Build-up to Indian Domestic Season 2009-10

[Arjun]

Mumbai at 108/1. Sreesanth took the first wicket but hasn't bowled sinc his eighth. Sudeep Tyagi has gone for lots of runs, and now both spinners are operating.

It will be good if Mumbai wins the match. They're a full team, and well-balanced, and can do well even without Sachin and Zaheer. The Rest Of India squad isn't as strong as it is made out to be, though the bowling attack is decent, they're missing Irfan, out due to injury.

EDIT: Five no-balls from Munaf already.

 

[Cricket_God]

Mumbai at 108/1. Sreesanth took the first wicket but hasn't bowled sinc his eighth. Sudeep Tyagi has gone for lots of runs, and now both spinners are operating.

It will be good if Mumbai wins the match. They're a full team, and well-balanced, and can do well even without Sachin and Zaheer. The Rest Of India squad isn't as strong as it is made out to be, though the bowling attack is decent, they're missing Irfan, out due to injury.

EDIT: Five no-balls from Munaf already.

tyagi bowling at 135-140 ,sree also 135-140 km/h, munaf-125

 

[Manee]

Good to see Sreesanth bowling well. However, it must be noted that he was poor in his FC stint in England (despite being good in the OD games) and so we should not get too excited. I feel that Munaf would be ahead in the pecking order marginally, simply because he was the last third seamer we played in a Test (against New Zealand), IIRC. No need to drop him either, he was pretty solid in the Tests over in NZ, again IIRC.

Interesting to see Agarkar do so well, is a come back in the reckoning for him. If we are to compare his OD performances to the rest of our team, he'd outmatch them even with the form that got him dropped. As for a Test spot, well, some more strong performances will have to be strung together but with Munaf as currently our third seamer, there is nothing too strong stopping him from making a shock Test return; always did think he had the tools to take Test wickets.

 

[Arjun]

Rahane out. Unfortunately, he edged a loose Munaf delivery and was out caught behind. Rohit Sharma is in. Hopefully he'll score big.

 

[Cricket_God]

Good to see Sreesanth bowling well. However, it must be noted that he was poor in his FC stint in England (despite being good in the OD games) and so we should not get too excited. I feel that Munaf would be ahead in the pecking order marginally, simply because he was the last third seamer we played in a Test (against New Zealand), IIRC. No need to drop him either, he was pretty solid in the Tests over in NZ, again IIRC.

Interesting to see Agarkar do so well, is a come back in the reckoning for him. If we are to compare his OD performances to the rest of our team, he'd outmatch them even with the form that got him dropped. As for a Test spot, well, some more strong performances will have to be strung together but with Munaf as currently our third seamer, there is nothing too strong stopping him from making a shock Test return; always did think he had the tools to take Test wickets.

come on manee,sreesanth went to england to prove his fitness he is by far our best second fastbowler in tests, Munaf will never improve his attitude.

 

[Manee]

Sreesanth could not take County Division Two wickets, he should not be anywhere near Tests, at the moment.

 

[Arjun]

Mumbai is a strong team, so if these pacers, particularly Sreesanth, can take a bagful of wickets, it will help him and the team.

As for Agarkar, we've had enough. He's only played for his place in the team, but given little back. He could have, at best, improved his batting to fifth bowler quality, but he's given up on that totally. It has always been a cycle to drop him and then get him back on the basis of domestic performances, only for him to let the team down when needed most. Let that privilege go to Irfan Pathan now. Agarkar, at best, can try to outperform Irfan as a limited-overs all-rounder, as that's all he can be good at, but going back to him is a step backward. They need to build a team for the next Champions Trophy or the World Cup, rather than concentrate on winning half-penny tournaments like the Compaq Cup or the Wealthsurance Cup.

 

[Cricket_God]

Sreesanth could not take County Division Two wickets, he should not be anywhere near Tests, at the moment.

he took 13 wickets at 30 in 5 matches,also on flat pitches.

 

[Cricket_God]

Mumbai is a strong team, so if these pacers, particularly Sreesanth, can take a bagful of wickets, it will help him and the team.

As for Agarkar, we've had enough. He's only played for his place in the team, but given little back. He could have, at best, improved his batting to fifth bowler quality, but he's given up on that totally. It has always been a cycle to drop him and then get him back on the basis of domestic performances, only for him to let the team down when needed most. Let that privilege go to Irfan Pathan now. Agarkar, at best, can try to outperform Irfan as a limited-overs all-rounder, as that's all he can be good at, but going back to him is a step backward. They need to build a team for the next Champions Trophy or the World Cup, rather than concentrate on winning half-penny tournaments like the Compaq Cup or the Wealthsurance Cup.

you do not build teams looking years ahead as you do not know when players lose form,
we should play your best team always trying to win every match.

 

[Arjun]

you do not build teams looking years ahead as you do not know when players lose form,
we should play your best team always trying to win every match.

