All-round Yuvraj stars in Indian win

While the lead spinners were unimpressive, Yuvraj Singh stood up for India © AFP Enlarge

Yuvraj Singh saved the blushes for India, allowing them to hide the ordinary effort from other spinners, by picking his maiden five-for to restrict Ireland to 207 before he hit an unbeaten fifty to settle India's nerves in a hard-fought win in Bangalore. Ireland enhanced their reputation by defending the target with disciplined bowling and excellent fielding and made India huff and puff to the victory line.

On a dry pitch, where the ball came on slowly, the Indian batsmen preferred to play within themselves and tried to play risk-free cricket but kept losing wickets at regular intervals to keep Ireland interested in the chase. India were 24 for 2 in the sixth over, reached 100 for four at the fall of Virat Kohli in the 24th over, and recovered to 167 for 5 when MS Dhoni exited in the 41st over before Yusuf Pathan flexed his muscles to hasten the end.

Ireland could have done far better had they not stumbled against Yuvraj's bowling. They were eyeing a 250-plus target after a 113-run third-wicket stand between William Porterfield and Niall O'Brien but a run-out opened a window for Yuvraj to trigger a collapse. The most significant moment of the innings came in the 27th over, with Ireland sitting pretty on 122 for 2, when a set Niall O'Brien couldn't make it in time to beat the throw from Virat Kohli in the covers. Dhoni did well to collect the slightly wayward throw and flick it onto the stumps. It was the beginning of the end.

As ever, Yuvraj ambled in like a Sunday-park bowler and as always proved to be street-smart. His art is very simple: he turns the ball slightly but his USP is the variation in pace, using a scrambled seam. He is usually slow and slower but surprises the batsmen with a quicker one. Today, too, he struck to his regular staple diet of slower ones; some were delivered with a round arm, some from higher straighter arm, and some with a crouched bent-knee release to get the ball to skid on.

Smart Stats India improved their record at the Chinnaswamy stadium to 12 wins from 18 matches. They have lost only four matches and tied one. They have not lost a single match in World Cups in Bangalore. Yuvraj Singh's 5 for 31 is his career-best and the fifth five-wicket haul by an Indian bowler in World Cups. Ashish Nehra, Venkatesh Prasad, Kapil Dev and Robin Singh are the other Indian bowlers to pick up five wickets in a World Cup game. Yuvraj's spell is the eighth-best bowling performance by a spinner in ODIs. The best spell is Anil Kumble's 6 for 12 in 1993. The 113-run stand between William Porterfield and Niall O'Brien is the highest for the third wicket for Ireland in ODIs surpassing the 89 between Andre Botha and Niall O'Brien against Netherlands in 2008. When he scored a half-century, Yuvraj became the first player to score a fifty and pick up five wickets in a match in World Cup game. Viv Richards and Paul Collingwood remain the only players to score a century and pick up five or more wickets in an ODI. The 67-run stand between MS Dhoni and Yuvraj was their 20th fifty-plus partnership in ODIs. Their average of 48.90 is the third highest among all Indian batting pairs who have aggregated over 2000 runs.

If you just catch the highlights of his wickets, most would seem like soft dismissals. To an extent they were, but that's the illusion of nothingness he provides the batsmen, who then make seemingly silly mistakes. Andrew White was sucked into edging a flighted delivery to Dhoni, Kevin O'Brien tapped one softly back, Porterfield swatted a short ball straight to cover and John Mooney and Alex Cusack were trapped by skidders that came in with the arm. When White fell in the 30th over, Ireland were 129 for 4 and by the time Yuvraj got Cusack, Ireland had slid to 184 for 8 in the 44th over.

Until then, India were looking really ragged in the field. Only Zaheer Khan bowled well to take two early wickets and Porterfield and Niall O'Brien played risk-free cricket to lay a good platform. Their case was helped by some ordinary bowling from the spinners. Harbhajan Singh looked off-key, straying on to the pads once too often, Yusuf Pathan erred on length, often dragging them short, and Piyush Chawla hit the wrong lines.

