Yuvraj eyes success in Tests

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

OK Yograj

Sorry I edited and fixed it before you posted that. I realized the obvious mistake in stating that and stop calling me yograj. mr whoeva chap u r

[Mr. Wicket]

I'd say just pick the best batsmen for the slots. As far as I'm concerned, that basically means a capability to grind out the runs when the conditions are tough, a solid back foot technique especially when the Australian tour is concerned, the ability to make runs (obviously), skill against seam, spin and swing, and the capability to produce big scores. Laxman and Badrinath fill more of these slots than Yuvraj, who doesn't produce big scores with any consistency, is extremely weak against spin and lacks the temperament to grind it out in tough periods against a good bowling attack. Ergo, I'd take both in the side right now.

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

I'd say just pick the best batsmen for the slots. As far as I'm concerned, that basically means a capability to grind out the runs when the conditions are tough, a solid back foot technique especially when the Australian tour is concerned, the ability to make runs (obviously), skill against seam, spin and swing, and the capability to produce big scores. Laxman and Badrinath fill more of these slots than Yuvraj, who doesn't produce big scores with any consistency, is extremely weak against spin and lacks the temperament to grind it out in tough periods against a good bowling attack. Ergo, I'd take both in the side right now.

what was laxmans average for his first 21 tests or so?.wasnt it even worse than yuvraj?..why wont you apply your lil stupid theory there? badrinath has performed on domestic circuit...is that a guarantee he willl perform on international circuit against quality bowlers and ten folds more pressure and has more talent than yuvraj? do come again

[Ram]

I dont know how you could make such sweeping conclusions on Badrinath without even watching him play for any length of time ? Or is that you have watched quite a few of his matches already ? If anything,It is Laxman who looks out of place at no.6 for me. He doesnt seem to have the capability of building partnerships with the lower order , which is so essential for a test no.6. Nor can he hit out when the team is 8 or 9 down. Yuvraj can do that in a much better way. And its about time we stopped harping on technique. Sehwag, with one of the most airy-fairy techniques for an opener, prospered in the last Australian tour.

[Guest Yograj Singh]

Exactly. Yuvraj's record means nothing. So what if he has failed a few times? He is still the finest middle order batsman India has, and he should be a mainstay in the side at number 4, rather than being discarded prematurely as I was! Who cares about his average? With the talent in his wrists, pick him for the next 50 tests India play. Then give him his due once he has led our country to glory after glory.

[Bumper]

I find it funny that "recent" performances are being quoted against Yuvraj. I thought recent performance was never a criteria for a test spot and that reputation is the only thing that counts. Now that Yuvraj has earned that reputation by his exploits in the shorter version, he does deserve a look in. If you still insist that "recent" performance is the only yardstick to go by, pray tell how these batsmen find a spot in our Test XI. Batsman-1 Since Ind-SL 2005, 15 tests vs non minnows with an average of 31.75. Incidentally Yuvi averages better than this batsman, in the same time period. Batsman-2 In his last 2 test series vs non minnows, ended up as our worst top order batsman, averaging 22.81. In his last 4 test series, he failed in two. Incidentally Yuvraj also failed in two of his last 4 series. Batsman-3 Before he was brought back from wilderness, the man averaged a stupendous 29 vs non minnows in his last 13 tests played over a 2 year period. Yuvraj fared much better than that in his last 2 years. Why cant we accomodate the reputed Yuvraj in our Test XI ?

[Mr. Wicket]

When you produce results the way Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly have over that long a period, then you can have that sort of leash and margin for failure.

[Chaos]

Exactly. Yuvraj's record means nothing. So what if he has failed a few times? He is still the finest middle order batsman India has, and he should be a mainstay in the side at number 4, rather than being discarded prematurely as I was! Who cares about his average? With the talent in his wrists, pick him for the next 50 tests India play. Then give him his due once he has led our country to glory after glory.

arrey yograj uncle wat is this. Send me ur home phone number to my PM, so me, you and your son (yuvraj) can discuss in a phone conference. Regards, Indian Selector (mouni).

[Bumper]

When you produce results the way Dravid' date=' Tendulkar and Ganguly have over that long a period, then you can have that sort of leash and margin for failure.[/quote'] Dravid & Ganguly have been ok, one because of his stellar recent past & the other because of his great run recently. But what about Tendulkar ? How long is he gonna ride on past reputation ? Besides, i dont agree that someone who hasnt shown any "glimpse of return to form" in the past 2 years is gonna attain the performance levels he was used to in the past. Pit him against a quality Test attack & watch him fail every single time (

[bharat297]

