The article was well begun with some left-handed compliments to Mr Hayden. Ganguly's was a good knock irrespective of the opposition. He should continue in the same vein at least until our own God of Cricket ( sachin) retutns to the team. But I somehow do not agree with your assessment of Laxman's utility. Come on Mr Panicker, you, me and we all know this wristy artist deserves to be treated much better.
Saurav's confidence building with Kenya is superb. This will give them enough ammunition to fight to deny Pakistan on the net run rate.
Teams in WC 2003 became complacent or ignored for their own peril. Let us see how Kenya Pak gets unfolded.
Pakistan with dented ego will be further muted with doubts on their own ability that will place them on even foil on the ultimate encounter India Pak.
Let us back our Captain for his conviction to allow Kenya to play out 50 overs (98 run win is not a small win). We have done our bit to encourage "Minnows" it is a racist word, apart from ICC by their lip service.
Come on prem panicker laxman is far better then yuvraj and kaif when it comes to consistency......... i dont understand why people are always after sachin and laxman afterall they r the players who can make any bowler sweat think bout it mates............ cheers Y
The article was excellent,because it highlighted how team selections seem to have a sentimental angle to them. Laxman is a treat to watch in tests but seems out of place in the one day team. This is primarily because unlike Dravid, he hasn't been able to change his game to suit the demands of one day cricket. Actually when Sachin is back India should stick firmly to the 6 batsmen+1 wk+4 bowlers composition. This would also help the likes of Sehwag and Yuvraj to hone their bowling skills which is a dire necessity. My recommended batting order would be Sachin,Ganguly,Dravid,Kaif,Sehwag,Yuvraj,Karthik,Pathan,Harbhajan,Bhandari,Nehra. NO AGARKAR PLEASE... The guy gets so many chances that it seems that, for every series, once the india captain is selected, the first player on the team is Agarkar. He was ineffective against a team like Kenya and really someone with sense needs to take a call as to how this guy continues to play forever without any performance to show. Speaking of the Kenya match, it was stupid captaincy by Saurav to allow Kenya to bat out the 50 overs when he could have simply crushed them. Thanks to this ridiculous ploy, India could fail to make the semi-finals.
If we read all the comments posted to Prem's article, we will find a a couple of hundred versions of strategies and tactics by self-appointed living-room gurus of indian cricket (excluding Prem). That is precisely the problem with us. We are not qualified to make judgements or provide strategies...we are fans: enjoy the game and support the team specially when it is down. We love to kick our players in the groin, specially during a bad patch. Imagine this: if only my captain (yes, dada) had the same propensity, at least 8 players in today's team would not have their careers at all.
There is no problem in the team, some players are having a slump in form; they will get out of it. India cannot win EVERY match they play. The players are professionals, and losing hurts them more than it hurts me or you. So, sit tight, zip it, and support our boys in blue.
Prem, of course, should continue to write. I have seen Prem criticizing Ganguly when its due, so I know he is not biased.
AGAIN: leave the planning to the team, you did not seem to mind when they win, so dont interfere when they lose. I want Team India to compete fiercely and win, let them figure out how.
Cricket is a game of confidence.The Australian series is around the corner and u r talking abt considering dropping VVS.
Well with Sachin a doubtful starter for the test series and Sehwag's patchy form, VVS and Rahul are our two best bats in the Test team.
Cricket is a game abt Motivation and India's Bench strength is not strong.Rayadu has a problem with shot selection and he needs to play more domestic cricket to overcome this.
This is not swimming where u can put somebody young.
Sachin was an extreme talent and managed to swim but the rest aint no good.
Dropping VVS would lead to the loss of Saurav's Captaincy.
The reason being if VVS wont fire against Australia, India will lose.
And Push Yuvraj,Kaif at no 3 and give them 10 games and lets see if they manage to perform.
They r ideal later down in the innings . In fact they r masters but u push them up they will come a cropper.
RE:Re. Digging your own grave..
by Sam on Sep 14, 2004 10:45 AM
Sir,
Your little note seems only to support Prem's original argument. You say that Dravid and Laxman (you forgot Ganguly) are our best bats considering Tendulkar's injury and Sehwag's form. You also can't deny that Dravid is the better bat. Laxman is a class test batsmen, he does not have the ability to play the lofted shots that are required in the modern one-day game. Lets not even talk about his running between the wickets. Our best bet is to drop Laxman from the playing 11, and give Yuvraj and Kaif promotions up the batting order, Karthik should follow... and to use your language, the rest don't matter!
laxman's avaerge is abt 31 and strike rate is about 70. You have to be better in one aspect atleast if not both. Either promise a quick fire 30 or a stable end. Does that make sense ?
Surely the posting was intriguing.. Laxman at least seems to have found a bit of his form as did Ganguly, Kaif and Dravid among others. But for Sehwag the form still remains elusive!(?)
Accepted that he has immense talent but lack of form has been costing us lack of starts and finally lack of wins... so isn't it time that he looked for his form and what better way than to play some domestic cricket and come back... No! this is not outrageous.. if you are not in form you are not in team.. that should be a policy (unless you are indispensable). That is what the might Australians would have done.. and once that slot is empty you have ergo, a place for Laxman and still only 6 batsmen.. We need Karthik .. no arguments over there!
It has been a long time since I read an article from Prem. Without Prem's articles, it is bore to look at rediff cricket columns. I do agree with Prem's view on Laxman and Indian Team.
