Monday, March 14, 2011

Every Pakistan Cricketer Participating In 2011 World Cup Is Better Than Ramiz Raja

It was disgusting to listen to ridiculous comments from Ramiz Raja on STAR CRICKET after the match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe. He says Pakistan should not disturb their opening combination and should persist with Ahmad Shahzad. He says that Pakistan made changes in their opening pair three times in World Cup  1992 and lost on all three occasions. Ahmad Shahzad is a fine talent, but his confidence is shattered on the back of failures in the World Cup. His low confidence could rub on the rest of the team and there is no guarentee he would come good in more crucial games ahead. It is much better to open with tried and tested Kamran Akmal. He also goes onto say Kamran Akmal should be persisted at #3. If you look at the history Kamran Akmal has failed in the middle order and has been only effective as an opener or late in the middle order.

Effectively, he is asking Pakistan to repeat the failures. That is persist Ahamad Shahzad and let him fail and play Kamran Akmal at the number where he has failed. He also makes comparison between Asad Shafiq and Umar Akmal. Umar Akmal is the most talented in the whole World today. If Umar Akmal comes good, he can alone win the game for India. Asad Shafiq has to come into the Pakistan team, but at the cost of Ahmad Shahzad. Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez should open the innings and Asad Shafiq should bat at #3. Yunis Khan should bat at #4, but Misbah should be pushed down the order as he can wait a stabilizing game in the wake of middle order collapse or can go after the bowlers towards the end of the game.

Pakistan has the greatest versatility in their team in terms of the talent. If Pakistan utilize their talent appropriately, they are easily the best team in the tournament.

Ramiz Raja then goes on record saying Pakistan missed a trick by dropping Shoib Akhtar. After the game against New Zeeland, even if Shoib Akhtar did not deserve a drop, he at least needed a rest to perform in crucial games ahead in the tournament. Shoib Akhtar gave away those runs at the end as he was a bit tired and bowled short balls and full tosses. There could not have been a better opportunity to rest Shoib Akhtar than resting him today in the game against Zimbabwe. Shoib Akhtar is a great asset if he bowls straight with good line and length. But Shoib Akhtar is a liability if he goes astray and bowls short, which he does often.

Pakistan Should Drop Ahmad Shahzad, Open With Kamran Akmal And Play Asad Shafiq

Kamran Akmal should open the innings with Mohammad Hafeez at the top of the order. Ahmad Shahzad should be dropped to draft Asad Shfique in the side. Asad Shafique could provide the much required stability for Pakistan at #3. Umar Akmal should bat between Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. Pakistan is the most balanced side in this World Cup.

Pakistan need to identify the right position for each of their player, their weaknesses and strengths. Misbah will be more productive down the middle order at #6 than in the middle order. These are very simple tactics, and you need not be a rocket scientist to identify these strengths and weaknesses. There is a fallacy that this Pakistan team cannot chase down big target. I think Pakistan has the best arsenal in their tank to chase down any kind of target. They just do not seem to plan well. I do not see Intikhab Alam being of any use in the team think tank. Waqar Yunis seems to be a good coach, but he too, like many former Pakistan cricketer miss finer details of their teams game, and most often do not use the natural talent of their cricket players.

The following batting order would be the best batting order for Pakistan

1. Kamran Akmal
2. Mohammad Hafeez
3. Asad Shafique
4. Yunis Khan
5. Shahid Afridi/Umar Akmal
6. Misbah
7. Shahid Afridi/Umar Akmal
8. Abdul Razzak
9. Umar Gul
10. Rahman
11. Shoib Akhtar

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Drop Harbhajan And Win The World Cup

It is pity that the cricket experts often do not pick up the finer nuances of the game. There is nothing special about Harbhajan Singh's bowling. I have never seen Harbhajan Singh turn a game by himself. What Harbhajan's does at his best is pick wickets when the opposition is under immense pressure. His performance against Australia in 2001 is more due to incompetence of Australian batsmen at playing slow bowling than Harbhajan's expertise with the ball. Sachin Tendulkar has bagged five wicket hauls against an almost similar Australian team in One Dayers. Who knows if Sachin had bowled as many over as Harbhajan did, Sachin would have picked more wickets than Harbhajan. I could not agree more with Bishan Singh Bedi when he claimed that Sehwag is the best spin bowler in the Indian team. Did Harbhajan ever turned a ball like a Shane Warne or a Muralitharan.

I have seen Harbhajan struggled badly in the last three to four years as I have been watching cricket ever more than I did before. This Indian team has many specialist batsmen who are better spin bowlers than Harbhajan. If Yuvraj and Sehwag are used as much as Harbhajan, they would produce more results than Harbhajan. In the presence of that many permanent Indian batsmen who are so good at turning their arm around, India needs only specialist spinner.

