Kaif early and let the totally out of form middle order to score big to chase the score only reflects that the young team was not confident and did not believe in them. I am not taking the credit from Shukla and Parvinder for such brilliant performance in the middle but only trying to put things in perspective. Karthick has been pathetic behind the stumps and his lapses in the crucial junctures of the game in the semi-finals made things easy for the UP batsmen.
UP batsmen also exposed TN bowling and Ashwin was not effective in the batsmen friendly wicket and TN had to press the seamers for more overs and that did not go well in the context of the game. Balaji has been great through out the season with some brilliant performance and should been looking back to be in the big league. I feel he will make it to the Indian Squad for the seamer friendly NewZeland tour.
In summary its the same old sad story that TN fights to reach the semi-finals but fails to move ahead and win the coveted Ranji Trophy.
Back to cricket, its the same old story from the TamilNadu Ranji Team, but i should say this young team did well as a team and i hope this team if stays together can scale great highs.
It was a spirited run for the young and talented TamilNadu team to have reached the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy and my congratulations to W.V.Raman and Team.
On way to the semi-finals there were lot of good performances from TamilNadu. Abhinav Mukund, ArunKarthick, M.Vijay, Balaji and Ashwin and a brilliant run with the bat from the captain Dhinesh Karthick. In spite of their brilliant performances in the league phase and some good knocks in the knock out stage TN was not able to beat the UP side in the exciting finish for the first innings lead in the semi-finals.
After such a great opening stand of over 150+ and at one stage 280+ for 2 to being bowled out for 445 is very unfortunate and the middle order just did not click to put a big score on the board to take advantage of batting first. Badrinath and Karthick the senior most players in the squad with over 50+ on end of day 1 and starting a fresh day should have gone further to come up with big hundreds and raise a big total but the quick dismissal did not go well with the other middle order batsmen. Vidyuth has not been in good form through out the season and failed again but for Dhandapany breezy 67 it would have been very difficult to have posted the respectable 445.
It was even more disappointing to have let the game to the opponents after taking the crucial wickets of T.Srivastav,Raina,Kaif early and let the totally out of form middle order to score big to chase the score only reflects that the young team was not confident and did not believe in them. I am not taking the credit from Shukla and Parvinder for such brilliant performance in the middle but only trying to put things in perspective. Karthick has been pathetic behind the stumps and his lapses in the crucial junctures of the game in the semi-finals made things easy for the UP batsmen.
UP batsmen also exposed TN bowling and Ashwin was not effective in the batsmen friendly wicket and TN had to press the seamers for more overs and that did not go well in the context of the game. Balaji has been great through out the season with some brilliant performance and should been looking back to be in the big league. I feel he will make it to the Indian Squad for the seamer friendly NewZeland tour.
In summary its the same old sad story that TN fights to reach the semi-finals but fails to move ahead and win the coveted Ranji Trophy.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Exceptional Series win for South Africa
Exceptional series win is an understatement for the way SA came back from difficult situation in both the test matches and turned it around to win the series. Smith and team made history in Australia winning the series for the first time in Australia and Australia has lost a home series after 17 long years.
South Africa's preparation for the series showed that they are going to fight till the last in every game and they have proved that to perfection. One should really feel happy for SA coach for his professional approach to make sure that the team had all that needs to win the mighty Aussies in Australia. He hired Fletcher (under whom the England beat Aussies in 2005) as an consultant and worked with him before the tour, he also took expert advice from Indian Coach Gary Kirsten on how Team India prepared and executed against the Aussies this summer. I would say it was a special moment for South Africa Cricket and hit the last nail on the coffins of the Aussies number one spot.
South Africa did many things right in the series and the whole of 2008, 3 of their top batsmen have crossed the 1000 runs in the calender year and their strike bowler in Steyn (74 wickets in 2008) has been exceptionally good this year and has struck when ever they needed wickets. The real find of the series is J.P.Duminy. The 24 year old has just played like an experienced campaigner under difficult situation and proved that he is here to stay for a long long time with the SA team. His half century in the fourth innings in WACA showed that he can play under pressure and the 160+ in the first innings when SA was 190+ for 7 and behind some 200 runs played a gem of an innings to turn things for SA. Steyn's all round show fetched him the Man of the Match but i thought the trophy should be shared. Maybe the big one "Man of Series" is reserved for this youngster. I don't think i should write about Smith, he has played the major role in every SA surge to top. The innings he played in the wearing pitch in the 4th innings to beat the England was incredible and the powerful strikes in Perth led from the front and should say a role model for a person to lead from the front. It was a brilliant team effort and each and every member of the team contributing for the victory.
