India clinch the series by 2-1

Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh has powered India to series victory in last game of the series against Sri Lanka at Vizag. A ballistic 33 ball half century by Robin Uthappa has set the ton for India`s chase of moderate Sri Lankan target on very good pitch at Vizag. Sourav Ganguly again look solid in the middle. Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly had steered India to a memorable 2-1 series win ahead of departure for the World Cup. Sehwag was also look like rediscovering his old touch and scored 46 of 43 deliveries before running himself out and it was one of the most bizarre piece of running between wickets.

Sri Lanka feels sigh of relief as series is over and this series has raised some of the doubts to the team management specially their top order. Sanath Jaysuriya is not quite consistent in his batting, Mahela Jaywardene is terribly out of form. Marwan Attapattu though has score few runs but still not 100% in terms of his performance. Chamara Silva has scored magnificent century after Sri Lanka collapes 42 for no loss to 56 for 4. It was brilliant innings played under pressure. He has got good support from Tilakratne Dilshan, Russel Arnold and Farveez Maharoof. Sri Lankans have to go back to drawing board to resolve some of the batting issue. Their Bowling lacks teeth without their strike bowlers like Chaminda Vaas and Murlitharan.

On other hand India has lots of positive to take from the series, they have won both the series at home against West Indies and Sri Lanka and has go much needed boost before World Cup. Biggest positive of the series is form of Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag. Yuvraj Singh back in form and with bang. When he bats like most of the time in season 2005-2006 Indian middle order look very formidable. Virender Sehwag has finally got some run in last game, but the way he got out has taken some shin off his innings. Sourav Ganguly against was superb at the top of the order. Rahul and Dhoni has got one good game in the series.

Bowling again looks sharp with Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan bowling beautifully with the new ball and they certainly look like our new ball bowler in World Cup. Munaf Patel has bowled accurately with line and length and may be operate as a first change bowler. In spin Harbhajan Singh has a lousy outing on a good pitch but he looks like first choice of the Rahul Dravid in One dayers.

India vs. Sri Lanka (1-1) – Series hangs in balance and only one game to go

India hasn’t get rid of bad habit of losing the game from winning position. India lost in Rajkot from such a strong position that makes Cricket fans of India little bit jittery about strength of middle order and fighting capabilities. But in Goa on Valentine’s day Rahul Dravid and M S Dhoni has finish the game well and gave India much needed win to keep series alive.
Team for the World Cup has already been announced; hence there is not much room for experimentation left in Indian team. In fact except South Africa and West Indies everybody has announced their side for World Cup.

Virender Sehwag was the only talking point in Indian team selection, but he has Rahul Dravid`s full backing for selection. Finally he got selected in the side for World Cup and most probably he will bat at the top of the order. Sehwag has got one more game at Vizag to get rhythm back in batting. He played few shots in Goa but his footwork clearly not up to mark. Yuvraj Singh is another who lacks real match practice.

Indian Team for World Cup is as Follows :
1 Rahul Dravid (capt), 2 Sourav Ganguly, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Sachin Tendulkar(Vice Captain), 5 Virender Sehwag, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 8 Dinesh Karthik, 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Ajit Agarkar, 11 Harbhajan Singh, 12 Anil Kumble, 13 Zaheer Khan, 14 Sreesanth, 15 Munaf Patel.

We take a look at Three Department of the Indian Cricket Team in World Cup :
Batting -
· India has three contender for the opening slot Sourav Ganguly will definitely open and his partner will be either Robin Uthappa or Virender Sehwag.
· Middle order looks little fragile at the moment, because player like Yuvraj Singh is returning from injury and he is really lacking match practice. We saw what happened in Rajkot how India has lost the game from winning position.
· Rahul Dravid has therefore decided to bat at no. five to provide much needed strength in middle order. Sachin Tendulkar will bat at no. three. Yuvraj looks like will bat at Four.
· MS Dhoni, Pathan and Karthick will make up the lower middle order and will give India fire power in slog overs.
· Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh is valuable specially in tight games where somebody need to play cameo innings and we need to score more than run a ball.

