ROAD to CRICKET WORLD CUP 2007

MY ATTEMPT IN THIS THREAD IS TO BRING AHEAD A GENUINE ASSESSMENT OF WHATS TO BE DONE TO TAKE US CLOSER TO WORLD CUP WHICH IS JUST MONTHS AWAY… AND NOT TO START A CONTROVERSY… SO ALL THE OPINIONS ABOVE HAVE BEEN THOUGHT WITH SINCERTY AND MY PASSION TOWARDS CRICKET…. SO KINDLY AVOID ANY PARTIAL AND ONE SIDED COMMENTS… THIS IS FOR GENUINE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PUT SOME EFFORT IN SHARING THEIR VALUABLE COMMENTS AND STRATEGIES…

TEAM:
—-
No big changes in team… but just 2 …

1) Sachin Tendulkar
2) Sehwag
3) Dravid/Dhoni <—– first change rather make-shift change
4) Ganguly/Dhoni <—– second make-shift change
5) Yuvraj
6) Dhoni
7) Kaif
Pathan
9) Agarkar
10) Bhajji
11) Munaf

RPSIngh/Sreesanth are the reserves….

My assessment abt our players…

Ganguly:
Dont Start Shouting…
The simple reason i included Ganguly is i find the so-called great younsters suck big time against medium pace and Spinners….This is the time Ganguly will floruish… and once he sets in everyone knows what he is capable of in the last few overs… be it any one (Except Akhthar ) get the best man for the best job ,mainly for the slow Winides tracks… Simple… I accept Raina is waaaaay ahead in fielding… but that alone is not going to win u the world cup… remember one thing, what ever india does… its only the 7 batsman strategy which will save india… nothing else…Cos the probablity of top 7 scoring big is more than top 5 or top 6…. India always needs a player getting big and others score around him….
Best example for comeback from a loooong bad form is Mahela jayawardane who is not even half good a player of Ganguly’s calibre, especially in ODI’s…. SO…
And TO hell with what Chappell would feel if Ganguly is in the team… if winning is his aim and goal, Chappel should pick Ganguly for the reasons quoted above….He has unnecessailry started rumours of the team having problems with him…. Silly mind….his cunning suggestions would be of much use to Dravid… And furthermore Ganguly looks more committed and focussed… come on… its a question of a Brave and fighting exit for Cricket which he is known for…

Sachin:
No worries… he will play those one or two innings which will ensure us victories… but i was beginning to enjoy his bowling but sadly he is not able to… lets see…

Dhoni:
As Srikanth and Rajan Bala mentioned in their columns, he is being wasted through out the west-indies series and more in Malaysia…. what is the use of allowing him to get rusty and sending to consolidate after the most of the damage has been done… infact in the decider against Aussies he should have been sent as a pinch hitter… i dont know what Chappel has told him… but looked to have a lot of respect for Aussies… which he need not have… some body who takes on Akhthar, Vass and Murali can tonk Mc Grath.. no problem… This F$$ker Chappel must have scared him…
Dhoni is a must in the top 4… but if the situation is like a 100/2 then Dhoni need not be sent up….
but if its 10/2 etc… while chasing small totals like 220, then he is a must and needs to spank the ball around like anything… for even a quick 35 will take the score to say 70… 80 odd For 3… and the others can somewhat take a breather and score normally… incase he goes on to make 70-80 then match will be won in no time…. U need to play brave innings like aussies…. he is one guy who takes smart calculated risks… its just that he is being put into lot of awkward situations…

Sehwag:
we need to wait for sometime cos… this guy… when he hits… he usually puts the opposition out of contention and mind u still his wicket is being celebrated like hell by the opposition which is a good sign… Needs to open though… Middle order Sehwag is not needed… he can rather be dropped…

Dravid:
No worries… This guy is somewhat over cautious and over worked…. he will comeback…. Ponting himself has not done much since that blitz in S.Africa…. Look what happens if Dravid does not play… so many quick wickets….

