India tour of South Africa - 2013/14

[Aalay]

Aww BCCI is so cute.

India in South Africa 2013-14 : India invite Cricket South Africa for tour talks | Cricket News | South Africa v India | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[fanzydotin]

BCCI will lose public support.

It is in the best interests of Cricket that India should tour South Africa. BCCI should come out of its pride and make it happen.

 

[War]

India in South Africa 2013-14 : FTP is legally binding document, says ex-ICC official | Cricket News | South Africa v India | ESPN Cricinfo

Shut up ICC. We know the BCCI and Srinivasam is bullying you & S Africa. Grow some balls and stand up to the BCCI as a governing body on behalf of CSA and demand the BCCI commits to tour as part of the FTP.

 

[SaiSrini]

The tour is on. Its going to be 2 tests and 3 ODI's. Atleast better than nothing, although one additional test would have been good.

India's first taste of the challenges post the Fab Four* era (the era officially ends with Tendulkar's retirement) is going to be against the world Number one in their own backyard. I am sure a few of them would be very nervous in their pants taking on the likes of Steyn, Morkel and co. without the re-assuring presence of atleast one from the Fab Four. Vijay is going to have a torrid time especially. I would pick Gautam Gambhir as backup opener for Vijay and Dhawan.

*Fab Four - Sachin, Rahul, Saurav and Laxman

 

[zeustrojanstark]

I dont really fancy Vijay's chances in Saffers conditions. I would pick Sehwag and Gambhir, maybe Dhawan and Gambhir to open and Sehwag in Tendulkar's place.

 

[SaiSrini]

I dont really fancy Vijay's chances in Saffers conditions. I would pick Sehwag and Gambhir, maybe Dhawan and Gambhir to open and Sehwag in Tendulkar's place.

Sehwag hasn't done enough IMHO to get back to the test side for South Africa. For Gambhir, he is a more fitter player than Sehwag with a few years more in his bag. To me, Sehwag is an almost "finished" article. Would be glad if I am proved wrong.

For the spot vacated by Tendulkar, there should be quite a few contenders. I am sticking my neck out and would say it should go to Rohit Sharma. There is Rayudu, there is Rahane, there is Yuvraj, there is Raina, there is Tiwary, and probably a few others. But for the kind of experience Rohit has built up till now and the kind of technique he has, he should be tried now. He has often been talked up as being a test material. With him now starting to fulfill potential in ODI's, the transition to tests would be ideal right now with the big man hanging up his boots.

 

[War]

Well as everyone know for a series of this magnitude 2 test makes no sense.

Expect as most would S Africa to win comfortably, i'd love to see young teeraways De Lange & Viljeon unleashed on some pacy wickets too. Rest Tahir on whatever spinner they have for these two tests.

Big series for someone like Dhawan to properly prove himself & for the IND team to really see if they have truly recovered for their 2011 overseas whitewashes in tests.

 

[Aalay]

Obviously South Africa are expected to win the series but what I want to see India showing some fight rather than just giving up the match like what they did in last 2 overseas tour. This is of course a very different looking team with young players.

For the team, Murli Vijay has to be selected because of his performance in last series against Australia but Steyn will eat him alive. I would rather have Rohit Sharma or Gambhir opening with Dhawan than Murli Vijay.

For number four position, I am not sure why people are not mentioning Badrinath's name? He can definitely give 4 to 5 years to this Indian test team and his experience will be very handful. The other option for me is Rahane.

I am also not sure about Jadeja coming in at number 7. His bowling has improved but his batting is still not good enough. We are also likely to be treated with a fast, bouncy pitch rather than a pitch that assist turn. So I am not sure if you want to include him or include an extra batsman to make that batting line-up stronger which will be much helpful.

Shikhar Dhawan
Gautam Gambhir
C. Pujara
S. Badrinath
Virat Kohli
MS Dhoni
Rohit Sharma/Ravindra Jadeja
R.Ashwin
B. Kumar
Umesh Yadav
Zaheer Khan

Reserve: Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja/Rohit Sharma, P. Ojha, Varun Aaron, Shami Ahmed

 

[SaiSrini]

This would be my current/updated 15 man squad for this tour (considering all players are fit):

S Dhawan
M Vijay
G Gambhir
C Pujara
V Kohli
R Sharma
A Rahane
M Dhoni
R Ashwin
R Jadeja
U Yadav
I Sharma
B Kumar
Z Khan
M Shami

16th Man: Yuvraj Singh/Suresh Raina

Too late in the day to drop Vijay. But if Vijay fails against WI in those two tests, there is a chance he could be in trouble considering the strict approach the current selectors take. But it would be too late in the day to do it. Vijay needs to be given the chance to fail abroad for a full series. He has never got that chance. I would pick Gambhir as the backup.

Zaheer looks very fit these days (saw a picture of his recently, whoaaaa) and he also picked wickets in a recent game. If he can keep this up, he would bloster India massively for this series. A bowling attack with a fit and hungry Zaheer Khan would look splendid. Hope he keeps his hunger up. Rest are easy picks. If a 16 man squad is taken, I would use the luxury of an additional batsman and pick a left hander for the middle order. Both Yuvraj and Raina are weak for tests, but they are ODI veterans and a chance of one of them to be in the squad won't be bad.

