Once hailed as the dominant team, nowadays aren’t even close to being one. India taking their apparent ‘A’ team, says it all. India’s series against West Indies was basically a chance for youngsters to prove themselves and a chance for India to test their bench-strength. But with West Indies struggling big time and hardly able to get their combinations right, India had a good chance to set it straight up for them. After winning 3 matches convincingly, India was already out there to prove what they have in store for the world. But the winning combination was changed in order to give everyone an equal chance, but the chance to whitewash West Indies was lost and over. Losing the last 2 ODIs, the sight wasn’t great.

HIGHS

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Amit Mishra have been the highs of this series. Rohit Sharma pioneered Indian innings and helped India India win in a couple of matches. Averaging 128 and scoring around 257 runs in the 5 matches he played, he obviously has acknowledged many greats who have predicted him to be a future great for India. Kohli, another person who has been scoring consistently for India has had a pretty good series, but is capable of much more. Scoring 199 runs in 5 matches, he couldn’t score at all in a couple of matches as he lost out on capitalizing in the games. Parthiv Patel also gave us some solid starts in the games, and is trying to capitalize into the 2nc choice wicket-keeper place in the squad.

Among the bowlers, Amit Mishra was tremendous. Aggressive, he has always been looking for wickets. Picking up 11 wickets in the series with an exceptional economy rate of just 4, he has an awesome future to look at. Along with Harbhajan Singh, a defensive off-spinner, this leg-spinner can have a phenomenal partnership in the spin-bowling department. Munaf Patel has carried his form since the World Cup and looked good here again, picking up 8 wickets in the 3 matches he played.

LOWS

Suresh Raina was an utter disappointment. Playing rash shots, he was certainly over-burdened by the captaincy.  Making him a captain was a bad decision anyway, since he doesn’t have much experience anyways. Virat Kohli, who had the experience and certainly a good captain, could have been given the opportunity. Even Harbhajan Singh, a senior player could have had the chance to be what he ever wanted to be. Scoring just 82 runs, he certainly didn’t play to his capabilities. Even Shikhar Dhawan, lost out on a golden chance to prove his worth scoring as low as 69 runs, which included a fifty. Inconsistent performances are going to hurt. Manoj Tiwary, though didn’t get enough opportunities at the moment, but he certainly couldn’t get in through how many ever opportunities he was given.

Harbhajan Singh, being the senior-most player in the squad with his experience should have inspired the youngsters. Instead he himself wasn’t playing to his capabilities. Picking up 4 wickets in the 3 matches he played, his economy rate was good, and shows his defensiveness and the tendency to not look for the wickets. Even, Praveen Kumar was in the same league though his economy rate wasn’t as good as Bhajji’s. Even Ashwin couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities given to him. Actually he quite failed picking up just a wicket in the 2 matches he played.

WORSE

The biggest disappointment of the tour being, Subramanium Badrinath. Hailed as a great player, ignored by selectors all the time scored just 40 runs in the 4 matches he played.  Scoring well in the IPL, he lost the opportunity he was waiting for. Then why perform in the league games, if you don’t want to perform at the big stage? Nerves! Playing at the big stage is always a challenge and he needs to cope up with it. Dhoni brings out the best in him, and possibly his run tally could have been a lot better if he would have been around. Yusuf Pathan also couldn’t live up to his reputation of being a pinch-hitter and a clean striker of the ball. Poor selection of shots, he had a good opportunity to retain his place in the last ODI. When India actually needed him in the last ODI where wickets were consistently falling, he got a good start but fell for 30. Again losing out big time.

Ishant Sharma, who had a great opportunity to regain his lost glory again disappointed. Hailed as the one to put off fire in India’s fast bowling department when he actually made Ricky Ponting hop around in his crease he certainly has lost all the confidence in himself. He has to work on himself, indeed very hard.

It was a dream, but the dream just remained a dream. A whitewash and what would have been the frolic in the country. History would have been made, and how!  A golden opportunity, lost big time for the players as well as for the history to be made. Hopefully, they will create more opportunities for themselves in the near future.

Suresh Raina & Darren Sammy

India already reached West Indies a couple of days back but the hype around it isn’t the same as the expectations. Shocked, right? West Indies team has gone from being the example of dominance to being casted as the side easy to beat.

West Indies – India matches have always been one to look forward to. West Indies dominated world cricket for almost more than a decade during the late seventies and early eighties until India defeated them in the final of world cup in 1983. An unbeatable side, West Indies beaten by an underdog in the final of a world cup was an unimaginable but a sight to look at and a splendid clash anticipated in the upcoming years.

Except for Sunil Gavaskar, who played well above the expectations when it came to playing against West Indies playing splendid cover shots and hooks, the West Indian pacemen which included legends like Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Michael Holding and many others demoralized the Indian batting line-ups along with Amarnath who was an exceptional player of pace. Brain Lara’s comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar were nothing but comparisons between two players filled with talent and idiosyncrasies which drove them to practice all day long to become what they are. Sir Vivian Richard can never be count out whether whichever is the country playing against him.

Though this clash went on faltering and never could live upto its expectations as it went by, as the West Indian side kept on losing its dominance. They went from riches to rags by the time the 20^th century started. And with Lara’s retirement and West Indies not producing enough fast-paced battery that can actually inflict fear in the minds of people, the matches between hasn’t been able to create much excitement in the second half of the last decade atleast.

On top of that, West Indies Cricket Boards (WICB) hasn’t been able to work well. Their constant fights with WIPA and consistently not being to be able to take proper decisions & get in players who would be able to change the phase of cricket in country. Them being clueless about how to take the game forward in the country and trying new approaches like youngsters being the core part of the team by axing the senior players, led to the destruction of the team. Axing players like Shivnaraine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan & row of fights over club v/s country with Chris Gayle have had a major impact on the game of cricket in the country.

