06.18.09
Ashish Nehra rises like the Phoenix…
Nehra appeals
A great IPL season has finally earned Ashish Nehra a much deserved return to India colors for the upcoming West Indies ODI tour. Ashish has been in hibernation from international cricket for quite sometime after struggling from chronic injuries to his ankles and back for the last 4 years. Now in an interview to Cricinfo Ashish sounds confident and seems to be aware now(about time!) that playing with small niggles can be extremely harmful for a fast bowler. While it remains to be seen how much confidence MSD has in Nehra the poor performance of Ishant Sharma in recent times might well create an opening in the West Indies. Nehra should also be aware that the role of the third pacer ( Ishant & Zaheer are automatic picks) in test matches is still up for contention too. When he burst onto the international scene in 2000-01 Ashish Nehra was the most impressive young fast bowling hope for India. Now almost a decade later Ashish will hopefully try to fulfil at least some of that initial promise by continuing with the same determination he has shown in reviving his stop-start career after a gap of 4 long years. As he said in the interview it has been injuries rather than form/performance that has been the bane of his career. Now with an improved mindset towards fitness Nehra might well script a truly remarkable resurgance…
06.17.09
MSD’s T20 bashers – ‘Hype vs reality’
MSD returning after scoring just 5
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has enjoyed a wonderful time since he was a surprise – and as it later turned out - inspired pick as captain. But now with Dhoni’s T20 bashers ‘bounced and spun’ out without wining a single match against a major test playing nation( Pakistan in World cups doesn’t count!) maybe the honeymoon phase is over. MSD being in poor form will only add to the increased scrutiny over his captaincy in coming months. I simply can’t fathom his reluctance to play his natural game in the shorter formats of the game. We have better orthodox players to play the steady role in the middle order(Virat Kohli would be my pick) but few to match MSD’s brilliance when he hits out.
As it turned out our setup never had a proper game plan to approach the World cup. If BCCI knew Sehwag was injured why did they not have more options for the opening slot ? Or did MSD convince them that Rohit Sharma was ready to replace Sehwag ? If so then MSD simply put too much faith in Raina, Pathan and himself to play the finishing role that Rohit Sharma played so well in IPL and in the last World T20 Cup. To add to the mix MSD’s dramatic ‘Sunny Gavaskar like’ antics in the pressroom didn’t convince too many people. It only heightened the suspicion that all was not well between MSD and Viru.
Complacency in fact was all around right from the selection process. More weightage was given to the hype surrounding players than taking a hard look at recent form in the IPL. Ashish Nehra despite being the best Indian bowler on current T20 form was ignored while a half fit Zaheer Khan and a sluggish Ishant Sharma was taken along. Despite RP Singh(highest wicket taker in IPL + great record in England) being in the squad Irfan Pathan was preferred for most of the matches. Dinesh Karthik similarly was omitted despite being in great touch. Players like Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina had no experience of success outside the sub-continent but they seemed to enjoy MSD’s confidence more. Raina actually did tour South Africa for one dayers some years back and he was just bounced out by the quickies. After seeing him hop around without looking at the ball it seems not much has changed. Rohit Sharma played one shot too many up the order and failed to get going against the better bowling attacks. Rohit admitted somewhat arrogantly in one of his interviews that he had hit out too early but it was simply how he plays ! I’ve been a LT supporter but I find that attitude too nonchalant for someone who has yet to prove himself against good bowling attacks outside India especially up the order.
In hindsight our team comprised of far too many flat track bullies who looked quite inept on bowler friendly pitches. If getting bounced out wasn’t embarassing enough we had to go through the ignomity of being spun out by spinners from South Africa ! I think our team setup is too enamoured by the big hitting prowess of our IPL heroes. As other teams like Sri Lanka( Jayawardena), South Africa( AB Devilliers) have shown there is room for traditional players in T20. And above all out of form players have no place in T20 games - there is simply no time to get back in form – especially not in a World T20 Cup.
06.11.09
Rohit Sharma continues to impress…
Rohit Sharma seems to have seized upon the oppurtunity to bat up the order in the ongoing T20 World cup with both hands. While he has yet to play the strong sides in the competition the form shown so far represents an important turning point in Rohit’s budding India career. With Sachin Tendulkar likely to hang up his boots post the World cup next year Rohit Sharma might well represent the Gen next’s answer to fill his gigantic boots.
Pujara drives
In fact with the ‘golden trio’ of Sachin, Dravid and Laxman all set to retire in the next 1-2 yrs the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Cheteswar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhavan and possibly even Dinesh Kartik will vie to get into the test side. A successful transition up the order in T20 and 50 over games should bolster Rohit’s stake for a Test middle order slot - maybe even make him the front runner for the coveted no. 4 slot st thid point. Yuvraj Singh too must not take his Test place for granted considering his rather woeful technique(or rather the lack of it) against the new ball particularly outside the subcontinent.
It will be interesting to see if selectors pick youth – represented by the above contenders – or opt for a stop gap arrangement in the form of Badrinath if Rahul Dravid hangs up his boots next yr(as expected). My vote would be Pujara for Dravid, Rohit Sharma for Sachin and a tossup between Raina, Kohli for Laxman’s spot. Maybe we can even see Yuvraj lose out his place in favour of either Kohli/Raina/ Dhawan. My guess is selectors will opt for Badrinath for Dravid and then ease Rohit into the side once Sachin/VVS retires. Or maybe they’ll surprise me by dropping Yuvraj(about time) and bringing in Rohit immediately. For once they need to distinguish between form shown in the longer/shorter format of the game. After almost a decade Yuvraj has not yet sorted out his technique against the new ball and failed to score any significant runs outside the subcontinent in test cricket. Even our selectors who equate T20 and 50 over success as criteria for Test selection must be running out of patience!
AB DeVilliers bowled by Tyagi
These days I’m also rooting for Sudeep Tyagi the tall young fast bowler from UP who seems to have recovered completely from the back injury suffered last year going by the impressive form shown in the IPL. Sudeep needs to build some muscle onto his wiry frame if he is to continue his progress without injury. The selectors for once have been smart by offering him a grade D contract at this early stage of his career. Sudeep does have a natural outswinger as his stock ball and a mean incutter for variety. As AB Deviliers found out during the IPL they can be a pretty lethal combination(see picture). Tyagi also seemed to get a fair bit of bounce due to his high arm action and managed to get Dravid in one of the matches due to steep bounce from a good length. The 3rd seamers slot for test matches abroad is still up for contention with Ashish Nehra too now in the fray after a terrific IPL season. I would preferably like to see a right arm quick bowler to take the spot.
Another player in the fray for a Test place is Pragyan Ojha who is the best left arm spinner we have had since Murali Kartick. Pragyan seems to spin the ball more and extracts more bounce. His success in the limited overs format has brought him in the limelight and now with Piyush Chawla and Amit Mishra around there is a healthy mix of spinners vieing for spots in the Test side. Harbhajan Singh too now needs to keep up his recent good form and improve his performances abroad where he averages just 3 wickets per Test at an average of 37 !
