England in India, 2012

[prasen9]

Strauss retired. So they will have a new opener. I don't know if they will patch up with Pietersen. So their batting lineup in tests will rely heavily on Trott, Cook and Bell. Maybe the young Jony Bairstow. And the indomitable Prior. The other two incumbents Bopara and Morgan have not clicked that much in tests. Who will replace Strauss?

In the bowling side, they have Swann and Panesar. The bowling will have some inexperienced fellows out of Finn, Onions, and Tremlett.

[PKBasu]

Against England, I would prepare spinning tracks, pick Irfan at #6 (or #7, behind Dhoni) and play three spinners -- Ashwin, Ojha and either Chawla or Harbhajan (depending on which of them shows more form in domestic cricket in October). Toss-up between Yadav and Zaheer for the other pacer's slot (probably Yadav, since Irfan is already a left-arm swing bowler).

Of course, Dhoni will never pick Irfan.

[prasen9]

My XI would be: Sehwag, Gambhir, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Badri, Dhoni, Ashwin, Praveen/Umesh, Zaheer, Ojha. Backup will be one of Umesh/Praveen, Chawla, and Tiwary. Gambhir and Sehwag should be on short leases and told that these may be their last chances. I see no reason why SRT has to play the home series. He has clearly lost some of his skills. Whether it is just form loss or permanent loss of skills, I do not know. Given that he is near 40, the time to change to Rahane or Badri is now.

Or it you want, drop Gambhir. Get Rahane to open and slot in Tiwary and Rohit becomes the backup.

[prasen9]

Manjrekar says Tendulkar should not retire. He should go to RSA, etc. The man is near 40. What do we gain by playing him when a) he has lost some skills, b) we have reasonable options who need match practice before they go to RSA. On Indian pitches, our youngsters should be able to deal with it. And, for the RSA trip, even we are slightly worse off, we are better off giving Badri, Tiwary, etc. practice and finding out if they can cut it. I think it is high time Tendulkar should retire. And, this is from someone who has been quite reluctant in the past to support dropping old guys just on the basis of age.

[prasen9]

Manjrekar says Tendulkar should not retire. He should go to RSA, etc. The man is near 40. The article is shallow and badly written, in typical Manjrekar style. I used to appreciate his technically correct batting, but, his writing is hopeless (to me). What do we gain by playing him when a) he has lost some skills, b) we have reasonable options who need match practice before they go to RSA. On Indian pitches, our youngsters should be able to deal with it. And, for the RSA trip, even we are slightly worse off, we are better off giving Badri, Tiwary, etc. practice and finding out if they can cut it. I think it is high time Tendulkar should retire. And, this is from someone who has been quite reluctant in the past to support dropping old guys just on the basis of age.

[Atithee]

Manjrekar has questioned Tendulkar's performances before. Now, he is just trying to curry favor from a fellow Mumbaikar. Manjrekar changes his tune with every match. I don't know why he is given so much space In the media. ESPN Cricinfo is basically a front for Indian and English cricket anyway. If not for Cricinfo, no one would care about Manjrekar's views.

[kujo]

that article is so confusingly written that for the most part he is pretty much supporting what a cricketer like Gavaskar, who himself played till he was old, observed to be a sign of aging in Tendulkar's dismissals and hence the call for his retirement sounds justified.

Manjrekar's only point is that Tendulkar "will surely find a way back from this little setback." laughable article, at best....

[prasen9]

His dad used to be a very good player. Maybe his thinking is so muddled that despite having great technique and getting starts, he used to throw them away and not get big scores. They should take the pen out of his hand though. It is torture to read him.

[vidhyashankar]

And the worst thing of all these is that Manjrekar has replaced Harsha Bhogle as the Host presenter on TV.

I also think that Sachin is holding up youngsters' place in the side and should just retire now.

[jaydeep]

Coming home series r good opportunity for grooming youngsters.

[prasen9]

Drop him from the test team. Let him play ODIs and T20s if he wants to keep earning a living

[sanjay8886]

Are you kidding? 40 year old and fit for ODI and T20? He should be dropped, period. He is not going to take retirement by himself. He gets paid big bucks for every test/odi/t20 he plays. We are trying to rebuild the team.

[prasen9]

Actually, he is not that unfit. He has a strong arm from the boundary. I just said that tongue-in-cheek. I don't think he will do that. We play so many ODIs that if he leaches off a few here and there, that would be fine with me. Our ODI team would be fine. We have given a lot of chances to the juniors. The test team to RSA will not be very solid if we keep playing SRT at home. That was why I said that. Dropping him from everything is fine with me.

[DSet]

This is not the right time for sachin to retire, Because if all the experience players from team india retire then the condition can be worstened and there is no ideal replacement for him if you. So give him some time he will come back with a bang.

[Atithee]

Manjrekar has questioned Tendulkar's performances before. Now, he is just trying to curry favor from a fellow Mumbaikar. Manjrekar changes his tune with every match. I don't know why he is given so much space In the media. ESPN Cricinfo is basically a front for Indian and English cricket anyway. If not for Cricinfo, no one would care about Manjrekar's views.

Manjrekar is still spewing crap on Cricinfo. This time, he is reduced to a cricketer's instincts to support his previous illogical assertion. To be honest, ever since ESPN took Cricinfo over, it has become a joke. Even the live commentary is provided based on the commentators watching matches on TV. This must surely be a first!