Indian cricket, it's time to cut some legends

Of course, the players are to be blamed. Aren't they ones who have the responsibility to go out on the field and play to win? Yes, Dravid has some numbers in the past year, but if you analyze closely, he has not been playing all that well. It is hardly winning cricket when he scores at a strike rate of 30. I would discount his scores against the West Indies in India due to the flat batsmen's paradise pitches. The truth is that he has been playing negative cricket for the past four years. Do you recall his timid batting in the 2008 Australian tour? If you watch his batting it is easy to see that his hand to eye coordination, reflexes and footwork are in bad decline. He tries to make up for it by being defensive and eating 300 balls to score 30 runs. Hardly winning cricket for the team. Then there is his failing fielding, he has been dropping too many catches, again a clear indication of declining reflexes. He should have retired with honor four years ago. But, like other Indians, he tries to hang on to keep the big money rolling in. The Indians are getting paid multi-million dollar contracts for product endorsements. That would stop if they retire. So, they hang on as long as they can. And the spineless Indian selectors are letting them get away with consistent poor performance to satisfy the crazy fans who worship their cricket idols based on their past performance. Have you seen the fitness of the Indian players on the field, especially the older ones, compared to the Aussies? Sehwag and Gambhir should be suspended and asked to correct the technical flaws in their batting. Tendulkar has a year more left. Dravid and Laxman should retire starting with the Adelaide game. What the heck, they are sure to get whitewashed, so why not lose with young blood?

Superficial analysis based on bias and opinion rather than fact. To blame the older players for India's woes is the simple and obvious answer and in life the simple and obvious things are usually wrong. Yes, India's older batsmen are struggling in this series. But so are the bowlers and the younger players. Despite a solid 3rd test Kohli is still only averaging 27 for the series. Scapegoating older players isn't a solution to deeper problems. Coming into the Border-Gavaskar series Dravid was in awesome form. He had great series against England (away) and West Indies at home. VVS Laxman had a bad series in England but a great series at home against the West Indies. Tendulkar even though he's not in great form and is struggling to get that 100th 100 has been consistent. A lot of India's batting problems lie with Gambhir and Sehwag (30 and 33 respectively). Both have been in poor test form. Gambhir's average has dropped from 50+ to 46. Sehwag's is now under 51. These two had a great couple of years opening the batting and a lot of India's success came from the top order. Just throwing out the older players and putting in some younger players won't address India's problems with touring. Until India commits to better preparation for tours they will struggle regardless of the age of the players.

Jo Interested in your comments pertaining to the launch of an Indian Football version of the IPL... see http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/veteran-stars-help-india-launch-football-league-20120117-1q3y9.html Some Indian friends I have tell me there is no doubt cricket is the bigger sport however among poor Indians football is huge it just has no money ... It has also been suggested if India could ever produce a world class player ... playing in a big European club band waggoner's would start in greater numbers to watch football... This will be a very interesting space to watch... to see how it plays out...

Dont forget Khawaja played on that moving pitch in Sri Lanka and made some tough runs (not many), before Marsh was picked in the next match, on a good batting pitch and was picked at #3 and cashing in while the sun shined. Ussie missed out on a decent hit, and was dropped for the next match. Luck plays a big part in these things. I think Disco says it best "Khawaja is a superior batsman to Marsh"

My comment "they have no desire to do well outside of India" rests more at the feet of the BCCI rather than the players. Have a look at the schedule, the amount of test cricket they play outside of Asia, the preparation for big test series, and the amount of 20/20 and ODI's played. All that taken into account, its no wonder the players under-perform.

please send in the indian 'b' team. it will not be so embarassing! my positive criticism: 'team india' should be selected only after they have proved themselves before the best school and college student/players in india. only then should the selectors be involved with their politics. incredible india! indescredible cricket team!

Khawaja is a superior batsman to Marsh; he's shown that in a shorter first-class career. None of Ponting's experience and mentoring seemed to help much as his captaincy fell apart, so outside runs (or lack there of) I think his importance to the side is overstated - for all his obduracy and aggression, he's no tactical genius. One may argue that being freed from the captaincy enabled Ponting to mentor younger players, but I think all it's done is given him more time to focus on his own batting, and boy, has he needed to. I think you're bang on about Haddin being held back too long in favour of Gilchrist though.

