Comments Off on Rahul Dravid reckons the main reason behind the success of the Rajasthan Royals

By index, May 10, 2015 5:46 am

Rahul Dravid reckons the main reason behind the success of the Rajasthan Royals over the last two seasons is the fact that the team has no egos.

According to Dravid, in the changing room of the Royals, every player is treated the same way, whether he is an international superstar or a young Indian player coming through the ranks.

The Royals squad actually don’t have that many big names at all. You leave out one or two guys, the likes of Shane Watson and Smith and there is no stardom.

So, it’s been slightly easy for Dravid and co. to create that sort of light atmosphere in the camp.

Sometimes, what happens is that if there are too many stars in the squad, they bring their egos with them. They want to be given special treatment and that creates a tough situation for the team management.

In such situations, the team don’t manage to gel either and that affects the performances.

Cricket is a team game. It does not matter if a certain individual is going well or not. If the team is winning, all is good and for a team to win consistently, it’s important that the atmosphere in the camp is good.

And, that’s why; we have seen Royals being so consistent in the recent times. They have got such a good spirit among themselves.

Dravid himself has been responsible for making the Royals’ changing room such a happy place to be in. Continue reading 'Rahul Dravid reckons the main reason behind the success of the Rajasthan Royals'»

Comments Off on Rajasthan Royals performing best even after Low Budgeting

By index, April 23, 2015 5:07 pm

The Rajasthan Royals are one of those Indian Premier League franchises that do not have too many star names.

They are a low budget team basically, but, the reason why they are so important to the league and even to the Indian Cricket is that they always unleash a few exciting talents.

Every season, you would see somebody new in that Royals jersey that would just catch your eyes.

This season, it’s the young Deepak Hooda.

The 19-year old right handed batsman, who had not played at all in the Indian Premier League before the ongoing season, has shown extraordinary hitting abilities with the bat.

The tall, well built player hits the ball so hard that it made the Royals captain Shane Watson call him a ‘special player’ the other day.

Normally, the young players coming through the ranks in India rely mostly on timing.

But, Hooda is different. He is a bit of a muscleman and he hits huge sixes. His innings against Delhi Daredevils, the stage at which he came in and the way he took the bowlers apart, it was wonderful to watch.

And, he is very young. With a couple of proper domestic seasons and a bit of limited-over international cricket in between, he would get better. Continue reading 'Rajasthan Royals performing best even after Low Budgeting'»

Comments Off on Indian Board gets to right Bowling Combination for World Cup

By index, February 19, 2015 3:36 am

The Indian team management has finally hit the right combination as far as the bowling is concerned. They seem to be pretty sure now who their five first choice bowlers are.

In the limited over games on the Australian tour so far, two slow swing bowlers i.e. Stuart Binny and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had been taking the new ball for India and had been giving away a lot of boundaries early on.

Finally, in the game against Pakistan which was India’s first game in the ongoing Cricket World Cup, MS Dhoni relied on two of his quickest bowlers i.e. Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav as far as bowling upfront is concerned and both of them did the job in grand style for India.

They shared 6 wickets between themselves and did not let Pakistan go smoothly in their chase of 301. Continue reading 'Indian Board gets to right Bowling Combination for World Cup'»

Comments Off on Anil Kumble isnt happy with inclusion of more than 1 Spinner in Team

By index, January 22, 2015 3:48 am

India’s most successful bowler in test match cricket in terms of the no. of wickets, Anil Kumble, says that he just can’t understand why the Indian captains, in the recent times, have been so reluctant to include more than one spinner in the playing XI in overseas test matches.

In the last decade, India, at times, used to go with two spinners whenever they would see a slightly brownish pitch overseas. But, off late, it hasn’t happened at all.

According to Kumble, in the first match of the recently finished test series against Australia, the pitch was tailor made for the bowlers who turn the ball, still, India opted to pick just one spinner and that too, a debutant. Two spinners there could have given India a huge advantage. Continue reading 'Anil Kumble isnt happy with inclusion of more than 1 Spinner in Team'»

Comments Off on Indian Cricketers Boost up after Warmup Watch

By index, December 3, 2014 11:27 am

The Indian batsmen scored some runs in their first practice match on the Australia tour against the Cricket Australia XI, but, that shouldn’t be seen as a big positive. Firstly because the attack that they were facing was composed of young, inexperienced blokes who are just coming out of junior cricket and secondly, because the pitch was flat and not had as much bounce as the normal Australian pitches have. There is no way that the Indians are going to counter the same conditions in Brisbane next week.

Yes, a bit of time in the middle for the visiting players is always valuable, but, the captain and the team management should not give too much importance to the runs scored by the players in this game.

In Brisbane where the first test match is to be played, the Indians will have to cope with the likes of Harris and Johnson and that will be a different ball game.

There are two or three places up for grabs in the Indian batting line up presently. The first one is right at the top of the order. Shikhar Dhawan has kept his place in the side despite his failures in England, but, should he be given a go at Gabba knowing the fact that he is vulnerable to short balls? Wouldn’t it be a better option to present the young KL Rahul his first test cap?

Yes, some would say that Rahul is untested at this level, but, he is someone who, in the domestic cricket in India, has shown that he can play on the back foot and that’s what a captain needs from his openers down under.

It remains to be seen though which way Virat kohli, the stand in captain of India for the first match, is thinking.