While West Indies was one of the major concern and a team to defeat, time hasn’t remained the same since years. Even most of the Indian senior players have decided to opt out of the squad to tour West Indies even though it’s just for the ODIs. All the senior players including Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni and India’s pace spearhead Zaheer Khan. Though I don’t blame these players for missing the tours as it has been extremely tight schedule, as they’ve had back to back tours including the South African series, WORLD CUP and IPL and even the fact that it’s good to give the youngsters international exposure atleast in front of weaker teams.

Though the West Indian side does look like a struggling side but with cricket, uncertainties are always possible. But West Indian side do show some promises with the names of Darren Bravo who certainly just look like a re-incarnation of Brain Lara. Along with him are Darren Sammy and Devendra Bishoo too looking quite promising. But with Chris Gayle’s ouster, who has been in top form in the just concluded IPL, from the 1^st two ODIs atleast, it would have been a decision tough to make.

Indians are geared up too for the series with Suresh Raina leading up front. West Indies team would be approaching this series to be played basically for pride because of the way senior international players have approached the series against them along with an opportunity for youngsters to step up and take the responsibility. However, for Indians it is basically an opportunity to test their pool of players. A clash between the depleted Indian side and a struggling West Indian side, it’s going to be a treat to watch.

Indian Cricket Team With World Cup 2011

The test squad as well as the ODI squad for the West Indies tour have been announced and its quite disappointing to not hear some of the big names. Virender Sehwag already pulled out of the ODI squad because of injury, while Gautam Gambhir cannot play both the test tour as well as ODI tour because of a shoulder injury which was apparently caused in KKR’s last game against Mumbai Indians. Yuvraj Singh too has a throat infection which ultimately leaves Dhoni and Zaheer Khan to take rest off this schedule. This is not all, as Sachin Tendulkar too gets off the flight to West Indies as he wants to spend some time with family.

Such a schedule just takes a lot of toll on its players and just can’t be acceptable. All the big names being injured all the time and begging for some rest just makes it tough to live a life for them. A bowler has to be prevented from injuries, but as the number of games is increasing, the injuries can certainly go long-term. With Indian fast bowlers are even more susceptible to injuries it just makes it worse. And an injury to a player like Zaheer Khan, where we don’t even have a back-up bowler just makes it even tougher.

As every coin has two sides, this tour and the rest taken by players, has its own advantages too. This tour certainly gives an exposure to younger players in the team to take more responsibility and gives an opportunity to more players to show their talent on an international base. An opportunity, which would give India a larger pool of players to select from and would be an extremely nice opportunity to rotate the players, especially the fast bowlers. This could reduce the chances of players getting injured which will ultimately help India on the whole.

But its sometimes extremely disappointing to look when you see the players still selecting the club and money over country. As per the news, Gambhir was already injured before the start of the IPL season, though he didn’t know the intensity of the injury. On top of that, most of the players preferred playing in IPL with their respective clubs instead of taking the much needed rest. But preferring to take rest during the West Indies tour instead of playing the game for the country just amuses me. Which clearly states, that players have started giving much more importance to the club over country.

Obviously big money lures people and has quite an impact, but why put money over country. They say money is not the only answer but it makes a difference. Country and money are the only answers for the players and they let money make the difference here.

Its extremely important to give an opportunity to every player who is truly deserving, but not on the cost of so many senior players being rested. BCCI needs to keep some basic strategies in mind, and give opportunity to some players at a time, instead of giving every player just to show their talent on one stage. An extremely phenomenal scheme, they can certainly try and make 2 pool of players and try and rotate players at a regular interval. This can certainly help the team. But for that, we unarguably need to get in more talent to play for the country and not waste the talent.

West Indies tour on its way, its time for players like Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina to take up the big responsibility and try and carry the team on their shoulders. Apart from that its definitely a good opportunity for youngsters like Dhawan, Vinay Kumar and some more to shine and steal the limelight away from the other cricketers who have already put themselves in the list of top-level cricketers. Even in the test squad, Badrinath has atlast got a chance to prove himself that he is the lone and vivid player who has the skills to fill the big shoes ahead of Yuvraj Singh and Chateshwar Pujara.

Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina and Murli Vijay combined forces in a brutal manner to help Chennai Super Kings maul a miserable Wayamba by a massive margin of 97 runs. The left-right hand duo of Raina and Vijay smashed 137 runs in their match-winning partnership as Chennai posted exactly 200 for the loss of three wickets.

In reply, even the entire Wayamba side could not the partnership as they succumbed to 103 all out. None of the batsmen from the Lankan side could make any sort of an impact on a pitch that had nothing extraordinary for the bowlers. Still, the pressure of runs was just too much for them to handle. It has to be said though that it was poor bowling from Wayamba that let them down.

The bowling was totally wayward – short, full or on an easily driving length. And to their credit, Raina and Vijay took the best possible advantage for it. On this day, everything went Vijay’s way. And so, he brought out those delectable flicks, soothing drives and controlled pulls with utmost success. At the other end, the veteran Australian Matthew Hayden was struggling to time the ball. But Vijay ensured that the scoring rate wasn’t affected drastically. And once Hayden fell, Raina and Vijay launched their gregarious assault.

The mediocrity of the Wayamba attack enabled Vijay to move around in the crease and picks the gaps at ease and, at other times, clear the field. twenty three runs were leaked in the fifth over, bowled by Chanaka Welegedara. And the smashing paid did not look back after that. Every time it looked that one was dominating the bowling attack, the other would could come out with something equally impressive, or even better. And the Wayamba bowlers had no clue at all how to stop the rut.

