Print

Please post once and this message will disappear! Introduce yourself, say hello, jump into a discussion...

[deepakb100]

I think GC and Rahul would have already started looking into this when they say that they are looking for a pool of 18-20 players for the World Cup. Instead of looking at a backup for each player let us look at pool of batsmen, bowlers, All-rounder, Wicketkeeper as a  group.

Batsmen

Sachin
Shewag
Rahul
Yuvraj
Kaif
Raina

Let us look at roles they can play and that should also be the factor that should be considered while chooing the other 2 players in the batsmen pool.

Sachin - From now onwards ideal for anchor role
Shewag - Has to be the aggressor always.
Rahul - Anchor
Yuvraj - Ideal number 4 in ODI  who can play both attacking or anchor role.
Kaif - More suited for anchor role may be should swap with Rahul for number 3 position depending on the situation.

We would need at least 2-3 players into this group. How about Venugopal Rao who was in ODI team not long ago, and may be somebody from India under 19. One of them should ideally be an opener, as we should not be in a situation where in we need to send somebody like Dhoni or Rahul to open (which can be used a Strategy but not on permanent basis)


Bowlers
Sreesanth
RP Singh
Munaf Patel
Agarkar
Harbhajan
Ramesh Powar

If couple of players gets injured/poor form from this group then we should look at PC, VRV Singh, Zaheer, Nehra, Balaji in that order.



All-rounder

Irfan Pathan

May be we should look at Gaurva Dhiman the Under 19 lad to see whether he can play the all-rounder role as a backup for Pathan. Also how about JP Yadav who not long ago was in the team. I do not see Agarkar fitting into that role.


Wicket keeper

While Dhoni sits solidly on this, Due to injury if he misses out then what backup we have? Go back to RD for keeping or bring Parthiv Patel?

[m]

Probably we can look at the roles as dasher,accumulator & finisher ......

You need some good toporder bats to kickstart the innings - Sachin,Sehwag,Dhoni,Pathan,
Accumulators/Finishers - Dravid,Kaif,Yuvraj,Raina,Rao,Dhoni
Bowlers/Aggressors - Pathan,Sreesanth,Munaf
Run Chokers - RPS, Agarkar,Powar,Bhajji

Still have to find a backup keeper as good as Dhoni and also find two more batsmen for opening bats

[abhinav]

m: for all my money..and yours..you seriously believe that Agarkar could be a run choker?

 

[m]

m: for all my money..and yours..you seriously believe that Agarkar could be a run choker?

 

Yep ... There is none in the near horizon who can fill up that role.. Zak has drifted away,Balaji & Nehra  yet to recover..

[Vick]

May be we should look at Gaurva Dhiman the Under 19 lad to see whether he can play the all-rounder role as a backup for Pathan. Also how about JP Yadav who not long ago was in the team. I do not see Agarkar fitting into that role.

>>Dhiman's own state team need have that believe in him. The last game he played for them he bowled only one over. Its high time people stop pushing the under 19 kids. Let them play couple of years of first class cricket first.

[keep-it-cool]

No SG here??

[achutank]

no SG? why?

bossmen the tiger is on the prowl. at least he will make one serious attack on the shack.

[deepakb100]

Yes, No SG

If you need SG because he was the Captain who led wonderfully well in 2003 World Cup then I guess we would need to bring back Kapil Dev because he won us the 1983 World Cup. SG was wonderfully to us in 2003 leading from the front. When he is not leading from the front he is an exess bagage for the Team which has been the case from 2004.

I would SG can compete with on 2 players from this team based on these players performances. But let us look at head to head comparison between SG and these players.

Shewag
Has not done well since 2003 World Cup like SG. Bowling has gone down badly.
Fielding is till good in the Outfield and Safe catcher in Outfield and Slips.
Has played few match winning knocks though in this period of 2003-2006 unlike SG who has not played a single match winning knock from 2003 WC in ODI.

Kaif
Has performed well, only got into bad patch in the series against SL, SA, and PAK recently. Before that last year, did considerably well in Tri Series in SL, and ZIM, where even proved his worth in Niumber 3. Safe Catcher, Outstanding fielder, and will save anything from 20-30 runs by his fielding. Definitely anytime worth to gamble with this guy than going back to SG

SG
No match winning hundreads since 2003 WC in ODI. Fielding poor.
Bowling not reliable.
Cannot play finisher role. Cannot also play anchor role like Dravid or Kaif. Used to be good attacking batsmen and hence could have been used at Opening/No 3, but now with age/form that has gone down considerably.

So definitely cannot fit into the scheme of things for 2007 WC.

[achutank]

great except lets discuss this in terms of what can happen in the next four - six months

[keep-it-cool]

Yes, No SG

If you need SG because he was the Captain who led wonderfully well in 2003 World Cup then I guess we would need to bring back Kapil Dev because he won us the 1983 World Cup. SG was wonderfully to us in 2003 leading from the front. When he is not leading from the front he is an exess bagage for the Team which has been the case from 2004.

I would SG can compete with on 2 players from this team based on these players performances. But let us look at head to head comparison between SG and these players.

Shewag
Has not done well since 2003 World Cup like SG. Bowling has gone down badly.
Fielding is till good in the Outfield and Safe catcher in Outfield and Slips.
Has played few match winning knocks though in this period of 2003-2006 unlike SG who has not played a single match winning knock from 2003 WC in ODI.

Kaif
Has performed well, only got into bad patch in the series against SL, SA, and PAK recently. Before that last year, did considerably well in Tri Series in SL, and ZIM, where even proved his worth in Niumber 3. Safe Catcher, Outstanding fielder, and will save anything from 20-30 runs by his fielding. Definitely anytime worth to gamble with this guy than going back to SG

SG
No match winning hundreads since 2003 WC in ODI. Fielding poor.
Bowling not reliable.
Cannot play finisher role. Cannot also play anchor role like Dravid or Kaif. Used to be good attacking batsmen and hence could have been used at Opening/No 3, but now with age/form that has gone down considerably.

So definitely cannot fit into the scheme of things for 2007 WC.

I think this is a bit unfair .. I mean, no hundreds does not mean no match winning innings. In fact, in the third match of the Natwest Trophy against England, SG did come up with a near hundred in a low scoring game before being caught spectacularly by Kirtley in the outfield ... also, he was playing quite well in most matches ... i think the rot set in post the break after the successful tour to Pak ... he never seemed to find his touch back after that

but, I wouldnt rule him out totally for the WC ... if we do not find an adequate back up opener (the spot that GG occupies now), we may have to go back to SG ... provided of course that he gets back to good nick and makes a strong case (and by a strong case I do not mean an odd 80 or 40 in the domestic circuit ... a consistent string of high scores is called for)

so, hope he is not picked for the forthcoming ODIs v/s England, but hope he stays busy and offers an exciting option for the team