God help us, Yuvi replaces Akash

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">var server = '203.197.64.235'; var sitepage = "www.timesofindia.com/india/index.html"; var position ="Bottom1"; if (! (RN)) { var RN = new String (Math.random()); var RNS = RN.substring (2, 11); } var oas='http://' + server + '/RealMedia/ads/'; var oaspage= sitepage + '/1' + RNS + '@' + position; //the belladpart starts here function lrTrim(thestring) { thestring = thestring.replace(/^\s*(.*)/, "$1"); thestring = thestring.replace(/(.*?)\s*$/, "$1"); return thestring; } var xyz=0; var sss = lrTrim(bellyad.innerText).split(/^/m); strpart = new Array(sss.length); for (i=0;i<sss.length;i++) iflrtrimsssi.length=""> 60) { strpart[xyz] = lrTrim(sss[i]); xyz = xyz+1; } } if(xyz > 1) var xcounter=1; else var xcounter=0; var ifirstsub = bellyad.innerHTML.indexOf(lrTrim(strpart[xcounter]).substring(0,30)); if (ifirstsub == -1) ifirstsub=bellyad.innerHTML.lastIndexOf(lrTrim(strpart[0]).substring(strpart[0].length-15,strpart[0].length)); var sfirst = bellyad.innerHTML.substring(0,ifirstsub); var sSecond = bellyad.innerHTML.substring(sfirst.length , bellyad.innerHTML.length); if (doweshowbellyad==1) bellyad.innerHTML = sfirst + '<a href="' + oas + 'click_nx.ads/'+ oaspage + '" target="_top"><img align="right" vspace="10" hspace="10" src="' + oas + 'adstream_nx.ads/' + oaspage + '" border="0" alt="Cliquez ici !" /></a>' + sSecond;</sss.length;i++)></script></div> <div align="center" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="0" width="70.3%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/885108.cms" alt="/photo/885108.cms" border="0" /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Picking Yuvraj Singh to open in the second Test has opened a Pandora’s Box for Team India in the long term.</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br />The Team India think tank has put its foot in the mouth again by replacing a specialist opener Akash Chopra by the ODI specialist Yuvraj Singh.<br /><br />Considering that Akash had his confidence totally drained by skipper Sourav Ganguly constantly saying he wants Yuvi to open, it hardly came as a surprise that Chopra failed in the one Test that he played in.<br /><br />The skipper could not have done any better if he had deliberately targetted Chopra.<br /><br />However, does the specialist opener deserve just one Test to prove his quality? He had excelled in the Tests against Pakistan. His job was to take the sheen off the new ball without giving up his wicket. He did that. As a result he made sure that the much vaunted Pak pace attack broke up like so much surf against his batting.<br /><br />This allowed the batsmen to reap the rich dividend that directly stemmed from his exploits. <br /><br />Surely he deserves a better deal to nurture his talent than an exit before he could make a point. Specially in a match where none in the Indian top order could do much.<br /><br />It makes the skipper and the selectors look suspect, like they are playing favourites. After all, Ganguly brought Yuvraj into the Test team over a lot of criticism. He did not click in the middle. Instead he brings the batsman to open and the other opener, who too failed in the same Test is dropped. <br /><br />What does Yuvi the opener have that Chopra the opener doesn''t? The only time in the recent past where he proved himself was in the second innings of the India Srs v India A game, where he opened and scored a century in the second innings. Surely facing the Australian pace machine is a tougher ballgame than an India A attack.<br /><br />At a time when India''s batting is decisively weak, Chopra could have been better used in the same manner that he was in Pakistan: to take the sheen off the ball and keep his wicket. To foist Yuvraj into the opener''s slot is equally unfair to him and to Chopra.<br /><br /></div> </div>