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Mohammad Azharuddin debate

Ravi: sravikrishna@hotmail.com: Azhar need to retire.. he might score a few more runs but it will be at the expense of younger talent who will be having more energy to play and they can be groomed to better Azhar

atul harkisanka: aharki@hotmail.com: i am an azharuddin fan right from the days he started playing international cricket. i would like to see him in the team and am sure he will be playing to prove the confidence the others have shown in him in the past years. BEST OF LUCK AZHAR!!!!

Sathish: g_stash@yahoo.com: Well, this is a good concept!! Letting people post messages on the fly. Good Job. BTW, I think Azhar should be dropped not because he doesn't play well but because he doesn't when it's required. - Sathish

JS: shetti@cheerful.com: Of course, he should be in. Its a great opportunity for him to sit back, not worry about the future, and smash the ball all over the country-side. I can only see an upside for him in that decision

arun: arunsubash@hotmail.com: hi, a very good article. i would like to be selected and prove all crtics wrong . i dont feel there is any replacement for him currently.

Ravikanth Avancha: ark@iastate.edu: Azhar should be in the team. I am in complete agreement with what you (Harsha Bhogle) wrote in your article. Azhar deserves a chance.

Narayanan: nthondug@hotmail.com: I think Azhar should be rested for a while. He could come back really strong by sitting on the other side of the fence and analyzing what went wrong in his game. Everyone has ups and downs in life and the real success lies in how fast and higher one can rebound after a failure.

Subrata Ghosh: subratg@yahoo.com: Azhar has always throughout his career shown weakness against quality fast bowling on fast pitches. I think he should be selected only for sub-continent pitches and left out for overseas fast pitches matches.

shdatta@hotmail.com: Datta: Before analyzing about Azza..i shud first tell that this is very unfortunate thing which has been happening to Indian cricketers from quite past I guess. Here I wuld like to talk about three greatest cricketers that we have seen including Azza. First it is Sunny. At the age of his retirement ...he was not the captain..he was not in his best form and he was there in the team just to complete his 10,000 runs. Second one is Kapil...same thing happened to him also...he was jus hanging in there to break the Hadlee's record. At that time Srinath, who was very effective than prabhakar and kapil, used to warm the bench when Indians were playing on subcontinent pitches. Now it is Azzaruddin's turn...probably it is nice gesture from Indian selectors point of view to give him a chance in the upcomming oneday series as well in test series against Newzealand. If he fails to make his mark in these games then they can drop him for Austraila series...which is I think important one...or azza may call it a day before that.

Steve: falconiv@hotmail.com: yay. Give the man a chance

Sanjoy: sanban@singnet.com.sg: Azza has never been a team man, as a leader he had never been inspirational, he had been simply lucky, specially in his second stint. Moreover as a cricketer he does not have much to prove either to the world or to himself, should you not quit when they ask 'why' rather than when they ask 'why not'? But then I am yet to see an Indian cricketer besides Sunil Gavaskar who quit when he should have.

sartan1729: sartan1729@yahoo.com: azhar should never have played in world cup '99. however, he still has a lot of test cricket left in him. go azhar!

Jayanto Ghosh: jay.ghosh@cibasc.com: Azhar has been an outstanding cricketer. But, I remember as a kid what Gavaskar once said, "you should retire when people should ask why, not wait till they ask why not". If a player of the calibre of Michael Jordan can leave like that at the peak of his career, so should Azhar. His dignity should be most important to him.

Tanuj: trastogi@hotmail.com: I have always been a strong believer in Azhar's skills and would wait for him to write down the same magic with his wrists for which he always has been famous.Thogh in last few months I have become a very strong critic of him and would always support anyone who would throw him out of the team. But again looking at his confidence and belief in himself I think he should be given one more chance in the team and a chance to perform. No doubt he is one of the great batsman of last two decades and should be given atleast one more chance to write his swan song.

