***Official*** India in Sri Lanka 2015

[harsh.ag]

I can see how the confidence thing worked out for the Aussie boys today.. More of the same, heh, Harshy?

And if you would care to read posts before responding with sarcastic BS which has nothing to do with facts, you will see that I never mentioned he is going to get better playing FC in flat tracks... I just think it is worth more for Indian cricket if he can lead our A teams to a couple of overseas tours outside the SC and get better in those conditions than racking up the runs in another SC series.

To be completely honest, I have seen a couple of SL pitches aid swing and seam at times, so on second thought, it might still provide him with challenging enough conditions that will force him to up his game and get better. That is a waaay better argument than the one you posted.

Yeah it was sarcastic BS. But tbh, I think international cricket of any salt is better than all FC cricket. And it's not like he hasn't just played County Cricket. Managed to score a century there. He's as ready as ever gonna be in the next year imo

 

[Niall]

Coz he has obvious weakness against the moving ball... I just don't think making more big scores in conditions that won't test that weakness of his will help him... I don't think he is a lost cause like Sehwag yet... I feel a couple of more A tours, esp. to England, will help him come back a better player. There are any number of players around the world who have benefitted from a stint away from the test side even if their replacements did not end up being better than them... Those players individually got better and came back as much better cricketers. Langer comes to mind. Clarke was dropped for a bit even if he was still able to score well in certain conditions. It maybe stupid to you but I think India as a team can get more out of Pujara if he was totally dropped for a bit and allowed to lead A teams to countries where he has trouble scoring runs. A few months away from the side now is a small price to pay if we can get him back as a real world class top order bat.

I see your point. But India have not won a test series in a while and are in Asia now playing a few series. Sri Lanka, South Africa and possibly Pakistan.

Surely the focus for India should be on winning these series? If selectors feel that Pujara can do the business in the sc, then pick him now, the overseas issue? I dunno, Not as if their is much quality first class cricket for him to be playing until the county championship starts next year.

 

[honestbharani]

This is all well and good, but he's still in the squad which means he's still touring with the team. He's not getting any time away or playing in the CC.

He's toured England in the past with the A team and scored heavily anyways, and also taken county stints with derbyshire? and yorkshire where he did alright for himself. He's quite clearly a thinking cricketer and knows that he needs to work on his overseas game, scoring runs in India or Sri Lanka won't delude him into thinking he doesn't. Sitting on the bench for this series won't do him any good.

Oh no.. don't get me wrong. My real gripe is that if they feel he cannot make the XI he should not be with the squad in the first place, if that is time he can spend playing county or A team cricket overseas... Now that he is in the squad, I agree he is a way better choice than Nohit to bat at 3. Would still prefer to see Kohli, Rahane and Pujara bat in that order at some point personally but yeah, he is definitely a better option than Rohit right now.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah it was sarcastic BS. But tbh, I think international cricket of any salt is better than all FC cricket. And it's not like he hasn't just played County Cricket. Managed to score a century there. He's as ready as ever gonna be in the next year imo

I see your point. But India have not won a test series in a while and are in Asia now playing a few series. Sri Lanka, South Africa and possibly Pakistan.

Surely the focus for India should be on winning these series? If selectors feel that Pujara can do the business in the sc, then pick him now, the overseas issue? I dunno, Not as if their is much quality first class cricket for him to be playing until the county championship starts next year.

Agree to both posts. My feeling is that he could have been dropped from the squad altogether if he is likely to miss out on the final XI.. But if the choice given to me is between Rohit and Pujara at 3, I will always go for Pujara...

 

[Contra]

The Pujara hate is just ridiculous, that guy never deserved to be dropped, especially for friggin Nohit Sharma @ 3. Nevermind all those test matches he won you at home when Sehwag/Tendulkar/GG were horribly out of form and Kohli was only average. Pujara gunned it in SA, didn't do too well in NZ but those were some quality bowlers, did reasonably well in England when you compare how some of the other Indian/Australians have done in recent times. Got given out when he hit the helmet in Australia + Johnson bowling rippers at him.

Like honestly does anyone not remember when Pujara played out the early morning conditions in England before Rahane came in to counter attack @ Lords? Nasser Hussain was going gaga over Pujara at that point for negating Broad + Anderson.

And since when is Sri Lanka over seasons conditions? Like honestly the ball might swing a bit more than in India but come on, it hardly makes sense to not play a guy who otherwise is an EXCEPTIONAL player of spin bowling <_<

 

[Pratters]

LOL @ the Pujara hate.

I would pick the following:

Dhawan, Vijay, Kohli, Rahane, Pujara, KL Rahul

Not going to happen as Rohit is supposedly superman. I would even prefer Rahul to Dhawan.

