New Zealand tour of India (Sept-Oct 2016)

[Velocity]

Faboulos stuff from Ashwin andJaddu. India have a great chance here .

 

[CerealKiller]

How? He doesn't plays tests and just doesn't get big scores. Somewhat irrelevant.

You don't know him well enough.

 

[Velocity]

You don't know him well enough.

Maybe, but it doesnt make much sense comparing Rahul to Babar Azam.

 

[SaiSrini]

India more than restored normalcy there, with an amazingly good day of test cricket for themselves!! Nobody can blame this pitch on which India can score 150+ in their third innings for the loss of just 1 wicket (and remember, India are not the 'best players of spin' anymore - it was our bygone era). Superb batting from Vijay and Pujara again. Hope this time Pujara goes on to get that hundred and puts himself on that path to restoring the reputation that he briefly lost due to his mental instabilities.

@kushal17 - I see you often dig up Ashwin's loud mouth. Well I have seen a lot of loud mouths in international cricket, and let me know Ashwin is nowhere close to even any of them. Kohli is a far bigger loudmouth (since you use that term) than Ashwin. There have been lots of them in Indian cricket itself. Ashwin when he talks, he talks sensibly. Yes of course he talks with confidence, but I wouldn't call that 'loudmouth'. For this current generation, Ashwin is slightly more timid than the average.

 

[CerealKiller]

This is India's match to lose. Why prepare rank turners when you can win easily on normal pitches? And the batsmen have it easier too. The NZ spinners didn't bowl too badly, but Vijay and Pujara were too good.

 

[Yash.]

This is India's match to lose. Why prepare rank turners when you can win easily on normal pitches? And the batsmen have it easier too. The NZ spinners didn't bowl too badly, but Vijay and Pujara were too good.

Why England produce fast bowling pitches?

 

[Aalay]

Well this was always going to happen with New Zealand because their best bet against spinners are Latham and Williamson. Ronchi played quite good but he didn't look as comfortable as the other two. I have always liked BJ Watling because he is a fighter but I can't blame him since he is playing for first time in India.

Can't help but feel happy for Pujara. He looks like he has really found his mojo back and is playing like the the Pujara of 2013 rather than going into a shell. Murli Vijay also doing what he does best which is showing consistency in his performance. He has really been amazing for India since the start of Overseas tours in 2014. He has proved many people wrong including myself.

What makes Jadeja special is his accurate line and length. Once he finds what the right line and length is, he will keep hitting that spot all day. Once he finds some turn from the pitch, he becomes even more deadly because he will vary his pace and will spin one and brig another one in with his round arm action. Indian pitches provides him exactly that and that is why he is consistently good with the ball in his hand in India. Now only if he can improve his batting a little bit which is surprising to say for a person with 3 triple centuries in domestic but if he can improve his batting, he will be really handy player for India for a long time. His fielding is already amazing so that is a big plus. Ashwin was amazing as always.

I think they will play till tea and then declare probably or just come out aggressive and bat for one and a half session. A target of around 350+ will be next to impossible on this surface considering the amount of turn Ashwin was getting yesterday.

 

[Neo 7]

Why England produce fast bowling pitches?

Remember the Lords test in 2014

 

[CerealKiller]

Why England produce fast bowling pitches?

I mean, why prepare pitches like the one in Nagpur last year? All India needs is a normal subcontinental pitch like this one.

 

[aditya123]

This is India's match to lose. Why prepare rank turners when you can win easily on normal pitches? And the batsmen have it easier too. The NZ spinners didn't bowl too badly, but Vijay and Pujara were too good.

I would`nt call this a rank turner. It is a good test match wicket and has provided a good contest so far. Good batsmen have scored runs and bowlers have had their chances. Its by no means a rank turner.

 

[aditya123]

Well this was always going to happen with New Zealand because their best bet against spinners are Latham and Williamson. Ronchi played quite good but he didn't look as comfortable as the other two. I have always liked BJ Watling because he is a fighter but I can't blame him since he is playing for first time in India.

