*Official* South Africa in India

[Arjun]

Good to see the selectors being bit more consistent these days....
I remember when people like Murali Vijay and Badrinath used to be in the squad as back up and than when actual injury happens and these guys would be the next one to be in the team... but instead they'd pick some random from domestic to play

Happy for Badrinath and hope he and Vijay get a century..... would be so awesome.

Vijay has been more or less a consistent figure, and has played only when a regular is absent. The frustrating thing about them was to have a wicketkeeper as a specialist batsman so often. They also turned to Yuvraj as the reserve batsman, often a questionable decision at first.

 

[Uppercut]

OK, so if they're all out and Yuvi plays, India lose 2-0. If Yuvi is out too, India lose 1-0. If two out of the big three are out, India lose 1-1, and if only one is out, I think India can win 1-0.

Hopefully the good partnership at the top continues, because if they can see off Steyn and the new ball, that'll be a huge advantage for India. However, I think considering how good Steyn is, you'd have to expect at least one breakthrough more often than not.

Gambhir is absolutely key because you CAN NOT let Dale Steyn loose on a middle-order filled with right-handers with a new ball, no matter how good they are. Steyn averages 17 against RHBs.

 

[Sir Alex]

2 tests, what a joke.

Better than the actually scheduled 0 tests and 5-7 ODIs

 

[honestbharani]

Good to see the selectors being bit more consistent these days....
I remember when people like Murali Vijay and Badrinath used to be in the squad as back up and than when actual injury happens and these guys would be the next one to be in the team... but instead they'd pick some random from domestic to play

Happy for Badrinath and hope he and Vijay get a century..... would be so awesome.

AWTA These selectors have actually shown some vision and planning and stuck to it.

 

[silentstriker]

Gambhir is absolutely key because you CAN NOT let Dale Steyn loose on a middle-order filled with right-handers with a new ball, no matter how good they are. Steyn averages 17 against RHBs.

Yes, hopefully India can create pitches that neutralizes him as much as possible and offers nothing with the new ball. However, he'll still run through the lower order.

But if he gets a couple early, India's middle over will be scythed through. Basically, I want a spinning pitch with variable bounce, and then I want about six Ranji trophy games played on it before first the Test starts.

When India were being skittled out in Ahemdabad, that same day the curator at Kanpur stopped watering the pitch. Hopefully India can pre-empt that and just stop watering the pitches from today .

 

[Oscillatingmind]

Better than the actually scheduled 0 tests and 5-7 ODIs

Well of course its better but I don't care, two, its weak. I guess I'll just treat it as a 4 match series.

 

[Furball]

I'd love it if the Indian curators prepared pitches that took a lot of turn.

However, it's as certain as night following day that if one pitch is a were to be a turner, and the other a motorway, it would be the turner that would be under investigation by the ICC pitches committee.

 

[Jarquis]

Hope Badrinath tons on debut, has to play first of course, which he's yet to do

 

[Sanz]

Some Players have all the luck. How can one explain Yuvraj getting so many chances over last 10 years and Badri not getting a single test. Not even one Test , not one against the likes of BD, Zimbabwe either ?

 

[ret]

If I am not wrong, below is what is at stake for the series:

1. Ind wins or draws: Ind #1
2. SA wins: SA #1
3. SA loses 0-1: SA #2
4. SA loses 0-2: SA#3, Aus move up to #2

Oh boy, this one is so exciting! India first major title defense against a team that is known to give Ind a tough fight!

I N D I A

 

[Black_Warrior]

Man I just cant help but think that a series of this magnitude deserved 4 test matches, atleast 3. 2 is simply not good enough. There is a high chance its going to be 1-1

 

[wood-e]

Go Badri

Being a local from Tamil Nadu i cant tell you how proud and happy I and many other Tamilians are to see S Badrinath in the team such a wonderful player. We always get robbed not since Kris Srikkanth have we had a 50 test man. Lets hope that Badrinath excells at the highest level along with his fellow Tamil Nadu Team mate Murali Vijay

 

[Sanz]

Being a local from Tamil Nadu i cant tell you how proud and happy I and many other Tamilians are to see S Badrinath in the team such a wonderful player. We always get robbed not since Kris Srikkanth have we had a 50 test man. Lets hope that Badrinath excells at the highest level along with his fellow Tamil Nadu Team mate Murali Vijay

I am not from TamilNadu, but I can tell you that I am as happy as anyone to see Badri play for India. That said, I would like to know which TamilNadu player was robbed of his place (minus Badri). The fact that Kris Srikanth got to play for India for 50 Tests is proof enough that Tamilnadu had gotten its fair share (or at times unfair share) like many other states.

