Prasad and Robin sacked,Dravid dropped

Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh have been sacked as India's bowling and fielding coaches with immediate effect.The decision was taken by the BCCI's office-bearers on Wednesday and confirmed by the president and secretary. The captain and coach were not part of the decision

Prasad, the former India new-ball specialist, told Cricinfo he had not been notified by the BCCI about his axing.
The reason for their sacking was the team's performance in the last two tournaments (the ICC World Twenty20 and the Champions Trophy)and the vacancies would be filled shortly.Prasad and Robin, it is understood, were working without a formal contract and on a retainer payment basis.The pair had been retained in March along with the rest of India's seven-member support staff.

Prasad,had been in charge of India's bowling since the tour to Bangladesh just after the disastrous World Cup campaign in 2007.Robin, who handled the team's fielding from that same tour,was recently appointed coach of Mumbai Indians for the third IPL season.

Rahul Dravid, brought in to shore up the middle order in bowler-friendly conditions in South Africa, has been dropped for the first two ODIs against Australia, a home series expected to be played on flat tracks. Both Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh made comebacks from their injuries, taking the places of Dinesh Karthik and Dravid.

Yusuf Pathan and RP Singh and Abhishek Nayar, tried only for three overs in three games, have been dropped for Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel and the uncapped Sudeep Tyagi.Ishant Sharma has been persisted with despite his struggles in the limited-overs format

The thorniest question of the selection, though, remained Dravid Since his comeback, he has scored 14, 47, 39, 76 and 4 in five innings; the 39 came in a crucial 95-run opening stand in the final of the tri-series in Sri Lanka. It was expected that Sehwag and Yuvraj would replace Karthik and Virat Kohli, their original replacements, but the selectors put faith in Kohli

RP and Yusuf have been disappointing and added to India's struggles in the last few months. RP, after his comeback in the West Indies, averaged 53.20 and gave away 5.91 runs an over. Yusuf, in his last 11 innings, reached double-figures twice, and in 30 matches overall has sent down 111.2 overs. It does not reflect his captain's faith in his bowling. The same applied for Nayar, who has been in the squad for three different series did not score a run or take a wicket.

Jadeja, Munaf and Tyagi, their replacements, all impressed during the Irani Cup and Challenger Trophy. Jadeja's 77, scored with the lower order in company, and Munaf's five-for got Rest of India the match-winning first-innings lead in the Irani tie. Munaf was the highest wicket-taker in the Challenger Trophy, while Tyagi's five wickets came at 18 apiece and Jadeja bowled 20 overs at an economy-rate of 3.7.

India squad
MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra.

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knoughtyd's Signature:

Idiots. How about holding kirsten responsible too?

Imo Venky was doing a great job with the bowlers although imo he did mismanage Ishant. Ishant has just gone downhill after Australia tour.

With Robin, the fielding had in genenral improved only and i thought there was no basis to sack him.

Dravid was a tough nut. If you retain him, your youth policy goes for a six. But then the team isn't much anyway these days.

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Safin's Signature:

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