Australia Tour Of India 2012/13

[Epic]

There is Amit Mishra as well..

BTW Is Umesh Yadav still injured? because I don't see any other reason for him not playing Tests. Zaheer should definitely come in place of Ishant, at least he can't bowl any worse than Ishant. Also what about Ojha? Why he isn't playing too?

It's a tactical decision obviously, based on the # of lefty's in the Australian side that is. Which is just lovely to see, never really been a fan of our "let's put out our best side and focus on our game" garbage.

As for Australia(this also goes for India and every other country that will go on to lose away tours ), the objective here is to learn and more importantly learn from your mistakes(whatever they may be). I don't know when Australia tours India next, but I would really like to see the Nathan Lyon's and the Phil Hughes' to return, not to be smacked around by the MS Dhoni's or bullied by the Ashwin's of this world, but to have learned from their experience in India and more so around the world.

If you don't plan to bring them back, there's no point of them being here in the first place.

 

[SaiSrini]

Amit Mishra may be. Rahul Sharma is out of question.

I too would have done the same. In fact, I'd have had Shikhar Dhawan in from the first game itself. Murali Vijay saved his place with that knock in the last test so I'll go with Dhawan-Vijay combination. Rahane haven't had good outings in ODIs and his confidence will be a bit low at the moment.

No more Dinda please. All he can do is bang the ball in short with better pace than normal Indian pacers. Aussies will make the most of him. Would like to see Shami Ahmad or Ishwar Pandey, though he had a bad Irani Trophy match in the test side soon.

Umesh Yadav is fit again and is practicing at the National Cricket Academy. He was not feeling any pain when reports came in a couple of days back. Shows his injury has healed nicely. Should be trying in the NCA to regain 'match fitness'. As far as Ojha is concerned, he is perfectly fine. Its just that Dhoni has given the nod to Harbhajan over Ojha in the final line-up.

Mishra seems to be out of favor with the selectors, and I don't really blame them for that. Mishra has not been putting a lot of confidence in people with his harmless kind of bowling. He might be better than a Chawla but he still doesn't look like he can create enough flutter to be considered for tests.

Dhawan is who I will want to go with for Mohali. Also I forgot that the selectors pick a fresh side for the next two tests. In that case, I would like to see some new pacers instead of picking Dinda. Maybe Shami Ahmed or Ishwar Pandey or Pankaj Singh. I wish the selectors give a raw pacer a chance here, so as to test him out for South Africa. Mohali will be a good place to try out.

 

[Epic]

Mhm, Sai, that sounds rather logical, so it's best we assume it won't happen.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

right, here's my take on the ojha/harbhajan selection. I can see why people think it's a terrible call by the indian selectors, it smaks of sentimentality and he has been under-performing for a long time now BUT I can actually see a pretty sensible reason for bringing him back.

Ashwin is 26 and has 14 caps, he is not ready to be the lead spinner for india. He needs time to perfect his craft, he needs more experience bowling at test level in different conditions and situations. He is undoubtedly very good, but inconsistencies and nerves will creep into his game, he had a poor series versus england and the entire team fell apart around that. It wasn't his fault, just too much responsibility too soon. Philander may be tearing teams apart but he benefits hugely from partnering Steyn who has got bags of experience.

Harbhajan really is the guy who should be leading, his peers in terms of similar age and experience in this test are Dhoni and Clarke, two players that have been key to their teams fortunes so far, and indeed both captain their sides. There are reasons harbhajan's form fell away, his personality etc, but overall india are entitled to think a 100 match test veteran that was able to bowl like harbhajan when he was in his 20s should be at the peak of his powers now. He brings masses of experience and know how, as well as being fundamentally talented. If they can shake him out of his funk, then they have their leader in the bowling department for the next 4 or 5 years sorted out. It's not going to be a role that's easily engineered if he can't as it basically will just involve waiting until ashwin gets another few years under his belt, so it's worth taking a gamble and being a little more patient than would normally be the case with an under-performing player.

 

[Aalay]

They are not going to drop Dinda without giving him a chance. Ishant has to go because he has been horrible. He was bowling really well yesterday with getting the ball to reverse both ways but that does not happen often for him. I am not sure if Zaheer is fit or not so I would rather go with Sreesanth.

Umesh Yadav will be back in April:

India Cricket News: Umesh Yadav resumes training, likely to be back in April | ESPN Cricinfo

Ojha has to be there in the team. This against the spin theory is totally BS. Ojha was your highest wicket taker in the previous series, how can you drop him? Ojha in place of Harbhajan.

Even though Jadeja is doing well, I have absolutely no doubt that he will be exposed against South Africa. We will have to play an extra batsman before or after Dhoni in South Africa.

I am also waiting for Varun Aaron's return. That guy can be an excellent death over bowler in ODI for India.

