India in the West Indies

[sohum]

Munaf is a test player--he is not exactly agile and he takes time to build up rhythm. You cannot draft him into the ODI side, expect him to perform, and then insult him. VRV has not had a long-enough stint in the national side for anyone to judge him. All he has played are two ODI's, that too under injury. The A-side tournament was an A-side tournament. Not a full-strength tournament. The flow of passion would definitely be different.

VRV may be selected for a test or two in place of Patel or Sreesanth. I think the team's recent concern over Pathan's confidence may give us a lot of information about the near future. I believe that if Pathan doesn't get it fixed in the first test, he may be seeing a slight break from the team again. This would provide the perfect opportunity for VRV or an extra batsman to slip into the team. As it happens, I think India will go with the 5 bowlers-5 batsmen-Dhoni formula for the first test match. The loss in the ODI series should not force them into kittenhood.

Our team for the first game will probably be: Sehwag, Jaffer, Dravid, Laxman, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Pathan, Harbhajan, Kumble, Munaf, Sreesanth. Depending on how they perform, we may drop one of our bowlers (possibly Pathan) for Kaif. I don't see Raina getting hte nod over Kaif since they are both brilliant fielders, but Raina lacked the application in the ODI series.

I have heard confliciting reports as to the pitch. In ToI I read that the pitch would be lively and bouncy, while it seems Cricinfo thinks the pitch will be flat. Just under 2 hours to go till ball 1, and it's all gonna come together very soon.

 

[sohum]

Greg Chappell: "We'll be looking at our 2-3 part-timers to fill the spot of second spinner." Looks like Bhajji will be given the miss for this test match.

Irfan and Harbhajan out? India's still experimenting.

 

[surendar]

wht do u mean..... Irfan and bhaji not playing?????? why???

 

[sohum]

India take the extra batsman (Kaif) and Irfan is replaced by VRV. I tend to agree with Srinath--to disagree with this team. Only hindsight is 20-20, though!

 

[gamerkid22]

yes Pathan and Bhajji out . seen @ cricinfo

 

[SaiSrini]

Irfan Pathan OUT of the team? WOW... Thats a really brave and fantastic decision!

His form is really poor in this tour so far. He deserves a break from at least a game and he needs to be shown that he can be dropped too. I think Dr. Webster was referring to him when he said "some of the players in the team are affected by their superstar status". I am sure Pathan is one among them!

we dont know how the pitch is. I hear it has a tinge of grass to it. So going in with three seamers is not a bad idea (thereby dropping Harbhajan). And since the pitch is lively, have an extra batsman to bolster your batting as 4 bowlers on a helpful wicket is just enough!

Good sensible stuff from the Indian camp in selecting the team! BRAVO!

Oh! Sehwag and Jaffer out! Sehwag was promising for more! 35 OUT! Hope we dont lose it from here on! We need a total of 300+ and our best batsman Dravid has to play a solid innings today!

India take the extra batsman (Kaif) and Irfan is replaced by VRV. I tend to agree with Srinath--to disagree with this team. Only hindsight is 20-20, though!

The team selection is perfect! I am sure this team will work.

Greg Chappell: "We'll be looking at our 2-3 part-timers to fill the spot of second spinner." Looks like Bhajji will be given the miss for this test match.

Irfan and Harbhajan out? India's still experimenting.

Sehwag/Yuvraj can take up the role of the second spinner. This is a test match and they can bowl for long periods of time without giving away too much runs. They just need to do the supporting act to the frontline spinner, Anil Kumble which I think they are capable of.

 

[cricket doctor]

I think Indian team combination is perfect for this patch. Pathan was in poor form in this tour and was clearly struggling. Bhajji never had a chance in the presence of great Kumble.

 

[SaiSrini]

India tottering at 73/3

India needs a big innings from the Wall today! Yuvraj, Kaif have to give him good support. Otherwise, it would be disastrous for the Indian team! we have inexperienced bowlers today for this test match!

I think Indian team combination is perfect for this patch. Pathan was in poor form in this tour and was clearly struggling. Bhajji never had a chance in the presence of great Kumble.

Same here! I too feel the same!

But if the batting continues to fail this way, I dont think it would be a wise decision!

