Stump Vision

An easy job for selectors picking the ODI team

2014-10-04T12:44:00.002+05:30

Shikkar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayadu, Dhoni, Jadeja, Ashwin , Mohit Sharma and Bhuvaneswar Kumar pick themselves for the 1st 3 ODIs against West Indies to be selected by Sandeep Patil & Co this evening.

10 members out of the possible 13 select themselves ahead for the playing XI. This leaves the selectors to pick the rest 3 - Dhoni always trusts with pacers than more spin options - so may be, the selectors will settle for 1 pacer, 1 batsmen and 1 spinner to make a 13-member selection for the 1st 3 ODI's.

But if I were part of the selection committee, I would definitely like to go with horses for courses and have the left-arm spinner in Akshar Patel and the wrist spinner in Karn sharma in my line-up and go with a 3 -way spin attack in my playing XI. Let us not forget that Akshar Patel is also a good finisher. Karn Sharma's good fielding ability makes him select ahead of Amit Sharma

As regards the pace department is concerned, I would like to have an allrounder in Binny so that takes care of the vacant batting slot too.

My 13 member team: Shikkar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayadu, Dhoni, Jadeja, Ashwin , Bhuvaneswar Kumar, Karn Sharma, Akshar Patel, Mohit Sharma, Binny.

Naraine ban - CSK has the edge over KKR in CLT20 final Clash

2014-10-03T14:06:00.000+05:30

The fact that Narain has been barred from the playing XI for the CLT20 final, must have made CSK believe to come through to lift the trophy one other time during this final clash over their arch rival KKR on Saturday. At the same time, this ban must have come as a huge blow to KKR as it looks forward to secure an extended winning streak to 15. I have been a close observant of Gambhir's captaincy who has been having 4 spinners for his comfort this season with the likes of Naraine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav and Pathan - Naraine being the leading wicket taker.

I am great fan of having spinners to start off the bowling attack. I remember Dhoni using Ashwin in the initial IPL tournaments. Full credit to Gambhir – he has been astute of employing spin as his main weapon. Yes, he has quickly understood the weakness of his oppositions and attacked with the spinners from the first ball. Once the opposition lost 2-3 wickets in their initial 6 overs, Gambhir had the option of introducing the likes of Kuldeep Yadav or Chawla to further demoralize the opposition. Here is where I sincerely believe that Dhoni missed the trick in the IPL matches when Bravo was absent and during the current CL matches by not bringing on Badree and instead went ahead with the deadly combination of 4 foreign bat hitters. And I was pleasantly surprised him bringing Negi in the semi-final clash as the 3rd spin attack option. And with this spin attack option, I strongly believe that he has his playing XI right. Negi's 2 wickets at the right time, proved decisive for CSK.

KKR team has been in their peak form right from their 1^st match. But what needs to be noted is that they have not been tested with their full strength. If CSK posses 180 plus on board, batting first, it will be a sure curtains for KKR team, as CSK’s current bowling options and hence its attack is a killer to any strong opposition like KKR.

I am also in awe of the fact that CSK was able to prove how strong a team can be by scoring 182 in their semi-final clash against Kings XI Punjab with Dhoni, McCullum, Smith and Suesh Raina totaling only 26 runs between them. With CSK peaking at the right time, odds are definitely in favor of them.

My Playing XI:

CSK: Mccullum, Smith, Raina, Faf du Plesis, Bravo, Jadeja, Dhoni, Negi, Ashwin, MM Sharma, Ashish Nehra

KKR: Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Kallis, Manish Pandey, Pathan, Surya Kumar, ten Doeschate, Russel, Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav and Umesh Yadav/Pat Cummins

Do problems lie with the Indian Cricket body or the players themselves?

2012-11-27T10:27:00.003+05:30

It looks like we are unable to playing spinners at our home conditions, it looks like we are unable to playing swing bowling abroad, it looks like we are unable to spin the ball at our home conditions, it looks like we are unable to swing the ball abroad - What are we able to do for us to be aware of?

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I am just comparing the just concluded 2nd Test Match between South Africa and Australia and the Test match between England and India. A debutant in the name of Flu de Plassis, who is remembered for his IPL instincts with CSK, dug out for more than 7 hours to save his country from a real humiliation. An injured in the name of Kallis, who could not bowl more than 3 overs, has represented for South Africa more than 100 Tests and who has proved his country time and again, played with epitome again to save his country in both the innings. This goes to prove that their country comes supreme ahead of everything else - yes, there is a national pride....

I think where India India lost the match is in its approach to the game itself - A Sachin does not know where his off stump is, a Kohli does not know how to play a full toss ball, a Sehwag does not know how to counter spin coupled with Ashwin who does not know how to spin on a spinning track sums it all. If one removes the Pujara-factor out of the equation, it looks like Indians were under prepared, yet again, for another series. There is no national pride, it seems, representing Indian cricket...

The same team under the same captain, which saw its heights after winning the World Cup in 2011, has not come to its own terms thereafter sums up the attitude to the approach of this Indian maddening sport.

This makes us to believe that playing for India is considered no importance than while representing their respective franchisees in IPL. Do you think cricket administrators are unaware of this? So, has this lot to do with the activity outside the cricket field? Is Politics within the Indian team or the entire Indian cricket body - that is what we need to think for now.... Will restructuring the Indian team take away the current problem? Or is the Indian Cricket Body too involved (or egocentric) with the day-to-day functioning and running of the happenings in the cricket field?

