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I said it earlier and will repeat myself again. The problem with Indian team is not with batting. Its the bowling. We are substandard (and it doesnt help we are poor in the field as well), frankly quite wretched, bowling side and we win things only when batting clicks.

Even on this spinner friendly track (where a certain full Monty took 11 wickets - by the way why was he not the man of the match?) our spinners were duds. All of them.

Harbhajan transformed himself from a bowler to a batsman and finally now he is nothing. Mr. Ashwin is in serious danger of emulating him!

And finally, whenever India lose people start taking potshots at Sachin! Hilarious!

Well, its akin to people turning to God during trouble :)

Very true!!

This has been the case most of the times. During the recent India-Newzealand series, the so called 'experts' of the media were busy discussing Sachin's dismissals. There's no denying that he's past his prime. It's quite obvious in his scores in 2012. Is there a worthy successor to his place? No. Simply because the selection committee was not brave enough to leave him out of the side.

We can discuss/argue about Sachin. But his retirement decision will be taken by himself. I wouldn't be surprised if he retires by the end of this series. India has a long season still & 1 good century from Sachin will make people forget about the past.

As it has been mentioned by someone else in the previous posts, Rohit Sharma can be tried at Sachin's place in the test batting order. I agree that he hasn't utilized his chances, but he has a good technique which will come in handy especially overseas. The sooner he comes into the team, the better it will be for Team India because there is a series in South Africa in 2013. Some valuable runs under the belt & it can help boost his confidence.

Dhoni as a captain, is losing his charm. He seems to be a shadow of his past. Not even one significant contribution in the past 4 innings & that too on turning tracks provided at his request :-P. Let's see what's in store for us in the Third test.

EDIT: Gautam Gambhir can be a good contender for the captain of the test side. He has the temperament. It would also reduce Dhoni's workload. Also, he usually performs when the chips are down. Case in point, WC2011 final & 2nd test of this series.

Well Of course Sachin has the prerogative to decide when to retire but the Selectors and the Captain should have the courage to drop him if they feel he is useless!

But would dropping Sachin magically make India No. 1 side in test cricket??? Are we gonna start winning games? Thats pointless if you ask me and wrong prognosis. Test Cricket is always about taking 20 wickets! Its a bowlers game. Can we really really say with confidence that our bowling attack has the ability to consistently take 20 wickets?

Till India can find two world class bowlers such debacles will keep happening. But I can tell you India is never gonna find two world class bowlers. This country ever produced only one world class bowler (Kumble) and that was long back. The utterly idiotic IPL has made sure that there will not be great bowlers anymore. Now young players want to become mediocre allrounders so that they are more attractive to play in the league. Why would any young player want to toil hard to become a mere bowler (or a worker as Kapil so succinctly put recently)? Its simply much more lucrative to learn to throw the bat around a bit rather than perfecting that bowling technique!

What an utterly humiliating loss!

For all the nonsense we did about trying to ensure spin friendly conditions, to lose in this manner is pretty shameless, specially to a side which is notorious to soil it's pants on the slightest hint of turn!

So we can't play at home, can't play abroad! Can't play spin, can't play pace. Can't bowl spin, can't bowl pace! Wow!

Pujara has been the only silver lining in this crap storm!

Dropping Sachin wouldn't make India No.1 all of a sudden.

I agree with your point of view completely. Test cricket is indeed a bowlers game. Zaheer isn't getting any younger. I have some hopes in Umesh Yadav as he has got pace. He'll need to play a lot more matches to better his skills. Indian bowlers start their careers with decent pace. But after some years they cut down on it citing injury concerns. Examples are Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel. The pitches in India are also to be blamed. The flat tracks more often than not, help in scoring runs rather than taking wickets.

Yup! Only thing possible now is to prepare absolutely dead pitches with no pace and no spin, so that both sides bat for 2 days each, score centuries a plenty and then draw the match! Win-win!!

I only wish to make one point. I hope Sachin has the good sense to retire on a high, before he is kicked out of the team.

I second this. About time too, don't you think?

Its well past time that Sachin should have retired. I expected it to come after India won the world cup.

Not sure, if he will retire until the 2015 world cup in the hope of retaining it.

Dont know about the 2015 World cup. But i have a strong feeling that he wont retire until Kallis retires :D

But he is not on a high right now. I am sure you dont mean that Sachin waits for another career high and then retires, because that can take forever!!

Not at all:D. I meant he should have retired after winning the world cup or maybe when he completed his '100th' ton. He himself had told in an interview that winning the world cup was his best moment in his career.

I started watching cricket in the late 80s and early 90s. By that time the great kapil dev had been relegated to an entity whome the team was dragging along so that he could complete his record. Used to get confused when people used to call him a great. Later on when I started following the game seriously, I realised why exactly he was a great all rounder. I just happened to start following cricket at a time when he was at his twilight.

Never understood why great players undermine their greatness by dragging along even when past their prime. Never really thought Sachin would reach that stage. Unfortunately I was proven wrong.

Our Team needs a overhaul, the players are great on paper and have also proven it in the past. Since the World Cup win in 2011, we have not played as a Unit, as a Team. More so after the ad, wherein Dhoni was lampooning Harbhanjan. The captain has been sulking and the decline of his skills is a reflection of it.

And that is malaise in the leadership, Laxman's huffed retirement is a testament to the slippery slope the team is on. The more the game is treated a elixir of money. We, Fans should accept that the team will not put up a fight. Nor we shall ever see our team fight like the South Africans did in the just concluded test.