Is India ready to thunder down under ??

Well Donkeys have paid back England in 50 over format,West Indians lost the test match series but are fighting in the one-day series but losing against the new look Indian team.Action shifts in a month,its time now to feel the heat, the Agneepath series for India.The Indian Test team is on the verge of going in the transition phase.Australia has always been tought to beat at their home but now can this legendary middle order finally win India a series in Australia ???                       

"Its Australia Rahul, no worries "

Rahul Dravid , VVS Laxman , Sachin Tendulkar these big names going on the next tour to Australia is as likely as is Vinod Kambli talking sense about Cricket.Both Rahul and Laxman have a love affair batting together , Australia knows what lies ahead if they are complacent.The 100th hundred is getting over weighed day by day as India squandered a rare chance to white wash the Windies. Sparse crowds, Bad light fiasco , DRS ,Test cricket is having enough to think about as this marquee series gets underway on the traditional Boxing Day at MCG. When M S Dhoni and M Clarke come out for toss in Melbourne , one thing will be sure this series will decide the fate of two teams who are on either sides of transition.Australia having won against the kiwis will be confident about their young outfit doing well at home, India on the other side will look win series, and say "We did it for Sachin"

                    Having a test series win at home always agurs well for any team, aussies will be happy that they are the host as Clarke will hope that his personal and team’s good form continues for the next two months as well.Ponting is getting his touch,while Clarke has been in brilliant form, making 3 centuries in his last 4 test matches.Pattinson, Starc, Lyon, Cummins have just come in the team but are picking up wickets at good rate.India will be hoping to play them better.Injury issues to Watson, Marsh , Harris, Johnson meant they missed the kiwi series but they are on track to be back for the India.India's last two series have not been ideal, England white washed India and West Indies fought hard making the series intense as it ended.Preparation,Intensity,Injuries were the main reason for India's loss to England.Luckily this team is injury free and they have two warm up matches to prepare themselves. BCCI (thanks to Gary Kirsten) have finally understood the need to acclimatize to foreign conditions , the test specialist like Dravid,Laxman,Sachin and co. are expected to leave for Australia as India look to finish off the one-day series against West Indies at home.Lets now get into the squad that’s selected to go on tour.

Who will bat at no 6 ??

 It’s a no brainer that having come back from injuries , the India top order autoselects itself in the playing X1. Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Sachin, Laxman is a one of the better line ups one can have in test world on an away series.Dhoni the captain will obviously keep his place despite struggling to make runs as milkly as he does in the limited overs format of the game. Zaheer Khan again will be vital for India,the whole nation will be praying for him being fit.He along with Ishant and the latest spin all rounder in Ashwin are sure of their places in the team.India have been playing with four bowlers for some years now, Yuvraj and Raina for not able to grab their chances have left healthy competion for the No6 slot,which as of now seems to be on for Kohli.The presence of Rohit Sharm too may also help Kohli realize the need to perform and earn his place in the team.Left arm spinner Ojha, young pace menUmesh Yadav,Varun Arron will compete for the one spot that remains in the team. In Australia one does not expect to have 2 spinners playing on tracks with pace and bounce. This means its likely that Umesh Yadav playing ahead of the undercooked Arron. Umesh Yadav would be very thankful to Praveen Kumar who has a fractured rib to keep him out of the tour.

Will Irfan come back ??

                                 Dec 5 is when his replacement will be announced, having seen RP singh being called out of wilderness to play against England, one cannot rule out a similar recall for any the bowlers in the current Indian domestic circuit.If they are to select on Ranji performances , it’s a swing bowler Irfan Pathan who is taking five-fors for his team Baroda impressing with his inswinger to the right handers something that went missing from the promising young left armer.If at all Irfan gets selected this might just turn out to be the perfect player India would want to play giving them an extra bowling option following his batting skills .Irfan Pathan in the team means that Kohli will have to be benched since how ever powerful world may think BCCI is, they cannot play 12 players. 5 batsmen 4 bowlers under performing wicket keeper Batsmen(MSD) and 1 allrounder in Irfan Pathan means a balanced side over all to combat the young Australian team.Kohli fans might not like this prospect but its in the greater interest of the team India needs an batting allrounder atleast on tours to Aus,SA,Eng. Its time selectors to show faith in Irfan and give him a chance to shine , Irfan can be the Indian Watson. How many times have we expected but are left dumstruck by the BCCI, so do not rule out the suprise !! 