When did these problems begin - Is it when the new management took over?

We seem to be having more of 'yes men' kind of people at the helm of affairs who report to a single person than to the cricket body.... and that is where the problem begins and continues to run..... Till such time we fail to handle this, we will continue to have more problems in the Indian cricket field...

Test Squad announced: Yuvi & Bhajji drafted

2012-11-05T19:12:00.000+05:30

The announcement of the Test squad by this selection committee was on the expected lines - almost all the players have retained themselves in the squad. The surprise element, I would say, is M.Vijay and Harbhajan Singh.

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Rahane has already been inducted as a 3rd opener, incase Sehwag, is unable to take the field against England, but, with the induction of M.Vijay, the selectors did spring a surprise by including him as the 4th opener. I would have expected a middle order batsman, in the likes of Badrinath to take the position atleast for the next couple of years. This also means that the door is shut for Badrinath for good. Sandeep Patil clarifies that Rahane has been selected as a middle order batsmen.

Another notable inclusion is Bhajji - I think this is based on the World Cup T20 performance against England and the selectors would want to repose their faith on him on that single performance. Now that Dhoni does not have much time to retain his position as Captain, it will be interesting to see whether he will take any risk to include Bhajji in the playing XI.

Hats off to Yuvi for his single dedication to capture his place where he lost due to his cancer treatment. Bravo Yuvi, you have not only done yourself proud, but, to the entire world.

My playing XII will be as follows

Sehwag, Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Sachin, Pujara, Yuvaraj, Dhoni, R.Ashwin, Ojha, Zaheer, Umesh, Rahane

The 1st Test starts on November 15th at Ahmedabad.

WI has a date with winning Final

2012-10-08T09:49:00.001+05:30

In my first column much before the commencement of the World Cup T20, I had indicated that it will be West Indies or Sri Lanka who will be lifting the trophy.

...And it was nice to see the two teams clash for the BIG FINAL on Sunday....

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West Indies celebrate victory against Sri Lanka in the final of World Cup T20 played in Colombo on Sunday

Yesterday's game was purely a mind game - It was a question of who adopted to the mind game earlier to the situation. The 1st 34 runs were scored off 60 balls and the next 104 in the next 60 balls. Mahela continued the pressure through out but opting out Herath for a big final is really a big question mark!! From my perspective, the game changer was Malinga's 13th over, where he was plundered for about 21 runs in one over and that eased the pressure. Samuels got out, with his personal contribution of 78 from a total of 108 runs and still with 3 wickets to go, we all thought that would be a familiar sight for the closure of the WI innings but that was not to be... Sammy made sure that nothing went amiss. 140 runs on a slowish track was too good a score for SL to chase.

To get rid off Dilshan off a beauty from Rampaul, put the skid on SL run chase. Mahela and Kumar were struggling through out their run chase....And once the pair split, it was a case of panic that set in the dressing room with an added drama of a possibility of rain. The net out come - wickets started to fall in a heap and though there was a late revival from Kulasekhra, the target were too stiff to chase.

I like the astute captaincy of Darren Sammy - He just picked one fast bowler and did not try the option of Bravo/Pollard - instead he gave much option to spin combination.

I am sure you must enjoyed my coverage. I will be grateful, if you could post your comments on this

Its Aussies Vs W.Indes, Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan for a Semi-Final spot

2012-10-03T09:58:00.001+05:30

Having been at 46/3in 6.1 overs, I would have expected Dhoni to be more positive with his approach by giving Ashwin the next over. Instead he gave it to Balaji, who conceded 13 runs in that over thus making life further difficult for himself and India to take it to Semi-Finals.

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This Indian team looks good on paper, but, when it comes to execution, it always depends on the performance of certain individuals like Kohli, Dhoni, Pathan and Ashwin. If one or two of these fail, then the team fails. Such is the dependency of these individuals and even if it looks heavy on the paper, they fail miserably as a unit. This is one of the reason that I have not rated India to make it to the semi-finals. It was pathetic to watch Gambhir and Sehwag get out yesterday - sometimes I felt if it was worth spending our time on this!!

It is high time India looks beyond certain individuals, like how Aussies have done. Have a very young team which means that Gambhir, Sehwag, Rohit, Zaheer, Balaji should all go. Make Kohli as the captain of the T20 and his aggressive and positive approach along with the induction of Under-19 performance will see India more balanced, probably, a year from now.

To me, as predicted earlier in one of the columns, I see West Indies and Sri Lanka to make it to the finals.

Determined Indians tackle overaggressive Pakistan

2012-10-01T09:28:00.001+05:30

Over aggressive and over confident Pakistan could not tackle the pressure created by Dhoni initially and later by Sehwag and Kohli.

Dhoni was very focused and so was his team right from the word 'go'. That only 100 runs were scored between the 3rd and 20th over tells the way with which the Indians bounced back. To me, Dhoni's captaincy proved too much for Pakistan.

He started off with Zaheer and Irfan, brought Balaji in the 5th over. Knowing that the ball does not come off the pitch, brought on Kohli to put further brakes on Pakistan. He used Kohli and Yuvaraj to a great extent that 3 wickets fell in the space of 4 overs that literally put scoring in great difficulty.