Sathya: sathyapandalai@excite.com: Definitely he seems to have passed his prime. Azhar has been with the indian team for the last 15 years and his contribution to indian cricket cannot be forgotton. It is the duty of all cricket loving people to give this man, a great cricketer, a wonderful farewell. He should not be droped from the team. He is too precious player to be treated that way. Let the board talk to him. Let him bow out with honour. Throwing him out of the team would be the last thing you would like to do to a player of such calibre. Let us not forget his contributions. All the best to Azhar.

Venkatesh G.D.: venkateshgd@hotmail.com: Well, from Amitabh to Azhar, we Indians have often displayed a rather unfortunate tendency to kick our heroes when they're down. Azhar has provided us with sheer joy over the past several years and given his all for the country. I think he deserves to be in the team based on his record alone, and the decision to retire or not should be his alone.

Sainath: sainathn@hotmail.com: We have this bad habit to rubbish our sportsmen. I ask all the arm chair critics to play street cricket, and try scoring 10 measly runs, before passing judgement on undoubtedly the greatest Indian captian, Mhd. Azharrudin. Go Azza Go, You Have a Long Way To Go !!

Venky: venkyprasad@rocketmail.com: Hi, mohammed azharuddin is one of the finest batsmen india has ever produced and it will too bad on the part of nation if he is dropped from the national team. he is still Fit both mentally and physically. we shud give him some more time to him and im sure azhar will strike back as he has done so many times in the past. i wish azhar and indian team all the best.

Zaki: parkaz@afh.training.wa.gov.au: I am a proud Indian and have been in Austraklia since 1991. I took great joy in watching live Azhar's wonderful hundred at Adelaide on India's last trip down under, as also his wonderful century at Lords in 1990 (I believe this to be the best test innings an Indian has played). I am sure he has given millions of Indians and non-Indians similar joy around the world. We Indians have a habbit of putting our heroes on pedestals and pulling them down at the firs opportunity. I believe we have been unduly harsh to Azhar. Since taking over as captain in 1990 Azhar has been our favourite punching bag, because it is easy to blame the skipper for everything. But we forget how much joy this man has given us. So let us treat him with the respect he deserves, for once and give him a chance to bow out on his own terms. It is a small reward for the joy he has given us over the years. And let us not forget that even now at 36 he is by far our best and most consistent fielder (miles ahead of Jadeja who is a distant number 2).I am sure he will perform well without the burden of captaincy. Good luck Azhar and may we watch more magic from you, particularly down under at the end of this year!!!

Ken Rayan: krayan001@yahoo.com: Azhar should be given a chance once more and should be allowed to play for atleast the next series. However, he should be reminded that his position in the team will not come by default but only based on his performance.

Muthu: mkmuthu: Yes, he should be given a chance in this series.

Hrisikesh: hegde@iitk.ac.in: I think Azza will definitely do well in India and we have got to decide his form on the basis NZ series. As regards to Australia , we can decide on the basis of The NZ series. Lastly , if he is selected for down under and fails , We have got to remember "LORDS - 1996 " a new hope.

venkatraman: kgvraman@hd2.vsnl.net.in: I have seen you play eversince your debut.Eventhough I belong to Hyd I feel Azhar do not feel daunted andmlet is still enjoy some more gracious innings from you as the one you gave Klusner at Calcutta.Khudha Hafiz

Salim: salimb@hotmail.com: He was not a good captain but a good batsman, he certainly is. He should be in the team regardless of his current form and age.

SUNIL DASWANEY: sunildas@guyana.net.gy: DROP M.AZHARUDDIN FROM THE TEAM FOREVER AND EVER.HE IS A GROSS LIABILITY TO THE INDIAN CRICKET TEAM IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY

Shailendra Shrivastava: Bobby_s143@yahoo.com: NO...Azhar should not retire now.

Gogineni Srinivasa Rao: srinivasarg@inf.com: hi!Azar Shold not be in the team.As he is not in the form and age above36 and fitness not good.so it is better to retire!!!!!!!!!!!

Giri: giritn@unforgettable.com: Azhar deserves to be in the team for 3 obvious reasons. 1. He is the best available slip fielder in India. 2. His track record on the Placid pitches of the Subcontinent. Im not very sure of the Australian Tour. 3. He still is one of the safest fielders for India (if not the safest). I think its worth giving another try.

Anish Matthai: anishmatthai@hotmail.com: I think Azhar is the one of the classiest and most capable batsman in the world. To give him at aleast three more months is right. Azza has got to be there.

Mahesh: cutemahes@hotmail.com: azhar should be in the team. he will like always come out of the lean patch.best of luck AZHAR, we r always with u. Mahesh & Jyothi

Venki: venkusa@hotmail.com: He should be dropped for the way he behaved as captain during world cup. He may like to continue to get advertisement money from Pepsi and others. Let not our team be demoralised for this,by selecting him.Rules must be same for all.If a player like Rahul can be dropped as they like that too when he was in peak form, why not Azhar when he is in such a poor form and health.

rags: ragszz@excite.com: he is the best player in the conditions in the sub-continent and so must retain his place in the team. about australia, he might fail but should be given a chance

Amit Bajaj: amitb@aptech.ac.in: In the side, definitely.

Anant Kankani: anant_kankani@hotmail.com: Should not be dropped

Peter: peter@ics.nitech.ac.jp: Sir, I went through your article diligently. But I do not think his body would allow him to turn around from his present form due to the age factor. So, better to retire from active cricket. But if he insists, he can be given one more chance on the basis of his past records regards peter

Shashank Shekhar: Shank_shek@hotmail.com: Probably, the article in itself is self-explanatory to the fact that Azhar for the moment should not be chucked out. Not just because of his sheer experience and exceptional abilities to come back but also for sheer lack of replacement. Personally, i don't at all think that players like Ramesh, Khurasiya etc. could be a replacement for the class & experience of azhar. I think the Australia series wud be crucial. The performance inthat series in itself wud decide the issue at least for another year or so.

K.Vasudevan: kvd2thakralcorp.com.sg: Azhar, You have certainly done your bit for Indian cricket and as records speak, you can be certainly proud of it. But, please also realise it is better to leave when every body feels you could have played one more season rather than say you played one season extra! Thank You Vasudevan

Zabi: reachzabi@hotmail.com: I think azhar should be picked, he's still has a lot of cricket in him

Myra: myrap@indiatimes.com: Nay

Saurin Parikh: lalu422@aol.com: Azhar should not be in the team if he is not a captain. He can be now only used as an experienced captain but not as a senior player.

Hemant Kumar: hkumar@ssind.stpn.soft.net: Dear Rediff, Yes, this is a wonderful column looking into the signs of end of one of the brilliant careers of once so successful Indian Captain ever to grace the blue Indian Cap. Yes, I do agree with each and every fact regarding the temperament and flexibility of Azhar, the Captain as well as the Batsman. But for now I think he should take rest from at least the Sri Lanka Tri-Series and should himself had said that and then should take part in the next 2 tournaments, and the situation will be clear as per the One Dayers are concerned. Well as per his performance in the Test Matches is concerned, I think he should be given a look for the New Zealand series, though it will not be as tough as it will be in Australia. But he should be given a look for it. I have got another choice, if it is felt to be a better one, why not our team should not have a separate One Day & a Test Match Captain, Sachin should be the One Day Captain (which in fact Jadeja should have been, as we do not want to waste Sachin's talent) and Azhar should be kept as the Captain of the Test Team at least till the New Zealand series, but now it is too late to do that. Hope Azhar do reads this. A Die Hard Indian Fan

vishy: gopu44@hotmail.com: Tho many people might feel that azhar must be given a chance esp after this article, we should also not miss out on those prospective young azhars who are waiting in the side lines for the old guys to move out. With every retirement , in retrospect we find that the player cud have retired maybe a year earlier, that was the case with kapil, sri lost out, and so many more ! so i would recmmend that rather than giving azhars exit a lot of thought , they should give alot of thought to his entry. and there are many players to replace him! Otherwise this would become a continuing issues of people getting angry with poor azhar for no fault of his! (but of age)

shirish: shirish_nadkarni@hotmail.com: I wish you the best as a captain and I hope you become the best captain ever.

Ravindra Pai: rpai@hotmail.com: Hello, It must be noted that Azhar as a Captain has been a total failure. The main responsiblity of the captain is to encourage his players and also be proactive in the field. Azhar has lacked both of the above qualities and hence he ought to be sacked. so it was indeed a very wise decision by the "Bunch of Jokers" to sack him. Now let us turn and have a glance at this batting skills. For the last 6 - 8 months, Azhar had a very very bad scoring rate. He could not even rotate the strike in many matches. His agility is mach below average and he now cuts a very sorry figure. So I guess He must be sacked as a batsman also. Regards, Pai

Kunal Talwar: kunal_t@hotmail.com: I am of the opinion that Azhar is a batsman of class, and still has many more years to go. Such patches of bad form, come in the career of every cricketer. Moreover Azhar's presence in the batting line up is very crucial for india, especially in the wake of the unpredictability of our batsmen. The younger players, usually cannot perform, when Sachin does not, which is when they need to. When we have Azhar in the team, there is some hope left, even when the openers are out cheaply

M Kulkarni: manvero@earthlink.net: Definately a BIG NAYYYY!! No individual is greater than the Game of Cricket and there is something called Team Sprit that Needs to be addressed hear. If Azhar remains in the side , its going to create lots of problems amongst the Indian Team. Azhar will never follow the Rules and Regulations belive it or not!! Its time for some YOUNG BLOOD... Here is my Indian Team for TESTS(Assuming Fast Australian Tracks). S.Ramesh V.Laxman R.Dravid (V.Cap) S.Tendulkar (Cap) S.Ganguly H.Kanitkar(Usefull offspin) M.S.K.Prasad (W.K) A.Agarkar J.Srinath A.Kumble V.Prasad 12.A.Khurasia 13.Herbhajan Singh 14.Debashish Mohanty 15.Ashish Nehra M.Kulkarni.

Sujit: sujosom@rediffmail.com: Hello To All Cricket Lovers I am a person who has always been watching different games in cricket since my childhood i have had seen different teams playing under different captains but to be very true i have seen very few captains who has played and captained like Azzar he has been a man with calibre he has stood after in a lot of times and has proved his ability that is no less than shahid afridi in shorts and no lesser than sachin in timing . yes i would say his ime is bad this year but it does not mean that u have to leave hime evry person has his bad times so it is our duty to be beside him and give him our encouragement so that he does nnot feel left out in this very world cup when he did not play well there was lot of question marks raised on him but the very fact that sachin also did not play well has been overshadowed he has scored a good run only with kenya and with that team even a kid of any of the indian school would play . so all i have to say is that every player should be given equal support even in our bad times.and to be frank we all know that 75% of our indian crowd are those who praise a person when he is doing well and curse the very same person when he is not. we being among the literate group should have our brains in deciding . we should not go according to what others has to say but should get going with our on thought processings. i would always support azzar and ranatunga for that matter cause people are here to support persons who are only doing well and not others who are facing a bad time we may think of hansie cronje but he is a captain of a team which is considered to be the best team so obviously he is the best captain for most of the people but as far as i am considered i would consider captains like azzar,ranatunga,alistar campell. i am person who supports true sportsmen and not persons like gavaskar who just flatters ...:) love and regards sujit

Ramesh Prabhakar Menon: ramshp@hotmail.com: azhar should be in the team... he was a bad captain, but i think he still has it in him to be a good contributor with the bat, as well as assist sachin with his experience... he should probably retire after he gets his 10,000th run in ODIs.. c'mon azhar, give it ur best.. -ramesh

Rohit Sharma: rohitksharma@rediffmail.com: Yay. He should be in the team.

