India in South Africa

[ZoraxDoom]

India threw it away. All that rubbish of them being fighters was just rubbish.
KKD, what a catch. So great batting opening and late in the order, great keeping, great spirit. Buh-bye Dhoni from the Test team...
Jumbo looked toothless. Just wasn't up for it. And our fielding is crap. I say, take a radical move. Drop VVS and bring in Kaif, for te fielding side. Drop Sachin (You heard me), bring in Yuvi. For more runs, bowling and fielding. As much as I love Sachin, he just hasn't been scoring, and looks in a lot of pain while batting. Give him a break, let him re-gain his energy.
Dada has scored, bowled well enough (Better than Munaf at the least), and fielded bravely.
Dravid seems lost as a skipper. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, he isn't a good captain. Give captaincy to Jumbo or Dada, or better, Uttar Pradesh's wonder captain Mohammed Kaif.
And Munaf, what has happened. Looked just pathetic this game. I think complacency has slipped in. Drop him and tell him to shape up like Zaheer has.
And yes, umpiring was very poor. Just curious, how many bad decisions did RSA recieve? India got a bucket load.

 

[manee]

Well; India were unlucky, but that's life, not always fair. India could have played through and won all three matches if they had taken oppotunities better and these decisions only helped them play badly.

 

[Cricketman]

mm..Good match.
Indian 2nd innings was the embarrasment. 3 full days of being in control and we let it all go.
1) KKD should have opened. He's just as aggressive as Sehwag and more mature as well.
2) Partnerships India shuold have had the same parterships as the 1st in the 2nd. Dravid and Sachin were utterly embarrassing. Ganguly batted well, if he had just not gotten out, i think he was in for a big 'un.
3) Muna, Muna... Bowled superbly on the 3rd (not sure) day, just before i went to school i saw him bowl an over with 6 superbly placed reversing yorkers. Then i came home and my mom told me how horrible he was. I guess that's true since he only got 1 over in this innings.
4) Zak!! Bowled really well, 4 wickies in the 2nd, the only respectable bowler
5) ANIL BHAI-for once couldn't live up to expectations, failed to pick up wickets and gave away runs
6) KKD :happy awesome with the bat, great with the gloves and perked up all the fielders with his optimistic shouts from behind the stumps.

also, Dada for test captain ftw?

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Well; India were unlucky, but that's life, not always fair. India could have played through and won all three matches if they had taken oppotunities better and these decisions only helped them play badly.

Yup. They didn't do themselves any favours. Even then, South Africa got quite a few slices of luck, loads actually with those decisions...

 

[manee]

Oh well, series over...lets look to the next series, whatever that is...

 

[Cricketman]

You can blame it on jumbo, you can blame it on Muna or whatever, but the real blame should be on was on Dravid for pushing Sehwag up to open. It was on the whole top order excluding KKD and dada, the only ones who looked comfortable. Horrible team selection from the start, no Bhajji on this pitch, Munna who was 50% fit tops, and Sehwag who was just dumb. He batted alright in the first, though.
I would have chosen this LU
Jaff
KKD
Dravid
Tendulkar
Ganguly
VVS
Mahi (if fit)/Viru........... (couldn't think of a replacement)
Irfan (yep, IRFAN)
Kumble
Bhajji
SreeSanth

To tell you the truth, I wouldn't have selected Jaffer. I would have probably gone with DADA or Dravid to open.

Oh well, series over...lets look to the next series, whatever that is...

The WC :crying
If we continue this form, we're toast yo.

 

[prarara]

I think there are a few more games in India to get some form back.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Ok, WC lineup:

KKD
Jaffer/Sachin
Dravid
Kaif
Dada
Yuvi
Dhoni
Irfan (Yup)
Ajit
Bhaji
SS

Sorry, no Jumbo. Although, if Irfan fails, we can slot Jumbo right in and let Dada be third bowler.

 

[sohum]

This result was expected after our pathetic second innings, really.

I think we should send Sachin back to Mumbai. I think in his current state he would struggle in the Ranji, also. Perhaps send him back to play some domestic games and bring him back just before the World Cup (we have a 4 game ODI series against the West Indies or Sri Lanka or someone right before, don't we?).

Laxman is not a part of the ODI squad (and shouldn't be) so we're okay there. Dravid's performance looks bad because of his elongated purple patch over the last few years. I think he was going to come up against a bad series soon enough. Captaincy-wise, I don't know as I wasn't watching the coverage.

The pluses from this series were Sreesanth and especially Zaheer. I'm glad all his work in English county cricket has finally come to use. Now he needs to continue putting in the hard work and become India's lethal yorking spearhead again.

As for the World Cup, I think we may be okay for now. You don't want to peak too early. We peaked at the right time in the tournament in 2003. We had entered the dumps prior to that with a poor series in New Zealand. As long as we can clear the first hurdle, I think we should be good. Don't forget that we've also played in the West Indies recently against decent opposition, and that should definitely help.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

How could I forget Zaheer in my WC lineup!
Ok Irfan, buh-bye. Zaheer, Ajit, SS, Bhajji. If any of them fail, Jumbo can come in.

 

[Adarsh]

As for the World Cup, I think we may be okay for now. You don't want to peak too early. We peaked at the right time in the tournament in 2003. We had entered the dumps prior to that with a poor series in New Zealand. As long as we can clear the first hurdle, I think we should be good. Don't forget that we've also played in the West Indies recently against decent opposition, and that should definitely help.

There's no such thing as peaking too early. In fact, the earlier we peak the better. Australia's "peak" has now lasted 8 years.

