What does an opener do in his first inning in England?

[Gambit]

against Flintoff, Jones(making his debut) and Hoggard? He smacks the cover off the ball making 84 from just 96 balls with 10 4s and a 6! http://content-www.cricinfo.com/england/engine/match/63997.html He HAS to be selected.

[Holysmoke]

No. Sehwag then != Sehwag now.

[The Outsider]

What does the same opener do when these guys tour India? Fails to go into double figures except for one innings. BTW, just noticed in that scorecard, flippin Nehra was sent out as a nightwatchman!!!

[Gambit]

What does the same opener do when these guys tour India? Fails to go into double figures except for one innings.

And that one inning was a 50+ knock in the 4th inning of the only test we won in that series. Given how we had/have been struggling to chase/survive in the 4th innings, that knock was vitally important.

BTW, just noticed in that scorecard, flippin Nehra was sent out as a nightwatchman!!!

Yeah and he got out in the last over of the day! He did well to hang on in the 4th inning though, which enabled Aggy to get a memorable 100.

[The Outsider]

Gambo we were chasing 150 against a knackered English attack on what was a pretty placid wicket. It was not like the last innings in Mumbai where there was a challenge to survive a day with the track playing up and down.

[Predator_05]

His first ever innings as an opener ! I remember it like yesterday. Flayed them at Trent Bridge a week later for the first of his many centuries as an opener

[Bumper]

No. Sehwag then != Sehwag now.

Heard of the word hypocrisy ? SRT then != SRT now, why is he playing then ? If we are gonna pick people on reputation i'd have sehwag in my test team, ahead of most of our seniors.

[Holysmoke]

Heard of the word hypocrisy ? SRT then != SRT now, why is he playing then ? If we are gonna pick people on reputation I'd have sehwag in my test team, ahead of most of our seniors.

The problem with Sehwag is his attitude. If sehwag wants to come back, he has to apply his fkkin head, and think, before going for 5 boundaries in 1 over. I've said this time and again. The guy needed a kick up his a$$ to make him realize the true value of playing for India. Maybe something like a year off, like what happened to SCG. Thats not the case with SRT. Losing confidence is not the same as losing your attitude. Also, we disagree on the second point. I feel SRT's reputation far beats Sehwag's reputation, and if we truly are gonna pick people on reputation, SRT would be in a test team far before Sehwag even made the probables.

[The Outsider]

LOL!! Even I have been critical of Tendulkar but Sehwag in his current form is not even tenth a player of what Tendulkar is. The guy has become an absolute nutcase and does not even have a half decent technique against the incoming delivery to fall back upon.

[CC1981]

I swear, when it comes to SRT, he may be struggling of late but people are seriously irreverant of this man's talent. Someone here just compared his 'reputation' to that of Sehwag's. WTF ? Don't get me wrong, Sehwag is a once-in-a-blue-moon player when he gets going and he is an unstoppable force when on song but Tendy is a once-in-a-life-time player. He has had a rough 4 years, losing form, losing fitness, etc etc but lets not forget this man's extraordinary accomplishments. Just to put Tendulkar in context, consider these few points: 1. When Tendulkar first started averaging 50 in Test cricket, he was barely 20 years old there were only TWO other batsmen averaging 50+ : Miandad and Border. Both of whom were nearing their retirement and set to join alltime-great status. Even if we were to consider the newly retired Viv, its still 3 people apart from a 20 year old boy who are averaging 50+ in that 7-8 year period. 2. When Tendy was a 20-something boy making runs, Hadlee, Botham, Ambrose,Walsh,Waqar,Wasim,Imran,Qadir etc. were still aroun 3. Tendy has 41 ODI centuries. Nearest to him has 25 centuries. The next guy has 23 tons. Ie, the second and third highest century-makers in ODIs COMBINED have only 7 more centuries than Tendulkar 4. At his (test) peak, Tendulkar was one of only 4 people to average 50+ ( Lara, Waugh and Flower were the only three). While Tendy was sitting in the 57-58 average zone, the #2 and #3 ( Lara and Waugh) were barely touching 50-51 zone. A player's biggest comparison is relative to his/her contemporaries. Sorry but to compare Tendulkar's reputation to Sehwag's is like comparing Kapil's reputation to Flintoff's.

[Ram]

CC.. Many of the points you have quoted have little relevance. Its not a question " How good do we think he is ? ".. Its now a question of " Will he deliver ? ".. Sachin HAS to answer this question. Sehwag's recall would have been easier if either Jaffer or Karthik or both had failed in BD. How do u change an opening combination that just put on a 175 the last time they played ? Its looking gloomy for Viru

[Bumper]

