The curious case of Virender Sehwag

But Sehwag being Sehwag and the vice-captain of the side, the issue can't be kept under wraps for long. Either he is fit or unfit. In both the cases, the questions are discomforting. If he is fit, he ought not to be sitting on the bench. If he is unfit, then he ought not to have taken the plane to England.

If a fit Sehwag is sidelined, Dhoni could have a pronounced reason for it. One, the Nawab of Najafgarh is insisting on being put into the middle order. It's a stretch where Dhoni wants batsmen who could hold end up - like Gambhir and he himself. Sehwag doesn't quite fit into this profile.

Steadiness at number three is probably the reason why Dhoni has pushed Suresh Raina down the order even though the left-hander is in terrific form and was one of the leading scorers of the IPL.

Dhoni, very much his own man, doesn't mind ruffling feathers if he is set upon a course of action. He didn't mind it when he pushed his former skipper Rahul Dravid out of the one-day ranks. Later, he did the same to Sourav Ganguly in Australia.

http://cricket.yahoo.com/cricket/news/article?id=item/2.0/-/cricket.yahoonews.com/baf4aa8ef64fbe2514b8e24d455ff722/

Dhoni also has a history with Sehwag. The dashing opener had made a sensational return to Test cricket with hundred in the Adelaide Test of the 2007-08 series Down Under and seemed secure for the rest of the tour. He was duly rewarded with berth in the one-day eleven but a few failures and Dhoni promptly put him on the bench. Sehwag didn't play a game thereafter on the tour.

Sehwag, on that occasion, had publicly picked up an issue with Dhoni. He didn't mind being sidelined if his skipper thought he didn't fit into the scheme of things. But he certainly didn't approve when Dhoni explained Sehwag's absence with an imaginary injury which didn't exist! "Drop me if you must but don't cook up excuses," was Sehwag's curt message.

Thereafter, in the 2007-08 Asia Cup in Pakistan, Sehwag smashed 78 and 119 runs from the first two one-day internationals. Inexplicably, he was then rested in the third match against Bangladesh. Recalled for the remaining three games, Sehwag had scores of 42, 49 and 60 runs.

It's understandable that Sehwag is a power bloc within himself in the team. Gautam Gambhir is his fan and adoring partner whose bat bears a good-luck message from Sehwag. He is a powerful figure in Indian cricket, captain of Delhi Daredevils in the IPL and all set to even have stakes in the company. If he is seen as being treated badly by Dhoni, the message could cause disquiet among other seniors such as Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and even Gambhir.

But then Dhoni isn't the one who takes a step backwards once he has made up his mind. A little flexibility is all that is required in this issue but whether Dhoni is capable of such compromises is another matter altogether.

Pathan brothers brought us back into the game: Dhoni

COLOMBO: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Tuesday admitted that the purchase Sri Lankan spinners got from the wicket made it tough for his batsmen to score runs but hailed Pathan brothers - Yusuf and Irfan - for their late blitzkrieg that ensured a pulsating three-wicket win for the visitors in the one-off Twenty20 international.

"It was tough match, both when we were bowling and when we were batting as well. We played a couple of bad shots in the middle of the innings and the pressure came back to us.

"It was tough to score runs against the spinners as the ball was turning a lot. At one point of time, it even became difficult to rotate strike. But we have to keep that in mind as it was a good learning for us. The Pathan brothers brought us back into the game," Dhoni said after the match.

Man-of-the-match Yusuf, who picked up two wickets during the Lankan innings and scored a breezy 22 to set the foundation for the victory, said he was just playing his natural game.

"It was good day for brothers, we batted well and played good cricket. When captain gave me the ball, runs were flowing pretty fast, so I just thought not to give any room to the batsmen and that really worked," he said.

"During batting when I found balls landing in my area, I just went for my shots," he added.

Sri Lankan skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan also admitted that it magical partnership between the Pathan brothers took the game away from the hosts.

"I was really happy with 171. Me and Sanath gave the start and the middle order also played well.

"But unfortunately I got out in the 16th over. If I was there till the end, then we could have added 16-20 more runs and that would have been handy. With the two early Indian wickets we started well but Yusuf and Irfan batted really well and took the game away," he said.

He also expressed happiness with the performance put up by the youngsters.

"I was happy with performances of the youngsters. They gave a good fight."

