BSNL EurAsia Series

[Autobahn]

By the same token McGrath lacks value addition, and is relatively speaking a medium pacer with good control over the ball...

Yes but no offense to SS paul fans, there's a difference between good control and Robotic pinpoint accuracy, McGrath also can get a good deal of lift due to his height and also has that knack of being able to work batsmen out.

 

[SJS]

Let's take a look at the India A prospects.
Robin Uthappa, Shikhar Dhawan, Venugopal Rao, Dinesh Karthik, Piyush Chawla, RP Singh and VRV Singh are all either national reserves or genuine fringe players.
What about someone like Sodhi or Paul? Do you guys reckon they have a chance of a national call-up if they shine here?

Sodhi will be 26 this year. He has had his chances and has not fulfilled the promise he showed as a schoolboy. He played his last ODI in 2002. There is no way he can come back to an Indian team now.

He was supposed to be a swashbuckling batsman and a more than useful medium pacer. Well his strike rate of 73 in batting and 92 in bowling should be enough for his memories to be given a decent burial.

He doesnt even make it to the Zonal side on most occasions.

 

[SJS]

Well his strike rate of 73 in batting and 92 in bowling should be enough for his memories to be given a decent burial.

Add to that a batting average of 25 and a bowling average of 73 or so

 

[venx86]

The Indian team is quite a mix of under-19 players and guys who have represented India earlier. Seems a decent side at first sight and will be interesting to see how they perform in this Eurasia Series. I would not have picked so many youngsters for a tournament like this mainly because some of them do not even have the requisite first class experience.

It will be more of a tournament for the other International teams like Holland, Ireland and UAE. I fancy India A and Pakistan A's chances to bang the title as they have shades of quality in them. Sri Lanka A are in decent form, having beaten Bangladesh A at home. India can surely look to some bright future in hand, if they do manage to win this series.

 

[Dravid]

I want to also see VRV perform.. been hearing lots of things about his pace and so on.. but he is yet to show that.. so i want him to perform here to get into the main arena..

VRV Singh got smashed in the last ODI agaisnt England. He was being hit all around the ground. I don't think he will make a comeback to the team unless he pulls of something amazing in this tournament

 

[venx86]

Timing ?

Is anyone sure of the time these matches will start ?

 

[adharcric]

VRV Singh got smashed in the last ODI agaisnt England. He was being hit all around the ground. I don't think he will make a comeback to the team unless he pulls of something amazing in this tournament

I'm glad you're not the selector, because killing someone's career after two bad performances is pure idiocy. Especially when it's a 22-year-old pace prospect. Trust me, he'll be back.

 

[Autobahn]

VRV Singh got smashed in the last ODI agaisnt England. He was being hit all around the ground. I don't think he will make a comeback to the team unless he pulls of something amazing in this tournament

Welcome to the English selection policy 90's style.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Add to that a batting average of 25 and a bowling average of 73 or so

His international stats are hardly relevant, as he was 22 at the time and had many expectations placed on him. That he didn't perform then should not be held against him now IF he is performing in domestic cricket. Maturity is a very real factor in sport.

How is his domestic form?

 

[adharcric]

SJS, for once you seem to be wrong about Sodhi. As mentioned above, those stats mean almost nothing. JP Yadav also debuted a long time ago and disappointed, and still got recalled. Sodhi is a more talented version of Yadav, so don't rule him out. If he's impressive with the A team and in the domestic circuit (where he has been pretty good but nothing extraordinary), he should be considered.

 

[honestbharani]

Thats a nice nice team there for the indian's there.. i so dearly want to see Sodhi in the runs.. Anyone with indian Domestic arena, could u let me know how the performances of Ambati Rayadu of Andhra/Hyderabad is.. like is he any good to be in the A team or does he have any chances...

He shifted from Hyderabad to Andhra last season and apart from being involved in a sledging controversy/incident, his name hardly ever cropped up throughout the season. I am afraid that is one young talent that we have let go due to improper handling.

 

[adharcric]

I heard Sahara One bagged the telecast rights for this series as well, even though it involves the A team. Can those of you who are in India check it out and give some updates please, if possible?

 

[alternative]

He shifted from Hyderabad to Andhra last season and apart from being involved in a sledging controversy/incident, his name hardly ever cropped up throughout the season. I am afraid that is one young talent that we have let go due to improper handling.

That is quite sad to hear.. I actually saw him playing a Ranji Trophy match once and was impressed..

Well on that note, is there any good young cricketers from the south now...

 

[honestbharani]

That is quite sad to hear.. I actually saw him playing a Ranji Trophy match once and was impressed..

Well on that note, is there any good young cricketers from the south now...

