Dear Members,
I am sure most of you must be following the current Test Series in Sri Lanka. Three out of the famous four have done nothing in this series except to scare the lower order batsman or say the tail, by getting bogged down against a normal bowling attack. The fourth one managed one half century. Since he is still batting I hope he does it one more time.
My problem is with the Captain himself. He has been the least innovative so far in this series. For example, what he could have done in tight situations:
- In the first test, when the four batsmen scored the centuries in the first innings, he should have used the part time bowlers in an effort to break the partnerships. Sachin Tendulkar and Sehwag have been more than useful bowlers.
- Second test, when he saw that the off spinner Harbhajan was getting better results than he himself, he could have used the services of Sehwag as a bowler.
- When in the first four innings he had seen that Dravid is struggling for form, he could have brought down Laxman at # 3 to bat and pushed every one back one space. Laxman is left to bat with the tail every time and that is not fair to him.
- Once Dravid, Ganguly and Sachin have failed in four out of four innings, he should have been bold enough to tell one of them to give space to Rohit Sharma. Actually, the heavy weights like Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly and Laxman are not suppose to be scoring 40s or 50s. At least one of them should get past the three-figure mark in each innings.
Dravid’s over watchfulness un-necessarily make an ordinary bowler look un playable and thus build pressure on the batsmen to follow. Gambhir has done better than these four and given an opportunity I am sure Rohit Sharma would have made case for himself too.
Kumble’s captainship has been too defensive and too predictable. Surprise is the biggest weapon in any conflict, be it sports or battlefield, and a Captain needs to understand that and has to be bold enough to be unconventional at times.
I think it is time for Jumbo to retire and look for another job.