I cannot but help feel for Dravid against Mallya’s public tirade. With a team comprising of Misbah, Cameron White, Ross Taylor, Boucher, Dale Steyn and Zaheer Khan, there is enough fire power in the team to win more matches than they have. Dravid could be held accountable for the failure at the end of the season (in not getting the combinations right), but repeatedly demoralizing the team in public, does not speak highly as a business strategy. That Mallya thought he could get Dhoni, McCullum (who left in 4 games) and Uttappa and remain under the salary cap and win with that team, is flawed. I think they should have gone for Uttappa as a possible icon for the future and for the local support it could have drawn, but not going for the other two makes good financial sense. There are probably 2-3 other players that should not been picked – but every team probably has a list of players that they might have not selected in hind-sight. Dravid has stood the test of time, and maybe with a more supporting organization, could have done better in this format as well.
Force India is only doing slightly better than RCB, who is Mallya blaming there…?
Chennai Super Kings have probably made a mistake in not picking a bowler who currently plays for India (not counting Joginder). That would have given more balance in the bowling department, while allowing you to field 2 international batsmen and 2 international bowlers/all-rounders.
