Monday, May 04, 2009

Equal opportunity selectors

So the Indian T20 team has been announced. And the team break up is as follows

DC - 3 players (Rohit Sharma, Pragyan Ojha,RP Singh)
CSK - 2 players (MS Dhoni,Suresh Raina)
RR - 2 players (Yusuf Pathan,Ravindra Jadeja)
MI - 2 players (Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan)
DDD - 2 players (Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir)
KPXI - 2 players (Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan)
BRC - 1 player (Praveen Kumar)
KKR - 1 player (Ishant Sharma)

No franchise left behind!

As they say in Mumbai, Q benefits all!!

29 comments:

raj said...

The CSK Brand ambassador is not partial after all.
P.S: No Tamil players, deservedly so. This is the best team we have. Where are all the Chennai-bias accusers now? People were crying when Balaji, Vijay and Karthik made it to NZ, which was the right call on form. Maybe what they want is no Chennai player should be picked irrespective of good form, only then they will accept there is no chennai bias on Srikanth's part :-)

Homer said...

Raj,

Chennai? Last checked Bala, Vijay and Karthick played for Tamil Nadu.

And how do you justify two whistle podu's and 3 dhakkans in the side?

Bias, pure and simple :).

Cheers,

Q said...

"Q benefits all" - excuse me?

Homer said...

Q,

Queue benefits all :)

Cheers,

Q said...

Haha.. I thought as much but for a second I wondered wat in the world could I have done in selecting this squad ;-)

Homer said...

Cheers Q :)

RGB said...

It is a blunder not to have a reserve WK.We do not even have a Dravid or a Uthappa.

Anonymous said...

god 's sake, this squad is above IPL and relative to last T20 India played...thats beeen the benchmark for the selection!!

Homer said...

RGB,

5-6 matches max, weather permitting.Dont see the need for another wicket keeper, especially when the choice is limited to DK and PP.

Cheers,

Homer said...

Sam,

But it does include all franchises doesnt it?

Hence equal opportunity :)

Cheers,

RGB said...

Agreed the choices for reserve WK are not too flattering. But who is going to keep the wickets if Dhoni is injured on the morning of the match?

raj said...

hey homer, did you understand my comment at all or you are deliberately obfuscating?:-)

PSK said...

To extend Raj's point...

We certainly have come a long way from the past "regional quota systems".

Not a single TN/Karnataka player, just 1 from South Zone (believe Ojha plays for Hyd in Ranji?), yet no cause for complaint. And I am from Chennai.

And this was probably true of some of the recent ODI teams for matches in India/SL as well.

raj said...

PSK, yes. And all I am saying is the people who screamed bias even when Srikkanth(yeah, he is a joker, but give him credit where due) picked up the deserving Badri, Vijay and Balaji are quiet now and dont want to praise him for a fair selection.
For all his flaws, I remember Srikkanth on Tamil television rubbishing "north-indian" bias against Tamil players sometime in the 90's. He rightly observed that, in a squad of 14, 8-10 players pick themselves. 2 players are almost consensus. The 1-2 leftover, in a country like India, can be one of many equal options. No matter which option you choose, the rest of them are going to feel unlucky or victimised. This is a very good point, and shows that beneath the joker exterior, there lies an unbiased and clear thinker. Contrast with Ravi Shastri, who can communicate beautifully alright, but has nothing worthwhile inside that head or heart.

Homer said...

Of course I am being facetious Raj. Pretty good selection ( although I dont think the selectors had much to ponder about the places).

Cheers :),

Homer said...

RGB,

Its a risk we will have to take.

Cheers,

Homer said...

PSK,

A meritocracy at last?

Thanks for your comments and welcome to the blog.

Cheers,

Homer said...

Not this blog Raj.. I welcomed Bala coming back into the fold, although I am not certain Badri deserves his place in the side given the competition and his own performance.

And regards Ravi Shastri, with due respect, the man has made the NCA the feeder system it should have been for all these years. And let us not forget that Shastri, along with Gavaskar, were instrumental in getting Gary Kirsten as India coach.

So let us not berate the man for no fault of his own.

Cheers,

Aashrey said...

Pretty insightful. Never thought about it this way. But Karthik should have been there as reserve.

Gaurav Sethi said...

Ashrey, a few knocks more and Karthik would be thinkn differently - been there as captain

raj said...

Homer, on Badri, I dont think he can make the T20 or ODI team anymore. But I'd give him at least one chance in tests - certainly over Yuvraj, the Prince who Can Perform Only in Favourable Conditions. My long-term bets are like this:
Cheteshwar Pujara for Rahul Dravid
Rohit Sharma for VVS
Suresh Raina for Yuvraj Singh(Or erstwhile SCG position)
I'll keep an eye on Tanmay Srivastava and Shreevats Goswami as well. If Goswami is groomed as Wicket Keeper, he can take the Yuvraj Singh spot while Dhoni can play as batsman-captain.
As a Badri fan, I dream that he'll do a Mike Hussey and come in to the test team with a bang - but we all know thats not going to happen :-)

Whatever, I hope that brat Virat Kohli either corrects his attitude or just doesnt come anywhere near the national team - a poor man's Yuvraj, this guy.

Homer said...

Aashrey,

who would you have dropped to accommodate Karthik?

Cheers,

Homer said...

Maybe Raj, but the kid plays with heart and holds onto catches. unlike Badri :)

Cheers,

Aashrey said...

Lol, mine was just a sentimental choice.

But if you had to drop someone from the squad, I would drop Ravindra Jadeja. I think we have enough slow bowling allrounders as it is.

Just that one keeper seems too less for comfort.

raj said...

Homer, Badri is a fine fielder. Kohli is a showboat-fielder like Yuvraj. More likely to break in trying circumstances but looks good while dropping catches, and making easy catches look difficult, too. Rohit Sharma and Raina are the best fielders we have.
C'mon, you cant blindly hate Badri like this - playing with heart, c'mon, the kid plays with neither heart nor brain, its always my p**is is the biggest, and wants to prove he is the next Yuvraj, irrespective of what the team needs.
Your backing of Virat over Badri clearly shows that you just have got it against Badri and are just not open to reading facts about both.

Homer said...

Aashrey,

Fair call.

Cheers,

Homer said...

Raj,

Blindly hate is too strong an expression, dont you think? I did not make the initial comparison between Badri and Kohli, that was Badri.

Now that the comparison has been made, all of Badri's actions ( or lack thereof) will stand in contrast with Kohli.

And whether you like it or not, Badri is falling short in the comparison.

Does Kohli have an attitude? Does Badri have a mullet?Does either impact what they do on the field of play?

And since I dont seem to be privy to facts, enlighten me - in purely cricketing terms - on how Badri is a better bet than Kohli after he made his infamous comparison.

Cheers,

Anonymous said...

Raj, today Mr Badri playing in team led by Mr MS Dhoni, the "north indian" skipper of Indhia got out 1st ball duck to Pathan. And how a pull and straight to fielder.

And still he deserves to be in Test team just cos he is a Tamilian ?

Send him to Elam. He would certainly find a place in that team.

Regionalism has no place in CRICKET. Perform and get the reward. Doesnt matter if u hail from Mumbai or Madurai or Morena or Gujrat or Tripura. As simple as that.....

You get it? Regionalism has no place in cricket in India. May be you would like to hit East Indian Sourav Ghanguly for it ?

raj said...

Sam, you never understand anything people say. I will never argue with you. You live in your warped world, mate.
Homer, now there's a man who I like to argue with because the man cares to present fact-based logical arguments. We'll continue this discussion Homer. Right now, work's calling.