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Worst team to tour Australia

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Indian team that toured Australia in 1999/2000 was one of the worst. The performances by pretty much everyone barring Tendulkar was ebsolutely pathetic. Tendulkar's performance as captain was worse.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Nah, England's performance in 06/07 was utterly pathetic and mirrored Pakistan's tour this year.

Got walloped in the first Test, competed very well in the 2nd Test, before capitulating pathetically. As much as Pakistan were atrocious at Sydney on the 4th day, the England performance on the 5th day at Adelaide is still comfortably the worst performance I've ever seen from a Test side. It was completely and utterly spineless, and ruined what up until the 4th day, was shaping up to be an interesting, competitive series.

Once Australia went 2-0 up, you just knew they were going to win all 5. Collingwood completely disappeared, Strauss got a shocking run of decisions, and the rest of the bowling attack bar Panesar and Anderson at times at Sydney, were completely anonymous and gave Flintoff absolutely bugger all support. England's performance in 06/07 was spineless and abject in the extreme, which continued into some absolutely pathetic performances in the tri-series (including Harmison's pathetic ODI retirement half way through). England did bounce back well to win the CB Series, but for the entire Test leg and the first half of the CB Series it was the worst performance I'd seen.
Yeah, I know all this. My point is that it was our performance that was a disgrace rather than the team itself.

I'm almost certain Harmison retired from ODIs in the middle of the Ashes tour.

I remember criticising it because it smacked of a softie wanting to go home to his mummy.
Yeah, you're right.
 

Craig

World Traveller
Did you even watch the series? It just proved that, great player and all that, SRT is not captain material.
 

Sir Alex

Banned
Did you even watch the series? It just proved that, great player and all that, SRT is not captain material.
He was not a leader in the conventional sense. But tell me some of his captaincy blunders. Strategic failures or something that justifies him being a poor captain. He happened to lead once when he was a kid and when he had one of the poorest ever squads in his team.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
He was not a leader in the conventional sense. But tell me some of his captaincy blunders. Strategic failures or something that justifies him being a poor captain. He happened to lead once when he was a kid and when he had one of the poorest ever squads in his team.
He had the poorest squad because he wanted Bhardwaj, Agarkar, Kanitkar, MSK Prasad etc ahead of the likes of Azhar, Mongia etc. One of the gems of many decisions was to send MSK Prasad to open the batting when he had two openers Ramesh and Devang Gandhi in the team. I know those names did not really inspire much confidence but neither did MSK.

The problem with Tendulkar was he never gave anyone enough chance to succeed, he expected everyone to perform like him.He was not above nepotism either, how a guy like Kanitker got to play for India will always baffle me.
 

Sir Alex

Banned
He had the poorest squad because he wanted Bhardwaj, Agarkar, Kanitkar, MSK Prasad etc ahead of the likes of Azhar, Mongia etc. One of the gems of many decisions was to send MSK Prasad to open the batting when he had two openers Ramesh and Devang Gandhi in the team. I know those names did not really inspire much confidence but neither did MSK.

The problem with Tendulkar was he never gave anyone enough chance to succeed, he expected everyone to perform like him.He was not above nepotism either, how a guy like Kanitker got to play for India will always baffle me.
:huh:Are you serious?

You know how much "command" and "influence" Tendulkar had on Indian selections during that period? Zilch. He was constantly at loggerheads with the selectors and was rather a man pressed into doing the captaicny job bcoz there werent any takers.

It is laughable when you are suggesting he selected MSK, Bhardwaj etc. One of the main reasons he quit was because of this very reason.His fault was that he put the team in front of ego and never really challenged the selectors' decisions which Ganguly used to.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
It looks okay on paper, but it wasn't. The mediocre half of the team didn't have enough to even play a supporting role to the quality half, not that the latter put in great performances themselves. Tendulkar and Laxman were the only ones to score a century. The team was so dire that the BCCI secretary predicted a 3-0 whitewash even before the team left Indian shores
:laugh::laugh: Yeah Remember that JY Lele Baffoon Character.

Rediff On The NeT: Lele unplugged

Are you happy with the side which is going to Australia?
No, I am not. Ajay Jadeja and Ajit Agarkar should not be in the side for Tests.



Why not Ajay Jadeja?
Ajay is a utility player. He is not a Test player. He can't play in a Test match.



He is in the side at the expense of Azhar. You think he is a better batsman than Azhar?
I just told you that Ajay is not a Test player, then how can he be better than Azhar. Azhar is a great batsman.



