Mythbusters

[Anakin]

The bowling was made rubbish after lunch by Yuvi's batting... same bowlers had our top batters struggling

And after lunch the pitch became a paradise, Chucky went to hospital and the bowling was just poor. I'm not taking anything away from Yuvi's brilliant innings.

[Guest HariSampath]

Yuvi came in before lunch, and Akthar was very much bowling, and in 40 min, pitch doesn't change dramatically. The bowling was good after lunch but batting was better. If Yuvi had got out before 10 overs, India would have been 80-5...and then same bowling would have been menacing with ganguly defending or getting out, we may not have reached 200. All this was avoided and we even reached 365, that was the effect of Yuvi's inngs

[Lurker]

Agreed about Yuvraj, disagreed about Sehwag Bumper. Yuvraj played as vital an innings as one I have seen by an Indian on day 1. I had actually went to bed when India lost their 4th wickets at about 60. And so early morning when I see 365/5 I was positively delighted. Yes it can be argued the bowling was weak but then again the same bowling blew away the top order did it not? Coming to Sehwag it is not that he is not being given chances or people write him down because of bias. He has been given ample chances and he not only struggles( a lot!) but also looks like he has been sorted out by most International countries.

[coffee_rules]

One innings to call it a Myth Buster (reg Gambhir/Sehwag). ?

[Sachinism]

wow i cant believe u guys are knocking gambhir after one innings give the guy another chance, it wasnt that easy to bat in the morning

[Guest HariSampath]

Gambhir has been a very big failure against teams other than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe... this is his third time round in tests. He averages 23 in tests other than Bangladesh and Zim and in his last 6 test innings ( against non BD/Zim opponents), he has an aggregate of 59 runs averaging 9.8 , scores of 0, 2, 3, 19, 30 and 5. 1st candidate to be permenantly dismissed from the Indian test side....we have seen too many times he is a miserable failure against better sides, and must not get fooled by Saurashtra , Himachal 100s again

[kumble_rocks]

Agreed about Yuvraj, disagreed about Sehwag Bumper. Yuvraj played as vital an innings as one I have seen by an Indian on day 1. I had actually went to bed when India lost their 4th wickets at about 60. And so early morning when I see 365/5 I was positively delighted. Yes it can be argued the bowling was weak but then again the same bowling blew away the top order did it not?

Very true. I went to bed thinking India would be all out for 125 .. But boy, I am pleasantly surprised .

[kumble_rocks]

Gambhir has been a very big failure against teams other than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe... this is his third time round in tests

How does that matter . You yourself have quoted Jaffer before who also has made his third comeback !

[jf1gp_1]

Meaningless runs in domestic competitions mean "NOTHING". .

and for this precise reason i hate it when people keep talking about the likes of badrinath, tiwari etc as saviours of Indian cricket. I dont want to dismiss gambhir or any other batsman but lets first go with ones who have shown results in International cricket even if in a different format. I wish someone could bump that Badrinath before yuvraj thread.

[Guest HariSampath]

Agreed about Yuvraj, disagreed about Sehwag Bumper. Yuvraj played as vital an innings as one I have seen by an Indian on day 1. I had actually went to bed when India lost their 4th wickets at about 60. And so early morning when I see 365/5 I was positively delighted. Yes it can be argued the bowling was weak but then again the same bowling blew away the top order did it not? Coming to Sehwag it is not that he is not being given chances or people write him down because of bias. He has been given ample chances and he not only struggles( a lot!) but also looks like he has been sorted out by most International countries.

Lurks... see the Sehwag vs other openers thread... and then make judgments http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showthread.php?t=77964

[Guest HariSampath]

What about Dravid if form is the issue...last 11 test inngs for an aggregate of 275 runs ?? Plus a failure in the last ODI series and dropped ....hardly inspiring.

[jf1gp_1]

What about Dravid if form is the issue...last 11 test inngs for an aggregate of 275 runs ?? Plus a failure in the last ODI series and dropped ....hardly inspiring.

If dravid is dropped from test i think he will announce his retirement

[Bumper]

Gambhir's weakness is threefold. He can't handle the late swinging ball, especially from left armers like Johnson or Bracken. He can't handle a consistent line outside off stump. Even from Malcolm Sami (who has dismissed him 4 times in tests!) - Clark would eat him for breakfast. If he survives those, all the bowlers need to do is bang it in short and he'll fall pulling. When I first saw him in A cricket 4-5 years ago, I had very high hopes. In 2003 particularly I was very impressed by his knocks for the A-team and felt that he was a bit rough around the edges, but had the potential to be a very good test batsman if he could grow some brain cells. Four years later, he hasn't. Sad. On Yuvraj - yup, a very impressive knock cancelling a few of my doubts. Handled the seam movement well, handled Kaneria decently after some early alarms, and made a big score with some glorious strokeplay. It's a shame he got out when he did and gave Pakistan that bit of relief, not to mention bringing Karthik in who looked uncomfortable against Sami and Arafat of all people. He's earned the right to hold a spot in the side for a while with this knock, I will definitely grant him that. Well played indeed. The key though is for him to prove he can do this more often. One complaint I had earlier was that he could follow up a superb test knock (like his ton at Lahore or Karachi) with a series of starts and inconsistency when he did get a stretch of games to play in - which did pull that average down to 33 after 19 tests. Hopefully he can show he's matured since then and improved as a batsman by using this platform to make some more good scores on a consistent basis in Australia (as it's now almost certain he'll be accomodated in the XI).

