***Official*** England in India

[harsh.ag]

Oh....you mean the point that Wasim Akram never fails to bring up i.e. body language

Don't know about it, but have a feeling I would like this theory

 

[cnerd123]

Who are those? Yuvraj clearly cares about Test cricket - he just sucks at it. Gambhir does as well. Kohli - he's one of the few people to come out of an overseas tour with any positives....

FTR, Yuvraj never wanted a career in cricket to begin with. He was forced into it as a child by his dad. He's even talked about it in interviews about he hated the pressure from his dad and disliked his practices at one point.

I don't find it hard to believe that Yuvraj will be someone who will happily and easily transition away from cricket once his career in it is over. Could easily become someone like Ambrose who won't watch/follow the game once his career is done.

Yuvraj may be technically limited, but that has never been a reason for players to be bad at Test cricket. He has far more talent at his disposal than players like Collingwood, Giles, Richardson, Akash Chopra, Brendan Nash, even an Ed Cowan. If he really cared that much about Test cricket, he would have found out a way to fix or work around his technical deficiencies and have made something of himself.

He's become more unfit with each passing year, and while he's still one of the best fielders in the side, he's not anywhere close to where he was when he debuted, and it doesn't look like he's put in any effort to get back to that level. His bowling hasn't gained anymore bite or variation, though he has become a lot more smarter with it.

I agree with the idea that he was picked too premature. He had a few decent ODIs when he got back, and did score that 200 in Ranji, so it wasn't a totally unjustified selection.

But generally, Yuvraj doesn't strike me as a committed player determined to be one of the best in the world at Test cricket. More than anything, he strikes me as a player who wants to make the most of his career financially while he can, who loves the spotlight, and who performs at his best when he is irked or insulted; when his pride is on the line.

 

[Satyanash89]

All I am saying is that if you are not happy, that means you don't really like playing the game. Remember all the good sides. The players looked happy when they achieved something, or were on the field trying to get the opposition out quickly. There was a sense of purpose and energy. India has had that too of course, just not happening now. Rare to get a smile out of any face there. How are they going to win the goddamn thing?

Dont agree with the smile thing but i see where youre coming from. The body language when the opposing team begins a
to build a big partnership is just sad to watch ... fielders just drop their shoulders...and i genuinely believe Dhoni has to take a lot of the blame for this... his field settings dont inspire confidence in the bowlers, he fails to keep his players motivated and energetic. Fail Captain.

 

[cnerd123]

Captaining isn't easy. You can't motivate someone who is not motivated. There is no magical switch you can flip to do that.

Very, very few captains are capable of doing that, if any. Any great captain will tell you that that they had a side full of players who already had a desire to be the best; that is was about just getting the best out of them. If you have to motivate the players to make them want to do well in the first place, you are just better of getting new players.

I suspect this might be one of the reasons Dhoni wanted Zaheer out of the team really.

 

[smash84]

Don't know about it, but have a feeling I would like this theory

He always brings this up whenever India are playing (since England 2011). That even when things are not going your way you have to find a way to keep your spirits high and this serves as an example to others. If the body language of the captain and senior players is positive then other players try to take a cue from it and try to do their best in order to make something happen. Otherwise it is very easy to give in. Funny that this comes from Wasim Akram though

Captaining isn't easy. You can't motivate someone who is not motivated. There is no magical switch you can flip to do that.

Very, very few captains are capable of doing that, if any. Any great captain will tell you that that they had a side full of players who already had a desire to be the best; that is was about just getting the best out of them. If you have to motivate the players to make them want to do well in the first place, you are just better of getting new players.

I suspect this might be one of the reasons Dhoni wanted Zaheer out of the team really.

You do have a point. In Pakistan the captain motivates the players by threatening to kick them out

 

[harsh.ag]

Dont agree with the smile thing but i see where youre coming from. The body language when the opposing team begins a
to build a big partnership is just sad to watch ... fielders just drop their shoulders...and i genuinely believe Dhoni has to take a lot of the blame for this... his field settings dont inspire confidence in the bowlers, he fails to keep his players motivated and energetic. Fail Captain.

