Sports India

Twenty to go… This is how the Indian team would be looking at their one-day cricket from now on. Twenty matches to go before the World Cup.. And when that time comes to play that first World Cup game, India should feel that they have looked at all the options available up till now and this is what we think is the best. The best 15 players that gives us the best shot at the Cup.

I would like to think that the selectors are still looking and their net is still spread wide out there, to catch players, showing either sparks of talent or strong performances.

At the end of the 20 matches, the Indian team should culminate into a unit that has been formed after a genuinely exhausting exercise, that has lasted for more than a year, after tapping various alternatives.

The team that goes to West Indies for the World Cup then should be a team that has each player worth his salt. Then it does not matter his age, his past or his experience. It should be a player that excites the team management with his promise at the time.

Based on these thoughts, I believe there should not be too much scrutiny of the team selected for the tri-series in Sri Lanka. Perhaps that energy of ours could be preserved when the team for the World Cup is announced.

Dinesh Mongia, who played in the last World Cup, is back in the Indian team after a long absence. Whatever could be the stories floating around his selection, I look at it as maturity on the part of the selectors.

They have showed that although youth is an important consideration in their planning they are not going to be obsessed with it. This selection is on pure performance. Interestingly though on English county performances.

Suddenly County Cricket performances have become more and more relevant for Indian cricket selections. We even have Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan staking their claims for Indian selection from England.

This also means that Indian players who do not play county cricket are somewhat at a disadvantage. Mongia clearly would not have been back in this Indian team if not for his contract with a certain county in England.

With India playing around the year and having international commitments now in June, July and August and with our domestic season finishing much before that in April, there is no match opportunities for fringe players to make a strong case for selection, unless he is influential enough to get a county contract. A situation that the BCCI could make note of.

So here we have Mongia’s performances in England been rewarded, while Zaheer Khan’s have not. But it seems not for long, as Zaheer keeps sending these strong messages to the Indian selectors, through the only way you should, by outstanding performances.

Anil Kumble’s unbelievable perseverance as a bowler has got him back in the reckoning for one-day cricket, a possibility that was almost ruled out two years back as focus had shifted to youth and energy in the field.

Though he is not picked in the team for Sri Lanka, you can quite clearly gauge that he is a strong candidate for the Indian team for the World Cup. By not selecting him in the team but keeping him well informed about their long term plans with him, the selectors have shown the virtue of communication. Importance of a dialogue between players and selectors can never be under-estimated.

Kumble today is not in the India team but he is not unhappy or hurt, for he has been motivated by the words passed on to him by the men in charge. This contact between players and selectors helps keep the harmony in the dressing room, so vital for winning performances.

And really Kumble has reached a stage in his career that he does not need one-day match practice, to excel if he has to, in the more important one day matches later.

Kumble, after 16 year of international cricket, is now predictably a good bowler and its just a matter of the team management visualizing him bowling the way he does against certain batting oppositions in given match conditions.

Finally, needless to say, it is going to be a tough outing for India as they take on South Africa and Sri Lanka in testing weather conditions. Even after that 4-1 loss in the last one day series in West Indies, there is no denying the fact that India is still a very good one day team. And unlike West Indies, they would be hoping that this time, they return with some answers and not, more questions.

Zaheer Khan had an average outing for Worcestershire and the Team India discard grabbed just one wicket even though his side tightened its grip on the Division Two Liverpool Victoria County Championship match against Derbyshire.

Derbyshire’s decision to bat first saw the side reaching 351 after losing all their wickets in 97.2 overs.

Zaheer was initially lacklustre but he came back to remove Graham Wagg (45), who was caught by Worcestershire skipper Vikram Solanki, just when the batsman was looking dangerous.

Zaheer’s first innings spell read 17-2-57-1.

In reply, Solanki (140) led from the front as Worcestershire ended the second day of the Championship match at 457 for five, which gave them a 33-run lead.

Steven Davies was not out on 101.

Twenty to go… This is how the Indian team would be looking at its one-day cricket from now on. Twenty matches to go before the World Cup. And when the time comes to play that first World Cup game, India should feel that it has looked at all the available options and has the best 15 players that gives it the best shot at the Cup.

I would like to think that the selectors are still looking and their net is still spread wide out, to catch players, showing either sparks of talent or strong performances.

At the end of the 20 matches, the Indian team should culminate into a unit that has been formed after a genuinely exhausting exercise that has lasted for more than a year, after tapping various alternatives. The team that goes to West Indies for the World Cup then should be a team that has in ir each player worth his salt. Then it does not matter whatever his age, his past or his experience.

