TEAM INDIA ........what next??

I know its a bit late for this topic but actually I have been wanting to write on Team India's future after their world cup debacle.

Who should be the captain?




If not Rahul Dravid then who would it be?Surely not Sachin. Not Sehwag either. To me, no one bar Dravid is a surity in both test and ODI's right now. Yes, I am afraid that includes Sachin Tendulkar also. Also I dont think there was anything wrong with Dravid's captaincy. Just that the team played miserably.

Who should be the batsmen?
I wont make too many changes to our ODI batting line-up. Obviously, we need to keep the Yuvrajs and the Uthappas on their toes. I am not sure who is the the most promising young player, but I hear Shikhar Dhawan's the new kid on the block. Also,
there was all that hola-hula about Ambati Rayudu a couple of years back. Havent heard about him for a long time now. And then there are the 'tested and failed' options of Raina,Kaif and Gambhir. As I have said before, I will persist more or less with this batting line-up.

Should Sachin retire?



I think we all have our own views, but obviously the great man himself is the best judge. I would say NO. I recently read an article by Ian Chappel in which he said that Sachin should retire. I know he is not the Sachin we knew in 1998, when he single handedly put the Aussie attack to the sword, but thats what people said before the 2003 world cup, where he made scores of 53 vs Holland, 36 vs Australia, 80 vs Zimbabwe, 150 against Namibia, 50 vs England, 98 Vs Pakistan, 9 vs Kenya, 97 vs SriLanka, 16 Vs NewZealand, 88 Vs Kenya and 4 agains the Aussies. 673 runs at 61.18. Man-of-the-series.

Come on SACHIN.......once more!!!

and dada?
I have always maintained that Ganguly is a superb ODI batsman and a poor test player and I will stick with waht I have said. Play him in ODI's but not in tests.


Bowling line-up?
This needs a major change now. Ajit Agarkar has been the nearly man for 10 years now. Ab aur nahi. Munaf.......well he looks like a 70 year old thrown into the park with shoes made of iron. Zaheer comes and goes and comes back again and goes again. He also, like the mumbaikar, has been the nearly man for some time now. Kumble has hung up his boots. So whats left? Harbhajan Singh. But there should be someone to keep him on his toes. Somehow, I have never liked that Ramesh Powar. He just does not look a cricketer to me. I know he has proved me wrong a couple of times, but I would like to see a new kid.......may be Piush Chawla. And the quickies? We desperately need a



fully-fit and in-form Irfan Pathan. Remember that period just after the world cup, when we trounced the pakis in pakistan and gave the kangaroos a run for their money in their own backyard. I would attribute a lot of that success to the early break throughs provided by the curly-haired Baroda boy. His batting is obviously huge bonus. Should we play Sreesanth? Not sure. The boy does give a 110% but I think he is more suited to the longer version.

Coach?
Its very tempting to say 'bye-bye Greg......we need someone else'. I am again not sure. I have always had this view that great players dont make good coaches. No more comments on this........


The most important think is we need a good fielding side with a lot of spirit. But it has been 10 years now. And I have been hearing 'We need to improve on our fielding and running between wickets' ever since. I have heard it from Azhar, from Sachin, from dada, and now from Dravid. To say that its high time now would be an understatement. I dont care what they do, get a Jonty Rhodes if you want, get a baseball coach(to learn to throw) if you want, get as many trainers. After all BCCI is the richest board. And, talking about coaches, I got scared one day when Venkatesh Prasad said he wanted to be the bowling coach of the Indian team. Agar aisa hua to main cricket dekhna chod dunga. No disrespect to Venky, but please we dont want a fast bowling coach who bowled at a slower pace than Anil Kumble.


Anyway..........as the king said.........HOPE.......medicine......:D