***Official*** South Africa in India

[ret]

*Unofficial* Ind vs RSA thread

the Ind vs RSA test series is set to begin in March, below is the itinerary:

Tour Match v India A at Mumbai (BS) - Mar 20-23, 2008
Match scheduled to begin at 10:00 local time (04:30 GMT)

1st Test v India at Chennai - Mar 26-30, 2008 (10:00 local, 04:30 GMT)

2nd Test v India at Ahmedabad - Apr 3-7, 2008 (10:00 local, 04:30 GMT)

3rd Test v India at Kanpur - Apr 11-15, 2008 (10:00 local, 04:30 GMT)

source - cricinfo


Ind is playing at two of its fav grounds i.e. at A'bad and Kanpur, while Chennai has been good for Ind too, esp for Sachin

As for the playing X1, i guess Ind should play Pathan as the bowling all-rounder, along with 4 bowlers and that would bring more balance to the side. Pathan should bat at #7

Pathan batting at 7 would mean that some of the guys just move up the order. the selection for fast bowlers should be interesting with Zak, Ishant, RP, Sree and Munaf [if fit] fighting for the two spots. And it will also be interesting to see who is going to be the spinning partner for Kumble. will the continue with Bhajji or get someone like Chawla in [which would mean having two leggies]

Below is my preferred X1 for the Ist test at Chennai

top order ----> Sehwag, Dravid and Ganguly
middle order ----> Tendulkar and Laxman
lower order -----> Dhoni and Pathan
fast bowlers ----> 2 from Zak, Ishant, RP, Sree and Munaf
spinners ----> Kumble and Chawla / Bhajji / ?

ofc, Laxman and Ganguly can swap places, if they wish

cheers

 

[silentstriker]

Still a while to go. If he is healthy, Zaheer has to play, absolutely. Sharma is hard to sit down. So maybe Pathan has to sit out with RP, Sharma and Zaheer. We have five pace bowlers of decent quality, six if you count Munaf, who knew? Thankfully two of them are always hurt, so its out of the hands of the selectors most of the time .

 

[ret]

Pathan has been in terrific form of late, i would definately play him as the bowling all-rounder batting at #7 and coming on as the Ist change in bowling. he lends a good balance to the side, i.e. an option of having 5 bowlers, along with 7 batters

IMO, Pathan is much better option than someone like Yuvraj who is on and off. Against OZ, it was a good chance for Yuv to seal a test spot but i guess he blew it. now may be his best chances are when one of the big 4 retires or goes through a bad patch in tests

cheers

 

[Prince EWS]

I think the opposition needs to be taken into context a bit here for India. You're playing against South Africa in the subcontinent - you should definitely be looking at play two spinners where possible. I'm not sold on the idea of five bowlers against South Africa as their bowling is much better than their batting at the moment, but it probably makes sense to pick Pathan at 7 if you're going to play two spinners.

The flip side of that is who you have to leave out to do so. Jaffer would probably have to get the flick in order for Pathan to play as an allrounder, and he's an awesome opening batsman in Indian conditions so it'd be very harsh. Likewise with the dropping of RP Singh in order to play Harbhajan/Powar/whoever.

IMO, Pathan is much better option than someone like Yuvraj who is on and off. Against OZ, it was a good chance for Yuv to seal a test spot but i guess he blew it. now may be his best chances are when one of the big 4 retires or goes through a bad patch in tests

I agree about Yuvraj, but he isn't really who Pathan would be competing with. India would have to drop Jaffer or Ganguly to play him as an allrounder, and both of those moves would be quite harsh.

All in all, there are several possible lineups I wouldn't really argue against, and that's quite a good thing for India in general.

 

[duffer]

Yuvi in India is a whole different proposition to him overseas. Has to be taken into consideration for the series.

 

[ret]

I m not too impressed with Jaffar .... on some other forum, I had said that this guy is going to hit 100s on the flat tracks in Ind and against the depleted Pak attack then be on the plane to OZ and do nothing .... his 100s against Pak were more like a curse than boon to Ind cricket

you can read that on my blog below

anshusays.blogspot

As for opening, I would open with Dravid & Sehwag. usually Dravid is in the ist 5 overs or so, so it's only logical that he moves one step up rather than opening with some make shift opener .... Laxman or Ganguly can come in at 3 and that automatically creates place for Pathan at #7, which also means that Ind can play additional 4 bowlers, i.e. someone like Ishant, RP, along with Kumble and Bhajji/?

cheers

 

[Prince EWS]

I m not too impressed with Jaffar .... on some other forum, I had said that this guy is going to hit 100s on the flat tracks in Ind and against the depleted Pak attack then be on the plane to OZ and do nothing .... his 100s against Pak were more like a curse than boon to Ind cricket

you can read that on my blog below

anshusays.blogspot

As for opening, I would open with Dravid & Sehwag. usually Dravid is in the ist 5 overs or so, so it's only logical that he moves one step up rather than opening with some make shift opener .... Laxman or Ganguly can come in at 3 and that automatically creates place for Pathan at #7, which also means that Ind can play additional 4 bowlers, i.e. someone like Ishant, RP, along with Kumble and Bhajji/?

cheers

India will be playing South Africa on flat tracks in India though; not the bouncy pitches in Australia.

