Drop Bhajji and give Ashwin a chance

[ganeshran]

Gannu, Bhajji is not going anywhere.. Just live with the fact..Why do you think Bhajji wanted to play all the matches in this tour ala Afridi touring with the Pak team? Bhajji clearly knows that the moment he leaves his place vacant, others might dislodge him..

+1. :agree:

[Ram]

what valid arguments do you need? His performances have gone downhill for the last one year. Both stats and watching his performances back that argument up pretty solidly. You are the one who is coming up with arguments like "He is the emotional leader within the team".

Lol.. When somebody quotes the Average and Strike rate of a bowler to talk about his performances in ODIs and conveniently leaves out the MOST critical statistic, i.e, the Economy Rate, that is a clear red-flag to keep out of such a discussion. Quoting Bhajji’s Average to talk about his performances in ODIs is like quoting Dravid’s Strike rate to tests to discuss his effectiveness in batting.:cantstop: But given that you have already contradicted yourself in the space of 3 posts (you went from ‘Bhajji sucked in ODI 2, he needs to be dropped’ to ‘We need to give youngsters a chance, Bhajji can be rested’.), I will not put it past you to do a complete 180 and proclaim that Bhajji is the best ODI bowler in the world.

[Misu243]

Both Ashwin and Ishant Sharma should be given a chance from now on. Munna needs to make way for Ishant Sharma who will bring some sort of fire into the attack...

[Guest Gunner]

Why does that sound so implausible to you?

Because I just can't visualise you saying things like emotional leader. :dontknow:

[Ram]

When did Ram tl;dr become a Harby supporter? :hmmm: I thought that KT was the only one on this forum (excluding the Punjabi chaps since they don't know what they're talking about).

Cant someone be labeled a ‘Team India sympathizer’? Is supporting players whom you think are vital to the team’s chances, mutually exclusive from supporting your team and wanting them to win? I don’t pick players based on who I like or don’t like. I side with players whom I think will help our team win, end of story.

[ganeshran]

Lol.. When somebody quotes the Average and Strike rate of a bowler to talk about his performances in ODIs and conveniently leaves out the MOST critical statistic' date= i.e, the Economy Rate, that is a clear red-flag to keep out of such a discussion. Quoting Bhajji’s Average to talk about his performances in ODIs is like quoting Dravid’s Strike rate to tests to discuss his effectiveness in batting.:cantstop: But given that you have already contradicted yourself in the space of 3 posts (you went from ‘Bhajji sucked in ODI 2, he needs to be dropped’ to ‘We need to give youngsters a chance, Bhajji can be rested’.), I will not put it past you to do a complete 180 and proclaim that Bhajji is the best ODI bowler in the world.

Economy rate is the most critical statistic in measuring our main wicket taking bowler's performance?? :hmmmm2: He is giving away 4.4 runs per over, which combined with his average of 42 effectively shows that he is picking one measly wicket per match.

[Ram]

Because I just can't visualise you saying things like emotional leader. :dontknow:

Hmm… When we’re talking about a team sport like cricket, leadership and team morale is probably the single most important thing to consider. You can have all the star-studded talents you want, but if you don’t have proper leadership and the team doesn’t gel together, then that is of no use whatsoever. We have seen that across sporting disciplines. As a Team India follower for the last 17 years, I can clearly say that the single biggest difference between our team of today and that spineless team of the 90s, is positive ATTITUDE. And positive attitude comes from confidence and aggression and a unwavering fearlessness to take on the opposition. And it is characters like Ganguly and Bhajji who infused that culture into our cricket. Now, younger players Gambhir are just carrying forward that tradition. You cannot emphasize the importance of team chemistry and leadership in team-sport enough. And we have seen repeatedly that Harbhajan is one of the most important members of the leadership coterie. Asking to be dropped is ludicrous and shows a distinct lack of understand of the inner-chemistry within the Indian team.

[Ram]

Economy rate is the most critical statistic in measuring our main wicket taking bowler's performance?? :hmmmm2: He is giving away 4.4 runs per over, which combined with his average of 42 effectively shows that he is picking one measly wicket per match.

