Where is the New Look Team India ?? For all the t...

Where is the New Look Team India ??

For all the talk about a New Look, Resurgent Indian team with fresh legs and renewed energy, the gullible fans of Indian cricket were dished out another tired and sub-standard team. Agreed, the series was against Bangladesh, but isnt that exactly when you give newcomers a chance, so that even if they fail you have the oldies to bank on? Instead, we gave Sachin Tendulkar another pair of meaningless centuries and a Man of the Series award against a minnow team.
Worse yet, now we dont have any newcomer who was tested and who can claim a berth in the England series.

It appalls me sometimes to see the double standards in the Indian team. On one hand, Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag are persisted with in Tests and ODIs respectively, whereas Mohammed Kaif is not even being considered for selection. I like Wasim Jaffer and I think he's a great batsman for Tests, but then he got a hundred because he was given a chance. Why is the same chance not given to Kaif?

Also, now with both the useless hags Ganguly and Tendulkar scoring meaningless centuries, and with Karthik doing a great job at the top, does this mean Yuvraj is out of the Test scene? Shouldnt he be preferred in Tests since he is billed as the future Captain? Why are we still sticking with Ganguly inspite of knowing his terrible record against fast bowling and bouncy pitches?

I think the problem lies in the average Indian's comfort level with mediocrity. We're used to mediocrity in everything, and so we take mediocre players into the team. Imagine Australia having a player like Ramesh Powar in the team. A guy who can neither bat, bowl or field with any level of comfort. Why do we pick him then? Dont we have any one cricketer in the country who can outdo this buffoon on the field?

Its high time Rahul Dravid put an end to Sehwag's rotting presence in the Indian team. His mere existence seems to have a demoralizing and negative effect on the rest of the team. Same with Tendulkar and Ganguly. We have a lot of young talent, like Dinesh Karthik has proved, and all they need is a chance. If we dont give it to them, then our next World Cup will be worse than the previous one. Tendulkar and Ganguly will be lions against Bermuda in trivial Test series and will cement their place in the team till they die.

Also, its indisputable that Rahul Dravid should be the captain of the team. There is no other player that can handle the pressure better than him, and work selflessly towards the team's cause without furthering his own agenda. More than anything else, we need a captain with a brain and not someone with factionist ideas.

Keeping that in mind ,the Indian ODI team to England should be:

Robin Uthappa
Gautam Gambhir
Rahul Dravid (Captain)
Yuvraj Singh
Mohammed Kaif
Dinesh Karthik
MS Dhoni
Zaheer Khan
Sreesanth
Munaf Patel
A Spinner who can really trouble batsmen. God knows who !!!!

And the Test team should be:

Wasim Jaffer
Dinesh Karthik
Rahul Dravid
VVS Laxman
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Mohammed Kaif
Zaheer Khan
Anil Kumble
Sreesanth
Munaf Patel

Again, Tendulkar and Ganguly should either quit by themselves or be shot in the head. Lets hope for a day when one of those happens.