The teams: Rest of India: Mohd. Kaif (captain), Parthiv Patel, Akash Chopra, Cheteshwar Pujara, Manoj Tiwari, S. Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, V. Yomahesh, Ranadeb Bose, Arjun Yadav.
Mumbai: Amol Muzumdar (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Sahil Kukreja, Ajinkya Rahane, Vinayak Mane, Prashant Naik, Hiken Shah, Ajit Agarkar, Vikrant Yelligatti, Iqbal Abdulla, Rajesh Verma, Dhaval Kulkarni, Avishkar Salvi, Omkar Gurav, Abhishek Nair.Thursday, September 27, 2007
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15 comments:
Why should Kaif be the captain of the RoI team is beyond me! Under him, the UP team won 1 game in 7 last year with Kaif scoring 249 run @ 27.66 with a highest score of 91. The RoI team should celebrate the achievers of the previous year not play the India-A team! And why Arjun Yadav is there in the team is a question that's been asked too many times. The selectors should be questioned on the retention of Kaif despite is awful failures for the A team in the last few months. There are far more deserving players in the domesitc set-up that deserve to play for the RoI team than Kaif.
BCCI should be congratulated for the new contract system Homer - they finally got it right. I'm happy that Arjun Yadav is not in there!
Prabhu, why dont you captain the ROI team ? Grow up kid, you have problem with every one. And the reason you seem to be happy for grading system is but obvious on one selection in Grade D.
The contracts allotted are mostly OK but for the odd debatable spot.
Why should Arjun Yadav be given a central contract? I don't think he has played for India recently or is in the immediate scheme of things.
The match should tell us what stuff of the new boys are made of and one more chance for those who wanted one.
More than Kaif, I really cannot understand Chopra's current ressurection. I mean, going back to a 30 year old who was discarded unfairly first, and now recalled unfairly. Kismet is a funny star.
What will Chopra tell us that we do not know already about him? What will he achieve by grinding out kids in the park? If he is out for low scores, what would that tell us? Amazing selectorial thinking, unless the board plans he plays for India as opener for another five years. Then quit the young bandwagon, send the kids home, and Chopra should then be playing each and every match for India...and he was missing in the India line-up for England when he was grinding county bowlers into the dust in England through the season! Then it was all youth and Dinesh K! Amazing logic! If a thirty-thereabouts has to be invested in, Sehwag is the best bet...a matchwinner anytime, and ideal partner with the phlegmatic Jaffer.
But there will be some huge moments here.
Soul,
Arjun Yadav was rhetorical man... :). Notice how he made it to the RoI team also, despite scoring only 325 runs last year @ 36.11 - I suppose it is par for the course considering that his captain has even worse figures.
Chopra is a shoo-in for the Australian Tour. I don't see why he should be disregarded just becos he is 30. I think Vengsarkar holds him in high regard and so does Dravid and hence the elevation out of nowhere. Batsmen are supposed to peak in their powers between the age of 29 and 33 and so Chopra still has a few good years. His recent 200+ against SAf-A will get him a seat on the Australia tour is my guess - of course it might all come down to RoI vs Bombay game also.
I suppose Gambhir, Jaffer, Sehwag, Karthik, Uthappa are ahead of Akash Chopra in the pecking order.
Arjun Yadav...jeez...there isn't much left that hasn't been said about him. The entire Hyderabad team quit!
Kartikeya, that would be the pecking order and why it is even more curious.
I don't have a problem playing the odd player in A team for the sake of balance and recognition. I certainly have no problem if the most experienced players are ranged on either side alongwith youngsters in domestic competitions. But central contracts means they are in the scheme of things...there I begin nit-picking.
Contracts aren't hand-outs and awards...Laxman couldn't merit an A level contract despite his efforts which Chopra can never match now. But this isn't about comparison for there isn't any...if Chopra can be rewarded, doesn't Laxman deserve a better deal? If Chopra isn't being rewarded, then what about the quartet you mention? What about the future etc we have heard them speak about? What about the platitudes used to justify DK's elevation (no grouse there mind you..just to illustrate) at that time?
Consistency is not someone's virtue.
But coming back to this Irani, it should be worth watching. I think, Neo should be telecasting, and all the names on the fringe of selection (some have earned central contracts as they are looked upon as future prospects) will be looking to give their best.
Homer, I don't know about the "team spirit" in the ROI...that's an intangible that rarely binds disparate selections like the World XI etc. as much as it does to a single team (I hope that made sense! I'm sure you've understood what I wanted to say)..for Mumbai, that shouldn't be much of a problem. So, unless that kicks in (team spirit transforms perfromances to another level) and Agarkar performs as he does domestically, ROI should have the slightest of edges.
The battle will be between ROI bowlers and Mumbai batsmen.
Homer,
Read your comments and Phaedrus' on Prem's site from yesterday. Funny how "Mumbai lobby" was pointed as the reason for playing Powar over Rohit. That was reaaallly funny.
I watched the game and thought Dhoni missed a few things, but certainly did have many positives. Impressive beginning I think - still fear if he can do it effectively in test over 5 days with keeping duties thrown in. remembereven Gilchrist said it was very difficult for him to do it?
Powar was terrible yesterday throwing up full-tosses to Clarke but I hope one bad performance does not make the axe fall on him. BTW, doesn't Rohit bowl leg-spin occasionally?
Nice thing about moving to Australia is the ability to watch these games on TV without paying for ridiculour Willow. Life is sweet man.
Did any of you watch the India A vs SA A game today?? My, what a thriller it was in the end!! And I must say that I liked the intensity and desire of this group.
This is a team which has been playing few matches on the A tours and has been together. I don't think 'team spirit' would be any less than those of Bombay players!!
I'm eagerly waiting for the match!
Soulberry,
Most of the ROI have been playing together in as India "A" so I dont think team spirit will be an issue. And they have Kaif as captain..
They should stretch Mumbai but you know who I will be rooting for :)
Cheers
Parbu,
MSD is not good enough ( on the basis of what I have seen so far) to hold a place in the team either as batsman or keeper in the 5 day version of the game.
Add to it the burden of batter, keeper and skipper over 5 days and MSD should not even be considered for Test Captain.
Cheers
PS:- The Mumbai Lobby has spoken :)
Chandan,
no coverage on Willow TV :(
Darn!!
Any reason why you aren't blogging since last 4 days, Homer?
Chandan,
was traveling the last 3 days.. Regular blogging resumes today :)
Cheers
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