Yuvraj was not persisted with for a reasonable period of time. He used to replace injured batting stars, then go out, came back opened the innings, went out again, came back again, succeeded a few times and failed a couple of times. His test career so far hasnt been a complete failure, but one with mixed results. We cant hold him to Aussie standards. By Indian standards, a couple of good series, followed by a couple of poor series (when many other had a poor series around him), is not grounds for dropping our most promising youngster. I am sure if we persist with him from here on, he will produce such magical innings more regularly. Yuvraj, Dhoni (and Sehwag used to) have something that many other Indian players lack. They play well under pressure. This is a rare attribute. No amount of domestic success will nurture such quality. We must given treat such players differently.

[Bumper]

Bumps, we've always known that Gambhir is no good, but what about Dravid's alarming decline? He looks like a tailender, doesn't he? Has no idea whether to attack or defend. Hence a 12 off 96 balls when the need of the hour was to accelerate in that final Test in England, and an unnecessarily aggressive little knock of 19 when the situation was crying out for him to knuckle down and consolidate. He tried that cut shot a few overs earlier, off Arafat, was lucky to escape, but didn't learn. Very un-Dravid like. This is a man who doesn't know whether he is coming or going. His confidence is shot to pieces, and it is he who must make way for Yuvraj.

Dravid's form worries me, because of the upcoming Aussie series. But on the positive side, he is timing the ball well. His shot selection yesterday was un-Dravid like. A bit too aggressive. But thats how he got his 16 runs. He needs a big innings on a flat track to get his confidence back. IMO, we must open with Dravid in Australia and fit Yuvraj in. That will boost the value Dravid can add to the side, even if he doesnt make big runs

[Bumper]

I pity those who are having orgasms over this innings of Yuvraj.....against an attack of Arafat, Sami and Danish Kaneria on a first day feather bed.. Well you can say he can only score against he was pitted against....but still I have my doubts and when the New Ball is taken he is promptly out ...

Why this diff standards for Yuvraj ? If Sachin had played this innings, the entire board would be running butt naked around this world. Do you remember the four threads that were started on the front page, for his 50 ? Now that you want to know how Yuvi would fare in seaming conditions, give me ONE batsman in our team who can play well in such conditions. I dont want any empty answers. Support it with statistics, hopefully from recent years! These are at best stereo types, which have no basis.

[Predator_05]

Talksport : Yuvraj had scored a brilliant 112 in 120 balls against Akthar, Gul and Sami coming in at 94-4 on a greentop in Lahore 2004 Again, karachi 2006, Yuvraj got a brilliant 122 coming in at 94-4... against Akthar, Asif and Razzaq and today again coming in at 61-4.. this innings just put that in your pipe and smoke it along with whatever else you are smoking

But these were all crappy fluke knocks. His FC average is still 42. That's awful !

[living]

Bumps, we've always known that Gambhir is no good, but what about Dravid's alarming decline? He looks like a tailender, doesn't he? Has no idea whether to attack or defend. Hence a 12 off 96 balls when the need of the hour was to accelerate in that final Test in England, and an unnecessarily aggressive little knock of 19 when the situation was crying out for him to knuckle down and consolidate. He tried that cut shot a few overs earlier, off Arafat, was lucky to escape, but didn't learn. Very un-Dravid like. This is a man who doesn't know whether he is coming or going. His confidence is shot to pieces, and it is he who must make way for Yuvraj.

:hysterical: Dravid not in the 11 = no chance in hell in Aus

[Guest dada_rocks]

i alwasy thoguht ganbhir was crap.. my only problme with yuvi was his propesnisty to frce issues on balls which deserves to be left alone in test cricket , looks he has fixed that problem.. although in later part of his innings he was ferocious on every ball but by then he was well-set sehwag well is sehwag:two_thumbs_up:

[Guest HariSampath]

If dravid is dropped from test i think he will announce his retirement

I know....but I sincerely hope Dravid plays 1-2 tests, despite the terrible form when compared to others in tests and ODIs...just feel we should give him 1-2 chances as an opener as there is NO WAY he can play otherwise...think he will come good...anyways LOTS better than this crappy Gambhir or Chopra or Karthik..to open..

[Bumper]

Dravid must open for plenty of reasons: 1) He is virtually opening the innings anyways, after the fall of that mandatory free wicket. 2) Dravid is in horrible form & hence it wont make a huge difference whether he opens or bats at no. 1 3) Laxman can bat at no. 3. The guy is simply wasted at 6, as he is unable to finish his innings, after making a good start & looking set 4) Yuvraj can bat at no. 6. This is the biggest reason Dravid must open. Yuvraj at 6, lends assurance to the top order that they have ample batting resources to repair any damage to the top order. Besides, Yuvraj can bat much better than any of our other players with the tail (farming the strike & making the big shots as necessary)