Time to build a new team

[ludhianvi]

Last 3 years averages (approx): Sehwag------->54 Gambhir-------->59 Dravid---------->48 Tendulkar----->66.60 Laxman-------->57.50 Two losses and a complete revamp? Plus the batting didn't include both Gambhir and Sehwag at the top. It doesn't matter when the transition happens, it is still going to leave a void and the newcomers will take time to adjust and learn at the international level. The current lineup started gelling together and stringing great performances after many years. But going by the performances of the Top 5, which make up the core of the team, the youngsters will need to do better than them if we want to include them. The top 5 seem to be doing fairly well actually for the time being and as you can see have given top notch performances in last few years. On what basis are you going to drop them from the team? *insert funny gif here*

[Guest Gunner]

My plan would have been simple. BCCI sits with seniors and tells them, you don't have to play every Test match. You just play against top teams. so if there is tour to Windies, we can send new team there. If there is tour to Zimbabwe, we send new team there. But against likes of England, Australia, we need seniors. Also we need lot of A tours which will help transition. The guys like Mukund, Pujara, Kohli, Rohit, Rahane, they have to play those away A tours, 3 or 4 in a year. BCCI has money to arrange those tour. I bet they can find sponsor and even A tours can generate money for home board.

I think we cannot change whole middle order at once. First we need to fix our number 6 problem. Then think about any other place. Bring Pujara at 6 for good time and let raina play FC and A games. BCCI need to organize more A tours. Guys like Vijay, Kohli, raina, pandey, tiwarys, rohit, rahaane, kukreja, rp varma, Ganesh Satish, even CM Gautam looks a good Wk-batsman. They must be groomed.

SRT - 38 getting close to 39. RSD - 38 getting close to 39. VVS - 36 getting close to 37. ZAK - almost 33, towards the end of the lifecycle for a fast bowler. SO how much time do you guys think you have for this "phasing" you all are talking about?

[Cricketics]

^Ludhianvi. Thats how it is mate. People look for 2 defeats in a row to just straight release that this teams need to be revamped after all of this. I just want to ask these guys. What and how you want to change it. You want to rest Dravid from one match or series? Or wyou want to rest Sachin from one series. Or should we dump Laxman for couple of matches? These people who say they hate IPL and 2020, actually in real life think liek 2020 generation but don't realize. They want to make our test team look like a 2020 line up. No Thanks. WE STILL HAVE WORLD'S BEST LINE UP. AND we just have been poor in this series so far. Just accept and carry on.

[kabira]

>SO how much time do you guys think you have for this "phasing" you all are talking about? I am afraid we are late. they should have started to build A team 2 years back..But BCCI has done ***** about it.

[Guest Gunner]

I am afraid we are late. they should have started to build A team 2 years back..But BCCI has done ***** about it.

That is the point, the phasing out is not really possible anymore since we don't really have the time. However some of the energizer bunny cheerleaders (:hehe:) here are not quite smart enough to understand such complexities. We are never going to replace man for man such a great batting line up but if we don't expose the young chaps now to the hardship of test cricket, we will probably lose for many many years to come. Of course let us not do anything smart about it and instead keep cheerleading :hehe:

[Deleted_User_1]

I say Sachin, RD and Laxman needs to move on.....they have played enough...let the new blood come in, struggle and learn. And do not have Zak ass and Bhajji near the team as well. Yes, the team will flop, but we have to move on. Another defeat looms. Go Poms!!

[Guest Gunner]

I say Sachin, RD and Laxman needs to move on.....they have played enough...let the new blood come in, struggle and learn. And do not have Zak ass and Bhajji near the team as well. Yes, the team will flop, but we have to move on. Another defeat looms. Go Poms!!

You can hold Lax back for another 18 months but let the rest go.

[kabira]

That is the point, the phasing out is not really possible anymore since we don't really have the time. However some of the energizer bunny cheerleaders (:hehe:) here are not quite smart enough to understand such complexities. We are never going to replace man for man such a great batting line up but if we don't expose the young chaps now to the hardship of test cricket, we will probably lose for many many years to come. Of course let us not do anything smart about it and instead keep cheerleading :hehe:

well there is still hope, Sachin still has one good year, Laxman 2, dravid probably year max. So we still have one full year. arrange 3 or 4 A tours. Recognize core..The likes of Pujara, Rahane, Mukund, Rohit, Kohli, Vijay, Raina etc playing those tours. see who is cut out to get into team first. I think Pujara is ready so he gets number 6 spot..

[Sooda]

Also we need lot of A tours which will help transition. The guys like Mukund, Pujara, Kohli, Rohit, Rahane, they have to play those away A tours, 3 or 4 in a year. BCCI has money to arrange those tour. I bet they can find sponsor and even A tours can generate money for home board.

On this the ECB are ahead of the game, they sent Lions out to take part in the WI domestic tourno for instance last year I think. Why cant India A do that. Im sure they played Duleep trophy too a few years ago.

[Params7]

Didn't this team hold their own in SA against SA earlier this year? Wtf happened after that to our away form? The buttrape in this series is not just aging factor, they were still the same age pretty much in Jan/Feb. Something else is a major contributing factor. We have no tailenders who can rescue us like Eng side for one. The top order just looks incredibly out of form its like they don't know wtf is going on all of sudden.

