India rankled

vIndianz.com ( 10 Feb, 2010) — Kolkata: Board of Control for Cricket in India, has reportedly, asked the curator of Eden Garden picth in Kolkata where India and visiting South Africa will play a cruial second and final Test from February 14 to 18.

eden garden India lost the first Test played in Nagpur which concluded on tuesdy by an innings.

After the defeat at the hands of the South Africans, India’s top position as the world No. 1 is now threatened. If the second Test is a draw, the visitors will be the numero uno.

It is in this background that the governing body of the game in the country BCCI had send an SoS to the curator to make a turning picth and hoping that the South Africans who are poor players of spinners will be beaten and India can retain its No.1 position.

After receiving a call from a top BCCI official in Mumbai, Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) curator Prabir Mukherjee reportedly told the official “to send an e-mail so that it will be official”.

Mukherjee confessed that he does not know how to change the “nature of the strip overnight”. “The nature of the Eden Gardens wicket over the past few years has changed a lot. The last Test match between India and Pakistan in November-December 2007 had ended in a draw. There is an underlying fear that trying to change the nature of the wicket at this time may turn it into an “under prepared” one,” Mukherjee added.

We miss Dravid, Laxman: Dhoni

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Tuesday said his side missed the experience of Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman to weather the storm created by South African pacer Dale Steyn in the first Test in Nagpur.

Steyn took 10 wickets in the match with a career-best 7/51 in India’s first innings to help South Africa crush the hosts by an innings and six runs and Dhoni said they were completely blown away by the visiting fast bowler.

“We were blown away by Dale Steyn by his swing, both conventional and reverse. We missed Rahul and Laxman to some extent but cannot do anything about injuries. Rohit Sharma (named as cover for Laxman) got injured 15 minutes before the toss,” Dhoni said at the post-match press conference.

“(Murali) Vijay did a decent job at no 3 and S Badrinath and (Wriddhiman) Saha got a chance to get exposed to international cricket,” he added.

Dhoni conceded his side were completely outplayed by the visitors.

“We were outplayed by South Africa in all departments. The way Steyn bowled made the difference in the match. We were doing decently till tea when they got the ball changed (after tea yesterday) and he got the ball to reverse. I do not take away any credit from Steyn. He had bowled 12-15 overs before that (change) and still bowled his heart out,” Dhoni said.

On Laxman’s availability for the second Test starting in Kolkata on Sunday, Dhoni said, “He is practising at nets and a clearer picture would emerge on Thursday.”

With India missing Dravid and Laxman, a lot was expected from opener Virender Sehwag. While Sehwag scored an important 109 in the first innings, the delhi dasher threw away his wicket scoring 16 in the second.

However, Dhoni backed both Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh, who has looked quite innocuous in his recent outings and said a bowler of his experience will certainly come into his own soon.

Laxman, Sreesanth back

Wriddhiman Saha got the axe while the trio of S Sreesanth, Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina were named in the 15-member Indian squad for the second Test against South Africa starting on Sunday in Kolkata.

Veteran batsman Laxman is certain to play, which is apparent from the fact that the selectors have withdrawn his cover Rohit Sharma from the squad.

Pace duo of Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun, who were part of the 15-member squad for the first Test but could not make it to the playing XI, were also axed, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement in New Delhi.

Saha’s selection for the first Test raised quite a few eyebrows and the Bengal stumper-batsman hardly helped his cause by scoring a three-ball duck in his Test debut here.

In the second innings, Saha, however, showed grit and gumption and defied the formidable South African pacers to score a 101-ball 36 but the selectors were clearly unimpressed.

Instead, they called up Karthik, who has been in sizzling form in domestic cricket, hitting back-to-back centuries in the Duleep Trophy final.

Sreesanth also made an expected comeback to the side and would be pushing for a place in the playing XI, especially with Ishant Sharma not looking at his best in the first Test.

With Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh out with injuries, the selectors apparently wanted to bolster the batting line-up with a specialist, more so after Dale Steyn and his bowling colleagues exposed the middle order frailties in the first Test here.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina.

Further Reading

Stay updated! Follow us on twitter and subscribe to our feed via Feedburner.

No Comments