StriKe Posted January 8, 2014 Posted January 8, 2014 Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh have had difficult domestic seasons after being sidelined from the national team, and with the flourishing of a younger bunch of batsmen, their international future looks shaky. Sunil Gavaskar, though, has said both can still force their way back into the Indian team. In his bid to return, Sehwag has shifted down to the middle order - where he began his career - after a profitable decade as opener. The results, though, have been poor: his fast-bowling team-mate Ashish Nehra has similar batting statistics over the Ranji season. Yuvraj has been through similarly wretched form, troubled by the pace of Mitchell Johnson during the home ODI series against Australia last year, before extending his lean run in the matches against West Indies and South Africa. The runs haven't returned in three Ranji matches since either. "(In) Cricket, nothing is impossible," Gavaskar said during the Ranji quarterfinal in Mumbai. "You have one good season, one outstanding season, you can come back. It is up to Yuvraj to show that he has got the burning desire for it. I think he has. And he has just had a bad season. Hopefully he could come back because he adds so much to the Indian team because he is still a top fielder and his spinners does help pick wickets. "Sehwag also, nothing is impossible in cricket. It is up to these guys to come back with not just hundreds but double hundreds and stuff like that." Gavaskar, India's greatest Test opener, suggested Sehwag, India's best Test opener after him, could try rediscovering his touch by moving back to the top of the order. "I think he is more happy with the ball coming on to the bat. If you have opened the batting for such a long time, it is a little bit difficult waiting in the dressing room, waiting for your turn to go to bat. The best move for him would be to go back to opening. The new ball will come on to the bat, he can try and score off it. The other thing is that clever captains will confront him with spin straightaway." One of the seniors who has made a comeback after a year out of the Indian team is Zaheer Khan. The national selection chief, Sandeep Patil, was watching the Ranji quarterfinals in Mumbai, possibly to track Zaheer's progress. None of the members of the Indian squad whose teams are in the quarterfinals is playing: Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Stuart Binny and Mohammed Shami are set to leave for New Zealand on the final day of the match. Gavaskar echoed Rahul Dravid's views that the six players could have played the Ranji knockout match. "It would have been fantastic to have the guys play in the quarter-finals," Gavaskar said. "If they could have played and left the day the quarter-final finishes, for example the team is leaving on 11th night/12th morning the three-four players could have left on 12th night/13th morning because the first match is on the 19th. I know you lose a day going into New Zealand but it would have still given them enough time. "This is India's No. 1 tournament. The more competitive it is, the higher the standard and the better the feedback for the selection committee to be able to see when the teams are playing the best and against the best, it is always a good indication for the selectors."
vvvslaxman Posted January 8, 2014 Posted January 8, 2014 Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Stuart Binny and Mohammed Shami are set to leave for New Zealand on the final day of the match. Gavaskar echoed Rahul Dravid's views that the six players could have played the Ranji knockout match. - why rest for Rohit sharma, Raina, Stuart Panni :hmmm:
G_B_ Posted January 8, 2014 Posted January 8, 2014 Rohit Sharma' date= Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Stuart Binny and Mohammed Shami are set to leave for New Zealand on the final day of the match. Gavaskar echoed Rahul Dravid's views that the six players could have played the Ranji knockout match. - why rest for Rohit sharma, Raina, Stuart Panni :hmmm: wait according to KT Gavaskar was a paid stooge.....
Vijy Posted January 8, 2014 Posted January 8, 2014 Yuvraj - perhaps. Sehwag - wishful thinking, virtually zero chance.
shortbread Posted January 8, 2014 Posted January 8, 2014 'If Kapil Dev can comeback a play a season of domestic cricket he can fill the void of an Indian all rounder in the 2015 WC!!'- Gawaskar
special K Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Yes please get these two back for the England tour.
Vijy Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 We don't need either of these players in their current form - however, there is still some time before the Eng tour, let's see if their form improves.
rkt.india Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Yes please get these two back for the England tour. :haha:
Marut Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 I would not write them off, but chances are low especially for Sehwag. Sehwag's decline has been on for a while now and it is very difficult to reverse ( it is not like a season without form for Sehwag) he won't make it without demonstrating enormous commitment.
carnish Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Time's up for Sehwag ... Yuvraj .. Well needs to short out the short ball problem ... Mitch just exposed him ... He seemed poorer than The RAINA.
coffee_rules Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Gavaskar trolling Sehwag and Yuvraj preparing them for Apr 1st disclosure.
Ram Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Sehwag's fall has been rather dramatic and sad. There’s absolutely no way he deserves to go out like this. If you looked that entire group of older guys from 2008 – Kumble, Dravid, SRT, Ganguly, VVS and Viru – everyone else had at least a semi-graceful exit, except him. Sehwag just stopped being relevant all of a sudden. That is weird because it was sort of implicitly assumed that Viru would take the leading role in guiding and mentoring the indian batting unit, post the SRT/RD/SG/VVS era, since he was good 4-5 years younger than those guys, but that clearly has not gone according to plan. Also, it would be pretty stupid to judge Viru by his FC performances off late. You never make the mistake of assessing the readiness of proven international performers – or I’d like to call it, ‘been there done that’ guys – by their record against FC teams. We made the exact same mistake with Viru when we dropped him from the initial shortlist of players for the 2007-08 tour of Australia. He had been out of the indian team for more than a year by then and my god, he couldn’t simply buy A run against mediocre FC sides! Nevertheless, for some weird reason, he was included in the final touring party (even though everyone criticized the move then) and in his first game back in Indian colors in Adelaide, he probably scored his best 100 of all time, against a very solid Aussie attack with Lee at the peak of his powers. But the key difference b/w then and now is that he is 6 years older, which makes you question if he still realistically has 2 good years left to indian cricket. Probably not. Unfortunately, as with every other legend, it is time to move on. :((
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