RP's enclosure in ODI squad baffling

If world champions India are to win the ODI series next to England, the bowlers will have to do something odd, says Wasim Akram.

India’s bowlers will be below the scanner when the ODI series starts this weekend at Chester-Le-Street. India’s Test disgrace was mainly due to an insufficient bowling attack and if it continues in the same vein, Dhoni’s team will be in big difficulty.

I doubt what RP Singh is doing in the ODI squad. He was totally off-colour in The Oval Test match and it will be a miracle if he can do something special in the ODIs. It was good decision to comprise young Jamshedpur quickie, Varun Aaron, because India need fresh pair of legs in both batting and bowling.

Much will depend on the spinners and Amit Mishra has to realize that his main job will be to pick wickets. I was dissatisfied with Mishra’s bowling in the Test matches and Dhoni may not be inclined to play him. Mishra has a lot to learn. It may not be a bad idea for BCCI to hire someone like Shane Warne for some time and teach Mishra how to turn the ball better and with more control!

The ODI series will be a test of character for India’s young batsmen. The sooner they learn to accept liability, the better it is for India. India’s Generation Next must make a start in England because the golden generation of Indian middle-order batting is drawing to a close. Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman are all above 35 and they will eventually retire in a couple of years.

It’s time for Raina to learn from his mistakes. He looked completely out of sorts in the Test series. It looked as if he did not know how to hold the bat, leave alone score some runs. It was extremely sad to see such a talented batsman struggling like this.

The younger generation of Indian batsmen needs to realise that they have to spend more time playing first-class cricket rather than concentrate all their energies on T20 cricket. The BCCI has to ensure this too. T20 version is meant only for entertainment purposes! But if you want to become great batsmen like Dravid, Tendulkar or Ganguly, then you have to score big runs consistently at the Test match level. Only then will you be considered a legend.

Can the Kohlis, Rainas and Rohit Sharmas make themselves count? This is the time to stand up and deliver because England are on a high and will come really hard at the world champions.

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Ponting, Clarke look to hit form

Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke are aim to put an finish to a bad run in Test cricket when Australia face Sri Lanka in the three-Test series, starting Wednesday.

The visitors will be dependent on Captain Clarke and his precursor, Ponting, to claim the series. This will be Australia's first since the uncomfortable 3-1 Ashes defeat to England in January.

However, it will not be easy to regain form under hard conditions. The duo has struggle in the longer version of the game for close to two years now. They will be eager to make compensation when the first Test opens at the Galle International Stadium.

The 36-year-old Ponting is the third-highest run-getter in Test cricket at the back the Indian duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, with 12,363 runs from 152 matches. He has 39 centuries to his credit, though he has not hit a ton in his last 20 outings. His 209 against Pakistan at Hobart, in January, 2010, was his last develop.

Clarke, 30, has fared no better, going with no a hundred in 10 matches after hitting 168 against New Zealand in Wellington in March, last year. But a circle in the fortunes of the tourists' captain and elder statesman may be just an innings away.

Ponting, who made way for Clarke as captain after the World Cup in April, scored 53 and 90 not out during the earlier one-day series next to the Sri Lankans which Australia won 3-2.

Clarke also chips in with two half-centuries in the series and then scored 104 in a three-day put into practice match in Colombo last week ahead of the first test.

Clarke, who begins his reign as a full-time Australian Test captain on Wednesday, said he was keen to score Test runs again.

"My form has not been as good as I would like in Test cricket," Clarke told the travelling Australian media.

"For me, Test cricket is the final, the pinnacle, and I want to be at my best. I could not have asked for better training, but now I have got to do it when it counts. It's significant to make runs every time I bat but I would favor a hundred in the first Test."

Clarke, regard as one of the finest players of spin bowling, has scored 4,742 runs in 69 Tests at an average of 46.49 with 14 centuries.

Ponting admit Australia's Ashes loss, when he was captain, had overstated his batting and now looked forward to doing well as the team's forefront batsman.

"The team's presentation had started to play on my mind and it almost certainly dragged my batting down a little bit," Ponting told a website in a recent interview. "I have got to score runs that are going to be sufficient to win for Australia and that's my main objective for the instant future."

