**Official** Pakistan in India

[Jono]

Congras to Pakistani fans. I know this win means a lot.

Our team has become so ****. I can't even be ****ed posting in the match threads when it's on. It's so depressing, honestly what I'd give to have one top bowler in this team.

Frontrunner.

 

[Jono]

Surely he doesn't command anywhere near the respect and stature that Sachin did. So what is holding back the selectors?

Sehwag has been dropped plenty of times in his career. Reckon they actually just think he's good and will click back into form (even though he's in decline, not out of form).

 

[Cevno]

Sehwag was never a great ODI player anyway, so playing him out of form in that format makes no sense tbh.

His Cbf attitude sucks when the team is doing badly too.

 

[Cevno]

To be fair, Pujara was out of contention for about a year and a half so he did miss potential opportunities to make strides in tests and odi's.

Also Pujara's home ground is Rajkot, that ground is THE FLATTEST deck in India. So even though I love Pujara as much as the next guy, I'd take his average with a pinch of salt.

Having said that he is making a desperate effort to get into the ODI side, and it won't be long before we see him in the side, after all, India haven't played ODI's since July/August of last year, so you can't make changes until India actually start playing a handful of games first.

The series vs England is definitely a good opportunity to get the likes of Rahane and Pujara etc in and throw out Sehwag, I think Sehwag has blown his chance in this series vs Pak

Nah Pujara has performed well almost everywhere now, including India A tours abroad. Was the Star of the U-19 team in the WC too in tough conditions.

His talent has been obvious since.

He hasn't been selected for the India ODI team because of IPL. Indian selectors Indian ODI batsman based on IPL and T20 now , and test batsman barring a few exceptions based on ODI.

Even Badrinath was selected for the ODI team after he had a good IPL, and then not selected for the test team because he didn't do well in ODI subsequently. Same with Rahane who was selected for Indian team only after IPL despite his great form in FC.

Then Sourabh Tiwary popped into the Indian team after a good IPL out of nowhere.

 

[Cevno]

yeah

You know the joke is bad when Smali doesn't give even one "".

 

[Flametree]

Is Jamshed going to be in the test side in South Africa or will Taufeeq keep him out?

 

[Xuhaib]

Is Jamshed going to be in the test side in South Africa or will Taufeeq keep him out?

Taufiq has a gun record vs SA and has formed a decent & stable opening partnership with Hafeez however i think Misbah, Hafeez and Dave like Jamshed so even one failure by Taufiq could see the end of him.

 

[Xuhaib]

Is Jamshed going to be in the test side in South Africa or will Taufeeq keep him out?

Taufiq has a gun record vs SA and has formed a decent & stable opening partnership with Hafeez however i think Misbah, Hafeez and Dave like Jamshed so even one failure by Taufiq could be the end of him.

 

[Cevno]

Wasn't Taufeeq pretty poor last year ?

What does the Pak test team look like atm ?

 

[Xuhaib]

Hafeez
Taufeeq
Azhar
Younis
Misbah
Asad
Adnan Akmal
Gul
Junaid
Rehman/Irfan/Wahab/Cheema
Ajmal

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Haven't exactly confirmed the 3rd seamer/2nd spinner place yet.

 

[Contra]

Nah Pujara has performed well almost everywhere now, including India A tours abroad. Was the Star of the U-19 team in the WC too in tough conditions.

His talent has been obvious since.

He hasn't been selected for the India ODI team because of IPL. Indian selectors Indian ODI batsman based on IPL and T20 now , and test batsman barring a few exceptions based on ODI.

Even Badrinath was selected for the ODI team after he had a good IPL, and then not selected for the test team because he didn't do well in ODI subsequently. Same with Rahane who was selected for Indian team only after IPL despite his great form in FC.

Then Sourabh Tiwary popped into the Indian team after a good IPL out of nowhere.

I was only talking about his List A average and how it's a bit inflated by not outs and playing at the flattest deck in India for about half his games. That doesn't mean he's not a good player, but he's not as good as 56.9 or whatever his average is in list A.

 

[SJS]

To be fair, Pujara was out of contention for about a year and a half so he did miss potential opportunities to make strides in tests and odi's.

Also Pujara's home ground is Rajkot, that ground is THE FLATTEST deck in India. So even though I love Pujara as much as the next guy, I'd take his average with a pinch of salt.

Having said that he is making a desperate effort to get into the ODI side, and it won't be long before we see him in the side, after all, India haven't played ODI's since July/August of last year, so you can't make changes until India actually start playing a handful of games first.

The series vs England is definitely a good opportunity to get the likes of Rahane and Pujara etc in and throw out Sehwag, I think Sehwag has blown his chance in this series vs Pak

To talk of a particular wicket as a flat deck in the Indian first class context is a joke.

