You have done your homework and I entirely agree with your views. We have to be mean in ODIs.

Agarkar has played nearly 200 matches and taken nearly 300 ODI wickets with a strike rate of 32 yet he was never an economical bowler (economy of 5.1). But he took wickets and won matches for India. I think Sreesanth also deserves a reasonable run before he gets discarded. Though by the time Agarkar played 50 games he had about 100 wickets. Sreesanth is no where in sight.

Sreesanth does not deserve a place in the ODIs. He may be aggressive but he never looks to save runs...Agarkar was a far better bowler and a utility batsman and he was out of the team because he was giving runs at far less economy than Sreesanth.. Agarkar was near 300 wicket mark and he wasn't even given a chance to achieve the milestone...so why give any opportunity to Sreesanth who is no good at all....

Agarkar was a very good fielder and decent batsman too so dont compare with Sreesanth who doesn't do anything well, to Agarkar. only reason Shreesanth and Ishant Sharma are in the side instead of a deserving player like Irfan Pathan is because of their continued support from selectors like Srikkanth and Yashpal Sharma. Srikkanth seems determined to put as many people in the team as possible who are from the south. Worst and most biased chief selector ever !

So amongst bowlers who have bowled at least 1500 balls, India has 2 frontline fast bowlers in the top 4. Excellent...

Sreesanth is more of a rhythm bowler and if he doesnt get his line and length right in the first 2 overs of a spell, he is very unlikely to come gud in that respective match.. alike a Stuart Clarke or a Darren Gough. In the first case, he shouldn't have been tried in ODI given that India cannot offer 3 slips in ODI's for one of his best deliveries, which is the outswinger to righthander. Sreesanth needs to be preserved for tests as he looks to be a mercurial mood and is tempremental if batsman start to score a few boundaries. He may prove a point or two by coming back to pick 1 or 2 wickets but will cost India a lot of runs. India is better served to pick someone like Irfan Pathan who may be gives same no of runs a la Sreesanth but gives the team great batting depth at No 8.

I think Sreesanth's tendency to lose his head results him in leaking runs. But what about Ishant Sharma? His figures are pretty similar and he's perhaps played a bit more in favourable conditions such as Australia (if they do exist in ODIs anymore). Could we look at stats post-2005 or 2007. Also if you noticed the alarming regularity with which India is involved in a 300-plus game, I hardly think it is surprising. Check the results of India's bowlers and opposition bowlers in the subcontinent in the past couple of years. That will give us an idea of who should be pairing up with Zaheer.

Sreesanth is a wonderful bowler when there is something in pitch for bowlers, however, he tries all his anctics in pursuit of looking to take wickets. Having him play matches back to back even though him leaking runs considerably tells us that the team management thinks he is a potent bowler, but then he proves otherwise in most of his outings. He is no more a bowler who is new to this arena. He has to understand that being economical and taking wickets is important because being scored off once in a while is okay, but if you are consistently being targetted and scored off means there is something to be worked upon in his bowling. Hope he understands that ...

sreesanth should not be considered for any form of cricket in the national team until he learns to become consistent. selecting him is a gift for any opposition including bangladesh.

Well, at least we have some stats to prove that Sreesanth struggles in ODIs. Unfortunately for a talented bowler he seems to be singled too much for his attitude. Sreesanth is ideal for tests and he has the performances to back that up. I think tests offer him the ability to settle into a groove and bowl with flexible fields. I really hope his ODI performances don't make him lose a spot in tests too. We have to remember he played a huge part in the SL series and that too on a come back after more than a year.

If a bowler does not get to complete his full quota of overs in an ODI time & time again, it shows the captain's lack of faith in him to deliver the goods. I appreciate S.Rajesh for the lovely article & stat.

Anybody have any idea where Kamran Khan is? The find of IPL 2, Shane Warne's protege?
He seemed to be a good bowler, but suddenly he's completely off the radar

It's really unfortunate that Sree has to bowl on batting beauties. Even Steyn was getting clobbered. India is a sad place for a fast bowler to be born in. I would like Sree to play a few ODI's abroad, but that's rarely the case these days. He will get pillaged in IPL too I guess. He has the smoothest bowling action since Allan Donald, and I too like watching him bowl.

For me, Sreesanth is just an aggressive bowler with no brains! He could produce a magic delivery once every blue moon, however that is not good enough. On a flat pitch (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) he is meat a drink to any half decent bat. A bit of a show off in my eyes and perhaps matured a little too early for his liking, maybe its cockiness that makes the worst of him. He's an average player in a very good well balanced team. Bring Irfan Pathan back.

I would really like to know tht why is Ajit agarkar not being selected for the one day side. he had a good domestic season , even now he bowls at speeds touching 140 , he is fit , a very good fielder , n a much better bat than the bowlers we have currently. I m not against giving chances to sudeep tyagi or abhimanyu mithun , they deserved to be given chances , but my grouse is against ashish nehra sreesanth n ishant sharma . After his comeback nehra has had 2 decent series n rest of them have been sub par , the less said abt sree n ishant is better , as rightly pointed out , sree , ishant r much better off for test cricket , while Agarkar is much better off in one day cricket. He has been one of the best bowlers in one day format for India , his wicket taking sbilties r damn good ,plus good fielding n batting abilties. our core fast bowlers for the next yrs world cup should be Zaheer , PK , Ajit , n any one of sudeep , abhimanyu or any other new guy.

