The young Afghan spinner Mujeeb Rahman is all praise for his Indian counterpart Ravichandran Ashwin who captained him during the recently concluded 11th edition of the Indian Premier League. Both Mujeeb and Ashwin spearheaded Kings XI Punjab’s attack in IPL 11 and played key role in many of their victories together.
It seems that India is looking to go into the World Cup 2015 without Yuvraj Singh.
The Punjab lad hasn’t been a part of the Indian side that is currently playing a 5-match series against England.
It’s Ajinkya Rahane who is batting at no. 4 for India in that series in Yuvraj’s absence.
The Indian captain MS Dhoni has hinted in quite a few of his interviews of late that he considers Rahane a very suitable player for that crucial second down position especially on seaming pitches.
A large section of the Indian fans though still believe that Yuvraj is a better ODI player than Rahane and should be brought back into the team, but, certainly, the Indian think tank is not on the same page.
However, to be fair to Dhoni and the Indian selectors, they gave Yuvraj a long run in the One Day Internationals last season, but, he underperformed which led to his axing.
Yuvraj could have made a case for his comeback if he had batted brilliantly in the World T20 Championship as Raina did, but, he was unable to do that. He, in fact, played pathetic cricket in the final of that tournament scoring just 11 runs off 21 balls.
So, Yuvraj’s own form has been responsible for him not being in the mix at the moment, but, the left hander is a big player and the big players often shine at big stages.
Yuvraj was not playing great cricket ahead of the last World Cup either, but, Dhoni showed confidence in him at that time and he won India the tournament.
That might happen next year as well only if Dhoni is ready to back Yuvraj again which seems highly unlikely considering the Indian captain’s recent policy of persisting with young players.
Yuvraj Singh scored a hundred for the Rest of the World XI in the exhibition match against MCC XI the other day at Lord’s.
It was a vintage Yuvraj knock. With a lethal combination of power and timing, he devastated the MCC bowling line up and took the total of his team close to 300.
Yuvraj’s effort was not enough though as the target posted by ROW got hunted down quite easily by MCC at the end, but, the shots that the Punjab leftie played during his knock, the spectators at Lord’s would remember that for some time.
Yuvraj was not fluent when he walked in first up. He was struggling to pick Saeed Ajmal’s incoming delivery, but, once the left arm spinners i.e. Daniel Vettori and Aaron Finch were given the ball, he started finding his touch slowly.
Finch helped Yuvraj with a couple of full tosses which got launched over midwicket, deep into the stands.
The opposition captain Sachin Tendulkar tried a bit of short stuff too against Yuvraj by bringing Shaun Tait into the attack, but, it didn’t work as the southpaw was getting on the top of those deliveries efficiently.
It was Sachin himself who got Yuvraj out at the end by bowling him a straighter delivery with a leg sinning action.
Yuvraj tried to loft it over long on with the spin, but, since it didn’t come in, he couldn’t get it right in his hitting arch and thus, mistimed it. The fielder who was being placed on the boundary did the rest of the work by completing the catch.
Yuvraj while returning to the pavilion received a pat on the back from each and every MCC player and he deserved that for rising to the occasion and playing that kind of a knock.
MS Dhoni scored a quick half century on the 2nd day of the second test match against New Zealand and helped his team secure a huge first inning lead.
The Indian captain walked onto the ground in quite a tricky situation, but, he counter attacked in his own style and put up a 100-run partnership with Ajinkya Rahane to take the match away from the hosts.
Dhoni would not have come into this match in a perfect state of mind as so many negative things were being said about him back home in India, but, he showed why he is regarded as one of the greatest cricketers in the world. While he was out there batting, not for a single moment did it seem that he was under pressure. He tried to take the attack to the opposition right from the word go.
The first bowler that Dhoni took on after walking in was Neil Wagner who was bowling quite well at that point of time. The powerful right hander went after Wagner with full intent. He smacked him for four boundaries on the trot and forced the opposition captain Brendon McCullum to opt for a defensive field.
Once McCullum pushed the field back, Dhoni settled down and started dealing in singles and doubles with odd boundaries. The veteran wicketkeeper was looking all set for his first test hundred overseas, but, it wasn’t to be. In his attempt to guide a short, rising delivery towards fine leg, he inside edged it to BJ Watling and his brilliant knock came to an end.
However, by batting that way, he gave strong answer to those people who were not only questioning his captaincy, but, also, his spot in the Indian test team. Now, he would like his bowlers to bowl New Zealand out cheaply on the 3rd day.
The South African fast bowler Morne Morkel feels that Sachin Tendulkar will be missed by the young Indian test team in the upcoming couple of test matches.
Morkel was talking to the reporters yesterday in Johannesburg about the first test match which is going to start on Wednesday.
When asked about Sachin’s absence, he said, “I think they are going to miss him. He was one of those guys who have the ability to stay at the wicket for hours and put a lot of pressure on the bowling side.”
“The young batsmen who are in the Indian squad at the moment have also got a lot of potential, but, they are quite aggressive by nature. They try to attack the bowling and that was clear in the One Day international series.”
When asked if he thinks that the first game will be a low scoring one, Morkel said, “It’s not necessary. Yes, the surface is bouncy here in Johannesburg and the bowlers are always in with a chance of getting wickets, but, once a batsman gets his eyes in, he gets runs quickly here because the shots can be played on the up and the outfield is pretty fast too. So, you get value for your shots.”
The Indian team definitely has had a tough time on this tour of South Africa so far, but, they can take heart from the fact that their performance at Johannesburg in the past has not been that poor. Seven years ago in 2006, they had secured a test win over South Africa here.
The right arm fast bowler S Sreesanth was the stand out performer for the Indian team in that game as he had dismissed a total of 8 South African players.