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4108797.cms?TOI_Cricket_mostread

Hussain a fan of T20 cash 'pressure'

London: Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes the fact that finalists in this season's Twenty20 Cup will qualify for the lucrative new Champions League will take the tournament to another level.

The ex-Essex batsman compared the semi-finals of the county competition, which starts on Wednesday, to the Championship play-off final in football which sees a team promoted to the money-spinning English Premier League.

"Sport is better when there is something big hanging on the outcome. The higher the stakes, the more intense the pressure and the more the character of the players is revealed," Hussain wrote in his column for Britain's Daily Mail.

"The winners of the cup, which starts tomorrow, get something like 40,000 pounds (80,000 dollars). "But the two counties who reach the final will have the chance to earn 2.4 million pounds (5 million dollars) from the Champions League, so can you imagine the atmosphere if a team need four from the last ball in one of those semi-finals?

"What we will see is the cricketing equivalent of the football play-off final, with the winners going to the Premier League."

Twenty20, which was pioneered as a professional sport in English county cricket, has quickly become quickly popular around the world. It led to the creation of a World Twenty20 and a cash-rich tournament in India as well as talk of matches between England and a Caribbean all-star side bankrolled by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford.

Into that mix has now been added the Champions League, leaving some to question whether five-day Test cricket, which outside of England and Australia, can struggle to draw in the crowds, has much of a future.

But Hussain said while he could not see the likes of Kevin Pietersen pulling out of Tests, Twenty20 might alter England players' contractual arrangements.

"I can see people turning down (England) central contracts and, in effect, going freelance to play where the best money is on offer at any one time," Hussain explained.

"Pietersen knows England would always want him to play for them so, in theory, he could make himself available on a match-by-match basis." Hussain added: "There are concerns about the first-class game but I remain convinced that Test cricket will continue to prosper, at least in this country, and be treated as the pinnacle."

The inuagural Champions League will feature eight leading domestic sides from Australia, England, India and South Africa playing a series of 15 Twenty20 matches in either India or the Middle East sometime in late September and early October.

Western Australia and Victoria have already qualified to represent Australia. They will be joined by South Africa's Titans, from Pretoria, and KwaZulu Natal Dolphins as well as India's Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals.

England's representatives will be the finalists in the Twenty20 Cup, which takes place at Hampshire's Rose Bowl ground on July 20.

Source: http://www.cricketnext.com/news/hussain-a-fan-of-t20-cash-pressure/32100-13.html

Past wins give us the edge: Chennai coach

Having beaten the same opponents twice in the league stage, Chennai Super Kings coach Kepler Wessels said his side would go with the psychological advantage when his side clash with Kings XI Punjab in the semifinal of Indian Premier League here on Saturday.

"We had beaten them early in the tournament when we had our strongest team and later on even without the overseas players we still managed to win. It's an advantage to go into the semifinals against them with this record," Wessels said.

The South African, however, said the team would still need to stick to the basics to emerge victorious on Saturday.

Wessels said both the teams will get the chance to assess the Wankhede Stadium pitch from the first semifinal on Friday.

"We will get a look at the pitch during the semifinal today (between Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils) and it will give us a fair idea. It should be an advantage for both teams playing the semifinals," he said.

The coach said they had picked a replacement for New Zealander Stephen Fleming who had to leave the team due to personal reasons.

"While I don't want to disclose who the replacement is I can say that all the players chosen for the team are suited for the Twenty20 format," Wessels said, adding that all the remaining players of the team were fit for the semifinal.

The former South Africa captain was all praise for the IPL and said it reminded him of the ODI World Series in Australia organised by Kerry Packer, in which he had played.

"You have a similar vibe here and it is a tremendous tournament. I am sure it will go from strength to strength," he said.

Source: http://www.cricketnext.com/news/previous-wins-will-give-us-psychological-edge-wessels/31902-13.html

Chennai Super Kings seal semi-final spot

The Bulletin by Mathew Varghese
May 27, 2008

Mahendra Singh Dhoni lost the toss but everything else went right for his team, beginning with some tight bowling, as the Chennai Super Kings won the match against the Deccan Chargers and a spot in the semi-finals at the expense of the Mumbai Indians. Chennai will face Kings XI Punjab, whom they have defeated twice, in one semi-final, while Rajasthan Royals take on Delhi Daredevils in the other.

