***Official*** India in South Africa

[adharcric]

Looking Ahead for India

1) Send Sehwag to England and drop him for the World Cup. If he scores runs and demonstrates an improved technique against the new ball, retain him in the test side.
2) Draft in Gambhir as the opener if Sehwag doesn't shine in first-class cricket. Jaffer and Gambhir should provide stability at the top.
3) Retain the middle-order of Dravid-Tendulkar-Laxman-Ganguly. All four need to live up to their reputation, class, experience and responsibility.
4) Bring Yuvraj, Kaif or Badrinath back into the test side as middle-order contenders.
5) Rest Munaf Patel for the one-day series against the West Indies so he can get back to full fitness. He's still pathetic in the field and he desperately needs to work on that before the World Cup.
6) Take a good look at Joginder Sharma, Gagandeep Singh and RP Singh as potential replacements for VRV Singh in the tour of England. He's far too raw for test cricket.

 

[Slow Love™]

Distinct gurgling sounds to be heard at this stage, as hopes of a shock series victory for India go down the drain. Well done to Smith, Kallis and Prince (and Pollock, in the role he was given) for not panicking and getting the job done.

South Africa will be relieved, hard for India not to be extremely disappointed in themselves, IMO. I wouldn't panic and wring dramatic changes myself, I think the personnel is fairly capable, and the batting order used in the first innings performed pretty well. Sehwag might need a spell though, and they need to work out what to do with Karthik/Dhoni. They do need to really toughen up in those second dig efforts and not capitulate so poorly like the last game. I know opinions are probably split on this, but I tend to think that having Gangs around might be a good thing, and despite his and Tendulkar's freezing yesterday, I think he's shown some good aggression and performed well enough to hold his spot. In spite of losing the series, team India do need to keep in mind that they just fought out a pretty competitive away series that they may well have won - I believe they had the tools to win this, they just went about the job mysteriously at times. It's likely the issues are more mental, as Jono implied.

One element of great concern has to be the fielding though - why's it been so poor? It really reflects badly on an established coach when the fielding is that bad.

 

[Dravid]

Forget about this series. The 12 Tests before this series, he averaged 34.70 with 1 hundred in 18 innings. Justify it now.
.

Okay I'll admit, coming into the series, he was out of form...but hes done nothing wrong in this series to be dropped.

 

[silentstriker]

Dude, be real, if you seriously think Sachin did bad this series you have issues.

An average of 33 is not acceptable, regardless of where you play. Not from your most experienced batsmen. And the fact that he has not performed for a year before that just adds to it.

 

[Turbinator]

Sachin didn't do bad in this series at all, and once again I say, he looked promising if you don't go by stats alone. But obviously apart from that last inning, where he was unfit.

Give him a chance in England, if he fails, replace him.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

3) Retain the middle-order of Dravid-Tendulkar-Laxman-Ganguly. All four need to live up to their reputation, class, experience and responsibility.
4) Bring Yuvraj, Kaif or Badrinath back into the test side as middle-order contenders.

Surely you can only have one or the other.

 

[silentstriker]

Distinct gurgling sounds to be heard at this stage, as hopes of a shock series victory for India go down the drain. Well done to Smith, Kallis and Prince (and Pollock, in the role he was given) for not panicking and getting the job done.

South Africa will be relieved, hard for India not to be extremely disappointed in themselves, IMO. I wouldn't panic and wring dramatic changes myself, I think the personnel is fairly capable, and the batting order used in the first innings performed pretty well. Sehwag might need a spell though, and they need to work out what to do with Karthik/Dhoni. They do need to really toughen up in those second dig efforts and not capitulate so poorly like the last game. I know opinions are probably split on this, but I tend to think that having Gangs around might be a good thing, and despite his and Tendulkar's freezing yesterday, I think he's shown some good aggression and performed well enough to hold his spot. In spite of losing the series, team India do need to keep in mind that they just fought out a pretty competitive away series that they may well have won - I believe they had the tools to win this, they just went about the job mysteriously at times. It's likely the issues are more mental, as Jono implied.

One element of great concern has to be the fielding though - why's it been so poor? It really reflects badly on an established coach when the fielding is that bad.

Yes, the fielding has been completely inexcusable.

