The Official Bharat Army Thread

[Doink]

correct decision! Pathan needs it. would have been better if sehwag was sent back too! he deserves it. bring on gambhir, uthappa and dhawan!

[Colourful Chaddi]

If I was India I would bring back Akash Chopra, he looked very good for a couple of series he played in and was impressive against the Australians last time we toured there. He is very good at taking the shine of the ball and will give India solidity at the top of the order, I expect him to be more solid than Sehwag, who is a walking wicket these days against the moving ball on seaming picthes.

The other good things about sending Pathan home was that he now knows that his bowling is more important than his batting. I think we must praise the Indian management for giving Pathan the right message of sending him back home, they could have kept him for his batting form but they didn't because they wanted him to bowl not bat. That is a good sign for Pathan in my opinon, he knows that he can only get in the team because of his bowling, now he can concentrate 100% on his bowling, when before he was trying to improve both his bowling and batting.

[Doink]

Chopra is amongst runs these days and he is trying to get back into the team. I think it will be Gambhir who will replace Jaffer very soon. Like it or not, they will give Sehwag more time...

[Tendlya]

Like it or not, they will give Sehwag more time

I too have a strong feeling that sehwag would be given more time. I dont like it. Here is someone who has taken his position for granted without making any sizeable contributions. I pity pathan.He did a better job with the bat than sehwag.

[Colourful Chaddi]

Originally Posted by Tendlya

I too have a strong feeling that sehwag would be given more time. I dont like it. Here is someone who has taken his position for granted without making any sizeable contributions.

In theory Sehwag should be dropped because at the moment he is likely to fail against the South African pacers on seaming pitches, but I don't think he will be dropped by the Indian team management- there are a few reasons for this.

First of all he is having trouble with his technique, he doesn't seem to play the moving ball as well as he used to. Many people say that he is a flat-track bully but these people are wrong- anybody that has followed Indian cricket for the past few years can tell you tell Sehwag early in his career did play the moving ball very well, the evidence is the 100 in scored on debut against South Africa batting at number six. He also scored a century against England in England opening in conditions which were ideal for moving the cricket ball. Im sure there are more innings where he has scored big when the conditions were ideal for swing/seam bowling.

The other reason is that when Sehwag 'gets in' he scores his runs fast and big- most of his century have been big. The Indian team managment are hoping he 'gets in' atleast once. If Sehwag can get past the new Kookaburra ball I am sure he can make a big score.

Here are his batting figures from his last 5 games, starting with the West Indies tour:

                     Mat    I  NO  Runs HS1  HS2  HS3     Ave 100  50   0
filtered               5    9   0   394 180   65   41   43.77   1   1   1

His figures don't look that bad, an average of 43 isn't bad at all. The problem is that he is getting dismissed too early and exposing the new ball to India's middle order. I think the only solution to this matter is to move Sehwag down the order where he is most likely to play against the older ball which is likely to move less.

Originally Posted by Tendlya

I pity pathan.He did a better job with the bat than sehwag.

Don't pity Pathan Tendlya, I think the decision to send him home was right. What message would we be giving to Pathan if we kept him int he team because of his batting? I think it would be the wrong message- India need him to reach his potential as India's best seam/swing bowler since Kapil Dev. He cannot reach that if his bowling is out of form. I would rather see Pathan taking wickets, if he gets runs its only a bonus- he should be in the side to take wickets nothing else.

[Tendlya]

Many people say that he is a flat-track bully but these people are wrong
Agreed.There was this valiant knock on the opening day at MCG boxing day test match in 2003.Awesome innings.But,One cannot live in past glory.Have fiath.Give chance..but for how long

If Sehwag can get past the new Kookaburra ball I am sure he can make a big score.
The sad part has been that he has made no attempts to change the way he plays ever since he knew himself that he has been struggling.Being more cautious or trying to spend some time. Same shots.same dismissal.same behaviour

The problem is that he is getting dismissed too early and exposing the new ball to India's middle order.
I think the only solution to this matter is to move Sehwag down the order
This is a very good suggestion actually.One of the innings you mentioned, the century he scored against SA in SA was i guess when he came down the order.He and sachin both scored centuries back in 2001 i guess when we last toured SA.Indian team management should have tried this.Dravid and jaffer opening.

Don't pity Pathan Tendlya I would rather see Pathan taking wickets, if he gets runs its only a bonus
This was what imran khan warned us back then. i meant i feel sorry for Pathan when compared to viru

[Colourful Chaddi]

Originally Posted by Tendlya

The sad part has been that he has made no attempts to change the way he plays ever since he knew himself that he has been struggling.Being more cautious or trying to spend some time. Same shots.same dismissal.same behaviour

You are corrent Tendlya, Sehwag does need to change his approach to batting, he can't play the same way as he did before, every batsman needs to change the way he bats if runs are not coming- for example Tendulkar was out of form against on the Australian tour in 2003, to get back into the runs he took away the drive shot, he didn't play a single drive shot and was rewarded with his then highest Test score of 241 not out.

Sehwag needs to learn from his guru Tendulkar, he needs to change his approach to batting. Before people used to say that Sehwag would struggle because he didn't move his feet- but it was never a problem for him as he would still score runs with his brilliant hand-eye coordination. But now he has aged and his hand-eye coordination is no longer as good as it used to be- so he definatly needs to change.

If he doesn't give us a solid showing in the 3rd Test against South Africa then I think we should demote him down the order or even drop him for a more solid opener- Akash Chopra.

[Tendlya]

If he doesn't give us a solid showing in the 3rd Test against South Africa then I think we should demote him down the order

am glad they pushed him down the order.Now the stage is well set. No pressure on him to give a good start.New ball is still around though.If laxman and sachin can negotiate some overs..we can see some good hits from viru and dada.especially saurav who usually fancies himself against left arm spinners.expecting some good hits off harris

[ll0OoO0ll]

Billionaire Virgin business group boss Richard Branson has offerred to sponsor the indian cricket team currently reeling after a string of tournament defeats.
However, the Board of control of cricket in inida BCCI has polietely refused the generous multi-million pound offer by the cricket-mad magnet.
As one of the board official snapped: "We can't have a VIRGIN written on our shirts, when we're getting screwed in every match" !

[Speedboy Salesman]

Originally Posted by ll0OoO0ll

Billionaire Virgin business group boss Richard Branson has offerred to sponsor the indian cricket team currently reeling after a string of tournament defeats.
However, the Board of control of cricket in inida BCCI has polietely refused the generous multi-million pound offer by the cricket-mad magnet.
As one of the board official snapped: "We can't have a VIRGIN written on our shirts, when we're getting screwed in every match" !

That's a funny joke! Laugh out loud funny.