Whats the matter with India???

[Mister Wright]

Did he have a bad day, or did the batsmen deliberately target him?

Isn't that the same thing?

You can't say he had a good day if the batsmen did target him.

 

[adharcric]

What's wrong with India?

Indeed, it is India's (Ganguly's idiotic approach) inflexible approach towards the selection of the team. With so many batsman failing lately, they should've given a chance to the young KKD Karthik, but Ganguly instead announces that he can't fulfill that wicketkeeper-batsman role that India need (Karthik hasn't even played a match yet, not sure how Ganguly made such a conclusion). Kumble is not a cornerstone of the team anymore. Since the historic Indo-Pak tour of March, this is what the bowling has looked like:
Pathan avg 24.8 econ 4.9
Balaji avg 24.1 econ 4.9
Kumble avg 48.0 econ 5.1
Harbhajan avg 39.8 econ 4.0
Nehra avg 56.3 econ 4.8

...and for some reason, India keeps on playing Kumble. Hopefully the thrashing Flintoff gave him will make Ganguly wake up and give Harbhajan a shot now. Pathan and Balaji are solid players, both of them energetic, talented and improving. Either Agarkar or Nehra must also step up. This Indian team should be among the elite, it just needs to wake up and change something in their approach rather just claiming that they will get back in form soon.

 

[marc71178]

Isn't that the same thing?

You can't say he had a good day if the batsmen did target him.

My thinking was that going for that many runs may have been a result of Flintoff making a statement of intent, rather than poor bowling!

 

[Mister Wright]

I understood where you were coming from. However, a bowler could bowl poorly and have a good day, but could bowl superbly and have a bad day.

 

[Hit4Six]

does anyone think india miss srinath and zaheer a lot?

 

[Arjun]

lol...Problem is Indias reluctancy to change, they've stuck with the same team game in game out for what seems like an eternity. They need to spice things up a little, drop a batsmen, bring in karthick, drop laxman....anything!

IMO, India need to get themselves a quality all-rounder, someone in the malik mould. I was really impressed with Powar when I saw him play, kept his bowling tight, hard hitter and quite energetic in the field (especially condiering his inzamam-esque figure minus the height!).

I think things ill get a bit better for India in the ICC trophy, especially if tendulkar can get them a bonus point against pak

Very valid points. IT's the same exclusive club, so that they have enough confidence in them, iven their talent. But what's the use of having confidence in players that keep letting the team down? Yuvraj, for instance, should be dropped from the Champions Trophy squad- his free ride has to end someday. Sridharan Sriram is doing very wel for a 30-yer old and deserves an immediate inclusion.

Agreed about the all-rounder part. The team lacks balance. If they play 6 batsmen and 5 bowlers, they are a batsman short and can do nothing once a tailender is in. A quality all-rounder at that position can keep them in the game. Either they pick Ramesh Powar and Sairaj Bahutule (both good enough to play in the Indian team, both quality all-rounders) or they convert one of their bowlers into an all-rounder (Irfan Pathan has very good batting technique and can do no worse than the seventh batsman).

When they play 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers, not only do the makeshift bowling combination bowl rubbish, but there are countless mistakes behind the stumps- easy to get away with if you are Rahul Dravid. A batsman bowling 10 overs regulrly can add stability and support the bowlers. There is absolutely NO HARM in picking a player as an all-rounder or converting a player into one- that player cannot do much worse than a specialist. This is NOT A GAME FOR THE SPECIALISTS- not with Gilchrist, Cairns, Razzaq, Klusener, Kallis and Pollock.

Likewise, the same old bowling combination has been persisted with for far too long. Except Irfan Pathan, none of the bowlers are capable of taking 5 wickets. Balaji is slow, slow, slow! Even Bangar can do a better job- he's better with the new ball. Zaheer is injury-prone, Nehra is inconsistent and Agarkar is under-powered, and rarely bowls good spells (he has a bowling average of 42 in finals). Why they have to stay with them ,I cannot understand. Amit Bhandari and Avishkar Salvi deserve an inclusion, since they are in form and better equipped to bowl away from India.

Anil Kumble is India's best bowler and has to be considered as an attacking option. He has over 300 wickets and has dominated matches quite often, when he has attacking fielders, as in the days of Azhar and Sachin as captain. Ganguly's handling of Kumble is absolutely pathetic, which is a failure as a captain. Kumble is not that bad, that he can be used as a defensive option. For a strike bowler, the Test average indicates his ability to take wickets, and Kumble is India's best and most reliable strike bowler. His good perofrmance in Tests has been because of the way he was used- as an attacker.

