Why Ganguly was dropped? Let us analyze the reason. Being the captain of Indian team he misused his powers. He rarely attends training session while others work hard. He was resting on his (and team’s) laurels. His whims and fancies in team selection. In short his work ethics was not good and also he had great slump in his form. This and his spat with Greg Chappell resulted in his ouster. Actually the reason for their spat was Greg telling him he (Ganguly) was wrong and his work ethics was not good.
Why Zaheer was dropped? Again the problem of bad work ethics did him. He was not fit and not in form.
Why Laxman and Kumble not considered for one-dayers? Actually during Ganguly’s reign itself they are not regulars in one-dayers. We must accept the fact that they are not good movers in the field. But they have commitment to improve unlike Ganguly. They have good attitude. So they are now in reckoning for one-dayers.
Why Raina, Kaif and Mongia were persisted? Kaif is a good team-man. He is still one of the best fielders in India. With his limited ability he played well. Raina is a good batting prospect and one of the best fielders in our team. Mongia was selected in the team because of his good performance in English county.
First we must be clearer in mind that selection of one-day team and test team is different. But media is confusing this and they are fishing in troubled waters. I think Indian team-management is thinking in right direction most of the times. Only media is creating unnecessary issues regarding selection issues by giving expert opinion of their own and that of few half-baked former cricketers. They are also pressurizing selection committee.
Team-management also had made few selection mistakes. When Sachin was not available for West Indies series, they should have tried either Gambhir or Utthappa as opener in one-dayers. Instead they opened with Rahul. It was a mistake on their part.
My selection of middle-order batsmen for test team would be: Rahul, Laxman, Sachin, Yuvraj, Badrinath and then only Ganguly. Since Yuvraj is not fit, I would have picked Badrinath. We must have priority; we must know who is better.
Similarly we must have priority in selection of batsmen for one-dayers; we must know who are our best batsmen. Dravid, Yuvraj, Laxman pick themselves. If Raina displays good form I would pick him ahead of Laxman. Kaif is a good player; but the thing is there are better batsmen (in a long way) than him. So he can’t be in the team just on account of his fielding skills. Mongia had not done anything special on international arena. Just domestic performances do not count. Let us wait and see how Sourav Ganguly performs in coming matches before picking him for world cup. He was most successful one-day batsman for our team after Sachin. But he had great slump in his form. We should try young Rohit Sharma in coming one-day series against Srilanka and West Indies. We also should give enough opportunities for Gambhir and Utthappa for the opening slot in coming one-dayers.
We also know who are the bowlers will be in the world-cup squad by their performances in coming one-dayers. Whether Pathan will able to regain his form? Will Munaf be fit or break down? Will Agarkar be consistent or not? Whether Romesh Pawar will edge out Harbhajan?
Will Shewag regain his form? Most importantly will Yuvraj be fit in time for world-cup? These questions will be answered in two months.
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