Right time to drop ganguly and zaheer ?

[skeshwani]

Ganguly and zaheer have been very loyal servants of indian cricket for long time throughtout their careers. They have given match winning performances in their long fought careers. but in ODI'S i feel they are a very big liabilities to the indian team. previously we dint have enough options to replace them but now as we have new blood comming up why dont give opportunity to them and make these guys sit out. They cannot get into the side with only one dimension especially in the odi's. we need multi dimensional player in odi's like rbin and yuvraj who can contribute with bat and in the field and show some lioveliness in the field. with players like gangu and zaheer they have no spring in their strides anymore and shuld be persisted with in the test team but i think now it is the right time to put axe on these two guys. If bowling or only batting was only criteria to make it to the indian team why would someone like anil kumble or vvs laxman be dropped from the side. it was simply becoz they dint added any other way to the team. previously zaheer was bowling well until england tour but in recent series against australia and pakistan his performance has been way below par.

[fineleg]

Kick these two out of ODIs

[bharat297]

I would give Zaheer 1 more game to redeem himself, if he doesnt produce a good performance then drop Zak. As for Ganguly, this is a bit of a dilemma. Ganguly isnt performing consistently nowadays and Gambhir is starting too. However, I am not entirely sure if Gambhir can handle a permanent opening slot yet, particularly considering how easily the aussies figured him out. A couple more strong performances at no.3 and yes move Gambhir up to opener at the expense of Ganguly. However, at the moment I would say just leave Ganguly there.

[fineleg]

Ganguly is too slow - strike rate slow, running between wickets is slow (can get himself and worse still other batsmen run out), and his fielding/dropping catches can be embarassing.

[skeshwani]

I would give Zaheer 1 more game to redeem himself, if he doesnt produce a good performance then drop Zak. As for Ganguly, this is a bit of a dilemma. Ganguly isnt performing consistently nowadays and Gambhir is starting too. However, I am not entirely sure if Gambhir can handle a permanent opening slot yet, particularly considering how easily the aussies figured him out. A couple more strong performances at no.3 and yes move Gambhir up to opener at the expense of Ganguly. However, at the moment I would say just leave Ganguly there.

why you want to put extra pressure on gambhir as he is doing good at nos 3. maybe sehwag can take ganguly's spot. sehwag was fielding so well in the last game. for me he should be playing in front of ganguly

[bharat297]

Ganguly is too slow - strike rate slow' date=' running between wickets is slow (can get himself and worse still other batsmen run out), and his fielding/dropping catches can be embarassing.[/quote'] That is all true, however can we be certain that Gambhir can do a better job? If so then yes move Gambhir to opener. Otherwise keep Gambhir at 3 until we are sure.

[Ram]

Surely you guys arent naive enough to back Gambhir to be consistent are you ?

[bharat297]

^ Not at the moment anyway, but if he can produce some strong performances as he has been so far this series, then yes. If not Gambhir, then the only other person I would move up there is Uthappa, and bring in Badrinath to play in the middle order in Uthappas current spot.

[skeshwani]

i dont know about badri man the glimpses he showed in the challenger series shows that he is more of accumulator of runs in ones and twos i am not familiar with his hitting abilities but so far what i hve seen of him looks more of like dravid kind to me.

[Gaurav]

Raina? Zaheer was so good in England. WTF happened to him?

[skeshwani]

^ Not at the moment anyway, but if he can produce some strong performances as he has been so far this series, then yes. If not Gambhir, then the only other person I would move up there is Uthappa, and bring in Badrinath to play in the middle order in Uthappas current spot.

dont know about badri man the glimpses he showed in the challenger series shows that he is more of accumulator of runs in ones and twos i am not familiar with his hitting abilities but so far what i hve seen of him looks more of like dravid kind to me.

[Dooks]

Ganguly is too slow - strike rate slow' date=' running between wickets is slow (can get himself and worse still other batsmen run out), and his fielding/dropping catches can be embarassing.[/quote'] What do you mean slow? His strike rate was 200 last game! :D

[bharat297]

dont know about badri man the glimpses he showed in the challenger series shows that he is more of accumulator of runs in ones and twos i am not familiar with his hitting abilities but so far what i hve seen of him looks more of like dravid kind to me.

That is true. However, dont discount the value of consistent ones and twos at the death. India's middle order have shown recently an inability to capitalise on good starts without taking risks and losing wickets. If you knock around ones and twos in the last 10 overs and hit the odd boundary here and there, it is easy to knock up 80 to 90 without hardly taking a risk, which is what Australia do. Not everyone in positions 4-7 needs to be an out and out six hitter.

[THX_1138]

I would give Zaheer 1 more game to redeem himself, if he doesnt produce a good performance then drop Zak. As for Ganguly, this is a bit of a dilemma. Ganguly isnt performing consistently nowadays and Gambhir is starting too. However, I am not entirely sure if Gambhir can handle a permanent opening slot yet, particularly considering how easily the aussies figured him out. A couple more strong performances at no.3 and yes move Gambhir up to opener at the expense of Ganguly. However, at the moment I would say just leave Ganguly there.

i must contest that... did they really figure him out? i did not watch the series as closely as you might have, but did he not get out to shots which were maybe a bit too aggressive? infact in the three odis against south africa as well, he was dismissed because of his over aggressive approach. so i ask again, is gambhir really the bunny he is being made out to be or maybe just a bit over zealous?

[bharat297]

He is not a bunny, but he does have this problem of plonking that front leg on around off stump and trying to play accross his pads when playing on the leg side. Now that style makes him very dangerous on the off side, because he maintains a very stable base ... however on the leg side, if the ball is moving around a bit, you are prone to LBWs. You may get away with it a bit on a slower indian wicket, however I worry (and I hope he proves me wrong) that when they arrive in Australia, the quicker bowlers like Tait, Lee and Johnson, on quicker pitches like Brisbane and Perth are going to have a field day.

[Toony™®]

you guys are all mad.. ganguly has been consistent and so has khan since the beginning of summer. kahn was your best bowler and still is.

[Dravid]

1 bad game... and ppl start yappping...lets c what he does rest of series dada deserves to stay too