time to look at the bigger picture

[bharat297]

I think it is time us fans remain patient here. I would like to ask who here honestly thought that winning the T20 would mean India would be the new no1 team? You dont become a champion team overnight. Australia didnt overtake the windies after a good couple of months. It took 5 or 6 years. Even though many of our young team are copping the brunt of australia's punishment, I would not change the side too much. My side for the next match would be ... Ganguly, Tendulkar, Uthappa / Gambhir , Yuvraj, Dravid, Dhoni, Sharma, Pathan, Harbhajan, Sreesanth, Zaheer Many people on these forums have started to rattle off an entire list of major changes to the side. How can we expect the selectors to be patient , when we ourselves are not? After the T20, people said Gambhir should be in every single indian side, and that seniors should make way for him. Now, 2 innings later, they are saying he is useless and should be dropped in favour of Sehwag (who i guess is a senior) Many indians believe the Indian side are too old (suggesting the team needs to be younger) but in fact it is the opposite, we are quite a young side . The likes of Gambhir, Uthappa, Sharma, Dhoni (he hasnt played for 3 years yet), Pathan, Sreesanth, RP, Chawla are all relatively new to the scene. The majority of the side is quite young. Lets give this young team time. Australia are trying to break us mentally , it is quite clear . Panicking and shuffling around with the team will hurt us in the long run. These players must learn from their mistakes. Lets take this series for what it is , a chance to test our relatively young side against the 'measuring stick' of world cricket, so we can see where our strengths and weaknesses are. By the way, this is not a thread saying to dump our big 3 or anything because I believe we need their experience to guide these youngsters into international cricket.

[sachin_fan]

I think we are shaping up pretty well. I saw a lot improvements btwn the 2nd and 3rd ODI's. For one, the middle overs were really well contained. Harbi esp bowled pretty well. I guess hayden was out to prove a point and the pitch really suited him. Esp in the morning session. I also felt that yuvi and tendulya bowled pretty well, for a 5th bowler. Symonds onslaught needs to be contained and am sure we can do this I hope next match we bat first

[novpj]

You have taken up the cause for seniors but we are not going to win if we cant score 300 in every match and with or without the seniors we wont score 300. So lets stop the charade and play youngsters so that they can get valuable experience. This is not going to change the near term outcome but will set us up well for the future.

[yoda]

Good post there bharat. yes, i believe enough changes have already been made in terms of bringing in Rohit, Uthappa and Gambhir back. We need to persist with these guys atleast for this series and may be even Pak series before deciding on the next moves.

[bharat297]

Play youngsters ... my point is we have enough youngsters in the side for the moment. People seem to think that the answer to everything lies in selection . If in doubt just drop our current players for someone younger, without even looking at the real reasons behind our losses. WE HAVE A YOUNG SIDE. In our entire ODI squad, we only have 3 players above 30. The average age of our ODI squad is among the lowest of all test playing nations. Lets give this team that we have more time. I have taken up the cause for Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly because I feel they have been unfairly maligned in the recent past,This year we have scored 300+ five times and 1 time we scored 260+ in 41 overs. ALL times were due to a strong performance from the seniors (inc Yuvraj , who has played for 7 years now ... making him a senior). So your point about not being able to score 300 with or without the seniors is wrong. But my point is ... The group of players we have now are capable of doing very well, so lets keep this group together for an extended run and let them gel together. I would not make any major changes to the side. I want this team to gel together for a year or two so partnerships and combinations start to develop and the team becomes familiar in playing as a team.

[Lurker]

I think it is time us fans remain patient here. I would like to ask who here honestly thought that winning the T20 would mean India would be the new no1 team? You dont become a champion team overnight. Australia didnt overtake the windies after a good couple of months. It took 5 or 6 years.

Yes we need to be patient, not because it is the best thing to do but because it is the only thing an Indian fan can do at this time. Period. Lets make one thing clear. India is playing cr@ppy cricket. No point in figuring out a positive here(Yuvraj batted well) or there(Bhajji bowled well). The simple fact is that this Australian team has the weakest bowling line-up coming from Down Under for atleast a decade or two. Look at the name - Lee, Johnson, Clark, Hopes, Hogg, Hodge? We are unable to chase 290 in India on a flat track against this attack for crying out loud!! Get realistic here, with such performances we are not gonna go anywhere. We are sucking currently and thats just the way it is. As for your assertion that Aussies took 5-6 years to beat Windies, yes they did. But you know how they reached there? They kicked out all the effing oldies, made a core team of 5-6 players(Dean Jones, Steve Waugh, David Boon, McDermott) and stuck with that line-up for another 6-8 years non-stop. If you want to emulate Australia come up with a plan, pick a team of youngsters, kick out the oldies and stick with the youngeters. xxx

[dial_100]

Yeah.. Dead fast fan of SRT and Dravid... I call for their head. They were both completely out of touch. As if they did not belong to the side. It was very visible. They kinda of not accepting that their ERA is gone and should accept and live with new TEAM INDIA face. Its young and energetic. Not just for the heck of it but I CALL SRT, RD and SG's head here.... get rid of them... They have become really gutless. After 1000 ODIs between 3 if they cant even win us ONE match against Aussies.. Heck get rid of them.. I want young tallented team to lose. and even ZK was seen very low for god knows what reason. Not the same ZK in england. Uthhu in the 2nd game was cracking, yuvi played excellent I would play BIS-BIS team n lose for next 2 years... We will still be world #6 team. But with experience, they will start to win the games..