Indians love their cricket and know who is who in major teams.
Frankly in your current team the ones I can recognise are Inzi, Razzak, Latif, Shoaib. There is no dashing or individualistic player apart from Shoaib maybe. He’s got entertainment value like Shewag.
Steve Waugh is probably the most popular foreign player in India. On the whole the Aussies are seen as tremendous blokes on and off the field.
Karina ji - You are so right. Off the field, Aussies really are great folks. Most of them are very respectful, very friendly and, down to earth. That is another reason why players like Gilchrist, Hayden, Bevan, Waugh Brothers, Warnie,Mcgrath are very popular in India.
^ Asif- I myself adore them. I would rather have India play Aus and lose then see India win easily against Zimbabwe or B'desh. They give our players better coaching then anyone else can.
Have you noticed how the Aussies are becoming Indo-philes? After Waugh it's Hayden, Gilly and Ponting to roam the red light areas and orphanages. Last week I think it was Hayden who wrote a very moving piece on how winning and losing becomes immaterial in India when kids who don't have anything still smile as if they have everything. :)
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Some1: *
Kaif did not do anything special in the recent past, but he should have been given an extended run (at the top of the order) to prove himself as a batsman. In any case, he is an asset to the team as a fielder. Having said that, the Patel kid who is there in the team because of the TINA(there's no alternative) factor is whose selection agonizes me most.
[/QUOTE]
Kaif will probly be a regular in the ODI squad if nothing else as the 12th man specialist.
The last ODi there was a tactical error as Kaif played instead of Badani, who was in fine form.
As for the alternate keepers, three names come to mind apart from Mongia, two former India players, Ajay Ratra and MSK Prasad, both were decent in their technique and I feel MSK Prasad had good batting technique, having even opened once. Ratra has a test century, albeit on a dead west indies track. Dont understand why they want to push Partiv in now esp as he is only 18? The one they missed out on is the Karnataka keeper Tilak Naidu, who is back with quite an impressive domestic record, and actually would make a decent one-day bat cause he has the habit of finding the gaps for singles and twos. But of course the selection committee lives in a slightly different universe.
As far as Ramesh goes, it is very simple, on low bounce pitches, he should be the automatic choice, since he is an excellent driver of the ball, but that man has no footwork, and if they take him to Australia, he will be mincemeat. I dunno, what is the problem with Bangar, that man has heart....He has limited technique but makes maximum out of it. Tell him to go out there and last for the whole day and he will toil at it, not a pretty sight, but effective. In fact, he did the job in England.
The opener they should have persisted with was SS Das, who looked very promising but lost confidence in between.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Some1: *
One interesting name is of Sadgopan Ramesh. This guy has a lazy elegance about him that most left handers tend to have....but he also has an affinity for balls outside the off-stump something which McGrath & Co. will exploit to the maximum and is also not the quickest between the wickets.
[/QUOTE]
His footwork is pathetic, and if the ball bounces or moves Ramesh is worse than a No 11 bat.
BTW, the other elegant left hander who had a similar career and similar problems recently was WV Raman, who was an amazing timer of the ball, but had the footwork of a tapdancing gorrilla...
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Toddytapper: *
The opener they should have persisted with was SS Das, who looked very promising but lost confidence in between.
[/QUOTE]
Thank you for reminding me of SS Das. Whatever happened to him ? I thought he was a good batsman. Surely, he should have been considered in an opener-starved batting lineup.
Also, SS Das is much better than Sadgopan Ramesh in the footwork department.
Indian selectors pick a GOAL KEEPER (to keep wickets) for Australian tour
OK the final list of 16 is announced........
And guess who is in it... DEEP DASGUPTA, who Robin Singh thinks is a Goal Keeper behind the wickets.
Murli Karthik, the only Indian bowler to have troubled the Aussies in the current series, has been jettisioned after being picked up in the list of probables. Sadgopan Ramesh (who, as someone pointed out here, has zero footwork) is all set to face McGrath & Co.(i.e. for a maximum of six balls in each match/innings).
As if that was not agonizing enough, Ajit Agarkar finds a place too. Someone in the selection committee must be in love with this guy. I still dont know what purpose he serves in the team.
The final List :
**
Sourav Ganguly
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
Akash Chopra
V V S Laxman
Parthiv Patel
Deep Dasgupta
S Ramesh
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh
Ashish Nehra
Ifran Pathan
Zaheer Khan
Ajit Agarkar
Aavishkar Salvi.
**
Final comment : I see no hope (none,zilch) for Indians in Aussieland.
I thought nobody listens to Robin Singh or is it other way?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Changez_like: *
I thought nobody listens to Robin Singh or is it other way?
[/QUOTE]
It is not important that Robin Singh said it.....everyone knows about Deep Dasgupta's talents behind the stumps.
^
Someone...going by the numbers...it seems like Agarkar has been bowling well and has got at least a couple of wicket in every game he has played...and that too top order wickets, not tail enders. Has he been just lucky to get the wickets? I dont know but I think he has improved his game and thus deserves to be given a full chance.
Akash Chopra made it to the squad - great :k: