"No place for sentiments in Test cricket" : Mickey Arthur

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Former South Africa coach Mickey Arthur has questioned Harbhajan Singh's role in the India team. More... "No place for sentiments in Test cricket" Former South Africa coach Mickey Arthur has questioned Harbhajan Singh's role in the India team. Arthur questioned Harbhajan's role in the India team following the Proteas' convincing victory in the first Test in Nagpur. The tourists completed an emphatic innings-and-six-run win inside four days earlier this week, with the home side's star slow bowler of recent years struggling on a pitch which was meant to suit spinners. Harbhajan, who has taken 347 wickets in 82 Tests, took two for 166 in his 46 overs during South Africa's first-innings 558 for six declared, but Arthur believes he should be dropped. Writing as a guest columnist for the Indian national newspaper, he said: "The lack of penetration in the Indian attack must also be a huge cause for concern. "Zaheer (Khan) bowled well but lacked support while Harbhajan, who has in my opinion been below his best for several years now, must be questioning his future. "His bowling lacked the zip and sting that was so characteristic in the early years of his career. He must be honest with himself and the management and selectors must be honest too. "There is no place for sentiment in Test cricket - reputation and history should count for very little when selecting your best XI. (Amit) Mishra bowled well but even he didn't look likely to bowl South Africa out." Arthur, who resigned as South Africa coach only two weeks ago after close to five years in charge, praised the contributions of his countrymen Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn, but described India's middle order as "vulnerable". He added: "Dale Steyn led the South African attack as well as any number one rank bowler has ever done in the history of Test cricket, and he deserves the highest praise. "But if the Indian middle order represents the next generation then the current number one ranked team have problems for the future. "They looked vulnerable at all times against pace bowling and, apart from imperious Sachin Tendulkar and the unique Virender Sehwag, never looked likely to offer any sustained resistance. "It looked like the India of old - easily bullied and intimidated by the quick men." The second Test in the two-match series begins in Kolkata on Sunday.

[Guest Hiten.]

Oh FFS! Please leave the worrying and questioning part of our players on us. Jesus Christ, you just won one ****ing game and failed to win a series in India for 10 years. Please look into that for now :wall:

[King Tendulkar]

Even Arthur is joining in kicking Bhaji:haha: Arthur now probably has great support on this forum now to be our next coach:haha: Poor Bhaji he is getting it from everywere:((

[c_vikas2000]

Oh FFS! Please leave the worrying and questioning part of our players on us. Jesus Christ' date=' you just won one ****ing game and failed to win a series in India for 10 years. Please look into that for now :wall:[/quote'] what he has said is truth...so , please accept is gracefully....they are true no. 1 side in the world...and SA is the only team which has won 5 test and lost 4 in India..and out of 5, 3 are inning defeats...none other team has given inning defeat to India in India....

[Guest Hiten.]

what he has said is truth...so ' date=' please accept is gracefully....they are true no. 1 side in the world...and SA is the only team which has won 5 test and lost 4 in India..and out of 5, 3 are inning defeats...none other team has given inning defeat to India in India....[/quote'] Umm, if he is talking about sentiments then tell me why do they have a policy of picking colored player irrespective of his caliber or performance ? Ntini was dragged for 3-5 many matches despite having averaging 57 in tests. He would have been dragged more had England lost to SA and Bhajji is still in the side because this was India's first defeat in what 12-14 months ? P.S: Of course, I know the answer to the question I asked. But it does count something along the lines of sentiments.

[davidcooper]

what he has said is truth...so ' date=' please accept is gracefully....they are true no. 1 side in the world...and SA is the only team which has won 5 test and lost 4 in India..and out of 5, 3 are inning defeats...none other team has given inning defeat to India in India....[/quote'] but but but.....they got smacked by aussies and england palying at home:((

[vvvslaxman]

Doesn't matter SA lost to England or Aus. They just pwned us. Harris outbowled Bhajji. Harris prevented India from securing a draw by picking up the wickets of Vijay, Tendulkar and Dhoni on day 4. He does have a point about Zak lacking support from other end. It is heart breaking to have a mediocre bowler bowling at the other end. Unless INdia learns to keep pressure from both ends their batsmen will cosntantly be under pressure. How long is too long before someone makes this point. I am glad Arthur brought it up.

