Now one isn’t trying to shift perspective to other sports from cricket here, for let’s be honest, that can’t be done. But there is a need of looking at whatever little light there is at the end of this gruesome dark tunnel and be happy about it. Yes, amidst the fact that the batting, bowling and fielding all failed in the West Indies for the Indian team, there is hope yet.

First of all, there are the players. For how long have we known that Yuvraj Singh isn’t the player he was three years ago? What does that say about the ‘highly talented’ Rohit Sharma who considers Yuvraj his idol? Couldn’t we make out that Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh have hints of pot bellies just like many of us who were watching on television during the IPL? Gary Kirsten seems to have targeted these three senior players and the fledgling Sharma, if you go by excerpts of his reports.

We knew all of it all along, yet no one would ask questions off these players for they are ones who supposedly carry India’s hopes. The difference is that now they will indeed be asked. They will be monitored when they return for the Asia Cup if they have at all worked on their fitness. The media eye will be on them throughout the next one month and if they indeed do not pass Kirsten’s test, they will not find a place in the squad. And that is the best part because team India has been built on ethics of past greats not for spoilt brats to squander the legacy.

If somehow they do find a way back, the spotlight will then be on the selectors and the BCCI in that order! Time and again, Kris Srikkanth and his band of merry men have selected the same bunch of players, mostly on whims and fancies. How else can they explain Yuvraj’s inclusion when he couldn’t even fire for the Kings XI Punjab in two months? Did he show any match winning form, well, no. What about Bhajji who went wicket less in the tournament and has been towing the same defensive line in Test or ODI cricket of late?

There was a huge case for picking young and raw talent for the T20 World Cup. Players like Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa and Saurabh Tiwary who are eager to make a mark, not the overburdened stars who are drowning out there under public and peer pressure. Yet the selectors handed out a rusty and ragged side to the captain and coach in the vain hope that they might just turn it on. Guess what, they didn’t, and if the entire team is to blame, so is the panel who selects them.

Simple speaking, MS Dhoni cannot alone be held responsible and fired from his job, as some sections of the media have been suggesting. If he is put on probation for the next couple of months then so should be the five selectors. They are the ones who have backed him all through the last three to four years, and with just about ten months to go for the 2011 World Cup they are contemplating a change in guard?

Dhoni has been fairly successful in leading the side and it is quite astonishing to notice that the same media was hailing him as the best Indian captain ever just three months ago, when the India ended 2009-10 ranked number one in Tests. But this is their job and that is how they make money, by catching the imaginative public. However if the five wise men do head down that same road and the unthinkable does abound, the BCCI needs to take a look if Srikkanth and his gang are indeed the right men on their payrolls for this particular job.

Why the BCCI? Because, they have been the ones beating around the bush about accountability for the past six weeks. If Lalit Modi needs to give answers for what he did and why he did for the good or bad of the IPL, then please let this be clear – the same rules apply to international cricket and more so. For, the people may be divided when it comes to eight/ten franchises but team India unites one and all. People, and the media, will need answers why the supposedly ‘best captain’ is removed with the ODI World Cup close by and for a change the Board will not be able to hide.

After all, everything is about the ODI World Cup next year. The fact that it will be held in the sub-continent means it is India’s best chance at glory. Not just because the likes of Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina will not have to worry about bouncers and can hit through the line as and when they want. But also, when in 2007, after the failure under Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid also in the Windies, the process towards the next showpiece event began. The selectors first invested in Dhoni’s leadership and the move started paying off. They realized a nucleus of players who could work as a team and they started clicking. Of course there will be some hiccups on the way, otherwise how will this young team learn? This is a time for grasping the mistakes, instead of making all new ones.

That we won the T20 World Cup three years ago was through some daredevilry and by some chance. Just as well, it happened. We were T20 champions recently but we haven’t been ODI champions for a good twenty-seven years. That is a couple of whole new generations of cricket lovers who didn’t witness Kapil Dev standing on the Lord’s balcony in ’83. Point is if you set out robbing a bank – what would you want? A bag full of coins or a box full of currency notes? 2010 T20 World Cup is small change compared to the 2011 ODI World Cup and it is a price we should be happy to pay.

Note: This article was first published at www.dreamcricket.com.

Raina leads a side without a number of high-profile players who have been rested – regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and senior players Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra will not be travelling while former India Under-19 skipper Virat Kohli will act as Raina’s deputy.

India play a One-Day International tri-series with the hosts Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka which begins on 28th May and then play two Twenty20 Internationals aganist Zimbabwe on 12th and 13th June.

Uncapped players in the ODI squad are spinner Ravi Ashwin, pace bowlers Umesh Yadav, Pankaj Singh, and Ranganath Vinay Kumar as well as wicket-keeper Naman Ojha.

Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla is included in the squad for the Twenty20 matches.