Yes, keep scratching your head. You learn new things everyday – Apparently, ER is not the most critical stat, when it comes to judging the performance of a bowler in ODIs. I say drop Dravid! His SR is too slow in tests! :hitler:

[Fontaine]

This is hilarious. When did dropping players ever improve the non playing XI?? Just because Bhajji has had a few average months doesn't mean Ashwin is suddenly better. Every player gets rested including Bhajji and if others like Ashwin/Mishra were better then their performance would already be in the team. The reality of the situation is that there is no one spinner head and shoulders better than the rest. Bhajji gets the nod because of his experience and batting ability not because he's miles and miles better than Mishra/Ashwin. The sooner people realize this the clearer the picture will be. There is no conspiracy, vested interest etc. Mishra's batting sucks, Ashwin is just as bad and a worse fielder. Bhajji at least is a better fielder/batsmen so he gets the edge. That's it, plain and simple.

[ganeshran]

Yes, keep scratching your head. You learn new things everyday – Apparently, ER is not the most critical stat, when it comes to judging the performance of a bowler in ODIs. I say drop Dravid! His SR is too slow in tests! :hitler:

Yes, its not the most critical stat that you expect from your main wicket taking bowler. You talk as if Harbhajan is the most economical bowler in the world. His economy rate is 4.3, there must be atleast 50-60 bowlers having better economy rates than him

[Guest Gunner]

Hmm… When we’re talking about a team sport like cricket, leadership and team morale is probably the single most important thing to consider. You can have all the star-studded talents you want, but if you don’t have proper leadership and the team doesn’t gel together, then that is of no use whatsoever. We have seen that across sporting disciplines. As a Team India follower for the last 17 years, I can clearly say that the single biggest difference between our team of today and that spineless team of the 90s, is positive ATTITUDE. And positive attitude comes from confidence and aggression and a unwavering fearlessness to take on the opposition. And it is characters like Ganguly and Bhajji who infused that culture into our cricket. Now, younger players Gambhir are just carrying forward that tradition. You cannot emphasize the importance of team chemistry and leadership in team-sport enough. And we have seen repeatedly that Harbhajan is one of the most important members of the leadership coterie. Asking to be dropped is ludicrous and shows a distinct lack of understand of the inner-chemistry within the Indian team.

Why don't you bring back Ganguly then? He has more Jazba, Junoon and Josh than anyone I know.

[Ram]

Yes, its not the most critical stat that you expect from your main wicket taking bowler. You talk as if Harbhajan is the most economical bowler in the world. His economy rate is 4.3, there must be atleast 50-60 bowlers having better economy rates than him

And the award for the most irrelevant point of the year goes to….

[ganeshran]

And the award for the most irrelevant point of the year goes to….

Man, you do really debate like Vaibhav_Delhi

[Ram]

Man' date=' you do really debate like Vaibhav_Delhi [/quote'] I dunno about that, but you do debate really badly though.

[Zelig]

When did Ram tl;dr become a Harby supporter? :hmmm: I thought that KT was the only one on this forum (excluding the Punjabi chaps since they don't know what they're talking about).

PK bubba OWNed :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[Ram]

Why don't you bring back Ganguly then? He has more Jazba' date=' Junoon and Josh than anyone I know.[/quote'] Hmm.. that cannot happen because of the small but inconvenient truth that he is actually retired from international cricket?

[ganeshran]

I dunno about that' date=' but you do debate really badly though. [/quote'] I would take 'badly' over V_d mode anyday Coming back to point, you accused me of leaving out Bhajji's economy rate since its the most critical statistic. Bhajji's economy rate is quite decent in ODIs, but its nowhere as stellar to justify his place based on that alone. He needs to pick more wickets.

[Guest Gunner]

Hmm.. that cannot happen because of the small but inconvenient truth that he is actually retired from international cricket?

This man says hello as the emotional leader of the Indian cricket team: :isalute:

[punjabi_khota]

Bhajji is business partner of Dhoni, hence will never be dropped. theory> Haters gonna hate, sipping their haterade While Bhajji bowls his legside wides to glory :yay: :bhangra: Seriously though, Bhajji's role in ODIs seems to be keeping the RR down, and he seems to have official backing on this. Unlike claimed above, He is NOT our main wicket taking bowler in ODIs. We should be trying out Ashwin more regularly though. But in tests, he performed well in SA (against great odds from all sorts of people), and hence deserves to keep his spot.

[Andy]

If there is a case of choosing between Bhajji and Ashwin, I would pick Ashwin anyday in ODIs, he has played limited number of games and has proved his worth. Ashwin did really well in the WC too. But going by the trend among Indian captains, Be it Ganguly or Dhoni Harbhajan was always Captains favourite as a result he would never be dropped.