[Gunner_Mania]

Umm, if he is talking about sentiments then tell me why do they have a policy of picking colored player irrespective of his caliber or performance ? Ntini was dragged for 3-5 many matches despite having averaging 57 in tests. He would have been dragged more had England lost to SA and Bhajji is still in the side because this was India's first defeat in what 12-14 months ? P.S: Of course, I know the answer to the question I asked. But it does count something along the lines of sentiments.

No it does not. It is called politics. Politics and sentiments are not the same thing, but I am with you on the point about Ntini. On that last day of the first SA-Eng test when SA needed 1 wkt to win, Smith bowled Ntini even though he hadn't done anything in tha test. Was it because of the sentiment that he was playing his 100th test and Smith was hoping for some fairy tale ending?? we will never know.

[gs]

Serves Bhajji right. Perform or get out. Cant help thinking if things might have turned out different if Ojha and Mishra were bowling in tandem.

[achilles]

Mickey is the last person to talk about sentiments. Everyone knows he got sacked, er... quit coz he's known to be a sentimental person and took the Mickey out of himself in the process :hehe:

[Karan114]

Bhajji bowled really well in New Zealand last year - you might say the opposition was weak but he was really bowling good lines and giving it a rip and would have troubled even stronger batting line-ups with that quality of bowling. Since then he has been pedestrian.

[vvvslaxman]

As an off spinner first thing i expect is the drift. With his darts he is never going to have that drift. Hauritz supposedly a mediocre offie has that drift. It is basic. That is the only way you can beat batsman in flight. His bowling has deteriorated seriously on a technical level. To be honest Sehwag was more penetrative than Bhajji in the first test because even he has a slight drift.

[Gunner_Mania]

As an off spinner first thing i expect is the drift. With his darts he is never going to have that drift. Hauritz supposedly a mediocre offie has that drift. It is basic. That is the only way you can beat batsman in flight. His bowling has deteriorated seriously on a technical level. To be honest Sehwag was more penetrative than Bhajji in the first test because even he has a slight drift.

I think it is a confidence thing. he just doesn't have confidence in his own bowling at the moment. it is not like he never had the flight or the drift or that he suddenly has had a memory loss and so forgotten how to flight the ball.

[The Outsider]

To be honest Sehwag was more penetrative than Bhajji in the first test because even he has a slight drift.

Sehwag's under utilization has always troubled me. He can get a lot of drift at times, not just slight. The delivery with which he bowled Gilchrist at Perth is a perfect example - it just kept going away from Gilchrist during his attempt to sweep. Bowled superbly, with a lot of control in the Delhi test against Australia as well. He should be used as a genuine fifth bowling option.

[saneindian]

Talking of sentiments, where was the righteousness of Micky Arthur when his side lost atest series to Aus, lost in the t20 WC, couldn't reach the semis in the CT at home, lost the ODI series to Eng at home, drew the t20 series vs Eng at home and drew the test series vs Eng at home. Wooh thats nearly 10-11 months without a single success!! If he has such high ethical values, why didnt he quit his post himself than being kicked out by the SACB? Bhajji is struggling no doubt but that for our team management to worry about. The sole reason why he is targetting Bhajji is because he knows he is the biggest threat to SA in the next test. SA wont fear Mishra or Ojha much (they may surprise SA and win a match for us, but am sure SA dont rate these two very highly) and would much rather face a Mishra-Ojha combo than a pair with Bhajji in it.

[vvvslaxman]

Sehwag's under utilization has always troubled me. He can get a lot of drift at times' date=' not just slight. The delivery with which he bowled Gilchrist at Perth is a perfect example - it just kept going away from Gilchrist during his attempt to sweep. Bowled superbly, with a lot of control in the Delhi test against Australia as well. He should be used as a genuine fifth bowling option.[/quote'] I remember how he bowled Graeme Smith around his legs in the Kanpur test. It was a peach. One minute i saw the ball drifting outside the leg stump next minute ball disappeared from the sight. Everyone was rejoiced. He was totally clueless.

[azanian]

"It looked like the India of old - easily bullied and intimidated by the quick men."

Spot on

[riya]

There is only one way to shut all these mouths up.Winning in Eden Gradens.

[vvvslaxman]

There is only one way to shut all these mouths up.Winning in Eden Gradens.

Not enough. We have to beat them in SA.

[Fontaine]

It's no secret. SA had a plan against Bhajji and executed it. Like people have mentioned before Bhajji is a one dimensional bowler with little to no drift.