the doosra: a 'schatz' and an ersatz

I've decided that henceforth all slogs related to cricket will be under the title - 'the doosra'.

India seem to have struck/acquired schatz (treasure/darling) with the new wicket-keeper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ironically, it is the batting prowess that makes him stand out and somewhat unfortunately not so much his wicket-keeping. With improvement in his keeping, the find will be total. A little more than a year's cricket under his stats has only indicated why he has become so indispensable and such an invincible weapon in India's repertoire. A disguised forceful punch in the covers has now become a trademark shot in his quiver, along with some unorthodox plays. But what separates him is his abilities to assess the situation and making shot selections. Notwithstanding his inelegant stroke play, India has reasons to believe that if he continues to show his effectiveness, Parthiv Patel can very well gray his hair on the sidelines.

Contrastingly juxtaposed is the young gun Gautam Gambhir, an ersatz opener, who has failed to show ongoing promise despite some few and far between initial flairs. What he lacks in experience is only magnified in his inconfidence and tentative approach to the moving delivery, which only points to a short lived career. As the opening slot is the only undecided position, it becomes tantamount to the team's success that the opener can negotiate the initial and early movement offered by the ball. In light of India's plan for the World Cup in 2007, and only a year left to experiment, it calls for giving an opportunity to Wasim Jaffer and whoever else might be there to grab the opener's slot in the team, i.e. moving on and away from Gambhir.