We all know Eng was mauled yesterday, and most of us agree that they deserved it. But one point made by the Eng captain (who, in my opinion by the way, should absolutely quit ODI cricket) stood out for me:
This is what Vaughan said at the PC :
In an achingly honest press conference afterwards, Vaughan admitted that, with the final rays of the Ashes afterglow fading, things have gone badly wrong, and not just in the World Cup. “It’s a very sad day for English cricket,” he said, admitting it was the first time he’d been booed off as an England player. “And rightfully so, given the performance we put in. I’ve been a supporter in a stadium and done exactly the same.”
And contrast this with what Sachin had said for being booed (along with the whole team getting same treatment by the end) at the Mumbai test against Eng - that I have done so much for the country…I deserve to be treated better!!!!
And this is Vaughan…the captain who won the Ashes back for Eng. And Eng fans care absolutely nothing about WC compared to Ashes, so he could still ride on that high horse if he chooses. In fact, I am sure he would still be the popular choice (amongst the crowd) for retaining the captaincy, atleast in test matches. Unlike Sachin…who would be hardly anyone’s choice today for winning a game for India (although they would still all want to see him play)
Now, I don’t want to get onto Sachin using every damn incident in cricketing world as an excuse, but this, to me, was a prime example of how personality driven our whole cricket is…and how the players get caught…and become a part of it.
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I agree with Manish that we should rest Sachin and Surav from this ODI series in BD but choose them in tests. Do not pin such high hopes on the young talents just yet. Let them do well in the shorter format first, then we”ll think who can replace whom in the test side and when. Drop Harbhajan from both forms for at least a year. I also heard that Sree is not fully fit and has a”throwing arms” problem, something akin to mild tennis elbow. In that case I”ll include Bose in the test side, otherwise Bose is useless in the shorter format from what I”ve seen. And Manish : I did not believe in any of the news that said that Greg criticised the attitude of the players and such things. Many of such news like Greg wanted to continue as India coach, proved false. So I”d rather take those as bad rumours only!
Homer, If I am not mistaken, Randeb Bose (Bengal) is hit the deck type !! Though he does not have speed.. I believe, he bowls at 129-135 K mark!!
for England, kumble, harbhajan, as spinners. for oz powar and kumble in england, it is a warmer than usual spring- ad we play in the latter half of te summer; expect drier wickets than usual which means that our pace attak should have people who get good shape on the ball first up and ca reverse the old ball.
sorry Ashok..my bad
Homer, I was just sharing the news … Not telling to put him in test team
Pathan, with the current batting form, should be automatic choice as 6th batsman and decent enough fielder. I think, it is worth to try YK pathan (for ODIs) as well. the guy has been performing consistenly.
Hmmm..right!!! But the combination Santh, Munaf and ZK (if every thing is right with him)…. and Pathan (will love to bowl in england).. he gives few runs lower down the order !! Based on whatever we have seen of Munaf, he should excel in ENG (like McGrath)
Ashok, Ranadeb gets lovely shape on the ball - good outswinger too.. If anything, I would like to see him in England along with Irfan Pathan.
One thing that I”m afraid of is Pathan getting the axe along with ‘’seniors”. Didn”t we read that Greg was willing to play him but the ‘’seniors” who had turned priority advisers to Rahul insisted otherwise. I would like to play him in all the ODIs…and based on his bowling performance there decide on his test chances. Btw…he did well in our last test visit to BD
razdan…wrt the test team,instead of picking people and trying to fit them in the team, why not define what the structure of the team should be and then select the players? Like for BD, we will have to be spin heavy.. hit the deck bowlers may come in more than bowlers who swing the ball. now who r our hit the deckers- munaf, sreesanth, vrv, ishant s,abid nabi.. make the selection from this set
Btw, I”m not sure if we have a strong enough contender for other opener slot (please not Gambhir!)..otherwise I would consider giving Karthik a go. He looks good enough to make the cut. But only if he is willing to take the chance. Otherwise he may have to wait on the sidelines a little longer.
please no abdulla for the test team.. not now!!! kid has yet to play one complete season in Ranji season.. dont want him to go the vivek rzda way.
Karthik, as a Wicket Keeper batsman should be fine (Drop Dhoni !! ), but not sure of as a specialist batsman… I do follow Ranji tropy scores a bit (infact a lot).. Badrinath is one batsman, who has scored runs under pressure situations (however, I cant say much about pitch conditions).. He has bailed out TN most of the times…. One more thing if you have noticed Mumbail has unleashed Abdulla (the 17 years prodigy… leg spinner) in 20-20 !! Its been a while since we heard emerging spinning talent !
