India-RSA Tests and ODIs, Feb 2010

[PKBasu]

It is now confirmed that South Africa will tour India not to play 5 ODIs, but to play two Tests and then 3 ODIs. The Tests will give India an opportunity to defend their title as world champions of Test cricket against the #2 side. Recall that the last series between these two (in India) was drawn, so a series victory will affirm India's status as the world's best Test side. If England beat SA, ofcourse, the stakes would be somewhat reduced. Here's the Cricinfo report confirming the Tests:

http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/441573.html

[S_K_S]

If England win the series against SA they can quite rightly claim to be #2, or even #1, in the world after beating Aus in the summer. SA's bowling attack will not take 20 wickets against a good batting side.

[Prashant]

There is also the somewhat befuddling selection pattern - by picking Ntini they make their bowling that much more toothless. Hopefully they will make some selection mistakes against India too.

[PKBasu]

Ntini's replacement didn't do very much in the first innings of the Newlands test either...maybe SA's cupboard of pace is beginning to run bare!

Anyway, the first test is to be played in Nagpur, and the second test is set for Eden Gardens (after the Kotla fell out of contention following its pitch fiasco). I will be there, as we have Lunar (Chinese) New Year holidays in Singapore on the first three days of the test match -- allowing me to get away to Kolkata without any problems!

[PKBasu]

With Dravid and Yuvraj injured, I don't think there is time for experimentation. The right person to replace Dravid (temporarily) is Kaif, who has hit form at the right time with a century today against a strong South Zone bowling attack, immediately after making 202* in his previous Duleep Trophy innings. Vijay takes the other slot, and we should have a solid batting line-up comprising Sehwag, Gambhir, Vijay/Kohli, Tendulkar, Laxman, Kaif, Dhoni. If VVS is still injured, we have a serious problem -- and next in line for me (against any other team) would be Pujara. But I don't think it is a good idea to blood a new player against the #2 test team. Pujara doesn't have any international experience, so will have to wait. Viraat Kohli proved himself in ODIs, and has the right temperament to be in the Test side permanently. So I would actually want to consider picking him ahead of Vijay (and after Kaif). Rahane, Tiwary, etc. can be blooded in a future series, but not the "World Championship of Test Cricket".

[prasen9]

I would be fine with Kohli but Kaif has been rather useless in international matches. If you want experience, Badri is a better choice.

[sanjay8886]

I believe it is not going to have much impact. Kohli is in superb form and he should take Dravid's slot. Yuvraj has not been playing all that well in test anyway. We still have ppl like Sehwag, Gambhir and Tendlya on top and Dhpni in the middle order.

[jaydeep]

Mickey Arthur has resigned as South Africa coach ... First it was reportedly following an "irreparable breakdown" in his relationship with Graeme Smith but now it was clear resignation was due to increasing pressure from administrators over what they saw as the under-performance of the national team.

So now former South African fast bowler Corrie van Zyl has been appointed caretaker coach and will be in charge of the team for the two-Test and three-ODI tour of India next month.

[jaydeep]

And now South Africa have sacked their selection panel after removing coach Mickey Arthur ...

[prasen9]

But India has "sacked" their middle order through injuries. I hope at least one of Laxman and Dravid get fit. Yuvraj is replaceable.

[gbelday]

I would be fine with Kohli but Kaif has been rather useless in international matches. If you want experience, Badri is a better choice.

I am not so sure about that. In test matches, Kaif has always been pretty good. I am speaking from memory, need to look up stats. We should bring him back.

[prasen9]

Here it is (from CricInfo):

overall 2000-2006 13 22 3 624 148* 32.84 1548 40.31 1 3 1 64 2 Profile
Career summary GroupingAscending Span Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 0 4s 6s
v Australia 2004-2004 3 5 0 153 64 30.60 380 40.26 0 2 0 17 1 view innings
v England 2006-2006 1 1 0 91 91 91.00 263 34.60 0 1 0 12 0 view innings
v South Africa 2000-2000 1 2 0 35 23 17.50 109 32.11 0 0 0 3 0 view innings
v Sri Lanka 2001-2005 4 8 1 119 37 17.00 387 30.74 0 0 0 9 1 view innings
v West Indies 2006-2006 4 6 2 226 148* 56.50 409 55.25 1 0 1 23 0 view innings

Pardon the formatting problems. Kaif averages 32.84 over 13 tests played over six years. He did well against England in one test and against a very weak West Indies attack in a four test series. Before someone tells me that Kaif never got a long run, let me remind them that this is a case where we need someone for the short run. If you want experience and choose Kaif for that or if you believe that his problems are behind him, that may well be acceptable. But, the chances he got, he did not perform. Neither did Yuvraj, though Yuvraj did play better than Kaif, nor did Karthik, etc. Vijay did perform in the few tests he got and deserves more chances.

