Dhoni likely to be ODI skipper

[Rajiv]

NEW DELHI, September 18: According to the BCCI sources to Times Now , Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead the side in the upcoming ODI series against Australia. Speculations were rife as to who will lead Team India after Rahul Dravid stepped down from captaincy. Selectors have decided to go for seperate captains for Test and ODI sides. It is almost sure that Dhoni, who was deputy to Rahul Dravid in ODIs and is now leading the side in the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, will get the reins of the ODI team. Sachin Tendulkar is likely to lead only the Test side as the batting maestro was not keen on ODI captaincy. The BCCI sources also revealed that pacer Ajit Agarkar has been dropped from the team for being off-coloured.

[zubinpepsi]

Harbhajan's path blocked by successes of Powar and Chawla Sehwag and Pathan may return for ODIs against Australia Anand Vasu September 17, 2007 While all the speculation over Tuesday's selection committee meeting surrounds the appointment of a new captain for the seven-match home ODI series against Australia, the day's agenda goes beyond that. They have to answer some tricky questions when they pick the one-day squad, the foremost being whether Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag have done enough to make a comeback. They will also have to see how to find room for Irfan Pathan. In the recent past the selectors have resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes to the limited-overs team, chopping and changing only when fitness issues arose. And there is one in front of them: Munaf Patel, who was drafted into the team in place of Sreesanth for the ODI series in England, fell well short of expectations. He managed no more than a handful of overs at decent pace and Venkatesh Prasad, the bowling coach, questioned the "intensity level" with which he was operating. The timing and manner of Prasad's statements - openly to the media, midway through the series - were surprising but it's indicative that the team may have run out of patience with Munaf. Munaf's exit will likely afford Ajit Agarkar another chance in the one-day team, something that might otherwise have been in doubt. Irfan Pathan has rediscovered the swing that made him such a potent force when he arrived in international cricket and has made telling contributions with the bat and on the field for India A. Though he is far from back to his best - the rhythm and pace still need plenty of work - he is clearly on the road to rehabilitation. When Pathan was axed from the team his bowling had fallen apart, with no swing and no real pace making him cannon fodder for the batsmen. If the Pathan question is easily answered by Munaf's exit, the selectors have a slightly more tricky task deciding on what to do with Sehwag and Harbhajan. Neither has performed exceptionally well in the ICC World Twenty20 but Harbhajan has been on the ball. He has bowled with control and good rhythm, and would surely have been pushing for a place had the two incumbent spinners, Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar, not done so outstandingly well in the last series. While the medium-pacers came in for some tap, both Powar and Chawla exerted great control over England's batsmen. Even Kevin Pietersen, who has dominated spinners of the quality of Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, found it hard to get both Powar and Chawla away. Powar slowed things down cleverly while Chawla had the advantage of being able to bowl his legbreak and googly from the same line. The fact that both spinners held their own might just make it hard for Harbhajan to force his way back in. The question of Sehwag is more tricky. The fact that he doesn't find a place in either the Test or one-day team makes things a bit difficult for Dilip Vengsarkar and company. It's no secret that Sehwag was being groomed for the captaincy, the thinking being that he was the link between the Tendulkar-Ganguly-Dravid generation and the one that would succeed it. This fact kept Sehwag in the team longer than many expected, even after he lost form, but now the case for Sehwag might build again, with Dravid giving up the reins. This could spell the end for Rohit Sharma, who was in the squad but did not get a game in the seven-match series in England and is yet to find a place in the eleven in the ICC World Twenty20. Vengsarkar is tight-lipped about the selection, and it seems his colleagues aren't fully in the loop when it comes to the captaincy question. All will be revealed on Tuesday, and though there is room for surprises, don't be surprised if Vengsarkar doesn't ring in too much change. ------------- Agarkar mite be retained as per cricinfo... its sad tht we cudnt go beyond agarkar... r there really no bowlers at all?? and BCCI is doing ?? starting a twenty20 league... clearly they are not interested in the future of indian cricket... they r just mliking mints as much as thye can now... what a sorry state Indian cricket is in..

[Rohan495]

bring back pathan and laxman.

