Tidbits from here and there

Sorry been extremely busy lately and no real time for concerted blogging. But here are some of the tidbits picked up in the news today.

Selectors are a weird species. And the Aussies are no exception. Today they have come up with not one or two but several incomprehensible pieces of selection that would make Kiran More and co. look like Einsteinesque wise men.

So Kasprowicz makes a comeback in place of McGrath (note Kasprowicz NOT Gillespie), Tait fills in for Nathan Bracken, Shane Watson has not been considered and Symonds preferred over him and most bizzarely Damien Martyn and Michael Clarke BOTH picked over Brad Hodge who had incidentally had a huge failure against South Africa in Perth - a minor matter of a double century a couple of tests ago.

Well I could go on and on criticizing and questioning these decisions but what do I care ? So I choose to enjoy the humor they create. What strikes me though is a few vital points:

1. Gillespie was always more incisive than Kasper. With McGrath out, it would have been better to have a bowler who less than a couple of years ago was considered almost on par with McGrath than one who around the same time was not even in the reckoning. Simply Gillespie is more of a wicket-taking option than Kasper I feel.

2. Shane Watson may not have impressed and may be overrated but I do believe he has greater skills with the ball than Andrew Symonds and could reasonably turn into a better all-rounder.

3. By picking Martyn, Clarke, Kasper and Tait they have basically gone back to the defeated Ashes side - I dont know what these players have done on the domestic circuit that have made this U-turn possible. I do know they haven't exactly set the World alight with their ODI performances in the last few months. So if any of the Aussies want to put in their thoughts please enlighten me. Anyway this is definitely a backward-looking selection IMO and I just hope that our Indians do not take a cue.

For surely now, the Gangulians will be up in arms demanding the reinstatement of Ganguly citing how the best team in the World has chosen to take a step backward.

Meanwhile I remember criticizing the selectors harshly for 2 moves last week -
1) Picking VRV Singh over Munaf
2) Picking Jaffer over Gambhir

Well the first was promptly corrected and in the second case the selectors turned out to be right. A superlativer performance by Wasim Jaffer that and I am extremely pleased for the much abused Mumbai lad. Not only were the runs vital - I mean how many Indians have actually scored a hundred in the last innings on the fifth day to save a test in recent times ??

Of the top of my head I can't remember any. Hell I just remember 3 and all of them were losing efforts.
a) Sachin Tendulkar v Pakistan at Chennai 1999
b) Ajit Agarkar v England at Lord's 2002
c) Yuvraj Singh v Pakistan at Karachi 2006

Oh yes, on a more detailed recollection I can remember that the last time an Indian scored a 100 in the fourth innings on the last day to save a test was in fact the great Mohammad Azharuddin himself against Sri Lanka at Colombo 1997.

Speaking of whom Nasser Hussain says and I agree that some of Jaffer's shots through the on-side remind one of the great man himself. So all in all a wonderful innings not just in the context of the match but also in terms of quality of strokeplay.

Nass was quick to point out however and I agree again that he does have a serious technical difficulty playing the cover drive where he tends to close the face of his bat. Now that is something major but hopefully something that can and will need to be sorted out. If he does that I hope he can go on to be a long term opener for India.

Now coming to the latest entrant into the side - Munaf Patel - and I have a soft corner for him for he plays for my Ranji team (although not quite a home-grown product). I wish him all the very best if he is selected in the squad come Thursday. Hopefully he can do Maharashtra proud something which the likes of Kanitkar and Siddiqui only promised but didnt really deliver upon.