Rebuilding Indian Team for Test cricket.

[icyman]

Captain:

MSD has lost my vote of confidence. There are times when he seems to let go of things rather than acting upon them. As a captain, you would want him to ring in a few changes. Honestly, he waits for the game to give him back something, rather than trying a few tactics. The team composition too - I personally feel a lot of people have been given too many chances to prove themselves.- e.g Rohit and Ravinder Jadeja

Stepping down will be the best possible thing that MSD can do.

Replacements: I'd say Gautam Gambhir as the Test skipper. But, if the selectors wish to radically change the team, one can think of Pujara or Kohli.
Yes, yes, these two are unproven and all that, but it may just pay off.

Coaching Set-up:
Duncan has not been much of a revelation. We have seen a lot many losses under him. What India needs to do is to put in a professional system with a head coach.
I'd advocate what RSA and ENG have done. MAybe we can have a strategic coaching head, who should look after the entire setup, i.e , India, India A/B and India U-19.
Separate bowling coach- one who is good is required. We really do not need unknown qualities the likes of Joe Dawes or Eric Simmons, who probably have never played Test cricket long enough.

Openers, Middle Order & Tendulkar

Start off with Tendulkar's retirement. If we are building for the future, he needs to understand that he is seriously blocking some good talent coming into the side. The selectors ought to give him an ultimatum to retire or he should be out of the team after the next series.A lot of commentators have asked for his presence in South Africa in 2013, but, if he does that, Indian cricket will be in a terrible state.

With Tendulkar retiring , Sehwag would come to Number 4 seeing as that is the spot where he wishes to bat. That would be a good move, and one can expect Ajinkya Rahane to open with Gambir.

In the reserves, we already have Murali Vijay. Additionally, we can look at other options from the Ranji sides- Jiwanjot Singh,Unmukt Chand or any such young face.

That leaves one spot vacant if we consider Pujara and Kohli to be automatic selections. And that should in all probability go to Manoj Tiwary.

Wicket Keeper

MSD's fans will back him by saying that there aitn any other wk bat in the country like him. Fine, but has he shown any of his talents at the Test level ? The answer is No.

Parthiv has been in decent form, but his keeping is sad. The other keepers that can be looked at are KKD, Bisla or even Smit Patel


I shall tackle the bolwing at ease in my next post.

 

[Aislabie]

I worry if Piyush Chawla is seen as the way forward.

Six years ago he was a raw and hugely promising seventeen year old spinner who was not ready for Test cricket but who looked like he could be the future. Now, back in the present day, right when he should be cementing a long-term place in the team, he comes back for only his third Test. He looks unfit, and is bowling without guile. His leg-break is not turning. His last three years of Ranji cricket have yielded wickets at 40, 45 and 54 apiece. Piyush Chawla is another talent to have fallen by the wayside - it is a sad truth.

Even looking at the four wickets he got - Bell got himself out, Swann was reverse sweeping, and Anderson is a genuine bunny down there in the tail. Joe Root was still a genuine spinner's wicket, but for the most part I was unimpressed.

 

[Ahmad94]

With Sachin failing again, IMO, retirement and replace with a Ajinka Rahane or Unmukt Chand

 

[SaiSrini]

Wicket Keeper

MSD's fans will back him by saying that there aitn any other wk bat in the country like him. Fine, but has he shown any of his talents at the Test level ? The answer is No.

Parthiv has been in decent form, but his keeping is sad. The other keepers that can be looked at are KKD, Bisla or even Smit Patel

I shall tackle the bolwing at ease in my next post.

What's wrong with Wriddhiman Saha or even Naman Ojha? Considering Bisla for a spot in test cricket is mighty ridiculous! Even in the IPL, he got a lot of runs through sheer luck. He doesn't seem to be a guy with the talent to play test cricket yet. In fact if you are considering him, I would rather consider Rayudu for the keeper spot. Rayudu is a specialist batsman and 100x better than Bisla.

 

[Cricketman]

The thing is, we saw this decline coming from a mile away. Not many teams had the luxury of players as good as Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly making up the batting order. Young players didn't get exposure in the long form of the game and the players that were groomed turned into limited over specialists (like Yuvraj, Raina, etc).

There is still no replacement for MSD I feel. Then again, there was no replacement for Kumble as captain back in 2008 either. We took a radical choice and it payed off. Maybe it's time to do it again... maybe it's not.

But if we do go down that road...my choice for captain is Kohli. MSD should at least step down from T20I captaincy/team to give him some valuable rest.

We need to identify a core group of players that, though may be a part of the LOI teams, will be settled into the Test lineup. These players need to be groomed by playing county cricket in England, and by having adequate rest at the Ranji level. Our fast bowlers become medium pace trundlers not only because the pitches are so flat but also because of the sheer lack of rest between matches. The whole system needs a shakedown for us to become competitive again.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Funny you mention the rest from T20I which are hardly any. Whereas the IPL is what takes away the 'rest' of the players. No one is complaining about it as everyone gets the bucks.

 

[Cricketman]

I didn't mention IPL because that's never going to happen. The sooner we accept that the better. We have to work around it and manage the workload of players accordingly.

IPL is here to stay, unfortunately.

 

[Gaurav_7]

I can understand that and in reality we do need to accept that. But, what we must also accept is that we will see these sort of performances in Tests more often because of that now. There's an overkill of T20 and has certainly affected the mindset of the people.

 

[vet_m]

no point in changing a pretty much established coach and also the captain.

Changes need to be in bowling attack especially pace.

 

[SaiSrini]

no point in changing a pretty much established coach and also the captain.

Changes need to be in bowling attack especially pace.

Can't believe I am hearing someone say that we need to persist with Duncan Fletcher. How much more must we endure before we sack him? He saw England through a whitewash against Australia, he has seen us through two consecutive overseas whitewashes, and has been part of the disaster that has struck ever since HE SET FOOT as coach onto the Indian team.

He NEEDS TO GO! So does his entire team....

 

[RPHKR]

Bring in an Indian coach I say. That will look far better as they can understand the conditions and players well.

Ganguly, Kapil Dev(won't be selected but...) look best options now. Other senior players won't look bad though.

 

[icyman]

Why not take a look at Lalchand Rajput, a man who led us to the World Cup triumph [T20] in 2007, when the entire team was down and out.

Sandeep Patil and Jimmy could have been good options, but seeing as neither is favored much by the BCCI, they wont even get a look in. Kapil Dev wont be considered due to his media commitments.

 

[AbhishekS]

Sandeep Patil and Jimmy could have been good options, but seeing as neither is favored much by the BCCI

Well Sandeep Patil is the chief selector!

 

[icyman]

That could also be incorporated into the scheme of things later. BCCI could very well have a head coach who can serve as a selector. In many ways, it would be better.

 

[Fenil]

Why not take a look at Lalchand Rajput, a man who led us to the World Cup triumph [T20] in 2007, when the entire team was down and out.

I second you. If it has to be an Indian coach, I'd love to see Lalchand Rajput or Sourav Ganguly for that designation more than anyone else including the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev N.