From: sidiyus@speedy.acns.nwu.edu (Sadiq Yusuf)
Subject: Second try - Srikkant ( was Re: A few reports/rumours from India
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 05:09:09 GMT

In article <karnik.726607872@myria> karnik@cs.umn.edu (Neeran M. Karnik)  
writes:
> In <1993Jan9.061459.8362@samba.oit.unc.edu>  
Sanjay.Naik@launchpad.unc.edu (Sanjay Naik) writes:
> 
> >	I hope that we don't pick Srikkanth again. He's never had a great
> >test record and a century against Goa is irrelevant. He got onto the Oz
> >tour partly because he scored some double ton against a weak opposn.  
and the
> >South selectors really pushed for his selection. His performances in Oz  
were
> >disappointing. Ofcourse Srikkanth was a tremendously entertaining  
batsman and
> 
> 	Agreed. Srikkanth is a no-no as far as Tests are concerned.
> But, to repeat, in a home series, it isn't inconceivable that the
> selectors will experiment with him as ODI opener. Personally, I think
> it's unlikely, but if he keeps making runs, who knows? Also, his ODI
> performance in Australia was quite impressive.
> 

	OK, Iam assuming the old article part went thru - am using a new  
system and am having trouble. Basically, I used to think that Srikkant  
ought to still be in the ODI squad. But no more. Reason.
	Got a chance to see the Indian inning against Australia in the WC  
a while ago - Srikkant got a duck off 10 balls and looked bad. I took it  
as a one off and ignored it. 
	But over this break, I got hold of the India-Pakistan game in the  
WC, the whole game !! ( Ball-by-ball, whole match. No piddling little  
highlights !! 6 hours worth !! Watched it like 3 times !!! Brilliant !!) 
	So, got a chance to see the stuff for myself. You know, it was  
really pretty sad. Srikkant not only didn't get runs, he looked out of it  
completely. He looked as bad as I've seen anyone look in a while - really  
awful. Specially as I remember his amazing striking of the ball - it was  
tragic. He hung around for ages, got 5 runs off 39 balls !! ( Yes, this  
WAS Srikkant, and it WAS 5 off 39 balls !!!) Was dropped once, when Moin  
made a hash of a dive ( dived over the ball, it needed no more than a  
reach. It went thru his gloves ). Was almost out a couple of times. In one  
over of Aaqib particularly, could have been out 3-4 times - was beaten  
like 4 balls in a row outside the off. No ability to hit either - tried to  
heave Aaqib  just a couple of times and only inside-edged intended heaves  
over mid wicket onto the pad. 
	Worst of all, other than a couple of balls, wasnt even trying to  
hit !! The run-rate was lagging, but he wasnt doing anything. Had this  
stupid shot, that he attempted every ball. Slanted bat, trying to run it  
down to the point area. Tried it off _every_ ball !! Heck, even played  
forward defensive shots that way - with a bat so angled that it was almost  
at 90 degrees to the bowler !! Was finally out that way - angled bat,  
tried to run down to point, edge and caught behind. Could have been out at  
least 6-8 times legitimately before he finally went. Jadeja, by  
comparison, looked like a rock ! ( and he was pretty OK, a few shaky  
moments early but fairly solid and getting better with time at the  
crease.) 
	Anyway, this game convinced me that Srikkant is done at the  
international level. A friend did say that I was being pretty harsh, after  
all, he was clearly out of form and had no confidence whatsoever. However,  
I felt the problem seemed to be as much slow reflexes as anything. Maybe  
on the slower Indian pitches he wont be as hampered, but on the basis of  
this performances I didn't think he could play the true pacemen on quick  
pitches. 



> 
> >much loved by the Indian supporters because of his big hitting just  
like
> >Kapil. These days all you have to do to become popular with The Indian  
fans
> >is to strike a couple of big blows every now and again and fans will  
love
> >you for evermore, even if you're a pretty ordinary player. Look at  
Sidhu, 
> >I think Neeran Karnik dreams about him at night. Only kidding, Neeran  
:)
> 
> 	Aaaargh! No, no, please, not even in jest :-> Again, Sidhu is
> in the Board Pres. side playing England, so this may be his chance to
> get back. The likelihood of Sidhu making a comeback is IMHO higher than
> that of Srikkanth.  Sidhu still has a few years left in him, but then,
> he's not been doing anything extraordinary in the Ranji games.... I
> would go for Bhave as the opener for Tests with Shastri, and with
> Jadeja/Raman for ODIs. He is in good form, and we desperately need a
> solid opener.....
> 
> 

	Actually, I've always liked Siddhu too. As I said before, I  
believe we absolutely _have_ to have him in our ODI side - lets not dump  
him from the ODI team just because he has a poor test record (tho not  
significantly poorer than Srikkant , as I pointed out the last time). As I  
said before, he averages over 40 in ODI's, effectively the HIGHEST ODI  
average of any Indian in history !! Surely, we cant ignore those  
credentials at a time when we are desparately seeking openers ?? (New hit  
movie : Desparately Seeking Siddhu  :-) ) He's always been a tremendous  
ODI player, it's about time we picked separate teams for the tests and  
ODI's and made Siddhu a regular in the ODI's.

	

> 	More about domestic performers in another post....
> 

	BTW, got a one-liner from a friend , who said that Bombay beat  
Gujarat by an innings and 120 runs !! :-) :-) Guess we ought to have won  
the Talim again :-) I tell ya, this IS the year !!

		Sadiq [ we shall overcome ] Yusuf

> 
>       
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
>      | Neeran M. Karnik | #2 fan of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar on r.s.c.   
:-> |
>      | Dept. of CompSci.| "Welcome to r.s.c.,                               
|
>      | U of Minnesota   |  where jingoism rules the netwaves" - McBean  
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