India in South Africa, January 2018

[prasen9]

In the last 15 years, here are the averages abroad (qualification: 20 dismissals):

[prasen9]

Rohit Sharma is the new Yuvraj Singh.

[prasen9]

In the SANE countries (qualification: 20 dismissals):

[prasen9]

Pujara is pretty bad. In fact, not even as good as Dhawan. Although I suspect Dhawan's numbers are possibly padded a bit by some batting surfaces in NZ.

[Prashant]

More evidence that Rahane should be played ahead of any if these other dudes except Kohli.

[prasen9]

Interesting is that among this lot, Ganguly was the most attacking in the SANE countries. He had only 1 century but had 7 50s in his 24 dismissials and averaged 41 or so. I had a poorer image of Ganguly abroad. Given our historical ineptness, that is not really bad. Of course, he was eclipsed by SRT, RSD, and VVSL. Maybe that is why I thought of him as the weak-link. But he was better than Sehwag! I would not have thought that without looking at the numbers. He also had the highest strike-rate among the Indians in the last 15 years.

[arjun2761]

28/3, another series loss but am sure Kohli and Shastri will sing song of how great our record for last year or so was albeit playing at home ...

In the post 90s era, we have generally been good at home and poor in the SANE countries. That trend is seemingly continuing although we are now invincible at home and somewhat competitive (our quicks are a little quicker but still far worse than the SANE quicks) but still poor in the SANE countries. So, some improvement but we are hardly the dominant team in test cricket like the WI or Australian teams in the past.

this is true in some sense, we have become invincible at home as you have called it however i believe last 5-7 yrs we gave away all the good progress we made at the start of 2000 ...I have not checked the record before that as i believe the team started performing to some extent in these countries under Saurav...here are the records for ref
T W L D
in South Africa 2001-2018 12 2 6 0 3
in South Africa 2001-2010 7 2 4 0 1
in South Africa 2011-2018 4 0 2 0 2

Agree that our performances in the SANE countries seem to have declined at least compared to the early 2000s. I thought we were going to be competitive with SA in this series after a relatively close first test and close scores in the first innings of the second test. However, right now it looks like we are going to potentially lose all our matches in this series.

[prasen9]

In the test series, we will lose 3-0. I expected that right up front. A draw or a win will be good progress. I think we should be more competitive in the hit and giggle series (limited overs).

[PKBasu]

The BCCI and the players need to give more respect to test cricket. Kohli must realise that he may be capable of making the adjustment, but most of his team-mates are not. They should be better prepared, arriving in the country at least two weeks in advance of an away series. WIthout doing that, we will keep going down to abject defeat.
The one positive in this series has been the bowling. The worst aspect has been team selection, followed by the fielding and the batting.

[Sin Hombre]

In the test series, we will lose 3-0. I expected that right up front. A draw or a win will be good progress. I think we should be more competitive in the hit and giggle series (limited overs).

That is opposite to my original expectations.

I expected us to compete in the tests 1-1 or 1-2, but lose the ODIs badly 0-6.

We have a much worse ODI team than the test one. Team selections + poor catching though

[prasen9]

Given the doctored pitch, what should be the XI?

Openers: My clear winners are Vijay and Rahul

MO: Pujara (one last chance), Kohli, Rahane

All-rounder: Hardik

Keeper: ? Parthiv v Karthik. I'd just take Karthik because the grass is greener. On the other hand, if Karthik has been dropping more in the nets or batting worse, then keep Parthiv.

Bowlers(2): Shami, Bhuvi.

Now two more slots. Contenders: Bumrah, Ashwin, Jadeja, Ishant, Umesh, Rohit. We need a third pacer because Pandya may be crap as he has been in the series. Umesh seems out. So it is Bumrah or Ishant. I would go with the younger Bumrah because Ishant has got too many chances and it is time to look to the future. Now the last place. Do we need a spinner? If the pitch is green, then you'd rather go with an extra bat. So, technically it should be Rohit. But, is Rohit a better bat than Ashwin abroad? Don't know. So, maybe get Ashwin's bowling and some batting.

So, my XI:

Vijay, Rahul, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Karthik, Hardik, Ashwin, Bhuvi, Shami, Bumrah.

I won't complain that much if we get Rohit for Ashwin and/or Parthiv for Karthik.

[PKBasu]

Karthik will drop catches AND give away a lot of byes. It would be a big risk to play him, but it looks as if Kohli isn’t aware of those risks...

[prasen9]

Like I said, I do not have a definitive answer wrt Parthiv/Karthik and I would be fine with either. Meaning I don't like either but what choice do we have? In the past, I wanted Ojha to be given a longer run to see if he can keep. But that boat has perhaps passed. Who is the best U-30 wicket-keeper in India? Can he bat a bit?

[PKBasu]

Shreevats Goswami should be blooded. He is the next best ‘keeper-batsman, but his abilities are obscured by Saha.

[PKBasu]

Anyway, Rahul as usual is gone already.

5-man pace attack. And thankfully, Rahane returns.