Badrinath is quite good. Uthappa of course has already made it at the ODI level. Stuart Binny is said to be a very exciting prospect as well. Rao and Kaarthick are at the fringes already. That is all I know so far. Arjun will be able to give you a better picture, I feel.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

I think Ireland and Holland are a little too arrogant these days. Even their regular teams shouldn't compete with India A, Pakistan A and Sri Lanka A. Yet they send out A teams!
UAE are humble. Humble minnows.

Apparently, when this series was scheduled, it was set to be in early April - right after the Dutch played their Intercontinental match in Kenya. The Dutch players took leave from work accordingly, but due to the hurriedly scheduled India v Pakistan games, this series was put back. This left most senior Dutch players unable to go, because of work commitments.

Ireland are playing Intercontinental cricket at home, against Namibia in May.

Netherlands A:

*+J Smits (classy wickie who's been there for ages), DLS van Bunge (big batting talent who's trained with MCC Young Cricketers), TM de Grooth (national team opener), AM Kervezee (even huger talent than van Bunge), HM Kashif (spinner, played the Intercontinental match in Kenya in lack of someone else), P Seelaar (spinner, would have played the Intercontinental match but travelled home), MWA van Nierop (opening bat, been in and out of the side), E Szwarczynski (SA-born middle order bat), E van Giezen (seamer), M Jonkman (seamer), +A Buurman (backup wickie from Kweek's club, can't bat), P Borren (former NZ U-19 allrounder), M Bukhari (promising talent, apparently), M Ghaznavi (allrounder).

First match: Ireland A 132 ao (Wilson 58) v UAE - Ali Abbas took two wickets in the first over, which also featured two wides, in humid conditions with low bounce.

Edit: Ireland scorecard and UAE are currently 50-2 in reply. Looking good for the hosts, in other words.

Schedule (found on ICF):

April 23: India A v Netherlands A
April 24: Ireland A v Sri Lanka A
April 25: Netherlands A v Pakistan A
April 27: UAE v Sri Lanka A
April 28: India A v Pakistan A

 

[Arjun]

Badrinath is quite good. Uthappa of course has already made it at the ODI level. Stuart Binny is said to be a very exciting prospect as well. Rao and Kaarthick are at the fringes already. That is all I know so far. Arjun will be able to give you a better picture, I feel.

Stuart Binny was one player whom I considered as yet another over-rated star-son, but his bowling has come good these days. His batting isn't much to write home about, and seems another bits-and-pieces player, and hopefully he'll develop into a better all-round player.

That Karnataka side has some promising youngsters, most of whom were in the Academy side that won a tournament in Australia, facing Australian FC teams and a New Zealand reserve side. They won that series, and Bond made that NZ team there. Gaurav Dhiman smashed some fast runs in the final, and Bond even told him "See you in India colours", so there must be some talent out there. He was initially an opening bowler for the Indian Under-19 side, along with RP Singh, but plays more as an opener. Hopefully we'll see him assuming that old role again.

From Goa (they're actually a South Zone side, for those who don't know) there's aan off-spinner named Faisal Shaikh, but there's one offie too many. Karnataka's opening bowler Vinay Kumar is supposedly fast and gets movement. His opening partner NSC Aiyappa won the inaugural Scorpio Speedster competiting, but has struggled at the FC/ListA level, though he can convert that success in that event to success for Karnataka. There's not much of note happening otherwise, but Karnataka will be a team to watch.

 

[Arjun]

He doesnt even make it to the Zonal side on most occasions.

He got upstaged by Sunny Singh and Joginder Sharma. Sunny is very young and a prolific run-scorer in domestic matches and an ex-U-19 player. Joginder actually opens the bowling for his team and is a middle-order mainstay as well. No wonder Sodhi struggles to make the Zonal side.

 

[Arjun]

His international stats are hardly relevant, as he was 22 at the time and had many expectations placed on him. That he didn't perform then should not be held against him now IF he is performing in domestic cricket. Maturity is a very real factor in sport.

How is his domestic form?

Sodhi was hardly mature at that time and was woefully low on power. The current Punjab coach is rather intelligent and managed to sort out more than a few technical deficiencies in batting and bowling, resulting in an improved performance in his comeback season. However, if he's playing as a specialist batsman, he may not make a comeback, as he's just one too many.

 

[adharcric]

I can really see Gaurav Dhiman opening for India in one-dayers in 5 years. He can bowl brisk medium-pace as well. The emergence of these well-rounded players is really going to help India (Pathan, Powar, Chawla, Jadeja, Dhiman, Sharma, Kumar, etc.).

 

[honestbharani]

I can really see Gaurav Dhiman opening for India in one-dayers in 5 years. He can bowl brisk medium-pace as well. The emergence of these well-rounded players is really going to help India (Pathan, Powar, Chawla, Jadeja, Dhiman, Sharma, Kumar, etc.).

Powar, of course, is WELL ROUNDED in more ways than one.