*Official* Road to India in Australia 2011/12

[NasserFan207]

*That point is understood, duh* .... The point is abt bowlers with similar capabilities, where one is raw and with pace and other a trundler but can make the ball talk in the first 10 overs then resorts to containment in tests and cannot take full advantage of the old ball by not making it reverse

In such cases, I would prefer someone who can ball quick .... "pace is NOT everything' is not everything. In fact hv been hearing that mantra on a 'general' basis and 'probably' one of the reasons why Ind produces more of Prasads than Srinaths

You think I m wasting my time trying to suggest not picking a wkt taking bowler

Yeah, but the comparison is between Praveen Kumar and Varun Aaron, so your argument makes no sense

There have been plenty of world class test bowlers of Praveen's pace, fast bowling is great but having variety is even better

I would rather have four Prasads than four Mohammed Samis anyway

 

[ret]

Yeah, but the comparison is between Praveen Kumar and Varun Aaron, so your argument makes no sense

There have been plenty of world class test bowlers of Praveen's pace, fast bowling is great but having variety is even better

I would rather have four Prasads than four Mohammed Samis anyway

As you can see, I don't rate PK much in tests, so someone like Aaron who can not only bowl quicker but also swing the ball like PK, along with probably being more useful with the old ball with reverse, make more sense. If nothing else he will get the exposure and learn while not doing much worse than PK at his best

Don't forget even the great Kapil Dev, who had a bag of tricks up his sleeves, wasnt that effective once he lost his pace then who are likes of PK

And if given the choice b/w Sami and PK, I will probably pick Sami as at least on his day, he could produce a spell of 5 for 75 or 6 for 80. PK on his day would hv 3 for 90 or 5 for 150.

If you look at Ind's history, it has produced only a handful of good quick bowlers. And as I said one of the reasons for this could be 'pace is not everything' mantra. Why bother pushing your self trying to bowl quick when you can stay by trundling and thus extending your career? ..... This is something that needs to be corrected and my focus is more on that. I would like to see Ind produce some exciting fast bowlers and to do that we hv to start somewhere even if it means taking some tough decision in the short term to get something in the long term. If we need exciting fast bowlers we need to do things where ppl want to bowl fast. A mesg needs to be sent, imo

In the past, when I had time, I would hv writen essays on this but not now .... if we can't agree on this then lets agree to disagree

 

[Shri]

In the past, when I had time, I would hv writen essays on this but not now

Thank **** for that.

 

[abmk]

Sami vs PK ?????? LOL, PK is ten times the bowler Sami ever was at the longer version of the game .....

PK ATM is better than any Indian bowler not named Zaheer Khan

 

[Daemon]

As you can see, I don't rate PK much in tests, so someone like Aaron who can not only bowl quicker but also swing the ball like PK, along with probably being more useful with the old ball with reverse, make more sense. If nothing else he will get the exposure and learn while not doing much worse than PK at his best

Don't forget even the great Kapil Dev, who had a bag of tricks up his sleeves, wasnt that effective once he lost his pace then who are likes of PK

And if given the choice b/w Sami and PK, I will probably pick Sami as at least on his day, he could produce a spell of 5 for 75 or 6 for 80. PK on his day would hv 3 for 90 or 5 for 150.

If you look at Ind's history, it has produced only a handful of good quick bowlers. And as I said one of the reasons for this could be 'pace is not everything' mantra. Why bother pushing your self trying to bowl quick when you can stay by trundling and thus extending your career? ..... This is something that needs to be corrected and my focus is more on that. I would like to see Ind produce some exciting fast bowlers and to do that we hv to start somewhere even if it means taking some tough decision in the short term to get something in the long term. If we need exciting fast bowlers we need to do things where ppl want to bowl fast. A mesg needs to be sent, imo

In the past, when I had time, I would hv writen essays on this but not now .... if we can't agree on this then lets agree to disagree

I'm sorry but that's one heck of a ridiculous view.

 

[Spark]

Haha seriously? Sami over the one consistently competent bowler India had in England?