Kolhi 3rd over put some damage to the Indian attack after a no-ball bowledl - 15 runs were scored off that over. Dhoni rectified that immediately and brought on Ashwin and the wickets started to crumble yet again.

Kolhi is in such a tremendous form with the bat. Unfortunately if Kohli fails, the rest of the Indian team could not carry it forward, as was seen against the Aussies. It is high time that the Raina's, Sehwag's Gambhir's of the world perform around Kohli.

I really liked the determination of Indian players against this Pakistan team. I only wish Dhoni and boys continue with such great effort for all the remaining do-or-die matches.

Now, with this drub against India, Pakistan faces Aussies in a must-win situation. If they loose the match, the NRR will surely be below India's. Then all India have to do, is improve the net run rate, even if they loose the final match against South Africa.

Australians have arrived!!! Indians have fled!!!!

2012-09-29T10:14:00.002+05:30

It has been a day where I felt that something went amiss with the 2 captains on the field. It was a case of both the captains resigned to the situation.

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Yes, to me, South Africa lost from the jaws of an easy win. What went wrong!! I think everything went quite okay with Botha, Duminy required 2 more overs to go and between them they were hit only for 15 runs and both had taken a wicket each. That was the 15th over of Pakistan innings when the score read 76/7. That was also the time when the ball was supposed to stop and not come on to the bat further. It was supposed to bounce and turn as well. All was right for commenting the picture and then this happened.

Bowlers like Kallis, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel and Steyn were steaming in made the ball come onto the bat nicely and made easy for Pakistan to seal off the match. In the space of 4 overs Pakistan pocketed about 50 runs with the loss of 1 wicket and that sealed the semi-final spot for Pakistan.

But atleast South Africa might feel that they are still in the match given the awful performance of India in the Group A

As regards India is concerned, Dhoni had everything wrong. The non-selection of Sehwag in the final XI, continuing with Ashwin, even knowing for the fact that the spinner cannot grip the ball, due to the wet conditions, added to the foe. The final hara-kiri he committed was asking Irfan Pathan to bowl the 7th over, when the ball had lost its sheen then.

I am sure with this contribution India cannot make it to the Semi-Final and that is the reason I have not rated the 4th spot in my prediction. Now there will be a tough spot for the 4th place, which will be the match played on Saturday between South Africa and Australia.

Batting conditions favors Group B

2012-09-28T09:47:00.001+05:30

Sri Lanka and West Indies must have been pretty pleased with the fixtures they had got to play against New Zealand and England respectively. At the same time, they must also have sensed that the conditions at Pallakale will suit both the teams for the simple reason that the ball will come onto the bat for the best part of the match. Added to this, they must also have sensed that there could be no considerable zip and turn for the opposition to worry about. Though these two former teams must have been pleased with the line of fixtures in the Super 8 group, now they must be wondering that it is their batting skill and not spin bowling that will take them to the next level.

Yes, that has exactly happened. This is the main interesting part of the tournament wherein the tougher group play at the Premadasa Stadium which will invite most turn and zip when compared to the Group 'B'

For the match against England, Sammy was little over aggressive in that he allowed Badree to bowl 3 of his 4 overs before Morgan had taken guard. That he tried the all-spin option at Pallakelle was a wasted one as I feel he has not read the conditions well. He would have had Bravo and/or Pollard the slow medium bowling options and checked whether the ball must have come off the pitch. That Naraine can bowl only on a spinner paradise in now becoming a known commodity.

For the match against Sri Lanka, I think it is the captaincy that lost the match. When you are inviting McCullum to bowl the 1st over to Dilshan, he has already invited trouble for himself 17 runs were scored off the 1st over and that proved costly towards the end. Also, having to send Guptill to open the super-over is again a wasted option - He could have tried either himself or Franklin for such an important innings.

This means that England and New Zealand have to start off the super 8 again, leaving them to win all the 2 remaining matches. To me, with the win Sri Lanka and West Indies have already made it to the Semi-Final, which is in line what we had predicted before the tournament had begun.

Super 8's finalized!!!

2012-09-25T12:18:00.000+05:30

Yes, Stump Vision is finalizing the probable team to meet at the semi-final stage, though there is one more match to be played by Pakistan and Bangladesh in the preliminary groups, it is a foregone conclusion that Pakistan will win this battle with much ease.

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Following teams will face-off while Super 8's -

Group A

India

Australia

South Africa

Pakistan

Group B

NewZealand

Sri Lanka

England

W.Indies

Group A is much tougher of the group. By the looks of the form, it will be between South Africa, Pakistan and India making it to the Semi-finals.

Group B is much easier of the group. I am sure West Indies and Sri Lanka will make it to the last four.

Does anyone want to contest this?

Broad's narrow mindset shoots England down

2012-09-24T09:44:00.002+05:30

It was a point, game and match awarded to India at the time of the toss itself - Knowing very well that all new England players with the likes of Hulex, Wright, Butler, Bairstow, Morgan have not faced much spin in their career so far and still asking India to bat first after winning the toss did Broad invite a lot of trouble there and then.