Chennai had conceded 211 against Rajasthan in their previous game but the bowlers were up to the task this time as Deccan's final attempt to win at home win went awry. Chennai's opening bowlers were on the mark from the start: Makhaya Ntini bowled with pace and got good bounce and carry, while Manpreet Gony, the team's leading wicket-taker, stuck to an impeccable length on off stump and bowled through his four overs for 21. And they reaped the rewards soon, as both Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist found the fielder at third man - Gibbs with a slash, Gilchrist with a thick outside-edge.

Deccan's early runs came mainly in singles and Scott Styris, who's had a terrible tournament, looked to be getting into rhythm with boundaries in the arc between midwicket and mid-on till he was bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan while trying to hit one across. At 57 for 3 after 10.1 overs, Deccan needed a partnership and Venugopal Rao and Ravi Teja came up with a 76-run stand that lent respectability to the eventual total. Muralitharan was hard to get away but the two went after Balaji in the 14th over, which cost 14.

They managed to up the run-rate with a boundary every over, and Rao, often at the centre of Deccan's rearguard actions, hit one to bring up the 100 in the 16th over. There was a flurry of runs, Teja slashing one high into the stands off Ntini in an over where he was taken for 15 runs. That he ended with figures of 1 for 24 off his four told the full story.

That burst was followed by a flurry of wickets, including three - one of them a run-out - in three balls in the 19th over. The crowd had chanted Shahid Afridi's name but he lasted two balls as Deccan limped to 147.

Deccan, and Mumbai, needed a wicket early and RP Singh nearly got the breakthrough as Stephen Fleming fended at one that swung away, but both Gilchrist and Styris were late to react. Fleming and his fellow left-hand opener Parthiv Patel cashed in when the bowlers erred: short and wide deliveries were dispatched for fours. P Vijaykumar then decided to go round the wicket, and it worked, as Fleming got a thick outside-edge while trying to force a drive through the covers.

Deccan Chargers were always playing catch-up after an abysmal start. In their first ten overs, they had managed only 57 .

In came Suresh Raina and he soon found his rhythm, slapping one riskily in the air through the covers, before punching one through the same region. Afridi was brought into the attack as early as the fifth over, and he put a brake on the scoring. At the other end, Raina got consecutive boundaries in Sarvesh Kumar's first over, but the pressure applied from Afridi worked as Parthiv played straight to cover in Sarvesh's next, Afridi taking the catch.

Raina was joined by Dhoni, and the 55-run stand between the two put Chennai on course for victory. Dhoni started with two streaky boundaries - he hit one straight to Sarvesh first-up, who fluffed a chance, and a thick outside-edge flew to the third-man boundary. With left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and Styris managing to curb the runs, Dhoni decided to take a few risks. He stepped out to deposit Ojha over long-on, and after a miscued pull nearly landed in Gibbs' hands at midwicket, he cut Styris for four. Afridi came back with 52 needed off 42 balls, and Dhoni hit one dead-straight for four, before Raina powered a shorter delivery over midwicket for six.
Chennai were cruising towards the target, but had a brief wobble after Dhoni found Gibbs at long-on. That Ojha over, the 16th, went just for three, and when Styris conceded the same in the next, Chennai were left needing 28 off 18. Another tight over and Deccan could have still been in the hunt, but Raina found the gap at midwicket as Ojha bowled a full toss. He was dropped by RP in the 19th over, and hit the winning six - which brought up his fifty - as Chennai reached their target with four balls to spare.

While Dhoni and Co were relieved and celebrated the win, Gilchrist looked ahead after a disastrous first season, in which last-placed Deccan won just two of their 14 games. "I do not have any excuses. It depends which way you look it.," he said. "It's not end of the world. We should settle down, make a self-assessment and think over where we went wrong and plan for the future."

Mathew Varghese is an editorial assistant at Cricinfo

Source: http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/current/story/352691.html

Dhoni confident of semi-final berth

IANS Thursday, May 22, 2008 2:26:30 PM
Dhoni confident of semi-final berthIANS Thursday, May 22, 2008 2:26:30 PM Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his team still had a chance of making it to the Indian Premier League (IPL) semi-finals despite a shock defeat to Bangalore Royal Challengers here Wednesday night.

