[suman]

Originally Posted by safari_lover

And what if you take into consideration how many of these innings/averages have actually contributed to the Team's cause

Now that will start off another major debate - look at our little master, how many of his innings have contributed to the team cause? Is anyone dropping him till he decides to step down himself?

We were talking about a straight comparison post the Captaincy between Dravid & Ganguly - why bring in other factors?

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Then why did Veng & Co did not give Dravid a chance in Challenger series. Were they too afraid that he may come back and prove himself? Anyways, he is playing in Ranji now. Let's see.

You seem to see everything in a suspicious manner! Even Sourav & Sachin were not included in Challenger series!

It is plain simple, Dravid's style of batting doesn't suit ODIs, he is good for Test cricket!
He hanged on in ODIs so far coz he was Captain till recently and previously as Wicket-keeper batsman when Sourav was Captain!

Vengy took the right & bold decision!

[snaronikar]

Its not bold.....its stupid decision. Let us see whether they will omit him during aussies series down under.

[thefreak]

Yeah true! I dont think that India can do without Dravid in the series down under. A player of that class would be invaluable in the hostile conditions there.

[pmbabu]

Originally Posted by finneyp

You seem to see everything in a suspicious manner! Even Sourav & Sachin were not included in Challenger series!

But Sourav and Sachin were not dropped out of ODI team!

It is plain simple, Dravid's style of batting doesn't suit ODIs, he is good for Test cricket!

Can you support that with statistics from say 2007?

He hanged on in ODIs so far coz he was Captain till recently and previously as Wicket-keeper batsman when Sourav was Captain!

Yup. He lost his place because he didn't hang on to one position. He could bat at any place (from Opening to probably No.7) and could keep too. He didn't "own" any position in the batting order. Unlike Sachin who refuses to bat anywhere else (and our selectors accept such behavior) and Sourav who cannot bat anywhere else.

Vengy took the right & bold decision!

Sorry, but here we call it a stupid decision. What else can you call a selector who names 6 openers in a 15 member squad?

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by finneyp

It is plain simple, Dravid's style of batting doesn't suit ODIs, he is good for Test cricket!

He has scored 10000+ runs in ODI's and you still comment on his style Very strange.

[khaadu75]

finneyp @ Not sounding rude but hwo much cricket do you actually watch .... stats downloaded from the net don't ever tell the real story and cud be misleading . Stats don't tell how Sachin was given out wrongly 3-4 times in ones series down under , or how many catches were dropped when Ponting made a big hundred , etc etc .

Did you watch dravid play ... do you know whats a good technique and whats not ... do you believe that a captain is responsible for every win and loss that the team experiences ?? Lets not just come in here and post what some weird *** reporter who probably doesn't know teh difference between cricket and baseball writes in some weird *** newspaper just becoz the reporter knows how to spice everything up and you start to think that he is so right .

Dravid is a class act and very shortly India will need him as he still is the most solid guy when you are 2 wickets down in the first 2 overs . Just coz he had a bad series against Aus doesn't mean you drop him and then have him re join when you in trouble in the series trailing by 2-0 or when you need him to face the aussie pace attack down under . This Bombay lobby in the BCCI is back to work and just when we thought we were over the regional politics in the selection process or the personal ego battles .

Bangy guys should go and raze down Mumbai .... ( take it as a joke -- specially the lil kids with the natura powers bestowed upon them )

cheers

[Nitin]

As much as I feel sorry for Dravid,I'd like to see new talent in the team. Praveen Kumar seems to be a promising youngster,and with others like Rohit Sharma,the team might be a strong one.
Dravid,no doubt,has to be back on the Test Team.His technique is superb,albeit he works at a slow pace in ODIs.
None-the-less,India still needs 'Jam Jam Jammy'.

[normally_crazy]

Guys,

No one wants to stand up against the stupid decision of getting Sehwag in ?

I cannot understand how Sehwag is there in the team ? on performance ? I am shocked

[diabloo]

Its a gamble - he might score a duck or he will be the 1st man to score a double century in ODIs
One thing is certain, he won't waste deliveries for his runs

Note: India can afford this gamble.

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

Guys,

No one wants to stand up against the stupid decision of getting Sehwag in ?

I cannot understand how Sehwag is there in the team ? on performance ? I am shocked

[thefreak]

Just a comment:

We would have been unhappy whatever the team selection would have been

That said, I feel that Dravid should be in. Playing more than two specialist openers in a home series is foolish and here we have four specialist openers (for the one day format Sachin is a specialist opener and so is Saurav, add to that Gambhir and Veeru)

If Sehwag was to be given a chance probably it would have been better if Dada would have been rested.

[pmbabu]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

Guys,

No one wants to stand up against the stupid decision of getting Sehwag in ?

I cannot understand how Sehwag is there in the team ? on performance ? I am shocked

I missed to mention this - this is where the grouse increases! He has done absolutely NOTHING to warrant a place in ODI team. He didn't do much in the T20's and scored all of 85 runs against Green and Red (One of them being 75, the rest of the scores were single digits.)

To compare w/ others, Raina scored 206, Karthik 181, Badrinath 178, Gambhir 155 and so on. Sehwag was 7th in that list of Challenger Trophy top scorers but gets a place ahead of Raina and Karthik.

To top it all, we were not in need of another opener, we already have plenty of them (5 in all excluding him).

Another argument seems to be that Sehwag's record against Pak is good. Doesn't the same argument hold good for Dravid?

[safari_lover]

Moreover Mr. Vengsarkar famously said once that, Sehwag was retained only at Dravid's insistence for the World Cup. Now, there's no Dravid to insist, and Sehwag hasn't done anything great either. Still he finds the place.

[mclaren1885]

Someone please explain to me how the leader of a team that was supposed to take Indian cricket into the next level get dropped after just 6 bad matches?

And all those of you who say, Sachin wanted to only open are forgetting the fact that he agreed to play at Num 4 in the build up to the WC (was it 99 or 03?). Please check your facts, before posting.

As far as Dravids dropping is concerned, its quite evident that there was some politics involved between the Chairman of selectors and Dravid. All you need is to take a harder look into the events over the past few months.

1. Why did Dravid hand in his resignation to Sharad Pawar and not to Vengsarkar?

2. Didn't Dravid and Vengsarkar have a fight over the selection of team members?

[rsjaurr]

This Bombay lobby in the BCCI is back to work and just when we thought we were over the regional politics in the selection process or the personal ego battles .

Your have stated the obvious which we all know and that lobby is working again with Mr.Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri being their spokesman though this time onlt Shastri has spekon and in favour of Vengserker.I can imagine his reaction had Sachin been "rested".I have been watching all cricket matches since post 83WC and this is what i have felt.Same lobby had projected Agarkar as all-rounder when he still had to prove his capability as bowler.

I am always in favour of giving chances to younger players now but Dravid was the best,most honest and only team man of 'big3' and should have been the last of seniors to be dropped/rested.

Having said that i never liked the idea of him being the captain of indian team as i thought we could loose a great batsman who has stiched many test/one days victories for india along with some other players(read.... not Sachin).He was the most consistent Indian batsman from 98 till he was made captain.
After 2 yrs my worst fear had come true and we have lost a great batsman and now its up to him how he rises to this challenge and i hope he can do it.He was no more consistent during his captaincy days.

The only good point Shashtri has said is that at one time only 2 of seniors should be playing and after every 6 games one can be given break.