Some email banter – Blore and Mumbai teams…

Here’s an email exchange from a couple of days ago between Aloke and me on the team selection. Read bottom up. By the time you read this Blore has lost their game chasing a 150ish total. Kallis will take flak for his scoring rate but i still think its the first game where he’s really flopped. The role and strategy that i called out below (and earlier) is more critical. Kumble may even drop Kallis for the Rajasthan game and we’ll see how that goes tomorrow…

From: To: Aloke C Gupte
Subject: Not sure why

Clogs the top order...I would try rayudu for a couple of games and see how it goes ...there are enough batsmen (sachin won't listen though :( )

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From: Thakar, Gautam
To: Aloke C Gupte
Sent: Tue Apr 13 00:37:07 2010
Subject: RE: Not sure why

Yep – been screaming for JP for a while and for Satish’s head. No Dhawan though?

From: Aloke C Gupte
Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 9:33 AM
To: Thakar, Gautam
Subject: Re: Not sure why

Not to mention Nayar for Sathish (who adds no value, almost). Atleast JP is playing. Jayasuriya was a one-off...he didn't know who to pick as the 4th player...I think MI will be a lot better with this order:
- sachin, rayudu, jp, tiwary, pollard, bravo, nayar, bhajan, zak, malinga, whoever
Batting
- give rayudu a chance..I think he has what it takes
- jp to bat 1 down is perfect, the only other 'class' batsman we have
- tiwary will be better off following him then rayudu
- pollard and bravo to provide ballast next
- nayar and bhajan to boost lower order
Bowling
- malinga, zak, bhajan: all good
- bravo, pollard, nayar in support
- jp providing a spin option
- I would therefore pick no 11 as another spinner
More on bangalore later.

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From: To: Aloke C Gupte
Sent: Tue Apr 13 00:25:23 2010
Subject: Not sure why

Kumble and Tendulkar obstinately ignore my free advice on Jayasurya and Pandey???? J

Also, looks like Kumbles is betting on a ‘wickets in hand’ strategy with the Kallis, Dravid playing in tandem & backing Taylor, Uthappa, Kohli and White to get anything in the end. Works better when it’s a 150 chase but hopefully he changes when faced with more imposing numbers….