Plenty to Prove

Following the announcement of the Indian team for the forthcoming tour of England and Ireland, the omissions of Sehwag and Harbhajan have made the headlines, but Anand Vasu sums things up well at Cricinfo, indicating that Harbhajan, at least, had it coming to him.

It's interesting to see Ranadeb Bose there, who I've never seen, but have written about previously here, and also Ramesh Powar, who's looked a decent bowler in his ODI appearances but, you feel, has a way to go to make an impression in Test cricket.

Personally I think they could struggle, especially at the top of the order, and the absence of Sehwag (who's surely too good not to come again) could be regretted, while the attack lacks experience and will have plenty to prove.

Sure Footed

So Mumbai - with the unfamiliar assistance of Sachin Tendulkar - won the Ranji Trophy, beating Sourav Ganguly's Bengal in the final by 132 runs. No doubt my friends on the Indian blog scene will be covering the match in detail, but I'll content myself with this link to an interesting piece on Cricinfo about the promising Bengal seam bowler, Ranadeb Bose, a man who apparently claims never to have bowled a no-ball in any form of cricket.