Posts Tagged ‘Parthiv Patel’

2nd ODI: Problems aplenty for India as bowling flops again

Posted: September 7, 2011 by Editor in Cricket, India in England 2011
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Goutham Chakravarthi

It is hard to judge the quality of the English one-day batting given the appalling standard of Indian bowling. None of their front line bowlers had a clue in a shortened game, flat tract, with the night chilly winds and near freezing temperature. There was no swing on offer for Praveen Kumar and Kieswetter and Cook took the Indian bowling apart – walking inside the line and tucking it over fine leg, or giving themselves room to smash it over the off-side. Given what was on offer, England romped home chasing a stiff target with plenty to spare. They were close to 60 without loss after 5 overs and close to 100 after 9 overs. The game was over!

India’s reluctance from moving from their preferred combination of 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers is hurting them more with none of the part-time bowlers good enough to bowl more than a couple of overs unless the conditions favour them. India’s best hope with this combination is to chase.

Bell feasts on Raina's part time offies

Dhoni’s reliance on the skill of Ashwin is coming to a nought in these conditions with the wickets greasy and not providing enough bite for the Chennai spinner with the new ball. Kieswetter went after him straight away and tonked him for 16 in his first over and with it Dhoni seemed short of bowlers and ideas as all bowlers and combinations he tried didn’t work. Perhaps, it is time he played Jadeja in the side at seven for it gives him some tight overs from the left-armer in the  middle overs and he is a fair tonker of the cricket ball down the order.

The sameness of the Indian bowling in their seam department in terms of pace (or the lack of it) is making it easy for batsmen to line them up on good wickets. There is little chance this bowling side will bowl decent batting sides out on good wickets. It may not hurt them to give the leg-spinner and Varun Aaron a go in the remaining matches as they tend to be wicket taking options.

There is no such problem in the batting. Parthiv Patel looked poised for another big score as he went after the English bowlers who can’t seem to shed their love for short-pitched bowling. Parthiv cut and pulled with great relish. For second time in successive games, Anderson got him on the drive. Perhaps there is a lesson in it for Bresnan and Broad.

Ajinkya Rahane is doing his reputation no harm. There are enough talks going on back home that he should be the reserve Test opener going forward with Cheteshwar Pujara being the first choice no.6 batsman. He has looked at ease playing swing, pace and spin and again showed why he is rated so highly in the Indian domestic scene. He has made the most of his opportunity at the top of the order. In this form, it will be difficult to leave him out even in a full strength Indian side. It has been quite an impressive start.

Suresh Raina has to be among the most impactful limited overs players. To do what he does and with such consistency at the end of the batting innings takes for great confidence and skill. His cover drive for six off Bresnan is testament to his skills of ball striking and improvising abilities. There is little doubting his reputation or his future in this format.

It is a case of issues for both teams. England’s victories will for the moment hide their light batting with their middle order not being tested as India continues to find it difficult to get their batsmen out. England’s bowling lacked planning and imagination it showed in the Tests.

Truth is to say that Indian batsmen would fancy their own attack and England’s bowling attack would definitely test their own top order. Two teams working out a combination for the moment and the future might still churn out a tight series. Only if India pick enough bowlers to pose a challenge.

1st ODI: Rain robs India their best chance of win

Posted: September 3, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in England 2011
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 Goutham Chakravarthi

 3 September 2011

 

Finally a day where India had the better of England and the game was called off! The end result is not that India are yet to beat England but may have lost another player, Rohit Sharma, to injury. It is a tour that simply won’t go right for India. And for DRS!

India were jolted early with news of Tendulkar pulling out after complaining of pain on his big toe. He is to consult a specialist on Monday and knowing the history of the injury, he might be advised rest. It seems there is nothing India can do to stop injuries. Putting eleven fit men on the park seems a bigger issue for the team these days.

Rahane and Patel have given India good starts in successive games

Amid all the chaos, India has stumbled upon an unlikey opening pair who have kept the English seamers at bay for two matches in succession. Rahane is highly rated in the Indian circuit and is a man coming with runs behind him in Australia recently. He has looked confident and in the company of the very gritty Parthiv Patel countered the conditions and the English quicks with aplomb. It was not a quick wicket but did offer enough nip for bowlers with the new ball.

