CL T20 squads come in for all teams

One of the costliest players bought in the IPL, missed season 3 of IPL due to a knee injury. Yes, it is Andrew Flintoff, he will miss the Champions League 2nd Edition this Sepetember too. Chennai Super Kings will miss the English all rounder Flintoff. But, the Giant who recently retired from the Test form- Muttiah Muralitharan is in the action for the Champions League.

Juan Theron in SA T20 squad

The South African cricket Board has named the T20 squad for the Caribbean tournament starting April 30th. Juan Theron is the only new and uncapped player.

Good signs for South Africa is that Graeme Smith who went back home from IPL suffering an injury will be alright and will lead the team in the Cup.

However, Wayne Parnell and Justin Kemp who got themselves injured in the IPL won’t get a chance to play in the T20 World Cup.

In Parnell’s absence, Juan Theron who impressed everyone by leading the bowling attack of KXIP from the front in IPL and won the match for them has been given a place in the squad.

With the presence of Rory Kleinveldt, the all rounder adds depth to both bowling and batting. He was a part of the Under 19 team and is in fine form now.

The Coach of South Africa told:-

I am delighted that we have Graeme Smith back from injury to lead us in this campaign. At the same time it is sad to lose players of the calibre of Wayne Parnell and Justin Kemp.

Rory Kleinveldt will be a good like-for-like replacement for Parnell. He is capable of opening the bowling or operating at first change and he has also been a regular death bowler for the Cobras which is an important area for us. Rory also gives us some good batting options down the order

Rusty Theron has impressed everybody both with his skills and his temperament both in domestic cricket and in the Indian Premier League. He was a key player for the Warriors in doing the domestic limited overs double.

South Africa are placed with India and Afghanisthan in the Cup.

SQUAD:-

Graeme Smith (capt), Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Rory Kleinveldt, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Juan Theron, Roelof van der Merwe

Preview: RR vs MI

RAJASTHAN ROYALS VS MUMBAI INDIANS

VENUE: BRABOUNE STADIUM, MUMBAI

DATE: 13TH MATCH, 2010 (3PM START)

Team Mumbai Indians:-

The opening partnership and the start will be the key for the team. Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya, one of the World’s most explosive batsmen will open the innings. Its bad that there is no Kieron Pollard for this match. They will surely will the demolisher. The middle order is quite fragile. The likes of JP Duminy will be most important as he is the key player in the middle order. Abhishek Nayar should perform as he is vulnerable both with his bat and the ball.

The team will surely miss the power hitting of  Kieron Pollard and the all round performance of Dwayne Bravo who won’t be available for the first game. But, the bowling is strong enough to restrict and defend any total. With, Zaheer Khan as the spear head of the attack along with him is Lasith Malinga, who is very dangerous in death overs. Tendulkar will look to bowl him after the 10th over. The spin department will be looked after by Harbhajan Singh.

TEAM RAJASTHAN ROYALS:-

They will be the most happiest team with IPL returning back to India. The team will surely miss Shane Watson. But, Captain Shane Warne will implement a lot of youngsters into the team. Graeme Smith will guard the opening position along with him Naman Ojha or Swapnil Asnodkar. Yusuf Pathan’s power pack hitting will be the key and he will be the trump card. With Damien Martyn bough in the auction, it adds some strength to the side. Bowling is quite okay. But, there is only one pacer good and reliable- Shaun Tait who will look to swing and hit the deck. Other than him, there is Munaf Patel and Siddharth Trivedi who are not that reliable. With Shane Watson not in, Dimtri Mascarenhas will be important in the game.

PITCH:-

It is a flat deck and bowling will play a major role. Win the toss and bat first.

KEY PLAYERS:-

MI:- Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, JP Duminy, Lasith Malinga

RR:- Graeme Smith, Yusuf Pathan, Shane Warne, Shaun Tait

SQUADS:-

Rajasthan Royals : Graeme Smith, Swapnil Asnodkar, Damien Martyn, Abhishek Jhunjunwala, Yusuf Pathan, Naman Ojha(w), Dimitri Mascarenhas, Shane Warne(c), Munaf Patel, Siddharth Trivedi, Amit Singh, Shaun Tait, Amit Gajanan Paunikar, Johan Botha, Faiz Fazal, Kamran Khan, Michael Lumb, Morne Morkel, Sumit Narwal, Syed Quadri, Abhishek Raut, Shrikant Wagh, Mahesh Rawat.

Mumbai Indians : Sachin Tendulkar(c), Sanath Jayasuriya, Shikhar Dhawan, Jean-Paul Duminy, Ryan McLaren, Abhishek Nayar, Aditya Tare(w), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga, Murtaza Ali, Rahul Shukla, Ambati Rayudu, Rajagopal Sathish, Dilhara Fernando, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Dhawal Kulkarni, Chandan Madan, Ishan Malhotra, Graham Napier, Syed Sahabuddin, Saurabh Tiwary.

World Championship of Cricket starts tomorrow!

And we are finally in awaiting for the match to begin. It has been 3 years since both the test teams have met each other. The last one was new to forget as India’s Nawab of Najafgarh went on to score another triple century ,they were rattled for under hundred in one innings and the final match got over in less than 3 days.

So, now whoz in with a chance to win the match. India is surely missing the Wall, his absence will cost a lot. With Dravid missing out, the other six batsmen are:

Sehwag, Gambhir, Vijay, Tendulkar, Badrinath, Laxman.

• The team still contains- top ordered explosive batsmen Sehwag and Gambhir who are in top form.
• Next position No.3, it will lack the experience of Rahul Dravid. So probably, Vijay or Badrinath or even Laxman will play in his absence.
• Tendulkar, no words to explain he is in great form. He should take responsibility for the whole team.
• Meanwhile, Laxman too is in good form just fresh after a injury. Oh! I just got in news that Laxman is not certain for the match but it is not the final decision. Lets see!
• Vijay and Badrinath are the domestic players who play for Tamil Nadu, both have a opportunity in their hands to perform well.

The Indian bowling attack consists of Harbhajan, Zaheer, Ishant, Mishra/Ojha/Tyagi.

• Zaheer and Ishant are the two spearheads for the Indian Attack. They should take early wickets to put the visitors in pressure.
• Harbhajan too, is important and he is the main guy to watch out for because he might make a difference.

• The other one place probably will be filled by a spinner because it is a spinning track or even Dhoni may try something else.

So, Lets watch out who performs well for the Indian team.

Players to watch out for India: Sehwag, Gambhir, Zaheer and Harbhajan. The key roles are given to these 4 experienced players.

While, The Indian batsmen have to face the speeds of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnel who have the capacity to bowl over 150 speeds.

The spinners Johan Botha and Paul Harris would be in need for the Proteas for most of the stages of the match. Their performance in recent times is not upt o the mark.

So, awaiting to see what happens. Till Next time- its Bye.!