Look Y4C, no one is arguing that Yuvraj is not a talented player and I am sure he will become a good test match player eventually. However, slight technical deficiencies can be found out very quickly in Tests. Look at how Andrew Symonds has struggled in the test arena , only in the MCG test in ashes 06 did he finally come good. If you look at our test form over the past few years, besides the dip in test form during the Chappel era (where we lost 2 test series) our test form hasnt been too bad, which is why we have been able to consistently stay in the top 3 in the rankings in Tests, and we are quite close to being no.2. We are starting to develop into a pretty nice Test match unit at the moment and having watched every ball of the England series, I have to say it is the most comfortable I have seen Ganguly look at the crease in a while. Sachin is starting to return to some good form. Laxman is still timing the ball as well as ever and simply needs to convert those 40s and 50s into bigger scores, which I feel is just around the corner, and it would be silly to drop Dravid from our Test team. Our middle order is a massive strength of ours. My only concern for our test side is the openers. Karthik and Jaffer are developing into a nice combination but I wonder how long that can last. They would obviously be the first choice pairing but we also need Sehwag and I reckon Chopra (probably the most technically correct opener we have) too , there as a backup for the series heading into Australia

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

Look Y4C, no one is arguing that Yuvraj is not a talented player and I am sure he will become a good test match player eventually. However, slight technical deficiencies can be found out very quickly in Tests. Look at how Andrew Symonds has struggled in the test arena , only in the MCG test in ashes 06 did he finally come good. If you look at our test form over the past few years, besides the dip in test form during the Chappel era (where we lost 2 test series) our test form hasnt been too bad, which is why we have been able to consistently stay in the top 3 in the rankings in Tests, and we are quite close to being no.2. We are starting to develop into a pretty nice Test match unit at the moment and having watched every ball of the England series, I have to say it is the most comfortable I have seen Ganguly look at the crease in a while. Sachin is starting to return to some good form. Laxman is still timing the ball as well as ever and simply needs to convert those 40s and 50s into bigger scores, which I feel is just around the corner, and it would be silly to drop Dravid from our Test team. Our middle order is a massive strength of ours. My only concern for our test side is the openers. Karthik and Jaffer are developing into a nice combination but I wonder how long that can last. They would obviously be the first choice pairing but we also need Sehwag and I reckon Chopra (probably the most technically correct opener we have) too , there as a backup for the series heading into Australia

Yes, India has won the last test series. Fair nuff, that the selectors wont go for any changes even considering the crap form of a couple of players. But, If a series go the other way, there could be calls for drastic changes and yuvraj given a chance again.... Its a wait n watch situation for him. even he wouldnt liek a series to go the other way for him to be given a chance. But I am sure his chance is coming very soon and he must grab and capitalize on the opportunity he gets this time.

[Chaos]

yuvi should be no where close to our test team. He is like a pest with no technique. Yuseless.

[Tugga]

Yuseless has played 19 test matches, and played maybe one real knock of note and use. Some of us are willing to back newcomers like Badrinath with a superb domestic record over time, an excellent back foot game, a cool head and plenty of fine strokes around a good technique. quote] i saw the highlights of green vs. red...i think badri plays for red right? where he scored 82? i dont know if u guys noticed this guy was stuck 2 his crease when playin all his shots (against medium/fast bowlers) and they were mostly cutting the ball square...this wont help him against bowlers like lee, johnson or asif...i hope he has the much rumored back-foot technique that he is so famous for here...!!! nyway my view are only frm the video i saw 2day..i have not seen him play b4...!!! except watch the live streamin scores on cricinfo..! i m a big backer of badri in the indian outfit bcoz of his consistent run for India-A/TN/red..but his battin kinda dint exactly show his much talked abt technique...!!!! i also heard dravid backed him for a test-spot...i hope dravid knows better...!!!!

[The Outsider]

I find it funny that "recent" performances are being quoted against Yuvraj. I thought recent performance was never a criteria for a test spot and that reputation is the only thing that counts. Now that Yuvraj has earned that reputation by his exploits in the shorter version, he does deserve a look in. If you still insist that "recent" performance is the only yardstick to go by, pray tell how these batsmen find a spot in our Test XI. Batsman-1 Since Ind-SL 2005, 15 tests vs non minnows with an average of 31.75. Incidentally Yuvi averages better than this batsman, in the same time period. Batsman-2 In his last 2 test series vs non minnows, ended up as our worst top order batsman, averaging 22.81. In his last 4 test series, he failed in two. Incidentally Yuvraj also failed in two of his last 4 series. Batsman-3 Before he was brought back from wilderness, the man averaged a stupendous 29 vs non minnows in his last 13 tests played over a 2 year period. Yuvraj fared much better than that in his last 2 years. Why cant we accomodate the reputed Yuvraj in our Test XI ?

Yuvraj was in red hot form in ODIs, in fact better form than he is in now, when he was an abject failure in Tests. Batsman 1,2,and 3 have a lot of back up runs and performances in the bank to deserve a longer run. You would have had a point if these performances you are quoting were the first tests of their career. If I have a long history of success I get a longer rope during failures. Plain and simple. Care to pick up the averages and performances of 1,2, and 3 after their first 19 tests and compare them to Yuvraj?