Some of Raina’s memorable strokes included an inside-out hit six off Thisara Perera to start off with. As spin and medium pace was introduced, he swept, drove and lofted them with consummate ease. Once India’s biggest nemesis, Ajantha Mendis was hoicked for four biggies in the same direction even though the lengths of all the deliveries were different. The crowds were enjoying the barrage, while, at the same time, searching for cover. Wayamba pulled things back to an extent when Vijay and Raina fell off consecutive deliveries and a possible score of 220 was kept down to 200. Still, it was going to be a hugely challenging chase.

As it turned out, the Wayamba batsmen had nothing to offer in the form of resistance. For them to have a chance, Mahela Jayawardene needed to come up with a chanceless knock. Unfortunately for the Lankan side, he perished as early as the fourth over, cutting Doug Bollinger to Muttiah Muralitharan. The rest followed suit, as if the perfect example had been set.

The Chennai bowlers helped themselves to some impressive figures – off spinner R Ashwin grabbing four wickets and deserving each one of them as well. Home boy Albie Morkel also made his presence felt. While he did not have much to do with the bat thanks to Raina and Vijay, he chipped in with three wickets, to break the back of Wayamba’s chase. It was just all too easy for the IPL champions.

Australia:

Shane Watson:

Shane Watson

After making his debut in the Australian summer of March way back in 2002, Shane watson’s career is one to have changed dramatically. From starting off as a fast bowler with more than lively pace who could hold the bat at number 7 his roles in the current Australian team are completely different.

Watto Watson is one of those players who is always seemed to be plagued with injuries. After several rehabilitations and becoming the perfect replacement for a certain Ian Harvey the Australian selectors finally lost hope with this talented blonde bombshell from Queensland. Shane was struggling to make his career.

Strangely, the problem with Watson was not about talent or performance it was his fitness that was an issue that deprived him of so many international years of his playing career. Watson was nowhere near being considered for a return to the Australian side. After being picked in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League, Watson single handedly with both bat and ball carried the Rajasthan Royals towards the championship gold.

He ended up becoming man of the tournament with over 450 runs and a handful of wickets. The Australian selectors took note of this and immediately drafted him to the Australian side to tour the Windies. Ever since then there has been no looking back for Shane as he has made his mark in the international arena and is a feared competitor by all other nations.

Watson played the 2009 ashes and scored half centuries in what seemed like every innings. He has become fitter and has understood his role in the Australian team well. He now opens for Australia and generally bowls in the mid 130’s. A very handy cricketer as long as he stays fit. After 8 long years, Shane Watson finally seems to have come of age.

Cameron White:

Cameron White

Whitey or bear as he is known by his team mates has recently become an integral part of the Australian limited Overs squad. Cameron white has always been a major performer for his state side, Victoria. He is currently the vice captain of the Australian T20 side and should be the skipper in reckoning if Michael Clarke is done away with.

For a man who was not even a part of the original Australian T20 World cup squad in 2009, white has come a long way and has established himself as the Australian number 5. White was called in after Andrew Symonds was sent back home due to off field issues. White is soon filling the huge void left by Andrew Symonds. He is a brilliant fielder and is soon becoming one of the feared hitter on the international scene.

Whitey was given a long run after Australia’s ashes defeat to England in 2009. He stepped in for ponting at number 3 and played exceptional cricket which included one fifty and a century in 3 matches. From then on in there was no looking back as he helped Australia retain the champions trophy (2009) in South Africa and played some crucial knocks on difficult conditions in India. White had a brilliant 20-20 world cup this year and ensured Australia reached the finals for the first time in this tournament.

Cameron white’s reputation is rapidly building on the world stage and the owners of the IPL franchisees are now aware of the talent that the man possesses. With the fresh IPL auction that is to take place this July, one can be certain that white could be in for some big bucks and even captaincy considering he’s captained Victoria to several big bash victories down under. White is still a young man and would be ambitious to return to the test arena once again.

Nathan Hauritz:

Nathan Hauritz

Hauritz very similar to Watson made his debut for Australia way back in 2002. He was young (20) and wasn’t too successful at the international arena. He played his first test in 2004 and didn’t do too well then either. The Australian selectors weren’t too worried and dint have to look too far considering SK Warne was still in the ranks. However, the rise of Hauritz began after Warne, McGill and Hogg stepped down from international test cricket.

This left Australia with no other option but Nathan Hauritz. Hauritz wasn’t seen as a wicket taking bowler, he was more a container and this proved to be fatal for the Aussies. It was at this time only (late 2008- early 2009) that Australia began to hit rock bottom where they lost a test match series in India and went on to lose on their home turf against the mighty Proteas after 16 long years.

The lack of a quality spinner was becoming a major problem and several concerns were being raised about who would play come the ashes. The Australian selection committee decided to go with Nathan Hauritz and stuck with him throughout the South African tour in both Test and one day internationals. Hauritz proved his worth and was handy. However, his success was hugely regarded to

Mitchell Johnson:

Mitchell Johnson

Johnson was enjoying a purple patch back then and he often broke the back bone of the South African team before Hauritz came into bowl. Nevertheless, it was the best that Australia had and they decided to go ahead with Nathan for the ashes. As soon as the news was out that Nathan would be the spinner that the Australians would be carrying with themselves to defend the ashes, comments came rushing in.

Most notable amongst these was that of former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott made a scandalized remark after Hauritz got pietersen out to an infamous sweep in the first test at Cardiff. He said “It wasn’t an off-spinner. Hauritz doesn’t look like he could bowl my mum out, then he gets the best batsman out.”

