Help, Dileep, Help

[Dhondy]

Saw your colleague Anand Vasu predict on Cricinfo that Bhajji is about to get ahead into the playing XI ahead of RP Singh. Shocked, dismayed, thunderstruck don't even begin to describe what I am feeling right now. On what basis, Dileep? Bhajji has been treated as a choirboy by Pakistan in the past. His Test bowling record against them would make Agarkar and Sami's records look grand in comparison. Younis and Yousef would milk him all day down tho square leg and mid wicket, and we will lose the first Test. And who will he replace? RP Singh- the most improved pace bowler in the world, he of the prodigious swing, the man who terrorized the likes of Kevin Pietersen with his bidirectional movement and 145 kph pace. At 21, a magnificent prospect for India, and a shoo in into any international XI bar Australia's. Please, Dileep, if you love Indian cricket, don't let these mandarins murder it by making the same mistakes again and again. I know they suffer the equivalent of incurable dementia, RP's exploits in our series triumph against England already forgotten, but except at Mumbai, India should never ever go in with two spinners anywhere in the world, and even at that solitary venue, the second spinner should be Kartik, not Bhajji. Pakistan are suspect against pace and movement, they are very comfortable against spin, this is common knowledge, surely. With Asif out, let's juice up the wickets and unleash our threesome of Zaheer- RP-Sreesanth on them. And let Bhajji give interviews to the press on his grand schemes, for that's all he is good at. Help, Dileep. I'll be your slave for ever. You have a column on the most read cricket site in the world. You have a blog on Timesonline- use it, please. Now!

[Guest BossBhai]

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[Guest HariSampath]

:cry_smile: NOOOOOOOOO, Dondy.....whats this....some joke or humor thread ??? I absolutely forbid this.....and from the fact BB and I agree on something, you may be sure that it is best for Indian cricket !!!!!!!!! :shades_smile:

[Guest HariSampath]

With 15 5 Wkt hauls in 31 test matches at home ( 15 wkts against Pakistan in 4 tests at home), Harbhajan Singh is perhaps one of our tried and tested and proven matchwinners...how can a raw RP/Sree/Zaheer attack claim to be proven match winners ? If we juice up the wkts against Shoaib, Tanveer and Gul, we may end up losing the match within the first 2 sessions itself

[beetle]

RP is in dhondy...so is bhajji.....

[Guest BossBhai]

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[King Tendulkar]

With Murali Karthick in we must be poised to produce raging turnrers!

[King]

I believe India can handle the pace way better than Pakistan. I hate to see yet another turner meaning using our tried and tested fast bowlers to just lose the shine on the ball. If you need your fast bowling arsenal to fire regularly they require conducive conditions. In the past this tactic has pretty much killed our faster bowlers. Not long ago India had Zaheer, RP, Munaf and Sreesanth heading the bowling front with one spin option. Now we will have spinners of all sorts coming into play but when we tour overseas we will yet again fall back on the faster bowlers to deliver. What with lack of match practice the faster bowlers will come out a cropper yet again. I hate to see the faster bowlers that performed well recently end up getting not enough match practice. I'm with Dhondy on this, if India has to put up good performances consistently enough at home and abroad we need at least 3 of the pacers in prime form with couple others in the ranks. If they want to rest the faster bowlers then they better bring in the faster bowlers warming the bench rather than falling back on 3-4 spinning options in the team.

[Mr. Wicket]

We need to focus on our best bowlers for the best situations. If it's a spinning track, this means Kumble and Kartik. If it's not, then it means the same pace trio that won us a series in England. Harbhajan should not be in either scenario.

[Guest HariSampath]

The point is if India has to win test matches, we play to our strengths at home. With Kumble and Harbhajan being our proven, and tried and tested matchwinners in India, it makes sense to play to our strengths. RP, Zaheer and Sree cannot even remotely be called "tried and tested" matchwinners...with RP and Sree not even automatic selections in the test 11. All the facts and available resources point towards playing main 2 spinners and possibly 3 too, if we are to win games in India. RP Singh and Sreeshant are gardly the class of Lee or Akthar , and if we prepare seaming wickets, then we have to counter Akthar, Tanveer and Gul with Jaffer and Karthik at the top, chances are we will collapse at least in one innings. By backing our spinners especially as they are experienced and proven, we are better off, and more so when Pakistan doesn't have any quality spinner to trouble us

[Guest HariSampath]

We need to focus on our best bowlers for the best situations. If it's a spinning track, this means Kumble and Kartik. If it's not, then it means the same pace trio that won us a series in England. Harbhajan should not be in either scenario.

