Feel bad to say this but I think the following players should GO :
Ganguly - 35, slow and looked like a poor passenger and not a goot team man during the recent series.
Dravid - Struggled and huffed and puffed in making runs at such a slow speed. Also dropped a few chances in slips.He has been struggling in the last 2-3 series versus England, SA and Pak as well. Well played but time to go!
Harbhajan - Over Hyped and over rated player according to me. He is strictly a ODI bowler. Took hardly any wickets at a princely average of 60 per wicket.Part time spinners like Sehwag, Clarke and Symonds bowled better.Time to go out of Tests and concentrate on the less demanding ODIs.
Jaffer - Sorry Dude, 6 chances and not even 1 half century. No use wasting time with players who make 200 at home and struggle to reach 50 against the Best teams.Thank you and good bye!
Yuvraj - An average of under 5 per inning in 2 Tests where he could play neither Spin nor Pace, shows that he is a poor batsman who can only succeed in ODIs and T20 where technique is not a factor.
The replacements for the above 5 should be Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tewari and Piyush Chawla / Ojha
In 2 years, all these players will become world class.
RE:We can rise further provided there are a few changes
by Ankur Khanna on Jan 29, 2008 12:54 PM
What about Dhoni ? He can be retained in ODIs and test matches on subcontinent's dead pitches , but i guess Karthik is a better player outside India
RE:We can rise further provided there are a few changes
by joydip bhattacharya on Jan 29, 2008 01:01 PM
The list looks good ..Dravid may be one more series to play..
but I would replace Yuvraj with Dhoni..
I guess Parthiv Patel/Dinesh KArtik should replace him in Test Cricket..
and Yuvraj he has got immense Talent...give him soem time in test cricket....
RE:We can rise further provided there are a few changes
by Hariharan on Jan 29, 2008 12:11 PM
Man it would have been perfect had there not Yuvi. Did you ever watched Yuvi's game in any ground. He change the game and purely the most stylish batsman.
RE:We can rise further provided there are a few changes
by Karunakar Patil on Jan 29, 2008 12:41 PM
Yuvi has not shown his ability in Test cricket so far on good crickrt pitch.
When Sourav Ganguly scored few runs in South Africa, all hell had broken loose, he had become great and was highest run getter in that series. But it was due to the fact that Sachin, Laxman and Dravid were in the worst form of their lives.
In form Ganguly in SA in 2006/2007 scored 214 runs in 3 Tests with 2 fifties and a average of 42.80, an out of form sachin scored 199 in 3 matches and 6 innings with 2 fifties and a average of 33.16. Again a out of form Laxman scored 180 runs in same 3 tests and 6 innings with 2 fifties and a average of 36. Similary Dravid too was out of form and in same no of innings and test scored 125 runs with no fifties and a average of 20.83.
Now look at Australian tour, in form Ganguly, not just inform the great batsmen who was scoring 100s and 200s on Indian pitches against a depleted bowling attack scored 235 runs in 4 matches and 8 innings, with 2 fifties and a average of 29.35. Sachin now in form scored 493 runs with 2 fifties and 2 hundreds at a average of 70.42, similary Laxman scored 366 runs with 2 fifties and one hundred at a average of 45.75, Dravid's bad form continued and he scored 237 runs with 2 fifties at a average of 33.85.
Moral of the story Ganguly becomes a great batsmen after scoring 200 runs in 3 match series, but when Sachin, Dravid and Laxman are out of form and score 15 to 40 runs less than Ganguly.
The 3 previous series against SA in Ireland, against Australia and Pak in India the great one averages below 30.
RE:RE:Comparisions
by Mira Mohan on Jan 29, 2008 11:44 AM
Why do we need 2 captains for different versions of the game-- Anil Kumble and Dhoni. Rather make Saurav Ganguly or Sehwag captain for both the series.
RE:Comparisions
by Karunakar Patil on Jan 29, 2008 01:12 PM
Ganguly may not stay long in cricket looking at his cricket fitness. Sehwag has just regaining his place in the team. So the players whose place is not certain cannot be made captian. Kumble is fut for tests and best bowler in the history of Indian cricket as well as alongwith Zaheer best bow,er on current form so he shoulbe captain of test side till anyone from Dhoni,Sehwag, Karthik or Kaif makes it to tset grade convincingly. And as T20 captain and first choice wicketkeeper Dhoni is best suited for one day captainship.