[Sir john]

drop srt,rd and raina bring rohit,kohli and pathan

[Bumper]

I am not sure what dumping all the oldies is going to achieve. It sure is frustrating that the likes of Sachin dont standup in moments like this. But dumping him, Laxman and Dravid will only make it worse. An youngster like Rohit has potential. But if we do whole sale changes to the entire batting order, the youngsters will go through prolonged periods of failures and humiliation and may eventually give up. (Look at WI, it does not look like a team to me!) And with the money they make in IPL, whatever little motivation they have to play test cricket, will quickly vamoose. Rebuilding is a very time consuming exercise. Look at where Pakistan test side was in the 90s and where it is at the moment ? To feel like you belong here, as a batsman you should make some runs and be part of a winning team. So ideally you need to have a youngster batting at no. 6 (Raina does not look like that youngster) along side the trio, sharing the dressing room and be part of a winning unit. That said, our test future looks very bleak to me. We neither have the players (who are half the quality of the trio) in the pipeline, nor the intent to be a dominant force in test cricket. Few more years of IPL and this great sport will bastardize itself to a painful death.

[Guest Gunner]

I am not sure what dumping all the oldies is going to achieve. It sure is frustrating that the likes of Sachin dont standup in moments like this. But dumping him, Laxman and Dravid will only make it worse. An youngster like Rohit has potential. But if we do whole sale changes to the entire batting order, the youngsters will go through prolonged periods of failures and humiliation and may eventually give up. (Look at WI, it does not look like a team to me!) And with the money they make in IPL, whatever little motivation they have to play test cricket, will quickly vamoose. Rebuilding is a very time consuming exercise. Look at where Pakistan test side was in the 90s and where it is at the moment ? To feel like you belong here, as a batsman you should make some runs and be part of a winning team. So ideally you need to have a youngster batting at no. 6 (Raina does not look like that youngster) along side the trio, sharing the dressing room and be part of a winning unit.

Correct but we are two years too late for this. Now I would rather allow RSD/SRT/ZAK to retire and blood new guys. Like I said earlier we will never find players good enough to replace the great middle order but that doesn't mean we won't find good guys. We have to stop measuring everyone to SRT/VVS/RSD/SCG - this won't work.

That said' date=' our test future looks very bleak to me. We neither have the players (who are half the quality of the trio) in the pipeline, nor the intent to be a dominant force in test cricket. Few more years of IPL and this great sport will bastardize itself to a painful death.[/quote'] A rather perverse thought if you will, empires are built by making your own rules and then being the best at that. In that sense shouldn't we actually be the ones to usher in the demise of the "test" match cricket format and let other formats where we are actually stronger become the yardstick for judgement. I just wonder how the western civilization would react in a similar situation.

[punjabi_khota]

No one is going to dump the 'oldies'. Sure keep dreaming about it but its not gonna happen. :dontknow:

[akshayxyz]

Dravid and SRT are fitter than most youngsters, and above all they have strongest work ethics. Barring these three matches they have backed their weight by their performance. Let youngsters earn their place and not be served on platter.

[Bumper]

Gunner, this is not just about finding the guys of the same quality - that will never happen. I'd be happy with the next Azharuddin. Even that does not look realistic. As for bigging up T20, that may be the way forward for Indian cricket. It is already happening, may be not so explicitly, but may eventually become explicit after witnessing our youth brigade crumble like a cookie in the test arena in the years ahead. Fans will eventually stop following the formats where we consistently lose & take up to Tontee Tontee. Imagine a society where prostitution takes over marriage!

[Karan114]

Dravid and SRT are fitter than most youngsters, and above all they have strongest work ethics. Barring these three matches they have backed their weight by their performance. Let youngsters earn their place and not be served on platter.

Indeed. Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli...its not like we've not given young batsmen chances in Test matches. Fact is, they are all ****. Sure, we can kick out the senior trio today - it isn't going to turn these new players into Test class batsmen. I mean, Ganguly retired three years ago - he was a good Test batsman but not in the Sachin/Dravid class, and yet we haven't even found a replacement for him in these three years despite the no.6 spot being vacant.

[akshayxyz]

Besides, these stalwarts earned their way into the team. Grabbed opportunities by the neck. Why should it be any different for current generation?

[akshayxyz]

Indeed. Murali Vijay' date=' Abhinav Mukund, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli...its not like we've not given young batsmen chances in Test matches. Fact is, they are all ****. Sure, [b']we can kick out the senior trio today - it isn't going to turn these new players into Test class batsmen. I mean, Ganguly retired three years ago - he was a good Test batsman but not in the Sachin/Dravid class, and yet we haven't even found a replacement for him in these three years despite the no.6 spot being vacant.

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[yoda]

BTW how can we say Raina is cr@p when you have the great SRT snd VVS are failing here as well? Raina needs to sort out his short ball problem, otherwise he is ok. He did play some decent knocks in WI, even though the pitch there did help bowlers quite a bit. I would say the same regrding Mukund and Kohli and Rohit. M. Vijay was fine before he screwed up his technique/temperament.