" Seniority " over " Current Ability ", as the main selection criterion, is preventing Team India from realizing its true potential

[express bowling]

In an interview in late 2019, captain Kohli said the following, " You’ll have to figure out who are the people that are very similar in their bowling skills, and you pick the senior one. "

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/who-is-prasidh-krishna-why-did-virat-kohli-mention-his-name-after-india-beat-sri-lanka-in-indore-t20i/story-LXcqQVrMkTijNQzjk3ZLsN_amp.html

 

 

Kohli did NOT say " Pick the best one  but talked about picking the senior one. 

 

Is Team India a government office of the 1980s !  Where is meritocracy ?

 

It is this policy which has resulted in Siraj being omitted despite being our most in-form pacer now and having the ability to swing the ball, a skill which is helpful in England. 

 

It had also resulted in Siraj debuting 2 years too late, despite running through A-teams in Unofficial tests  (  40 wickets from 5 Unofficial tests in 2018 )

 

There is no accountability for senior batsmen like Rahane, Pujara or Kohli. They know that they will be chosen irrespective of performance, because they are seniors and and have " performed in the past ". 

 

It is the same policy that led to Dhoni being an automatic choice despite losing form for a long time and Jadhav getting chances even when he looked out of sorts. And Dhawan playing so many T20Is although he is not good for the format.

 

I am NOT asking for a " wholesale " team change after a solitary loss. I am NOT asking for a knee-jerk reaction based team selection based on the WTC Final loss.

 

Let most of the players play the next test too. But the possibility of the seniors getting dropped, IF they don't perform, must be there. Otherwise, why would they bother performing out of their skin. 

 

Choose your best 11 players. Choose based on merit and current ability. Don't choose based on seniority.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 23, 2021 by express bowling

[express bowling]

At least one new batsman must be introduced at 3, 4 or 5.

 

Can't allow 3 senior batters to underperform for 2 years and still be certainties.

 

Otherwise we will keep on having batting collapses.

 

 

[ShoonyaSifar]

This dimwit captain has ZERO sense of team building or of nurturing young talent. That's how pathetic he is. And on top of that he's surrounded himself with yesmen as coaches instead of proper professional who are interested in moving the team forward. Only a duffer will drop Siraj, Thakur and Sundar from the next test after their Gabba heroics. Instead he picked Umesh and Ishant, that's the level of cricketing acumen this dickhead has.

 

He's a jealous and insecure clown. Till the time he remains captain, I have got no hopes of seeing any single young player succeed. Sack this joker and his gang of sidekicks. We SHOULD ask for these knee jerk reactions, wholesale changes, a complete revamp. Else the damage to Indian cricket will be immense.

[express bowling]

@Trichromatic has posted this in another thread.

 

 

 

How can we let 3 batsmen play every match despite such poor returns for such a long time, just because they are seniors ?  

 

Would youngsters like Pant or Gill have survived this kind of mediocrity for so long. !!

 

Shaw got dropped from the squad after 1 bad test match.

 

 

 

 

[ShoonyaSifar]

Dropping seniors will mean setting up a system of accountability and if that happens, the first casualty will be our dickhead captain. 

[express bowling]

8 minutes ago, ShoonyaSifar said:

Dropping seniors will mean setting up a system of accountability 

 

Until and unless accountability is introduced in Indian cricket, we can never rule World Cricket like WI of the 1980s or Australia of 1995 to 2008 ... although we have the resources to do so now.

 

 

 

 

[ShoonyaSifar]

4 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

Until and unless accountability is introduced in Indian cricket, we can never rule World Cricket like WI of the 1980s or Australia of 1995 to 2008 ... although we have the resources to do so now.

 

 

 

 

Our inept captain clown and cheerleader coach are the biggest stumbling blocks in ensuring a fair system. Throwing them out from there positions is the first necessary step towards even thinking of the word accountability in Indian cricket.

[Sandeep99]

If Pujara has to play, he has to open. Period. We need to blood in youngsters in the middle order. We're repeating same mistakes that happened in 2011. Swap Gill and Pujara. Would be ideal,. An opener who can see off the new ball and at 3 you have someone who is looking to take the game forward. At least this needs to happen for the England series.

[Jay]

1 hour ago, Sandeep99 said:

If Pujara has to play, he has to open. Period. We need to blood in youngsters in the middle order. We're repeating same mistakes that happened in 2011. Swap Gill and Pujara. Would be ideal,. An opener who can see off the new ball and at 3 you have someone who is looking to take the game forward. At least this needs to happen for the England series.

Not in England bro. We need shot makers in England. 

 

Because he will do his classic 10 runs in 90 balls. He can see of the new ball in England but the ball swings more after 20 overs. That's the issue. 

[Sandeep99]

2 minutes ago, Jay said:

Not in England bro. We need shot makers in England. 

 

Because he will do his classic 10 runs in 90 balls. He can see of the new ball in England but the ball swings more after 20 overs. That's the issue. 

See Pujara is not going anywhere. He will play all the 5 tests in England. I'm just saying playing him as the opener would just minimize the damage. 

[asterix]

There enough not be much changes in the team given the insecurities of Kohli. I’ll be celebrating India’s losses in that case…

[express bowling]

1 hour ago, Sandeep99 said:

See Pujara is not going anywhere. He will play all the 5 tests in England. I'm just saying playing him as the opener would just minimize the damage. 

 

Sad but true.

[express bowling]

Starting 2018  (  time from which our away tour cycle started ), Pujara averages 35 and Rahane averages 37.  Can a Team, which aspire to be the undisputed World Champion, fill such crucial middle order positions with such inconsistent batsmen ?

