From: pvr@argo.rice.edu (PVR Narasimha Rao)
Subject: Re: Test 11 to SA and ODI 11 too (was Re: Indian Team Selected)
Organization: Rice University
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 23:44:49 GMT


In article <BvI5LM.5rE@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, bharat@cs.uiuc.edu (R. Bharat Rao) writes:


|> The middle order looks set.  Manjrekar will play, at lezst for the
|> first 2 Tests.  I suggest moving him to number 5 and letting Azhar
|> come in one down.  Lets see.

	[some more analysis (test team) deleted]

|> Shastri
|> Raman
|> Azhar
|> Tendulkar
|> manjrekar
|> Amre


    Also, Sanjay Naik says:

    <| 	Azhar should bat at No.3, like he did in the latter part of the Oz 
    <| tour. Brilliant is the only word to describe some of his innings during
    <| that phase. Early phase ? - crap!


There seems to be a feeling that it will be better to put Azhar at #3. I am
not really sure if it is justified.

Whether the success of Azhar in the latter phase (WC) is due to the #3 posiiton
alone or not is debatable. Mind you, he came back to form in the second innings
of the 4th test at Adeliade itself (with 108). He failed in the next few matches,
but he did well throughout since then. So, the question is: did Azhar come back
to form at Adeliade and retained it till the end of the world cup? Would he have
done well in the world cup even if he had batted at #5 (since he was in form)?
These are tough to answer.

In any case, Manjrekar is a much better first down batsman for tests and I do
not see why Azhar should bat at #3 and Manjrekar at #5 in tests just because of
Azhar's success at #3 in WC. If you want to give Manjrekar one last chance,
give it at #3 only, why chnage the position?

Let us talk about ODIs now. Azhar can settle down quite fast unlike Amre and
Manjrekar (with Manjrekar being more adaptive thasn Amre). So, putting Azhar
at #3 doesn't sound like a good ploy to me even in ODIs. It may do good to
Azhar, but IMHO, not to India.

Even in the matches in which Azhar did very well coming in at #3, no one could
slog well in the world cup except Kapil. So, even though Azhar laid good
foundations coming in at #3, lower middle order wasn't able to capitalize on it
in many WC matches. Azhar being Azhar, I feel he can do as well by coming in
at #5 or #6 (if he's in form). That may lower Azhar's personal scores, but, that
will allow Manjrekar and/or Amre to build good innings. Unfortunately, we don't
have a good person for #6. Amre is the best suited for #3 position, definitely
not below #5.

It is in this regard that I think Kambli could've proven himself very valuable.
He could've proven to be a very good #5/6/7 ODI batsman. However, the first
priority in the selection has to be the tests. Still, Kambli could've been
taken instead of one extra seamer. However, we can't criticize it much. There
are both head and tail to it.


|> 6. Amre/Jadeja:  It is brutal on poor Kambli, but dropping Amre would
|> 		be unfair as well.  It would have been so much better
|> 		to take both to Australia and let the Colonel go
|> 		(brutal as that sounds)... BUt, of course the


They could've very well taken Kambli and Amre _both_ to Oz _without_ dropping
Vengy! Forgot Saurav Ganguly? (of course, this is assuming there is no limit
on the number of players from the same Ranji team and that there are no zonal
quotas)

Talking about Kambli, many people seem to have a feeling that he is rash. That
was true 1 year back, but no longer. Though he took a long while to record his
first first class century, he did well throughout the last season. Also, his
batting was very responsible in the WC match against Pak.


|> For the ODI's here are some radical suggestions.  Drop Manjrekar
|> altogether!  Play Shastri, but only down the order!
|> 
|> Openers:
|> 
|> Raman, Jadeja
|> Azhar, Tendulkar, Amre,
|> Shastri
|> 
|> Now, the *BIG* problem is that there is no one to pressure Manjrekar
|> for a spot, as it will be hard to replace him even if he flops.  Also,
|> I think Manjrekar should be dropped for ODI's and there is no way to
|> do that as you would like to play all of the above plus Manjrekar with
|> Shastri coming in at number 7.. so sigh Manjrekar will probably be in
|> over one of the above people and Shastri will open...


One serious problem with selecting 5 seamers is that you don't have too many
batsmen. If an opener fails, you can replace him, but, if someone in the middle
order fails, you have no replacement (since the extra batsman is an opener).

BTW, putting Shastri at #6 or #7 is a nice idea, IMHO. Though his ODI innings
in the post-Reliance era make one think twice, he is perhaps a better slogger
than Amre. And, we desparately need one to help Kaps! We lost _too many_ matches
in the last 10 overs in the last season (despite nice starts) ...

Even Raman can probably slog well, but opening with Shastri and Jadeja doesb't
sound good. We need someone who can keep the score board moving.

Promoting Banerjee may be a nice idea if he is playing in the eleven. Also, I
hope Prabhakar's batting won't bewasted in the ODIs as was the case in Oz.

Amre may be a better candidate for being the twelfth man than Manjrekar as you
have chosen. May be we should let Manjrekar and Amre fight for #3, let SRT and
Azza bat at #4 and #5 and ask Shastri to come in at #6 (but, I'm not sure if
Shastri will agree). Or may be Kaps for #6 and Shastri for #7. If one of the
openers repeatedly fails, we have to think of some changes.

As far as the tests are concerned, one good thing is that Shastri and Raman are
decent players of pace and even Jadeja has a good technique. While Raman is very
elegant to watch (when in flow) and Shastri is dour, Jadeja is somewhere in
between. Unfortunately, we don't have too many good openers right now in India.
With the decision to drop Sidhu and Sri, these three were more or less the
automatic choices.

BTW, talking about openers, does anyone know that SRT opened in one tour match
in Eng (I think that was the only time SRT opened in his first class career)
and scored 91 (or 90?)?


|> Bharat


PVR
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