India in South Africa

[cricket_lover]

It looks like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck could as well open the batting for India. Can't remember the last time both openers survived the new ball.

Bad memory then...Sehwag has shined all-over the world, but he's just in poor form. Gambhir is an ideal player, has played well for India A in the away matches and looks like he'll get the nod.

See. Bounce is NOT a problem for India. THe problem comes, when you keep playing in the subcontinent, and all of a sudden you are exposed to some real bouncy wicket.

 

[s2sschan]

Sehwag and Bounce

Sehwag has shined all-over the world, but he's just in poor form.

Sehwag is Great on Batting Wickets. Really bats the opposition out of the game with his 200s and 300s. He's a match-winner on Belters. On Pacy Wickets he's just a liability India has to carry, we can't drop him because he's a match winner.

Bounce is NOT a problem for India.

Bounce will ALWAYS be a problem for India, until the Domestic Cricket Structure gets serious.

 

[Cricket_god]

Sehwag is Great on Batting Wickets. Really bats the opposition out of the game with his 200s and 300s. He's a match-winner on Belters. On Pacy Wickets he's just a liability India has to carry, we can't drop him because he's a match winner.



Bounce will ALWAYS be a problem for India, until the Domestic Cricket Structure gets serious.

Man you do not under stand his point shewag loves bounce its just that people have found out his weakness of incoming balls and due to being out of form those ball which he would have easily leg glanced now gets him lbw.
Bounce is not a problem its uneven bounce and bouce with seam thats indias problem.if you lok at australia where true bounce is their and people can play shots our batsman do well.Also no body in cricket plays bouncing ball well evrybody struggles when their is seam movement with bounce or uneven bounce

 

[Manohar]

I think the third seamer would depend on the Durban wicket.

Something makes me say that, Pathan might be a better option. If its a seaming wicket, then Pathan can get lot of movement as he is deadly on such helpful wickets (Pakistan, Karachi 2006???). And if he plays, the Indian batting would be more strengthened to 8 batsmen (6+dhoni+pathan) which would be stronger for south africa to bowl at on a seaming wicket.

It is quiet possible that Gambhir could replace Jaffar and Munaf (if he is fit) could replace VRV. It seems that SA would prefer a flat wicket in the next Test as their batsmen couldn't cope with the wicket like the one at Wanderers.

 

[cricket_lover]

Sehwag is Great on Batting Wickets. Really bats the opposition out of the game with his 200s and 300s. He's a match-winner on Belters. On Pacy Wickets he's just a liability India has to carry, we can't drop him because he's a match winner.

Bounce will ALWAYS be a problem for India, until the Domestic Cricket Structure gets serious.

Bounce is never a problem for India, if they play often away from the sub-continent. Over the last 1-2 years, we never toured any country.

We toured Pakistan twice, they toured us once, England toured India, SL toured India and Aus, SA and NZ toured India.

So we were used to those batting tracks, with seldom real bounce. And all of a sudden, you tour Pakistan and you see this nice bouncy track, you're prone to not do well.

When we toured England or Aus, we did not do we in the first match, but gradually we improved, because we got used to the pitch.

Only if we can play more away matches, or if we have good bouncy tracks (atleast some) at home, we'll be better acclimatised to those conditions.

Sehwag has done well on bouncy wickets, in England, NZ, Aus and even WI. He scored his first century in SA!

But he's in a poor form, his poor form showed even in England series. So no point in saying he's not good on bouncy tracks.

 

[s2sschan]

Bounce

Bounce is never a problem for India, if they play often away from the sub-continent. Over the last 1-2 years, we never toured any country.

I will be very happy of you are right and Indian batsmen can play as well as other batsmen on Fast Pitches.

 

[manee]

It matters not of the conditions. India are poor away from home and take a little while to get accustomed to the conditions. In this case it has not been much time (the ODI series) and hopefully we will see an Indian team as good as they are at home in this test series.

 

[cricket_lover]

I will be very happy of you are right and Indian batsmen can play as well as other batsmen on Fast Pitches.

when you have technically sound batsmen like Dravid, Sachin, Laxman, and players of decent technique like Ganguly and Sehwag, i don't see why we can't play on fast, bouncy tracks.

All that matters, is technique. Your mental strength and focus is also important, but technique comes first.

I really hope BCCI focusses more on playing away matches rather than playing at home, especially ODI's. We've played the most number of ODI's and they're one of the culprits. Even the tests, we've played most of them at home.

If we play more away matches, the more we get used to, the better we will be. You play at home for two years, and all of a sudden, you're put into a bouncy track..you can't blame the batsmen, no matter how great they are.

Another thing is the gaps. When Aussies play test cricket, they make sure they play them in a row. You don't want to play two tests in a month, then 15 ODI's then 1 test, followed by 20 ODI's.

You will need rhythm. Why did Yousuf and Ponting score big runs? One, they played test matches in row. You will keep that form, when you keep playing.

 

[s2sschan]

Bouncy Tracks at Home

If we play more away matches, the more we get used to, the better we will be. You play at home for two years, and all of a sudden, you're put into a bouncy track..you can't blame the batsmen, no matter how great they are.

A Solution to this problem might be preparing bouncy lively pitches for first class cricket. Like Dilip Vengsarkar said we need to prepare bouncy tracks for first class games to raise the level of our cricketers.

