Sport Today

Sourav Ganguly (captain), Sanjay Bangar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman,
Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, L Balaji, Amit
Bhandari, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Murali Kartik, Rohan Gavaskar

The surprise inclusions are those of Yuvraj Singh and Rohan Gavaskar.
Neither, imho, deserves to be in the squad based on performances in the
longer version of the game.

I had anticipated at least two (if not all three) of Sriram, Gambhir,
and Das to play the game (to check out the openers for the upcoming
international commitments). With Jaffer opening for Mumbai, this may
have been a good "Test" launch pad for the potential openers. This squad
indicates that Bangar and Sehwag are still being looked at as the
openers and that is not the right way to go - definitely not a long-term
solution to the problems with the opening spots.

Also surprising is the omission of Amit Mishra. Kumble is clearly in the
autumn of his career and Mishra is being spoken of as his replacement.
This would have been the ideal time to test him out for the longer
version of the game. I understand that Kumble is still a contender,
especially for Tests on Indian soil. But the series against New Zealand
may be the right time to introduce Amit Mishra and groom him, as opposed
to throwing him against the wolves (reference : the series against
Australia). With Kumble's inclusion, Kartik may have to sit out and that
may not be the best thing to happen. But I guess, that's my personal
bias against Kumble speaking.

Bhandari gets in, I think, based on his domestic performances and the
performance for the "A" squad. I would have liked to see Pathan play
this game. But that again is a marginal call and Pathan may have to wait
for his turn.

Ambrish "Mumbai to win the Irani Trophy" Sundaram

India face Australia away and home over the next seven months, and
should therefore be looking to construct the XI which will have the
best chance of competing with them, not worrying about what the
implications are for some time down the line.

If you believe that two of Das, Sriram, Gambhir and Jaffer are likely
to do better *against Australia* than Sehwag/Bangar, then fine.

And it's worth thinking about what you mean by "better", as well. One
of the things which can help you win a match against Australia is to
upset Glenn McGrath, because he gets riled up and loses his bowling
discipline. A good way of upsetting McGrath is to whack his new ball
spells to the boundary. Sehwag is unlikely to be able to do it every
innings, but if he comes off even a few times it could disturb the
smooth running of the Aussie juggernaut, and that's how you beat them.

You might get a slightly higher average opening partnership out of
having two conventional openers, but with Sehwag you get a potential
big win and with Bangar you get a decent stock bowler to help relieve
the main four while Australia rattle up their customary 600.

Cheers,

Mike

--
Shripathi Kamath

a. Sehwag has expressed the desire to move back to the middle-order. He
was/is a makeshift opener. An unwilling opener is not someone I would
want to pin my hopes on.

b. You have said - "if he comes off even a few times..." - That is a BIG
IF. Sehwag's technique may work well in the shorter version of the game
and he may get away with his minimal footwork and other weaknesses
(example - not-too convincing technique against short-pitched bowling).
With the pitch aiding the bowlers and the ball moving around, I believe
he will be exposed. That is where the long-term prospects come into
play. Gambhir, Jaffer, and Das are regular openers. Yes, each has his
weaknesses. But they need to be given the opportunity to develop. Sehwag
may succeed as an opener in the sub-continent (in Tests and ODIs), but
he cannot be relied upon to deliver the goods, as an opener, in Tests,
especially abroad. The regular openers need to be groomed and that is a
process in itself. The earlier this process begins, the better it will
be for Indian cricket.

c. As for Bangar - I believe that he makes up for his lack of talent
with his grit. He may be a better fit as an opener than Sehwag for the
Tests. And his bowling, while nothing out of the ordinary, is a plus.
Again, he has to compete against the likes of Gambhir, Jaffer etc as
they are regular openers and have done well in the domestics. Bangar has
opened and played in the middle-order. He is a mixed bag, in that respect.

d. You have also talked about the customary 600 that Australia racks up.
The infrequent blitzkriegs of Sehwag and Co., when they occur, will be
good to watch, but will not be sufficient to post a fighting response to
such huge totals. I guess I am from the old school that says that the
batsmen need to grit it out in the Tests and that's the way to get on
the nerves of the bowlers. Bowlers, I believe, prefer to bowl to the
likes of Sehwag, because they (Sehwag and his ilk) always give the
bowler a chance to get their wickets. Bowlers do not like to bowl to
batsmen like Sunil Gavaskar because these batsmen are willing to play
the ball on merit and will wait it out and tire the bowlers out
(mentally and physically). These batsmen believe that there is no harm
in giving the first hour of play to the bowlers before taking over.
India desperately needs such batsmen. We have enough of the flashy ones
- Sehwag, Laxman, and ***yes*** (imho) Tendulkar (more often than not).
It's the gritty ones who are missing and therein lies the problem with
Indian batting.

e. The Australians have openers who are technically sound and can score
runs at good speed. That is not the case with India. India needs batsmen
who stay and contribute to the team total. India should play the game on
its own terms, not that of the Australians.

e. Using Sehwag as an opener may be a good trick to surprise the
opposition, when they are least expecting it. But I am not sure it will
work as a regular strategy.