 

[sohum]

As Jeff Thompson said during the lunch break, West Indies' opening bowlers bowled garbage, and it was only due to poor cricket that India lost the first two wickets. Bradshaw bowled more balls down the leg-side than those that made the batsmen play. One could sense Sehwag's frustration when time and again he missed the flick down to fine-leg.

Fidel Edwards bowled a few good balls, but on the whole, most of them were too short. Corey Collymore put the ball in the correct areas and Laxman just threw his wicket away (although it was a good late away-swinger from Bravo). India need to consolidate. Dravid is doing a good job to steady the innings, and I hope Yuvraj plays himself in quickly.

Also,we cannot really laud this selection until we see how much effect inexperience has on our pace bowlers. A combined experience of 4-6 matches of our pace bowlers.

 

[cricket_lover]

Dissappointing start from India. Yuvi gone as well, its upto Kaif Dhoni and Dravid to get India towards a respectable total.

I'm not watching the match, but like sohum said, India played it wrong so far. Sehwag and Laxman threw their wickets, while Yuvi and Jaffer were undone by two good deliveries.

Yea. SS, MP and VRV have very little experience and it'll be interesting to see how they perform. Kumble has a huge huge burden now.

 

[SaiSrini]

Whats happening to this Indian team here? 142/4 doesnt look a pretty sight.

Was Dravid's decision to bat first bad? The bulletin at Cricinfo says the pitch is gradually easing out to be a good batting strip. Did Dravid miss the trick and wrongly opt to bat first? Things going really wrong for India and the horror tour continues!

 

[blackleopard92]

Whats happening to this Indian team here? 142/4 doesnt look a pretty sight.

It is, unfortunately it's for WI.

Was Dravid's decision to bat first bad? The bulletin at Cricinfo says the pitch is gradually easing out to be a good batting strip. Did Dravid miss the trick and wrongly opt to bat first? Things going really wrong for India and the horror tour continues!

I think somebody didn't pray in temples well enough

 

[SaiSrini]

Wow.. Great score this is! 183-7!

Dravid is going to be crucified for batting first on this pitch now! Lara said he would have bowled first which adds more insult to Dravid for choosing to bat first! But I am sure the Indians must have thrown their wickets away at the sight of a slightly juicy pitch.

This team cant win a test series abroad with displays like this!

 

[sohum]

It's time we stopped blaming the pitch for a paltry batting display. Obviously, our batsmen haven't got into Test mode from ODI mode. Leaving the ball is something that only crosses their mind for a brief second (except for Dravid). An Indian supporter can only hope that the West Indies fall into the same groove.

Ian Bradshaw has been, as expected, pretty pathetic. I didn't expect him to perform well in the Tests, as he has not done so in the past. Dwayne Bravo, though, has taken a few wickets, which is better than what I expected him to do. India are missing Tendulkar as the stabilizing and mobilizing factor in the middle order. All the other batsmen seemed to think that playing out balls meant they were playing themselves in--before getting themselves out because they hadn't gotten in.

 

[SaiSrini]

Sreesanth and Kumble giving some respectability to this Indian total. 221/7 looks much better.

Still anything less than 300 and India would definitely be lagging behind and would need to bowl really well. West Indies are playing at home and after a reosunding 4-1 ODI series win. They are the confident team and we're not.

But I am extremely satisfied with Kumble's batting so far. Even against England in the recent test series, he batted brilliantly. Sreesanth is showing some resilience here. Hope they can get India to 275+ and then look for 300

It's time we stopped blaming the pitch for a paltry batting display. Obviously, our batsmen haven't got into Test mode from ODI mode. Leaving the ball is something that only crosses their mind for a brief second (except for Dravid). An Indian supporter can only hope that the West

India are missing Tendulkar as the stabilizing and mobilizing factor in the middle order. All the other batsmen seemed to think that playing out balls meant they were playing themselves in--before getting themselves out because they hadn't gotten in.

Why is it that the batsmen are always blamed for the debacle? Why cant a wrong prediction from the captain who won the toss be held as the reason for the mishappenings?

Tendulkar is also used to having the same problem - playing out balls meant playing himself in. And that was what used to undo him in his last few test innings.