Sport Today

Ankola has been called up as a reinforcement, but not as a replacement
 for Sidhu. Ankola is at present playing league cricket in ENG.

  Sidhu is suppose to stick with his decision to quit the tour, after Patil
 failed to convince Sidhu to carry on. Trouble had been brewing upon sometime
 now, since Sidhu had been moved up and down the batting order #3 to opener &
 vice versa, which came to a head when he was dropped for the 3rd ODI.
 However Sidhu may play again for IND if AZZA were to be removed
 from the captaincy, since Sidhu is supposed to have problems from THREE
 members of the Team: one, I think is AZZA, other is TENDULKAR , don't know
 the 3rd one. CARE to guess??...(exclude Patil)

 These kind of TUSSLES between the SENIOR players have been quite common in
 the IND teams so far, and to put it mildly are DISGUSTING, ATROCIOUS and
 very detrimental to the INDIAN Cricket. The problem is that it has persisted
 for a very long time and nothing has been done about it. The board itself
 is made of ex players and some beuracrats who themselves have been or are
 selfish and politically minded. Hence is difficult to expect any intelligent
 or useful decisions.

 The motto of the Mangement (consisting of captain & his catorie) is that
 if you do not fit with their narrow mindedness, then you should not be in
 the team no matter how good you are. eg Kambli, Prabhakar's exclusion &
 now the Sidhu fiasco. The IND THINK-TANK has amply demonstrated that they
 are devoid of brains (wonder what they think with!)eg ***decisions in
 the WC96, team selection for ENG short of good batsman, lots of slow bowlers
 during 1st half of ENG summer, not enuff seam bowlers etc. Also in the
 3rd ODI after winning the toss AZZA elected to bat, when it was overcast
 and rain was forecasted, hence India had to play under difficult conditions.

 Enuff is enough

 Mahesh

[deleted]

[deleted]

I missed the first over of the match (traffic problems) and when I saw
India batting I naturally assumed that England had won the toss and put
India in to bat ! I did not ask anybody who had won the toss since it
seemed so obvious to me.

I had previously generally ignored all the "get rid of Azza" posts as
cricketing politics (not religious because - I mean - you guys play
cricket ... right?) but this would call into doubt his AND his advisors
(Tendulkar and the manager) leadership qualifications. I'm frankly
very surprised that they elected to bat - both Azhar and Tendulkar had
played county cricket in England and should have known what to expect.

So, iff (if and only if) you can find someone with more wisdom and who
could hold his place in the team on cricketing ability, ditch Azhar as
captain. (Not as a batsman though - he is still ***y good).

Kamal.

It was a good thing that Ankola has been called. I felt he deserved to be
in the team in the first place. A case of justice delayed but not
denied.

I heard rumours that over the last couple of years, Sidhu's "injuries"
were really the creation of the team management. Whenever they wanted
to drop him they resorted to the story that he was unfit. Odd, if this
is really true.

Mahesh, I don't understand why you make such harsh comments about
the decision to drop Kambli and Prabhakar. Prabhakar was just dropped
for the match. The decision to retire was his own, perhaps with
an eye on a political career. Kambli.. well, we don't know what went
on in the dressing room, but unofficial reports say his late nights
and drunken misadventures were disturbing the rest of the team. Reason
enough to drop him. The only odd thing was that they never said that
he was dropped for disciplinary reasons.

I agree that the board goofed up on the team selection for the tour.
But as for the politically motivated bit, well, I don't know.

BY the WAY, YOUR capsLOCK kEY seems TO get STUCK often :-)

Cheers,

Anand.

: Ankola has been called up as a reinforcement, but not as a replacement
:  for Sidhu. Ankola is at present playing league cricket in ENG.

:   Sidhu is suppose to stick with his decision to quit the tour, after Patil
:  failed to convince Sidhu to carry on. Trouble had been brewing upon sometime
:  now, since Sidhu had been moved up and down the batting order #3 to opener &
:  vice versa, which came to a head when he was dropped for the 3rd ODI.
:  However Sidhu may play again for IND if AZZA were to be removed
:  from the captaincy, since Sidhu is supposed to have problems from THREE
:  members of the Team: one, I think is AZZA, other is TENDULKAR , don't know
:  the 3rd one. CARE to guess??...(exclude Patil)

:  These kind of TUSSLES between the SENIOR players have been quite common in
:  the IND teams so far, and to put it mildly are DISGUSTING, ATROCIOUS and
:  very detrimental to the INDIAN Cricket. The problem is that it has persisted
:  for a very long time and nothing has been done about it. The board itself
:  is made of ex players and some beuracrats who themselves have been or are
:  selfish and politically minded. Hence is difficult to expect any intelligent
:  or useful decisions.

:  The motto of the Mangement (consisting of captain & his catorie) is that
:  if you do not fit with their narrow mindedness, then you should not be in
:  the team no matter how good you are. eg Kambli, Prabhakar's exclusion &
:  now the Sidhu fiasco. The IND THINK-TANK has amply demonstrated that they
:  are devoid of brains (wonder what they think with!)eg ***decisions in
:  the WC96, team selection for ENG short of good batsman, lots of slow bowlers
:  during 1st half of ENG summer, not enuff seam bowlers etc. Also in the
:  3rd ODI after winning the toss AZZA elected to bat, when it was overcast
:  and rain was forecasted, hence India had to play under difficult conditions.

:  Enuff is enough

:  Mahesh