11-28-2006, 10:28 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-rajesh_g+Nov 28 2006, 01:07 AM-->QUOTE(rajesh_g @ Nov 28 2006, 01:07 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Perhaps we are over-analyzing this. No matter who we are playing under, when it comes to playing on bouncy phoren wkts we run into this problem always. Only after playing a few games our players are able to adjust to the conditions. This has been going on for as long as i can remember and this isnt anything new. The only simple solution is that when we are to embark on tours to Aus/SA/NZ and to a certain extent WI we need to be there and play 3-4 matches on real bouncy tracks. BCCI should threaten, bribe, do whatever it takes to make this happen. Going straight into one-days/tests without a few practice games is a recipe for disaster.
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The debacle at South Africa is not just about wickets. Yes, firstly it is about adjusting to foreign conditions. A few practice matches would have helped. But it also about the team selection and fighting spirit of the team. What happened to the team after we had got them down for 76/6. Why do we have such odd selections, we play Jaffer for a match, then drop him. We get Pathan for the first match, then drop him for the next, then pick him again. And he never does perform. Agarkar was bowling beautifully in West Indies ODI series, as well as I have ever seen him bowl, then we drop him for the tests there. Afterwards when he returns we don't find him the same guy. Ditto for Sreesanth.
If Dravid is the man in charge why doesn't he assert himself. I dont see Dravid really has any clue about these things, nor can he explain them. I'm sure if it was the old Ganguly, then he would have wrangled to get his side in, then he would stand by it and die by it, he would have fought to get a few practice matches in, who knows he would have influenced the pitch makers in South Africa to be kind to the Indians (you know during the series in Pakistan and Australia, you heard the incredulous voices of the Paki and Aussie commentators as to why pitches suiting the Indians were made), in short everything that is required to win. You can always complain of biased selection policies, lack of good pitches at home, messed up domestic set up, and that in the long term all these needs to change and improve, <b>but in the short term you got to win</b>. And how to get that done is mainly the captain's job. H has to figure it out how to do it. Tomorrow Dravid cannot say that I selected a particular team because Chappel wanted it so. We don't want to wait for another two years, when Dravid+Chappel get India to win matches, their experiments start working, we want them to win now, for we watch each and every match of India, expecting them to win.
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The debacle at South Africa is not just about wickets. Yes, firstly it is about adjusting to foreign conditions. A few practice matches would have helped. But it also about the team selection and fighting spirit of the team. What happened to the team after we had got them down for 76/6. Why do we have such odd selections, we play Jaffer for a match, then drop him. We get Pathan for the first match, then drop him for the next, then pick him again. And he never does perform. Agarkar was bowling beautifully in West Indies ODI series, as well as I have ever seen him bowl, then we drop him for the tests there. Afterwards when he returns we don't find him the same guy. Ditto for Sreesanth.
If Dravid is the man in charge why doesn't he assert himself. I dont see Dravid really has any clue about these things, nor can he explain them. I'm sure if it was the old Ganguly, then he would have wrangled to get his side in, then he would stand by it and die by it, he would have fought to get a few practice matches in, who knows he would have influenced the pitch makers in South Africa to be kind to the Indians (you know during the series in Pakistan and Australia, you heard the incredulous voices of the Paki and Aussie commentators as to why pitches suiting the Indians were made), in short everything that is required to win. You can always complain of biased selection policies, lack of good pitches at home, messed up domestic set up, and that in the long term all these needs to change and improve, <b>but in the short term you got to win</b>. And how to get that done is mainly the captain's job. H has to figure it out how to do it. Tomorrow Dravid cannot say that I selected a particular team because Chappel wanted it so. We don't want to wait for another two years, when Dravid+Chappel get India to win matches, their experiments start working, we want them to win now, for we watch each and every match of India, expecting them to win.