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Jonathan Trott denies foul-mouthing kids

England batsman Jonathan Trott was accuse of foul-mouthing a group of children during the team's ODI match in Ireland but it twisted out to be a misinterpretation.

Former Irish skipper, Trent Johnston, claim on Twitter: "Word on the street is Trott told a bunch of kids (including my son) to f*** off when they asked for an autograph."

The 30-year-old Trott, who top-scored with 69 from 105 balls in England's One-day victory, deprived of the charges.

Johnston, who did not play in the match because of injury, later detached his post. "I have spoken to Jonathan Trott who assure me it did not take place and we appreciate Trent Johnston has now delete the post," an England spokesman was quoted as saying by The Sun.

It was not the first instance of English cricketers getting into a disagreement. Former captain Kevin Petersen vents his fury on Twitter when he was left out by England last year. He later claimed that the feed was meant to be sent as a private message to a friend.

Tim Bresnan was also warning by the England administration in 2009 after he swore on Twitter at a fan who mocked-up an image of him which made him look fat.

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Injured Gambhir probable to return home

With his indistinct vision deteriorating to improve, Indian opener Gautam Gambhir could be stuffing his bags to return home.

In what might be a big blow to the movement of the world champions in the approaching one-day series next to England, Gambhir looks set to undergo the same fate as Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag who either came or joined the Indian squad only to leave upset having contributed little to the team's cause.

India were whitewashed 4-0 in the Test series; lost their number one Test rankings and are in danger of suffering a similar incapacitating fate in the one-day series, starting with the first game in Chester-le-Street on September 3.

Gambhir had backpedalled to catch a pull by Kevin Pietersen at mid-on on the second day of the final Test at the Oval on August 19, but trip and fell on his head, a fall which resulted in blurred vision.

He didn't open either innings of the Oval Test and came in down the order, causal little by way of runs.

Since then, he has visit doctors and had MRI scans which have given him a clean bill of health. However, Gambhir is still far from well.

Gambhir's case is similar to the one suffer by South African fast bowler Dale Steyn during the Champions League T20 last year when he too fell on his head as he backpedalled to try and catch Michael Hussey in a semi-final clash between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Steyn's MRI scans also show little, but the pace man took 3-4 weeks to regain full fitness. With Gambhir potentially out for a similar length of time, he is also now a doubt for when England pay a return visit to India in early October.

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Nixon: Dhoni have painful hands

MS Dhoni could be distress from "sore hands" causing his wicket keeping deteriorating on the current England tour.

Nixon, who last night retire after powering his Leicestershire team to domestic Twenty20 title victory, has also been an England 'keeper in the past and is the one who helped Dhoni out with his keeping when he first came on tour to these shores in 2007.

"It looks like he has sore hands. He's too proud a guy to show it but he has sore hands. Or else, he is very violent and sure in his catching but (on this tour) he's been giving a lot," Nixon said this morning.

"It's like life form in the boxing ring. If your hands are joined, you can't throw a punch."

Since Dhoni is not in the best of physical shape, Nixon believe he hasn't been doing those things constantly well sufficient which he passed it on him on the last tour.

"As a wicketkeeper, while you are at the back the stumps, your chin should be lower to your knees. Your shoulder should be square and level. He hasn't been doing it."

"If you are not very square (in shoulders), you could finish up doing a lot of twisting and there would be more catching errors. Your arms should be at your chin height. He's not doing it as without fail in this series."

Nixon said the only way to get rid of pain in your hands is to give it a good rest, an chance Dhoni hasn't had for a very long time now.

"It (the soreness) isn't going to go away without rest. Sometimes, we are keen a non-natural rubber-band kind of strip on fingers but then you lose feel of the ball. It's unwieldy on hands."

Nixon believed Dhoni's behavior and the fact that he is a leader, isn't helping him in seeking a break and sort out his tattered hands. "Being a captain, you require putting in 15-18 hours a day. You look after everybody, communicate. Dhoni is a giver and when you are so with other people, you ignore your own game," he praised Dhoni.

"Dhoni is fervent about other people. It gives you esteem from team-mates. But at times, senior players and management need to say 'Let's forget about others and let's get you right. Let's clean up your backyard."

Nixon admitted that it is certainly a tough job for players at the best level.

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