Yusuf Pathan

I've been mildly surprised to see the reaction the Yusuf Pathan dropping seems to have evoked. Whilst the majority, myself included, feel that the dropping is justified, there is a lobby that has reacted with surprise to his axing from the national team. The argument put forward is that he was batting lower down the order where chances to get big runs do not come about very often. This is probably true to a certain extent but is still no reason to continue with him.

Look at the statistics - 37 matches, average of 22 & 2 fifties. For starters in those 37 matches there must have been at least the few odd occasions where he got to bat with overs to spare. He has obviously failed to take those chances. The other problem is that Yusuf was selected as lower order biffer. He is not good enough to bat any higher. For those of you who still think its unfair, then who would you pull down the order to accommodate Yusuf?

It is also fairly obvious that teams have caught on to his absolute inability to deal with the short ball. Yusuf's average statistics seem even poorer when you take into consideration that the bulk of his ODI's have been played in the more favorable environments that are on offer in the subcontinent. He is yet to play a single ODI in Australia, England or South Africa. If he is unable to successfully combat the short stuff in India, what chances does he have on the bouncier surfaces abroad?

I'm no apologist for Srikkanth or his selection panel. But this time folks, I think he's got it right!