From: ravi@wti.com (Ravi Raj)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: Re: All-rounders galore! What's wrong with this picture?
Date: 6 Oct 92 21:00:06 GMT
Organization: Wavefront Technologies Inc, Santa Barbara, CA
X-Disclaimer: Not a spokesperson for Wavefront Technologies, Inc.

In article <1992Oct6.164327.12765@uceng.UC.EDU> bnataraj@uceng.UC.EDU (Bhaskar Natarajan) writes:
>In article <605@wavefront.wti.com> ravi@wti.com (Ravi Raj) writes:
>>There is just one batsman (Manjrekar) who cannot bowl. And just one
>>bowler (Srinath) who cannot bat.  Yet, this team has crumbled on
>>dead pitches and not been able to dismiss opponents twice on bowler's 
>>tracks. Can someone tell me -- What's wrong with this picture?

>Too many jack of all trades........
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>BTW Sanjay Manjrekar can bowl pretty decently, I'd say he bowls leg-spin
>but i'm not too sure. He was in contention for the Reliance Cup and lost
>out to Sidhu ( who made it in the ODI's then on) which kinda surprised
>me then because i tho't his bowling ability might help him nudge out Sidhu.
>
>Can someone confirm ??
>
>Bye
>Bhaskar

Jeez, I wouldn't be surprised now if somebody said that More started off
his career as a pace bowler or something :-) I think you hit the nail
right on its head -- "Too many jack of all trades". 

I see this as a sort of chronological evolution of the present Indian team:
(Comments, suggestions, flames, etc. are welcome!!)

1960's                   Era of the spinners. A very poor batting side,
(The spinners era).      the batting line-up ended at No. 5!! No pace 
			 bowlers, no all rounders. 

early 70's               Spinners still good, a better batting side,
(The Wadekar period)     (Gavaskar, Viswanath, Sardesai, etc.), a force
                         to reckon with! no pace bowlers or all-rounders yet.
                         Probably the best Indian team ever! Beat West Indies
                         and England on their own turfs!

mid 70's to early 80's   Spinners begin to fade away, Gavaskar, Viswanath,
(The Gavaskar era)       Vengsarkar begin to emerge. An even better batting 
                         team, but a weaker bowling team.  The batting line-up
			 probably extended to No. 7.  Still no pace 
                         bowlers or all-rounders. A bad/ inexperienced
                         one day team.

1980's                   Entry of all-rounders -- Kapil Dev, Shastri, etc.
(The Kapil Dev era)	 Very good batting team (Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, 
                         Amarnath, etc.), but extremely weak in bowling.
			 The batting line-up extended to No. 8 or 9.
                         Just one world class bowler (Kapil Dev). An 
			 exceptional ond-day team.

early 1990's             All-rounders galore. Entry of fast bowlers
(The Azharuddin period)	 (Prabhakar, Srinath, etc.), no more spinners,
                         no more world class bowlers (Kapil Dev a mere shadow 
                         of his past), other bowlers highly unpredictable.
			 Great batting side on paper, practically everyone
			 on the team can bat, batting line-up extends
			 all the way to No. 11 !!
-- 
--
Ravi N. Raj                                   ravi@wti.com
                                              Lakers - Knicks '93