None of that profligacy was seen in Ireland's bowling effort. Trent Johnston, who is the top wicket taker for Ireland, struck two vital blows early, getting Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to ensure India wouldn't waltz to an easy win. Almost immediately, Porterfield brought in the teenaged left-arm spinner George Dockrell, who turned in a pleasing opening spell that read 4-0-14-0. He rarely gave anything to cut, always bowled slow through the air and was never afraid to flight. He had Kohli mistiming a few shots and made Tendulkar bat cautiously. Success came in his second spell, when he struck in his first delivery of the 21st over, trapping Tendulkar with a delivery that went past the attempted sweep. He could have got the wicket of Kohli, too, in his next over but Niall O'Brien, the keeper, couldn't hold on to an edge. Later, he trapped Dhoni lbw with a delivery that straightened on middle and leg to give a window of hope for Ireland but Yusuf Pathan shut it very quickly with two monstrous sixes in the same over.

Pietersen denies ODI retirement reports

Kevin Pietersen has insisted he does not wants to give up one-dayers despite reports suggesting he did © Getty Images Enlarge

Kevin Pietersen has denied reports that he could quit one-day cricket after this month's World Cup.

The Daily Mail said, on Friday, Pietersen wants to retire from one-dayers because he wants to spend more time with his family but Pietersen wrote on Twitter: "Just to set the record straight ... I have NO intention of retiring from ODI's after the World Cup!!"

Pietersen, 30, has played 110 one-dayers so far, and has been in poor form in the format over the past two years. He has managed only one half-century in that time, and his average has tumbled from around 50 to 41.37.

He has been a vocal critic of England's hectic schedule. England fly out to Bangladesh on Saturday for the World Cup, just four days after returning from a three-month tour of Australia. "Our schedule is ridiculous going into this World Cup. It has been for England teams for a very long time, and that's probably why England have not done well in World Cups," he had said towards the end of the one-day series against Australia, which England lost 6-1.

Who'll play at No.7 for India?

52 DAYS away from the World Cup, India are no closer to finding the elusive allrounder for a vital spot in the order

It's 52 DAYS go to the World Cup - a long time if you are preparing for the staging of the Commonwealth Games, not quite if you are looking at the best possible combination to put together for the biggest cricket event in the world। Coaches and selectors must be hoping to have at least 10 or 11 names finalised by now, and really should have a fair idea of who the other four or five will be. A wish list would be in every coach's back pocket

India's wish list is pretty obvious really, and a first reading will expose the biggest problem with it. Ideally this is what I suspect Kirsten and Dhoni and Srikkanth would be looking at the evening before the first game: SachinTendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar or Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha. Eleven of those 12 names look settled, but for India to be strong at the World Cup, No. 7 needs to be identified, and at the moment Irfan Pathan has gone underground.

So if Pathan Jr is not on the radar, who bats after the batsmen and above the bowlers and gives you a few, if not 10, overs? India have tried Pathan Sr - and I suspect he is still an option - and currently are investing heavily in Ravindra Jadeja, who has so far given little indication of becoming the rock star Shane Warne thought he could be. "Could be" is the operative phrase here. Early in his career Jadeja seems to have stagnated, and I suspect people will start looking for returns on investment very shortly.

I also suspect India's think tank will have started thinking seriously about a Plan B. They will need one because there is no No. 7 who answers to the job description anywhere in sight in India. You'd think the IPL would have thrown up a couple of names, but really, apart from R Ashwin, who seems better with the new ball than with the old at the moment, the canvas is blank.

And so I suspect India might have to go the way they did during that very successful run from 2002 to 2004, when the selfless Rahul Dravid took the gloves and allowed India to play a seventh batsman. Straightaway you can see Rohit Sharma playing the role that Mohammad Kaif did then, with the license to bat freely in case the team is in a good situation, and instructed to douse the fires if there is a batting collapse.

