It was good while it lasted - special thanks to IPL

[Yoda-esque]

Champion teams rise from the dead. This team has what it takes.

+1.I believe.

[Sooda]

If nothing else at least this farce has seen some oldies emerge, Gambo, Doc, Bumper...nice to see you guys... :D

[Sooda]

I agree with Sree. I dont think anyone (or many people anyway) are disputing that the IPL is not exactly great for Indian cricket. But its time we accept it and that means the board building tours and scheduling round it taking the IPL into account. Do they? Do they ****. Greedy frakkers shoehorn as much cricket as possible into our players lives. In an ideal world- - Viru would have had surgery just after the WC skipping the IPL so as to be fit for Eng. IDEALLLYY Zak and the injured GG would have sat out but thats asking too much. - The tour of WI would not have happened, or at least been a test match series only - There would have been two tour matches prior to the first test in Eng, and it would have been a 3 test, not 4 test series. THAT (and a shorter WI tour) would have given us a longer break between WI and Eng and better prep for Eng, a fitter (and match fit) Zak and Sehwag. - The totally random, pointless 5 match ODI series in Oct (?)when Eng tour India would not exist -WI tour of India too would be earlier as a result giving us more time for practice matches and maybe even a camp prior to Aus tour in Dec. As it stands I imagine we are heading for Aus 2 days after the last test vs WI in India ends..

[Sooda]

Ultimate_game' date=' What lack of planning man. BCCI accepted all players appeal to retire themselves from the tour to Windies. They all got their desired rest time. It's not BCCI who should be blamed for unfit Zaheer. One can't blame ACB and NZC that Andrew Symonds and Jesse Ryder have been seen drinking before or after the match and have put their chance in trouble.[/quote'] I think where the BCCI are to blame is the poor build up to the series and not giving bowling time to Zaheer for instance- one warm up match instead of two. Its lack of match practice thats Zaheers problem in large part. This is where taking the IPL into account comes, if it is so important then lets schedule tours after giving players a good break after it. as I type this Mukund bowled. Oh well.

[Alchemist]

I think, as far as the fitness issue goes, the BCCI should have had a fitness camp for people going to England from India.

[Ram]

The OP's a classic case of blaming the rain for ruining your freshly painted car. Its your fault that you did not put the car indoors, and not the rain's fault that it came down when it did. We couldnt win a book cricket game outside India in the 90s.. I am pretty sure there was no IPL back then to ruin our players.

[singhprakash72]

I agree with Sree. I dont think anyone (or many people anyway) are disputing that the IPL is not exactly great for Indian cricket. But its time we accept it and that means the board building tours and scheduling round it taking the IPL into account. Do they? Do they ****. Greedy frakkers shoehorn as much cricket as possible into our players lives. In an ideal world- - Viru would have had surgery just after the WC skipping the IPL so as to be fit for Eng. IDEALLLYY Zak and the injured GG would have sat out but thats asking too much. - The tour of WI would not have happened, or at least been a test match series only - There would have been two tour matches prior to the first test in Eng, and it would have been a 3 test, not 4 test series. THAT (and a shorter WI tour) would have given us a longer break between WI and Eng and better prep for Eng, a fitter (and match fit) Zak and Sehwag. - The totally random, pointless 5 match ODI series in Oct (?)when Eng tour India would not exist -WI tour of India too would be earlier as a result giving us more time for practice matches and maybe even a camp prior to Aus tour in Dec. As it stands I imagine we are heading for Aus 2 days after the last test vs WI in India ends..

This is what is expected from a Champion team and World's most powerful Cricket board...why let your guard down and give a chance to #2 team in the world. Now we have a world class team in a tight position just because they thought $$$$ > #1 !!!

[Brainfade]

The OP's a classic case of blaming the rain for ruining your freshly painted car. Its your fault that you did not put the car indoors, and not the rain's fault that it came down when it did. We couldnt win a book cricket game outside India in the 90s.. I am pretty sure there was no IPL back then to ruin our players.

Guns don't kill people; People kill people ... or something like that.

[singhprakash72]

90s was a different story (overseas)..No match winning bowlers on seaming wickets...No match winning batsman (except one)...so WRONG comparision !

