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Monday, March 19, 2007

The Juggernaut Finally Awakens… but Alarm Bells still Ringing

The Team finally performed to what they were famed for. Although, you have to feel sorry for poor little Bermuda. Surely they were not going to put up much of a fight. This performance however proves that the Indians (and Greg Chappell) value their lives as well as their property, as Dhoni had to find out the other day. Now I am sure by the end of the day, the media and the Indian public will have forgotten the Bangladesh game. Agreed, the batting today was mostly flawless (save for certain frailties which I will not go into). But what stirs my ire has got to do with the team selection. Sehwag played well today but the team were taking a huge risk banking on a player who hadn't scored a century in over two years before this. He is terribly destructive on his day, but his inconsistency has been cause for a lot of concern. While Sehwag's continued selection could be largely attributed to his being good bed-chums with Dravid, Dinesh Karthik must be cursing the lack of bed-space. The guy has done little wrong over the past few months. Consistent with the bat and a brilliant fielder - something that's lacking in the team at the moment - he might be wondering what he needs to do to even have a sniff in the batting order. Sending Sachin to open with Ganguly and bringing in Karthik in place of Uthappa would best serve the batting as it would lend solidity in the middle among mindless sloggers like Sehwag and Dhoni. Of course, going by the way Yuvraj is playing, he is going to be beyond anyone's reproach for a long time. He is in a different zone altogether along with, maybe, Gibbs. Ganguly has become Mr. Responsible and Dependable and he will be the key player come Sri Lanka and Murali.

But batting apart, the cracks that actually appeared in this game were really in the bowling department. Munaf Patel has been economical, and the bowling in general did the job required of them with the kind of opposition they had today, but it is worrying if seen closely. Hemp the only batsman to have shown some resistance of any kind was unbeaten at the end and he's had a pretty good first class average while playing for Glamorgan in the English county. So my reasoning (at the risk of appearing slightly specious) is that, presented with half a decent batting order, we would struggle to bowl teams out/restrict them to low scores. I am not a great fan of Sreesanth, who despite good energy and variety tends to fall short in terms of temperament, and Pathan's bowling seems to be nose-diving with each passing day. I am not going to talk about Ajit Agarkar because people have better described him. Call me alarmist, spoil sport or whatever expletive that might spring to mind, but I wonder if the bowling and fielding (things which were mostly faultless in '03) can really hold up together this time round.

As mentioned earlier, there will be little by way of match reports or analysis and more of personal rants and opinions on the World Cup, from my side. For actual reports you could move over to the nice blokes who have taken such pains to keep you well informed.

Sometimes I wish, for my own semester's sake, that India get knocked out early! I know, I know. It's just a wish. Don't crucify me.

7 comments:

  1. Sometimes I wish, for my own semester’s sake, that India get knocked out early!

    I hear ya! I think about it all the time; just haven't the guts to admit it yet :) But no more regular updates from now on...well, at least until the next match.

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  2. [Patrix]
    I have a presentation tomorrow, I bunked the morning class and very reluctantly headed off to work. This. Has. Got. To. Stop.

    Somehow.

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  3. Chances are that it will... I don't wanna sound negative but I feel Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis would get through...

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  4. You sure got your wish!
    BTW, I know of only one person who fits the 'IITR->LitSec+TAMU' tag. I presume you are him :)

    Great collection of writing. You just gave me another reason to admire you :D

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  5. As I said, wouldn't hurt your brain too much to deduce my identity. :)

    You 'Admire' me?! hmm... a rarity I must say!

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  6. Looks like you found some admirers my dear fellow... that is to say, other than old pestering blokes like ourselves. (Me and K)
    By the way, I was wishing India out too, for the sake of my dear United's campaign in europe. Roma are pretty resilient and I hate to think they are better for it...

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  7. [PTV]
    No my friend. Long shot, though it might seem, keep faith in the great treble dream.

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