The cameo is something that comes naturally to Suresh Raina as well these
days. If he wasn't making a run, you could just write it off as bad form,
or bad luck. But when a batsman manages to get a start, and then throws it
away in a variety of ways, it reveals a deeper malaise. The way
he's being utilised also needs to be looked at carefully. If the
contention is that Raina offers a greater matchwinning option than
Mohammad Kaif, who had three 50s in his last 10 outings, then he should be
batting at No.3 where he has the time to construct an innings.

With teams having exercised caution during the Power Plays thanks to the
prevalent conditions in this tournament, Irfan Pathan's big-hitting
capabilities would surely have been more useful lower down the order. In
conditions that cried out for attritional disciplined cricket, batsman
after batsman chose the Bollywood option. But for Rahul Dravid's splendid
49, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's wonderfully restrained 51, it was an
abysmal showing, one that would have had Brett Lee and friends licking
their lips up country. Later in the day, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh
Sarwan and Runako Morton showed how it should be done, with
beautifully paced innings that made easy work of a challenging target
before the inexplicable wobble at the finish.

With the exception of the dogged Munaf Patel, India's bowling with the new
ball was just as woeful. Pathan got some swing, but offered up a four-ball
every so often, while Rudra Pratap Singh's shoddy display merely made the
selectors look foolish for having left out S Sreesanth. An
atrocious bit of fielding on the rope, and two tennis-ball bouncers that
Chanderpaul pulled contemptuously for four summed up his evening.

Both Pathan and RP Singh could have learnt so much from Ian Bradshaw and
Dwayne Smith, who recognise their own limitations and the state of the
pitch far better than most. Bradshaw is one of one-day cricket's invisible
stars, a man who almost guarantees you two or three wickets in the course
of a miserly spell. As for Smith, he slips easily into the sort of role
that Gavin Larsen once performed with such distinction for New Zealand.

And then there was Jerome Taylor, long-limbed and languid in the best
tradition of West Indian quicks. His sterling display, both with the new
ball and later in the innings, was proof if any was needed that there's
always a place for genuine pace. On paper, it may not be the most lethal
attack in the world, but the way Brian Lara, and Sarwan against Australia,
shuffle the pack around has been an object lesson for many.

India's foibles extended to the field as well, with Raina's drop of Chris
Gayle proving extremely costly at the start. A batsman of the calibre of
VVS Laxman has been excluded on the grounds that his fielding isn't up to
scratch, but when those that replace him aren't worth more than 15 or 20
runs with the bat, it makes you wonder about the wisdom of sidelining a
man who has one-day hundreds against Australia and Pakistan.

Harbhajan Singh's continued excellence with the ball made defeat appear
respectable, but in reality it was anything but. Having got their bad game
out of the way in an inconsequential tie against Sri Lanka, West Indies
are looking ominously good in defence of their title, while India look
every inch a side that misplaced their self-belief sometime during the off
season. The chances of rediscovering it on a bouncy Mohali pitch against
Australia must be rated very slim indeed.

Its sad to note that Laxman has been discussed but not Saurav. Dravid's capability of captaining a side and motivating the team had been made amply clear from the body language of the Indians in the death overs.

The article should have also highlighted the fact that our main bowler Munaf was not used for his full quota of 10 overs and instead Dravid depended on out of form Irfan and Agarkar who got wickets by chance and not any bowling achievment. What Chappel has done with the killer instinct and coping with pressure over the last one year needs to be confabulated.

Why are we persisting with Sehwag? If we could mercilessly mete out a treatment to Ganguly for his non performance, what is right about Sehwag? Suresh Raina has to be spoken to if he needs to stay in the team. RP Singh is another story.
Our bowlers, except Munaf, were not bowling to the field. Most of the runs were scored on the leg side. Most of the shots played by the WI batsmen were similar and our field placement was like in a school game.We lack planning and pacing a game. Under pressure we buckle. Remember how SA played against Srilanka? They tied down the likes of Jayasuriya, Tharanga and Sangakara. We are yet to find a thinking Captain. Rahul showed some stuff in the beginning but now I find him very confused with a body language that lacks confidence. Selectors please put your thinking caps and do the right thing. All is not lost yet.

All this talk of flexibility and developing players through different challenges, in different positions etc. is useless. The Chappell/Dravid regime started great but when do they expect to see the fruits of building players and teaching them through playing in different situations- 10 years? What about the here and now? After every defeat we hear about how the players are learning and it's good for the future. Granted it is generally a young side, but so are teams such as Pakistan and West Indies.

For too long, Agarkar has promised much but delivered little. He comes up with the odd spell just about often enough to keep him in the reckoning but he would not get into most ODI teams. Apart from about 4 knocks in his career, his batting has never stood up to the test. RP Singh has potential but he's not quite ready yet, and just seems to be another expensive left-armer from the Indian production line that lacks pace. Leaving Sreesanth out was a joke- him and Munaf are the 2 bowlers who've actually shown a consistent improvement since coming onto the scene. And where is Zaheer Khan? After having an excellent summer where he performed consistently on foreign wickets and proved his fitness, he's been discarded too.

In the case of the batsmen, talented youngsters like Raina have taken a backward step. When so much time and faith was invested in Kaif why leave him out when he (apart from being an electric fielder) started to get 50's more often in positions of responsibility?

Dravid as captain is perhaps more innovative and intelligent than Sourav but he fails to inspire the bite, steel and tenacity that Sourav did. That fiery, ballsy attitude often makes the difference in games like yesterday's.