[flamy]

IPL > Test :yay: suck on it :hehe:

[King Tendulkar]

What an ott thread. OP should be ashamed of himself with such knee jerk reactions based on half a game. And the op is a proffesor as well:cantstop:

[Yoda-esque]

What an ott thread. OP should be ashamed of himself with such knee jerk reactions based on half a game. And the op is a proffesor as well:cantstop:

:giggle:

[Dhondy]

Jesus, what wouldn't I give to have the oldies like Ravi posting again! This forum has really descended into complete mediocrity. Have keypad, will post, no brain required. Very disappointing.

[Ultimate_Game]

What an ott thread. OP should be ashamed of himself with such knee jerk reactions based on half a game. And the op is a proffesor as well:cantstop:

You are missing the main point of this thread, i.e. lack of proper planning and foresight by BCCI. Even if we win the series the fact remains it's due to players than the system in place or BCCI and such a situation doesn't last long. We can be successful for some time but eventually we will come down since to be successful for a long time better planning and support is required.

[The Outsider]

Jesus' date=' what wouldn't I give to have the oldies like Ravi posting again! This forum has really descended into complete mediocrity. Have keypad, will post, no brain required. Very disappointing.[/quote'] Dhondy, I landed in India around 3 weeks back for a lengthy break - the country is mad with Dhoni mania. I drive around Lucknow, Varanasi, and Delhi and I see Dhoni staring down on me when I am trying to find out which road I am on. Dhoni? Seriously? WTF? At least the earlier mania we had in the cricketing nation was about top quality cricketers like Gavaskar, Kapil, Tendulkar. Dhoni? WTF! The guy is a hack of a wicket keeper - the only reason he doesn't have a Kamran Akmal kind of record of dropped catches is that he does not even attempt them to drop them. His batting? WTF kind of a hack is he masquerading as a batsman. His media pull has even persuaded the supposed cricket literates to nominate him in an all time Indian XI - the guy would not last 20 deliveries against Akram, Waqar, and Saqlain. But yeah, he gave the great photo op to the morons of the country in the WC final after Gambhir and Kohli had done all the hard work. OMG OMG, he hit a six to win the WC. It's not just this forum which has descended to mediocrity, it's the average Indian who worships mediocrity.

[Guest Gunner]

Dhondy, I landed in India around 3 weeks back for a lengthy break - the country is mad with Dhoni mania. I drive around Lucknow, Varanasi, and Delhi and I see Dhoni staring down on me when I am trying to find out which road I am on. Dhoni? Seriously? WTF? At least the earlier mania we had in the cricketing nation was about top quality cricketers like Gavaskar, Kapil, Tendulkar. Dhoni? WTF! The guy is a hack of a wicket keeper - the only reason he doesn't have a Kamran Akmal kind of record of dropped catches is that he does not even attempt them to drop them. His batting? WTF kind of a hack is he masquerading as a batsman. His media pull has even persuaded the supposed cricket literates to nominate him in an all time Indian XI - the guy would not last 20 deliveries against Akram, Waqar, and Saqlain. But yeah, he gave the great photo op to the morons of the country in the WC final after Gambhir and Kohli had done all the hard work. OMG OMG, he hit a six to win the WC. It's not just this forum which has descended to mediocrity, it's the average Indian who worships mediocrity.

He represents the average Indian. The empathy is therefore quite expected. Dhoni in the ODI squad is perfectly valid but he shouldn't be in the test team at all.

[Ultimate_Game]

Dhondy, I landed in India around 3 weeks back for a lengthy break - the country is mad with Dhoni mania. I drive around Lucknow, Varanasi, and Delhi and I see Dhoni staring down on me when I am trying to find out which road I am on. Dhoni? Seriously? WTF? At least the earlier mania we had in the cricketing nation was about top quality cricketers like Gavaskar, Kapil, Tendulkar. Dhoni? WTF! The guy is a hack of a wicket keeper - the only reason he doesn't have a Kamran Akmal kind of record of dropped catches is that he does not even attempt them to drop them. His batting? WTF kind of a hack is he masquerading as a batsman. His media pull has even persuaded the supposed cricket literates to nominate him in an all time Indian XI - the guy would not last 20 deliveries against Akram, Waqar, and Saqlain. But yeah, he gave the great photo op to the morons of the country in the WC final after Gambhir and Kohli had done all the hard work. OMG OMG, he hit a six to win the WC. It's not just this forum which has descended to mediocrity, it's the average Indian who worships mediocrity.