----------

Obviously South Africa are expected to win the series but what I want to see India showing some fight rather than just giving up the match like what they did in last 2 overseas tour. This is of course a very different looking team with young players.

For the team, Murli Vijay has to be selected because of his performance in last series against Australia but Steyn will eat him alive. I would rather have Rohit Sharma or Gambhir opening with Dhawan than Murli Vijay.

For number four position, I am not sure why people are not mentioning Badrinath's name? He can definitely give 4 to 5 years to this Indian test team and his experience will be very handful. The other option for me is Rahane.

I am also not sure about Jadeja coming in at number 7. His bowling has improved but his batting is still not good enough. We are also likely to be treated with a fast, bouncy pitch rather than a pitch that assist turn. So I am not sure if you want to include him or include an extra batsman to make that batting line-up stronger which will be much helpful.

Shikhar Dhawan
Gautam Gambhir
C. Pujara
S. Badrinath
Virat Kohli
MS Dhoni
Rohit Sharma/Ravindra Jadeja
R.Ashwin
B. Kumar
Umesh Yadav
Zaheer Khan

Reserve: Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja/Rohit Sharma, P. Ojha, Varun Aaron, Shami Ahmed

Do they take 17 man squads on overseas tours? I don't think so.

 

[Epic]

My 17 for the 2 Tests in South Africa: 7 specialist batsmen (3 proper openers), 2 keepers, 1 all-rounder, 2 spinners and 5 seamers

MS Dhoni (capt.), Cheteshwar Pujara (vice-capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Varun Aaron/Parvinder Awana

And my XI from that 17 for the 1st Test:

1. Shikhar Dhawan
2. Murali Vijay/Gautam Gambhir
3. Cheteshwar Pujara
4. Virat Kohli
5. Ajinkya Rahane
6. Rohit Sharma
7. MS Dhoni*?
8. Ravichandran Ashwin
9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
10. Zaheer Khan
11. Umesh Yadav

I essentially would prefer not to bring Gambhir back, but Vijay's just so hopelessly out of form and I doubt if even an in-form Vijay would be competent enough to go against the pace trio of Steyn, Morkel and Philander. Plus I don't see any viable young/inexperienced options to fall to as far as openers go.

Do they take 17 man squads on overseas tours? I don't think so.

Overseas tours are actually the only time they take a 17 man squad.

 

[SaiSrini]

Overseas tours are actually the only time they take a 17 man squad.

Oh ok... I guess my squad will change a little bit. Also forgot about the extra wicketkeeper that might be needed in overseas tours if something happens to Dhoni. This would then be my squad of 17:

S Dhawan, M Vijay, G Gambhir, C Pujara, V Kohli, R Sharma, A Rahane, M Dhoni, W Saha, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, A Mishra, U Yadav, I Sharma, B Kumar, Z Khan, M Shami

Mishra would be my extra spinner instead of Ojha because Mishra is a more attacking bowler. With Ashwin being a workhorse in overseas tests, someone has to attack and its Mishra who might be good at it than Ojha, who is also another economical/restrictive bowler. And I would take Ishant Sharma to SA. For a bowler like him, SA conditions will definitely help. In tests overseas, I would still back Ishant Sharma.

 

[surendar]

I am really curious and excited to see how Dhawan, Kohli and Pujara do here on SA conditions. Was impressed by Kohli in Aussie conditions, hopefully we will have some history created this time.

Worst ever SA series I have ever watched is, tour under Sachin( 1st Test: South Africa v India at Durban, Dec 26-28, 1996 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo), WV Raman opening & we getting all out for 60+ and 100+ runs with sachin/Dravid alone scoring some runs in the series. Wow, those childhood cricket days of following Tendulkar were great.

 

[icyman]

Overseas tours are actually the only time they take a 17 man squad.

What for ? Sight-seeing ?

There are people in the squad who have been simply going on foreign tours and they dont even get a chance to play. So appalled am I with the Team management, that I wonder why dont they carry only 11/12 guys who will feature in the games.

 

[Epic]

Uhm, because if a player goes down the day before you can't just fly in players upon your wish who are thousands of miles away... say Dhoni goes down the day before a game, you have Saha ready to go. I think you fail to understand the idea of bench players, their role is to sit on the bench and to give their best when they get their turn, which usually comes in another's injury, or rest.

 

[icyman]

Uhm, because if a player goes down the day before you can't just fly in players upon your wish who are thousands of miles away... say Dhoni goes down the day before a game, you have Saha ready to go. I think you fail to understand the idea of bench players, their role is to sit on the bench and to give their best when they get their turn, which usually comes in another's injury, or rest.

I do very well understand the concept of having a bench. However, in the recent past, our bench has been untested even when certain players have not been performing well. As I have mentioned in my post have the 11 fixed and maybe 2 additional players.

This is because is simply doesnt make sense to fly 17 people out of the country and not make them play any game at all.