India Emerging Players squad: S Badrinath (capt), Virat Kohli (vice-capt), M Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi, Abhishek Nayar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Pankaj Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pradeep Sangwan, Sudeep Tyagi
Probables: MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Munaf Patel, R Ashwin, M Vijay, Amit Mishra, Ajinkya Rahane, Dhawal Kulkarni, S Badrinath, Ashish Nehra, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar Singh, Wriddhiman Saha, Pankaj Singh.
So Manoj Tiwary is good enough for the Emerging Players squad but not good enough for the 30 probables? And Irfan is not even good enough for the Emerging Players squad? And R Ashwin is the number 2 choice offie ahead of Romesh Pawar? And is Amit Mishra the go to guy for all three formats of the game ahead of Piyush Chawla?
And why is Rahul Dravid in the mix?
Is he there because, as Cricinfo puts it -
But then, didnt Gavaskar, during the Sardesai Lecture state
His inclusion follows the recent struggles of Indian batsmen against short-pitched bowling, brutally shown up in the ICC World Twenty20 where Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan were troubled by bouncers from the West Indian fast bowlers. The problem continued in the subsequent ODI series in the West Indies.
Gavaskar also saw Indian batters' perennial weakness against short-pitched deliveries as something that was not an added concern as he felt it was due to lack of familiarity with bouncers that did the batsmen in.And didnt this happen only at Lords, now considered the bounciest and paciest wicket in England? Didn't South Africa pay the price for replicating the short bowling tactic against Pakistan in the T20 semifinals at Trent Bridge, a far less pacier and bouncier wicket than Lords?
"There's a lot of cricket (that has) been played where there were not many short balls, and so the balance tends to be on the front foot. Then when suddenly there are short pitched deliveries, you couldn't adjust to it. I think that's what happened (to the Indian team). I think there need not be too much concern about it," he said.
So, why are the selectors regressing?
10 comments:
This is what I don't get. If short bowling is still a problem, India has good fast bowlers, Synthetic turf pitches laid on concrete make for bouncy pitches, and old fashioned matting pitches make for scary short pitch bowling. It is not too hard to lay down two concrete slabs at all first class grounds and academies.
I learnt to play short pitch bowling on matting and artificial turf. Most Australians do. While Australian pitches have more bounce than Indian pitches, there aren't many club pitches with as much bounce as the Waca or the Gabba.
There is no excuse for Indian cricketers to come into the International game saying they haven't faced good short pitched bowling before.
UJ,
Is playing short pitched bowling a problem - that is the fundamental question. And are Indians alone n being uncomfortable playing the short pitched stuff?
I had written earlier ( here ) that Indians cant play short bowling is as much a misnomer as Indians being great players of spin - its plays along with the stereotype so it is propagated without recourse to fact.
Cheers,
This is assuming that the selectors are making logical decisions. We might be giving them too much credit.
In reality, they might be giving the whole thing a superficial look-over and rolling the dice.
Dont see a trouble in going back to experienced hands when the replacements are ripe and unprepared for the hard realities of international cricket.
Krish,
There is no dearth of talent in the country. So, why have the best 30 not been picked? And if the team composition is already decided ( barring injuries) then why the farce?
Is this the core that we will carry for 2011?
Krish Srikkanth has a lot to answer for, especially since the BCCI is paying him.
Cheers,
Sam,
So at what point in time will the "replacements" be ripe and prepared?
And what about stringing 5 series wins in a row?
Does Rahul Dravid fit into the framework for the 2011 WC?
Cheers,
I am not too unhappy to see Dravid back. If slow scoring was what kept him out of the team, I would pick him now. I feel that he played decent knocks in the initial matches of IPL. And he would add stability to the batting.
The other members do not excite me frankly. Except Sudeep Tyagi in the emerging members squad. He could be a good prospect.
I agree with you about Powar. Ashwin over Powar is a big let down.
K,
Is Dravid back in the scheme of things for 2011? If not, is he a stop gap?
If he is, what message does that send to the rest of the team? And what message does it send Dravid?
And if Dravid is not picked after being in the probables, what other message does that send him?
If the current squad plus the 4 absent players form the nucleus of the squad for 2011, the selection for the remaining 9/10 players should have been to supplement the core, not fracture it.
Saha as the third choice keeper after Dhoni and Karthik was a good call, but Mishra over Chawla? And is Pathan so far behind in the pecking order that he cannot find himself a slot?
And to think that the selectors are getting paid for this!
Thanks for your comments and welcome to the blog.
Cheers,
I think there is a higher percentage of Indian batsmen who struggle against short stuff compared with other countries. Just like there is a higher percentage of Australians who struggle against spin. Saying all Indians struggle is an exaggeration.
If it is a problem (the question needs to be answered by the BCCi really) then I believe it is one that can be fixed.
UJ,
There was also a time, not so long ago, when the M&M's made a "mockery" of the "best middle order in the world". And we had reams of news print on how the "new generation" cannot play spin.
We all know what happened next.
I think that the short ball issue is being made out to be a bigger problem than it actually is.
Except for one moment when Raina looked awkward against Anderson, none of the Indians looked like bobbing and weaving against the shot ball. If anything, they were ready to hook and pull. The problem was the pace of the wicket and the bounce meant that they were either late in the shot or were top edging the ball.
Cheers,
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