***Official*** West Indies in India

[Pratters]

Not a bad stat -

131.57 - Tendulkar's scoring rate in his innings of 100, which is the third-best among all his 41 innings when he has made hundreds. His 101-ball 140 not out (scoring rate 138.61) against Kenya at Bristol is his fastest, while the 92-ball unbeaten 124 against Zimbabwe at Sharjah in 1998-99 comes in next.

- From S Rajesh's piece at CI.

 

[Jono]

I'm not anti-Tendulkar but just because he scored a hundred against an awful WI attack does not mean that he is back in form.I will fully appreciate that Tendulkar's still got it when he makes runs in pressure situations against the likes of Australia or Pakistan.

You're talking about ODIs right? He has struggled against Australia recently, but against Pakistan:

http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/IND_IN_PAK/SCORECARDS/IND_PAK_ODI1_06FEB2006.html
http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/IND_IN_PAK/SCORECARDS/IND_PAK_ODI3_13FEB2006.html

That 95 was one of his best ODI knocks for ages, the ball was moving square early with Asif and Gul dominating, and he saw it off.

In tests, Tendulkar has been well below par for ages, but its incredibly frustrating when people mix up the two forms of the game. He's been putting in very good performances in ODIs for ages now, and anyone who thinks he should be dropped in that format of the game knows little about cricket.

 

[alternative]

Amongst our bowlers, we have to also consider Munaf, he has been quite good of late till the South African series where ha faced the injury. I have been reading in the Indian newspapers that he is up and bowling so this Sri Lankan series will tell us who is better.

Agarkar, Zaheer, Kumble and Harbajan are garanteed to go to WC, that means that it will be the battle between Munaf, Sreesanath and Pathan. Meanwhile Powar is definitely out of contention imo.

 

[Jono]

What has Powar done wrong?

And yeah Munaf will make the squad, and is in my best XI when fully fit.

 

[pacespinner]

I would still not consider Munaf in, coz there is Sreesanth who has proved his point many at times and we have other bowlers like Zahir, Agarkar, Pathan etcetera who are more experienced.
My bowling line up would be as follows:

Zaheer + Sreesanth
Sreesanth + Harbhajan
Harbhajan + Agarkar
Agarkar + Pathan

... ofcourse depending upon the run rate and the dryness of the pitch.

Munaf I think will take another year or two, to really break into the real Indian team. He can be included in the team, but not as a participating, but rather as a back up.

All I want from the Indian team is that Ganguly be adopted for his experience and his abilities. And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I hope there is no more politics this time.

I think Indian team should change the coach, there are many Indian coaches out of job and are looking. Even if not, then they can fine some other South Asian coach to fill in.

Anyways, if someone wants to tell me their ideal Indian batsman line up.

 

[adharcric]

About Sehwag, we should not let him rest, we should make him play, even as a tailender. Let him warm up for the world cup, coz it is for sure that he is going to play. He might as well just stay in line and hit few fours.

Sehwag should not be in the World Cup squad on the basis of his batting. That said, the selectors will probably include him for Gambhir against SL.

I don't understand the point to include Gambhir though. He should be rested, while Sehwag plays and Utthappa plays as an opener. We have a tendency to kick out players if they don't perform in their first game, and that is wrong. Not much good cricketers have played their best in their first international game of their life.

That makes no sense. What's your point?

I don't know what to do with Zaheer, may be keep him in case of injuries. I would rather play Zaheer than Agarkar.

Play our strike bowler "in case of injuries"?

 

[adharcric]

What has Powar done wrong?

And yeah Munaf will make the squad, and is in my best XI when fully fit.

Powar never does anything wrong. He just gets screwed by Kumble and Bhajji. Perhaps they should stick with 3 spinners for now.

 

[adharcric]

Munaf I think will take another year or two, to really break into the real Indian team.

Uhh, Munaf was our best ODI bowler in the DLF Cup and CT. His fitness and fielding are the only issues.

I think Indian team should change the coach, there are many Indian coaches out of job and are looking. Even if not, then they can fine some other South Asian coach to fill in.

. . .

