Judge the work of the present selection committee as they complete their term !

[Chandan]

Yes, the selection committee of Raju, BupinderSingh Sr, Dilip Vengsarkar and the two other selectors complete their term and the selection for the ODI team for Lanka and Champion Trophy will be their last assignment. So how do you judge their term? I think apart from the world cup debacle, they've done some excellent work and one of their good decision was sticking with the experience in the test cricket while giving break to the youngsters in ODIs which won the Twenty20 world cup and also the CB series. Giving split captaincy to Kumble and Dhoni was also a terrific decision. So they've succeeded to the extent of 75%, I'd say. What is your view? And how do you compare it with the accomplishments of the selection committee headed by More? In the meanwhile read the interview of Venkatpati Raju, the selector from south zone: ‘We tried to do the best for Indian cricket’ Anand Vasu, Hindustan Times Colombo, August 06, 2008 First Published: 22:56 IST(6/8/2008) Last Updated: 23:01 IST(6/8/2008) When the selectors meet on Thursday to pick the team for the five one-day internationals against Sri Lanka and for the Champions Trophy, it will be the last meeting of the present committee. Former India left-arm spinner, Venkatapathy Raju, never harboured ambitions of becoming a national selector, but in this interview to the Hindustan Times, he looks back at his two-year tenure with satisfaction. How do you look back at your tenure as selector? We were lucky to have a very good group and I enjoyed my term. As selector, you’ll make a couple of friends and also lose some. On the whole, we did a decent job despite the ups and downs. There were several collective decisions taken in consultation with the captain. A couple of decisions we took, worked. One was making Anil (Kumble) captain for the tour of Australia, which required handling of controversies off the field. Because of the busy schedule, you don’t have India players playing too many domestic matches. There were some good performances but we couldn’t judge them because several international players weren’t playing. International cricket is all about rhythm. Sometimes, when you’re out of form and get dropped, there are no domestic games and we do feel sorry for the players. The World Cup was disappointing because we thought we had picked the best possible team. That’s cricket. We had some strong performances too — the Twenty20 World Cup and Test wins abroad. We tried to do what was best for Indian cricket, and in a way succeeded. Hopefully, it will be the same for the other selectors. Did your experience as a player, especially having been dropped a few times, help in your current role? I was lucky to lead Hyderabad several times, so I attended many selection meetings. It made things easier. The selection committee sometimes has to take tough decisions, in the best interests of the team. As a player, you are disappointed when you are dropped but as a selector, you have to move on. We took a couple of decisions like introducing young players in the 50-over game, and it clicked. Unfortunately, we did not get many chances to see players making strong comebacks. But we did see a few who were dropped, going back to domestic cricket and proving themselves and getting breaks at the right time. On hindsight was the World Cup debacle an eye opener? The saying goes, ‘whatever happens, happens for the good’. In that sense, the World Cup opened everyone’s eyes and they knew where they stood. It made the players more determined. We did not make too many changes immediately as we knew this team didn’t deserve to be knocked out before the Super Eights. After the flak they got, it’s good the team came back strongly. How difficult is it to build for tomorrow while ensuring a secure present? The players have to move on at some stage. They’ve done a great job and they know when it is time to leave. ‘A’ tours really help the selectors. If we have more three-day games, it will help build the Test team.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think the next selection committee will have a much tougher job when they'll have to phase out the most successful players from the test team. Just hope that someone sensible takes over!

[Online]

:yay: vengcircus is gone! :yay:

[atul]

this selection team was very best we got in long time, some bold decision worked like including young players in T20 and ODI, Making Kumble Captain. Also when chief of selectors were first head of talent search committee and also watch most of the Domestic match regularly. well Job Vengy and Co.

[DomainK]

I would give this a thumbs up. Good and bold work. They did not succumb to the popular demands and did what was needed. Most notably in their work is to stand by Dhoni as a new captain and give him a young team that conquered the T20 world cup and the CB series. Its one of the best in a long time.