 

[SaiSrini]

Totally disappointing performance in the end by India! Looked totally flat and listless. The fielding has been totally shoddy.

I read an article two days back on the team management thinking of how to celebrate the series win because they have to leave for Jo'burg immediately after the 5th day end. Well, now no need to worry about that, boys! What made them think of a series win before hand?

The positives from this series - Sreesanth, Zaheer and the comeback of the leader, Saurav Ganguly. Dravid's captraincy has been well below average in this test series. His captaincy has been meandering below average in all the recent tournaments. Its time to ask him to concentrate on batting alone, and give back captaincy to the one and only 'Dada' (Sachin wont accept captaincy and Kumble not sure of place in side in ODI's).

I hear rumors that RD and Chappell still are not in favor of Dada for the ODI's to come. Oy! If you dont select Dada this time, I promise you - you'll be killed. The protests and demonstrations will be 10x more than what it was before! This time, the whole world is behind Dada. He has to be selected in the ODI's. He has been the best batsmen for India in this series! Has been consistent in scoring. How many others can boast of that?

My World Cup team

Sachin Tendulkar
Saurav Ganguly (captain)
Rahul Dravid
Yuvraj Singh
Mohammed Kaif
Dinesh Karthick
Robin Uthappa
MS Dhoni
Zaheer Khan
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh
Sree Sreesanth
Ajit Agarkar
Irfan Pathan

Munaf doesnt deserve to be in the World Cup squad, purely due to his fitness. We need fit guys to play in the World Cup. Ajit Agarkar is not impressive, but he is a very athletic fielder in the team and gets in purely on his athleticism, same with Irfan, his athleticism and his batting (he has score 80 off 100 balls with 6 sixes in the recent Ranji match). We need lot of good movers on the field for the World Cup.

Jan 10th and 12th will be important days in Indian cricket. The team selection is going to take place in those days (home series & World Cup probables).

 

[sohum]

There's no such thing as peaking too early. In fact, the earlier we peak the better. Australia's "peak" has now lasted 8 years.

Of course there is. There's no point if you play your best cricket in the practice rounds and then go on to fare slightly poorer in the first round and worse in the super 8. Peaking is something which is evident throughout sports, and is actually an interesting area of research.

You may be confused about what a peak is. The Australian's haven't been peaking for 8 years. You will notice that there have been times when Australian cricket has not been at their best--there are drops and gains all the time. If Australian cricket had been consistently peaking, they would not have lost a game.

 

[Cricket_god]

Ok, WC lineup:

KKD
Jaffer/Sachin
Dravid
Kaif
Dada
Yuvi
Dhoni
Irfan (Yup)
Ajit
Bhaji
SS

Sorry, no Jumbo. Although, if Irfan fails, we can slot Jumbo right in and let Dada be third bowler.

If we go with that side then we might not defeat bangladesh even.

Totally disappointing performance in the end by India! Looked totally flat and listless. The fielding has been totally shoddy.

I read an article two days back on the team management thinking of how to celebrate the series win because they have to leave for Jo'burg immediately after the 5th day end. Well, now no need to worry about that, boys! What made them think of a series win before hand?

The positives from this series - Sreesanth, Zaheer and the comeback of the leader, Saurav Ganguly. Dravid's captraincy has been well below average in this test series. His captaincy has been meandering below average in all the recent tournaments. Its time to ask him to concentrate on batting alone, and give back captaincy to the one and only 'Dada' (Sachin wont accept captaincy and Kumble not sure of place in side in ODI's).

I hear rumors that RD and Chappell still are not in favor of Dada for the ODI's to come. Oy! If you dont select Dada this time, I promise you - you'll be killed. The protests and demonstrations will be 10x more than what it was before! This time, the whole world is behind Dada. He has to be selected in the ODI's. He has been the best batsmen for India in this series! Has been consistent in scoring. How many others can boast of that?

My World Cup team

Sachin Tendulkar
Saurav Ganguly (captain)
Rahul Dravid
Yuvraj Singh
Mohammed Kaif
Dinesh Karthick
Robin Uthappa
MS Dhoni
Zaheer Khan
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh
Sree Sreesanth
Ajit Agarkar
Irfan Pathan

Munaf doesnt deserve to be in the World Cup squad, purely due to his fitness. We need fit guys to play in the World Cup. Ajit Agarkar is not impressive, but he is a very athletic fielder in the team and gets in purely on his athleticism, same with Irfan, his athleticism and his batting (he has score 80 off 100 balls with 6 sixes in the recent Ranji match). We need lot of good movers on the field for the World Cup.

Jan 10th and 12th will be important days in Indian cricket. The team selection is going to take place in those days (home series & World Cup probables).

I think munaf was not fit enough give him some time he is a match winner he would be very very important in west indies.ganguly cannot be captain as board has already given dravid the job.i think i am pretty dis appointed with ganguly i thought he would convert his starts but he failed its his old problem
of getting out due to lack of concentration.i think he has to be in middle overs in west indies to take on spinners not opening.

 

[Cricketman]

WC Lineup:
Sachin
KKD
DADA
Dravid
Kaifu
Yuvi
Mahi
Irfan :happy
Bhajji
Zaheer
SS
No room for Jumbo, after todays performance.
Mahi and KKD can switch places, who ever dons the gloves if we field first can take a rest and bat at 7.
Doesn't look like a bad Line up to me. We have a tail that can hit good sixes at 11. So wehn India are 100/9 in the SL match i go to, we can have SS to save us.

Rest Sachin vs SL. Resting Dravid and experimenting with captaincy with Dada might not hurt either.