Just think. Ravinder Jadeja has scored two triple centuries in the last year or so. He averages in three figures with the bat, yet he comes into the one day side and bats below Ashwin who is still considered to be in the side as a bowler.

How come ?

Is it not because no one takes runs in Ranji trophy seriously any more.

And is that not because, invariably the wickets are just like concrete.

Have you had a look at the scores in Ranji trophy in the last month? There have been matches where at times even one innings each side has looked like being difficult to finish so high has been the scoring.

If Sachin and Dravid etc wanted to play in the first class game and decided that they didn't want to get out (not in their current form or lack of cricket) they would score triple century after triple century and have astronomical averages.

The wickets in India in the first class gane are a joke.

The case for Pujara fr odi need not be built on his first class record but his ability with the bat. His ability to play lateral movement and the short rising delivery which the present Indian side has been shown up against.

The innings in that last game is only to be taken to show that he is no stodgy batsman but can play strokes but the main reason for him to be included is the same as would be to bring back Dravid if he was available and three years younger.

 

[Contra]

To talk of a particular wicket as a flat deck in the Indian first class context is a joke.

Just think. Ravinder Jadeja has scored two triple centuries in the last year or so. He averages in three figures with the bat, yet he comes into the one day side and bats below Ashwin who is still considered to be in the side as a bowler.

How come ?

Is it not because no one takes runs in Ranji trophy seriously any more.

And is that not because, invariably the wickets are just like concrete.

Have you had a look at the scores in Ranji trophy in the last month? There have been matches where at times even one innings each side has looked like being difficult to finish so high has been the scoring.

If Sachin and Dravid etc wanted to play in the first class game and decided that they didn't want to get out (not in their current form or lack of cricket) they would score triple century after triple century and have astronomical averages.

The wickets in India in the first class gane are a joke.

The case for Pujara fr odi need not be built on his first class record but his ability with the bat. His ability to play lateral movement and the short rising delivery which the present Indian side has been shown up against.

The innings in that last game is only to be taken to show that he is no stodgy batsman but can play strokes but the main reason for him to be included is the same as would be to bring back Dravid if he was available and three years younger.

Doesn't matter, my only point was in regards to his List A average, which was used by someone earlier to suggest that the Indian selectors weren't picking him despite him averaging 56 in limited overs cricket in India at the domestic level. I'm not sure what Ranji trophy has to do with it, and yes, while there are other tracks in India that are flat, a lot of the times they are prepared to be flat simply due to the nature and set up of Ranji trophy and the whole first innings lead or whatever it is that gets you points.

Rajkot on the other hand is by default a flat deck, other grounds you can actually be prepared to be bowler friendly IF NEEDED, you can't really do that with Rajkot

Oh and just ftr, Jadeja's home ground is also Rajkot, and one of his two triples came there.

Oh and Pujara isn't inherently better at playing the short ball than most other players, if anything he's had his fair share of problems with the short ball. I agree that he does have patience and the technique to play swinging deliveries however.

 

[Furball]

My point about Pujara's List A average was because they've picked guys like Rahane and Rohit Sharma in the ODI side even though they average mid 30s. I assumed that Pujara must have had a similarly average List A average - was quite surprised to see he averaged as much as 56.

 

[Cruxdude]

I think this aversion to drop people might have something to do with the fact that we used to chop and change the team like crazy in the 90s. Sadly this is letting non-performers stay on in the team far longer than necessary.

Seriously what future does Sehwag have in this ODI team? Even if he gets going and finds form, I do not see him doing well in the WC in Australia with the bat and with his fitness levels and 2 years down the lane his fielding will be horrendous.

Also Gambhir just needs to go back to FC and start scoring big runs to get in to the team again. He has shown in the past that he can work around his technical limitations but right now he just seems to be in denial and not contributing anything to the team.

Rahane, Tiwary and Pujara need to be given a look in. Can understand players not getting a chance when the team is doing real well, in the current situation it is just ridiculous.

 

[benchmark00]

Dhoni in doubt with a dodgy back btw, Karthik flown in.

 

[Cevno]

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s most selfish innings ever - Livemint

Seems to follow in line.

Virat to Captain tomorrow, if Dhoni is out.

 

[Cevno]

Dressing room details revealed-Sports-Exclusives-TIMESNOW.tv - Latest Breaking News, Big News Stories, News Videos

No team talk, no pep talk, or strategy from captain/coach for the 2nd match according to above.

Team divided in 2/3 camps, and Dhoni was giving FU to the rest. Possible ?

Remember he slyly blamed the top 3 and particularly the openers who he has had rifts with in the recent past.

 

[Xuhaib]

never thought i would live to see the day where in a bilateral series Pakistan is the settled side.