*Official* India in South Africa

[Cevno]

Never meant to say otherwise, just that Yadav may just about escape the SkySports treatment because has some pace.



Yes, but I doubt he can swing the ball from 0 overs old all the way to 90 overs old and he could be fodder when it doesn't swing. Swinging the new ball makes him better than Ishant, who is useless with new and old ball but not better than all of our other options, imo.

He can actually get it to reverse too when it starts too.

Also can keep it tight better than Sree or Ishant consistently. Even when he is not threatening he is less likely to be smacked around.

 

[Jono]

Oh yeh, it was a good spell. He looked in good rhythm, swinging it and pace up to 140kph. However, if 3 wickets, one of which was a good ball (albeit a great ball) was Sreesanth at his very best, then perhaps the inconsistency isn't worth putting up with. But then...there is a chance, one which I reluctantly admit, that he may be one of our best, outside of Zaheer.

Yeah I completely agree.

The fact that Sree may be our 2nd best bowler (there is no guarantee at all that Munaf, Praveen and Vinay Kumar will perform) is so depressing. Sometimes I wonder how the hell we win tests.









Then I remember we have Sehwag, Sachin, Laxman and Zaheer and I orgasm

 

[vcs]

What to do about Ishant BTW? Does his place come under any threat at all for Cape Town? Actually no, there aren't any alternatives available. Looked so, so painfully ordinary on a pitch that always had something in it. Only good thing he did all match was to run Kallis out in the first innings.

We could use a Bresnan or a Tremlett right now.

 

[Blaze 18]

Haha, been a bit of confusion over the past 2 days.

I don't rate Sree(The bowler he is right now, that is) at all and was calling or his dropping since the beginning of the NZ tour. However, I ****ing love him to bits and will have his babies.

 

[Blaze 18]

Sree has this frustrating habit of chucking in some sheer brilliant quality among piles and piles of utter rubbish.

Truer words have rarely been spoken.

 

[Manee]

He can actually get it to reverse too when it starts too.

Also can keep it tight better than Sree or Ishant consistently. Even when he is not threatening he is less likely to be smacked around.

In theory, I do agree with you. He has a strong domestic record, in the Super League. He has played five seasons and then played a game or two this year. In those five seasons, he averaged under 24, four times and then 37.11 in 2008/9. The numbers all look good. However, I just think that at Test level, if he bowls 120kph with the old ball (which he may reverse, but will not swing from, say over 30-70), England may have their way with him and improvise to smack him around the park.

 

[Manee]

Yeah I completely agree.

The fact that Sree may be our 2nd best bowler (there is no guarantee at all that Munaf, Praveen and Vinay Kumar will perform) is so depressing. Sometimes I wonder how the hell we win tests.

Yes, I agree it is depressing. However, I do think it is guaranteed that Munaf will perform well if he does not get injured between now and his next Test. Munaf, performing to a level which gets him domestic wickets, will pick up Test wickets, imo. I do agree about Vinay though, if he had an extra 5kph, I'd say there would be no question over him doing well at Test cricket, but at 125kph, he is somewhat a risk.

 

[marc71178]

For example I am sure many who question India's ranking do not know that they beat England both home and away, a team that is tipped to be the future number 1.

Then again, how much can be read into a series from 3 and a half years ago - the England team from then is so much different from that team, and there's been some changes to the Indian team.

 

[vcs]

Then again, how much can be read into a series from 3 and a half years ago - the England team from then is so much different from that team, and there's been some changes to the Indian team.

That thought has occurred to me several times as well, but no Test touring programme can be perfectly fair to all teams (for example, England get to play Australia in Australia at a time when they seem especially vulnerable and unsettled, while India didn't in '07-08). Ideally, all teams would meet each other in a short period of time when they don't fluctuate wildly in quality but in practice great players bow out, injuries occur etc.

 

[Blaze 18]

Then again, how much can be read into a series from 3 and a half years ago - the England team from then is so much different from that team, and there's been some changes to the Indian team.

I am not necessarily disagreeing with what you are saying, but most tours are three-four years apart; right ? How much can be read into the 1-2 series defeats in Australia and South Africa, in 2006 and 2007 respectively ?

 

[marc71178]

Who's talking about those series though? People are (rightly IMO) talking about more recent games.

One things for sure, the England India series next summer is shaping to be a really big one, assuming Zaheer is fit.

 

[Jono]

Will be awesome. Hard to make predictions without knowing the fitness of players, but Anderson vs. Sachin is going to be huge I reckon.

 

[Shri]

Nah random debutant vs Sachin is going to be great.

 

[vcs]

Who's talking about those series though? People are (rightly IMO) talking about more recent games.

One things for sure, the England India series next summer is shaping to be a really big one, assuming Zaheer is fit.

Yes, but England became a vastly better team after the Pietersen-Moores bust-up. India were fortunate enough to play them before that, when the team had a past-his-prime Vaughan, debuting Tremlett, inconsistent Anderson etc. If India and England had achieved identical results against everyone else in the last couple of years, then you would have to go back to the head-to-head to compare/rank the two, even though it would be pretty flawed. Still, there's no way around it, because results from four years back is better than nothing at all.

As it stands, IMO England still have to right a few head-to-heads to make a strong challenge for No. 1 (SL, WI away, SA home etc.), but in the hypothetical scenario of everything else being equal, you'd have to go by head-to-head results, however far back it might go. If they come away with a win in the current series, it will certainly boost their case considerably.

 

[Blaze 18]

Who's talking about those series though? People are (rightly IMO) talking about more recent games.

One things for sure, the England India series next summer is shaping to be a really big one, assuming Zaheer is fit.

Well, the general criticism against India is that their ranking is a result of them playing most of their games at home. The defeats in Australia and South Africa are constantly brought up as proof of India being crap outside of India.

I agree that the England-India series will be a cracker - the last one was quite good, too. The England team took the field in the third test of the 2007 series is unlikely to be too different from the side that will take the field next year (eight players that played the last test in that series were also part of the recently concluded Ashes test at Melbourne - that is on paper though, they are all better players now). The Indian side will be a very different one : Gambhir and Sehwag instead of Karthik and Jaffer, no Kumble, no Ganguly and likely no Dravid as well.

I wonder what the pitches will be like this time around. We got some batting beauties in the 2007 series.

 

[Furball]

India will be fine if they capitalize on England's weakness against spinners.

Have you watched England in the last 18 months?

 

[Edged&Taken]

Bring out the whine, Umpire Davis was drunk before match .......say SA players LINK

 

[silentstriker]

Who's talking about those series though? People are (rightly IMO) talking about more recent games.

One things for sure, the England India series next summer is shaping to be a really big one, assuming Zaheer is fit.

Every series against the #1 is a big one. I think this series is way, way bigger personally than the one next summer, even if England are #2 by then. India have never won a series in SA, and the conditions here are much more testing for India than England.

 

[silentstriker]

Bring out the whine, Umpire Davis was drunk before match .......say SA players LINK

Davis. WAG.

 

[Shri]

Have you watched England in the last 18 months?

Have you watched England like... forever?