Fair selection

Based on these thoughts, I believe there should not be too much scrutiny of the team selected for the tri-series in Sri Lanka. Dinesh Mongia, who played in the last World Cup, is back in the Indian team after a long absence. Whatever could be the stories floating around his selection; I look at it as maturity on the part of the selectors.

They have showed that although youth is an important consideration in their planning they are not going to be obsessed with it. This selection is on pure performance, interestingly though on English county performances.

Suddenly county cricket performances have become more and more relevant for Indian cricket selections. This also means that Indian players who do not play county cricket are somewhat at a disadvantage. Mongia clearly would not have been back in this Indian team if not for his contract with a certain county in England.

With India playing around the year and having international commitments now in June, July and August and with our domestic season finishing much before that in April, there are no match opportunities for fringe players to make a strong case for selection, unless he is influential enough to get a county contract. A situation that the BCCI could make note of.

Zaheer’s case

So here we have Mongia’s performances in England been rewarded, while Zaheer Khan’s have not. But it seems not for long, as Zaheer keeps sending these strong messages to the Indian selectors, through the only way you should, by outstanding performances.

Anil Kumble’s unbelievable perseverance as a bowler has got him back in the reckoning for one-day cricket, a possibility that was almost ruled out two years back as focus had shifted to youth and energy in the field.

Though he is not picked in the team for Sri Lanka, you can quite clearly gauge that he is a strong candidate for the World Cup. By not selecting him in the team but keeping him well informed about their long-term plans with him, the selectors have shown the virtue of communication.

Motivated Kumble

Kumble today is not in the India team but he is not unhappy or hurt, for he has been motivated by the words passed on to him by the men in charge. This contact between players and selectors help to keep the harmony in the dressing room, so vital for winning performances.

And really Kumble has reached a stage in his career where he does not need one-day match practice, to excel if he has to, in the more important one-day matches later.

Finally, needless to say, it is going to be a tough outing for India as it takes on South Africa and Sri Lanka in testing weather conditions. Even after the 4-1 loss in the last one-day series in West Indies, there is no denying the fact that India is still a very good one-day team. And unlike in West Indies, it would be hoping that this time, it returns with some answers and not, more questions.

Sourav Ganguly’s county stint appears to be drawing to a disappointing close with the former Indian captain scoring just nine for Northamptonshire in a four-day County championship division two cricket match against Essex here today.

Ganguly struck two fours off 11 balls before he was caught by Ben Phillip off James Middlebrook on the opening day of the match at Northants’ home ground.

Opener Stephen Peters was unbeaten on 106 with captain D Sales at 31 as the hosts reached 209 for three in 59 overs in their first innings after electing to bat.

Zaheer Khan also met with similar luck as his former captain, going wicketless in his 11-over spell while conceding 33 runs for Worcestershire in a match against Derbyshire.

Derbyshire were 214 for 6 in 61 overs in their first innings after electing to bat on the opening day at Queen’s Park in Chesterfield.

Twenty to go… This is how the Indian team would be looking at their one-day cricket from now on. Twenty matches to go before the World Cup.

And when that time comes to play that first World Cup game, India should feel that they have looked at all the options available up till now and this is what we think is the best. The best 15 players that give us the best shot at the Cup.

I would like to think that the selectors are still looking and their net is still spread wide out there, to catch players, showing either sparks of talent or strong performances.

At the end of the 20 matches, the Indian team should culminate into a unit that has been formed after a genuinely exhausting exercise, that has lasted for more than a year, after tapping various alternatives.

The team that goes to West Indies for the World Cup then should be a team that has each player worth his salt. Then it does not matter his age, his past or his experience. It should be a player that excites the team management with his promise at the time.

Based on these thoughts, I believe there should not be too much scrutiny of the team selected for the triseries in Sri Lanka. Whatever could be the stories floating around Dinesh Mongia’s selection, I look at it as maturity on the part of the selectors.

They have showed that although youth is an important consideration in their planning they are not going to be obsessed with it. This selection is on pure performance.

Interestingly though on English county performances. Suddenly County Cricket performances have become more and more relevant for Indian cricket selections.

We even have Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan staking their claims for Indian selection from England.

So here we have Mongia’s performances in England been rewarded, while Zaheer Khan’s have not. But it seems not for long, as Zaheer keeps sending these strong messages to the selectors, through the only way you should, by outstanding performances.

