Let's not kid ourselves - this 1-0 series win is actually a 1-2 loss. The correct result should have been 3-0! There is no one from the England team who has the qualities or talent to play in test cricket.
This is not a call to axe Rahul Dravid. He should never have been a captain! Now, he refused to enforce the follow-on against the pathetic English team. Most teams pray for just that 200 minimum to be able to enforce it. Rahul has individual cricketing greatness, even a strong backbone, hence the WALL. But, a CAPTAIN! Just leave captaincy to capable cricketers.
Batting forms come and go but captaincy qualities are unique and rare. Sourav Ganguly was axed based on a batting-form excuse used by Greg Chappell (chappel), and the power brokers of the BCCI at that period. This, when he was shooting down the biggest thugs in the world, often with limited attack options. The on-field aggression he matched against the uncouth behavior of cricketers from South Africa, England and especially Australia was a never before by an Indian cricketer, a CAPTAIN. The idiots at BCCI brought in Chappell, whose only purpose was to defeat, humiliate and assassinate Saurav Ganguly, a feat the powerful aussies could not do playing cricket, mission accomplished! Rahul Dravid as a captain was a joke in the second test at Pakistan in April 2004, and continues to be one, the Oval 007!!
Sourav Ganguly is a complete team captain, individually dealing with all players, senior or junio
RE:Dirt - not Ashes
by Bango Khota on Aug 16, 2007 07:15 PM
can a captain getting slapped from pace bowlers around world lead team? Can captain opt not coming to bat seeing green top lead the team?
RE:Dirt - not Ashes
by Raja Ivaturi on Aug 17, 2007 06:52 AM
As Rahul said "It is easy to say a lot from the living room". I feel the result would not be different even if follow-on would be forced. The way England played indidated that they could have scored nearly 500 with the tired bowlers bowling at them. And India could have tried for a draw with in whatever overs that would be left for them. we also need to remember that Zaheer didnt bowl in the second innings, otherwise we might have still won the 3rd test. Dravid's decision was debatable but that has it's own justifications and one of them is having only 4 bowlers. Apart from this, after Steve Waugh's team loosing to India in Calcutta, forcing follow-on is being avoided especially on batting pitches like Oval. The bowlers would need to bowl for 90-100 more overs to bowl England out and definitely there is a possiblity of bowlers getting tired.
I hope Rahul is passing through his last phase in Cricket career. In the wins he is not contributing. He is contributing as a captain to make a sure victory turn into draw and may be a loss had there been any brisk scoring batsman in the England side. Rahul is a pathetic captain. His mindset is also very complex and he is totally unpredictable. One can not hope much from his. The sooner he retires to his den, the better would be the future of Indian cricket.
This is from Cricinfo: Wadekar: Rahul Dravid as a captain has finally come full circle and now is able to implement what he wants. Previously his thoughts might have been influenced by that of the coach, but during the England series he was on his own. Bizarrely, each time we have won in England there was no coach.
Bedi: We do better without a coach. For too long they've been spoonfed and now that they are on their own they probably realised their responsibilities better. Dravid has done a reasonable job as a captain: either he has been very good and attacking or at times he gets defensive, but he is learning.
Sehwag: I was really impressed by Rahul's captaincy. It doesn't matter if you have the coach or not because it is the captain who handles things on the ground and Rahul carried the right changes at the right times with the bowling changes and the field positions.
Harbhajan: We haven't won anything much for quite some time now and credit must go to Rahul Dravid and the senior boys who took the responsibility and led ably on the field.
RE:UMMM!!!
by Ifear paceman on Aug 15, 2007 10:25 AM
Bottom line we have won series congratulations.If everybody starts playing like 20-20 then surely we would have lost squaring series 1-1.
If this urgency was shown during World Cup2007 against Bangla Desh Match by Saurav Ganguly we would have not lost that match. Dravid tried to recover from 11/3 and though Ganguly played well he could have got out and it would have been 25/4 then what? Dravid tied one end to see shine off the new ball though one too much. This much cricket you should know.
Rahul Nanda, Varun ,Anurag Rai, Ricky Thukral, Dupe Suman, siva k,Ranjit Patil, Thaliavar,Rajat sharma, Gopal rao INDIAN , James Bond same ID for couple of people creating false discussion.
Deleting messages not suaitable to their thinking.
They dont know "chashpa" of cricket ...
Just to support one man for captaincy criticizing other Indian players.. Beware of these false ID,s !!! they arrive at same time vanish at same time.
As if they have taken control of this board. Moderator have nice sleep.
PS : If they delete this message I have copies
Team India did win this series under Dravid captaincy.
