The Royal Win and The Squad

The Rajasthan Royals have got their IPL campaign back on track by recording their third consecutive win after three consecutive losses to start the tournament. They beat the Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets on their “home” ground at Ahmedabad which was moth free this time. The news off the field was that of the selection of the India World T20 squad. Piyush Chawla made a surprise return to the national fold and R Vinay Kumar will have his first experience in the Indian Dressing room.
To start with the game I think it was a good bowling performance by the Rajasthan Royals. Shane Warne was getting turn, Tait was effective and they were helped by som brilliant fielding which produced two run outs. These run-outs I think really hampered Deccan and but credit has to be given to Rajasthan’s bowling. Rajasthan batted really well and Micheal Lumb looked in good touch but it was Yusuf Pathan who stole the show. His 8 towering sixes were the highlight of the day and that really won the game handsomely for Rajasthan. Like he said in the presentation Indian fans will hope that he performs like this during the World T20.
We saw the Indian Team being selected for the World T20 2010. The squad announced is : MS Dhoni (captain & wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper) , Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma. Most of them were automatic selections but I was surprised by the inclusion of Piyush Chawla. Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra have been in the team for a while and they are performing well in the IPL thus far. Their economy rates are also better than Chawla and it’s a decision that the selectors hope will work out. However, one must notice that in the playing XI Harbhajan will play and the all rounder’s spot will be taken by Ravindra Jadeja, but if either of them doesn’t perform to expectation, you need a good in form spinner in your reserves and I think Ojha or Mishra would have been perfect for that role. Ojha was in the squad the last time around and had performed well picking up wickets and restricting the scoring. I think selecting Vinay Kumar is a good decision by the Selectors. They have clearly sent a message that if you perform you would be selected. The fact that he was selected over the likes of Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma shows how important it is to perform in the IPL. Rohit Sharma was also named in the squad. He hasn’t shown great form in the IPL this season apart from the last 2 innings and I think Robin Uthappa would have been a better option.
Today we have Kolkata playing Punjab. Punjab will look to get their campaign back on track whereas Kolkata will try to discover their winning streak.
Till then….bye.