[AZT]

Originally Posted by harry10

IPL is now a brand which BCCI won't dilute, they don't care about franchise or players, only their brand so they will decide accordingly.

Almost every franchise owner is politically connected so this isnt exactly a bastion of ethics. I get your point, but in general, franchisees will always get a level of protection no player can dream off. Even the 2 new teams will have had a lot of backroom discussions with BCCI chiefs and even if Lucknow did poach 2 players, the franchise will be safe but the players may get penalized.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by harry10

...even a 10 year old can tell Rahane is past his sell by date since a long time and is a free loader blocking a worthy place of a youngster now....And by the way serious fans are quite knowledgeable as well. Don't need to play 50 tests to understand who should be in team and who not.

The point wasn't about fans not being knowledgeable, a lot certainly are, or about Rahane needing to be dropped. It's about who a newspaper gives space to. A national newspaper is expected to quote expert opinions in their articles, not random fans (or 10-year olds ) however correct their opinion on one topic may happen to be. (The space for that is online forums.) And surely there are ex-players with more than 4 and 8 Test experiences that have expressed their opinions and would be more credible sources for an article in a national newspaper.

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

By that logic, we should not be reading opinion pieces by respected sports journalists, just because they have not played international cricket!

Fair point about good sports journalists. I too would give their opinions a lot of weight.


Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to defend Rahane. Would be tragic if Shreyas Iyer gets dropped to retain Rahane once Kohli returns to the team. The only point I'm trying to make is about who a national newspaper chooses to quote. And that particular article seems to be just making news out of nothing at all, a tweet from a former player.

(And the 'minimum 50 Tests' thing was in jest!)

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by am1m

It's one thing for clueless people like me who won't even make it to the neighborhood gully cricket team to take shots at current cricketers in the anonymity of an online forum. No one is really going to take me seriously. But why do national newspapers carry opinions of ex-cricketers who haven't even played anywhere near the number of Tests that the people they are targeting have?! A lot of people read that.

Like the cut-off for statistical purposes, there should be a cut-off too for ex-players who pass off as authoritative sources in newspapers- should have played a minimum of 50 international Tests!

By that logic, we should not be reading opinion pieces by respected sports journalists, just because they have not played international cricket!
I would any day attach more importance to the insight of an ashok Mankad, who never played for india, but is an acknowledged cricketing mind, than even something said by sachin tendulkar.
Back to this, ignore for a moment that it's Dodds Ganesh saying it and let's evaluate the statement on its merit, he is absolutely spot on. It's this holy cow system of cricket in this country where a few elites are above selection concerns while the rung below them still have to depend on the graces of the powers that be.
The fact that even a Rahul Dravid is trying to defend the indefensible which shows the state of affairs

[NPV]

From what I read online, it looks like Pujara will be dropped ? Rahane is the luckiest player indeed!

At least this will be better than dropping Mayank and asking Pujara to open

[ValarMorghulis]

Apparently Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma & Ravinder Jadeja have all been ruled out due to injuries.

Siraj might get a chance.

[mazda4life]

Tough call taken dropping Rahane. Looking forward to the match , hope rains stays away.

[Eddy]

Very convenient injury to Rahane. Now it will be easier to select him for the SA tour. After all, he was injured not dropped.

[VWAllstar]

Kohli & Siraj to replace the 'injured' Rahane & Ishant Sharma. There is no ready replacement for Jadeja. Looking at the conditions they may be tempted to play another seamer (will miss Bhuvi in such conditions)
Probable Playing XI:
Gill
Mayank
Pujara
Kohli
Shreyas
Ashwin
Saha
Axar
Siraj
Umesh
Prasidh

[NPV]

A good opening partnership was in progress, first 50+ run stand in more than a decade at home. Then, boom! Pujara and Kohli (unlucky) gone for ducks

Originally Posted by Eddy

Very convenient injury to Rahane. Now it will be easier to select him for the SA tour. After all, he was injured not dropped.

Another perspective could be that Dravid had his way but sugar coated it saying it was an injury.

[kavensri]

I have observed this in the recent times. When an senior player needs to get dropped, he 'gets injured' on the day of the match. Why don't they have the guts to come out and declare that the player has been dropped?

[harry10]

Tight slap from Mayank for so called experts who wanted to drop him for Rahane. Especially VVS as an expert is absolutely rubbish with his takes.

Gill needs to convert these starts. If he can't make 100 in India what he gonna do in SENA countries. Early days so I hope he learns.

Pujara played through the wrong line. His time is also almost up unless he gets back to his grinding ways.

Kohli was so unlucky. I believe it hit bat first, 3rd umpire didn't. Happens. No need to outcry as umpiring has been rubbish off late and it's for both teams.

Saha justified his place. Is confirmed back up keeper for pant on SA tour. I hope they take Bharat too for experience.

We bat till Siraj this game so I expect atleast another 130-150 more runs. Moment we cross 300 NZ will be out of the game. The way pitch is assisting spin fourth innings will be a disaster.

[harry10]

TOI is reporting Rohit Sharma will be VC for SA. It means Rahane will be dropped. Pujara may get another series as we need someone experienced at 3 in SA. I wish we had someone young to be named as VC who can take captaincy from Kohli in few years. Iyer is too new so maybe when he is settled he can be a good candidate.

[Bibendum90949]

Ajaz patel takes 10 wickets in an innings. Third ever bowler to do so after Jim Laker and Kumble.

[hondafanboy]

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

Ajaz patel takes 10 wickets in an innings. Third ever bowler to do so after Jim Laker and Kumble.

Quite an amazing feat . Good for him.

[SoumenD]

I wasn’t following the match but saw the news feed mentioning Ajaz Patel’s 10 wicket haul. Somehow thought he took it against NZ for India only to realise am completely out of touch for this series.

Good for the lad but doesn’t look like he would be able to celebrate it much. At 40/6 NZ looks clueless. I don’t think India would need to bat for 2nd innings hereon. But then would love to see some solid fight from the Black-caps.