But what looks good in the mind and on paper need not necessarily be the same way on the field. So who bowls the other 10 overs? Or more if one of the bowlers has had a bad day? It's time, then, to ask the batsmen to start rolling their arms over. In home conditions that isn't such a daunting task. Sehwag is a very competent offspinner (remember Aravinda De Silva bowling 10 overs quite often in 1996?) and Yuvraj Singh is much underrated. But I think it is time to look even further afield and start throwing the ball to Suresh Raina, who seems to possess a pretty cool head when bowling in the 20-overs game. Or, for that matter, to Rohit Sharma, who can be good for a few overs.

A bits-and-pieces player policy tends to be fraught with danger because you run the risk of getting neither a bowler nor a batsman, and so India need to play to their strength, which on Indian pitches is batting. Four players to generate 10 overs between them shouldn't be a huge issue.

I am not sure that is the way the think tank is thinking at the moment, but if No. 7 remains elusive even after the Sri Lanka tri-series, it might be the right time to start asking the batsmen if they fancy six-over spells in limited-overs cricket. My gut feel is that they will jump at the opportunity.

India have eight one-day games in home conditions before the World Cup. They must know what they want at the World Cup before those games begin.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India

The Board of Control for Cricket in (BCCI) named a 30-man preliminary squad for ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 on Saturday.

At its meeting in Mumbai, the national selection panel named three wicketkeepers as a back-up for skipper . The squad features all the players who have been part of the ODI mix for the last couple of years.

Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara has also been named alongwith Mumbai's Ajinkya Rahane as the only two uncapped players in the squad.

The final date for submission of squad of XV for CWC 2011 is 19 January.

Squad: , , , , Virat Kohli, , , , Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, , , , Vinay Kumar, M Vijay, , Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, , Shikhar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, , Cheteshwar Pujara, Pragyan Ojha, .

Jamshedpur: India's only World Cup-winning

Jamshedpur: India's only World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev said with a combination of experience and youth and a little bit of luck, 's men could win the 2011 quadrennial event to be hosted jointly by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

"The present Indian team has good track record. The combination of experienced and young players would help the team to win the ICC World Cup," the legendary all-rounder, who led India to its only world title way back in 1983, said during a promotional event.

When apprised that none of the World Cup organising country could win the trophy at home ground till date, Kapil said perhaps, India will break the jinx this time.

"No team can win the World Cup depending on a particular player. A total team effort is required to emerge champion," he said when asked to name one dependable player in the Indian team.

To a query whether India skipper Dhoni could repeat his 1983 feat, he said, "He could achieve much more than me."

Kapil was of the view that all the participating teams are strong contenders and whoever, performs during the mega-event would emerge as the winner.

Asked whether Test cricket would survive in the wake of Twenty20 format's popularity, Kapil said the traditional version of the game will never die.

About local lad Saurav Tiwary, who has been named in 30-men ICC World Cup probables list, he said: "If he could perform, he will get a chance and prosper like Dhoni."

Kohli brings versatility to India

He can bat high or low. If the selectors could pick the World Cup 15 today, there are question marks only against the second spinner, fourth seamer and eighth batsman

December 3, 2010

Virat Kohli can anchor the innings at No. 3 or be the finisher at No. 7 © AFP Enlarge

Barring what those who draft contracts call "an act of God", has sealed his place in India's World Cup squad. He has shown a calm head and a solid temperament, qualities for long considered a challenge for him, and by embracing them has revealed his ambition. Hitherto a temper and an ego, both dreadful cancers, were thought of as his best friends. Hopefully they have been shown the door. With the possible exception of Suresh Raina, no young Indian player has done more in the last two years. A Test place will soon beckon and, like with Cheteshwar Pujara, I believe he is ready. The challenge from the fast short-pitched ball is still to be encountered but that is part of the finishing process.

For now, though, the Kohli story is about batting in limited-overs cricket and he has shown his versatility; batting at No. 3 in 50-overs cricket and as a finisher for the Royal Challengers. As much as he is impressive at No. 3, it was his ability to play the fiery innings at the death in the Champions League that caught the eye. It means he can bat wherever the side needs him and it is this versatility that could put him in the playing XI in the World Cup even after all the stars return.

