By Daijiworld cricket correspondent at Faridabad
March 31, 2006
Scores:
England: 226 /10 (49.5 overs)
India: 230/6 (49 overs) Suresh Raina 81 Not Out (Man of the Match)
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I do not know how many of the cricket followers know that too much politics is involved in the selection of current Indian cricket team.
As I observed, if Sreesanth is in the Indian team, it's just because of someone's influence. I really don't understand why RP Singh, one of the brightest players in the Indian cricket scene, has been omitted for second ODI, just because he gave away some runs in the first one-dayer. Though Ramesh Powar was the right selection, the right person to go out was Sreesanth, and not RP. Do you agree with me?
Well, once again, India had to depend on newcomers to win the match than the so-called solid middle-order batsmen. Sehwag, Yuvraj and Kaif failed again miserably. It's high time for Sehwag to think about his career. Unfortunately he plays well when the time of his removal comes close. Then he plays a couple of good innings and then again his form will go down. This is very bad for Indian cricket. A similar situation with Yuvraj and Kaif too.
Suresh Raina is a man who is one of the strongest candidates for the forthcoming world cup. He and Dhoni, along with Pathan, will bring major changes in Indian cricket in the coming days.
It's now time for Munaf Patel to come in, but in whose place? Looks like Sreesanth would stick to the team for a few more games, just because he captures some tail-enders during peak overs and so as he gives away enough runs. Beleive me, he sure has a very big influential hand in Indian cricket, otherwise players of his calibre would not have been included even in the 15-member team.
England, a not so weak and not so strong team, is really not an easy team to play with. But one thing is very clear, Indian batsmen failed to show the entertaining batting performance which was shown against Pakistan and Sri Lanka
With India 2-0 ahead in the series, let's wait and watch if Munaf and RP will be back. And it's also important that the top-order plays to their full potential and prove that they are the seniors and they need to set standards for others
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