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***Official*** South Africa in India

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
  1. Sehwag
  2. Jaffer
  3. Dravid
  4. Laxman
  5. Ganguly
  6. Dhoni
  7. Kumble
  8. Kumar
  9. Harbhajan
  10. Sharma
  11. Sreesanth

The tail is long, but Kumble and Kumar both average 20+ in FC cricket.
If Sreesanth could probe the line and length, as I mentioned in an above post, that attack could be fantastic. Five bowlers could allow Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth to bowl at the 140kph pace which they both have the ability to hit whereas Praveen Kumar could have an ability to bowl with the new ball without becoming a liability later in the innings (since there will be four other bowlers to share the load with). From what I have seen of Praveen Kumar, he is a bully of poor bowling and someone who exploits small boundaries and so is not deserving of his FC batting average.

In the event that Tendulkar is one hundred percent fit, I would play him instead of Ganguly (no hidden motive here, just that Ganguly is the weakest of the middle order). Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman could very well shoulder the load created by another batsman. I am not going to lie, your team does not coincide with my plans, but I do like the way you think.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
just coz some think that Ganguly is not suitable to open and Yuvi lacks talent 8-)
I don't understand the rolling eyes. Why would Ganguly be a good opener in Tests and what has Yubi done in Tests to show that he is a Test batsman?
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Saw little of this Test apart from extended highlights of the 2nd day.

Was obviously an amazing knock by Sehwag and there was a little more drama than usual in a bore draw.

I have to say though that Im finding Harbhajans action verging on the sickening. IMO, he chucked every ball I saw, not just the overspun ball or the doosra. Highlights was the best way to see this as his balls were spliced between guys with straight arms (such as Sehwag and Kumble) and the straightening is considerable and noticable.

Ive not seen him bowl for a while. Is this common or has it developed more recently?
 

ret

International Debutant
Here's a clue: if he is so unsuitable (and he is), don't make him open.
what i m implying is that it's your problem that you think that he is unsuitable duh

i would rather have Yuvi in place of Jaffar in these conditions and open with Ganguly then play Jaffar just to open and have Ganguly in the middle order, where someone like Yuvi can make an impact
 

Pup Clarke

Cricketer Of The Year
:wacko:

That makes no sense at all, firstly you imo select you're best XI players for the upcoming test based on performance and not on "talent". This is not to suggest that Yuvraj can't be a good test player in the future but right now Jaffer deservedly keeps his place for his performances in India.
 

ret

International Debutant
I don't understand the rolling eyes. Why would Ganguly be a good opener in Tests and what has Yubi done in Tests to show that he is a Test batsman?
A good Q .... I just wrote a long post a while ago but that had Tendulkar in it

I m picking the best players, along with striking the right balance from what's available in the squad

to cut a long story short, whatever Jaffar can do as an opener, i think Ganguly can match that [and he has been opening in ODIs, so I would hope that he would leverage on that experience] .... I rate Yuvi higher than Jaffar .... I want to play 5 bowlers as I believe that the pitch is going to be flat and want Ind to take the initiative and force a win

so the top 6 would be ----> Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, Yuvi and Dhoni
the 5 bowlers ----> Pathan, Kumble, Bhajji / Chawla, Ishant, Sree

I am going with Sehwag and Ganguly as openers as I explained above, ofc someone else could push Dravid up the order have Laxman at 3 and so on .... My 11 with the ones above is like i mentioned earlier
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
Ive not seen him bowl for a while. Is this common or has it developed more recently?
He went through a period in 2006/7 where he made a noticeable effort to keep the bowling arm straighter. However, this resulted in a severe lack of overspin (and so, dip) and side spin - it also made him bowl flatter. Consequently, he has reverted back to his old bowling action.

PS: If you find dodgy spinner's actions 'sickening', I would not advise watching the ICL.:laugh:
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Saw little of this Test apart from extended highlights of the 2nd day.

Was obviously an amazing knock by Sehwag and there was a little more drama than usual in a bore draw.

I have to say though that Im finding Harbhajans action verging on the sickening. IMO, he chucked every ball I saw, not just the overspun ball or the doosra. Highlights was the best way to see this as his balls were spliced between guys with straight arms (such as Sehwag and Kumble) and the straightening is considerable and noticable.