It would be tempting, given his performances this year, to give him his due and present him with the No. 3 slot, but Gautam Gambhir has a claim on that position as well, and as we saw in Jaipur, he paces an innings remarkably well. So Kohli can play the role of the finisher, with him and Raina at Nos. 6 and 7. Alternately of course, if either Tendulkar or Sehwag has to miss a game, Gambhir moves up and Kohli can slip into No. 3. There is a fluidity to the batting order that gives it strength, and with the allrounder at no. 7 still elusive, seven batsmen looks like the way to go. It will be a batting line-up to rival, or indeed even to outshine, any other team in Indian conditions.

Well as Kohli has played - and remember he also makes India a better fielding side - there is another equally significant event that has tended to slip under the radar. India have played four bowlers in both games so far and Yuvraj Singh has picked up three wickets at under five an over from his 19 overs. Each time, the captain has preferred him to Yusuf Pathan, making it clear who he regards as the allrounder in the side. If India can get six overs out of Yuvraj in every game - and anything more can be a bonus - he provides the balance that India have been looking for over the last 12 months.

And in doing so he not only negates the need for a Ravindra Jadeja, or indeed even a Yusuf Pathan, who is the more effective batsman of the two, but also ensures that Kohli comes into the side. It is a balance that will work better in subcontinental conditions than, say, in South Africa, where you want a top-order batsman to bowl seam-up. But with the World Cup being the focus, it makes the selectors' job much easier.

In fact, with two and a half months to go, India's World Cup squad looks settled in spite of the player rotation that you see. And over the next three games, and the form that players show in South Africa, the remaining four spots can be filled. There is the little, often irrelevant, issue of naming 30 players, but really, India could name the final 15 today with the selectors taking a call on the fourth seamer, second spinner and eighth batsman.

I believe there is still the comfort factor of having a Pathan in the side in Indian conditions and that means R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha fight it out for the second spinner's slot. Given that Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar have done enough, it's going to be a job choosing between Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth and the quietly effective Munaf Patel for the last seamer's place. And if India do indeed commit to the seven-batsmen route, as seems likely, they will need a back-up; ideally someone who can play the role of a finisher from No. 7, and I suspect it could come down to Saurabh Tiwary or even Rohit Sharma.

There is still a long time to go for that World Cup, and much water can flow under the bridge, but Kohli and Yuvraj have started filling troublesome spots.

Continuity is India's strength and weakness

Six survivors from India's 2003 World Cup campaign are likely to play in the 2011 edition. And going by the younger talent at hand, the nation's hopes will rest on these six

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	Among those in the current Indian set-up who weren't part of the 2003 World Cup, MS Dhoni is the only one who inspires confidence © Associated Press Enlarge

It was the after the most inauspicious of starts. A flatline opener against the Netherlands was followed by a thrashing at Australian hands, and it wasn't until the team crossed the border into Zimbabwe that India's 2003 World Cup campaign sputtered to life. Seven more victories followed before a legendary Australian side, and Ricky Ponting in particular, handed out the harshest of one-day lessons. The heroes of '83 may not have been emulated, but there's little doubt that the run to the final at remains one of Indian cricket's biggest achievements of the modern era.

Astonishingly, six of those who came within a 100 overs of immortality that day could line up for India's opening game of the 2011 World Cup in Dhaka next February. Fitness permitting, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan are certain starters. Ashish Nehra too should get an opportunity to reprise his heroics of 2003 - perhaps without the spewed bananas - and it's hard to see Yuvraj Singh being away from the fray, no matter what the state of his waistline.

This continuity, if you call it that, is India's greatest strength, and also a sign of weakness. In sporting terms, it's as rare as a maiden over in a Twenty20 game, and it raises serious questions about Indian cricket's talent-production line.

