Indai-Australia Face-off

Once again India and Australia are set to lock horns on a cricket field and once again an Australian skipper says that playing India in India is the toughest assignment hitherto in his career. And, once again Team India are preparing or under-preparing to bask in another possible glory of beating the proven champions. Given the recent performances of the Team India, the cricket management and critics, both have had their sharp focus on the domestic cricket hoping that some of the problems of the national team could be solved. Alas! This could happen! 

However, the focus on the domestic cricket season was welcome and well timed. Inclusion of Shikhar Dhawan in the national squad is a positive result of that focus. Though, Wasim Jaffer would consider himself unlucky. He must rue the fact that he is aging with time! (But, who doesn't?) This poses the eternal question once again: Should age be a criterion for national duty? This comes at a time when the team has consistently failed in proving good opening stand exposing the middle order, which has failed more often than not in such situations. India has witnessed many disasters in test arena in past couple of years. 

Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman are gone and Sachin Tendulkar has played his innings. We can hear those words from the maestro any day. In such a phase of transition Jaffer would not have been a bad option. He is mature. He scores freely. He is dependable and has sound techniques. He may have one or two years of good cricket left in him at 34. His presence at the top may give some breathing experience to the likes of Kohlis, Pujaras and others. However, dropping Gautam Gambhir seems to have worked well and served its purpose. Gambhir hit a good century against the Australians while leading India 'A'. All the players must understand that their place in the national team is not to be taken for granted.

Harbhajan Singh may like to emulate in bowling what Gambhir in batting against the Kangaroos. Ishant Sharma would also sense an urgency to perform. No one can considered raw after playing more than 40 test matches. Virender Sehwag must think that he has been given one last chance to prove that he still has something to offer at the highest level. One hopes that a bespectacled Sehwag would be wiser.

On the other side, the Australians though have a depleted bowling attack, they are capable enough to bowl out India twice over five days. Australian skipper Michael Clarke does not think he is a fresher. Neither does Shane Watson think so. Watson can double up at a world class batsman and an equally good speedster. Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle have shown that they are dangerous against Indians. Fans must be waiting for a mouth-watering recipe of cricket February 22 onward. 

Chennai Mauls Delhi: Sehwag is no Dhoni

MS Dhoni is a dangerous customer when he leads a team in knock out stage. He has proved it time and again at various levels. All those who have taken him lightly in a crucial match have paid dearly. It was surprising to see Dhoni's India team-mate and 'bete noire' Virender Sehwag misreading the Man with Midas touch. Destiny had everything on Friday on Delhi Daredevil's side in the final qualifier of the IPL-5. Sehwag called the coin correctly only nullify the smiling lady luck by inviting Chennai Super Super Kings to bat on their home turf. Sehwag had a decent pool of players to choose from his playing eleven, but here he compounded his folly by leaving out the best bowler of the tournament and purple cap holder and making Sunny Gupta debut in the pressure match. 

Virender Sehwag's logic was that he wanted to strengthen his batting. But, going by his logic India should play only batsmen so that they theoretically capable to chase down any score. What a bizarre logic! And, this comes from a person who wants to replace MSD as Team India skipper! By leaving out Morne Morkel, whom even the South African national team does think of dropping from the team, Sehwag lessened the psychological pressure on the opposition because they only had to encounter the pace of Umesh Yadav and had to guide the pace of Varun Aron. Spinners from DD were easily available to be hit all around the park. He did not employ his best spinner, again in the name of strengthening batting. What David Warner, Mahela Jayawardane, Ross Taylor, Naman Ojha and he, himself, cannot do, Sehwag expected Gupta, Pawan Negi and Andre Russel to do. Only a non-cricketing brain can justify this. Sehwag proved himself to be possessing one such brain on Friday night at Chepuk Stadium in Chennai.

