“T20 World Cup and India”

Sunny Rajan

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Perhaps the largest TRP rated news in India is the DLF IPL 2010, but soon another cricket extravaganza will took the whole world in its storm. If you are fan of cricket then you should know that ICC World Twenty20 will kick off from April 30 and it will continue till May 16, 2010. It is going to be the third edition of Twernty20 World Cup. India has been put in Group C along with Afghanistan and South Africa. They will open their campaign against weak foe Afghanistan on May 1, 2010. I am giving the squad here:
Indian Squad for Twenty20 World Cup 2010:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma and Piyush Chawla.
Inaugural champion team India is called one of the strongest teams in this tournament. According to the selectors, they have announced the best team including strong batting and bowling line up. They also showed their confidence about India’s performance in this competition. But I am not sure about it. You should know that India was one of the early eliminated teams in the second edition of Twenty20 World Cup. Who knows that Indian cricket team will not disappoint their fans this year? As a fan of Indian cricket team, I will request all the supporters and board members not to dream too much.
Players have been selected based on the performance of domestic cricket league. We also can see that selectors give more importance in the performance of third edition of Indian Premier League when it comes to select a player for the shortest version of cricket game. If you look at the Indian squad then you can see that some players have been picked up on the performance of DLF IPL 2010.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead Indian cricket team while Virender Sehwag will be his deputy.
Karnataka fast bowler Ranganath Vinay Kumar is going to make his debut in the third edition of Twenty20 World Cup in West Indies. He picked up 46 wickets in the Ranji trophy. Not only that but also he is the second highest wicket taker so far in the IPL 2010.
India’s most experienced fast bowler Ishant Sharma has failed to make his place in squad. Another eliminated player is Virat Kohli. Selectors are not satisfied with their performance. Rudra Pratap Singh is also out. While elder brother Yusuf Pathan will be seen playing cricket in West Indies, Irfan Pathan brother will have to enjoy the game in front of a TV set or in the stadium as a spectator.
Despite being injured Ashish Nehra has been included in the squad though he has not played this edition of IPL because of his rib cage injury. It is thought that Chief selector Kris Srikkanth and his colleagues kept faith on them. No doubt, they are the most important players in Indian cricket team. Even they have great contribution to their national cricket team’s glorious performance. It is expected that he will recover soon before the start of Twenty20 World Cup. I hope that selectors should select alternative players who can successfully replace injured players when team needs.
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla has been recalled in the Indian squad ahead of another young spinner Pragyan Ojha. For the first time he has been selected in the T20 squad. Pragyan Ojha played in the second edition of Twenty20 World Cup in England last year. Despite being in a great form Karnataka batsman Manish Pandey failed to impress the selectors.
Insights: though Indian Batting line is rock solid but god helps their bowling. Except from Zaheer and Harbhajan they lack experience, we know Indians can’t bowl at the depth. If we look at the IPL then exclusion of Ojha and Utthapa is a puzzle for me, though Sachin has opted to stay away from the International T20. Praveen Kumar is a good bowler but he can’t bowl Yorkers, Nehra is injured, and Jadeja is short of Practice. I call myself a cricket freak but I still believe its very uncanny to bet on our team and last World Cup is a prime example for it. So at last what would be the team strategies that are upto, the team management and the captain, “do they convince Nannes or Bollinger to change their nationality or Dhoni luck will be at its very best that will be seen in WEST INDIES?