What? How then do you plan to make a side for 3 years down the road?Don't throw away the best players! Work them back into form. Similar concerns were expressed about Ponting and Hussey, and both blasted their way back into form. India need to have patience with their batting, and get them back in form sooner than later. Number six is a problem, and I feel it should be a bowler at that position unless the pitch is hideously bowler-friendly. Numbers seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven, even more so- except Dhoni, Ashwin and Vinay, all are bunnies or clowns. Plenty of domestic bowlers are capable of batting, and should be in the running.
Lock the revolving door, and weld it shut. Let there be a limited number of players- the current squad, and five outside. In the current bunch of pacers/seamers/swingers, Ishant, Umesh and Aaron are reasonably quick, and that should be optimised. Let's also get wicket-taking spinners, not mere passengers that keep Duncan Fletcher happy.
Dhoni should step down, for his own good. Let him catch up on his batting, which has suffered in Tests, and isn't giving India the advantage of the extra batsman and the room for a mandatory bowler or all-rounder. Gambhir should be captain, as he's willing to take it up, not bogged down by fitness concerns, and ideally shouldn't be dropped at all- Mukund and Vijay are still a far cry from Test standard.
Succession policy. Seriously. Why doesn't Australia need one for Ponting and Hussey? Or South Africa for Kallis, Smith and AB? Or Sri Lanka for Mahela, Dilshan and Sanga? Or England for Strauss, Trott and KP? If they actually start implementing succession policies, they'll struggle to win games. The India cap will also lose its value- like it has, with Kohli, Jadeja, Ojha and Munaf getting so many caps. Let every so-called promising youngster work hard for that India cap.
So you've scouted the current 10-15 year old cricketing talent and found it wanting?Laxman should retire after the next test. Dravid 6 months later and Tendular 18 months later. Sehwag has said he will retire from tests after 100 tests and Dhoni will go by the end of 2013. Predicting a hard 15-20 years in away tests for us.
We won the world cup in 1983 and it was not until 2003 that we got any good in away tests. Predicting a similar pattern.So you've scouted the current 10-15 year old cricketing talent and found it wanting?
So you've scouted the current 10-15 year old cricketing talent and found it wanting?
This helps the bowlers and the batsmen. Imran Khan was a very staunch supporter of having Pakistan players go and play a few seasons of county cricket.If I was a fringe Indian batsman such as Sharma, or Pujara, possibly even Kohli, I'd be doing my best to sort out a stint at a county club in England in 2012 to try and improve my game against the moving ball to strengthen my case for Test inclusion and to try and ensure India do not continue to be the whipping boys in away series'.
Absolutely as Zaheer Khan will testify. But the issue here is with the inability of the Indian batsmen to play the swinging ball, anyone that can show the technique to succeed in conditions favouring the bowler will become vital for India in the future.This helps the bowlers and the batsmen. Imran Khan was a very staunch supporter of having Pakistan players go and play a few seasons of county cricket.
Unfortunately such a move would greatly harm their bank balances.Absolutely as Zaheer Khan will testify. But the issue here is with the inability of the Indian batsmen to play the swinging ball, anyone that can show the technique to succeed in conditions favouring the bowler will become vital for India in the future.
Don't think it would do any harm for the likes of Yadav and Sharma amongst many others to give the IPL a miss (if their contracts allow) and play some county cricket, but I think it's even more important for the potential Test batsmen to do the same.
Good read, seems like a highly motivated guy who's willing to sacrifice if it means playing in tests."I am enjoying my form right now and want to play as much as I can abroad, even if it is not international cricket," Raina says. "I wish I can go and play county cricket, since that will improve my confidence and approach. At my age I need to play more and more matches in different conditions. But there's not much time given the amount of international cricket. First you have the one-dayers in Australia, which I expect to play, then the Asia Cup, the IPL for one and a half months, and a tour of Sri Lanka."
BCCI's reluctance to grant its players permission to take on assignments in county cricket, though, will make that difficult.