Australia's tour of India

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 3:38 am

I wonder if this news report is correct or not.

Former national selector Kirti Azad revealed what goes on behind the close doors during the selection process. Apparently he and Syed Kirmani tried to get another wicketkeeper into the team in place of Parthiv but were always outvoted by the other three - Kiran More (West Zone), Pronab Roy (East) and Sanjay Jagdale (Central).

Why Parthiv drops but isn't dropped

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 3:50 am

An article in the news media asks,

"Are today's cricketers really playing too much compared to the earlier decades?"

Matches played by the Indian team:

In 1970s: 64 Tests and 13 ODIs
In 1980s: 81 Tests and 155 ODIs.
In 1990s: 69 Tests and 256 ODIs.
In 2000s:(by the end of 2004) 52 Tests and 152 ODIs

Individual players:

Gary Sobers 1953-1975
Sobers was in international cricket for just over 21 years. In that period he played 93 tests and 1 ODI, a total of 466 days of scheduled play.

Steve Waugh 1985-2004
In 19 years of cricket at its very highest level, the most successful Australian captain managed to tot up as many as 168 tests and 325 ODIs. That’s 1365 days on the field.

Playing days: Back then and now

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 7:12 am

Raj Singh Dungarpur is one of the more disgraceful specimens in Indian cricket, and this statement of his is particularly weird. The man has clearly lost his mind:

http://cricket.indiatimes.com/articleshow/900700.cms

In fact, these are the sorts of shenanigans that would do Machiavelli and Kautilya proud. Can we leave politics out of anything? Clearly not. But politics in a cricket board should be left to the board-room and not infect the nature of sports-team selection and ground preparation. Utterly disgusting stuff.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 7:48 am

Man, what has happened to our batsmen (save Sehwag)? On a pitch on which Martyn and Clark made merry (in both innings), the vaunted Indian middle-order has folded up like a pack of novices. India 29/4 -- Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman gone for 2 apiece. The pitch clearly is a special "Australian" concoction (specially prepared to help Australia, as Raj Singh Dungarpur more or less acknowledges above) but this sort of collapse would be unwarranted even by an Indian team in Australia. Sadly, this may be the end of Laxman's test career -- characterised as it has been by lofty peaks of sublime achievement and dark valleys of utter futility, with little in between.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 7:59 am

This Indian team, having raised expectations to unprecedented heights with their performances in the past couple of years, now seem intent on not simply losing this test and series -- but being completely and thoroughly humiliated. Inexplicable: 39/5 now, with Kaif back in the hut with just 6 to his name. How much worse can it get?

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 8:02 am

At least one Indian cricketer continues to embellish his reputation. Sehwag 30* out of the Indian total of 43/5 (which, at least, has ensured we pass our all-time-low test total!). Sehwag could yet pick up a record for the largest proportion of a team's total made by one batsman...

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 8:27 am

Knowing it is his last test innings for some time to come, Parthiv Patel is enjoying himself: he's on 16 with 4 fours (which makes it difficult for Sehwag to get the record I mentioned in the earlier post!!). Only one of Parthiv's strokes was a streaky edge, two were classic off-side strokes. Just reinforces the point that the only way Parthiv could have justified his place in the side was by opening the batting (as he did so successfully in the last test in Pakistan). His technique is compact and good; he should be opening.

Red_Indian · Post by **Red_Indian** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 10:18 am

The way the indians have been batting it might make sense to bring in someone else to keep and play Parthiv purely as a batsman in the next test

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 12:20 pm

So India lost by 342 runs, and let the Aussies conquer their final frontier without much of a fight. With Wright as coach, Gavaskar as consultant and Dravid as captain, the team turned totally timid and defensive. Rather than attacking (as most of our batsmen are normally wont to do), they defended for dear life in both innings -- and simply got out without scoring too many runs. And the bowling yesterday was ridiculously defensive, even when Khan and Agarkar had the Aussies hopping; today evidently the bowlers simply bowled outside the off-stump in an obvious attempt to stem the runs rather than take wickets.
Clearly Dravid (despite being the most cerebral of our current crop of cricketers) is not suited for captaincy. Perhaps the team should start grooming Kaif or Harbhajan for that role. India's success over the past two years has come from playing attacking cricket. From the days of Nayudu, Merchant and Mushtaq Ali, attacking flair has marked out Indian batsmen -- and even Gavaskar's greatest innings (the 221 at the Oval, the 121 at Ferozeshah Kotla, his final innings of 96 on a cracking pitch in Bangalore, 182* in Calcutta, his great Port of Spain innings -- 124 & 220 in 1971, 156 and 104 in 1976) were all attacking knocks. (Admittedly, Gavaskar did have some great defensive knocks, including the 101 at Old Trafford in 1974) and Dravid and (recently) Tendulkar have played some great defensive innings. But with the exception of Gavaskar, Hazare, Shastri, Chauhan and the Manjrekars, there have been few great Indian batsmen who are capable of simply grafting away to a draw. Trying to do that is always folly, especially for this talented Indian team that has achieved so much by playing attacking cricket. I hope Ganguly returns in Mumbai, and the team is able to regain a bit of its pride by playing the way it can.

