From: Sanjay.Naik@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Sanjay Naik)
Subject: Re: INDIAN TEAM to SA/ZIMBABWE
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 06:58:29 GMT

In article <BvH96J.7n1@rice.edu> pvr@argo.rice.edu (PVR Narasimha Rao) writes:
>
>In article <1992Oct1.224016.1@tesla.njit.edu>, kka8934@tesla.njit.edu writes:
>
>One interesting thing about this team is that none of the 3 openers in the
>team started their careers as openers. Everyone knows Shastri's case. Jadeja
>started his career as a first down batsman and later started opening. Raman
>bats at #3 (he even batted at #4,5,6) most of the time for TN (with Sri, VB
>opening). So, he is also a makeshift opener (but, did a pretty good job in NZ.
>Had a classy 97 when India crumbled agaibnst Hadlee).
*----*									*----*
	Didn't he do well against the Windies too? I thought it was
against the Windies that Raman got 97 odd. I was hoping that we'd get two
genuine openers, but it's the same old story. It's unfair to the players
more than anything. IMO, Shastri's better off in the middle order in both
forms of cricket and that's where he plays in domestic cricket. Beats me
how he's expected to do the job in the toughest form of cricket that there is.
I haven't seen enough of Jadeja. 
*----*									*----*

>We'll miss Srikkanth ...

*----*									*----*
	Only in the 1 dayers. Even then, he didn't perform well in the WC. 
He'd come to the end of his carrer during the Oz tour. We will miss him, but
he never did himself justice in the tests - far too reckless.
*----*									*----*

>In ODIs, most of the starts are likely to be slow. Raman can do some aggressive
>batting, but the other two (Shastri and Jadeja) are rather slow. However, for
>the tests, we have atleast one world class opener - Shastri. Let us hope Raman
>will develop into a good opener. To be fair to him, he was never given enough
>chanmces.

	I don't know about WClass. He always looks uncomfortable opening,
but he certainly makes the most of his limitations (re:200+ at Syd).

>
>It's unfortunate that Maninder had to be left out again! But, to quote our
>friend Sadiq[ [] ]Yusuf, "what can't be cured must be endured"! :-)
>
>It's unfortunate that one of the two K*MBL*'s in the winning combination in
>the second innings of the recent Irani trophy match had to be left out of the
>team.
 
	Both of them should have been in the team. I feel sorry for
Kambli, who should have been on the tour to Oz (tests), but was left out
purely on the basis of regional quotas. This system is the only thing more
stupid than the administrators at BCCI. Instead, someone like Banerjee who is
half as talented got in then and gets in again.

>Manjrekar must come good on this tour. Else, he has a danger of being sacked.
>He hasn't done much in tests after his phenomenal suceess in Pak.
>
>I am sure they considered Kuruvilla and Ankola, but they probably thought it
>was too early to give them a chance (Kuruvilla made his debut only in last
>May. Ankola, though playing for a long time, started doing well only recently).
>However, for the next tour, they will be staking their claims and this is
>going to be a do-or-die tour for Banerjee and Chetan (and, perhaps, even 
>Srinath). Let us hope Banerjee will not be plagued by injury problems [and,
>let us hope Srinath finds good south Indian vegi food in SA - sambar, rasam,
>idli, dosa and .....? Murali must know it better! May be Srinath should learn
>cooking like us the Indian students in USA :-)].

	Srinath's got to do better than his 10 odd wickets, but he showed 
potential in Oz. Picking Sharma is surely a step in the wrong direction.
How old is he now anyway? Looks like a lot of Kapil's mates are in the team.

>This tour is going to be a vital tour in the careers of several youngsters
>(also, for the captain).

	Only as far as the captaincy is concerned. Surely, he's in no
danger of losing his place in the side altogher. You never know, though.

>
>One major problem on this tour is going to be the batting order. In ODIs,
>Manjrekar and SRT will bat (presumably) at #3 and 4. That leaves #5 and 6 to
>Amre and Azhar. For Amre, #3 or #4 will be a better position. Putting him at
>#6 will not be too nice (as was seen in Oz). Also, #6 will be too low for Azza.
>Even in tests, batting order will be a problem. Though Amre is said to be the
>replacement for Vengy, in reality, he'll be batting in a totally different
>place. We have to fix Manjrekar, Tendulkar, Azhar and Amre in #3,4,5,6 somehow.
>
>Though it has been 2 years since SRT was promoted to #4, we still don't have a
>good replacement at #6 for him (mainly in ODIs)!
>
	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!

>
>|> GOOD LUCK to the Indian team....

	I hope they do really well and shove it down the fair weather friends
who have been poking unfair fun at the expense of the team over the last
few months. Some people have short memories.
   
>PVR

Sanjay Naik.
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