India in the WI May / June 2011

PlanetPakistan wrote:It will be extremely disrespectful to the game if any of the Indian players are "rested" or they themselves pull out of any of the international matches considering that all of them are playing the IPL.
If you want to rest then don't play in the IPL

You're not a fan of Shahid Afridi then for retiring from test cricket?

He doesn't even play in the IPL but off course it was a bad decision by Shahid bhai

...but not as bad as keeping Ajmal out of the team.

Yeah, that puzzled me to. Not long now before he rocks up at Worcester. Heaven knows we need some wickets from him. Mind you, I think he pings his Doosra.

here's hoping parthiv was picked as a specialist batsman. his keeping is as atrocious as ever

http://www.espncricinfo.com/west-indies-v-india-2011/content/current/story/516872.html

sad, sad day. never thought i would see tendulkar skipping a test series, even if it's against a very weak team. extremely dissapointing stuff

Shows the gigantic influence the WhyPL is having on the players.

sad. but true

still. can't expect the bcci to have smarter scheduling. once india leaves for the windies they wont be back till september. then its champions league, the west indies come here for a full tour, england come for some odis and then off again to aus for a 2 month tour

i wonder how many will be left standing come feb 2012

The One wrote:http://www.espncricinfo.com/west-indies-v-india-2011/content/current/story/516872.html

sad, sad day. never thought i would see tendulkar skipping a test series, even if it's against a very weak team. extremely dissapointing stuff

Yup, shocking. Atleast he hasn't given sh!t excuses like need for rest, etc., but it's still pretty much a punch in the gut.

he's probably figuring the next time he will have some time with his family is 9-10 months from now. maybe the priorities are different when you are 38 as compared to 25. the windies tour has just become one of the most boring in a while. weak opposition and now no srt, sehwag or gambhir

Still it is a test series. Tendulkar never missed them intentionally. Priorities do change, but still...

Gives a chance to Mukund/Patel to show whether they are better back-ups than Vijay, who is talented but way too wobbly. And Virat Kohli whether all that bravado is just show or actually upto the highest level of the game. He's got it IMO though. Also gives a chance for Badrinath/Raina to score some cheap runs in the dead pitches there, which is worrying considering Pujara is out with an injury.

I'd cut him some slack personally,

WC.... IPL....WI.... ENG - that's quite a back to back schedule, he probably wants to be in the best condition he can for the England tour. Not unlike Strauss when he skipped Bangladesh.

To me, it is bitterly disappointing news that SRT has willingly given up a Test series.

I can't cut him any slack, I'm afraid. One, he's SRT and he's held to a much higher standard - at least in my mind. Two, this is not Bangladesh, if that would make a difference (IMHO, no, in the context of the decision - IPL etc). . Three, when you come right down to it, the notion of anyone willingly giving up a Test series when they've just played a full season of the IPL makes my skin crawl.

First time in more than two decades that he's done something that's unambiguously disappointed me, and how.

I guess so many of us are caught up in our wants and dislikes that one never stops to think about the player’s physical capability and reserves. Surely these take a toll not only on his body but on his family life too. Playing in the IPL may not necessarily be induced by monetary considerations – at least not in Tendulkar’s case – yet, playing at home allows at least the benefits of the nearness of the family as apposed to playing abroad for long periods.

Be that as it may, his absence gives a few youngsters the opportunity of drawing attention to themselves. Virat Kohli in place of Yuvraj is a no-brainer, Yuvi isn’t cut out for the longer version of the game anyway. Mukund has had an extraordinary domestic season as a genuine opener and may be an ideal replacement for GG. Vijay is the weak link and can hardly be considered a Sehwag replacement. Who can replace Sehwag, anyway? With the exception of Sreesanth all the others pick themselves.

I had to read twice to recognise that Harbhajan had been made VC. The Sardar has problems leading himself let alone leading India should, heaven forbid, anything happen to Raina. Virat Kohli in ODIs would have been a far better choice keeping the future in mind..

This tour isn’t going to be easy. Yet, I think, if they are able to keep Chris Gayle in check, India is likely to prevail both in ODIs and tests. The T20 will go the WI way.

It's more a sad reflection of the state of West Indies cricket that players now consider them weak enough to rest from series against them.

I don’t really think the fallout is because of WI being considered weak. Indians have reached their fatigue point and many think they can only handle one of the two tours. Six weeks is ample recuperation time and I guess most will be back for the England tour. Had the two tours been scheduled in reverse, I think we would be facing the same problems for the then England tour with most returning for the WI leg.

Understandably most of the regulars are totally fatigued.

i somehow doubt it would be the same if the tours were reversed. in tendulkar's case at least one break is needed between non-stop cricket from jul-aug 2010 to feb 2012. in that time i think a top indian player gets only 2 week breaks at best. the england tour at this point of time is certainly a whole lot more challenging than the windies, so dropping out of the windies tour was a no-brainer if the break was essential

india's schedule since the lanka tour in 2010

lanka tests july 2010
lanka tri-series aug 2010
aus tests oct 2010
nz tests/odis nov 2010
sa tests/odis dec-jan 2010/2011
world cup feb-mar 2011
ipl apr-may 2011
windies tests/odis june 2011
eng tests/odis jul-sep 2011
champions league sep 2011
eng odis oct 2011
windies tests/odis nov 2011
aus tests/odis dec-feb 2011/12

Was Tendulkar's resting from this tour something that had been planned for a while? Or was it a last minute decision?

Now that the squads have been selected and the T20 is scheduled for the 4th with the 5 ODIs following in quick succession, it wouldn’t be premature to think of the playing eleven:

Limited Overs
1.Shikhar Dhawan 2. Parthiv Patel (wk) 3. Virat Kohli 4. Badrinath/Rohit Sharma 5. Suresh Raina (c) 6. Manoj Tiwary 7. Yusuf Pathan 8. Harbhajan Singh 9. Ashwin 10. Praveen Kumar 11. Munaf Patel/Ishant Sharma (in batting order)

Although I’d prefer Wriddhiman Saha (wk) over Parthiv Patel, I guess Parthiv will play purely on opener ability.
Badrinath over Rohit Sharma because of his recent form and Rohit’s lack of it. Though the future points towards Rohit, Badrinath has shown his acumen for the big stage and I personally think he’ll be very useful in England, maybe even more so than Rohit. Now is the time to try him out.
Harbhajan should have been rested but he’s been made vc, so he’ll probably play ahead of Amit Mishra – at least in the ODIs. He should quit playing T20s.
Manoj Tiwary has to play this time around. He’s not only an excellent fielder but a very useful late order bat without being a slogger like Yusuf.
WI weakness against spin was exploited by the Pakistanis no end hence the two spinner (plus part-timers) and two pacers approach. Praveen is a must but it’s got to be a toss between Ishant and Munaf. I’d go with Munaf for his accuracy, at least part of the way. He was, however, clobbered (if I remember right) in 2006 when India lost 1-4 in the WI, but then so was everyone else in that series.

Dhawan
Patel/Saha
Kohli
Raina
Badrinath
SharmaR
Pathan
Bhajji
Ashwin
Kumar
Munaf

is probably the team that will start out. If Saha plays, he'll move down to 7 and everyone else will move one position up. All a bit yawn looking already though.

Munaf? Is he still capable of walking unaided? I thought he would have been put out to pasture after the World Cup.

second highest wicket-taker in the ipl i think

i doubt too many people will be watching this series. serious lack of star power on both sides. probably more of a series where you just check the score the next day to see if any of the youngsters have done well

Except Sharma and Tiwary, and Amit Mishra to a certain extent, I don't think I even care much about the performance of any of the fringees.