[Zap_Brannigan]

Yuvrajs name is not even discussed? Hes been in the ODI side far longer than any of the other youngsters and its only a matter of time before he replaces Laxman in the test side. He might not be good or suddenly lose form but i find it odd that when Sehwags and Bhajjis names are discussed, the man whos been almost a permanent fixture in the squad since 2001 is not even mentioned.

[Rohan495]

Yuvraj Replacing Laxman is not legitimate , Yuvraj should replace Ganguly in Tests. Makes no sense Ganguly is 35 Laxman is 32 dont see why Ganguly should be ahead of Laxman in tests, just compare gangulys record to Laxmans and youll see why. Laxman has done far more than Ganguly in test match cricket.

[zubinpepsi]

bring back pathan and laxman.

I heard the selection meeting is taking place at BCCI office mumbai.. you can stage a demonstration infront of BCCI with ur placards and heart balloons for laxi......:giggle:

[Rohan495]

yeaaa wish i could do that

[King Tendulkar]

Yuraj should be captain of both test and odi team!

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

Bad news for Indian cricket cuz they will hafta change the captain again after the ozs torment him and we will be back to scratch again. Tendy for tests is good. However they should also include yuvi in the team.

[kricha2k3]

Dhoni is the new Indian ODI Team Captain The Indian One-Day team has an new skipper in Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dhoni has been appointed as the captain of the ODI team for the first three matches of the seven-match series against Australia starting later this month.

[zubinpepsi]

yeah jus saw it in cricketnext.. if hes found to b good in the ODIs against Aus.. he shud also b made the captain of the test team..

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

It will only be temporary...After the nailing we will get, we will be back to basics and then most likely do the right thing and appoint yuvraj the captain but then again , Indian management works in a weird way.

[zubinpepsi]

Twenty20 captain takes over from Dravid Dhoni to lead India's ODI squad Cricinfo staff September 18, 2007 Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been appointed captain of India's one-day team for the home series against Australia and Pakistan. Dhoni, who is the captain of India's Twenty20 squad, had been tipped to take over as captain since Rahul Dravid announced his resignation. Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan have been recalled to the 15-member squad for the first three ODIs of the seven-match series against Australia, while Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel and Rohit Sharma have been dropped. But there is no place at the moment for Virender Sehwag. Dhoni, who was the vice-captain of the ODI team on the tour to England, has had a meteoric rise since making his one-day debut in December 2004. He has scored 2477 runs in 84 ODIs at an average of 44.23 and a strike rate of 96.26. His highest score, an unbeaten 183 against Sri Lanka in 2006, is a record for a wicketkeeper and also the record for the most runs scored by a batsman while chasing. Dhoni had also occupied the top batsman's spot in the ICC one-day rankings in April 2006. India one-day squad Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt) ,Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh Cricinfo staff September 18, 2007 Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been appointed captain of India's one-day team for the home series against Australia and Pakistan. Dhoni, who is the captain of India's Twenty20 squad, had been tipped to take over as captain since Rahul Dravid announced his resignation. Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan have been recalled to the 15-member squad for the first three ODIs of the seven-match series against Australia, while Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel and Rohit Sharma have been dropped. But there is no place at the moment for Virender Sehwag. Dhoni, who was the vice-captain of the ODI team on the tour to England, has had a meteoric rise since making his one-day debut in December 2004. He has scored 2477 runs in 84 ODIs at an average of 44.23 and a strike rate of 96.26. His highest score, an unbeaten 183 against Sri Lanka in 2006, is a record for a wicketkeeper and also the record for the most runs scored by a batsman while chasing. Dhoni had also occupied the top batsman's spot in the ICC one-day rankings in April 2006. India one-day squad Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt) ,Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh --------------- surprised tht shewag dint get a call. hope they really take him for the tests... feel sorry for rohit sharma.. he shud have been given a chance ahead of Dinesh Kaarthik who fumbled in the field and did nothing inthe batting... talking abt ODIs here...

[Chandan]

This was the right decision at the moment as they didn't have any choice. But I'm disappointed at the team which has been announced for the first 3 ODIs: India one-day squad Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt) , Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh Sree has yet to get a grip of ODI bowling and he hasn't shown anything in the T20 competition to convince us that he has improved. And why did we not rest at least two of the three senior players to try out youngsters like Rohit and Tiwari?? But perhaps their chance would come as will Sehwag's when Sachin, Saurav or Dravid will be rotated!! Nothing has been said about test captaincy and I'm still praying that Sachin turns that down as well!

