The team for the 2nd ODI against the Windies certainly looks a bit more balanced and better, in my view. The team management has realised that the balance wasn't quite right. I alluded to this balance issue in my post on this blog a few minutes before the commencement of the 1st ODI of the series.
India went into that game with 4 bowlers. And that is just not on.
The team for the 2nd ODI is also not right, in my view. They are a batsman short.
However, one can see that the team is working on a path that will get them from a starting point to an ideal finsihing point with just a few swaps-and-changes. They appear to have started this journey really well.
It also helps that the team is winning along the way!
So the team for the 2nd ODI (as announced) is:
Gambhir, Ganguly, Dravid, Tendulkar, Karthik, Dhoni, Agarkar, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Powar, Joginder.
My suspicion is that the batting order will be:
Ganbhir, Ganguly, Joginder, Tendulkar, Dravid, Karthik, Dhoni, Powar, Agarkar, Harbhajan, Zaheer
Sreesanth and Raina miss out from the last game. One suspects that both of them are probably going to miss the plane to the World Cup.
This team, though better, in terms of balance, than the team for the 1st ODI, still lacks in one or two departments. It has 5 mainline bowlers in Zaheer, Agarkar, Harbhajan, Powar and Joginder. In addition, it has 2 'other bowlers' in Ganguly and Tendulkar.
It lacks 3 all rounders, in my view.
They are, in my view, Sehwag (for Gambhir), Yuvraj for Karthik/Powar and Pathan for Agarkar.
But one can witness a progression towards that state.
I believe Pathan and Yuvraj should make it into the team for the last 2 ODIs when the 15-member team is announced tomorrow by the selectors. They should replace R. P. Singh and Raina. There were some clues to Rainas' dropping in Dravids' pre-match interview. Pathan's case is helped by his recent wicket taking -- in particular, in the Ranji semi-final against Mumbai (where Mumbai were 0 for 6 wickets at one stage, with Pathan claiming 3 of these)!
Good luck to Team India...
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