Pace the Music.

With India’s tour of New Zealand right around the corner, all this talk of the country’s miserable failure on the previous excursion in 2003 has come into the spotlight. Team India was outdone in every department of the game by the kiwis and besides a couple of performances from Sehwag there was nothing positive that could be taken away from the tour. But things are different now. We are a different squad, hounding for the “number one team in the world” spot with only two hurdles in the way. One is South Africa who is currently holding the pole position. The second, is that it remains to be seen whether this rejuvenated squad, under the leadership of Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, can cope with the speed and bounce of the wickets in New Zealand, which tortured every preceding Indian side. The pitches back home have never been speed friendly­. This is why the vast majority of sub-continental batsmen hit the wrong notes when they travel out of the tropical terrain and also the reason why most captains playing in the country opt for the additional spinner versus the paceman.

Back in Mumbai, things are stirring up as the IPL auctions have come to a close and the squad has been announced. Contrary to popular belief, the Mumbai Indians bowling line up consists largely of pace bowlers- Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga, Kyle Mills, Dilhara Fernando, Dwayne Bravo, Dhawal Kulkarni, the new guys – Ryan Mclaren who took a hat-trick in England’s domestic T20 final against Gloucestershire and Graham Napier whose T20 best is 3 for 13 and averages a minimal 23.86. Abhishek Nayar and Rohan Raje also turn their arms at a respectable speed. Looks like our owners really went all out in finding a replacement for veteran Shaun Pollock!

It’s tough to pin down which of these will have to sit on the bench. Zaheer will obviously lead the bowling attack. Dwayne Bravo is arguably our best all-rounder and too strong not to make it to the squad. Graham Napier, besides his bowling has scored 152 not out from 58 balls. The innings set a number of records, notably the highest individual score in a T20 innings in England, and in the domestic Twenty20 competition. Spinner- Harbhajan is also likely to start unless he gets Sreesanth singing to his tunes again and it’ll be unlikely that Abhishek Nayar is dropped after a strapping all-round performance last season and through the year. Adding to this, Surya will also bowl his usual, unfortunately leaving Malinga, Mills, Fernando, Ryan Mclaren and Kulkarni fighting for one spot. Adding to this, the team selectors are going to face the pressure of making sure that the owners’ heavy investments don’t lie latent on the bench. A rotational policy seems to be on the cards, which only a handful of teams have used successfully because the mantra has always been to stick with the winning combination so as to keep the momentum going and the spirits high. It will be interesting to see if the selectors will have to face the music when the “fat lady sings”.

Dhawal Kulkarni in Test Squad !!

Mumbai Indian Dhawal Kulkarni has earned a spot in India's test squad for the New Zealand tour starting on 25th February, 2009. A right-arm medium pacer, Kulkarni first claimed a place on the cricket firmament with his outstanding performance for the Mumbai Under-17 team in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (2005-06).

The 20-year-old came into the limelight last year with his dazzling performances in the Indian Premier League, and has consistently done well in the domestic circuit since.

In the 13 first-class matches Dhawal has played so far, he has not disappointed MI Captain Sachin Tendulkar's faith in him. He claimed 49 wickets, with an economy rate of 2.94. His figures of 5 / 76 in the second innings of the Ranji Trophy Final were a huge contribution towards Mumbai's 38th Ranji Trophy title. He was also the highest wicket taker in the Ranji Trophy season wherein he took an astounding 42 wickets. 

Player Profile - Jean-Paul Duminy

Jean-Paul Duminy, often shortened to JP Duminy, (born 14 April 1984 in Cape Town) is a South African cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm off spin bowler. Duminy, was raised in the Western Cape plays domestic cricket for his home team, the Cape Cobras.

Duminy is a successful batsman generally occupying the top or middle order, and a skilled fielder. He became known during the South African under-19s tour to England in 2003 and in the 2003-04 domestic season, where he averaged over 72 two years after breaking into South Africa's Western Province side. Though he bowls less frequently in One Day Internationals, he has also found success with the ball, making his One Day International debut in 2004 against Sri Lanka.

Replacing injured vice-captain Ashwell Prince, Duminy made his Test debut against Australia at the WACA in Perth on December 17, 2008, scoring 50 not out in the second innings by hitting the winning runs in the match after putting on an unbroken century partnership with AB de Villiers. His performance was lauded by numerous critics, including Peter Roebuck. In the next Test match, beginning on Boxing Day, Duminy combined with the tailenders to score his maiden Test century of 166. South Africa were more than 200 runs in arrears when they lost their seventh wicket in the first innings. In the process, he and Dale Steyn (76) put on 180 and surpassed Graeme and Peter Pollock's South African ninth wicket partnership record against Australia. South Africa ended with a 62-run lead and converted it into a nine-wicket win. This sealed the series, the first time that South Africa had won a Test series in Australia, and Australia's first home Test series loss in 16 years.