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

Good to see Harbhajan singh back. Sehwag should come back soon too. Disappointed with the choice of captaincy though.

[King Tendulkar]

No aggy:yay: Crapthan in:mad: They give with one hand and take away with another

[zubinpepsi]

Vengy Speaks ............. MUMBAI, September 18: Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Tuesday named skipper of the Indian cricket team for the ensuing One-day series against Australia and Pakistan but the selectors held back their decision on Test captaincy. The 26-year-old Dhoni, who is currently leading the Indian team in the Twenty20 World Cup, succeeds Rahul Dravid, who recently sprang a surprise by relinquishing the captaincy to concentrate on his batting. The announcement was made by BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah at a press conference, putting to rest intense speculation on the captaincy issue ever since Dravid stepped down on last Friday. The selectors, however, did not name the captain for the Test team with chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar saying that a decision would be taken at a later stage. "Dhoni is a good captain and it is the right time to groom him," Vengsarkar said. The selectors also chose a 15-member squad for the first three matches of the ODI series against Australia recalling paceman Irfan Pathan and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh into the team. The squad, which will have Yuvraj Singh as vice-captain, has no place for pacemen Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel, while Rohit Sharma has also been omitted. Virender Sehwag, who is currently in the Twenty20 squad, was left out for the first three One-dayers against Australia but Vengsarkar said, "He will get an opportunity because we need to rotate our players." On Munaf Patel's exclusion, Vengsarkar said, "Munaf stands a chance but he has to prove his fitness." Vengsarkar also felt that both Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan had done enough to merit a comeback. "Irfan and Harbhajan, both have done well off late in the Twenty20 World Cup and they deserve it. Irfan is a fine all-rounder and we will see his performance in the first few One-dayers." The chief selector also dismissed the notion that having three former captains would make it difficult for Dhoni to lead the side. "I don't think so. He would have three former captains in the ranks who would give him full support. You are talking about having three captains and Azharuddin had five former captains under him when he led India in England," Vengsarkar said. He also denied that Sachin Tendulkar was sounded out to take over as the new Indian captain. "We did not offer captaincy to anyone, neither did we talk to him regarding Test captaincy," he said. Vengsarkar said he was not aware what prompted Dravid to suddenly quit his job. "I don't know why he quit. He did not tell me." Asked if it was his criticism which led to Dravid's resignation, Vengsarkar said, "I did not criticise Dravid, that's a wrong impression." Rather, Vengsarkar argued, it could be constant media pressure that forced Dravid to relinquish the job. "It maybe due to media scrutiny. Maybe it was too much for him," he said. Asked if he had tried to persuade Dravid to stay on as India captain, Vengsarkar said, "No, I did not persuade, because I respect his decision." -------------------------- some good things: sachin was not offered any captaincy.... Agarkar kickedout Veeru will b back. Irfan n harby back I suspect something fishy in vengy's words about rahul.. he clearly seems to be unhappy over dravid's captaincy... its implictly clear that dravid resigned due to vengy pressure and not any media pressure as vengy claims.. If dravid succumbed to media pressure, he wud have , after worldcup exit..

[omf52]

i knew pathan wud be back. it was only a matter of time :) now my signature makes sense. i hope dhoni does well, he keeps it simple dats for sure.. unlike dravid. dravid complicated everything unessecarily i felt, he was too diplomatic, too nice. dhoni is a bit rough on the edges which is good for agression. hope india wins..

[coffee_rules]

Why 3 splst spinners in a ODI team. We have 4 pacers and 3 spinners... I guess it will be a toss between Pawar and Bhajan. We should play only one spinner and play part-timers for their batting ability. That's the way to win. Symonds is a part-time spinner for Eng and he is a very strong bat. I don;'t think getting more specialist spinners is the key for ODI success. Sehwag was the ultimate dream m/c for a part-time spinner...great bat and average bowler - la Symonds.

[coffee_rules]

Yubraj is inconsistent. He can't hold a place in any team.