***Official*** India in South Africa 2017/18

[Dendarii]

Even taking quotas out of it... Gibsons choice is not clear yet. The top 6 for SA is pretty sorted, and we know Philander, Steyn, Rabada and probably Maharaj will play. That leaves 1 spot for 1 of Bavuma, Morkel, Morris... possible Pheklukwayo, but that would be a quota choice. So if Gibson back 4 bowlers, then Bavuma may stay but he has made it clear he likes 7 being an allrounder spot with a long batting line-up.

I think the big question could be whether Gibson thinks Philander is good enough to bat at 7, as that obviously opens up the door for a dream quartet of Steyn, Philander, Rabada, and Morkel. He has been in decent form with the bat of late - he did well against England (batting at 7 some of the time), and has also had a couple of good cameos for the Cobras in the Ram Slam, so that definitely strengthens the case for me. Also, Gibson did pick Phehlukwayo to bat at 7, and you certainly can't say that Philander is any worse than him, although it was against Bangladesh and we don't know how much he may have been persuaded by the selectors to do that, not having had much of a chance to get to know the players at that point.

 

[Gob]

Needs Dale to reclaim the rightful no 1 spot from Jimmy the unworthy and hold on to it until Pat cums of age.

 

[CricAddict]

Dropping Kesh Maharaj is not an option he is probably one of the first names pencilled onto the team sheet for any surface anywhere in the world. In his short career he has been excellent taking into account the fact that all of the surfaces he has bowled on so far were not spinner friendly.

Yes, Morkel for Maharaj is quite similar to the Pattinson for Lyon discussion. Maharaj or Lyon for that matter have done nothing wrong to warrant this discussion.

 

[srbhkshk]

India have declared the team for the tour -

India team: Virat Kohli (capt), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.

Parthiv and Jasprit the (slightly) unexpected selections, but I suppose a backup for pacers and the keeper is good. Also, good that Rahane has been named vc, hopefully it means something and his place would be safe for the series.

 

[smash84]

Looking forward to this series. Should be a good contest. Definitely looking forward to it more than the ashes. Also not looking forward to the 6 jam odis

 

[harsh.ag]

Good squad.

 

[SeamUp]

India have declared the team for the tour -

India team: Virat Kohli (capt), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.

Parthiv and Jasprit the (slightly) unexpected selections, but I suppose a backup for pacers and the keeper is good. Also, good that Rahane has been named vc, hopefully it means something and his place would be safe for the series.

No real surprises. Strongest Indian squad to visit these shores ?

 

[vcs]

Kuldeep unlucky to miss out. But there's only so many spots, he'll get his opportunity eventually.

 

[Burner]

I'd have had Kuldeep in. If Ashwin and Jadeja are pantsing it, I'd think I would want to go to him.

 

[Burner]

*when Ashwin and Jadeja...

 

[Pup Clarke]

Can.Not.Wait.For.This. Watching Rabada, Steyn and Philander against India's top 6 will be the thing of beauty

 

[smash84]

I'd like to see pitches with some pace in them. Would be so good to watch this batting line up take on the saffer pace bowling

 

[Daemon]

I think there's a genuine chance Ishant will be preferred to Yadav in the first XI.

Yadav hasn't been bowling that well of late but he was so, so good against Australia and England

 

[harsh.ag]

Ishant as a third seamer ahead of Umesh is wrong. Umesh much better at reverse.

 

[Slifer]

I'd like to see pitches with some pace in them. Would be so good to watch this batting line up take on the saffer pace bowling

I actually hope the pitches have extreme pace to make up for the pitches south Africa encountered in India.

 

[Daemon]

tbf Ishant was a big part of why we had a shot at winning Jo'Burg in 2013.

I'd still pick Yadav, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about him reverting to spray mode.

 

[vcs]

Both Ishant and Umesh are likely to be dire. They're less noticeably poor in the subcontinent, because no one expects much from quicks here except to take the shine off the ball, and in Ishant's case, he can be reasonably economical as well. There they'll actually be expected to take wickets. I think both Bhuvi (if picked) and Shami will do fine, but the third seamer will definitely be a weak link to relieve whatever pressure gets built up.

 

[Daemon]

Yadav was really good against England and even better against Australia. Was the best quick in that series.

 

[vcs]

Yeah, he was good against Australia. Don't remember much from him in the England series TBH.

But that's the paradoxical thing, you see Indian quicks performing tolerably in unsuitable subcontinent conditions and extrapolate that to them doing well on bouncier, faster pitches. But it rarely works out that way with our guys.

Zaheer was an exception in that regard, for a brief period.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Man this series is going to be the bomb. Good thing it will start in January because it was going to easily overshadow the one-sided 5-0 Ashes going on now.

India's pace attack is the best we've seen in years, perhaps decades. Right behind Australia/South Africa, maybe on par with England (a tad better maybe when considering the 3rd and 4th seamers). Shami, Umesh and Bhuvi should be the first choice. I know Umesh has splayed it in the past but he has been excellent in the last year. Bowled some tidy spells against England and Australia. He can do a Sreesanth 06.

And most importantly, the eventual return of the greatest fast bowler of our times. It's been so long now. Yeah sure Rabada is amazing and Philander takes wickets but there's only one King Dale.