What a news ! finally Sehwag is back in the Indian team after a five month hiatus .

Virender sehwag has always an enigma and he will remain one .Initially tipped to make it big in ODIs with his ability to play aggresive and fearless shots, he did the opposite. Amidst cricket pundits speculating his premature death in Tests , He made them eat humble pie by scoring hundreds in bowling friendly conditions ,opening the innings .Who can forget the scintillating hundred in Trent bridge and breathtaking 195 in MCG! and Sehwag truly arrived after the superb debut hundred in Bloemfontein in the company of little champion.The acme came with a charactertic six off Saqlain over mid on to register his acme in record books to become the first Indian to score triple hundred .

The runs came thick and fast in longer version of the game but clearly he had to struggle in the one day variety
Reasons were he was found wanting against the deliveries targetted in and rib cage area and vulnerable against out side off stump .
But he poor shot selection and playing a rash shot was awhat was acause of concern

The selection of shots is what i think will make Sehwag more effective .he always had the ability to destroy the bowling

Now that he has got a chance at the expense of one of the most consistent batsman , he should not fritter away this opoortunity .But questions will linger about his position in the batting line up

Ganguly and Tendulkar have done extermely good in the last few matches and it would not make sense to accomodate sehwag here
My ideal thing would be asking Sehwag to bat at no 3 . This is clearly
themost unutilaised place and all the top teams have a solid no 3 .Ponting . Kallis Bell have made this postion their own . and thats where your best batsman should be coming in .

While it was just a matter of time , before the selectors decided to go in for najafgarh maestro
Rahul dravid will get some time to think about his batting .The man who was "rested" is Rahul Dravid who averaged a disapponiting 8.88 in the last ten games , is surely in the most lean phase of his career .Rahul just gives me the feeling that his is unclear baout his postion in the side and hence is not able to score amidst constant shuffling with the batting order.

Having said that , Sehwag will have to score runs to repay the faith that selectors have shown in him lest it might well be his last chance

After all somebody has rightly" it one thing to have talent and its another to use it "

India managed to pull off a sensational victory in the Chandigarh ODI!.What a response by the team ,when they had their backs to the wall. I mentioned in my last blog about the Tendulkar and Ganguly factor .Well,it is corroborated yet again .
The openers laid a solid foundation for the middle order to capitalize.Tendulkar , I think really brought all his experience into play ,and played a sheet anchor role ,after having the rub of the green on his side . He still has a lot to offer to Indian cricket . Ganguly , looked relatively better and played some gorgeous shots . Its been an incredible nine months for Ganguly ,since his comeback against South Africa. Both stalwarts have one thousand runs in the calender year in 25 and 26 games respectively.Dhoni made some really good moves in this game .Promoting Yuvraj and himself higher up the order was a tactical , that paid off in the end . The last over bowled by Bracken was quite critical to the outcome of the match ,where he was clobbered for 20 .

The wickets of Symonds and Hayden were the turning points . Full credit to the men in blue , for they kept their nerves even when everything looked over for them .Moreover, the 48th over by Kartik ensured , the Aussies have an impossible 17 runs to get , from tail enders. From the Aussie's point of view , they should be dejected to lose the game from a position of strength ,25 were needed off 19 ,with a set Symonds at the crease. The Aussie game plan is very much revolving around pyrotechnics of Symonds and controlled aggression from Hayden .Gilchrist has not quite fired at the top and has thrown ,when he looked set for a big one .Aussies were hurt with the sundries conceded, they would have this at the back of the mind the next game .

In addition to this ,Brad Hodge should make way for the inform Haddins . Hodge is clearly struggling

The IPCL ground in Vadodara is a typical high scoring venue .The last time India played here ,the little champion got an unbeaten 100, and India scoring 340 , So,the Mumbai maestro has fond memories of this ground.Interestingly, the team batting second has won four times out of seven.

India should again believe in batting first,which has won them numerous matches ,if they win the toss.


A run feast awaits though!

The balance seems to have been restored with Australia winning the Hyderabad ODI, after the shocking defeat in T 20 semifinals against India.They now lead in the seven match series 2-0 .This time they got off to solid start from the two left handers and the more I see Hayden ,the more he amazes me . Its hard to ball at him ,being equally strong on either foot. Also, he can break the shackles anytime and has a wide array of shots.

