MS Dhoni should call up Umesh Yadav, play R Ashwin

[vvvslaxman]

http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report-fourth-test-ms-dhoni-should-call-up-umesh-yadav-play-r-ashwin-2007178 Vidarbha pacer has been in good nick picking up wickets for India 'A' Down Under and could be deadly in English conditions With the pace attack failing to impress in the Southampton Test, calls have been made to include off spinner R Ashwin for the fourth Test in Manchester starting on August 7 Getty Images From the great heights of Lord's to the deeper woods of Ageas Bowl in a matter of 10 days, Indian cricket team has seen it all. From winning at the Home of Cricket by 95 runs to an abject 266-run surrender in the port city where Titanic was built, MS Dhoni & Co. have lost the advantage of staying in line for a rare series victory in England. This shows how much India missed Ishant Sharma and that a combined experience of 16-Test experience of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Md Shami prior to the Southampton Test could not win a match in the swinging conditions of England. Perhaps here is where Umesh Yadav, the Vidarbha pacer with 32 wickets in nine Tests and who was instead sent to Australia for India 'A' first-class fixtures, would have come handy. Some of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's selections are difficult to understand. When Ishant was unfit for the third Test, Dhoni should have straightaway gone in for R Ashwin, who is a regular and for that reason a better off-spinner than a part-timer Rohit Sharma. Furthermore, Ashwin would not bat any worse than Rohit eventually did, throwing away his wicket in the first innings of the third Test. Remember, Ashwin has two Test hundreds like the Mumbai batsman Rohit, who has not done enough justice to his batting potential. In the end, with whatever turn the pitch offered, England part-timer Moeen Ali picked up six Indian second innings wickets. Having failed to capitalise on the 1-0 advantage and allowing England to bounce back, the way ahead at Old Trafford (August 7-11) and The Oval (August 15-19) will be all the more difficult for Dhoni & Co. Pace guru from Chennai, TA Sekar, was not surprised with the result in the third Test. "India needs experienced fast bowlers. We can't experiment at this stage. We already have a debutant in Pankaj Singh. We cannot have two debutants with the off-colour Bhuvneshwar and Shami. You need somebody who can bowl 140-plus and get past the bat with sheer pace. "Also, I don't think the Indian team was concentrating on reverse swing when it was there. The ball was reversing for England. The pitch was not that green, it became rough but I did not see Indians bowl reverse. The Indian bowling has not been up to the mark. What is the point in beating the batsmen? They should get wickets." Ashwin sitting in the dug out instead of playing baffled the former Test pacer. "If our fast bowlers are not effective, why wasn't Ashwin picked? There is not much of a difference between (Ravindra) Jadeja and Ashwin. This is not a Twenty20 cricket to fill up one or two overs, this is Test cricket. And, the pitches in England are assisting spin," said Sekar. The key to fast bowling in England is to hit the seam, Sekar pointed out. "In England, you hit the seam. Pankaj is not a great mover of the ball, bowls the odd ball close to 140kmph but does not hit the seam like what Umesh does. Look at the seam position of (James) Anderson or like what S Sreesanth or Zaheer Khan used to do. That is why they are able to move the ball." It remains to be seen if India call for a replacement for Ishant, who has been ruled out for the fourth Test by Dhoni. If there is a replacement summoned, would it be Yadav? The Vidarbha pacer has played as recently as the second week of July, unlike Pandey and Aaron, who are in the Indian squad but last played in a competitive match on July 1 in the warm-up match against Derbyshire. It may demoralise Aaron or Pandey if Yadav is played ahead of them, but then, did not Dhoni pull out RP Singh from a holiday in the US in 2011 and play him at The Oval ahead of Munaf Patel on the team's last tour of Old Blighty? It is important to take some serious decisions, even if it means "resting and not dropping", as Sourav Ganguly said on air, of the non-performing Shikhar Dhawan and have the "fresh ideas" of the experienced Gautam Gambhir at the top of the batting line-up.

[vijay50]

I can tell you, Umesh wont be recalled. Umesh leaks > 4rpo in test cricket, which doesnt go well with Dhoni. Yeah he can pick wickets, but Dhoni thinks that if he doesnt pick wickets, most of time he leaks runs. Dhoni wants to slow the game and take it to day 5.To accomplish this he needs bowlers who gives less than 3 rpo. Even if they dont pick wickets atleast he can aim for draw by slowing down the scoring. Ashwin and Umesh leaked runs like crazy in last Australia tour. Atleast Umesh had some wickets to show for, but not Ashwin.Hence you see him playing Jadeja and persisting with that fecker Ishant because they give less than 3 rpo.Whether they take wickets or not is another matter. This is his mindset. Take it from me.Shami has already leaked >3rpo with nothing much to show for in this series. Dont be surprised if he is dropped for next test.

[rkt.india]

He is the only one who can swing the ball at high pace among Indian pacers.

[jf1gp_1]

till last week everyone wanted pankaj singh in team now that he is in the team, we miss umesh. even if umesh were in playing xi of 4th test i bet someone would want ajit agarkar or rp singh for 5th test

[vvvslaxman]

till last week everyone wanted pankaj singh in team now that he is in the team' date=' we miss umesh. even if umesh were in playing xi of 4th test i bet someone would want ajit agarkar or rp singh for 5th test[/quote'] I think Umesh was wanted always.. It is not happening all of a sudden. His omission was perplexing. Ishwar Pandey a total rookie who is not even fully developed has been picked above him. Even Aaron comes after Umesh. Neither Umesh Nor Bhuvan got a chance in both the tours. But somehow Umesh got dropped without rhyme or reason much like Rahane used to get axe just after sitting in the bench.

