Building Indian team for the 2007 world cup

[adharcric]

In my opinion, Agarkar doesn't pose much of a danger to batsmen on a consistent basis, so he definitely doesn't belong in the test team, where bowlers need to be penetrative. Still, he manages to pick up wickets in one-day cricket and is a good bowler at the death ... so until he loses even that ability, I'm not too worried about his being in the one-day team. But it's time for VR Singh and Munaf Patel to come in. Sreesanth looks quite impressive.

[Arjun]

Back to topic....

Originally Posted by adharcric

he manages to pick up wickets in one-day cricket

Through very good luck and not much skill

Originally Posted by adharcric

and is a good bowler at the death

Where batsmen often make mstakes, but gets creamed if they get their act together

Originally Posted by adharcric

so until he loses even that ability, I'm not too worried about his being in the one-day team

• He was at his luckiest in the late 90's and maybe early 2000
• But now, he's just doing his own thing without making an impact in a match
• You can't bank on luck all the time to win tournaments
• The Indians have rarely won a tournament in which he has figured, and just one in the last five years, minnow-thrashing (or scratching) not included.
• His bowling weakens towards the end of a series, and his final average is well over 40

With NOTHING of note happening for the Indian side in years and a promising bunch of pacers who at least have the right raw material coming up, why go back to a little has-been?

Originally Posted by adharcric

But it's time for VR Singh and Munaf Patel to come in. Sreesanth looks quite impressive.

• Wait till VR Singh is fit....then he should be rushed into the team and promoted as Irfan's strike partner.
• VR Singh may not be as fast as Lee or Akhtar, but hopefully fast enough to make an impact
• While his pace is debatable, he's definitely very, very, very aggressive– in fact, coaches often had to console him when he was disappointed when he didn't hit a batsman on his head!
• Munaf's pace will be just a bonus– he should play as a value-add player instead, and his big-hitting ability should be used in the final overs.
• Stick to Sreesanth. Enough said.

But the problem remains– what, and one can repeat, WHAT, has happened to Zaheer Khan? If it's over for him, it is definitely proof that the Indians don't know how to handle their pacers well. Let's just hope this doesn't happen to VR Singh and Sreesanth as well.

[masterblaster]

I'm not too impressed with what I've seen of Sreesanth, he seems like another bowler who is likely to crack under pressure and frankly we don't need bowlers like that. Despite bowling well in patches, he pretty much tends to bowl a loose one frequently and is very expensive. He may be effective, but if he's more expensive than Agarkar there isn't really much point.

But he's young and I hope he proves me wrong, but I haven't really been impressed with Sreesanth as of yet. I'm yet to see Munaf Patel and VR Singh as of yet, so I'm hoping they impress and get a shot against England.

One player I'd really like to see come into this Indian ODI squad is Hemang Badani. I'm not too sure of Hemang Badani's current domestic form, but with the recent emergence of players like Michael Hussey, Badani can offer something similar to India. Although he's not in Hussey's class, he is a more solid bet at times than a Mohammad Kaif or a Suresh Raina. He's still young and I think he's got a mature head on his shoulders to come in again.

[masterblaster]

Originally Posted by Jono

TIF relax man, the AAAS is just a bit of lighthearted fun.

Not happy with those comments mate....

[Arjun]

Originally Posted by masterblaster

I'm not too impressed with what I've seen of Sreesanth, he seems like another bowler who is likely to crack under pressure and frankly we don't need bowlers like that. Despite bowling well in patches, he pretty much tends to bowl a loose one frequently and is very expensive. He may be effective, but if he's more expensive than Agarkar there isn't really much point.

But he's young and I hope he proves me wrong, but I haven't really been impressed with Sreesanth as of yet. I'm yet to see Munaf Patel and VR Singh as of yet, so I'm hoping they impress and get a shot against England.

One player I'd really like to see come into this Indian ODI squad is Hemang Badani. I'm not too sure of Hemang Badani's current domestic form, but with the recent emergence of players like Michael Hussey, Badani can offer something similar to India. Although he's not in Hussey's class, he is a more solid bet at times than a Mohammad Kaif or a Suresh Raina. He's still young and I think he's got a mature head on his shoulders to come in again.

