I am not shocked about Ganguly's omission but I am hardly amused to see the players that are selected in stead of Ganguly.

I like Kaif but he has failed miserably and to select him over Ganguly is a joke. What has Raina done to warrant selection over Ganguly. I could understand if the choice came between Yuvraj and Dada but not with these nobodoy's.

Is this the way one treat great cricketer's who have given so much over the years. If Rahul has a hand in Ganguly's ommission then he must know that what goes around comes around and he may face the same few years down the track.

Munaf Patel is the quickest bowler in India and he made the England team struggle on a placid wicket. How can he be overlooked? In international cricket one needs pace unless you are a McGrath and no one esle is.

Shessanth has done well but in one days and he bowls many weak deliveries and gives many runs, the same applies to R Singh and God knows why is VRV Sing selected.

Piyush Chwla is a surprise package and I dont know how he would fair. I support the selectors in the omitting Zaheer and Ajit. Both are not international class and have being given enoufg chances.

How can they justify the exclusion of Dada?

Munaf Patel is surely one bowler to watch out for. Out of his 5 wickets, 4 were clean bowled. I too thought he would be given a chance.

For Piyush Chawla, it would be a good learning experience to spend some time with Kumble. From whatever little I have seen of this 17-year old lad, he is surely a promising talent.

Cheers,

The game of cricket is never over unless the last ball is bowled. I was seeing a show where I heard a few silly comments of ex-cricketers suggesting that this series will definitely be won by us and it should be a easy win.

Such comments only come and hit back and I have seen these over the years that it is better not to make such statements. I anyway hope that we come out victorious.

Leaving a bowler single handedly beat England out of the 1st test is foolish. Yes I am talking of Munaf Patel, a rank bad decison to leave him out and it may haunt the Indian selectors. Mohd Asif was only selected in Pak team after his performance against the indian team in a local game before the test and at the end of the series he was the main difference between the 2 sides.

Irafan is the only bowler who was looking to break through on day 1 of the game. Kumble was innoculas and Harjbjan looked out of sorts just like the the unimaginative captaincy of Dravid who seems to belive that making Kumble and Harbajan bowl non stop would make him win the game.

After being humilitaed by a local side, the English side will be overjoyed with the 393 they have scored and it is a very good total. Their disciplined bowling may also make it hard for the Indian team.

Dont take this depleted English team for granted Dravid and Co...watch out.

Well it looks like the 2nd test is heading for a draw too, with so much time lost due to rain and poor light.
Somehow in one-off tests both sides try too hard to ensure they don't lose!
Let's hope for the best.

I am of he opinion that the team should always comprise of the players who are in good form irrespective of what miracles they have done earlier. This should apply also to Sehwag, VVS or even Kumble or Harbhajan. There is no dearth of glory in the Indian cricket team but what is lacking is the killer instinct and dedication--what the Australians and even the Pakistanis have. If I were the selector I would have given lot more chances to younger players like Venu, Munaf Patel or Raina rather than dancing to the tunes of the so called heroes and their preferences in the batting order.

--Balaji

Agreed but all have proven track record and Kumble is only getting better.

Although this is not a full strength Eng team, our team has so far done a good job in the one days. It seems Mohd Kaif is enjoying his luck here with so many failures and still selected for 6 more one days.

Just shows the Indian selectors are happy to keep Saurav out at every cost. I dont think Saurav is out for his batting but its much more than that.

Powar looks good and I hope Sewag can get back to the drawing borad and firnd ways to stop missing the insinger and edging the outswinger.