The Pick Youngsters Played At Last Test In Australia

The Former captain Sunil Gavaskar on Friday said that at least three senior cricketers may not be selected again for the national Test team after what has already turned out to be a disastrous tour for India. The India were headed towards their second successive Test series whitewash with another massive defeat looming large in the fourth and final Test in Adelaide, and Gavaskar said time has come for the likes of Virat Kohli to be handed more responsibility.

The great Indian batsmen got bogged under pressure. There's some sort of defeatist attitude hanging around, even the most experienced players have been affected by it. The India missed out on the chance to experiment with Kohli. The same situation happened in the West Indies and England. With some extra zip, India could have won the series in the West Indies 3-0. In England, they were flat-footed not only on the field but also in their thinking.


Science News: The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), hopes the team, will be able to image the ring of matter at the event horizon that surrounds the black hole


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Replays on giant screen a potential tinderbox

The debate is already on about the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), after what transpired at the Chinnaswamy stadium, where the television umpire declined to overturn a leg before decision against Ian Bell in India’s favour despite Hawkeye showing the ball hitting middle stump.

What is more important to think for a moment is what, thankfully, didn’t happen in that jam-packed 41,000-seater on Sunday night. A decision unexpectedly going against India, that too after a series of replays on the giant screen, is a potential disaster waiting to happen. The last thing the ICC would want after the stadium and ticket fiasco is a crowd trouble disrupting a game. What if it was a knockout game instead of a harmless league game? What if India had lost?

It is difficult for a partisan fan to understand the 2.5-metre clause in the UDRS, which states that if the point of impact is more than 2.5 meters from the stumps, the decision remains in the hands of the on-field umpire. So why show the blue line or Hawkeye on the giant screen?

Colin Gibson, the ICC’s head of media and communications, says, “From the ICC’s perspective, they don’t consider the fans sitting at the stadium any less informed than the ones sitting at home. So it’s important for them to know what happened in the replay.”

The rules about the UDRS are such to allow the on-field umpire some oxygen even as technology creeps in to shadow their existence. MS Dhoni and other skippers may have to give the UDRS a fair go before forming a strong opinion.

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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/replays-on-giant-screen-a-potential-tinderbox/756155/2

Cup force with us now, says ton-up Strauss

England captain Andrew Strauss said his side's sensational tie with India proved they were a World Cup force to be reckoned with after his superb century so nearly saw the visitors to victory. England, chasing what would have been a new World Cup winning total batting second of 339, finished on 338
for eight in reply to co-hosts India's 338 all out at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, with Strauss making 158.

His was the first World Cup hundred by an England captain and the highest World Cup score by any England batsman, surpassing Dennis Amiss's 137 against India at Lord's in the competition's inaugural fixture back in 1975.

England's performance was an improvement upon their lacklustre six-wicket opening win over the Netherlands, where Strauss made 88.

"Coming into this game after the Holland performance, it was a great bounce-back and showed everyone around the tournament that we're going to be a force to be reckoned with," said Strauss.

When Ian Bell (69) and Strauss, who put on 170 for the third wicket, fell in successive balls to left-arm quick Zaheer Khan, the match swung back the way of India, who'd earlier seen cricket great Sachin Tendulkar become the first player to score five World Cup hundreds.

England had a poor batting powerplay towards the finish, losing four wickets for 25 runs in five overs.

And it needed tailenders Graeme Swann and Ajmal Shazhad to secure only the fourth tie in World Cup history, as 13 runs came off the final over.

This was the match a World Cup full of lopsided early encounters desperately needed and Strauss said: "We've got to celebrate the fact it was an unbelievable game of cricket -- probably the best advert for the 50-over format you could possibly get."

Strauss has now scored five of his six ODI hundreds in the past two years.

But he was in no doubt Sunday's innings was the best of the lot.

"Given the importance of the game, against India in India in the World Cup, it was obviously crucial one of our players went on and got a big score.

"It was an innings I'm very proud of. It would have been great to have been not out at the end and seen the boys home.

"It was my best one-day knock."

Asked what he told his players during the interval between innings, Strauss replied: "I said 'Lads, that is an unbelievably flat wicket -- we can chase this."

However, he was left lamenting England's poor powerplay performance, saying: "We got ourselves in a position at 41 or 42 overs where we just needed to have a good powerplay, and we were there.

"But these powerplays can affect you both ways -- and unfortunately, it affected us in the negative way.

"Then in the end, we did pretty well to scramble a tie out of it.

"There were some great performances on both sides.

"When we take stock of this game we'll probably both say: 'Look, we've got a point' -- which is an important point -- and go on and play better as the tournament goes on."

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http://www.hindustantimes.com/Cup-force-with-us-now-says-ton-up-Strauss/Article1-667703.aspx

'Match against India is huge for us'

England's middle-order batsman, Ravi Bopara, on Thursday reckoned that Sunday's high-profile match against India would be one of their toughest in the ongoing World Cup, but added that their spinners can trouble the hosts if the game is played on a turning track.

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"This is one of our toughest challenges in this tournament. We know what the Indian batsman are capable of, but we do have our plans to keep them quiet. We will see on Sunday," Bopara said ahead of the team's training session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, the venue for the high-voltage encounter.

"If it is a spinning deck we have got our own spinners who can cause problems. A pitch that spins is going to cause trouble for any team. It is going to cause problems for India as well. A lot is going to depend on the conditions," he added.

Bopara is aware of the enormity of the India game.

"Every match is big for us. Even the game the other night was also big for us. But against India in India is going to be huge.

"We are not thinking too much about it. If you think too much about it you will get out of the mould. We want to stay relaxed."

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http://www.rediff.com/cricket/slide-show/slide-show-1-world-cup-2011-india-toughest-challenge-at-world-cup-bopara/20110225.htm