India A - general discussion

[Arjun]

The India A team is now in the West Indies, and I'd say this is a decent squad, keeping out all the long-running fringe players, and instead pushing in younger, fresher players for this tour, bar a few. A common criticism of the India A team is the presence of aged Indian players still not established in the national side, or found wanting. Not so much this time.

Already, they've won the first FC game against their West Indian counterparts, with Pujara contributing a lot to the win. Pujara's India A record is quite good, although he's not quite the complete player, but as a Test reserve, he's got a shout

What's more relevant is the Indian reserves'/futures' tour to NZ. There's a lot more they can learn there in NZ than in the summer at WI, where the weather is similar and the pitches, just as slow, as in India. September, that's an interesting date.

The real disappointing aspect of the selection is the lack of capable spinners (the choice for this tour is laughable) or enough all-rounders who fit in either for batting or bowling (Bhuvaneshwar Kumar is Praveen Kumar lite, and Rohit Sharma is too precious to be put through this), but plenty of batsmen and seam-up bowlers to open up options. Top six looks strong, but the bottom five is weak. Let's not rush them into the national side too soon, though- they need to tour a lot more in this squad and face touring sides at home before they're ready for the main Indian team.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Yeah, always disturbing when Rohit has to bowl. Has been making the most of his chances too, mind.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Seems as good a place as any to mention Brathwaite batting out a whole day... finishing on 66* off 292 balls. To be fair nobody else lasted 50 balls or an hour, but they may have been falling asleep by that time.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Just to add some views, Pujara has certainly done well this far, think he's got three 50s in three innings before he got done today with a ripper for one, the first test we dominated and had them eight down with them needing 71 runs to win the game, Pujara and one of the tail put up a partnership and somehow we ended up losing the game, i blame our spinners Permaul and Bishoo who never took a single wicket in the game,

Our two pacers Jason Holder and Delorn Johnson have murdered India tbh, both removing their top order with regularity, Johnson just got 4/15 in the second innings today and India still need 170 to win on a hard track to bat on, so it should be interesting to see what happens on the final day tomorrow, it would be a shame to lose from here.

All in all it's been a decent series, our pacers have been very good and Brathwaite has come back into some form, Carter got a 76 today which was encouraging aswell.

 

[Cevno]

Pujara


Actually after this series i would say he has again overtaken Rohit and Rahane.

 

[Cevno]

Is the match being telecast WW? Tough chase this now without Pujara.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Is the match being telecast WW? Tough chase this now without Pujara.

Nah not on tv!!.. and the chase has just got a lot more harder as Permaul has removed Rohit and Saha cheaply this morning while Delorn Johnson has just got his 5th wicket and had another dropped, it's all WI right now and it would be crazy if they let India off the hook again from here.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Windies win by 125 runs, the bowlers were just too good for them today, rolled them out 37/6 this morning to win easily, Johnson got two and Permaul four, i guess Johnson ripping out the top four for 15 runs last night was just too much to recover from, great series though and with one test left anyone could win it from here.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Basically neither side have much batting coming through but some promising bowlers judged by the first 2 games.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Basically neither side have much batting coming through but some promising bowlers judged by the first 2 games.

It was a tough track to bat on so Brathwaite's 66 in the first innings was a good score i'd say, plus Carter 76 and Pagons 60 odd aswell, all of the India top order have international experience!!..

Mukund= tests
Rohit Sharma= odis
Pujura= tests
Saha= odi's and tests
Tiwany= odi's
Rahane= odi's

Some very decent batters there but they were just run through by Johnson today, that lad is 6'4, very quick and can swing it similar to Anderson, only difference is he's a lefty!! .

 

[Contra]

Rahane's been disappointing, was hoping he'd score a few. Happy to see Pujara perform though.

 

[Scaly piscine]

West Indies win the series with a convincing win in the last game. Even Brathwaite scored quickly in the 4th innings.

 

[nsniks]

Really disappointed with India 'A' batsmen this series, only Pujara had somewhat good series. Nice to see Shami Ahmed also continuing his good form

 

[Arjun]

When the India A team lose more than they win, individual performances should be taken with a pinch of salt. They're playing only for their places in the national side, and not for the team's cause. A greater incentive or stricter clause should be provided for using the India A team as a supply line for the national side, that values India A wins, and not just fifties, hundreds, wicket tallies, five-fors and delicious averages. Let the current batting prospects stay in India A until then, and likewise, the seamers. The spin section needs to be cleaned up, with Ashwin, Ojha and Abdulla (not ready for the top level) coming back and working their way back into the national side. Likewise, the team should be used to breed a group of all-rounders, sorely lacking in the national side.

Sunil Gavaskar has often criticised the selection and subsequent performance of the Indian A team, saying it's often full of players found wanting when they played for India a little earlier. Thankfully this isn't one such selection, but we wonder if they're really playing for the team they make up.

 

[Arjun]

Yeah, always disturbing when Rohit has to bowl. Has been making the most of his chances too, mind.

Rohit Sharma has actually been India's best all-rounder, but at the cost of his batting. India can't afford to lose one of their best batting prospects by such an experiment. He's bowled fifteen overs an innings and is the team's second-highest wicket-taker, with decent figures, but nowhere in the batting charts. One of Bhuv Kumar or Jalaj Saxena should have been put through it instead. Oh well, Shami Ahmed too, but you'd want a bowling lineup with at least three of him, rather than him alone.

 

[Arjun]

It was a tough track to bat on so Brathwaite's 66 in the first innings was a good score i'd say, plus Carter 76 and Pagons 60 odd aswell, all of the India top order have international experience!!..

Mukund= tests
Rohit Sharma= odis
Pujura= tests
Saha= odi's and tests
Tiwany= odi's
Rahane= odi's

Some very decent batters there but they were just run through by Johnson today, that lad is 6'4, very quick and can swing it similar to Anderson, only difference is he's a lefty!! .

The only one with sizeable experience is Rohit Sharma, while the others have just played in bits and pieces. He's got more international caps than the rest together. Rohit's not as bad a player as he's made out to be, and a much better choice than that Jadeja, to have an unquestioned long run in the national side.