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

[Top Cat]

A Parthiv Patel recall takes the cake for most bizarre selection idea of the thread so far

But hey if the Tim Paine selection can work then why not.

Parthiv is in the squad, unlike Tim Paine who hadn't played for years. Parthiv also played in the England series, and is considered our no.2 keeper. Cricinfo is suggesting that management are giving this serious consideration Benched quartet keep themselves in contention - ESPNcricinfo

 

[cnerd123]

jfc I hope they don't select Parthiv Patel

Why not drop Rohit Sharma you ****ing dumb ****s. "The batsmen aren't scoring runs, time to drop our wicketkeeper". GAGF. This is awful.


Watch Parthiv now score a 100 on his recall.

 

[Prince EWS]

SA probably needs Morris' batting more than Lucky's bowling.

Morris is a better bowler than Lucky anyway IMO, so it's a bit of a no brainer.

I'd probably actually go for Bavuma at this point though. I was in favour of five bowlers for the first Test and if Steyn was still fit I'd be happy to double down on that, but it was very much an 'all the moons aligned' kind of thing to get me to support such a balance, and one of the bowlers being Morris means they don't align for me anymore.

 

[Burgey]

It seems as though it's taken one away test for a number of Indian posters to abandon the same bowler they were proclaiming as world's best a few short months ago. Cute.

 

[Shri]

I am not.

 

[Daemon]

Burgey's being racist. Only one poster thought Ashwin was the world's best bowler and he wasn't even Indian. Typical cheating aussie behaviour.

 

[Burgey]

It's easy to over complicate selections and to get funky on an away trip in conditions you're not used to. Australia does it all the time in the SC looking for two or more spinners and trying to turn bits and pieces all rounders into test specialists. That's because deep in the selectors' hearts they know (as do all discerning cricket fans) that SC records don't count. Unfortunately for India, cricket records in SA do, so they're going to have to lift their game quick smart.

Not that I hope they do it, because if they do it'll increase their chances of winning and no one wants to see that, but surely this formula is the most likely to succeed:

Best six batsmen
Best keeper
Best three quicks.
Best spinner.

I know. it's novel and all, but look at it this way. If you're going to get dished up fast and bouncy decks, there's no point playing five bowlers, because five Indian batsmen won't cope with it and the bowlers will have about 80 to bowl to. Likewise, if there's that much in the pitches, then three quicks will get the job done for India anyway, and the fourth what-passes-for-a-fast-bowler-in-India is superfluous anyway.

If it transpires that one of your best six batsmen is your keeper, then and only then do you play an extra all rounder rather than a specialist batsman. Likewise, only if one of your bowlers is also in your best six batsmen do you play a fifth bowler. Otherwise it makes no sense.

None of this will make a difference. India is going to get dicked anyway, but they maximize their chances of competing if they play six proper batsmen, and work the team balance around that.

 

[cnerd123]

It's easy to over complicate selections and to get funky on an away trip in conditions you're not used to. Australia does it all the time in the SC looking for two or more spinners and trying to turn bits and pieces all rounders into test specialists. That's because deep in the selectors' hearts they know (as do all discerning cricket fans) that SC records don't count. Unfortunately for India, cricket records in SA do, so they're going to have to lift their game quick smart.

Not that I hope they do it, because if they do it'll increase their chances of winning and no one wants to see that, but surely this formula is the most likely to succeed:

Best six batsmen
Best keeper
Best three quicks.
Best spinner.

I know. it's novel and all, but look at it this way. If you're going to get dished up fast and bouncy decks, there's no point playing five bowlers, because five Indian batsmen won't cope with it and the bowlers will have about 80 to bowl to. Likewise, if there's that much in the pitches, then three quicks will get the job done for India anyway, and the fourth what-passes-for-a-fast-bowler-in-India is superfluous anyway.

If it transpires that one of your best six batsmen is your keeper, then and only then do you play an extra all rounder rather than a specialist batsman. Likewise, only if one of your bowlers is also in your best six batsmen do you play a fifth bowler. Otherwise it makes no sense.

