India tour of South Africa

[prasoonvidhu]

I am confused on accessing/rating three players-

1-Pujara- Obviously, he hasn't had much impact on first two tests which were of high pressure game. How would you rate him considering he was so good in subcontinent and failed in first two tests? Pujara was foolish enough to get run out on both the innings in 2nd test. In 1st test, he was looking solid in 1st innings until he got out to a horrendous shot and in the 2nd innings, he got out to a very good delivery. I don't know why but I feel he has been very very unlucky in this series and he is a better player than what he has showcased. Obviously he doesn't have good stats to show off, but he definitely should not be rated down but I fear it will happen just like that. I am not telling we should drop him for this series or any other series, but how should he be rated ? He is a class player but need to start to deliver outside subcontinent. I just hope we stick with him and drop him for next tour too and then rate him or maybe I am biased for Pujara.

2-Saha- Should we move past him ? He is an amazing wicket keeper but a bad batsmen. He did not look composed at all in crease in first test. We did not care about his batting during home season as other batsmen made enough runs and covered for him although I think he scored couple of centuries. But when we are touring, we need to have atleast a decent batsmen which I don't think saha is. And Parthiv's wicket keeping skills is not test material which we saw in last match. And I am judging them based on just one match and I know we should give them more chance but the time they spent out there did not inspire any confidence to me. And now we are sending DK who, I feel is just an upgraded version of Parthiv. But hope he proves me wrong. I am not expecting Dhoni like keeper batsmen but I will be happy to have a player with wicket keeping skills like Saha and a batsmen like DK.

Other options-
Uthappa- Not a regular keeper in tests.
Pant- Should we really hand out his debut in an overseas tour and take a huge risk? We are hosting Afghanistan in july (I think) and I feel we should try him out in that match first and then make decision based on that.
Sheldon Jackson- I have heard his name and his stats are good but no idea how good he is.
Naman Ojha- He belongs to DK category.
Sanju Samson- I will be interested to see how he goes. He has good experience too. I don't mind seeing him in the team and feel he is better than Pant for a test match mentality.


3-Rahul/Dhawan- Dhawan is not good enough to be in team for me. Rahul should be given couple of straight matches without dropping him. We should tell that you won't be dropped and we will give you full 3 matches to perform or something like that. He is technically sound but throws away his wickets. I am huge fan of him and I would like to see him play continuously without seeing him dropped and give a good run.

Other options-
Shreyas Iyer- He is a good player and he played well against Aussies on a green pitch in warmups when they toured us.
Prithvi Shaw- Isn't he too young ? What if we select him and he doesn't perform well and we dent his confidence. I feel we should give him more time.

Where's karun Nair gone?

 

[zwarrior]

Where's karun Nair gone?

I didn't include him because I was talking about opener, 1 down and wicket keeper.

 

[CerealKiller]

I'm not denying this either. Teams visiting India sometimes find the spin too extreme, likewise sometimes Indian batsman also find the swing/seam/bounce extreme when playing in Eng/Aus/SA. But then we won't see any hue and cry about the extremeness of the pitch - why? Because it doesn't concern itself with spin?

Swing has nothing to do with the pitch

 

[asprin]

Swing has nothing to do with the pitch

That's correct. Seam and bounce it is then.

 

[Targaryen]

Some serious issues with our batting order. Our top oversea players are failing badly. Can't blame Vijay, Rahul or anyone. Without any practice, how could they even play?

Surprisingly, bowlers are doing their job quite well and hope to see them continue the same way.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Some serious issues with our batting order. Our top oversea players are failing badly. Can't blame Vijay, Rahul or anyone. Without any practice, how could they even play?

Surprisingly, bowlers are doing their job quite well and hope to see them continue the same way.

i love your avatar.

 

[namin96]

Where has he made conveniently it as hallmark ? Please point it out to me. He said "Wherever we play we try to do our best." ( I didn't read the link, I just read those questions you posted here) when asked about the wins in India. We didn't tour outside India for few years and we played more games in India and we WON all of them and we became #1. How is this Kohli's fault ? He doesn't schedule these matches. And ofcourse he has to back it up that we are the number one side. So according to you, he should just tell that we lost this series and we don't deserve to be #1 ? Are you serious ?

