Dear Mahender Singh Dhoni,
Congratulations on the second victory registered by your doughty warriors against the fighting Irish during the course of the World Cup 2011 at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy stadium, while any victory is worth its weight in gold and always serves as a booster dose for the team it is the post mortems and critical analysis in its wake that causes many a team untold grief and consternation.
The performance of both you as well as your fellow team members has been inconsistent to say the very least, there have been sporadic moments of brilliance that have taken one's breath away and left one gasping at the audacity of the men on the field, but these have been few and in far between. The team has vacillated from the sublime to the ridiculous for at least 38 out of the the 50 overs allotted to it, Harbhajan has been obsessed with containing the batsmen rather than trying to bowl them out and the same is duly reflected in the returns in terms of wickets.
Zaheer was brilliant in the power play overs bowled by him against the Englishmen and in the first over that he bowled to the Irish openers where he cleaned up one of them with a brilliant inswinger, but to be brutally honest, a bowler of Zaheer's pace requires the assistance of either the elements,pitch or atmospheric conditions as the case may be to be at his most potent and is rendered toothless in the absence of any assistance,Munaf Patel again is a bowler who bowls at 132-135 kmph at his best and is more of a restrictive rather than wicket taking bowler who looks to bowl within the stumps and curtail the shot making of the batsmen rather than trying to dismiss them with subtle variations of pace,swing and trajectory.
The fourth bowler in the side Piyush Chawla has been an absolute disaster to say the very least and was taken to the cleaners by both the English as well as Irish batsmen, strangley here is a leg spinner who struggles to turn the ball square and is more adept at bowling googlies rather than the flipper top spinner and leg spinner that every leg spinner worth his salt relies on, the exclusion of by far the better leggie Amit Mishra continues to baffle every right thinking cricket analyst and the reluctance displayed by the team management as regards Ravichandran Ashwin's inclusion in the playing eleven has led to considerable heartburn and exasperation to say the very least.
It is high time you took a leaf out of Graeme Smith's book and tried out the option of opening the bowling with a spinner a la Robin Peterson, either Yuvraj Singh or Yusuf Pathan's services can be requisitioned for this endeavour considering Bhajji's reluctance to either bowl with the new ball or the first fifteen power play overs,Yuvraj would be the better choice simply because of the fact that his confidence must be sky high at the present moment after his sterling efforts with both bat and ball against the fighting Irish.
Fielding continues to be the team's achilles heel as predicted by all and sundry before the first ball of the tournament was delivered, the antics and exploits of the Zaheer Khan's,Munaf Patel's,Harbhajan Singh's and Piyush Chawla's on the field have been the unwitting cause of many a moment of mirth and unintentional comedy and the primary cause behind the team's magnanimity with regard to gifting the opposing team an additional ten-twelve runs with their sheer laziness and ineptitude, this world cup is going to go right to the wire and the best fielding side might well end up annexing the game considering the bowler unfriendly conditions and this is where India's profligacy might end up costing it a game or two when push comes to shove during the knockout stages of the tournament.
Your nocturnal tendency to persist with seven batsmen when even six seem one too many has indeed left yours truly scratching his hair while trying to fathom the cricketing logic or reasons for the same,the number seven slot may well be occupied by Ravichandran Ashwin who is a more than capable batsman in his own right and with the doughty sardar following him at the number eight position, the team is certainly bound to be better than all right in the absence of a bowling all rounder at the crucial number seven position, one feels that you would be best served by instilling the much required confidence in his own abilities within Irfan Pathan and stilling the demons who have begun plaguing his mind as he was the only kid on the block who has the potential of proving an adequate replacement for the great Kapil Dev.
Six batsmen and five bowlers' is the formula that will win you the cup and not the seven batsmen and four bowlers you continue to persist with as the duo or triumvirate of bits and pieces players who combine to make up the fifth bowler will be taken to the cleaners more often than not by the marauding batsmen within the opposition, anyway, here's wishing you and your men the very best of luck for the remainder of the tournament,may you succeed in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of millions of your countrymen by bringing the cup that unites home after a long and arduous twenty eight year long wait.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
Congratulations on the second victory registered by your doughty warriors against the fighting Irish during the course of the World Cup 2011 at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy stadium, while any victory is worth its weight in gold and always serves as a booster dose for the team it is the post mortems and critical analysis in its wake that causes many a team untold grief and consternation.
