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

[head coach]

Ganguly has to take the decision sooner than Dravid' date=' I think. He is the oldest after Kumble. Scratched around in this series 235 runs at 29.x. Dravid's batting won the test in Perth.[/quote'] Ganguly wont retire gracefully where as Dravid would retire as soon as he feels it is time. It is high time to give the place of Ganguly and Dravid to Yuvraj and Badrinath

[suraj]

Ganguly wont retire gracefully where as Dravid would retire as soon as he feels it is time. It is high time to give the place of Ganguly and Dravid to Yuvraj and Badrinath

That is a good thot process- give a fair run to them, also bring the likes of Rohit Sharma into the picture and find the new replacements

[eternalhope]

I feel Badri is ready for Tests, about Yuvi I am not sure. The character required for Test Cricket I guess is missing. IMO the most talented Indian batsmen I have seen are Azhar and Yuvi, but what a waste, one lacking Character in the literal sense and the other lacking it cricketing-wise.

[eternalhope]

In the first test against Aussie, he might be struggling to regain his form but he has the resolute in him to become the top scorer when the series unfolds. Having said that I believe it is fair time for him to leave test cricket after this series on a high note before people start thrashing his contributions. He should be remembered as a great Wall who stood tall against his opponents and not as someone who struggled towards the end of his career!

Isn't this exactly what we felt about SRT a few months ago and see how he has played recently and answered his critics. I am pretty sure RD will do the same. For ODI's I understand that the seniors should be replaced, but definitely not many replacements I can see for Tests other than Badri.

[suraj]

That is a good thot process- give a fair run to them' date=' also bring the likes of Rohit Sharma into the picture and find the new replacements[/quote'] Then he probably needs a kick to his backside from some of the seniors so we don't waste his talent

[yoda]

not a bad time to leave. performance dipping, youngsters blocked. why not?

[The Outsider]

He'll come back strong. Had a half decent series against Pakistan and did not do all that poorly in Australia after Melbourne.

[eternalhope]

Rohit seems to be in a rut this year and I hope he comes out of it soon. I guess going thru a lean phase early in their career will ultimately help any player once he sorts it out, make him mentally stronger and also make him think about his technique and understand it better.

[kumble_rocks]

Time for this thread to make a dignified exit . RD is gonna feast on subcontinent pitches this summer....

[dial_100]

Bump.... nextttt :haha:

[CC1981]

Utterly ridiculous to think of dropping Dravid before he is given a chance lower down the order.

[Ram]

I dunno, I am bit confused about Rahul. This form slump of his has now been there for nearly a year now, which is tending to suggest as though the problem could be chronic, and not something that can be fixed in the nets over weekend. Considering the heights of excellence he reached during 2001-2005, this is certainly a lean trot for him. Besides, at 35, he isnt getting any younger. Does he have the motivation, right now, to say to himself " Right, I am going to work my way out of this" ? I am not too sure. But cricketers have come back brilliantly before, can there be a better example than Saurav ? Dropped at 33, he came back, a year later, to have one of his most prolific years in test cricket. Am not too sure about Dravid though. Watch this space, we may be in for some sad news, VERY soon.

[CC1981]

WHY on earth can't he just be dropped down the order at #5/#6 and given an extended run to see how he does there ? It is obvious that Dravid's reflexes are slowing and his timing is off- so #3 is NOT the position for him. Instead of dropping a guy who's had a lean one year after a magnificient 6-7, we should be looking to put him in a position best suited for him. Viv, Lloyd, Border, Waugh, etc. ALL dropped down the order as they aged and mostly, flourished. Dravid deserves the same common sense approach too.

[King]

Rahul Dravid is good enough to play another couple of years easily and he'll be among runs the very next series. Most here wanting him to retire now will be singing his praise in about couple of months or two.

[King Tendulkar]

Write of this legend at your peril. Not age why he is not scoring runs but techniocal problem. He will iron this out and be back better then ever. Beware the wall will be back big time

[cochise]

Dravid will come back. He is mentally tough, technically sound and intelligent enough to work out his batting issues. He just needs some time to do so and with no ODI duties, I expect the next test series, he will do really well.

[Guest HariSampath]

WHY on earth can't he just be dropped down the order at #5/#6 and given an extended run to see how he does there ? It is obvious that Dravid's reflexes are slowing and his timing is off- so #3 is NOT the position for him. Instead of dropping a guy who's had a lean one year after a magnificient 6-7' date=' we should be looking to put him in a position best suited for him. Viv, Lloyd, Border, Waugh, etc. ALL dropped down the order as they aged and mostly, flourished. Dravid deserves the same common sense approach too.[/quote'] Its not an issue of what Dravid and others "deserve", but what Team India needs. 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. There are others like Badrinath, Kaif, Yuvraj etc who can do the job he is doing now

[Guest HariSampath]

It is going to be very difficult for Dravid in the coming home series. The way this will pan out is how the team is going to be selected. 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. Add to this, if Yuvraj gets 1-2 hundreds in ODIs, he too will be pushing for a place in test 11, and it becomes even more difficult for Dravid. He will probably retire within next 4-5 months

[cochise]

Selections are going to be a real issue because there are so many contenders. Not a bad problem to have though...

[bunny]

It is going to be very difficult for Dravid in the coming home series. The way this will pan out is how the team is going to be selected. 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. Add to this, if Yuvraj gets 1-2 hundreds in ODIs, he too will be pushing for a place in test 11, and it becomes even more difficult for Dravid. He will probably retire within next 4-5 months

Pathan is not a certainty. Not right now. Either he has to sort out his bowling or he has to improve his batting considerably. Of course RD himself has to prove that he still belongs.