Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Australia's India Tour 1st October

02.10.08

Dada’s Back!!!!!!!

He has been selected for the team for the first two Test matches!!! For a Dada fan this is the best news. Truly the Sourav Ganguly Saga has one more chapter left. There is steel still left in the man who wears his heart on his sleeve. Someone just asked if this was a compromise, and an opportunity provided to him by the board for an honourable exit. The man stared icily at the journalist and told “ Its not true.” The man composed with the media, infact a bit mellowed since his return in 2006 in South Africa, still remains the essence of the spirit of fightback in the team.

Thank god for the sense shown by the selectors. I have always maintained that the place of these seniors should be earned by Yuvraj & Rohit. Both have an opportunity to stake their claims with the practice match starting today against Australia in Hyderabad. But the fact of the matter is that they have not done enough to dislodge the seniors.

Lets not dwell too much on the seniors any more.. Lets concerntrate on the cricket and the series on hand.

Ricky Ponting does have some nerves. He is keen to continue the catching pact that he had in Australia with Anil Kumble. Pffft!!! No chance Ricky, I doubt you can talk Anil into it again. We have all seen what happened in Sydney.

Whew!! Things are starting to heat up. More heat to follow today in Hyderabad. In the mean while there is a lull, no real controversies as both teams are preparing to take each other on!!

The team looks really solid now with Sourav back, mobility will be a challenge. The biggest. For a change we are playing a young Aussie team, and they will run and chase balls. We will surely not be able to match them here. But than we can make up with the brilliance & talent in the line up. Also our slip catching will prove to be the difference as I doubt Australia are that good now, they simply drop a few too many these days.

So the line up looks like this :

Virendra Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
VVS Laxman
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
Rahul Dravid
M S Dhoni
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Anil Kumble
Ishant Sharma

Yes Rahul at number 6. No disrespect meant. In India the ball doesn’t move so much and so Laxman can take his favourite spot against his favourite team. Plus if there is a collapse than it’s the fighters Sourav, Rahul & Dhoni who are left to pull the team out of the crisis. In case quick runs required Sourav & Dhoni can still do that.

Things pretty much in shape. I would have loved to have Yuvraj in the 15 but Badrinath deserves his place. The man has scored sacks of runs in domestic cricket. He must get his due. Although not ultra talented, he has a sensible head on his shoulder. Unless an injury happens, I don’t see him playing the first two test.

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