Anil Kumble’s perseverance has got him back in the ODI reckoning. Though he is not picked in the team for Sri Lanka, you can quite clearly gauge that he is a strong candidate for the Indian team for the World Cup.

By not selecting him in the team but keeping him well informed about their long term plans with him, the selectors have shown the virtue of communication.

Finally, it is going to be a tough outing for India as they take on South Africa and Sri Lanka in testing weather conditions. Even after that 4-1 loss in the West Indies, there is no denying the fact that India is still a very good one day team. And unlike West Indies, they would be hoping that this time, they return with some answers and not, more questions.

Zaheer Khan picked a five-wicket haul for Worcestershire to wrap up Gloucestershire on the second day allowing them with just five-run first innings lead in the four-day Division Two county championship cricket match today.

The Indian paceman, who gave an early breakthrough to his county side by removing openers Phil Weston (44) and Craig Spearman (15) even before allowing them to settle in the middle, came back to sent packing last batsman Stephen Adshead, when on 20.

Chasing Worcestershire’s first innings score of 271 after they elected to bat on the home ground, the visitors were all out for 276 in 102.1 overs to have a lead of only five runs.

Zaheer, who has been left out of the Indian team for Tri-series in Sri Lanka, also scalped Ian Harvey (14) and Martyn Ball (0) which helped slowing down Gloucestershire’s run chase and returned 5 for 74 in 23.1 overs.

Zaheer’s previously big return was 11-wicket match haul, which included nine wickets in the first innings against Essex.

Zaheer Khan picked a five-wicket haul for Worcestershire to wrap up Gloucestershire on the second day allowing them with just five-run first innings lead in the four-day Division Two county championship cricket match today.

The Indian paceman, who gave an early breakthrough to his county side by removing openers Phil Weston (44) and Craig Spearman (15) even before allowing them to settle in the middle, came back to sent packing last batsman Stephen Adshead, when on 20.

Chasing Worcestershire’s first innings score of 271 after they elected to bat on the home ground, the visitors were all out for 276 in 102.1 overs to have a lead of only five runs.

Zaheer, who has been left out of the Indian team for Tri-series in Sri Lanka, also scalped Ian Harvey (14) and Martyn Ball (0) which helped slowing down Gloucestershire’s run chase and returned 5 for 74 in 23.1 overs.

Zaheer’s previously big return was 11-wicket match haul, which included nine wickets in the first innings against Essex.

Sachin Tendulkar today returned to India’s one-day squad after a long injury layoff while all-rounder Dinesh Mongia earned a surprise recall for the upcoming cricket tri-series in Sri Lanka. Tendulkar, out of action for close to four months following a shoulder surgery, expectedly found his way back into the 15-member team after being declared fit two days back.

Punjab all-rounder Mongia was rewarded for his fine show in English county with a berth in the squad announced by Cricket Board Secretary Niranjan Shah after a one and a half hour meeting of the five-member selection panel here.

Opener Robin Uthappa and middle-order batsman Venugopala Rao were left out of the squad that recently lost a one-day series to the West Indies 4-1.

The national selectors also chose to ignore veteran leg spinner Anil Kumble who has been out of the Indian one-day scheme for long but was widely speculated to stage a comeback after emerging as the highest wicket-taker in the Tests in the Caribbean with 23 scalps.

However, Chief Selector Kiran More said that the selectors had a “right plan” in mind for the experienced spinner to make a comeback to the shorter version of the game.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, currently testing himself out for Northamptonshire in English county, continued to find himself out of favour.

Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan, also seeking to make his way back into the team through the county route, was ignored despite a decent performance for Worcestershire.

More said Mongia was preferred ahead of Zaheer as the team needed a variety in the spin department.

“Mongia can be useful as a left-arm spin option since both Harbhajan and Powar are off-spinners,” More said.

“We are looking towards the future. Mongia is an ideal all rounder. He also bowls left-arm. He had good county stints as well as domestic season.”

The tri-series, involving South Africa as the third team, and beginning in Colombo on August 14, will be the first international outing for the 29-year-old Mongia in more than a year. He had played his last one-day international against Pakistan in New Delhi in April, 2005. Mongia is yet to do justice to his potential, having scored 1073 runs at an average of 27.51 in 51 matches so far.

On Tendulkar, More said, “We had called physio John Gloster for the meeting and he gave us the full report of his fitness. He was with Sachin for three days and he is absolutely satisfied with his condition.