Delhi Daredevils lost the contest even before the match began. And, CSK had entered the final even without facing a ball. The rest was a formality, which was displayed and performed by the Dhoni's men in a very entertaining and clinical manner. Murali Vijay's treatment to debutante Sunny Gupta's first two balls that happened to be the first balls of the actual semi-final set the tone for the match. Vijay hit two boundaries of the first two balls and he kept hitting many more like that throughout the innings till he fell just a centimetre short of remaining unbeaten on the last ball of the CSK innings. His 113 off just 58 balls was a masterpiece of elegant power-hitting. Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Dwyane Bravo made hey while sun was shining. The result was the highest innings score of the IPL-5. Chennai made 222 for five in 20 overs. Varun Aron bore the most severe wound on his credentials as limited over bowler. He became the most expensive bowler in the history of IPL by conceding 63 runs in 4 overs.

Delhi began to finish their innings. Sehwag did not come out to bat with David Warner, who went back into the hut cheaply. Sehwag came, lived dangerously and went cheaply for 3. Only resolute display from Delhi came from team's classiest batsman, Mahela Jayawardane, who did not have support whatsoever from a 'strengthened' batting. Delhi lost and humiliated by 86 runs as they folded out in just 16.5 overs.

Delhi Daredevils Vs Chennai Super Kings was a match between madness and methodology. No surprise that methodology came out with flying colours. After all, madness suits on crowd and methodology on executors (read players).

Team India In Rotation

As Team India gear up to face Australia again in the ongoing tri-series on Sunday, I strongly object to the rotation policy once again. I just don't understand the logic of rotation, which is an option, if the players are wearing out. That is not the case here.

Many seasons ago, the then Team India skipper Saurav Ganguly lamented that getting into the national team had become easy for the younger players who took their position for granted. He wanted all the new comers to earn their places and not gifted to them in any way. But, the present set of thinkers in Indian cricket including skipper MS Dhoni seem to believe in some other form of cricketing logic. The bizarre policy of rotation of players from among Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in order to accommodate apparently Rohit Sharma, and perhaps, actually Suresh Raina, a very close friend of MS Dhoni and an important member of the Chennai Super Kings, owned by present BCCI president N Srinivasan. These two players have been given a free hand despite them not contributing to the team's cause for a fairly long period.

I am not in favour of giving either Tendulkar or Sehwag or Gambhir a guaranteed place in the playing eleven overlooking their performance. But, certainly, keeping them in the team in rotation is absurd and also humiliating to them. And, on the top of it, they are being denied a chance to play in order to ensure a place to those who may be dropped from the side on the basis of their performance. Sharma and Raina are still being treated as inexperienced bloke despite the fact that they have been around for a few years. Rohit Sharma has already played more than 75 games and Raina nearly 140. Tendulkar, Sehwag and Gambhir had become proven match winners after similar number of games. People would argue that Sachin took 79 games to score his first ODI century. But, should that matter? He had already become the most potent ODI batsman by then. Sehwag and Gambhir were equally good. Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, for that matter, still have to win such faith. Were Tendulkar, Sehwag and Gambhir given such a guarantee of making it to the playing eleven at the expense of any of the proven match winner? No, they earned their position in the team.

It is always preferable to pick the best eleven. If Rohit Sharma or Suresh Raina is talented enough and a certainty for Team India's future, let them perform first, in the games that they happen to play by virtue of their merit. If they are being accommodated today by rotating the most successful openers/players in ODI circuit, how will they manage when Yuvraj Singh returns in the second half of the year, if experts are to be believed? Sachin might have fallen out of ODI scheme of things by then, but can Yuvraj be subjected to the same dropped-by-rotation policy?

The question is easy and the answer is tough. But, the team management need not shy away from taking tough decision. If Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina suit to the team's requirement more than Tendulkar, Sehwag or Gambhir due to their fielding acumen, then this should be made clear to the players on rotation. Even then, only the best performers among the three should play. Even they don't like to be dropped or accommodated on grounds other than performance. This question will come up with more force as we approach Sunday, because according to the rotation philosophy, Gambhir will be dropped for the game against Australia for 'committing unforced errors while in nervous nineties' in two consecutive matches of his quota.