India have released their 30 man brigade for the world twenty thing a ma bob.
And yet again one of my favourites is out.
MS Gony, he of the angry eyes, the solid phsyique and emotional backstory.
I thought Gony was one of the best performed players in the IPL, his bowling was something a whole team could jump on the back of, and they did.
So where is he now?
Surely only an injury could restrict him from being in this squad.
I doubt his two performances for India against the Play Doh Tigers and Hong Kong would have had much to do with it.
I also notice that Ms Dhoni’s bagman, Joginder Sharma, has missed out.
Squad: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan singh, Praveen Kumar, Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, S Badrinath, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhishek Nayar, Amit Mishra, R Ashwin, RP Singh, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Naman Ojha.
As has slapped boy Sreesanth!!
On a separate note, John Davison smashed 131 today: http://www.wellpitched.com/2009/04/qualifers-get-interesting-davison.html
more importantly where is sachin?!
Sachin doesn’t play 20-20.. he wasnt there in the previous world cup either..
they selected the best domestic performers. Gony did not do well in Ranji trophy. Bombay won the domestic touranament as usual and has lot of players in the team.
Gony is off to play for the Netherlands with DD
@Q – sachin was rested the first time around. it doesn’t mean he is not interested in playing 20-20.
Yes, soon the Netherlands will be comprised of a mish-mash of international players who have suddenly discovered their Dutch genealogy.
Sachin voluntarily rested himself last time around, specifically stating that T20 was better suited to up and coming youngsters. Wouldn’t make sense to include him now.
Also, ’tis a great pity that both Jogi and Sreesanth aren’t playing. I don’t care much for Sree, but both of them were part of that miraculous winning moment last time ’round. Gets one superstitious.
Also? Badri, M Vijay, Balaji, DK, R Ashwin – that’s five Tamilians in the squad. Badri and DK are the only ones likely to make the final squad, and have even slimmer chances of making the eleven, but I like it. :D
@Sunny: Sachin has played only 1 20-20 international way back in Dec 06 in South Africa. He has never been a part of any 20-20 squad that India has announced since then. If you take a look at all the tours India has made since then they have had 3 different squads and Sachin never there in the 20-20 one. Whether its his decision or the board’s or a mutual one, its quite clear that Sachin is not in India’s 20-20 scheme of things.
[...] Gony as CricketWithBallls has rightly pointed is missing in the squad. He played for Chennai Super Kings in the first IPL [...]
Well it was Sachin who said the t 20 side is well balanced and dint play against Lanka or the Kiwis.. It would be great if he played the WC though.. I certainly thought if Rohit Sharma dint do well in the IPL and similar wiith Robin, Sachin would be there !
@Maithreyi : DK has his last chances at IPL otherwise to me SAHA is going to England.. DK was a dose of indigestion in 2nd test in Hamilton. Balaji too can do the same in the IPL. any hows cheers to you! And ya.. Go Super KINGS!…
But, I am really disappointed for Fuze Chawla. Another story of a sad leggie left out. He has met his match with Amit Mishra here.. But Pragyan Ojha is he better than Piyush is? and Sreesanth of course, Gony is’n surprising but IPL this season could do wonders for him as well. Lets hope he does that.
Few others whom I expected would be Shikhar Dhawan, Ashoke Dinda and maybe L.R. Shukla and Pradeep Sangwan. But then u can choose only 30 in 30 probables not 66!!! So thats it.. u guys just be glad u r playing the IPL! all the BESHT!
Balaji can give up. Dhawal is coming up and in any case, there’s Praveen Kumar, there is Munaf Patel – it seems Munaf has to just show the slightest hint of bowling one good ball out of 100 and Dhoni will pick him up. Anyway, Praveen Kumar is going to be a more succesful bowler than either. Balaji is too old and too non-Hindi for Dhoni I guess
I am so unhappy Swapnil Asnodkar did not make it. He is tailor-made for 20-20. Why Vijay? Why not Asnodkar?
I would surely go ahead with Kulkarni seems like a good lad, but i was just helping her out with the tamilians. And Bala playin in Dhoni’s team has its advantages.. Last time he got a hattrick, was a revelation in the Ranji season.. not too old already!! Praveen Kumar can eat dust !!! Dhoni always looks to bowl him out asap. Cos he is not good enough in his later spells , no creativity as a bowler. Prefer to see some young guns getting opportunities ! maybe Dinda, Sangwan, Kulkarni, may be Gony if he can get it right in domestics first. There are always Sreesanth , Irfan to fall back on.