 

[morgieb]

As you can see, I don't rate PK much in tests, so someone like Aaron who can not only bowl quicker but also swing the ball like PK, along with probably being more useful with the old ball with reverse, make more sense. If nothing else he will get the exposure and learn while not doing much worse than PK at his best

Don't forget even the great Kapil Dev, who had a bag of tricks up his sleeves, wasnt that effective once he lost his pace then who are likes of PK

And if given the choice b/w Sami and PK, I will probably pick Sami as at least on his day, he could produce a spell of 5 for 75 or 6 for 80. PK on his day would hv 3 for 90 or 5 for 150.

If you look at Ind's history, it has produced only a handful of good quick bowlers. And as I said one of the reasons for this could be 'pace is not everything' mantra. Why bother pushing your self trying to bowl quick when you can stay by trundling and thus extending your career? ..... This is something that needs to be corrected and my focus is more on that. I would like to see Ind produce some exciting fast bowlers and to do that we hv to start somewhere even if it means taking some tough decision in the short term to get something in the long term. If we need exciting fast bowlers we need to do things where ppl want to bowl fast. A mesg needs to be sent, imo

In the past, when I had time, I would hv writen essays on this but not now .... if we can't agree on this then lets agree to disagree

Probably shouldn't have bothered arguing with you then.

 

[Teja.]

****ing hell, a bloke debuts at 24, plays six games and has 27 wickets @ 25 and and becomes the leader of the attack with all of three tests experience in England absolutely ****ting on two other pacers who have 70 tests between them and a spinner with 100 tests experience, you'd think he'd be a bit more respected.

To put it in perspective, India in England

Praveen Kumar - 15 wickets in 3 tests @ 29.5
Ishant Sharma - 11 wickets in 4 tests @ 58.2
Sreesanth - 8 wickets in 3 tests @ 61.6
Harbhajan - 2 wickets in 2 tests @ 143.5

Praveen Kumar was absolute quality in England. You complain about him not bowling with enough 'attacking culture'? Well, He could probably try to if there was another half-decent bowler in the team.

I reckon he can get even better. Prvaeen Kumar as of right now is the best test bowler in India after a fit Zaheer Khan and we all know the latter is a myth.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Yeah, but the comparison is between Praveen Kumar and Varun Aaron, so your argument makes no sense

There have been plenty of world class test bowlers of Praveen's pace, fast bowling is great but having variety is even better

I would rather have four Prasads than four Mohammed Samis anyway

Are you an Indian fan? Because most ppl from my generation grew up saddled with the likes of Manoj Prabhakar bowling.

I'm not saying PK is Prabhakar; he's a fine bowler in his own right, but he'll always find it hard to be incisive enough to break games open on a consistent basis. The guys clamoring over"pace isn't the be all and end all" - let's see how many games Copeland gets from here on out. With a fit Cummins, Pattinson, Siddle pulling his socks up, etc.

It's not about disrespecting Praveen, but about being pragmatic and exposing a kid who can do a few of the things above. Praveen definitely has a place and a role to play in the side but I just don't see him as an attacking enough option on his own.

 

[Daemon]

Zaheer Asif Vaas.

 

[Shri]

Zaheer Asif Vaas.

For every 3 of those names, people will give you 30 names of failures. I do agree that PK is the next best bowler in India after Khan but not many people see the point.

 

[Kylez]

Comparing Praveen Kumar to Mohammad Sami? That's just taking direness to a whole new level. Praveen is a good bowler and he brings a lot to the table for India. There aren't many bowlers in international cricket who can swing the ball both ways at will like PK does. Not to mention his additional skills of having solid accuracy and the ability to bowl long spells. I understand that he can bat to an extent as well, he showed in England that he could contribute at tmes. Unfortunately for India, they don't have a range of quality 140km/h bowlers to choose from and this probably won't change for a while. So there is no point in constantly complaining about the lack of pace in Indian bowling, debuting random **** bowlers from domestic cricket won't help either.

India are just going to have settle with having PK in the test attack, he's a test standard bowler anyway so he isn't an issue. Varun Aaron's injury is a blessing in disguise for India, IMO.