Bowling –
· Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan will open the bowling for India in World Cup and back up seam bowling options are Munaf Patel, S.Shreesanth and Irfan Pathan. Irfan Pathan is picked as a all rounder, but his bowling form is really cause of concern for India. If he gets the rhythm right then India can afford to play with either extra batsman or bowler.
· Spin department is blessed with two very experience bowlers Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Ramesh Powar is very unlucky to missed out, but selectors has no choice as Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble are the first two choice for the World Cup.
· India has a lots of variety and experience for fifth bowler if they opted to play with seven batsman and four bowlers. Sachin Tendulkar is very useful with his offspin, legspin whatever he does. Virender Sehwag is a smart little offspiner and can bowl 5-6 overs easily in one dayers. Yuvraj Singh is another choice as a fifth bowler he bowls left arm spinner and provide variety. Sourav Ganguly can also bowl medium pace seam bowling.

Fielding –
· Fielding is a concern as most of the players in the squad are over 30 and aren’t quickest in the field. Dravid did accept the fact that they will have to be little smart with fielding positions. They have to give specific roles to the players and practice rigorously in those areas. This team certainly can improve significantly in fielding.
· Yuvraj Singh is probably the best fielder in the side provided he is 100% fit. Dinesh Karthick looks extremely enthusiastic in fielding and Robin Uthappa is a good fielder. These three looks by far the best three fielders in the side.

India would love to win game and series at Vizag as this is the last game before World Cup campaign and go to West Indies on a high note after beating West Indies earlier and Sri Lanka at home.

India Grab the Series by 3-1

Finally India had won the series against West Indies. Margin of the series is 3-1 which tell the story that India had dominated the series. India could have sweep the series if they had prevented the shocking collapse in batting at Chennai. When India returned from South Africa they are destroyed one day side and lots of questions being asked to the team management and they really don’t have any answer. But this series has answered lots of questions being raised earlier. Particularly with the composition of the side and the openers etc.

We take a look at some of the crucial issues during the Series:-

1. The Openers – Sourav Ganguly back to opening in one day side along with Gautam Gambhir in first and second one dayers. Virender Sehwag out of the side and Sachin Tendulkar in middle order.
· Ganguly returned in fine style. He was consistent during the series, though he was rested in 3rd game.
· Gautam Gambhir has mix bag of the series like his career. Confidence at Nagpur, may be misfortune at Cuttack and sloppiness at Channai.
· Uthappa has graduated one step ahead for World Cup berth. His 41-ball 70 will be hard to match for its sheer impact, with crisply struck swats clattering into the boundary hoardings. He looks explosive talent to needs to persist with.

2. Middle Order – India still don’t know how good is their middle order specially in run chase, because they haven’t been tested in this series. Brian Lara seems to be obsessed with batting second. Dravid had won the toss only at Cuttack and he rightly decided to bat first on dusty dry pitch.
· Sachin Tendulkar`s batting at no.4 will provide much needed stability in middle order. His hundred at Vadodara was the classic example of rotation of the strike and acceleration.
· Word is that Sehwag is likely to return against Sri Lanka and he will probably play somewhere in middle order along with Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthick and M S Dhoni. Inclusion of Sehwag in middle order will further add the firepower in middle order at the death.
· And what about Suresh Raina among all these players in middle order? We believe he is India`s best 12th man for his fielding and enthusiasm.

3. Allrounders – This is one slot that doesn’t have too many candidates.
· Joginder Sharma has got one opportunity at Cuttack, but he doesn’t look like will make it to the Caribbean. He looks little out of sort.
· Irfan Pathan lackluster in his only appearance at Vadodara, at the moment he looks India`s only allrounder provided he regains some of the bowling rhythm. He will have some more opportunity against Sri Lanka.

