It's not looking good for India

After a one-sided T20 series marred by unruly fans, and a scorcher of a first One Day International, India have it all to do in the remainder of the lengthly South Africa tour of India. The 72-day tour saw the Proteas win the three-match T20 series 2–0, which included a play disruption in the second match because fans felt unhappy about India's poor performance and threw water bottles onto the field. The third T20 was rained out. South Africa clinched the first of five ODIs by five runs on 11 October. It was a nail-biting affair, with South Africa posting 303 and the match going to the final ball. A four-match Test series is still to come.

India captain MS Dhoni will feel the expectations of a nation on his shoulders, as India struggle
against South Africa. Photo from www.linkedin.com

Three wins on the trot for South Africa places the momentum with them, and leaves us in no doubt as to what the state of morale is in the two camps. I certainly did not expect South Africa to win the T20 series, and especially not 2–0. Furthermore, India were batting very well in the ODI, with Rohit Sharma slamming 150 runs. It looked like we were going to lose. But credit to our bowlers. Staring down the face of the barrel, we did not change our tactics. We stuck to our game plan, even to the final over, and it paid off. Two wickets in an over for both Imran Tahir and Kagiso Rabada (in the final over) showed that we have big-match-temperament.

I have to say, it was beautiful watching Rabada bowl so well against high-profile batsmen. For a 20-year-old bowling the final over against MS Dhoni, when India only needed 11 runs to win, must have been nerve-wracking. But Rabada held his line and length and did not step over the line. Instead, he snatched the wickets of Dhoni and Stuart binny, and only gave away five runs. Incredible. AB de Villiers was awarded the man of the match for his 104 runs off 73 balls. I feel Sharma deserved the award though.

The phenomenal innings by Sharma aside, India are not in good form, neither with bat nor ball. India's star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's injury will strike a blow in the hearts of Team India, and with the Indian fans openly expressing their dissatisfaction in the team's performances, it probably does not feel good being an Indian cricketer at the moment.

The second ODI will be played on 14 October.

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

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