RAHUL DRAVID’s CAPTAINCY
Everyone is criticizing Rahul Dravid’s captaincy for the entire debacle, and they want Sourav Ganguly to be re-instated as captain. Also they want Greg Chappell be sacked. Will it solve our problem? Definitely it won’t solve the problem. A captain is as good as his players. I still think he will be a good captain.
One criticism I like to level against Rahul Dravid is that he is not using Sachin’s bowling prowess properly. Remember Ganguly also did not use him effectively. Only Azharuddin used him optimally. Sachin was under bowled at the second innings of Cape Town test. He could have used the rough spots in the pitch very well. Dravid should have confidence in Sachin’s bowling ability and use him more in future.
Every captain always had some special players to contribute in team’s success. Azhar had Sachin as his main batsman. Sachin had Sourav and Dravid to do the bulk of the scoring. Sourav had Dravid to score match-winning innings. But who is for Dravid? Poor man he had none so far except himself to bat for him. Yuvraj Singh showed some signs of being that special player. Will he be? Let us wait and watch.
POOR UMPIRING DECISIONS
India also suffered because of some poor umpiring decisions. Rahul Dravid was the worst sufferer. Not only our batsmen suffered, our bowlers were also at the receiving end. Pakistan Umpire Asad Rauf was the main culprit. Mark Benson was not good either. Clearly their umpiring decisions altered the outcome of the series. Nevertheless our players are also made some grave mistakes.
IRRESPONSIBLE BATTING
Everyone is criticizing Rahul Dravid’s captaincy for the entire debacle, and they want Sourav Ganguly to be re-instated as captain. Also they want Greg Chappell be sacked. Will it solve our problem? Definitely it won’t solve the problem. A captain is as good as his players. I still think he will be a good captain.
One criticism I like to level against Rahul Dravid is that he is not using Sachin’s bowling prowess properly. Remember Ganguly also did not use him effectively. Only Azharuddin used him optimally. Sachin was under bowled at the second innings of Cape Town test. He could have used the rough spots in the pitch very well. Dravid should have confidence in Sachin’s bowling ability and use him more in future.
Every captain always had some special players to contribute in team’s success. Azhar had Sachin as his main batsman. Sachin had Sourav and Dravid to do the bulk of the scoring. Sourav had Dravid to score match-winning innings. But who is for Dravid? Poor man he had none so far except himself to bat for him. Yuvraj Singh showed some signs of being that special player. Will he be? Let us wait and watch.
POOR UMPIRING DECISIONS
India also suffered because of some poor umpiring decisions. Rahul Dravid was the worst sufferer. Not only our batsmen suffered, our bowlers were also at the receiving end. Pakistan Umpire Asad Rauf was the main culprit. Mark Benson was not good either. Clearly their umpiring decisions altered the outcome of the series. Nevertheless our players are also made some grave mistakes.
IRRESPONSIBLE BATTING
When will Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly learn to play responsible cricket? Sachin threw away his wicket at first innings of 2nd test in Durban when he was playing well. Similarly Ganguly threw away his wicket in second innings of both 2nd test at Durban and 3rd test at Cape Town. Never forget the display of Jaffer in second innings of 2nd test.
Everyone is hailing Sourav Ganguly as only batsman who showed some spine. But he was the real culprit who reduced our chances of winning. Yes, Rahul Dravid had a very poor series. But he is not the one who fails to finish a job when he is in form. Those who are in form must have taken responsibility. I will not blame Shewag or Dravid. I will blame Jaffer, Ganguly and Sachin for the debacle, because they were the ones among the runs. They should have converted their good starts to big knock.
Our batting performance in test matches mostly hinges on performances of Dravid, Laxman and Shewag. When they score runs India wins. But look what happen when Sachin and Sourav scores? They must make their runs count. Remember Sachin rarely won test matches for us even in his heydays. Atleast Ganguly had won a test match against Srilanka at Kandy in 2001. Most of Sachin’s successes were in shorter versions that too were before 2000. In recent years his one-day success were at 2003 world cup and brilliant 95 against Pakistan at Lahore in 2005 that was unfortunately for him overshadowed by belligerent Dhoni. Similarly our One-day batting performances in recent years mostly hinges on performances of Yuvraj, Dravid and Dhoni.
Yes, Shewag is out of form. He definitely needs a break to analysis his game.
OUR BOWLING
The performance of both Zaheer and Sreesanth was encouraging. But the team-management made a great mess with Munaf’s fitness. We all know Kumble is not great turner of a cricket ball. His strengths are accuracy and discipline. Unfortunately he had a very ordinary test match at Cape Town. Remember he failed to finish off Australia in fourth innings at Sydney in 2003-04 when everything was in our favor. Nevertheless he is our best match-winner with ball in past 15 years.
Historically we never had great bowlers. At best we had good bowlers. The present bowling attack is best in our test history. But this is not enough to win test matches consistently. We need genuine spinners and genuine fast bowlers. By genuine spinners I mean one who can turn the ball on any surface. By genuine fast bowler I meant not express bowlers but one bowls consistently in corridor with reasonable speed; also must be able to bowl well in all surfaces.
FUTURE SELECTIONS
Everybody is talking about Ganguly replacing Shewag as opener in One-day matches. I feel he can contribute better at middle-order. The reason being: he is very good at spinners. In middle overs he can unsettle the likes of Gayle, Samuels, Jayasuriya and Symmonds. Playing both Ganguly and Laxman in the same one-day XI is a sure recipe for disaster. Only one among them must be in playing XI. Both are slow movers in the field and their running between wickets is very bad. Gambhir and Utthappa were not given enough chances. Indian team-management and selectors continue to overlook them. They must be tried. I feel they can give good start at the top. My playing XI for one-dayers will be:
1. Sachin
2. Gambhir/Utthappa
3. Ganguly/Laxman
4. Yuvraj
5. Dravid
6. Rohit Sharma
7. Dhoni
8. Agarkar
9. Harbhajan/Kumble
10. Sreesanth
11. Zaheer
If the team wants to play both Harbhajan and Kumble, then Rohit Sharma has to sit out. I would have liked Pathan and Shewag in the playing XI, but they were terribly out of form. About Munaf, he is the worst fielder in International Cricket (It is echoed by a writer in Cricinfo.com) and his fitness is always worrying. We should support our Indian team in this time of distress. I hope our team will bounce back in style.
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