Harbhajan, Munaf get India call ups

[Sanz]

Yes, it's sad. Not for Thailand though. It's a boon for them. Mongia is a fine coach... Personal experience

I believe in the theory that if India want to challenge Australia for the spot of the No. 1 Test team in the world, they have to have their best players out in the middle in the XI.

Now answer me, who's the best wicket-keeper in India? Parthiv Patel? Dinesh Karthik? Ajay Ratra? No.... Mongia.

And what more, Mongia's batting has improved immensely. He could give Parthiv a run for his money, if he wants to.

A few months back, I went for a Ranji game here in Baroda and saw him in the middle. He still has it in him. I talked to a couple of local players about him, and they said he still desires for a place in the International side, and is actually working hard for it.

But now it seems as if he has given up, coaching Thailand seems his immediate preference.

Sudip - Mongia was never dropped for cricketing reasons. You being from Baroda may have a soft corner for him but Indian team members can't forget the Mumbai Test against Australia where he was sent as nightwatchman and he refused to bat for another couple of balls after getting hit on hand and guess who had to come out to play the remaining balls, Sachin Tendulkar. As an Indian fan I can't forget the Chennai test match where he threw his wicket and India lost, I cant forget Kanpur ODI where he(along with Prabhakar) batted like it was a TEST match and refused to fight.
If Sourav Ganguly doesn't even want to talk to Nayan, If None of the team members want him in the team, If Coach John Wright doesn't think of Mongia as a 'Team Man' then there must be a reason behind it. Mongia may be the best wicketkeeper but attitude wise I haven't seen a worse Indian cricketer. As for his batting, Parthiv beats him hands down.

 

[Sanz]

As for How good Mongia is/was, Here is an interesing read :-

http://www.rediff.com/sports/1999/oct/08keep.htm

 

[Sudeep]

Sudip - Mongia was never dropped for cricketing reasons. You being from Baroda may have a soft corner for him but Indian team members can't forget the Mumbai Test against Australia where he was sent as nightwatchman and he refused to bat for another couple of balls after getting hit on hand and guess who had to come out to play the remaining balls, Sachin Tendulkar. As an Indian fan I can't forget the Chennai test match where he threw his wicket and India lost, I cant forget Kanpur ODI where he(along with Prabhakar) batted like it was a TEST match and refused to fight.
If Sourav Ganguly doesn't even want to talk to Nayan, If None of the team members want him in the team, If Coach John Wright doesn't think of Mongia as a 'Team Man' then there must be a reason behind it. Mongia may be the best wicketkeeper but attitude wise I haven't seen a worse Indian cricketer. As for his batting, Parthiv beats him hands down.

Whether it's because he's from Baroda, I don't know, but I still fail to agree that he wasn't a team man.

He had stepped up to open when asked to. He went one down when asked to during the Sharjah Cup.

Sure all make blunders. But Chennai Test wasn't entirely his fault. He stuck there for sooo long. It was rather a fault of a poor tailend batting.

As for those stats, ok they do say something. But he has improved his batting immensely in the last 2-3 years.

 

[Sanz]

So it's basically between your opinion and the opinions of Sourav Ganguly, John Wright, Dravid and Sachin. Pretty easy for me to pick, dont you think so ? You got to watch the chennai Test match to pass a judgement. I have watched it 10 times and IMO, he threw his wicket, whether the tail failed or not is another matter. He fought with Ganguly then Indian Captain during Mumbai test aftter refusing to bat for another five balls. His refusal to use the India Helmet and wear a yellow helmet tells some story about his attitude.

Indian Team without Mongia has done better than ever and I am sure they dont need Mongia and his attitude.

Even if I accept that his batting has improved, I think it's too late to improve it when your career is all but over. he should have done it when he was between 25-30, at 34-35 one can't hope to come back by improving one's batting. I guess he could use those skills to coach the Thai team and hope he doesn't pass his attitude to the Thai kids.

 

[Dasa]

India Probables for Asia Cup: Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Ramesh Powar, Aakash Chopra, Hemang Badani, Sairaj Bahutule, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, L Balaji, Munaf Patel, Amit Bhandari, Rohan Gavaskar and Gautham Gambhir

Where's Laxman?

 

[biased indian]

India Probables for Asia Cup: Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Ramesh Powar, Aakash Chopra, Hemang Badani, Sairaj Bahutule, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, L Balaji, Munaf Patel, Amit Bhandari, Rohan Gavaskar and Gautham Gambhir

what is Aakash Chopra doing in the ODI list

And is it nessacery that Sairaj Bahutule has to included in all probables list
there is already 4 other spinners who are better than him
Are we going to play 5 spinners in a ODI match

 

[Sudeep]

So it's basically between your opinion and the opinions of Sourav Ganguly, John Wright, Dravid and Sachin. Pretty easy for me to pick, dont you think so ? You got to watch the chennai Test match to pass a judgement. I have watched it 10 times and IMO, he threw his wicket, whether the tail failed or not is another matter. He fought with Ganguly then Indian Captain during Mumbai test aftter refusing to bat for another five balls. His refusal to use the India Helmet and wear a yellow helmet tells some story about his attitude.

Indian Team without Mongia has done better than ever and I am sure they dont need Mongia and his attitude.

Even if I accept that his batting has improved, I think it's too late to improve it when your career is all but over. he should have done it when he was between 25-30, at 34-35 one can't hope to come back by improving one's batting. I guess he could use those skills to coach the Thai team and hope he doesn't pass his attitude to the Thai kids.

I still won't completely agree with you. Because I have heard the other part of the story from a local cricketer who has played for India.

Plus, I have talked to Mongia a couple of times, once when he was playing for India and second time when he visited my school after he was dropped. He sounded as if he genuinely wanted to play for India.

 

[Sanz]

You can continue to believe what you want to believe,(On the same note some of my Hyderabadi friends who know Azhar still think that Azhar is innocent and was a scapegoat, but that wont change the fact). Fact is Nayan Mongia's playing days are over.

Even if I agree that Sourav, Sachin, Dravid, John Wright etc are spreading lies about Nayan Mongia, and Nayan is innocent, I would still not pick him because India is really doing much better without him and his presence in the team would create a problem with other senior players.

 

[Sudeep]

Even I know Mongia's playing days are over. I never said that he will be selected. I just suggested that he should be picked.

 

[biased indian]

You can continue to believe what you want to believe,(On the same note some of my Hyderabadi friends who know Azhar still think that Azhar is innocent and was a scapegoat, but that wont change the fact). Fact is Nayan Mongia's playing days are over.

Even if I agree that Sourav, Sachin, Dravid, John Wright etc are spreading lies about Nayan Mongia, and Nayan is innocent, I would still not pick him because India is really doing much better without him and his presence in the team would create a problem with other senior players.

where is vijay dahiya ??
he didn't perform badly

 

[chicane]

where is vijay dahiya ??
he didn't perform badly

Safe to say he's been forgotten.

 

[Sudeep]

where is vijay dahiya ??
he didn't perform badly

 

[Craig]

Where's Laxman?

Rested?