So we've just won the 2nd final a few hours back, which has resulted in my sleep patterns being completely destroyed for the 2nd time in 3 days. And I know there's enough talk about this, but here are some of the kids who delivered:
1. Rohit Sharma - who?
2. Praveen Kumar - who?
3. Piyush Chawla - who?
4. Ishant Sharma - who?
It's astonishing how these guys have come out of nowhere and exploded on to Australia. I'm incredibly excited about India's pace attack when it gets back to full strength - Zaheer, RP, Ishant, Sreesanth, Pathan, Praveen, Munaf(will he get a spot?), VRV (?). That's just amazing for an Indian team. Kudos to Venky for his work.
I was especially impressed with Piyush's bowling in the first final (and he wasn't bad in the 2nd). He bowled 60 balls. No wides. No short balls. 33 runs. That is incredible control for a leggie. I still thinks he needs a few more tricks to get wickets in Tests. And hopefully he'll be there by the time Kumble decides it's time.
I think Praveen might have a look-in for the Test side if there's a seaming pitch. I'm not so sure he'll be very good on a flattish track. I think the ideal Test bowling make up would be Zaheer, Ishant, Kumble, Bhajji and/or RP / Pathan. We need a good opening bat to step up, though. Jaffer has glitches in his technique and was found out and Sehwag will never be the anchor. Dravid is too good a No. 3 to open with. Rohit Sharma looks good enough to get a test call up - not to open though. Gambhir has arguably the worst technique for a No.3 in world cricket. I suppose what we really need is a Test all-rounder. Pathan isn't quite there, not to mention the nightmare he had with the ball in the finals (barring the final over).
In other random bits of observations on the finals:
- it was great to see Praveen acting like a kid and running away from the rest of the team to avoid saying anything after he won the MoM. He doesn't speak English - and that'll do nicely if he keeps it up against the Proteas.
- It was nice to see Mark Taylor having to shut up the Indian section of the crowd during the presentation. When he realised his mic wasn't going to drown out a 1000 inebriated Indian fans - he asked for a loud cheer for both teams! That section then went on to chant 'Boring boring' when Ponting was speaking (which was nice to see, especially in Australia). But equally they shut up when Gilchrist spoke and he deserves that. I think he's pushed this a series too far - you could see his relexes and batting skills are nowhere close to what they used to be. Maybe its just the mental weight of knowing this was his last series...
- I'm surprised Hogg has retired. He's fitter than our 25 year olds and is getting so good with the ball. No one except Sachin is picking him out of the hand, which is worrying from India's perspective. Also considering Aus isn't playing India for a bit after this, he might have gone on a tad longer. For some reason, Sachin thinks he doesn't deserve anything less than 10 runs from Hogg's bowling. It was weird to see him charging Hogg in the first final with the required rate at 3.5! He kept up his word and didn't get out to him after the last time in Baroda(?).
- Australia has a lot of problems. They have an under-par side, batting wise and are a quality spinner short. I suppose they'll be happy their next assignment is the Windies, who should be very useful to help blood some youngsters and get everyone back into form.
- For India - good times ahead. Loads of kids coming through. Despite my overwhelming adoration for him, I still think there's a place in the ODI side for Ganguly. He brings a lot to the table and India are struggling a bit in the middle order. He'll be useful when we play 4 bowlers.
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