I am not disappointed..
The result of the first Twenty20 game is not a cause for disappointment for India. It should not be. Yet we have to learn lesson from every game and there were a few things that immediately come to the mind specially in the team selection and execution of plans.
First team selection – India did not have even one quality all-rounder in the current team. No, no, it is not that we do not have one or two of that kind, it is only that we did not play them for this important version. In the current scenario Twenty20 is more about having one or two all-rounders not necessarily of Kapil Dev’s caliber Praveen Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan and Virat Kohli can all fill that bill. It was only that not even one of them found a place in the 15 forget in eleven. The second most important point to be observed is about the fielding skills. Sri Lanka won the game more because they fielded like a champion side. They not only held catches they did cut out several boundaries which made a great difference to the outcome. Thirdly, India for some reasons, went for more runs than was expected or anticipated by the captain and he did not have faith on his earlier support to Yuvraj with the ball. I know Yuvraj or Sehwag might not have made too much difference yet if the score was below 200 India could have given it a fighting reply instead of the 29 run defeat.
The middle order crumble was the most authentic reason for the defeat. From 93 for 1 to 105 for 5 to 129 for 7 only batsman could be blamed after such a fluent start provided by the openers. Gambhir now becomes the only batsman in the world to have 6 half centuries against his name. Sehwag should have decided to take it easy after two near chances. I know the catch that was dropped and the run out that Lankans missed did not make much of a difference as Sehwag failed to capitalize on these chances that he was offered. He did not have much choices seeing what the target was on the board. If not 40 extra runs, India did give away atleast twenty runs more than they should have. Sharma for a change bowled his first spell magnificently yet none other could control the flow of runs and India had stiff challenge on the board when they went in to bat second. It is all right, I must also add that India were outplayed by the visitors in every department. It was not only Kumar the skipper who made life miserable for Indian bowlers Kapugedera’s 47 from 20 and 22 runs from one of the Nehra over by Sanath were as instrumental in crafting and drafting of an imposing 215 runs at the end of 20th over.
I know there is no point in crying over spilt milk yet fielding was below par and having a long tail, though it quite wagged to take Indian total to some respectability were the main reason for dismal if not a disgusted show by Indians. The batting order also has some errors. It seems Yuvraj or Raina might have been the optimum choice at the fall of Sehwag’s wicket. Gambhir had to take upon the role of Sehwag was not that good an idea, we all know Gambhir is the best batsman who if he hangs around can accelerate his innings almost at will despite his registering the second fastest fifty in T20 Internationals and by becoming the first India batsman to get past the 500 mark he had done a commendable job to keep India in the hunt. The sudden middle order collapse made life difficult for Indian spectators. That is cricket though at its uncertain best. Who could think that Nehra could hit the leather as hard as he did to hit two huge sixes.
This is not the end of the world, Indians can still make amends and if allowed to make a few changes should try to inculcate atleast Praveen Kumar in place of Sreesanth if not anyone else for his upset stomach.
It would not be possible for the India to play the XI that I am going to talk of here. I shall however say that Guru Gary has done few things right by making people like Nehra learn few traits required for this format of the game. I know what Nehra’s batting skills were for all his career yet he did not appear the same with the bat though he did not appear the same with the ball earlier when he conceded some extra runs to Sanath. It is T20 cricket and I can not say nothing about bowlers. It is a batsman and fielding oriented version. Yet full marks to Ishant for his first three overs yielding only 7 runs. The target otherwise would have been far more than the 215 for 5.
Here I state what Gary Kirsten should expect from his team collectively, first and foremost comes the fielding abilities second comes consistency with the bat and last but not the elast scope for inclusion of as many all-rounders in the side, no, non, not the makeshift all-rounders like Yuvraj, Rohit or Raina, the genuine ones.
If I were to select the team for T20 I would have picked the following eleven –
Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh and RP Singh.
My four reserves would be Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma
If one looks up at XI there are as many as five changes lower down the order but you would immediately realize that I have probably kept the best fielding unit as the topmost priority. Even if one does not allow me to change it so drastically atleast two changes in Praveen Kumar and Irfan Pathan are a bare minimum. Unfortunately the reserve players with the current team may not be having much desired qualities to make the replacements. I would continue with the same team or include Sreesanth, if he is fit on 12th in place of Dinda and accept the defeat as coolly as cool possibly can be. With this set of 15 players it is not even hypothetically possible to beat this Lankan outfit to be able to equalize the series. Yet, one must not give up the fight.
I sing the Bob Marley song for the team India. Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight..