“He has played five matches for Lashings. He has also bowled well and is certainly fit. Sachin himself is very keen to join the team in Sri Lanka.

More justified Kumble’s exclusion by stating that the selectors had some plans in mind for the bowler’s comeback.

“We have discussed it with him. He is OK with it and has taken it into his stride. We have some plans in our mind for him,” he said, probably indicating that the bowler could be called at the bigger stage – the Champions Trophy to be hosted by the country later this year.

Singnificantly, More said henceforth there would not be many changes in the team, other than the odd one or two but also added that the doors were not close on anyone.

“It is not that Uthappa and Rao are sidelined. The wickets in Sri Lanka are not very bouncy and not according to their game.

“We also considered Zaheer Khan but he did not fit into our plans. We have taken his performances in county and domestic matches into account. He can always come back to the team.” More said the “biggest failure” in the West Indies was batting.

“But there is no problem because it was the only defeat in last one year and there is nothing to get panicky about. At the moment, tri-series and Champions Trophy are the most important things for us. “Overall we are happy with the team’s performances and the statistics have shown that,” he added.

The Sri Lanka bound team will undergo a fitness camp in Bangalore from July 25 to August 1 followed by a cricket skills specific camp from August 6 to 10. The team will leave for the Sri Lankan capital on the night of August 10. Shah said Sanjay Jagdale will accompany the team as manager.

Team: Rahul Dravid (capt), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohd Kaif, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Mongia, M S Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, R P Singh, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh and Ramesh Powar.

A career-best eight for 45 by Matt Mason swept Worcestershire to a 58-run win against Gloucestershire and lifted them to second in Liverpool Victoria Division Two.

The margin of their fourth consecutive victory was surprisingly clear-cut after an epic recovery from 47 for six in their second innings. Ben Smith’s century eventually enabled them to set a testing target of 228, and Gloucestershire folded for 169 in difficult batting conditions.

The visitors may have been marginal favourites when starting the last day at 68 for one. But Zaheer Khan inflicted a crucial blow when his first ball, a swinging yorker, trapped Phil Weston.

Hamish Marshall attempted to build a new platform, but the result was signposted from the moment Mason produced a wicked lifter to have Kadeer Ali caught behind.

The big Australian fast-medium bowler, who became qualified for England this season, took four for 23 in a protracted first spell of 11.1 overs from the Diglis end and finished the job by taking four for six in 20 balls after lunch.

Shell-shocked Gloucestershire crashed to their seventh successive championship defeat in Worcester - they have not won at New Road for 20 years - and suffered what could be a terminal blow to their own promotion hopes after last week’s defeat by Essex.

Unreliable bounce when the ball was new had been a problem all match, and on the last day its effect was more pronounced and longer lasting. Once Mason had hit the spot, at least one delivery seemed to mis-behave in every over.

Marshall was lbw to a ball which cut back - and Ian Harvey was fifth man out, edging low to third slip, with Gloucestershire still 112 runs short of their objective.

Alex Gidman became Mason’s fourth victim of the morning with a leading edge to mid-on - and although Worcestershire’s support bowling looked unthreatening, they were able to go back to their match-winner in the afternoon.

Martyn Ball was helpless when a shooter ripped out his middle and off stumps, and Jon Lewis was bowled second ball. Mason then struck the final blows to have Steve Kirby flapping a catch to Lou Vincent, moving in from third slip, and Carl Greenidge taken by wicketkeeper Steve Davies.

Steve Adshead survived the collapse to make an unbeaten 22 as Mason signed off with a match return of 10 for 117.

Zaheer Khan picked a five-wicket haul for Worcestershire to wrap up Gloucestershire on the second day allowing them with just five-run first innings lead in the four-day Division Two county championship cricket match on Friday.

The Indian paceman, who who gave an early breakthrough to his county side by removing openers Phil Weston (44) and Craig Spearman (15) even before allowing them to settle in the middle, came back to sent packing last batsman Stephen Adshead, when on 20.

Chasing Worcestershire’s first innings score of 271 after they elected to bat on the home ground, the visitors were all out for 276 in 102.1 overs to have a lead of only five runs.

Zaheer, who has been left out of the Indian team for tri-series in Sri Lanka, also scalped Ian Harvey (14) and Martyn Ball (0) which helped slowing down Gloucestershire’s run chase and returned 5 for 74 in 23.1 overs.

Zaheer’s previously big return was 11-wicket match haul, which included nine wickets in the first innings against Essex.