Why shouldn't Harbhajan, one of our proven matchwinners at home and most experienced spinner not be there in any scenario ?

[Mr. Wicket]

Because on recent form, I'd say Kartik has been bowling far better in all forms of the game. Harbhajan's bowling in the longer form has been inconsistent, often defensive and too easily picked on by Pakistan in particular (as opposed to Kartik, who I expect could be a huge factor v. Pak - not least given their standard struggles vs. left arm spinners).

[Dhondy]

Hari, I am shocked by your comments. I really thought you knew your cricket. Never mind, I'll respond later.

[Guest HariSampath]

Hari, I am shocked by your comments. I really thought you knew your cricket. Never mind, I'll respond later.

which comments ? well dhondy...I do know my cricket. I was in fact very shocked by your comments that one of the best spin bowlers India has had in last few years Harbhajan should be out of the playing 11 !!! Harbhajan has won entire series for India at home, like for eg against Steve Waugh's mighty Aussies in 2001/03. He has taken 15 wkts in his last 4-5 innings he bowled at home. conditions suit spinners at home .And you say he should be dropped from tests ? no way

[Mr. Wicket]

Hari' date=' I am shocked by your comments. I really thought you knew your cricket. [/quote'] He does. One disagreement in opinion doesn't change his knowledge for the game. Heck, it's not like he's suggesting Agarkar should be picked... now if that was the case, we'd be calling for the loony bin :tounge_smile: BTW Hari, could you post Harbhajan's recent stats from tests at home, away and against Pakistan generally?

[Guest HariSampath]

Because on recent form' date=' I'd say Kartik has been bowling far better in all forms of the game. Harbhajan's bowling in the longer form has been inconsistent, often defensive and too easily picked on by Pakistan in particular (as opposed to Kartik, who I expect could be a huge factor v. Pak - not least given their standard struggles vs. left arm spinners).[/quote'] If it is tests you are talikg about, Harbhajan has taken two 5 wkt hauls in the last 2 tests he has played. If youy mean Odi then too Bhajji has been one of the main reasons for recent wins in t20 as well as Odis

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

I will hafta agree with HariSampath on this. Harbhajan is a proven matchwinner and I think its a must to have him in the test x1 along with kumble and rest of the pacers.

[Dhondy]

If it is tests you are talikg about' date=' Harbhajan has taken two 5 wkt hauls in the last 2 tests he has played. If youy mean Odi then too Bhajji has been one of the main reasons for recent wins in t20 as well as Odis[/quote'] There you go, Thal. He has flattered to deceive, hasn't he? Refusing to dwell on Bhajji's toothlessness against Pakistan (heck, any decent players of spin), mixing up ODIs with Tests...obviously his superlative writing skills hide a paucity of well thought out opinions.

[King Tendulkar]

Kumble has been poor in last 2 big test series against SA and England. He is now captain???? p.s I love Jumbo just stating the facts

[Mr. Wicket]

Well, I'm sure he'll respond to my request re. Bhajji's recent test match stats home/away/v. Pak. But more than knocking Bhajji, it's been Kartik's form that has really impressed me. He's bowled fearlessly, aggressively, bowling to take wickets while still keeping a lid on runs. The old loop, dip and rip is back and it reminds of his bowling in two tests against the world's finest team in 2004. One where on the first day (and a bit) on a slightly green wicket, he finished with 20-1-57-3 as every other bowler got slaughtered at roughly four an over without too many wickets. The next explains why statistics and numbers can be meaningless. Harbhajan's figures in the second innings of that game were 5/29. Kartik's were 3/32. Kartik got the MOM award though, and nobody who saw that innings and the tremendous collapse he sparked would deny him that glory, or the fact that he comprehensively outbowled every other spinner through the course of that test match. He's back in that same form, he recently ripped through the world's best ODI outfit in a one day game and with some good handling, could win us games against Pakistan. It'll be a shame if he is not picked.