***Official*** Sri Lanka in India

[cricketboy29]

How much do you want to bet, theyre going to retain Ganguly and drop Yuvraj?

I say this, since we all know the greatness of our indian selectors, and theyre steadfast courage in terms of making tough decisions. 'Batting allrounder' indeed.

 

[Jono]

Yeah I wouldn't really be surprised. But you see, if that MUST happen, I'd rather see Yuvraj dropped than Laxman or Gambhir. In the case of Laxman, one he hasn't done ANYTHING wrong and is the better player, and also because he's not as young as Yuvraj and won't have as many opportunities if he were to be tragically dropped. The case with Gambhir is one, we'd have a makeshift opener, and secondly I feel it'd crush his confidence.

As disappointing as it would be for Yuvraj, he's young and will have other opportunities and has been dropped before so it won't effect him as negatively as dropping Gambhir or Laxman would.

 

[honestbharani]

When was the last time India had such problem of plenty?


Yeah, it is only at home, though. Our real test would be in 2006, in WI and in England.

 

[Jono]

Yeah I feel like an Australian cricket fan when it comes to dropping quality players and replacing them with other quality

This is definitely a good problem, no doubt. If this can also happen with our bowlers, both spin and pace, it'd be great.

 

[honestbharani]

But then, if that were to happen, we would be the new Australia.


But honestly speaking, I don't see too much comp. amongst the bowlers... The same 6 or 7 will be around, IMO. But, we will see.

 

[Jono]

Well we've had Kumble, Harbhajan, Agarkar, Pathan, Zaheer, Nehra and Murali Kartik be the only real bowlers in contention for international caps in both forms. However with RP Singh and Sreesanth both having spots in the team there is hope. Hopefully VR Singh can also put pressure on the fast bowlers.

I eventually would like RP Singh to in the test team, and by eventually I do mean relatively soon, but I think a worry is that whilst Pathan is clearly our leading paceman at the moment, he's still young and has a lot to learn. If you put another young fast bowler there, our attack becomes very inexperienced, the pace attack anyway. Of course there is the great all-rounder Ganguly who can maybe give them some tips on pace bowling

 

[honestbharani]

yeah, he may even go on to replace Dhoni as our keeper, the way things seem to be going.

 

[R_D]

yeah, he may even go on to replace Dhoni as our keeper, the way things seem to be going.

Yeah you never know he might just be an awesome keeper as well... he managed to fool everyone for so many years that he wasn't an all-rounder but its all clear now. Why are we bothering with Pathan should let him focus on his bowling and let our new all-rounder take care of things

 

[shankar]

....But what he has done is not show great form, but rather just 'do the job' and stay at the crease a while before going out for around 30-40 in both innings. Laxman, Yuvraj both looked better, and Gambhir should be given time. Ganguly is the only option.

Its ironic that it could very well be Ganguly that keeps Yuvraj out of the test team for a while.

Actually I thought Ganguly looked more assured against Murali today and didn't put a foot wrong till the ball where he got out. Whereas Yuvraj played and missed quite a few times but managed to survive somehow and capitalised in the end.

 

[shankar]

Would that be a ball that moves in an S shape, or one that goes dead straight then?

I knew there was something wrong with that statement when I hit submit!

 

[Pratters]

Great 50 by Yuvraj. When he came in after Dravid's wicket anything could have happened, but he steadied with Ganguly and now can take India to a commanding, hopefully match-winning lead. A few months ago I was one of many who were heavily criticising Yuvraj's performance and questioning his place in the team, both in ODIs and tests. Since then he's comprehensively proved me wrong.

I was expecting this kind of an honest comment from you.

I was almost aghast earlier when you questioned Yuvraj's place in the test squad because apparently according to you he couldnt play spin.

Yuvraj is a pretty good batsman for tests in my opinion for the long run 4-6 years at least.

 

[Pratters]

He is playing much straighter.

You should have seen his centuries in the same match in the Duleep Trophy game a year or two ago. I watched one of the two centuries and was impressed the way he played straight with the bat as well in that inning.

A very good player if he can brush the inconsistency aside.

 

[Pratters]

I guess though if the selectors had enough balls and said you either open the innings or you're out of the team, he'd do it.

It would be a very poor decision to have Ganguly open for India in tests!

 

[Pratters]

Dravid opening is a good option. He is adept at facing the new ball having done the same on mny ocassions when an opener has fallen early abroad. However the mental make up of a no. 3 and an opener are different and it is no secret that Dravid prefers the No. 3 spot much more.

It is crucial to find a reliable opening pair for abroad. Laxman is comfortable going in at 3.