None of this will make a difference. India is going to get dicked anyway, but they maximize their chances of competing if they play six proper batsmen, and work the team balance around that.

ok

 

[cnerd123]

https://streamable.com/9pksm

 

[Bahseph]

As an SA fan who normally catches every Indian Test, I'd definitely go with :
1. Vijay
2. Rahul
3. Pujara
4. Kohli
5. Rahane
6. Hardik
7. Ashwin
8. Saha
9. Bhuvi
10. Umesh
11. Shami

Now hear me out. Dhawan is way to susceptible to the short stuff. And it's normally quicker up country. I understand Burgey saying go for six batters but I'd go Hardik over Rohit because I just don't think he has the fight for it in these conditions. Hardik seems to have it though, whether he is good enough to always pull it off is another thing. Bumrah is one of my favorite Indian bowlers but Umesh has been good at home and deserves a run. And for heavens sake please don't drop Saha. You need a quality keeper here.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Just no Ishant - please India!

 

[Top Cat]

It's easy to over complicate selections and to get funky on an away trip in conditions you're not used to. Australia does it all the time in the SC looking for two or more spinners and trying to turn bits and pieces all rounders into test specialists. That's because deep in the selectors' hearts they know (as do all discerning cricket fans) that SC records don't count. Unfortunately for India, cricket records in SA do, so they're going to have to lift their game quick smart.

Not that I hope they do it, because if they do it'll increase their chances of winning and no one wants to see that, but surely this formula is the most likely to succeed:

Best six batsmen
Best keeper
Best three quicks.
Best spinner.

I know. it's novel and all, but look at it this way. If you're going to get dished up fast and bouncy decks, there's no point playing five bowlers, because five Indian batsmen won't cope with it and the bowlers will have about 80 to bowl to. Likewise, if there's that much in the pitches, then three quicks will get the job done for India anyway, and the fourth what-passes-for-a-fast-bowler-in-India is superfluous anyway.

If it transpires that one of your best six batsmen is your keeper, then and only then do you play an extra all rounder rather than a specialist batsman. Likewise, only if one of your bowlers is also in your best six batsmen do you play a fifth bowler. Otherwise it makes no sense.

None of this will make a difference. India is going to get dicked anyway, but they maximize their chances of competing if they play six proper batsmen, and work the team balance around that.

So, drop Pandya? Or you think he's one of the top 6 batsmen India have in tests?

 

[weldone]

I have a feeling they may drop Ashwin for Ishant.

 

[Shri]

Great. Drop one of your best bats in these conditions.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I have a feeling they may drop Ashwin for Ishant.

5 fast bowlers would be overkill and would make the tail hilariously long. Maybe they'll do Rahane in for Ashwin.

 

[Motorwada]

As an SA fan who normally catches every Indian Test, I'd definitely go with :
1. Vijay
2. Rahul
3. Pujara
4. Kohli
5. Rahane
6. Hardik
7. Ashwin
8. Saha
9. Bhuvi
10. Umesh
11. Shami

Now hear me out. Dhawan is way to susceptible to the short stuff. And it's normally quicker up country. I understand Burgey saying go for six batters but I'd go Hardik over Rohit because I just don't think he has the fight for it in these conditions. Hardik seems to have it though, whether he is good enough to always pull it off is another thing. Bumrah is one of my favorite Indian bowlers but Umesh has been good at home and deserves a run. And for heavens sake please don't drop Saha. You need a quality keeper here.

This is the obvious selection and should have been there in the first test as well. Rahul is like 12-13 on the test rankings and is averaging over 50 in the last 2 years. Although looking at Bumrah's 2nd innings bowling he can come in over Ishant.

 

[StephenZA]

5 fast bowlers would be overkill and would make the tail hilariously long. Maybe they'll do Rahane in for Ashwin.

It sounds like a game of... we don't know who our best bowlers are so we will just play them all.

 

[vcs]

How is Rahul's technique like against pace, bounce and lateral movement? Anybody watched him on A-tours etc? He's only played Tests in Asia, WI and Australia so far. I don't think that part of his game has been tested much.

 

[Daemon]

Don't know don't care. He might be rocks and diamonds as opposed to Dhawan who's rocks and rocks.

 

[Bahseph]

They should play Ashwin at Centurion. It would make more sense to not play him at the Wanderers but he has more than enough class to be effective in Pretoria. I never buy into playing an average quick over a world class spinner JUST because it won't be a pitch overly favoring spin. If Ashwin is as good as we all think he is then he plays. Plus his batting is a no brainer.