The Free Lunch Club!

[Sean Bradley]

No form, No domestic performances of note, but captain and selector's always willing to give free rides to them in Intl. cricket. 1) Harbhajan Singh. 2) Ishant Sharma. 3) Gautam Gambhir. 4) Murali Vijay. :facepalm:

[Crookbond]

I agree with everyone but Gautam Gambhir. How many domestic matches has Gambhir played in the last 2-3 years? Not many. Recently, he scored a century in the opportunity he got against the touring Australians. In addition, Gambhir has performed pretty well in ODI cricket. In Test cricket, you are right on the money. The rest others aren't even worth debating over.

[bharat297]

I agree with everyone but Gautam Gambhir. How many domestic matches has Gambhir played in the last 2-3 years? Not many. Recently' date=' he scored a century in the opportunity he got against the touring Australians. In addition, Gambhir has performed pretty well in ODI cricket. In Test cricket, you are right on the money. The rest others aren't even worth debating over.[/quote'] I agree with you ... I think we're being awfully harsh on Gambhir who has been a hero for India in our 2 World Cup (T20 and ODI) final victories and has been ok in ODIs in the last couple of years. Not great though. He had underperformed in Tests and got rightfully dropped. Hardly a free lunch. I agree with the others although I'm willing to give Vijay a bit more time before I make a proper assessment. He hasn't been given a decent run as opener.

[Trichromatic]

I agree with everyone but Gautam Gambhir. How many domestic matches has Gambhir played in the last 2-3 years? Not many. Recently' date=' he scored a century in the opportunity he got against the touring Australians. [b']In addition, Gambhir has performed pretty well in ODI cricket. In Test cricket, you are right on the money. The rest others aren't even worth debating over.

Yes, he has been very good against Lankans, otherwise averaging 28 in 34 ODI matches is nothing special.

[SLICKR392]

^ What has Kohli done apart from scoring against Lankans? Gambhir scored a 90 in the CB against Aus and Kohli failed in all those matches.

I agree with everyone but Gautam Gambhir. How many domestic matches has Gambhir played in the last 2-3 years? Not many. Recently' date=' he scored a century in the opportunity he got against the touring Australians. In addition, Gambhir has performed pretty well in ODI cricket. In Test cricket, you are right on the money. The rest others aren't even worth debating over.[/quote'] +1

[Trichromatic]

^ What has Kohli done apart from scoring against Lankans? Gambhir scored a 90 in the CB against Aus and Kohli failed in all those matches. +1

34 matches - avg of 28 (Gambhir) - 0 hundreds v 34 matches - avg of 46 (Kohli) - 4 hundreds.

[Crookbond]

Yes' date=' he has been very good against Lankans, otherwise averaging 28 in 34 ODI matches is nothing special.[/quote'] I know that stat and it's a good enough point. I never said there was "anything special" with Gambhir in ODI cricket. I said he's done pretty well but we start slice/dice and then the fun starts. In any case, even if you ignore the point about Gambhir not being good in ODI cricket I think it is unfair to make the assertion that he has been selected despite of poor performances in domestic cricket. He has hardly played any domestic cricket in the last 2-3 years.

[Trichromatic]

In any case' date=' even if you ignore the point about Gambhir not being good in ODI cricket I think it is unfair to make the assertion that he has been selected despite of poor performances in domestic cricket. He has hardly played any domestic cricket in the last 2-3 years.[/quote'] :agree: He should have been dropped earlier or at least played some first class matches. Instead of that, he was kept in side for too long and it will affect Indian team in long term. He had a good chance to get back his form with domestic cricket. Who knows we might had in-form Gambhir for SA series this year. But selectors and his denial has ruined that chance for the team.

[Jersey #10]

Free meal 1. Jaddu. the motto of the opposition when Jaddu is picked. Jaddu Jaddu Jaddu, subah shaam maro Jaddu ko.

[SLICKR392]

:agree: He should have been dropped earlier or at least played some first class matches. Instead of that, he was kept in side for too long and it will affect Indian team in long term. He had a good chance to get back his form with domestic cricket. Who knows we might had in-form Gambhir for SA series this year. But selectors and his denial has ruined that chance for the team.

I have said that before. He should have been dropped right after the Aus tour. Its not too late but he missed out on a lot of domestic games during this patch.

[Texan]

Bhajji is not just in the free lunch club ... he's got free dinner, free dessert, free vacations, free money and a free Bollywood girlfriend too.

[Sean Bradley]

^^ Devil's Post...