Parthiv Patel's dismissal once again raises the issue of including a specialist keeper in the squad at the expense of a seventh batsman or a genuine bowler.
Parthiv has been in the team for some time now but has not been able to prove his mettle whatever oppurtunity he has got till date .
Ofcourse he was lucky to be in the Indain squad in the world cup at the expense of Laxman and had a good picnic for a month or more in South Africa and walked away with tournament fee without playing a single match.
Apart from India all the team of the world has class keeper batsman .. to name few
Australia -Adam Gilchrist Sri Lanka -Sangakarra and Kaluwitharna Pakistan-Rashid Latif/Moin Khan
After Kirmani,we have never been able to find a good keeper batsman .Ofcourse we cannot negate the the good job done by Kiran More and Mongia ,Kirmani was class apart.
Parthiv is no where near More or Mongia.
Accepted it will take time before he can mature. He should play more domestic cricket ,before entering into the big leaugue.Inexperience is clearly visible when he standup to bat.
Every time I read your reviews the past few matches I got the impression that Laxman was playing superbly and that when he did get out it was an aberration of sorts.... I watched the game yesterday for the first time after worldcup and was shocked to see that Laxman hasnt learnt one bit - that he never moves his feet. You didnt even mention that IMPORTANT fact. Clearly a top batsman like himself not moving his feet in India is okay, but can he get away w/ it in Aussie land??? His batting yesterday was amateurish to be mild.
THis Indian team will always struggle without bowlers. One shuddwers to imagine what would have happened had Glenn McGrath, Gilesspe and Brett Lee been in this side. Against a second string we were hammered.
To the people on India please now pay more attention to our national sport hockey where the players are earnong accolades for the country and getting a pittance in return. THis is called true love for the country and not what are [pam,pered cricketers are doing.
With the absence of Ganguly, the Indian batting line up looks vulnerable. Dravid should go back to keeping and make a way for the seventh batsman. Yes, Mr. Faisal said it right, if we can't defeat the depleted Aussie side on our home territory then what we can expect from our team when they visit Australia to play the full strength team. Tendulkar has got an excellent opportunity to play the innings of his life time....that's too in front of his home crowd...unfortunately once again he surrendered meekly after getting a good start. I don't know when i am going to see a good knock from Tendulkar while chasing a big target. The way tendulkar got out, i was just expecting that since he was regularly playing that risky shot, even though he was succesful on some occassions but he can't repeat the same shot again and again, he paid for his mistake. Aussies have special liking for Zaheer Khan, he should do something to improve his line and length...particularly while bowling to Gilchrist. Over all it was an excellent performance by Aussies and they truly deserve to be at top in the points table. Sehwag has to do something to reduce the number of 0's. against him.
India missed Ganguly badly in this match . Ganguly would have been an asset chasing under lights in turning conditions . He would have made mincemeat out of the spinners . Also i feel Dravid's blunder of introducing Sehwag to open the bowling allowed the Aussies to get away with such a huge score . On such a bowler friendly the Aussies should not have got more than 225 . Dravid and all can lead India temporary for say a game or two but only Ganguly can lead india consistently in high pressure situations . (Please dont censor my comment)
I worry about the forthcoming Indian tour of Australia. On present form our bowlers are going to be massacred and many of our batsmen's shortcomings will be exposed. It is ridiculous to have flat, slow wickets to prepare for Australia. If we can't beat Australia at home what chances do we have here? Kumble, a game trier, is clearly on his last legs. His inability to turn the ball is a huge disadvantage overseas. Harbhajan doesn't exercise any plan, thinking or control in his bowling. He has lost his"doosra" and is bowling too flat! Khan is wayward and indisciplined as is Agarkar (most of the time). Karthik doesn't get a chance inspite of Aussies being weak against left arm orthodox spinners. Where are our match winning bowlers? Sehwag is chancy and cannot be relied on to score regularly. Ganguly's weakness against pace is well documented. Laxman's feet get planted in one spot while he is playing his airy drives. Parthiv Patel does not inspire confidence in front or behind the wicket.The bowlers don't know how to hold their bats! Even Tendulkar is guilty of not being able to read match situations and playing accordingly. Why would he have played such a shot fraught with danger