The result of the first Twenty20 game is not a cause for disappointment for India. It should not be. Yet we have to learn lesson from every game and there were a few things that immediately come to the mind specially in the team selection and execution of plans.
First team selection – India did not have even one quality all-rounder in the current team. No, no, it is not that we do not have one or two of that kind, it is only that we did not play them for this important version. In the current scenario Twenty20 is more about having one or two all-rounders not necessarily of Kapil Dev’s caliber Praveen Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan and Virat Kohli can all fill that bill. It was only that not even one of them found a place in the 15 forget in eleven. The second most important point to be observed is about the fielding skills. Sri Lanka won the game more because they fielded like a champion side. They not only held catches they did cut out several boundaries which made a great difference to the outcome. Thirdly, India for some reasons, went for more runs than was expected or anticipated by the captain and he did not have faith on his earlier support to Yuvraj with the ball. I know Yuvraj or Sehwag might not have made too much difference yet if the score was below 200 India could have given it a fighting reply instead of the 29 run defeat.
The middle order crumble was the most authentic reason for the defeat. From 93 for 1 to 105 for 5 to 129 for 7 only batsman could be blamed after such a fluent start provided by the openers. Gambhir now becomes the only batsman in the world to have 6 half centuries against his name. Sehwag should have decided to take it easy after two near chances. I know the catch that was dropped and the run out that Lankans missed did not make much of a difference as Sehwag failed to capitalize on these chances that he was offered. He did not have much choices seeing what the target was on the board. If not 40 extra runs, India did give away atleast twenty runs more than they should have. Sharma for a change bowled his first spell magnificently yet none other could control the flow of runs and India had stiff challenge on the board when they went in to bat second. It is all right, I must also add that India were outplayed by the visitors in every department. It was not only Kumar the skipper who made life miserable for Indian bowlers Kapugedera’s 47 from 20 and 22 runs from one of the Nehra over by Sanath were as instrumental in crafting and drafting of an imposing 215 runs at the end of 20th over.
I know there is no point in crying over spilt milk yet fielding was below par and having a long tail, though it quite wagged to take Indian total to some respectability were the main reason for dismal if not a disgusted show by Indians. The batting order also has some errors. It seems Yuvraj or Raina might have been the optimum choice at the fall of Sehwag’s wicket. Gambhir had to take upon the role of Sehwag was not that good an idea, we all know Gambhir is the best batsman who if he hangs around can accelerate his innings almost at will despite his registering the second fastest fifty in T20 Internationals and by becoming the first India batsman to get past the 500 mark he had done a commendable job to keep India in the hunt. The sudden middle order collapse made life difficult for Indian spectators. That is cricket though at its uncertain best. Who could think that Nehra could hit the leather as hard as he did to hit two huge sixes.
This is not the end of the world, Indians can still make amends and if allowed to make a few changes should try to inculcate atleast Praveen Kumar in place of Sreesanth if not anyone else for his upset stomach.
It would not be possible for the India to play the XI that I am going to talk of here. I shall however say that Guru Gary has done few things right by making people like Nehra learn few traits required for this format of the game. I know what Nehra’s batting skills were for all his career yet he did not appear the same with the bat though he did not appear the same with the ball earlier when he conceded some extra runs to Sanath. It is T20 cricket and I can not say nothing about bowlers. It is a batsman and fielding oriented version. Yet full marks to Ishant for his first three overs yielding only 7 runs. The target otherwise would have been far more than the 215 for 5.
Here I state what Gary Kirsten should expect from his team collectively, first and foremost comes the fielding abilities second comes consistency with the bat and last but not the elast scope for inclusion of as many all-rounders in the side, no, non, not the makeshift all-rounders like Yuvraj, Rohit or Raina, the genuine ones.
If I were to select the team for T20 I would have picked the following eleven –
Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh and RP Singh.
My four reserves would be Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma
If one looks up at XI there are as many as five changes lower down the order but you would immediately realize that I have probably kept the best fielding unit as the topmost priority. Even if one does not allow me to change it so drastically atleast two changes in Praveen Kumar and Irfan Pathan are a bare minimum. Unfortunately the reserve players with the current team may not be having much desired qualities to make the replacements. I would continue with the same team or include Sreesanth, if he is fit on 12th in place of Dinda and accept the defeat as coolly as cool possibly can be. With this set of 15 players it is not even hypothetically possible to beat this Lankan outfit to be able to equalize the series. Yet, one must not give up the fight.
I sing the Bob Marley song for the team India. Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight..
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