I don't know why our selectors suddenly found something marvelous in this deadwood to select him again for the Indian team. He only talks and talks to the media but on ground he gets hammering from rival batsmen with his mouth shut. I am unable to read this fickle mind of selectors.
I am willing to stick my neck out & say that India will never be the top test team again. After watching Eng & S. Africa in all 3 test matches I can safely predict they are streets ahead of us in all departments of the game. Both have quality bowling attacks & great batsmen but above all each one of those players is a great athlete. Contrast with India & you will be hard pressed to come up with even 1 out of 11 being a semi decent athlete while the rest are trundlers & Ashwin being the biggest culprit. Our bowling attack is nothing short of rubbish. Zaheer is an old war horse & is past his prime. Ishant is not even fit to play in county cricket but here he is touted as one of our pace hopes. Umesh shows promise but he will take time to develop. Bhajji does not deserve to be picked (he is in the team thanks to Dhoni as they are business partners), while Ashwin & Ojha need to be persisted with. Piyush is a fat & ungainly player who has no confidence in his abilities & can be butchered into submission. Even South Africa which has no history of decent spin bowlers has unearthed a fairly decent spinner in Imran Tahir. You can have the best batting line up (on paper) but without bowling & fielding you are nowhere. The glory days are over for India.
Re: India will never be No. 1 again
by anand zawar on Aug 21, 2012 09:09 AM
this is for the first time I am seeing england winning something. dont forget, this team could never win anything. its just that they have started to win in the last 2/3 years. after 100 years of cricket, all they have is a T20 world cup. thats pathetic. just watch this team in the coming India series in November. Ur doubts will be cleared.
Re: Re: India will never be No. 1 again
by nishant agrawal on Aug 21, 2012 10:06 AM
For that matter I am willing to stick my neck out and say no team will be able to stay no. 1 test team for next 2-3 years. Leave alone India.See what has happened to England.They have been outplayed in last few tests .
Re: Re: India will never be No. 1 again
by Subroto Neogi on Aug 21, 2012 10:33 AM
FYI, England have never played well in India (though they have done better in Pakistan & SL). That's not going to change in the forthcoming series. Sure this team is much stronger than earlier ones and boasts of some real matchwinners. But they are down in confidence right now. That's the last thing they needed before coming to India. India will always be a big challenge even to the strongest international teams, no matter how pathetic our own performance has been. Besides, do you think that the present Indian team will be sitting ducks and will simply roll over when the English arrive? Far from it. Dhoni's team has a lot to prove. Everybody from Dhoni, Tendulkar, down to Pujara and Badrinath has a lot to play for. Mark my words - the English are going to go back empty handed.
Re: India will never be No. 1 again
by anand zawar on Aug 21, 2012 09:14 AM
just care about those three players handcuffed and behind bars....Its a shame. OUrs is a strong team even on field. Just care about ur cheating team and players.
Re: Re: India will never be No. 1 again
by Inzy Bhai on Aug 21, 2012 09:51 AM
What do you mean "your cheating team". I am more Indian than you & who are you to cast aspersions on my nationality?
Re: Re: Re: India will never be No. 1 again
by Kalank Sharma on Aug 21, 2012 10:28 AM
Maybe Anand mistook you for a Paki judging you on your Name/Nickname.
Re: Re: Re: Re: India will never be No. 1 again
by Inzy Bhai on Aug 21, 2012 11:46 AM
Just shows how dumb you people are. In my post I have referred to "our team" but since religion & bigotry is your top of the mind recall how can you ever draw any sane conclusions.
Re: India will never be No. 1 again
by Yogesh Patil on Aug 21, 2012 09:40 AM
India could be number one if they invite all the teams in India to play test cricket.......
Re: Get married to Geeta Basra soon
by Inzy Bhai on Aug 21, 2012 08:35 AM
Five wickets? You must be joking. In the last IPL Bhajji was scared to bring himself on to bowl. If the batsmen were attacking the bowling he would wait till the end to bowl at the tail. His only claim to fame is that he is a street fighter who matched the Aussies in mental disintegration in their own den. He almost brought India & Australia to break off ties a few years back. Dump him. He has nothing to contribute accept his foul mouthedness.
People here are so consistent that just after seeing a random 11 wicket haul agaist a county team, they have started saying 'bajji is better than ashwin' just bcos ashwin did not do well in Aus. The fact is, Indian spinners has always been mediocre in Aus either kumble or Harbhajan and Bhajji has the worst record of the 3 spinners. Also he has been going wicketless many tests last 3 or 4 years especially in spinner friendly tracks like srilanks. Ashwin for whatever chance he got, atleast makes honest attempt and looks much more matured. We do not need mediocre players who just start talking to media just after random good performances and that is what Bhajji does always. He could be a hitter with bat but he is supposed to be in the team as a wicket taking bowler and not a someone who tries to contain and living in the mercy of pinch hitting capabilities. Ashwin's carrom ball looks good and he is tall and can extract bounce but Bhajji does not even flight as he lacks confidence. People like Ashwin, ojha, chawla, mishra and rahul sharma needs to be groomed instead of relying back on an old outdated spinner who lacks consistency and maturity at international level. Anyone who talks for Bhajji has to give logical data and statistics based on his performance last 4 years and not just based on this single odd performance. "We should go behind average and not on spurs or peaks"
Re: Odd performances
by Hiten Sheth on Aug 21, 2012 01:47 AM
how many test performances dhoni has. he is a utter flop in test matches. why he is persisted with. for leadership qualities. similarly bhajji brings leadership qualities and good batting skills as well. he can guide the other spinners in the team.
Re: Re: Odd performances
by babu raghunathan on Aug 21, 2012 02:21 AM
Agreed, Dhoni does not have a great batting record in tests, but until this 0-8, India was performing very well in tests and he is the CAPTAIN of the team.
For players other than captain, for you to lead others, you have to perform.
But same cannot be said for a captain. As long as the results are good, we can live with CAPTAINS even though their individual performance are weak because their main objective is to lead the team and make it win.
Moreover Dhoni is in the team not just for his batting, he is a keeper and also skipper. But Harbhajan IF in the team will the lead bowler and has to deliver with credibility which he did not show last 4 years.
Re: Re: Re: Odd performances
by Jiju on Aug 21, 2012 05:25 AM
Babu, Ashwin has both advantages & disadvantages. He is a economical bowler and useful to the team. But has to improve a lot on aggression and running between the wickets. I am also a fan of Ashwin, but sorry to say he resembles a zombie on the ground.
If you see the Kumble-Harbhajan partnership era, you may notice that one bowler used to contain the runs while the other used to get wickets. This is the problem of bowlers today. Just Ashwin wont help, there needs to be another bowler who can do well.....
Re: Re: Re: Re: Odd performances
by babu raghunathan on Aug 21, 2012 05:42 AM
@jiju,
Agreed we need 2 bowlers in tandem in line with the list of bowlers I mentioned in the first mail. But that 'other bowler' cannot be harbhajan is my point. He has gone past his peak and it will be wasted investment on him.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Odd performances
by Jiju on Aug 21, 2012 05:52 AM
Re: Babu. Frankly, it is either Chawla or Harbhajan that Dhoni prefers. Judjing standards for Chawla/Rohit Sharma are different than the rest.
Re: Re: Odd performances
by Gupta on Aug 21, 2012 07:46 AM
@Hiten Shah: Leadership qualities of Bhajji (What a joke). Didn't you see his coolness during IPL matches? When he doesn't have skills, how you can expect him to guide other budding cricketers? Please dont joke...
