***Official*** India in South Africa

[ramu]

my team to go to south africa

sehwag
sachin
ghambir
utthapa
dravid
dhoni
pathan
power
harbhajan
sree santh
patel
this is the line up aswell for the one dayers
extraz
r p singh
karthik
kaif
raina
zaheer khan

 

[adharcric]

ok ramu

 

[Langeveldt]

Yeah I'd be all for a Hayward comeback.. I'd be really impressed by Hayward and Steyn at full throttle not spraying around too much.. Could be a handful

 

[Turbinator]

My playing XI

Tests

Sehwag
Jaffer
Tendulkar
Dravid
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Bhajji
Sreesanth
Munaf

ODI

Sehwag
Jaffer
Tendulkar
Dravid
Yuvraj
Kaif/Mongia
Dhoni
Pathan
Bhajji
Sreesanth
Munaf

 

[adharcric]

Uhh ...

a) Yuvraj is injured.
b) Dhoni and Pathan are not test-caliber #6 and #7 batsmen, respectively, yet.
c) Laxman > Yuvraj/Kaif in tests.
d) Tendulkar is the greatest one-day opener in the history of cricket. Jaffer, meanwhile, has done absolutely nothing in one-day cricket.

Apart from that, spot on.

 

[Turbinator]

a) Yuvraj is injured.
b) Dhoni and Pathan are not test-caliber #6 and #7 batsmen, respectively, yet.
c) Laxman > Yuvraj/Kaif in tests.

Apart from that, spot on.

a) And you obviously need to learn to count, I do have 11 down, but I see you haf edited this one after realizing your mistake.

a) I am saying if there were NO INJURIES in the team.
b) So are you saying we should go in with 7 batsmen in Tests and 4 bowlers?
c) Now its time for us to move on and move past Laxman's 0,1,34,5,7,102,5,8,2,3.....its time Kaif and Yuvraj learn to accept and fulfill responsibilities. And for how much longer can we persist with Laxman?
d) So does that mean we should not give the youngsters any chances? I mean honestly, sooner or later Tendulkar will retire, and then suddenly are we going to put Jaffer or whoever else into open right away. This way they can get tips from Tendulkar on opening and breed into good openers. Plus our middle order looks MUCH stronger with Tendulkar there.

Apart from that you were quite spot on too in your reply...

 

[R_D]

not many SA supporters a ?... Langvel... you seem to be the only one i've seen around.

 

[adharcric]

a) And you obviously need to learn to count, I do have 11 down, but I see you haf edited this one after realizing your mistake.

a) I am saying if there were NO INJURIES in the team.
b) So are you saying we should go in with 7 batsmen in Tests and 4 bowlers?
c) Now its time for us to move on and move past Laxman's 0,1,34,5,7,102,5,8,2,3.....its time Kaif and Yuvraj learn to accept and fulfill responsibilities. And for how much longer can we persist with Laxman?
d) So does that mean we should not give the youngsters any chances? I mean honestly, sooner or later Tendulkar will retire, and then suddenly are we going to put Jaffer or whoever else into open right away. This way they can get tips from Tendulkar on opening and breed into good openers. Plus our middle order looks MUCH stronger with Tendulkar there.

Apart from that you were quite spot on too in your reply...

Let's ignore the first part of your post because you know why I made that comment.
Yes, we should go into tests with 6 batsmen, Dhoni and 4 bowlers because Dhoni is not a test-class #6 yet. As for Laxman, he hasn't exactly been given a stable place in the test side. We should give youngsters chances, but Jaffer is not one of those "youngsters". He's 28 and a test batsman. Perhaps he'll do well in these ODIs but don't jump on the nonexistent bandwagon because as of now, Jaffer is nothing in one-day internationals. Gambhir, Uthappa and Dhawan are the guys who will replace Tendulkar. The only reason I would try Tendulkar in the middle is if he does poorly at the top and shows that his reflexes are slowing down. We're already ****ed enough at the top, we don't need any more "creative experimentation" just before the World Cup. Play guys where they have a proven track record.