I swear, when it comes to SRT, he may be struggling of late but people are seriously irreverant of this man's talent. Someone here just compared his 'reputation' to that of Sehwag's. WTF ? Don't get me wrong, Sehwag is a once-in-a-blue-moon player when he gets going and he is an unstoppable force when on song but Tendy is a once-in-a-life-time player. He has had a rough 4 years, losing form, losing fitness, etc etc but lets not forget this man's extraordinary accomplishments. Just to put Tendulkar in context, consider these few points: 1. When Tendulkar first started averaging 50 in Test cricket, he was barely 20 years old there were only TWO other batsmen averaging 50+ : Miandad and Border. Both of whom were nearing their retirement and set to join alltime-great status. Even if we were to consider the newly retired Viv, its still 3 people apart from a 20 year old boy who are averaging 50+ in that 7-8 year period. 2. When Tendy was a 20-something boy making runs, Hadlee, Botham, Ambrose,Walsh,Waqar,Wasim,Imran,Qadir etc. were still aroun 3. Tendy has 41 ODI centuries. Nearest to him has 25 centuries. The next guy has 23 tons. Ie, the second and third highest century-makers in ODIs COMBINED have only 7 more centuries than Tendulkar 4. At his (test) peak, Tendulkar was one of only 4 people to average 50+ ( Lara, Waugh and Flower were the only three). While Tendy was sitting in the 57-58 average zone, the #2 and #3 ( Lara and Waugh) were barely touching 50-51 zone. A player's biggest comparison is relative to his/her contemporaries. Sorry but to compare Tendulkar's reputation to Sehwag's is like comparing Kapil's reputation to Flintoff's.

Baloney sausage. Totally irrelevant points. If one argues like that Kapil & Gavaskar may have a better reputation & hence deserve to play ahead of Tendulkar ? Sehwag's test career has been nothing short of brilliant. Infact during the time Sehwag & Tendu played test cricket TOGETHER (which is what you should be comparing), it was Sehwag who hogged the lime light, often carrying our test team almost single handedly, scoring runs in almost every important test series. (During this time, Tendy has predominantly been a minnow basher making mince meat of the mighty Bangles while promptly hiding when better opponents showed up). If anything I'd argue sehwag has a better case for being picked on reputation, because he has a MUCH BETTER match winning potential AT THIS POINT than Tendulkar. Infact Ian Chappell even wrote an article on it. Coming back to picking people on reputation: Why was Sehwag picked for the world cup ? Dont tell me its because of his form. Why was Ganguly picked during the Saffie series when he had little domestic/FC score to show for ? Why does Tendulkar continue to play test cricket ahead of VVS regardless of form or poor scores ? Reputation mattered in each of these cases. So picking Sehwag for the England tour is not exactly blasphemous.

[King Tendulkar]

Great post by CC. Post of the week:thumbs_up:

[Gambit]

Baloney sausage. Totally irrelevant points. If one argues like that Kapil & Gavaskar may have a better reputation & hence deserve to play ahead of Tendulkar ? Sehwag's test career has been nothing short of brilliant. Infact during the time Sehwag & Tendu played test cricket TOGETHER (which is what you should be comparing), it was Sehwag who hogged the lime light, often carrying our test team almost single handedly, scoring runs in almost every important test series. (During this time, Tendy has predominantly been a minnow basher making mince meat of the mighty Bangles while promptly hiding when better opponents showed up). If anything I'd argue sehwag has a better case for being picked on reputation, because he has a MUCH BETTER match winning potential AT THIS POINT than Tendulkar. Infact Ian Chappell even wrote an article on it. Coming back to picking people on reputation: Why was Sehwag picked for the world cup ? Dont tell me its because of his form. Why was Ganguly picked during the Saffie series when he had little domestic/FC score to show for ? Why does Tendulkar continue to play test cricket ahead of VVS regardless of form or poor scores ? Reputation mattered in each of these cases. So picking Sehwag for the England tour is not exactly blasphemous.

Bumper, I understand that you are no longer a SRT fan and probably justifiably so but you now come across extremely subjective when it comes to anything SRT and your posts are an exercise in revisionism and disparagement of his distinguished career. Coming back to your quote:

Sehwag's test career has been nothing short of brilliant. Infact during the time Sehwag & Tendu played test cricket TOGETHER (which is what you should be comparing), it was Sehwag who hogged the lime light, often carrying our test team almost single handedly, scoring runs in almost every important test series. (During this time, Tendy has predominantly been a minnow basher making mince meat of the mighty Bangles while promptly hiding when better opponents showed up).

Sehwag

[FONT=MONOSPACE,COURIER NEW,COURIER]v Australia            9   18   1   846 195  155   76   49.76   2   3   2
v England              9   14   1   418 106   84   76*  32.15   1   3   3
v New Zealand          4    8   0   217 130   29   25   27.12   1   0   0
v Pakistan             9   14   0  1276 309  254  201   91.14   4   2   1
v South Africa         7   12   0   500 164  105   88   41.66   2   1   1
v Sri Lanka            2    3   0    56  36   20    0   18.66   0   0   1
v West Indies          7   12   0   643 180  147   65   53.58   2   2   1[/FONT]