                                    India has the team to do it,they have players injury free.The question is this team ready to fight ?? Indian fans were disappointed with India not even competing in England.So does this team have the hunger to thunder down under ??? 

Pune Warriors

IPL council when declared that two more teams are coming up the bidding race began and one of the two teams to go through was Pune Warriors,owned by Sahara group of Industries.They played their cards very carefully and looked assured of their squad ,lets have a close look at their squad for their chances to get hands on the trophy.




Key Players: C Ferguson,A Mathews,Yuvi ,Uthappa,G Smith.




Sahara Pune Warriors,when you hear the names like Smith,Ryder,Yuvraj, Robin, Mathews,the opposition mite just get goose bumps reading the list.Pune has been witty and got out the best bids for them making a very dynamic team here.

The opening slot mite go in hands of G Smith along with H Kadiwale , the 22 year old opening batsmen.J Ryder too can be very handful in opening slot.The batting order  with Jhunjhunwala,Calum Ferguson,Yuvraj and Robin can pile up a huge score on their day.The lower order packs a punch here with an very useful allrounder Mathews. Angelo presents a variety to the batting as well as to bowling department.His contribution to the team is very vital here.The wicketkeeper is Tim Paine which makes the selectors think of getting a domestic keeper,else they mite persist with Robin as keeper.




The lone spinner in the team will be Murali Kartik , one of the most economical bowler in IPL.N McCullum can also be played here but then they have to shed Ferguson for it.The presence of Mitchel Marsh ,A Thomas,J Taylor there is going to be a very healthy contest for the 4 spots.Nehra along with Kamran Khan might share the new ball backed up by either Taylor or Wayne Parnell.




 The list of foriegn players they posses is very strong in  Pune which means they have plenty of options available to change their team combination.The team management has a very good burden of selecting the team since they do possess lots of talented game changers.Overall Pune team looks very strong but how they gel well as a team needs to be seen here as well, my prediction is if they do well they have sure shot chance to reach the top pinnacle.


MY 11 : Kadiwale, Smith, Jhunjhunwala, Yuvraj, C Ferguson, R Uthappa ,A Mathews , M Kartik,A Nehra, Kamran Khan,J Taylor/Wayne Parnell.


SQUAD:Callum Ferguson, Ganesh Gaikwad,Dheeraj Jadhav   ,Abhishek Jhunjhunwala,Kamran Khan,Murali Kartik,Harshad Khadiwale,Nathan McCullum,Mitchell Marsh, Angelo Mathews
,Shrikant Mundhe, Ashish Nehra,Tim Paine (wk),Wayne Parnell
Jesse Ryder,Graeme Smith,Jerome Taylor,Alfonso Thomas,
Robin Uthappa  ,Yuvraj Singh

RCB :)

ROYAL BANGALORE CHALLENGERS

With the mention of RCB, the first thought that comes in our mind is of the beautiful stadium in Bangalore,built in the home team colors of yellow and red. The Mallyas group has done lot of hard work every time around to make sure their brand is maintained. Lets get too the squad available for them this year.

KEY PLAYERS: T Dilshan, Zaheer Khan, V Kohli, S Tiwary.

                                     For RCB, the first shock given to management was by A Kumble, the leading test wicket taker for INDIA, when he announced that he won’t be a part of the auction.The role of mentor suits him too with his stature and experience. Here there is a wonderful opportunity which is presented to the youngsters to blossom under 

Jumbo.The batting order now is completely shuffled with Manish P and R Dravid missing from the line up.T Dilshan provides an attacking option for them along with any of their domestic purchases like even C Pujara. Kohli,the only retention by the franchise is likely to be promoted up the order at no. 3 where he has had great success playing for INDIA. The middle order then has one of the finest grafters of the game AB de Villiers ,the former MI explosive talent S Tiwary , L Pomersbach presents them a with an batting foreign player but as its clear the batting is bit depleted as of now, the team is going to miss the services of R Taylor Kallis,C White.