[jf1gp_1]

Yes, the selection committee of Raju, BupinderSingh Sr, Dilip Vengsarkar and the two other selectors complete their term and the selection for the ODI team for Lanka and Champion Trophy will be their last assignment. So how do you judge their term? I think apart from the world cup debacle, they've done some excellent work and one of their good decision was sticking with the experience in the test cricket while giving break to the youngsters in ODIs which won the Twenty20 world cup and also the CB series. Giving split captaincy to Kumble and Dhoni was also a terrific decision. So they've succeeded to the extent of 75%, I'd say. What is your view? And how do you compare it with the accomplishments of the selection committee headed by More? Just hope that someone sensible takes over!

I agree and lets be fair when Vengy and co took over we were in the middle of Chappel-Ganguly saga. Post WC they have done a great job. Droping Dravid and Ganguly from ODI team in the absence of tendulkar was a major gamble but our team came out strong.

[Predator_05]

This was the best selection committee i have ever seen in Indian cricket. They hardly ever got anything wrong.

[Ram]

I think they did a commendable job. We had some of our best results as a cricket team under their tenure, starting from Windies 2006. We won a test in South Africa, beat England in England, competed well against Aus, won the CB series for the first time in 20 years, won the T20 world cup, beat Pakistan in both tests and ODIs, had some significant ODI successes against South Africa. And now, we are competing well in Lanka. How many teams in world cricket can boast of such a record in the last 24 months? Among the few aberrations was the WC 07, debacle. That still hurts a lot, but the team has more than compensted for it. Also, the Rahul Dravid captaincy issue was badly handled. He deserved a better and more quiter exit from captaincy. But all in all, I would say this is one of the best selection panels we have had in a long while.

[kumble_rocks]

Over all their tenure had mixed results - Some of the Pros would be - 1. Appointing two different captains for Test and ODI . That was a bold move that paid off. 2. Fielding youngsters for T20 and ODI format and this move paid huge dividends especially the T20 world cup victory. 3. Backing Harbhy and Indian team during the Aussie tour . Cons - 1. Dropping Sehwag from test team was a major blunder . 2. WC 2008 debacle although they inherited some of the excess baggage from More and co 3. Playing musical chairs with the Vice-Captain role by naming different players in different series - first VVS in SA series , then Dhoni , then Sehwag now .

[satishg]

they did a very gud job..have to give it to them..took some important decisions infact all the big decisions they took were pretty gud..yes there are grudges coz u cant pls everyone in our country..but they are minor ones..overall a gud selection committee and they have created a gud pool of young talent..

[Predator_05]

There was nothing wrong with dropping Sehwag a year ago. He wasn't scoring many runs compared to his usual high standards and needed some time off. Dropping a batsman like him was always going to be a tough call to make, but in hindsight, it was the right decision. In Sehwag's absence, Dinesh Karthik did very well with the bat in the test series wins against Bangladesh and England, and India also won the Pakistan series. The selectors' are required to pick teams that win series - job done.

[satishg]

yep i agree completely with predz..viru wasn playing well at that time and the selectors had no option but to drop him..he was having an unusually lean patch and watever the team management were trying din come gud for Viru..so the selectors did the rite thing and we have to praise AK to boldly ask for viru's inclusion again and the selectors did oblige coz at that time viru wasn scoring in domestic cricket as well..so they have done a gud job

[kumble_rocks]

There was nothing wrong with dropping Sehwag a year ago. He wasn't scoring many runs compared to his usual high standards and needed some time off. Dropping a batsman like him was always going to be a tough call to make' date=' but in hindsight, it was the right decision. In Sehwag's absence, Dinesh Karthik did very well with the bat in the test series wins against Bangladesh and England, and India also won the Pakistan series. The selectors' are required to pick teams that win series - job done.[/quote'] Sehwag had just one bad test series against the Windies .. His form in ODI was used as a tool to justify his axe in Test cricket . Makes no sense to me ! Both Dravid and Ganguly have been given longer lease of life than Sehwag . Heck , even Dinesh Karthik has been given longer run ...