Even if the bowling attack consisted of Bangar, JP Yadav, Sodhi, Sehwag and Rohan Gavaskar, ll they need is support from the field. Ganguly is an obvious weakness, Sehwag is too slow in the outfield and drops catches at slips, Rahul Dravid is nothing more than a batsman asked to wear the gloves, while Balaji's inconsistency on the field came up again. If the fielding improves, the Indian bowling attack will definitely gain a lot of penetration. But four seam bowling options? They don't have the pace to take wickets! They have to depend on their spinners if they have to bowl teams out.

VVS Laxman is a world class player and India's best ODI batsman in the recent past. If you think he's not good enough, then why keep Yuvraj, Kaif, Sehwag and Gangully? Laxman is a far better player than all of them.

Srinath had it. The World Cup final was reason enough to leave him out of future plans. Nothing that he can do now.

Dinesh Karthik needs a go. Not only is he a better wicketkeeper, he can bat, and hit the ballhard. His batting is of top-six quality and he deserves to play higher up the order, as a pinch-hitter, when needed. He and Pathan have an advantage- batting is not their main skill, so they can choose to take more risks and hit more big shots, since they have another skill to fall back on. Same with Sehwag as a bowler.

 

[Neil Pickup]

There is absolutely NO HARM in picking a player as an all-rounder or converting a player into one- that player cannot do much worse than a specialist. This is NOT A GAME FOR THE SPECIALISTS- not with Gilchrist, Cairns, Razzaq, Klusener, Kallis and Pollock.

Did you not see the NatWest Series.

Bits-and-pieces leave you batsmen short and bowlers short at the same time as for the most part they cannot contribute competently with either, so you get whacked. If you're one of the above, then you can, but if you're not (viz Pathan failing to get Giles off the square yesterday afternoon) then you're screwed.

 

[anzac]

as I said in another thread re fav teams - IMO the IND side is unbalanced..........

I know they made the WC final and beat some fancied teams along the way, but IMO IND have too many batsmen and not enough bowling options, and are too timid in using the options they already have...........

IND's best tactic / strategy ATM is to bat 1st and use their extended specialist batting lineup to post a big score with a high RRR - if they fail to do so then their sub par bowling doesn't stand a chance on it's own accord.........

it's almost as if they have too many batting options and have tried to make room for as many as possible...............instead they should have a batting core and and interchangeable 2 - 3 batsmen based upon injury / form, and then use them as such to keep the pressure on the 1st choice starters........

they should have a 'specialist' 'keeper as you can not afford to gift extras or to not take chances on offer when your bowling is short.........

Agarkar & Sehwag are already 'allrounder' type options, but are not used as such as often as they could be...........likewise Tendulkar & Ganguly are also underbowled IMO.............

I can not agree that 7 specialist batsmen is any better than 6 in ODIs, particularly at the expense of both a specialist 'keeper & a specialist bowler, not when you have other part time bowling options already in the team but under utilised..............

IMO the only other team with a worse selection policy ATM is WIN - only 2 specialist bowlers!!!!!!! - how do they expect to win ODIs with that????????

 

[Spetsnatz]

as I said in another thread re fav teams - IMO the IND side is unbalanced..........

I know they made the WC final and beat some fancied teams along the way, but IMO IND have too many batsmen and not enough bowling options, and are too timid in using the options they already have...........

IND's best tactic / strategy ATM is to bat 1st and use their extended specialist batting lineup to post a big score with a high RRR - if they fail to do so then their sub par bowling doesn't stand a chance on it's own accord.........

it's almost as if they have too many batting options and have tried to make room for as many as possible...............instead they should have a batting core and and interchangeable 2 - 3 batsmen based upon injury / form, and then use them as such to keep the pressure on the 1st choice starters........

they should have a 'specialist' 'keeper as you can not afford to gift extras or to not take chances on offer when your bowling is short.........

Agarkar & Sehwag are already 'allrounder' type options, but are not used as such as often as they could be...........likewise Tendulkar & Ganguly are also underbowled IMO.............

I can not agree that 7 specialist batsmen is any better than 6 in ODIs, particularly at the expense of both a specialist 'keeper & a specialist bowler, not when you have other part time bowling options already in the team but under utilised..............

IMO the only other team with a worse selection policy ATM is WIN - only 2 specialist bowlers!!!!!!! - how do they expect to win ODIs with that????????

Some good points. I agree about the keeping bit particularly -- surely its time to give Mahender Singh Dhoni or Dinesh Karthik a go.

 

[marc71178]

Isn't it obvious who's fault Wednesday is?

SRT choked yet again!

 

[Raj123]

Isn't it obvious who's fault Wednesday is?

SRT choked yet again!

choke, injure ...the same thing really

 

[Arjun]

choke, injure ...the same thing really

Give me a break... what about the other 11 players?

