India: Deserved of No. 1?

[Sir Alex]

Current SA batsmen are better players of spin, so I don't think it is a certainty.

Considering their struggles against Swann, I am not so sure sanz. South Africans benefited from two helpful pitches last time they toured india. Chennai was a marble surface while Ahmedabad was a greentop. Kanpur was the only spin assisting wicket (it assisted pace also, but is often overlooked and branded "dustbowl"), and there they fell like a pack of cards.

 

[aussie]

Considering their struggles against Swann, I am not so sure sanz. South Africans benefited from two helpful pitches last time they toured india. Chennai was a marble surface while Ahmedabad was a greentop. Kanpur was the only spin assisting wicket (it assisted pace also, but is often overlooked and branded "dustbowl"), and there they fell like a pack of cards.

Yea this is true. It will be interesting to see what the Kolkatta & Nagpur wickets are for the upcoming series.

Based on my memory of the these venues, Kolkatta is normally flat deck that tends to spin alot as the game progresses.

Nagpur may start out helpul for the fast-men for a portion of day, then flatten out. But we will see..

 

[duffer]

Haha I loved how it was more or les considered a given that the Saffies would be beating England and taking it back from us. Much love England, much love.

 

[Jono]

Yeah loving Onions right now.

 

[bagapath]

Yeah loving Onions right now.

I prefer Tomatoes.

couldnt resist it, sorry

 

[Ikki]

England arse another one.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Don't want to make it too easy, so here's a short list of cities where England will not be playing tests any time soon:

Canberra
Christchurch
Colombo
Chittagong
Chennai
Chandigarh ,and just to be on the safe side...
Kolkata (formerly Calcutta)

I C what you did there.

 

[jeevan]

I C what you did there.

Yeah, but did you C what they did at Cardiff, Centurion and Cape Town?

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah, but did you C what they did at Cardiff, Centurion and Cape Town?

So England's new punchline should be "U can't C me"??????

 

[Sanz]

Yea this is true. It will be interesting to see what the Kolkatta & Nagpur wickets are for the upcoming series.

Based on my memory of the these venues, Kolkatta is normally flat deck that tends to spin alot as the game progresses.

Nagpur may start out helpul for the fast-men for a portion of day, then flatten out. But we will see..

Yeah Depends on How Sehwag scores.

 

[pasag]

SA certainly dont deserve it. India>>SA>Aus.

 

[social]

India better find some bowlers and fieldsmen FAST because most of their candidates are very, very average and it would defy belief for the team to keep winning no matter how good the batsmen are in their own conditions

 

[Shri]

May be we should go left field and bring back Piyush Chawla and give him another go?

 

[Jono]

India better find some bowlers and fieldsmen FAST because most of their candidates are very, very average and it would defy belief for the team to keep winning no matter how good the batsmen are in their own conditions

Our bowlers aren't horrible at test level. We just beat Sri Lanka by an innings on what everyone here was calling flat decks...

... TWICE.

 

[social]

Our bowlers aren't horrible at test level. We just beat Sri Lanka by an innings on what everyone here was calling flat decks...

... TWICE.

Seam attack is definitely behind (in no paricular order) Oz, SA, Eng, Pakistan and potentially WI if all their candidates live up to potential/are fit

Spin is carried by Harby who many Indian fans want punted whilst the great hope (Mishra) has been found wanting and cast aside

As for the Indian fielding, it's simply horrible with only about 25% of the team at international standard

Sorry but in 2/3 disciplines, India are an ordinary unit and the team owes its place in the ranking due to the decline in others more than anything else

 

[Jono]

Who has declined other than Australia?

 

[honestbharani]

Who has declined other than Australia?

posting standards in CC..

 

[social]

Who has declined other than Australia?

SA unless you think they're better off without Ntini, Pollock, etc

Pakistan - a rabble

SL - Murali's a shadow of his former self and they dont have anyone else now that Vaas has gone

The only teams that are improving are Eng, WI and the Bangas and they're all coming off a very low base

We're living in exciting times because many teams are evenly matched but let's not try and pretend that the standard is great

 

[Redbacks]

What are the repercussions for India now that SA can't win the series v England and looks possible they will lose 1-0?

 

[Sir Alex]

Seam attack is definitely behind (in no paricular order) Oz, SA, Eng, Pakistan and potentially WI if all their candidates live up to potential/are fit

Spin is carried by Harby who many Indian fans want punted whilst the great hope (Mishra) has been found wanting and cast aside

As for the Indian fielding, it's simply horrible with only about 25% of the team at international standard

Sorry but in 2/3 disciplines, India are an ordinary unit and the team owes its place in the ranking due to the decline in others more than anything else

I will concede India's pace attack is perhaps inferior to South Africa's and Australia's at the moment. But to say it is worse than West Indies', Pakistan's is just underrating it cruelly. Indian catching has been terrible of late but they are still test standard.