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To me, that sealed the match. That Premadasa pitch is a typical Chennai pitch, where the ball does not only come to bat, but also spins a lot as the match progresses is a known theory across the world. Also, Broad did make another error in judgement - he fancied a bouncy track to suit his fast bowlers and all the fast bowlers fed the Indian top order with short pitched stuff. There was no deep square leg or deep mid-wicket to support the thought process, and Indians were allowed to hook with disdain.

Dhoni, on the other hand, did not have to face any wrath from the media or his fans, on the team selection process. That he had to 'rest' Sehwag and Zaheer shows his growing stature within his team. He had the guts to deploy Harbhajan and Chawla and both did the skipper's choice with aplomb.

Indians did the have the task cut out and came out on the winning side professionally. Each member did that with perfect style. I like Dhoni coming up the order ahead of batsmen like Raina and Yuvaraj. I wish he does that during ODI's and Test matches too...

The way Harbhajan and Chawla bowled in tandem, it set up the match for India. Within the span of 8 overs, they had taken 7 wickets between them and sealed beyond repair.

More Good news for India - Now India will play against Aussies on 28th Sept at Premadasa Stadium.

Rain and Watson eases Aussies

2012-09-23T10:49:00.003+05:30

Having scored 185+ and still being in the loosing side, must be the disappointing thing to overcome for Sammy. But he has to be blamed for his poor captaincy.

Naturally he should be aware that there could be rain and that a complete 20 overs cannot be bowled. Instead he gave Sunil Naraine just the 1 over and did not allow Gayle or Pollard to put any breaks on Aussies. The ball was coming onto the bat quite nicely and WI bowlers fed Watson and Hussey on eith er a full length or short pitched stuff. Both of them picked with some elan and that was enough for pitting it through past WI. Sammy did not do the home work as he thought 187 was enough for WI to scrap them home. But that was not to be...

On the other hand, Watson and Hussey had their task cut out. Both were aware of the rain and played very sensibly as they along with Warner took to the opposition right from the 1st ball. That is the aggressive nature of Aussies that was missing post Warne era.

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My worry is that as the tournament progress, bowlers will come handy, as the ball will stop and come to the batsmen. But, I have not seen any slow bowlers shinning consistently so far, though I am commenting quite early in the tournament.

Aggressive SA puts it past SL

2012-09-23T10:40:00.001+05:30

A new look vibrant team that had unity, aggressiveness and focus was enough for South Africa to put it past Sri Lanka.

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Though each team had only 7 overs to play for, nevertheless, SA team showed that determination and grit alone will ensure a safe passage to maul Sri Lanka.

Each batsmen lead their own way and the profile that was scripted to each of them were implemented in use successfully The added advantage of having Kirsten at the Head of Coach is doing wonders to this team.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, looked perplexed. They had no clue as to what was happening and they were never prepared for the 7 overs game. That Malinga had to bowl 2 overs, was itself a very defennsive captaincy since he was already belted in the first over. Malinga generally looses confidence and remains so in the remaining overs.

The batting order looked out of sorts. I expected Jeevan Mendis to open with Dilshan and expected Perara to follow suit in his uncustomary 1 drop roll.

Nothing went SL way right from the toss and there is nothing to loose as both this team qualify to the next stage

India passes muster against Afganisthan

2012-09-20T09:29:00.000+05:30

I was first surprised to see the selection of the team - The ball was stopping and coming during the Ireland-Australia match and still India went with three pedestrian fast bowlers who could have been mauled by a better batting team. That 32 runs were scored off Zaheer in just 3 overs with no variations coming from the veteran clearly defies logic.

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I thought India should have added extra spinner to their forte instead and that would also have made Harbhajan to come back to form. Knowing Dhoni, I wont be surprised if he walks with the same team against England on 23rd Sept.

It high time Sehwag and Gambhir does a talking with their respective bats. Even in T-20, they are seen playing away from the body and they both were vulnerable against fast bowling. The ever dependent Kohli had to again to some rescue act. This is the main reason I am not backing India to reach the Semis. On paper India looks good but on the field, it is a completely different story.

I only wish Dhoni had one more bowler in the likes of Ashwin. Man, this guy has been splendid and he has been the main bowler who put the brakes on this batting line up. That he accounted for the dangerous Md. Nabi at the crucial moment, did India in. To me, the Indian spinners controlled the Afganisthan attack with aplomb. That 5 wickets were taken between 2 spinners at the cost of 44 runs speaks volumes of the performance of Yuvaraj too, the comeback man!!

Dropping Zaheer and making Piyush Chawla play for the next game could be an ideal situation for Dhoni to make early inroads to the England XI. Ashwin can always open the innings for the 1st over only.

Let me catch up with an analysis on Zimbabwe Vs South Africa match that will be played tonight.

Sri Lanka is the 3rd team to join the Semi-Final Stage

2012-09-15T13:20:00.001+05:30

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If Indians had the opportunity to win the world cup 2011 in India, it could be also the turn of Sri Lankans to lift the 2012 in Colombo.

Under Mahela, this team is a dashing unit. Mahela translates his aggressive instincts to his entire team. The only cause of worry is their over-aggressive ambition that might put them to a downfall.

As long as the entire team plays around SangaKara/Mahela , there is no cause for worry as Sri Lanka is concerned.