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 2:43 pm

Most of the Indian batsmen have been a failure in this test series. Let us not blame the pitch as the only reason for their lack of success. It is time to call a spade a spade!

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:34 pm

Bhushan, I don't think anyone has blamed the pitch. Our batsmen let us down, but there were some horrible selections (Chopra especially, and 'keeper Patel) and an over-defensive approach that was our undoing (especially in the first innings).
Having watched the highlights, the other thing that was clear was the uneven bounce -- particularly when the ball was new (and hard). This also explains why Australia were 19/1 off 16 overs yesterday. The key was to negotiate the new ball -- and our batsmen spectacularly failed to do so today. Hayden failed to do so yesterday also, and Katich was clearly out on 0 yesterday but umpire Aleem Dar (Pakistani!!) reprieved him (Katich then made 99!).
Had Dravid not wasted the hardness of the ball by having Tendulkar bowl 7 overs on the trot, things might have been quite different. But most of all, I blame the selectors for picking Chopra (something I've been lamenting from the moment it happened...). There was an India A tour on which Gambhir and Dhoni were the star batsmen (the former always as an opener, the latter frequently as one); Chopra was injured most of the summer, and so hardly played any cricket and then flopped in both the trial matches before this tour. He should not have been an automatic selection (especially since his test batting average after 8 tests was an uninspiring 28, worse than Deep Dasgupta's). Gambhir didn't do too much in the trial match (and is an attacking batsman, perceived as not the ideal foil for Sehwag -- although this logic is absurd when you consider that Hayden-Langer is a combination of two attacking batsmen who make up one of history's greatest test opening pairs). If Gambhir wasn't to be selected, there was also Wasim Jaffer who made 48 for Mumbai against the Australians.
Unfortunately, the selection process in India still remains totally unscientific, and was especially so this time (when a new committee came into existence just a couple of days before the series began -- thereby rendering virtually redundant all of the information gathered from India A tours, the last domestic season, etc.).

Post by **Dhruv** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:36 pm

I agree with Bhushan. If the Aussies could bat on the pitch under supposedly hostile bowling from Zaheer and co (maybe thanks to Parthiv to some extent) I see no reason why the Indian's should fold up like a cheap tent. The Baroda wicket is always and I mean always favorable to batsmen and I saw nothing from the Aussie batsman that would cause me doubt that. Even Kaif and Parthiv in the first innings showed that there was nothing much to fear in the wicket. Maybe it is time to call a spade a spade.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:41 pm

Laxman has now failed in 5 consecutive tests. Will the selectors bite the bullet and drop him? It would be tragic, but entirely salutary.
Chopra of course should definitely get the chop.
And quite frankly, it's inappropriate to have Sachin in the side when he has played no cricket at all for almost two months. Even a genius needs time to regain his normal abilities, and Sachin wasn't his normal self either with bat or ball. But I doubt the selectors can do much about that.

Gulamali · Post by **Gulamali** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:49 pm

This team is going nowhere.
We need to blood some youngsters in the team.
Hope the seniors will support them.
Looks like there is a hidden agenda with the current lot.
They keep supporting each other and the chopping and changing happens within the same 16 set of players.
Looks like there is a big racket.
We supporters are being taken for a ride.
VERY SORRY STATE OF AFFAIRS.
All due to the BIG BUCKS all at the helm & in the team of 16 are making. Government should do something about it.
Why should all the revenues from TV rights etc. go to BCCI coffers ?
The Indian government should get the bulk, which should be used for betterment of sports in general. BCCI should only get just enough for running the affairs and paying for the players.
God save our Cricket team....

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:52 pm

The rumblings surrounding this team -- about money, sponsorships, the high and low politics of the BCCI, etc. -- are beginning to get a bit troubling. The wild rumours regarding Sachin and Sourav's injuries (or lack thereof) are especially disturbing. Central contracts have probably made things even more cut-throat. But the cricketers should just get on with playing cricket; defeat always breeds dark rumours in Indian sport...