India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[Animator!]

Unfortunatly they don't put Adams's articles on the website because he is only a contributor.
I don't see how it doesn't sound like Adams, he's been a lot harsher about some players in the past.

 

[Sureshot]

Have you got the paper that had it in though?

I don't often hear Grizzly speak out against other players though.

 

[sohum]

Karthik cannot keep and open the batting since he could potentially be keeping for two days and have to go out and bat after a 10 minute break, this would take a horrible long term toll on him.

You mean Karthik should not keep and open the batting. I'm pretty sure he can for the present, and I'm pretty sure he wants to, because he is currently young and fit. Definitely the selectors should think of all the repercussions before making a move like that, though.

I am in favour of keeping Dhoni in the side. So, what options does that leave? Well, VVS or Yuvraj, surely based on tour performances they are about equal, but VVS has the better overall record and Yuvraj Singh has not done enough to edge him out the side in my opinion.

I still don't see why Ganguly warrants an automatic selection. I guess we can select him for the first match, but I think he will struggle. I hope he does find some form, otherwise I would replace him with Yuvraj. Laxman should be a certainty, in my opinion, even if the opposition is not Australia.

So, this leaves the very risky but possible solution of three bowlers, obviously being Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble. I believe India have been seriously considering this, hence the overuse of the part timers in the tour games but in my opinion, in the run fest that is the Lords Test match, you cannot do this since the extra batsman will be wasted and the extra bowler, needed. RP Singh is a shoe in for the fourth bowler role. He gets bounce from a lot of surfaces and his swinging yorker claims a lot of wickets, such traits are needed from a bowler in tough conditions. The 41 in the tour match against Sussex shows he is no mug with the bat either.

3 bowlers? I am pretty sure no one has been seriously considering going in with 3 bowlers in a test match. That would be suicide. I am pretty sure the part-timers were overused in the tour matches so that frontliners would not have injury scares. Like Dravid had that strain. We were just trying to play safe. It's always going to be 4 bowlers vs. 5 bowlers and if it isn't, then I'm afraid we are not going to be doing very well at all this tour.

I also feel Ranadeb Bose is going to be selected for at least one of the three test matches, even if he didn't impress too much. I cannot see Sharma being selected in this tour, and Powar won't make it unless it's an absolute spin paradise. If RP doesn't perform well, we could well see Bose make the cut.

Note: I do not think Jaffer is an opening batsman and would be far more suited to going further down the order in the middle, I am in the process of writing an article about this.

Jaffer is an opening batsman. He's just become too used to plodding runs in our domestic competitions against pathetic bowlers, like just about every guy who comes through. He's not a strokemaker, so he's not going to take advantage of the old ball. It seems he just takes a while to settle in, but after he gets in, he even realizes where his off-stump is.

It is more of an he's all we have strategy, I am aware he is not an ideal choice. But you can hardly shove Gambhir there to open straight away in the Test and expect him to do well. It is a risky strategy, but not a disasterous one, and as I see it, he is due a large score (sounds unscientific, but you watch when he gets a century).

Shove him straight in? He's an opener and has been for most of his first class career, so I really cannot see why we would ease him into the middle order first. He debuted as opener too, and I really cannot see why we cannot put in an opener who has done well in first class cricket as the opener in England and expect him to hold his own, given we have selected him as being one of the top players in India.

Yeah, Kumble was a constant thorn in our side when we toured their last April. I seem to remember him preventing a follow on? He's definitely capable with the willow.

Kumble is an absolute mule with the bat. He doesn't score runs very easily but he puts a really high price on his wicket. He's a good batsman to bat with if you are the last recognized batsman out there, because you can pretty much trust him to keep one side occupied.

However, he used to be a hell of a lot better with the bat. He's far less consistent these days.

 

[manee]

I still don't see why Ganguly warrants an automatic selection. I guess we can select him for the first match, but I think he will struggle. I hope he does find some form, otherwise I would replace him with Yuvraj. Laxman should be a certainty, in my opinion, even if the opposition is not Australia.

He warrents an automatic selection since he has just been recalled into the side after the Chappell incident and has not played enough matches poorly to earn (for lack of a better word) a drop from the team.

I also feel Ranadeb Bose is going to be selected for at least one of the three test matches, even if he didn't impress too much. I cannot see Sharma being selected in this tour, and Powar won't make it unless it's an absolute spin paradise. If RP doesn't perform well, we could well see Bose make the cut.

Word Association: Ishant Sharma --> Useless

Jaffer is an opening batsman. He's just become too used to plodding runs in our domestic competitions against pathetic bowlers, like just about every guy who comes through. He's not a strokemaker, so he's not going to take advantage of the old ball. It seems he just takes a while to settle in, but after he gets in, he even realizes where his off-stump is.

You're not going to enjoy my article then. You do not have to be a stroke maker to play against the old ball. In most cases the old ball is easier than the new ball, that is why when Jaffer survives the new ball (first 15-20 overs) he ends up making a large score.

Shove him straight in? He's an opener and has been for most of his first class career, so I really cannot see why we would ease him into the middle order first. He debuted as opener too, and I really cannot see why we cannot put in an opener who has done well in first class cricket as the opener in England and expect him to hold his own, given we have selected him as being one of the top players in India.

He is totally unproven at Test level and maybe needs to play a few tour matches at the top of the order first. You cannot have someone batting three, selected as a reserve opener and just say: "You are opening against England in the First Test at Lords".

Kumble is an absolute mule with the bat. He doesn't score runs very easily but he puts a really high price on his wicket. He's a good batsman to bat with if you are the last recognized batsman out there, because you can pretty much trust him to keep one side occupied.