Tendulkar

[FONT=MONOSPACE,COURIER NEW,COURIER]v Australia            6   11   2   453 241*  60*  55   50.33   1   2   2
v England             10   15   1   791 193  103   92   56.50   2   4   0
v New Zealand          4    8   0   171  55   51   32   21.37   0   2   0
v Pakistan             9   12   1   523 194*  94   52   47.54   1   3   0
v South Africa         7   13   2   447 155   64   63   40.63   1   2   1
v Sri Lanka            3    5   0   189 109   23   22   37.80   1   0   0
v West Indies          8   13   1   637 176  117   86   53.08   2   2   3[/FONT]

Tendulkar is way better than Sehwag against England and Sri Lanka and marginally better than Australia. Sehwag is marginally better than Tendulkar against RSA, NZ and WI and way better against Pak. It's not as clear cut as you would like us to believe. From reading your posts, it would seem as if SRT was averaging 30 and Sehwag 70. PS - away from home, Sehwag averages 48 and Tendulkar 49 (who according to you went into hiding against these opponents). Now I look forward to you belittling Tendulkar even further.

[yoda]

How is a guy's debut years ago relevant to him being picked in the current side just because it is against the same opponent? Regarding tendulkar, the time to drop him was before the Saffie series. Now he has played himself back with a decent SAF series (not to help the team win the series, but enough to keep his spot) and a meaningless BD series, only to choke whenever it matters going forward. Anyways, neither of these guys will help us win any non-minnow test series in the near future. That job rests on the shoulders of Rahul Dravid. So, it doesn't really matter.

[Holysmoke]

Baloney sausage. Totally irrelevant points. If one argues like that Kapil & Gavaskar may have a better reputation & hence deserve to play ahead of Tendulkar ? Sehwag's test career has been nothing short of brilliant. Infact during the time Sehwag & Tendu played test cricket TOGETHER (which is what you should be comparing), it was Sehwag who hogged the lime light, often carrying our test team almost single handedly, scoring runs in almost every important test series. (During this time, Tendy has predominantly been a minnow basher making mince meat of the mighty Bangles while promptly hiding when better opponents showed up). If anything I'd argue sehwag has a better case for being picked on reputation, because he has a MUCH BETTER match winning potential AT THIS POINT than Tendulkar. Infact Ian Chappell even wrote an article on it. Coming back to picking people on reputation: Why was Sehwag picked for the world cup ? Dont tell me its because of his form. Why was Ganguly picked during the Saffie series when he had little domestic/FC score to show for ? Why does Tendulkar continue to play test cricket ahead of VVS regardless of form or poor scores ? Reputation mattered in each of these cases. So picking Sehwag for the England tour is not exactly blasphemous.

kapil and sunny argument is total bs. theyve retired. As I pointed out earlier, Tendu has a much much higher chance of success in England, why, because he is MORE FOCUSSED. The BCCI are idiots, we both know that. Tendu has always been a better ODI player than a test player, and sehwag always has been a better test player than an odi player. Yet Tendu was selected in the test team, and sehwag in the ODI team. Anyways, sehwag did nothing of note in the series. In fact, he showed us that he is not learning at all, after all that has happened. The way he got out in his innings in Bangladesh showed that he is trying to blast his way out of form, which is not a good idea, especially for someone like him, who does not have a solid technique. He will be found wanting in england. On the other hand, Tendu scored back to back hundreds. He has shown the desire to do well, and also has the technique to fall back upon. His innings may not have been the most entertaining, and he may not have looked very comfortable against the short balls, swaying at the last moment, but note that his innings were almost chanceless. Was there a single dropped catch in those innings? Once again, Tendu has a much much bigger case for selection. I still dont believe your arguments about Sehwag having a better "reputation". You mention why was sehwag picked for the world cup. No, it was not because of his form. It was because of his reputation. But here-in lies the difference between Sehwag's reputation and Sachins reputation. Sachin would never have been a borderline case for inclusion in the world cup. Why was Ganguly picked? 1 word. Politics. The selection committee changed. Why does Tendulkar continue to play Test cricket ahead of VVS? Mate, Tendulkar never played in VVS' place. VVS was missing only in the last series, and his place was taken by a BOWLER. NOT BY TENDULKAR. Again, you can argue, that Ganguly was playing in VVS's place, but remember, Ganguly was India's highest scorer in the last test series(before bangladesh), and Tendu was the second highest scorer. If you dont want to go by reputation, then they should have dropped Dravid. Sounds stupid, doesnt it?

[Guest dada_rocks]

Sehwag deserves a place in the team, don't care who gets dropped to accomodate him, his test cricket batting is still intact. Let us stop pontificating based on his one day form which incidentally was never great.

[yoda]

Sehwag deserves a place in the team' date=' don't care who gets dropped to accomodate him, his test cricket batting is still intact. Let us stop pontificating based on his one day form which incidentally was never great.[/quote'] yes, he got dropped from the wrong side. but i don't think much harm is done to the side cause of that. goes to show how useless he is in both forms.

[Cricketics]

we should take him to eng.. i dont have much expectation from Jaffer-Karthik pair...

[Gambit]

Anyways, neither of these guys will help us win any non-minnow test series in the near future. That job rests on the shoulders of Rahul Dravid.

So which non minnow test series has Dravid won us single handedly? Can you name them please? Thanks.