Phase out seniors - Laxman first, say former players

[jusarrived]

its Dravid who needs to go first, then Tendulkar and then VVS . I would have Virat coming in at no3 & Rohit at 5 .

[asterix]

Those matches were bowling wickets.Last year England won every test only after scoring above 400.Same with South Africa the year before when they won in Australia. In England when we won in 2007 we put up 400+ totals in both tests we performed.Same with SA when they won in England.So if u cant even put up 300 despite getting better conditions that oppositions all the blame should be on the batsmen. U can only put attacking fields on good batting wickets if batsmen have good totals in the first place.

Nice excuse for a defensive captain.. :two_thumbs_up: Hope he continues to blame the young batsmen too after the Fab 4 retire..

[rkt.india]

Any talk of retiring the seniors has to be a part of the discussion on overhauling the team including getting in a new captain and hopefully a new coaching staff as well. Retiring VVS and RD alone will not solve the problem. Batting failure is a part of the problem as is the insipid leadership.

I believe Dhoni is looking very laid back and Gambhir is a candidate for that. I have not been convinced with this taking time off strategy applied by Dhoni and the team when you are doing badly, so there must be some changes in the team management as well. Eric Simmons is one of them. I never liked Fletcher being appointed as a coach but he must take some initiative so that players practice more and practice well. What and how you practice is always shown in your performance on the field.

[rkt.india]

U can only put attacking fields on good batting wickets if batsmen have good totals in the first place.

it was evident that even with defensive field, team could not score Aussie score more than 4 an over. It is the wickets and attacking mentality that brings you wickets can control the run flow. Defensive tactics may work some time but not always, especially when you have scored 191, you must attack to get take wickets as quickly as possible and force batsmen to play risky shots rather than giving them easy singles or doubles.

[master22]

If Laxman does not perform at perth then the probability of him being dropped for the last test is pretty high,hope he performs.When was the last time he scored a century in overseas test anyway.On top of that is fitness is the worst among the big 3.

[BeautifulGame]

Nice excuse for a defensive captain.. :two_thumbs_up: Hope he continues to blame the young batsmen too after the Fab 4 retire..

Not excuse.I am all for sacking Dhoni as test Captain because he looks mentally stagnated and scared with these loses. But these doesnt change the fact that our batting is the sole reason for our pathetic loses.

[BeautifulGame]

it was evident that even with defensive field' date=' team could not score Aussie score more than 4 an over. It is the wickets and attacking mentality that brings you wickets can control the run flow. Defensive tactics may work some time but not always, especially when you have scored 191, you must attack to get take wickets as quickly as possible and force batsmen to play risky shots rather than giving them easy singles or doubles.[/quote'] We set attacking fields initially until Ponting and Clarke looked set.Only then Dhoni went defensive because he tried to slow the game until batsmen make mistake and thats what captains do on a flat wicket with lightning outfield.Clarke had a deep point and deep Square leg for Sachin from 1st ball in 2nd innings despite having 400 runs lead for a reason. When we set attacking fields with 2nd new ball they scored at 6 an over with ease.Thats how flat the wicket was and yet we bundled out for 190 in just 2 sessions. Also when we set attacking fields Aus batsmen take quick singles with ease because apart from Kohli no one attacks the ball which doesnt help the bowlers either.

[BeautifulGame]

If Laxman does not perform at perth then the probability of him being dropped for the last test is pretty high' date='hope he performs.When was the last time he scored a century in overseas test anyway.On top of that is fitness is the worst among the big 3.[/quote'] 3rd test against Sri lanka when we chased 250 in 2nd innings.Though he also scored that special 96 in Durban after than.

[asterix]

Not excuse.I am all for sacking Dhoni as test Captain because he looks mentally stagnated and scared with these loses. But these doesnt change the fact that our batting is the sole reason for our pathetic loses.