About Sreesanth

• He's just started his international career, so it's difficult to comment so far.
• He's a hard trier, and tries to get wickets, unlike other bowlers who try to keep an economy rate under five.
• He doesn't rely on seaming conditions, helpful pitches, uneven bounce or batting errors, but tries to force some wickets
• Such bowlers will go for more runs, but the extra wickets count
• He needs more attacking fields
• The more experienced bowlers in the side haven't done much better, despite having been around for years
• He's got a lot more pace than any other Indian bowler picked during the time he's played, so he's worth persisting with

About Badani:

• He's already been given ample chances before.
• None of them really helped, as the Indian team never won any of those touranments
• He's a defensive batsman, who often starts blocking and leaving deliveries when a few wickets start to fall
• This has put the Indians in a run-rate problem very often
• Even when he's going well, he'll plasy a loose shot– the TVS Cup final in Kolkata could have been won, but he played a silly sweep.
• Anything he can do, Kaif and Yuvraj can do better
• We haven't seen enough of Raina to compare him with a has-been who's played a few chunks of matches
• That other rookie batsman isn't anything special
• Most importantly, the selectors need to try out all-rounders and tearaway quicks. The team doesn't need another batsman wo'll only warm the bench.

[Arjun]

Here's what Srinath had to say about Sreesanth. Coming from someone who opened the bowlign for India for years, and also bowled with a lot of pace, this makes sense.

"Sreesanth, who struggled in the previous game, came out with flying colours at Rawalpindi. He mainly shaped the ball out, used the short-pitched delivery effectively and in the end bowled some good slower ones to bring in variety. His bowling speed, averaging 136 kmph, keeps the batsmen in two minds. He could be an asset only if he adds accuracy to his bowling. Apart from his bowling, what impressed me most was his attitude. For someone who was ill and down the previous day, he played the game with verve. It's an irony in cricket that often when a player is coming out of a niggling injury or a brief illness, he puts up a performance which is above expectations."

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by Armadillo

Give it up, Marc. Ajit Agarkar is about to get dropped for good and you lot will be out of business.

The AAAS will never, ever be out of business.

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by Arjun

Through very good luck and not much skill

That's even worse than the person who reckons McGrath and Pollock (2 bowlers who aren't fit to lace the boots of the almighty) only ever get wickets through luck.

[TIF]

I cant understand the meaning of AAAS. Some say that he has been very much in and out of the Indian team and is a special player, then about starting a ZKAS(Zaheer Khan Appreciation Society) as Zaheer Khan has also been very much in and out of the Indian team. How about starting a VLAS(VVS Laxman Appreciation Society) as VVS Laxman has also been very much in and out of the team. Just like Ajit Agarkar, even Zaheer Khan and VVS Laxman have come back and been dropped from the Indian team, so do you think that ZKAS and VLAS should be started?

[honestbharani]

They don't have the aura of AA.... 'nuff said.


But seriously, AA is still among the better ODI bowlers in India. And since when have yorkers and slower ones become "lucky" deliveries? He may not be as good as a few others, but I will rather have AA and Zak bowling at the death than Pathan and Balaji and others.

[Arjun]

Originally Posted by honestbharani

AA is still among the better ODI bowlers in India. And since when have yorkers and slower ones become "lucky" deliveries? He may not be as good as a few others, but I will rather have AA and Zak bowling at the death than Pathan and Balaji and others.

• That he's lucky to be one of India's better ODI bowlers shows how weak India's ODI bowling has been.
• When it's this little man involved, obviously there's a lot of luck involved– batting errors or uneven bounce or even goofy umpires.
• Balaji's gone, and Zaheer's out of energy, so that's a very low benchmark.
• Is Agarkar even as good as his opposite number in the final overs? Not even close!

Honestly, you don't expect him to suddenly turn into someone world-class after five years of luckily average performances, do you? You can replace him with some young reserve and you won't miss much.

[Arjun]

Now let's look at the Greg Chappell experiments. Some wags on another forum (half the discussions there don't deserve to be on a cricket forum at all) think he's the root cause of all the problems plaguing Indian cricket, but let's look at these freak experiments from all sides.