Can't help but feel happy for Pujara. He looks like he has really found his mojo back and is playing like the the Pujara of 2013 rather than going into a shell. Murli Vijay also doing what he does best which is showing consistency in his performance. He has really been amazing for India since the start of Overseas tours in 2014. He has proved many people wrong including myself.

What makes Jadeja special is his accurate line and length. Once he finds what the right line and length is, he will keep hitting that spot all day. Once he finds some turn from the pitch, he becomes even more deadly because he will vary his pace and will spin one and brig another one in with his round arm action. Indian pitches provides him exactly that and that is why he is consistently good with the ball in his hand in India. Now only if he can improve his batting a little bit which is surprising to say for a person with 3 triple centuries in domestic but if he can improve his batting, he will be really handy player for India for a long time. His fielding is already amazing so that is a big plus. Ashwin was amazing as always.

I think they will play till tea and then declare probably or just come out aggressive and bat for one and a half session. A target of around 350+ will be next to impossible on this surface considering the amount of turn Ashwin was getting yesterday.

If we show enough intent, we should be able to reach a 300+ lead before lunch and 350-odd well before tea. I hate to jinx this side but our batting does look good enough to do well across all conditions and has a kind of solidity to it which most test sides don`t. Plus, its a young side as well which means this batting lineup could stay together for a long time. Rahul, Vijay, Pujara, Kohli and Rahane is a mighty fine top order for tests. I would have someone like Karun Nair/Manish Pandey/Shreyas Iyer in for Nohit. If Saha could do better with the bat, we will be a hard side to beat in tests.

 

[Aalay]

I would have someone like Karun Nair/Manish Pandey/Shreyas Iyer in for Nohit. If Saha could do better with the bat, we will be a hard side to beat in tests.

The thing here is I am very excited by all the names you have mentioned here because they are clearly full of potential and very talented. However, they haven't done anything tremendous in A tours especially in the longer format. In the recently concluded A series in Australia, we won the limited overs series in which Pandey did well but none of them performed well in the unofficial test series. Again, not a worrying sign as of yet because they are the next generation but something to keep in mind.

 

[Velocity]

I mean, why prepare pitches like the one in Nagpur last year? All India needs is a normal subcontinental pitch like this one.

That was like only one Test, and who knows there will be rank turners prepared for the next few Tests. India would've lost this Test match if NZ scored over 400 and luckily it was stopped due to the brillance of Jaddu and Ashwin. There's not really any point talking about Nagpur, which was a terrible pitch prepared compared to the Green Park one. If India win this match and the series, this will boost India's confidence a lot ahead of the big England series. We just need Saha to play that role that Haddin played back in 2013/14 Ashes. If he can do that, we can beat any team any day.

 

[aditya123]

The thing here is I am very excited by all the names you have mentioned here because they are clearly full of potential and very talented. However, they haven't done anything tremendous in A tours especially in the longer format. In the recently concluded A series in Australia, we won the limited overs series in which Pandey did well but none of them performed well in the unofficial test series. Again, not a worrying sign as of yet because they are the next generation but something to keep in mind.

I was keeping an eye on the A tour as well. One thing that seemed evident from the scores was that the wicket for the first unofficial test was a real tough one to bat on (going by the Aus A scores). Secondly, I saw Hardik Pandya do well with the bat under those conditions as well. I feel Pandya does have something to offer for this test side in NZ/Eng conditions if he can get some discipline in his bowling. It bugged me to see Binny being picked ahead of him in the test squad for the WI. At the very least, Pandya brings in a lot of energy to the side. He can bowl in the high 130s and is a terrific fielder. Lets look at the larger scheme of things and not the IPL performances. We must also keep in mind that guys like Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes were very similar cricketers when they began. Look where they are now.

 

[aditya123]

I mean, why prepare pitches like the one in Nagpur last year? All India needs is a normal subcontinental pitch like this one.

Totally agree. During that SA series, we had two very good decent tracks in Delhi and B`lore, and yet bossed SA there. As you said, this Indian side does not need dustbowls to win test matches. They can do well on a normal subcontinental track as well. As you rightly said, with our batting against spin not being invincible like during the Fab-4 era, the dustbowls make it a far more even contest.