So we have a ‘young squad’ for the BD ODI series, despite the selectors not ‘taking directives from BCCI’. Ah well…we got to the point, no matter what route we took.
So, here’s a first look at the squads, and some intial reactions from me. How about you?
ODI: Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary, Dinesh Mongia, Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh.
(a) That seems to be only 14 players, so far no reasons given.
(b) We go on a subcontinental tour (even if for ODI) with only one specialist spinner, and that too a rookie! (although my personal belief is Chawla would be a hit in ODI format). Why not pick Powar here as well? Fielding let him down?
(c) Why not ‘rest’ Sehwag too? Sure he was looking like back in touch (in ODIs atleast) but…umm…maybe he did not invite enough reason to be ‘rested’ unlike the other ’seniors’. Well…thats ok then.
(d) Pathan is out…which means he wasnt inspiring confidence even in Rahul, so it wasnt just the ’seniors’ who were not ready to field him
All in all…as good as it gets…I guess.
Test squad: Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid (capt), VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble, Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, VRV Singh, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Munaf Patel.
(a) Only one regular opener for a test tour! Karthik must have been consulted, I guess. For he seems to be the other one listed for the slot? Bad move, IMO, unless it is taken from a long term plan. In that case, I dont mind grooming him for a test opening slot, provided he is willing.
(b) The ’seniors’ are all there, so not much chance of even getting Yuvraj into the frame. Unless he is the one to be looked at as opener. That would be terrible, IMO, knowing his weaknesses. It may work against BD, but is bound to come unstuck against tougher sides.
(c) Did you notice that only AA and Bhajji from the WC squad have been omitted from both lists. That means they are the ones who are completely ‘dropped’. That plus Veeru from tests. He may make tons of runs in ODIs and make the selectors look stupid…but anyway that would be in the long term interest of the team. He can go back and start preparing for the Eng series then…and make a strong test comeback there.
(d) 3 spinners…including Rajesh Pawar the left armer. He is in good form, so for once a good move to give a youngster a direct chance in test matches when he is in good touch. He may have to fight with Powar for a place, though.
But the biggest news from this selection meeting has got to be that Rahul has been instructed not to take a leak during matches!!!…because he doesnt have a deputy..you see 
Your turn?? (Meanwhile….I see Prem has already done a short take)
Update: Apparently Powar is included in ODI squad (that makes it 15 players). I got the list from cricinfo, perhaps they have missed out.
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No. Yuvraj has no experience of leading the team at any level. so it”ll be further foolishness if we appoint him as the VC. Apart from that, he has not even established himself in the longer version, is too hot-headed and can”t even set an example because of many objectionable things like his behaviour, nightlife during the matches are going on etc. If Yuvraj is even considered for leadership, we”ll be doomed for ever!!
Hema: Agreed that Dravid is a poor captain. In fact he has disappointed many of us big time with his reactive and unimaginary approach. But do we have a choice at the moment. I understand that Indian cricket isn;t going any further under him. But I”m still banking on someone like Tiwai to come through, establish himself and then getting the captaincy. At the moment there are no worthy candidates!
Chandan, I suppose we differ in this regard even though we agree that RD is a disappointment as a captain. I think for time being he should continue him as captain for test team and make Yuvi the vice captain and drop whomever we can to make place for him be it SG or great SRT himself or anyone else. On the other hand Yuvraj singh should be made ODI captain with Dinesh karrthick as his deputy. Thats how we will train these potentially good candidates. otherwise we will be in pakistan’’s condition few years from now.
Manish: Where is Prem? Your thread about Prem’’s whereabouts is going out of hands!
Thats true dasahari. i still remember posting comments at Prem blog thinking here is a good neutral person who is conducting debate in a civilized manner but boy I was so wrong. This guy is a real slim shady and has had some deal with GC to write his memoir and stuff like tha. GC and BCCI also apparently used this guy to plant stories in the media the recent ones being related to SG’’s contract. What a diabolical mean SOB.
Prem Panicker has sold himself for some juicy stories GC was feeding him through SMS. What a stupid journalist to think we will not spot his crooked agenda. He thinks he can fool everyone especially his comments like RD is getting stick from senior players. he is an arm chair cricket expert who has never played any cricket. In last SL vs Australia match he was going gaga over SL strategy of resting vaas and murli. How SL must wish that Vaas had bowled to Gilchrist before !! Shame on you Prem Panicker for your stupid one sided analysis and consistent stupid views.
Straigh Drive is most likely Prem panicker..screwing around and testing the waters. Like Prem’’s post his comments seem to have only one agenda. Criticize everyone else so shortcomings of RD is kept hidden. These people should be ashamed of themselves.