There are also some unanswered questions –

· In bowling the choice between erratic S.Sreesanth and fragile Munaf Patel. It look only one of them being picked for the West Indies.
· Yuvraj Singh hasn’t had any match practice since return; hence he is a bit rusty.
· Ramesh Powar has bowled beautifully in entire seires, but team management has already decided that Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble will definitely play in World Cup. In that case with India had so many part time spin bowlers like Sachin, Sehwag and Yuvraj it looks very difficult for Ramesh Powar to be part of World Cup campaign.

This upcoming series against Sri Lanka will further answered some the remaining unanswered questions.

India draws first blood against West Indies

India has won first two matches of the series and taken unbeatable lead in four match series. There are few positive things came up for India in this series against West Indies. First is Sourav Ganguly back in One day Side and in Opening after brilliant South African Test Series. Gambhir Looked good in first game, but he failed in second game. Dinesh Karthick continues to impress everybody, and I think he will be the certainly picked up for World Cup in Caribbean.

But we have to admit that both the games were very close so far in the series and there are nothing much to choose between both the side. West Indies have given good fight in both the games in Nagpur and Cuttuck. West Indies point of view Shiv Narayan Chanderpaul has batted excellently well in both the games, yet he couldn’t manage to guide the side to the victory in both the games. Dwayne Bravo is another player who emerges as a fine all rounder in West Indies side.

So far both the games were played on two very contrasting pitches. Nagpur pitch was really a flat one and paradise for batsman, while Cuttck was slow low and very dusty pitch and it was very difficult to bat on that pitch. One may say it was sub standard pitch for one dayers where people came to see fours and sixes. But it has provided good interesting low scoring game.

Now looking at the bigger picture both Rahul Dravid and Brian Lara is talking about is World Cup. Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell wants to give chance to some of the younger player in 3rd ODI, while Yuvraj Singh will also back in the side after disappointing knee injury. India has decided to give rest to Sourav Ganguly, M S Dhoni, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, while Robin Uthappa will get a game here and he will be opening in 3rd game along with Gautam Gambhir. Anil Kumble also will replace Harbhajan Singh in spin department and Suresh raina will also get a game. S Sreesanth will replace Zaheer Khan in this game.

While for West Indies Brian Lara didn’t offer any hint for team composition, his own injury is still worries West Indies camp. It looks Devon Smith will sit outside as he looks very much out of form in Cuttuck and he will replace by Lendle Simmons.

The pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium looks a batting paradise. It's hard, baked, and there is but a smattering of green on the edges. As Dravid himself put it, with a smile, "It's a good wicket for batting.

The teams likely for 3rd ODI are :
India : 1. Robin Uthappa, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Sachin Tendulkar, 4 Rahul Dravid, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Suresh Raina, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Ramesh Powar, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 Sreesanth.
West Indies : 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Brian Lara (if fit), 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Runako Morton, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8 Dinesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Ian Bradshaw, 10 Daren Powell, 11 Jerome Taylor.

Preparation of World Cup – Team Selection

Test matches are over and not its time for ODI`s for the preparation of forthcoming World cup in West Indies. India will play 4 One Day Internationals against West Indies and 4 against Sri Lanka. This is India’s last chance to workout with some combination after their debacle in South Africa.

Selectors have taken some strong steps and ask players like Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan to play domestic games and get back their form and most importantly Confidence.
Selectors have taken two criteria for picking the team one is current form of players and second is performance in domestic Cricket. Hence players like Joginder Shamra and Robin Uthappa is included in the side for first Two ODI’s.

Ganguly has made his way in one-day side after his performance in Test Series in South Africa. But Kaif and Dinesh Mongia has not been picked up for first 2 One dayers. But both of them may get the opportunity during rest of the series or against Sri Lankan series before World Cup.

The Squad for first two one-day internationals against West Indies:

Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar (vice-capt), Robin Uthappa, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Joginder Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh.

Dinesh Karthik has retained his place in the ODI side after good performance in South Africa in both ODI`s and Tests. Karthik is a brilliant fielder and he is also picked up as a second wicket keeper to Dhoni. Suresh Raina surprisingly has included in the side, but Yuvraj Singh may well replace him later in the series when he is fit to play. Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar is back in the side as a One Day Specialist. R P Singh again has got one more opportunity. Sachin Tendulkar is nominated as a deputy of Rahul Dravid. VVS Laxman has missed out the train due to his poor fielding and running between wickets.