 

[Edged&Taken]

Intresting to read about this groupism within the indian team headed by Dhoni on one side and Sehwag on the other. . Recent rift being the Ojha/Mishra selection during the Bangla Desh tour.

The group composition within the team is
.Dhoni Camp - P Ojha, S Tyaagi, Sachin, Zaheer, D Kartik, S Sreesanth, Yuvraj, Bhajji
Neutral - Rahul, Laxman, M Vijay
Sehwag camp - Gambhir, Ishant, A Mishra[/I]

Sehwag--Dhoni-camps-at-loggerheads

 

[honestbharani]

Intresting to read about this groupism within the indian team headed by Dhoni on one side and Sehwag on the other. . Recent rift being the Ojha/Mishra selection during the Bangla Desh tour.

The group composition within the team is
.Dhoni Camp - P Ojha, S Tyaagi, Sachin, Zaheer, D Kartik, S Sreesanth, Yuvraj, Bhajji
Neutral - Rahul, Laxman, M Vijay
Sehwag camp - Gambhir, Ishant, A Mishra[/I]

Sehwag--Dhoni-camps-at-loggerheads

to believe this nonsense from times would be ridiculous.

 

[SJS]

Maybe Zaher and Ishant will struggle to get 20 South African wickets in a Test match but Praveen and Irfan would struggle to get 20 in a series

 

[Shri]

I am not from TamilNadu, but I can tell you that I am as happy as anyone to see Badri play for India. That said, I would like to know which TamilNadu player was robbed of his place (minus Badri). The fact that Kris Srikanth got to play for India for 50 Tests is proof enough that Tamilnadu had gotten its fair share (or at times unfair share) like many other states.

Yeah, agree with this. We had good players but not the kind of players good enough to push Sachin, Dravid, Laxman etc for a spot in the XI. Sridharan Sriram was the only player who was good enough to replace one of those in times of injuries, but Amol Muzumdar who was better than Sriram didn't get a chance either so I don't think much about issues like these.

 

[honestbharani]

There were a couple whom I felt didn't get the opportunies they deserved and some like Badani didn't get further opportunities inspite of doing reasonably well the last time they played..


Having said that, it is perhaps due to the more extensive media coverage that we get of the TN Ranji games that we feel so strongly abt certain players. I am sure guys from other states have their own favourites who never got the chances either. So it is best to leave these issues in the past and look at the future with some optimism. The current TN batting side, at full strength, is one of the best, if not the best, in the country and that is why quite a few of them are around national reckoning.

 

[Pratters]

I am not from TamilNadu, but I can tell you that I am as happy as anyone to see Badri play for India. That said, I would like to know which TamilNadu player was robbed of his place (minus Badri). The fact that Kris Srikanth got to play for India for 50 Tests is proof enough that Tamilnadu had gotten its fair share (or at times unfair share) like many other states.

Sadagoppan Ramesh. Played the Pakistani pacers superbly but didn't get much chance for an Indian opener. Also, there is another player I can't think of right now. Tamil Nadu players always seem to get the hard end of the stick from where I see it.

That said, Srikkanth definitely was a mediocre player.

 

[Cruxdude]

I am not from TamilNadu, but I can tell you that I am as happy as anyone to see Badri play for India. That said, I would like to know which TamilNadu player was robbed of his place (minus Badri). The fact that Kris Srikanth got to play for India for 50 Tests is proof enough that Tamilnadu had gotten its fair share (or at times unfair share) like many other states.

Two players who come to the mind immediately are Sadagopan Ramesh and Hemang Badani. They deserved better.