***Official*** India in Pakistan

[Arjun]

yeah i think that's what the wc side will look up, except piyush chawla may find a place and vr singh or munaf patel may come in for sreesanth or zaheer/agarkar.

Piyush Chawla may just make his debut in the World Cup by the time he's ready, and he's barely played a full FC season. Munaf should come in place of Agarkar, but again, he's not just a slightly-faster-than-medium bowler, but also the Indian version of Shahid Afridi. VR Singh should make the XI no matter what conservative fans say– they only want Zaheer, Agarkar, Balaji and Nehra. Sreesanth on the bench would make a good reserve. As for the second spinner, you can go in for Rajesh Pawar (though he's not that good a batsman) or even Ramesh Powar (this time a second off-spinner is worth the pick) or for variety and extra batting power, pick leggie Yusuf Pathan. That would be a neat ODI selection.

 

[Arjun]

Edit: Just realised I have the same team as adharcric

Me too. That's a good team from the options at hand. One can only hope Zaheer goes ballistic– then he wouldn't be the extra that fans make him out to be.

 

[azshah]

i just say it was just luck for pakistan, they still had 18 runs to get.. and mind you that cricket is a funny game, anything could hav happened in dat 18 balls..

Well Pakistan is lucky to win if that makes you happy ..they have been lucky the last 12 out of 17 times against India...anything could have would have should have .................but at the end the thing that happend was 1 to 0 Pakistan.

 

[tayyab]

Well the guy scored 100 off 110 balls batting first....not unless Tendulkar turns into a brilliant bowler overnight that you could say 'he could've done more' to win this game.

Even the last time Tendulkar scored heavily against Pakistan, Pakistan won. India batted first, Tendulkar scored 123 off 130 balls that day, with the next highest being 47 from Dhoni.

He then bowled 6 overs for 36 runs and 1 wicket. Still India lost. What more could he have done ?
Tendulkar's hard work has too often been undone by fragile bowling performances...

He still remains an excellent chaser in ODIs though and i dont think any other opening batsman has lasted as often well into the 40th over as Tendulkas has...

Sorry mate .My fault .. I want Sachin to anchor the inning batting second .Just mixed two things up . I was actually mentionig that even if tendulkar scores heavily BATTING SECOND too he does'nt take them to victory often enough . As soon as he gets out collapse follows at least against pakistan it does . Other point i was making was refrerring to pakistan only . In matches against pakistan even if tendulkar scores heavily india usually lose , i was thinking about inzamam then that when he scores pakistan usually win . But ofcourse you people are right its due mostly to difference of bowling attacks .
Its just that i want tendulkar to do what dravid is doing and let youngsters play around hin . Yes its not his nature but its just i think he should do . He should win more matches for india even if he has to curb his natural style a bit . This is exactly what he did against pakistan but i dont think when he is in good form he will be doing the same .

 

[Armadillo]

Although I think Pathan has now proved himself as a genuine allrounder, I feel he is vulnerable against the short ball, got in a real mess when he got out.

 

[Nishant]

thinks is fair enough to call Pathan a geniune all-rounder now his batting looks very good to bat in the top 6, only weakness i've notcied is that he gets his front front across the stumps & is a huge LBW candiddate for right-arm bowlers coming around the wicket.

Thats true and also Pathan needs to relax at the start of his innings. When watching him, my heart was in my mouth. He was trying to slash every ball delivered by asif at the start. On another day, he could easily have nicked one and would have made he way back to the pavillion on 0. Anyway, after that, he played well.

 

[Armadillo]

Thats true and also Pathan needs to relax at the start of his innings. When watching him, my heart was in my mouth. He was trying to slash every ball delivered by asif at the start. On another day, he could easily have nicked one and would have made he way back to the pavillion on 0. Anyway, after that, he played well.

He did nick one, but it wasn't given.

 

[Nishant]

He did nick one, but it wasn't given.

oh yeh! i remember dat now. Well next time it mite be given and he would have to go cheaply

 

[adharcric]

Me too. That's a good team from the options at hand.

what can I say ... great minds think alike

 

[adharcric]

Piyush Chawla may just make his debut in the World Cup by the time he's ready, and he's barely played a full FC season. Munaf should come in place of Agarkar, but again, he's not just a slightly-faster-than-medium bowler, but also the Indian version of Shahid Afridi. VR Singh should make the XI no matter what conservative fans say– they only want Zaheer, Agarkar, Balaji and Nehra. Sreesanth on the bench would make a good reserve. As for the second spinner, you can go in for Rajesh Pawar (though he's not that good a batsman) or even Ramesh Powar (this time a second off-spinner is worth the pick) or for variety and extra batting power, pick leggie Yusuf Pathan. That would be a neat ODI selection.

If we go for a spinner who can bat, the most important thing is that he should be a wicket-taker. Based on what I've seen, Yusuf Pathan and Rajesh Pawar haven't been dominating with the ball even at the domestic level, so there's no way they belong in the national team. Someone like Powar is ideal ... leading domestic wicket-taker along with a more-than-handy 40 average with the bat. Bowling is the priority here.

