As a cricket fan I have carefully gone thru the discussion on the WC debacle the changes in the team etc.Let us forget the match against BanglaDesh in the WC as it seems to queer the pitch in taking clear decisions.First of all Dravid as captain can lead by example as he can hold his place by virtue of his batting.Nobody can dispute that.Does he have leadership qualities?It looks like he has to deal with Ganguly,Yuvraj for their attitude.He has to deal with Sachin for being childish.He has to deal with Sehwag for being foolish very often.In all this we miss performance when it matters.There is no doubt Sachin is a shadow of himself having watched him ever since he came on the scene.Ganguly against good attacks bottles up one end adds pressure.Dravid was guilty of this earlier but he has improved.A good team does not crack up if they lose 2 wkts upfront.The rest shd handle the situatio.The Indian position is that only one among the rest usually Dravid stands and plays.This is serious and needs to be addressed.The target shd be that 1,2,3,4 batsmen shd fire at all times failing perhaps once in a bluemoon.We don't have this.So let us build for the future with Robin,Sehwag,Dinesh Karthik and Manoj Tiwary.Let them score well with80% strike rate at least 75% of all the times they bat or else move them out and try others.Others could be Pujara,Gambhir{again one last time},Yusuf Pathan and Rohit Sharma.Like Australia we should ease out the tired and done with.Damien Martyn was the classic case-the game has to go forward.The batting spots 1234 have to be the key.On bowling a pace attack with Zaheer,Sreesanth,Munaf seems ok.Both Munaf and Zaheer have to be on the watch list for fitness and attitude.All three should step up their batting skills under strict watch.Munaf has to be guided on fielding, attitude etc.The spinners spot is a problem.We can try Romesh Pawar but he looks over the hill and shows bad attitude in batting.Over the long haul it has to be him or Piyush Chawla.Harbajan looks spent.India has to come up with a wicket taking spinner like Brad Hogg or Jeetan Patel.The other thing is every batsman in the team needs to hone up on his bowling skills.This has to be insisted upon.Take SL or NZ the do this very well.The selectors have been very timid in their approach not wanting to ruffle feathers.Vengsarkars attitude is dismal.He has no intensity no josh.He was like that in his playing days.He also seems an awful communicator.A bised selection policy in favour of regions results in Gambhir,R.P.Singh,VRV Singh,Mongia getin despite clear lack of ability.Selectors shd give a run of 5 innings to each guy and if he does not come good75% of the time keep him out.Let them get better before they merit a look in again.It is sad to see Indian cricket go this way.I shudder to think of India going to Aus end of this year and next.Let Sachin and Saurav sit out clear thir cobwebs and if they are good enough on current performance on proper intl standard pitches come back.The point is that they have to be good and not rest on thir laurels with a demigod status.That era is over.Performance alone should count at this point and not history and statistics.