'I don't want to leave anything for our last game against the Deccan Chargers, but we would like to beat Rajasthan Royals here on Saturday and qualify for the semi-finals,' he said. Dhoni said a couple of partnerships would have helped Super Kings to pull through after Stephen Fleming and Parthiv Patel had provided them a solid start.Sharing his thoughts on the dramatic collapse, the skipper admitted that poor shot selection led to loss of wickets.'It was a gettable total.

We changed the batting order according to the situation. If the players thought in the middle as much as they thought in the dressing room, we would have won,' he said.Challangers captain Rahul Dravid gave full credit to his bowlers, particularly Anil Kumble, while admitting that his batsmen did not perform.

'We played well in our first match against Chennai in Bangalore but could not finish and the same thing happened to the Chennai team today. Anil (Kumble) was brilliant and turned the tide in our favour,' he said.

'Even in the last two overs, one could not say as to who will win. When we got Fleming, we had a chance but Suresh Raina is known for big hitting. It is good to have won a match after five straight losses,' he said.'It has not been a good season, but we have to show some responsibility. Hopefully, the same team will do well in the next season,' he said.

Source: http://in.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/ipl/news/news_20080522_459.html

Teams have to think on their feet

Kris Srikkanth Saturday, May 10, 2008

Teams have to think on their feetThe IPL schedule leaves no time for thought. Teams have to rework strategies quickly as otherwise their approach will become so well known that opponents will be better prepared with counter-strategies. Chennai Super Kings were forced to rethink their tactics after three successive losses and they came up with a winning formula in New Delhi in a thriller. It is pretty obvious that a flying start is a necessity in the format. But teams hitting from both ends have found themselves in a hole because they have lost too many wickets in too short a space. S. Vidyut, who has shaped a fantastic limited-overs career for himself, was the fire starter while Fleming played the foil superbly against the Daredevils. Vidyut gave Chennai the confidence that the chase was on after Gautam Gambhir had given the Daredevils a better than average total. Full credit to Dhoni for taking some hard decisions in what was a crunch match for Chennai by winning which they have returned to the top of the table. The skipper was not afraid to put people on the bench. The tactic of chasing also worked because you can expect a Kotla pitch to play the same way in the entire duration of a match. Two or three hitters in the top five or six are sufficient. If they are kept apart in the order, they seem to exert more pressure as Albie Morkel took over Vidyut's role when Dhoni himself was struggling to get the ball away. One great over of Morkel's hitting was enough to close the gap after which Dhoni played smart cricket by ensuring his side would have batsmen left to fight to the end. Morkel's assault put so much pressure on Sehwag that he seemed to stop thinking and so messed up his end overs strategy. He had to virtually toss a coin to decide whether he would bowl the last over or ask Shoaib Malik to handle it. Actually, neither of them should have been bowling that over which should have gone to a seamer. Saturday's clash between the Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings XI becomes crucial for both teams. The winners can expect to get away from the bunch towards a semi-final slot. The key to Chennai's strategy would be to take on Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan without losing too many wickets in looking for a flying start. Not to charge at both bowlers would be the best way to go about it. The key to Chennai staying at the top is the team does not push the panic button. This confidence seems to flow from the skipper who is never hassled. With the race for the semi-finals hotting up now after the halfway mark, the table leaders will know that their being at the top will put pressure on the others. Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings XI have the early mover advantage.

Source: http://in.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/ipl/columns/columns_20080510_2.html

Worried Dhoni plans to bat up the order

Worried Dhoni plans to bat up the order

Struggling to digest the team's third defeat in a row, Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed his batsmen for playing too many shots too early and said he might bat up the order from the next match of the Indian Premier League.

"We have to settled down as a side. Our top order batsmen played too many shots. They were in two minds whether to go for the shot or not and ultimately lost their wickets playing their shots late', Dhoni rued after his side was humbled by lowly Deccan Chargers by seven wickets on Tuesday.

Asked if the team would make any changes in the strategy to arrest the slide, Dhoni said, "We will try different combinations but there will not be much changes. I may come up the batting order, perhaps third or fourth slot.

"We could not get off rightly with the combinations in the last three matches. But, we should not panic by the losses and it is not individuals but we have to work as a team," he said.

According to Dhoni, the total of 144-7 was not good enough in this format of the game. "We were aware that it is not a big total to defend but we wanted to pull it off," he said.

Source: Press Trust Of India