If you looked at the highlight reel of Parthiv Patel’s innings a few years from now, you would think he played a pull or hook to each of the 107 deliveries he faced! England were convinced for whatever reason that he couldn’t play the short stuff for the second game in a row and kept bouncing him and Patel kept pulling them for fours. Closing in on a deserved hundred, he nicked a wide half volley that Anderson bowled which looked like the first delivery they pitched up to him in two games now. All this makes you wonder why he wasn’t chosen as the back-up wicket-keeper and opening batsman for the Tests.

Another positive for India from this game would be the form of Raina. He seems comfortable in this format. He looked confident throughout and controlled the batting powerplay. An astute slow bouncer by Dernbach ended his innings. But he looked in control while he was at the crease.

Rohit Sharma’s loss will be a blow forIndia. It might do India good if Dhoni pushes himself to no.4 for the rest of the series. Once he is in, he controls the middle overs like few can in world cricket. Batting at no. 7, he is doing himself and his team a great disservice. India are out of options and Rohit’s injury might force him to bat at 4.

India looked good with the ball too with Praveen Kumar continuing to mesmerize English batsmen with his swing and nip. He accounted for Cook, who looked ill at ease in his brief stay, and Kieswetter, who couldn’t pick Praveen’s swing. When rain intervened, India had had the upper hand and looked poised to finally put one over England this tour. The long batting line-up would have been tested to chase down the Indian score after a slow start.

India finally look to be hitting their strap with the induction of a new personnel. They will do well to put a couple of people who have played well in Australia recently on stand by even as a final call the injuries of Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar will be made shortly.

India v South Africa ODI Series: A Look Back

Posted: January 25, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India in South Africa 2010-11
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Prasad Moyarath

Bangalore

25 January 2011

India playing five one day internationals against South Africa in South Africa, just one month before the World Cup in India raised the eye brows of many Indian cricket aficionados. In the past, India could never do well against the hosts in the fast and bouncy pitches there. What will Indian players gain by playing matches on fast and bouncy pitches when the World Cup is going to be held in the flat batting tracks of the subcontinent? – This question puzzled many except those in BCCI. To the Indian surprise, all the matches were held on comparatively slow pitches and the Indians came out of the series winning 2 out of the 5 matches. Only the time will tell what the Indian team gained out of this series but a post mortem of this series reveals many interesting facts.

Sehwag, Praveen Kumar and Gambhir returned to India even before the start of the series with injuries. With Piyush Chawla, Ashwin and Rohit Sharma in the squad, the first two matches were looked upon by many as chances for the Indian selectors to try out these players before declaring the Indian team for the 2011 World Cup.

Team composition for the first two matches clearly proved that the selectors or the team management didn’t have any well thought out plans. Ashish Nehra looked completely out of sorts and Rohit Sharma sent in as replacement for Sehwag batted at No.4 and No.7 in the first two matches. Indians were beaten outright in the first match but won a thriller in the second despite Dhoni’s lackluster captaincy almost presenting a victory to South Africa. Even when it was very clear that India’s only winning option was to bowl out the South Africans, Dhoni kept persisting with part time bowlers and brought back Munaf only when the South Africans were very close to a victory. Luck was with Dhoni and India on that day.

Tendulkar returned to India with an injury and Parthiv Patel was sent in as a replacement. Indian team for the World Cup was announced and that seemed to confuse the team management more. Lack of a specialist opener forced the team management to thrust the role of an opener on the World Cup discard – Rohit Sharma and Dhoni didn’t have the gumption to use this contingency to test the disaster management skills of his team. He could have opened with Kohli and promoted himself to No.3. Though India won a thriller in the third one dayer through some hard hitting by Yusuf Pathan and presence of mind of tailenders, rain denied a century to Kohli and an outright win for South Africa (though they won by D/L Method) in the fourth one dayer.

Fifth one dayer showed the display of individual brilliance by Amla and Pathan. Cricket fans wondered what would have happened had Amla been caught by Ashwin at 70 and Duminy given out in the second ball he faced and rain not interrupted South African innings. Though South Africa won a thriller as shown by score card, apart from Pathan and Parthiv Patel to a small extent, none of the Indian batsmen took the fight to South African camp. Though the official Man of the Match was Amla, there was no doubt that the fifth one dayer would always remain etched in cricket lover’s memory for Yusuf Pathan’s innings.