They have a great bowling line who also knows the conditions of their home ground situations - Malinga's ripping yorkers, Kulasekara's inswinging dippers will add to the fear some list. Herath knows the conditions much better than any body else and he will be a crucial weapon in this squad.

As like Pakistan, Sri Lanka's major strength lies in their all-round ability and the team can cash-in on Angelo Mathews, Perera, Jeevan Mendis and Dilshan. Their second biggest strength lies in Sangakkara and Mahela.

Their batting unit is boosted by the presence of

Mahela
Dilshan
Sangakarra
Chandimal
Jeevan Mendis
Thirammane

They are lined-up in Group C along with Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Pakistan is the 2nd team to reach the Semi-Final stage

2012-09-12T09:38:00.001+05:30

After loads of internal cricket issues and relationships that marred their march to the top level ICC rankings, Pakistan is back again with oomph of confidence.

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Yes, they are very aggressive and one can see that they have molded into one unit. They are highly skilled, yet, when they give an impression that they play for each other is a dangerous sign for all the opponents.

That is the main reason I have already placed them in the semi-final group.

Their batting boasts of the following, though at times they seem to throw away the wicket.:

Mohammed Hafeez

Umar Akmal

Imran Nazir

Azad Shafig

Afridi

It is their bowling and fielding unit that will cause anxiety in the opposition ranks

Saaed Ajmal

Md. Hafeez

Shahid Afridi

Umar Gul

Abdul Razzaq

This would also mean that even if they score around 120 runs, they have their bowlers that can restrict their opposition within that.

They are in Group D and they play the likes of Bangladesh and NewZealand who are incapable of facing spin. If I were Hafeez, I would have the above 2 bowling all-rounders like Ajmal and Umar Gul and pack the rest with the batsmen and batting all-rounders.

So the mantra for Pakistan players is that they play as a unit as their aggressive skills will take care of themselves..

West Indies is the Team to watch this ICC T20

2012-09-10T19:39:00.001+05:30

After having been in the rut, close to 3 decades, West Indies, have finally started to believe in themselves and are the most capable of teams to lift the World Cup T20 2012 in Colombo.

Given the nature of Srilankan pitches and weather, I am sure they can beat anyone on any given day. The ball will not come onto the bat as the torunament progresses and spinners and slow blowers will rule the roost

The credit for having brought the team to this level goes to the coach Gibson and the skipper Darren Sammy. To me, Sammy is a kind of Mike Brearly of England - He was in the team as a captain and he would bat anywhere in the playing XI. Darren Sammy is very close to that - He is in the team, not in the original capacity as an allrounder, but, more to do with his leadership skills. I really salute the way he tackled India in Indian conditions, in more than 1 match where he got defeated from the jaws of victory.

Coming back to the squad that were selected, This is one team which is also stacked with all-rounders - Gayle, Samuels, Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Russell, Sammy and the batting order looks very strong and formidable for them -

Chris Gayle

D.Smith

M.Samuels

Darren Bravo

Dwayne Bravo

Pollard

The bowling has been packed with spinners and Sunil Narine is the player to watch. I wont be surprised if he is asked to bowl the 1st over.

Spinners

Naraine

Samuels

Gayle

Medium Pacers

It is the medium bowlers who will take lot of middle order batsman wickets, since the ball will not come onto the bat.

Pollard

Bravo

Sammy

Fast Bowlers

RamPaul

Edwards

They will meet Australia and Ireland in their Group and it should be cake-walk for them. On paper, it looks the most destructive team.

My playing XI will be as follows

Gayle, Smith, Samuels, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Pollard, Russel, Edwards, Ramdin, Sammy, Naraine

All Sammy has to do is win the toss and elect to bat, the pitch will take care of the rest.

Who will win the World Cup T20 in Sri Lanka

2012-09-10T13:46:00.001+05:30

Stump Vision is back in action after a lull period of 1 year.

To begin with, StumpVision will kick-start on 11th September, with an update of the likely Semi-final spots that would actually happen only by 4th October at Colombo

Fans, this is a great opportunity for you - Yes.... - An Award from Stump Vision for the top 3. Please don't miss out on this opportunity!!

What we would like you to do!!! Just RIP us apart

(a) Register with us on the website

(b) Indicate the Semi-Final Spot and Why

How and Where has the Indians gone wrong?

2012-01-27T12:01:00.000+05:30

India's continued woes of poor form, has put the BCCI into a shock and shame.

When I look back into the last 9 months of India's disastarous performance, I feel the following reasons simply weigh heavily, not that it requires a scientist to tell us.

Reflexes of Indian Batsman has waned:

Yes, to me, this is the prime most reason for this illfated away tour. When India played against W.Indies in India, the re was not only any swing in the air but also the ball will come onto the bat much slower. Thus Batsmen had time to wait and play for the shots. But, in England and Australia, the ball not only swings in the air but off the pitch as well. This coupled with ball coming onto the bat at around 150 kmph requires batsmens to have reflexes and poor reflexes lead down to the top order batsmen lead to the dismissal. This can be attributed to the ageing of the team. Out of 6 batsmen, we have 4 batsmen who have crossed their prime age and 3 batsmen who are bound for retirement 2 years ago. If one needs to see the average of the batsmen till date, it reads as Sehwag, 25, Gambhir-23, Dravid-27, Sachin-40, Laxman-17 and Kohli-40. Whereas Aussies average of the top order includes Warner-44, Cowan-34, Marsh-3, Ponting-109, Clarke-125, Hussey-59. Though Hussey and Ponting must be mulling over their retirement plans, their reflexes and ftness are much superior to that of Indians. This reflex problem has lead to catches being dropped at slips, with what Dravid and Laxman dropping catches allowing batsmen to score runs at will.

