Friday, March 30, 2007

Sa(chin), Ra(hul) and Greg

I think Greg's tenure has already been extended secretly - Sorry Sir Viv.The announcement will be public pending the tamasha of World Cup post-mortem report/meeting. On several occasions Greg has stopped short of asking Tendulkar to quit, fearing the public rage - Remember his comment "Sachin's best days are over"?. Sacking Ganguly was one thing but Greg was quick to realize that Sachin is at a different level in India. He quietly "moota kattified" his idea of dropping Sachin and started asking him to be a mentor for the youngsters. Now he has sought his brother's help to achieve what he couldn't dare attempt. Ian has advised Sacin to retire. It is strange that he chose to advise Sachin through cricinfo or whoever, instead of talking to Sachin as a wellwisher. I smell something fishy. If Rahul is not dropped as captain or if Greg's contract is renewed, India will be pushed to a level that would require them to qualify for the next World Cup competition.

Having said that, I request you Mr. Tendulkar to resign gracefully. Have Kumble share his retirement letter, if you need a template. Also pass it on to Ganguly, if he needs help. This is the best time. I would have called you and requested this personally. But unlike Ian, I don't have your cell number.

I also think that we need a foreign coach. I don't think any former Indian cricketer can command respect from the current generation of cricketers. Imagine Nayan Mongia or Venkatesh Prasad trying to dictate to Sehwag or Yuvraj or Harbajan. Only a guy who can intimidate them with his English can control them .

My new Indian team XX comprises:
--------------------------------
Gaurav Dhiman
Cheteshwar Pujara
Robin Uthappa
Shikar Dhawan (three out of first four must play)
Virendra Sehwag
Yuvraj Singh
Dinesh Karthik (wk)
Mohammed Kaif (c)
Rahul Dravid (should leave way in 2 yrs)
Suresh Raina
Mahendra Dhoni (Wk)
Irfan Pathan
Munaf Patel
Zaheer Khan
Piyush Chawla
Murali Karthick (may be long shot)
Sreesanth
Romesh Powar
Jesuraj Rajamani
Harbajan Singh


PS: Vengsarkar - I can take over, if you need some rest. Afterall you have tried to do it all by yourself in the last one year.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sehwag? for what? really expensive drinks boy? and Kaif? and Pathan? and Bajan? why the old baggage? Except a couple, the rest can be safely discarded.

APAM NAPAT said...

Sehwag and Rahul are required for transition. Harbajan is a part of 20. Kaif will be the captain. May be he needs a chance with the younger generation where he will not feel overwhelmed.

maheshbalaji said...

i remember sometime ago, both of us unanimously decided we dislike Kaif and he must be out of team immdtly, which he did. and we chose Dinesh Mongia. Still i feel dinesh had had to be given more chances earlier.
once again i agree with u here. bring kaif back...[i doubt if fielding in world cup opened our eyes to this! :P]
anyways...Ghambir enga?!! i thought he wud have dfntly made a better choice than uthappa for the world cup only! ada vittu thalluvom... he can play now illa! he has only one...very change-able flaw... fishing on off.

apart from this... Badani laam spent force-a? wat abt Balaji? not reqd as of now?

APAM NAPAT said...

Yes. Kaif was bad. But he needs a relook with the younger team. Maybe it will bring out the best in him.

Dinesh Mongia for future is not worth investing.

Badani - same

Balaji - should find his spot in TN team before aspiring for the big one.

Gambira vida these twenty year olds will be better. We don't want 8 openers occupying the middle order like this time.

D LordLabak said...

Kaif as captain?! Enna aacchu unakku?

APAM NAPAT said...

Deepa,
will be better than Rahul. He led UP very well against big teams in Ranji. He also played well when he was named captain. He was U-19 captain that won the WC. He is the best alternative considering that BCCI is tinking of Yuvraj.

I said...

Ian Chappell can cut through crap so well. But Tendulkar was never the batsman he was projected to be. He has always been vulnerable to quality pace bowling (as an aside, he has never hit a six of Ambrose or Donald). He has always failed in death situations (save for that sharjah innings). When he had made more than 25 one day centuries, only three of them were outside the subcontinent or Sharjah (one each against Zimbabwe, West Indies and Kenya). His average in Australia, Newzealand, S.Africa & England is fairly low.

The only "fast" bolwer I remember he hooked a bouncer off is Chaminda Vaas.

Reg. Tests, the less said the better. He's never saved a Test. Never won one in the 4/5th day (like for example Mark Waugh's hundred odd on a fiery 5th day wicket against a good S.African attack, chasing 260 odd. Mark was overrated btw. Or Brian Lara's epic against Australia). Kulla baadu has never had the temperment for the longer version (forget the technique and Tendulkar's is by no means infallible). He has to hit one boundary an over. he can't play with the tail, can't take pressure, never caused a Test victory abroad. Such a fuck-up.

Even Afridi is a better batsman than tendulkar. But the fanatically nationalistic Indian junta goes wild for "Team India" while having U.S passports. Nuking the Bay Area will be a good start.

APAM NAPAT said...

I,
Whatever it is, he is not in my Indian team now.

Ananya S P said...

Rajesh

Do you remember a player called Ritinder Singh Sodi or something? If I am not wrong, he lead the Under-19...Why don't these selector morons get him into the team and make him the captain?

Also Sachin should make a copy of his QUIT-THE-GAME letter to Sehwag and ask him to submit it too...Afterall Sehwag has aped Sachin for long, now he should follow Sachin's steps and retire...

APAM NAPAT said...

Sehwag has a lot to offer. Infact in the game against SL, he played well. I think Saurav will play for one more series max and resign. But others will just stick on.

I said...

marathi tendulkar captain-a? We want tamil captain, enough of vada naatu akaramippu

APAM NAPAT said...

Tendulkar team la ye illa.