Ganguly and Kumble made India competitive away from home

And now they are gone, so has the backbone and spirit that these two men instilled into the Indian team. Dhoni just doesn't inspire. He doesn't get angry, or happy for that matter. He's so very placid and uninspiring. Going through the motions is a sentence that could be applied to him in the field. Perhaps it works in ODIs and T20s, where calm is called for, but in tests, it just means he lets things drift along.

I'd be very surprised if Dhoni is still India's test Captain by the time they play their next test series.

In limited overs cricket defense is the way to go because ultimately te opposition run out of overs. In tests you need to dismiss the opposition. Dhoti hasn't quite worked that out yet.

ganguly yes. kumble no

dhoni after a good start, mostly riding on the coat-tails of some powerhouse batting, seems to have been found out. india's problems though are far more deep than just captaincy. the bowling has never been good enough to win matches on its own and always depends on some outstanding batting. that will only get you so far in test cricket

with the golden age coming to a close its going to be a rough few years. we will probably not put up too many totals of 500+ away from home and the bowling is not good enough to keep us in the match

Ashwin looks an outstanding prospect. He may even be your next captain.

The One wrote:ganguly yes. kumble no

dhoni after a good start, mostly riding on the coat-tails of some powerhouse batting, seems to have been found out. india's problems though are far more deep than just captaincy. the bowling has never been good enough to win matches on its own and always depends on some outstanding batting. that will only get you so far in test cricket

with the golden age coming to a close its going to be a rough few years. we will probably not put up too many totals of 500+ away from home and the bowling is not good enough to keep us in the match

Kumble didn't take the same volume of wickets away from home, but he usually kept things tight, and he never gave up. Even when the opposition was 500-4 he would still want to bowl. His attitude and fighting spirit helped India away from home.

The One wrote:ganguly yes. kumble no

dhoni after a good start, mostly riding on the coat-tails of some powerhouse batting, seems to have been found out. india's problems though are far more deep than just captaincy. the bowling has never been good enough to win matches on its own and always depends on some outstanding batting. that will only get you so far in test cricket

with the golden age coming to a close its going to be a rough few years. we will probably not put up too many totals of 500+ away from home and the bowling is not good enough to keep us in the match

Wow. Just three months ago, you were heavily and deeply entrenched in the old 'No, we're sweet, the conditions beat us, we're going to be fine" camp. That was your mantra. Funny, I didn't think your overt nationalism clouded your judgement... oh wait, yes I did. Blimey, I'm astute.

BCCI to announce 5 match 'revenge' ODI series v Australia?

JKLever wrote:BCCI to announce 5 match 'revenge' ODI series v Australia?

I'm pretty sure Aus are already scheduled to play an ODI series there later this year.

The One wrote:ganguly yes. kumble no

dhoni after a good start, mostly riding on the coat-tails of some powerhouse batting, seems to have been found out. india's problems though are far more deep than just captaincy. the bowling has never been good enough to win matches on its own and always depends on some outstanding batting. that will only get you so far in test cricket

with the golden age coming to a close its going to be a rough few years. we will probably not put up too many totals of 500+ away from home and the bowling is not good enough to keep us in the match

He's been found out as a tactician - I think he's poor. But who would replace him though - there doesn't seem to be a very long queue of suitable candidates

It wasn't just GANGS though, was it?

It was youth and freshness. Of the whole top six especially.

Henry wrote:

The One wrote:ganguly yes. kumble no

dhoni after a good start, mostly riding on the coat-tails of some powerhouse batting, seems to have been found out. india's problems though are far more deep than just captaincy. the bowling has never been good enough to win matches on its own and always depends on some outstanding batting. that will only get you so far in test cricket

with the golden age coming to a close its going to be a rough few years. we will probably not put up too many totals of 500+ away from home and the bowling is not good enough to keep us in the match

Kumble didn't take the same volume of wickets away from home, but he usually kept things tight, and he never gave up. Even when the opposition was 500-4 he would still want to bowl. His attitude and fighting spirit helped India away from home.

i meant kumble as a captain. he wasnt too different from dhoni, sit back and wait for things to happen

a point of great transition for india. any great team is built on great fast bowlers. india never had that so their reign at the top was always limited. was good while it lasted. we peaked on 02/04/2011

undoubtedly a golden generation for india. but was never going to be one of the great teams of the last few decades, unless we unearthed some real fast bowling talent. and i cannot see any in the pipeline

Basil wrote:

The One wrote:ganguly yes. kumble no

dhoni after a good start, mostly riding on the coat-tails of some powerhouse batting, seems to have been found out. india's problems though are far more deep than just captaincy. the bowling has never been good enough to win matches on its own and always depends on some outstanding batting. that will only get you so far in test cricket

with the golden age coming to a close its going to be a rough few years. we will probably not put up too many totals of 500+ away from home and the bowling is not good enough to keep us in the match

He's been found out as a tactician - I think he's poor. But who would replace him though - there doesn't seem to be a very long queue of suitable candidates

no, i cannot see anyone either. kohli could be groomed as a future captain, but his returns in test cricket so far have been uninspiring. after a lot of touring we now have almost a fully year of home tests. will paper over some cracks, so though we might like to see a whole new team before the next tour, we might still carry some dead-weight

Ashwin seems to be pretty level headed. He bats sensibly, thinks about his bowling and spoke well after the second day of the test saying that he will learn from it and do better next time.

Until you jumped on the bandwagon, aye, Ashwin was looking good for future captaincy.

You might be confusing me with Trev: Destroyer of Careers.

India with Ganguly and Kumble in the last series had its greatest ever chance of a win on Aussie soil but blew it with slack preparation.

This Indian team's batting is well past its prime, the fielding is lamentable, at times the attitude bespoke of apathy and the bowling is pedestrian unless there is some spice in the track.

Honestly thought that India's only chance of being competitive in Sydney was to send Australia in which goes against the grain of attacking cricket. Nonetheless they must surely know that it's best for them to bat when there's less sting in the pitch and best for them to bowl when they get at least some assistance. It's all about maximising your assets relative to the opposition.

I heard that Kerry Okeefe made the suggestion they bat Ashwin at 6 and play A spinner ...

Hard to pinpoint what the problem is these days

There is a school of thought which says that the struggles are due to the ageing batsmen but in reality Sachin is currently their best player( as he was in 1991), Dravid scored 3 tons in England while Laxman isn't that bad either.

In bowling they have ZAK who has a slight attitude problem but has immense ability, Sharma and Yadav are also very fine young bowlers.

To put it simply there is no obvious weakness so they should continue with the same side and hope for a change of luck.