Over to you - responses

Why is Debashish Mohanty out in the cold?

Name: Tushar
Comment: He should have been on the tour to england. He has proved time and again..in world cup..in sahara cup toronto...that he can swing the ball in helpful conditions and trouble the best batsmen..he can be potential threat to opposing teams in world cup in south africa.Selectors have always been unfair to him, thus depriving him of his chances to make to indian team. he aslo has excellent domestic record.whenever picked for india he has done his part. I don't think tinu yohanna should have been in the team. Debashish Mohanty should be fairly treated and included in test team. he will prove to be a match winning bowler in england.

Name: anil
Comment: Or rather ask ourselves why are Nehra, agarkar and Zaheer in the team? The thing is Mohanty cannot generate neither pace or an impressive swing as the previous three. But yeah if you wanna take him as a fourth bowler, might help a little but not much

Name: Prusty
Comment: The selectors may thorow some reason (that, 'he is ageing out a bit, doesn't have speed' etc etc). But the fact is that he could have exploited the conditions at England to the T. May be Tinu Youhanan could have been replaced by him. It is sad to see that such a good bowler is being ignored. The first thing that comes to mind is the absence of good lobbying. For a long time east zone is being neglected quite a lot, inspite of performing well at national scenario. How can you ignore a feat like taking 10 wickets. A bowler with that calibre, who can swing the ball both ways even with an open chested action, should be considered as a treasure. Instead he is left in the lurch.

Name: K.Misra
Comment: Debashish Mohanty should have been selected for the England tour. It is unfortunate that the selectors did not make use of a swing bowler in favourable conditions. He has played well in England before and he definitely would have made an impact this time. There is no rational for his exclusion other than the stupidity of the selectors.

Name: Naveen
Comment: How can some body say that Mohanty is an inconsistent performer? If he was so inconsistent why did the selectors pick him for the 1999 World Cup. No doubt he has been the only consistent bowler in the 1999 World Cup. When the selectors can afford to give Ajit Agarkar a million chances why not give just one chance to Mohanty. He is the best Swing bowler India has, It would be great to have him as a bowler in the Indian team. I hope the Selectors would grow up and pick Mohanty.They shoudn't keep such a bowler out of the team for the coming world cup. Please for god sake "DONT WASTE SUCH A PLAYER" Just give him one chance. Thank You!

Name: Chirag Panjikar
Comment: Mohanty is a good bowler and would have been a perfect candidate for a spot in the Indian team for the Natwest series . However we must remember that the current tournament is being viewed as a precursor to the World Cup which is in South Africa. Mohanty has been more successful in conditions which aid seam bowling like England, and Toronto but not on Batsmen friendly pitches which offer even bounce to the batters. He also lacks the variety required at this level to compensate for his easy pace . So i think while he would have been successful in England, he would not have made much impact in South Africa, which is why he was not selected for this tour. Though I think he would have made a good selection for the test series.

Name: Dr.D.N. Patkar
Comment: Debashish Mohanty should have been selected for the tour of England in place of taking two wicket-keepers. He would be a very effective bowler in English conditions, perhaps better than any of the three seamers included, especially with the new ball. If two fats bowlers can dispose of 3/4 wickets in their first spells of 5/6 overs each with the new ball, the batting side finds it very difficult to post a sizeable total, and the factor of the bowler's capability of using the `old' ball effectively, becomes less important. The plan and decision to ask Rahul Dravid to keep wickets in ODIs must have been taken before leaving for England. Therefore the unaffordable luxury of including two wicket-keepers passes comprehension! Dr.D.N. Patkar

Name: swaminathan natarajan
Comment: In Tamil Nadu, there is a tradition that whenever you want something desperately, you pray to the God(s) and offer what is called "Sathur Thengay" - in which you break a coconut by throwing it hard on the floor. The cricketing equivalent is a very short ball. Mohanty has all always been bowling short. (Thengay bowler). Sometimes he bowls so short and so wide that I am afraid he might bowl a yorker to the runner instead of the batsmen. He can also injure himself by bowling a yorker to himself. He is inconsistent too. And he takes far less wickets. For these reasons, he deserves to be kept out. Swami

Name: Nagendra Murti
Comment: To answer this question, lets look at two of the worst natural disasters in India in recent times. The Gujarat earthquake and the Orissa floods. While the government undertook rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts on a war footing in Gujarat, it did precious little for the devastated people of Orissa. Is it any big surprise the BCCI adopts the same attitude as the government?

Name: Hemant
Comment: Oh well, remember we never had a great thinking set of cricketers except the great ones. So what can one expect , Chandu Borde to be smart alecs ? Mohanty is an automatic select for any team bound to England. Australia always carried Terry Alderman with their tours to England ,they had a reason, he was their best swing bowler and he repaid that faith as he always took more than 30 test wickets in each trip.Alderman never commanded a regular place in the eleven barring the Ashes tour to the Blighty.

