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Another brilliant left handed opener - Keaton Jennings

He was a South African in the year 2011, played for South African U-19. His father Ray Jennings is a former South African cricketer & current head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) in  IPL. But once he has moved to England in April'2012, he became an English citizen after staying four years in England. And in four years time, with his some brilliant performances, he got his England cap, didn't miss the opportunity to show his caliber after Hasseb Hammed got injured. 

Keaton Jennings, 24, got this opportunity when English Lions are playing in the UAE & Keaton was the captaining the side. He joined the group on Monday & on Thursday, on his debut test match, he scored a brilliant hundred!! It will remind you the story of Alastair Cook, who joined the England side just 48 hours before the start of the first test match in Rajkot in 2006 & scored a hundred! Keaton was the 11th partner of Cook since Andrew Strauss retired 4 years ago. 

And this is an amazing start for Keaton. England is 0-2 down in the series & struggling. People are questioning the way they are approaching & constructing the innings. They are very defensive in their approach since the second test at Vizag. 

 Mumbai is a lucky ground for England. They won in 2006 & 2012. So this time also at Mumbai, they have shown a positive grit & intent. It was very evident the way Cook has approached his innings. And his partner, Keaton Jennings has played beautifully, his defense was very tight, was never in a hurry, never took any risk & was rotating the strike well. 

When Keaton started first, he was a bit late to the fast bowlers & Umesh almost had got his wicket. Had Karun Nair caught him on zero, we had to wait for some more time to watch this beautiful batsman. His intention was clear. He was waiting for the odd loose balls to punish. He never allowed a bowler to dominate him. The way he played against the spinners, was a treat to watch. He always played the ground shots, quite a few of them were sweeps. There was odd bounces in the Wankhede wicket, later Bairstow got out to sweep off Ashwin, couldn't play it down because of the bounce. But Keaton was brilliant, very elegant. He has gelled with the team well & was calm in his approach. With the help of his brilliant hundred, England has got the upper hand in this test match at the end of day-1, in Mumbai, their favorite ground.

I am now waiting for the Song which Barmy Army will compose & sing for him when he comes out to bat in the second innings.

Another fast bowler is moving ahead

The election season is ahead in the most populated state in the country. And this is now a fashion to poach a cricketer to join politics. We have seen Sreeshant some days back at Kerala, Sidhu pajji has recently announced a new political party, although he is veteran as he is in the political arena for quite some times.

This time another promising swing bowler from Meerut who has has started very promisingly & bowled brilliantly - Praveen Kumar has swung it big this time as he has joined Samajwadi Party(a regional political party in Uttar Pradesh) today.

But this time, the news about Praveen's new assignment is quite a bit shocking. He has bowled well in the recently concluded IPL where he was one of the very important member of Gujrat Lions. And he has bowled well in the domestic tournaments too. But all went in vain. He never got a call back from Indian selector's after that shoulder injury of 2011. Sreeshant had replaced him in the World Cup of 2011 which India won.

Praveen Kumar will be remembered for his swing bowling & his death bowling was very critical too. During the good days, he was Dhoni's go-to-man & in some games, we had seen him bowling long spells. His heroics of 2008 VB series in Australia was very impressive too. Still he is India's one of the best economical bowlers. A bowler of his stature should have played more. He has played only 6 Test matches, 68 ODIs & 10 T20s for India. His example also shows that still Indian selectors want to hear 'yes sir' from players. Only statistics doesn't speak for getting selected in Indian team.

Indian selectors Should have opened their eyes more widely as Praveen Kumar was & is very vividly visible because of his incredible performances in domestic tournaments.

Apathy of Indian pace bowlers

There is always a concern about the pace attack of 'Men in blue' & this gets more exposed when India plays in the pace friendly decks of England, Australia, South Africa & New-Zealand. It is not like that India never produced quality fast bowlers. They come into the team with fierce actions & great statistics. But soon after some matches, their average pace came down & many a times, they faded away.

India has produced Kapil Dev, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aroon, Umesh Yadav, VRV Singh, Md. Shami. Many of them were, are match winners. Hope you remember that spell of Ishant against Ricky Ponting in an Australian wicket in 2008. He had speed, he had aggression. But soon after he was injured & his speed came down. Although he is still one of the spearhead of Indian attack now. Same story goes with Munaf who took seven wickets in his debut test against England. But now? Remember Irfan Pathan? Many were speaking that India has got a Wasim Akram in him. Wasim was also very positive about him, started his career with a bang, took a test hattrick. Then slowly he has disappeared. How many fast bowlers India has changed in last 2-3 years time? 

The neighboring country Pakistan is producing one after another fast bowlers & they have a tradition of that. Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoib Akhtar & these days Md. Amir, Juniad Khan - all are classy fast bowlers. Is this more about the environment where a person born? May be, yes. In Pakistan, they play more with tennis balls where you can't do much with the technique. Only the pace can help to beat the batsman. 

Kapil Dev was the highest test wicket takers for a long time.But whenever there is a discussion among the parents, they want to make their children Sachin, Saurav, Virat & very few will speak about Kapil Dev or Glenn McGrath or a Brett Lee or Wasim Akram. In India, children can imagine about becoming a great batsman. This is a phobia. And the obvious reason is the glamour around a batsman is more than of a bowler in India. Batsman is like a national obsession in our country. Every child gets inspiration to become a batsman. Because he/she is visualizing the glamour quotient of a batsman in our country. I have heard people of speaking about facility. But I don't think if we really provide high class facility also, great bowlers will born. This is more about the mindset, the environment. 