 

[Epic]

Can you explain yourself, how exactly is the against the spin theory "total BS"? Surely you aren't saying that off-spinners don't have an advantage over lefty's, because if you are, that would be rather dumb.

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Since we're all bringing up the away tour of South Africa...

1. Murali Vijay
2. Abhinav Mukund/Shikhar Dhawan
3. Cheteshwar Pujara
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Virat Kohli
6. Ajinkya Rahane
7. MS Dhoni*?
8. Ravichandran Ashwin
9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
10. Varun Aaron
11. Umesh Yadav

12. Ravindra Jadeja
13. Pragyan Ojha
14. Ishant Sharma
15. Shikhar Dhawan/Abhinav Mukund

How about that? The only guy really so out of the picture at the moment is Varun Aaron, but you got to remember this tour is quite a long way away, meaning Varun Aaron has enough time to get himself in the mix.

 

[ricky87]

I'm pretty sure no AUS poster on this forum went so far to say that.

Yes, but we are highly sensitive people when it comes to our national team

 

[Aalay]

Can you explain yourself, how exactly is the against the spin theory "total BS"? Surely you aren't saying that off-spinners don't have an advantage over lefty's, because if you are, that would be rather dumb.

The advantage disappears when Harbhajan is bowling that is what I am trying to say. Harbhajan is in horrible form and you can't sacrifice a bowler who was your highest wicket taker in the last series for him.

I like the squad but I think Sreesanth will be there as a backup.

 

[varunvgiri]

Maybe Shami Ahmed or Ishwar Pandey or Pankaj Singh. I wish the selectors give a raw pacer a chance here, so as to test him out for South Africa. Mohali will be a good place to try out.

I don't think either Pankaj Singh or Ishwar Pandey are serious contenders, irrespective of their domestic performance because of the 'pace' factor. Remember, Dhoni / selectors were very reluctant to play Praveen Kumar in tests at home as well as away. This despite his excellent record both in tests and in first class competition. I don't see neither Pankaj nor Pandey playing until they step up the pace.

And Bhuvneshwar Kumar is marginally faster than the others here. He is consistently above 130 ks compared to 125 mark which the others mentioned here seem to hit.

 

[shravi]

Personally, I don't understand the non-selection of PK. If Dhoni is willing to select Bhuvneshwar, who is no faster than PK, then why not PK, who has a greater mastery of swing bowling. He has better control of his swing in that he can swing it equally well both ways. He is also more experienced.

 

[varunvgiri]

Personally, I don't understand the non-selection of PK. If Dhoni is willing to select Bhuvneshwar, who is no faster than PK, then why not PK, who has a greater mastery of swing bowling. He has better control of his swing in that he can swing it equally well both ways. He is also more experienced.

Well, Bhuvneshwar is marginally faster than Praveen. Though I don't think the difference is enough to make any substantial difference. Praveen's temperamental issues maybe a factor as well. But honestly, Bhuvneshwar is just the flavour of the season. I don't think the team management perceives him to be a long term prospect yet.

 

[Epic]

The advantage disappears when Harbhajan is bowling that is what I am trying to say. Harbhajan is in horrible form and you can't sacrifice a bowler who was your highest wicket taker in the last series for him.

I like the squad but I think Sreesanth will be there as a backup.

Fair enough.

I reckon if Sreesanth makes the squad for the last 2 Tests(in place of Ishant) here, then he'll make the trip to South Africa come winter time.

 

[puddleduck]

Does Sreesanth take wickets in domestic cricket? I only ask because he's always getting recalled despite being highly average.

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Also, this is getting embarrasing for Australia now. Like watching a once great boxer keep getting in the ring when they should have retired years ago. Someone throw in a towel already, if they're losing so heavily to such a poor side as India, heavens knows what will happen when they have to play a decent Test side like England.

Trollolol

 

[SaiSrini]

Personally, I don't understand the non-selection of PK. If Dhoni is willing to select Bhuvneshwar, who is no faster than PK, then why not PK, who has a greater mastery of swing bowling. He has better control of his swing in that he can swing it equally well both ways. He is also more experienced.

I am sure BK (not Burger King; Bhuvi Kumar) is faster than PK (not Aamir Khan's new film; Praveen Kumar) on average by at least 6-8 mph. BK bowls in the mid 130's often enough. PK is mostly 125-128'ish.

Personal opinion - I am not a big fan of Praveen because of the very lazy attitude that he displays on the field (even while bowling). On the contrary, Bhuvi is an energetic, lively guy on the field and inspires a lot more confidence. And now with Bhuvi around, there is no need for Praveen.

 

[Epic]

Does Sreesanth take wickets in domestic cricket? I only ask because he's always getting recalled despite being highly average.

I don't know actually, people just keep calling for him, kinda the same way they keep calling for Wasim Jaffer even though he's 30-kerplucking-5.