These two series of 8 One Dayer’s will give good opportunity to all youngsters to impress selectors before World Cup and for selectors it will be a good pool of 20-25 players out of which they can pick best 15 for all important World Cup.

Conclusion of India’s South African Safari

India finally has lost the test match at cape town and with it test series too. It has not happen for the first time that India has won the first test in the series and then lost the next two test match. It may not be last time either. They themselves have to take blame for lost not by great performance from South Africa.

There are two reasons why India lost the last test one is wrong team selection and then one of their worst batting performance in 2nd innings. Why the held on earth Harbhajan Singh was not playing on pitch so dry and dusty on 1st day itself, and why Munaf Patel was playing when he was not 100% fit. Why Sehwag was again given chance instead of Gautam Gambhir.

Some Serious questions have to be asked with the captaincy of Rahul Dravid why he didn’t given ball to Sachin Tendulkar earlier on 5th Day when pitch was taking so much of turn. Batting has again let down the side Ganguly and Dravid were both playing well though, but why after Ganguly`s dismissal we looked so defensive and finally gifted the game to South Africa is really baffled everybody.

Now Let us take some positive out of the series, first time we have won the test match on South African soil. First time in history it was closely contested test series between two sides on South African pitches. One great positive in batting is return of Sourav Ganguly, he ended up leading run scorer from India in test series against all difficulties. Another find of the series is Dinesh Kartik. His attitude is bringing lots of energy to Indian side.

Our bowling was another great positive from the series, especially S.Srisanth and Zaheer Khan. Both of them were outstanding in whole series. VRV singh as a third seam bowler has bowled reasonably well. In spin department Anil Kumble has again bowled well, but he lacks support of Harbhajan Singh in 3rd Test.

Now India will play two ODI series at home against West Indies and Sri Lanka as a preparation to World Cup. Greg Chappell is upset with some of the players in team including few senior players. He has prepared a report of the series and will submit to the BCCI. Looking at the Greg Chappell and Dilip Vengsarkar`s statements some hard decision will be taken while selecting the teams against West Indies. Team selection will done in next few days.

We will not get the opportunity like this to win Test Series in South Africa; so far only Australia and England have beat South Africa in South Africa. But I still believe our team will become stronger after this tough series against South Africa.

India vs. South Africa 3rd Test at Cape Town

Its New Year, and its no better place for India to start their campaign in new year than Cape Town its sun shine and beautiful ground as we can see the famous Table Mountain.

So far 1-1 in the series after South Africa won the Test at Durban. Durban has been never a happy hunting ground for India. India need not to panic after lost at Durban. They still have a potential to beat South Africa. But they need to sort out some of their problems.

In fact, both the side has their own problems, the biggest problem for India is their opening batsman specially Virender Sehwag looks terribly out of form and his partner Wasim Jaffer looks ok but often plays irresponsible storkes and gets out after scoring 20 odds. Selection dilemma for India is whether to pick Virender Sehwag or not. Gautam Gambhir will certainly play at the top but whom he will replace is the biggest problem for Rahul Dravid.

Indian bowling looks in good shape though; Munaf Patel is certain to play last test and he will replace VRV Singh. While Zaheer Khan and S Shreesanth bowling beautifully with support of great Anil Kumble. Munaf`s inclusion will further strengthens India’s bowling attack.

Coming to South Africa they also have a problem with their batting line up, which looks little fragile with out Jacques Kalis. But he may get the game here. Also their Top Order is little vulnerable, as we have seen in this series. This has been the series of Pace bowlers so far.

Pitch always has been talking point whenever India travels outside, good news is that this pitch may not have a same sort of bounce that Durban has. Cape Town looks Cape of Good hope for India.

If India had to win this game and want to make a history then the top order batsman has to take responsibility and score big runs. On the other hand South Africa would like to continue with their momentum.