RE:Comparisions
by matchwell on Jan 29, 2008 04:38 PM
Anil Kumble is the best captain in test cricket.But Dhoni dont have experience in test cricket.It is the right way to select seprate captain.
RE:Comparisions
by CATIIMATALES on Jan 29, 2008 05:41 PM
Tendulkar and Dravid should hire you to tell them when they are in-form and out-of-form. Man, do you understand cricket at all?
RE:Comparisions
by SS Enterprises on Jan 29, 2008 01:01 PM
Congratulations, your understanding of "statistics" has just elevated you to the exalted ranks of cricket pundits to which our honorable selectors belong.Statistics is nowadays being calculated using a new parameter, "in-form" & "out-of-form"!!great!! Taking your statistical logic further,let me extrapolate(cannot explain what it means) further.An "out-of -form" Vinod Kambli scored double centuries when an "in-form" Sachin was scoring 50s and hundreds.Thus Kambli is better than Sachin? fantastic logic, great thinking!!An "out-of-form" Praveen Amre was scoring double hundreds whereas an "in-form" Sachin could not? Amre better than Sachin?Just a few minor points which the modern day P.C Mahalanobis (won't be surprised if you don't know who he was) has missed out:1)critics like Ritchie Benaud,Tony Greig (people whose knowledge of cricket is hailed throughout the cricketing fraternity worldwide) who unlike our selectors/ board members have played a bit of cricket,have said that Ganguly's illegitmate dismissal in the 2nd test cost India the match.I think that says a fair bit of the opinion in which he is held in world cricket.Ask Steve Waugh,Arjuna Ranatunga (not the Ranjit Biswal,Kiran More types who between themselves have played/seen less cricket than anyone I've mentioned) and note the esteem in which they hold Ganguly. Sachin,Dravid,Laxman,Kumble,Ganguly are all once in a decade cricketers.Don't have to demean somebody to praise somebody else.
RE:RE:Comparisions
by Karunakar Patil on Jan 29, 2008 01:14 PM
Yes at that point of time KAMBLI was better than Sachin .Later he could not keep consistency level.
RE:RE:RE:Comparisions
by Karunakar Patil on Jan 29, 2008 01:16 PM
Yes Mr SS ENT Sachin, Kumble, Dravid ,Ganguly and Laxman are best cricketres of last decade. No doubt about that.
RE:Comparisions
by Sameer K on Jan 29, 2008 04:29 PM
Ganguly a one day specialist is a once in decade player, ha ha ha.
The player whoose average in TEST Cricket is like 31 against Australia, 31 against South Africa, 30 against West Indies, 32 against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, 27 in New Zealand is a once in decade player, LOL. You dont know anything about cricket and sports it seems.
Your once in decade player, has not scored a single hundred when these bowlers have played for their sides, McGrath, Warne, Donald, Pollock, Ambrose, Walsh, Akram & Waqar.
Ha ha once in a decade batsmen has ZERO hundreds and averages less than 30 against the BEST BOWLERS OF HIS TIME IN TEST CRICKET.
If these kind of cricketers are once in decade for you, then i surely know what your knowledge about cricket or sport is.
Greg Baum, columnist at Melbourne's Age, wrote in Wisden Asia Cricket magazine a few years ago: "Here is a man not susceptible to human failing in any endeavour, a man not so much invincible as invulnerable." He ended his appreciation by calling Tendulkar "the game's secular saint".
the juniors are going to fail in the ODIs but it is ok as they are the ones who are going to play the next world cup. If they show no hope atleast we will know well before not to put too many hopes on India in world cup 2011. Also it has to be noted that ODIs(except World Cup) are not as important as tests where every match is important. Every ODIs should be treated as a learning experience and it does not matter if in that process we lose. Also for all the fans of seniors just one question, India had all the seniors in 2007WC what happened to it ? he he. It is time to move on. And by the way I dont hate any seniors but surely they do not have it in them to win an ODI series against Australia, after all we recently lost to England in an ODI series. Let us know what the juniors are capable of.
RE:most probably
by Reza Arif on Jan 29, 2008 11:18 AM
I dont see the juniors performing well .. the likes of Suresh Raina have already been given umpteen chances..
Suresh Raina has played 36 matches and at an average of 26!! In away matches .. that average falls down to 15.7!! At neutral venues too .. the average is just around 25!
Gambhir too has been given enuf chances with 37 matches.. He isnt a great prospect averaging just around 30 overall! Against Aussies .. his average falls to a pathetic 8.5 (in 3 matches)!!