Agree with the field settings. Need more attack, but to be honest, our bowlers are bowling pretty **** right now.

He always brings this up whenever India are playing (since England 2011). That even when things are not going your way you have to find a way to keep your spirits high and this serves as an example to others. If the body language of the captain and senior players is positive then other players try to take a cue from it and try to do their best in order to make something happen. Otherwise it is very easy to give in. Funny that this comes from Wasim Akram though

Yup. This is one my firm beliefs. I think your spirits should remain high as long as you are in the game, and this should be your natural reaction. Of course, if you do it just to inspire the others and keep the energy level up, it is a great thing too, but the ideal way is for it to come naturally.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

I've been asking myself so why is Dhoni in the team? Is it for batting, w.keeping, captaincy? What is it? Is it mainly because of his experience more than anything else that he's holding the place in the current team atm? Can India afford another new face in the team? A test team particularly still needs some experienced players in the mix. Dhoni gives them this balance (plus captaincy factor) and holding his place despite poor show or is he just this influential that no one got ***** to drop him. But for how long? I think India missed a massive opportunity by not replacing Dhoni as soon as in New Zealand series. A new captain and w.keeper would have got right space to get things straight beginning from NZ series @ home.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Its to with marketing I suspect that and the probable lack of a batsman who's as good as him/ better in tests for India.

 

[Furball]

Tendulkar is almost 40. I don't find it that hard to believe he is over the hill.

In the last 18 months, he's also won a World Cup in Mumbai and scored 100 centuries in all forms of international cricket. It would be understandable if mentally he wasn't quite all there when you consider he really has bugger all left to achieve in the game.

 

[centurymaker]

it's quite clear that his skills as a batsman have waned especially in the last 6 months while his mental strength, focus levels have not been the same ever since the WC win.

maybe after having achieved 0-4, 0-4 overseas, he wants to be part of a couple of series defeats at home too.

 

[Salamuddin]

Don't understand why people still want Zaheer in the team.

He's been a downward slope since the World cup - at 34, even if he were to cotinue I can't see him being available for that much longer in any case.
India have a pretty heavy schedule coming up with Australia at home followed by away tours to RSA, NZ, England And Australia.

Time India looked forward and built a group of new pace bowlers repositioned with Umesh Yadav as the spearhead.
I think Ishant's key though - they really need him to turn it around and I think Joe Dawes's biggest job is probably here - getting Ishant to live up to his potential.

Dropping Yurvraj is a no brainer and I think Harbhajan's time was up some time ago.

Jadeja may or may not work out in tests but I think he's worth a shot.

The other guy I think India should have dropped but didn't is Gambhir - personally think he's an ordnary player who's lived off a couple of good inings.
I'd replace him with Chand - yes picking Unmukt would be a risk given he's so young but I reckon the lad has the talent to be a top batsman at test level.

 

[shankar]

If you look at highlights from the first 4 innings in Aus, he looked ridiculously good. He was picking the ball really early and was getting into excellent positions against some quick stuff. Just been downhill since then for some reason - very weird.

 

[Contra]

yeah I think Gambhir's gotta go very very soon, he scored 100 runs in the match but those 2 run outs basically negated his contribution.

I still fail to see why Rahane can't open, dude started out as an opener, he opens in the limited overs format, just because he was picked for the middle order slot doesn't mean you can't play him as an opener, He's much better than Murli Vijay who has technical issues.

 

[Contra]

If you look at highlights from the first 4 innings in Aus, he looked ridiculously good. He was picking the ball really early and was getting into excellent positions against some quick stuff. Just been downhill since then for some reason - very weird.

