In the line of fire.

In the battle between Senior and Junior, the junior prevailed. Thanks to some thoughtless approach by Sehwag’s think tank.

Even before the game against Kolkata, Sehwag publicly admitted that Delhi’s success depends on himself and Warner. It could be true; however admitting the same publicly does not communicate a good message to the team. Does Sehwag meant to say the remaining 9 in the team are just fillers?

Chasing a total of 148 was not a marathon task for Delhi. Having said that, Hopes coming at no.3 clearly defied logic. Was he supposed to play the role of pinch hitter?

If so, does it meant to say Hopes is a better attacking batsman than Sehwag? Then the choice of Irfan Pathan at no.4 was even baffling. When you already have a pinch hitter in the form of Hopes to do the role, what does Irfan bring to the table? In my opinion, it was a message to Hopes that he is not doing his job right. Just as expected, both batsmen tried to outwit each other perished to an imaginary pressure.

It was heartening to see proper batsman like Ojha and Venugopala Rao getting the captains confidence only to be slotted at 6 and 7. These players definitely needed a better treatment; after all they have established themselves at least in IPL in the last 3 years.

While Pune’s ploy of sending Mishra, Pandey and Manhas ahead of Uthappa and Yuvraj explains the chicken out attitude, Daredevils approach to save Ojha and Rao for desert creates a faithless attitude. The truth is both these teams are led by tactless captains. The master minds behind the recruitment of Sehwag and Yuvraj for captaincy needs special appreciation. After all, had these master minds used the brain effectively; I’ve no doubts that these teams would be led by Ganguly and Lara today for better performance.

Bottom Line: Despite the forecast of Yuvi leading India for the ODI leg of WI tour looks bright, thankfully Yuvi and Viru are not the prospects of India’s captaincy for the future.

Dinesh

Cricket Lover