India lost yet another one day series in South Africa but the fact that this team went down fighting even without 3 reputed players is a consolation. Indian team management and selectors never had a plan and was confused on the selection of players. They neither selected the team with an aim to win the series nor with an aim to give exposure to World Cup players. But with days to go for the 2011 World Cup, this series also exposed many weak links in the Indian side. Ashish Nehra’s lack of form and the inconsistency of Yuvraj, Raina and Dhoni are sure to create sleepless nights for the team management and selectors. Lack of a good fifth bowler was clearly visible from the way South Africa recovered several times after an initial collapse. A world class side should be able to overcome any eventuality and this Indian side’s inability to overcome the opening problem that surfaced due to the injury to openers will pose a question mark on the quality of team selection. Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay turned out to be complete failures and it got forgotten due to the fact that they were not included in the World Cup team. Kohli, Pathan, Zaheer, Munaf and Harbhajan did something of note.

A diffident captain, a brittle middle order and a bowling attack with inconsistency written on it, this Indian side has flooded the minds of Indian cricket aficionados with doubts. “The big learning from this game is to keep wickets in hand for the last ten overs” – the parting words of the Indian captain summed up the whole picture. Did Dhoni become Indian Captain without knowing the basics of the game?

Indian Team For World Cup – Not The Best Available

Posted: January 18, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Cricket, India Cricket, World Cup 2011
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Prasad Moyarath

Bangalore

18 January 2011

“Horses for Courses” is an oft-repeated excuse offered by the Indian cricket selectors to pacify the soaring public demand for the non-inclusion of a particular player. By announcing a 15 member squad for the 2011 World Cup with no major surprises, the selectors have divided the public opinion there by alleviating the need for this excuse. But not all are convinced that this is the best possible squad to reclaim the World Cup. Though this squad looks perfect on paper, the ground reality is that the few debated positions can turn disastrous for the team.

In Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Kohli, Dhoni, Raina and Yusuf Pathan, the selectors have picked the best 8 one day batsmen available. Harbhajan, Zaheer and Praveen Kumar are automatic choices as the best 3 one day bowlers. Ifs and Buts come up for the next four places. The ICC World Cup rules, the playing venues and the match timings become vital for considering players to fill these slots.

Though the World Cup is going to be held in India, Bangladesh and Srilanka, the ICC rules don’t permit the participating nations to replace players without ICC’s permission. Also if a player is replaced, he will be out for the entire tournament. This makes it mandatory for each team to have a replacement player for each position to meet a crisis. This exposes a vital flaw in the Indian team selection. Though there are enough days between matches, if Dhoni is to get injured and doesn’t recover in time for the next match, the current Indian team doesn’t have a specialist reserve wicket-keeper. If Dhoni can recover from that injury in a few days’ time, asking ICC for his replacement then will make India lose Dhoni for the rest of the tournament. In form Parthiv Patel would not only serve as a reserve wicket-keeper to meet such contingency but also as a reserve batsman. Indian selection panel’s conclusion that a reserve wicket-keeper is not needed for a World Cup in India lacks vision.

All the Indian matches are Day/Nighters. This World Cup is being held in February and early March and in the Day/Night matches, dew is going to play a major role in the second innings. Spinners won’t be able to grip the ball properly in dew conditions and this makes the selection of more spinners useless. Sehwag, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Raina and Pathan can bowl part time spin and India doesn’t need an additional off spinner. This questions the inclusion of R.Ashwin. Though Ojha is a good left arm spinner, the fact that India doesn’t have a wrist spinner compels the inclusion of Piyush Chawla. Also Chawla is a better batsman compared to Ojha.

Now we need to look at the selection of 2 pacers from Munaf, Sreesanth and Nehra. Munaf’s recent performance in South Africa and his ability to bowl tight overs in the middle makes him an automatic choice. Nehra has lost his pace and swing and is not the bowler he used to be ever since his comeback. Sreesanth is in outstanding form and his pace and swing will turn out to be an asset for the team under lights. By selecting the out of form Nehra ahead of the in form Sreesanth, the Indian selectors have committed another blunder.

No reserve wicket-keeper, an additional spinner who may never play and an out-of-form pacer who can turn out to be a burden for the team, the Indian cricket team for the 2011 World Cup is definitely not the best available as claimed by K.Srikkanth.

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