Name: Nandu
Comment: His mentioned heroics clearly indicate his weakness as well. He thrives only in conditions where swing is predominant and having taken one 10-wicket haul in a 1st class match is not a free-pass to being at international level. I would still rate Agarkar and Nehra above him, because though I am not sure he's much slower than both of them, and in non swing conditions would be fodder for any side. And the obvious which you mentioned that he's not good with the old ball and he's inconsistent. Even Srinath's very good in the first few overs, but once the opposition plays him out then he's useless. Nehra's ia a far superior bowler and Agarkar is much better with the old ball. More than Mohanty Agarkar is the one left out in the cold.

Name: Dudheja Tara
Comment: Mohanty has been a great performe outside the Sub-continent and at first glance, one does feel that he deserves a chance. I personally agree with this opinion. He can be extremely useful outside the sub-continent with his swing and experience playing in England. Besides what do we have to lose? We already have the most inexperienced pace attack, with the sudden departure of Srinath. Mohanty can be expensive in One Dayers due to his lack of pace, but in the test matches, he should do well, even if he does give a few runs away, coz he has the uncanny ability to swing the ball prodigiously and both sides of the wicket of late. I think he is a much bettter candidate than Tinu Yohannan(I have nothing against Yohannan), but one on one, Mohanty wud make a much better bowler outside the sub-continent that some of our present lot. But thats just me, The BCCI does not agree, so he is left out in the cold.

Name: Arnab
Comment: Simply put, Indian selection is all about regional quotas and lobbying. On the basis of ability Debasish Mohanty should be in the Test team ahead of Agarkar.Yet Agarkar has the powerful Mumbai lobby in his favour.Also the selection of Tinu Yonnahan baffles me.Anybody who saw him being taken apart by Chrish Gayle would remember that there is absolutely nothing in his bowling.Though he can provide the odd restrictive bowling performace in tests you need someone who will get you wickets.And Debasish Mohanty has showed time and again that he can rip through the top order.The excuses made for Mohanty's non selection can also be made for every other bowler in India's side: who has ever been consistent ? Last time we went to England we had another Mumbaikar called Paras Mahmbrey who used to spray the ball all over the place.This time we have Agarkar.And just like Subroto Banerjee whose career was sacrificed for Srinath, solely on the basis of regional bias by the infamous Azhar-Dungarpur lobby, we will sit silently and watch another promising bowler consigned to the scrapheap just because of his regional affiliation.

Name: Urshana
Comment: There are many reasons for his exclusion. For one the trio of Zaheer,Nehra and Agarkar have performed reasionably well , then there is Tinu Yohanan who made an impressive debut against England. Debashis is a slow bowler now he has lost out on Pace , can't bat, bad fielder . It would be a gamble to take him to England he disnt have an outstanding last few Ranji games too. The selcetors have decided to play safe . However I must say he would have been a better bet than Agarkar in the Test series.

Name: Suman K. Mukherjee
Comment: I really think that he should have been included at least in the team for the test matches. Agarkar has not performed upto anybody's expectations in the test matches and Mohanty will his natural ability to swing the ball would have come in handy. I do not understand why they try to play Mohanty in One-dayers because his is not very consistent with his line and length. I know that there are some concerns about his effectiveness with the old ball, but I again reiterate that his ability to swing the ball from on to off with his unorthodox chest on action is invaluable especially in English conditions. He can snare a couple of quick wickets with the new ball and with the middle-order exposed and under pressure, who knows what would have happened...

Name: Mahesh Chandrasekharan
Comment: Debashish Mohanty was simply amazing in the last world cup. But, one glaring thing about his bowling is 'lack of economy'. There are days when he gets flayed around like a rag doll. He seemed to lack the ability to hit the deck and maintain the line 'n length on numerous occassions. I accept even the best among the bowlers has a bad day but in case of Mohanty, the situation seemed other way around, he hit the form on very few times and they were spread real far apart.

Name: Pretorious
Comment: You're only as good as your last match - otherwise you get relegated to being nothing more than a "flash in the pan" - does anyone remember a bowler by the name of Laxman Sivaramakrishnan? I rest my case!

Name: Prashant Kesanur
Comment: Perhaps the selectors and team management know something that we do not. Perhaps they feel Agarkar will finally fire, even if it be in a lowly match against Posh Spice's XI or something of that sort. Perhapsa they think Agarkar is a better batsman than Mohanty. Perhaps they think Zaheer Khan is more consistent than Mohanty. Perhaps they think Zaheer and Agarkar can up on their haunches and appeal better than Mohanty. Perhaps they think Zaheer and Agarkar's haunches are more picturesque than those of Mohanty. Perhaps...