To put things into perspective, let's take a look at two of the greatest one-day sides of all. West Indies reached the first three World Cup finals, winning two of them. When India upset them in 1983, there were four survivors from the class of 1975 - Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Andy Roberts. With the exception of Lloyd, who lasted nearly two decades at the top, the other three had been young men looking to make a reputation in '75. By 1983, Roberts was the leader of the greatest pace attack ever, while Richards and Greenidge had established themselves as two of the most destructive batsmen of their age.

Nearly a quarter-century later, Australia took to for the 2007 World Cup final with three survivors from the side that had made short work . In that time Ponting and Adam Gilchrist had established themselves as candidates for the all-time one-day XI, while Glenn McGrath had carried on with his metronomic ways, spearheading an attack that was both parsimonious and penetrative.

Both teams, though, had strengthened in different ways over time. West Indies hadn't adequately replaced Alvin Kallicharran and Rohan Kanhai in the middle order, but the pace foursome of Roberts, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner was immeasurably stronger. Australia had moved on from Steve Waugh and Shane Warne, and unearthed the high-impact pace of Shaun Tait and the imposing all-round talent of Andrew Symonds. There was also Matthew Hayden Mark II, a punishing run-machine to complement Gilchrist at the top of the order.

India's six-man core now possesses more than 1400 one-day caps - Tendulkar alone has 442, and Nehra, the least experienced, has 101 - but the replacements for those who have departed the stage have yet to scale the same heights. Both Gautam Gambhir (99 caps) and Suresh Raina (97) have enjoyed a fair bit of success in recent times, but it would be a brave man who put them in the same class as Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, who had more than 20,000 runs between them.

The one great improvement comes in the shape of MS Dhoni, whose captaincy and improved wicketkeeping skills sometimes obscure the fact that he has evolved into one of the consummate 50-over batsmen. There are great expectations too from Virat Kohli (30 caps) and Rohit Sharma (49), but neither man has yet played a defining innings in a high-pressure situation.

It's not the batting that's the concern though. Teams that win the big tournaments do so by consistently bowling the opposition out. The Indian side that won the World Championship of Cricket dismissed every team they came across, except Pakistan, who limped to 176 for 9 . In 2003, India's attack also had Javagal Srinath, and the luxury of Anil Kumble on the bench.

There are few such options when you look ahead to 2011. Zaheer, Harbhajan and Nehra remain the most important performers, and the remarkable decline in Irfan Pathan's fortunes - he hasn't added to his 107 caps in the last 16 months - has deprived the team of an all-round talent who should have been in his prime.

The other pace contenders are just as callow. RP Singh, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar have all taken the new ball in recent seasons, but RP is the most experienced of the quartet, with just 55 caps. On the slow-bowling front, the situation is even more alarming. Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha have 23 matches between them, while Ravindra Jadeja has 29. Murali Kartik continues to take wickets in England, but he must surely be resigned to the fact that his India days are over.

The selectors and an expectant nation can only hope that wealth of experience triumphs over the relative lack of fresh options. Saurabh Tiwary and R Ashwin could prove to be interesting wild cards over the coming months, and the likes of Ishant and Sreesanth may get their groove back, but for the moment, the long-cherished dream of winning a World Cup on home soil rests very much on the shoulders of those who have been there and done that.

Former Indian cricket

Siliguri (West Bengal), Dec.27 (ANI): Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly said he is hopeful the recently announced Indian squad would win the forthcoming World Cup.

Interacting with mediapersons here on Thursday, Ganguly said that seeing the performance of Indian players at home ground, a victory in the World Cup could be expected.

"I am very hopeful. is a very strong One Day International (ODI) team and they are playing it at home. If they can handle the pressure of the people at home, they'll be at the side who can win the World Cup," said Ganguly.

He further remarked that the team's performance in the first test against South Africa was disappointing but he was optimistic of the second test in Durban.

"Nobody wants to lose, am sure none of us, none of the players, or the team, or the supporters would be happy with the loss. But it can happen. You can win some game, you can lose some game, and am sure they will bounce back in the next tour... obviously toss will be important," said Ganguly.

The Cricket World Cup is scheduled to take place in , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, beginning from February 19, 2011. By Tarak Sarkar (ANI)