I agree with many of the comments posted. Ajit Agarkar is one of the most underrated guys around, much better than Sree/Mithun/Tyagi/Praveen and certainly better than the currently out of form Ishant. Your talking about a guy who is a wicket taker, was the fastest to 200 wickets and 1000 runs, fastest to 50 wickets ahead of Lillee until Mendis came along, has a test match century, 50 in 21 balls, a strike rate amongst the best! He is a good fielder, a decent bat, much better than the competition with Irfan out the picture. He was made a scapegoat previously but its high time he was brought back. He works hard for the team and has always delivered with wickets. He deserves to join the 300 club.

Well its true that Sreesanth lately has been struggling with form along with Ishant Sharma..Both guys needs a long break..when we have got such a talented match winnig allrounder in form of Irfan Pathan who has done so well in this years domestic season with both bat n ball..he should always be there in 20-20 and oneday team as he gives depth to batting.

Well its true that Sreesanth lately has been struggling with form along with Ishant Sharma..Both guys needs a long break..when we have got such a talented match winnig allrounder in form of Irfan Pathan who has done so well in this years domestic season with both bat n ball..he should always be there in 20-20 and oneday team as he gives depth to batting.

Ya. Sreesanth is really struggling in ODIs. He is fit only for Tests. Irfan Patha/Ajit Agarkar is way better!
BRING THEM BACK!

You slime balls! Indian fast bowlers lack the bulls needed to compete in world cricket.

I should pay these bottom feeders to stay home instead of ruining my cricket watching.

Let me get back to KKR. Gona kick ass this season.

SRK

Can someone tell me what happened to Irfan Pathan? There is absolutely no news about him. I cannot understand why a bowler who was India's spearhead just about 3-4 years ago(when Zaheer was not there) is now not even heard of. It is surprising because today the only thing that stops India from being undisputable champions is the dearth of fast bowlers. If Irfan is out of form, I think prime importance should be given in assissting him in the right way to bring him back because that could make India the No.1 in all 3 formats of the game

Never in my entire life have I commented on any article. But could not resist myself this time.
For almost a year I have been saying the same stuff to my friends/ family during every match that Sreesanth bowls in (including the comparision with Irfan Pathan). You are bang on here. And I really do not see any signs of improvement given his innate uncontrolled aggression. There may never be a strife for consistency.

Author missed a point about the wickets he has captured in his near 70 victims these inlude wickets of batsmen from the top order and class batsmen for eg he has dismissed Kallis,Gilly,Lara,Hayden several times and is also a good fielder .Agarkar got enough oppurtunity he did not utilise it.

I too have the same opinion of Mc Grath. Sreesanth`s aggression is mere acting. It doesn`t come from within. Natr point I can`t understand is, why don`t the seniors advice him to stop experimenting & concentrate on line nd length. Agarkar is no doubt a better bowler,batsman & fielder than Sreesanth. Request to our selectors: Please pick players who are exceptional fielders. As Gavaskar repeats, `runs saved are runs scored`.

The problem lies not with Sreesanth, but with the pitches he has to play on. The presence of Ishant Sharma on your list more or less proves this. For me as an outsider it appears the Indian public loves nothing more than to see their batting heroes tear into visiting bowling attacks. Curators and administrators therefore do everything in their power to make batting conditions as easy as possible. It keeps the television viewing numbers high (and obviously also the advertising revenue). The downside of this is that all recent Indian bowlers, even Kumble, have poor to very poor ODI bowling statistics. You could even say Sreesanth is a victim of Tendulkar’s success.

This is all crap , he is the best reverse swing bowler in the country, plus he brings a flair into the team whicfferh helps the team a lot, if u disturb the team combination with these kind of senseless articles , indian team will suffer, not pessimists like s rajesh

Sreesanth is a waste of a pay check.Bring Irfan pathan back.

i dont fully blame sree for his struggling form in ODIS. Even zaheer and p.kumar go for runs in one dayers.The fact is that sree is coming back from an injury, add to that unavailability of a full time bowling coach. Players like ishant and sreesanth need to be guided on bowling in limited overs. They both have proved themselves at the test level so its not the case that they are bad bowlers or so. They both are extremely talented fast bowlers. But when they are hit for a boundary or a six they try do something different and further leak runs. Consistency is the key to bowling in any format and t20 is no different. Moreover we havent played any cricket outside the subcontinent in past one year or so. The more they play ,more expirience they gain and i m sure both will come good and will earn a name in history. just give them a chance. Even dale steyn the worlds no 1 bowler went for 85 runs in gwalior one dayer!

i think zaheer,r.p singh,irfan,praveen n ajith agarkar forms a good attack for indian team.just rotate any three from above and prepare for worldcup so that we can keep our hopes alive on even batting pitch.our selectors given a lot of chances to ishanth,sree n munaf.none of them were not upto mark.our selectors shd not try at this time on other pacers such as mithun n tyagi as there is no sufficient time to prepare for worldcup.stick to top five pacers who are experienced at international level n also adds a lot of depth in batting order in the likes of ajith,irfan n praveen.these five bowlers also show a lot of variation in combination which confuse opponents in chasing.

i think zaheer,r.p singh,irfan,praveen n ajith agarkar forms a good attack for indian team.just rotate any three from above and prepare for worldcup so that we can keep our hopes alive on even batting pitch.our selectors given a lot of chances to ishanth,sree n munaf.none of them were not upto mark.our selectors shd not try at this time on other pacers such as mithun n tyagi as there is no sufficient time to prepare for worldcup.stick to top five pacers who are experienced at international level n also adds a lot of depth in batting order in the likes of ajith,irfan n praveen.these five bowlers also show a lot of variation in combination which confuse opponents in chasing.

