CricDigs Blogs

Well, our seniors - Saurav, Sachin, and Dravid opted out of Twenty20 on their own making way for youngsters. That’s quite sensible of them. And we have seen the results.

The arrangement of raw recruits lead by Dhoni seems ideal for the shortest version of the game. Fine, let it be that way.

But to exclude the three seniors from test cricket and picking up youngsters in their places would be akin to committing harakiri. Try it out, and you will see abysmally low scores and pathetic losses. It would be like putting all your money on a stock because it has become bullish overnight. A shrewd and astute investor will not do that.

No young blood can stand the sustained and slow heat of test matches without the presence of the seniors. Ruling them out of the tests, at least Dravid and Sachin, is out of question. Sachin again is reaching his peak form. Dravid - c’mon, let’s be sensible. The “Mr Dependable” is going through a phase in career that he hasn’t experienced so far. He can bounce back anytime. Mathew Hayden had a similar experience during the Ashes tours in 2005, and look at the way he played after that and in the current ODIs. Ganguly’s case is a grey area. He can be dispensed with or can be continued, as he hasn’t done anything grevious or glorious. But the two seniors - Dravid and Sachin are indispensable for the team. Test cricket is not slam bang form of the game. It’s common knowledge that experience and patience matter here.

So Sachin and Dravid should stay in the test team and instead of Dhoni somebody else should captain the test side. Dravid should be advised to reconsider his decision. Captaining only the test side is not a difficult task. This would ease pressure off Dhoni. Otherwise we will not be far from the time when Dhoni will throw in the towel. Off late the calendars have been packed with test and ODI schedules. Add to that the Twnety20 games now. Asking Dhoni to captain the test side would guarantee that we don’t shine in the Twebty20 version too. So, for tests, Dravid and Sachin are defnitely a part of the team with either Dravid taking up captaincy again or somebody else, but not Dhoni.

Now coming to the one dayers - it’s an area that requires some deliberation. Whether or not to retain the seniors. Ganguly can go, again he hasn’t done anything wrong. But to allow others in to the team he should be removed. Dravid also may follow the same fate if he doesn’t perform. Tendulkar is untouchable. Not for his reputation or records, but simply for his performance in the recent past. People may be touchy about this. But verify the ODI performances and Sachin comes at the tops. Next it is Ganguly and then Dravid because of his mysterious lack of form after quitting captaincy. So it’s either Ganguly or Dravid or both that should be dropped for the ODIs.

Players like Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni would find themselves in all the three forms of the game. Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, R P Singh, Murali Kathik, Romesh Pawar, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh etc. can be rotated. They can afford it as they are young. But Dhoni shouldn’t be made the test captain. His capability is not in question here, it’s just to ease pressure on him. Definitely, he would be happy to just play the tests without bothering about leading the team. He would enjoy doing so.

Having two separate teams for test and ODI & Twenty20 with some players being mutually exclusive and some being common, will be strong a recipe for success. We already have tested this. This works and to make it work more effectively two different captains are a must.

This story has been quite interesting so far. With a lots of twists and turns. Here are some highlights.

- Dinesh Karthik was first talked about as a wicket-keeper who could bat, creating positive pressure on Dhoni.
- Then he was brought in as a specialist middle-order batsman.
- Then he was promoted to #3 in ODIs every now and then and
- Was eventually asked to open the innings in Tests.
- He was also instrumental in India’s T20 win when it toured South Africa in 2006.
- He is looked at as one of the best fielders taking super catches (including one of Graem Smith in T20 WC), but also drops absolute dollies (as in the Lords test)

So where is he heading? and more importantly which of the above is real Dinesh Karthik? A Wicket-Keeper Batsman? Middle Order? Finisher? Test Opener? None or all of the above?

I had noted in one of my earlier blogs that Sachin’s ODI Batsman rank moved from 23 to 12 within last 2 months or so. Now he has moved to #9. With the form and consistency he is showing currently, he should be getting to the top 5 and then who knows?

In addition to all the qualities that he has what is most amazing about Sachin Tendulkar is that he still plays the game with such passion and freshness.

Here is a link to one of my earlier blogs listing all those million reasons why we worship SR Tendulkar.

This is why I worship Sachin Tendulkar!!

“Rahul dravid has been rested for first two matches against Pakistan,” said one selector. We all know that he was also asked to take “rest” before the final one day match against Australia in recent future cup. And our favourite “dada” has been rested so many times before.

Frankly speaking, I don’t understand this whole idea of rest, especially when the player is physically fit. There has to be a valid reason for a player to rest; injury or discomfort. Otherwise why would you ask a sportsperson to rest when he is fit to play?

In fact, the board of cricket in India hides behind such vague expressions so as not to be accountable for its actions. If the replacement does not work, then they can always say that they had no choice. And the player rested has to keep mum, otherwise he risks losing his place in future as well.

It sickens me to death, when I think about the way selectors go about doing their job. There is no accountability or professionalism in the system. Why can’t they put their hands up and say that they have dropped a particular player on account of his poor performance. Why do they have to invent such silly expressions ‘ has been given rest’ when they want to drop a player. The reason could be many apart from his performance. It could be their “collective wisdom” or shall we say collective foolhardiness. It is one of the same things.

