India Vs Australia – 1^st ODI Melbourne – Virender Sehwag Dropped

Sehwag Dropped From The Indian Eleven:

Rohit Sharma was brought into the Indian team instead of the dashing Delhi opener Viru today against Australia in the first triangular ODI series at Melbourne. The swashbuckling Sehwag should have been considered in the playing eleven, as he has no fear for the bowlers, no matter whatever be their calibre. There are two ways to view this matter. The first one is, Viru has had a lot of failures in the recent times and it’s good to have dropped him. The second is, a player of potential like Viru can’t be dropped as we can’t predict the success or failiure of him in a given match. But, as an individual, MS Dhoni has done a right thing by dropping Sehwag as keeping him in the team will bring disunity in the team. But rather than viewing Dhoni’s action as an individual, you have to view it as an action by a cricketer. Sehwag is not a player to be dropped as a cricketer as he has done only good to India and haven’t done anything bad in the past. So, I strongly say that dropping Viru will be a body blow to the team as Indians have got nobody to replace this guy. Dhoni should bring him back in the next match itself and test his luck as a captain.

The Indians Hope To Continue Their Good Work

The Indians need to keep up their good work in this match too and they must have their heads held high. They must realize that they are the defending champions in the particular format of the game and they must play to their potential in this Triangular series. Losing a Test series 4-0 doesn’t sound great. But you all know that Test Cricket is entirely different from One days and T20s and the team that performs the best on a given day can only bring good results in ODI’s and T20s. But in Tests, you have to keep on performing for the whole of 5 days and the result matters on the performance of the five days that you play. So, I hope that the Indian Cricket team would have forgotten their recent defeat to Australia and they will start afresh this series. Good luck India!

Vinay Kumar was brilliant against Australia

Toss Was A Major Factor:

The toss was also a major factor today as India won the toss and they decided to field first. Dhoni’s decision was a wise one as there was great swing and low bounce in the Melbourne track today. The Australians couldn’t make good yields from their batting line-up that consisted of David Warner, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke etc. Vinay Kumar is particularly brilliant today with his swing and movement and he has impressed till now. Will there be turn in this Melbourne track? If so, Ashwin and Jadeja can turn the ball effectively and can take wickets. Let’s hope India does well with their limited resources.

IPL Would Be A Great Entertainment To All The Cricket Fans:

IPL is a tournament played every year in the month of April and it lasts till May. I am sure, that will provide a great entertainment to all the cricket fans all over the World as it is only a T20 game. Always, a T20 game can provide great entertainment to all the fans as it is the shortest version of the game. And also there are all lots of big hitters in every team and so it will make each and every match a fascinating contest. So all the cricket fans should not miss this great contest among different states of India. This is the 5^th session of the IPL and also, each and every team will get a chance to host the matches so that everybody can cheer that particular team. Good luck IPL!

Australia versus Lanka at Adelaide - Who will win?

India Vs Australia 1st T20 Sydney – Australia Beats India By 31 Runs

India Vs Australia 1^st T20 Sydney – Australia Beats India By 31 Runs

India’s Poor Performance:

The Indians were beaten very badly by a margin of 31 runs to trail the series 1-0.  It was nothing but the lack of fighting spirit by the Indians which was shown in their result. Nobody showed any fighting spirit to take India home. Everybody threw their wickets away without even trying to chase a target of 172. I don’t say that losing the match was bad but the way they lost shows the lack of fighting spirit. The Australians had a great day in the field and they knew how to make use of their resources to hand India a 1-0 trail in the T20 series. The performance of the Indian team in overseas is slowly detoriating series by series. They need to rectify their mistakes they make in each game and should never make those mistakes in the future. The Australians are growing in strength match by match and I hope they will be the old Australians they were in the past. The Australian bowling looked great with Brad Hogg doing a great job even though his age is 40. The killer instinct was seen in Australia today. Good job Australia!

Great Batting By The Aussies:

A great batting by the Aussies saw them impose a target of 172 from 20 overs. They were simply outstanding on the field and they maintained their discipline throughout the match. Particularly, Wade and Hussey were simply brilliant and Mathew Wade certainly deserves the Man of The Match Award today. He settled well in the first 5 overs and then he started his fireworks by pulling off Vinay Kumar for a biggy. He then hit sixes of Praveen Kumar over square leg and R Ashwin over the mid wicket region. He was unfortunate to be dismissed for a well made 72 off 43 balls when he was clean bowled in the Suresh Raina. Wade was completely beaten when tried to hit over the cover region. The start that was got by the Aussies was brilliant. Warner got them off to a flier as he scalped two big sixes off the bowling of R Ashwin. He was also brilliant today. David Hussey played a good cameo in the end hitting three sixes in his innings of 42.

