the game of politics is the way to GO!!!

India signed off in style with 2-0 series win over Kiwis. Much in the usual fashion they created jittery as 3 wickets fell in the space of 15 runs between 151 and 166. Eventually India chased down the target with 5 wickets to spare.  The stutter was always on the cards, considering 262 is a competitive total in fourth innings. Full marks to Kiwis for coming back strongly after the pathetic display in the First Test. Something that India completely failed to do in 8 Tests played in England and Australia.

 Let us review the performance of our batters.

Batsman	Runs	Highest	Average
Pujara	216	159	72.00
Kohli	212	103	106.00
Dhoni	183	73	91.50
Sehwag	128	47	42.66
Ashwin	69	37	69.00
Tendulkar	63	27	21.00
Gambir	58	34	19.33
Raina	58	55	19.33

This entire series was Pujara and Kohli show. Million thanks to youngsters. Point proved that youth is the way to go!!! Tendulkar failure yet again spurred the famous topic of the Maestro’s Retirement. Well, this is an ongoing topic since 2007. I would like to ignore it as usual run of the mill story. By the way, even the critics, who call his head, know themselves that Tendulkar is not finished yet. I too echo Ganguly’s voice. Tendulkar is too good to know if his time is up. This failure is purely due to the lack of match practice. And if you see the score lines in this two Test series, India did not get to anywhere near the big scores like 600. Mind you, the last we played a Test Match was way back 6 months ago.

This series is basically scheduled for our players to get warmed up before the actual start of a grueling season. And it is a usual practice with other leading Test playing nations too. Sri Lanka Toured England before India toured England in 2011. New Zealand toured Australia before India toured Australia in 2011-12. West Indies toured England before South Africa began its tour in 2012. A true testimony to evaluate Tendulkar shelf life will be the series against England and Australia. Until then there is no hurry to press the button.

By the way, if Tendulkar head is most wanted, I personally see there are two more heads already available for chop. Gambir has been a constant failure for quiet sometime now. Raina’s is already served on platter. Dhoni’s performances proved there is no need to blood Saha and Ashwin confirmed Bhajji is going to have one hell of a wait in order to comeback in Test Cricket.

Here is my vivid imagination, in the assumption that there is still dissent in the dressing room between Sehwag, Dhoni and Gambir.

Dhoni got himself Raina and Chawla only because he did not want to be out voted in the dressing room. Now, there will be a huge pressure from all corners to drop Raina. Oh yeah, it’s a fair pressure which Dhoni will buy. Dhoni will give up Raina, if selectors are willing to take back Gambir too. This way the balance of the vote can be maintained and a young talent as Rahane can be blossomed. Not to say the least the vote of Kohli can also be bought with the Vice Captaincy restored to him. But this political battle would reach the peak when “Unmukt Chand” the new sensation is picked in the squad for the England series. Obviously the new batch of selectors, to attain popularity will be tempted to present the hot commodity which the public desire to see. It won’t be a surprise if Dhoni himself push the pick to tackle the lone wolf in the pack. In other words a special message conveyed to Sehwag in public. This would be my interpretation “Dude, don’t mess with me. Your spot will be taken over by your own Delhi-mate and teen sensation Unmukt Chand. But if you chose to fall in line, you will get my personal insurance cover. Pick your way!!!”

Totally vivid right? Lets see if turns true.

Now that we talked enough of mainstream cricket, let us take a little diversion. I urge you to have a look at this video link below. This is my dear friend’s kid and he turned 4 only few days ago. Being Indian it our natural tendency to see if our child is the next Tendulkar. Can’t help it folks!!! But, we pretty much knew this kid is a cricket talent. Since he is only 4, it is quite a challenge to coach him, especially to get him play copy book strokes. His father being imaginative made him watch Lara batting. While watching the video, the kid said, "Dad, I would like to try playing that shot"

You want to see how he replicated it???  (Feel free to click the link below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDlNUWlDE8Q

Dinesh

Cricket Lover