The Indian selectors are the best in the world

[Craig]

Certainly have the easiet job IMO.

Their top seven pick themselves with Chopra suited to Shewag as he can run short singles and field well at short leg.

Numbers 3-6 have as much of being dropped or left out (unless injured) as Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger (ATM)and The Queen have of being fired. Bearing in mind Man U and Arsenal will never sack their managers ATM.

Patel well I think he is best suited for the job.

AA well he can take the new and can swing it. Kumble in this series proved he has is not a has-been.

Harbhajan Singh is over-rated and dont think he should play IMO (depending on pitches) and you cant leave out Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan (when fit).

I dont think much of Nehra.

So my best Indian side:

Chopra
Shewag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman (he is better off at 5)
*Ganguly
+Patel
Pathan
AA (he's not good enough for 8 - Pathan can bat)
Kumble
Zaheer

Yuvraj Singh is good enough but no spot for him. Also why has Sririam has never played Test cricket?

[masterblaster]

You're right, 8 out of 11 Indian Players pick themselves.

However, a concern is that Akash Chopra needs to start converting his 'starts' into bigger scores. He certainly has the technique to be a prolific opener in the mould of Sunil Gavaskar or Geoff Boycott. If he can start converting his 30's, 40's and 50's into 70's, 80's and 100's, there is no doubt that Sehwag and Chopra will be a long time opening duo.

Sriram has an outstanding FC record but hasnt faired well when he's played ODI's for India. He's only played a couple of games, and to be fair to him he deserved a prolonged run in the side. To why he isn't there in the Indian team is like asking why Greg Blewett or Mike Hussey aren't there in the Australian team. He is the Greg Blewett or Jamie Siddons of Indian Cricket.

Another problem is Nehra, his bowling has been really, really poor lately, and if someone like Salvi or Munaf Patel gets that opportunity, Nehra might be gone forever and put into domestic cricket for eternity.

But things can change after a couple of months, at the moment we're riding a crest of a wave, but you never know with this Indian side.

[Craig]

To me Nehra was brought back why to early.

Edited this part in: Is Sriram not given the opportunity because of the lack of spots in the indian team?

[masterblaster]

Pretty much, Yeah.

With Yuvraj and Kaif and Badani, Bangar and Gavaskar all in contention, he just doesnt get selected, something which is very strange.

Especially because he is 10 times the player Bangar is.
He's just one of those forgotten men really. The Greg Blewetts, the Mike Husseys, the Jamie Siddons of the world.

Sad though, he has real talent.

[Craig]

Bangar a 'bits-and-pieces' player?

[Salamuddin]

I blame the selectors partly for Nehra's poor form.

He had a fantastic WC, injured his ankle and had a major operation.

He comes back and goes straightaway on the arduous Australian tour.
It would have been much better to leave him at home to try and work his way back to full fitness in the Ranji trophy.


However Ashish does need to work more on consistency in his bowling and his dreadful fielding.
I belive the lad is quite talented -- he just needs to work harder.

[Salamuddin]

The Indian selectors are a sorry lot, really !

They have been crying out for an allrounder for years yet conveniently overlook Ramesh Powar.
Also Bahatule's inclusion in the A team over Mishra is a joke.
Mishra is a much better prospect.

[Jono]

I'll admit I am not the biggest supporter of Nehra and his inconsistency and poor fielding greatly frustrates me but let's be fair, he does have talent he was just brought back too early and he currently does not have the right mindset.

If Nehra gets knocked around for a few, not only does his body language show it, his fielding does as well and it hurts the whole team. Let's compare this to Pathan for example (Who I am a VERY big supporter of). If he gets knocked around, he'll come back the next over more aggressive and keep on fighting. Players are born with this, but it can also be tought as well, this is what Nehra needs.

He's talented but his mindset is not of a good international cricketer, not yet anyway. Hopefully he will learn from Akram, his team mates and other great bowlers that giving up and slouching isn't the answer. To me this is Nehra's biggest problem.

Relating to the topic at hand, yes the Indian squad is quite easy to choose from. Now with Laxman cementing his spot in both forms of the game, that's another person added to the "definites". Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Zaheer and after this tour Kumble. Pathan is still young but if he continues at this rate the possibilities are endless.

Harbahjan is another player who lets his mind get the better of him. If he gets hit around he often slouches like Nehra, but Harbahjan is still a good player, just needs to mature a little. I can almost guarantee he won't be going to India, even if he is fit.

[V Reddy]

Sharath of TN is one such player like Sriram. Robin Singh reckons he was one of the best players in India but he didn't get even a single game unlike Sriram who got a few chances. IMO , Gambhir deserves a selection atleast in the sqaud as he has been piling up centuries in domestic cricket and A games.I think Nehra should be persisted with in onedayers and he is pretty good at maintaining line and length and in onedayers the batsman have to take the risks and so he will be useful.

[Ford_GTHO351]

Originally posted by masterblaster
However, a concern is that Akash Chopra needs to start converting his 'starts' into bigger scores. He certainly has the technique to be a prolific opener in the mould of Sunil Gavaskar or Geoff Boycott. If he can start converting his 30's, 40's and 50's into 70's, 80's and 100's, there is no doubt that Sehwag and Chopra will be a long time opening duo.

I think that whilst Chopra's role is to support Sehwag, he should still look to be a little more attacking. IMO by being a little more attacking, Chopra can gain more confidence to be able to convert his starts to big scores.

[anzac]

so perhaps this thread should be renamed ......

the Indian & Australian selectors have among the easiest jobs in sport.........

if you know what I mean........

[marc71178]

Originally posted by jamesryfler
I blame the selectors partly for Nehra's poor form.

He had a fantastic WC, injured his ankle and had a major operation.

He comes back and goes straightaway on the arduous Australian tour.

Right, but how does that explain his quite frankly terrible pre-World Cup career?

And for fantastic World Cup read - 6-23 in very very helpful conditions against England, 4-35 to remove the tail against SL and 5 wickets at 46.2 in the other 7 games.

[Rich2001]

Originally posted by anzac
so perhaps this thread should be renamed ......

the Indian & Australian selectors have among the easiest jobs in sport.........

if you know what I mean........

LOL yeah I have to agree they have the easiest jobs as the team picks itself.

Selectors from England etc "SHOULD" be the best in the world as the vast amounts of players they have to pick from and the constant changing of the squad to find the right X1 all the time as they don't always have the natural talent and consistancy like the Australians.

IMO the best selctors would probley have to be the WI's, 20 years ago the team was fantatsic then the mid-late 90's alot of talent retired and the WI became the wipping boys of cricket for a fair few years.

And now they have found a bunch of very talented players in Sarwan, Samules, Lara , Gayle etc and also they have had the bottle to take huge gambles on players like F.Edwards who had no background to his game previously, and also bring back the experiance of players like Drakes, and of the top of my head they haven't had many major flops in the players they pick I can think of one or two but after that it's tough, whereas teams like England um pick a few every game :rolleyes:

[Neil Pickup]

Like Rob Key & Ed Smith, you mean?

[Rich2001]

Originally posted by Neil Pickup
Like Rob Key & Ed Smith, you mean?

Yes