 

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=batting_average;qualmax1=50000;qualmin1=500;qualval1=runs;spanmax2=24+Jun+2021;spanmin2=01+Jan+2018;spanval2=span;team=6;template=results;type=batting

[Ankit_sharma03]

11 minutes ago, express bowling said:

Starting 2018  (  time from which our away tour cycle started ), Pujara averages 35 and Rahane averages 37.  Can a Team, which aspire to be the undisputed World Champion, fill such crucial middle order positions with such inconsistent batsmen ?

 

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=batting_average;qualmax1=50000;qualmin1=500;qualval1=runs;spanmax2=24+Jun+2021;spanmin2=01+Jan+2018;spanval2=span;team=6;template=results;type=batting

 

that has been our overseas problem ever since, ppl have wasted to much time on bowlers n all rounder but those 2 have been the problem. 

It was only a matter of time that kohli will face a dip, luckily we have pant or else with Saha this wud have been even worse

[Lord]

Except Australia, Pujara averages 30 in SEN and WI

 

Rahane is only slightly better

 

At home they are not dominating either.

 

Yet they are certainties as they are seniors

 

Vihari has not played a home Test.Could surely have played in place of one of them.Would also help groom players for future

[express bowling]

7 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

 

that has been our overseas problem ever since, ppl have wasted to much time on bowlers n all rounder but those 2 have been the problem. 

It was only a matter of time that kohli will face a dip, luckily we have pant or else with Saha this wud have been even worse

 

 

Yes, our bowling has generally been very good since 2018, and have bailed us out despite batsmen faltering time and again.

 

It is our batting, especially the middle order before Pant, which is the main issue.

[mishra]

@express bowling I do not think thet Bhumrah or any other bowler is poor. In my opinion a captains job is when and how he leads the team when in middle. let me give a personal example. Two weeks back i was playing a match and field was set. But opponents has scored over 200 and I could observe the intention of batsman and put covers fielder 10 steps back and two balls later, he got a simple catch, which would have been otherwse couple of runs if I hadnt changed his position.

And this happens with me atleast 2-3 times each match. So if a ball is hit in air and its difficult to reach and goes for runs, that means Captain has failed to understand bowlers pace and batsmans intention and game between bowler and bat.

 

I dont think Kohli has any brain cell when it comes to filed placing. Just a couple of yard left right, or behind actually makes a difference between a ball slashed for four or slashed straight to fielder as caught.

 

I also understand why Bhumrah struggled while Kiwis were unplayable in English conditions but thats for some other day.

 

 

Bottom line: Kohli is more to blame when our bowlers who are world class cant take wickets. We need better skipper who understand field placement and game in general.

[zen]

In SENA since 2018:

Primary team India

Opposition team Australia  or England  or New Zealand  or South Africa

Home or away away (home of opposition)

Start of match date between 1 Jan 2018 and 24 Jun 2021

Qualifications runs scored between 500 and 50000

Ordered by batting average (descending)

Overall figures

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
V Kohli	2018-2020	15	29	0	1277	153	44.03	2467	51.76	4	6	2	148	2
RR Pant	2018-2021	12	22	2	846	159*	42.30	1239	68.28	2	2	1	88	16
CA Pujara	2018-2021	17	33	1	1270	193	39.68	3605	35.22	4	7	4	136	2
AM Rahane	2018-2021	16	31	1	890	112	29.66	2042	43.58	1	4	2	87	6

 

Other batsmen have mostly played in India or such favorable conditions. The above have played in a variety of conditions impacting their averages. Of the above, only Pujara bats in the top order to avg 40 in SEN, which is good considering today's opening bowling attacks in such conditions 

 

PS batting in the top order in SENA, Pujara has 11 50+ scores in 33 innings ... In the MO,  Kohli 10 in 29, and Rahane only 5 in 31 

Edited June 24, 2021 by zen

[express bowling]

46 minutes ago, mishra said:

@express bowling I do not think thet Bhumrah or any other bowler is poor. In my opinion a captains job is when and how he leads the team when in middle. let me give a personal example. Two weeks back i was playing a match and field was set. But opponents has scored over 200 and I could observe the intention of batsman and put covers fielder 10 steps back and two balls later, he got a simple catch, which would have been otherwse couple of runs if I hadnt changed his position.

And this happens with me atleast 2-3 times each match. So if a ball is hit in air and its difficult to reach and goes for runs, that means Captain has failed to understand bowlers pace and batsmans intention and game between bowler and bat.

 

I dont think Kohli has any brain cell when it comes to filed placing. Just a couple of yard left right, or behind actually makes a difference between a ball slashed for four or slashed straight to fielder as caught.

 

I also understand why Bhumrah struggled while Kiwis were unplayable in English conditions but thats for some other day.

 

 

Bottom line: Kohli is more to blame when our bowlers who are world class cant take wickets. We need better skipper who understand field placement and game in general.

 

 

Agree. Our bowling has been top class from 2018 onwards. Our pacers have had the best away averages as well as home averages as a group in this period, before the final.

 

Bumrah, Shami and Ishant have all been excellent. Also Siraj in the limited opportunities he has got. They have bailed us out when batsmen have failed.

 

Only thing on this topic is ... we need to look forward and look to find replacements for Ishant and Umesh. Ishant has not been fully fit for the last 2 years and there are better bowlers than Umesh in India now.

 

Siraj is ready as one replacement. One among Prasidh and Avesh may replace the other. This step needs to be taken pro-actively without hanging on to Ishant and Umesh now. This is where preferring seniors must stop.

[Vk1]

retaining senior players..covering up defeats with PR.. back in 90s n 2000s while a match was going on the poor form of certain batsman with the stats used to be shown discussed by the commentators.. it doesn't happen anymore.. bcci diktat may be.. unless you follow social media you wouldnt know about the poor form of pujara rahane kohli