WORKS LIKE A CHARM

• Irfan Pathan batting in the top six– This adds one more dimension to the Indian side. Not only do you have a bowler with some value addition in the team, but also one more big-hitting option, so Sachin (especially) and Sehwag can breathe easy, while Dhoni now has a partner.
• Dhoni batting higher up– He's more than just a value-add player– he's a talented batsman, and very powerful. So they made the best use of his batting ability, and you got that massive 180+ score against the Lankans
• Kaif in the top three– He finished one series with an average of 92 and seems a good fit there. Much better than at sevenm, where he (like every other batsman) was a misfit
• The fifth arm– On a 'good, full-strength team' day, Zaheer and RP Singh would have sat out, replaced by Agarkar and a sixth batsman. But in the Faislabad Test, they did make the side, and they took more wickets than the more certain picks.

HAS HE GONE MAD?

• That's no way to treat your openers!– Gautam Gambhir combines well with Sehwag and the two posted several 50+ partnerships at a very good strike rate. Wasim Jaffer was running red-hot before the series. Both scored over 50 and made big opening stands in a tour match. Yet, both were benched and the team opened with Dravid and Laxman (in one match). The weaknesses of this plan were hidden by sub-par bowling and flat pitches, but in Karachi, it came undone.
• Rest all your frontliners?– After the Indians won the ODI series against the Lankans, they rested Tendulkar, Irfan and Bhajji for one match. Predictably, the second-in-command were simply not up to it. Some of them could have been rested, couldn't they?

TRY THIS OUT:

• Give your openers a fair try– Not just in Tests, but also in ODI's, go in for your best opening partnership, rather than separate pairs in either form.
• New opening striker– They can afford to try out a new strike bowler, who's very aggressive and also fast.
• More value addition– They can pick a full-time all-rounder from the domestic scene, purely for value addition, at least in ODI's– like Shahid Afridi or Justin Kemp or even Ashley Giles

DON'T TOUCH

• Don't drop your young pace hopes– They've just started their international careers and need a long stretch at the top level to prove themselves.
• Turbanator still has it– There may be doubts expressed about Harbhajan's performances, especially away fro India, but he's still a more productive bowler than all the so-called pace options in the Indian side, especially the selectors' five favourites.
• Prince from Punjab can hang on– Yuvraj is in the form of his life, and he's got a wide array of strokes, and when on song, he is destructive. Add to that, his excellent fielding– and that's not considering his bowling, which you don't need. He's worth a try as one of the top five, and not just an extra batsman to provide a nonexistent, often useless run-cushion

[Arjun]

Now add to that the effect he's had on two of India's younger players. Yuvraj has averaged over 53 in his last 25 ODI's, while his Test average since Chappell entered is also over 50. Even more remarkable (given the Woolmer effect on Afridi) is Irfan's Chappell-era record, who's a much improved player now. Not only has his bowling average in ODI's gone under 24, his batting average (with 3 scores over 50) is over 34, with a strike rate over 90! His Test batting average is also a revelation, but we'd also like to see that Test bowling average come down.

[TIF]

Agarkar is not a useful bowler at all. India, has many bowlers better than Agarkar. As for Agarkar, he never looks like taking the wickets himself and he gets most of his wickets as caught in the outfield. Also, he gets smashed for lots of runs and just due to 1 or 2 good performances, remains in the team. His bowling record in finals and important matches has been very poor at over 50 bowling average. Also, he did not play a single match in the World cup 2003 and still the Indian pace bowlers did well due to Zaheer, Nehra and Srinath.

Also, Zaheer is not a bad bowler, but his bowling has been very underrated. Zaheer, is more of an aggressive bowler and looks like taking wickets. He dismissed Inzamam very early and never looked like going for too many runs. Zaheer, has been one of the better bowlers for India in this series.

Sree Santh, needs to bowl at line and length alongwith pace. When he focused only on pace in the earlier overs in the last match, he went for runs but later on, when he focused more on line and length, it became difficult to score runs off him.

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by TIF

I cant understand the meaning of AAAS. Some say that he has been very much in and out of the Indian team and is a special player, then about starting a ZKAS(Zaheer Khan Appreciation Society) as Zaheer Khan has also been very much in and out of the Indian team. How about starting a VLAS(VVS Laxman Appreciation Society) as VVS Laxman has also been very much in and out of the team. Just like Ajit Agarkar, even Zaheer Khan and VVS Laxman have come back and been dropped from the Indian team, so do you think that ZKAS and VLAS should be started?

You clearly haven't even looked into the AAAS if that's what you think it is based on.