However, he used to be a hell of a lot better with the bat. He's far less consistent these days.

Totally agree

 

[sohum]

He warrents an automatic selection since he has just been recalled into the side after the Chappell incident and has not played enough matches poorly to earn (for lack of a better word) a drop from the team.

I don't think he warrants automatic selection. I just think he will be selected for his experience and because he has performed well in England before. Also because his career is approaching it's end. However, his position in the test XI should be on tenterhooks because he has never been a prolific test batsman and there may be others in the squad or in domestic cricket who will be more useful than him.

You're not going to enjoy my article then. You do not have to be a stroke maker to play against the old ball. In most cases the old ball is easier than the new ball, that is why when Jaffer survives the new ball (first 15-20 overs) he ends up making a large score.

Of course you don't need to be a stroke maker to play against the old ball, but I think the point of having specialist openers is to make sure that they play off the new ball, so that the strokemakers can then come in and play their shots and pile the runs on, without having to deal with that extra zip or movement. I think we have players better equipped than Jaffer to deal with the old ball and he really only makes the team because he is a specialist opener.

He is totally unproven at Test level and maybe needs to play a few tour matches at the top of the order first. You cannot have someone batting three, selected as a reserve opener and just say: "You are opening against England in the First Test at Lords".

Gambhir is an opener, though, so it would not be as if he was being tossed into the deep end of a swimming pool. Gambhir has played all his 21 innings at the opening position and has a decent average of 36.00 (though boosted by minnow runs). He is an opener and thus if asking him to open is unfair to him because he is unprepared, I feel he shouldn't be in the squad.

Of course India's first-choice pair is Karthik-Jaffer which is why they played them as openers in both tour matches. However, Gambhir was dropped in at 3 in case one of the openers got off to a bad start (Jaffer did) and he showed that he was able to handle the new ball. I think Jaffer will still make the cut for the first test, but as I understand it, asking Gambhir to open should not be raising too many eyebrows.

 

[manee]

I don't think he warrants automatic selection. I just think he will be selected for his experience and because he has performed well in England before. Also because his career is approaching it's end. However, his position in the test XI should be on tenterhooks because he has never been a prolific test batsman and there may be others in the squad or in domestic cricket who will be more useful than him.

By automatic selection, I mean that this tour should be treated as his first Test tour back (the Bangladesh one being in flat conditions against poor Test bowlers). Give him this tour to do well, if he fails then his place should come under question.

I think we have players better equipped than Jaffer to deal with the old ball and he really only makes the team because he is a specialist opener.

How can he be a specialist opener when he clearly struggles against the new ball.

 

[slade]

I think Ganguly does deserve his place in the test XI for the moment.

I dont think our bowling is strong enough to play 5 bowlers. We struggling to get a decent third seamer, I dont think we can manage a fourth seamer. And it has been raining a lot in London, I dont think there is enough turn to play Powar.

Jafffer wouldnt get into the team if he wasnt opening. Dhoni is a decent keeper although he has been a bit shoddy behind the stumps recently, keeping in england is harder due to the ball swinging after passing the stumps. If we drop Dhoni for Karthik in the keeping spot what happens to our batting order. I think its too much to ask Karthik to open and keep. Fair enough, he can do it for a few test matches but I dont think it is long term option so why are we exploring it. Do we bring in Gambhir or Yuvraj?

Jaffer
Gambhir
Dravid
Tendulkar
Ganguly
Laxman
+ Karthik
Kumble
Zaheer
Sreesanth
RP Singh

or:

can we move everyone up the order to accomate yuvraj

Jaffer
Dravid
Tendulkar
Ganguly
Laxman
Yuvraj
+ Karthik
Kumble
Zaheer
Sreesanth
RP Singh

Im leaning towards playing Dhoni for the first test match and see how he performs.

 

[sohum]

How can he be a specialist opener when he clearly struggles against the new ball.

He doesn't "clearly struggle against the new ball". If he did, he would struggle to get any runs opening throughout his career. He just takes a little bit of time to warm up--just as any batsman does. It just seems like his sensor systems at the beginning of his innings are a little lower than other batsmen.

 

[manee]

Surely this is not a trait of an opener, but as I said earlier, save your comments for when my article comes out

 

[sohum]

Surely this is not a trait of an opener, but as I said earlier, save your comments for when my article comes out

You're at CW so I'm sure you've read Aakash Chopra's article. Besides, going after the bowling isn't the trait of an opener but Sehwag did it with great success. I think Jaffer's only position in the team is to be opener--whether he is good enough to do that is another question. Jaffer as a middle order batsman would not be anywhere near my Indian XI.

I don't follow the member's articles section either, so I probably won't see it.

 

[zub2005]

i think the indian team will go for jaffer

 

[manee]

They will and it is the right move to do in terms of confidence and putting the warm up games into context as warm ups instead of matches that drop people from the side.

 

[evertonfan]

Hoggard rated 'extremely doubtful' to play tomorrow. Looks like Broad and Anderson will team up together. Blessing in disguise maybe? Sidey and Anderson to take the new ball methinks.

I wouldn't completely rule out Chris Tremlett though. Although if Anderson doesn't play tomorrow after this new turn of events then he would have to count himself extremely un-bloody-lucky!

 

[manee]

Especially since Jimmy Anderson has been showing some promise with the ball against the West Indies.

 

[evertonfan]

Aye, whatever reservations anyone has about James Anderson, you can't deny that he's looked good all throughout this year and particularly against the West Indies. One also has to appreciate the fact that he's a wicket taker and will guarantee you a wicket. I predict big things for Anderson this summer.

I'm sure i've already posted something like that in this thread before; My red rose bias has made me go in circles!