India ODI squad

Whether you like the IPL or not, I don't think there's any denying that it must have helped the Indian selectors take a look at their players before they announced their squad to go to Bangladesh and Pakistan.

I've watched virtually none of the IPL, catching a few Gilchrist sixes at one point, but that's it. But I've checked out various scorecards and kept a vague track of who's doing well and who isn't. I was quite suprised that no room can be found for Venugopal Rau of the Deccan Chargers - he's in the top 20 in the list of averages that are dominated by big money foreign signings and he's also bowled a few handy overs. Whatever critics argue about the IPL, it's giving some young Indian's a stage to show their talents, as shown by Yusuf Pathan's promotion. Pathan was recently sighted by Kumar Sangakkara as one of the IPL's top finds.

I wonder it English cricket fans appreciated how close we've come to IPL cricket here this summer, and you never know - it could still happen. As this article on sportbusiness.com shows, there were plans to play matches at The Oval on 15th and 16th July but these have fallen through due to the lack of a TV broadcaster to cover the matches.