Letter of the Day

I do not see SS Das fitting into this one day side at all. In the short while he was at the crease in the 1st game he looked totally out of sorts.

I thought he was picked up so that he could play a few side games and get used to the conditions for the test matches but not actually play the one day games.

With Ganguly and Sachin arguably the best one day opening pair, where is the place for Das in this team ? If Das is picked up either to open in the one day game or in the middle order then it shows how defensive this team is.

Whenever we travel overseas there is this debate whether Sachin should bat lower down the order for the one day games, which itself is an insult to the great man. Please do not deprive the man of his greatness by making him open the batting only on flat sub continent wickets.

No other team in the world resorts to such selective methods, eg Mark Waugh, Saeed Anwar, Jayasuriya. We cannot win matches if we think defensive.

Our best players like Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid have to come at the top. Players like Yuvraj, Sehwag and Sodhi should subsequently follow so that they can get their eye in before they can launch into an attack.

Players like Das even if they get their eye in do not have the fire power to go for big shots in the slog overs.

It is very difficult to score at 8 - 10 an over in the slog overs with proper cricketing shots as the field spread in the one day game just does not allow that liberty.

I hope the Indian think tank is listening !

Anil Noronha