***Official*** India in South Africa

[honestbharani]

Rahul Dravid (c), VVS Laxman (vc), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, VRV Singh, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh

Good squad IMO.

interesting that Viru is not the vice captain there. And I am not sure about Saurav either. He didn't do well in RSA even when he was at his best. But I guess he brought a little more to the table than guys like Kaif, Raina, Mongia and Badrinath in terms of his experience and his rather useful seam up bowling.

 

[adharcric]

interesting that Viru is not the vice captain there. And I am not sure about Saurav either. He didn't do well in RSA even when he was at his best. But I guess he brought a little more to the table than guys like Kaif, Raina, Mongia and Badrinath in terms of his experience and his rather useful seam up bowling.

Good to see Sehwag lose the vice-captaincy - hopefully it sends the general message that he is now expendable and needs to start performing regularly. The Ganguly-Badrinath-Kaif call was a tough one and I do feel for the latter two, but Ganguly's seam bowling definitely played a part. India can play six batsmen and have Ganguly chip in with the ball.

 

[honestbharani]

interesting that Viru is not the vice captain there. And I am not sure about Saurav either. He didn't do well in RSA even when he was at his best. But I guess he brought a little more to the table than guys like Kaif, Raina, Mongia and Badrinath in terms of his experience and his rather useful seam up bowling.

I genuinely felt India had a chance yesterday during the dinner break. 240 is not such a big score and as Pathan, Dhoni and, to an extent, Kaarthick showed, the pitch wasn't that difficult to bat on once you are prepared to bide your time a little bit. Sachin looks in poor nick, Sehwag looked determined but got out to a tame shot and a good catch. Jaffar was, is and never will be an ODI player even at the Ranji level. Can't understand what Vengsarkar, Chappell, Dravid and Co. were thinking getting him into the ODI side.


Ideally, for the last ODI, Laxman should come in for Jaffar and Dinesh Mongia should come in for Agarkar. He has been a big worry for us now in the past two games. In fact, I wouldn't mind saying that he is one of the principal reasons for us squandering good starts with the balls for two games in succession. Pathan looked like he was bowling better yesterday and maybe that confidence sort of carried on to his batting. He looked a little more free and relaxed than normal. Dhoni should ALWAYS bat above Kaarthick unless Kaarthick is being sent up as a pinch hitter or something. I like the way Dhoni has shaped with the bat in the last couple of games although I still don't think he has any idea of how to build a test match innings. He sometimes looks very lost in that form of the game, not knowing whether to go on the attack or to just keep defending.



Kaarthick should be given a REAL dressing down for the way he ran out Kaif. But apart from that, once again he shaped really well with the bat, was getting behind almost every ball and his technique looked much better equipped to deal with these conditions than Raina, Mongia and the other youngsters. I thought he was unlucky to have gotten out to a real half volley that most of the time he would put away for four. I guess he got stuck and wanted to get on with it and so went too hard at the ball. I still think the technique he has shown with the bat and the energy he has shown in the field should enable him keep his place in the ODI side for the last game.


The bowling looks OK at the moment. But one cannot always expect Sehwag, Sachin and Mongia to deliver the goods. Some changes need to be made there too, esp. reg. the slog overs bowling.


But just to put things in perspective, RSA are one of the hardest sides to defeat at home in ODIs and even Australia haven't done that. And India was batting second every game, which was a difficult proposition even for a good team in day-night matches at RSA.

 

[Fusion]

So I haven't really kept up with how Ganguly has been doing in domestic matches. Has he participated in any matches? If so, how did he perform?

 

[honestbharani]

So I haven't really kept up with how Ganguly has been doing in domestic matches. Has he participated in any matches? If so, how did he perform?

he has scored a hundred very recently and seems to have made a good fighting 43 in the fourth innings at Mohali on a rather greenish wicket. But apart from that, he has only been managing single digit scores for the most part.


But his seam bowling has been pretty good. He has consistently picked up one or two wickets every time he has bowled, it seems.

