Absolutely absurd thinking of resting Zaheer Khan, if they did that then the experience in the pace bowling department would be pathetic. I support the decision to drop Agarkar, Harbhajan and Sehwag however as they have been poor for a while now, attitudes including. Ganguly would still make my side, but like I mentioned earlier it's basically a straight choice between him and Laxman.
That's hardly relevant. Technically speaking, none of the team members are due to be disciplined as neither Dravid nor Chappell named anyone in their reports. Sachin and Yuvraj are the only real offenders and they have already been disciplined.
What did Sachin and Yuvraj do that broke team protocol?
Well, it's not beside the point, because that's the very point I've been making for the entirety of the thread. Your sudden Tendulkar debate is the thing that is "beside the point" as it had little to do with my post, basically. I was saying that if anyone should be dropped, it should not be Ganguly or Laxman - it should be Tendulkar - and I wouldn't do that just yet either. I'd give him Bangladesh and England, to be honest, but it'd obviously be his last chance.
The working committee of the BCCI condemned them for speaking to the media against Greg Chappell and for representing the "anti-Chappell" batch of team members.
Ah, I see then. Seem's that free speech is unheard of in high profile sport thesedays.
that phrase is just that, a phrase...you ultimately need to do what's best for your team...kaif hit a 91(i think) under some real pressure and then gets dropped because of tendulkar's return to the team...after his return, he has fared very poorly, even though he has looked in good touch a few times, he has not served his team well by going on to score big like he used to, his game has been in obvious decline for some time now and i don't see any reason why he should be in the test team right now...
i didn't follow your posts for the entire thread but in the last page, didn't your post say that you would always take tendulkar over kaif whatever be the situation? that's what i was responding to....if tendulkar is not playing well and kaif is, that levels the playing field and from a team consideration, it makes sense to go with the in-form player...
Nah, I said (or at least, I meant) I'd take Tendulkar over Kaif for the series against England, despite his poor form. Obviously he continues to fail in that series though, he should be dropped. It was also a side-point.. my post was mainly concerning Laxman and Ganguly because those are the guys that Perm was considering dropping for Kaif for the Bangladesh tour. They are hardly "beside the point" because they were the actual point of my post.Anil said:
ok then...a misunderstanding on my part and your part...as for the england tour, even if tendulkar is taken, i would say that kaif needs to be part of the team as well and if sachin continues to fail, he should be dropped mid-tour if needed and kaif given a chance...re: laxman and ganguly, i wasn't saying that they were beside the point, i meant since we were talking about performance in that post, factors like attitude were beside the point of that particular post....
Here is the problem. Suppose Tendulkar proves to be pathetic in England and needs to be dropped mid-tour - what next? Do you throw Kaif, Yuvraj or Badrinath (not knowing who really deserves it since you haven't tried any of them lately) out there? Not exactly the ideal scenario. That is precisely why young blood is the need of the hour. Not only is this a good opportunity for the younger batsmen to find their bearings against a weaker opposition, but it comes ahead of tough tours of England and Australia. Preserving the value of a test cap is hardly a priority - the first, foremost and only priority should be doing what's best for the team.
I don't see how scoring runs against an opposition that's not significantly superior to that in domestic cricket - in conditions completely different from that in England - would make any real indication to suggest that Kaif, Badrinath, Yuvraj or anyone else was the next best option, though.
Why not? This is an opportunity for Kaif, Yuvraj and Badrinath to cement a place in the side and provide real competition for the senior middle-order batsmen. Quite simple - bat well and you're headed to England for a stern test. On the other hand, one may argue that the likes of Tendulkar can use this opportunity to strike form. Really, he shouldn't be in the team if he's that desperate - England should be his last chance and younger, driven batsmen who are scoring big runs in domestic cricket should have an equal opportunity.
Why would scoring runs against lesser attacks on vastly different pitches actually prove anything though? No doubt the selectors will convince themselves it does, but it really wouldn't prove one iota to me, tbh.
Better than nothing, isn't it? Kaif, Yuvraj and Badrinath can all play pace to a reasonable degree so their run-scoring in Bangladesh is a decent (not great) indicator. By the way, aren't you the one who said domestic stats should hold a lot of significance - that's the epitomy of "scoring runs against lesser attacks on vastly different pitches" ...
I really don't think it's better than nothing, really. There's no point in Bangladesh having test status if opposition sides don't play their best lineups against them - it ceases in best a test match when that happens.
This is not a case of India kicking ass and randomly deciding to send an A team to Bangladesh. Our seniors have underperformed severely and the guys who will tour Bangladesh are either regulars or should have been by now. Besides, I couldn't give a **** if this is an insult to Bangladesh - they should be motivated and do their best if it is. If they prove to be that good, this won't happen again.
There's no doubt in my mind that Laxman, Ganguly, Zaheer etc should still be in the test side. I'm sure the selectors know that as well - so playing anything less than that best lineup really makes me question whether Bangladesh should have test status.
Tendulkar is quite clearly in poor form at the moment and has been for a while now and I am in favour of dropping him from the Test side. What I was saying was that if I had to choose between Kaif and Tendulkar in a pressure situation, Tendulkar would get the nod every time.
WHAT ??????