Rain denies India net practice in New Zealand

Early morning showers on Monday denied India a much-needed net session but they utilized the time with a two-hour workout at New Zealand Cricket's high performance indoor facility at the Lincoln University campus in Christchurch.

The onus of the training was on fitness, both physical and mental. 

While Robin Singh put one batch through the fielding drills, Paddy Upton had others engaged in shadow boxing, designed to make them mentally tougher for the ensuing Twenty20 and ODI series against the Black Caps.

The Pathan brothers, Yusuf and Irfan, whose blistering batting guided India to an exhilarating win against Sri Lanka in a Twenty20 match recently, showcased their skills in shadow boxing, striking Upton's shielded palm pretty cleanly. 

Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan worked hard on their aerobic fitness at the adjacent Bert Sutcliffe grounds, where New Zealand A were hosting England A. 

The left-arm pacer was itching to have a go as he watched proceedings from the stands after a 20-minute fitness drill. 

Asked if the conditions were ideal for seam bowling, Indian Pacer Zaheer said, "The conditions are excellent. I am waiting to bowl in the series." 

Dhaval Kulkarni Gets Call

Mumbai medium pacer Dhawal Kulkarni is the new face to be included in the test team for New Zealand tour. Lakshmipathy Balaji and Dinesh Kartik  were recalled to the Indian Test squad.

Kartik was named in all the three teams as second wicketkeeper. Harbhajan Singh and pacer Munaf Patel, who were sidelined with injuries, expectedly returned to all the three teams.

Opener Murali Vijay was retained in the Test squad, which, however, has no place for left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who figures in the ODI and Twenty20 squads.

Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman were picked only for the Test series, while Sachin Tendulkar will play the Test and ODIs, having opted out of Twenty20 internationals.

Considering the seaming conditions in New Zealand, the selectors opted for just two specialist spinners in Harbhajan and Amit Mishra for the Tests while picking a five-pronged pace attack. The Indian pace attack is based on Zaheer Khan with Ishant Sharma, Munaf, Balaji and Kulkarni.

The Indian team will leave for New Zealand on February 19 and start the tour with a Twenty20 match at Christchurch on February 25. The other Twenty20 game will be played in Wellington on February 27. The ODI series starts March 3, while the Test series gets underway from March 18.

Test squad:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag , Gautam Gambhir , Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Yuvraj Singh , Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Kaarthick, L Balaji , Dhawal Kulkarni, Murali Vijay.

ODI Squad:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan , Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma , Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan .

Twenty20 squad:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja.

ICC Ranking : India leads Australia

India got Second Number at the ICICI Ranking. From the Last 9 matches Mahendra Singh Team continue with winning race. Last India-England series India win by 5-0 and whitewash to England. Now Running Series India ahead with 4-0 and its winning race continue.

At last month ago Australia on First Position, South Africa at Second and India at Third Position but from last South Africa – Australia Series South Africa won the Series and Australia goes to Second number and South Africa at Top most Level. Now from last running New Zealand – Australia Series New Zealand won first Two One day International matches and Australia swap from the Second to Third. So India comes to Second Ranking. Last Australia – New Zealand One-day International match New Zealand won by six wickets and takes a lead 2-0 in the five-match series. Chasing 226 for victory after winning the toss and electing to field, the Kiwis rode on a 61 off 75 balls from Grant Elliott to coast home with seven balls to spare.

Now South Africa with 125 Points at First, At Second Level India with 122 points just 3 Point behind from the First Level and at Third Number with 121 Point Australia. Forth Level New Zealand with 117 Points. If India won First Three ODI with India-new Zealand Series then India Will get First ICICI Ranking definitely.

In the ICC Test Rankings, Australia has 126 points. Second-placed South Africa has 121 Points will get a chance to Top. India is Placed Third with 118 Points.

Aussies’s Days are over now...

NewZealand crash Aussies once again…

The alarm bells first rang about a year ago when Dhoni's India defeated Australia in 'straight sets' in the best of three finals of the Commonwealth Bank Series. Now, after losing 4-1 to a depleted South African side at home, Australia have well and truly fallen off the pedestal.

South Africa now lead the table in the ODI Rankings, ahead of Australia. New Zealand , who won a close series at home against the West Indies, are third.

New Zealand however face a tough away series in Australia and should lose the third spot to India, especially if India can win the ongoing series in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka gained a little after vanquishing Pakistan , but had to struggle to defeat a rejuvenated Bangladesh side in the Tri-Nation tournament.

Bangladesh continued their good form to defeat Zimbabwe in the home series and overtake them in the ODI Rankings.

Table A shows the current ODI rankings.

Table A : Current ODI Ranking

The corresponding ICC ODI rankings (as on January 30, 2008) are South Africa (125), Australia (125), India (120), New Zealand (113), Pakistan (111), England (108), Sri Lanka (106), West Indies (91), Bangladesh (46) and Zimbabwe (20).

Details

The ODI rating, now published regularly over the last seven years, is a judicious combination of every team's weighted index (WI) and tournament index (TI).

The WI, based on the most recent ODI encounters between every pair of teams as shown in Table B, is essentially a weighted average that considers the 'opposition strength' (because wins against strong opponents must be rewarded more) and the 'home-away-neutral' factors (because teams usually win more at home, and lose more playing 'away').

The TI factors in a team's performance in tournaments and series (and thereby seeks to better reward wins in 'big' matches).

Table B: ODI Scorecard

The TI is currently based on a time 'window' spanning the last 12-13 months; i.e. the period January 2008 to January 2009 (see Table C).

Table C : Tournament Point Tally