Not to belabour a point, but after the Indian 91-run debacle yesterday against South Africa, I find it ironic that today is the 10-year anniversary of a famous Indian triumph over the very same opponents.
Check out the scorecard and notice the irony in light of yesterday's meltdown. 22 batsmen came to bat in this match, and only one recognized batsman scored a 50. (The other 50 was from de Villiers, who in his entire career scored just 4 first-class 50's and was just throwing his bat around in this innings). With India tottering at 91 for 5 in the second innings, VVS Laxman shepherded the tail in his debut Test match, eventually being 8th out at 180. The margin of victory? 64 runs.
Once again, when an early Indian wicket falls in an ODI, and the bowlers are breathing fire and lightning, would you rather see Laxman or Kaif/Rainia/Mongia? I hope we don't need a 0-4 drubbing from SA to drive home my point.
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One wonders about the workings of the selection committee - are they "protecting" Laxman for the World Cup?
He is bound to join the Indian team for the Test series anyway so why not fly him over there now and see if he can make an immediate impact in the nets, and thus on the ground?
The chorus to bring him on seems to be growing, with Dileep Premachandran saying that this should have been a fait accompli when Yuvraj Singh was ruled out of the ODI series (http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/rsavind/content/current/story/269513.html)
Let's see what comes up.
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