We saw what happened to the Indian team. They won those silly exhibition ODI tournaments, then lost Irfan, then Sehwag, then Zaheer, then Yuvraj, now Ishant, and almost lost Gambhir. The lack of a prepared bench showed. Had those replacements played enough on the way, there would have been a better performance.

Besides, the idea of playing two or three top players less, rotating them and keeping backup, is purely for the purpose of keeping your core group intact and getting their backup ready. The Indians have lost many of their core group and the backup hasn't played to potential, and now they'll lose the backup as well.

 

[Arjun]

Now Munaf gets Jaffer out-

Patel to Jaffer, OUT, An excellent delivery from Munaf Patel, good length delivery pitches outside the off stump and darts in as Jaffer looks to drive, the ball takes the inside edge, brushes the pad and the stumps are castled. Jaffer goes after a solid stand at the wicket.

Now this is bad news-

Tyagi to Sharma, OUT, lovely delivery outside the off stump, pitches and moves away slightly to get the outside edge as he plays forward, Saha takes the catch cleanly as the replays suggest, the umpire had gone to the third umpire for the decision.

 

[Arjun]

Mumbai losing middle-order wickets in a heap. It's up to their famed lower order to rescue them now, like they used to half a decade ago.

 

[Arjun]

Bad light has held up play for today. Mumbai are at 200/6, with a lower-order partnership of 40 between Samant at 19 and Powar at 25. It was a painstakingly slow partnership, as they tried to rebuild after that torrid twin attack from Munaf and Tyagi. The pacers have bowled well today, though Tyagi came back nicely in the second spell to pick two quick ones.

A little note on Tyagi here. He was bowling well initially in the IPL, but for some reason, often found himself bowling less than his quota of overs, with defensive fields. Eventually, he lost his place in the XI, and the Super Kings were out in the semis. Maybe in the next IPL he will be a starting lineup regular. Commentary indicates that he's bowling very well in this match, in his second spell.

Let's look at the all-round/multi-skilled options here, not counting the wicketkeepers. Agarkar was good with the ball but again failed with the bat in characteristic fashion, cutting to get out caught behind. Powar was average with the ball but so far has put up a decent partnership. We don't know how good or bad his fielding is- it was pathetic in England, but saved a boundary here. Jadeja has yet to take a wicket, but earlier he scored 77, with nine fours. The surprise package has been Munaf, with that rapid 36 in 34, but he's no multi-skilled player- he can't even field! We can't expect an overnight transformation in him as a batsman or fielder. Iqbal Abdulla is too much of a rookie as an all-rounder, but will get better in some time.

 

[Arjun]

You have to hand it to the Mumbai lower-order. They stretched from 147/5 to 230 all out. Contributions from Samant, Powar and now Kulkarni took them ahead. Meanwhile Munaf got five wickets, although Kulkarni briefly got stuck into him, hitting him for three fours in an over and one more in his next. This should be something for the Indian tail to learn, as all of Kulkarni's shots were clean and came off good balls, from a Test team player.

EDIT: Munaf took five for 70, but bowled eight no-balls. There's no excuse for so many, even if he's striving for pace. It's bad enough that bowlers get hit for sixes and fours, but no-balls are clearly avoidable.

Kulkarni seems to have instigated Sreesanth with a few words, but umpire intervention sorted that out. This is something nobody in the Indian team should learn from. Shortly afterwards, he got out Iqbal Abdulla, and finished with three for 45. While Munaf will profit by playing for Baroda, Sree will be stuck in the Plate league rolling over weak teams, though some action is better than no action.

 

[Arjun]

Kulkarni is bowling a lot like the Agarkar we knew then- four good ball followed by two balls deserving to be hit for four. Vijay is in good form here.

With all this brouhaha of the Indians missing two key batsmen, Vijay and Badri need to be in good nick, so that some of the top players get some rest and the reserves are ready in case of emergency. They're good propsects as shadows for the main team.

 

[Arjun]

Rest at 156/0, with Vijay at 65 and Mukund at 83.

EDIT: Now they're at 170/0, and they're now saved. With Badri, Sehwag (fitness pending), Tiwary and Jadeja coming up, they look like making a huge score.

 

[Arjun]

Day Two report- very dull day, it seems, but Mukund and Vijay did well.

 

[Arjun]

While the Champions League attracted all the viewers, this happened yesterday at the star-shorn Challenger Trophy at Nagpur. There's a lot wrong with the event, apart from the scheduling- the squads would have performed better when re-arranged.

 

[Pratters]

I saw the game yesterday (the first inning) and the player who impressed me most was Murali Vijay. It doesn't surprise me that he scored a century today. Very good player.

 

[Arjun]

Vijay has been doing well in both FC and OD cricket, and though Challenger results should be taken with a pinch of salt, he should surely be on the India bench, shouldn't he? It's also good to see Dhawan get more than a few, and Badri getting a good hit today.

The bowling, so far, has been inconsistent, with yesterday's hero Ishant having an off day, but the lack of good all-round performances isn't a good sign.

The green team will be out; that's an easy guess. It is a team full of fillers for players missing due to injury or Champions League.