He's back.
And here's some brilliance from Rahane. Not the best angle but it's a screamer.
Couch Talk 196 with Simon Taufel
6 years ago
Showing posts with label sreesanth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sreesanth. Show all posts
IPL 5: The Worst XI
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.
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.
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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.
India's World Cup Squad
No, they haven't announced it yet, and I'm not sure when they'll do it, but it's likely to be soon (Jan 19 apparently), so here's what I think it should (and might) be. Because there just aren't enough opinions going around.
I'll start with the XI: the top 3 pick themselves, and it's arguably the best one going around. Sehwag, Sachin and Gambhir will only have the two practice matches to gel with the rest of the team, though, as they are currently cooling their heels at home, while Vijay is going about his business being inadequate.
Kohli has been stellar at #3, but he will have to move down the order with Gambhir back. This complicates things, as Yuvraj and his ego are at #4, and both can take their time to get going. I think the situation should decide where they bat - Yuvraj first when batting first, and Kohli first while chasing. Exception: Yuvraj first on a flat track, always.
Raina and Dhoni are at #6 and #7, but both are floating finishers, so they can actually pop up anywhere. #7 is a big question: do we go with a batsman or the spinning all-rounder? A month ago, if we were to opt for a batsman, it would be a toss-up between Rohit Sharma and Saurabh Tiwary. Sharma hasn't taken his chances of late (but the series vs RSA isn't over yet) and even though Tiwary did, he has been dropped - so he looks out of contention, which is unfortunate. Yusuf Pathan and his century (just one innings) seem to have nudged ahead, big game-changer that he is. Accommodating him, though, would mean leaving out one of Raina, Yuvraj and Kohli, which looks pretty implausible. Playing 7 batsmen looks extremely likely.
With the stocks so full, we won't have to worry about seeing Jadeja or Ashwin being useless at #7, or at any position for that matter, because Zaheer, PK and Harby pick themselves. Some time ago I might even have said that Nehra picks himself, but seeing his current form (and Munaf's), I don't think so anymore. Nehra can fill in for an opening bowler or be used when conditions favor him, but Munaf, with his accuracy, is a better choice as a first-change bowler.
I looked up Nehra's stats for the post-comeback period (starting 2009), and was pretty astonished at his economy rates (save for 2 series). Yes, there are some high-scoring and some pointless matches in there, but expensive is expensive (killer line, I know). When he's good, he's really good, but there will be these frequent spells where he just comes in and gets the faeces (we like to be technical) smashed out of him. Yes, he's good at the death, but you don't include a player just because he can bowl 2 good overs between 45-50. If you'd done a good job in the first 40 overs, maybe you wouldn't need to shut it down so much later on.
So that's 4 main bowlers, and then Sehwag, Raina, Yuvraj and Pathan/Sharma make one decent 5th bowler between them. That is the XI. The obvious subs are: Rohit, Yusuf, Nehra/Munaf, Ashwin. The others could be a back-up keeper, a batsman, or a fast (not really) bowler. So that's probably Parthiv Patel, Murali Vijay, or Sreesanth. It's unlikely that the extra keeper will be in the squad, so that rules out Patel. Which leaves Crap and Crappier (in no particular order). Sree is no limited-overs bowler, but our bowlers are more likely to be injured (Zak, Nehra, Munaf have the Platinum Healthcare plan), so Vijay may miss out.
Which leaves the squad to be composed. Which means I have to type it out.
Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (c) (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin.
Can I see some agreement/disagreement/abuse?
Pointless Notes: How awesome would be to see a wildcard like Rahane, Chawla, Irfan, even Dravid? Slightly amusing at first and then the heat would be on. Literally, effigies and all.
India v New Zealand - Preview
Starts in a couple hours, and has the potential to be either really entertaining or a snoozefest. We've seen some great cricket in the last few weeks, so groundsman permitting, this should be fun to watch.
