Australia's tour of India

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cibtt
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Australia's tour of India

Post by cibtt »

Who do u think should be slected for the current tour against teh Aussies?
Keep in mind that Sachin will be out for at least teh first test.
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Aussies Tour of India.

Post by cibtt »

Who do u think should be slected for the current tour against teh Aussies?
Keep in mind that Sachin will be out for at least teh first test.
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Australia's tour of India

Post by cibtt »

sachin's injury is not only his tenis elbow but he has suffered a diferent injury during a practice session in Holand. We should epect him back in the MUmabi Test. Howtown. he'll come out firing
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Australia's tour of India

Post by BSharma »

Where have you been all this time, cibtt? I expected more cricket loving forum members to pound me black and blue. :D

Only PKB gives me tit for tat when I try to stir up cricket controversy. :devil:
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Post by PKBasu »

cibtt, I think Kaif should be in the side for the first test. If Aakash Chopra demonstrates some form in the ongoing match between India and India A, he should open (ahead of Yuvraj probably, unless Yuvi returns to form in the trial match). Otherwise the team should be:

Sehwag
Yuvraj
Dravid
Laxman
Ganguly
Kaif
Patel
Bahutule / Kumble
Harbhajan
Zaheer
Irfan

Choosing Bahutule ahead of Kumble would of course be a gamble, and I would only take that gamble if Sairaj proves himself (yet again) in the Bombay vs Australia match starting tomorrow at the Brabourne. Bahutule has been bowling quite brilliantly in the past year, especially the last few months for India A. To me the danger is that Sriram will get the nod (after his century yesterday for India A); unfortunately, this is a guy whose technique has been horribly exposed at the international level -- even by Zimbabwe (against whom he played three matches with a highest score of 2). He is, sadly, in the great tradition of magnificent domestic cricketers (Ashok Mankad, Brijesh Patel, Ajay Sharma) who were never quite good enough for the international game.
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Australia's tour of India

Post by Kumar »

When parthiv patel can't make simple stumpings in Australia, can we expect him to do that in domestic pitches. I think we should let both patel and kaarthick play in more domestic matches and take a experienced keeper (Mongia ??), who can effect stumpings to decent effect.

If I am an australian batsman and paarthiv is the keeper, I will step out to Bhaji everytime he bowls without any fear of stumping...

Bahatule over Kumble (one in PKB's dreams)!!!1 :wink:

Akash Chopra over Yuvraj, especially considering Yuvraj's form !!!

How about Venugopal Rao over Kaif??
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Australia's tour of India

Post by PKBasu »

I think the basic principle in my selections is that you don't experiment against Australia. Bahutule is the one slight exception (but he has had a bit of international cricket already, including a reasonable test outing against Australia in 2001). Given that Kumble was utterly ineffective against Australia on a crumbling SCG pitch in the last test (I watched that excruciating day of cricket live... :( ), there is a good argument against him (although I know the selectors are likely to stick with the tried-and-tested Kumble). As I've said in the above post, Bahutule will need to perform against the Aussies at the Brabourne in order to win selection.

As for Parthiv, he redeemed himself with a decent performance (both in front and behind the wickets) in Pakistan, so he needs to fail in a test before being replaced. I think there are two very strong contenders (both of whom can bat): MS Dhoni (who unfortunately was out first ball yesterday to Zaheer, but has scored centuries galore on the last India A tour) and Dinesh Karthik.

I think Kaif has proven himself as an international player -- apart from being the in-form batsman (alongwith Ganguly and Dravid) in the ODI team. His technique is actually better-suited to test cricket (he got his initial chance against a rampaging South African side and has never been selected since). I think the choice of test batsmen (apart from a test opener) should always come from those who have played ODIs; tests are tougher, so if you can't succeed at the ODI level you aren't likely to succeed at the test level. Frankly I'm a bit disappointed that Rayudu (who clearly is more talented than Venugopal Rao) has gone to the back of the line after a few poor performances domestically (which followed some fabulous performances for India A and in the Ranji trophy about 9-10 months ago).

I'm worried about Yuvraj and Sehwag's form. But look at Chopra's form! He has flopped for India A, Rest of India, etc. and came back from Kenya injured. The best openers should be selected based on form in the on-going trial match.
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Australia's tour of India

Post by jayakris »

I just saw this collection of latest story headlines from a PTI sports page. Take a look -


- Court stays Dalmiya's formal appointment as Patron-in-Chief
- Tendulkar does not rule himself out of first Test
- Chandok to move over to Formula Nissan World Series
- BCCI asks Delhi Police if Boje, Gibbs will be quizzed
- HC directs BCCI to hold elections in accordance with rules
- Government terms BCCI "a state"
- Telecast rights: Zee's petition not maintainable, says BCCI
- Hockey Test: India hope to maintain the winning momentum

Five of those headlines are on all these court arguments and rules crap constantly going on. It is utterly shameful that Indians are this Childish in taking care of business without running to our courts. One of these days our nation will grow up and learn how to deal with money (which seems to be in good supply these days in crciket)

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Australia's tour of India

Post by david »

Central Govt put up a very good argument saying BCCI has a STATE status since it is selecting a team which is representing India.

