O Captain, My Captain! Give me my Humble Pie!!!

They used to ask who wrote Ian Botham's scripts. I think it's time people asked that question about Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Those who think it's disrespectful to question Dhoni's tactics miss the point: We all want him to lead the side to victory. Just because we disagree with some of his decisions doesn't mean we don't want him to be captain. Conversely, just because we agree with some of his decisions doesn't mean we'd blindly back him on everything.

I thought the decision to play a third seamer in the last two games was the wrong one. Dhoni admitted to making that mistake in the semis and I'm glad he can do that inspite of the intense scrutiny he's put under. Playing Sreesanth ahead of Ashwin was wrong too, but it didn't cost us a win. On another day it might. On the other hand, it was the right thing for Dhoni to bat at 5 with 3 offspinners in the Lankan side. As good as Yuvraj has been, he's never been comfortable against them. The required rate was very much under control and it made a lot of sense to save him for bowlers he could hammer all over the Wankhede. It would've been the right decision even if Dhoni had gotten out.

I think Dhoni understands this, and as long as we're civil about expressing our opinion it's alright. It was nice to see him not take the bait Ravi Shastri dangled in front of him. He knew he hadn't batted well in the World Cup so far and wanted to prove a point to himself. He's a much bigger man than Shastri and all those bitter "experts" will ever be. Let's not talk about how sick it makes us when we see a cricketer endorse a brand right after he's been dismissed. These guys have a much shorter career span than so many of us and we should let them decide their priorities. Question their tactics, but please don't question their motives without concrete evidence because these guys have worked so much harder than any of us to be where they are.

Anyone I talk cricket with knows I did not think India would win this World Cup before the start of the tournament. It wasn't because of the weight of expectations or anything, I just thought a lineup that hadn't played together for the past year or so, out of form middle order batsmen and a bowling attack that sold itself short in its quest for wickets could win three knockout games in a row.

As it turns out, it took the side a while to realise Kohli's place shouldn't be messed around with. The brilliant allround performance of Yuvraj was obviously the biggest boost for the side, one not even his biggest supporters would have expected. Everyone knew he had the ability to pace his innings in ODIs but no one expected him to bowl 10 overs and take 2 wickets almost every game. The bowling was just about good, but Zaheer provided the leadership it desperately needed and Yuvraj took away the headache of the fifth bowler. It is amazing that of the many "experts" on TV & in the media, none of them has picked up on Zaheer's knuckleball. Sometimes it helps to expand your horizons. Kudos to whoever got Zaheer to try that delivery.

The addition of Raina gave the side a leader in the fielding department. It is difficult to quantify the impact of fielding, but if ever there was a case for recognising a player's "intangibles", Raina is a prime example. I remember an incident from the game against Pakistan when a throw came in and Nehra wasn't aware of it. The ball would've hit him but Raina stepped in to take the blow. It's the sort of thing TV cameras never pick up, but the men on the field do. It would be wrong to not touch on his lower order batting in the two knockout games. The team was right in trying Pathan at the start of the World Cup, and it was also right in going back to their finisher when Pathan couldn't deliver. It's not a knock on Pathan, he should be (And I bet he is) proud to be part of a World Cup winning side.

Last but not least, a big Thank You to Gary Kirsten. You have sacrificed over 3 years of family life to turn us into a proper team. You have done it without being overbearing, without going behind the players' backs, and with a lot of dignity even when things didn't go the way India wanted them to. I hope you enjoyed working in our land and achieve great success in whatever project you take up. I wish you would have stayed longer but nothing comes before family and nation. Just don't join the Mumbai Manhooses. They're Evil :)

Ravindra Jadeja and the Number Seven Spot

While a lot of people are jumping off the Indian bandwagon after the tri-series in Dambulla, the team is more or less settled once some of the players come back from rest/injury. That is not to say I'm confident of India winning the World Cup, just that most of the spots in the XI are more or less taken. Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are sure to be in the XI. Yuvraj Singh's spot should be under question but it's his to lose, I think the selectors will pick him in the XI over others. Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar and Harbhajan Singh are also sure to make the XI, although I think India are better off playing Pragyan Ojha as the frontline spinner but that's not going to happen.

This leaves just one spot realistically up for grabs. Ravindra Jadeja is the frontrunner for it even though he hasn't exactly distinguished himself in the many chances he's got. Potential contenders for his spot are Yusuf and Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa and Ravichandran Ashwin. Ashwin is part of the squad and maybe he should have got a chance during this series. Uthappa is coming back from injury while Yusuf Pathan is currently out of favour. No one knows the status of Irfan Pathan.

All this means Ravindra Jadeja is in the side almost by default. A look at his numbers shows he scores less runs per dismissal (31.47) than he gives away per wicket (41.55). Also, he scores his runs slower than the rate at which he concedes when he's bowling (Strike Rate of 76.97 and Economy Rate of 4.84 i.e. 80.67 per 100 balls). Surely this is exactly the reverse of what you'd expect from someone playing as an allrounder.

So where does Jadeja rank in comparison to players who bat at number seven for their respective sides? In the last 24 months only 9 players have batted in that position 10 or more times. Here's a look at their batting record for that period.

If one were to rank the 9 in terms of their average and their strike rate, Jadeja would be ranked 7th and 9th in the list. Since we're looking at Jadeja as the fifth bowler, I thought it was only fair to include the bowling statistics for these 9 players when they didn't open the bowling (Not that they have opened to bowling too often).

Jadeja ranks 4th in terms of economy rate and 7th in terms of average. Ranking all 9 players on the four parameters, this is what it looked like.

Player	Batting		Bowling		Total
	Average	Strike Rate	Average	Econ. Rate
Shahid Afridi	8	1	4	2	15
Elton Chigumbura	4	5	3	5	17
James Hopes	2	4	5	3	14
Ravindra Jadeja	7	9	7	4	27
Mohammad Mahmudullah	1	7	8	7	23
Angelo Mathews	5	8	1	1	15
Yusuf Pathan	3	2	6	9	20
Kieron Pollard	6	3	2	8	19
Luke Wright	9	6	9	6	30

Even though Afridi's two hundreds didn't come at number 7 it shouldn't be surprising to see his name at or around the top of the list. But not many would expect James Hopes to be among the top players. Angelo Mathews and Elton Chigumbura are also up there. Jadeja ranks second last in this list, even behind teammate Yusuf Pathan. This is not to say Pathan should take his place, but it does put Jadeja's performances into perspective.

Now this is only a very basic way of looking at the performances of the 9 players. Obviously ranking them doesn't account for how much better or worse they are. For example, there is very little difference between the economy rates of Mathews and Afridi who are ranked first and second on that parameter. However, the gap between the economy rates of Pollard and Pathan is much higher even though they're ranked eighth and ninth respectively.

I'm sure people can dig deeper and rate these players instead of ranking them. It would be a much more accurate way of comparing them. However, at first glance it does seem that Ravindra Jadeja ranks pretty low in comparison to his peers. It remains to be seen whether he gets more opportunities and if not, whether the replacement can do better. All I can say is India might pay the price of not having a good enough player at number 7, be it a batsman, bowler or allrounder.