As far as the Indian Premier League is concerned, JP is slated to play for the Mumbai Indians. He was bought for a whopping $ 950,000 in the auction held in Goa on 6th February, 2009. Our Mumbai Indians Captain, Sachin Tendulkar was extremely pleased with this signing.

Abhishek Nayar & Ajinkya Rahane to play in Champions Trophy

Mumbai, July 8: In a move consistent with their recent policy for limited overs matches, the national selectors on Tuesday ignored former captains Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly while naming 30 Indian probables for the ICC Champions Trophy in September.

Sachin Tendulkar was the only player from among the Fab Four who found a place in the list announced by Cricket Board secretary Niranjan Shah after the selection panel's meeting in Mumbai.

Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan, axed from the 16-strong Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour, expectedly found berths in the probables list.

Also included were national under-19 captain Virat Kohli of Delhi, Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Mumbai youngsters’ all-rounder Abhishek Nayar and batsman Ajinkya Rahane.

Both Dravid, who is 35, and Ganguly - celebrating his 36th birthday on Tuesday, have failed to secure places in the ODI squads after the home series against Australia and Pakistan respectively held late in 2007.

The duos, with a combined experience of over 600 ODIs, were left out of the triangular series won by India for the first time in Australia.

The pair then failed to find a place in the last two one-day tournaments played by India - the tri-series in Bangladesh last month and the Asia Cup that concluded in Pakistan last Sunday - after playing in the T20 Indian Premier League as iconic players for their respective outfits.

The decision of the selectors to ignore the claims of this vastly experienced pair of batsmen, each of whom has scored over 10000 runs in ODIs, has virtually ended their glittering careers in the shorter forms of the international game.

Tendulkar, who masterminded India's historic victory Down Under, was expectedly named in the probables list which has to be pruned at least a month before the start of the tournament which is scheduled for September 11 as per the International Cricket Council's rules and regulations.

The probables: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla, R P Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Manpreet Singh Gony, Pragyan Ojha, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Kaarthick, S Badrinath, Mohammed Kaif, Manoj Tiwary, Abhishek Nayar, Pankaj Singh, Murali Kartik, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Yusuf Pathan and S Sreesanth.

Indian Express.

1st Exclusive Interview: Ishant Sharma and Aakash Sharma

Mumbai crowd is probably the worst crowd in the world: Ishant Sharma and Aakash Chopra:

I had the good fortune of meeting Ishant Sharma and Aakash Sharma for an interview with OK! magazine and they said that the Mumbai crowd was probably the worst crowd in the world. I suppose that maybe that’s a complement because when they play for the Knight Riders and come down to the city to compete against our team it goes to show that we, as fans, can put the opposition off track.

I tried explaining to them that it was nothing personal and that we would still support them during their international performances, it’s just that when they are against a team we are supporting how can they expect us to be amicable and shout “Come on Aakash!” or “Bowl Sachin out Ishant”? and even that they got a little bit of. Of all the away teams, the Knight Riders had a largest fan following in Mumbai. It was different that their shoddy performance left their support sitting silently in utter disbelief.

Aakash went on to say that the crowd has been so rowdy at times that during a test match against Australia in the 2003-04 season they even booed Sachin. I was a little short of words. I remember that game. I stuttered and replied saying “very few people can actually go up to the man and say, “Listen Sachin, I think your initial movement, with your front foot, towards the pitch of the ball is a little hesitant and thus catches you playing late.” No one has the right to tell him that- He is a God.

The reason the home crowd did that, was because he had failed the entire test series and the high expectation of him performing at home left the mob frustrated. We never did stop supporting him, only letting him know that no matter how great he is, he must show a power to overcome failure, because that’s what champions do. It appeared that he had lost his appetite to succeed and needed a new challenge. We gave him one.

I reminded the opener that even through the IPL when Sachin failed, he got a standing ovation every time.

I felt my opinion though was probably just something I needed to say to defend the Mumbaikars, we have booed our God and there is no excuse for that, unless someone has a better outlook than mine as to why it happened.

Comment.

Read the July edition of OK! India for the entire interview.