Not sole reason. Only one of the reasons. Sometimes when you win a Toss and your batsmen are struggling, if you are bright, you would rather give chance to your bowlers to have a go, first up. When you know that your batsmen are struggling for many matches now, how can you expect them to bat first and pile up runs when they haven't done in many matches now? It may look like hindsight, a team which appears to be lead and communicated well (it's pretty evident how the players are going about their tasks on the field, with everybody in their own cocoons, the captain is as passive as he can, almost like Manmohan Singh of cricket, on the field) makes better strategy right from the begining, insted of hoping and waiting for the batsmen to pile up and then that effing Anaconda style..doesn't works any more..

[vayuu1]

and the worst thing is his reaction when he gets out,it really piss me off.

[BeautifulGame]

Not sole reason. Only one of the reasons. Sometimes when you win a Toss and your batsmen are struggling, if you are bright, you would rather give chance to your bowlers to have a go, first up. When you know that your batsmen are struggling for many matches now, how can you expect them to bat first and pile up runs when they haven't done in many matches now? It may look like hindsight, a team which appears to be lead and communicated well (it's pretty evident how the players are going about their tasks on the field, with everybody in their own cocoons, the captain is as passive as he can, almost like Manmohan Singh of cricket, on the field) makes better strategy right from the begining, insted of hoping and waiting for the batsmen to pile up and then that effing Anaconda style..doesn't works any more..

Serious question? Do u really think a decision of this magnitude like toss will be solely made by the captain? No it isnt.Even in club cricket u ask the batsmen before deciding on toss.The toss decision will only have been taken after consulting with all senior batsmen and coach.but predictably our great batsmen folded again. And either u should be batting first on these wickets because it deteriorates after day 3.Did u see how awfully we folded in Melbourne pitch on day 4.We couldnt even have chased 200 in on 5 th day in that sydney wicket. If we had fought out the first session rather than stupidly looking for shots we would had the best use of wicket on day 1 and 2.And Dhoni would have been criticized the same way then too.If we had put Aus onto bat they would have done that and batted for 2 days.Either way the result wont change unless our batsmen start scoring runs. In Melboure Aus batted on first day in much tougher conditions and we had the best use of conditions on day 2 and 3.What did we do? concede a 60 run lead.

[chainsmoker1985]

Yuvraaj has done as good as Ganguly in test apart from Aus tour in 2007. He just has been plagued with injuries. And we are not expecting any miracles from youngster when even our ATG's cannot do any miracle. Remember, we still have not won a series in SA or Aus whole decade with our most ATG playing together. We will be happy losing with youngsters rather than getting disappointments match after match from these ATGs.

This is a valid point. Actually, right now, each single person overseas asks sarcastically- why are we losing despite our legendary batting line-up and there is not answer to it. And this embarrassment is because of continuous failure of batting line-up. And you never know, new blood, young blood can do miracles(remember, Sreesanth's performance in South Africa, our first test win). Right now, the result is ZERO with these legends. Except Sachin, our batting line-up is just getting bundled

[adi B]

yeah Laxman the eternal scapegoat,drop him,who cares if he averaged 99 v WI in last series,who cares if he has won no. of matches.who cares if hes youngest of the big 3 n not the one whos dropping dollies Virat Kohli FTWB->

who cares if he has got big lumps which do not allow him to bend,who cares if he is the worst runner b/w the wicket,who cares if he is getting out against rookies,who cares about past series of 4 years back

[bulbul]

No dropping of Laxman....Team manegemnt need to prepare a future plan and tell him Politely how much time he left in game.. Just because he failed in few matches you cant throw away a legend...(who have number of supporters) Remeber number of chance Yuvi,Bhajji,Ishanth got why not Laxman?