[bharat297]

Yes' date=' India has won the last test series. Fair nuff, that the selectors wont go for any changes even considering the crap form of a couple of players. But, If a series go the other way, there could be calls for drastic changes and yuvraj given a chance again.... Its a wait n watch situation for him. even he wouldnt liek a series to go the other way for him to be given a chance. But I am sure his chance is coming very soon and he must grab and capitalize on the opportunity he gets this time.[/quote'] Agreed, his chance is coming soon, but back to your point about the crap form of a couple of players, I would like to ask you 2 questions ... 1. Did you actually watch the India vs England test series? 2. If so, wouldnt you agree that that is probably the most comfortable i have seen Ganguly at the crease in a while, even against the swing, and bounce of Tremlett. As for Laxman and Tendulkar, I feel a big score is just around the corner for both of them, because they were making starts and looking quite comfortable. As for Dravid, yes he is out of form, but would anyone here be brave enough to head into a Test series in Australia without Dravid? All this talk about Laxman being out of form, to prove my point that he is still in good touch, and a big score is around the corner, he did average 51.25 in England. As for Ganguly, in his past 3 test series' he has averaged 49.8, 42.66 and 42.8 with 1 century and 4 fifties. I have watched every ball (not an exaggeration) of India's last 2 test series (excluding Bangladesh) and I can safely say that at the moment, Ganguly is our best test batsman, in terms of how comfortable he is looking out there. And, we would truly be foolish to head into a test series in Australia without Dravid and Tendulkar (especially now when Sachins form is coming back). You are right, Yuvraj's form is coming back, and if there was room for 5 he would be a walk in choice, at the moment the 4 are doing well together and if Yuvraj keeps scoring consistently and one of them starts to consistently struggle, then Yuvraj will get his chance and its up to him to capitalise.

[Bumper]

Yuvraj was in red hot form in ODIs, in fact better form than he is in now, when he was an abject failure in Tests. Batsman 1,2,and 3 have a lot of back up runs and performances in the bank to deserve a longer run. You would have had a point if these performances you are quoting were the first tests of their career. If I have a long history of success I get a longer rope during failures. Plain and simple. Care to pick up the averages and performances of 1,2, and 3 after their first 19 tests and compare them to Yuvraj?

Yuvraj was NEVER given a consistent run in the side. He is a rhythm player, who draws confidence from his form to make the best of his talent. In his early days as a test bat, played some of his very good knocks against Pakistan (when Ganguly made way due to injury), but was promptly dropped when Ganguly returned. The team mgmt later asked him to open against Australia, which is outright stupid. He was never an opener. In his next 4 series, starting from Ind-SL 2005, he had two great series averaging 50+ (vs SL, vs Pak) and two mediocre ones (vs Eng, vs WI). I dont see his career so far as an abject failure, rather one with mixed results. I attribute this to the discontinuity of his test career. Remember how poor he was as a ODI batsman for close to 2 years when he batted at no. 6 ? If he had been chucked out then, we'd have lost a terrific ODI bat. And as far as the two maharathis are concerned (Dravid doesnt deserve to be clubbed with them), both were backed inspite of their poor past records. In Tendulkar's case he is OUR WORST TEST BATSMAN, in the last two years. When i did stats the other day, he figured 10th on the list behind KKD, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Jaffer, Ganguly, Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Yuvraj Singh. If he is backed solely based on his past reputation (which is no indication of what can be expected of him), why not Yuvraj who is much younger & can only go up from here ?

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

Yuvraj was NEVER given a consistent run in the side. He is a rhythm player, who draws confidence from his form to make the best of his talent. In his early days as a test bat, played some of his very good knocks against Pakistan (when Ganguly made way due to injury), but was promptly dropped when Ganguly returned. The team mgmt later asked him to open against Australia, which is outright stupid. He was never an opener. In his next 4 series, starting from Ind-SL 2005, he had two great series averaging 50+ (vs SL, vs Pak) and two mediocre ones (vs Eng, vs WI). I dont see his career so far as an abject failure, rather one with mixed results. I attribute this to the discontinuity of his test career. Remember how poor he was as a ODI batsman for close to 2 years when he batted at no. 6 ? If he had been chucked out then, we'd have lost a terrific ODI bat. And as far as the two maharathis are concerned (Dravid doesnt deserve to be clubbed with them), both were backed inspite of their poor past records. In Tendulkar's case he is OUR WORST TEST BATSMAN, in the last two years. When i did stats the other day, he figured 10th on the list behind KKD, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Jaffer, Ganguly, Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Yuvraj Singh. If he is backed solely based on his past reputation (which is no indication of what can be expected of him), why not Yuvraj who is much younger & can only go up from here ?

Good info bumper.