The performance of both you as well as your fellow team members has been inconsistent to say the very least, there have been sporadic moments of brilliance that have taken one's breath away and left one gasping at the audacity of the men on the field, but these have been few and in far between. The team has vacillated from the sublime to the ridiculous for at least 38 out of the the 50 overs allotted to it, Harbhajan has been obsessed with containing the batsmen rather than trying to bowl them out and the same is duly reflected in the returns in terms of wickets.
Zaheer was brilliant in the power play overs bowled by him against the Englishmen and in the first over that he bowled to the Irish openers where he cleaned up one of them with a brilliant inswinger, but to be brutally honest, a bowler of Zaheer's pace requires the assistance of either the elements,pitch or atmospheric conditions as the case may be to be at his most potent and is rendered toothless in the absence of any assistance,Munaf Patel again is a bowler who bowls at 132-135 kmph at his best and is more of a restrictive rather than wicket taking bowler who looks to bowl within the stumps and curtail the shot making of the batsmen rather than trying to dismiss them with subtle variations of pace,swing and trajectory.
The fourth bowler in the side Piyush Chawla has been an absolute disaster to say the very least and was taken to the cleaners by both the English as well as Irish batsmen, strangley here is a leg spinner who struggles to turn the ball square and is more adept at bowling googlies rather than the flipper top spinner and leg spinner that every leg spinner worth his salt relies on, the exclusion of by far the better leggie Amit Mishra continues to baffle every right thinking cricket analyst and the reluctance displayed by the team management as regards Ravichandran Ashwin's inclusion in the playing eleven has led to considerable heartburn and exasperation to say the very least.
It is high time you took a leaf out of Graeme Smith's book and tried out the option of opening the bowling with a spinner a la Robin Peterson, either Yuvraj Singh or Yusuf Pathan's services can be requisitioned for this endeavour considering Bhajji's reluctance to either bowl with the new ball or the first fifteen power play overs,Yuvraj would be the better choice simply because of the fact that his confidence must be sky high at the present moment after his sterling efforts with both bat and ball against the fighting Irish.
Fielding continues to be the team's achilles heel as predicted by all and sundry before the first ball of the tournament was delivered, the antics and exploits of the Zaheer Khan's,Munaf Patel's,Harbhajan Singh's and Piyush Chawla's on the field have been the unwitting cause of many a moment of mirth and unintentional comedy and the primary cause behind the team's magnanimity with regard to gifting the opposing team an additional ten-twelve runs with their sheer laziness and ineptitude, this world cup is going to go right to the wire and the best fielding side might well end up annexing the game considering the bowler unfriendly conditions and this is where India's profligacy might end up costing it a game or two when push comes to shove during the knockout stages of the tournament.
Your nocturnal tendency to persist with seven batsmen when even six seem one too many has indeed left yours truly scratching his hair while trying to fathom the cricketing logic or reasons for the same,the number seven slot may well be occupied by Ravichandran Ashwin who is a more than capable batsman in his own right and with the doughty sardar following him at the number eight position, the team is certainly bound to be better than all right in the absence of a bowling all rounder at the crucial number seven position, one feels that you would be best served by instilling the much required confidence in his own abilities within Irfan Pathan and stilling the demons who have begun plaguing his mind as he was the only kid on the block who has the potential of proving an adequate replacement for the great Kapil Dev.
Six batsmen and five bowlers' is the formula that will win you the cup and not the seven batsmen and four bowlers you continue to persist with as the duo or triumvirate of bits and pieces players who combine to make up the fifth bowler will be taken to the cleaners more often than not by the marauding batsmen within the opposition, anyway, here's wishing you and your men the very best of luck for the remainder of the tournament,may you succeed in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of millions of your countrymen by bringing the cup that unites home after a long and arduous twenty eight year long wait.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
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