IPL 5: The Worst XI

Tuesday, May 29, 2012 andre russell, cricket, dinesh karthik, harbhajan singh, IPL 5, kumar sangakkara, manish pandey, manpreet gony, parthiv patel, ravindra jadeja, saurabh tiwary, sourav ganguly, sreesanth, worst xi, yusuf pathan

The IPL is finally over, and KKR were deserving champions. What better way to celebrate its conclusion than by applauding the best pointing and laughing at the worst performers? For every Dwayne Bravo, there's a Ravindra Jadeja lying around.

One's matter, the other anti-matter. There's no big bang, of course.

Here's my list. If you think someone else is more deserving of a spot, put it down in the comments and I'll be sure to argue against it.

1) Paul Valthaty (30 runs @ 5.00): I've heard of sophomore slumps, but this is ridiculous. A high score of 13 and a strike rate of 58 in six innings - he looked as comfortable as an armless man at a high-fiving convention. He can most certainly be blamed for Punjab's slow start to season.

Something barely interesting just became even less interesting

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 amit mishra, australia, cricket, india, munaf patel, murali vijay, r ashwin, ravindra jadeja, rishabh bablani, sachin, saurabh tiwary, selection, shikhar dhawan, vinay kumar, yuvraj singh No Comments

India announced its squad for the ODI series against Australia (which begins on Sunday the 17th) today. The seniors get some more rest, which leads me to believe that the board of selectors aren't currently able to distinguish Australia from Zimbabwe. It's like they just don't care about World Cup preparation, the rankings, and other ODI-related nonsense. See, they've got me doing it now. Anyway, it's a 14 man squad, and the missing players are:

Sachin (okay, I get this one),
Sehwag, Gambhir, Ishant (minor injuries)
Zaheer, Harbhajan, Ojha (just because)

And this is the squad:

MS Dhoni (capt & wk), M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma 



So another player is set to make his debut, as Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi, ex(?)Mumbai Indian) is set to open alongside Murali Vijay in the absence of our top 3 first-choice openers. Yuvraj pops back in despite his dodgy domestic one-day form, and Tiwary is retained. Despite Ojha's exclusion, Mishra doesn't make the cut, so the spinner's duties will be with R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja (why, why, WHY), Yuvraj and Raina. Munaf Patel keeps his all-rounder's spot, while Vinay Kumar returns with plenty to prove. I'm not sure what that is, but I'm hoping to get an interview with him and ask which movies he likes and if frogs really can't see the color green, thus making all other frogs invisible.

Er, yeah, that's it.

Tri-series squad: More R & R

Saturday, July 31, 2010 cricket, india, ishant sharma, new zealand, pragyan ojha, ravindra jadeja, rishabh bablani, sachin, saurabh tiwary, selection, sri lanka, yuvraj singh No Comments

This is India's squad for the tri-series involving Sri Lanka and New Zealand:

MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Saurabh Tiwary

Sachin gets more rest from ODIs, which is fair, because the side can start to adjust to life without his mammoth presence, only for him to slot back in a few months later to win the World Cup. And then retire. It's the one great-looking piece of an otherwise ugly jigsaw puzzle.

Harbhajan gets some rest, because he's done so well. More importantly, it gives Ojha more games to try to prove that he's a better first choice bowler in the shorter formats.

Instead of giving him a chance to find form, the selectors have rested Gambhir. Why? So that Karthik, his replacement, can re-prove his benchability.

Snideness aside, the batting actually looks solid - and Kohli and Rohit Sharma will finally be tested against opposition that isn't Sri Lanka.

Yuvraj pops back into the squad, and I for one am confident that we'll be seeing the best of him at some point this series.

Weapons of mass futility Jadeja and Ashwin find seats on the plane (or boat, depending on the budget).

Saurabh Tiwary remains in the squad; he knows what drinks everyone likes. And Ishant Sharma's economy rate just isn't bad enough.

Mithun gets a chance to improve on his promising Test debut. Or get smashed around, we just don't have enough buffet bowling these days.

A series-winning squad? Maybe.

Selectors make amends, and Sachin's out.

Monday, June 07, 2010 asia cup, cricket, india, rishabh bablani, sachin, saurabh tiwary, selection, yuvraj singh No Comments

What a scandalous headline, isn't it?

The facts are quite boring. The squad for the Asia Cup has been named, and it's more or less full strength, except it isn't.

MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Ashok Dinda, R Ashwin, Saurabh Tiwary.

Sachin wanted to spend more time with his family, so he was granted leave. Fair enough, he shouldn't be playing lame ODI tourneys like the Asia Cup anyway; he should only be playing important games, like against New Zealand (upcoming tri-series) or the World Cup (cricket).

Does anyone else think that he just doesn't want to see Sri Lankan faces? We've played 'em a while ago, we were just playing 'em the other day, and we're going to play them in Tests and ODI's next month. I'd want a rest, too.

Yuvraj Singh is out - whether due to injuries, form or brattiness, I can't confirm. But yeah, whatever, let him spend some time in the gym. Watching TV.

Dinesh 'Start-stop' Karthik has also been booted, as have Yusuf 'I'll hit them full but leave them short' Pathan and Murali 'test batsman but only in ODIs' Vijay. Rightfully so.

The pace attack looks solid with Zak, Nehra and PK. Real solid. Solid.

Dinda is their cover, so I assume Vinay Kumar hasn't recovered from whatever he's tweaked, because I don't recall Dinda doing particularly well. How is Irfan Pathan not more useful than either of those two?

Mishra loses his place to Ashwin, who impressed in the way only bit-part players can impress. Speaking of which, Jadeja has been retained. Fair enough, he did enough to avoid the axe, but not enough to avoid being always considered for it. Ojha, who I actually consider to be our best spinner on current form, is also there. Harby remains first-choice.

And the surprise of the day: Saurabh Tiwary, of Jharkhand and the Mumbai Indians, makes the cut. He was always on the radar because of his top form (domestic and IPL), but it's pretty strange that his chance arrives in the squad of the Asia Cup instead of the crap that just got over.

But hey, strange is the new normal, right?