Somehow, the big win at Kochi yesterday fails to inspire me. I had said in an earlier post that we should lose the series either 5-1 or 6-0 and don't get me wrong - I'm not unpatriotic or anything like that - that's what I thought would happen and more importantly be beneficial for the team in the long run. Otherwise,we will feel that all is well and never try to get to the base of the real problems that are plaguing this team. For eg: The alarming decline of Sourav Ganguly and to a lesser extent that of Sachin Tendulkar as an ODI batsman, the inability of the lower order to smash away in the slog overs and the inconsistency of the seamers - not to mention a captain who seems to have run out of new innovations and strategies.
On a day like yesterday, Dravid and Sehwag (the 2 saviours of this famed batting line-up) may fire, the bowlers will bowl inspired spells and the opposition will make the task easier by throwing wickets - but that need not happen all the time. Anyway, I must say yesterday was a real good effort by Dravid and Sehwag with the bat and all the bowlers Tendulkar in particular.
I think Dhoni is extrenely over-hyped and though he has a reputation as a big hitter, I don't think he looks real good enough - let's see if he proves me wrong - but I think Karthik is beter - also, I loved the way Sehwag took matters in his own hands as far as the presentation ceremony was concerned.
Btw what is this stupid idea of playing a day game in April in Kochi in inhuman conditions ??? The sixing sevening officials of the BCCI clearly have no concern about the players, anyway a lot has been said about it in the media, so I'll leave it at that. I hope the matches against Sri Lanka are played in places like Dharamshala.
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This article mentions some alarming problem about the decline of SRT as ODI batsman; as well as Dravid and Sehwag being saviors of our batting lineup. Well, here are some observations of india's ODI performance since WC-03 and SRT factor:
SRT present:
1. WC03 - runner ups, lost to aussies in finals (SRT man of the series)
2. TVS cup (Aus, NZ) - runner ups, lost to aussies in finals (SRT man of the series)
3. VB series (Aus, Zim) - runner ups, lost to aussies in finals
4. vs Pak - won 3-2
5. Asia Cup (SL, Pak, BD) - runner ups, lost to SL on Premadasa where toss is more important than usual (SRT playing lone battle in finals)
6. Platinum Jubilee (single match) - lost to Pak
7. vs BD - won 2-1 (SRT didnt play in the match we lost, savior Sehwag was there)
SRT absent:
1. TVS cup (BD, SA) - joint winners due to rain
2. Videocon Cup (Aus, Pak) - failed to win even a single match
3. Natwest Challenge (Eng) - failed to win even a single consequential match
4. ICC Champions trophy - failed to win even a single consequential match
The records speak for themselves. In spite of this record, the author feels that Dravid and Sehwag are saviors of this famed batting line-up. Are these saviors effective only when SRT is there? Anybody would agree that SRT is not in his best form. And still, the recent history shows that we are still heavily dependent on him. If he is not there, team India SUCKS (even in the presence of so-called-saviors). If he is there, at least we dont face outright humiliation of losing "important" matches to "inferior" teams. (We lost only to aussies; And we lost against SL in Asia Cup final coz we had to chase under lights. Even all-mighty aussies have failed to do so at Premadasa).
As far as the decline of SRT is concerned, thats a subjective argument. (1955 runs in 40 matches at an average of 51.44 with 4 100's and 13 50's is "acceptable" in a bad patch). But the claim that Sehwag and Dravid are saviors and hence are more important than SRT is ridiculous. So my open challenge to Gaurav: Prove your point by giving logical arguments and facts; don't make biased, random, baseless statements.
Well, bu SRTs own lofty standards this is surely a gradual decline - if his peak was Sharjah 98, he would be at best at about 40% of his peak right now. More than the stats what I care about is the "look in his eyes" which says "OK - I am going to destroy you today" I saw that look all the time during the Aussie series in 1998, I saw that look in Nairobi in 2000 and Centurion in 2003, maybe there were glimpses of that look at the Wankhede in 2004, that look is certainly getting rarer and rarer by the day.
As for the tag of saviors, they were certainly the saviors in the Test series weren't they ?? Remove Sehwag's 544 runs and Dravid's 333 and where did India stand ???
Stats can be turned around anyway to suit oneself - don't give me all this rubbish like 1955 runs in 40 matches and all that crap which btw I dont even know what you are talking about
(snip)
As for the tag of saviors, they were certainly the saviors in the Test series weren't they ??
(/snip)
who the hell is arguing over that?
(snip)
don't give me all this rubbish like 1955 runs in 40 matches and all that crap which btw I dont even know what you are talking about
(/snip)
thats his record in the decline
Team India’s two few good men
FAISAL SHARIFF
Posted online: Friday, April 08, 2005 at 0102 hours IST
NEW DELHI, APRIL 7: India’s runaway 2-0 lead in the six-match one-day series against Pakistan has been built largely on the contributions of Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid — and, latterly, the pyrotechnics of MS Dhoni.
That’s the good news. The bad news, obviously, is the flip side: the other frontline batsman are yet to perform.
Between them, Tendulkar and Ganguly have scored 23,426 runs in ODIs; in the two matches of this current series, they’ve together scored 15 runs.
Yuvraj and Kaif, too, are on a sticky wicket; they’ve together scored just 38 runs in the two matches.
How important is Sehwag? In the last five ODIs, he’s scored 21 pc of the team’s total runs; on the one occasion he was out for a duck, against Bangladesh, India lost the match. In 12 previous ODI innings, when he had just one substantial knock — a half-century against Sri Lanka — the team lost seven matches, every one-day tournament and every series.
But even Sehwag’s contribution pales against Dravid’s. Even when Sehwag was struggling with the bat before his current rich vein of form, Dravid had been scoring consistently for India. In the last 23 matches he has scored 904 runs at an average of 47.5 — 15.9 pc of the team’s total. In fact, in the last 10 ODIs, Dravid has had an astonishing run with five 50s and a hundred and 22 pc of the team’s total runs.
The others? Even though each player has got a fifty to show through this lean phase in ODIs, which began with the Asia Cup in July 2004, a collective effort has been elusive. The same team that had a potential match-winner for every situation is today too dependent on Sehwag and Dravid to fire.
There is a lesson to be learnt by India here from the drawn Test series against Pakistan.
In the six innings against Pakistan, Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir strung opening partnerships of 113, 85, 80, 23, 98 and 87, with Sehwag doing the bulk of the scoring.
Yet India only managed to draw the series. The greatness of a team is measured by how they anticipate a problem and react before it occurs. Australia do that brilliantly well; it’s time India followed suit.
JJ Okocha
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