From venkattraman04, United States

When Australia's tour game started, who had the best chance for solid match practice? Was it Ponting and Co.? No. It was S. Badrinath. He had to go in at the fall of the first wicket and face Lee, Clark, and Johnson, all of whom would be bowling in the first Test starting in a few days. How interesting would it have been if Badri had scored a few runs instead of the 2 and 14 that he made in the two innings.

Say, he had made the 90 odd, like Jaffer, that would have left Kumble in a similar situation to the one he faced in Australia. Yuvi had blasted Pakistan only in the previous Test and finally Kumble was forced to play Yuvraj. What would have happened now? Would Ganguly the man under serious pressure, as of now, be dropped for Badrinath, or would it be Dravid, or would it be someone else (including Badri himself being excluded without paying attention to his innings)?

But what did Badri do in the game? He was lbw for 2 and caught behind for 14. Badri's bad performance with the bat has made Kumble's choice of the playing XI a lot simpler. A lot of guys may not know that Badri's first class average is only next to that of Ponting and Sachin, among contemporary players. Now thats a fantastic statistic for someone who is yet to play a test.

But all that does not count now. He failed in both innings of the tour game thereby making his already minimal chance non-existent.