Hauritz proved all his critics wrong and slowly developed into a very fine bowler for Australia. Eventually, he proved to be the difference (Not picked on a turning track at the oval) between Australia having the ashes and not. Hauritz’s growth as a spinner continues as he remains a steady part of the Australian line up. Hauritz will have to be on his toes as the Australian selectors seemed to have taken a liking towards upcoming leggie Steve Smith.

India:

Suresh Raina:

Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina is the star out of India’s huge pool of rising talents comprising the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Robin Uthappa and so on. On his debut way back in 2005 raina only managed a duck; he was trapped LBW by a Muttiah Muralidaran doosra of his first ball. Ever since then Raina has changed his game immensely. All the hard yards, extra hours of practice against spin and pace is now seen where he seems to be shining on the international stage.

This turn of events was noticed in the first edition of the Indian premier league where raina was one of the top scorers in the competition and enabled the Chennai Super Kings make the final of the tournament. He has been the most consistent performer in the IPL and is the highest scorer across all three years of the tournament with 1311 runs. Suresh raina has matured a great deal by playing under the likes of greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

He was recently included in the test squad against South Africa. Raina is now able to handle responsibilities of carrying the team forward at a tender age of 23. Raina has also been chosen as captain in the on-going series in Zimbabwe as original skipper Mahendra singh Dhoni has been given a rest. Clearly raina is seen highly by the BCCI and they would want to ensure that the young man doesn’t fall ahead of himself and continues to perform the way he has been performing in the last couple of years.

England:

Graeme Swann:

Graeme Swann

The biggest revelation in the cricketing fraternity over the last year, Graeme Swann has been labeled by fellow spin legend Shane Warne as the most improved player in recent cricket. Swann is one of the few Englishmen (literally) who has been successful over the last year considering most others have been imports from either South Africa or Ireland.

He made his debut way back in 2000 but wasn’t a regular part of the side as England’s first choice spinner at that point in time still remained Ashley Giles. Swann never really knew what his role was, whether he was a batsman who could bowl or the other way around. He found himself wanting on the international stage and soon realized it was the latter that would take him to the top rung. He worked on his game tremendously and the change was to be seen.

He had a brilliant series against the West Indies leading up to the ashes and since then there has been no looking back for the man from Northampton. Swann, often the most notorious in the team and tends to calm down the dressing room atmosphere with his pranks. The ashes that went by in 2009, was where Swann was noticed by the international audience.

From then on in he helped England reach the semi finals of the champions trophy in 2009 and eventually help the Englishmen win their first ever ICC trophy, the Twenty 20 world cup in the Caribbean a fortnight ago. Swann is soon becoming an integral part of this England line up and a major part of whether England are able to retain the ashes later this year would be subject to the way he performs.

Stuart Broad:

Stuart Broad

Son of former English batsman and current commentator, Junior broad is one of the fastest improving cricketer’s going around. Stuart made his debut in 2006 and saw the up hills and down hills of international cricket. He was hit for a record six sixes in an over by Yuvraj Singh during the inaugural twenty 20 world cup in South Africa. However, since then a lot seems to have changed for this lanky pacer.

He seems to have become physically fitter, has worked on his batting and more importantly he is no more the bowler who would just run in. There is a plan, a methodology on how to go about things that is seen. He is seen as a replacement to Freddie Flintoff who retired a year or so ago. A lot is expected from Stuart and he is still just 23 years of age and has a good number of tests and one day internationals behind him and seems to understand the game better with every passing day.

He still tends to concede a bit too much when it comes to runs per over but he is a wicket taker and that’s what it comes down to in the end. A very handy cricketer and one to certainly watch out for in the future, as he seems to be improving very quickly.

Pakistan:

Saeed Ajmal:

Saeed Ajmal

Saeed Ajmal, the Pakistani off spinner has captivated international cricket ever since he burst onto the international arena. More than coming of age Saeed has been one of those late bloomers in international cricket where in which the team regrets the fact that they couldn’t go on a bit longer. Ajmal is very similar to Michael Hussey in this regard.

(Talking about Hussey the duo have a bit of a history after this year’s world T20 in the Windies). Ajmal albeit at the age of 30 made his debut and turned out to be a replica of spin legend and the ‘doosra’ inventor Saqlain Mushtaq. Ajmal is able to disguise and bowl the doosra with similar effect and has always managed to keep the wood on the batsman.

Ever since Akmal joined the Pakistani team they have made it to two semi finals and one championship victory in the three ICC events to have taken place. In spite of all the unpredictability that Pakistan have to offer, Ajmal seems to have brought a bit of sense in the spin bowling department and he along with fellow spinner Shahid Afridi now form a formidable pair and curtail the batsman from scoring freely in the middle Overs of a limited over international.

Ajmal was turning out to be the star for Pakistan in the recent twenty 20 world cup that was held in the West Indies. However, Australia’s Michael Hussey had different ideas. He went on to slaughter Saeed Ajmal in the semi final which enabled the Aussies get to the final for the first time. The match which was being labeled as the best Twenty 20 match had already seen loads of thrills and spills before Ajmal came on to bowl.

Ajmal had brilliant figures up to his 3 over mark and was turning out to be the difference between the two sides but the last over where in which Michael hussey hammered three sixes changed the course of the match. Nevertheless, Ajmal remains a key armoury that Pakistan possess and how he develops in the next six months could be critical for Pakistan’s chances in the world cup which is to be played in the Indian subcontinent (barring Pakistan) where in which the pitches are low and slow.

Shahid Afridi:

Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi has been around since an age now and he’s still just over 30 years of age with a trunk load of experience behind him. Shahid Afridi made his debut way back in 1996 and its amazing in spite of being a member of the team for such a long time he comes under this category.