You are not giving the man enough credit. When Dhoni walked in to bat in the World Cup final the match was in favor of SL one more wkt and it would have been curtains. Sure Gambhir played a wonderful innings but so did Dhoni. The guy controlled the game wonderfully and didn't panic and brought in a sense of calm. He gave no chances, took no risk, played percentage cricket and delivered the World Cup. You make it sound as if India were winning world cups left, right and center before Dhoni arrived on the scene. At the end of the day ppl buy into Dhoni mania coz he has delivered results. He hasn't lost a series so far and has won whatever was there to win - T20 Cup, CB Series in Aus, World Cup etc. The guy has amazing man management skills and the team looks different under him. He may not be everyone's cup of tea, he clearly isn't yours, but the fact is he wins. Period. No matter whether he has poor technique, can't hack it against better bowlers yadda yadda yadda but at the end of the day he delivers, which is what counts.

[Sid]

Dhondy, I landed in India around 3 weeks back for a lengthy break - the country is mad with Dhoni mania. I drive around Lucknow, Varanasi, and Delhi and I see Dhoni staring down on me when I am trying to find out which road I am on. Dhoni? Seriously? WTF? At least the earlier mania we had in the cricketing nation was about top quality cricketers like Gavaskar, Kapil, Tendulkar. Dhoni? WTF! The guy is a hack of a wicket keeper - the only reason he doesn't have a Kamran Akmal kind of record of dropped catches is that he does not even attempt them to drop them. His batting? WTF kind of a hack is he masquerading as a batsman. His media pull has even persuaded the supposed cricket literates to nominate him in an all time Indian XI - the guy would not last 20 deliveries against Akram, Waqar, and Saqlain. But yeah, he gave the great photo op to the morons of the country in the WC final after Gambhir and Kohli had done all the hard work. OMG OMG, he hit a six to win the WC. It's not just this forum which has descended to mediocrity, it's the average Indian who worships mediocrity.

Man that's one hell of a rant .

[Sid]

You are not giving the man enough credit. When Dhoni walked in to bat in the World Cup final the match was in favor of SL one more wkt and it would have been curtains. Sure Gambhir played a wonderful innings but so did Dhoni. The guy controlled the game wonderfully and didn't panic and brought in a sense of calm. He gave no chances, took no risk, played percentage cricket and delivered the World Cup. You make it sound as if India were winning world cups left, right and center before Dhoni arrived on the scene. At the end of the day ppl buy into Dhoni mania coz he has delivered results. He hasn't lost a series so far and has won whatever was there to win - T20 Cup, CB Series in Aus, World Cup etc. The guy has amazing man management skills and the team looks different under him. He may not be everyone's cup of tea, he clearly isn't yours, but the fact is he wins. Period. No matter whether he has poor technique, can't hack it against better bowlers yadda yadda yadda but at the end of the day he delivers, which is what counts.

Results dont matter all that matters is he is mediocre :two_thumbs_up:

[King Tendulkar]

Dhondy, I landed in India around 3 weeks back for a lengthy break - the country is mad with Dhoni mania. I drive around Lucknow, Varanasi, and Delhi and I see Dhoni staring down on me when I am trying to find out which road I am on. Dhoni? Seriously? WTF? At least the earlier mania we had in the cricketing nation was about top quality cricketers like Gavaskar, Kapil, Tendulkar. Dhoni? WTF! The guy is a hack of a wicket keeper - the only reason he doesn't have a Kamran Akmal kind of record of dropped catches is that he does not even attempt them to drop them. His batting? WTF kind of a hack is he masquerading as a batsman. His media pull has even persuaded the supposed cricket literates to nominate him in an all time Indian XI - the guy would not last 20 deliveries against Akram, Waqar, and Saqlain. But yeah, he gave the great photo op to the morons of the country in the WC final after Gambhir and Kohli had done all the hard work. OMG OMG, he hit a six to win the WC. It's not just this forum which has descended to mediocrity, it's the average Indian who worships mediocrity.

So you dont rate dhoni as test match player. I agree he is so over hyped. BUT that just marketing, Beckham was also pants but got hpyed and image was over drive, these are wierd exceptions that generally dont happen. Nevertheless dont see what the hell this has got to with us suddenly becoming useless in tests. We have exceptional pool of players and many fine youngsters looking to break in. I mean to judge a team half way through a match, when its champion bowler gets injured(footballers are super fit, many break down with hammys in matches, they also underprepared??) leaving us with a 3 man attack is nuts. We aint going anywere and will dominated for years. If money is the motivation then the most money is still earnt by test match players(reputation and sponsors) and the best test match players are still best players IPL , who earn the most.