03-24-2007, 04:42 AM
Face it: Team India were outplayed. If we went into the Super 8 with this outfit, I can't think of any team other than England that might lose to us.
Problems:
1. Agarkar. Did u see his batting? I thought I was going to have to eat crow, as he stood around and blocked for quite a while, but THEN, two bouncers, and the guy goes berserk. He should have been bowled when Malinga sent down a slower one, and he moved 2 feet outside the leg stump to swing, but the ball was wide (don't know why it was not called wide) outside the off-stump. Then he swings it straight up in the air. Come on, how smart do u have to be to figure that the need was to STAY until Dravid got out, at least? Agarkar would be a good candidate for a match-fixing investigation, except his alibi is iron-clad - stupidity.
India need a 144kmph, bouncer-bowling, accurate-swinging, reliable, bloody-minded fast bowler. SRI LANKA has 3 - Malinga, Fernando and Maharoof - why doesn't India have even ONE? If you look at what has happened to the pace of Pathan, Sreesanth and Patel, there's definitely something fishy going on - they are all being "coached" to slow down!!!!
2. We don't need stylish super-hero batsmen - we need another Gavaskar, whose strength was that he would not commit to a stroke until the very last instant, and had virtually no backwsing (no TV those days, unfortunately, so I have to go by what I read). Ponting, Hayden and Langer are ugly as batsmen to watch, but when they are in, the runs just keep coming, the shots seem machine-made, and ... THE DEFENSE IS STRAIGHT and simple. Professionals.
We on the other hand, have been spoiled into believing that Sehwag's "swish at anything outside off-stump" is a viable long-term strategy for international cricket. Bowlers tend to think and watch TV and learn, u no...
Dhoni is also finding out that life at the top gets rapidly harder unless you advance swiftly from what got you there.
3. No one should be picked as a bowler for India unless he is unplayable for some odd reason (like Chandrasekhar with the speed and the twisted polio-stricken bowling arm, or Bedi's pin-point accuracy and discipline) UNLESS they are solid, solid batsmen as well. It's a disgrace to see the Indian tail bat. It's like their attitude towards batting is that they are merely out there as a favor to us.
4. These guys BADLY need some training on running between wickets, and on WHO CALLS and who puts faith in the call. Today's runout was pathetic - and it was Yuvraj's fault that he tried to run without seeing Dravid move. HE might have made it to the batting crease, but Dravid would have been caught out, for sure. OTOH, if Dravid had set out IMMEDIATELY instead of hanging around looking for the ball, it would have been a safe single. Terrible to see such mixups at this level.
5. Given the example of Inzaman, Dravid should resign, and put the captaincy back where it belongs - on Dada. And oh! Greg, QUANTAS is ready when u r!
Problems:
1. Agarkar. Did u see his batting? I thought I was going to have to eat crow, as he stood around and blocked for quite a while, but THEN, two bouncers, and the guy goes berserk. He should have been bowled when Malinga sent down a slower one, and he moved 2 feet outside the leg stump to swing, but the ball was wide (don't know why it was not called wide) outside the off-stump. Then he swings it straight up in the air. Come on, how smart do u have to be to figure that the need was to STAY until Dravid got out, at least? Agarkar would be a good candidate for a match-fixing investigation, except his alibi is iron-clad - stupidity.
India need a 144kmph, bouncer-bowling, accurate-swinging, reliable, bloody-minded fast bowler. SRI LANKA has 3 - Malinga, Fernando and Maharoof - why doesn't India have even ONE? If you look at what has happened to the pace of Pathan, Sreesanth and Patel, there's definitely something fishy going on - they are all being "coached" to slow down!!!!
2. We don't need stylish super-hero batsmen - we need another Gavaskar, whose strength was that he would not commit to a stroke until the very last instant, and had virtually no backwsing (no TV those days, unfortunately, so I have to go by what I read). Ponting, Hayden and Langer are ugly as batsmen to watch, but when they are in, the runs just keep coming, the shots seem machine-made, and ... THE DEFENSE IS STRAIGHT and simple. Professionals.
We on the other hand, have been spoiled into believing that Sehwag's "swish at anything outside off-stump" is a viable long-term strategy for international cricket. Bowlers tend to think and watch TV and learn, u no...
Dhoni is also finding out that life at the top gets rapidly harder unless you advance swiftly from what got you there.
3. No one should be picked as a bowler for India unless he is unplayable for some odd reason (like Chandrasekhar with the speed and the twisted polio-stricken bowling arm, or Bedi's pin-point accuracy and discipline) UNLESS they are solid, solid batsmen as well. It's a disgrace to see the Indian tail bat. It's like their attitude towards batting is that they are merely out there as a favor to us.
4. These guys BADLY need some training on running between wickets, and on WHO CALLS and who puts faith in the call. Today's runout was pathetic - and it was Yuvraj's fault that he tried to run without seeing Dravid move. HE might have made it to the batting crease, but Dravid would have been caught out, for sure. OTOH, if Dravid had set out IMMEDIATELY instead of hanging around looking for the ball, it would have been a safe single. Terrible to see such mixups at this level.
5. Given the example of Inzaman, Dravid should resign, and put the captaincy back where it belongs - on Dada. And oh! Greg, QUANTAS is ready when u r!