No One is Perfect

I have been away for cricket for last two three years but have been following the scores and highlights in all the news channels you can get any time unlike before when we had to wait for some particular time on any particular channel. I am prompted to write this post due to the recent Indian one day team selections for the Commonwealth Bank triangular series involving Srilanka and Australia. The most furore arose due to exclusion of Saurav Ganguly. I think its fare , Dada is no more a match winner as a complete package. With Complete package I mean someone who gives a distinct edge when he plays well. Dada used to be a few years back. When he used to score big centuries with strike rate more than hundred. He usually started slow at 70 strike rate then in the later part of his innings used to slog and get beyond hundred with taking his strike rate more than 100. Thats an edge created by a player if in any match a player scores a century with strike rate more than hundred then the team got a chance to win the match. But now a days Dada scores a 50 with 70 strike rate and then mis fields 10 for the opponent team. Thats not an edge created.
So Dada should just not keep playing for the sake of playing. He should think about whether he is still the match winner he was, if yes then he should win at least one match on his own. Its not good to score half century and then cement your place in the team and argue with everyone that I scored yet I got dropped.Unless everyone in the team is a match winner on his day that team can never achieve the consistency. In Todays cricket when australia has set such high standards we can't do just enough . We have to do more than them . Dada Should look at hayden how much he contributes. He is the most consistent player. Now a days we can predict Dada will fail in at least two matches after scoring a half century.
I have great respect for Dada, I can't forget his hammering of srilankans in Taunton in world cup 1999. Or the win in dhaka in 1998 when he combined with Robin Singh and chased down 314 runs scored by pakistan. We want that Dada who had hunger now Dada seems content in doing just enough. Thats not good enough. We need to search for match winners like yesteryears dada.

Looking at the one day team I fear there is lack of experience in batting. Except Sachin Tendulkar and Sehwag I doubt everyone else. Gambhir, Karthick,Yuvraj,Dhoni,Raina,Rohit Sharma,Robin Uthappa they are all good names but as I explained earlier they are not match winners on there own yet. I dare include Yuvraj in that list but he hasn't looked good at all in the first two tests he played and yes he seems to be distracted with Deepika Padukone flirting with him and Dhoni both. Dhoni is a strong man he can handle but i doubt about Yuvraj. I would have loved Dravid and Laxman in there as Dravid may provide solidity as in australia batting collapses very easily and Laxman for his record in australia against australia. But then Laxman falls in Dada's category and Dravid has not looked convincing enough to be solid enough in this tour. One Day series india will do well to reach in the best of three finals.

Lately I have watched Test cricket and didn't get bored , surprise. But this is due to some good bowling by Indians. I loved watching the spell of Ishant Sharma bowling to Ponting in Perth. He was marvelous. It was like watching our batsmen struggling against Macgrath. I am not comparing him to Macgrath but the fear we used to feel when our batsmen played Macgrath .
I would compare Ishant with Pakistan's Mohammad Asif. I hope Ishant improves and takes more than one wicket when he is bowling so well. Today also in fourth test he got hayden, But was not consistent in his line to get more wickets.