hmm.. if u r talking about those ODIs in Ireland, I thought he kept brilliantly then. Don't really remember anything shoddy at all. There were even calls for Dhoni to be replaced in the tests against England because he wasn't doing well and DK was doing so much better.......
First of all, check Dhoni's stats in his last few tests and Karthik's......
Indeed... I am not saying "drop" him per se... But we are talking about horses for courses here... Ideally, I would want one of the middle order guys to juz take up the mantle and say "Alright, I have a good enough technique and I have enough experience. I will open on these flat tracks"... Juz get the feeling that it is the mental side that is their problem... All 4 of them, tbh. And contrary to what you guys might feel (having read my posts here on this issue), I would actually want Dhoni to continue for at least this series and see if his batting improves. His keeping is definitely good enough and no doubt he has improved enormously.
I would like to play both Karthik and Dhoni, but if I have to pick one then it will be Dhoni as he is a better wk and has a decent record in the tests .... Karthik had a bad series against Pak, so don't know why r u trying to bring in the statsFirst of all, check Dhoni's stats in his last few tests and Karthik's......
Secondly, Karthik has had relative success as an opener in difficult conditions AWAY from home. Dhoni is yet to taste any kind of real success even in the middle order AWAY from the subcontinent and that innings in Lords' he was living extremely dangerously.....
And thirdly, I agree that ideally, one of the fab four should open but they don't want to and we can't drop them. They are too much better than their replacements. So we have to live with this and try and work around that problem....
.... anyways let's not make this a Dhon vs Karthik, coz both of them are talented with the bat
He made a 50 in his last test inning, on a pitch where Pakistan crumbled a little while later....I would like to play both Karthik and Dhoni, but if I have to pick one then it will be Dhoni as he is a better wk and has a decent record in the tests .... Karthik had a bad series against Pak, so don't know why r u trying to bring in the stats
And why can't we drop one of the big 4? Again thats one of those cliche .... can't drop, no replacement .... by your same logic, it's difficult to drop Dhoni as he has been a gr8 wk for Ind .... we can't replace him on the premise that Karthik is as good as him on the basis of what you saw
As i said the whole excercise revolves around playing the big 4 from 3 to 6, and then fitting things up .... which is a pointless excercise in my opinon and the reason why Ind cricket deserves a few set-backs
But aside from being a very good keeper, he is a perfectly fine batsman on Indian pitches.
which is why I said, I appreciate someone like Sehwag more than some of the big 4 coz he opens in tests which is a difficult thing to do, does that in difficult conditions without any fuss, and does a good job at thatHe made a 50 in his last test inning, on a pitch where Pakistan crumbled a little while later....
And yes, I do think they can be dropped, but who will make sit out? Laxman and Sachin have been in terrific form, Sourav had some great knocks against Pakistan, and Dravid scored an important 90 in second last test we played...... You can't drop them, they don't want to open....... we are left with very few choices here......
How are India shorter odds to win the match? That's kinda silly.Hey Social, if you're game, have a bet on a SA win.
They're paying 7.50.
India 6.50 for the win, and a draw 1.25. You seem so confident, may as well get some reward for your brilliant prediction right?
The people who decide these things are smart enough to know that there is a bigger chance of SA collapsing to spin on the final day than Indians. Not impossible, but just more likely than India losing 20 wickets.
As SS said, its playing the safe route.
IPL is less than a month awayAnother day of a test match in India
Shut the hell up and do watch some test cricket in India.
You clearly haven't watched much of Karthik if you're going to come out with a statement like that.
They can always turn to Ganguly, Sehwag or Tendulkar to bowl some overs if they need a break. All three are capable part time options. Of course they couldn't do all the work but they could take some pressure of the seamers if needed.
thats what Ind has been doing since ages, but nothing beats having a regular 5th bowler as he is more capable of drying runs from one end, if not pick up wkts, than part-timers .... usually the part-timers would be on coz the batting side would be doing well, so it alleviates things further for the batting side rather than builds pressure