Before coming into conclusion about Sreesanth's abilities in ODI, please let us know, who is better than Sreesanth. I think Sreesanth is an example of India's poor bowling performances. I think instead of pointing the fingers to any particular, bowler, you have to point out what is going wrong with Indian bowlers. If you look at Sreesanth's bowling you can see he bowls smarter than any other bowler(except senior bowlers). He mixes, short pitch, slow, yorkers etc better than others. But as Agarkar, he bowls 1-2 very bad balls which I believe could be the reason for his huge economy rate.

Interesting to see Rana Naved's name in this list. Have always found him to be a very wily and crafty bowler though the fact that he has the best strike rate and economy in this list, kind of compensates

I concur with Vikram. I think the chief selector is deliberately pushing Sreeshant down the throat of Dhoni. It did not make sense to rest praveen kumar and Nehra in the last ODI and still play Sreeshant with other new comers in the team.

I feel Sreeshant should be left out of the team for a year or so and let him play domestic cricket.

I am sure Irfan or Agarkar are no more expensive than Sreesanth and in fact are a bonus to the team with their batting abilities as well. Not that Sreesanth is bowling consistently in the 140s either. His bowling style is more suited for the Tests and not so much for the ODIs where more and more featherbeds are being rolled out. BCCI has a choice - Either make seaming pitches for ODIs or drop bowlers like Sreesanth. Its your choice!

Why singling out Sreesanth, when all our bowlers (experienced (like Zaheer) and the bench strength (Mithun and Tyagi)leaked so much runs in all recent one day matches. Sreesanth leakes more because he tries to experiment more in order to take wickets. Others are less expensive (as compared to Sreesanth - which means that they too are not economical)because, they focus on maiden overs instead of taking wickets. I think we should also adapt to foreign type pitches, which suit pace bowling. You may then judge the bowlers capability.

I Completely agree with the points and facts mentioned by rajesh, I can't find any reason for Irfan not being in the final playing eleven even though he is much better player of pace bowling then most of the other Indian young guns(jadeja,Kohli) and has got capacity to loft it over the circle which shall be a handy as now he'll be getting the luxury of batting powerplay which never used to be when he batted at No. 7. Also there were only few occassions on sub-continent where I've seen him going for more then 65 which the bowlers playing currently are giving it for granted. Can't see jadeja wasting No 7(Impotent against good bowlers).

Good article Rajesh. Its high time India segregates its bowlers for Test and O.D.Is. When you have guys like Laxman and Badri recently for Test batting lineup why not a similar approach in O.D.Is. Keeping Zaheer as constant we can use Sree, Ishanth for Tests and P.K, Nehra for O.D.Is. Even Bhajji can be kept out of ODI side since Jadeja does good job though its too early to pass judgement. Irfan alone can lend balance as allrounder maybe Nayar if else.

The way ODI's are played in past 4-5 years have changed. Scores in 400's is becoming chasable and scores in 300's are not surely won games. You need to admit that Sree had played most of the ODI's in last 4-5 years. So averages in past decade should not be compared with present day averages.

Having said this, Sree is not the best option India have. But certainly he should be retained at least in test.

If Sree is a rhythm bowler ,he should be picked only for Tests till he gets his rhythm back ,because he's not at all effective in 50 overs game, I think with the World Cup closing in we still don't have a decent bowling attack - In list of 30 India should have bowlers like Zaheer, Pravin, RP ,Nehra, Agarkar, Irfan, provided they are fit. At any given match any 3 picked for a match would be a decent attack , with one specialist spinner & 2/3 part timers . we just can't rely in part timers in all games .The rest of the new breed should be tried in next WC .

BRING BACK IRFAN & AJIT & chance them till the WC im sure their experience will only boost out our current flatened bowling attack

he surely is expensive and doesn't ooze confidence amongst cricket watchers like me... a dot ball is like a gift.

There is one thing that will make this statistic more interesting. Remove the condition of 1500 balls balled and take the statistics of ODIs played in the last 3 years. Apart from that, an interesting statistic would be performance of bowlers in India, South Africa & Bangladesh compared to rest of the world. Statistics are very cruel at times and they tend to hide more than they reveal.

What India needs is to have a consistent all rounder like Kallis, Flintoff , Sakib , Watson or Razzaq who can support bowling if a main bowler fails and support batting as needed. Till then frontliners Zaheer/Nehra/Ishant/Sreesant/RP are bound to be under pressure. Someone bring back our dear old in-form Irfan...

To all those people saying 'bring back Irfan Pathan' / 'Irfan is a better bowler' -- are you nuts? Have you forgotten Sreesanth's '5 for' in Jo'burg? He was 'man of the match' and India won its first test in S.Africa -- not even Kapil Dev or Srinath (or Agarkar!) ever managed that. Even in limited overs cricket, have you forgotten the World T20 semi-final vs Australia? It was Sreesanth's bowling that turned the game around for us?! Irfan Pathan has allrounder capabilities, but needs to improve his batting by 5-10% and bowling by 20%, CONSISTENTLY, to be taken seriously! Sreesanth MUST NEVER EVER be dropped in Tests... he's better than Munaf, RP, Irfan etc.

can you believe this ? two of our 'strike' bowlers are among a whole bunch of kenyans and unknown zimbabweans and bangla pups ? my take is that give chances to new fresh faces, if irfan etc., are not part of plan. what that will do is at least surprise the batsmen to some extent as to what to and what not to expect.. give chances to mithun, charkaborty, gony, pony and tony !!