India ODI squad: Suresh Raina (captain), Virat Kohli (vice-captain), Ravi Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Ravi Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Naman Ojha, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, Pankaj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Umesh Yadav

India T20I squad: Suresh Raina (captain), Virat Kohli (vice-captain), Ravi Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Ashok Dinda, Ravi Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Naman Ojha, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, Pankaj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Umesh Yadav

Report courtesy www.cricketworld.com

Aussie speedster Brett Lee played his first match. But he was hit for three fours in his first over by West Indies captain Chris Gayle. Kings XI Punjab tasted success in the third over when Gayle was dismissed. It was 45/2 with young Hardeep Singh being held at mid-on. Ganguly and Tiwary resurrected Kolkata Knight Riders innings with a 79-run stand for the third wicket. Ganguly completed his half century but was out at the same score, spooning a catch to long off. Leg spinner Piyush Chawla, who has been selected for the World Twenty20 championship, bagged the wicket of Australia hard-hitting batsman David Hussey, who was beaten in the flight to be bowled. Kings XI Punjab looked liked containing the Kolkata Knight Riders for a below 150 target. But Tiwary changed the script with his lusty hitting in the last two overs.

When Kings XI Punjab began the chase, Yuvraj Singh came out to open with Ravi Bopara. But Kiwi Shane Bond struck with the second ball of the innings to claim England opener Ravi Bopara. Yuvraj Singh (24 off 16 balls) struck three fours and one six before he was brilliantly caught by Manoj Tiwary at deep mid-wicket off Ajit Agarkar. The former Indian medium pacer claimed his second wicket and this time David Hussey held a low catch at mid-off to dismiss Manvinder Bisla. Playing in his first match, Agarkar captured two wickets in two overs.  Mahela Jayawardene (16)  fell to a poor shot to be bowled by his Lanka team mate Angelo Mathews. Skipper Kumar Sangakarra followed his former Lankan skipper, stumped while playing a clumsy pull shot for 30, and Kolkata Knight Riders were on course for victory.

Match report courtesy Adfactors PR.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma

The only problem is that these are pretty much the same names that were there in England last year and that didn’t really go too well for our team, thanks to some injuries suffered in the IPL. Guess what, the injuries have made a return snapping an opening batsman and a fast bowler this time around as well. It was Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan some ten months ago, and now Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra.

The main difference is that at the moment the two players are expected back shortly while Sehwag supposedly carried his injury to England and Zaheer altogether missed out. However this does reflect on the losses that are being incurred due to an unduly long T20 tournament played just before important world events. My only prayer is that Lalit Modi schedules next year’s IPL after the ODI World Cup.

R Vinay Kumar is one new name in the side and it has come deservedly for he has been giving wonderful performances for Karnataka on the Ranji scene for the last couple of seasons, and has managed to carry his form into the IPL. Saurabh Tiwary and Manish Pandey are two others like him but to select them would be too radical a step, their turn will come. Piyush Chawla is the surprise selection for he hasn’t been in that fiery a form. That decision seems more due to West Indian conditions then and also the fact that Ravindra Jadeja will be the left arm spinner in the side, so the selectors neglected a fifth pace bowling option. As it is who would you pick? Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth have been bordering on the poor and awesomely poor for quite some time now.

Dhoni has a back-up in Dinesh Karthik this time, something he didn’t have last year and therefore the need to include another pure batsman. But Rohit Sharma’s inclusion is even more surprising than that of Piyush Chawla. As a leg spinner atleast he brings some variety to the table, but Sharma’s only claim to fame so far has been that he has great talent/potential. And so Virat Kohli is really unlucky to have missed out here. He may not measure upto Sharma on talent in some people’s books but he has worked off his socks to earn his spot in the national side. And he looks like he wants to be in the thick of things at all times while Rohit, to his discredit, seems content performing only for Deccan Chargers while laid back on most other occasions.

The one question on everyone’s mind was whether Sachin Tendulkar would reverse his mind and step forward to play. As an eternal Sachin fan, one wanted him to. For, he is in stupendous touch and that touch could be the difference between India making it to the knock-out stages and exiting early. But knowing the way he has carried himself on and off the field all these years, one didn’t expect him to renege on his decision of three years ago. Now only if Dhoni’s men can repeat their feat from 2007 as well.

Now the match may seem enthralling to most people but simply speaking, it was a continuation of Kings’ poor run while Chennai stooped to that low level after a super win over Delhi Daredevils. Sample this: it was another one in the line of failures from the Mohali team. In their four matches, only once did their batting fire collectively and that too they lost to Bangalore. But the remaining three games, only one or two batsmen fire and they end up some thirty runs short everytime. Thanks to Irfan Pathan continuing his rich vein of form and Yuvraj Singh looking like scoring some runs for the first time in this year’s tournament, they ended at 136. Leave aside for the moment that Albie Morkel and Muralitharan bowled decently well for Chennai, since when is a sub-140 score competitive in T20 cricket?

