India's Tour Of Sri Lanka- August 2015

[PokerAce]

Was agreeing with you, until this point. And I agree with this point too, but once again, you cannot expect 3.5 bowlers to take 20 wickets in a Test Match

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About Kohli. He is only 4 matches old. Hardly a fair comparison in any way

No I am not saying Kohli is a bad captain, or anything like that. All I said was that Dhoni when you saw him you saw a leader, Dhoni had that aura about him of a leader. A tense phase in the game you look at your leader and see him calm as hell, thats a leader. He could give others confidence. He was a natural leader. Kohli is still young and he will grow into it eventually.

As for the 4 bowlers or 3.5 bowlers thing, Dhoni had no choice. It was the best shot they had of drawing a game atleast. Atleast in the phase from SA tour onwards. The batting line up totally new. India going into SA didnt have any openers and had to find a completely new middle order. Dravid and Tendulkar were gone. India could then hardly be expected to play one batsman less in this scenario.

 

[grkrama]

While its too early Kohli will improve tactically better and aggressively, but one thing that irks me is he is betting on the wrong horses especially nohit, binny, bhaji etc or is he being pressurized to play them ?

I wouldnt compare with MSD, nobody can remain calm like him almost like zen. Kohli has to make his own brand and he is doing ok for now only time will tell.

 

[abhi_jacko]

but one thing that irks me is he is betting on the wrong horses especially nohit, binny, bhaji etc or is he being pressurized to play them ?

That annoys me too. I am guessing he is very chummy with Rohit or he is being influenced by big daddy Ravi Shastri. Harbhajan seems like a pure selector's choice and I am glad he was dropped after the first game, even if it was for Binny.

 

[PokerAce]

While its too early Kohli will improve tactically better and aggressively, but one thing that irks me is he is betting on the wrong horses especially nohit, binny, bhaji etc or is he being pressurized to play them ?

I wouldnt compare with MSD, nobody can remain calm like him almost like zen. Kohli has to make his own brand and he is doing ok for now only time will tell.

I think Kohli just the right ideas, he just doesn't know what the best combination is. 5 bowlers is a great idea, but the 5 batsman + 1 Keeper have to be good enough to put up 350 runs every innings. The bottom 4 can add 50 runs. Right now he doesn't have that combo. He will soon realise that Rohit will let him down more than come to his rescue. The way he has gone out of the way to create space for Rohit clearly shows that he thinks Rohit is a key piece in the line up. Now whether that is because they are best buds, or whatever.

Binny is again I feel in the same category and Bhajji too. Though I think with the poor show in the 1st test in SL, Bhajji kinda dug his own grave. Rohit hopefully will do the same soon.

As for Binny, well I have said to before and will say it again, that instead of investing in Binny as the all-rounder it is better to invest in Bhuvi. First Binny is not exactly a spring chicken and Bhuvi can actually develop into of a test bowling all-rounder (who doesn't have to smash the ball around with the bat), perhaps not an ODI one.

With Bhuvi I just don't see what the plan is. They clearly don't see him as better than a 4th choice seamer right now. If Bhuvi is in the side only so he can swing the ball in England, then frankly its a waste of a space. To have bowler so that he can perform on one particular tour is pushing horses for courses too far.

 

[grkrama]

I believe BK does well with new ball in all places ahead of others except maybe Aus and SA. But i do really wish he had that extra 5 kph cause once the ball is old despite his control he becomes ineffective and can only control runs with his pace, i dont think he has reverse like shami. With the direction we are gong he is certainly going to be the 3 rd or 4th seamer though.

 

[PokerAce]

I believe BK does well with new ball in all places ahead of others except maybe Aus and SA. But i do really wish he had that extra 5 kph cause once the ball is old despite his control he becomes ineffective and can only control runs with his pace, i dont think he has reverse like shami. With the direction we are gong he is certainly going to be the 3 rd or 4th seamer though.

And yet, Binny who is not good enough to even be a 4th choice bowler as Bhuvi will keep getting in the side as an all-rounder, despite Bhuvi being a better long run solution.

 

[abhi_jacko]

I wonder what Rishi Dhawan does wrong, that he keeps getting ignored despite our desperate need for bowling all-rounders.

I mean, he doesnt even get selected to play India A First Class matches despite having a very good Ranji record and good showings in India A One Day games

 

[grkrama]

RD s stats, age and form is way better than binny, which is why the whole binny situation stinks, Sacrificing two 25 odd aged youngsters in bhuvi and RD for a 31 year old binny who is no were good as them with both bat and ball.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Manjerekar has said Rahane isn't a suitable long term option @ 3. Is there anyone in the media who is as terrible as him?

Also, I had said before this test itself that Rahane should be batting at 3 for good now. He's got runs everywhere and a position as critical as that needs some stability.

 

[abhi_jacko]

I wonder what will happen if Pujara scores a ton, and Rohit flops in the third test ..

 

[abhi_jacko]

Kohli's words:

I certainly believe that you need to play the best XI possible for a particular game and play guys at positions that will give you the best chance of winning a Test match. Shuffling, chipping and changing, cutting and changing, I don't really mind doing that.

The sentiment makes sense right now, but there is proactive and then there is too-proactive. The shuffling, cutting, changing thing can be extremely confusing for batsmen and the team. Each batting position comes with certain responsibility and the reason we were able to have a good overseas stint in Test during the Fab Four/Five era was because we had a settled batting lineup with each player aware of their role.

 

[grkrama]

I wonder what will happen if Pujara scores a ton, and Rohit flops in the third test ..

drop pujara, VK has made it clear its a one match deal, also rohit showcases potential even when he flops:P so they will stick with him and try to unearth it.

For all this rohit may score a double in the next test as it is the flattest pitch in SL and they wil have a told you so set of interviews and a 2 year extension of his place based on that but the key is he is never good at overseas or tough conditions, and never comes through at times of need, after all the chances, which is why he cant ever be a long term solution, somehow this key thing seems to elude the selectors and cap.

I really hope pujara does well for his own sake.

 

[PokerAce]

drop pujara, VK has made it clear its a one match deal, also rohit showcases potential even when he flops:P so they will stick with him and try to unearth it.

For all this rohit may score a double in the next test as it is the flattest pitch in SL and they wil have a told you so set of interviews and a 2 year extension of his place based on that but the key is he is never good at overseas or tough conditions, and never comes through at times of need, after all the chances, which is why he cant ever be a long term solution, somehow this key thing seems to elude the selectors and cap.

I really hope pujara does well for his own sake.

With Rohit the Indian management firmly applies the Jordan quote - "I have failed over and over again, that is why I succeed."

With every failure Rohit's value goes up in the eyes of the management. They Rohit must be given as many chances to fail as possible, and with every failure the team management's eyes light up. Ah one more failure he must be getting really close to success now. Any innings now. We believe in Jordan.

 

[PokerAce]

Excited about the game tomorrow. Having seen the first two tests I would place India as favs. If India play to potential and SL play to potential then India should win. SL will need a combination of extraordinary performance from their players and extremely poor form from the India players to win. There is rain of course, as it always is in SL. However all said and India I would go into the test expecting an India win, Been a while but feels good to go into a game as favs.

It would be a great start for Virat to win his first full series, after taking over as captain, that too in a coutry where India have not won for quite a while now.

 

[Aravind.]

I'm a big Virat fan & not a Rohit hatter,but why the F*** Pujara is being dropped so much,he really has the best technique & stats when comparing to Rohit in FC & Test matches & he can bat properly in all conditions around the world.Come on guys Pujara is the future wall of India.