Ive not seen him bowl for a while. Is this common or has it developed more recently?
It was good there in the middle, but it has gotten bad lately again.
 

jeevan

International 12th Man
You could say that but I have more faith in Yuvi's talent than Jaffar's .... Yuvi's last test in Ind was pretty good as well .... and if you didn't get a 50 at Chennai on that pitch then you obviously did badly
Umm Jaffer OTOH scored a fluent double ton against Pakistan to more than match Yuvraj's 169. Not only are you substituting an inferior test player in swapping Yuvraj for Jaffer, but you are also meesing with another middle order test player by shoving Ganguly to open.

The series in Australia should have taught us this. Not only did Yuvraj himself fail miserably, mucking aruond with the batting lineup to force fit him also resulted in other players being sub-par (in that series , Dravid took the brunt. Now you are making Ganguly do that).

If you have faith in Yuvraj's abilities as a test player, then ask him to take a sabbatical from ODIs for a year, play county and domestic first class - set those worlds on fire and then be ready for test responsibilities in that time.
 

jeevan

International 12th Man
Yuvi has no talent in Tests. Or, he hasn't given us any hints that he has it. Jaffer has two double centuries. I'd much rather back someone like Badrinath than Yuvraj. Badrinath could quite possibly be in the best batsman in the world who has not played a Test.

  1. Sehwag
  2. Jaffer
  3. Dravid
  4. Laxman
  5. Ganguly
  6. Dhoni
  7. Kumble
  8. Kumar
  9. Harbhajan
  10. Sharma
  11. Sreesanth

The tail is long, but Kumble and Kumar both average 20+ in FC cricket.
Kumar is not in the squad, Pathan is and he averages close to 30 in tests and FC.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
:) Sickening is maybe the wrong word. I do remember watching and thinking "WTF, how is this guy allowed to bowl?, its not even near legal" though.
 

ret

International Debutant
Umm Jaffer OTOH scored a fluent double ton against Pakistan to more than match Yuvraj's 169. Not only are you substituting an inferior test player in swapping Yuvraj for Jaffer, but you are also meesing with another middle order test player by shoving Ganguly to open.

The series in Australia should have taught us this. Not only did Yuvraj himself fail miserably, mucking aruond with the batting lineup to force fit him also resulted in other players being sub-par (in that series , Dravid took the brunt. Now you are making Ganguly do that).

If you have faith in Yuvraj's abilities as a test player, then ask him to take a sabbatical from ODIs for a year, play county and domestic first class - set those worlds on fire and then be ready for test responsibilities in that time.
dude, haven't i made it clear in my million posts above that I rate Yuvi highly than Jaffar

2ndly, what happens when Tendulkar comes in at Kanpur? There will be the same Q that I raised here about playing specialist opener + big 4 Or big 4 + bowling all-rounder

below are my original top 7:
- Sehwag
- Ganguly
- Dravid
- Tendulkar [Yuvi replaces him at A'bad] and then Sachin comes back at Kanpur
- Laxman
- Dhoni
- Pathan
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
:) Sickening is maybe the wrong word. I do remember watching and thinking "WTF, how is this guy allowed to bowl?, its not even near legal" though.
Problem with dead tracks and weak laws - make/allow you to get way with anything
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
dude, haven't i made it clear in my million posts above that I rate Yuvi highly than Jaffar

2ndly, what happens when Tendulkar comes in at Kanpur? There will be the same Q that I raised here about playing specialist opener + big 4 Or big 4 + bowling all-rounder

below are my original top 7:
- Sehwag
- Ganguly
- Dravid
- Tendulkar [Yuvi replaces him at A'bad] and then Sachin comes back at Kanpur
- Laxman
- Dhoni
- Pathan
Bottom line is that, for India at least, this test posed more questions than answers.

On a dead track, these 4 bowlers failed, so who should be replaced?

If more than 4 are needed, which batsman goes?

Is Dhoni's improved form with the gloves enough to compensate for his deteriorating form with the bat, especially if they drop a batsman?

How does India improve their woeful fielding without dropping one of the big three (now that Tendy is out)?

How can India possibly justify picking Yuvi to replace Tendy if they go with the same mix?

One thing for sure is that Ganguly wont open or be dropped - that's a pr nightmare and a worse prospect than losing a test for the BCCI
 

Googenheim

U19 12th Man
There is no way in hell Yuvraj should be anywhere near the Test team right now. Kaif has had a very good domestic season, and he's scored a hundred in the last test series he played. The only scenario where he misses out on a berth in the middle order is if India decide to play 5 bowlers.
 

adharcric

International Coach
Badrinath is in a rare form slump so it essentially came down to Kaif or Raina - good selection. He should play - or will it be Yuvraj?

Jaffer, Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, Kaif, Dhoni, Kumble/Chawla, Bhajji, Ishant, Sreesanth
 

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