so...nOw WhaaaT!!!

the Indian team...
It was a rather rollicking ride for the Indian team in the last 1 year or so. Looks like finally things are falling in place for the Indian team....hope so, but nothing can be said so soon? There are few things which need to be sorted out in the selection process and I guess Vengsarkar would definitely take the right approach.

The batting looks very good on paper but it still need to be more consistent. Probably Sehwag in the middle order would give that killer punch. Though Gambhir plays well on the sub-continent pitches, it might be wise to take Uthappa to the world cup?

The bowling dept is more to worry with only Zak and Agarkar hitting it right. Munaf is good but it needs to be seen if he has the match fitness to sustain for 3hrs in the field and bowl the full quota of 10 overs! Sreesanth has too much of young-blood aggression which makes him not very consistent atleast for the time being in the one-dayers! Irfan Pathan is still to be tested out if he'z back to being an average bowler if not the best!

elsewhere...

teams like England, Pakistan have their own problems either due to injuries or scandals. But these are 2 teams which need to be watched @ the worldcup...they can be back to their very best when they have a full rung team!

On the other hand, teams like WestIndies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand boast of a good mix of youth and experience with a lot of all-rounders. But it needs to be seen...on a given day these teams can be very effective.

South Africa and Australia, I would say are the 2 best teams playing their best cricket @ the moment.

let's wait and watch...

thE reasOn!!!

So....another series is gone and the Indian team is back at the drawing board. With the world cup fast approaching, it is high time that the team management comes up with a settled 15 players.

Let us keep the tEsT matches aside for a while and let's look into the ODI scenario onLy. To attain a winning combination there are a few things which are to be done but somehow our indian cricket team management keep making the same mistakes! Is anyone listening...is the BCCI or the Indian team management listening?

yeS...finally ganGULY is back in the ODI team but should he not have been considered for the ODI team longtime back....ofcourse he was onlY one of the 4 who made more than 10,000 ODI runs! yes....he should have been picked for the SA ODI series. There is no loGic in picking up a player like Wasim Jaffer for the ODIs since he'z not going to be considered for the world cup anyways!!! Atleast a player like Robin Uttappa or Gautam Gambhir shud have been picked for the SA ODI series. I donot know why Kaif and Raina are persisted in the SA ODI series. Raina is a very good young talent but he does need to go play some domestic games before making a comeback! As with Kaif....he definitely needs to do some introspection. He needs to convert the starts into big scores.....ofcourse he'z to take Dravid's responsiblity in future for the Indian cricket team.

coMing to the bowling department, things are really not good. Except Zaheer and Sreesanth, Indian team does not have a good 3rd fast bowler on the SA ODI tour. Munaf is too brittle...frequently out on injuries (is he going the Nehra route???), VRV has yet to mature as a consistent bowler and Irfan Pathan, the poster boy of Indian cricket not manydays back is seriously down on confidence. Ajith Agarkar has always been an enigma for Indian cricket. Even after more than a decade of international experience he'z still not a permanent fixture in the team, just because he bowls a "4"ball in evry over he bowls! So what should be in the planning for the world cup???

The spin bowling department is the only one which looks healthy ON and OFF the paper. Kumble has a perfect partner in Bhajji....but should the Indian team also not consider a 3rd bowler like Ramesh Powar as a back-up?

Hold on until next week for some of the solutions to the above problems.