Only Rohit Sharma looks technically sound to be able to withstand the heat .. we should continue hunting for good replacements for the youngsters .. and give the seniors some respect by dropping them only if their performance falls down considerably...
RE:most probably
by Sai Prakash on Jan 29, 2008 12:03 PM
Not too much technique is needed in ODIs and T20, otherwise YUVRAJ would have flopped in the shorter versions as well.
RE:RE:most probably
by Reza Arif on Jan 29, 2008 12:12 PM
On flat batting tracks .. not much technique is required .. but on Aussie pitches .. technique will be at a premium!!!
We should remember that if a batsman plays technically correct cricket .. it should not hamper him from scoring quickly!! Cricket is not only about 4's & 6's .. its about 1's & 2's too ...
Flashy cross batted strokes will get a few quick runs but on very few occasions will they become huge innings which is required ever so often...
RE:most probably
by cynic on Jan 29, 2008 12:34 PM
All the seniors were there in World cup and England. Yet we lost what do you say to that ? Seniors cannot play in next world cup in any case. What is the harm in giving youngsters the chance and who says technique is the only important thing. Do Sehwag,Ganguly have the best technique? The seniors are used to losing to Australia in ODI, they have mentally lost it in ODIs
RE:RE:most probably
by Reza Arif on Jan 29, 2008 01:56 PM
It very easy to blame the seniors and fans continue to do that ... Dont just blame the seniors for our losses... Even Aussies have lost matches and tournaments .. For a team to win .. there shud be several match winners in the team in good form .. The focus should not be just on youngsters .. it should be on talent! Raina & Gambhir have been given enough chances ... and we need better talent..
In Australia, technique is important .. I would not want my team to lose miserably .. however unimportant the match may be...
Because of the seniors .. within the nextyear .. we will consolidate our position as Worlds 2nd best test side.. and even get a shot at being world no. 1 if things go well...
RE:most probably
by SP on Jan 29, 2008 11:43 AM
Excellent post....you have got it absolutely right...very good observation on Raina and Gambhir...completely agree with you..especially with Gambhir who has too many technical drawbacks...Raina was also given too many opportunities in the past.
RE:most probably
by Reza Arif on Jan 29, 2008 12:09 PM
Thanks SP!
Majority of fans are just so biased with their favorite stars or their regional stars that performance has taken a back seat! Also age is being given too much importance .. and in the name of age .. and the next world cup .. Seniors are being humiliated .. Its not far away .. when Sachin's form will temporarily slump and he too will be dropped unceremoniously! Dropping seniors based on performance is acceptable .. but mentioning that they are too old .. and discounting their chances for the future is not good
RE:RE:most probably
by cynic on Jan 29, 2008 12:37 PM
Age is being given importance because none of the seniors are going to play in the next world cup, better to lose a few now while playing against good teams rather than losing shamefully in the world cup. And by the way you did not read my post, I said I expect Indians to lose to both Australia and Sri Lanka but I do not care since ODIs are mostly meaningless except for world cup and it is a good idea to throw the youngsters in at the deep-end. Atleast they will know how tough Australia and keep their mouth shut and perform
RE:most probably
by Reza Arif on Jan 29, 2008 01:50 PM
Cynic,
I feel World Cup is not 'everything' as far as ODI's are concerned .. Thats the diffeence in thinking between u & me .. I do feel that its very prestigious .. and desirable .. but that is 3 years away .. and choosing incapable players by just citing their age .. is not good policy .. I dont mind youngsters .. but they should have the potential & talent! We hv 2 years .. in which we should find potential candiadates and in the last year groom them in the international scene .. but losing an entire series before it starts off .. is not good
Again .. If Raina & Gambhir are the future for India and are gonna replace greats like Sachin, Dravid & Ganguly ... we should rather be competing with teams like Kenya & Bangladesh and that too on flat tracks!
Mark my words .. these players are not going to be the ones who will win us the world cup .. there have been several players like these who hv come n gone ... A few r listed below..
Venugopala Rao JP Yadav M Kaif Sanjay Bangar SS Das Deep Das Gupta Hrishikesh Kanitkar R Sodhi Hemang Badani J Martin A Khurasiya Vijay Bharadwaj S Ramesh
RE:most probably
by joydip bhattacharya on Jan 29, 2008 01:05 PM
before always blaming selectors...
