So many things to say.

India won its game, as predicted. Sehwag scored a 0 instead of a double hundred, as I expected.

Sachin was comfortable and confident and got out to a soft dismissal. As usual.

Ganguly was clueless and he should have gone on 0 (easy slip catch dropped) and 4 (a tough catch in the gully dropped). But in the end, what he puts up on the board is more important. And in the end, time spent in the middle has not substitute. Good for him.

I slept off after the first 45 minutes or so. Later found out that Dravid scored a century.

This guy, I am telling you. Don’t know what he eats and what he does, but he is redefining consistency. No wonder he is The Wall or Mr. Dependable.

Hats off to you, sir.

I saw some of the initial bowling and man, Irfan Pathan is awesome. The way he is able to swing the ball is amazing to watch. He is a good prospect for India in the long term and hopefully he keeps fit and keeps bowling for India for a long time.

Of course, the rest of the innings was nothing much to shout about, except the fact that Sachin pocketed 3 wickets. Did not see how he took them (but I have the innings taped, so I will watch it later today ;-) ), but 3 wickets is quite a handful.

India has started the season 1-0. Let’s hope for more in the win column.

Can’t wait. Though I must say I am not so excited about India facing the likes of UAE, Bangladesh and HK.

But looking ahead to the major series - Australia at home and South Africa at home, for tests, it is important to talk about the openers.

I understand that Sehwag turned into a decent opener despite being a middle order batsman. I am feeling bad for Chopra who has been conveniently pushed out of the squad with all the talk about Yuvi opening with Sehwag.

First of all, I have no problem with ‘middle order’ batsmen becoming openers. But talking about Yuvi as a test opener for the Indian national team without truly testing him in that position is unfair to him as well as Chopra. He is kinda set up for failure and Chopra is unnecessarily thrown out of the playing XI.

Of course, time will tell what the real deal is, but on paper, it does not make sense to shake the existing XI, except tweaking the bowling combination based on fitness as well as pitch conditions.

But Ganguly’s talk of Yuvraj being a ‘class act’ and one that ‘cannot be ignored’ is again a pointer to what I think is favoritism. ;-)

Ganguly’s comment that it was a tough call between Agarkar and Nehra makes me think about what I said earlier.

I think he still has his favorites, and does back them more than the others (ex Powar and Karthik vs Bhajji), but he is man enough to come and justify most of his decisions.

I have never doubted him. I just have a stinky feeling that if you are not in his good books, he may not support you as much as he could.

Comments posted on my earlier post were all good, but don’t you guys think that there may be some truth in what I am trying to say?

I like Ganguly as a captain. He has always backed his players and formed this team. In fact, he has, over time, earned the respect of his teammates. Especially the youngsters.

But he does play favorites. Well known examples are, he loves Nehra and Bhajji. And he does not like Agarkar and Powar.

Granted that Powar is not a certain inclusion, he was still dropped from the side after decent performances in Pakistan.

But dropping Agarkar is even more shocking. Is Nehra a better bowler than Agarkar? Who knows? Both are on-and-off bowlers and both need their ‘days’ to shine. On their off days, both are quite pedestrian. So what made Gangs choose Nehra?

Because Nehra probably brings him his morning tea with biscuits and newspapers. And Bhajji probably irons his clothes for him before he goes into the shower.

This attitude just sucks.

Ganguly says form will decide opener’s slot - Cricket - Indiatimes

From there:

“There is still five-six months to go for the team to play a Test match. Presently the team will play in one-dayers. After seeing the form of the players in the one-dayers, we will decide on the second opener’s slot,” Ganguly told reporters here.

Now tell me, how does this make sense? Form in one dayers will determine opener? So Akaash Chopra should seriously start looking for contracts in South Africa, the US, maybe even second level English county cricket :-)