South Africa was accused of poor performance in the ODI's against the England after they won the test series and the British media wrote that it was a one of series win. I am sure the same media will hail praise and take back their words and start writing off Australia as they will be touring for the Ashes next summer. I was very sure that the ODI series loss for SA was just because of the hangover they had after winning the test series and they have proved that now.
On the lighter side, i am not sure if South Africans are so jubilant as Indian fans are :) :) All the News Channels had the SA victory covered and also highlighted the downfall of the Mighty Australians. It was kind of a sweet revenge for the Indian fans to see the Aussies come down cropping.
For the Australians nothing seems to be going their way, giving away 400+ in the 4th innings and letting the advantage from 200 + ahead with the tail in the middle to settle for 60 + behind shows that the Aussies just lack everything, bowling,confidence and the fighting spirit which was long associated with the Mighty Aussies. Ricky Ponting and Johnson are the 2 players who will go to Sydney with some confidence with personnel success but Ricky must be feeling very bad to lose a test series at home.
Australian media will make sure that at least few heads roll out from the team. All the senior players are under pressure with the poor show and i think Hayden will be forced to retire at Sydney and strong message for other players but you cannot turn around the bowling department overnight. So Aussies will have to go through this period of transition and should be looking for young talent to come back as a strong team.
South Africa's preparation for the series showed that they are going to fight till the last in every game and they have proved that to perfection. One should really feel happy for SA coach for his professional approach to make sure that the team had all that needs to win the mighty Aussies in Australia. He hired Fletcher (under whom the England beat Aussies in 2005) as an consultant and worked with him before the tour, he also took expert advice from Indian Coach Gary Kirsten on how Team India prepared and executed against the Aussies this summer. I would say it was a special moment for South Africa Cricket and hit the last nail on the coffins of the Aussies number one spot.
South Africa did many things right in the series and the whole of 2008, 3 of their top batsmen have crossed the 1000 runs in the calender year and their strike bowler in Steyn (74 wickets in 2008) has been exceptionally good this year and has struck when ever they needed wickets. The real find of the series is J.P.Duminy. The 24 year old has just played like an experienced campaigner under difficult situation and proved that he is here to stay for a long long time with the SA team. His half century in the fourth innings in WACA showed that he can play under pressure and the 160+ in the first innings when SA was 190+ for 7 and behind some 200 runs played a gem of an innings to turn things for SA. Steyn's all round show fetched him the Man of the Match but i thought the trophy should be shared. Maybe the big one "Man of Series" is reserved for this youngster. I don't think i should write about Smith, he has played the major role in every SA surge to top. The innings he played in the wearing pitch in the 4th innings to beat the England was incredible and the powerful strikes in Perth led from the front and should say a role model for a person to lead from the front. It was a brilliant team effort and each and every member of the team contributing for the victory.
South Africa was accused of poor performance in the ODI's against the England after they won the test series and the British media wrote that it was a one of series win. I am sure the same media will hail praise and take back their words and start writing off Australia as they will be touring for the Ashes next summer. I was very sure that the ODI series loss for SA was just because of the hangover they had after winning the test series and they have proved that now.
On the lighter side, i am not sure if South Africans are so jubilant as Indian fans are :) :) All the News Channels had the SA victory covered and also highlighted the downfall of the Mighty Australians. It was kind of a sweet revenge for the Indian fans to see the Aussies come down cropping.
For the Australians nothing seems to be going their way, giving away 400+ in the 4th innings and letting the advantage from 200 + ahead with the tail in the middle to settle for 60 + behind shows that the Aussies just lack everything, bowling,confidence and the fighting spirit which was long associated with the Mighty Aussies. Ricky Ponting and Johnson are the 2 players who will go to Sydney with some confidence with personnel success but Ricky must be feeling very bad to lose a test series at home.
Australian media will make sure that at least few heads roll out from the team. All the senior players are under pressure with the poor show and i think Hayden will be forced to retire at Sydney and strong message for other players but you cannot turn around the bowling department overnight. So Aussies will have to go through this period of transition and should be looking for young talent to come back as a strong team.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Smith,DeVillers does Sehwag,Sachin for South Africa
History repeats in the space of seven days !!! South Africa successfully chase 414 in the fourth innings against Australia in WACA, after India's chase of 384 in the fourth innings in Chennai few days back.