[adi B]

Dravid will be 39 in 3 days' date=' Sachin will be 39 in 3 months and L[b']Laxman is 37. At some point in the next 1 or 2 years they will have to retire. Cant expect them to play till they are 50. Whenever they retire the youngsters are going to face the same problems. So it is better to play the new players in domestic test matches first.

really :omg: throw sachin nd dravid out :hysterical: get the rahane 1down, rohit 2 down,kohli 3 down,axman 4 down

[Needforspeed]

really :omg: throw sachin nd dravid out :hysterical: get the rahane 1down, rohit 2 down,kohli 3 down,axman 4 down

No play them till they die of old age. :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[adi B]

I dont understand why some people say we need a replacement for No.6. Actually, we never found a decent No.6. Ganguly was a below average batsmen who hung on to his position because he was captain and his average of 40 odd was inflated due to his knocks against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. He was as bad as Raina outside subcontinent. He was damn smart though and he knew how to stay in the team.

have u gone mad? :bird:

[BeautifulGame]

No dropping of Laxman....Team manegemnt need to prepare a future plan and tell him Politely how much time he left in game.. Just because he failed in few matches you cant throw away a legend...(who have number of supporters) Remeber number of chance Yuvi,Bhajji,Ishanth got why not Laxman?

Err whats this an election campaign? Whats next run an opinion poll to decide when to retire whom? Well Sachin will never have to retire based on supporters strength :giggle:

[bulbul]

Err whats this an election campaign? Whats next run an opinion poll to decide when to retire whom? Well Sachin will never have to retire based on supporters strength :giggle:

if u are in lean form it will help having more supporters...you dont get calls for retiring...this is India with correct amount of supporters u can do anyhting

[Aussie-r-best]

For those that want Rohit in for Perth.... Please, please, please let him play :hysterical::hysterical: Rohit Sharma facing tough examination on bouncy Perth pitch if selected for India by Malcolm Conn From News Limited January 09, 2012 9:00PM As much of India clambers for Rohit Sharma to make his Test debut in the wake of Australia’s surprising domination, Perth shapes as a terrible place for him to start. With pressure on to sack one of India’s precious veterans, VVS Laxman, or struggling youngster Virat Kohli, Sharma has suddenly become the new hope of a despondent nation. But the Australians are licking their lips at the prospect of getting Sharma in on what is expected to be a fast and bouncy WACA wicket as they search for a series victory. Certainly always-smiling coach Mickey Arthur could not be beaming any more broadly at the prospect of Sharma playing in the third Test, which begins at the WACA Ground on Friday. “Rohit's had his challenges on wickets that bounce,” Arthur said in a remarkably candid assessment “He's going to go into a furnace at the WACA because there is going to be bounce there. “Probably he just needs his back foot game in order. “He's a class player. I've watched him play a lot on television. If he gets the nod, it'll be very interesting.” Sharma, 24, is a year older than Kohli and made his one-day debut a year earlier in 2007, playing 72 limited over internationals. In the first two Tests Kohli has managed just 43 runs at an average of 10.75. While India’s cricket crazy masses want Kohli dropped, former Indian players have taken aim at at Laxman, 37, believing India needs to begin building for the future after losing six away Tests in a row this year. Laxman has had a miserable time against the swinging ball, averaging just 23 during India’s 0-4 whitewash by England mid-year and averaging only 18 in Australia after India lost the opening two Tests in the four-match series. Sanjay Manjrekar wrote on his twitter page: "I would still drop VVS (Laxman] and get Rohit (Sharma) in for next Test. Makes long-term sense. Give Virat (Kohli) one more Test ... just to be sure he does not belong here.” “VVS averages 20 in last 12 overseas innings. Even if he gets a good score in next Test, it will not serve India long. Also if Virat, before the tour, was India's next big thing, should he not get more than two Tests on his first stint in Australia?" Former India selector and coach Anshuman Gaekwad believes it is time for India to think long-term. "We need to start building a team. Sachin [Tendulkar] still has the class, Rahul [Dravid] is very hard working but I am not sure how long Laxman will be able to continue. “You can't phase out all the three seniors at a time. You have to do that gradually.” Former chief selector Kiran More said it was important the team gave Kohli confidence and believes India can not afford to drop him. "I would play both Virat and Rohit in Perth. You should let Virat play. He should be given more chances. If you drop him now, he will not enjoy his cricket anymore."