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| Cover drive from his debut innings |
By this time tomorrow, the first Test will be afoot at Lord's. If you've fallen into the hype-moat surrounding this series (who hasn't, really, except for one or two continents), then surely you must believe that this will be the best, most competitive Test series since the legendary West Indies v India saga of 2011.
There's every reason to lock yourself up with a TV, laptop, carbs in any form, and another TV (for weather reports): the #1 ranking at stake, Sachin's 100th 100 (possibly first at Lord's) followed by 10,000 (give or take 17) articles about his career, WAGs in the stands, and two most enticing matchups:
1) Pie-chucker meets Pie-lover
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| They're from different backgrounds, literally |
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| He'd trade a cow for those beans to know what the beanstalk would look like |
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| The Captains: Sammy and Dhoni |
D'you think he should be picked? There's now a poll on the right.
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.
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".
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.
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?
