India tour of South Africa

[Satan666]

Kohli got absolutely "OWNED" in the press conference. He couldn't even say SL and WI. This shows that they knew SA was the challenge.

I really hope we lose 3-0 to drive the point hime further that we are led by a blazing ass. A win would make it look like some sort of reincarnation which it is far from.

Reincarnation? Meaning what?

 

[Velocity]

A warm-up match before the first test would have certainly made a difference. Our batsmen have been struggling to find rhythm, except for Kohli. That's all. Bowlers have been top notch. Not that bad with the selections also as bad a few people have been claiming.

Not just a warm-ups match but a good months rest would've given the players a better chance to regroup, prepare hard for this series, and play at least 2 practice matches. Preparation and this poor selections are the reason why we are losing this series. The Indian fans here are accepting this defeat, but really India still had an outside chance to have this series at 1-1, if proper measures were taken. I hope Kohli and arrogant Shastri realize what REALLY caused this series defeat. If this attitude and talking crap about "aggression" continues, we will face whitewashes in England and Australia.

 

[Velocity]

Okay, agree. But can SA play on spin friendly tracks? Can Aus? Can Eng? Can NZ? It's the matter of where you grow up playing. FFS Stop the nonsense that India is shit outside the subcontinent, its the reverse for others in the subcontinent, Aus and Eng lost to Ban in these conditions, the can't handle quality spin so stop the talks that say rank turners are poor and green tops are excellent.

Actually SA can play on spin friendly tracks. Only reason why they lost last time because of those awful pitches that overly suited spinners. They performed really well in 2010, so they can play spin for sure. Australia for one instance, almost beat India in India. However, all Asian teams have been pretty mediocre overseas, apart from Pakistan drawing the series in England. Had the players prepare mentally and physically for this tour, India would've done a lot better.

 

[prasoonvidhu]

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.

Absolutely agree. Kohli was the first captain to openly state that we needed practice matches. Instead the Sri Lanka series was fit in without reason. I still believe Kohli is the best captain available at the moment and this team will perform better over the coming months.

 

[Gopal123]

I think Rohit should not play next test,if he will not be opening. Stats say he is better batsman when he is opening.
i Think vijay can fit on no:3 and pujara in no:6 (Or he will be rested i guess) while rahane in no:5.

 

[prasoonvidhu]

I think Rohit should not play next test,if he will not be opening. Stats say he is better batsman when he is opening.
i Think vijay can fit on no:3 and pujara in no:6 (Or he will be rested i guess) while rahane in no:5.

Rohit cannot open. There is a huge difference opening in ODIs and Tests.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Lol at Pujara being considered at 6 and Rohit opening. Shows how much effect T20s has had even on the fans. Also I read someone mentioning Vijay and Pujara being slow. So what? What is the hurry in Test cricket? What harm will it cause if they keep scoring at say about 2 or 2 and a half runs per over? These are the type of batters we need in tough conditions initially so that the ball softens up and it becomes easier for the other batsmen to follow. This is not T20/OD cricket where you have to keep hitting!

 

[prasoonvidhu]

Lol at Pujara being considered at 6 and Rohit opening. Shows how much effect T20s has had even on the fans. Also I read someone mentioning Vijay and Pujara being slow. So what? What is the hurry in Test cricket? What harm will it cause if they keep scoring at say about 2 or 2 and a half runs per over? These are the type of batters we need in tough conditions initially so that the ball softens up and it becomes easier for the other batsmen to follow. This is not T20/OD cricket where you have to keep hitting!

There is no harm being slow. Problem is stalling the innings all together. We need someone like VVS at No. 3. In this team Rahane fits that position. I don't think Rohit can be in the test team anymore. Also its a mistake sending Dinesh Kartik instead of Saha. He won't be there when India tours next time. Rishab Pant could have been an option.

 

[zwarrior]

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.

 

[CerealKiller]

And unlike others, he is not blaming the pitches or conditions and he is accepting the mistake that we didn't perform well.

That's because the pitch didn't overwhelmingly favour SA[DOUBLEPOST=1516259472][/DOUBLEPOST]

Absolutely agree. Kohli was the first captain to openly state that we needed practice matches. Instead the Sri Lanka series was fit in without reason. I still believe Kohli is the best captain available at the moment and this team will perform better over the coming months.

Actually a practice match was scheduled, but it was canceled because they prederred normal training sessions

 

[zwarrior]

Actually a practice match was scheduled, but it was canceled because they prederred normal training sessions

That's because the pitch we got for warmup was not ideal and would not have helped us.

 

[prasoonvidhu]

That's because the pitch didn't overwhelmingly favour SA

Cape Town pitch was on the extreme side I believe. If the match had finished in India within 3 days, there was going to be huge hue and cry over the nature of pitch.
Somehow, seaming and swinging conditions in favour of bowlers are considered fine but spinning pitches favouring 3 spinners are considered bad.

 

[asprin]

Issue is sometimes it goes to extremes

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?

 

[Satan666]

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?

I admire how you conveniently use the idea of spin only pitches in India.

Yet roads were prepped when certain teams toured India.

Consistency I like that.

 

[asprin]

I admire how you conveniently use the idea of spin only pitches in India.

That's because I'm making a point with respect to spin and other things do not concern me.