Indian Batting Collapse:

The major reason for Team India’s loss to Australia was the failiure of the batting line up. At least, if a single player had taken up the responsibility and matched up the net run rate every over, then India would have been in the winning side now. Players like Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Dhoni and Raina etc should have taken up the responsibility and played some good knocks against their names. But that was not the case. When the team needed Sehwag to fire, he was out for a cheap 4 that too in the very first over. Just when the partnership for the third wicket between Gambhir and Kohli was looking good, India lost Gambhir for 20. Then in the next over, Kohli tried to go for a big one off the bowling of the 40 year old Brad Hogg and was caught brilliantly in the deep by David Warner for 22. Next over, Rohit was bowled by Hussey for no score off the very first ball he faced. Raina too didn’t last long. He was out 14 off 15 deliveries. Jadeja too, was not looking comfortable enough. He also didn’t last along. Captain Dhoni should have smashed the bowling of the Aussies but that was not the case. He played defense in the most part of his innings but started to hit in the fare end when he knew the result that India would lose. You can’t achieve anything by playing defense every ball that comes your way. You have got to go for the big ones especially when there is a target of 172. But a bad batting display by the Indian skipper led to the downfall of the Indians. Dhoni, usually known for his big-hitting should have tried to stay positive and try his level best for the team. But, he was not the old Dhoni that the country is used to. In Test Cricket, if you need to stay for two and half days to help your team draw the match, you have to play an innings what Dhoni played today. This innings is a perfect example of a Test Cricket and not a T20 oriented game. The team that plays the best cricket in these 40 overs wins the game and Australia played a great game of cricket today. India was completely outplayed in all the departments of the game and the result too didn’t sound different. Its Australia at last.

Dhoni asking for a review

MS Dhoni Should Work On His Batting Concepts Well:

The Indian skipper MS Dhoni, should work on his batting skills to improve the team’s performance overall. Today, Dhoni scored 48 off 43 deliveries. Is this a good batting performance in the shortest version of the game?  A poor performance by the Captain himself. Dhoni should rather blame himself for the defeat than blaming others in the team. Zaheer Khan should have been the part of the playing eleven but he wasn’t. Sachin Tendulkar was dropped from the match. Why did he do that? These things need to be rectified to make India a great team in all the formats of the game. Let’s see what happens in the next match.

Team India Will Lose In The 2^nd T20 Also:

Team India can’t hope of winning the second T20 in Melbourne. It’s out of equation. They will suffer another humiliating defeat in the hands of the Aussies. Lets hope that India perform upto their expectations in the Triangular series featuring India, Australia and Sri Lanka. All we can say is Best of Luck Team India! Do well in the remainder of the series.

   

Team India Would Hope To Salvage Some Pride In ODI’s And T20’s

Team India Would Hope To Salvage Some Pride In ODI’s And T20’s

Indians Will Look To Salvage Some Pride:

The Indians, by having lost the Test series pretty badly to Australia by a margin of 4-0 will look to salvage some pride by winning the ODI and T20 series. The Indians should keep in mind that they are the World Champions and they must play to their potential as they did as a victorious team in the World Cup 2011 in the month of April. The team management and Captain Dhoni have to rectify their mistakes in the upcoming one day matches and T20’s if they have to prove their strength as a World Champion.

A lot depend on Viru and Sachin in the Tri-series

Give Chance To The Youngsters’ At Least In The ODI’s:

The Team management must make the youngsters play and give them lot of chances in the future ODI’s. The Australians, on the other hand, are doing a great job. The team management is giving ample opportunities to the youngsters like David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Ed Cowan etc, who are least experienced in Tests. Shaun Marsh, for instance, hasn’t performed anything to boast about as he has scored runs only in single digits in all the innings but for a score of 11. The team management did not take him out of the squad but instead, gave him all the opportunities to make him a better player. As Chairman of Selectors, Kris Srikanth needs to do just the same. Why can’t he understand that there are lots of talented youngsters who are waiting for their chances to perform at the highest level? So, Indians need to give chances to youngsters instead of keeping the senior pros by the fact that, they have performed in the past and will repeat the past in the future. It’s foolish. Let’s see whether the team management implements the required changes or not?

Sehwag is expected to give India a good start

One Day Series Evenly Matched:

The tri-series between two-times World Champions India, four-times World Champions Australia and one-time World Champion Sri Lanka is going to be an evenly matched contest. But a big drawback for the Indian team is that, they are badly going to miss the all-rounder in Yuvraj Singh. But the advantage for the Indian team in this series is that, they have got a lot of youngsters in their line-up and the batting line-up looks more or less same to that of the World Cup winning team except the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan. But bringing back Irfan Pathan is a great advantage to the team as he can swing the ball both ways quite considerably. Another big advantage is the comeback of Zaheer Khan to the ODI squad. He is a great bowler who was the main reason for the World Cup glory of India last year.

A Lot Will Depend On Sehwag And Tendulkar:

Team India would hope that the seniors Sehwag and Tendulkar do their jobs for India. These two players, if they can put a century partnership for the opening stand, will make it easy for the middle-order to capitalize it and put up a big score. I am sure that the same playing eleven will be continued right from the start till the end no matter what the result is. If Sehwag can fire right from the start and put up a big score against his name then it’s going to be game INDIA. The bowling attack looks quite good with pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar and Praveen Kumar. We have got 2 all-rounders in the team in the names of Ravindra Jadeja and Irfan Pathan. Rahul Sharma needs to be given a chance as he impressed in the very first match against the West Indies with a 4 wickets haul in the match where Sehwag scored a record breaking 219.

Tendulkar celebrating with Captain Dhoni for his unbeaten 200*

Rohit Sharma Can Be A Handy Batsman:

Rohit Sharma, who captured the Man of the Series award in the home series against the West Indies, should be considered in the playing eleven. Parthiv Patel was given lots of chances in the ODI series against England, but he didn’t impress. Why did the selection committee pick up Parthiv Patel who is totally out of form? Srikanth could have had another youngster in place of Parthiv Patel. So these things need to be corrected and let’s hope India wins the Tri-series. Coach Duncan Fletcher needs to be given more time. As a coach, you need an ample time to mingle with the players, understand their individual strengths and weaknesses and then advice them according to that. So, as an Indian fan, I hope that India capture this tri-series at least. Good luck Team India.