Is Ganguly's Exclusion Justified ?
For many like me, this was a shocker- dropping Saurav Ganguly from the one day side (for the triangular series in Australia). Ever since he staged his comeback exactly a year ago (January 21, 2007 at Nagpur, India), I have followed each one of his innings. Excluding the last Test Match at Perth, he has been performing consistently; even when most others haven’t been half as consistent. I for one do not see any logic in his exclusion.
A quote published on rediff says : Asked whether it is the end of the road for Ganguly in ODIs, Shah said, "he is a great player and can come back."
Since his comeback in ODIs, Ganguly has scored 1240 runs in 32 matches at an average of 44.28 and a strike rate of around 73. During the same period he belted 12 half-centuries with a highest score of 98. This average is slightly higher than his career average. These statistics go a long way to prove that the ex-captain was in tremendous form. To top it all he even scalped 7 wickets. So why drop him? According to reports, it was the captain’s choice. M.S. Dhoni’s argument: Ganguly’s poor fielding and running between the wickets did him in.
So does that mean the rest of the Indian ODI team run like horses? That is not even close to the fact when it comes to players like Virender Sehwag. He is probably as fit as Saurav Ganguly when it comes to fielding and running. But he’s not even on the door step of ‘form’ when it comes to scoring runs- his primary job. To illustrate this point consider these set of statistics: During the same period, Sehwag scored 475 runs in 15 matches at an average of 33.92 and a strike rate of 107.22. He also picked up 5 wickets. To put a lid on his abysmal scoring figures, he was even dropped after the Bangladesh tour for showing the wrong attitude- something that another player in the current ODI team is being accused of (Yuvraj Singh).The five wise men who selected the team went along with Dhoni’s request (or demand) to have Ganguly dropped. This means that even consistency is not a guarantee to secure a place in the team! Or was Dhoni uncomfortable with so many ex-captains in the team? First it was Dravid who was dropped (who was not in good nick at that time) and now Ganguly. We are talking of two stalwarts of Indian cricket- one of whom has over 10,000 runs in one day internationals. How can one overlook this fact?
If Saurav’s fielding was such a big issue, then have him placed in the slips during the power play. For the rest of the innings have him bowl when the conditions are right or have him field at mid on or mid off. Actually, throw all that out of the window. Just place him wherever Sehwag would have been placed! There, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?
If none of this is possible, at least have the courtesy to sit down with Ganguly and Dravid and tell them, “Look guys, you have done a great service to Indian cricket. But, we need to give youngsters a chance. So it is almost next to impossible for you guys to make a comeback to the ODI team. We suggest that you exit gracefully by retiring from one day cricket.” I’m sure both these gentlemen now realize that only a miracle can get them back into the ODI team. And for all you know, they would have obliged and retired.
But this is not the first time our selectors have gone on a misadventure. And this is not the first time we have dumped successful sports achievers in our country. Let’s just hope that we learn from our mistakes and give these guys an exit that they are worthy of.
Blogged with Flock
posted by Munna / Rakesh @ 10:39 PM,
4 Comments:
At January 23, 2008 at 12:58 AM,
Terminally Insane said...
And your argument about keeping Saurav in Sehwags's place, well how is that goin to help if you have both Saurav and Sehwag? Dravid and Ganguly are both in their mid-thirties, and ODI cricket is a youngsters game isn't it ? Then there is the World Cup coming up..
At January 23, 2008 at 1:01 AM,
Terminally Insane said...
Keep posting :)
At January 23, 2008 at 8:47 PM,
Pankaj said...
At January 31, 2008 at 8:24 PM,
Unknown said...