It's absolutely ridiculous to come across so many calls to drop tendulkar,which can only b explained as an extreme overreaction.For heaven's sake,the man has actually had a decent enough Test series to maintain his place in the side.Yes his performance in the 2nd innings at Cape Town was bad and he deserves criticism,but to suggest dropping him frm the team?Saying that India expects 100's frm Tendulkar not 50's and 60's is hardly rational simply beacuse India always expects way too much frm him and team selection cannot b done on the basis of unrealistic expectations.Let us acknowledge a great champion's efforts to battle for his nation's honour on the field as tirelessly as he has always done in spite of his extraordinary powers being on the wane.And while we r doing that,will someone please suggest a credible replacement who does not go the Raina way in less than a yr's time?
RE:Drop Tendulkar?And where exactly is the replacement?
by vidya sub on Jan 11, 2007 05:55 AM
A woefully inadequate attempt at defending the indefensible. Considering his scores over the last 2-3 years, there is NO DEFENCE for SRT. He needs to get cracking RIGHT AWAY or leave. On another note, how on earth can he NOT feel the utter shame, the tragedy of it all, himself?
Tendulaker and Shewag are junk players. They were proved it again and again. Shewag is just a crooks whose is doesn't even know how to defend a single ball. Tendulkar and Shewag just blocking the arrival of new stars like Uthappa, Gambhir and kartik. They should be kicked out immediately forever from the indian cricket team.
Few things with the Indian team. How can they play Munaf when he is not fit??Munaf is regarded as the fastest bowler in India,it was to a certain extent true when i saw him first bowl.i was shocked to see him bowl at 127 kmph during recently concluded Champions trophy.If Munaf can`t bowl fast he is just a dummy bowler.He should be sacked out of Mumbai ranji team.Same is case with Pathan,when I saw him in Australia he used to bowl continuously above 137 kmph,what happened to him now bowling at 125 kmph.I cannot imagine a bowler at this age dropping his speed drastically. Is there any beggar telling them to bowl just line and length not speed.Just see Ricky ponting,when Brett lee was out of form and trying to bowl slow and good line and length,Ponting told lee that your job in the team is Bowl fast,It doesn`t mean not to concentrate line and length. I remember Akram telling about Razaak,a bowler at 130 kmph with all kinds of tactics like outswing ,inswing, yorker cannot change the course of the game. Please Munaf if he is not capable of bowling fast...
Then comes to Master Blaster.I don`t remember him playing a knock which either saved a match or won the match in the recent 2-3 years. He should have guided youngsters with his experience. Batsman may be out of form(agreed) but see the hundreds or 50`s what sachin has scored recently,it was very normal and nothing useful to the team. Compare Lara at the age of 37 is still showing stars to the opposite team bowlers whomsoever may be. Lara and ponting are getting duck outs and may not be scoring but when they play they are winning matches single handedly for their teams..i remember sachin blasting Australian bowlers in Sharjah,1998. We are expecting that kind of aggressive ness from Sachin.He looks like a coward in the 2nd innings of many tests. Now a days even a normal bowler is also dominating sachin,simple reason is waiting for his kind of balls to hit to fence. Until a bowler bowls a really bad ball sachin is not scoring runs.Bowlers are dominating sachin. We want to see sachin scoring runs by attacking bowlers,being aggressive, because it suits his style.though he may get out cheaply during the process,never mind,when he scores we should win.
I am some how tempted to feel that the whole episode is the result of a meticulous planning which had started with the arrival of Guru Greg.
Last World Cup was won by the Aussies and India (led by a fearless Indian) was a fighting second. So, who was the real threat to Australia for the next World Cup? Surely India. And where are we today? A demoralised, disjointed team with its' key players having all kinds of worries and anxieties. Quite an accomplishment - right? Let us examine how this down slide actually took place.
Soon after his arrival, GC had realised that Ganguly was not going to toe his line. So, (thru some tricks) he was removed from the captaincy and dropped from the team. Dravid was the successor. A perfect gentleman and a great great player - but not the type who could exert his weight and negate the design of GC to usurp the total power. Thereafter, many things must have happened inside the camps and the four walls of the dressing room - instigated rivalries, back bitings, suspicions and mistrusts. We don't know most of that - but we know where are we today. Our brightest players before the arrival of GC were Sehwag, Yuvraj, Kaif, Harbhajan and Pathan. Sehwag is about to get dropped, Yuvraj injured via Kho Kho, Kaif sulking in Allahabad, Bhajji carrying drinks and Pathan back to the domestic market. These and many others have suffered because they did not have a leader, a mentor. Chappel regime of course, had discovered some bright stars - Raina, Uthappa, Munaf, VRV, RP etc. However, such was the nurturing of these promising players that most of them have got rejected even before starting their careers. Even Sachin has become a mere shadow of his past and the Great Wall Dravid has started cracking. So, who will play the next World Cup for us? That's not GC's worry. He is a paid coach and continues to get his money.