[satishg]

Sehwag had just one bad test series against the Windies .. His form in ODI was used as a tool to justify his axe in Test cricket . Makes no sense to me ! Both Dravid and Ganguly have been given longer lease of life than Sehwag . Heck ' date=' even Dinesh Karthik has been given longer run ...[/quote'] I think he got a 180 odd in the first test againt Windies but after that everything started going down hill for him..he lost his form in the remaining matches and he had a bad series against the Saffies as well..Dravid pushed Viru into the middle order and asked KKD to open..and we got a very gud opening stand btw Jaffer and KKD in the last test match and viru again failed in that match in the middle order as well..well everyone sucked in that tour i mean even the fab 4 but since Viru wasn getting runs as an opener and as a middle order batsman he was axed and at that Karthik was playing well and Jaffer too..a combination of bad form and other players doing well made the selectors to drop Viru..

[Predator_05]

Sehwag had just one bad test series against the Windies ..

Do you even know what you are talking about ? You obviously didn't follow much cricket that season. Sehwag had an awful series at home to Sri Lanka, mediocre series against Pakistan - leaving aside that 254 at Lahore, he did nothing at Faisalabad or Karachi - awful series against England at home, okayish series against WI away and then he was downright abysmal in South Africa. He needed to be dropped at that stage, and I think he was averaging under 40 for the whole year. He was retained in the ODI squad in almost every series, so his ODI form had nothing to do with anything

[Dravid]

Heck ' date=' even Dinesh Karthik has been given longer run ...[/quote'] kkd was one of the better players in ENG... screwed up against pak and got dropped... he is back only because dhoni wanted time off...

[Guest dada_rocks]

Other than the moronic decision of dropping the best thing since slice bread i.e Virender Sehwag I guess they have been oke..

[fineleg]

50-50 But good that Vengcircus will be finishing up.

[kumble_rocks]

Do you even know what you are talking about ? You obviously didn't follow much cricket that season. Sehwag had an awful series at home to Sri Lanka, mediocre series against Pakistan - leaving aside that 254 at Lahore, he did nothing at Faisalabad or Karachi - awful series against England at home, okayish series against WI away and then he was downright abysmal in South Africa. He needed to be dropped at that stage, and I think he was averaging under 40 for the whole year. He was retained in the ODI squad in almost every series, so his ODI form had nothing to do with anything

Dude, just because I don't post much does not mean that I don't watch test cricket. I have hardly missed any test series in this decade. Anyways , I had meant the SA series not the West Indies series . Granted he did not succeed much at the West Indies series as well although his average was boosted by the 180 and was a respectable 51 . He did have a good Pakistan series before the bad England series wherein guys like Yuvi and Laxman( if I am not mistaken , selected for only one match and scored a duck ,) failed. He is a proven match winner who always has maintained a test average of above 50 . Anyways , this thread was meant to be something else. I don't have the patience for long debates ! :--D

[SachDan]

Undoubtedly the best selection committe we had...Took some bold decisions and more often than not it paid off.

[Predator_05]

Dude' date=' just because I don't post much does not mean that I don't watch test cricket. I have hardly missed any test series in this decade. Anyways , I had meant the SA series not the West Indies series . Granted he did not succeed much at the West Indies series as well although his average was boosted by the 180 and was a respectable 51 . He did have a good Pakistan series before the bad England series wherein guys like Yuvi and Laxman( if I am not mistaken , selected for only one match and scored a duck ,) failed. He is a proven match winner who always has maintained a test average of above 50 . Anyways , this thread was meant to be something else. I don't have the patience for long debates ! :--D[/quote'] Good for you. That makes your comment even more surprising. Don't worry, this won't be a long debate because you are already wrong and i just have to point it out to you. His average for that season was never 51. I don't know where you are getting these numbers. From the SL series at home in '05 'til the SA tour in '06, he played 14 matches, scored 891 runs at an average of 35.64. Go on, check it yourself. Two fifties against England and WI, a hundred vs WI (180) and the 254 vs PAK at Lahore are the highlights in the middle of a string of low scores. 35.64 sound like a man in form to you ? He deserved to be dropped and India did just fine without him, and now that he's back, he has rediscovered his form of old. Big ups to the selectors