You have echoed what I've felt about Sehwag, Bradshaw and RP Singh. Sehwag should be sacked for his refusal to work on his (non)technique, Bradshaw heralded for his quiet efficiency and RP Singh sent back to the nets to learn the art of bowling when conditions do not offer swing. As far as Dravid's use of Agarkar during the death, I guess an injury to Munaf forced his hand. But surely, it's difficult to imagine him doing better than what Agarkar did in his final two overs.. except perhaps Munaf would've bowled fewer wides.

I think indians have forgot to win matches. Consistency has never been indian cup of tea. If they are losing to no 8 team in the world, 6 times out of last 8 meetings then what do u expect from them when they are playing against australians.

I dont think India will reach the semis. Dravid is not the right captain for india, ganguly was good and the best till this time. Atleast indians were able to reach the finals every time, though didnt win it.

This indian team needs some serious reshuffle or else they would end up as another "talented" bunch of underachievers. If this group can't win us a world cup we might as well never win it. What can you comment when half of your top order gets a start and fails to capitalize on it.
Raina has been given ample opportunities at various positions and it's time he makes way for Kaif permanently. If we are going to continue with Pathan as an all rounder than he should be capable of scoring anywhere in the batting order. With Sehwag not lasting for more than a couple of overs on most occassions, it would serve him well to carry some drinks now. Laxman should by all means strengthen our middle order and the lineup should be something like-

1)Sachin
2)Pathan (he would at least do a sehwag if not more :))
3)Laxman (we will surely need to beat australia if we are going to win the world cup)
4)Dravid (your best player bats at 4 or 5 always)
5)Yuvraj
6)Kaif
7)Dhoni
8)Harbhajan
9)Agarkar (maybe he would rediscover batting someday)
10)Kumble (why play incompetent fastmen when you should be playing your best 11 no matter what the conditions are)
11)Munaf (best pacer we have now)
12)Raina(after all he is supposed to field well)

The most common lament is why we are still persisting with the likes of Sehwag and Raina even after a string of failures. However, one innings of 50 plus will dramatically change that perception. I think there lies the problem with Indian cricket. Cricketers must not only be dropped from the National team, but also be made to work hard for a return. Only when they score runs(or get wickets) for their state team or India - A should they be brought back to the National side.

Sir, you didn't mention Agarkar. How can someone with 100+ one day experince bowl wides, short ball going down leg stump when other team needs 6 runs of 6 balls. Amazing isn't it ?

Without Ganguly this was inevitable. He had built team India from scratch and put the blood and direction into talented youth. Sourav's team India showed the tenacity to fight it out - to achieve. Now - It is more of a numbers game and taking sides to stay in the team. Zonal bias prevails plus politics gallore. Inevitably it is the team that is suffering today- So is the sport. A twenty here and a fifty there is considered performance today while Laxman and Ganguly who are capable of producing hundreds are overlooked. Is this even logical? time has started answering that for us.

Firstly Sewag to be removed immediately.

Secondly all the players to be stopped from acting in commercials.

And it should be clearly made as a unwritten rule within board that, players including captain whoever fails to perform in 3 matches continously will be dropped.

Can anybody do this .

We request you to write in your artcle like this differently which will have more impact with the mass and may reach the so called jokers in selection committee.

Thanks

Dravid needs to understand that apart from being a batsman, he is also the captain of his side. Hence, he should pull up those who don't perform regardless of Dravid's own current form with the bat. It is also time to change the batting order. Raina and Tendulkar should open while Pathan should bat lower down the order. The team should also include a player who can build an innings just as Dravid does. As far as Sehwag is concerned, he should be left out till he corrects his technique or the lack of it. But that would be asking too much from him isn't it.

Every comment has merit here. I have nothing further to add to the analysis. BUT..........

Can we have a point-based ranking system for each Indian Player, tracked within our country, for rating performances of players. Like ICC rankings for various countries based on a mathematical formulae and ICC rankings for Batsmen and Bowlers. We can develop a formulae to rank players and their performance, giving more weight to recent performances, performances against strong opponents, performances during crunch situations, performances abroad etc.,

If we don't get lost in the world-rankings, and have our own ranking system, customized, that can be viewed in different ways - like performance against country, pitch, position etc.,

We could probably derive patterns, useful to take better decisions. We could probably choose better team, based on this *** statistical analysis *** in addition to the fundamental analysis and gut feeling!

May be this is already in place. But I don't hear it on the news "BCCI International Rankings of Indian Players". Well, the same can be extended to "BCCI Domestic Rankings of Indian Players" to pick and choose 'top' players, irrespective of the zones. And ya, that will give us, people, a glimpse into our own players performance.

Just my thoughts.

With best wishes to Indian team, playing against odds, tomorrow, to reach finals of Champions trophy.

Regards,
Rajesh K - USA

Its amazing to see that the collective efforts of two of the game's greats - Chappell and Dravid - is yielding such rubbish. Perhaps there is some truth in the dressing down that Chappel has given the boys. If there is, we can expect more such performances in the future. Don't forget that its South Africa away next!!. This team has made Ganguly and Laxman look like viable alternatives! - nothing more needs to be said. As for Mohali, we might as well forfeit the game -will save a large chunk of humanity (about a billion actually) from humiliation (again)..

The tri-series just before the champions trophy threw up a number of youngsters who came good. Venugopal Rao's Reds come to mind. Had it not been for the rains they may well have given the Blues another sock in the face.

I think Indian players now believe that they are superstars in India and get away with poor performances everytime. They believe that they are above game and indispensable.

Lesson must be taught to the players who thinks this and a place in the team should be solely based on the basis of consistent good performances and not on the star status.

It feels really sad and frustrating to see the downfall of indian team frequently inspite of the fact that cricket is the biggest game in india and players are worshipped like demi gods.