And another very important factor is the wicket. Indian wickets are more batting friendly. And the fans want that too. They want to see more 4s & 6s. This is entertainment. How many of us really want to see a game where a bowler is continuously bowling great swings & troubling the batsmen? 

Need of the hour is a long term plan. BCCI is the richest cricket body in the World. They have to identify the raw talent at a very early age. They have to bring these kids under one roof, have to prepare them, inspire them to become a great pacer. Domestic tournament wickets should be a bit more bowler friendly. Hard bouncy tracks should be prepared. Then definitely things will change & India will also see great pacers who will be bowling fast, swing the ball in both ways & in no time bowlers also will help us to win matches more frequently.   

Soft spoken guys outperform - Ravichandran Ashwin's another feat

The son-in-law of superstar Rajnikanth has achieved something which many big names in the world couldn't do - that too in less than 5 years after debut for India in Test cricket. Sachin, Sehwag, Saurav - name as many greats you remember, almost all of them has taken longer time to achieve this feat. 

This all-rounder has received his 6th Man of the Series(MoS) award. And this is at the completion of 13 series & 36 test matches!! In the recent test series at Caribbean, he has scored 235 runs & took 17 wickets. The important innings in this test series was his partnership with Wriddhiman Saha when India lost their top order in the first innings of third test with just 100 odd runs in the board, which could have been changed the scenario of the game & series as West Indies were confident after a great display with bat in the last day of the second test match when they had saved the game. 

Very interestingly he scored all his four centuries against West Indies only!! In this test series he has become the first Indian to score two test hundreds & scalped two five wicket hauls! A great experimenter with the ball, off late is becoming a better batsman day by day which will give Anil Kumble & Indian think tank a chance to play with one extra bowler if needed depending on the wicket conditions. Many critics said that Indian spinners don't get wickets overseas. Earlier this happened with Kumble too. But this performance will keep their mouth shut. 

Although the fourth test was finished almost without playing & Pakistan went to the top of the Test match ranking table after a splendid performance in England this Summer. Still India will cherish this series win in the Caribbean soil. And India has got another good batsman - Wriddhiman Saha who scored an important Test hundred too. Now let us all wait for the T20s in Florida.

Anil Kumble - New team India Coach

So finally the selection committee comprising of Sachin, Saurav & Laxman has chosen the new team India coach for next one year - the name is Anil Kumble. Until Kumble had applied for the coveted job, it was almost sure that Ravi Shastri will get that high profile post. But once, Kumble had come into the picture, the equation has changed. An Engineer has engineered his presentation in such a way that the legendary selectors were happy to nominate him. He has mentioned that the interview was 'nerve wrecking' & the blue print of Indian cricket was great to present in-front of his colleagues. A legend during his era is known for his work ethic & discipline which he will inculcate among the youngsters & this will surely help team India in the long run. Entire cricketing fraternity is very happy to see Kumble as the coach.

Rather than playing competitive cricket, Kumble will also inculcate the 'Indianness' among them - mutual respect, trust. And during the 5 days training at Bangalore prior to the travel to the Caribbean, he is a happy man as the young folks have accepted him & accepted his ideas with openness.

Team India under John Wright had brought laurels for this cricket frenzy nation & Kumble was a key member during that period. After that also, Kumble has worked with Mr. Wright during IPL stints for Mumbai Indians. So he will surely bring some key positive influences of  John Wright. He has understood the philosophy of a cricket coach well. And so he has categorically mentioned that he wants to be an enabler for things to happen good for team India. His approach to the players will be good to watch for as he wants to create the more leaders.

The team under him has flown to West Indies. Now as a cricket lover, you shouldn't forget the day when Kumble had bowled 14 consecutive overs with broken jaw at Antigua & dismissed legendary Brian Lara!!

India is going to play a lot many test matches this season along with ODIs & T20s.He feels that this is the best time to get this job as he also can run along with the young lads of the team. Hope his work ethic, discipline & passion brings the best out of each & every player of men in Blue & his legendary tale should continue in years to come.

Pink ball day night test cricket at Eden Gardens!!

Eden Garden is going to host the first ever day-night four days test cricket match at Eden Gardens from 18-21st June'2016. The normal local club cricket match is now the talk of the city. And there is an obvious reason for that. The match will be played with Pink Kookaburra ball - first ever to be played in India under the lights. There is a lot of noise about this game in the 'city of Joy'.Pictures are getting shared among the cricket fans on different social media platforms & fans across the country in watching such posts & they are showing real interest about the game. The another obvious reason is there will be live telecast of the match in Star Sports 2 & Star Sports HD2! CAB president & former Team India captain has done this miracle. Brand Saurav Ganguly is just amazing.  Such enthusiasm among the cricket fans was never seen before for a club cricket match in India. And this is probably going to be the first club cricket match which is going to be broadcasted live by such a big prominent sports channel. Harsha Bhogle, VVS Laxman, Dean Jones will be the commentators for the game! And if you are at Kolkata, you should visit Eden Gardens - tickets are at free of cost! There is a talk going on in the cricket fraternity that Eden Garden is going to host the first ever International day-night Test match with the pink kookaburra ball sometime later in the year between India & New Zealand. 

The game will be played between two very good sides among the cricket clubs in the city- Mohunbagan vs Bhawanipore. Both of the sides have some good players who are consistently performing well for their respective clubs. Cricketers of both the teams are very excited & hope they will not disappoint their fans. This will be the beginning of new era in Bengal cricket.