There is definitely a dearth of quality bowling from the current Indian squad. It is not the worst kind, but quite average. Top quality batsmen have been bailing out the Indian team for many years now and even handing them great wins.
Except Zaheer and to some extent Harbhajan, there is not even a single bowler in sight who looks like they can get wickets, especially in Indian conditions.
Rather than pushing the blame on any single bowler like Sreesanth, let us realize that India will have to go through the exercise of deploying different bowlers during the ODI matches where they will get a chance to prove. This will hopefully unearth quality bowlers who can strengthen the bowling line up in the future.

Nice analysis Rajesh. To be honest, it is extremely hard to comment on a bowler like Sree. Sure, I too like his orthodox approach to the pitch - but ultimately what is required of a bowler is some combination of economy and strike-rate, neither of which Sree can boast of, unfortunately.
I would rather want to see a player who might have a horrible action but at least reasonably economical.
Some one alluded to the fact that he gets exposed in sub-continental pitches. well it is the same pitch in which other fast bowlers bowl too - and this guy happens to be attrociously expensive.
His place in the tests is once again a compromise - people are trying to be nice. Let's face it! he is just an average (in fact below average) bolwer in tests too...Just that his performance in ODI fares worse than his tests, which does not justify a player's spot in the test side. For heaven sake stop the hype about his attitude (which sucks at best). Aggresssion should reflect in bowling, not in stares

Sreesanth, am sure is one of the talented Indian youngsters. If you watch his seam position, it is 99% perfect 80% of the time. But, i'm more than a 100% sure that you cannot have him in the team - Quoted by Allan Donald. Egoistic, Superstitious freaks don't deserve a place in the Indian team. He should first learn to concentrate on the match situation and the strategy before every delivery as opposed to his superstitious acts before the run up - scratching his head, acting as if calming down with both his hands facing down, and attempting to gear up with his fists. Are they correlated. All the above are needed mentally, not physically. Stop acting Sreesanth and do the job, else go pick elephant shit in Kerala.

Sreesanth, am sure is one of the talented Indian youngsters. If you watch his seam position, it is 99% perfect 80% of the time. But, i'm more than a 100% sure that you cannot have him in the team - Quoted by Allan Donald. Egoistic, Superstitious freaks don't deserve a place in the Indian team. He should first learn to concentrate on the match situation and the strategy before every delivery as opposed to his superstitious acts before the run up - scratching his head, acting as if calming down with both his hands facing down, and attempting to gear up with his fists. Are they correlated? All the above are needed mentally, not physically. Stop acting Sreesanth and do the job.

For those asking for Irfan Pathan back, I think he is averaging 75 mp/h (120 km/h) nowadays. That will get a clobbering even on a greentop ODI surface in England/SA. Only guy he can replace is Yusuf Pathan as a batting allrounder if he takes his batting to the next level.

The "problem" (as such) is that Sreeshanth is essentially a "late swing" type of bowler. He doesn't have that typical "banana" curve/shape like the Sidebottoms,Pathans etc., nor is he really a seamer ala Mcgrath, Asif.

So, with the new white ball the pitches don't really have too much to do with it. It is mostly the quality of the new ball(no really rough or shiny side) and atmospheric conditions. Again , with the ball change after 35 overs the chances of late swing are further negated.

For the express pace bowlers,traditional swing bowlers and seamers the problems would be less.
With Sreeshanth the ball goes to the batsman straight as an arrow and then if he cannot get that "late swing" - well then you know what's going to happen.

ya inspite po being so aggresive he should never be playin in the odi"s,he can be considered for the tests..

i think Ajit Agarkar is the best blower, he took 288 wickets in 188 matches, the present blowers in indian cricket team ..Ajith is the highest wicket taker... last Ranji Trophy what a blowing performance also Mumbai lift the Trophy .. i am sure he will come back the Indian team this year

This question is there in my mind at a very earlier stage itself though it came as an article or someone chose to point it now only. The simple answer is he should not be considered anymore for ODI's as far as the economy rate is considered. Look the first match of the last series with SA where India won by a run, look how important the run (s) in an ODI is? where as in test cricket he is a very potential bowler and should be considered more and to give more opprtunities where his scills can be executed more efficiently, there is no doubt in his talent but considering is line and lengths, bowling rythm and the swing he generates it is better to use him in tests only not in ODI s or don't think about considering him in T20

Sreesanth ofcourse is an aggressive player with own bowling style. However, whatever his achievements are, he needs to be more precise. It'll be more good if he avoids short balls and targets closer to the middle stump.

Sreesanth's batting is very poor when he is required to bat at the tail end. Agarkar is pretty good bowling & batting as compared with Sreesanth for ODI is concerned. Let the selectors decide who is opted for ODIs prior to the World Cup.

I think Sreesnath had been given more than enough chances. I think it is high time that selectors give the due rights to Agarkar and Irfan. Really Sree can be one of the options in test, when anyone among Zaheer\Ishant\Munaf is not playing.