Here are the squads, with the likely XI in bold:
India: MS Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, M Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra
New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (capt), Brent Arnel, Hamish Bennett, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Tim McIntosh, Andy McKay, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson.
India: Back to full strength
India picked their side for the Tests against New Zealand a just a while ago, and it will be a full strength XI barring freak injuries.
India: MS Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, M Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra
Gambhir, Ishant and VVS Laxman are all fit to play the first Test, which means that there is no place for Cheteshwar Pujara or Murali Vijay in the XI, despite their sterling contributions in the series victory against Australia. Unlucky, but they will be on track to take their positions in the future, and both Gambhir and Raina cannot take their spots for granted. Yuvraj, meanwhile, is getting further away from the Test side as I see it.
The inevitable has happened
So India's squad for the home tests against Australia has been picked. Most of it is as expected:
MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, M Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Sreesanth and Amit Mishra.
Gambhir walks back into the opening role, Zaheer is back as the spearhead, and Mithun is out despite showing promise.
The big inclusion, though, is the one I have cleverly italicized, followed by the italicization of 'italicized' for no reason at all.
Cheteshwar Pujara has finally made the cut, by "sheer weight of performance", as Srikkanth puts it. No shit, Holmes. He's still behind Raina and Vijay in the pecking order, but the big 3 aren't going to be around forever. Or maybe they are, if cricketing Botox becomes available soon. Crictox. Bocket.
Anyway, Yuvraj has now been dropped from the Test squad, where most people will agree that he never really belonged. Sure, he's had a couple of decent knocks. But so does Raina, his replacement, in only his debut series.
The Prince (of nothing) was also recently dropped from the ODI squad, though we know it was only rest. So does he, for that matter. First clue? Selectors calling him "India's trump card at the World Cup". He's just. That. Important.
Harbhajan is also back, inspiring me to bring out a new blog feature called "Terrible Metaphor".
Terrible Metaphor
If Harbhajan was milk, he is now Curd. The Curdinator. Something to do with expiry dates, I don't know.
End of Terrible Metaphor
Ojha is the second spinner, or is it Mishra? Who knows - they certainly don't.
Sreesanth is back again. This is a selection I'm pleased about - he still has his original skill set, and is only found wanting in the accuracy department. I'd open with him and Zaheer, definitely. Ishant Sharma is also around, probably just for Ponting. Venkatesh Prasad says he has a great work rate. Yeah, in your pants, Venky. (Inappropriate joke #1)
Heavy batting, thin bowling. Same as ever.
Stuff that's happened
The T20 World Cup has gone exactly as expected, no surprises have been sprung. The big 'uns have all progressed to the next round. The minnows showed some fight and, being minnows, were overpowered before bowing out. The Afghans were spirited in the field, and despite their pre-tournament fearlessness at facing Steyn, were butchered by the Saffa pace attack before Graeme allowed them a go at Albie. Also, this would have been the perfect time for Dean Jones to be back in the commentary box, but apparently no one saw the opportunity but me. Why am I not an ICC official?
Suresh Raina and Mahela Jayawardene showed us that the IPL is good for something, as both smashed hundreds for India and Sri Lanka respectively.
Sachin Tendulkar joined twitter, and verified his account by posting some geeky pictures of himself to prove that he's human (he's tricking us, don't believe a word of it!). He also already has more than 178,000 followers, and is literally gaining more than one follower every second. Keep refreshing his twitter page to see for yourself. (I am also on twitter)
India and Australia play today in what has the potential to be the biggest game of the tournament so far, though we will be missing Sreesanth, Hayden and Symonds. Harby alone just isn't enough drama. Hopefully Gambhir's stomach isn't runny anymore, so we don't have to open with Karthik again. Seriously, Rohit Sharma is a better option!
The other match is between Sri Lanka and the Windies. It may or may not be a close match, but it'll definitely be boring if Gayle and Dilshan don't score some runs.
I'm also brainstorming for more usage of Billy. Not much else.
