Solution to India's wicketkeeper problem

The recent retirement of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (33) from Test cricket will likely be a blow to Indian cricket. Dhoni was formerly the Test captain, and a good wicketkeeper. He is a competitive but well-mannered, calm man, who one cannot help but respect. His aggression with the bat is well known, and he will probably destroy several bowling attacks in One Day Internationals and T20 Internationals for at least one more year.

A great wicketkeeper will be needed to fill the shoes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Photo from www.linkedin.com

But his calling time on Test cricket came a big surprise to many. Although Virat Kohli has been made the new Test captain, no suitable replacement wicketkeeper has been groomed yet. Here is a solution I propose of how the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should respond to the wicketkeeper gap Dhoni leaves behind.

1. Allow Wriddhiman Saha to fill the gap until the World Cup. The 30-year-old wicketkeeper is in the Test side but has not performed well in internationals yet. His age and poor performances leaves me to think that he should act only as a temporary replacement until the World Cup is over early next year, so that a suitable replacement can be slowly introduced in all three formats of the game.

2. Consider the 'Tried Alreadies'. Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel are all good wicketkeeper batsmen with some international experience. However, all three are 29 years old and the expiry dates on their international careers are sooner than one might like. The BCCI should consider them, as they at least deserve consideration, but then move on to better alternatives.

3. Consider the 'We Could Try Hims'. Ambati Rayudu (29) is a very good batsman who occasionally puts on the gloves. He could be persuaded to do so on a permanent basis. If he agrees and performs well he could be an effective wicketkeeper for a few years. But...

Sanju Samson (20) is the Quinton de Kock of India. He is a young, attacking batsman who has already hurt his country's best bowlers domestically. I think he would be the best long-term replacement for Dhoni in all formats. From what I have seen of him in the Indian Premiere League, he has the big match temperament and confidence that could see him go far. His domestic statistics are not great, but it is a tad early to judge them. I believe that he could easily be India's best wicketkeeper batsman in a few years.

Sanju Samson may be the solution to the wicketkeeper problem in India. Photo from www.sportskeeda.com

A West Indian IPL?

Unfortunately I missed the IPL final last night (on 26 May 2013). However I watched the highlights this morning. After Chennai beat Mumbai in their playoff to go straight into the final, Mumbai defeated Rajasthan in another playoff and then went all the way and overcame Chennai in the final. Mumbai won the final by 23 runs, their first IPL tournament win.

The West Indian cricketers have proved in this IPL that they are a powerful force in T20 cricket. Chris Gayle made the highest T20 score for a batsman (175*) and Dwayne Bravo took the most wickets in an IPL season (32). Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Darren Sammy and Sunil Narine also had a great tournament. For me Kieron Pollard was the best player in the tournament as he made big knocks in the playoffs as well as the final. I can see now that West Indians are fantastic in this format and the WI teams will be a great threat in the Champions League T20 later this year.

IPL 2013 final: CSK 125/9 (20) MI 148/9 (20). Kieron Pollard (centre) hit 60* and got man of the match. Image taken from http://sports.ndtv.com

Cricket in England

I really enjoy watching cricket played in England. The picture on the TV screen is always clear and green, the commentary is really nice and the England test team is a good unit. The England team always seems to back each other. They believe in each other, and take on the best teams in the world; especially when they play in England. Their fans are also very supportive, chant and sometimes dress up for matches. The fans are also impolite at times - which makes it more entertaining.

The conditions in England will favour seamers and batsmen. So next month's ICC Champions Trophy will be exciting for me. I love watching seamers in action. Fast bowlers are far more interesting than spinners. England will probably play well. They are dominating New Zealand right now; and having their fans behind them and playing on their own conditions in the tournament will also help. England will be a team to watch out for, and certainly Australia and Pakistan. Of course I am hoping SA can do well.

Coming from a great IPL, I hope this Champions Trophy will be just as exciting.