You cannot always estimate a bowler just with the runs he gave out. You have to a assess it with the conditions and situations of the game. I agree he is lacking consistency, but that happens with every bowler, if Sreesanth does it, then it is a big mistake. But no body can deny that he is a great partnership breaker. Another important thing about him is that he takes key opposition wickets: remember the first ODI against SA recently, he took the wickets of Kallis and Boucher. He is an excellent bowler, according to the current conditions he is a good fit in the Indian team, it is not always the runs conceded that matter, sometimes the wickets also matter. For runs, we have excellent batsmen to cover it.

Further to my earlier comment, there are a lot of great bowlers who bowled with the new red ball in Test cricket but refused to open with the new white ball in ODIs.
Since Sreeshant does relatively better with the red ball perhaps he too should go "1 drop" and not open the bowling in ODIs.
If conditions are not right ,then being the type of bowler that he is he is going to get tonked with the new white ball if he cannot find that late swing.

Sreesanth is of course not an economical bowler bt he is one of the best reverse swing bowlers in India instead of blaming him alone y dont we realise that the other bowlers too are going for lots of runs (incl zaheer) it is also important that we have to strengthen our bowling attack before the WC so y dont the selectors bring back irfan and agarkar sreesanth should be considered for the ODIs hes talented it is just that he has to learn to be more consistent

Sreesanth is of course not an economical bowler but he is one of the best reverse-swing bowlers in India. Instead of blaming him alone why don't we realise that the other bowlers too are going for lots of runs (including zaheer). It is also important that we have to strengthen our bowling attack before the WC so why don't the selectors bring back Irfan and Agarkar. Sreesanth should be considered for the ODIs: he's talented, it is just that he has to learn to be more consistent

I don't understand the aggression with which people talk about Agarkar, who has a serious attitude problem.
About Sree, you should really know what the team has asked him for: go for wickets at the cost of a few runs? For example in the 2nd ODI the wicket he took of Kallis was very crucial. Take what the great Allan Donald has to say about him. His seam pitching is very unique also his action.What has to be done is to get these players to real proper scientific training to prepare them better. Engage former fast bowlers in this, get the best psychologists to give them the best frame of mind.The board with so much money has to take the initiative, let them invest their rich resources into these sort of things. A humble request: please don't compare Sreesanth with Agarkar. Don't compare apples with potatoes.

If you are mentally ok you can concentrate on the work you do. Sreesanth is a bowler who has got potential and can be a great threat to frontline batsmen if he apply his mind in the game and not in yelling and staring at the batsmen. He has one of the best action like that of Kapil/Hadlee/Mcgrath and this action can help him get good movement both ways. He should first be used in Test cricket only till he gain some good experience.

Sree does not deserve to be in Indian Cricket. Enough of him. A fast bowler who cannot bowl with consistent bounce is of no use. Look at the Aussies.. Being an international does he not know what is a wicket taking delivery? With all the hustly-bustly action he delivers the ball with no power.

I agree Sreesanth has been conceding more runs in ODIs recently. But accusing Srikanth(chief selector) of "favouring" Sreesanth is ridiculous. I agree in bringing back RP Singh, but Agarkar and Irfan Pathan have been given adequate chances. The selectors are only giving a fair go for Sreesanth and also Ishant (whose stats aren't too good). Accusing the selectors for partiality is stupid. Before having a dig at Sreesanth, remember his 5-for against SA in 2006, which bowled them out for 80 odd, not even Srinath or Kapil Dev had done that. All I am saying is give him a fair go, before dropping him.

Sreesanth watse

All are throwing too many stones at Sreesanth.But we should accept the fact that one can be rated as a good bowler only if he perfoms well in tests.In that sense sree is far better than some of the names specified here.Also, the pitches prepared in India in the last 1-2 years are 100% batsman's wicket. Ajit and co used to get some good tracks atleast once in a while which is not happening now a days. Better to include economical bowlers in Indian conditions and use Sreesanth ,Agarkar etc when India play abroad.

When we compare Ajith to Sree you should not forget the number of power play overs and the condition of pitches. Also the rules like free hit was not there when Ajith played most of his internationals.

What we need is pace bowlers who can bowl good yorkers at decent pace, a good slower ball, and a good bouncers. But along with it they should be good fielders and be able to bat reasonably well. Are there any around like that. Pradeep Sangwan can be given a chance. Probably he doesnt have any influence and hence has not been given a chance as yet.

There is no doubt that sreesanth does not deserve to be in the odi team. But the unfortunate reality is that nobody except zaheer khan is good enough to play odi cricket against international teams. Even zaheer khan is getting clobbered all round the park sometimes. Put irfan or agarker in place of sreesanth in some of the future matches in subcontinent. Am sure we will see even mediocre batsmen whacking them to all parts of the ground. The problem is not with any particular player. The real problem is india is not producing any international quality bowlers.
Poor selectors are left with trying out a random player in each series and saw each of them failing again and again. My only hope is to see someone come thru the under 19 age group.

I think, all the fast bowlers without exception have been very expensive and ineffective in the ODIs. It could be because of wrong field palcements or wrong line and length bowled by the bowlers. I feel that the computer analyst may be very useful in studying videos of the main batsman in the opposition to identify their strong lengths and vulnerable lengths and also field placements based on the strong areas of the batsman and his suspect areas. I say this because I found that on most occasions, the fielders just stood while the ball sped by. Similarly, I wish Dhoni would give some importance to fine-tuning the field placements rather than leaving the actual spot where the batsman stands to the fielder himself. As an illustration I think for a left arm fast medium bowler a fine first slip is not necessary if the wicket keeper is agile enough.The first slip should be standing ideally between the regular spots of the first and second slips.Each fielder should be fully utilised.