Line up likely:

Dhawan, Vijay (Rahul if Vijay is not fit), Kohli, Rahane, Rohit.

Meh. Fully expect us to collapse v the Lankan bowling, and rightly so. Will be interesting to see how Dhawan performs in this series. He does well in India but v the Lankans in Lanka should be a different ball game and much tougher. Hopefully Herath bowls better than he did the last series, though.

 

[TheJammyTurtle]

How long do you think the Indian selectors will persist with Saha?Yet to make any score of note in test cricket.Having no reserve wk in the squad is a big shot of confidence towards him but I fear he may be whisked out beofre the end of the South African series if he hasn't got a score especically with the the 5 bowler line-up.

 

[Pratters]

Oh yes, Karthik is hot on the heels of Saha. If Saha can't make runs, he will be dropped after 4-5 tests, maybe even 3.

 

[Contra]

How long do you think the Indian selectors will persist with Saha?Yet to make any score of note in test cricket.Having no reserve wk in the squad is a big shot of confidence towards him but I fear he may be whisked out beofre the end of the South African series if he hasn't got a score especially with the the 5 bowler line-up.

He's only played 5 tests so far, I think he will get a couple of tours at least before they think of replacing him.

 

[TheJammyTurtle]

Oh yes, Karthik is hot on the heels of Saha. If Saha can't make runs, he will be dropped after 4-5 tests, maybe even 3.

DK?I heard that if they were to get a reserve wk for Sri Lanka it would be Naman Ojha.

 

[Pratters]

I prefer DK as he can bat a bit and can keep very well. Naman Ojha's keeping skills aren't that good. Not comfortable with him being the solo keeper. Would go well with the Kohli 5 batsmen theory though.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Coz he has obvious weakness against the moving ball... I just don't think making more big scores in conditions that won't test that weakness of his will help him... I don't think he is a lost cause like Sehwag yet... I feel a couple of more A tours, esp. to England, will help him come back a better player. There are any number of players around the world who have benefitted from a stint away from the test side even if their replacements did not end up being better than them... Those players individually got better and came back as much better cricketers. Langer comes to mind. Clarke was dropped for a bit even if he was still able to score well in certain conditions. It maybe stupid to you but I think India as a team can get more out of Pujara if he was totally dropped for a bit and allowed to lead A teams to countries where he has trouble scoring runs. A few months away from the side now is a small price to pay if we can get him back as a real world class top order bat.

He went to the county this season anyway. He needs to be in the team and score runs. No need to **** with him.

Also, all this talk of India's overseas problems is well and good, but our next series is against SL, where I don't think we've ever won a series before. Send Rohit out to play the counties instead, Pujara needs to be in the team, scoring runs and getting his confidence back.

 

[Migara]

India was put on a green pitch. Interesting to see whether it will be green pitches throughout the series. Back in 2000s, SL once offered a series on greenish pitches in Galle and Kandy, and a dustbowl at SSC to win 2-1. Still can remeber Fernado cleaning Ganguly up with a hostile spell of short bowling. If Guys like Kaushal Silva, Thiri etc, can handle indian seam bowling, the chances are that we might see green pitches. Makes a lot of sense as three best batsmen in the side (Sanga, Mathews and Chandimal) are pretty weak against spin, and India do have a very good spinner in Ashwin. Don't think Aaron, Yadav and Kumar, on a green track can match Ashwin on a dustbowl.

The battle I would pay to see would be Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunarathne vs Ashwin, both very good players of spin, the former brilliant to breathtaking.

 

[Black_Warrior]

India was put on a green pitch. Interesting to see whether it will be green pitches throughout the series. Back in 2000s, SL once offered a series on greenish pitches in Galle and Kandy, and a dustbowl at SSC to win 2-1. Still can remeber Fernado cleaning Ganguly up with a hostile spell of short bowling. If Guys like Kaushal Silva, Thiri etc, can handle indian seam bowling, the chances are that we might see green pitches. Makes a lot of sense as three best batsmen in the side (Sanga, Mathews and Chandimal) are pretty weak against spin, and India do have a very good spinner in Ashwin. Don't think Aaron, Yadav and Kumar, on a green track can match Ashwin on a dustbowl.

The battle I would pay to see would be Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunarathne vs Ashwin, both very good players of spin, the former brilliant to breathtaking.

Sanga is weak against spin? come on...Ajmal rates him the best batsman he has ever bowled to

 

[morgieb]

Sharma has 3 wickets in 10 balls. Is this pitch made of grass or something?

 

[Teja.]

Rahane.

 

[harsh.ag]

Ishant's annual crazy spell. He truly is our Broad.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Ishant has 4 for 5

 

[OverratedSanity]

5

 

[cnerd123]

WAC. Used up his one good spell per series here. We're so ****ed for the Tests now.