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Do not mess with Gambhir.

by Gaurav Sethi

It’s bad enough Gambhir does not open in one-dayers. For old time’s sake, Sachin does. And as there’s no old timer at three, Gambhir bats there. Then, often enough, when it suits MSD, he comes out for a swing at three. Today, at 153/1 in the 19th over, MSD rapped his way in.

How do we interpret that, worse, how does Gambhir interpret that – you can score all the runs you want, win us all the games you can, open when Sachin’s indisposed, come at three when it’s rough, but you’re not good enough to cash in when we’re going at 8 per over.

At 309/2 in the 35th over (batting power play), Raina runs in. Great, so Gambhir is not good enough to cash in at four either. At 311/3 (after Sehwag and MSD’s wickets, still batting power play), surprise – Gambhir walks in.
Momentum’s a little off, let’s have Gambhir consolidate, bat the fifty.

It seems to me, this Indian team doesn’t deserve the best thing that’s happened to them in the last few years. Gambhir’s form, resolve, brilliance is lost on them. It’s amazing how Gambhir in spite of the way he’s tampered with, battles on and on.

To me, he is by far the most important player in the Indian team. Someone should go ask him where he wants to bat – and not the other way round. Looks like Indian cricket has its investments all wrong. Gambhir is the present, stop thinking about tomorrow, try not to mess with today.

24 comments:

Rohit said...

It's unfortunate really...
I don't see why Raina had to be send ahead of him with 15 overs to go. 5-6 is fine. Gambhir doesn't do agriculture over midwicket. But other than that, makes no sense.

pRAFs said...

yep, i was wondering whether gambhir had gone to attend some post wedding ritual.
then suddenly saw him batting at 5,
that's right before harbhajan... talk about demotions.

as if bhajji didn't have a bloated ego already

straight point said...

with the talent we have for top three spots any team will die for that... not india...

so there has to be some twits and turns at one's convenience to keep things interesting...

Gaurav Sethi said...

Rohit, short term thinking, think tank will be happy when they've sucked GG of his form.

Raina comes up because of perceptions.

Gaurav Sethi said...

Ha! Yeah Prafs, I had to give the scorecard a second look too.

Batting just before Bhajji, that's a low blow; but what about Kohli, batting after Bhajji?

Gaurav Sethi said...

SP, keep things selfish is more like it.

Mahek said...

I don't know what's worse: Gambhir at 5 or Harbhajan at 6. And I wasn't too happy with how Raina handled the short stuff today. How do you top edge a stomach-high bouncer from Nuwan Kulasekera???

Gaurav Sethi said...

Just couldn't stomach it, poor Raina.

Rohit said...

ha ha NC!

Come on give some praise now where it's due. Bhajji's the best on show from either side.
If it's darts that he's bowling, maybe it's darts we need on pitches like these

Gaurav Sethi said...

Rohit, is there an in-flight telecast?

Yeah, he's bang on today, actually saw him bowl one at 80 kmph.

Rohit said...

ya right! :-)
Just saw the result! Yippee!

pRAFs said...

yeah, 4 down with 12 overs to go NC,
If i was Kohli and bhajji would be sent ahead of me.
I'd throw a bloody fit.
Someday, i see bhajji doing what daniel vettori does for the Kiwis.

Wait, ... let's hope that never happens

Homer said...

I am not sure I understand the argument here...

First off, is Gambhir really the best thing to have happened to the Indian team in the last few years? So precious that he chooses to skip a Test and nobody misses him!

And really, has Gambhir been really tampered with? Funny thing, stats.. Going back to the tour of New Zealand, today was the first time that Gambhir did not bat in the top 3...

Yeah, poor thing Gambhir.. So tampered.. So used... So abused!

We are so not worthy of him...!!!

Cheers,

Homer said...

And btw,

"Opener Gautam Gambhir is a doubt for the second Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka on Saturday in Mohali after developing mild symptoms of swine flu.

Paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth has already tested positive and has been ruled out of the match."

surely this had nothing to do with anything.... After all "he is by far the most important player in the Indian team. Someone should go ask him where he wants to bat – and not the other way round."

Cheers,

Mahek said...

Homer

As much as you'd like to be skeptical about his importance, Gambhir has been our best batsman across all formats in the past two years. Sure Vijay filled in nicely at Mumbai, but are you going to bet your house on Vijay pulling out those performances day in and day out?

Tendulkar misses a lot of ODIs and the team seems to cope with it just fine, doesn't it? But you'd never see him bat down the order even though he's done it a lot more than Gambhir. There was a game in Napier earlier this year when India lost 4 wickets and Gambhir didn't bat. What exactly are you trying to do with your opening batsman? Don't be surprised if he has a few bad innings and people start saying he's no use if he isn't going to open.

Gaurav Sethi said...

