Bowlers,Harbhanjan Singh and Praveen Kumar should open the Batting !
Australia just won the Vadodra ODI by just 4 runs and lead 1-0 in the seven match series….They piled up 292 and the Indians replied with 288/8…It would have been an improbable win had the Indians pulled it off and scored the 9 runs required of the final over
All seemed lost at 201/7 ….but none had reckoned with the spunk shown by Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar…they nearly got us to victory with a record eight wicket stand…we required 42 to win in the last three overs…we got 33 of them in two,but faltered in the last Siddle over
Methinks Harbhajan and Praveen should open the Indian Batting…most of the others in the team showed no spunk…their body language and mindset were simply not energised to go out there and win on the field…Seems it was just another 9 to 5 working day for them !
Seems there continues,despites denials to the contrary,huge ego trips between our cricket stars…it’s affecting team spirit and team play on the field
Sehwag opened with a flourish,promised a lot,but left a lot to be desired….Gambhir played sensibly…… Ravindra Jadeja seems paralysed on the International scene…Tendulkar was playing and missing a few outside the off stump and fell to a trap,stretching out for one and playing it on the up to short cover/silly midoff where Pointing snapped him up….Raina after a swashbuckling six,also fell into a Johnson trap…he lobbed a caught and bowled to a slower deceptive ball….Virat Kohli played well….Dhoni,attempting to clear the field, holed out to mid on in the Batting Power Play…he seems to have lost the Power Hitting ability with which he had arrived on the International scene
Just Imagine…we lost Four Wickets and scored just 22 runs in the Five Over Batting Powerplay !
….all of this and our poor fielding and running between wickets cost us the match
Unacceptable that our Cricketers play with inconsistent passion in a country where Cricket ignites Great Passion and Powers and Unites the Nation….seems to me too much Money in the game is affecting playing attitudes…..obscene Ad spends on Stars, BCCI administrators and IPL only aggravating this scenario…Putting Self before Country…Many Players are simply taking their place for granted and nepotism and favouritism is not uncommon in Selections at State and even National level…..and this feeling is not a kneejerk one just because we lost the ODI today !