Ambrish "India's opening problems persist - thanks to the myopic vision
of the selectors and team management" Sundaram

<snipped without prejudice>

Excellent post, dude!

Any thoughts on what could have been had they persisted with the last
regular-openers pair India put forth: Das and Ramesh?

--
Shripathi Kamath

Also, don't discount the Mumbai bowling. In Salvi, Kulkarni, and
Bahutule they have a good combination. Ramesh Powar has provided good
support to his team in the past, both as a bowler and as a batsman.

Agarkar may be now-hot-now-cold and that is why I am not including him
in the list of the reliable ones. :-)

Ambrish

With the Indian tracks supposedly getting a facelift (I, for one, don't
believe it, but if for a moment we assume that it is true), Kumble may
be a lesser force. If pitches have indeed been relaid, it makes more
sense to play Mishra, who is supposedly a bigger turner of the ball and
has more variety than Kumble.

Ambrish "No solution in sight for the opening problems" Sundaram

  > Any thoughts on what could have been had they persisted with the last

Ramesh has done well in the past, but he has also supposedly run afoul
of the management (admin/team management) thanks to his supposed
lackadaisical approach. If he can get around that, then he may find
himself in the reckoning. Unfortunately, in India, once a player runs
afoul of the selectors/admin/team management, his international career
is generally gonners, even if he makes amends later.

Ganguly and Co. delivered some sweet sound-bytes when asked about Ramesh
recently, but I am not sure Ramesh is in serious contention at this
point of time.

But if he did come back into contention, then I would want him to play
as the regular opener. The Das-Ramesh partnership would provide India
with some benefits. In addition to the left-right combination, the
partnership would see the sedate Das as a good foil to Ramesh, the
strokemaker.

Yes Ramesh has scored runs, against the likes of Wasim and Waqar. But he
has to tighten his footwork up. He was caught wanting in the World Cup
in England where the swing bowlers were getting good help from the
conditions. Das has to get over his weaknesses too. But if they both do,
then it would be good combination. But it is all a BIG IF.....

Some food for thought - In some senses, the Gambhir of today is a
version of Ramesh. Isn't it? Especially his loose play outside the offstump?

Ambrish

<snip>

Andrew

<snip>

Big difference is that Ramesh has delivered in tests, Gambhir is yet to.  If
he can be even as good as Ramesh, that's a huge win, imo.

I only brought up Ramesh+Das because imo, that was the last set of openers
for India who played a bit together that put up something quit consistently.
On average Dravid did not have to come in until 45 runs were on the board.

It is sad to see one of them out, and the other struggling.

Bangar and Sehwag it is (groan!), with Jaffer maybe having an outside
chance.  Hope that they all do well.  That is a better problem for India to
have -- too many deserving contestants for the opener slots than too few.

--
Shripathi Kamath

Aditya [Hoping Jaffer can make it, BTW.] Basrur

At his best, I envision him playing knocks like the one he did at
Headingley.

Oh, he also had another 50+ score in that series, and also a 100 in tests.

I think that he has shown that he *can* play the role of holding an end up
and delaying the arrival of the middle order.  That will be crucial imo in
Australia, where if SRT comes in at 2/15 and Lee and Gillespie bowling with
their tails up, it will be scary.

Now if Bangar were to hold up one end, and allow Tendulkar to come in even
at 2/50 but with 20-25 overs seen though, and the bowlers a bit tired, it
gives them a fair shot of letting SRT do his thing.

It remains to be seen if he can do it consistently enough, though.  And I
guess that is why Ambrish--rightly so, imo--calls him a mixed bag.  He is
not a specialist opener, he is not consistent, but he has shown that he
*can* do the job.  At least he shows some regard for application.

--
Shripathi Kamath

--
stay cool,
Spaceman Spiff

Mister jailer go away now, don't tell me no lies,
Mister jailer go away, don't tell me no lies,
When the train's going down, she's rollin' down the line.

--
Shripathi Kamath