From: sidi@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Sadiq Yusuf)
Subject: Re: Shastri
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 03:04:01 GMT

In article <11DEC199216455477@utarlg.uta.edu> d188sid@utarlg.uta.edu (S RAMACHANDRAN) writes:
>SHASTRI - THE RIGHT BATTING SLOT AT LAST?
>=========================================
>Some time back I had written an article abt Shastri, the jist of which was:
>1) Shastri should bowl more.
>2) Shastri should bat really low down in the order No.8 or No.9 as he can't
>  play strokes in a text-bk manner  to push the score along. But I mentioned
>  that he was excellent in stepping away and slogging or lofting spinners and
>  thereby ideal for a late charge.
>

	Actually, I don't think his technique is the problem - he's not a
bad driver ( tho he might need a designated one often :-) :-) ) and has
scored a fair number of runs that way. He's also gotten a fair number of
runs from orthodox strokes. However, I agree with you completely that he
ought not to batting at opener in _OD games_.  
	I think with Shastri it's more of a mental problem at opener. I
talked to Harsha Bhogle over the summer ( which Ive probably mentioned a
hundred times :-) ), and he said Shastri saw his role in the WC as
sheet-anchor, sort of like Haynes. Which is fine , we need one of those.
But he has to rotate the strike  (most importantly , run the singles -
which he didnt do in the WC ), and once he's been there for 30 overs +,
start hitting a little bit. (His slogging ought actually to be better, as he
would be seeing the ball well.) But , for some reason, he just couldnt do
it. Mentally, he could not switch gears, could not turn it up a notch.
Harsha pretty much agreed that the best bet would be to send him in at #6
or so, in the slog, with uncluttered instructions to hit the d*** ball :-) 
Dont agree with the #8 or 9 thing tho - higher than that surely !
   
>In the light of India's win this  seems to have worked well for India..w/
>Shastri N.O 17 ...he is really good at slogging in tight situations or 
>rotating strike (e.g., tied test at Madras) and perfect in the late order for 
>the ONE-DAY MATCHES. He is good in high pressure situations but if he is put
>in a situation where he has to  open then he is sort of directionless
>as he doesn't have a off-side drive/cut game like Azza,Manj, or Amre. Even
>for the tests he need not open as occupation of the crease without adding
>much doesn't help in the start of a test..as some sort of initiative has
>to be taken even in a TEST Match. But that leaves us the problem of who will
>open in the Tests...but you can get around this in ONE_DAYS with the team
>selection being more flexible.
>
>It will be interesting to know who took 12 runs off the 49th Donald over and
>how many balls Shastri took for his 17 IN HIS NEW BATTING SLOT! Hopefully
>Shastri did get to bowl his full quota of 10 overs too.
	
	Actually, it was 27 runs off 16 balls ( Harsha said he "blazed for
27 off 16, after being dropped for being too slow !" :-) ). Iam no longer
sure about the 10 overs - he seems reluctant to bowl and is no longer the
bowler he was 4-5 years ago. But he can clearly share the 5th bowlers spot
with SRT, or replace SRT if he's having a bad day, which greatly increases
the flexibility of the team ). 
 


>But the man who really swung the match India's way was W.V.Raman ! Raman
>is a damn good player unfortunately w/ pretty ordinary technique outside
>offstump. But this doesn't matter in a One-day game...hope someone is 
>able to post a description of Raman's ton w/ stats  to R.S.C. Good work
>on the team selection to play Raman in all one-days up to now.... Horses
>for the Courses !!
>
	Agree completely . I've always felt that WV was suspect outside off
and so wouldnt do consistently well in tests ( tho I could be wrong, its
just IMHO. BTW, feel the same way about Simmons - great OD player,but bring
back Lambert for the tests ! ) . But he's a fine OD opener - will keep the
scoreboard ticking over while the other bat drops anchor of sorts. 
	Horses for courses is the key ! I think we can learn a lot from
England ( who I believe are the best OD side at the moment - has that been
discussed over the net at all lately ? :-) ) . They have Fairbrother who
plays only ODI's, as well as Hick who at the end was exclusively an OD
player ( and a damn good one at that - check his OD stats out sometime !
Very very impressive - better than most top bats around ! ) . And Pringle
or Botham exclusively for ODI's. 
	 I believe we ought to have maybe WV for ODs ( tho Iam still
partial to Siddhu for ODI's - an average of 40 !!! That's the highest of
any Indian in ODI's - EVER !! Except for Ashok Mankad who played one inning
for 45 , at an average of 45.00 :-) ) . Kambli ought to play down the order
in place of Amre . Maybe Manjrekar to open - more class IMHO than a Jadeja
at the moment. Shastri down the order. Azhar at #3. Raju isnt bad in OD's
either - maybe in India we can play 2 spinners ?? How effective will
Srinath be on dead pitches?? And Chetan can always be an OD option - decent
slog bat as well. 
	For tests, almost a different team. Shastri at opener ( 3 centuries
and an 89 or so in his last 8 tests as opener ), the other opener is up for
grabs if Jadeja doesnt come thru. Manj at #3, SRT at #4, Azhar at #5, Amre
at #6 ( that's not too bad for a test - he can still build an inning !) A
good 3-4 different players, and a totally different batting order. They are
almost 2 different games, after all !! 


>Well that's my 0.02 paise worth.
>Any comments always welcome ..
>
	ya want em, ya got em
>Sidd.R.
>


			Sadiq [ as you can see, Iam a lukkha today ] Yusuf 

P.S. For non-Bombayites , that's an almost impossible translation. Sort of
like "bum with time on his hands" :-) 
Xref: sparky rec.sport.cricket:18049 soc.culture.sri-lanka:1490 soc.culture.new-zealand:3332