The avrage Opening Partnership is 15 during the last 9 months:

Yes, when No.3 and No.4 batsmen are at the crease within the 1^st 10 overs for about 16 innings, this tells the sorry state of affairs of the Indians openers. Thus the negotiating of new ball rests with the No.3 and No.4 and not with No.1 and No.2

When Ponting can Demote to No.4, why cant Dravid?

When Ponting was not scoring runs, Clarke demoted himself, to allow Ponting to play at No.4, so that the middle order does not cave in. This allowed Ponting to score runs heavily against Indians. When the Wall started caving in, innings after innings, it would have been wiser to send Kohli at No.3 and Laxman at No.6.

Indians did not play to their strength.

MSD was mindful of 2 bowlers injuring themselves again at the start of the tour, but still took the risk of playing both the fast bowlers in Zaheer and Ishant. India did not play to the advantage of the pitch that was offered – Melborne, Sydney and Adelaide. These are pitches that will offer turn and bounce and Aussies are not good players of left arm spin. Still Indians missed the trick by not trying Ohja on these conditions. Including him would also have been a slow run rate by Aussies as well.

Attitude, really a big question

The attitude of the Aussies were simply too good – When they lost to NewZealand, with 9 days to go for the start of the Test match against Indians, the Coach and the Seniors met them in Brisbane to provide finer batting skills that deprived of the much needed rest. But, Indians, were seen practicing only 3 days prior to the 3^rd test match, though there were 9 days rest between the 2^nd and the 3^rd. This sums up the attitude.

What should be done to revamp this?

Its easy to remain in this side but not talking much on the revamping side. Yes, this calls for a complete overhauling of the current system, if need to retain the No.1 slot in Test cricket and not mere tweaking this Indian side.

Short Term Goal:

(a) I feel today, Indian selectors are expecting Senior players to understand the situation to make way for youngsters so that things will fall in its place automatically. Instead Give Dravid, Laxman and Sachin an altimatum - a time slot to depart from the scene. Allow Rohit, Kohli, Raina, Pujara, Badri to NCA to get most of the practice even during off-season. Give them a time of 2-3 years or 10 test matches before trying others.

(b) All Top Indian Test batsmen should play atleast 2-3 ranji Trophy matches, when there is no Test Cricket and their selection will be on the basis of having played the requisite matches. I haven't seen Sachin, Laxman, Sehwag, Gambir, MSD nor Dravid play for their respective state in the recent times

(c) Remove Duncan Fletcher as the Coach since I honestly feel that they disregard him. Remember last when the performance was miserable, it was later learnt that it was Greg Chappel who played the spoil sport and things got changed because of the presence of Gary Kirsten. Thus appoint aggressive former Indian players as the coach. To me, while Ganguly can be made as the Indian Coach (atleast this will allow a youngster to play for Bengal Ranji side :-)), and Kumble to be made as Motivational Mentor. Indian players have great regard for these two men.

(c) Take care of Rohit, Kohli in such a way that they should not play National T20 matches. Have horses for courses. Test cricket is a different league altogether. Preserve these players for preserving test cricket. Cricket is not about money it is about pride that they for India.

Long Term

Pitches in India should help fast bowlers. All curators in India should convene a meeting to discuss the soil from which it can help them to deliver bowling fast. There should be some pitches which should only aid spin. BCCI should appoint a committee and review the system every month to ensure that these things happen.

Top Indian Test batsmen and bowlers should play only 2-3 IPL matches, thus ensuring that the slog hitting is different from test cricket batting, but enure the payment is for the entire course of the tournament.

There has to be batsmen for Test cricket and bowlers for Test Cricket, so that injury scares are handled properly..

India A team should be sent to England and Australia every year. India A team should be the combination of players who have helped their team to reach the knock-out phase i.e., quarter-final level.

Summary:To me, the Ranji Trophy systems itself needs a completing overhauling since teams are satisfied with 1st innings lead. This defensive attitude and mindset is already set in their young age and this continues to evolve even after they wear their national cap. What is learnt in the young age refuse to die hard.....

Tamil Nadu players lack killer instinct

2011-12-01T17:03:00.001+05:30

When India needed only 2 runs to win off the last ball against West Indies, in the recently held Mumbai test, I could not console myself when Ashwin had completed only 1 run, whereas Aaron had completed 2 runs. The body language from Ashwin was already to give up when the shot was hit towards the long-on. The killer instinct was lagging there completely. Had Dhoni or Kohli would have been there, we would have seen a brown wash against the West Indies team.

Such has been the woes of Tamil Nadu players that even though they are rated as the best team in the nation, on paper, they are unable to to go beyond semi-final in the Ranji Trophy matches. This attributes to the lack of killer instict or the lack of self-beleif and in some cases, they rate themselves more than the team.

