Under the covers of victory
[Indo Pak First Cricket Test]
What is best way to keep the drawbacks covered, surely it is success or victory because success is kid of thousand fathers and hence there is always ample support available on the victory roads unlike the failure or defeat where you has to face stiff criticism at all alone.
Indian cricket team is on the victory roads against Pakistan in on going series after winning the ODI, the “K” factor proved obstacle for the touring team and they lost the first test match at Delhi. Surely the interim time, before the start of the second test match at Calcutta will keep busy the think tank of Pakistani team in planning their plan of action to avoid the same result at Eden Garden, and indications are very clear from the statement of captain “ Our batsmen has to score at least 400 runs” .
I am not bothering about the planning of opposition because instead of worrying about it, I will prefer to keep self well prepare and with least weak points. I am strong supporter of the views you can win only on your strongest points and by taking the war into the fields of enemy. What the Delhi test has kept under the cover is the failure of our famous bating line, I am not thinking that Pakistan has also failed to score sufficient runs but the bating performance of Indians is surely an alarming call. If we look at Indian cricket team, bating is the strongest side of the team in the past decade or so and surely at Delhi it was not at the standards.
Losing 5 wickets for 90 odd runs in the first inning is not the reflection of bating strength we have, it was experience of Laxman and timely knock of Dhoni that India succeeded in first inning lead but how long we can trust bowlers to score runs also. Opening slot is the first problem, for a good building foundation is most essential and we are fortunate to have world’s most successful pair of opening batsmen in the for of Sachin and Sourav, though age is not favoring them but at least for next 1-2 both will be part of Indian team our failure lies here that instead of utilizing their experience we are trying to find altogether a new pair of players for the opening slot. The ideal situation will be pair one of the younger player like Gautam Gambhir, on the alternative bases, to open with either Sachin or sourav it will not only help the young one to get benefited from experience but will also help to accommodate Yuvraj or Uthappa in the middle order.
If I had been asked I will suggest the following team for the Kolkatta test.
Gautam Ganbhir / Wasim Jaffar [any one]
Sourav Ganguli
Yuvraj / Uthapa [any one]
Sachin
Rahul / Laxman / Rohit Sharma [any two]
Dhoni
Irfan
Kumbale
Zahir / Munaff - Harbhajan / Murali Kartik [Any two]
My playing eleven will be
1] Gautam Gambhir
2] Sourav Ganguli
3] Rahul Dravid
4] Sachin Tendulkar
5] Yuvraj
6] Laxman
7] Dhoni
8] Irfan
9] Kumbale
10] Zahir
11] I will leave this for the choice of captain from the remaining three bowlers. Though considering KolKotta environment I might have opted for the speedster because there are Sachin and Yuvraj in the team to assist Kumble in the spin attack but Sourav’s performance as bowler in Delhi test is prompting me to leave this spot for the captain’s choice.
[Indo Pak First Cricket Test]
What is best way to keep the drawbacks covered, surely it is success or victory because success is kid of thousand fathers and hence there is always ample support available on the victory roads unlike the failure or defeat where you has to face stiff criticism at all alone.
Indian cricket team is on the victory roads against Pakistan in on going series after winning the ODI, the “K” factor proved obstacle for the touring team and they lost the first test match at Delhi. Surely the interim time, before the start of the second test match at Calcutta will keep busy the think tank of Pakistani team in planning their plan of action to avoid the same result at Eden Garden, and indications are very clear from the statement of captain “ Our batsmen has to score at least 400 runs” .
I am not bothering about the planning of opposition because instead of worrying about it, I will prefer to keep self well prepare and with least weak points. I am strong supporter of the views you can win only on your strongest points and by taking the war into the fields of enemy. What the Delhi test has kept under the cover is the failure of our famous bating line, I am not thinking that Pakistan has also failed to score sufficient runs but the bating performance of Indians is surely an alarming call. If we look at Indian cricket team, bating is the strongest side of the team in the past decade or so and surely at Delhi it was not at the standards.
Losing 5 wickets for 90 odd runs in the first inning is not the reflection of bating strength we have, it was experience of Laxman and timely knock of Dhoni that India succeeded in first inning lead but how long we can trust bowlers to score runs also. Opening slot is the first problem, for a good building foundation is most essential and we are fortunate to have world’s most successful pair of opening batsmen in the for of Sachin and Sourav, though age is not favoring them but at least for next 1-2 both will be part of Indian team our failure lies here that instead of utilizing their experience we are trying to find altogether a new pair of players for the opening slot. The ideal situation will be pair one of the younger player like Gautam Gambhir, on the alternative bases, to open with either Sachin or sourav it will not only help the young one to get benefited from experience but will also help to accommodate Yuvraj or Uthappa in the middle order.
If I had been asked I will suggest the following team for the Kolkatta test.
Gautam Ganbhir / Wasim Jaffar [any one]
Sourav Ganguli
Yuvraj / Uthapa [any one]
Sachin
Rahul / Laxman / Rohit Sharma [any two]
Dhoni
Irfan
Kumbale
Zahir / Munaff - Harbhajan / Murali Kartik [Any two]
My playing eleven will be
1] Gautam Gambhir
2] Sourav Ganguli
3] Rahul Dravid
4] Sachin Tendulkar
5] Yuvraj
6] Laxman
7] Dhoni
8] Irfan
9] Kumbale
10] Zahir
11] I will leave this for the choice of captain from the remaining three bowlers. Though considering KolKotta environment I might have opted for the speedster because there are Sachin and Yuvraj in the team to assist Kumble in the spin attack but Sourav’s performance as bowler in Delhi test is prompting me to leave this spot for the captain’s choice.