Dare I say it, but I feel that Tendulkar at this stage of his career would prefer batting on decks with true bounce (even if there is swing and seam) rather than slow and low turners, I think likes the ball coming onto the bat more, it's interesting actually but I feel Kohli is also similar in that regard, not that I think that they can't play on slow and low wickets but they'd prefer to bat on grounds with bounce and pace.

 

[Salamuddin]

yeah I think Gambhir's gotta go very very soon, he scored 100 runs in the match but those 2 run outs basically negated his contribution.

I still fail to see why Rahane can't open, dude started out as an opener, he opens in the limited overs format, just because he was picked for the middle order slot doesn't mean you can't play him as an opener, He's much better than Murli Vijay who has technical issues.

YEah I think India need Rahane more as an opener than as a middle order player.

He looks a better player to me than Vijay, Mukund and Gambhir.

 

[tooextracool]

I've been asking myself so why is Dhoni in the team? Is it for batting, w.keeping, captaincy? What is it? Is it mainly because of his experience more than anything else that he's holding the place in the current team atm? Can India afford another new face in the team? A test team particularly still needs some experienced players in the mix. Dhoni gives them this balance (plus captaincy factor) and holding his place despite poor show or is he just this influential that no one got ***** to drop him. But for how long? I think India missed a massive opportunity by not replacing Dhoni as soon as in New Zealand series. A new captain and w.keeper would have got right space to get things straight beginning from NZ series @ home.

Who is the replacement for Dhoni? Is there a wicket keeper banging on the door?

Don't think I've ever held out hope for Dhoni as a pure batsman, but I do think his batting has exceeded expectations and for a keeper batsman he may well be 2nd best in the world to Prior(not counting ABD who I fully expect to not hold on to the gloves for much longer)? As far as his keeping is concerned, has he been dropping a considerable amount of catches or conceding byes that are costing his team? My personal opinion is that he isn't the problem in this Indian side.

 

[Jono]

Either way, simple fact is in no job could you reside as leader over 4-0 4-0 and then possibly 3-1 or 2-1 at home and keep your job.

It seems that he refuses to stand down though (and all the credit to him, you can't accuse him of not giving a ****) so it will take the selectors/board sacking him I think.

 

[Jono]

Re Zaheer, isn't it obvious? He was dropped because of fitness/attitude and also the fact he's old now and has very little to offer India in the future.

Its a brave move, but it may be the right one. Whether it should have been done after the series is a reasonable point, but at some stage India have to move on. They've made a statement by dropping Zaheer. I don't think any selector or Dhoni actually thinks Ishant is better than him, or Dinda. But they are sick of fielding questions about how fat and unfit and **** a fielder he is. Plus his cbf batting over the last 18 months is unacceptable from a leader.

 

[centurymaker]

Dare I say it, but I feel that Tendulkar at this stage of his career would prefer batting on decks with true bounce (even if there is swing and seam) rather than slow and low turners, I think likes the ball coming onto the bat more, it's interesting actually but I feel Kohli is also similar in that regard, not that I think that they can't play on slow and low wickets but they'd prefer to bat on grounds with bounce and pace.

say what you like but even tendulkar is probably now aware that if india lose and he fails yet again, he'll have to give-up tests at the very least. (there will be no farewell just like dravid and laxman)

the fact that the selectors have dropped the bowling 'demi-god' zaheer before the series decider is a clear signal to ones not performing that they too will be left out sooner rather than later if they continue in the same vein.

woud be terrific if they left out gambhir from the starting XI in the next game.

 

[shankar]

Dare I say it, but I feel that Tendulkar at this stage of his career would prefer batting on decks with true bounce (even if there is swing and seam) rather than slow and low turners, I think likes the ball coming onto the bat more, it's interesting actually but I feel Kohli is also similar in that regard, not that I think that they can't play on slow and low wickets but they'd prefer to bat on grounds with bounce and pace.

Don't know if that's true about Kohli, but that's a good point re: Tendulkar.