The Toughest Challenge Ahead

[diegovegaz]

odi series against sri lanka in feb tour of new zealand in march icc world twenty20 in june icc champions trophy in september odi series against australia in october sri lanka's tour in november each of the above mentioned series will not be easy, but india's toughest challenge, this year is to defend their T20 world cup in the inaugural world cup, there was little expectations from team india, being that india had played only one twenty twenty match, while rest of the teams had played a handful of them the side was young and inexperienced but they surprised each and everyone, they shook the world, and announced themselves as World T20 Champions this year, the situation is much different there will be immense pressure on team india to defend their title we surely, support dhoni and his men, to retain the cup this year as well but the likes of suresh raina, ishant sharma, zaheer khan, etc they will surely be drafted in the side what role can zaheer play in the slam bang version will ishant do justice to his talent in the 4 over spell will joginder sharma retain his place in the squad will sreesanth make a comeback into the indian team, and retain his position as well will robin uthappa get another oppurtunity will we see dinesh kaarthick again besides these, there are a number os issues asking to be addressed the australian team will come back harder against us, the south africans also have improved their game the challenges are there, for india to overcome them!!!!

[punjabi_khota]

I think Munaf Patel will have an important role to play. Also IPL has helped unearthing stars like Virat kohli who will give us an edge.

[Dravid]

I think Munaf Patel will have an important role to play. Also IPL has helped unearthing stars like Virat kohli who will give us an edge.

ipl? under19 tourney made virat kholi, in ipl he failed... for 20-20 wc.. can wait :D surely aggy must be brought back from the dead yet again:two_thumbs_up:

[fineleg]

Talking abt 'tough challenges'... Well, Yuvi will have a tough challenge in the SL ODI series in Feb (to be played in SL). Will Yuvi come out the winner or will he get BAWed yet again by SL? Mendis and Murli will be eagerly waiting.

[Ram]

We are favorites to win for sure. With Sehwag and Gambhir opening and guys like Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sharma, Raina in the middle order, ours is one of the most potent batting orders. Yusuf Pathan too may have an important role to play since we all know he can be a devastating batsman in T20, but his bowling is slightly suspect. And with Ishant and Bhajji, we have two very good T20 bowlers. We should retain the title. This team is built for this format. Even in the last ODI series we played against Eng, we have how massive the gap was, between us and them, interms of the Limted over cricket prowess. It will also help us if we a get a favorable draw. The only problem I see with this format is how fickle the qualifying can get sometimes. They will probably play 2 or 3 qualifying matches before the knock out round and so, if you lose the first match, you're almost guaranteed to be out of the tournament if you lose another one. Who can forget what happened in the last edition of the tournament, when S.Africa, despite losing not a single match till then, got knocked out of the semis coz they lost to India.

[cowboysfan]

it wold be tough to retain the title because of the very nature of the T20 game.one man on the opposing team can get hot and we may well lose.we should be favorites but that doesnt mean we are going to win.

[fineleg]

it wold be tough to retain the title because of the very nature of the T20 game.one man on the opposing team can get hot and we may well lose.we should be favorites but that doesnt mean we are going to win.

absolutely... the format is such that one brilliant perf can take the game away- just like Brendan mccullum in IPL 1st match.

[Sachin_Rulez]

Talking abt 'tough challenges'... Well, Yuvi will have a tough challenge in the SL ODI series in Feb (to be played in SL). Will Yuvi come out the winner or will he get BAWed yet again by SL? Mendis and Murli will be eagerly waiting.

Forget about 3 match ODI series in SL...that's not important...talking of challenges, will Dravid succeed in test series against NZ, considering the pathetic form he has been in for the last 2 years? Will his average drop down to below 50 before he retires?

[Chandan]

odi series against sri lanka in feb

Has it been finalised? If yes, where is the news? I didn't read it anywhere? Can you please post the link which says that BCCI has officially agreed to play ODI series in Lanka?

[diegovegaz]

I think Munaf Patel will have an important role to play. Also IPL has helped unearthing stars like Virat kohli who will give us an edge.

with zaheer and ishant likely to be roped in, the earlier trio of rpsingh, sreesanth and irfan, there is hardly any role munaf can play it would be difficult for munaf to find his place in the 11 though, i am sure he will prove to be highly economical, if he gets his oppurtunity but, his feilding(though improved) might cost us

[dj85]

I couldn't care less abt t20.... Toughest challenge should be to make a ruthless statement in NZ by beating them 3-0 in tests. We have got the fire power in our fast bowling to pull it off. We have to make a habit of steam rolling opposition teams away from home if we are to exert our dominance in world cricket.

[Lord]

with zaheer and ishant likely to be roped in, the earlier trio of rpsingh, sreesanth and irfan, there is hardly any role munaf can play it would be difficult for munaf to find his place in the 11 though, i am sure he will prove to be highly economical, if he gets his oppurtunity but, his feilding(though improved) might cost us

i dont like munaf patel at all.he just doesnt seem interested.his fielding is pathetic,even worse than ganguly.his batting is also a joke.we cant have that sort of blokes in t20. but the real problem with him is he doesnt try hard enuf.wen he came in he bowled at 140,now he struggles to reach 135.breaks down too many times.lethargy is written all over his approach.i still cant forget his reaction after india was knocked out of world cup.HE WAS SMILING!!!!he just doesnt care.

[fineleg]

^ if RPS or dancer-sreesanth work hard and regain form, then they can pip Munaf daadaji Patel. Otherwise, what choice do we have. Perhaps slow medium pacers Irfan Pathan or Praveen Kumar.

[fineleg]

each of the above mentioned series will not be easy, but india's toughest challenge, this year is to defend their T20 world cup

Despite who played and won last time, I feel catches win matches. Catches and run outs and fielding will be the tipping factor. Currently SA and Aus are the best in this. Asian teams need to do a lot of work in this area. But definitely fielding will play a major part in the winning of T20 world cup.

[diegovegaz]

dhoni realises how important the half chances and run outs are the likes of uthappa, raina, rohit, gambhir are good enough for the challenge

[Dinx - the Jinx]

Winning the test series in NZ should be made the prime goal for Team India for the year 2009. And beating the SL team in home test series... The rest are less important. T20 WC may get a lot of attention and fan following. But as many of you have already opined, we start as favorites, but there is no 100% guarantee that we would win, due to the nature of the tourney.