Our fortunes solely lie on shoulders of Dravid and Sehwag, and on genius of Kumble, we win only coz' of some stupendous effort from any of these 3.
Somehow I feel, in last series intrusion of Vengsarkar has not helped their cause either. Selection of VRV over Pathan was a mistake, Pathan was doing bad with ball but he was best batsman till the time he was with team, and with ball too he can't be worse than VRV; also in last test selection of unfit Munaf over VRV and Harbhajan was again big big mistake and proved costly in the end.
Also use of Jaffer in onedayers was another mistake of Vengsarkar, and Jaffer looked totally out of sorts, his playing style doesn't suit one-day needs, and to adjust himself in oneday mould, he tried to play too many shots too early in his inning totally against his nature.
A string of miserable failures in onedayers took its toll in test matches too. In last match Jaffer managed to prove that he is made for test matches not for onedayers.
In the final test, blame lies solely on Tendulkar and Dravid, and on selection of unfit Munaf.
Picking Sehwag for the final test was a mistake, and dropping him for series against W.Indies would be bigger mistake. If like of Rainas/Kaifs can have longer run, then I'm sure Sehwag too deserves some backing.
Dada got picked up for test-matches just coz Yuvraj was unfit, and now Yuvi is fit, so team is again back to square one.
Seriously, fun is about to begin :-) when selectors sit down to decide team for upcoming 8 ODIs against WI and SL, and probably this team form the core of 18 guys who will go for World cup, so in a way all experiments will end, and time for picking a stable team has come.
Trust me, it's going be real tough to pick team at this stage, lets talk about them one by one.
Openers::
Sehwag, Sachin, Ganguly, Gambhir and Uthapa
Here, Sachin remains automatic choice, fight is for other slot, I feel Sehwag should get a nod ahead of Dada, and other two young guys, coz no more experiments now :-) and since our middle order is also too fragile so Dada can be accomodated there and he fits to be no.4 , when he comes to bat ball is old and he can tonkaway medium pacers n spinners. And if Sehwag continues to fail then Dada can open and Sehwag can play at no.4.
Without doubt Gambhir and Robin are talented guys but trying them just before WC won't do any good to anyone.
Middle order::
Dravid, Yuvraj, Kaif, Laxman,Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Raina, Raghu and Badri
Here again, Dravid selects himself, and Yuvraj too can makes it without any issue other than his knee. Laxman's performance in SA was ok, but NOT good enough to have him in ODI squad plus his fielding is still a suspect, after all slip cordon goes off after initial 10 overs max. He can make to squad only coz of his vast experience and repeated failure of Raina/kaif and Mongia.
About Kaif and Raina, they are products of failed-experiments, I dunno why Kaif was included in team earlier that too at crucial no.7 where most of teams have big-hitters like Symonds etc, and Chappel & Dravid favour him coz of his hardwork at nets and Chappel wants to include him coz India has already invested 100+ ODIs in him, so Chappel wants to use Kaif's exp, but trouble is that even after playing some 100+ ODIs he still plays like a debutant, he looks so unsure and nervous at crease. And he cannot play BIG shots. Raina is again a classic case of putting too much hope/pressure too early on a ordinary talent, he is not Sachin Tendulkar who will start early and keep up with pressure. Raina needs more time in domestic format first. And he is not Micheal Hussey who can make it to squad only on basis of batting.
Again, playing debutants like Rohit Sharma, Raghu or Badri in big tournament again is a big big gamble, and should be avoided. And Dinesh Karthik's performance in SA has earned him lot of respect n fans, he made most of the opportunities, single-handedly won us our only 20-20 game. He is an excellent fielder too, and can also be used as Dhoni's backup.
WK::
Dhoni -- No doubt about his selection!
Seamers/Allrounders::
Agarkar, Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, VRV, Munaf, Joginder Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Rana Deb Bose,Ramesh Powar
Here again, with their proven record in WI and SA, Zaheer, Sreesanth and Munaf pick themselves. Pathan dilemma will surely give touch time to selectors, still I feel he'll be selected mostly coz he is a batting allrounder, whereas Agarkar was best bowler in the last WI series, so his experience of WI will help him to make it to squad. As pitches are slow in WI, so selection of Ramesh Powar ahead of young Ishant/Bose makes sense to me. And on basis of his solid 'all-round' performance in domestic season I feel Joginder Sharma too be get a recall.
Spinners
Kumble, Harbhajan and Murli Karthik
Here Kumble and Harbhajan are clear cut selections, Murli Karthik will lose out coz Sachin/Sehwag and Powar can bowl.
So here is my team for coming series and WORLD CUP 07
1. Sachin
2. Sehwag/Ganguly
3. Dravid
4. Ganguly/Sehwag
5. Yuvraj
6. Dinesh Karthik/Laxman
7. Dhoni
8. Pathan/Agarkar/Powar/Joginder Sharma
9. Sreesanth/Munaf
10.Zaheer
11.Kumble/Harbhajan
Armenia
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