Smith played a repeat of what Sehwag did in the 4th evening for South Africa with an aggressive knock and did bit better than Sehwag to reach his century in pursuit of 414. DeVillers knock was a repeat of what sachin did in cheenai with a watchful and well paced century and reached the target in company with the debutant Duminy. Duminy to an extend played the role Yuvraj played in chennai. On looking at both the run chase, the South African victory was more assured with absolutely no big moments in the course of the run chase even though both India and SA won the match by 6 wickets. Smith and SA is proving to get to the top slot with such fabulous victory and Australia was no match to the SA with hapless bowling performance.
Australia is shot of confidence and needs some big scores from captain Ponting and Hayden and most importantly their spear head in bowling BrettLee. Brett Lee is just out of sorts and has not been able to pick wickets and also proves to be too costly and looks very ordinary without the company of giants McGrath and Warne. Johnson is bowling his best but with very little support in the other end its not easy to tame the SA.
South Africa performance is not just a one off game but it should be attributed for their professional preparation and execution of the plan. South Africa took the help from all the past coach and cricketers who successfully beat the Aussies like Fletcher former England coach when England won the Ashes in 2005 and also took the help from Gary Kirsten as India under him won the home series against Aussies.
Over all South Africa was well prepared for the tough series and most importantly believed in the unit that they can win in Australia. Australia is just short of confidence and aggression which is always associated with the Aussies and without that its not going to be easy.
Smith played a repeat of what Sehwag did in the 4th evening for South Africa with an aggressive knock and did bit better than Sehwag to reach his century in pursuit of 414. DeVillers knock was a repeat of what sachin did in cheenai with a watchful and well paced century and reached the target in company with the debutant Duminy. Duminy to an extend played the role Yuvraj played in chennai. On looking at both the run chase, the South African victory was more assured with absolutely no big moments in the course of the run chase even though both India and SA won the match by 6 wickets. Smith and SA is proving to get to the top slot with such fabulous victory and Australia was no match to the SA with hapless bowling performance.
Australia is shot of confidence and needs some big scores from captain Ponting and Hayden and most importantly their spear head in bowling BrettLee. Brett Lee is just out of sorts and has not been able to pick wickets and also proves to be too costly and looks very ordinary without the company of giants McGrath and Warne. Johnson is bowling his best but with very little support in the other end its not easy to tame the SA.
South Africa performance is not just a one off game but it should be attributed for their professional preparation and execution of the plan. South Africa took the help from all the past coach and cricketers who successfully beat the Aussies like Fletcher former England coach when England won the Ashes in 2005 and also took the help from Gary Kirsten as India under him won the home series against Aussies.
Over all South Africa was well prepared for the tough series and most importantly believed in the unit that they can win in Australia. Australia is just short of confidence and aggression which is always associated with the Aussies and without that its not going to be easy.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Dream Run Continues !!!!!!
Team India continues the dream run with a spectacular victory by 6 wickets in Chennai against the fighting England. Till the last session of the fourth day, england dominated the match in all department but Sehwag changed all that in a blistering knock which changed the course game.
Media is running out of adjectives for Sachin, they have used it all Splendid Sachin,Magical Sachin,SuperStart Sachin,Fighter Sachin etc etc, Hope at least not the critics stop doubting his super natural batting skills and stop writing that he is not a finisher.
Overall this was the perfect test match with all the ingredients of excitement,boredom and clinical finish to the test. England performed exceptionally well given the backdrop of the Mumbai Blast and the uncertainty of the tour. I would have expected the adjudicators to have given the Man Of Match to Strauss. Hundred in each innings is no mean effort and that too in a wicket which was hard to predict the bounce from the third day. England has lot of good performances to go with some confidence, Strauss,Colingwood,Cook and Prior had made decent scores and Swann has been brilliant in his debut with some controlled bowling from Flintoff, they can only improve their performance in Mohali.
For India the only worry now is the form of the Wall (read crumbling), as all of know that he is a class player and one good innings will give him great confidence and should be back in his own soon. I dont think i have to write on the kind of form all the other batsmen are in, Sehwag in his best form,Gambhir full of confidence,Laxman in good nick,Youraj back in form,Dhoni useful contribution and regular cameo from harbajan and off course Sachin. One cannot say the same on the bowling front, Harbhajan was not as good as Swann even though the wicket helped spinners, Mishra needs lot of support from the captain and should be bowling more overs. Zaheer and Ishant has been exceptional even in these dead wickets and showed they can take wickets when it is needed most. Ishant must be worried with too many no balls but i am sure he will overcome with workouts in nets.