Relatively speaking, Kaif performed much better in ODIs, at least certainly better than what Rohit, Uthappa, Karthik, Yusuf Pathan etc. did.

[kna]

Assuming they pick 15 for the Board President's XI vs SA, how about the following list?

Batsmen: Badrinath (c), Kohli, Pujara, Pandey, Sharma, Rahane, Kaif, Tiwary
WK: Parthiv Patel
Spinners: Chawla, Jadeja
Fast Bowlers: I. Pathan, Mithun, Kulkarni, Vinay Kumar

Other options could be Nayar for Tiwary, Iqbal Abdulla for Jadeja, Tyagi for Kulkarni.

Rahane is the only opener, but Parthiv could be asked to open.

Any other opener that could replace one of the middle order batsmen in the list?

With the addition of a few more players (Raina, Mukund, Ganesh Satish, Dhawan, Ablish, Aushik Srinivas, Saha etc.) could this form the core group from which an India A side could be picked for future tours - especially to places like England, SA, Australia and NZ to give them exposure to wickets with pace, bounce and seam movement? Maybe Kaif and Badri would need to be excluded if age is a criterion.

[gbelday]

Here it is (from CricInfo):

overall 2000-2006 13 22 3 624 148* 32.84 1548 40.31 1 3 1 64 2 Profile
Career summary GroupingAscending Span Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 0 4s 6s
v Australia 2004-2004 3 5 0 153 64 30.60 380 40.26 0 2 0 17 1 view innings
v England 2006-2006 1 1 0 91 91 91.00 263 34.60 0 1 0 12 0 view innings
v South Africa 2000-2000 1 2 0 35 23 17.50 109 32.11 0 0 0 3 0 view innings
v Sri Lanka 2001-2005 4 8 1 119 37 17.00 387 30.74 0 0 0 9 1 view innings
v West Indies 2006-2006 4 6 2 226 148* 56.50 409 55.25 1 0 1 23 0 view innings

Pardon the formatting problems. Kaif averages 32.84 over 13 tests played over six years. He did well against England in one test and against a very weak West Indies attack in a four test series. Before someone tells me that Kaif never got a long run, let me remind them that this is a case where we need someone for the short run. If you want experience and choose Kaif for that or if you believe that his problems are behind him, that may well be acceptable. But, the chances he got, he did not perform. Neither did Yuvraj, though Yuvraj did play better than Kaif, nor did Karthik, etc. Vijay did perform in the few tests he got and deserves more chances.

Relatively speaking, Kaif performed much better in ODIs, at least certainly better than what Rohit, Uthappa, Karthik, Yusuf Pathan etc. did.

Thanks for the stats. So, I guess I remember his most recent performances (in 2006). His failures seem to be from the days when he first started (in 2000). He has a very ordinary average of 30 against the Aussies in 2004. I am sure he won't be dropping catches like some of these guys are. Infact, he'll save a few runs in the field. I'd still say bring him back.

[prasen9]

I am sure he won't be dropping catches like some of these guys are. Infact, he'll save a few runs in the field. I'd still say bring him back.

Please note that our younger batsmen are safe fielders. Badri, Yuvraj, Kohli, Rohit are very good fielders. Gambhir is good to very good. The hapless Nehra, Ojhas are not competing against Kaif. I think Tiwari is also a good fielder. I do not know about Pujara and Rahane, but, I suspect they will not be too bad either. Someone who has seen them more can comment (PKB?). So Kaif's contribution wrt fielding is somewhat negated. If you want him for the sake of experience and do not want three players with tingling nerves because it is their debut, then an argument can be made.