 

[Arjun]

Agarkar & Sehwag are already 'allrounder' type options, but are not used as such as often as they could be...........likewise Tendulkar & Ganguly are also underbowled IMO.............

Good point about Sachin and Ganguly. They should have played as regular bowlers when they were in their early 20's and practiced as regularly as Kallis and Razzaq. That would solve the team's all-rounder problem a great deal. They should not make that mistake with Sehwag. Agarkar is not good enough to play as a bowler in this team- he can't dominate matches and he can't take wickets in large numbers, like any strike bowler would. They need to try someone else. His batting, well, is not any better than all the Balajis and Nehras.

Bits-and-pieces leave you batsmen short and bowlers short at the same time as for the most part they cannot contribute competently with either, so you get whacked. If you're one of the above, then you can, but if you're not (viz Pathan failing to get Giles off the square yesterday afternoon) then you're screwed.

Pathan is a bowler. Sehwag is a batsman. Both can do a godo job with that other skill, but they need practice. If Pathan batted at 7 for a longer time, rather than waste his battign ability so low, he would have been a far better player. He's only 19 or 20, and after 5 or 6 years, he can improve. One mistake as a batsman does not count- otherwise Gough is not a good bowler. Little is seen of Pathan, and he batted well in Australia, Pakistan and SL, and very well for a number 8 or 9. Same with Sehwag- when he gets more than 7 overs a match, his bowling average drops from 40 to 32 and he gets more than a wicket a match.

And what are Blackwell and Clarke? What is McGrath doing in the team? Nothing! At least Pathan and Sehwag have a primary role. As for Powar, he is a regular, practising, genuine all-rounder. So is Bahutule. They all need more chances.

Some good points. I agree about the keeping bit particularly -- surely its time to give Mahender Singh Dhoni or Dinesh Karthik a go.

Dhoni's batting is no different from Balaji's- he just has a lot of practice and has been offered multiple chances. But no technique at all. His keeping is also suspect. He needs more time.

Not just the wicketkeeper, all 11 fielders have to be on their toes and do their bit to win a match. Honestly, given the form of the batsmen and obwlers, even Reetinder Sodhi can fit in. At least his ultra-quick reflexes and razor-sharp fielding can make up for his weaknesses as a batsman and bowler- which we find in all the specialists, too.

 

[tooextracool]

lets not forget England have a good team too...its a bit insulting to say it was all down to India that they lost that game.

england have a good team?thats new to me.
so apparently the inclusion of vikram solanki in the side converted the absolutely pathetic side from the natwest series into a 'good' one in the natwest challenge.
perhaps what you might be trying to say is that they have one extremely good player,really is making all the difference in the team performances at the moment.

 

[tooextracool]

Yuvraj, for instance, should be dropped from the Champions Trophy squad- his free ride has to end someday. Sridharan Sriram is doing very wel for a 30-yer old and deserves an immediate inclusion.

whatever happened to 'we'd rather have yuvraj over flintoff in the indian side'?

 

[steds]

What is McGrath doing in the team? Nothing!

Well actually, he fields

 

[Sanz]

whatever happened to 'we'd rather have yuvraj over flintoff in the indian side'?

Yuvraj is out of form and deserves to be dropped. Flintoff is in the best form of his life let's see how long he can continue this form.

 

[steds]

perhaps what you might be trying to say is that they have one extremely good player,really is making all the difference in the team performances at the moment.

That is impossible, because one player can only bowl ten overs-so you need 4 other bolwers; Can only field in one position at a time-so you need 10 other fielders; and I can't remember any time that all a teams runs were scored by one player on his own

 

[Langeveldt]

england have a good team?thats new to me.
so apparently the inclusion of vikram solanki in the side converted the absolutely pathetic side from the natwest series into a 'good' one in the natwest challenge.
perhaps what you might be trying to say is that they have one extremely good player,really is making all the difference in the team performances at the moment.

They have a goodish team, but unfortunatly they carry a few passengers... I dont know if they have any Yorkie quotas to fill by including A.McGrath or what....

They are about an eight man team at the moment, to say they completely revolve around Flintoff is doing guys like Trescothick, Harmison and Giles a bit of a dis service...

 

[tooextracool]

That is impossible, because one player can only bowl ten overs-so you need 4 other bolwers; Can only field in one position at a time-so you need 10 other fielders; and I can't remember any time that all a teams runs were scored by one player on his own

its exactly what people would say about the indian team 4-5 years ago with tendulkar.
if flintoff didnt bowl those 10 overs, take those catches, motivate the side in the field and then score the runs the way he has been i wonder how well we'd be doing at the moment....and i think we saw how well we were doing in the natwest series without him.