Right from my young age, I have seen many stalwatrs of yesteryears inclduing V.Sivaramakrishnan, L. Sivaramakrishnan, T.E.Srinivasan, Bharat Reddy till the recent Tamil Nadu players like Badrinath, Balaji, Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Dinesh Karthik and Ashwin – So far, only 2 players have emerged successful in the Indian National ranks – Krish Srikkanth and S.Venkataraghavn. It is because these 2 players were not only aggressive but ensured that their contribution was more towards the welfare of the team.

Everyone reading this column will agree that Murali Vijay or Abhinav Mukund are better players than Rahane. Yet, The national selectors prefer Ajinkya Rahane for the Aussies tour simply because Rahane play for the situations and has self-beleif making the on-side management beielve that he can win matches, through his contributions. There are other young players in Kohli, Raina, Rohit Sharma excelling for the simple reason they have their killer instinct, have beleif in the themselves and more importantly, play for the cause of the team.

With the onset of IPL an d the Tamil Nadu players emerging with players like Suresh Raina, Dhoni, Hussey, Morkel etc., I only hope the self-belief of these players also changes with time.

Middle Order batsmen make India sweat for an Innings win!!

2011-11-17T16:57:00.000+05:30

Indians have taken 64 over more overs today to bundle out W.Indies, after they had bowled 62 overs yesterday int he 2nd innings. Yes, with 126.3 overs overall, W.Indies made India to sweat it out for an innings win!!

Though VVS has won the MOM for his 176 n.o, my Man of the Match is Umesh Yadav who has bowled excellent deceptive spells, mostly, on a fuller length and had taken 7 wickets in this test match. Each of the wickets were very crucial from the overall result perspective. Fuller length deliveries accounted for clean bowling the W.Indies batsmen.

I must confess that I was pretty unsatisfied with the way Indians bowled during the 2nd innings. May be, the pitch has not offered much, but had this been against Australia, England or for that matter South Africa, who knows, Indians would have lost this match, after conceding the lead. We have very defensive bowler in Ojha and Ashwin looked raw in the 2nd innings. It will be interesting to see if the opposition has already understood Ashwin's technique lest, he will soon be caught on the wrong footing like Ajantha Mendis of SriLanka.

The day, belonged to W.Indies, for believing in themselves. ChanderPaul, Edwards, Bravo and Samuels have immensely contributing though to a loosing cause. With 401/4 in the 110th over, W.Indies were on the way to clear the deficit of 77 runs, but that was not to be. It should be noted that W.Indies gave up on day 3 of the 1st match when they were clearly ahead of the Delhi Test. Had W.Indies taken a lead in this match, definitely, there would be some alarm bell for MSD. He has thus escaped the notification.

Now India travel to Mumbai for the 3rd test match starting on 22nd Nov. The team will be selected for the 3rd test match. I feel that Indians need to test Kohli before the Aussies series and most likely Yuvaraj will get the axe, after his poor show in both the test matches.

Day 2: India establishes firm control through VVS & MSD

2011-11-15T16:43:00.000+05:30

Thanks to a 224 run partnership between MSD & VVS, Indians are comfortably placed in this match and hence the series. The Laxman-Dhoni association was similar to their 259-run association at the same venue last year, which set up the declaration and gave India enough time to force an innings win against South Africa.

Captain cool was reprieved twice during his 175 ball knock. Yes, Roach was the unlucky bowler as he had no-balled on both the occasions.
MSD's innings comprised of 10 fours and 5 sixes, the majestic of them being a six of Roach, over long on, before succumbing to the same bowler the very next ball.Sammy's defensive captaincy meant that the singles remained available throughout, and Laxman kept picking them, hitting only two fours in his advance from 100 to 150, his sixth such conversion out of 17 hundreds. As he approached his hundred, Dhoni too took the Laxman approach as the field sets didn't ask him to take risks. He hit only one four in moving from 68 to 100, but hardly dropped the rate.

In the morning session Laxman finished his first century in 15 months, a deceptive statistic because he has won India Tests in between. Laxman batted on unaffected, reaching 1217 runs in Kolkata, at an average of 110.63. Resuming on an overnight 73, he didn't have to reach out for runs. Fidel Edwards started the day with a 7-2 field for him. Laxman waited and waited until he bowled one straight, and flicked it for four through midwicket.

Dhoni declared when Edwards hurled bouncers at Ashwin as there was a problem in sighting the delivery. Dhoni opened with spin again as it seemed to be dictated by the state of light. However, he pushed his luck by getting Yadav to bowl the second over. Yadav's second ball was a peach: it landed on the seam and kicked at Adrian Barath, taking the edge to second slip.

Kraigg Brathwaite and Kirk Edwards scored seven runs in the first six overs. That allowed the fielders to crowd the bat. A bat-pad opportunity duly arrived, off the bowling of Ashwin, but substitute Viart Kohli couldn't hold on to it. Kohli was relieved three overs later when the same man Brathwaite was given out bat-pad off Ashwin. This time, though, he didn't seen to have edged it. Five balls later, light deteriorated enough to send the players back.

The ball started to turn and the effective use of the spin, especially, by Ashwin, would mean that W.Indies will have a horrendous time battling out to save this test match.

The Kolkatta duo and GG deflates W.Indies

2011-11-14T16:54:00.000+05:30

At last MSD calls it right and elects to bat first on a pitch which promises to stand firm and is best selected for stroke play. The opposition had to have a bad bad today since it is Kolkatta and the Kolkatta duo shared a partnership of 140 runs at just 4 runs an over.