Till RD is captain , India will not win anything as he is a poor captain and leader. Indian cricket has lots of problem but continuing with RD will not solve anything. A young team under an ineffective and uncommunicative captain will sonn get disoriented. If we can drop SRT and SG we should also drop RD from ODI team and make a fresh begining. The half measures would not get us anywhere.
Batsman Utility: Dravid is 1.27, Tendulkar 1.26, Sehwag 0.73
Calcualted on the basis of the matches since the DLF cup. How to calculate: Batsmen utility for a match. Count only if bastman has played and gotten out or has remained notout beyond 50. So utility for a match = batsman score/average score per wicket. Average the utility score over all the matches the player has played. As a player, even today you just cannot drop Tendulkar without dropping Dravid and Sehwag. ……btw this analysis is dedicated to S.Rajesh of cricinfo.
Oh I so wish I could comment on Prem’’s blogs. There is some major misinformation campaign being carried out by a few folks. These guys must be having some personal grudge against Tendulkar. Drop him, discipline him whatever gets it done for you, but to start fudging stats is the pits.
How many of you visit Bharat Rakshak ??. They have a much more democratic and successful way of avoiding bad comments. Users can vote a member to be posting useless comments and automatically the access is blocked. Not sure, whether the ip is blocked too, but that too is very easily achievable. If you are sitting behind a DHCP then heck block the whole subnet. Oops!! did I just speak something related to software, but I dont understand professionalism..must be a mistake :)).
Valid point chandan and hence he needs to be groomed for the job. Personally, I would take anybody but Dravid. Dravid’’s captaincy literally reminds of the days when his batting too used to be referred as “always the bridesmaid never the bride” implying a lack of leadership. Thankfully Dravid CAN lead as a batsmen. Atleast in Tests. However I just dont think his captaincy is good. So we need to think of a replacement. Tendulkar, Ganguly and Sehwag are out of favour. MD is too new and WK, Captaincy to the same player is tad too much. Ofcourse we can take Chappel’’s advice and appoint DK, but wonder if there is enough pot to be passed around to convince all of us about that choice.
Yuvi has no experience of leading a team at any level. How can you even think of making him a captain?
Aravind: I think it would be the right time to go with Yuvi in a couple of months.
Of Sehwag, MD and Yuvi, Yuvi seems to have the best technique and also seems to be the fittest. The reason I wouldnt go with him immediately is the lack of Test experience. Yuvi must be played in Test’’s no matter who needs to be dropped. I am big fan of Tendulkar, but for this one thing dont mind even him being dropped.
I think Yuvi is likely to become a captain in the Ganguly mold, but with right kind of grooming we might just be able to inject into him Tendulkar and Dravid’’s work ethics. For a team like India, I think more than all other attributes, we need a captain who does not get intimidated by the opposition and is able to give the same kind of confidence to his team.
IP was another person who had it in him, but his game has fallen away.
Personally I think he is easily a better batsman then D. Kartik and M. Kaif. If you dont like his bowling, choose him as a specialist batsman.
Very balanced reply Manish, thanks!!
This may be a good exercise then. Why do we think Fleming is a good captain.
I think our intuition can be statistically verified. We can find out NZ’’s batting and bowling average’’s, this will predict a certain winning percentage when compared with other teams. Now I am sure that the actual percentage will be higher than that. So Fleming makes the collection become greater than the sum and hence he is a good captain.
The Captain needs to have cricketing intelligence, tactical acumen, intutive ability, communication skills and the ability to positively influence his peers apart from cricketing skills. Thats why its a tough call to be a winning captain. And thats also why so few captains have won the World Cup. And those who have won, have been exemplary in utilising their resources to maximum effect.
For the Indian captain in particular, because India is a nation where regional considerations are significant, as can be seen from the reader’’s comments in this blog, the ability to give the team an overriding goal based on ethical principles and to get the players to forget their regional/commercial considerations in search of success in the cricket field will be paramount.
And one rare character trait will enable him to continue on his path of success, it is Humility.
Agree with Manish on RD’’s captaincy.
Pakistan has shown the way by making Shoaib Malik captain over other seniors. Sri Lanka did it earlier by having the comparatively young Jayavardane as captain. Teams who are in the semifinals are all led by players who have become captains on the strength of their leadership ability and not the years they have played ODIs.
Few teams that selected captains on the basis of seniority, batting records and form were West Indies, Pak and India. All three are out of the cup.
Pakistan has shown the way ahead for these teams by selecting a comparatively younger Malik. Will India take the cue?
Of the young crop who is suitable?
Yuvraj Singh seems to project aggresion, is good with bat and can bowl. Is arguably the best fielder in the team. He has four requisites to be captain. The fifth and most important quality is that of getting the team to rally behind him. On that count, I think Yuvraj is yet to prove himself.
He plays pretty well in a carefree manner. Somewhat similar is the case of Sehwag too. However, can they influence ten other players in the field to give of their best and get the team to win?