The spearhead of the attack is best left arm seamer in INDIA. Zaheer is the deadliest bowler they could have got and they have him with the pace of D Nannes, which when you combine with the accuracy n consistency of C Langeveldt gives the captain breathing space.Bowling department is backed up by medium pacer A Mithun .The wily spinner Vettori will be the main spinner in the team, making the quota of oversees players full with Dilshan , ABd Villiers, D Nannes, Vettori. The bowling looks far more convincing than the batting which increases the work of Kumble and co. so as to make sure that they get enough domestic batting.The team management has to be on its toes with the brand at stake !!!!

DELHI DAREDEVILS SQUAD

IPL4 LOOK AT THE SQUADS   

With the new teams coming up, the spice and auction was much awaited by the entire cricketing fraternity. The adjustment that BCCI was going to do without Modi was to be seen .The council went for transparency, clarity in the process, which clearly showed in the auctions being aired. Now the issue of retainment was considered and as it was guessed by all Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians were the teams who wasted no time retaining their star players. With the IPL4 just around the corner after WC2011, let’s analyze the team squads as of now.

DELHI DAREDEVILS

KEY PLAYERS: V Sehwag, A Dinda, C Ingram, M Morkel, I Pathan.

With Virender Sehwag now being declared the captain of the team, this team gets a fresh look. With the departure of Gambhir to KKR,the opening partner for Sehwag is in all probabilities David Warner. With the middle order begin the foreign all-rounder list of DD. James Hopes, A McDonald, Irfan Pathan which form the backbone of the team. The young Colin Ingram along with A Finch gives the team extra explosive batsmen which makes the batting line up more dangerous. In Morne Morkel they have speed and bounce and with Ashok Dinda they possess the Indian variety as well with the domestic talent like Umesh Yadav, Yogesh Nagar and experience with Ajit Agarkar they strike the perfect balance. Venugopal Rao too joins the team as a batsman with Naman Ojha likely to be the wicket keeper of the team. 

The spin department here will be handled by the domestic players like Rajesh Pawar, Sriram, Vikas Mishra though RVD Merwe does present a overseas spinning all rounder. The four overseas spots are most likely to be occupied by Warner, Morne Morkel, James Hopes, and Mc Donald/RVD Merwe.  Delhi has the line up but again they are in need of very good contributions from the Indian players.The batting department is not top heavy as it was before but this team if gelled well can surprise everyone on their day  !!

MY 11: Sehwag, Warner, J Hopes, Mc Donald/RVD Merwe, N Ojha, Y Nagar, Umesh Yadav, A Agarkar, I  Pathan, A Dinda, Morkel.

INDIAN SQUAD FOR WC2011

The World Cup 2011 is here finally , with just 14 days to go for the final frontier to start ,lets analyse the squad declared for the world cup. The opening slot was always with no3 as obvious as it could get with Viru,Sachin,Gambhir. Viru is likely to be the partner of God to open the innings .

At 1 down the obvious player becomes Gauti,Kohli too has been in good form so have an option there.The Middle order then comprises of Yuvi,Raina,Dhoni  , followed by the Mr.Sixer Yusuf Pathan !! The department of Spin is lead by Harbhajan Singh and the shocking inclusion of Chawla makes it interesting to see if Coach decides to play Chawla or Ashwin.

The pace battery welcomes ZAK after an injury so which makes the two spots booked by Zak and the other can be varied between PK/Nehra.The squad has variety and will be good to see how does the management cope up with the presence of Munaf too as a back up bowler.The squad does look strong and we kick off our campaign in revenge against Bangladesh on Feb 19.So hope that we win this WC, n say ALL IZZ WELL !!!!