AA Dropped !!

[GermanShepherd]

Stay tuned for the full squad to be posted soon.

But bad news for AA fans !

 

[GermanShepherd]

The full squad:

Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, L Balaji.

Disappointed that Ramesh Powar missed out.
And I think AA is unlucky to be dropped in favour of Nehra.

 

[GermanShepherd]

The players who missed out:

Ramesh Powar, AA, Gavaskar, Badani, Bhandari, Murali Karthik from the original 20 man squad.

 

[ReallyCrazy]

woohoo im glad he's dropped. Nehra is better than agarkar and he's more reliable. so its a good choice. Badani is a good batter and is unlucky to miss out though he has performed in the limited opportunities he's got but there simply is no place for him.

 

[GermanShepherd]

Nehra is better than agarkar and he's more reliable.

No he's not.

 

[masterblaster]

I agree, you cannot drop a guy with over 150 ODI wickets at an average of 27 and a SR of over 35, in favor of a guy who cannot bowl, cannot bat and cannot field.

India, what were you thinking!

 

[Sanz]

Nehra may not be better than Agarkar, but his performance in Pakistan was good. Both are very inconsistent and it is really hard to pick one.

 

[ReallyCrazy]

Nehra's overall stats may not be as good as agarkar's. But nehra IS more reliable than agarkar in bowling. He did very well in the world cup. and also was returning to good form at pakistan.

If India was defending a small total, I'd have nehra bowling and not agarkar.

 

[marc71178]

Nehra is reliable in that you can rely on him to pick up few wickets at high cost.

 

[arjwiz]

Well both Balaji and Pathan are still very new to the game. Of the 5 seamers (the 4 that were picked + AA), Agarkar is the most experienced, something that might come in handy during the series. Agarkar is also a very handy bat, although that's obviously not the main criteria while picking a bowler.

The only reason Nehra was picked ahead of Agarkar was due to recent form, ie, India vs Pakistan series. But then again, Agarkar was by no means a failure at the VB series, coming up with some very good performances. Agarkar had a very good tour of Australia, as opposed to Zaheer Khan, whose had a miserable 2004 so far.

So if the selectors are considering the form of the player, they are justified in picking Nehra, but then again, not in picking Khan. If Khan picks himself, then so should Agarkar, who are the two so called stalwarts of the Indian bowling lineup, after the retirement of Srinath. When in form, Agarkar is better than most that India can put forward.

IMO, it was a BIG mistake dropping Ajit for Ashish.

 

[Mingster]

Ajit Agarkar - RPO of 5.11.

That is the highest economy rate for any bowler in any of the big 8 ODI cricketing nations. About time he was dropped.

 

[Anil]

c'mon guys! aa is the comeback kid! how can he come back if he is not dropped?

 

[Richard]

My prediction - he'll be back in either the next ODI squad or the one after that (losing count of when India's ODI tournaments are - I think it's this Dutch one then the Champions Trophy but I wouldn't be astonished if they've arranged something else to avoid wasting 4 or 5 valuable days in which ODIs could be crammed-in).

 

[masterblaster]

Currently - Asia Cup (Ind, SL, Pak, HK, UAE, Ban)
Next - Tri Series in Holland (Ind, Aus, Pak)
After that - NatWest Challenge (Ind, Eng)
After that - ICC Champions Trophy

For Holland they NEED Agarkar to play against Australia and Pakistan, Australia would bury Zaheer and Nehra alive.

 

[Adamc]

Ajit Agarkar - RPO of 5.11.

That is the highest economy rate for any bowler in any of the big 8 ODI cricketing nations. About time he was dropped.

Balaji and Pathan both concede a higher RPO than Agarkar. Should they be dropped too?

 

[masterblaster]

Its shear stupidity amongst Indian selectors, he had such a good tour of Australia with the ball, and made a crucial half century during the first final, when India were completely out of it.

Nehra is a hopeless fielder - Agarkar is a very athletic fielder with a good throwing arm

Nehra doesnt take as many wickets as Agarkar - Agarkar is a strike bowler, and picks up wickets regularly.

Nehra is a typical Number 11 bunny and with Balaji and Zaheer in the side, why would you want to weaken your side? - Agarkar is inconsistent, yet capable of scoring quick runs with the bat

Its just absolutely baffling to me.

You pick a guy who has failed in ODI's time and time again (barring the Pakistani tour), who cannot field (which is so important in ODI's) and who cannot contribute a run or two.

You drop a guy with over 150 ODI wickets at an average of 27, a guy with 3 half centuries to his name, and a guy who is one of the most nimble and athletic bowlers in the Indian team.

Shear Stupidity.

 

[Mingster]

Balaji and Pathan both concede a higher RPO than Agarkar. Should they be dropped too?

Agarkar's RPO has been over 5.1 for a very long period of time. While Balaji and Pathan's were sustained over a short length of time.

Masterblaster, WOW 3 50s!!! Really!!! Out of what? Over 120 matches? Hell, a fifty almost every 40 games! Pretty good going eh!

Agarkar has to be the most overrated cricketer on this board - people on here say he's a great Test bowler when his bowling average of 44 speaks for itself.

 

[Linda]

Masterblaster, WOW 3 50s!!! Really!!! Out of what? Over 120 matches? Hell, a fifty almost every 40 games! Pretty good going eh!

G. McGrath - 0 fifties
A. Nehra - 0 fifties (out of 46 matches!!! WOW!!)
S. Akhtar - 0 fifties
C. Vaas - 1 fifty (out of 235 matches)
J. Gillespie - 0 fifties

Bowlers arn't there to score runs, but when they do its an added bonus. How can you write off 3 fifties by an experianced and proven bowler?
Add that to Agarkar's excellent ODI bowling record, and you've got a pretty good cricketer! Especially when comparing him to the woeful Nehra...

 

[Mingster]

3 50s out of 120 matches is especially poor considering how people around here give him so much praise about his batting ability.

 

[Jnr.]

3 fifties from 80 innings is not bad at all from a strike bowler. He is just very inconsistent (as is Nehra with his bowling).
And Nehra's batting and fielding is consistently poor, so I don't know why they would drop a proven ODI player for Nehra...