India has done well when ever the Sehwag has scored runs and hope he continues to do that in mohali. No doubt that India goes upbeat to Mohali and hope to finish the series 2-0. I am sure England will expect the Mohali wicket to help the fast bowlers, which is their bowling strength, England will also hope their top batsmen Pietersen,Bell and Flintoff come good with the bat to put up a fight.
Media is running out of adjectives for Sachin, they have used it all Splendid Sachin,Magical Sachin,SuperStart Sachin,Fighter Sachin etc etc, Hope at least not the critics stop doubting his super natural batting skills and stop writing that he is not a finisher.
Overall this was the perfect test match with all the ingredients of excitement,boredom and clinical finish to the test. England performed exceptionally well given the backdrop of the Mumbai Blast and the uncertainty of the tour. I would have expected the adjudicators to have given the Man Of Match to Strauss. Hundred in each innings is no mean effort and that too in a wicket which was hard to predict the bounce from the third day. England has lot of good performances to go with some confidence, Strauss,Colingwood,Cook and Prior had made decent scores and Swann has been brilliant in his debut with some controlled bowling from Flintoff, they can only improve their performance in Mohali.
For India the only worry now is the form of the Wall (read crumbling), as all of know that he is a class player and one good innings will give him great confidence and should be back in his own soon. I dont think i have to write on the kind of form all the other batsmen are in, Sehwag in his best form,Gambhir full of confidence,Laxman in good nick,Youraj back in form,Dhoni useful contribution and regular cameo from harbajan and off course Sachin. One cannot say the same on the bowling front, Harbhajan was not as good as Swann even though the wicket helped spinners, Mishra needs lot of support from the captain and should be bowling more overs. Zaheer and Ishant has been exceptional even in these dead wickets and showed they can take wickets when it is needed most. Ishant must be worried with too many no balls but i am sure he will overcome with workouts in nets.
India has done well when ever the Sehwag has scored runs and hope he continues to do that in mohali. No doubt that India goes upbeat to Mohali and hope to finish the series 2-0. I am sure England will expect the Mohali wicket to help the fast bowlers, which is their bowling strength, England will also hope their top batsmen Pietersen,Bell and Flintoff come good with the bat to put up a fight.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Indian Team for Test Series.
As expected cheeka once again proved that he will try his best to push players from TamilNadu. At least now Badrinath should not let srikkanth down, I am sure he will not find a place in the playing XI but for some one ruled out of injury in the last movement. Rohit Sharma and Virath Kohli must be feeling bad for not being part of the team even after performing well against the Aussies. I feel badri is still in the team just b'cas srikkanth beleives that he is good and will come good but i am not sure how long he can take his case in the selection meetings.
Good that Yuvi is getting a change yet again the Indian Team and most likely to play in Ganguly place in the playing XI. Even an ordinary cricket fan knows that Yuvi is a confidence player and if he his given a long run and selectors convey that he is the player for the future. He might not be technically equipped to play good fast bowling in bouncy tracks but if he is confident he can come over that prove successful.
I have a feeling that the series if happens, will be of academic interest alone and nothing more than that. Given the back drop of the Mumbai terror attack, this series will be played under threat and the element of fear in the back of the minds will not let the players to give their best. I also feel that Team India might play soft to thank the ECB for coming to the country to play this series.
As so many observers all over the world have pointed out that we should not given in for terror and cancel sport but as Boycott has mentioned its true that we should not given in for terror but in reality who is going to come for rescue if the stadium is attacked or the English players taken as hostage.
Its tough times for the biggest democracy of the world, I wish and pray that there is no more terror attacks and the country is peaceful.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, M Vijay, Yuvraj Singh, Pragyan Ojha
Good that Yuvi is getting a change yet again the Indian Team and most likely to play in Ganguly place in the playing XI. Even an ordinary cricket fan knows that Yuvi is a confidence player and if he his given a long run and selectors convey that he is the player for the future. He might not be technically equipped to play good fast bowling in bouncy tracks but if he is confident he can come over that prove successful.
I have a feeling that the series if happens, will be of academic interest alone and nothing more than that. Given the back drop of the Mumbai terror attack, this series will be played under threat and the element of fear in the back of the minds will not let the players to give their best. I also feel that Team India might play soft to thank the ECB for coming to the country to play this series.
As so many observers all over the world have pointed out that we should not given in for terror and cancel sport but as Boycott has mentioned its true that we should not given in for terror but in reality who is going to come for rescue if the stadium is attacked or the English players taken as hostage.
Its tough times for the biggest democracy of the world, I wish and pray that there is no more terror attacks and the country is peaceful.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, M Vijay, Yuvraj Singh, Pragyan Ojha
Sunday, November 23, 2008
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.
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.
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