So this can be a good line up

Sehwag
Dravid
Laxman
Tendulkar
Yuvraj
Ganguly
Dhoni
Pathan
x
y
z

The selectors have shown faith in him and he has to get a test ahead of Kaif and Gambhir as things stand right now.

Giving Jaffer a chance cannot be ruled out though and some thing I will definitely look forward to if it does happen in the future.

 

[Pratters]

Its ironic that it could very well be Ganguly that keeps Yuvraj out of the test team for a while.

That has already happened many times while Ganguly was captain.

 

[Pratters]

still the best innings of the match so far has been Laxman's first innings 69. Dropping him would show that you being God-fsther-less in Indian cricket is still a curse.

Laxman being dropped from the test team - unthinkable. You shouldnt have even thought of that possibility like you didnt think of the possibility of Dravid or Tendulkar being dropped.

 

[SJS]

Dravid opening is a good option. He is adept at facing the new ball having done the same on mny ocassions when an opener has fallen early abroad. However the mental make up of a no. 3 and an opener are different and it is no secret that Dravid prefers the No. 3 spot much more.

It is crucial to find a reliable opening pair for abroad. Laxman is comfortable going in at 3.

So this can be a good line up

Sehwag
Dravid
Laxman
Tendulkar
Yuvraj
Ganguly
Dhoni
Pathan
x
y
z

The selectors have shown faith in him and he has to get a test ahead of Kaif and Gambhir as things stand right now.

Giving Jaffer a chance cannot be ruled out though and some thing I will definitely look forward to if it does happen in the future.

Asking Dravid to open is a strange solution. If Dhoni hadnt been getting runs, I could have suggested another soultion. Bring back Sehwag while keeping Gambhir and retaining both Yuvraj and ganguly !! Simple ! Ask Dravid to keep wickets..

Why not ? Here are three reasons why this is less hair brained than asking him to open.

1. He has kept wickets more often than he has opened.
2. He has done a better job keeping wickets than opening.
3. He has shown less reluctance to keep wickets.

India's reluctance to realise that BOTH opening and keeping are jobs for specialists is the major reason for the paucity of good keepers and good openers in our history.

Tell you what. drop Agarkar and ask dravid, sorry Ganguly to open the bowling. Thats at least as good a solution

 

[Pratters]

India's reluctance to realise that BOTH opening and keeping are jobs for specialists is the major reason for the paucity of good keepers and good openers in our history.

I will ignore the rest of your post and make my point :

If the same attitude had existed Sehwag wouldnt have been found as a good test opener for India.

Dravid can face the new ball and has done so so many times in his career when the first wicket has fallen cheaply. It is just a question of mental make up and can he achieve that. We will not find out till we try. Dravid definitely showed willingness by going in to open in the first inning.

It definitely isnt wild to think of a possibiliy of Dravid opening - as he himself went ahead with the same thought in the first inning.

 

[SJS]

When Windies had Roberts, Holding, Garner, Croft and Marshall (besides others) guess what they did. No, they didnt drop a middle order batsman to include all five fantastic fast bowlers, they dropped one of them. First one of the youngsters later Roberts, one of the greatest ever.

There have beeen many such instances in history. When India has Bedi, Prasanna, Chandra and Venkit, I think only once, if at all, they did anything as stupid as include all four great spinners and ask two of them to to open with the new ball. Although they were almost that bad when it came to who used the new ball.

Let Ganguly or Yuvraj decide they want to open from now onwards AND if the selectors and team management think that person (Ganguly or Yuvraj) will make a good opener, sure, include him.

Why do you want Rahul to open and for how long ? Till time is right to drop one of the middle order batsmen ?

Ridiculous.

BTW, if Gambhir doesnt deserve a place in the side, sure drop him but bring in someone who is an opener and an opener is not someone who opens in one test match every 20 tests he plays

 

[SJS]

I will ignore the rest of your post and make my point :

If the same attitude had existed Sehwag wouldnt have been found as a good test opener for India.

Dravid can face the new ball and has done so so many times in his career when the first wicket has fallen cheaply. It is just a question of mental make up and can he achieve that. We will not find out till we try. Dravid definitely showed willingness by going in to open in the first inning.

It definitely isnt wild to think of a possibiliy of Dravid opening - as he himself went ahead with the same thought in the first inning.

Oh sure.

I dont deny that rahul can open as far as his technique is concerned. If he is going to open from now onwards, I have no problem whatsoever. But it is this "stop-gap-arrangement" attitude we have to opening (and keeping) that we have which I am against.

But is Rahul prepared to open in the medium term. He is reluctant to open in the second innings of a match in which he opened in the first !!