 

[Mecnun]

I think Harbhajan Singh's injury may prove to be a blessing in disguise for both Ramesh Powar (no disguise there) and India. First of all, Bhajji might be low on confidence after being brutally abused by Afridi and co. in the tests, but still he is a great competitor who would surely bounce back at some point. This will give him an opportunity to sort things out ahead of the crucial England tour. Powar is averaging 40+ with the bat and 22 with the ball as the leading wicket-taker in this Ranji Trophy season. Murali Kartik, as many have mentioned here, does not belong in the one-day side and his performance in Peshawar was yet another display of his lack of penetration and consistency. It seemed as if the selectors were hesitant to pick Powar over Kartik for some reason. But I'm pretty sure that if Powar performs here, Kartik will be banished for good from the ODI squad. Kartik can fend off the Powar threat in the eyes of the selectors, but Harbhajan Singh is the #1 option without doubt and if he's fit and Powar performs, say goodbye to Kartik. Let's hope Powar plays in Rawalpindi and makes a big contribution.

Useful and enthusiastic cricketer from what I remember of him in 2004. Bowling wise I did not think he was great shakes but can bat lower down. In overall scheme of things he may be a better bet than Harbie especially if he has improved his bowling some. How has he been doing domestically?

 

[adharcric]

Useful and enthusiastic cricketer from what I remember of him in 2004. Bowling wise I did not think he was great shakes but can bat lower down. In overall scheme of things he may be a better bet than Harbie especially if he has improved his bowling some. How has he been doing domestically?

He's been doing well for quite some time now, but he's been tremendous in the just-concluded Ranji Trophy season. This season, he's averaged 40 with the bat and 23 with the ball as the leading wicket-taker in India (42 from 7 tests).

 

[Mecnun]

I am not sure that pathan has proved himself a genuine allrounder as yet..The word gets bandied about too much these days for my likling. I would agree that he is an allrounder in the vein of razzler and afridi but would he get picked as a batter alone for India? I doubt it.

 

[Mecnun]

He's been doing well for quite some time now, but he's been tremendous in the just-concluded Ranji Trophy season. This season, he's averaged 40 with the bat and 23 with the ball as the leading wicket-taker in India (42 from 7 tests).

Look forward to him replacing Karthik then. I remember he displays a bit of aggression as well and I like to see that..

 

[godofcricket]

I am not sure that pathan has proved himself a genuine allrounder as yet..The word gets bandied about too much these days for my likling. I would agree that he is an allrounder in the vein of razzler and afridi but would he get picked as a batter alone for India? I doubt it.

Well similarly afridi cant really be classed as an allrounder as he wont be picked on his bowling abilities, he can be useful but thats different and pathan currently is in a similar situation, and if he continues to improve with the bat and ball then i am sure he can be more useful.

 

[Gotchya]

I am not sure that pathan has proved himself a genuine allrounder as yet..The word gets bandied about too much these days for my likling. I would agree that he is an allrounder in the vein of razzler and afridi but would he get picked as a batter alone for India? I doubt it.

I think Pathan's capable with the bat Yes, but as of now he can be a very good number 6/7,something like Wasim. He looks to me like a hit and miss batsman to me. Quite effective as a pinch hitter though.

 

[godofcricket]

oh yeh! i remember dat now. Well next time it mite be given and he would have to go cheaply

Well anything can happen the way ur going on about it, he was specifically sent at that number becuase they wanted fast runs, dravid himself said that it was a calculated risk meaning that had tendulkar got out first rather than sehwag than dravid would have come in at no.3 instead of pathan.

 

[Mecnun]

Well similarly afridi cant really be classed as an allrounder as he wont be picked on his bowling abilities, he can be useful but thats different and pathan currently is in a similar situation, and if he continues to improve with the bat and ball then i am sure he can be more useful.

I have never put Afridi and allrounder in the same sentence until today.Thanks for making me do that!!

 

[Arumpnoo]

Wrote it yesterday and today it is confirmed, Pakistan is at number 2 spot in odi rankings and SA is trailing by just 2 points at number 3. Australia is at no 1 with a huge margin. Hope Pakistan can sustain this spot.

 

[Jono]

Pathan is played as a pinch hitter in ODI cricket, but his technique his fine and he's more than just a slogger in test matches. He averages something like 48 over the past 2 test series with the bat, and his batting average continues to rise. I'd say he's a bit different to a Akram.

And in my opinion this whole 'would he make the team as a batsman alone/bowler alone' criteria for an allrounder isn't always correct. Flintoff would struggle to make the Indian test team as a batsman alone (well he wouldn't be a definite, that's for sure), however he'd walk straight into the test team as a bowler and become the leader of our attack. That doesn't mean if he was playing for India he wouldn't be a genuine allrounder. Far from it.