India tour of South Africa - 2013/14

SaiSrini

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Since the schedule has been put up by Cricinfo, thought this would be a good time to kickstart the thread for what should be a very crucial tour for India to South Africa at the end of this year, 2013. With India performing in horrid fashion in its last two overseas tours of England and Australia, and the subsequent retirements that have happened, this tour is going to generate enough excitement for people who want to see how India fare overseas especially after the exit of some of its legends.

Fixtures

18 November: T20 Tour match, India v SA Invitation XI, Potchefstroom (Day/Night)
21 November: 1st T20 International, Johannesburg (Day/Night)
24 November: 2nd T20 International, Cape Town (Day)
27 November: 1st ODI, Durban (Day/Night)
30 November: 2nd ODI, Port Elizabeth (Day)
3 December: 3rd ODI, East London (Day/Night)
6 December: 4th ODI, Centurion (Day/Night)
8 December: 5th ODI, Johannesburg (Day)
12 December: 6th ODI, Bloemfontein (Day/Night)
15 December: 7th ODI, Cape Town (Day)
18-19 December: India v SA Invitation XI, Paarl
22-23 December: India v SA Invitation XI, Pietermaritzburg
26-30 December: 1st Test, Durban
2-6 January: 2nd Test, Cape Town
15-19 January: 3rd Test, Johannesburg

Fixtures Source: Cricinfo

Good thing India have done is, they are sending most of their test players on the India A tour of South Africa early to this series. Players like Pujara, Vijay, Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Raina, Rayudu, Karthik, Rahane, etc are players who are either test certanities or who are pushing hard for a place in the test side for this tour.
 

zeustrojanstark

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Sachin might just call it a day after this series but i really want him to milk the runs in Africa.I want Sachin to sign off in an emphatic manner.C'mon Tendulkar.:thumbs
 

blueblood

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I thought there would be objections, and they'll stress more on having a 4 test series! But still looks good if CSA could actually change the plan, 7 ODI's are actually too many, and not worth.
 
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SaiSrini

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From this article, I am happy about the BCCI objecting to the 7 ODI's between the two teams. But I am a little worried about the BCCI asking players whether they want to play tests first. Playing the tests at the end of the tour would be a better idea for India. India often face trouble adapting to the conditions, and if they play the tests at the end, that will be advantageous for them.

But yes, I am all for not accepting the 7-ODI proposal. Chop off 2 ODI's (if need be, even 4) and have an additional test match in there.
 

zeustrojanstark

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I am eager to see the Indian squad.Its a good time to bring back Kaif to both tests and ODIs.He was such a brilliant utility player but lost steam and was eventually kicked out.But his experience can be a handful in the South African conditions.Looking forward to see Kaif for both ODIs and tests and Wasim Jaffer to open with Dhawan in tests.
 

SaiSrini

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I am eager to see the Indian squad.Its a good time to bring back Kaif to both tests and ODIs.He was such a brilliant utility player but lost steam and was eventually kicked out.But his experience can be a handful in the South African conditions.Looking forward to see Kaif for both ODIs and tests and Wasim Jaffer to open with Dhawan in tests.

Are you crazy? Vijay has cemented his place in the test side with those twin centuries against Australia. Even if we need a backup opener, it will be Gambhir, not Jaffer. And Kaif - well I don't see him coming back too. Our middle order is crowded. We still have Tendulkar who will definitely tour, and then we have Pujara, Kohli and Dhoni confirmed. And for the rest, we have the likes of Rohit, Raina, Tiwary, Rayudu, Karthik, Rahane, Yuvraj, etc. Kaif is nowhere near the radar for a batting spot in the test team. I don't see either Kaif or Jaffer making an international comeback again. Never!

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Our squad will most probably be like this:

M Vijay, S Dhawan, D Karthik, C Pujara, V Kohli, S Tendulkar, M Dhoni, R Sharma, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, U Yadav, B Kumar, I Sharma, S Ahmed, J Unadkat

I definitely see Rohit Sharma in there after his good performances in recent times with the ODI side. Also the non-inclusion of Gambhir and the inclusion of Karthik in the India-A tour gives me the feeling that the selectors might not be looking at Gambhir as backup opener, but at Karthik both as backup opener and backup keeper. Karthik has opened for India before in tests in England, and can do it again.
 

zeustrojanstark

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Are you crazy? Vijay has cemented his place in the test side with those twin centuries against Australia. Even if we need a backup opener, it will be Gambhir, not Jaffer. And Kaif - well I don't see him coming back too. Our middle order is crowded. We still have Tendulkar who will definitely tour, and then we have Pujara, Kohli and Dhoni confirmed. And for the rest, we have the likes of Rohit, Raina, Tiwary, Rayudu, Karthik, Rahane, Yuvraj, etc. Kaif is nowhere near the radar for a batting spot in the test team. I don't see either Kaif or Jaffer making an international comeback again. Never!

Yeah,they are out of favour.Sad about that,but i want India to just give one more chance to them.And Kaif can be selected ahead of Tiwary,Rayudu and Raina in case of tests maybe not for ODIs.

Vijay is one of my favourite player but again i am not sure how he will handle the South African conditions,so i personally feel someone like Jaffer who has a brilliant domestic record can be tested.Gautam has got many chances,that is the reason i avoided Gambhir and bought in Jaffer.
 

abhi_jacko

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Instead of 4 tests (I hate even numbered Tests :P) they should get a warmup added in there - to transition from ODIs to Tests
 

sifter132

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^What schedule are you looking at? There's 3 Tests, with 2 warmups before hand.

3 Tests vs 7 ODIs wouldn't be my ideal balance. I would have enjoyed another Test (or 2) at the expense of some ODIs. But looking at the Aussie schedule, you can understand why. They play ZERO ODIs, but 3 T20s. So overall for SA it's 6 Tests, 7 ODIs, 5 T20Is - a bit more balanced.
 

StinkyBoHoon

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really don't fancy india's chances in this series, SA are just rolling teams right now, but if nothing else the ton of ODIs and warmups is certainly encouraging from a board that usually just dumps their team in a country and sends them out to play a test the next day.

could be an exciting series if india come in well prepared, I was fearing a series of 4 day walkovers for SA.
 

abhi_jacko

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^What schedule are you looking at? There's 3 Tests, with 2 warmups before hand.

3 Tests vs 7 ODIs wouldn't be my ideal balance. I would have enjoyed another Test (or 2) at the expense of some ODIs. But looking at the Aussie schedule, you can understand why. They play ZERO ODIs, but 3 T20s. So overall for SA it's 6 Tests, 7 ODIs, 5 T20Is - a bit more balanced.

My bad - dint notice the warmups

While your point makes sense, I still feel 7 ODIs is overkill (for a bilateral series)
 

aditya123

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^What schedule are you looking at? There's 3 Tests, with 2 warmups before hand.

3 Tests vs 7 ODIs wouldn't be my ideal balance. I would have enjoyed another Test (or 2) at the expense of some ODIs. But looking at the Aussie schedule, you can understand why. They play ZERO ODIs, but 3 T20s. So overall for SA it's 6 Tests, 7 ODIs, 5 T20Is - a bit more balanced.

I just feel SA missed a trick by not having a tri-series involving India, Aus and SA. Would have been far more interesting viewing and also meant that both touring sides get to play all formats.

My fixtures would have been something like this.

India vs SA Test series, followed by Ind-SA 2 T20Is and then a Tri-series (Ind-SA-Aus) and finally the Australia test series. This would have been far more easier on the players and had more context. Surprising how these things somehow are not thought by the boards.

With India around, a tri-series would have had big crowds even for the neutral games.
 

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