 

[Dravid]

a) And you obviously need to learn to count, I do have 11 down, but I see you haf edited this one after realizing your mistake.

a) I am saying if there were NO INJURIES in the team.
b) So are you saying we should go in with 7 batsmen in Tests and 4 bowlers?
c) Now its time for us to move on and move past Laxman's 0,1,34,5,7,102,5,8,2,3.....its time Kaif and Yuvraj learn to accept and fulfill responsibilities. And for how much longer can we persist with Laxman?
d) So does that mean we should not give the youngsters any chances? I mean honestly, sooner or later Tendulkar will retire, and then suddenly are we going to put Jaffer or whoever else into open right away. This way they can get tips from Tendulkar on opening and breed into good openers. Plus our middle order looks MUCH stronger with Tendulkar there.

Apart from that you were quite spot on too in your reply...

If sooner or later Tendulkar retires, then sooner or later the selectors will change. The last thing they would do is send Jaffer to open ODI's for India. He's in the squad but I'll tell you right now that he won't play one game. Only way he will play a game is if either of the openers get injured, but I think they will send Dhoni opening before Jaffer. Ther is no need for getting Jaffer used to the opener spot...hes not a one day batsman!

 

[Arjun]

Comments on this Indian ODI XI? This is what I've tried to put together with the available options, since the Five Fools have messed up by dropping Ramesh Powar.

• Sehwag
• Sachin
• Dravid
• Kaif
• Dhoni (WK)
• Raina
• Irfan (LMF)
• Kumble (LBG)
• Harbhajan (OB)
• Zaheer (LFM)
• Sreesanth (RFM, change)

We have yet to see how Zaheer fields, but Kumble's fielding has always been a worry so both the bowlers and the fielding captain have something to do– hide Kumble and try a lot harder to get the extra wicket without fielder help. With Powar gone, they'll have to extract more runs from Kumble and Harbhajan, and this XI was picked with 10 wickets as a priority. As for Tests, we still have some time left for that, so I'll get to it later.

 

[Dravid]

That's pretty much what the ODI XI might be for the first ODI. However, would consider sending Raina at 5 depending on the situation.

If India are say 80-1, and only 15 overs or fewer have gone by, then either send in Pathan or Dhoni at #3. Then Dravid should go at 4, and Raina at 5

However if an early wicket falls, send Dravid at 3, Kaif at 4. Now if Kaif sticks there and India have less than 15 overs left in the inning, then send Raina at like 8, cause he will be no use to team then. How ever if a third Indian wicket falls quick and India have a lot of overs remaining, send Raina in at 5 I would say.

 

[silentstriker]

Comments on this Indian ODI XI? This is what I've tried to put together with the available options, since the Five Fools have messed up by dropping Ramesh Powar.

• Sehwag
• Sachin
• Dravid
• Kaif
• Dhoni (WK)
• Raina
• Irfan (LMF)
• Kumble (LBG)
• Harbhajan (OB)
• Zaheer (LFM)
• Sreesanth (RFM, change)

We have yet to see how Zaheer fields, but Kumble's fielding has always been a worry so both the bowlers and the fielding captain have something to do– hide Kumble and try a lot harder to get the extra wicket without fielder help. With Powar gone, they'll have to extract more runs from Kumble and Harbhajan, and this XI was picked with 10 wickets as a priority. As for Tests, we still have some time left for that, so I'll get to it later.

Two spinners on Saffie pitches?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Jaffer, meanwhile, has done absolutely nothing in one-day cricket.

Apart from that, spot on.

Granted, Jaffer has done more in one-day cricket than Sehwag has.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Two spinners on Saffie pitches?

You pick your best bowlers IMO. Yes, it may not turn a great deal, but I'd still count on Kumble and Harbhajan to take wickets quicker than I'd assign faith to any of the Indian seamers.