For a long period of time Shahid Afridi did not really know where his forte lied, in other words he never really knew his role in the team; whether it was to go and bludgeon the bowlers and chip in with a couple of tidy Overs or be a mainstream spinner thus providing perfect foil to the fast bowling greats of yesteryears.

However, only recently has Shahid Afridi grown, he has become one of the most difficult bowlers to get away in the middle Overs in limited Overs cricket. He seems to have cemented his place as a bowling all rounder. Ever since becoming vice captain and now captain in all forms of cricket Afridi has taken the extra mantle of responsibility on himself and this seems to be helping not just him but Pakistan cricket as well. Afridi recently came out of his retirement from test cricket and was made captain.

It will be interesting to see how he goes in the longer form of the game as his quick balls at 120 kmphs will not be as big an issue as it is in other forms of cricket. Shahid Afridi finally seems to have found his game and if he works on his batting, he could become one of the best spin bowling all rounder to have played the game (only in the shorter formats).

South Africa:

AB De Villiers:

AB De Villiers

Most AB fans wouldn’t agree me placing Abraham in this list and might find it a little harsh. But it’d be better to agree to disagree. This 26 year old South African made his debut in the 2004/2005 season and only recently that is ever since 2008/09 has he become one of South Africa’s mainstays in the middle over. He is a very talented cricketer and on his day could tear apart any attack put in front of him.

De Villiers, a very under estimated cricketer on the international stage is set to take over the gloves once Mark Boucher decides to call it quits. However, de Villiers seems quite reluctant to take up the job as he not only enjoys his fielding but is also worried that it would affect his batting adversely. De Villiers is proving to be a wonderful find for the proteas and is becoming ever so reliable with consistent performances in the last year or two.

He is ready to carry the mantle forward and could become South Africa’s Jacques Kallis once the latter decides to put up his feet. All this could be very soon as Kallis and boucher both are very likely to step down from limited Overs cricket after the 2011 world cup which is to be played in the Indian subcontinent.

Like all other players mentioned above AB de Villiers too holds the key to South Africa’s chances in the upcoming 50 over world cup. He seems to be the man for the occasion as he’s had a lot of experience here and has tasted success on very similar wickets.

Sri Lanka:

Angelo Mathews:

Angelo Mathews

Young Sri Lankan all rounder has cemented his place in the team’s One day international and test teams ever since he made his debuts in the formats. He has never had to face the axe, which is very rare for a young cricketer especially in the early goings in his career.

The young 23 Year old all rounder has replaced Chaminda Vaas to very good effect. The only difference between the two being that Mathews is more of a batsman than a bowler which was not the case with Vaas. When I mean come of age it doesn’t necessarily mean people who have spend a lot of time in cricket and have eventually found their spot.

It basically refers to those cricketers who have/are now matured enough to carry the mantle forward. In his short career Mathews has already established himself on the world stage. This could be seen when he was picked up by Kolkata Knight riders (one of the IPL franchisees) to participate in the league. The only worry remains his bowling, more so in test cricket as it doesn’t seem to have that nip or extra bit of pace that could either facilitate him to get the ball go past the bat or trouble them with speed.

His variations help him get through the limited Overs format quite adequately. His batting and fielding are of top notch and is a very good sign for things to come in all three forms of the game. Mathews could also be the captain in standing once current skipper Kumar Sangakkara retires.

The only other real prospect seems Dilshan, but his temper and his age (wrong side of 30) lowers his prospects of becoming skipper. As a result of this Mathews could be well groomed under experienced players like Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. This lad has sure already made a name for himself in international cricket. One bloke to certainly look out for in the future!

Bangladesh:

Shakib Al Hasan:

Shakib Al Hasan

Current Bangladeshi skipper, Shakib Al Hasan made his debut against Zimbabwe at the Harare sports club. His debut itself marked the sign of things to come in his career. He impressed one and all with his performance as he made an impressive 30 not out and bowled his quota of 10 Overs under four an over with a wicket against his name. However, he seemed to have fizzed out a bit only to have redeemed himself in recent months.

He has come back strongly and for a long time now has been right on top of the all rounder charts in one day cricket. He was soon appointed captain and he seems to be taking Bangladeshi cricket to newer heights unseen before. The man is just 23 and has a lot to promise. The Bangladeshi cricket board need to nurture their talent and ensure that their players don’t fizz out and become an Ashraful.

Certain teams namely West Indies and New Zealand don’t have players featuring on this left. With west indies their trunk load of players just aren’t able to convert it big to the international level thus underlining their poor performance in world cricket in recent years. As far as the Kiwis are concerned they don’t seem to have enough of resources.

Hence, their players don’t seem to feature even in the list of players who have promised but not delivered. Getting players to grow and mature at the world stage is highly dependent on how the national board of the respecting country helps nurture and groom young players so as to convert them to international starts. This is very similar to the business concept of converting Problem child who have the talent and potential to Stars and eventually cash cows.
Indeed, the responsibility does lie with the boards…

They have beaten their Asian rivals comprehensively during the first exchange between the two sides in the series. But, the horrific stuff India dished out against the home side in not one but two games will make Lanka believe that they have a slight advantage going into the game. And, for the Indians to undo that, they first need to get their minds out of the muddle.

Cleary, they haven’t been thinking anywhere close to smartly. The bewilderment of their batting fiasco against the Zimbabweans will still be fresh in their minds. Only when they get over it will they be able to perform to their ability. For that to happen they need to stay and think positive.

This series has been a real test for young skipper Suresh Raina. One can only hope that he has learnt some strong lessons quickly, and would make lesser mistakes in the do-or-die encounter against the Lankans. While it was apt of him to point fingers at the inability of his openers to get the team going, it is only fair that he makes an effort to lead from the front.