Yeah…you are right. I hope they dont go back to Gambhir…he has got enough chance in my opinion. Surprisingly, Chopra coming back is not that unlikely. His name has been discussed in most of the recent selectorial meetings, from what I gathered from reports. But as I said….Karthik should be tried if he is willing.
If Sehwag is benched, then Gambhi/Chopra might come.. (I will be surprised if they select chopra, though I feel he is the right choice). Santh, Kumble and Munaf are automatic choice (if the later is fit enough). Plus ZK (if attitude issues are sorted out), we will have good attack even if it is in AUS. If pathan makes out as a 6th batsman, then will have good attack for all conditions. If it is spinning, then drop Pathan get Powar in. !!
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Ashok: As I said in my WC analysis, for me all tests are important, and test team planning needs to take this into account. We cannot plan 4 years ahead like in ODIs. For BD tour TEST team I would bench Sehwag and Harbhajan from the test team, on basis of form. If there are attitude issues with Sachin and Saurav (and if they were indeed there earlier in SA) then I would bench them, otherwise not. But even otherwise I would put both of them, plus Laxman, on serious notice. They need to make big runs. Atleast one hundred each in the least case. So should Dhoni, if he gets enough opportunity. Karthik should be in the mix, and so should some other bright performers from domestic (Badrinath?). Kaif is my favourite topic. Yuvraj should also be there. Powar, Munaf, Kumble, Santh, Zaheer (if no attitude issues). I also want to know if Pathan was kept out of politics (as I read)..in that case, he should be selected and given enough chance in the middle.
Manish, entirely on different subject (I guess, whenever I am talking to you, I have been doing it on a different subject that what you”ve commented… )… Whats” your choice for TEST TEAM.. I know, what were your choice for ODI team… Keen to see your take on TEST team
Hey..as for not having the sources…isnt that why people like me write on a blog…doing it the unprofessional way. I couldnt gather enough time to search for soures of that quote. If you want, you can deny it, like Chandan did. And we shift the focus of debate accordingly (as I did in my response to Chandan). I don”t have a reputation or a business to protect, so I wouldnt go to extremes to cling to my point. You counter and I assess.
Puducheri: if you read Arjun on sightscreen, then perhaps you have read my posts too (under alias Worma). And then, you would know how passionate I am about Sachin’’s cricket (or shall I say, ”was”). Even after our wc exit, while calling for all seniors to be dumped from ODI team, I made the point that I realise Sachin is still going to get us runs, and probably more than most of those who are trying to fill his shoes (e.g. our last two ODI centuries have come from Sachin!!). But his cricketing abilities is not the point here…the point here is about the flawed personality driven focus that we Indian fans, and therefore the players themselves, have. Is it not fair to comment on the fan-following aspect of the game? Should we talk only about the ”beautiful balance while executing the straight drive” or the ”mountain of international runs collected by our top stars”?
Two years ago, when Ganguly was being brought down. I remember Arjun Swarup had made an interesting blog post in his defense. Then it had become fashionable to undermine any of Ganguly achievements and to interpret all his actions in bad light. Arjun’’s point in that post was basically, that you want to drop Ganguly on form fine, but you have no right to go start painting everything about the man black. Manish your post almost tempted me to start a blog of my own. But I shall pass, I will be satisfied with commenting for now :). Your last line “Now, I don”t want to get onto Sachin using every damn incident in cricketing world as an excuse, but”. Just saying this does not absolve of you being guilty of doing that. In addition, if you dont remember the source and yet choose to belittle Sachin, aint that an evidence that you indeed have an agenda. Just nudging you to reflect, Peace!!! and blog on
oop…last line should=shouldn”t
chandan: I speak from memory..can”t really find any response from sachin through a simple search (am too lazy to give it further effort)…but anyway, even from what you said….Sachin referring to those who boo-ed him as ”rotten apples”…while Vaughan saying he would have done the same were he in the crowd watching Eng perform. Doesn”t this, kind of, cover the point I am trying to make? Btw…I remember arguing on someone’’s blog post, at that time, that I would definitely have booed him, if I were in the crowd! For me, thats a normal reaction of disappointment. Why do we have to look at everything through this massive lense of history. Its a simple form of entertainment, cricket, isn”t it? You don”t entertain, they would tell you there feeling. You should have bargained for it when entering the field. What you should expect is unruly behaviour, personal abuse and all that crap
If I remember Manish, Sachin had said that the fans were still very important in his life and he came this far in the game because of their good wishes only. Finally he said that a few bad apples don”t make the whole basket bad. I still cannot remember where he said that he deserved to be treated better.
Can you put up the link?