 

[adharcric]

For the Twenty20 Match ... Sehwag, Tendy, Dhoni, Karthik, Pathan should be the top 5 obviously. Raina and Mongia should play in this meaningless match.
Kaif, Sreesanth, Zaheer and Kumble/Bhajji can complete the team.

For the final ODI ... Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman, Kaif, Mongia, Dhoni, Karthik, Pathan, Bhajji, Zaheer, Sreesanth

 

[irfan]

Good to see Sehwag lose the vice-captaincy - hopefully it sends the general message that he is now expendable and needs to start performing regularly. The Ganguly-Badrinath-Kaif call was a tough one and I do feel for the latter two, but Ganguly's seam bowling definitely played a part. India can play six batsmen and have Ganguly chip in with the ball.

No No No NOO No No NOOOOOO NO No Noooo NOOO NO No

Geez, I thought you were an Indian supprorter.

 

[Dravid]

Rahul Dravid (c), VVS Laxman (vc), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, VRV Singh, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh

Good squad IMO.

Laxman made VC outta nowhere.

 

[Nishant]

Laxman made VC outta nowhere.

yh, thats wat im thinking...why Laxman???

 

[Dravid]

yh, thats wat im thinking...why Laxman???

Cause the selectors are idiots?

 

[cricketboy29]

I think they should make it mandatory for each player before playing international cricket, to prove himself in English county cricket. It's not like our domestic cricket is shaping us very well.

 

[adharcric]

Cause the selectors are idiots?

Uhh no, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that move. Sehwag has taken his place in the team for granted and this sends a strong message to him.
That alone makes it a good move. The only other options for vice-captaincy were Kumble and Dhoni and neither have captaincy experience.
Laxman deserves a good run in both the test and one-day side and this should give him some confidence. Hopefully he thrives on it.

 

[ramkumar_gr]

Laxman made VC outta nowhere.

it is really sad to see Badrinath missing out after putting all the effort. even Gavaskar was insisting on picking just 4 specialist pace bowlers rather than 5. He may never get to play for India. I would have gone for Badrinath in place of Irfan Pathan.

 

[adharcric]

I think they should make it mandatory for each player before playing international cricket, to prove himself in English county cricket. It's not like our domestic cricket is shaping us very well.

They just need to continue making bowler-friendly pitches like the ones in the CT. The A-team tours are also important - really need to organize a few to South Africa sometime soon.

 

[adharcric]

it is really sad to see Badrinath missing out after putting all the effort. even Gavaskar was insisting on picking just 4 specialist pace bowlers rather than 5. He may never get to play for India. I would have gone for Badrinath in place of Irfan Pathan.

Badrinath really deserved a call-up, but Pathan finally showed improvement in the last two ODIs.
It would send a strange message to him - besides, Pathan means a LOT for India's near future. Hopefully Badri gets a chance before Yuvraj returns.

 

[Dravid]

I'm not against Laxman being in the team, but as far as I can remember, Laxman him self has never been captain.

 

[adharcric]

I'm not against Laxman being in the team, but as far as I can remember, Laxman him self has never been captain.

He's captained South Zone, Hyderabad, India A and a Challenger Trophy team. Pretty much everything besides the national captaincy.

 

[adharcric]

I'm slightly worried about the short-leg position. With the current lineup, only Laxman is good enough and he's best at silly-point. Kaif sucks, but at least he tried hard.
This is Gambhir's biggest advantage over Jaffer, especially in a team with Kumble where the short-leg is important.

Jaffer, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly, Dhoni, Kumble, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Munaf for the 1st test ... thoughts?

 

[silentstriker]

This is going to be fun.

 

[silentstriker]

Prediction: Complete implosion of Indian national cricket team in six months. You think its bad now? Wait until all the internal discord starts to leak out and people start back stabbing each other on the field and off the field through the media as well.


Get the popcorn ready, cause this will be hilarious.