Can they bring out the best of their leadership under pressure?
Can they get the players from diverse backgrounds and regions to bond as a team and perform as one to get the goal?
Straight Drive: Could you please elaborate “Let me not even go into Gavaskar’’s contributions as a player”. Please note, that just because a certain Kapil, Prasanna, Bedi, Vishy, Vengsarkar, Shastri has contributed does not mean Gavaskar has not. So please take care to provide a more direct response.
Thanks!!
Shreeram: You asked what should be the measuring criteria for RD, since he is on probation. Well, in general, you cannot judge a captain just by the results (e.g. the best captains in the world may not be the most winning…today everyone considers Fleming the best of the current lot). You have to look for captaincy related signals. By the way, just to make it clear, if it were for me I would not have Rahul as captain today. For me, as a captain, he has failed. And this was true even before the WC failure, but obviously we didnt have enough time to groom someone else for WC. For me, he has captained badly enough (even in some games we have won). And there are enough cases where his captaincy was a strong contributor, if not the sole one, to our bad performance. For me, RD is no hope as captain. Prem, and some others still think he can improve in a conducive environment. But even then, even his supporters also know there is enough need for improvement.
Year: 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07
Dravid: 35 44 48 42 39 47 35 52
Sachin: 39 70 53 57 41 27 45 44
Better: S S S S S D S D
Surely, Sachin deserves more patience
Now, some of you will want to throw S.Rajesh’’s analysis at me.
S. Rajesh’’s analysis, if ever published in a scientific journal would face immediate rejection and probably even charges for unethical practice.
Reason: Subjective conditioning without any statistical justification.
He does not explain why a particular match is considered easy and a another is not. To classify Sachin’’s 95 in Pak as a score against easy bowling is a joke. Please go to youtube and listen to Imran Khan’’s comments on that match.Furthurmore, do you think if someone had scored a century against BD in the worldcup, we should have counted it as insignifcant runs against minnows. A more appropriate measure is: Proportion of team score to that scored by the bastsmen. More on that later.
I”m not a fan of Dravid’’s captaincy. Wonder how can one perform well (bat in case of Dravid) or take bad decisions (at toss) or do silly bowling changes even if he gets “rough end of the stick” from seniors as Prem said. It is a very strange statement, and the authority should have discussed why was Rahul not able to unite the seniors, if it is true at all!! This only shows his failure, and nothing else!
Straight Drive sure!!…and what are realistic expectations, 50% win. So you are saying that if we perform under 50% for the next three series, then we would say that Dravid is not a good captain. We might debate the exact percentage, but lets go with 50%. If he indeed performs below 50% and is still persisted with, then it is time for me to truly stop caring :). Furthermore, what do you think should our expectations be from the young team. Is say 35% good. Do we have any record on what standards India has while rebuilding teams. Surely we want to give a fair run to the youngsters, but remember there is a difference between faith and blind faith. Hope to hear from the rest of you.
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RD should be accountable…Okay agreed. Generally speaking, I am not sure what more we can accomplish with our team when our one-day teams are a 50% one-day team. When I looked at our one-day record, we are consistently at 50% or just above since 2000. True…Under Ganguly our one-day record stand at 50% or just above. That record includes our 30/31 wins against the minnows. It is just the media hype that is keeping the fans expectations high.
Where I am getting at is…as a team we are a poor one-day team. Unless fundamental issues are addressed, as fans, we have to keep our expectations at a relalistic level and not blame either Ganguly or Dravid for our teams” poor one-day record. So before talking about accountability, the people responsible should address the issues that would make us a good one-day team - when I say good..I would say a team that can consistently win…not win a series here and there.
I am not Prem’’s “friend” so cant comment there :), hence am bringing up a point being discussed by him over here. Hopefully some of you can comment. Especially, manish.
). When does R.Dravid get accountable. Please give your input. Especially those “software guys”, surely you must understand deliverables and accountability better than the rest of us.
Given Prem’’s conjecture that Dravid is not being treated the same as other seniors, because he was bullied by seniors etc etc. He may be in probation though. If that is the case, what do you think are his deliverables now. At what point do we say that Dravid the captain has failed. Do you think 3-0 win Bangladesh will completely redeem him ? Do you think a 0-3 loss will finally force us to change the stand and go for a new captain (or an old one
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=023f8d1e-c7e9-4860-aa24-fea79770b583&&IsCricket=true
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chandan: yes DM was a bit strange…but apparently his bowling capabilities helped him. As for dropping the big two…hadnt that already been decided…why did Rahul have to pitch in any way? And yes no real default VC choice here. So they wud watch the games and decide there if needed, which I think is fair at this point in time. In the long run, obviously this cannot be helpful. Finally, about IP…I am really not sure what to deduce coherently from all the signals. I mean his batting is obviously without doubts. His bowling, GC wanted it to be tried out in the middle but seniors didnt. Rahul may have wanted him, perhaps he couldnt get all his choices from selectors. Who knows. But I think he should immediately get a county contract and start working
Manish, To be honest, I found only two selections bizarre : one was DM and other was RPS. I”d have had Rohit Sharma and IP replacing the two. I don”t believe in any of these rumours that Rahul was not comfortable with the seniors or BCCI asked selection committee to drop the big two! I”d have liked Ranadev Bose in VRV’’s place in the test side, but its okay. RB can get chance during England tour. As for the absence of VC, who could have been appointed? I think at this moment, no one is a worthy candidate. I hope DK or MT take rapid strides and one of them is then made VC. All in all, an okay selection!!