Stuart Broad (26) of England. He will probably be the best English pace bowler for a while, and he can bat a bit. Image taken from http://www.standard.co.uk

Broad's stats are as follows: (Taken from http://www.espncricinfo.com on 27 May 2013)

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	56	77	10	1676	169	25.01	2639	63.50	1	9	210	14	16	0
ODIs	96	51	17	416	45*	12.23	568	73.23	0	0	25	6	20	0
T20Is	46	19	7	71	18*	5.91	74	95.94	0	0	5	1	20	0
First-class	109	145	25	2854	169	23.78	4826	59.13	1	16			36	0
List A	113	57	18	462	45*	11.84	642	71.96	0	0	28	6	22	0
Twenty20	64	21	8	80	18*	6.15	87	91.95	0	0	5	1	23	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	56	100	11654	5950	191	7/44	11/165	31.15	3.06	61.0	7	8	1
ODIs	96	96	4897	4242	152	5/23	5/23	27.90	5.19	32.2	9	1	0
T20Is	46	45	981	1205	55	4/24	4/24	21.90	7.37	17.8	1	0	0
First-class	109		20789	11230	394	8/52		28.50	3.24	52.7	17	18	2
List A	113		5679	4930	177	5/23	5/23	27.85	5.20	32.0	9	1	0
Twenty20	64	63	1383	1577	81	4/24	4/24	19.46	6.84	17.0	1	0	0

My favourite IPL team - CSK

As on the night of Wednesday 10 April 2013, here is how the 2013 IPL log stands:

Pos	Team	P	W	L	Pts	NRR
1	Mumbai Indians	3	2	1	4	0.850
2	Rajasthan Royals	2	2	0	4	0.600
3	Royal Challengers Bangalore	3	2	1	4	0.352
4	Sunrisers Hyderabad	3	2	1	4	0.083
5	Kings XI Punjab	2	1	1	2	0.986
6	Chennai Super Kings	2	1	1	2	0.296
7	Kolkata Knight Riders	2	1	1	2	-0.231
8	Delhi Daredevils	3	0	3	0	-1.024
9	Pune Warriors	2	0	2	0	-1.915

The log can be seen at http://www.supersport.com or http://www.iplt20.com

Super Kings

I am a keen Chennai Super Kings fan because they are a well balanced team and have Albie Morkel, MS Dhoni, Dirk Nannes, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Michael Hussey, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Ben Laughlin, Ben Hilfenhaus, Francois du Plessis, Nuwan Kulasekara and Chris Morris. 

All of these players have played international cricket for their countries. Subramaniam Badrinath and Shadab Jakati are also excellent players who back up the rest. Having Chris Morris there captures my favour. He is a great all-rounder for the Lions, the Johannesburg franchise.

Chris Morris (25) after a drop catch. The Super Kings beat the Kings XI Punjab today by 10 wickets after 17.2 overs. Image taken from http://www.iplt20.com

The CSK is an immense power house in cricket which is probably as strong as most countries in cricket. Out of five completed IPL seasons they won two (2010 and 2011). They were runners up in 2008 and 2012. 

Having Morkel, Morris and Bravo means they have three international all-rounders in the full squad. An IPL team is only allowed to play four non-Indian international players in any one game. Thus the extensiveness of the depth of the CSK is, well like the abyss at the bottom of the ocean. They have more international players than a full team. Not just that, but these players are some of the best in the world and the roles they fill compliment each other. The kind of cricket they play warrants my support, or even necessitates my support.

Sunrisers

The Sunrisers Hyderabad are a new team to look out for. They include Kumar Sangakarra, Amit Mishra, Cameron White, Dale Steyn, Thisara Perera, Ishant Sharma, Darren Sammy, Nathan McCullum, Parthiv Patel, Quinton de Kock and Shikhar Dhawan. 

Quinton de Kock (20) is a young South African wicket-keeper opening batsman who just made the record most runs in a South African T20 tournament (This year's Ram Slam). I hope he gets to play in the IPL. But with Kumar Sangakarra and Cameron White in the team I think the selectors will go for the experience rather than risk one of their 4 international places in the squad for an inexperienced young player.

I like that this team is perceived as the underdogs because they are new, and they don't have as many big names as the other teams. The players in this team means I make them my second favourite team.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad after getting Mayank Agrawal out againstthe Royal Challengers Bangalore. Image taken from http://www.iplt20.com