The BCCI has billions of dollars at its disposal. It can easily airlift or import any kind of materials and soil it needs to prepare good tracks. A good plan has to be executed.

 

[Cricket_god]

A Solution to this problem might be preparing bouncy lively pitches for first class cricket. Like Dilip Vengsarkar said we need to prepare bouncy tracks for first class games to raise the level of our cricketers.

The BCCI has billions of dollars at its disposal. It can easily airlift or import any kind of materials and soil it needs to prepare good tracks. A good plan has to be executed.

People Have to understand The basic characteristic of a wicket cannot be changed as they depend upon weather .Even if you get soil from perth to
delhi you will not get a bouncy track.We have a few bouncy tracks like in mohali we just need to make sure our groundsmen are educated enough to prepare sporting wickets with a bit of everything And not just shave all the grass.WE have different kind of tracks every where which can be our strength in future.

 

[Cricketman]

I think for the openers Ghambir needs a chance, heard he played well today.
Sehwag needs to realize that he's not guaranteed a slot in the side, he needs to be dropped. I say Dravid opening won't hurt, Laxman can come back to his beloved 3 slot. Kaarthick also deserves a spot in the team, be it as keeper or as batsman. He can be an opening option aswell, same with Dhoni.
The Irfan Pathan idea seems nice, i think we should go in with 4 seamers+ kumble.

Ghambir
Kaarthick/Dhoni
Dravid
Tendulkar
Ganguly
Laxman
Pathan
Kumble
Zaheer
Munaf
Sreesanth

But the bad part about this Lineup is that a quick 4 wickets, and we're toast.

 

[cellinis]

Damn... two complete new openers? You couldn't do worse! I'd say stick with Jaffer and Sehwag. We have never given an opening pair enough time to develop. Maybe Sehwag can be replaced with Ghambir. It may serve as a wake up call.

Also, I am against the idea of makeshift openers. It's a specialist job and that's the way it should remain.

Besides, being one up in the series, we'll probably go with six bats and four bowlers. Specially if the wicket is helpful to bowlers.

 

[plympilgrim]

although i don't follow indian cricket that much i have to agree with you cellinis, sehwag, but in ODI you could opne with him and Dhoni, what a opening partnership, if they get going they could tear any attack open

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I've been thinking.
Who are our future spinners?
Say Kumble retires after the WC, alongside Dada, Sachin, Dravid and VVs. Who will our future spinner be? I mean alongside Bhajji.
Obvious answer: Chawla.
That's it? He is young and inexperienced, we need to let him develop.
Call back Murali Kartik? Maybe, but he is too old.
Then?
But now, look at our pace stocks:
Munaf, SS, Irfan, Rudra, Srivarstra or however you spell his name, the young LFM bowler from Uttar Pradesh, Praveen Kumar and, of course, VRV. And alongside Ajit and Zaheer's experience, we have a mighty pace attack. Mightier than our spin attack of Bhajji, Chawla and Kartik.
So, is it just me, or is it time India turns from dust-bowls to seamer friendly wickets? I mean, that will suit our bowling attack. And say we keep a few spinning wickets for our young spinners to develop on. Not only will this keep us as a great force at home, with seaming wickets everywhere and a dust-bowl here and there such as in Mumbai, but will double in helping develop young batsmen who can handle these wickets too.
Think about. Realistically, our test lineup in 2009 should look like:

Gambhir
Viru (If he is still in the squad and not dropped. Parthiv might be a good replacement by then)
Yuvi
Kaif
Raina
Kaarthik (Or Dhoni, whatever floats your boat)
Irfan
Bhajji
Zaheer
SS
Munaf

With VRV, Rudra, Piyush, Rao all in the wings.

So, we will have a fantastic seam attack.
it isn't too late to develop green tracks for our young batsmen to grow on. Will definately be great. And we could still keep the odd pitch a dustbowl, with Bhajji and Piyush and even Yuvi/Viru as our spin attack.

Anyways, a bit off topic, but seeing this performance here by our seam attack, this can't be too far off from reality...

 

[SaiSrini]

Well played by Gambhir today! He has staked his claim for a test spot at Durban on 26th. In my opinion, Gambhir should open with Sehwag at Durban in the second test.

Good runs again for Ganguly. But why was he that slow? 41* off 100 balls? He got some good runs in the previous test and this is just a friendly match. Ganguly could have gone for his shots.

Anyways, I am eager to see how Munaf turns up tomorrow. If he is not fit, I would say we should go in with Irfan instead of VRV. Irfan can bat and also can bowl on helpful wickets.

Why did Dravid declare even before Sachin got a hit? Sachin has not been in the best of form. He needs a hit more than Dravid, Ganguly or Laxman!

I think for the openers Ghambir needs a chance, heard he played well today.
Sehwag needs to realize that he's not guaranteed a slot in the side, he needs to be dropped. I say Dravid opening won't hurt, Laxman can come back to his beloved 3 slot. Kaarthick also deserves a spot in the team, be it as keeper or as batsman. He can be an opening option aswell, same with Dhoni.

You're nuts. We cant make changes just like that! Sehwag has shown traces of coming back to form. He scored a good 33 in the previous match. Its Jaffer who has fallen so much that he needs to be dropped. Gambhir should come in place of Jaffer. And more so, Gambhir and Sehwag hailing from the same state, know each other more better! They have batted together many times.

I guess if they both open, India can well get flying partnerships. Gambhir is also an attacker. Lets see what happens!