Yes he said he is ready to tackle overseas challenges, but we failed. We came into the series with #1 ranking and even if we have lost here, we cannot get depressed and just openly come out and tell we don't deserve this ranking. We are number one for a reason. And unlike others, he is not blaming the pitches or conditions and he is accepting the mistake that we didn't perform well. The tone in which the media guy asked questions, Kohli responded appropriately.

In general-

Nowadays in most of the series, home team is winning. The heat we are getting is quite frankly disappointing especially from some of the good posters. We fought well and we lost. Captaincy was bad, I agree. But I for one support my team, India regardless of who plays and how many games we lose. I don't care about trollers because that's what they do. Haters gonna hate. I stand behind my captain regardless of the decisions he has taken and suck it up because I am an Indian cricket team supporter.

I actually support the idea that he should have said something like, "we have not played like a #1 ranked side should have played, and to be the best you need to be able to perform in all conditions". I don't believe we are the best because how can you even say that, if you say something like "we need to prove why we are ranked 1 in the final remaining test" now that's a statement to make.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

It won't happen, but this would be my XI-

Rahul
Vijay
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Karthik
Pandya
Ashwin
Kumar
U Yadav
Ishant

 

[AliB]

It won't happen, but this would be my XI-

Rahul
Vijay
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Karthik
Pandya
Ashwin
Kumar
U Yadav
Ishant

Why would you drop Shami?

 

[mibm]

Self-important Ravi Shastri told a news channel that Vijay and Dhawan will open in South Africa.

 

[zwarrior]

It won't happen, but this would be my XI-

Rahul
Vijay
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Karthik
Pandya
Ashwin
Kumar
U Yadav
Ishant

This looks a good team but I won't drop Shami. Ishant did well but I would put Shami in place of him. Shami was good too.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

@AliB @zwarrior

The reason I'm dropping Shami is because he's been too temperamental. Has he bowled like Shami? In a couple of spells he sure has but the rest has been quite poor. We can't win the series now and I really want to see how Yadav goes here. I think him and Shami were superb in the home season and I would want to see how he uses these conditions. The biggest thing with Yadav is that I know he will run in for me all day. Shami has his lazy moments and while you can carry that at home because of our spinners, it becomes a baggage abroad. The series is gone anyway as well so a bit more pace as well.

My biggest reason for picking Ishant is control. All those years when he was actually worthless has taught him patience and how to bowl when. Bhuvi simply picks himself and only a door knob like Kohli can ignore that.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22157239/virat-kohli-arrogance-helps-game-not-team

 

[Gopal123]

Reasons why i think Bhuvi and rahane was dropped.

Bhuvi: The ball was not swinging at all. If bhuvi doesnt swing ball then africans would easily score making his economy 4.5 to 5.5.

Rahane: His poor form against sri lanka. If he cant perform on flat pitches against the weak lankans how will he perform against proteas.

Stats doest guarantee your sucess if stat matters why didnt rahul or pujara scored a 50 or 100.
So please STFU when Rahane (lower chances but still) get dropped for 3rd test.
I think Bumrah should be dropped for yadav.

 

[Fenil]

Somebody needs to tell the team management that our tail effectively starts at 5! Saha, Hardik, Ashwin and even Jadeja (if selected) with all his three triple centuries in domestic cricket are not reliable as batsmen in Test match cricket hence, effectively we are carrying 3 allrounders (one wk allrounder be it Saha or Parthiv) in the final XI who cannot actually bat long. Add to that Rohit and Rahul are not the regular members of the team and would be under pressure to cement their place in the side. More so with people like Rahane and Dhawan (despite form) sniffing under their neck. We need to give a spot to someone like Rahane who can bat long hours even if it means playing with Rohit as opener to accommodate Rahane!

The current combination might work in subcontinent conditions where players like Hardik, Jadeja and Ashwin would find it easier bat but in overseas conditions we need genuine batters and we can afford to have that combination since our bowling is going good for the first time in eternity in overseas conditions (outside Asia except for WI).