Chris, I'd more be looking at dropping VVS - he's only scored 102 runs @ an average of 17 Tendulkar is India's highest runs scorer in the series at 249 runs @ 41.5 avg And no disrespect to Ponting but Tendulkar has been more deserved of his spot than Ponting over the last 2 years or so!

While Haddin obviously has to go I think Hussey and Ponting should stay for a little while yet. Cowan looks promising but is yet to completely cement his spot.Marsh looks shaky as all get out and Kawaja while killing it in Shield is no certainty to be a test class batsmen . A steady transition is what I'd like to see. first Haddin gets retired and we see if Paine/Wade et al are up to it.Then see where we are with the current lot of batsmen.

For those who may not know, Indian players are often selected on who they know vs how well they play. This is is the main problem for their well deserved defeat to a young less experienced aussie side. About time the Indian Selectors took players on their performance .

Khawaja has scored above 30 only 3 times in 11 innings (twice in the 30s and one score of 65)...hardly cementing his spot as the number 3. I'm not sure it was time to drop him but unproven players MUST earn their spot in the Australian XI. Marsh's debut score of 141 (followed by 81 in the next game) gave him some credit, but as you say, another failure in Adelaide should see him dropped until he earns his place again. As for Ponting, when your the 3rd highest run-scorer in Test history you have (quite rightly) earned far more latitude. Further, Ponting provides far more than just numbers with the bat...experience, mentoring, and still our best fielder. Interesting to note that prior to this series the Indians still clearly rated his the most important wicket.

Luke, EVERY player should be selected on a perform or perish basis. Which is why Shaun Marsh should be on very shaky ground. Unfortunately while some players get ditched very quickly (e.g. Khawaja), others seem to be given much more latitude.

Before we start telling other countries what to do. We should first look at our own team. We have three near 35 year old players in the team as well (who other than Sydney, are only performing in spurts as well). We keep hanging onto them like grim death and aren't making the tough decisions ourselves so to try to tell another country to do something we seem incapable of doing seems a bit silly. Haddin must go if we are seriously trying to get the team back to number 1, Ponting should also get the tap on the shoulder sooner rather than later. His hundred in Sydney was more like a dead cat bounce than career resurgence. Hussey I'm happy to keep for the time being as he has been the most consistent of the three for the last few years but is on a perform or perish basis.

It's difficult picking the right time to move older players on and bringer younger ones in. Gilly probably stayed for a year or two longer than he needed to (but was still slogging them around the park right up to his retirement) because it meant that we probably lost about 18 months of Haddin at his peak. If fit, Tim Paine would be in the side now. Laxman should go now. Dravid is a tough one because he's had a great year...but at 39, he won't have many more. As long as Sachin can bat, he'll stay. He is deified to a level we don't understand in Australia and if he feels he can contribute, he'll stick around.

Not sure about that last statement - there are some very proud (in a good way) men in Idian cricket. They know that if they get thrashed everytime they play overseas their legacy will be forever tarnished. If Tendulkar can be persuaded to retire (or the selectors be brave enough to drop him) then that will be a positive step. But his problem is the same as Ponting's - he's been playing Test cricket since he was 17 years old. What is going to do with the rest of his life? He probably doesn't know himself, which is why it is so hard to push these legends out.

I am amazed by MS Dhoni's batting technique. He jumps at the ball and gives a wack, like short arm jab. The story is that he was so poor, he had no proper coaching. That is no excuse. He would not get a batting or keeping gig in any suburban club in Melbourne. His technique is atrocious. The moment the ball moves 1cm sideways, he is a dead duck. What a joke. Syed Kirmani ( wicket keeper for 88 tests) says, Dhonis wicket keeping is hapless. What on earth Indian selectors doing? How on earth did the rascal get in to a national side? Do the "big names" in the team choose the selectors? It should be other way around. Even the Bangladeshis and Zimbabweans showed more character, resolve and self respect when touring Australia. Shame on Indian selectors.

India don't play away from home in Tests for another 2 years. They will win some more tests at home, their big guns will score lots of runs and all will be right with Indian cricket again. As they rule cricket (money!!!), they can set the schedule and continue to do well in the rankings. Its sad, but true. India will be beaten in England, SA and Australia again over the next 4 years as they have no desire to do well outside of India.