Recently, former English Cricketers slammed BCCI for not fielding a single spinner in England's first warm up match of the tour against India A on Oct 30, 2012.
Following is the India A squad for the match.
Suresh Raina (capt), Ambati Rayudu, M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Bist, Ashok Menaria, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ashok Dinda, Vinay Kumar, Parvinder Awana
As a follower, we understand that these matches are organized for the benefit of visiting team to acclimatize. At the same time, this game also serves a purpose to the home board. Ideally it is about evaluation of players for the few spots still open for grabs in the national side. In that aspect, the selectors has done everything correct in naming the above squad just before the national team selection. At this time the selectors are not in a hurry to evaluate spinners as Ashwin and Ojha have already sealed their place in the XI (Also performance of a spinner against England line up is not the best way to judge the talent). It is only the medium pace quadrant that may require re-dressing over the period of 4 test matches. Thus all of Irfan Pathan, Dinda, Vinay Kumar and Awana (waiting in line) are named in this side. If somebody questions the absence of Harbhajan, the answer lies in the absence itself. Harbhajan Singh is presented the whole Ranji season to prove his mettle. Playing one match here or there with eye brow rising performance is not going to revive his career straight away. This is a message to Harbhajan more than anybody else.
With respect to batsman in the squad, the openers Mukund, Vijay and Rahane are selected to evaluate as a backup/replacement to Sehwag/Gambir. Because Dhawan has planned his wedding during this time, he missed the party. And we all know there is one middle order spot definitely available for grabs in the Test XI. All of Yuvraj Singh, Tiwary, Bist, Maneria, Rayudu, Raina (potential candidates to grab that spot) are selected for evaluation purpose. However this also means Badrinath is out of the race for the middle order spot.
In every aspect, the above squad answers, India’s preparation to this series rather providing an opportunity to England for preparation. Anyways, Yuvraj and Raina will be bowling left arm spin and off spin for the benefit of English Batsman.
In the meantime, BCCI released the new contracts.
Grade A: Rs 1 crore each (approx $186,000) Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin
Grade B: Rs 50 lakh each (approx $93,000) Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav
Grade C: Rs 25 lakh each (around $46,500) Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, R Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel, Abhimanyu Mithun, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel, Manoj Tiwary, S Badrinath, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Sharma, Varun Aaron, Abhinav Mukund, Ashok Dinda, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, L Balaji
Wonder, how Munaf Patel earned a contract? I personally don’t see him featuring in Indian Team in any format of the game. Anyways, that is only my personal opinion.
IPL Saga
It is interesting to see the (surprise) emergence of Sun TV as the new owner of the Hyderabad franchise in IPL. As usual, Lalit Modi made noise with tweets as “IPL Team gifted to Srinivasan friends. It is a throw away price compared to what Sahara paid 2 years ago”. Come on Modi, Indian cricket followers still have common sense. The second best bid was only 69 Crores per annum compared to Sun TV’s 85. In that sense, Srinivasan’s friends are only scape goats. We do understand that Sahara and Kochi Tuskers paid huge amount to secure a franchise. But that was 2 years ago. Those were the days IPL was only 3 years old and investors were willing to spend any amount of money as everyone saw only the success side of IPL.
Today’s prices are determined by what happened next. BCCI attempted to terminate Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. Thanks to Court, that these owners are still holding their franchise. The 4th edition of IPL witnessed empty stands. Though two new teams joined the league for the 4th edition, Kochi could not survive beyond. After 5th year, the title sponsor DLF quit. Everyone knows the row Sahara had with BCCI, especially the pull out drama during last year’s auction. Today, Deccan Chronicles lost their ownership due to the debt incurred by running the franchise all these years. It is a pity Deccan could not even pay their players dues. Already everyone is keeping a close watch on Bangalore Royal Challengers, whose owner is under severe financial stress. At such a state, somebody paid 85 Crores per annum means they have taken a huge risk, BCCI should be more than happy about it.
Dinesh
Cricket Lover
No comments:
Post a Comment