Sree's attitude is very wrong. Players should be a role model as well. However important a player in the team, if the character doesn't go with it, then I think it's all a waste of resources. We deal with humans. Thanks.

i dont look up on stats n criticizing any particular bowler,if dale steyn the best in the world can be hammered for 80 odd in 10 on indian pitches,thn we need not think too much on it.if we are really bothered with stats plz look into praveen ,nehra,rp singh,and surely ajit agarkar.friends indian pitches are like national highway even a batsman with no foot work scores plenty,every cricketer has got its due chance,let shree mature too,my comments are not biased,its jus he really is a wicket taking bowling,and man the best seam position whn the bowl lands,really has an emaculate art.chill guys

As someone said,commenting on Sreesanth is very difficult.When he started,he surely had an attitude problem which is well documented(few that immediately comes to mind are with Hayden, even Tendulkar!)He seems to have improved a bit but he continues to bowl at least 2 bad balls,if not more every over.Agarkar bowled at least 1 for good part of his career but also bowled some unbelievable ones.RP Singh also suffers from the same but has the ability to produce some really good ones.The other thing I noticed is that Sreesanth's pace has also dropped. What would be good is that if we can compare the Indian bowlers in last 10 years using the Rating Points, BAI and BPF that you came up with recently. What would be even better is comparing these matrices for ALL bowlers in last 10 years on sub-continent and outside sub-continent pitches. That would help us identify who are good bowlers in sub-continent conditions and how bad Indian bowlers really are compared to others. :) Greedy? Yes I am :)

I think all the bowlers who get trained in training academy where the traditional swing / seam bowling is taught has a problem in ODI. That is what happening to Ishant and Sreesanth. Like Copy book batting, copy book bowling. In ODI you need street smart bowlers who can out think batsmen. Now this applicable in flat tracks of Subcontinent, These bowlers maybe handy in ODI played in good tracks. So do not play traditional style bowlers in sub-continent wickets ,have bowling all-rounder. Just a case in point Steyn who is regarded as No 1 in world is also very expensive in sub-continent condition...

With everything said about Sreesanth, I can see there is lot of frustration being vented out, he is a very talented bowler and aggressive too, since he is coming back from injury, expectation are little too much, considering the coming world cup, it is better to preserve him for tests where he can bowl long spells. Look at Ishant what he is doing, in my opinion give him a long break from international cricket and not consider him for the next 1/2 years and let him grind in the domestic cricket or let him play a minor/major league in england or australia.
People are talking about Agarkar/Irfan, but Agarkar is past his prime, Irfan can be considered for his allround capabilities.
My scheme of things would be expose new guys like Mithun, Vinay kumar, RP singh, Munaf,Bhuwanesh Kumar, Yo Mahesh, Ganapati, Irfan, Kamran khan, Abid Nabi and anybody whom the selectors, cricket loving media or public thinks right or anyone from under 19 circles. work on them for 1 year till w.c. get results.

the analysis is spot on on. both sree and ishant are not at all suited for odi's and r in the team due to patronage. our odi attack should be zaheer,nehra,pk and irfan.

Sreesanth is a test bowler and surely not a ODI or T20 bowler. Test too he depends upon seeming conditions, the worrying part is we dont have good resources and hence he is very lucky to be planning for India. He should be playing with white colours for india that too not very long..

I think he should be given a chance.
If you are blaming him. what do you say about Ashish Nehra?
Havent seen him taking wickets after his world cup spell of 6-23.
In his defense he had injuries, but so did Zaheer Khan.He never should signs of injuries. Ashish Nehra is into his 30's his carrier does look dull. He has proved to be expensive. Just the speed does not help you in ODI. You have to be accurate and consistent. But he possess neither of these two attributes.
In my view Srishanth should at least be given time to work on. If he does not fire, he should make road for the youngsters.

I totally agree that SreeShanth does not deserve to be in the ODI squad, but then as rightly pointed out herein earlier, No one other than Zaheer khan deserves a place in ODI's ...i agree Praveen Kumar's a good variety bowler, and variety has nothing to do with the Thick gold chain he wears ... as for Ishanth i think there's sumthing gone seriously wrong with him that he's being sidelined and is underperforming but he's any day better than the malnutritioned Nehra who is the most absent minded Indian fielder to ever play ODI's...and then talking bout Uncles like Ajit Agarkar is of no use as he's not made use of the opportunities given to him, considering he's from Mumbai and it is rather easier for him to make it to the Indian team as the BCCI has a mumbai lobby that persisted with players like romesh powar and wasim jaffer for a long time even when their use-by dates were far from over and now you complain that Srikkanth's favouring South Indians...gimme a break !!

Why he played in all three ODIs versus SA despite being thrashed in the first two is beyond logic.

