Jaffer's shakiness outside off-stump since the beginning of the tour of Australia, the fall in Karthik's fortune since Pakistan visited, and Sehwag's resurgence since Perth all add up to a possible vacancy at the top of the Test batting order.
I have been a fan of HRH Wasim Jaffer, standing tall imperiously, to whip and pull on the leg side, and continued to state his case throughout his miserable tour of Australia (here and mostly here, for instance), but his hopeful waft outside off cost him dear when the Steyn, Ntini & Co. paid a visit. Despite a hundred on a batting paradise, he averaged less than the struggling M S Dhoni.
Is it time to give him his pension? He is clearly short on confidence after his time with the Royal Challengers and knows he hangs on to the Test team by a slender thread. At the same time, he will also know that it was less than a year ago that he was building foundations for Sachin, Laxman an Ganguly in England. Guilty he was of giving it away when well set, but he has since also proven that he is a master at cashing in on a flat deck, whipping Pakistan on a sleepy deck at the Eden Gardens). Now if the cupboard were bare, Jaffer should get a few more chances.
But now, with Gambhir showing great fluency for the Daredevils, and having exhibited good temprament in the ODIs in Oz, and being a better feilder by light years, I will be stoic if Jaffer gets dropped and look forward to some Daredevilry at the top of the order. But then, India have a lot of Tests to play at home soon, and I will rejoice (with some Royal Challenge perhaps) at his next first innings double hundred.
Colonel, hear my prayers.
By the way, where the hell is Mohd. Ashraful? Why isnt he in the IPL? Or am I totally out of it?
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8 comments:
Prepare to be stoic. :)
IS there any question now n him playing the next test series? last one was his chance... back to the drawing board for him.
It would be silly to drop him now, after all he has done in the last year, because of one really bad series. Instead, the solution may lie in dropping Dravid from 3 and playing Gambhir there instead - time to look to the future and all of that. Would leave us with young players that would form the foundation in the future and a very very stolid opener.
looks like Jaffer is going to be first casualty of IPL...
..and obvious beneficiary is gonna be GG...
even in the bets of times, like Dinesh Karthik, he was never a long term option, opening.
yet the charade.
"best of times"
Am prepared, Ottayan.
Scrpi, I think you may be jumping the gun there. I think he will be in the squad along with Gambhir, and Kumble will give Jaffer a few chances.
TM, Dravid is not going to be dropped in the near future.
Gaurav, when Sehwag was not on the radar, he looked like a long-term investment. DK was the stopgap.
I would say it would be unfair to give jaffer more chances right now... am not taking his performances in T20... he doesn't seem to be taking any effort to mend his flaw outside off stump. In contrast, Gambhir is trying and working on it. Jaffer is not to be written off but it is time for him to go back and work on his game.
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