True, his spectacular fielding makes a fair difference. However, it is not enough. He needs to be more active as a skipper too. His forgetful nature will not do India any good. It was nothing short of weird that he refused to take the batting powerplay during the winning effort against Lanka, and he literally forgot about the bowling powerplay as the Zimbabwean batsmen were massacring his bowlers.

Disappointing as it may sound, bowling was always going to be India’s Achilles Heel in this tournament. Ashok Dinda and Umesh Yadav have little to show apart from their IPL experience. And, the Zimbabwean batsmen have exploited their weaknesses to the hilt.

Even the comparatively pedigreed Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha haven’t been up to the mark. Unfortunately, there isn’t much option for India to chop and change either.

R Vinay Kumar has returned home injured, and the only other alternative the have is to try out Abhimanyu Mithun, himself a rookie, so no miracles should be expected. And so, the burden of shouldering the extra responsibility would once again be on spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan.

On the contrary, India has a much more experienced and talent batting line up. And their failure is what has been extremely disheartening. Except for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, almost everyone has looked out of sync. Dinesh Karthik and Murli Vijay have failed to convert their starts.

As such, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to test out Naman Ojha. Among the others, Raina is too busy figuring out his captaincy, which must change. Also, India will be served well if the big-hitting Pathan can get some runs. And, though Jadeja got a half-century in the last game, his confidence would be boosted if he can achieve it without the help of the umpires.

All in all, India have an unenviable task on hand. And, with none of the seniors around to guide them through, it would be rather fascinating to see how these young turks respond to the crisis situation.

A collapse from 58 for no loss to 95 for 5 is often associated with weak, inexperienced sides like Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Kenya. But, this was what India’s score read at different stages of the innings during their second consecutive defeat to Zimbabwe in the series.

Even more unfathomable was the approach of the openers. Against an attack that was far from threatening and a pitch that wasn’t crumbing by any means, Dinesh Karthik and M Vijay were happy to play ‘Test’ match style cricket, and bore the select few who were interested in watching the game. And, not surprisingly, they ended up being battered and bruised by an upbeat Zimbabwean outfit.

Consider this… Zimbabwe did not even have a regular new-ball bowler in their side. Instead, they had four spinners and one slow-medium pacer. What then made the Indian openers play the brand of cricket they did? This facet needs to be explained in no uncertain terms.

It is understood that a young, inexperienced team is here for gaining experience. But, that doesn’t give the players the opportunity to use the matches as ‘practice’ games.

Karthik, in particular, has enough international experience and should have shown the way to the youngsters instead of misguiding them.

With their shabby performance, the Indians made an ordinary attack look extraordinary. Off-spinner Greg Lamb was the pick of the bowlers on the scoresheet. But, he should never have been. Don’t Karthik and Vijay face better spin bowlers day in and day out in domestic cricket?

How then can one explain their inability to stand up to a relatively unknown name? With their negative outlook, the openers not only put pressure on themselves, but on the entire batting to follow; rather strange considering they were in such fine batting form against Sri Lanka only a couple of days ago.

Following the number of deliveries they consumed, the Indian openers should have gone one to register big scores. Instead, both threw their wickets away. What transpired after that wasn’t all that surprising. After all, the precedent had been set all too early.

India could still have fought back courtesy the in-form middle-order. However, the Suresh Raina-led brigade showed a total lack of application. Rohit Sharma, the centurion of the last two matches, and the captain himself, both lost their wickets to run-outs, which was the last thing India needed under the circumstances.

To be fair to Zimbabwe, they bowled a tight line and kept the Indians quite. Even then, the batsmen could have done a lot better. The visiting side can only be thankful to the umpires for letting off Ravindra Jadeja twice, when he was quite clearly trapped in front of the stumps.

Probably, even the umpires were having pity on India. Following the reprieves though, the left-hander proved that there were no demons in the pitch as was being made out, playing some big shots comfortably.

The principal lesson for the Indians though was provided the Zimbabwean openers. In stark contrast to Karthik and Vijay, Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza batted with all the ease in the world.

It helped that the Indian bowling was mediocre, but then Zimbabwe’s wasn’t any better. It was just that the Indian batsmen made them look a lot better. It wasn’t as if Taylor and Masakadza tore the bowling apart.

But, unlike the Indians, they batted with a positive approach, putting away the bad balls on offer, plenty of them there were. So confident did the Zimbabweans become during the course of the chase, they went on to achieve the bonus point as well.

If Zimbabwe’s win over India in the opening encounter was impressive, this triumph was even more imposing. The victory margin notwithstanding, the Indians lost the game in the mind much before play ended.

Primarily, it is because India lost to Zimbabwe in the first match of the tournament, causing the tournament to be wide open. On the other hand, Sri Lanka would find this a perfect opportunity to make a winning start to their campaign, which could give them confidence to win more as the tournament progresses.

India needed to hit back. Pressure was intense on Suresh Raina, the stand-in captain. However, on a windy day and a slow pitch in Bulawayo, he won the toss and elected to field first. His Sri Lankan counterpart, Tillakratne Dilshan knows the conditions perhaps better than any other foreign cricketer playing in this tournament.

It is because he made his debut at the same venue back in 1999. He too got carried away about what happened at the toss and miraculously for India, Sri Lanka faltered. Upul Tharanga, Dilshan’s opening partner, got run out as early as the second over.

Sri Lanka further struggled with their captain playing a Test-match innings, and forgetting that he was playing an ODI. Dilshan seems to have lost his Midas touch that he possessed in 2009, despite scoring a more-or-less responsible 61, until he was also run-out as well.