It is a bit unfair making comments like these about a talented player like Sree. Criticising his mannerisims like this, it looks a bit cruel. You have to consider a lot of new factors like changes in pitch conditions, induction of power plays etc.We in India have the worlds flattest tracks for sure.Please compare the scores in the ODIs played currently in India and other countries and you get the picture. As our bowlers play more than anyone in these conditions quite obvious we find them in the top as far as runs are concerned.The people who did the study should have done a comparison of his stat in home and away matches.Just see what was the average of Steyn in the first two matches which India won.It is good be fair in your criticism and not to be rude.

i am so glad to see rana naved in that list - i am just not sure why is he always in the ODI team - and the guy doesnt even care to show remorse on giving away runs - at least Sreesanth feels bad about the runs ....

there is no doubt that sri is agressive but we also think rpo of his bowling. i think agarkar should get chance as he is experience bowler also good batsman and fielder. but since after four dot bowl he bowls two bad ball and that mistake cause.he not played one international match after 2008 20-20. at that last match against west indies he give 17 run in one over and that cause him out of indian side. nowdays all the new bowler economy is seven to eight rpo. what the selection commitee is doing is after one flop show of bowler they removed from the team and after 1 or 2 series they again come in the team. so why not they giving one chance to agarkar. lets see what he doing.

I have seen M.S Dhoni critizing our bowling when playing in India and we have seen other critizing our batting when playing outside subcontinent. The problem with our players are our bowlers will be expensive on these flat deck pitches and our batsmen cannot score runs on fast pitches outside subcontinent. We must judge a bowler on how he performs in tests not in ODI's. Would any player like to become an bowler seeing the way they are clobbered on these batsmen friendly wickets. Even the worlds No.1 bowler Dale Steyn was taken for runs. Having said that the problem with Sreesanth is that he tries 6 different deliveries in an over. May be that is why he takes more wickets that anybody else in the Indian team.

Unbelievable that so many of you have posted comments against Sreesanth, and specially Rajesh who posted this blog. Before all of us comment, are we considering the dead Indian pitches and small grounds he is bowling on? Let BCCI make the pitches like Perth, Joberg, Willington etc and then comment on Indian fast bowlers’ performance.

If we want to win World Cup 2011, we should have atleast 4 good bowlers including an allrounder. may be Zaheer,PK, Harbhajan, Ajit Agarkar. Ajit should be given a chance as he has shown in past , his carreer is not over yet. If sachin , walsh can play till 38 than y not ajit . He has had good domestic season he is good bowler, exellent fielder and an agressive Batsman. so selectors please bring Back Ajit.

Sreesanth is not at all deserving a place in international cricket at the moment. Let him play more & more domestic cricket & learn how to bowl in line & length.Irfan patan deserves a chance to prove his talent in place of sreesanth.Irfan is an allrounder tooooo.Sreesanth is loosing his mind control whenever he gets a wicket.He should learn from MCgrath & Pollock (great fastbowlers)how to react in the field for the success.

Its sad to see Sree and Ishant in this list! They are our current main bowlers and only India and Pakistan featured in this elite list...

This shows how good other bowlers are!

Sreesanth does look like he is leaking a lot of runs. That does not mean that he is not a good one day bowler. It would be good, if we remember that he made his debut in the ODI squad. He is leaking runs because of his lack of rhythm due to frequent injuries. He is trying hard' it is there for everyone to see. It would be worthy to note that he is the main bowler for Punjab 11; a bowler they trust in the shortest format. A solution for the current problem would be to make him play only test cricket for a while, that is until he regains his rhythm. PS: I would like to see Irfan Pathan returning to the squad and the young and impressive Abhimanyu Mithum sealing a permanent place in the squad. WE NEED CRICKETERS WHO PLAY FROM THEIR HEART.

Sreesanth does look like he is leaking a lot of runs. That does not mean that he is not a good one day bowler. It would be good, if we remember that he made his debut in the ODI squad. He is leaking runs because of his lack of rhythm due to frequent injuries. He is trying hard' it is there for everyone to see. It would be worthy to note that he is the main bowler for Punjab 11; a bowler they trust in the shortest format. A solution for the current problem would be to make him play only test cricket for a while, that is until he regains his rhythm. PS: I would like to see Irfan Pathan returning to the squad and the young and impressive Abhimanyu Mithum sealing a permanent place in the squad. WE NEED CRICKETERS WHO PLAY FROM THEIR HEART.

I think when you analyse the figures of fast bowlers, we must also take into account how they fare in the first spell both at home (read subcontinent) and away. Usually fast bowlers are brought in towards the end and get clobbered. But if the bowler has picked up two wickets in the first spell or has an economy rate of less than 4, he deserves to be considered.

Having said that I still feel Sreesanth would not make the cut!

To win the game outside India, it is always better to have 2 Fast bowlers, one Medium pacer batting allrounder, 2 spinners. Likely names Zaheer, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Harbajan and Mishra or Ojah

Sreesanth is good bowler....his economy is very high....but if he concentrate on his speed, he definitely will be a nice seamer for India..speed is the main weakpoint of indian bowling.

Dear rajesh, you have shown a list of bowlers with worst figures. But when you take the average strike rate he is 4th in the list. And that is why he still plays in ODI. Compared to Ishant, Sreesanth gave away only 20 runs more and took 12 more wickets than him. And he is far better batsman than many in your list.

