Rahul Dravid reaches a fair time to leave: a dignified exit

[The Outsider]

India will have to open with Sehwag and another specialist opener now that the experimentation is surely over. Tendulkar , Ganguly , Laxman surely occupy 3 middle order slots based on performances in Aus and before that home tests. Dhoni, Kumble and Irfan are certainties too. Then we just need 9,10 and jack with RP, Ishant and one more bowler ( between Bhaji, Zak, Sree et al)...where is the space for Dravid in the first test lineup. It means he has to open , again to be fit into the team, but neither his form or team's past experiences with that is going to allow this.

Pathan is not a certainty at all and in a first choice attack we will go in with 4 bowlers and exclude Pathan. Tough luck on him but Zaheer, Sreesanth, RP Singh, and Ishant are all better bowlers than him. It would be a pathetic call to drop Dravid after he has scored a match winning 93 at Perth one test back.

[coffee_rules]

I think Dravid has to be sheltered at #6 for a while. He is surely not made for #3 anymore. Even in 93, he was given a life. Almost all the inniings in Aus, he was given a repreive. So, certainly his abilities are not made for a strong #3 anymore.

[Guest HariSampath]

Pathan is not a certainty at all and in a first choice attack we will go in with 4 bowlers and exclude Pathan. Tough luck on him but Zaheer' date=' Sreesanth, RP Singh, and Ishant are all better bowlers than him. It would be a pathetic call to drop Dravid after he has scored a match winning 93 at Perth one test back.[/quote'] The same logic we apply to pathan as a bowler applies to Dravid as a batter. If he doesnt want to ( cant/not fit for) opening, then, 2 openers, plus Sachin gangs and Lax, plus Dhoni and Kumble makes it 7 and the 4 pacers u have mentioned make it 11 . OK ?

[coffee_rules]

2 openers, Sachin, Gangs, Lax, Dhoni, 4 bowlers - makes it 10,

[Guest HariSampath]

^...you mentioned 4 pace bowlers , and also to win test matches , we need 5 bowlers, and cannot twist team composition to fit in Dravid

[coffee_rules]

5 bowlers have proved to be bad. Even a stroing batting unit like Aus uses 4 bowlers. 5 bowlers have never worked for India.

[Guest HariSampath]

Pathan is not a certainty at all and in a first choice attack we will go in with 4 bowlers and exclude Pathan. Tough luck on him but Zaheer' date= Sreesanth, RP Singh, and Ishant are all better bowlers than him. It would be a pathetic call to drop Dravid after he has scored a match winning 93 at Perth one test back.

If Dravid cannot be dropped after Perth test 93...how can the man of match Pathan be dropped ? LOL

[Guest HariSampath]

5 bowlers have proved to be bad. Even a stroing batting unit like Aus uses 4 bowlers. 5 bowlers have never worked for India.

With Kumble, RP, Bhajji, Irfan , Dhoni ,...ALL getting more runs than gangs and dravid put together, this is the best proof we need 5 bowlers to win tests ( and that too on placid subcontinental tracks ), and al the more reason to go in with 5 main batters and 3 allrounders

[coffee_rules]

Pathan came in as a replacement. When the player he replaced comes back to the team, it is logical to bench him. "Thanks for your performance, keep it up. Now wait for your turn again". Dravid has not replaced anybody to be benched.

[Holysmoke]

no option of keeping wickets to secure place either :nervous:

[Guest HariSampath]

Pathan came in as a replacement. When the player he replaced comes back to the team' date=' it is logical to bench him. "Thanks for your performance, keep it up. Now wait for your turn again". [b']Dravid has not replaced anybody to be benched.

most illogical, as Dravid has no place based on his performance he is the one who needs to be benched

[jacky007]

oh seriously ... let them decide by their own ... first sachin, then ganguly and now dravid ... whoever is out of form should retire??

[Guest HariSampath]

^ why was Sehwag not allowed to "decide on his own" last year ?

[talksport]

In sehwags case ( and also to an extent Kaifs case ) selectors mixed up Test form to ODI form.... The height of stupidity is selecting Jaffer for ODIs.... Now that things are getting sorted out, its just a case of selecting Kaif into Test Squad

[coffee_rules]

most illogical' date=' as Dravid has no place based on his performance he is the one who needs to be benched[/quote'] Based on his performance. He has got some 50s in Pak series, so not a failure there. He got 93 in perth that won the test, got a 50 in Sydney, was sawn off in Sydney in I2 and he got some good partnerships in T4 with sehwag. So not a failure again. Let his score a string of non-50 scores like Ganguly did in 2005 and we can think about Dravid's non-performance. If at all we need to replace some one, it is Yuvraj.

[CC1981]

IMO, if India can well do without Dravid and if he is not performing at levels acceptable to be an Indian middle order batter in tests, the same logic applied to dropping him from ODIs would have to be applied to tests.

Nonsense. As i said, Dravid's problem is lack of confidence and his timing not being at its best. The remedy to that, like it has been TRIED AND PROVEN SEVERAL TIMES FOR OTHER GREAT BATSMEN ( as well as Dravid in 2001) is to come in at #5-6, instead of routinely comming in at 10/1. There is no-one who i think would offer the same amount of runs as Dravid down the order would that are up to replacing him- not Yuvraj, not Kaif, not any other newbie.

[ludhianvi]

Points to be noted: - Dravid opened the innings for the first two tests. -Dravid at #3 contributed with his 93 in the Perth test that we won. :hatsoff:

[Guest HariSampath]

Nonsense. As i said, Dravid's problem is lack of confidence and his timing not being at its best. The remedy to that, like it has been TRIED AND PROVEN SEVERAL TIMES FOR OTHER GREAT BATSMEN ( as well as Dravid in 2001) is to come in at #5-6, instead of routinely comming in at 10/1. There is no-one who i think would offer the same amount of runs as Dravid down the order would that are up to replacing him- not Yuvraj, not Kaif, not any other newbie.

So India will have to keep playing him at 5 or 6, at the expense of the team , and virtually play with 10 men and carry Dravid as a baggage ? Why ? Is the Indian side there for Dravid or we go by a policy of "a combination for winning and the 11 best men for that" ?

[The Outsider]

So India will have to keep playing him at 5 or 6' date=' at the expense of the team , and virtually play with 10 men and carry Dravid as a baggage ? Why ? Is the Indian side there for Dravid or we go by a policy of "a combination for winning and the 11 best men for that" ?[/quote'] Hari, you are arguing just for the sake of it. Dravid had a half decent series against Pakistan and played his part against Australia to an extent. There is no way having an extra bowler/batsman in Pathan can be more beneficial than having a batsman like Dravid.

[Guest HariSampath]

^..No, I am just saying that no one should assume a player has an automatic right into the side. 1. Decide what is the combination you want to win a game ( like 2 specialist openers, 2 or 1 spinner, 2,3 seamers etc). 2. Then fill these spots up from the best available options for those slots. DONT try to find slots for players, find players for slots. We lost 2 test matches in this pathetic attempt of "how to fit in Dravid, how to accommodate Yuvi, where to play Dravid"...and as a result Sehwag could not get a game and look what happened.