From: karnik@giga.cs.umn.edu (Neeran M. Karnik)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: Re: Test 11 to SA and ODI 11 too (Looooong !)
Date: 3 Oct 92 21:00:38 GMT
Organization: University of Minnesota

In <1992Oct3.015232.21040@news.acns.nwu.edu> sidi@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Sadiq Yusuf) writes:

>>1. Shastri
>>2. Raman

>	I agree here. Jadeja is unlikely to make it ahead of Raman to the
>test team.

	That's sad, because IMHO, he's the better batsman, period.

>	Here, I dont agree. Iam fairly certain it will be Manjrekar at #3,
>Tendulkar at #4, and Azhar at #5.

	Agreed, that seems to be the logical thing to do. Just a thought
though, perhaps Azhar at #4 and SRT at #5 might be worth considering.


>>Wicket Keeper: More

	Sack him!


	Coming to the ODIs.....

>	Now, here I have very different views. In my book, Manjrekar has
>waay too much class to be dropped from the Indian team in anything ( tho I
>too dislike  seeing a purist like  him slogging ). The #3 spot in the OD's

	Perfectly true. You shouldn't even dream of dropping him! No-one in 
this team can hold one end like he can (and still score a few, unlike RJS:-)
Let him play at #4 and SRT at #5.

>lots more besides , all at #3 in the OD's. ) . You have to play SRT at #4,
>clearly. 

	Why why why? :-) Why not #5 ? The openers won't last too long
anyway :-) So instead of getting him into the game in the 10th over, let him
wait till the 30th! :-)

>	We all know how Shastri has played as an opener in OD's, crawling
>and unable to accelerate , and we all know  ( at least those of us who
>have a memory , knowledge, and comparatively less bias ;-) that Shastri IS
>capable of slogging, and doing it very effectively, that at his best he may
>be one of our cleanest strikers of the ball.

	Yup, let Shastri do the slogging. He could come in after Kapil, in the
slog overs.....

>	So, coming to the point, the Grand Design , the reason for me
>blabbering away this long :-) Open the innings with Jadeja and Manjrekar.
>Manjrekar is maybe our best player of pace, clearly he can handle it.

	This is clearly worth trying out, although as PVR will point out, 
Manjrekar has been reluctant to open. But then, so was Shastri a few years
ago, and he's now the best Test opener we have :-)

>	Jadeja ahead of Raman, because if you aren't going to use him , why
>are you carrying him ? :-) Actually, he may be fine. Not a bad bat, a
                                                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>terrific fielder , and a useful OD bowler. A very very good cricketer for
>the OD game. 

	I'll stick my neck out here - Jadeja's isn't just "not a bad bat", he's
a real talented batting prospect. Right up there with Kambli and Amre. I saw
him make 90+ in the 1990-1 Ranji final v/s Bombay, and he's really impressed
me. His innings was such a contrast to the 200+ made by whats-his-name-who-
cares-anyway.... I think Jadeja makes the team on the basis of batting alone
and then, he's a pretty useful OD bowler and good fielder.

>	BTW, the above team is if you want to go with 5 specialist bowlers.
>I doubt they'll do that, so maybe an extra bat will make the team. But bat

	Me too. That's almost certain to happen.

>wickets, then of course things change. And then you have 4 specialist
>bowlers, and Shastri,Jadeja and Tendulkar for the 5th, and to help out if
>someone has trouble on the day. That at least gives Azhar some options,

	As a matter of fact, it may not be too much to expect these three to
share 20 overs between them. If Raman is in the team, he might also chip in
in case he is needed. That would enable them to add a bit of muscle to the
batting - unfortunately, the real muscle will be cooling his heels back home
in Bombay :-( :-(

>		Sadiq [ he keeps going and going and going... ] Yusuf
>>Bharat

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Neeran   Karnik  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dept. of Computer Science,      | Email: karnik@cs.umn.edu
University of Minnesota         |        karn0001@student.tc.umn.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket