Finally. The rot starts at the top, and we need openers who can stay there in all conditions. There was nothing wrong with Akash Chopra (Australia 2003) or Dinesh Karthik (England 2007). Neither current opener is dependable. I can see it was worth giving this partnership a try, but it's time for new, SOLID openers. Give Mukund another go and somehow fix Vijay.

Gambhir is OK as opener. Probably someone like Wasim Jaffer, Akash Chopra, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Irfan Pathan and/or Parthiv Patel should partner him as opener. I think that Kohli and/or PUJARA may (just MAY) be able to replace DRAVID for 2013 tour to SOUTH AFRICA at no.3 in 2013!!!!!!!

By then Viru SEHWAG can bat no.5!!!!!!!! (replacing VERY VERY SPECIAL LAXMAN)

I think that Praveen Kumar has replaced Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth as Zaheer's new ball partner.

Ashwin and Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav deserve their bowling spots. Pragyan Ojha has done well in Surrey and in recent Tests.

Harbhajan needs a recall for TESTS. Ashwin and co. can do the spinning duties in ODIs and T20Is....

Dhoni is a good captain and keeper/batsman..... I think Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel are way ahead of Saha in that regard.......

Raina and/or Yuvraj have secured the all-rounders slot at no.6 in TESTS!!!!!!

Eventually,one of Gambhir, Raina and Kohli could take over as captain in 2014.

I dont agree with Sanjay yet again, neither did I agree with him when he blamed Sachin for India' poor show in 2007. Stop judging people so early. Two series lost and people become mad. Sehwag is India's best opener ever after Legendary Sunny Gavaskar. He is someone who has scored run all around world and won you several matches. He & also Gautam deserve more chances before being questioned like that...

My 2 cents here Excellent thoughts & comments by Manjrekar except for indian bowling.There are 2 contrasting points 1) Indian batsmen atleast perform well in sub continent where its all flat tracks.What about the bowlers in favorable conditions overseas? Dont we have a single bowler who can bowl meaningful bouncers or yorkers ? 2) Unfortunately we dont have any back up players - especially in bowling

Note: only BCCI selection lions know how Vinaykumar played an international test match!!!

Agree with almost everything you said except may be we should stick with Gambhir at the top. Selectors should have a proper plan to ease out the seniors. Probably they should let a couple of them go in next series , they should talk to them and probably give them a honourable exit in the next series where they can announce their retirement.Bowling as you said, we do not have many choices, any body else you could have picked from the domestic circuit probably would not have fared much beetter. I hope and pray it hurts and rankles the people who matter and hopefully there will be positive things coming out of it.

Dear Manjrekar: u really try hard to sound intelligent. dont you? Well the good bowling you are talking about infact was a great bowling. Kindly have a look at the pitch map you will come to know about it. On Contrary our bowlers sprayed balls like a Machine gun. If we had innings defeat its batting failure combined by worst bowling. Kindly take a note that most of the australian bastmen(ponting, hussey,haddin) were on the verge of being dropped. Thanx to our bowlers that their careers is now prolonged. You have always been jealous about our batting legends as the did what you only dreamt of doing. So please stop fooling urself

dont believe dis manjrekar...he always criticizes indian players as he himself used to be a super batsman..he was a coward batsman in his time..very very slow..he had a aussie tour in 92 n just look his records dere. 5 test, 9 inings,total runs 197,highest 45,avrg 21.88 n strike rate of 34..he is absolute jealous of sachin coz he started playing for india well before sachine arrived but never able to become like sachin..bit his father vijay manjrekar was much better batsman den him...sorry sanjay...but dis is d truth..

Mr. Manjrekar, Before commenting on the Big 3 of India, plz remember the following lines: 1. They have spent more time on CREASE than ur "BLA BLA" in commentary box. 2. They have PLAYED more than atleast thrice the matches u have played. 3. They all averages above 45, while urs is just 37 from 37 matches. 4. Your international runs altogether cannot equal their test runs scored ABROAD. 5. How many matches u have won orelse saved for India single handedly? 6. 4-5 years ago you said Sachin shud quit playing. 7. Only thing which makes you eligible to comment about them is that, you have played before their period, which does not erase the fact that you were a "BIG ZERO" on ground. 8. Cricket is not what you see from commentary box. Well, You dont have the experience to experience it. 9. And about the 100th 100 of Sachin: If he has made 99, he very well know how to make his 100th. U need not worry about it.

Well said Sanjay. You are quickly emerging as the voice of Indian cricket. Ahead of my all time favorite Harsha. Sunny and Ravi have long been left behind - they clearly say what the BCCI wants them to say.

I think need better bowlers than a opening batsmen.