India in South Africa, 2021-22

[PKBasu]

India will tour South Africa next month to play 3 tests (Johannesburg, Centurion, Cape Town), 3 ODIs, and 4 T20Is. The first test (at the Wanderers) begins on December 17th.

India is very sensibly sending an India A squad to South Africa to play 3 4-day matches, with the first one beginning on 23rd November. The India A squad is as follows: Priyank Panchal (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Baba Aparajith, Upendra Yadav (wicket-keeper), K Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Umran Malik, Ishan Porel, Arzan Nagwaswalla.

I'm a bit surprised by the choice of wicket-keeper. KS Bharat has been in good form in the IPL and was the stand-in for the injured Saha at the start of the England tour. He or Saha himself should have been the 'keeper for this tour, to prepare for the tests ahead. The other absolute shocker is that Jaydev Unadkat misses out. He was selected for a couple of tests too early, but is surely ready for India A now, given his stellar domestic record.

[prasen9]

So, I was trying to figure out who is in the first XI to find out the cracks. I am providing my first XI first and then the more realistic one.

Openers: Rahul, Rohit, Gill
Maybe: Mayank

MO: Kohli, Iyer
Maybe: Vihari

WK: Pant

All-rounders: Jadeja, Ashwin

Pacers: Thakur, Shami, Siraj, Bumrah
Backups: Umesh, Ishant

So, my batting lineup would be: Rahul, Rohit, Gill, Kohli, Iyer, Pant, Jadeja, Ashwin, Thakur, Shami, Bumrah.
And, among the backups I would choose: Vihari, Mayank, Sundar, Siraj, Umesh, Ishant

That is my 16. But, in reality, Pujara and Rahane will replace two people. Most possibly some among Iyer, Vihari, Mayank. Sundar may be iffy too. We may take a backup keeper in Saha or Bharat or this new guy.

I would have sent whoever among Iyer, Vihari, and Mayank and maybe Sundar in the A-team and if they are selected in the main team, replace them.

[Kumar]

Every person who was warming the bench in England should have been part of the A tour. U have them warm the bench and not also play A tour, these guys are going to loose their edge.


I guess COVID makes it difficult to bring players back on emergency.

[PKBasu]

The India A side has several odd selections. Krishnappa Gowtham is 33, so picking him as a spinner for a South Africa tour is bizarre -- especially as there is another spinner in Saurabh Kumar (UP) in the squad. The batsmen picked are basically the next tier of Indian first-class batsmen, who haven't had much cricket for the past 18 months -- although the batsmen are opener-heavy. Four of the batsmen (including the captain) are specialist openers.

[indiansportsfan]

Really speaks to the lack of quality spinners in the country that selectors had to pick Gowtham. Some of the selections are good, but some are quite head scratching. It's also sad that selectors are unable to find any exciting talent for the middle order, other than Sarfaraz.

[PKBasu]

Varun Nair is the obvious one who should have been picked. He played several crucial knocks for Karnataka in the Mushtaq Ali trophy, clearly not the format he does best in -- but where he demonstrated his current form.

[Kumar]

DRC, Ishan Kishen added to SA tour.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/deep ... ca-1290372

I thought Vihari was added as well, so surprised that team list do not include his name

[prasen9]

Varun Nair is the obvious one who should have been picked. He played several crucial knocks for Karnataka in the Mushtaq Ali trophy, clearly not the format he does best in -- but where he demonstrated his current form.

Who is this guy? Karun Nair? The ex-India batsman who averages over 60 in test cricket and is unfortunately out because Kohli does not like him?

Iyer should be the next in line for a MO spot other than Karun, if they decide to give him a fair run. But, somehow they keep him for ODIs and T20Is and not play him in perhaps the format he is best in. He will fail in ODIs and T20Is and we will say, well, he could not do well there, so no tests. Crazy!

[PKBasu]

Yes, Karun Nair is the guy I meant.

The first match on that tour has begun very poorly for India A, who have bizarrely gone in with a number of spinners at Bloemfontein. After early wickets from Saini and Nagwaswala, which reduced SA A to 14/2, two huge partnerships enabled South Africa A to pile up 343/3. The third wicket went to Umran Malik, making his first-class debut. Spinners Gowtham (0/64 in 20 overs), Rahul Chahar (0/75 in 19 overs) and Aparajith (0/33 in 8 overs) got clobbered.

[prasen9]

We are wasting valuable slots in A-team tours by giving chances to spinners abroad and greenhorns. Is it only I who thinks that the selections have been bizarre in the last six months or so? This selection committee seems to be totally crappy. Why not throw in Unadkat to see if he can do it? We need some left-armers.

Of course, the South Africans threw us a batting pitch, which they will not when our first team goes. BCCI has clout. We should negotiate what the conditions will be for the A-teams even though the onus and the prerogative is with the host board wrt pitch preparation.

[PKBasu]

Rain and bad light affected play today, but India A have reached 308/4 in response to South Africa A's 509/7d. Abhimanyu Easwaran got a century (batting at #3), skipper Panchal made 96, and Shaw made 48 (off 45 balls, not ideal for test cricket). Vihari failed, making 25 (off 53 balls; he had made 4 off 31 balls, with just one scoring shot in those 31 balls, but then seems to have added 21 off the next 22 balls including 5 fours).

[Kumar]

Looks like, SA may call off all sports activities due to new COVID variant and our cricketers may get forced rest if the main team tour gets called off.

[prasen9]

Shaw made 48 (off 45 balls, not ideal for test cricket).

Well, if he averages that in test cricket, he will be giving Sehwag a run for his money as the other opener in our best ever test team. I do not care how many balls he faced. In some sense, he will be giving our bowlers more time to bowl the opposition out. And, 45 x 2 is enough balls to take the shine off the ball for our #3. Of course, scoring against RSA-A on a flat pitch and averaging that in test cricket is not the same thing. Given the flat pitch, we perhaps should have expected more from him.

[PKBasu]

South Africa A are 233/7 at the end of Day 1 of the second 'test'. The difference (on the same ground) has been the presence of Ishan Porel -- a proper first-class fast bowler -- in place of the express-quick Umran Malik (who made his first-class debut in the last match). Porel picked up 2 key top-order wickets, and was the most economical of the 5 main bowlers (2/26 in 13.3 overs). Saini had 2/54 (the second a late-order wicket) off 17 overs, Nagwaswalla 1/44 in 12.3 overs, Saurabh Kumar 1/64 in 30 overs (why use a spinner so much on the first day of a match in SA??), Baba Aparajith 1/34 in 10 overs (another spinner!!).

[PKBasu]

South Africa A were all out for 297 (Porel 3/49, Saini 3/67), but India A are 198/5 in response. Shaw made 42 (off 54 balls), Ishan Kishan (at #6) made 49 (off 71 balls), and Vihari is 45* (off 146 balls) alongside Sarfaraz Khan on 30* (off 51 balls). There were ducks for Easwaran and Aparajith. Sarfaraz finally made it into the team, but was sent in to bat at #7. Ludicrous!