Sachin Tendulkar

[Dilbert]

by Adis logic, Botham should play the 2nd test in NZ, because he was good years ago too.

Cricket is a game of "What have you done for me lately" and SRT has done nothing.

Well, he did score a 90 odd in Eng, maybe a 50 in Aus, a few runs in the Eng series and a few in the current series. I think the main reason he is still around is to help youngsters bed in. You need a few experienced heads around. Also as Adi said, the No6 position is still not taken up, so its not like there are players knocking on the door.

BCCI may want to phase out players slowly, instead of in one go. Sachin is the last of the great ones remaining. Also, Sehwag and Gambhir may not be in their initial plans, but due to their failures, he still has some elbow space.... I guess he has scored more than both of them recently.

He'll go, maybe after the Aus series, maybe after the SA series. Maybe BCCI feel they need him in SA and yungsters wont do well against the SA attack.

[meninblue]

by Adis logic, Botham should play the 2nd test in NZ, because he was good years ago too.

Cricket is a game of "What have you done for me lately" and SRT has done nothing.

Well, he did score a 90 odd in Eng, maybe a 50 in Aus, a few runs in the Eng series and a few in the current series. I think the main reason he is still around is to help youngsters bed in. You need a few experienced heads around. Also as Adi said, the No6 position is still not taken up, so its not like there are players knocking on the door.

BCCI may want to phase out players slowly, instead of in one go. Sachin is the last of the great ones remaining. Also, Sehwag and Gambhir may not be in their initial plans, but due to their failures, he still has some elbow space.... I guess he has scored more than both of them recently.

He'll go, maybe after the Aus series, maybe after the SA series. Maybe BCCI feel they need him in SA and yungsters wont do well against the SA attack.

Yes, but those are debating that he should be dropped have still not named a single player who have replaced Saurav in past 5 years. They have smartly avoided that question. But, it's okay. Avoid it. Others may be fooled to believe that we have got replacement of Saurav but i would not. I know we haven't replaced Saurav yet and its been 5 long years after trying the Yuvi's, Raina's and Badrinath. I think Wriddhiman Saha also was tried.

I watched the Mumbai versus Rest Of India innings highlights in which he was unbeaten on 140*. It was as good timing and foot work a specialist batsman would like to use. They consider the runs scored by other cricketers in Ranji cricket and other prominent trophies. Also the 100 against Baroda. it was followed by 81 in first test in a crucial situation. But we want to avoid it too.

[SaintPowelly]

by Adis logic, Botham should play the 2nd test in NZ, because he was good years ago too.

Cricket is a game of "What have you done for me lately" and SRT has done nothing.

Well, he did score a 90 odd in Eng, maybe a 50 in Aus, a few runs in the Eng series and a few in the current series. I think the main reason he is still around is to help youngsters bed in. You need a few experienced heads around. Also as Adi said, the No6 position is still not taken up, so its not like there are players knocking on the door.

BCCI may want to phase out players slowly, instead of in one go. Sachin is the last of the great ones remaining. Also, Sehwag and Gambhir may not be in their initial plans, but due to their failures, he still has some elbow space.... I guess he has scored more than both of them recently.

He'll go, maybe after the Aus series, maybe after the SA series. Maybe BCCI feel they need him in SA and yungsters wont do well against the SA attack.

I don't see how he couldn't help the youngsters from a coaching perspective rather than on the field, this would be the perfect opportunity to give someone a chance.

[Dilbert]

Maybe the plan was to take him to SA all along, hence he is playing.

[andy]

IMO Sachin should have retired ages ago....and I thnk sadly he is hanging on for 200 tests which isn't in the best intrests of the team!

[meninblue]

Yes, Dhoni would want to take Sachin in South Africa. He will even not take his whistle podu buddy Raina and his golden boy Yuvi . That says a lot.

Sachin: 326 runs in six innings

Raina: 6 runs in 2 innings
Murali : 28 runs in two innings
Chet: 31 runs in 3 innings
Dhoni - 179 runs in 5 innings

It is sensible to take a proven performer and most successful player of that tour to South Africa. Runs in India will keep them in side but will they show that they can thrive in South Africa as good as Sachin did over years. Even Pakistan took Younis Khan although many Pakistan fans opposed that and he was the second highest scorer for them.
He might fail this time but the probability of others failing more badly than him is higher.

[andy]

well Rahane should have been tried at 4 in this series, or in the final two tests at least...give some international exposure.

[meninblue]

well Rahane should have been tried at 4 in this series, or in the final two tests at least...give some international exposure.