[rkt.india]

till last week everyone wanted pankaj singh in team now that he is in the team' date=' we miss umesh. even if umesh were in playing xi of 4th test i bet someone would want ajit agarkar or rp singh for 5th test[/quote'] Everyone is asking for Umesh since the squad was announced. People only wanted Pankaj because Umesh wasnt in the team and Shami was not bowling well. Pankaj is a rookie too at test level. In fact, other than Ishant, all are playing a test for first time in England.

[CG]

Dhoni is too stubborn .He will play his fav till they prove him right and if u are not one of those he will give you 1-2 games.

[jf1gp_1]

It was a generic comment, we always want someone who isnt in the squad and drop the guys who are playing.

[Marco Polo]

The way umesh was treated in south Africa by dhobi was heartbreaking. 2 over spell, 1 over spell, again a 2 over spell. Felt sorry for umesh. How did umesh did well in kkr camp? If you had listened to wasim's interviews during kkr matches, he always said his favorite Indian bowler was umesh yadav. Because umesh had pace, and strong, he said he loved working with umesh yadav. Now, that's the kind of backing a fast bowler needs from a coach or his captain. Umesh did pretty well for kkr. There is no reason why he can't replicate it in international matches if the captain backs him to the core. I'm not gonna watch the remaining test matches because its depressing and I know the results already.

[Temujin Khaghan]

I can tell you, Umesh wont be recalled. Umesh leaks > 4rpo in test cricket, which doesnt go well with Dhoni. Yeah he can pick wickets, but Dhoni thinks that if he doesnt pick wickets, most of time he leaks runs. Dhoni wants to slow the game and take it to day 5.To accomplish this he needs bowlers who gives less than 3 rpo. Even if they dont pick wickets atleast he can aim for draw by slowing down the scoring. Ashwin and Umesh leaked runs like crazy in last Australia tour. Atleast Umesh had some wickets to show for, but not Ashwin.Hence you see him playing Jadeja and persisting with that fecker Ishant because they give less than 3 rpo.Whether they take wickets or not is another matter. This is his mindset. Take it from me.Shami has already leaked 3rpo with nothing much to show for in this series. Dont be surprised if he is dropped for next test.

true

[Temujin Khaghan]

as long as the evil nexus of Dhoni-CSK-Srini prevails, nothing can be done.

[jf1gp_1]

as long as the evil nexus of Dhoni-CSK-Srini prevails' date= nothing can be done.

so per that nexus Dhoni and Srini want to continue losing because in an odd way it benefits them and ensures dhoni remains captain forever ?

[vvvslaxman]

so per that nexus Dhoni and Srini want to continue losing because in an odd way it benefits them and ensures dhoni remains captain forever ?

They don't plan.. His strategies will take care of it. Just that there is no consequence after losses.

[Temujin Khaghan]

so per that nexus Dhoni and Srini want to continue losing because in an odd way it benefits them and ensures dhoni remains captain forever ?

No idiot in this world including Rohit Sharma will think like that. The problem with the nexus is that they dont want to leave power, they want to hang on to it as long as possible. Dhoni's ego of not changing tactics even when they keep failing is hurting India.

[BlueBee]

Agree with the article. But my bad, Dhoni doesn't know the name of the site so he won't see that

[jf1gp_1]

No idiot in this world including Rohit Sharma will think like that. The problem with the nexus is that they dont want to leave power' date=' they want to hang on to it as long as possible. [b']Dhoni's ego of not changing tactics even when they keep failing is hurting India.

that is the real issue

[jf1gp_1]

They don't plan.. His strategies will take care of it. Just that there is no consequence after losses.

Srini is ICC head and talking about removing corruption; if that can happen then Dhoni is rightly the captain

[Temujin Khaghan]

that is the real issue

thats what iam saying, if Dhoni isn't "this" powerful and influential, he would have been kicked out long time back. Hell even Boss and Dada couldn't hold on to the captaincy reins in their bad times despite having a far more stronger fan-base than Dhoni ever had.

[jf1gp_1]

thats what iam saying' date=' if Dhoni isn't "this" powerful and influential, he would have been kicked out long time back. Hell even Boss and Dada couldn't hold on to the captaincy reins in their bad times despite having a far more stronger fan-base than Dhoni ever had.[/quote'] i dont know why Dhoni cant see it; as a player he would want to be known as a great captain; he obviously has a free hand to do what he wants then why not atleast select a team right for the conditions ?

[Temujin Khaghan]

i dont know why Dhoni cant see it; as a player he would want to be known as a great captain; he obviously has a free hand to do what he wants then why not atleast select a team right for the conditions ?

that would mean lowering his ego, accepting that he is wrong. behind all that calm and sereneness, there is the insecurity of a small town boy who will not let the world know he is failing or has shortcomings. if he did that, it would have been magnificent of him, but his entire gait, body language and posture has been built on the tradition of not showing any weakness to the outside world. actually to tell you frankly, Dhoni has a huge following now among regular public. Its only in ICF and knowledgeable cricket circles for Indian fans where Test cricket is the ultimate and that is arena where Dhoni is most vilified. If you ask regular public, he is some kind of a national hero. He is the guy who regularly shows up in the finals of IPL tourney :cantstop: