It is becoming more obvious that the selectors are just rubber stamps when it comes to team selection. Politicians, sponsors and franchises are calling the shots. Team selection evidently shows so. Time has come to send Dhoni to Rajyasabha from the cricket field. He has mastered the art of giving meaningless match analysis speeches. No wonder his bat and captainship have become dumb. Fear of omission, shame of failure and passion to succeed are the non existing words in Indian cricket.
(contd.) Dhoni’s contention of improvement is not wholly correct because there has been actually deterioration from the tougher SA tour to the easier Kiwis tour. Possibly what Dhoni is implying is that compared to the ENG and AUS tour when the big three--Sachin,Dravid and Laxman were part of the side this young side have performed better. Even if it is accepted that Dhoni’s latter contention is right to some extent he must accept that in addition to batting and bowlers failing to get those crucial breakthroughs, Dhoni himself has been found wanting repeatedly to rise to the occasion with the bat at critical junctures that would have made all the difference . Question is whether Dhoni has the requisite skill needed for a Test batsman and if he possesses the temperament to lead a Test side ? Even Martin Crowe has advised rest for Dhoni from Test matches !Additionally Dhoni has also been criticized by expert of defensive captaincy which again the selectors/BCCI need to address and respond to one way or the other. Continuously shouting adnauseum from behind the stumps by Captain Dhoni for two full days …”..bahut badia….bahut badia” w/o much of tangible result from the bowlers only reflects poorly on the captaincy.
So yet another overseas Test series, the 3rd in the last 3 yrs lost and the usual widespread clamor for Dhoni’s head has broken out all over print and electronic media! The opinion seems to be divided but Dhoni seems to still enjoy confidence of many senior most ex-cricketers including that of Gavaskar but we are yet to hear from Dhoni’s ardent critics like Bedi, Prasanna etc. Invariably the comparison is made with past when captains would lose the job with just one series loss !Although Dhoni has had his share of success in taking the Indian cricket to No.1 ranking both in One dayers and Test cricket and perhaps that is to some extent helping him being retained inspite of repeated failures but somehow the general perception is that his closeness to BCCI chief Srinivasan is actually helping him stay on. Given this background BCCI and the selectors either relieve him from Tests or should they think otherwise instead of trying to be appearing to look the other way must justify his continuation of Captaincy in all formats formally through a press note etc. Unless that is done the team unity and morale is likely to be hit taking the side performance further down.
Re: BCCI/SELECTORS MUST CLARIFY ONE WAY OR THE OTHER
by ranjit roy on Feb 19, 2014 09:22 PM
mohinder amarnath - who was to be chairman of the selectors wanted dhoni's head after th 4-0 loss in england in 2011. aging batsmen travel to england immediately after ipl without getting used to the conditions (play at least 3 3day matches) and promptly lose 4-0. however, that man srinivasan instead took amarnath's head. politicians and businessmen should not be allowed to enter cricket. politicians should concentrate on politics, law, and betterment, not get attracted to cricket where all the money is. to think that bcci is considered a charitable organisation! of course, people like MSD are the beneficiaries of this charity
Re: Re: BCCI/SELECTORS MUST CLARIFY ONE WAY OR THE OTHER
by aaa on Feb 20, 2014 12:57 AM
Mohinder wanted to do politics and he was pushing for captaincy of his own cronies hence got kicked out. I would say Srinivasan has done a great job by kicking his gut. He sowed poison in the minds of both sehwag and the Gautam for captaincy hence both lost focus and place in the team. If gautam comes up straight he should be given a chance
sa hasn't lost overseas since 2006 tour to lanka (ashwell prince captained that side, not smith, he was out due to injury, the side was also missing kallis who was disappointed to miss the tour)
Re: ..
by dreamer formerlytaklu on Feb 19, 2014 06:59 PM
sa has never lost a test when smith has made a 100 , 10 at home, 17 away, of which 5 have been double hundreds, the last one must be in people's memory when sa came back from behind to win against pak in their home uae. smith scored, what 234?
Re: Re: ..
by Sunil Vaidya on Feb 19, 2014 07:02 PM
dreamerformerlytaklu, if smith's away record is better then it means his home record is worse...how can smiths record be balanced if dhoni's is not balanced? if you claim smiths away record is better then it naturally follows that his home record is worse..so which is bad? losing so many tests away or losing so many tests at home? surely losing so many tests at home is worse?
consider this if you dont like his 11 test losses away how would you like if he had lost that much at HOME? either smiths away record is as bad as dhoni or his home record is as bad as dhoni's away record....so if smith cant perform well at home is not that even WORSE than losing away?
Re: Re: Re: ..
by dreamer formerlytaklu on Feb 19, 2014 07:04 PM
i did point out dhoni has better win% at home. so what are you on about? ...msd is a certified home tiger!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ..
by dreamer formerlytaklu on Feb 19, 2014 07:10 PM
our of 51 tests, smith has only lost 14 at home. that is not called 'many' tests.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ..
by dreamer formerlytaklu on Feb 19, 2014 07:19 PM
he has a solid 65% win % at home, how is that lowly and poor as you say? ...just because home tiger dhoni has a better win% at home doesn't make smith's poor, secondly, when we speak of away, we don't speak of a central location. we speak of different countries, pitches, ball$ , weather. dhoni is pooroverseas, smith is not, with a 60% win overseas..
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ..
by dreamer formerlytaklu on Feb 19, 2014 07:21 PM
india has failed to defeat sa i think twice, since that 2006 tour sa underwent losing to lanka. but sa won against ind recently
Re: Re: Re: ..
by dreamer formerlytaklu on Feb 19, 2014 07:07 PM
only a chump like msd can keep on losing overseas, and continue winning at home. secondly, where did you get 5 overseas wins? more lik 3, against bottom rung teams. we lost no. 1 no sooner than we played eng. i.e. stronger teams. check out the teams sa has played.
Re: Re: Re: Re: ..
by Sunil Vaidya on Feb 19, 2014 07:08 PM
a slight mistake taklu, not consecutive 5 series but consecutive 4 series and 1 tied series against SA...taklu if dhoni has won 5 away tests then does not it follow that it has happened in 5 series??
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ..
by Sunil Vaidya on Feb 19, 2014 07:09 PM
btw taklu, only a chump like smith can keep losing at home and continue winning away...
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ..
by dreamer formerlytaklu on Feb 19, 2014 07:23 PM
no consec 4 wins even, only win against nz, bdesh and windies ..that's it. draw against lanka and sa .
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ..
by Sunil Vaidya on Feb 19, 2014 07:24 PM
but losses much more than dhoni...consider what criticism poor dhoni would get if he lost as many tests at home as smith does!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ..
by dreamer formerlytaklu on Feb 19, 2014 07:26 PM
either way, let's keep stats aside, it's clear even without stats dhoni is pretty lacklustre overseas, he needs to win more, next series is against home tiger eng ...will add to another series defeat
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ..
by dreamer formerlytaklu on Feb 19, 2014 07:35 PM
he wouldn't get flak it would only mean he can play in all conditions. no team has a record like sa. even at home, sa last lost against aus when they toured last time 5 yrs back, so they have a good record at home too. balanced one at that
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ..
by arvin g on Feb 20, 2014 05:03 AM
vaidya i thought u recovered after sachin's retirment but looks like u still need treatment...