Rajiv Devulapalli: devularajiv@hotmail.com: Aye. He should be give a few more chances to play for India. He is too good a player to be dropped

vijayk: vjkshaw@hotmail.com: Yes, he still is among the good batsmen in the Indian team and needs to be given another series.

Indro Dasgupta: idasgupt@post.smu.edu: yay yay yay .... he must be in the team

Sanjay Rai: sanjushal@hotmail.com: I feel that Azhar still has a lot of cricket left in him. Especially with the subcontinental tours coming up, he should be in irresistable form for the next few months. Azhar has always been maligned by the press and public alike throughout his career and now in the twilight of his career he deserves to at least be given the oppurtunity go out with a bang. He has played 98 tests for India and his record in terms of centuries is second only to Gavaskar's. He must be treated with respect, having been a loyal servant of Indian cricket for over 15 years, a should be allowd to complete 100 tests and join the illustrious company of Gavaskar, Vengsarkar and Kapil Dev.Also his one day statistics are second to none in terms of aggregate runs and matches played. His lack of oneday hundreds must be scrutinized while bearing in mind that he usually comes in at 4 or 5 and with Sachin tendulkar dominating the Indian innings over the last decade for India, Azhar is rarely left with much of an oppurtunity to make a significant score. Still, a one day average of almost 40 is no mean feat. And finally , simply for aesthetic reasons, he is a joy to watch. If Tendulkar is all power and might , Azhar is the artist of the Indian batting lineup and i can't for the life of me comprehend the necessity for a debate over his inclusion in the team. Azhar is and always will be the most pleasing and attractive batsmen to have graced the Indian team. GOOD LUCK AJJU ! A lot of us are still behind you. Make this season your best! A fan for all time. Sanjay

Nitin: nitinagarwal@yahoo.com: I think Azhar definitely deserves a spot in the ODI squad. Despite is lack of form he still hold the key to the middle order. Consider the team without azhar. If India looses two quick wickets, which happens often then we have jadeja in to bat in the first 10 overs. With azhar in the side there are always chances of some fireworks with style and elegance.

theidiot: theidiot@rediffmail.com: yay yay yay! anything for that leg glance if it does make a come back. from the looks of it it is extinct!!!

kountinya: kountinya@hotmail.com: I guess the selectors has to give him one more chance, great players can't fade out like this!!

diwakar: dwakar_ii@postmaster.co.uk: Azhar still has a lot left in him as a batsman.. Azhar as a batsman is atreat to watch with his wristy elegance and as a fielder agility personified. Azhar accd. to me was never a great captain.. great captain anda motivator..But to blame him for his captaincy is is not called for..He was not his usual self in the world cup but displayed a new aggression as a captian which was not the usual Azhar. Hats off to Azhar as a player..He shd. continue playing as a batsman with a vengence to hit back at his detractors.. All the best Azhar!! Continue to show u'r wristy elegance

ali asghar: humble@brain.net.pk: even being a pakistani,I think Azhar is a grat asset to the Indian team.how wonderfully he led the indians against us at old trafford. the slip catches of Ijaz and saeed anwar a treat to watch. harsa,I think Azhar should be given another chance. at least against the lankans and Australians in ODI.

Harish C. K.: harishck@yahoo.com: Let the selector give a message to each and every members of the team, if they think that without doing anything they can stay in the team ,its not now. So let Azar be on sideline. I don't agree that ,if a player is not in the form, he be given more chances. No ,let him prove his skill, in national level and then make a comeback. There are lot of good player waiting for there chance even though they have proven there skill in national levels.

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