 

[ret]

India will be playing South Africa on flat tracks in India though; not the bouncy pitches in Australia.

which means that Ind's batting will do good anyways [don't need Jaffar for that] .... and it would use 5 bowlers to bowl out RSA

on flat tracks, the reverse swing also comes into play so i would definitely consider playing 3 quicks, along with two spinners .... as i mentioned earlier, by having Pathan, Ind not only gets the 3rd seamer but also a lower order batsman

cheers

 

[TT Boy]

the Ind vs RSA test series is set to begin in March, below is the itinerary:

Tour Match v India A at Mumbai (BS) - Mar 20-23, 2008
Match scheduled to begin at 10:00 local time (04:30 GMT)

1st Test v India at Chennai - Mar 26-30, 2008 (10:00 local, 04:30 GMT)

2nd Test v India at Ahmedabad - Apr 3-7, 2008 (10:00 local, 04:30 GMT)

3rd Test v India at Kanpur - Apr 11-15, 2008 (10:00 local, 04:30 GMT)

source - cricinfo


cheers

The 'A' game has been cancelled, the South Africans players decided against it and opted for a few days longer back home. Coach, Mickey Arthur was not overly ecstatic by their decision but Graeme Smith effectively runs the side and what he says goes.

 

[NUFAN]

Below is my preferred X1 for the Ist test at Chennai

top order ----> Sehwag, Dravid and Ganguly
middle order ----> Tendulkar and Laxman
lower order -----> Dhoni and Pathan
fast bowlers ----> 2 from Zak, Ishant, RP, Sree and Munaf
spinners ----> Kumble and Chawla / Bhajji / ?

ofc, Laxman and Ganguly can swap places, if they wish

cheers

I can see why this unofficial.

I know you've said they can swap places, they MUST swap places. I think Jaffer is unlucky. Sure he didn't do anything against Australia, but he was sublime at home before Australia.

Also, why do you name sides like this (putting players into groups) all the time? I didn't mind it when you did it in the Twenty20, but in Test Cricket it just looks ordinary.

Calling Dhoni and Phani as lower order is

 

[Perm]

Haha, WTF, Phani?

 

[Cevno]

I would drop harbhajan and play amit mishra instead.
Harbhajan has not looked wicketaking in tests for a while now.

 

[adharcric]

Bhajji will probably get another go now that we're back in the subcontinent. He needs to step up or we have other options - Mishra, Chawla, Ojha to name a few.

 

[Cevno]

Even against pakistan he was not looking that good.
I really want mishra to be given his chance or even ojha.Chawla atm does not look ready for test cricket.

 

[honestbharani]

They would prefer 5 bowlers.... But Rahul hates to open and Pathan opening is juz meh.... It will be interesting to see what combination India goes in with... None of them will be screaming out bad, but there is no real "best" combination yet either.. Not sure if it is that good for a side when they don't know what is their "best" combination..

 

[ret]

I can see why this unofficial.

I know you've said they can swap places, they MUST swap places. I think Jaffer is unlucky. Sure he didn't do anything against Australia, but he was sublime at home before Australia.

Also, why do you name sides like this (putting players into groups) all the time? I didn't mind it when you did it in the Twenty20, but in Test Cricket it just looks ordinary.

Calling Dhoni and Phani as lower order is

well, you can think that Jaffar is unlucky but for someone like me he was always going to be 'unlucky' if you know what it means

have i stepped on ur tail here? why is it so imp for u as to how i should present my line up? thats the way i present my line ups and thats how it is going to be. if you don't like it then thats perfectly ok with me

did i call Dhoni and Pathan as lower order .... i guess, its quite obvious that it implies that Dhoni and Pathan play in the lower order .... ur comprehension abilities surely beats me

cheers

 

[Jono]

Jaffer
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Ganguly
Laxman
Dhoni
Kumble
Harbhajan
Zaheer
RP Singh/Ishant

Don't see the need for 5 bowlers. Irfan and whoever misses out between RP and Ishant makes for some pretty strong bench strength. Sreesanth too.

Even on home pitches, the toughest thing vs. SA will be their bowling. Play 6 batsman and Dhoni, and bank on your 4 bowlers to do the job.

 

[silentstriker]

I definitely think you need two spinners.

 

[ret]

after two draws out of 3 games in the last series against Pak, i would be pushing for 4 bowlers, along with a bowling all-rounder, so 5 in total

as i said, reverse swing plays an imp role on flat tracks so would pick someone like Zak, along with Ishnat or RP with two spinners, along with Pathan as the bowling all-rounder

but, you may find Ind going in with 4 regular bowlers with Ganguly, Sehwag and Tendulkar doing the 5th bowler duties, esp if the selectors want to bring Gambhir in [considering his recent good perfos and track record against RSA in the past home series] to open with Sehwag

cheers

 

[Pup Clarke]

Still don't particulary want to see Sehwag in the Test team but he will be there no doubt.

Was also very unimpressed with Harbhajan in the Australia series, seems to have lost the ability to turn the ball a long way, Sehwag looks a better bowler than him atm.

Zaheer, RP Singh and Kumble are shoe ins to play, basically a battle between Sharma/Munaf/Sreesanth for the 3rd seamers slot.

So...this IMO will be the team

Jaffer
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Ganguly
Laxman
Dhoni
Kumble
Zaheer
RP Singh
Sharma