 

[Arjun]

That's pretty much what the ODI XI might be for the first ODI. However, would consider sending Raina at 5 depending on the situation.

If India are say 80-1, and only 15 overs or fewer have gone by, then either send in Pathan or Dhoni at #3. Then Dravid should go at 4, and Raina at 5

However if an early wicket falls, send Dravid at 3, Kaif at 4. Now if Kaif sticks there and India have less than 15 overs left in the inning, then send Raina at like 8, cause he will be no use to team then. How ever if a third Indian wicket falls quick and India have a lot of overs remaining, send Raina in at 5 I would say.

I've chosen that sequence to make sure that they don't have all their innings-builders together, then the grafters. We have one massive partnership done, then Dhoni comes in and adds or sustains the momentum till the final ten overs, where he can then strike. In case another wicket falls after that, Raina can come in (Kaif at that stage is a weak link) and build a little partnership, then Irfan, then (where is Ramesh Powar?) Kumble and Harbhajan can attack the bowling.

That other idea of having Irfan or Dhoni at three is also good, although Irfan's more of a late-order striker, while Dhoni is a proper batsman who should be shielded till the right stage, so there's another choice to make.

 

[Dravid]

I've chosen that sequence to make sure that they don't have all their innings-builders together, then the grafters. We have one massive partnership done, then Dhoni comes in and adds or sustains the momentum till the final ten overs, where he can then strike. In case another wicket falls after that, Raina can come in (Kaif at that stage is a weak link) and build a little partnership, then Irfan, then (where is Ramesh Powar?) Kumble and Harbhajan can attack the bowling.

That other idea of having Irfan or Dhoni at three is also good, although Irfan's more of a late-order striker, while Dhoni is a proper batsman who should be shielded till the right stage, so there's another choice to make.

Agreed that Dhoni is a better batsman, but I would consider sending Pathn at 3 because, then Dhoni can come in later on at 6 or 7 for those extra 60-70 runs in the last 10 overs. If Pathan goes at 3, he can keep the pace going for India, and so can Dhoni. But in the last few crucial overs, runs come much faster than they would when the first wicket falls, so it wld be a better idea if India gets of to a good start to send Pathan at 3, then save Dhoni to blast away in the final few overs.

Sending Dhoni at 3 wouldn't be a bad idea either, but I believe more runs would come for India if Pathan is sent at 3 in that situation.

The perfect time to send Dhoni at 3 imo would be if India gets in 30 overs without losing a wicket, then we have 20 overs left. Dhoni should get his eye in within 3-4 overs, then start attacking. If he would stay there for the rest of the innings, he could easily get 70-80 runs.

 

[adharcric]

You pick your best bowlers IMO. Yes, it may not turn a great deal, but I'd still count on Kumble and Harbhajan to take wickets quicker than I'd assign faith to any of the Indian seamers.

It really depends on the pitch. On a pitch that supports seamers and doesn't offer much turn, playing two spinners would be a big gamble. Kumble doesn't really rely on the turn too much, but playing both of them would be risky. Let's see how the warm-up goes.

 

[Jono]

Two spinners on Saffie pitches?

You seen how SA play spin?

 

[Arjun]

It really depends on the pitch. On a pitch that supports seamers and doesn't offer much turn, playing two spinners would be a big gamble. Kumble doesn't really rely on the turn too much, but playing both of them would be risky. Let's see how the warm-up goes.

• Playing both Kumble and Harbhajan may be risky there, but it's equally risky playing three or more seamers against that team.
• Playing Dinesh Mongia as a regular stock spinner or sharing ten overs is a cold turkey– it just won't come off.
• With Ramesh Powar not picked, this is the best combination possible for taking 10 wickets. They will miss Powar and how; he flights the ball, varies his pace and turns it, rather than depend on the pitch.

 

[Nishant]

I think its best that the 2 spinners are not included. In SA pitches, we need more seamers. However, i want to see pathan dropped; if that means having 2 spinners ten so be it...i hope he proves me wrong, but i doubt it!