Thilan Samaraweera, batting at No.3, also played an uncharacteristic shot, getting himself stumped for just 19 runs. Angelo Matthews batted extremely well in a tough situation at No.4, slamming 75 runs of 95 runs. He was the only bright spark of the Sri Lankan innings which suffered largely due to lack of partnerships, which meant Matthews wasn’t given any support at all.

Thissira Perera tried to up the ante with his 32 runs scored of just 23 balls. However, it was too late for Sri Lanka as they could manage a paltry 242 all out with one ball to spare in the innings.

India did everything right. Their bowling was outstanding in the powerplay overs, a rare sight indeed! Even their fielding could be called ‘decent’ enough with two run-outs in the entire innings.

Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja have yet again proved how their bowling can be crucial to India’s success in this format. However, India had to chase 243, which was not easy considering the Sri Lankan bowling attack having some experience.

India’s openers needed to start well, as the pitch was slowing down. Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay weren’t amongst the runs recently and thus to win it for India was an uphill task for them.

At 47/2 in the 10th over with both of them gone, it was huge pressure. It was then that the centurion of the last match, Rohit Sharma walked in to bat with Virat Kohli at the other end. And it was a counter-attack that would last long in every person’s memory who watched the match.

Kohli has a fascination for Sri Lanka and yet again he proved his increasing maturity with a fine 92-ball 82, with just four boundaries. His batting was outstanding considering how well he could find the gaps in a tight field set by Dilshan for his spinners to attack.

Kohli, the vice-captain on this tour, in fact helped Sharma get his second hundred on the trot, as it was he who looked to tear apart the opposition. Rohit Sharma has been in top form since the IPL this year.

His experience is what Raina has been banking on so far and he has repaid his faith by steering India to a comfortable win of 7 wickets with 7 overs to spare! Looking at the public displeasure in India after the defeat to Zimbabwe, this win was crucial in appeasing them and Raina too, who as captain has to face the heat the most.

Rohit Sharma was the man-of-the-match undoubtedly. Unlike India, it was Sri Lanka’s bowling which struggled. Apart from pacer Nuwan Kulasekara, none of the other bowlers impressed. Tillakratne Dilshan took a huge gamble by taking both Ajantha Mendis and Dilhara Fernando.

Mendis has become too predictable now and Fernando is not much of use on slow pitches. So like Raina, it is Dilshan who will be under the pump, ahead of the clash against Zimbabwe next up.

His experience will be a must for his young team, to help beat a confident Zimbabwe team, who are constantly improving. If Sri Lanka get their act right in the next game, the points table will get interesting further. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Zimbabwe might even beat Sri Lanka convincingly, which means that in my book, they are the favourites to win!

The ultimate dream of an aspiring, young cricketer is to book a place for himself in the national team. And the national cap is a proof of this. Indeed, the world population is increasing from time to time.

As a result, the number of people who wish to enter the world of cricket as players is increasing at an alarming rate. The top cricketing nations in the world want to continue to dominate so players, who have worked hard in domestic cricket, might easily get a call-up into the national team.

India, for instance, has emphasized on the importance of a mix of the young and old. Greg Chappell, the former India coach, started this tradition through the rotation policy in 2005, which allowed newcomers to prove their worth at the international level.

Although Chappell’s tenure was forgettable in the history of Indian cricket, he could be given enough credit to have worked upon young players in order to win more matches for India in the future. RP Singh, for instance, earned his national cap in 2005 against Zimbabwe.

So did Suresh Raina, against Sri Lanka in the same year, at the time when the 2007 World Cup was just 18 months away and India was suffering a leadership crisis as well as team fighting.

These two players have turned out to be important for the Indian ODI team, and RP Singh is also a good Test match bowler. And since 2008, India has been giving away national caps to players than ever before. It is due to a phenomenon called the IPL.

There are many examples in this case, such as Pragyan Ojha, who had an exceptional first year with the Deccan Chargers, considering his team’s poor performance. In the same season, Manpreet Gony, a talented fast bowler, did well to steer the Chennai Super Kings into the finals, which allowed Dhoni to pick him in the playing XI in the Asia Cup, soon after.

Ravindra Jadeja played a crucial role in helping the Rajasthan Royals win and this made Shane Warne, his captain recommend him to play for India. And his wish came true in February 2009 when Jadeja made his debut in Sri Lanka.

And recently, R Vinay Kumar of the Royal Challengers Bangalore also played a match in the World T-20, after a terrific IPL where he finished in the Top 5 wicket-takers category and a decent Ranji Trophy too.

Abhimanyu Mithun also got his national cap in an ODI against South Africa in February 2010 when he ended as the highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy last season.

It is not just India, even England are following the same method by keenly following county cricket. Jonathan Trott was picked first in 2007 after a fantastic season with Warwickshire as England were looking to build a strong team in all three formats of the game considering a poor Ashes series and an extremely disappointing World Cup campaign in the West Indies.

One of the toughest selections that England had ever made was for the Ashes series in 2005. A young, swashbuckling batsman named Kevin Pietersen was picked ahead of a far more experienced and reliable Graham Thorpe in the squad of 15.

Michael Vaughan and Duncan Fletcher believed that a youthful English side was all that they needed to beat a strong Australian team, and that proved to be correct.

The transition happened in one series where Ian Bell and Pietersen played memorable knocks to get the Ashes back in England after a long gap of 19 years. Thus, in a country like England, where soccer is followed passionately by many youngsters, the ECB is giving incentives by allowing young players to enter the cricketing fray, in order to make their careers in cricket and help England become a top nation in cricket in the long-run.

Australia and South Africa are ranked highly in all three formats of the game as they believe that it is through playing T-20 for the national side, that youngsters can be tested and then can make the cut in the ODI and the Test teams respectively.

