Friday, September 5, 2008

Why Kirsten is right

Whatever prompted Gary Kirsten to come out with it - that Dhoni is obviously ready for Test captaincy - he should be commended for setting off a debate on what is in everyone's mind. For me, his follow-up remark was more telling - "but there's no rush". Why on earth not? That's the question I've raised in an article in DNA where I've compared our two captains - Why Dhoni is a better captain than Kumble

12 comments:

Trideep said...

There is no rush because atleast for the Aussie tour, India should not expose the inexperienced players. We need to give them more time. Otherwise everyone of those will become another Yuvi.

Anonymous said...

Your comments sound like the TV news anchors who just comment without knowledge of the game. But thats not true for you.

Dont you sound prejudiced on seniors and just for sake of their opposition on some loose grounds far from true, you criticise them ?

Winning a ODI series against a 7th placed team is easier than fightign top ranked Test team in own backyard. And we need proven skillled players for that, not some set of rookies who on slight whiff of success go n party in a lounge bar.

we need commitment, the passion to play for country which is missing in this young players. Do you plan to field weakest Test XI ever played a Test for India with sittind ducks like Raina, Sharma, Badrinath, Yuvraj and Kohli in Tests ?

Unknown said...

trideep, buzzz: we lost the last test series at home against the aussies when these players were younger. now i don't expect them to do better. so i'd rather watch upcoming players - win or lose.

straight point said...

tri and buzzz

we did not won in oz either...for all the hoopla the score line read 2-1 in oz favor could have been easily 3-1 but for sehwag's 150 in second innings...in final test...

so at home and away we have not won with oz...

only other day we all were making joke of icc cricket ranking...

and against the same attack of 7th ranked team our seniors struggled where they was no pressure of scoring quickly too...

we have never won (a series) against sri lanka before when all our seniors were in their prime in tests as well as in odis in sri lanka...

does this not tell anything...?

cheers!

straight point said...

one thing more...when praising seniors is not questioned why criticizing them is...

Anonymous said...

SP, the series agaisnt SL. Well we didnt play any series in Lanka for good 7 years. We toured them in 1997 when SJ was at peak of his batting and SL played mostly borign and negative cricket (they still do) but those days a draw for them was good.

2001 -- we didnt have Tendulkar, Laxman and Kumble in the squad. We had likes of hemang badani, kanitkar and crap like that to play in place of the Tens and Lacchus.

Aussie tour : We all know wot happened in Sydeny Test. Umpiring woes. India could easily have won the test and won the series 2-1 but for the blunders Buckno and Benson caused is no less documented.

So i still count that series as 1-1. Winning in Perth was no mean achievement. Was it ? A place where Aussies didnt loose to anybody except past WIndies teams. they lost to India.

Criticizing seniors is not wrong, but do it on some very solid facts. just cos some young turk comes in and shines, indians write off seniors.

comical

straight point said...

the facts and figures remains same for everybody its how you look at it changes the perception...buzzz...

the fact is that RD is avergaing minus 20 his career average...

the fact is that Sachin injuries are too frequent and he takes double the time to get into his peak form and by the time he reaches its injury time again...

he did missed good part of SA series after declaring he is fit...he came from injury in SL series and for good 6 innings couldnt scroe even fifty and then got injured agan...

ganguly has not done anything of note other than his come back matches against pak at batta wickets at home way back...

kmble averages about 40 recently and even in spin friendly conditions in sl never looked like getting top order batsman...

we required a rank turner to square series against SA at home...to save the face...

one thing which waugh used to call final frontier is nothing but mirage now...

as i said facts are there its another matter we don't wanna look at them and these facts not comical at all mate!!

Ankit Poddar said...

sumit,

i never knew that the DNA writer blogged as well, so am adding you to my blog roll.

my case is, that sehwag should make a better captain than both dhoni and kumble, in the tests.. he has been performing in this form better than both the guys, and his captaincy record in absence of dravid is not horrible either..

Ankit Poddar said...

SP,

i absolutely agree with you ("when praising seniors is not questioned why criticizing them is"), and i am upset for not to see you on APU for a long time now...

Swaminath said...

Good post Sumit. MSD certainly looks capable of taking over the reins from Kumble. Kumble isnt leading by example. His bowling was very ordinary in the series against SL. Didnt look like taking a wicket. And his decisions were not great either. Remember the number of reviews that were turned down? Surely a little bit of thought process could have resulted in better review handling. His captaincy was uninspiring especially in the third test when India were without Ishant Sharma in the 2nd innings.

Dhoni has proved that his T20 success and CB series success was no fluke. He backs his players and believes in them, instead of scowling at them for every misfield and every dropped catch.

I guess time will tell how well Kumble and his ageing batting lineup will perform against Australia in Nov. My bet is that the seniors will let India down.

Unknown said...

very informed comments all.

swami, the poor use of referrals by india under kumble is a very good point.

ankit, thanks. on sehwag, i think he was unlucky to get out of form at the wrong time. he would certainly have been better than kumble, but i think he's not as calm as dhoni. he made some important errors as captain of delhi in the ipl, although he did squeak into the semis.

Anonymous said...

I don't think they will risk irking kumble so soon especially after what he has done for India all these years... it was hardly months before they praised him as the man.