It didn't seem right from the word go to the cricket match. The schedule of the match was such that the Eden Gardens stands were empty on the Monday morning. W.Indies had the keeper keeping upto the stumps from the fourth over itself, and there were sweeper cover and deep point already placed at the same time - the defensive fields failed to exercise much control: The team seemed resigned when Sehwag and GG took the center stage earlier overs itself...

...And all Indians had to do was to utilize the opportunity and they had done exactly that. That it took 47 overs to bowl 1 single maiden over shows the indisciplined nature of the W.Indies bowling.
Indians finished on 346 for 5, with Laxman still in. West Indies didn't have the best of days, most of their wickets coming through poor strokes from set Indian batsmen. Last 2 wickets fell in the space of 4 balls.

Sachin came at the score of 149/2 and with it came the crowd to a great extend to watch Sachin score his 100th ton, but that was not to be. He had perished, the same fashion to Sehwag and GG, falling to poor strokes and that has brought the famous partnership duo of VVS and Dravid.

This has been an impressive year for Dravid who has scored 5 centuries and having scored about 930 odd runs so far and is about 2 runs behind Ian Bell, who till now, stands top of the list. Dravid's innings has been brisk right from the time he entered and though he went to a shell, gathered momentum again with sweetly time drives both on the off and the on side. Dravid went on to celebrate with his 21st six, this time a slog-sweep off Samuels.

Laxman brought up his eighth score of 50 or more in his 10th Eden Test with a well-placed couple deep on the on side. That shot was also indicative of his innings, of how he kept finding gaps through the defensive fields.

All Indians have to do is to score 500+ runs and declare by tea time tomorrow. Since the pitch might offer assistance from the 2nd day evening onwards, W.Indies needs to be prepared for 0-2 rout at the hands of Indians, by day 4.

W.I allows India to take 1-0 as VVS & Sachin gets a date with half-century

2011-11-09T20:05:00.000+05:30

It was just short of formality for India as India showed determination in a toothless W.I. attack.

Sammy, looked in all sorts of confusion as he did not know whether to be aggressive as he was defensive for the major part of the day. Neither did he deploy close-in fielders for Bishoo and himself, nor command his fast bowlers bowl on the wicket-to-wicket.

The result was easy pickings for VVS and Sachin and they did not have problem in keeping a date with half-century. Sachin lost his wicket in trying to compete with VVS to score his 100th ton. And once Sachin fell, VVS took over the mantle and completed the formality in style.

India win a Test match after six matches, including the horror 0-4 rout against England. It comes against the same opposition they beat last, in Jamaica in June. They went on the forgettable tour of England after that, but are now back on home turf, and have begun this series with a win. Does not quite answer many questions that were raised in England, but they have won in Delhi with two debutant bowlers, and after conceding a big first-innings lead

Ashwin had rightly earned the 'Man of the Match' award. Ashwin: "I expected to get a few wickets but not so many. It is a very happy feeling to go into my wedding with such a performance, the only thing was the variation in bounce, if you were slower through the air, you would be slower off the pitch. So I bowled a bit quicker in the second innings. It helped that Ojha was bowling so many maidens from the other end. The batsman did not have the fear of being caught at bat-pad."

Experienced Indians show maturity in the 2nd innings

2011-11-08T18:04:00.000+05:30

Indians had themselves to blame than the pitch, which has put them in a spot of bother before Ashwin and Sehwag resurrected the 2nd innings, as Indians have showed some maturity of handling the depleted West Indians attack.

Indian batting in the 1st innings wore a dismal look - with the No.4 batsman and below could not cope with the depleted attack resulting in a 1st innings trial of about 95 runs. From a steady and healthy score of 100 for 1 in the 16th over, Indians added a further 54 runs from 120 deliveries by loosing 6 wickets. The batting reminded of the English drubbing they received a few months ago. Most of the batsmen were dismissed playing across the line where it was indicated that the batsmen can make merry while driving on the 'V'. and the West Indies made use of the situation by bowling wicket to wicket.

Earlier in the morning, the first session of the day, looked like the continuation of an exercise in making the Kotla pitch look brutish. India had started it yesterday, losing 10 wickets for 120 runs, and on this slow track with low but manageable bounce, West Indies found a way to loose wickets too!! The stunning transformation, however, came from the 1st innings century maker, Chanderpaul and the skipper Sammy. From a score of 88/7, W.Indies were folded after making 96 runs, thus asking Indians to chase a target of 276 runs.

Ashwin's clever use of the crease and the release of the carrom ball has put West Indies in a great spot of bother. That he has replaced Bhajji is a clear indication of what Indians had missed in the last couple of years.R Ashwin's 9 for 128 is the second-best match haul for an India bowler on debut behind Narendra Hirwani's 16 for 136 in Madras in 1988. Ashwin also becomes the fifth India spinner and the seventh India bowler overall to pick up a five-wicket haul on Test debut. His second-innings figures of 6 for 47 are third behind Hirwani's twin eight-wicket hauls in 1988.

Indians require another 124 runs to lead the series 1-0. I dont see any reason why Indians could not manage this since there is some maturity shown atlast.