***Official*** India in South Africa

[adharcric]

Jaffer was a pretty good example I think. Sure he's in the team now, but he could have been the solution to India's opening problem well before when he was selected most recently. And he had to get a mountain of domestic runs to get back in despite the fact that he'd already shown the technique and the temperament to be successful at the highest level. And the whole thing about Raina being a favorite of the management just doesn't wash with me. It doesn't take too many bad performances for the fickle management to write off a young talent like Raina.

Although I'll agree that the Indian selectors have got better with things like this, I still think that they lack any sort of viable long term plan, as evidenced by selections that are pretty random at times.

Jaffer should have broken through earlier but the guy who has suffered the most at the hands of the Indian selectors is Gambhir. He was dominating the domestic circuit for so many years and was picked quite late, although he's still young. Then, he kept throwing away starts as a one-day opener and was asked to prove his big-innings ability in domestic cricket. He did just that; several centuries against quality opposition in the Top End Series, Challenger Trophy and Duleep Trophy. Still, he was left out of the team.

Favoritism has a negative connotation - it's traditionally associated with bias and unfair treatment of players. That may be the case with someone like Parthiv Patel or Reetinder Sodhi; conversely, with JP Yadav or Hemang Badani. IMO, Raina isn't necessarily just a "favorite", but the management and captain believe that he has what it takes to succeed at the highest level. That isn't something you can quantify and it's tough to differentiate that "backing your gut feeling about someone's talent" concept from "making a biased selection". I'm not saying that Raina will or won't succeed - that depends on how he does in this tour and in the future. I'm just saying that he has a far better chance of getting the opportunity to secure his place than say someone like Badani would. Hopefully, Raina will turn in a good showing and we won't have to discuss this much more.

 

[adharcric]

Sehwag questionable for the first ODI. Jaffer or Karthik may open instead.

 

[honestbharani]

Sehwag questionable for the first ODI. Jaffer or Karthik may open instead.

not Jaffar, PLEASE. Anyone but Jaffar. The guy was considered not good enough for even Deodhar Trophy matches, how come he is all of a sudden, good enough to be in the ODI squad?

 

[Nishant]

i wouldn't mind if he was given a try in the first ODI

 

[Nishant]

So Sehwag is out of the first ODI! This should make it interesting. Jaffer will probably be selected!

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/rsavind/content/story/268660.html

 

[Jono]

Its gonna be a long tour if SS continues his drivel throughout the thread. A game that wasn't even List A for Christ's sake.

 

[vhl71]

any idea as to who is telecasting this series in US other than direcTV?

 

[silentstriker]

Its gonna be a long tour

Yea

 

[Jono]

Why won't you learn from the WI tour where you were crying like a baby, then appeared later with India having won the series?

Didn't that feel embarassing?

 

[silentstriker]

Why won't you learn from the WI tour where you were crying like a baby, then appeared later with India having won the series?

Didn't that feel embarassing?

I was complaining throughout, and they deserved it. Or did you forget the crap that they did during the first three tests where they should have won at least two of them? And what do you mean 'appeared later'...I was posting throughout the series, the good and the bad.

But I was happy when they won. I am not going to praise them when they do nothing to deserve it. I deservedly praised them (Dravid, Kumble mainly) when they deserved it by making innings like that. And I rightly got on the players who didn't do anything to deserve praise.

Sorry if you can't handle that.

 

[Jono]

You're criticising them (calling them FTBs) despite not even watching the game.

Stop pretending SA pitches are as green as the forest.

 

[silentstriker]

You're criticising them (calling them FTBs) despite not even watching the game.

Stop pretending SA pitches are as green as the forest.

If they aren't green as the forest, and they still can't score runs, thats even worse. I hope they are green as the forest, otherwise they aren't even FTB's. They're just highly paid douche bags.

 

[Goughy]

What have I missed here?

Since when have SA pitches been green tops?

It not exactly Headingley or NZ here.

Most will be hard, and bouncy and hold together with a slight green tinge. Also altitude may play a role.

 

[TT Boy]

Its gonna be a long tour if SS continues his drivel throughout the thread. A game that wasn't even List A for Christ's sake.

It was a List A game to begin with but an hour before play started India proposed playing twelve aside. Worked against them in the end in regard to the match because South Africa’s 12th man was Albie Morkel who took the Indian bowlers to the cleaners at the end.

