India versus Pakistan, ODIs 2007

[PKBasu]

Sehwag was clearly on trial yesterday, and he came through superbly. He paced his innings much more intelligently than he has done in international cricket in the past couple of years: he began circumspectly, gradually getting himself into form -- and then unleashed a flurry of magnificent strokes. If he bats like this in ODIs, he will do very well. In tests, his big innings have involved him hitting at over 5 an over. If he only realises that that is sufficient pace for ODIs, he will do fine. But he tries to bat a lot faster in ODIs, and that is what gets him into trouble.
He clearly will need to come good quickly in the series against Pakistan. If he doesn't, Dravid and Badrinath are waiting to take his place. This sort of intense competition is good for Indian cricket. 

[S_K_S]

Pk, I can't believe you are basing his recall on ONE meaningless innings. It surprises me how many lives Sehwag has been given when he shows no dedication to improve the flaws in his game. A phrase should be coined called "Doing a Sehwag" which is hitting a ball dangerously for 4 and then getting out the next ball by wafting outside the off stump with no foot movement.

One of the reasons why this has been done is because Dravid is the ultimate professional who won't kick up a fuss and use journalists, politicians and the rest of the media to gather sympathy. The way he has been treated since winning the series that mattered in England is scandalous. Rested my arse! Vengsarkar doesn't have the balls to say what he has done.

[sanjay8886]

I thought India did not win the ODI series with England even though that team was a depleted side. England and WI is the weakest team out of top 8. India should have won that series emphatically.

Not sure why Dravid should not have been sacked just after WC itself. Afterall, all the other relevant captain got sacked. It is ok to be a fan of Dravid but on merit he needs to be 'Rested' from ODI. Why I would choose Ganguly over him is b'coz he has been one of the most consistent batsman after his recall. He is a utility player because if the ground condition is in favor of swing bowler, he is most lethal out there even with his medium pace. Oflate, in case you have been watching him field, he does not behave like Maharajah any more. Admittedly, that is his weak link. If you notice, all the player who has been selected except wk, can bowl and bat if needed. Very similar to the team of 83 WC. I watched Kapil yesterday and he did justify Dravid's exclusion and justified the team selection.

Sehwag is always a borderline case. He did perform pretty good in some 20-20 games as well. You can criticize a player only once they don't play well. Let us see what happens. The team is only chosen for 2 odi's. There might be some adjustments later on. As Vengi said, lot of youngsters are waiting for their chance. And eventually, we need to phase out the trio atleast from ODI's. I have no complains.

[prasen9]

I can accept resting/dropping the big three for the purposes of better team spirit, better fielding.  However, talking about dropping them to give the juniors enough chances is hogwash.  They have had reasonably enough chances.

Player  Matches
Yuvraj    187
Sehwag  165
Kaif        125
Dhoni      88
Pathan    80
Mongia    57
Raina      36
Gambhir    32
Karthik    26
Uthappa  20
Rao        16

We only need 7 of these (and a few more to cover for injuries).
So how many chances does one need to receive to be considered having given a "fair run" or "enough chances"?

Also, whom among these do you consider failures and thus who should not receive more chances?  Maybe Uthappa and Rao can say they have not had enough chances among this gang.

[PKBasu]

Samarth, I agree with you and Sanjay that Sehwag is a marginal selection in the ODI side -- as a pure batsman. But Dravid has failed in the latest series, and there is overwhelming pressure to move out the Big Three in the face of pressure from the youngsters, especially after the T20 triumph. In these circumstances, Ganguly has been rested already on 2-3 occasions since his comeback, and now it is Dravid's turn. I agree with you that Sehwag hasn't quite learnt how to harness his abilities as a batsman in ODIs. But he also adds bowling options -- and his fielding in the Challenger series has been spectacular too. One factor that goes against Dravid is that he is a pure batsman (and a generally superb slip fielder). Dravid hasn't done too well in the field against the Aussies either, especially away from the slips (where, as usual, he picked up some excellent catches).
Despite all of the above, I think Badrinath should have been the first one given a chance in Dravid's place. Dropping him without a look-in is unpardonable.

