The Great Indian Jigsaw Puzzle

As the title says this about one such puzzle, but wait its not your regular number crunchers its pretty simple. This is how the equation goes 15 men = World cup constraint: with the expectations of more than a billion (which also includes yours truly) at stake. Ok lets be more simple it is about the selection of the 15 men (Men in Blue off course) who would take the flight to the Caribbean to regain the lost glory.Well now lets go into the serious matter.The problems faced by Team India are many and the most important of it is the need for a stable lineup.For the past year and a half we have been having many new players wearing the India colors and playing in almost n number of positions, so the result is that only very few victories to cheer about but a lot of problems to ponder about.Lets begin with openers.We have tried so many of them but now the final result (Experimentation still continues) seems to be that we might have the inexperienced Robin and the Prince Of Kolkata taking their guard first on the field.The problem here is that Robin who has smacked the pedestrian Windies attack ,will he be able to play well on the slow tracks which does not suit his style of batting in the Caribbean ?So my choice for the slots of openers would be Sachin and Sourav(arguably the BEST opening pair in ODIs ), because they have got the experience and yes they are a right left combo.

As we come one down we must discuss about the this very unlucky person who has loads of experience in the county cricket, played really well in South Africa and only to find himself being dropped.Yes it is Dinesh Mongia.He is a left handed batsman who has got good technique to handle both spin and pace ,also a useful leftarm spinner and finally a good fielder.He can not alone play the anchors role but also a useful bowler on those slow tracks.He my choice for number three.

Coming to four and five the automatic choices are Dravid and Yuvarj. So lets go to the next slot.If we play 7-4 then we can have Viru at six.This is because he is a good batsman but he his problem arises when fieldes are close .Being an aggressive batsman he does give the opposition chances but at number six the risk is reduced because then the field will be more spread out.Coupled with his aggressive stroke play he is also a useful offspinner.Since the tracks in the Caribbean are slow , he will definitely be a useful bowler.Not to forget he is a brilliant fielder.

Dhoni is my automatic choice for keeper.But I feel he should be careful with his timing on the slow low wickets.

As for bowlers the spinners will be Jumbo(Anil Kumble) and Bhajji(Harbajan Singh).The fast bowlers would be Zaheer,Irfan and Ajith.Now for the reserves it would be Dinesh Kaarthick,Sreesanth and Kaif. Well before I conclude many might wonder why Kaif, but I feel why not Kaif.This is because he is a good batsman ,a brilliant fielder and finally a team man.Many times in the past he has batted at No 7 and played exceptionally.He even played well in the last tour to West Indies but only to find himself being dropped.

So this is my solution to jigsaw puzzle but I don't know what will be Mr.Vengsarkar's solution which off course is the solution that really matters.What ever be the case the last thing I have is
"Ooh Aah India Aah yaa India!"