Can youy tell me any player who deserve to be there in the team by their performance , and did not get a chance ........(you may see few may not be their in th team only by runs but got their chance because of their Talent , (Schewag)
people are just looking to score the runs not the way to face and look forward the game.. what DADA is doing in ODI as well as in TEST... just look back the his innings and matches...
i am sure the inability young ODI team will fail against aus, sri langa
RE:dada is a successor
by Karunakar Patil on Jan 29, 2008 01:21 PM
With Dada we lost to Ausise ODI in Home series. In fact Nagpur match we lost because of DADA. After Sachin ,Ganguly is gr8 oneday palyer Inida has ever produced(Sehwag , YUvraj or Dhoni, Uthapa may come to that level in future). But for todays oneday he lacks speed in field and scoring rate.
Well, I can see many regional fools are typing harted masgs agant ganguly.. these fools are rejoicing too much over the failure of ganguly in perth and adelide tests.. may be these fools were never been so happy by cracking in iit, iim, or in aiims or any things..
Facts* 1. 1st test agnts Pakistan : made 8 and match wining 48 and took 3 wicktes. 2. 2nd test agnst pakistan : made 102 and 46 3. 3rd test agnst pakistan : made 239 and 91 and 2 wicktes Awarded Player of the series.
In australia: 1. 1st Test: made 43 and 40, quite useful knocks, while all others batmen failed to score. 2. 2nd test: made 67 and 51, quite useful knock,, would have saved the amtch, if judgement wud have been correct.
But failure in last two matches, all brainless shit child are now laughing of dada, calling paper tiferm pussy cat etc etc.. Oye moron, get up, if you could achive 1 % of dada, you wud have regarded good to the society.. but i know u guys are uttur failure, doing noting, love to critise dada, becso u guys r jeolous.. Get well son id id ats.
RE:RE:About DADA
by Sikander on Jan 29, 2008 11:38 AM
Dont let your personal choice clash with clear thinking. Ganguly averaged a poor 28 runs per innings in the series which is not good enough for a good batsman like him. Even Dravid failed while averaging slightly better at 33 per inning.
See, true class means performing against the BEST team on THEIR grounds.
Both the above 2 players struggled whereas Tendulkar and Laxman always looked comfortable.
There is no use scoring runs against weaker teams.
Anyway, you make your own judgement. I think it is time for us to look at getting younsters like Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tewari and Badrinath.
RE:About DADA
by Karunakar Patil on Jan 29, 2008 01:24 PM
You are right Mr Sikander. We have to blood youngsters now when Kumble, Sachin ,Dravid Laxman and Ganguly are playing
RE:Doesn't matter
by chris on Jan 29, 2008 09:03 AM
It can be proven statistically that Australia has far less crime, aids and disease than India. For proof of how ugly Indians are, I'll quote a survey. %50 of Indian women want to move to a Western Nation, the other %50 are already there.
RE:RE:Doesn't matter
by debmalya mitra on Jan 29, 2008 09:05 AM
as par the same survey.... 50% od stupids allover the worls want to move to australia.. other 50% are already there..lol
RE:RE:Doesn't matter
by debmalya mitra on Jan 29, 2008 09:07 AM
as par the same survey.... 50% of stupids allover the world want to move to australia.. other 50% are already there..lol..and currently one of them is trying to prove that on this forum...
RE:Doesn't matter
by Indian on Jan 29, 2008 09:20 AM
Hi Chris: After failing to "whitewash" the Indians as predicted earlier, have you switched to making these comical surveys? 50% Indian women want to move to a western nation proves what? Indian men are ugly?.. :-) JOKE of the YEAR.. We sensible Indians can only pity the ineptitude of minds like yours.. :-) Keep it up.. some day you will learn how to add 2 and 2.. Till then keep using your calculators and computers.. Just remember where 2 is on the keyboard though.. Otherwise you are fully capable of "statistically" arriving at an answer that 2 and 2 total up to 616... :-) :-) :-)
RE:Doesn't matter
by Sai Prakash on Jan 29, 2008 12:00 PM
Dingoes will always be inferior to the original white skins which are the English. You convicts will look like and behave like Thieves always.
White skins are ashamed of their ugly, lifeless and pale white skins so they try and cover up their shortcomings by lying half nude in the sun. However the result is, they start looking like cooked meat. So sad!!!
RE:Doesn't matter
by ROHIT on Jan 29, 2008 09:05 AM
Dont ever say that racism in australia is less. WE all know how australian public racially abused Monty Panesar N Makhaya Ntini n Ashwell prince.
