*Official Third Test at Headingley* 25-29 August

[morgieb]

Rahane is a weird one since his ceiling is so high. His best is just as good as the fab 4, and his technique is perfectly good, but he finds new ways to throw it away between good balls.

Kohli defends wide/follows the ball, Pujara can't score straight. These are all obvious reasons for extended slumps even in high class players. Rahane just gets out. Doesn't like spin as much as an Indian should, but he's failing in pacer territory as well.

Yeah I think you have to cut yourself off from Rahane. He still might be in India's best six bats but a player in a fragile batting lineup finding it easy to get out isn't helping.

Kohli needs to take the time to adjust his technique and tighten up. As for Pujara, he just looks done as a scoring option. If you had three 45+ averaging guys from 4-6 that are a bit loose early on as well as Pant as 7 he might be worth retaining as a "defensive" option in the hope he can rekindle his scoring options once set. But as things stand I think India have to move on.

 

[Calm_profit]

Pujara probably will be the only casualty for this test in best case scenario. That brings us two options Mayank or Suryakumar. Both are absolute beasts against spin & will bury sides even on rank turners in India. But who will be better fit in seaming conditions? Or This Winter in South Africa

I think Washington Sundar should be tried at middle order,he played some good innings against England and Australia.

 

[Calm_profit]

3-5 stats update. It's getting worse and worse.

Pujara, Kohli and Rahane since the beginning of 2020:

View attachment 29002

3 idiots

 

[morgieb]

For who replaces them, I'm picking Gill and Vihari once fit. For this series I think you pick Agarwal instead, even though I don't have much faith in him either.

 

[Uppercut]

I didn't know what to make of Hameed's first ball dismissal at Lord's but having seen him bat a bit it makes total sense.

OTOH he did a good job of rotating the strike, which Sibley has trouble with, and is especially useful when his opening partner is left-handed.

 

[Flem274*]

I think all of the guys playing tonight plus Vihari, Shaw, Gill, Agarwal et al will be dominant in Asian conditions. You could roll any of them out and I reckon they'd cream most tourists on any ground in the subcontinent and the UAE unless the decks were memes.

When it comes to finding good away batsmen, I actually think the current middle order are your guys. Apart from Vihari I'm not huge on the guys not playing who I have seen (not including SKY, Easwaran for example here). Shaw, Agarwal and Gill all have pretty obvious fatal flaws to bowl at.

Easwaran is an opener right? Does he have any experience at #3? Is there footage of this bloke at all?

 

[Burgey]

he's a eye reliant player in his 30's

Always find this a curious suggestion. Every player relies on their eye. Kohli plays pretty straight for the most part doesn't he? But he's always had the habit of playing away from his body which gives you a chance. It seems to me from my (admittedly sporadic) watching him that he seems to lack a bit of patience these days for some reason. I don't know whether being captain for so long has worn him down or what, but he seems less likely to knuckle down than he used to for some reason.

Or maybe it's the old "Indian therefore 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times more pressure on him than any other human who has to do their job to a decent standard" crap we've heard before. But I suspect it's the former.

 

[Teja.]

Rahane and Pujara are still better than Vihari in SENA conditions, despite their shithouse form. Vihari is much more likely to cash in at home than them though.

I'd honestly give Sundar a shot at 5/6 by dropping Pujara and making Rahane play at 3.

 

[Uppercut]

Also Hameed looks good at cutting off a length, which is a great strength to have in England. Brutally punishing anything that wasn't full was key to Cook's career.

But yeah, his defensive technique is loose.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

I didn't know what to make of Hameed's first ball dismissal at Lord's but having seen him bat a bit it makes total sense.

OTOH he did a good job of rotating the strike, which Sibley has trouble with, and is especially useful when his opening partner is left-handed.

Plus he put the bad balls away which Sibley doesn't do.

 

[Uppercut]

Plus he put the bad balls away which Sibley doesn't do.

Yeah haha see my follow-up post.

He probably got a few more bad balls than Sibley was getting but to an extent that happens when you rotate the strike.

 

[Uppercut]

Now that he's the incumbent I hope they stick with him through the inevitable run of ugly-looking dismissals.

 

[Flem274*]

Let's be fair - Hameed got the softest first few overs of the entire series and still looked like getting out every time they fluked one in the corridor. Ishant looked so hesitant with his run up and action.

Every time he drives I think he's going to chop on, but fair play he's scoring runs. I think Sibley is the better player though, if you define better as the opener most likely to occupy the crease.

 

[Teja.]

I think all of the guys playing tonight plus Vihari, Shaw, Gill, Agarwal et al will be dominant in Asian conditions. You could roll any of them out and I reckon they'd cream most tourists on any ground in the subcontinent and the UAE unless the decks were memes.

When it comes to finding good away batsmen, I actually think the current middle order are your guys. Apart from Vihari I'm not huge on the guys not playing who I have seen (not including SKY, Easwaran for example here). Shaw, Agarwal and Gill all have pretty obvious fatal flaws to bowl at.

Easwaran is an opener right? Does he have any experience at #3? Is there footage of this bloke at all?

3-5 have been horrible in home conditions as well.

 

[wpdavid]

Errrrgh wtaf is this? Jesus Christ.

He'll be stood down next match at least, surely. WAC.

It was dealt with at the time, albeit pretty feebly.

 

[OverratedSanity]

3-5 have been horrible in home conditions as well.

Kohli and Pujara have had maybe one or two dry home series not quite ready to write them off yet at home.

Pujaras series v England at home was a bit of a bigger concern than Kohli though because he really should be dominating those conditions otherwise what's even the point of him.

 

[honestbharani]

I don't know whether being captain for so long has worn him down or what, but he seems less likely to knuckle down than he used to for some reason.

I have thought this to be the reason from the moment I saw him struggle against Moeen and Bess at home. But to be fair, I think there were better signs both in his 20 in the second innings at Lords and in the little time he spent here in the first dig, he has to get that clarity of staying longer and only going after balls in his zone, like Rohit has been doing. At his best, Virat always left well coz he knew he could score the runs later on. Now it seems he is going after it a bit thinking he could get out anytime and is trying to 2014 Rahane his way into a solid inning. I would still back him to come good in the second dig more than the other two though.

 

[honestbharani]

I'd honestly give Sundar a shot at 5/6 by dropping Pujara and making Rahane play at 3.

I would do this even next test, and play SKY at 6 - Jaddu at 5 and Pant at 7 will fit beautifully if we get Ash at 8.

 

[Teja.]

Kohli and Pujara have had maybe one or two dry home series not quite ready to write them off yet at home.

Pujaras series v England at home was a bit of a bigger concern than Kohli though because he really should be dominating those conditions otherwise what's even the point of him.

Pujara last scored a home century nearly 4 years ago in Nov 2017 tbh. Since then, he averages 34 at home over 5 series with 0 centuries.

 

[CricAddict]

Always find this a curious suggestion. Every player relies on their eye. Kohli plays pretty straight for the most part doesn't he? But he's always had the habit of playing away from his body which gives you a chance. It seems to me from my (admittedly sporadic) watching him that he seems to lack a bit of patience these days for some reason. I don't know whether being captain for so long has worn him down or what, but he seems less likely to knuckle down than he used to for some reason.

Or maybe it's the old "Indian therefore 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times more pressure on him than any other human who has to do their job to a decent standard" crap we've heard before. But I suspect it's the former.

You missed a zero there.