Now they cannot run away from responsibilities.
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Post by Kumar »

I don't agree wih you PKB.. We experimented with Irfan during the last Australian tour and he didn't disappoint... Balaji did well during the australian tour.. Further Bhaji came to his own during the Australian tour..

Australians are teams that prepare well and know every batsman weakness and strength.. so more the reason for going with the unknown.. I think KAIF does not have the game to play in the test!!!

Indian team's decisions are stupid... The reason I am saying this, both kaarthick and patel were picked for Indian senior team and Kaarthick didn't figure in playing 11. If Kaarthik is no.2: keeper in the team, he should have playing in Indian 'A' team...
- Court stays Dalmiya's formal appointment as Patron-in-Chief
What the hell does this mean.. He continues to be the CHIEF for life?
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Post by PKBasu »

Kumar, the Indian bowling has been unsettled for a long time. Generally, we are dependent on a single bowler (in 2001, Harbhajan; on the last tour of Australia, largely Kumble, but Agarkar came to the party in the second innings at Adelaide). I don't mind chopping and changing the peripheral bowlers, but the batting is pretty settled for tests, and most of the players select themselves. Recent ODI form is a bit of a worry, which opens up the possibilites for discussions over the places of Yuvraj and Sehwag in the team. But to blood an unknown quantity like Venugopal Rao (who hasn't even been dominant at the India A level against Kenya/Zimbabwe, where MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir were easily the best batsmen) would be folly. We can be pretty sure the selectors won't go for a guy like Venugopal Rao just yet. He has a lot more to prove.
We are, after all, talking about a test team that has just beaten Pakistan in Pakistan, and drawn with Australia in Australia. These guys need to fail in a test before they are summarily dropped and replaced by untested players.
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Post by Kumar »

These guys need to fail in a test before they are summarily dropped and replaced by untested players.
That's the problem, established indian players have to fail over and over again to be dropped / replaced... Yuvraj is not even established. Would Indian team drop sehwag if he fails in the first test... we got to be proactive.. Give this guys a rest...

As to Venugopal Rao, may be you are right.. Then go with Dhoni,if he is better... But to do nothing and stick with same old formula is madness. we are not talking about dropping Dravid / Laxman... We are talking Kaif / Yuvraj and sehwag..
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Post by PKBasu »

Yuvraj has played four tests (including the entire series in Pakistan) and has a batting average of 51. He made a century (as opener) in the trial match, as did Sehwag. It is madness to drop Sehwag, the man who made 309 against Pakistan and basically won us the series, apart from a brilliant 195 against Australia. It isn't easy to find players of such quality anywhere in the world. Sehwag's record (5 centuries in about 19 tests as opener) makes him one of the most successful opening batsmen in test history (from any country). A batsman with a test batting average of 52.72 in 23 tests (in which he has scored close to 2000 runs) can't be dropped on a whim. And he hasn't got his runs against the minnows, but against the likes of Australia, Pakistan and England -- mainly on their grounds, not in India.
They have had a lean trot in ODIs, and their positions in the ODI side should now be up for grabs. You can't drop them from the test side yet. Kaif too got a century in the trial match, and is a more proven performer at the international level than any of the others you mention. Quite rightly, he has now been selected -- and also, quite rightly, Bahutule has failed to make it, because (sadly) he couldn't produce any magic in the Mumbai vs. Australia match.
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Post by Kumar »

I think the current form is more important than the statistics... Yuvraj's average of 51 is in Asia with Pakistan bowlers who were not bowling that great. Can he reproduce that against Australia.. I doubt it..

I can give statistics that tells you Kambli is the best middle order batsman in india, but if you throw out the double centuries against England, you will see where he stands.. I agree Sehwag is too gifted to throw him out, but now that he is not in top form and Australians will figure out a way to get him much more easily...

We do not want two openers who will score a quick fire 50 in 10 overs and leave india tottering at 50/2 or 10/2 in 5 overs.. We need someone i nth emould of Chopra, who though may get out, will see through new overs at least.
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Post by PKBasu »

If it's current form you're after, Sehwag and Yuvraj have each scored centuries in their last first-class innings.
There really is no comparison between Sehwag and Kambli. The latter scored his double-centuries against an England team that was pretty weak and against Zimbabwe -- all in home test matches. Overseas, his technical flaws were quickly found out. Sehwag has proven himself as a test opening batsman in Australia, England and Pakistan. And to say that playing in Pakistan is easy for an Indian batsman since it is in Asia is, frankly, naive. Apart from Gavaskar and (to a limited degree) MAmarnath/SManjrekar, no Indian batsman had ever consistently scored runs in Pakistan until the last series.

India won two tests in Pakistan this year -- and had never won one in that country before. I saw Sehwag's innings on TV. He wasn't playing against mediocre bowlers; he was playing the world's fastest chucker Shoaib Akhtar, the brilliant swinging fast bowlers Mohammed Sami and Shabbir Ahmed. Playing them is a fearsome prospect at the best of times; doing that while representing India in Pakistan is the ultimate test. I saw Sehwag and Yuvraj pass that test with flying colours. I (and, fortunately, the selectors) will only be willing to consider having them dropped from the test side when they have failed. They haven't yet. (In ODIs, Ganguly has already delivered a veiled warning suggesting their places may be in jeopardy).
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