India in South Africa, December 2023

[Atithee]

^^Ayein? Why is it ridiculous? Would you call it that if it were Indians being bundled out like this?

[Kumar]

India being bundled out for 55 abroad is expected, but opponents getting bundled out is definitely ridiculous

Will india get at least 100 runs lead? Already down 4 wickets. Jaiswal failed again and Gill also could not convert his good start. There is no world where shreyas iyer should play in SENA conditions.

[Kumar]

Once again pathetic display by our batsman, who always get benefit of doubt. 153-6 with three players Jaiswal, Shreyas ans Jadeja scoring ducks.

Can india get the lead up to 125? And Bumrah adds to duck party. 7 gone for 153. 98 runs ahead.

Siraj lately has been stodgy in defense.so hoping he and Mukesh can keep Kohli company for few more overs atleadt


And Kohli departs. Looks like 100 runs lead may even not be possible

[Rajkumar Sharma]

The Tiktok legend can't play red ball cricket in SENA, has struggled in all test he has played in SENA till now. The flat pitch tiktoker has played just 2 four day games in SENA in his entire India A career and has scored just 77 runs and they raise questions are on Sarfaraz

[Rajkumar Sharma]

If anyone has forced him to return in Ranji, its a worst decision. He has let down the team by not including himself in longest format when team needed him. UP has produced top quality pacers, they should groom young players then going back to oldies

https://cricket.one/cricket-news/bhuvne ... 68f4cd9421

Fantastic. The better players we have in Ranjis the better. Young players who cannot cut it should not be given freebies. Then, they don't learn, don't compete, take things for granted and don't improve. See Gill in tests, Umran and Avesh in T20Is, etc. Competition is the best way to improve quality. Assuming the selectors think Bhuvi is better than the next in line, playing him also means that the opposing teams will face stiffer competition. UP deserves to make its choices so that it can win. It has no obligations to the Indian team. They should do what is best for U.P. If they think that there is no quality talent who is working hard knocking on the door, it is better that Bhuvi gets a go than some idiot who will take things for granted and not work hard.

Kaif, Chawla, RP, Raina should join UP again and improve the quality

[prasen9]

No. If they would have improved the quality, the selectors would have selected them. Bringing in old people at random does not improve the quality. Bringing in someone who is better than what they have improves the quality. There is a difference. Nonsense does not improve quality. Athletes lose their efficacy with age. It is up to the selectors to guage whether someone is too old or has still a year or two left in them. They always don't do a good job. But, this is what they think and I support very much not giving undeserved youngsters all the chances that they do not deserve. Let them improve their game and blow away the opposition at the club and lower levels and then they will get their chances.

[prasen9]

We have too many passengers. Prasidh Krishna, Thakur, Jadeja, Jaiswal, Iyer. Some of these need to contribute in the I2 for us to win this.

[Atithee]

Iyer is the one who should really be taken to task in the batting department.

[prasen9]

Why Iyer before Gill? It is always Iyer even though others are failing more badly. Makes no sense to me. If we are only going by this series, then Jadeja and Jaiswal are worse.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Why Iyer before Gill? It is always Iyer even though others are failing more badly. Makes no sense to me. If we are only going by this series, then Jadeja and Jaiswal are worse.

Iyer is a backdoor entry based on domestic stats in Asian condition which also Sarfaraz or Ankit Bawne has, Rahane's failures became so much high that none could realize the politics in entry of Iyer & SKY in test cricket.Iyer played just 2 test for India A in SENA in his FC career whereas SKY hardly played for India A in SENA in four dayers. Hanuma was poorly treated. KL got extra cautious.

Pakistan are getting thrashed by Aussies but impressed with Pak allrounder Amir Jamal. 20+ FC average in batting doing well with the bat against high quality attack, whereas Indian selectors not ready to try single pace bowling allrounders.

[Atithee]

I hope it’s not a repeat of that West Indies test where we lost chasing a paltry 120 runs in the fourth innings. That loss has always stayed on my mind. We had the full might of batting at our disposal.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/ind ... -scorecard

[Atithee]

Why Iyer before Gill? It is always Iyer even though others are failing more badly. Makes no sense to me. If we are only going by this series, then Jadeja and Jaiswal are worse.

Iyer because of performance vs. expectations for each of whom you mentioned.

[Atithee]

I hope it’s not a repeat of that West Indies test where we lost chasing a paltry 120 runs in the fourth innings. That loss has always stayed on my mind. We had the full might of batting at our disposal.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/ind ... -scorecard

So, we won. My WI nightmare has been buried. Hallelujah!

[prasen9]

Hmm. Every batter who plays for India should contribute. Gill is the more "senior" test player with 20 tests, which is a lot of investment. The honeymoon should be over for Gill and he needs to produce. Better still, chucked out and told to improve to come back. Iyer got 12 tests, He should be playing better but given a few more tests. Given the investment in Gill and his seniority, more should be expected of him.

Good to at least draw the series. I thought it was a 0-2 loss waiting to happen.

We got lucky because the pitch did not ask for more than 2-3 bowlers. So, we could cover the lack in depth in our pace-bowling quarters especially after Shami's injury. We used to have five top pacers. Now, we have three. PK is horribly bad. He needs games and seasoning. Mukesh should perhaps be the 3rd pacer when one is injured or when we play four. Umesh Yadav is 36. Perhaps no point revisiting him.

Plucky batting, sometimes sublime by Kohli and Rahul. Rahul has this weird thing that he does very well at the beginning of the series and then fades. I'd prefer him as a test keeper abroad. In India, it has to be based on the pitch and how much Rahul improves his keeping to spinners.

Rohit and Gill fought hard. They scored some runs but not enough. Iyer and Yashasvi failed pretty much.

Bumrah, Mukesh, and Siraj were sublime. Ashwin did not get wickets. PK and Shardul were crappy.

Jadeja scored a 0 and did not bowl. Grade him an incomplete.

[prasen9]

So, we won. My WI nightmare has been buried. Hallelujah!

If we were chasing 120-130, this one would have been very tough. The WI match we batted badly. I do not know if on this pitch batting is even possible.

Interesting how there is not much talk about the pitch being bad. It is being described as doing things, uneven bounce, etc. But, nobody called it poor. Contrast it with India, people would have used terms such as "poor", "rubbish", etc. Racism is well and alive. The biggest among them Chris Broad, who rated the Centurion pitch "good".