The only task ahead of everyone who matter is to identify the best spinner in the India. At this time I think Ashwin is the best Indian spinner. In fact I always thought that Murali Karthik was a more potent spinner than Harbhajan even though he is a leg spinner. I do not know what keeps Harbhajan going in the Indian team. Dhoni never seems to show concern about Harbhajan's indifferent form.

In fact I would rate Harbhajan's batting skills above his bowling skills. I think it is a high time that Harbhajan makes the way for a more talented spin bowler in the Indian team. How now and then come with good bowling performance and retain his place till he comes with another one. Most of the times he gets wickets simply because the batsmen are going after him and trying to score runs quickly.

Ashwin Should Replace Harbhajan And Suresh Raina Should Replace Gautam Gambhir Or Yusuf Pathan

India needs only one spinner with the all rounders like Yuvraj, Sehwag, Yusuf Pathan, and Sachin Tendulkar being more than capable options. Suresh Raina too is a potent bowler on the subcontinental pitches if he gets to play. India needs to pick their best spinner. I think at this time Ashwin is the best specialist Indian spinner.

 Harbhajan has not performed for the last four to five years. Ashwin will do better than Harbhajan. There is no place for 2nd spinner in the Indian team with so many part time spinners and some of them like Sehwag and Yuvraj looks more capable than Harbhajan on most of the occasions.

Harbhajan has performed for India whenever there is immense pressure on the opposition. It is like opposition losing the wickets under pressure and Harbhajan being the biggest beneficiary. For analogy you could compare it to Sachin performing almost every time whenever there is no pressure, but you could be almost certain of Sachin failing whenever there is pressure. There seems to more support for certain players in the Indian team management, especially Dhoni seems to back some players to the hilt and Harbhajan is one of the beneficiary.

Similarly One has to pick three from Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, and Yusuf Pathan. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli can be categorized into similar category. Similarly Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan resemble each other in their capabilities. Which combination would be better out of these three options. Between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir is a established cricketer, but Virat Kohli is in a better form at this time. Gautam Gambhir is better as an opener, but he has not been as effective in the middle order.

With the opening slots sealed by Sehwag and Sachin at this time, Gautam Gambhir has to bat in the middle order. But the fact is that with a middle order that boast of the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni, and Yusuf Pathan or Suresh Raina, you do not need both Gambhir and Virat Kohli. There has to be only one from Gambhir and Virat playing in the middle order. If you have to talk about the middle order, Virat has an edge over Gambhir on his recent form. That means if one has to select three from among these four one has to decide between stability in the top middle order or aggression down the order. Virat Kohli has to be retained for his recent form. That would mean you have to bring in Raina for either Gambhir or Yusuf Pathan. Raina could be more aggressive than Gambhir at #3 or more dependable than Yusuf Pathan at #7. These are some simple facts that our cricket experts do not seem to understand.

Ridiculous Post Match Commentary On India Vs South Africa Encounter On Indian News Channels

Boria Majumdar suggests on Times Now during the analysis of India Vs South Africa that Harbhajan should have bowled one of the last overs.  There were suggestions on various platforms that Harbhajan should have bowled the last over instead of Nehra. The result would not have been different even if Harbhajan had bowled the last over. It would have been much easier for the South African players to achieve the target. If that had happened these people would have been criticizing the same move even sharply citing that Harbhajan has not done anything significant in the recent times and they would have suggested that Nehra should have bowled the last over instead of Harbhajan and they would have insisted Nehra's heroics against Pakistan to win a game in the last over when Pakistan was almost cruising.

Expert comments on television are ridiculous most of the time. Neither Harbhajan, nor Yusuf Pathan deserve a place in the Indian team. Harbhajan has not done anything significant in the last three to four years. Yusuf Pathan is a great T20 player, but he is a bit and pieces player in One Day format. If he clicks, he can destroy the opposition, but that does not happen consistently because he lacks the technique to stay at the wicket scoring consistently or for that matter without scoring. Sachin Tendulkar scored a hundred batting at the top and helped his own record, but he might have also failed if he arrived in the situation that the other middle order batsmen failed.

There has been talk of bringing Ashwin in for another bowler and Suresh Raina for Gautam Gambhir. That is completely ridiculous suggestion. Ashwin should be brought in for Harbhajan and Suresh Raina should be brought in for Yusuf Pathan or Gautam Gambhir. That would provide the best balance to the Indian team. The perfect eleven for India would be as follows. One of Nehra or Sreesanth should be played in the XI.

1. Virender Sehwag
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Gautam Gambhir
4. Virat Kohli
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. MS Dhoni
7. Suresh Raina
8. Ashwin
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Sreesanth
11. Munaf Patel

OR


1. Virender Sehwag
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Virat Kohli
4. Yuvraj Singh
5. MS Dhoni
6. Suresh Raina
7. Yusuf Pathan
8. Ashwin 
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Sreesanth
11. Munaf Patel

India will not lose even a single game with this combination

.