[akmohanty]

To start with, i do not even buy the logic that dravid and sehwag bring similar attributes to the team (even though our revered selectors have made it appear that way  ). Sehwag is an opening batsman who is supposed to specialise in seeing off the new ball (of which he has been a complete failure btw  ) and capitalising on field restrictions in the powerplay overs. dravid is a 1-down batsman who is supposed to provide stability by anchoring the innings. so, they should not be discussed in the same breath.
There are right now no opening slots open as sachin and ganguly are doing well. even if one of them is given a break, there's gambhir to fill in who's much more consistent than sehwag and probably even parthiv in my opinion. as far as dravid goes, he is faced with tough competition in the form of tiwari, badrinath and raina. he has to go back to the domestics and get his place back by outperforming these youngsters if he can. feels bad saying this about a player like him but that's the way it should be.

[prasen9]

Last 20 matches Sehwag averages 27 runs/innings with 1 100 and 2 50s.  Gambhir averages about the same if you drop the minnows: Bangla, Scotland, Ireland.

[nballa]

Ok lets place bets on how sehwag will get out.

caught slip/wicketkeeper going for a lazy prod off a waist high delivery - 3.12 : 1
bowled through the gates off a delievery which cuts back in - 2.31 : 1

cant think of any other way he got out in the lat 100 odi's

[jayakris]

I suppose there are more meaningless ODIs that prove nothing, about to happen?  What are y'all constantly talking about?  ... All these crickets threads around makes me think that there is something important going on and I am missing it ..  I suppose not - a quick look above does not reveal anything.  Took a quick look at cricinfo and it seems like Pak is playing RSA somewhere - so I assume nothing is on.  OK, I will come back when something actually happens.

Just being my annoying self when it comes to cricket ... Jay

[Atithee]

Here is more to annoy some people:

After Dravid's exit Dada gets the message clear

[prasen9]

More on Dada's preparations:

http://www.expressindia.com/news/cricke ... _id=234864

At least he is making sure the media picks up that he is trying hard.

[S_K_S]

Shock horror! Hold the front page! Professional sportsman does some fartleks, a ladder drill and some core stability work!

I don't whether to despair at our journalists for writing such an article or whether to despair at Ganguly that he doesn't do this everyday.

[prasen9]

Both.

On another note, Dhoni seems to be thinking about a tossup between Sehwag and Gambhir, he who averages a whopping 23 in 23 innings against non-minnows.  Sehwag in his slump days averages about 27 in the last 5 matches.  Gambhir has succeeded in a few Twenty20s but has been a failure in ODIs.  Again, I repeat how many chances should one get?

Here are Gambhir's stats:

v Australia            3    3  1    17  7    6    4*  8.50  0  0  0
v Bangladesh          4    4  0  204 101  71  21  51.00  1  1  0
v England              6    6  0  167  51  47  29  27.83  0  1  0
v Ireland              1    1  1    80  80*  -    -    -    0  1  0
v Pakistan            3    3  0    61  38  21    2  20.33  0  0  0
v South Africa        9    9  0    86  38  18  11    9.55  0  0  2
v Scotland            1    1  1    85  85*  -    -    -    0  1  0
v Sri Lanka            2    2  0  131 103  28    -  65.50  1  0  0
v West Indies          3    3  0    71  69    2    0  23.66  0  1  1

Ahem, to quote someone above, Gambhir is certainly consistent, more often than not, consistently poor.

I hope instead of taking away caps from deserving seniors just because they are old, we should first take away caps from undeserving juniors and then if there are other very good junior candidates then take away caps from the deserving seniors.  For undeserving seniors, it is another matter, they should be dropped.  I am all for giving Badri, Tiwary, etc. a chance but not for continuing Karthik (in ODIs), Gambhir, Raina, and Rao.  Having said that, since we are continuing to persist with Gambhir, I hope that at least he comes good and helps us win this series.  God knows we have been winning only 40% of our home games against Pak, a pathetic record, and India desperately needs a big series victory if we are to pull the overall record close.

It is indeed sad that none of the juniors who have been given chances in ODIs has grasped it with both hands except Uthappa.

[prasen9]

Tweedle dum and tweedle dee not taking wickets in the middle overs, though they are keeping things very tight.  In all fairness, Karthik had Younis Khan, but good teams bowl out players twice if the umpire does not see things  their way.

And Ganguly dropped/misjudged YK off Karthik ....

[prasen9]

YK falls finally to tweedle dum.  Maybe there is hope after all in the middle overs.

Both spinneres bowled very well.  Karthik was unlucky not to get a wicket.  Tendulkar provided the wickets.

Now it is up to the pacers (or will Dhoni call Yuvraj) to keep the last 5-6 overs tight.