Comments Off on Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag decided to end their international careers this month

By index, January 14, 2016 12:36 pm

The two legends of Indian Cricket i.e. Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag decided to end their international careers this month.

Both were World Cup winners for India, but, had not been in the scheme of things for the last couple of seasons.

While, in Zaheer’s case, fitness was the main issue, Sehwag had been out because of his poor form.

The last time that Zaheer appeared in India jersey was at the start of the previous year when the team was on the tour of New Zealand.

Sehwag’s last game was against Australia in March 2013. The 37-year old Delhi dasher will now take part in the Masters League that is going to be organized pretty soon in United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.

Sehwag had actually been in pretty good form in the domestic Cricket this season and he could have brought himself in contention for a comeback in the national team with a couple of more big knocks for Haryana, but, he surprised everyone with this announcement.

Many thought he still had to offer a little bit to India.

As far as Zaheer is concerned, his retirement was on the expected lines. He had struggled to be fit for a large part of the last season and even the season before that. His speed had come down quite considerably.

Even in that series against New Zealand in which he had played in January 2014, he was bowling at 65-70 miles per hour. Continue reading 'Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag decided to end their international careers this month'»

Comments Off on New ball bowling has become a serious headache for India of late

By index, November 30, 2015 2:10 pm

The new ball bowling has become a serious headache for India of late.

In the three One Day Internationals against South Africa so far, the fast bowlers have proved to be unable to provide a single breakthrough to the team in the first power play and MS Dhoni, the Indian captain, has had to turn to the spinners who, in comparison, have bowled much better.

The Indian quicks have actually not hit the length that’s needed to get the new white Kookaburra swing in the air. They have been on the shorter side instead making it easy for the batsman to chip away.

Somebody like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, whose strength has always been the swing bowling, has also relied mostly on banging the ball in.

India’s problem is that they don’t have too many options at the moment.

Mohammad Shami, their premier bowler in the World Cup, has been nursing Knee injury for a few months and he is not a possibility to return to action at any point of time in the South Africa series.

And, there is no youngster in the domestic circuit either who is going great guns with his fast bowling. Continue reading 'New ball bowling has become a serious headache for India of late'»

Comments Off on Rahul Dravid has welcomed the fact that the Bangladesh Cricket Board has sent a pretty strong

By index, October 5, 2015 9:58 am

Rahul Dravid has welcomed the fact that the Bangladesh Cricket Board has sent a pretty strong ‘A’ team to the tour of India.

Bangladesh ‘A’ will be playing three One Day games and a 4-day game against India ‘A’, while, a 4-day game against India’s domestic champions Karnataka as well.

Almost all the players in their squad have the international experience and thus, Dravid reckons this is a good opportunity for the fringe players of India to make their claims for selection in the national squad.

According to Dravid, the selectors will be paying attention to this series and good performances will not go unnoticed.

Speaking to the press yesterday, the former India no. 3, who is now the head coach of the ‘A’ team, said, “If you look at their squad, you would not find too many uncapped players in there. In fact, there is only one. So, they are pretty strong and balanced for these conditions and I believe all the games are going to be closely fought.”

“As far as our guys are concerned, they can’t have a better opportunity than this to press their claims. If they perform well against the internationals, they will definitely be able to catch the eyes of the selectors.” Continue reading 'Rahul Dravid has welcomed the fact that the Bangladesh Cricket Board has sent a pretty strong'»

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'»