Pathan:
A He-man one day and a “No Man” another day… is swinging his willow… though… a Neat Asset…Woudl be handy against Bangaldesh and Zimbabwe with five-fors

Yuvi:
Needs to be dropped a couple of times so that he will comeback double strong..Holds the key to World Cup…. Since he looked most comfortable in W.Indies

Kaif:
Nowadays contributing only in Field….Sole and best reason he needs to be in the team… he has been given ample match winning situations where he has let us miserably down… he is very very awkward in his gameplay nowadays… and please change that stupid stance… Craig McMillan’s stance is better

Agarkar:
All this guy needs to do is work on line and length like he has been doing so well for the past few months… if only he has this consistent discipline he would be ranked among the top bowlers… cos he has a knack of breaking vital partnerships… thanks god its been some time since we saw those “10-0-75-1″ stats … Brett Lee calls him one of the best bowlers and Aussies give him some respect since his match winning 6-41 in Adelaide in 2004… Needs to work on his reverse swing as he is India’s best bet at doing so…

Bhajji:
He has been at his measly best and would be a deadly bowler in slow tracks of West Indies… he needs to stop those full length faster ones bowled on leg stump… a man of his experience shoudl not do that … needs to be bold enuff to start bowling the doosra … Risky though as he may be suspended… but 1 or 2 balls… Would love to see him toy with Ponting….cos many might have forgotten that he made ponting dance in the WC 03 final and almost had him 4-5 times. Only after he finished his bowling was Ponting able to play freely…. What i like to see is the Pale, Terror-striken face of Ponting when he plays Bhajji….

Munaf:
Looks to be very disciplined although seems to lose rhythm during slog overs when he gets hit all over the park… needs to bowl his deadly late swinging yorkers… A Deadly Weapon…

Only 2 things India mainly need to work on

1) Unnecessary Tensed up bowling during last 10 overs leading to match turning situations… lot of times oppositions who stood at 160-5 in 40 overs have gone on to hit 240… India needs to kill the tail with Munaf….

2) Very Bad Hitting during the last 10 overs… India tend to collapse in last 10 overs were they play ridiculous shots to get out…Normal shots would get us 65-70 runs…

If the above 2 points are corrected even to 70 % … we have the best shot at the CUP….

Sehwag/Yuvi should comfortably fill the 5th bowler slot….

Already i feel india management should and must be regretting the vital mistake they made during WC 2003 when they made a deadly mistake of dropping LAXMAN for DINESH for just his “fielding qualities” when we all know that Laxman is not at all a bad slipper…. He would have been our best bet in bouncy tracks… which he showed later in 2004 in australia… And ironically both matches against aussies in WC03 were disasters as we could not handle pace…..So place bet on Batting depth more than fielding…

And one advice to Indian Team Think-Tank Especially that mad guy called Chappel who seems to make everyone think as if he is a genius…

1) Stop Mad/Extreme experimentation
2) Stop these Time-wasting boot Camps, oneness stays etc…
3) Spend time on working out real strategies and have atleast 2 backup plans for all situations … even for D/L if possible… as fears of rain are there …. WORK OUT THE SLOG OVER BOWLING/BATTING

Deadly batsmen who might Torment India

1) Ponting (of course!!!!Not if Bhajji is bowling though )
2) Hussey
3) Martyn
4) Gilchrist
5) kevin Peterson
6) Flintoff
7) Trescothick
Chris Gayle
9) Sarwan
10) ChanderPaul
11) jayasuriya (God save us…he must not be able to bat against us)
12) Mahela
13) All the Pakistani Top 7(Thank God there is no Saeed Anwar Only 7 Batsman to be afraid of)
14) Fleming
15) Graeme Smith
16) Gibbs
17) kallis (Not much of a threat but he will occupy the crease)

The reason for leaving out players like Brian Lara and Sangakkara are that so far they have not been doing well against us in big matches

Deadly Bowlers

1) Shane Bond (Self Explanatory reasons)
2) Mcgrath (Some body needs to be picked to hit this guy)
3) Brett Lee (Need to hit him out of the attack)
4) Vaas (come on Dhoni… he is ur bunny)
5) Murali (Yuvraj… This is ur last chance against Murali in a WC.. Do it alteast this time)
6) FlintOff (since he has learned to bowl short against India and worked it out beautifully in their test victory here in India)
7) Naved Rana (Luckiest Bowler who gets wickets in a gift wrapper)
Akhthar (Sachin, Dhoni, Sehwag… he is all yours)
9) Asif (a silent threat????)
10) Pollock

Johnson, D.R. Smith ??????? Who Knows….

I will continue churning out more comments…

Lets hope to keep this thread alive till World Cup