RE:Doesn't matter
by Reza Arif on Jan 29, 2008 02:03 PM
Chris,
Australia are on their way down .. and Indians are on the way up .. rejoice the No. 1 position how much ever u can in the next few months .. coz very soon u will be behind us!!!
Aussies hv definitely WON THE SERIES .. but INDIANS HV WON EVERYONE'S HEARTS ...
with their impeccable behaviour on and off the field..
Abotu racism .. check records properly .. and u will know that Aussies are much better known for it .. Darren Lehmann was the first player to be penalised .. and Aussies are known for their encounters against Monty Panesar, Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince etc..
Take a chill pill and watch India climb the charts ...
RE:Doesn't matter
by debmalya mitra on Jan 29, 2008 09:04 AM
its pretty much evident that aussies come a cropper when they r forced to play fair game... if u take away the matches which aussies won with umpires like bucknor or for that matter the ones which the aussies play unfair(which they normally do to rise to number one) i guess u guyz will belong to where u deserve to.. that is at the bottom of the table..maybe below bangladesh..lol
RE:Doesn't matter
by Indian on Jan 29, 2008 09:04 AM
Hey Chris: Thanks for the compliment mate.. :-) You will understand no other language anyway.. So we are happy.. which you shall never be.. :-):-):-)
Lets just compare a simple statistics. If we consider a 5 wicket haul to be as good as a century then kumble has made 35 centuries in test cricket. Also, getting 10 wickets in single innings is as good as scoring 400 runs by single batsmen in 1 innings. Hence we can say Kumble has 35 centuries with a highest of 400 runs just for comparison purpose. But its sad that what hype our bowlers get is nothing close when it comes to Batsmen. People roar when sachin and saurav come to batting crease but nothing is shown for Kumble.... I would rate him as one of the best indian player to have played for indian team in the last 25 years. Kumble we salute you and hope your captaincy brings India more laurels! If a person like kumble can be dropped from one day squad (which has happened before he retired from one day) then dropping saurav is nothing...because fielding wise both these player stand same....
RE:Kumble contribution as good as Sachin, Gavaskar, Kapil and Dravid
by Sai Prakash on Jan 29, 2008 12:09 PM
Yes, Kumble is the Best cricketer EVER from India. Second is Tendulkar and then maybe Gavasker and Kapil Dev.
The problem is that in India Batsmen always get all the limelight, whereas in other countries the public and media is more fair.
RE:Kumble contribution as good as Sachin, Gavaskar, Kapil and Dravid
by Karunakar Patil on Jan 29, 2008 01:37 PM
Kumble has yet to achive inernational levaels set by Warne, Murali in Tests and Wasim Akram in One day.
Sachin is almost certain to set test batmen levels of aggregate ,100s in near future . And in Oneday by any standard he is the best Nobody in next 10 years can come anywhere near to the levels set by Tendulkar. So Sachin is By miles greatesr Indian cricket than anybody else because he has set up standarsd for International Batsmen (Don Brdman Exception)
Second you have select from Gavaskar, Kapil and then Kumble.
RE:Kumble contribution as good as Sachin, Gavaskar, Kapil and Dravid
by explorer on Jan 29, 2008 06:36 AM
Kumble is the best match winner for India in all times. I think he won more matches than even Bedi, Chandra and Prasanna.
Can India defeat SA in India: doubtful. Can India defeat SL in India: maybe Both SA and SL will defeat India easily at their home. Rankings are not very accurate. The only thing they show is- India has given the toughest fight to Australia.
RE:SA and SL
by ROHIT on Jan 29, 2008 09:17 AM
If both S.A N SL can defeat india so easily at thier home then why did world's best side australia who claimed beating india 4-0 before the series started coudnt even make it 2-0. Dont forget Australia have lost only 2 test n 2 drawn games in home in 5 years . one of draws is against inida yesterday n both losses is also against india. Since 2001 india - australia scores r setteled at 5 wins to 6 wins in aus favour .A score which no other teams have remotely come closer. Ranking improve only when u compete against the best n play well. Even ricky n Adam admitted yesterday india r their toughest opponents. ALSO dont forget india defeated sa at jberg n won te series in england last year.
RE:SA and SL
by Ridhdhish Amin on Jan 29, 2008 03:25 AM
You must be kidding! SA & SL are not hot favorites if they are playing in India. SA vs. India in India - I would say is a 50-50% chance (probably still India being favorite due to home advantage).
SL vs India in India - is prolly 35-65% in favor of India.