 

[adharcric]

Apparently, Sehwag is set for a return against Sri Lanka. Hope he does well.

 

[Pratters]

What has Powar done wrong?

And yeah Munaf will make the squad, and is in my best XI when fully fit.

Yeah on both points. I have Munaf in my first XI as well.

 

[Pratters]

I would still not consider Munaf in, coz there is Sreesanth who has proved his point many at times and we have other bowlers like Zahir, Agarkar, Pathan etcetera who are more experienced.

Sreesanth's economy at 5.79 is a big worry really. His average at 36.87 also makes it pretty dicey for him as things stand.

 

[alternative]

Nothing is wrong with Powar, but i don't see the selection team going towards him, as they have Kumble and Harbajan back with decent forms.

 

[Nishant]

i actually like powar...he is actually good...but as alreday mentioned by others on CW, as long as kumble and bhajji are in the team, powar will find it difficult to break into the side.

Its actually the case with all spinners....chawla was given one test match to prove his worth...obviously, this aint gd enough! However, as long as a leg spinner like kumble remains in the side, he wont really get a chance! Sad, really!

 

[adharcric]

Actually, it's a blessing for Indian cricket. There's no way the selectors can ruin Chawla by throwing him in too early because Kumble's in the way.

 

[silentstriker]

Chawla shouldn't have been anywhere near the test team TBH. I'm glad they got him out before they could permanantly damage him.

 

[adharcric]

Quite obvious they were merely trying to give him a feel for international cricket. I'm not sure if he should have actually gotten a match though.

 

[Jono]

Was one of the most pointless selections, ironically its the only test of that series we won.

Anyway, has Kumble actually outperformed Powar in say their last 5-7 matches respectively?

 

[adharcric]

No. Who would you trust with the World Cup on the line? Kumble IMO. The most professional cricketer in India - you can depend on him.

 

[adharcric]

Finally.

Sehwag, Pathan were poor but weren’t dropped till very late and after Pathan was brought back, we might bring back Sehwag as well. The selection committee under More had erred while picking the teams. Indian preparation for the world cup has been left till too late.. We have to resort to try out Uthappa right now and even if he has a few good innings and a few bad ones, we cannot assess his reliability as we would like. Then there is Gambhir of course.

That many players were pretty poor in the last 18 months holds little weight because the team management and selectors were pretty rigid regarding specific players (Ganguly comes to mind instantly as does Kumble) when they should have tried the players who had been too good to ignore in the past or who looked promising enough. Australia rested a few players for the Champions Trophy for instance to get their team right as they approached the world cup for instance.

Now, we have this situation where two players - Pathan is being tried again and Sehwag might be played as well just because we do not know how x y z players are because there isn't much time to give x y z players a proper run. The Indian selection policies over the past 18 months or so have been a joke. I am blaming the Kiran More lead committe and not the Vengsarkar lead committee here.

The Vengsarkar lead group are fixing the damage as much as possible and have done a good job of it. They brought back players, have tried people (even Jaffer in South Africa was at least an attempt to get things right). Some things have clicked while others haven't and that is fair enough. What isn't fair though is that crucial world cup spots like who will open will be decided based on what pans out in the next four games versus Sri Lanka.

It is an emotional roller coaster the youngsters could have done well to do without as well because such shorter runs harm more than build players. That the moves of the new selection committee seem to be working is a very good sign though and augurs well for India for the world cup.

Spot on. The previous selection committee was a joke. They had no clue with Ganguly, retained Pathan for a little too long and retained Sehwag for way too long. Not only did it make matters difficult for the Vengsarkar-led committee, but it also put extreme pressure on the likes of Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir and Joginder Sharma, each of whom have had to live by the do-or-die process. Unfortunately, one of them "died" already and Pathan had to be rushed back because it's too close to the World Cup. That said, we are in a decent position and will be in good shape if two of the three take place against Sri Lanka: a) Yuvraj gets his groove back b) Sehwag bats properly c) Pathan bowls properly.

 

[silentstriker]

Even if Powar or anyone else has performed slightly better, I know Kumble is not going to be found out all of a sudden and go for 70 runs in an innings. At the very least, he'll give you control.