What about Ajit Agarkar?
Forget about his performance. Can he promise that he will not breakdown again. Twice he has done that to us now. He is so delicate. I wonder what he will do there.



So what is your ideal team for the Australian tour?
I would have taken Azhar in the side. Besides Azhar, I think Mohammed Kaif or Martin or Kanitkar should have been the batsman. I would have taken two more spinners. Joshi would have been one of them. Why don't we understand that spin is our forte? If we had taken some more spinners to England we would have won the World Cup. But no! Everyone kept saying medium pacers. And what did the medium pacers get us - defeat. We don't have any quality fast bowlers!



(A bamboozled me) What about Srinath?
One Srinath! There are 50 Srinaths out there in the country. Srinath was a complete failure in the World Cup.



Are you happy with the fitness of the Indian team?
What fitness are you talking about? I am fit; I do not have any injury. But am I match fit? No, I am not. The players are fit, but they are not match fit. They don't have it in them to stay there for six hours.



Sir, Rahul was dropped from the one-day side a couple of seasons ago. You think it was a mistake looking at the fact that he is India's number one batsman today?
I think Rahul is better than Sachin today. And I don't think that it was a mistake that I dropped him. If I would have not dropped him then he would have never figured out why he was not getting the runs. He worked on his credit after that and the result is there for all to see.



So you think we will do well in Australia?
We will be wiped out 3-0. You watch, they will win all three games. India doesn't stand a chance. The wickets there will not help the Indians at all. There is so much bounce. Besides Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly there is no one else who can bat there. And if one of these three is injured then we are finished. There is no depth in the middle order.





:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
:huh:Are you serious?

You know how much "command" and "influence" Tendulkar had on Indian selections during that period? Zilch. He was constantly at loggerheads with the selectors and was rather a man pressed into doing the captaicny job bcoz there werent any takers.

It is laughable when you are suggesting he selected MSK, Bhardwaj etc. One of the main reasons he quit was because of this very reason.His fault was that he put the team in front of ego and never really challenged the selectors' decisions which Ganguly used to.
No, he always complained and I remember he even took shot at someone like Anil Kumble during a series :-

Rediff On The NeT: A time for change

No one wanted to play for him because of his approach. In 1999/00 tour the Board secretary was upset because Tendulkar/Kapil got the players they wanted against the wishes of BCCI and hence the comments.
 

DaRick

State Vice-Captain
He was not a leader in the conventional sense. But tell me some of his captaincy blunders. Strategic failures or something that justifies him being a poor captain. He happened to lead once when he was a kid and when he had one of the poorest ever squads in his team.
Well, he did have Australia in trouble in Adelaide at 4/52. Instead of bringing back Srinath, Prasad or hell, even Kumble or Agarkar, he greeted Waugh and Ponting with...Ganguly's medium-pace seamers - on a flat Adelaide deck! It influenced the rest of the series too, for Ponting went on to score runs aplenty during that series.

That's just one.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Sanz is that article a piss take? Otherwise that is one big WTF.
Well that article reflects the sorry state of Indian cricket in 90s. As much as one dislikes the current bunch of BCCI and Lalit Modi, they seem to have made astronomical progress in last 5 years.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
I'm almost certain Harmison retired from ODIs in the middle of the Ashes tour.

I remember criticising it because it smacked of a softie wanting to go home to his mummy.
His last ODI had he not reversed his retirement in 2008 would've been England's 2nd game of the Champions Trophy. Not sure he announced his retirement straightaway, but he was definately never going to play in the CB Series.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
IIRC David Lloyd ripped into Harmison during the NZ - Eng Test in Hamilton in 2008, questioning his commitment for England, saying that Harmison earns more money then the Prime Minister and he always gives off the impression he would rather not be there.
It's a popular impression and many people have made comments like Lloyd's which you mention. Harmison always looks indifferent when he bowls poorly at Test level, which is of course regularly. However on the relatively rare occasions he actually bowls well it's pretty obvious he's not remotely indifferent. In my book people who say he doesn't want to be there are merely using it as an excuse to cover the fact that they misjudged his talent.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
IIRC hadn't Giles also outbowled Monty in the warm-up games?
He'd got marginally better figures in the whole 1 First-Class game pre First Test - Giles' only First-Class game for a year. That marginally better performance and a little bit of batting ability are not sufficient to justify picking someone who hasn't played for a year over someone who has and has done decently in said time.
 

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