 

[Poker Boy]

I wouldn't worry too much because of a bad first game(remember England v PM 'S XI) and Morkel wouldn't have played if they hadn't made it 12-a-side. Where I would be concerned if I was Chappell was that India were 12-2...can't afford to lose early wickets and now Schewag's out of the first ODI! Two points: Was it one of those SA pitches that got harder to bat on under lights? And 5 wickets for Steyn..SA seem to have pigeonholed him as a Test specialist but I wonder if he's worth a go in the ODI side. He gets wickets and even if your name is Dravid or Tendulkar you can't score runs sitting in the dressing room. And his ER was 2.2 and a lot of those runs were no-balls or wides.

 

[silentstriker]

I wouldn't worry too much because of a bad first game(remember England v PM 'S XI) and Morkel wouldn't have played if they hadn't made it 12-a-side. Where I would be concerned if I was Chappell was that India were 12-2...can't afford to lose early wickets and now Schewag's out of the first ODI! Two points: Was it one of those SA pitches that got harder to bat on under lights? And 5 wickets for Steyn..SA seem to have pigeonholed him as a Test specialist but I wonder if he's worth a go in the ODI side. He gets wickets and even if your name is Dravid or Tendulkar you can't score runs sitting in the dressing room. And his ER was 2.2 and a lot of those runs were no-balls or wides.

Thats a positive. It would be a negative if he were out of the Tests, but he hasn't done much in ODI's for a long time now.

 

[Arjun]

A few stray issues...

What do you do with Raina? I would suggest, throw him in the deep end regularly in a match. Make him do what a Tendulkar, Dravid or Yuvraj has had to do. That will give him more responsibility. He will then need to play a long innings at that position, which will help him as a player. Merely putting him in at six or seven and sending him in when there's not much time or when there's a batting collapse and expecting him to beat the world is an unfair evaluation. He's in the team as a top-six batsman, so give him a chance as one before judging him as one. That said, they can't afford to take such a risk given that Sehwag is out of the first ODI. Then again, since Sehwag hasn't been in the best of form and Mongia is just an extra, theycan give him a chance.

Who should make up the bowling attack? One of Sreesanth and Munaf has to be dropped. Munaf has all the right raw material for a strike seamer, but is bowling too slowly– at Agarkar's or Irfan's pace at present. That's not good, when the batsmen will relish medium pae without too much movement. Moreover, his lack of batting and fielding will go against him, as Sreesanth is a significantly better fielder. That said, Sreesanth doesn't have the height to make the best use of the pitches here and isn't naturally fast, though otherwise, he's not too bad.

Why is Sanjay Bangar still left out? He certainly deserves a regular place in the ODI squad or even the playing XI, especially when the selectors are being very generous to one Dinesh Mongia. He's a mere flat-track hero who takes his own time to score runs, without scoring big. For someone picked because of his extra bowling ability, he can't bowl for toffees. He won't even last three overs. Given one VVS Laxman is sitting out because his fielding isn't up to scratch, the Hyderabadi stalwart is a good slip fielder, while his replacement is average all round. Laxman iscertainly one of India's best batsmen, while Bangar can provide some bowling support and score quick runs in the final stages. This so-called ODI specialist can do neither.

 

[Nishant]

Giving Raina responsibilty sounds good; promoting him to a number 3 for instance, However, this could backfire, meaning that india get into real trouble. For example, a score of 30-0 and change to 35-2! Surely, it would be better to just drop him...i'd rather that india would not risk the team's success to make 1 player happy!

 

[adharcric]

If they aren't green as the forest, and they still can't score runs, thats even worse. I hope they are green as the forest, otherwise they aren't even FTB's. They're just highly paid douche bags.

Seriously SS, stop acting like you know everything about every team, every player and every situation in cricket. They just landed here two days ago. Has it ever occured to you that there is a reason you get a warm-up match to get accustomed to conditions and don't just start playing the real matches straight away? Has it ever occured to you that there is the slightest possibility that Dale Steyn might have produced a fine spell? Has it ever occured to you that the Saffies got their last 50 runs from just 25 balls against two guys (Munaf and Sreesanth) who have rarely ever bowled at the death before in their career?

Yeah, they had a poor outing. It's a warm-up match though. Two words for you man: CALM DOWN.

 

[Turbinator]

Seriously SS, stop acting like you know everything about every team, every player and every situation in cricket. They just landed here two days ago. Has it ever occured to you that there is a reason you get a warm-up match to get accustomed to conditions and don't just start playing the real matches straight away? Has it ever occured to you that there is the slightest possibility that Dale Steyn might have produced a fine spell? Has it ever occured to you that the Saffies got their last 50 runs from just 25 balls against two guys (Munaf and Sreesanth) who have rarely ever bowled at the death before in their career?

Yeah, they had a poor outing. It's a warm-up match though. Two words for you man: CALM DOWN.

And 2 words for you: WELL SAID!