From: 9063iyerm@vms.csd.mu.edu (Murali Iyer)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: A few reports/rumours from India
Date: 8 Jan 1993 16:59:00 GMT
Organization: Marquette University - Computer Services
Reply-To: 9063iyerm@vms.csd.mu.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: vmsa.csd.mu.edu


Sometime back, I received mail from a friend in India wherein he refers to the
rumours that have been floating around the cricketing circles. He says that
Manjrekar, Shastri(unfit), Raman, Jadeja, Chetan Sharma and Banerjee will in all
probability be axed. Sidhu, Ankola, Abey Kuruvilla, Kambli should find places
in the team. Prabhakar sems to have consolidated his position as opener(62).

Azhar may remain as captain. 

These are according to the friend. I have my own doubts about the last part.
Also, Ankola may not be the one to get the nod. And based on the SAARC tourney
performances, the pacers may just remain in the sidelines for a while longer,
since Prabhakar, Kapil and Srinath are going to meet the requirements fairly
well(Srinath hit the jackpot by getting the MOM award!!). 

Srikkanth has scored a couple of hundreds in Ranji so far this season, against
Karnataka and Goa. He too may be vying for a place, though I don't know if he
will even be considered. I personally don't believe in axing older players
simply because they are older, as in the case of Mohinder Amarnath. If a player
is good enough to play, he should be played no matter how old he is.  Axing
Srikkanth after the Pakistan tour was a mistake, and he never recovered fully
from that setback. Vengsarkar's confidence did not get a boost by the
in-now-out-now attitude of selectors before the OZ tour. And a good player
retired when he was still good enough for a few more seasons. 

In many ways, Gavaskar was good for India(I have my reservations about his
defensive approach, politics, etc) because he stood by his core of players and
extracted good performances from them. So did Kapil, whose only blemish came in
the '87 WC. They both had the advantage of a solid core, which always
delivered. Azhar is handicapped by the wayward performances of his top batsmen,
including himself. They seem unable to shrug off the bad phase and get into the
groove. Look at Manjrekar. I had a lot of respect and admiration for him, but
he has been disappointing time and again. No doubt everyone is convinced that
he has it in him to come good, but the lean trot has been a mite too long for
anyone's comfort, most tellingly for Manjrekar himself and the Indian team.


-Murali

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