VVS Laxman should not be in the playing eleven of the Indian ODI cricket team for the following reasons:

1. Though he is a good timer of the ball, he is not innovative enough to consistently get past the circle in the offside. As a result, early on in his innings, he hits too many balls straight to the fielder, though he times them well. Even during his century knocks in Australia, one got the feeling that he was struggling to pick up the tempo of the innings towards the end.

2. In addition to his languid, non-innovative style, he is a bad runner between the wickets.

3. He does not allow Rahul Dravid, who has adapted well enough to ODIs to be reckoned as one of the greats of the current era, to come in early enough when the tempo is set by Sachin and Sehwag and get things going.

4. Inductively, he denies Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif time in the middle.

5. He denies Badani, a player better suited to the ODI format, a place in the eleven.

6. He is one of the poorer fielders of the Indian team. He is purportedly an excellent slip fielder, but he has dropped far too many catches in the past for me to agree with the opinion.

The Indians seem to be playing by reputation here. Let me clarify that I am not being arrantly dismissive about him; he is a class act in the Tests. The point is: the Indian team has too much batting talent and potential for its own liking. Just as Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif, despite oozing with talent and possessing a sound temperament, are not able to make it to the tests due to the lack of any vacancy in a solid batting line-up, someone will have to give way to the players better suited to the ODI format. In this case, it will have to be Laxman, unfortunately for him. I think the think tank should be progressive enough to take cognisance of this fact and select their best 'ODI' team disregarding past reputation and pressure from the public.

- posted by Dileepan @ 2:02:00 am

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