India v Sri Lanka Tomorrow and my first post.
Hello to all this is my first post, so here goes.
I usually tend to keep a calm balanced head, but with India's recent troubles I have to let my feeling be known. First off, I can't understand why some people are turning on Sachin Tendulkar, suggesting that he should be dropped and that he is not playing for the team and just for 'this record'. I firmly believe that is rubbish, the great Tendulkar does not need money and endorsements, from the age of 16 he has represented India and from the age of 21 playing in an average side he has shouldered the expectations of a billion people and on occasions made an average team exceed expectations due to his efforts and skills. Its not like everyone else is playing well and that only Sachin is not performing, infact in both the recent defeats abroad Sachin has looked the most technically sound and this is whilst going through a bad run of form. In essence Sachin out of form is probably still better and more valuable than most in the Indian side, infact most sides. I will remind some people of the exist from the 2007 World Cup, Ian Chappel was very vocal that Sachin Should retire, he's past it. Tendulkars response to that was with his Bat, producing a sensational season in both One Day and Test cricket in 2010, similar to his feats in 1996 and 2003. Tendulkar will know when the right time to go is and I don't believe he will drag it out. India need Tendulkar to help with the transitional phase, all the young guns coming through will look up to him and his professionalism. In my humble opinion if Sachin stays fit, he can play at the top until he's 40 years old. Back to the old saying "Form is temporary and sheer class is permanent"!!
One of the main reasons for India's woes abroad of late is because of the BCCI and the dam IPL, there was an article of late suggesting Kirsten knew this phase was coming, I mean India win the World Cup and ONLY 4 DAYS later are forced to play in the dam IPL! BCCI need to put India cricket first and money second!!! I mean what's happened to the India A tours and the U19 tours??? those are what helped the youngsters to play on pitches abroad. I'm also starting to understand that no doubt 'Dada' Ganguly is the greatest captain India had, I said to a colleague that Dhoni is a good captain, his response to me was "with that India side, I could captain them and look great".
Also is the India side basically going to be the Chennai Super Kings, with Jadeja going their in the latest IPL auction it seems that way. I'm getting a bit suspect with Suresh Raina's development as a player. I recall when he first was introduced as an India player, there was no doubt that he was a very talented young player with huge potential, however for me he has not developed to the level that he promised, dare I say it, due to the IPL (in which he is a fantastic asset) his game has gone backwards. At the moment he is not performing, he should be replaced with M Tiwary for the time being, also last time Jadeja (prior to this tour) faced Australia he was smashed for 20+ runs in each over for two games in row, it looks like he could be heading the same way again in the current one day series.
Irfan Pathan needs to play, you can't expect him to come in and hit the ground running but he needs to be involved. India cricket is in a mess at the moment, no disrespect to Fletcher but only one person can sort this mess out, just like he did in 2000, and that's 'Dada' Ganguly but this time as coach!
My 11 for tomorrow are 1.) Sehwag, 2.) Tendulkar, 3.) Kohli, 4.) Rohit Sharma, 5.) M Tiwary, 6.) Dhoni (w/c), 7.) I Pathan, 8.) Ahswin, 9.) Vinay Kumar , 10.) Z Khan., 11.) U Yadav.