I strongly believe that not only players but selectors should also have to be accountable for their decisions. If the team doesn’t perform well for an extended period then the chairman of selector should take responsibility and tender his resignation or should be axed. We all know what need to be said; he has been rested.

Dhoni has had a dream run with the captaincy of India. He has won India Twenty20 World Cup. And it’s no mean achievement, as some would like to believe. It was a young team with no experience in the T20 format of the game. And even after a few initial hiccups, he managed to motivate his team to play fearless cricket and emerge victorious in the end.

Before he became the captain of the team, he had shown enough maturity and shrewdness to be a contender for the post. So it was no surprise when his name along with Tendulkar and Ganguly came up for the post. Tendulkar probably was the first choice, but his refusal to take ODI captaincy ended the debate.

Now that Dhoni has made his mark as the ODI captain, Test captaincy is up for grabs. Again, Tendulkar is the first choice and Ganguly just a name on the paper. The captain for the test team will be declared after the second match against Pakistan. Selectors will keep a close eye on Dhoni’s captaincy and Tendulkar’s form. If Tendulkar scores a century in either of the two match, then selectors will not have much problem in deciding the captain, but if he fails then Dhoni could get second time lucky.

Tendulkar’s captaincy record is not much to speak of, but one still feels that he should be given another chance to prove himself. Those were different times. Now team is better balanced, both in the batting and the bowling department. And one should not forget that a captain is as good as the team.

What I am most interested in is the constitution of India’s playing 11. Here is my guess (true guess)

Sachin
Ganguly
Gambhir
Sehwag
Yuvraj
Uthappa
Dhoni
Pathan
Zaheer
SreeSanth
Bhajji

What do you all think?

I’ve posted the blog here:
http://tinyurl.com/yr7r83
If you like it, please do leave your comments at the post.

- Sandeep

Well if I were the selector of the Indian cricket team. And given the dismal performance of the Indian team immediately after their all time high @ South Africa, i would definitely have a few action items to be immediately executed.

On papers yes, Saurav and Sachin are a fearsome duo to confront with. But how long to boast on papers, its time to do something that our passionate spectators would desperately want to see. India clicked as a team in the 20-20 World Cup, because they played as team. They played with a spirit and passion to win, and how did that passion evade in the immediately following series. The answer is simple, the young lads arent able to be themselves when the three biggies are around. Its time we realise that we are heading nowhere with statistics and records. Its time we do what is good for Indian cricket. The need of the hour is fresh legs, spirited young lads, giving it their everything. I would still opt to have Dravid in my team, because he’s too good a player to be left out and he stil plays the game with the same spirit. Maybe he’s temporarily out of form, but it will not take him time to get back in business. I believe its time Saurav and Sachin call it quits and move aside leaving the young generation to take over. Am i right guyz ? Any objection ?

That’s a shame. I have been writing some really ‘bad’ stuff about Dravid over the last month or so, but replacing him with Sehwag is the worst insult for him, especially when Dravid has always backed Sehwag against all odds.

Dilip Vengsarkar says that Dravid would be back but he needs to prove his fitness and form by playing for his state. Hmm. So if that was the reason for ‘resting’ Dravid then what was the logic to replace him with Viru? Has Sehwag proven his form and fitness?

Now please don’t tell me about his T20 performance (that too, every now and then). I am talking about ODIs. I guess the only reason I can think of behind selecting Sehwag and resting Dravid is to decide whether Sehwag would tour Australia. Dravid is sure to go there, for both Tests and ODIs. No question about that. But Sehwag is getting a chance against Pakistan to stake his claim.

Of course the most interesting is at what position would Sehwag bat? Sachin and Ganguly have been giving us good starts so Viru would have to bat somewhere other than opening slots. That in my mind will be a big problem.

Needless to say, but I have been proven wrong a million times before but I can not simply imagine Sehwag playing and succeeding in the middle order.

Where is India’s coach? It’s one question that has been on my mind for some time now. No one is talking about it now. Just a year back, it was the most hotly debated issue in the Indian cricket. And we all know the fuss created by BCCI on the issue. From inviting the most obscure to the established names, and then the refusal of the post by the chosen party was certainly the most humiliating thing that could have happened to the board.

With no luck in finding the coach, the board carried on with its job. But soon India’s performance started improving. After winning in Ireland and later winning the test series in England, the noise of coach had started dying down. India was winning without a coach. And with winning came the confidence. Players soon started making statements that India can manage without a coach. And by winning the T20 world cup, team almost put an end to the whole debate; coach or no coach.

India has lost the ODI series to Australia, but managed to play up to their T20 champions’ tag by defeating Australia at the recent T20 match at Mumbai.

Pakistan soon will be visiting India, and later India will be going to Australia. There is lot of tough cricket to be played, and one wonders how team will deal with it. With very little time on hand, it’s quite unlikely that board will appoint a coach for upcoming Pakistan and Australian series. Most probably, the board will go for an ad hoc coach-manager arrangement. So team will be left with no choice but to manage without a head coach. Obviously there will be Prasad and Robin Singh to take care of bowling and fielding departments. But senior players along with the captain will have to take the responsibility of devising strategies. Four test matches in Australia will certainly be the most challenging period for the team. And team’s performance in the matches will definitely seal the fate of the question of coach for a long time.