Dhoni and Yuvraj receive ICC awards and Ganguly gets the axe

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh received top ICC honours for one day and Twenty20 performances respectively. For Yuvraj though it was a week of mixed emotions as he was dropped from the Rest of India (ROI) squad for the Irani trophy. This makes it almost certain that he will not be considered for the upcoming test series against the Australians. To be frank even Yuvraj wouldnt be that surprised about his omission from the test team.

He has been really inconsistant and in my opinion does not deserve a spot in the test team. The other omission which has again led to some controversy is of the former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. The selectors have been called as biased and unfair in the media and by the supporters of the former captain on this decision. Well to be honest everyone including the people who are complaining now knew that Ganguly would be the first one to get the axe from the so called “Fab Four”. Even though Ganguly had been the most consistant player for the past two years in tests for team India, the selectors it seems have gone based on the overall ability.

The problem for Ganguly is that he has failed in two of the three away series this year which has not helped his cause. Even though it might seem unfair as he played couple of important innings against the touring South African team earlier this year, he should have seen this coming. Rahul Dravid though has been really lucky to find a place in the Indian team after poor performances away against Australia and Srilanka and at home against the South Africans. Apart from couple of contributions here and there he has been really inconsistant over the last one year.

Calls to drop Sachin Tendulkar from the supporters of Ganguly seems overboard as the little master’s only real failure this year has been in Srilanka. He has been nominated for the best ODI player award and was instrumental in India’s performances down under. Laxman has been never in bad form and has turned in some consistant performances throughout the year. Rahul Dravid has been retained in the team due to his proven ability to win matches for India and I guess his 60 odd runs in the final innings of the test series against SL helped his cause.

Even though Ganguly’s exclusion from the team seems unfair, I feel that by no means its a bad decision. I guess it sends across a clear message to all the seniors that if they dont perform they could be the next to get the axe. India is in the process of rebuilding and they need to approach the same with caution. We cannot replace all the seniors with youngsters as we have done with our one day team. Players like Rohit, Kohli and Badrinath need to be in the presence of experiance during initial phase of their test careers. Yuvraj who was supposed to be that experianced person in the team is now finding it difficult to even hold his place in the one day team.

Sourav Ganguly could have received a better send off for his services to the Indian team but as Tony Greg said in one of his interviews “Indian players dont retire but get kicked out”.

No Surprises in the test squad

The Indian team for the upcoming Srilankan tour was selected couple of days ago and predictably the seniors were back in the side. Gautham Gambhir made it back to the test team due to his great showing in the ODI’s and Twenty20 and Pragyan Ojha was also drafted in the 16. Gambhir’s inclusion in the side was expected as he has been our most consistant player over the last 8 months or so and deserved a chance at the top of the order in tests. Rohit Sharma also made it to the test squad owing to his great performances in the one dayers but I doubt that he will make it to the final X1.

The notable absentees in the test squad were Yuraj Singh and Irfan Pathan and Harbajan Singh made it back into the team after serving a ban for slapping Sreesanth in the IPL. Quite frankly I am not that surprised or puzzled on the omission of Yuvraj as he was given a long run in the middle order after his hundred against pakistan. Yuvraj has always produced that one special innings time to time but lacks the consistancy at the test level. Irfan’s was more of a shock as he had performed creditably in the test series in Australia bagging man of the match award in the perth test match.

But overall the selectors have done a great job. The batting looks solid and the bowling attack seems decent. India possess a great top six and I would go to an extent of calling them the best in the world when it comes of. Sehwag and Gambhir will open in the first test for sure, followed by Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly and Laxman. Parthiv or Karthik will occupy the number 7 spot. The advantage for the Indians with Karthik and Parthiv is that they can also open the batting if we decide to go with 5 bowlers. Pathan’s absence might leave a long tail for India but I guess thats the risk we have to take in the absence of a genuine allrounder in the squad.

The bowling will depend on the pitch conditions and I would prefer Ojha in the place of Harbajan if we go with two spinners. Ojha was very impressive in the Asia cup as he was able to get wickets in the middle overs, a department India struggle a lot in ODI. India will go with Zaheer and Ishant if playing only two pace bowlers. Overall the test series will be a great watch as everyone will be eager to see how the seniors handle mendis after his stupendous showing in the Asia Cup. Dhoni openly admitted in the media that the Indian batsmen were clueless against the genial spinner from Srilanka after the Asia Cup final.

Dhoni will not be playing in this series giving an opportunity to either Karthik or Parthiv to showcase their talent. All in all an interesting battle is on the cards when the two team meet on the 23rd of July at the SSC.