I have a simple question to ask. Is there ONE bowler in India who can bowl 10 consecutive deliveries in the same (good) line and length spot? Forget, how innovative batsmen could be - all a bowler needs to do in ODI's especially, is to stick to the basic: good line and length. Simply put, don't give away runs - let the batsmen try hard to score runs. Simple example would be that of MCGrath - 90% of his deliveries will fall on a good line and length. Though it is quite predictable, batsmen found it hard to score runs. I remember Harsha commenting on a wonderful spell (as always) of McGrath: "You wake this guy at the middle of night and ask him to bowl 10 consecutive overs on the same line and length, he can do it, although he would not prefer to wake up in the middle of the night to do this". Let's take a small piece of that: you do not have to be extra-ordinarily talented, all you need is discipline (which also includes mental discipline), which Sri lacks the most of all Indian bowlers

I would urge the writer to also display statistics on number of times india has involved in 300+ runs chase or save in which sree has played.. Obvious bowler will have to pay if team is chasing 300+ target or bowling on dead pitches( like Indian pitches). Also Sree provides variety in Swing fast attack as all other fast bowler( except Ishant who is expensive and irregular too)are left handlers.
We must give him chance to perform and show what he is capable of..

Sree has special class. The only thing is he has to be groomed & advised by coach & captain. Even tips from senior players like Sachin will be of great help to him. He has the zest to make India win, he is not bowling for his own record or to retain his place in the Indian team.

Sree has special class.only thing is he has to be Groomed & advised by Coach & captain.Even tips from Senior players like Sachin will be of great help to him.He has the Zest to make India Win,he is not bowling for his own record or retain his place in the indian team,pl understand.

I wonder if this statistician can look at the bowling figures of all who bowled in the same matches as Sree did. Additionally, based on this theory, RP Singh shouldn't even be considered in the 'potential top 50' for an ODI match. RP has more innings, yet less wicket, about the same average, higher strike rate. Yet he was and will be again considered for an ODI.

I am a television commentator in many of the prominent malayalam television channels.I have always maintained that Sreesanth is a bowler ideal for test cricket.He is very aggressive and in test cricket such a bowler is sure to succeed because his only aim seems to be to take a wicket every ball.But in one dayers and in twenty 20 the aim of every bowler is containment rather than to take wickets.Sreesanth just does not have the temperament to do well in one day cricket.No wonder he has the worst economy rate among the cricketers studied here.It would be ideal for Sreesanth to be preserved for test cricket.The fact that he is the second fastest to reach 50 wickets among pace bowlers ,next only to Venkatesh Prasad, bears testimony to his being ideal for test cricket.

The only way 4 india to shine in bowling by giving chance to Agarkar& Irfan.Both were good allrounders and Strike bowlers tooo

Continuation of my previous comment.... I would like to see ajit agarkar back in action soon in ODI’s… He has done well in the domestic season as well if people do remember the epic ranji final where he took 5 wickets and also throughout that season he has scored 400 runs as well… of all our frontline bowlers since 2005 agarkar has a strike rate of 33.3 which is next only to Nehra and also agarkar has the best bowling average of 27.85.

I think Sreesanth is good bowler, please encourage him to take his potential by supporting him as we dont have any other talented bowler otherthan than Saheer.
TKS

I think Sreesanth doesnt fit in the ODI scheme of things.better to find someone who is more mature in his approach. But I dont consider Irfan too to be a good replacement.Zaheer,pk are fixed for me.. other than them in Indian conditions R.P,nehra can be persisted with.but seriously speaking here in India we need a few really good fast bowlers..regarding agarkar lets see how he fares in IPL..

Well....uh, I reckon...the players who perform extremely well in the county season should be given a chance...and the players who are not able to perform well consistently...be it a spinner...or a batter or a bowler...he should be given some rest and made to regain his confidence

Unrelated but interesting :

Sri Lanka has won a grand total of 60 Tests since they first gained Test status.

53 out of thsoe 60 wins featured Muralitharan, bowling at an average of 16 runs per wicket.

Once Murali retires, Sri Lanka will find it very hard to win Tests again. They have no other bowler that can take anywhere near 6 wickets per Test.

No other country is currently so dependent on any one player.

I agree that it is ridiculous that Irfan Pathan is not in the XI.

India really has no other all-rounder. Irfan would either strengthen the tail at #8, or bat at #7 and allow 5 bowlers.

Hell, Irfan has more justification of being in the team than even Yusuf Pathan.

Agarkar, too, was dropped too soon from ODIs. He may be too old now, but he was India's 3rd highest wicket taker in ODIs, and with a strike rate better than Srinath.

Sree's surely a test bowler but we need to work on him. Irfan and ajit are better Batsmen but their bowling when dropped was really bad even in not such batting pitches. I don't know what's happening to India's bowlers; we have many good potential bowlers; RP, Munaf, Irfan, Dinda(I think, he has some potential too)and may be Agarkar for ODI's and Sree, Ishant should mostly be used for Tests. Praveen (in ODI's) and Zaheer (in all formants) are doing good job. Sree surely has potential and he can do better but we need to nurture him well. Also, why do all indian bowlers loose pace? any clarifications? Now, I am an optimist and I hope, we are going into the world cups with our bowlers in much better form and rhythm. I hope, sree, RP, irfan, agarkar all sort it out before world cup since they have it all and just need to deliver it at the right time!

I have seen Sreesanth bowl abroad in limited overs matches for Warwickshire last year and he was effective with his pace and movement. I was also very impressed with his attitude; after Warwickshire had beaten Sussex in a 4 day match on the way out he joined 2 boys in a scratch game bowling slow left arm ( and looked quite natural! )

its the apathy of Indian bowling reserves, the cupboard looks empty or weak hence we keep going back to Sree and Ishant, though poor guys they hardly play domestic cricket to iron out thier flaws. Unless they play a full domestic season and learn few tricks its going to be a long while before they become effective. For now we have no choice but to toss between Sree,Ishant,PK and Nehra