It's not that nobody is being tried. They are trying since 5 years but we have not found even one player who could cement his spot for more than 3,4,5 years. There is a reason why BCCI selectors have kept Sachin as the last senior in the team. It's all well planned but the new comers are not grabbing the spots well in spite of half decade having past . Most of the new comers will show their colors on the South Africa tour. The think tank knows what it has to do and they will be hoping Sachin won't retire until that series atleast.

As for Ajinkya , if fit, Ajinkya is likely to occupy a middle order spot once Sachin retires.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Kohli and Pujara have doubly replaced Ganguly haven't they? If Dravid had carried on, Pujara wouldn't be in the team, and he may be a real find, provided he can score outside of Asia.

Dilbert's points make a lot of sense, but they don't presume that SRT is going to SA on batting merit. Though his form isn't actually terrible, just arguably not Test standard. If he is providing the support as a senior figure, and helping some youngster dodge a bullet, then that's understandable at least.

I think many posters feel that he doesn't need to put himself through it, and his dignity might suffer.

[meninblue]

Kohli and Pujara have doubly replaced Ganguly haven't they? If Dravid had carried on, Pujara wouldn't be in the team, and he may be a real find, provided he can score outside of Asia.

Dilbert's points make a lot of sense, but they don't presume that SRT is going to SA on batting merit. Though his form isn't actually terrible, just arguably not Test standard. If he is providing the support as a senior figure, and helping some youngster dodge a bullet, then that's understandable at least.

I think many posters feel that he doesn't need to put himself through it, and his dignity might suffer.

No, they haven't yet replaced Saurav.

Commenting about Virat and Chet will be more appropriate after they have played 5 years. By then they would have toured England, Australia, SouthAfrica, NewZealand twice. Maybe then their overall averages will hold merit as far as comparisons with Saurv, VVS, Rahul, Sachin and Sehwag are concerned.

Virat has only had three abroad tours. Okay in Australia but failed miserably in West Indies. Also, we haven't seen how he will fare in England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

As for Chet, he flopped in South Africa. He too is a new comer and has to prove himself in South Africa, New Zealand , England. But atleast he has seen prime form for a year unlike Virat.

So there is a lot to prove and they have hardly played enough test cricket overseas. Maybe couple of overseas series max each. At the moment it's all about hope. And job is not done by replacing just Saurav. There are 4 more batters to be replaced and replacing them is more tougher than replacing Saurav. I would be happy if the current crop of players survive in the test team even for 10 years and have 7 good years. Even Sachin has failed being compared to the man himself. We cannot expect every replacement to play prolifically in test cricket for 20 years out of 23 years.

Sachin played well in domestic cricket after the England tour. He played one good innings against OZ in test to follow those excellent domestic knocks. Dhoni will go mad if Sachin retires before the South Africa series. But he is shrewd, he will remove every senior but keep Sachin as last ace even though he is most senior of seniors by age.

[meninblue]

I wonder how long it is going to take to replace 5 of those seniors equally given how long we are taking to be sure that we have replaced the one who retired in 2008. By the time we find the third replacement the first of them will have retired. We have to accept that Indian cricket was lucky to have a batch of prolific cricketers together, which was possible only due to lengthy careers of Sachin, Dravid etc. To have it again given various considerations is very very difficult.

Seniors:
Saurav: 42 (113 matches)
Gauti: 44 (54 matches)
VVS: 46 (144 matches)
Sehwag: 49 ( 104 matches)
Rahul: 52 (164 matches0
Sachin : 54 (196 matches)

Future players :
Ajinkya: 25 (16 matches)
Murali: 34 (14 matches)
Dhoni : 40 (75 matches)
Virat: 40 (16 matches)
Chet : 68 (11 matches)

It has to be seen how they perform for few years once they don't have such prolific seniors at other ends.

[Arthur Crabtree]

No, they haven't yet replaced Saurav.

They are doing better than SRT though. They might not have replaced the players as greats, but they have at least replaced them, as they are now, with something to spare.

[meninblue]

No, they haven't yet replaced Saurav.

They are doing better than SRT though. They might not have replaced the players as greats, but they have at least replaced them, as they are now, with something to spare.

Agree to disagree . To be specific , Badrinath, Raina, Yuvi have been dropped once or twice since Saurav retired. Only Chet and Virat are regulars now but they have just played regularly for one or two years. I would say that Saurav has been replaced only if any of the new comers since his retirement (2008) stays in team for more than 5 years and has a better average than him. It is too early for me to say they have replaced any of the seniors. Maybe Chet will average more than 40 after 3 more years, but it depends. Even if he does we have one replacement. Where are other 5 replacements coming from.

[shankycricket]

Pujara and Kohli are performing better than SRT atm. Whats your point?

[greyblazer]

Even against the under-performing Aussies, SRT has struggled.