Mr. Lavakare, I respect your wisdom and experties on Cricket but try playing Cricket and reach 194 and then let your captain declare the innings. We would love to see your happy and excited face then.
Sachin knows Indian cricket better than Greg Chappel. In retrospect, Sachin's sending a signal that he should open the innings was right as the results of his playing at 6th position is for everyone to see.
As for Pawar's backing for Marathi people is concerned, not sure what would you call Dalmiya's backing of Ganguly OR Karnataka's 6 players in the team when Deve Gowda was PM. This is the way in India. This is the precedent. And I'm not sure if we should blame Pawar for that.
RE:Can't agree
by Ravi Jain on Apr 06, 2007 09:26 PM Permalink
Mr. Pradhan displays the kind of mentality which explains why the so called stars can get away with non-performance. It shows the mania about statistics; who cares whether India wins or loses? Tendulkar has to get his 200 along with his other mostly useless centuries. As long as this star worship continues, jaded cricketers like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Sehwag, etc. will continue to ruin Indian cricket.
RE:Can't agree
by Ankit on Apr 07, 2007 12:40 AM Permalink
I despise people like yourself who form theories which result in futile solutions. Let's face it, changing a few faces in the team MIGHT resolve things temporarily. Remember when Ganguly was dropped and people didn't spare a thought for him when we were winning almost everything. As soon as we were mauled by SA, the first thing the selectors did was bring back Ganguly (and if you check the records he wasn't doing all that well in domestic cricket either).
The problem is the development of players. To give you an analogy, you are not going to become a software developer by using VB.Net occassionally. You have to be working in the environment regularly. Similarly, you can't expect to do well abroad if you play on those sort of pitches seldomly. You become an expert by doing so regularly. And that's where the problem is. We need to change the roots to see the results.
The cricketers you named will be the first ones you'll fall back on once your so-called youth brigade fails over and over again. I am certainly not against bringing in youth (after all they are the future), but we don't need to rush things to the extent that a few failures destroy their confidence. We need to develop them under diverse conditions (be it hostile for batting or bowling) to develop their all round cricketing skills. And to be brutally honest, I don't see that happening by dropping these players and bringing in a few rookies.
RE:RE:Can't agree
by ABC XYZ on Apr 07, 2007 08:38 AM Permalink
My dear Ankit,
You're clever not to mention that when Ganguly was brought back for Indian squad in South Africa, he did score and became the highest scorer keeping behind the so called young blood. So, why was it such a bad decision. To add to that back home, he was top scorer for both WI and Sri Lanka matches and was even declated Man of Series. So, you mean all that was hogwash. So, tell me why was it wrong to bring back GAnguly to squad when our young turks were repeatedly failing. Greg Chappell lacks vision and is a theory buff without any practical knowledge of coaching. A high egoist guy can never be a successful leader.
RE:Can't agree
by Xpress Myself on Apr 08, 2007 07:11 AM Permalink
There is a vast difference between Ganguly and Sachin. Sachin WAS a record making machine in cricket and is a money making machine where as Ganguly was not. Drop Sachin for a few games (which will never happen when Pawar is OWNS BCCI) for not playing well or out of form.... can he take it in a sportman spirit and rebound like Ganguly? He said cricket is his life.... it is time for him to prove it by contributing for the country and the fans who made him a national hero. Or gracefully quit...but who would like to loose the 400 million endorsements!
RE:Can't agree
by Ravi Jain on Apr 07, 2007 04:50 PM Permalink
Sure, if you get rid of the old guard and bring in young turks, the team may not start winning right away. But, they will at least put up a fight, show a hunger to win, be quick in fielding, and overall, play more entertaining cricket. I would rather see and enjoy a great team performance and spirit than a bunch of selfish and jaded stars piling runs against weak attacks.