Two players who thru great courage and tenacity have come back unscathed are Ganguly and Zaheer. Ganguly's return has however, created another major problem. He is one of the best captains India has ever produced. Now that he has staged a come back as a batsman, should he not automatically become the captain? And this possibility by itself, will hang as a sword and create tension at the top level and spoil team spirit.
So, finally within the short period of his stay, GC has converted our fearless Team India into a leaderless, non-performing team full of unsure and worried cricketers ready to face the gallows. Team Australia must be having a great laugh.
RE:Naked and Dead
by s n on Jan 11, 2007 01:16 AM
Good writing...I strongly say that Sehwag should have been dropped months back. I dont understand as to why Raina was played untill he proved to the world that he is a total failure? But better late than never..Raina is finally out of the team...Dravid is a hardworker but never a smartworker...an exceptional and the most commited player in Team India. But not every good performer is a good captain. Captain should have team building capabilities which Dravid lacks. Sachin, again an exceptional batsmen,world recorder...but how many times has he saved india when it was really needed? Also Karthick should be played coz Dhoni seems to be under the impression that he has no competition. Now some more questions that trouble me..Why was Pathan sent back when he topscored in the practice test match agnst SA?Why is Chapel still the coach? Scrap the contract even if it costs high coz anyway the team is wasting money in tours meant for losing..I would say , set a performance criteria...just make a policy that if a player doesnot perform in say 5 matches, drop him. And Chapel has been following only a part of ausie policy...reshuffling(messing?) the batting line up...but instead, he should reshuffle the players. No one should be allowed to be complacent...
leave sharjah semi finals and finals Versus australia.aPArt from that match tell me a match where sachin was responsible for a win. His blistering centuries against windies,newzealand, zimbabwe,england are lollipos. Leave Indian soil,has he made successive triumphs against australia, South africa and even sri lanka. He cant play mc grath,pollock,vaas and few more old players . These bowlers tell him the ball and get his wicket and how is he compared as a gr8 batsman.
Infusion of young blood,removal of Dravid as captain,removing sachin/sewag/munaf/jaffer permanently and bringing in ganguly as captain retaining Dravid as batsmen getting back gautam gambhir,uthappa etc to name a few miracles to be done ASAP for the indian team.
Pick team from south india we will win world cup.Lots from tamilandu,kerala.stong mentally and physically.Just lie our intelligent movies cricket will reach a ew destination
Hi all, here is my 2 cents of worth on the team composition. Be aware that this team may not win the world cup (thats's every one thinked about 1983 team), but will be somthing you look for. Team for the first 2 matches: G. Gambir R. Uthappa Laxamn (capt) G. Dhiman S. Ganguly R.S. Sodhi Dhoni (Wk) Joginder Sharma H. Singh Z. Khan A. Dinda from Bengal Extra players are A. Kumble J.P. Yadav Sreesanth
Team for the next 2 matches: G. Gambir R. Uthappa Dravid (capt) G. Dhiman S. Ganguly J.P.Yadav Dinesh Karthick (Wk) Joginder Sharma A. Kumble Sree Santh A. Dinda from Bengal Extra players are H. Singh R.S. Sodhi Z. Khan
The fianl XI will be decided after the performance & pitch conditions (play 2 spinners) etc. This must decided by Capt himself.
For Sri LAnka we need to include otehr palyers to the mix and see how they perform.
RE:Indain team for next four 1 days vs WI
by balaji raju on Jan 10, 2007 11:54 PM
Ur are north indian and dont ever be a selector because all talented players will be sacked
I think players first should change the mind. There is one unlovable point in Indian cricket team.It is nothing but if one player like sachin or dravid (sometimes two) goes out and the rest of the team would follow the first and going to pavilion to take rest. It's not good for the team and we should follow the Australians how they show their talents. Even the last batman in the Australian team would be worried for the bowlers of the oppposition teams.
So please change your mind and try to play as Australia the best team in the world both in test and oneday cricket.
Thanks for rediff for given me an oppurtunity to share my comments.
