Sourav Ganguly: "Dravid will bounce back"

[fineleg]

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly Saturday expressed confidence that out-of-form Rahul Dravid will soon come up with a good knock. "Dravid is a great cricketer with a lot of maturity. It would be wrong to write him off," Ganguly told reporters at the Eden Gardens here. "One should not judge him (Dravid) on account of few failures. He is having a temporary loss of form and I'm sure he will come up with a big knock soon to silence his critics," Ganguly said after his first practice session since retiring from international cricket early last month. Dravid has scored only 28 runs in his last five innings, prompting critics to demand his scalp. Ganguly confirmed he would turn out for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy Plate group semi-final. The top two sides in plate group would play the super league alongside Elite group teams. "I'm eager to play for Bengal in the semi-finals. We are currently doing well in the group league stage and I'm sure we will qualify for the Super League," he said.

[satishg]

wasn this some old news..he had stated this quite some time back after the aussie series

[Guest Hiten.]

Sachin at his best is better than Lara: Ponting Melbourne, November 24: : Australia captain Ricky Ponting may not have much love for Team India but he was liberal in his praise of individuals like Sachin Tendulkar whom he placed ahead of West Indian batting great Brian Lara. "I have always maintained that he (Tendulkar) at his best was fractionally ahead of Brian Lara at his best, and they are the best two batsmen I have played against," Ponting wrote in his 'captain's Diary 2008'. "As I write this, he has scored 14 international hundreds against Australia during his career (seven in Tests, seven in ODIs), and I have been on the field for many of them, so I have plenty of opportunities to guage just how magnificent and complete a batsman he is," he said in a specially highlighted reference to the Mumbai maestro. The Aussie captain said he tried to set up schemes and strategies to trap Tendulkar but the Indian almost always broke the code. "We have tried a wide variety of schemes and strategies, but he's usually had the answer to all of them. "For me, right at the start of my Test career, it was a great experience just to see such a champion player going about his business in his conditions," he said in reference to a contest in Mumbai. Ponting also singled out the just retired Indian captain Anil Kumble and promising pacer Ishant Sharma for special appreciation and said batsmen could not relax against the two. "Kumble made his Test debut back in 1990, and his feat in reaching this milestone is a tribute to his remarkable durability. "The ability to succeed at the highest level for an extended period is something I admire greatly, because it requires a certain toughness, mental strength and a persistent streak that few sportspersons possess. You need to be smart, too. "...he might be getting even better with age. It's an exclusive group, the 500-plus Test wickets club, and the Indian captain fully deserves to be a member of it," Ponting said. He also lauded Indian speeedster Sharma for his awesome spell during the Perth Test. "Tall, lean, ultra-impressive Ishant Sharma, playing just his fourth Test and still eight-and-a half months short of his 20th birthday, had bowled an awesome spell to me: Seven overs when he was fast, aggressive and relentless, where I never felt as if I was truly 'in'," he said.

[punjabi_khota]

War of the fans thread ?:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[Guest Hiten.]

War of the fans thread ?:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

:giggle:

[fineleg]

wasn this some old news..he had stated this quite some time back after the aussie series

dec 13 2008 - hindu: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/007200812132221.htm dec 14 2008: Press Trust of india (PTI): http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/E7E70B68A0A12EC96525751E0042B4A6?OpenDocument i dunno why BB is posting old SRT news in this thread :cantstop:

[suraj]

Ganguly was in much better form than Dravid when he retired Bring back Dada:winky::winky: Or not.

[fineleg]

Ganguly was in much better form than Dravid when he retired Bring back Dada:winky::winky:

lol, as a matter of fact Dada was indeed in good form when he retired. He certainly retired when he was on top of the game :hatsoff: The right time to retire is when he will be missed, and dada is being missed here in Chennai Test. (Yuvi is struggling to fill dada's role, and you can see the difference between the two when it comes to Test cricket - you can smash bowlers in ODIs but you have to develop the right skills and temperament for Tests).

[Guest Hiten.]

Rahul Dravid is certainly not giving us the opportunity to miss him. Instead he is giving us the opportunity of missing a genuine one down player :cantstop:

[guju24]

he just need to be dropped thats all...and he will regain his form and all short of his book shots...

[Desi Cartman]

What else is he supposed to say :hmmmm2:

[punjabi_khota]

lol, as a matter of fact Dada was indeed in good form when he retired. He certainly retired when he was on top of the game :hatsoff: The right time to retire is when he will be missed, and dada is being missed here in Chennai Test. (Yuvi is struggling to fill dada's role, and you can see the difference between the two when it comes to Test cricket - you can smash bowlers in ODIs but you have to develop the right skills and temperament for Tests).

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical: genius. It has been one innings...:icflove::icflove:

[fineleg]

one innings? :hysterical: What abt all the inn Yuvi has been given chances before? They are not test matches or what :icflove:

[Guest Hiten.]

one innings? :hysterical: What abt all the inn Yuvi has been given chances before? They are not test matches or what :icflove:

What about the past 2 years which saw Rahul Dravid giving the *hope* to his followers that one day he will come back.....mind you that day is yet to come :icflove:

[fineleg]

Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh - can u even start comparing when it comes to Test matches. Blasphemy :omg:

[Guest Hiten.]

Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh - can u even start comparing when it comes to Test matches. Blasphemy :omg:

If you were smart enough, I wouldn't have had to explain you what I wrote. I was asking you if Yuvi's failure irked you, why hasn't RD's failure done the same amount of mental disintegration on you as you are the only one who cares for the team performance on a whole. :giggle:

[fineleg]

i dont want RD to be in the 11 - what i want is for him to go back to domestics and fight his way back. So, yes drop RD from squad. If Yuvi cannot cement his place, he can score in domestics and come back too.

[DomainK]

I hope Jammy to hit form and score a double this time. We need it if we have to save the match. But alas!! It looks so unlikely.

[punjabi_khota]

one innings? :hysterical: What abt all the inn Yuvi has been given chances before? They are not test matches or what :icflove:

You said he is struggling to fill Ganguly's position. :blink::blink: Arre yaar you are full of prejudice, it is perfectly clear. You get wet dreams about Dravid, and everyone else is just a distraction.

[fineleg]

I hope Jammy to hit form and score a double this time. We need it if we have to save the match. But alas!! It looks so unlikely.

:icflove: But yes, even century is 99.99% unlikely - 50 would be a first step :((