 

[adharcric]

And average of 33.95 over 15 Tests is poor enough for any Test batsman's place to be questioned in this day and age. If it were a Ramnaresh Sarwan or an Ian Bell putting up those numbers, there would be questions. I don't see how it's any different for Tendulkar. Yes, he's a great player with a great legacy, but presently he's quite mediocre on the Test stage and until he sorts that out, he's hurting India more than helping them. Can India really afford to carry a player averaging 34 because he's capable of playing a huge innings every 6-8 Tests?

You don't pick players on their legacy. You pick them on their capabilities. And until Tendulkar proves that he's still capable, I don't see any justification for him being a sure-pick in the Test team.

Spot on. Tendulkar should not be dropped because he has shown very good signs in this series, but it's time he stands up and lives up to his reputation. Otherwise, he should be dropped for deserving talents such as Badrinath.

 

[Dravid]

An average of 33 is not acceptable, regardless of where you play. Not from your most experienced batsmen. And the fact that he has not performed for a year before that just adds to it.

So drop everyone, because no one was really more consistent than Sachin this series, and go to a full inexperienced side and get our ass kicked even worse?

 

[Slow Love™]

Surely you can only have one or the other.

I think he means contending for the same spot...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Okay I'll admit, coming into the series, he was out of form...but hes done nothing wrong in this series to be dropped.

He's looked good in this series for the most part, but he hasn't looked like Tendulkar. Therefore he shouldn't be a sure pick for the team, as he is. He can look superb at the crease for as long as he likes, but in this series he still only averaged 33.16, so if he doesn't start producing soon, he should be dropped.

There comes a point when a team needs to stop assessing players on how many things they've done wrong and start looking at how many things they've done right.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I think he means contending for the same spot...

But there is no vacancy in the middle order if those four are to be persisted with. So I'm not sure what spot the three fringe players will be contending for. Certainly I don't see how their situation changes from the way it is now.

 

[adharcric]

Surely you can only have one or the other.

I'm advocating one of those three being drafted back in as a middle-order reserve. Sehwag would be the man to depart so you don't have a reserve opener.

 

[Dravid]

He's looked good in this series for the most part, but he hasn't looked like Tendulkar. Therefore he shouldn't be a sure pick for the team, as he is. He can look superb at the crease for as long as he likes, but in this series he still only averaged 33.16, so if he doesn't start producing soon, he should be dropped.

If I'm correct only Jaffer and Ganguly had more runs than Sachin this series..so like I said to SS, drop the rest and place a full inexperienced side and get our ass kicked even more?

 

[adharcric]

But there is no vacancy in the middle order if those four are to be persisted with. So I'm not sure what spot the three fringe players will be contending for. Certainly I don't see how their situation changes from the way it is now.

The vacancy will be created by an underperforming middle-order batsman, one of Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly. This shouldn't be that hard to understand, mate.
The difference is that we include a reserve middle-order batsman (instead of a reserve opener as in this series) and replace one of the middle-order titans with him if necessary.

 

[Benny2k1]

So drop everyone, because no one was really more consistent than Sachin this series, and go to a full inexperienced side and get our ass kicked even worse?

Its not just this series that Sachin is struggling that is the problem
In his last 8 series he has averaged over 40 twice and once was against bangladesh, no disrespect but Jason Gillespie makes double hundereds against them!
His average has dropped from 57 to 54 in a year and he has scored 3 test hundereds in 3 years ?! now yes he was great but any one elses place would be in doubt with that kind of form?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Bring back Sadagoppan Ramesh, I say.

 

[Dravid]

Also, just because Tendulkar isn't tendulkar anymore and isn't giving you a 100 every match doesn't mean he should be dropped.

2 60's and one 44 in three matches should be enough to keep a player in the side.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

The vacancy will be created by an underperforming middle-order batsman, one of Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly. This shouldn't be that hard to understand, mate.
The difference is that we include a reserve middle-order batsman (instead of a reserve opener as in this series) and actually keep him in mind as a replacement for one of the middle-order titans.

I understand that. I just don't understand how that situation is any different from the way it presently is. It just seemed like it was being brought forward as something that needed to be brought into effect in Indian cricket.

 

[Slow Love™]

But there is no vacancy in the middle order if those four are to be persisted with. So I'm not sure what spot the three fringe players will be contending for. Certainly I don't see how their situation changes from the way it is now.

Yeah, I assumed given his earlier comments that he probably meant should Tendulkar continue to fail.