I am surprised that Ganguly didn't find a place in the playing eleven .The politically correct excuse was he "did not fit into the scheme of things" .Well, for starters,he has averaged 52.16 in 25 matches since his return and clearly hitting the ball well .Plus it is a proven fact that he is a big match player .To me that was a decision , which definately affected India's chances .The man is placed at the third spot top ten " man of match " awards list with an aggregate 33 MOM . and it is this ability which clearly advocates his case .Dhoni would know the reasons for the same and this is certainly going to ruffle some feathers .Ganguly at the top of the order along with his partner Sachin can give that solid platform to chase big totals , not to mention the pressure it creates on the opposition .

While it is a fine idea to blood youngsters in the team amidst T20 euphoria ,we should not go overboard and undo the right completely.

I mentioned that Harbhajan Singh would be closely scrutinized as well ,in the last two seasons or so his bowling average has increased from 28runs a piece to 32 ,and if India has to do well , he should be among the wickets. India will have to forget the defeats and go with a fresh mind& the belief that they can win on Monday .The seniors will have to seize the initiative for such an important game.

As far as the selection for the next two ODIs ,Sehwag would consider unlucky to be missed out .He did score runs in South Africa and more importantly the way he scored those runs ,bringing back memories of Old Sehwag .He should be given an opportunity ,now that he is in good nick .The inclusion of Murali Kartik is good move by the selectors ,as the Aussies are not great players of quality spin and then there are more than half a dozen right handers in the Aussie team.He is also not afraid to toss the ball up and would be beaming with confidence, after a successful stint with Middlesex.


The man of moment Yuvraj Singh ,what an innings he played! .Yuvraj with his high backlift , forceful shots , cracking pulls and silken flicks is a joy to watch , for he makes batting look so easy . As Rameez Raja mentioned on Cricinfotalk , he should be batting higher up the order , as he would get more overs .

Rahul Dravid has had an unusually quiet series , so does Tendulkar by his own standards. Gautam Gambhir always had problems with the incoming ball and Uttappa should play in "V" and avoid working the ball on the on side , at the start of inning. Mind you, the aussies will try to exploit the weak areas ,so expect no favours from them .On the other hand , Clarke Symonds are just batting too well at the moment .


I just get the feeling the Indians will bounce back and from some where , we are going to see a match winning hundred or a four for , in the next match.But to start off with , Ganguly should be picked.

Todays match was completely one way traffic with Aussies dominating the game for most part of the day .Barring that phase, when they were 8/2 ,they showed tremendous resilience and application on a soggy wicket to reach the score in excess of 300. Hayden just kept the scoreboard ticking with timely boundaries and it amazing to see his shot selection .One of the secrets of his tremendous success at international level is the ability to leave good balls outside the off stump and then capitalize on the starts that he gets,not to mention the way he changes gears.

Brad Haddin carried from where he left and I think he handled the spinners well.From the Indian point of view ,again it would be imperative for Harbhajan to ponder ,if he is doing thing the right? He role is to take wickets and at the moment ,he is bowling flat and the line has also shifted to middle and leg ,rather than outside off and middle .
The other thing is he is not giving the bowl flight , to get it above the eyeline Plus, he has to bowl much slower to negate any pace being used by the batsman .

A captain would prefer a bowling analysis read 3 for 55 or 60 than 0/40
The momentum is clearly with the aussies.

Tendulkar was looking to invent shot and paid the price for that .I also got the feeling that he was not at ease on to the on a pitch where the ball was not coming on .Tendulkar should stop worrying about playing long innings and just should play his natural game.

To trail by 0/1 ,Indian top order must fire and the seniors will definitely have to take more ownership .Its also interesting to note that barring Tendulkar who averages 45 against the aussies ,Ganguly and Dravid average 22 and 29 respectively much below their career average of 41 and 40 respectively.All the big three would know that .

The pitch at Hyderabad has a reputation to be belter ,so it would be a good toss to win.
It would be worth watching what tactics Dhoni comes up with!