Homer,
Gambhir along with Sehwag plays all three forms, yet only opens in two. When Sachin doesn't play, Gambhir opens in ODIs.

Some time back Mahek had done a comparative Gambhir/Sehwag vs Sachin/Sehwag - from those numbers it was clear which opening fared better.

If Gambhir not opening in ODIs isn't tampering, then what is?

And if India didn't miss him in the 3rd test, that's because of Viru's one man show - and don't we all know who scored back-to-back tons in the first two, and was the ICC test player of the year?

Beyond all that, I'm going on gut here: he's been India's most valuable cricketer, tho far from the most marketable.

Homer said...

Mahek,

Running through the numbers, in the last 3 years, Gambhir has played 71 ODIs. Of those 71 innings, there has been only one instance besides today where GG had a bat and did not feature in the top 3 (http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/28763.html?class=2;spanmin1=15+Dec+2006;spanval1=span;template=results;type=allround;view=innings) ( you are welcome to verify this).

So the insinuation that because Gambhir had to, for the first time in a long time, drop down the order is, in some way or form, a colossal dis-service to the man, is laughable imho.

If I am to be accused of being skeptical of his importance, surely there has to be some more gravitas in the argument than the one instance when he had to bat at 5.

Cheers,

PS: - i would request you to look at the link.. It will come as a surprise, but Sachin did bat at 3 and 4 in the batting order in the same time frame as Gambhir did bat in the top 3.

Cheers,

Homer said...

Funny thing NC... If there has been one constant at the top of the innings, barring injury, it has been Virender Sehwag. Again, the link to statsguru shows that.

Maybe there is a case for Sehwag to drop down the order to enable his state mate and now Delhi Daredevils captain fulfill his role at the top of the order. That way, no tampering!

Or is that suggestion too preposterous?

Cheers,

PS:- Since when did marketability matter? Is this an argument about whether he was hard done by because he had to, for the first time in a long time, bat not in the top 3 but at 5 or is it about how many items he hawks?

Mahek said...

Check the scorecard for the New Zealand v/s India ODI at Napier earlier this year. Gambhir didn't get to bat inspite of India losing 4 wickets. I think this means he wasn't going to bat higher than 7 in that game. Please don't be pedantic by saying it still means he didn't not bat in the top 3.

Sure Sehwag could move down the order. But of the three combinations, Sehwag-Gambhir has been the most prolific as well as the most consistent. We all know they'd be opening had it been anyone other than Tendulkar at the top. Oh well, atleast I won't get my hopes up in 2011 if they maintain status quo.

I'm also worried about Raina shelving his off-side strokes. He used to be an exquisite driver off both feet but lately he's been mowing everything to the leg side, and not doing that great a job.

Homer said...

Mahek,

And if you go by the score cards, there have been about 5 instances when Gambhir hasnt batted in the top 3 and has a DNB against his name. And that proves what exactly?

Unless your argument is that Gambhir must always open with Sehwag irrespective of the format!

But in that case, if Gambhir and Sehwag are entitled their places on the top of the order ( Gambhir on the basis of about 30 odd ODIs), surely the same argument works in favor of Tendulkar by a greater degree, only because Sachin has been opening since 1994!

Cheers,

Mahek said...

There's a difference between not batting because a match was abandoned and one in which India batted fifty overs without Gambhir getting a bat. I can't believe I have to explain this.

Sure Tendulkar has been opening since 1994. Jayasuriya has been opening since 1996 but he's batting down the order now, isn't he? At the end of the day, I want to see us go with what is our best shot at winning games and I don't see why we should be averse to moving Tendulkar down the order when there's ample evidence of Sehwag and Gambhir being a better opening combination than Sehwag and Tendulkar.

But like I said, they can persist with the current combination. I just won't get my hopes up for the World Cup.

Homer said...

Mahek,

Lets start at the very top shall we?

So the case is being made that Gambhir should be on the top of the batting order ( not in the top 3 mind) because otherwise his talent is being wasted and it is criminal on the part of the Indian team to do that.

Sample size for said argument - 1 ODI.

Never mind the 65 odd instances in the last 3 years where Gambhir was the de facto #3 when both Sehwag and Sachin were available and was the de facto openert when either one were absent.

So, one odi is the definate proof that Sachin needs to bat down the order because that gives us the best chance to win or our prospects at the World Cup are in jeopardy.

I am warming up to this line of thought. Extending this line of thought, here is the batting order for the next ODI ( premised on the just concluded ODI)

V Sehwag
M Dhoni
R Jadeja
V Kohli
S Tendulkar
G Gambhir
S Raina
H Singh
Z Khan
A Nehra

Perfect!

Cheers,

Mahek said...

It's based on a lot more than one ODI. Maybe you should dig deeper to see why it makes sense to have Gambhir opening with Sehwag. A few pages into the blog probably.

Homer said...

And maybe you should read this blog post again!

Cheers,