Silly M(a)id-on

The Wall Resurrected....
A Dream Comeback....
Rebuilding The Wall ....

No...I haven't not written a post on the greatest news of the month yet b'coz I was busy thinking up titles...

For those interested, I have been waging a lonely battle against crashing servers, helpdesks that have been sneaked off offshore without anyone having a clue and other such things for the last 3 weeks. And then recuperating. (And well, I haven’t really been MIA either. You can find some great works ala Megha here and here.)

IMHO RD should not have been dropped from the ODI team in the first place, but that is perhaps a discussion for another day. I can see a role for Dravid in the team. He can provide the stability that is required when the team loses early wickets. Or he can hold one end while the others have a license to hit away as and when needed. Dhoni can then revert back to his earlier batting days, come in at 6/7 and hit away with abandon. And it’s not as if Dravid cannot hit a few boundaries himself :). Plus you get a good slip fielder, a part time wicketkeeper and all the wealth of his experience on the field. Not a bad bargain, is it?

Those worried about how Rohit Sharma's and possibly Suresh Raina’s career would be ruined by this decision, and how this move is not keeping in mind the WC....well, the WC is barely 2 years away. I believe that both Sachin and Rahul can play in the WC. I assume they will hang up their boots after that. SR and RS are in their early 20s right now. So age is definitely on their side. Abhi nahi to 2 saal ke baad team me aa jayenge yaar...tab tak T20 khelo na...kisne mana kiya :)

When Sehwag comes back, the batting order could look like this -

Sehwag

Tendulkar

Gambhir

Dravid

Yuvi

Dhoni

Yusuf/Irfan (yeah..i still live in hope!!)

4 bowlers

See? It’s not that bad, is it?

And for those of you suggesting that the selectors have given Dravid an opportunity to retire with grace, and he will do so after the Champions Trophy, well...don't say that! That's not gonna happen..

No...that's not gonna happen...right?

Oh, this is depressing!

India have themselves to blame for this. Aweful batting effort. Just aweful! Dhoni's gem(!) of an innings has already been called. But for some late gutsy hitting by YP, Yuvi and, well, Bhajji, the scorecard would have been a bigger eyesore.

One did get the feeling that 150 would be a competitive score. And when Simmons' wicket fell, I still thought we had a great chance of winning. But Bravo and Chanderpaul took it away in style! Credit where it is due, I would have enjoyed their batting if they weren't playing against India. The main problem areas for India remain bowling at death and fielding. If a couple of easy run out chances would not have been missed, WI could have been pushed a little bit more.

Anyhoo, it's Mission England next. Perhaps they will just fall apart and save us some trouble? They have played their part in this competition by qualifying for the Super8's. Don't they need some extra practice for the Ashes or something?

P.S. Was Chanderpaul's stance, when on strike, a little wierd or have I just not seen him bat for a while?