These idiots take id of famous personality as they do not belong to that community. Grow up man
Well well well last test match Dravid ended the ongoing debate of Dravid vs Ganguly. We looked at how both play when they are under pressure and bowl is moving. The result is out%u2026Ganguly can score and Dravid can Stand there for 2 hrs(no wonder he is called a wall). Nasser hussain supported Dravid decision during the lunch break against david loyd,mike Atherton and ian botham.Hussain said Dravid cant afford to loose and he wants to get rid of any hopes England might have.But they way Dravid batted stunned Nasser hussain%u2026wall is not moving Ian botham said%u2026y you need to play for a draw when you can win.
So all my dear Dravid and Ganuly fans, I guess we can end the debate now as we have seen how the two react in same situation with same bowlers.
Ganguly can score and Dravid can stand.
What kind of messege is Dravid sending to the team?
Dravid is the captain and he needs to lead from the front and by example showing some intent.Dravid is the worst captain India can ever have.He took of the shine of the great performance of the indian team.I feel for the team and how frustrating is it to see a captain bat like that when the team is leading by 350 .Ganguly and Sachin got standing ovation when they came to bat and when they got out.Dravid got cheers when he scored his every single run as he was embarrassing. Crowd was happy when he got out and Dravid was relieved its over.
RE:Time to sack Dravid
by anaida raza on Aug 15, 2007 09:49 AM
you are Bong Ricky All Saurav fans are not Bongs but why every bong should be blind saurav fan ?
RE:Time to sack Dravid
by Suman Bhat on Aug 15, 2007 06:52 AM
Rahul Dravid did not enforce the follow on and let%u2019s say it was a collective decision including the team management. India in 335 runs lead with almost two days to go. The problem India had was not with the decision to enforce follow on or not but with the way Dravid approached his batting. If India had declared an hour earlier we would have got the result we wanted.
Suppose India enforced the follow on and the worst case scenario was England bat well look threating and India fail to get wickets. Was there a option of Sachin and Kumble bowling on the leg stump into the rough of the batsman and placing defensive fields. That%u2019s the way you can still get a draw. England might have got 300 or 400 till 5th day luch or tea. So we could still have won the match as pitch was still good for batting on the last day.
RE:Time to sack Dravid
by Gautam Murthy on Aug 15, 2007 04:31 PM
Ricky Thukral is Sarurav's & Ajay Jageja's agent , hence spreading the hate propoganda against Dravid. All this won't work as true circket lovers understand the nuances of cricket better than than Thukral.
i think Dravid was playing safe, he just wanted to make sure that India won the series. Do not compare us to the Australians. they have some world class players who consistently perform well. also we struggled to get the 70 runs in the second innings of the second test. just see what happened in the 2nd innings in the final test. i think India could have struggled even if England had set a target of 120 runs. i think the decision was a team decision. India could have won the third match if those important catches weren't dropped. Dravid would have enforced follow-on if he had a bowler like Mcgrath,Lee or Warne. its worth noting that Kumble and Zaheer didn't bowl well on the last day. 2-0 would have been too flattering for India.
It is good that India won series.....but it's tasteless....... Indian team has no appetite for a fight....loose golden chance to win by 2-0...Hope we can fight better in ODI
Amid the joy of a rare series victory, Dravid, however, admitted that the quick fall of three wickets in second innings at Oval weighed on his mind and forced him to play a sluggish knock.
Dravid, who faced a lot of criticism for not enforcing follow-on and played a 96-ball 12 in the second essay of the third Test, said he was disturbed by the turn of events and got caught up in that.
"It must have been excruciating for you all to watch so you can imagine how excruciating it must have been for me to play that. We had decided not to enforce the follow-on and suddenly to be 11 for 3, there were lots of thoughts running through your mind."
"It was just one of those days when nothing seemed to be going for me. I've had some good moments and some tough moments in my career, it happens. That's the way I can be," Dravid said.
He said though the vagaries of mind curbed his batsmanship, he wanted to lay a foundation for the players to follow.
"Sometimes I can be bloody-minded and not give it away and sometimes I can get caught up in that. That's worked a lot of times in my career and sometimes it doesn't work for me. Sourav came out and played beautifully. We just tried to set up a base for Dhoni and Laxman to go for runs, which is what they did," he said.
RE:replace captain immediately
by Suman Bhat on Aug 15, 2007 07:06 AM
UMMM!!! My Dravid !!! My Dear!!! My heartthrob!!! Oogh!! Ughhh!!! Leave me alone!!!! Ughh!!! I don%u2019t like it!!!! Ughh!!!!! You are so brave!!! Ughh!!!! You make me feel good!!! Do it again!!!! Ughh!!!!