 

[Daemon]

For every 3 of those names, people will give you 30 names of failures. I do agree that PK is the next best bowler in India after Khan but not many people see the point.

You said you 'don't rate PK in tests' and that Aaron at worst will be as good as PK at his best. You also said you'd rather have Sami in your side than PK. I think that makes it clear enough as to how you rate PK.

I know what you were trying to say. Your point is that Aaron should play because we should be encouraging fast bowling in the obscure hope that it inspires more young bowlers to bowl fast thus bringing us a magical batch of Shoaib Akhtars. Thats bull**** imo.

I agree that bowling quick isn't encouraged in India and it may not be the best of things, but that isn't the way to fix the problem.

 

[Spark]

Think you're confusing Shri and ret there.

 

[Daemon]

Lol whoops. Anyways the 2nd part is for ret, ignore the first.

 

[Furball]

Are you an Indian fan? Because most ppl from my generation grew up saddled with the likes of Manoj Prabhakar bowling.

I'm not saying PK is Prabhakar; he's a fine bowler in his own right, but he'll always find it hard to be incisive enough to break games open on a consistent basis. The guys clamoring over"pace isn't the be all and end all" - let's see how many games Copeland gets from here on out. With a fit Cummins, Pattinson, Siddle pulling his socks up, etc.

It's not about disrespecting Praveen, but about being pragmatic and exposing a kid who can do a few of the things above. Praveen definitely has a place and a role to play in the side but I just don't see him as an attacking enough option on his own.

All total bollocks. Faster bowlers aren't more attacking if they're bowling rubbish.

Praveen was much, much better than his faster counterparts in England. So clearly, the solution is to find more faster bowlers.

 

[Burgey]

You said you 'don't rate PK in tests' and that Aaron at worst will be as good as PK at his best. You also said you'd rather have Sami in your side than PK. I think that makes it clear enough as to how you rate PK.

I know what you were trying to say. Your point is that Aaron should play because we should be encouraging fast bowling in the obscure hope that it inspires more young bowlers to bowl fast thus bringing us a magical batch of Shoaib Akhtars. Thats bull**** imo.

I agree that bowling quick isn't encouraged in India and it may not be the best of things, but that isn't the way to fix the problem.

No disrespect intended here, but you'll struggle to find a very good to great genuinely fast test match bowler whose diet consisted of tofu.

Just saying.

 

[Spark]

Tofu may be the most dire substance known to man. May be strange coming from me given my heritage, but fmd I can barely even look at the stuff without wanting to retch, much less put it in my mouth.

Just had to get that out there.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Ind or Aus, this is a tough one mainly because we don't know which Ind is going to show up in Aus .... The 2008 one or the one that showed up in Eng this year

I don't think you can blame what happened in England on the Indian team not showing up, it's just that England was far too good for them. If Australia perform equally as well as England then the same thing will happen again...but Australia aren't anywhere near as good a side as England at the moment, so you don't have to worry.

 

[GotSpin]

****ing hell, a bloke debuts at 24, plays six games and has 27 wickets @ 25 and and becomes the leader of the attack with all of three tests experience in England absolutely ****ting on two other pacers who have 70 tests between them and a spinner with 100 tests experience, you'd think he'd be a bit more respected.

To put it in perspective, India in England

Praveen Kumar - 15 wickets in 3 tests @ 29.5
Ishant Sharma - 11 wickets in 4 tests @ 58.2
Sreesanth - 8 wickets in 3 tests @ 61.6
Harbhajan - 2 wickets in 2 tests @ 143.5

Praveen Kumar was absolute quality in England. You complain about him not bowling with enough 'attacking culture'? Well, He could probably try to if there was another half-decent bowler in the team.

I reckon he can get even better. Prvaeen Kumar as of right now is the best test bowler in India after a fit Zaheer Khan and we all know the latter is a myth.

I don't disagree with you that Kumar was the shining beacon of India's bowling 'attack' but I do find it humurous to see an average of 29.5 from three tests described as absolute quality. Just because everyone else sucked doesn't make a performance just below 30 majestic