Then, one isn’t too sure how many expected Kings XI to make a match out of it. To their discredit, Chennai Super Kings failed to score 137 in 20 overs – a cakewalk on any other day – faced upto a has been off-spinner and a jet-lagged unknown South African import. It burns my heart to speak in this manner of the efforts of Romesh Powar and Juan Theron, but one is being honest here. It was more Suresh Raina’s team goofing up than Kings XI bowling too well.

As if this mediocrity wasn’t enough, there came the Super Over. Yes, he mauled Delhi with his mongoose bat but seriously speaking, isn’t Mathew Hayden effective enough with the regular bat? A mere ten runs were needed and the moment that Murali stepped up to bowl for Chennai, Kings had won it. Despite the Lankan great’s credentials, doesn’t it occur to any one that hitting out a spinner is far easier than playing a medium pacer in this situation? Last year, Yusuf Pathan thrashed Ajantha Mendis in similar fashion. A spinner bowls at more or less the same speed while the latter can alter length and pace, and fox the batsmen. If Albie Morkel had bowled that one over, Chennai might have won. Period!

Reading back the last three paragraphs, one isn’t convinced at all about whatever Mr. Modi says!

Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist slammed a 12-ball 33 hitting two sixes off Sreesanth 51 runs today. But Gilchrist’s innings was cut short when he top edged left-arm seamer Shalabh Srivastava and was caught at short mid-wicket by Jayawardene. Deccan Chargers suffered a setback when VVS Laxman got injured in a strange circumstance when Srivastava threw the ball wildly from mid-on that got Laxman’s forearm. The batsman had to retire hurt for 10.  Although Rohit Sharma (run out) and left-hander Anirudh Singh were out cheaply, Herschelle Gibbs made a 23-ball 23, Andrew Symonds struck his second successive half century (38-ball 53) and T Suman played a cameo knock of 26 (22 balls) as Decccan Chargers reached 170/7.

Kings XI Punjab were off to a disastrous start as purple cap holder left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas swung the ball late and captured two top order wickets (Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh) as MS Bisla was run out to have Punjab reeling at 22 for 3 in the fifth over. Ravi Bopara, Kings XI Punjab’s main run-getter, could score only a 32-ball 38 before he was caught in the deep of off-spinnner Rohit Sharma. West Indian opener Adrian Barath, on his IPL debut, made only seven before falling to local hero Pragyan Ojha. However, it was left-hander Irfan Pathan (60 off 29 balls) who fought a lonely battle to create some element of hope for the Kings XI Punjab with his lusty hitting. Pathan took the match to the last over. But his fine rearguard innings ended when the surprise last over choice bowler Jaskaran Singh had him caught at deep mid-wicket. The twentieth over that Jaskaran bowled was incidentally his first of the game.

Kings XI Punjab have so far lost all their first three matches while Deccan Chargers have finally notched a home victory in three seasons of IPL.

Match report courtesy Adfactors PR.

Squad: Kumar Sangakkara (captain & wicket-keeper), Yusuf Abdulla, Love Ablish, Adrian Barath, Manvinder Bisla, Ravi Bopara, Piyush Chawla, Karan Goel, James Hopes, Mahela Jayawardene, Mohammad Kaif, Brett Lee, Vikramjeet Malik, Shaun Marsh, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Bipul Sharma, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Amanpreet Singh, Yuvraj Singh, S. Sreesanth, Shalabh Srivastava, Tanmay Srivastava.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

One of the biggest debating points for the team was the captaincy of Yuvraj Singh. Amongst the eight franchises, probably this was the only team wherein the skipper wasn’t actually in the scheme of things to lead his county. Seen from a different point of view, that is a weakness for captaincy is an art just like batting or bowling, and you need to practice that a bit as well.

This year Kumar Sangakkara takes over the reigns making it the fifth team in the fray to have a foreign player as captain. For the point discussed above, this is a very good thing. They will have some one with experience in T20 cricket as to how to lead the troops on the field when push comes to shove.

Also as compared to the last season, when they had to make do for long without their foreign players, this time quite a few of them will be available plus injury concerns seem not to be an issue either. A full squad for a competition this long is always desirable and the owners’ prayers seem to have been answered for once.

They haven’t made any big purchases in the off-season but a low key one – that of Mohammad Kaif and he alone is the reason for cheer. As a T20 player, Kaif won’t find many takers but the players who know him will tell that he is a complete player. One feels that Rajasthan Royals made a mistake letting him go in South Africa last year just as they have done this year and their loss will be Punjab’s gain. He will play the anchor role in the middle order which is fast becoming increasingly important in T20 cricket as well and will allow the batsmen around him to play shots at will. His inclusion will also mean that the combination of four foreign players to be chosen can be tinkered around with as per the requirements. Any team that affords this sort of balance is a fantastic prospect.

Note: This is an extract from the Kings XI Punjab preview first published at www.cricketworld.com. To read the full article, click here.