> Laxman to replace skipper , Dravid ruled out of ODI series

The Indian cricket team plunged into deep crisis on Monday with its captain and batting mainstay Rahul Dravid being ruled out of the remaining two matches of the One-day series against South Africa due to a finger injury.

Dravid's injury could not have come at a worse time for the team, which has hurtled from one humiliating defeat to another on the tour with most of its top-order batsmen struggling for runs.

Dravid, who top scored with 63 in the third match on Sunday, sustained the injury on his middle finger in the right hand while attempting a catch.

Virender Sehwag, who himself has just come out of a finger injury and is struggling for runs, will lead the side at Port Elizabeth on November 29 and Centurion on December 3.

The Indian Cricket Board, which had initially said that no replacement would be flown out for Dravid, changed its mind and decided to send stylish middle-order batsman VVS Laxman to shore up the batting.

Laxman, who was overlooked for the one-day series with selectors stating that he was unfit for the shorter version of the game, is making a comeback to the one-day fold after a gap of nearly one year.

Dravid, who stayed back here even as the rest of the team left for Port Elizabeth to undergo tests, will however remain with the side with physio John Gloster expecting him to be fit in time for the first Test beginning on December 15 in Johannesburg.

An x-ray revealed a fracture but it would be treated without the help of surgery.

"The injury does not require surgery and would be treated conservatively with constant monitoring," a statement issued by the team management said.

"At this stage, he will miss the remainder of the ODI series in South Africa, though we anticipate that he will be fit for the Test series," the statement said.

The tour has started on a horrendous note for the Indians who have been saddled by injuries and poor form which saw them crash to huge defeats in the two matches so far.

Sehwag cut his middle finger before the start of the tour-opening warm-up match in Benoni on November 16 and missed out on the second match in Durban after the first was washed out by rain. Paceman Munaf Patel sat out of the third match yesterday owing to a sore left ankle.

India are already without key ODI player Yuvraj Singh who hurt his knee during Champions Trophy in late October.

Indiatimes
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So finally the indian selectors did something Right for better or worse .... Laxman shud have been included in the team even before the tour began , i am not sure if his inclusion wud have any impact on india's performance but he is atleast better then Kartik , raina and Mongia .

^ Yes, finally some justice

they should have sent DADA as captain there.

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Safin's Signature:

^ Lol.... I agree

^ Nope. Dada can never get captaincy again.

Only way in for him is via his batting

Captaincy is an bygone issue. Btw - what is he doing nowadays any updates on his super duper performances or he is waiting for the ticket after that one century - thinking let others topple themselves i would get a 'bye' into the team.

i really don't even want to argue.
There are guys like sehwag who are made captain of the team after continuous failures on the pretext that he plays his natural game

There is no doubt about it that Sourav is and was the best captain this team had.

Chappell and some guys in BCCI can fool some of the people right now, but mark my words this sham is not gonna last long. Dravid has not prooved himself as captain and this is not an ego issue. Some people can and some people can't.
If they wanna lose the WC to find the above out, ATB to them but they will go out in shame. Indian public is extremely hard when it comes to cricket and if they perform as they are doing right now, they are gonna get some free shoes. (to draw an analogy, like SRk and Don, dravid and chappell are competing against dada and wright. Those guys made India a team that can fight(yes fight) abroad and win matches. Forget winning the present guys can't even fight. They look like a bunch of losers who have no pride. The pitchjes are not that bad that you can't even play out 50 overs. 100 run defeats and bold out with 10 overs to spare, it doesn't take a genius to see where the team is heading.

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Safin's Signature:

^ Need to be patient, lets see how the Port Elizabeth match pans out Till then i would wait and watch.

About Dravid 's captaincy i can partly agree with you but with regards to Sehwag's captaincy i need to check him out

talk about double standards

you need to check what out in sehwag?
he is not batting. suppose he turns out to be a goodish captain and wins(thats too much to expect, lets say comes close) to SA total.
Then whats the diff between him and sourav. One guy was shown the door who actually was a proven performer and a captain. The other guy is not shown the door when he is neither.

This is exactly the kind of attitude and thinking taking indian cricket in a deep pit.

And btw i tht you were gonna judge them and deliver your final judgment on the chappell dravid duo after champions trophy. You conveniently forgot that

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Safin's Signature:

^ Hello - you are already assuming that he might perform good as a captain but bad as a player

The thing is he needs to fire on both the counts as a Captain and Batsmen - else i think its time to drop him for a few matches.

I am of the belief that players need a clear wake up call. And sorry to say - that means dropping them for few games.

And my feelings don't change vis a vis Ganguly - i see him first as a player and second as a captain and that goes for everyone - a great captain leads from the front and not piggybacks on others performances.

So in a nutshell unless Ganguly performs consistently he should not make his way into the current team based solely on his previous captaincy records.

Times have changed - teams are only getting better.

PS: Nope i did not forget that - Chappell gets a 3 out of 10. I expected much from him but looks like he is a paper tiger.

About Dravid - i would give him 5 for now - but also in no clear terms i would state that i back him for few more seasons/series as Captain. He is not a lost cause