Author: Liam

The Australian selectors have included Michael Clarke in the test squad for the tour of United Aram Emirates, but, there are concerns over his fitness. There are speculations that he might not make it to the first couple of matches of the test series because of his hamstring problem which he sustained on Zimbabwe tour last month.

Clarke would probably have got rid of that problem by now if he had not made the wrong call of featuring in a match of that Zimbabwe tri-series when only 80% fit. He batted for about 2 hours in that match and ended up aggravating his problem to get ruled out for the rest of the series.

Clarke is by far Australia’s best player of spin and the Kangaroos are going to miss him badly there in the Emirates if he happens to be unavailable eventually.

Clarke makes a difference with his captaincy as well especially in test match cricket.

Brad Haddin, the Australian vice captain, is also a wily, old fox, but, he has not captained that much internationally and thus, for him to lead the Kangaroos in alien conditions against Pakistan, which has got as good a spin attack as any other team in the world, it would be hard.

A couple of weeks are there for Clarke to recover though and he has assured his fans on twitter that his recovery is going well.

This UAE tour is very important for Australia. People consider them an impotent side on spinning pitches. It’s a tag which they can get rid of if they win the series against Pakistan on the slow pitches of Emirates, but, for that, they would surely need a fit Clarke.

Australia’s tour of UAE starts on October 7.

Akshar Patel who was one of the most impressive Indian youngsters during the previous edition of the Indian Premier League says that he admires the Punjab all rounder Yuvraj Singh a lot and sees him as his role model.

Like Yuvraj, Patel is also a batting all rounder who bowls left arm spin. He is a bit more than a part time bowler though.

According to Patel, the thing that he likes the most about Yuvraj is his attitude. He doesn’t pay much attention to the opinions coming from outside and just keeps doing what he needs to do.

It would not be easy for Patel to achieve as much success as his role model at the international level; that’s for sure. Yuvraj although is out of contention at the moment, but, what he has done for the Indian team in the last one decade or so is just extraordinary.

India has won a couple of World Cups in the last 7 years under their current captain MS Dhoni and in both those competitions; Yuvraj had played a major role for them. He was, in fact, the man of the tournament in the ODI World Cup 2011.

Patel would have to work very, very hard to reach up to that level. He perhaps would have got better bowling skills than Yuvraj, but, as far as batting is concerned, he is not a finished product at all. He looks a bit uncomfortable against spin bowling.

The 20-year old Gujarat youngster perhaps will get the opportunity to make his debut for India on the upcoming tour of Bangladesh and he will have to make it count because there are many other talented players waiting in the wings as well.

Patel had taken 17 wickets for Kings XI Punjab in IPL 7.