Dhondy's Bloopers

[Dhondy]

Here's another. "Build a pacy pitch, select three quicks, and dare to lose". In my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined India would take me so literally.:hysterical: The pitch was there, the three quicks were there, and boy, did they lose! I had argued with Shehezaada that, given our "superior" batting line-up, we'd cope with the difficult batting conditions better than the opposition. Presumably, Kumble thought the same thing after the toss?:haha:

[Dhondy]

Hey guys, I am not selling Bhajji to you here. If you read, I've simply said that he deserves to be played at home because of a real lack of alternatives. I maintain, it was insane to play him in three out of four Tests in Australia.

[Predator_05]

You also said these fast bowlers would take the pitch "out of the equation". Yeah right. Indian bowlers only bowl fast when they see something in the wicket for them. The rest of the time, they slow down and their shoulders start to drop. The only bowlers who can take the pitch of the equation are out and out express bowlers, ie; Shoaib - accurate deliveries at 155 kmph are hard to play no matter how dead the pitch is, or a spinner who turns it at will, ie; Murali or Warne. India have niether.

[Shehezaada]

Yes, there's one person on this forum who should give up all pretence of being a cricket expert, and accept that his reading of cricket is about on the same plane as his grandma's. And she didn't waste half her life following the game from a couch. Unfortunately, that person am I. Sample these bloopers. 1. Verdict: Tendulkar has lost it and should be replaced by Pathan in the line-up. Reality: Tendulkar remains India's best batsman, and scored in three of the four Tests in Australia against a very good bowling attack, finding different ways to counter the varied skills of Lee, Johnson Clark and Hogg, ending up with nearly 500 runs in the series. 2. Verdict: Triple S will take India to the top. RP and Sreesanth should be selected ahead of Zaheer in the side. Reality: Neither RP Singh, nor Sreesanth have lived up to their early promise on the unforgiving tracks of India. One need only compare what the underrated Srinath achieved on these barren pitches to appreciate that they will be rated behind him when all's said and done. The truth is that a bowler is nothing without control. Both RP and Sreesanth lacked control and could not build up pressure, punctuating good deliveries with several ill-directed ones. Zaheer's control and relentless accuracy, which has transformed him from a mediocre bowler to a very good one, was sadly missed. It didn't help that both bowlers were down on speed. If you are going to run in and trundle at 82 mph, you'd better be precise with your direction. Mediocre. Three wickets in the series versus 26 by the South African quicks tells its own story. 3. Verdict: Praveen Kumar kind of bowlers don't have a future in Test cricket. Reality: Incorrect. If in doubt, look at Chaminda Vaas' career. Three hundred plus wickets picked up on the docile tracks of the subcontinent at an average south of thirty, aided by nothing but laser like accuracy and a modicum of swing suggests that there's life outside the rarefied air inhabited by speed demons. PK, as correctly pointed out by Amit, has a fantastic domestic record. We repeatedly wrote him off in the ODIs in Australia, and he confounded us by blowing away the Aussie top order again and again. If there's one thing where I have erred, is in putting speed before accuracy. I was wrong. PK deserves a chance, and the Indian selectors have erred in leaving him out of the all-important third Test. 4. Verdict: Harbhajan doesn't have a future. Reality: Harbhajan has the best figures of this series on tracks that haven't favoured spin and deserves a place in the side, given the absolute dearth of bowling quality in this series. He should however not be selected overseas on all but the most spin friendly tracks. Like all charlatans who occasionally get things right, I've had my share of luck as well. Going by my recent record, I'd have to say that these were probably the equivalent of a coin landing the right way. Thus, Sehwag's recall was richly deserved, Dravid is a shadow of his former self and should be the first among the fab-four to be benched, incapable of anything more than the occasional fifty against world class attacks, and I genuinely believe Yuvraj would be a potent force on subcontinental tracks and deserves to be selected at home. I also believe that Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma have decided that discretion is better than patriotism and overplayed their injuries to stay in fine fettle for IPL. Wait till that first IPL match, and see how those injuries magically resolve. India have been condemned to the doghouse without these two. I only wish we had suitable replacements for those who put lucre before country. Oh, and I was right about Indian selectors being jokers. Recalls for Munaf Patel and Powar are the equivalent of a scriptwriter in the 21st century tailoring a mafia whodunnit with Marlon Brando in mind. These two are deader than dead. No resurrection, this.

Mark of a humble man to admit when he is wrong. 2) Verdict: Triple S will take India to the top. RP and Sreesanth should be selected ahead of Zaheer in the side. Don't give up on this one. Triple S is a great attack, unfortunately one or the other has been injured. All of them in good form and without injury worries are great bowlers. But your right now in saying Zaheer is our first choice bowler. 3) Harbhajan Good to see your giving him some credit. I still believe he can be played outside the subcontinent on pitches that will turn, but on a pitch for fast bowlers, we gotta leave him out as Kumble is still the king. Time will tell. As for you saying that you got things right out of luck, that's not right. You've got a great cricket mind (ever captained a team?) and the results are because of it. Don't punish yourself too harshly, especially when deep down inside I think you know that you have a good cricketing brain.

[Dhondy]

Shehezaada, I am not sure you are not being too kind here. Ask yourself this, is it a mere coincidence that I am championing the causes of Zaheer, Ishant, Tendulkar and PK, four players who didn't feature in the thrashing that was handed us? Invariably, after such events, supporters look for solace, an the people to get the BOD are those that were lucky enough to have sat out. It could be argued by somebody sharp eyed enough to pick that up to say that India might have still lost with those 4 around, and I am simply trying to console myself with "if-isms" as supporters are wont to do. Do you know, he would have a point too, but what the hell, might as well die a sheep than a lamb.

[Desi Cartman]

• I actually thought that UV will come good in Tests against the Aussies
• RP would take 5 wickets on the green track @ Ahemdabad
• India wont lose a test againt SAF at home
• Selectors will try at least one youngster to replace one of the senior batsmen
• try another opener after jaffer failed in Ahemdabad

Now the the only predcition of mine that came true was "I sharma will get injured .. similar to balaji & Nehra"

[umpire]

Sreesanth bowled as well as steyn in patches. Sreesanth should have had Kallis, AB very early in their innings. He looked like asking questions. He should be persisted. I want Sreesanth and Sharma leading our attack in Kanpur.

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

harbhajan is still not all that IMO

What do you want him to do? Take 20 wickets on his own. Add in his fielding and batting, he is a very useful test match player.

[CSK Fan]

What do you want him to do? Take 20 wickets on his own. Add in his fielding and batting' date=' he is a very useful test match player.[/quote'] Just like an odd 50 scored over a 2 year period does not make UV a great test player, similarly, ONE good performances on an indian track does not absolve Bhajji for his last two year's oerformance.

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

Just like an odd 50 scored over a 2 year period does not make UV a great test player' date=' similarly, ONE good performances on an indian track does not absolve Bhajji for his last two year's oerformance.[/quote'] Its still better than a odd 50. Well Bhajji is doign alright now. and its 2 test matches, not one and so on current form he is going to play. no matter how much you whinge. We picked up 5 BOWLERS FOR THIS LAST TEST MATCH. what did they do?

[CSK Fan]

Its still better than a odd 50. Well Bhajji is doign alright now. and its 2 test matches, not one and so on current form he is going to play. no matter how much you whinge. We picked up 5 BOWLERS FOR THIS LAST TEST MATCH. what did they do?

What you say is all fine, so is the fact that he will still remain in the team. But the quote of the previous poster "harbhajan is still not all that IMO ", is 100% true too!