You also touch on another issue about how Yuvraj feels about himself in regards to his place in the team. I think if he does feel he is irreplaceable then that can have negative consequences.

Scorpi,
Thanks!

Rayden,
Start using those words! We want to hear them!

I think all your points have hit the nail right in the head.

Perfect Analysis !! Its something I felt as well but could not express in words

I think one reason due to which India couldn’t translate Sachins 100′s into more wins for the team is because India’s bowling has always been weak, Ponting was a part of very strong team and Pakistan although never had the batting stregth as India but their bowling has mostly been the best in the world.

As regards Yuvraj I would say that there is no one in the current lot on the bench who can replace him but that doesn’t mean that he enjoys the stature of being irreplaceable.

Inida’s bowling especially the pace department is toothless and can be regarded as friendly, other than Zaheer khan none of the bowlers can be regarded as World class they can’t bowl yorkers they can’t bowl vicious bouncers and their pace declines soon after they get into the team this is something which I fail to understand, normally when a pace bowler joins the national team because of better training facilities and professional coachin normally pace bowlers add to their speed but that doesn’t happen in India.

Spin has always been their biggest weapon but Harbhajan is no better than Shoaib Malik these days and that is hurting them a lot.

You raise an important point Rayden about Sachin’s personality. Most sports people who are at the top of their tree show a single mindedness and will to win at all costs that can sometimes be rude and hence are not always loved by the masses. Sachin on the other hand has managed to be successful and remain humane.

As for Sachin, I totally agree with MTJAG – The pressure the guy is in all the time, no other cricketer can even imagine that kind of pressure. And its not his fault and for a major part of his career, he was in a team where there was him and 10 other useless players.

Mind you even though Ponting will get all the records, I would put Sachin and Inzi at the top, then Lara and then Ponting.

One other thing on Sachin – he is the most down to earth celebrity in India. Think of how the other cricketers, movie stars etc behave and compare them with Sachin. There is no comparison. I have seen Sachin a few times in Mumbai and he is the most well behaved and polite celebrity I have ever seen.

@ Rayden, I definitely find your opinion interesting on Yuvi. I agree, he is inconsistent and he definitely can improve. But in my opinion he’s that 1 guy in the middle order who can genuinely turn the tide when we’re either chasing a big score, or in deep shit (or both , since it so often happens to us). I feel he has been there really long enough to realize that he needs to be the man. Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir are supremely important too, but all the guys are top order batsmen, and sorta kinda established themselves, and even if 1 gets injured, the other 2 can fill in.

Sehwag (and in recent times Gambhir) are extremely dangerous. Just like Yuvi, I feel Sehwag has started to flourish in ODI format too ( remember , he strangly didn’t have a great record at it despite the nature of his game being well suited to it), but we lost him at the wrong time. I just feel that outside India, between Sehwag, Gambhir, Sachin, and (don’t through stones at me now), even Karthik/ Dravid, we’ve got 2 guys in there who can put up a decent 1st wicket partnership.

On Sachin – it’s true that he may not have won the number crucial games that he would have liked, but there’s no comparing the pressure and expectations on him versus the others during the course of his career . He had to deal with not just fan expectations, but some very incompetent teammates, extreme bureaucracy (yup more than now), and a whole lotta other shit that Ponting, Lara etc have hardly even heard of. In my opinion, Ponting will get the record, Lara is the most attractive, but Sachin wins the heart with just going through such circumstances and coming out of it in style. I’d also like to add that he is what gets India to the SF and finals stages.

But it’s at the middle order right now that the Indian batting line-up lacks stability, fizz and danger of late ( other players haven’t really established themselves), and this is why I picked Yuvraj as irreplacable. Think of the Pak game. Dravid dropped anchor, and Kohli , Pathan, Dhoni all deceived. Yuvi would have been critical. He has that good mix of talent, experience, stamina (very underrated), and courage to be a player. Has he put it all together consistently yet? Perhaps that’s debatable. But at this stage of middle order transition that India’s going through, I find him to be the most important cog on the (flimsy) wheel.

With all the great names discussed above, Kohli is insignificant, and doesn’t warrant a discussion right now.

Our questions to Stani and their responses are up:

http://morethanjustagame.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/stani-army-and-mtjag-spew-their-load-all-over-the-internet/

Witty and informative. Keep it up.