The performances in the IPL and the KFC Big Bash are crucial criteria for selection. For example, Australia’s team which made it to the finals of the World T-20 in 2010 had many players who played first in the T-20 format and then the ODIS. David Warner, for instance, played for Australia first in a T-20 game against South Africa and he made a name for himself in the same match to qualify for playing in the ODIs.

Players like Daniel Christian and Steven Smith are established, young T-20 players who are trying to pave their way into the ODI team as well. Australia have a strong and an overall young bowling attack in ODIS which can help them rotate so that the best XI can be chosen in major World Events or in important series such as the Ashes.

South Africa too have players such as Rory Kleinveldt and Loots Bosman who are T-20 specialists and are bound to be in the ODI team if they perform well in T-20s and domestic cricket. David Miller, too had a good T-20 outing against West Indies recently, and as a result earned a call-up into the starting XI recently, with South Africa axing JP Duminy!

Other teams such as New Zealand and Sri Lanka already have a good amount of youngsters playing at the international level. So, giving away national caps doesn’t make sense, though they should be doing this wisely in the long-run, in order to rise in the ICC rankings.

Minnows such as West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are not able to groom youngsters in order to mentally prepare them to play for their country.

Although the IPL and the Champions League has helped, yet their players are motivated my money and so would prefer playing more in such tournaments. And lastly, teams like Pakistan should be united enough to accept young blood in the side any further after the country has been suffering due to a callous administration, which has no interest in the welfare of the team.

Pakistani players also need to be taught that their country is more important to play for rather than themselves. It is only then that the meaning of giving out a national cap becomes more valid.

However, they did learn important lessons after beating Australia and Pakistan in the warm-up matches of the tournament, under a new captain, Elton Chigumbura. India, also didn’t do well in the same tournament, having being knocked out in the Super 8s stage.

They are under pressure back home and as a result most of the seniors have been rested in order to give youngsters a chance to perform. So all this makes it an interesting match as India have a new-look team and a new captain in Suresh Raina and Zimbabwe also are looking to start afresh in order to prepare for the World Cup next year.

At the Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo the conditions favoured the batsmen to a certain extent. As a result, India won the toss and elected to bat first. Dinesh Karthik, and Murali Vijay, both Tamil Nadu players too, were out in the middle to open the batting.

India tried to take control of the game thanks to horrendous bowling from the Zimbabwean skipper himself, which resulted in 36 runs coming in 2 overs. And the sundries read 24.

However, Zimbabwe fought back in no time. Vijay’s running between the wickets could be described as if he was walking in a park. As a result, a run-out sometime or the other was evident, and it did happen. Three balls later, the usually athletic Virat Kohli, batting one down, got run out without scoring and facing a ball!

And much sooner, the settled Karthik also edged a flighted delivery from the former captain Prosper Utseya and Brendan Taylor, the Zimbabwean wicketkeeper held on to the catch.

It was 61/3 in just 12.3 overs when the two biggies in this second-string Indian team, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma were at the crease. Raina, tried to play a captain’s knock by nudging the ball here and there responsibly, thereby curbing his aggressive shots.

In the end, it proved to be slightly slower innings than expected as he scored 37 runs off 53 balls, with just two boundaries. However, Sharma batted extremely well, considering the flak that he had been facing over the pub incident in the Caribbean and the issue of him being overweight.

He certainly proved his critics wrong by scoring 114 runs off 119 balls at an impressive strike rate of 95.79, which included 6 boundaries and 4 sixes. Ravindra Jadeja, was also a bright spark of the Indian batting scoring a run-a-ball unbeaten 61 and with some help from Yusuf Pathan’s lustrous hitting, India managed to reach a competitive total of 285/5 in 50 overs.

For Zimbabwe, it was Chris Mpofu who was the best bowler as he finished with figures of 2/63 in 10 overs. Utseya bowled well to keep India below 300. Yet, it was a tough task for Zimbabwe to chase 286, against an Indian attack which is young and has proved its ability in tournaments like the IPL and Ranji Trophy.

However, the Indian bowlers didn’t bowl to their potential as Zimbabwe started off in blazing fashion. It had to take a slider from Amit Mishra, by far India’s most experienced bowler in this match, to remove Hamilton Masakadza who in the end scored 46 runs off 43 balls. Despite the loss of this wicket, Zimbabwe was in a dominant position at 88/1 in 13 overs.

The pace trio of Ashok Dinda, R Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav struggled to stop Zimbabwe from putting up good partnerships and allowed Zimbabwe to bat freely as Brendan Taylor, a very underestimated batsman scored as many as 81 runs off 103 balls, as the required rate never went out of reach. Although at one stage, Zimbabwe required 50 runs off 36 balls, they deserved to win.

Charles Coventry, whose ferocious hitting is known courtesy the innings of 194 against Bangladesh last year, also went at a strike rate of 128. Chigumbura is a clean hitter of the ball and the captain couldn’t have felt more delighted than seeing the youngster on debut, Craig Ervine, scoring a half-century and winning the match in his debut one-day game as captain with him himself being at the other end! Ervine played a calm, controlled knock which made Zimbabwe overhaul India’s score with 10 balls to spare.

Raina’s captaincy and team selection came into question. Using Jadeja in the last few overs was not the best of tactics and so he paid the price for it. Yusuf Pathan wasn’t given more overs and instead Raina banked on inexperience to deliver. This caused a major upset and opens up the triseries in dramatic fashion.

Brendan Taylor was named man-of-the-match and he could lead Zimbabwe to more wins in the future against top nations, if he continues to perform in this vain. On the other hand, Raina and India has a lot of thinking to do as they would face Sri Lanka (yet again!), next up. And the Tigers would be looking to pounce on the prey which has already been wounded so severely.