Cricket: Indians make selection goof ups.

The match played today was a fiasco in many ways let me enlist them.

An absurd game plan.

No team can win any cricket match if they don’t have bowlers. The whole selection was absurd. The bowlers should not have been dropped and batsmen should have replaced the batsmen. The Indians were entangled by the improper team selection, which resulted in England gaining few points out of this result. If the opposition is on mat then keep them there, if it is your day then make sure you make it count. The nature game of cricket is as fickle as the land of its origin. No one can bet with surety on the future, what happens if in the next game a resurgent English team beats India in tight match. I bet all the four wins and a serious victory would go down the drain.

Openers spills the beans.

No one can say that Indian top order selection has been performing we are serious short of talent on this opening front. I don’t know, which was the last genuine test opening pair, which lasted for say 40 matches in Test. Then, after a very successful Ganguly and Tendulkar pair split in One Days we seem to struggle even there. I think Robin Utthappa is an opening batsman. Why he being a genuine opener wasn’t he tried? Dhoni played really well to make a 96 taking nothing away for him, but how many times can he open? If he can do it regularly then why isn’t he regularly opening? There is a certain Adam Gilchrist whose been opening successfully for Australia and there are examples of other keepers as well who have opened successfully.

The house crashes without the Wall.

There is not only top order woes for India. There is a very rigid middle order to content as well. There was no spark from the spark plugs. The previous match heroes were silent guns today. Yuvraj, Raina went out to tame dismissal. Venugopal Rao will be kicking himself for not doing enough. I think these guys are in bad luck. They are selected when the big boys are rested and they know they would have to make place for them when the big boys are back. It is sad for guys like Venugopal Rao.

Spot a bowlers contest.

How many matches have V.R.V. Singh, R.P. Singh and Munaf Patel played in all? Whatever may be there count I think English batsmen would have backed themselves to chase down 323. Indian seamers bowled a combine of 20 overs and gave away 118 runs no one even looked look like taking a wicket. There efforts also included 13 extra bowls and equal numbers of runs. There was only Harbhajan who claimed three wickets with his quota of ten overs going for 30 runs.

The English are not complaining.

Why should they? I would be the last person who would be surprised if the English manage to win the last game. Why do I say so? I am not pro English and anti-India. But as an honest cricket fan Indian performance is often lack lustre and thoughtless as it was today. This worries me a trifle. If the good form is just an innings so is the bad form. If the pitch at Indore is anything to do bounce and pace I would favour the English to make it count again and dent the Indian spirit.

The extras, who is counting?

The Indians conceded 27 extras ie 12.05% of runs that’s the English scored along with nearly bowling 7% extra overs. In an endeavour of defending a meagre total these numbers are big. There was a wicket of Ian Bell that went down begging because of a no-ball. The English managed to record a century opening stand. If you keep track of India winning and loosing then keep a track on extra’s which they concede when the loose a match. It will provide a very interesting hint.
The Indians have had a great series of One Day series. I would love to see Indians perform well in tournaments where there are more the two teams then. The Indians under estimated the English and there selection was shocking. There is some dead (Sehwag and Kaif) wood in the team that needs to be replaced.