MV - I see nothing wrong with that move.
SD: Yes, I remember about SA thing. But that was not a right move, was it? To make someone VC who doesnt find a regular place in ODIs.
SD: Yes, I remember about SA thing. But that was not a right move, was it? To make someone VC who doesnt find a regular place in ODIs.
manish,
VVS was not in the original one-day squad that went to SA. He was part of the test team and as VC as well.
good points Manish. No one reads Prem panicker I suppose ha ha. he has given himself up repeatedly !!
aussies set to get 350 plus…i think hayden and gilli will quid ODI along with McGrath after the WC
thanks Jaidev .
homer:
Vengsarkar said Mohammad Kaif’’s name came up for discussion but the selectors felt he had not scored enough runs to merit a comeback.
“We considered Kaif. But he has to get some runs in first class cricket to be back in the team.”
btw, why was MK not onsidered for selection? The FIC is not even being discussed .
SD: VVS has not been named because he is not there for ODIs. Same goes for SRT and SG (plus the other reasons, not openly stated?). Only RD, YS, MSD are in both teams. The report says MSD’’s name was considered for it…but they decided to leave it for tour committee. I am guessing they would judge Yuv attitude, and decide to name him (if need comes) or else go with MSD
http://www.cricketworldcuplatest.com/news/selectors-pressurised-by-captain-rahul-dravid-to-r-111678.html
Mohan, Sehwag gets besides the ball whe n he hits it - hence his arc being between covers and third man. MSD throws his hands at the ball.. not quite the same. VS goes back and outside leg when he shapes up to hit.. MSD’’s trigger movement is forward. so, not quite the same.
Just before the team left for the WC, wasnt IP played in a warm up game and was listless as per reports. If those reports were true, IP might not be upto full fitness even.
i think in past we have paid price of being tooo of correct technic and so on… teams like Aussy plays who ever brings results… look at guys like Hayden,Symonds,GSmith, Tresco…. they dont posses best of tech same as Viru and MSD but compare their stats with Technical guys…
just read y”day he is from RAJ team but donno about him,,,wait for camp and media will find out his dada-pardada and so and so about lad -:)
btw.. Dav Whatmore resigned as BD coach.. interesting
As for IP…even I was expecting him, after reading stories that the ‘’seniors” conspired to keep him out of playing XI all this while. But as I wrote, apparently even RD did not have confidence in him, or he could have made the point that the selectors cannot drop someone after picking him for last two tours, and not even seeing him in action there. I conjecture that RD did not back him, for whatever reasons.
Not Naming VC in test series:
1. SRT and SG for obvious reasons cannot be named as Vice-captains.
2. Cannot name VVS as a VC (a VC for the SA series)…because it is easy to drop him from the test team and play Yuvraj or Ganguly instead. No politicians to back him. No sponsors for VVS….he does not appear on any advertisements….so it is easy to drop VVS.
First place some one like Bose needed chance before RP……meanwhile i cant help thinking about Kaif wish he doesn”t cries out this time…
Boss…if someone is in form, and is a certainty for future, and is in your long term vision, then you cannot really drop him and ask him to go play county. No board, no selectors in any country have ever done this, and should not do this either. The player has earned his right for easy tours, by doing well on the tough ones. As for MSD…let him be ”found out” and then drop him after sufficient failures. Why pre-empt? Have we never seen technically deficient players improve? Or last long in either form of the game, with sheer determination? MT in tests? Boss…we anyway have a problem of where to play Yuvraj, if we have two regular openers. I agree that the seniors need to be put on notice, but that is not done by keeping reserves, unless there is clear indication you would give them a chance. The seniors shoudl anyway be put on notice in tests..is what I feel. Atleast one ton from each is minimum. And play as per team requirements.
reasoning - I need 5 bowlers for ODIs - I am playing 5 bowlers. I also have a leggie and an offie , both of whom can wield the willow.. Ishant Sharma is a hi the deck type of bowler.. as are MP and SS … BD batsmen are short. for variety I have RP. lso , need only 1 WK,so i can accomodate a middle order bat.