Fab Five- I quite like the addition of another member to this group for if one mans performance got unnoticed in Sri-Lanka it was Anil Kumble. Honestly speaking it is time for the Wall and Dada to bid adieu to the cricketing world. Laxman, Sachin and Kumble probably deserve a series or two. Dravid has now become a wall that is finished with his shots and Dada is a liability we simply cannot ignore anymore. Sachin can be forgiven one for his status(one last time-which he realizes for sure)and Laxman did all that he could do to put up a fight. If they falter again, we don’t want to see them again.

A lot of hue and cry is being raised about the failure of the fab four or five. It all went according to the script actually. Sachin failing on difficult tracks /against tricky bowlers/ crunch situations/second innings, is something that we have all got used to right? . Please don’t dig up some statistic to show the opposite. Viv Richards scored ’only’ 24 centuries, but his greatness as a ’matchwinner’ is undisputed. Nobody digs up statistics to prove that he is great. Remember he was playing along with contemporaries like Sunil Gavaskar, Greg Chappell, Javed Miandad, Allan Border and David Gower, many of whose ’statitistics’ were great. But no one digs up statistics to prove that he was great. Unfortunately for all of his talent, Sachin is not a great matchwinner or saver for that matter, with special reference to test matches. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman putting up a fight( although late in the series)is again something that we have got used to. Sourav , poor guy is always fighting for some other things. These days it is his place in the team. The only thing that did not go according to the script was the failure of Anil Kumble.

Honestly speaking it is time for the Wall and Dada to bid adieu to the cricketing world. Laxman, Sachin and Kumble probably deserve a series or two.

I can’t agree more with you Atul. You just nailed it. Maybe Dada due to his Man of the Series in the last series before Lanka and Oz against Pakistan where he scored a century, a double and 94. But yes, it is time for them to go.