Rebuilding Indian Team for Test cricket.

[War]

I said that out of frustration for the fact that Badrinath never gets treated properly by any set of selectors. He was ignored even when Srikkanth was the chairman of selectors (Srikkanth hails from Chennai, from where Badri hails too; and Srikkanth was heavily criticised during his regime for heavily favoring players from his home state, Tamil Nadu). And now with age not on his side, I don't see him getting a good run with the Indian team. And the random 1-2 opportunities he gets, he didn't make use of it (he got a 50, but a few other ordinary scores).

He can be a good prospect in the short term for India (he can easily play another 4 years if given the chance).

Oh ok cool. I've always thought he was one of your better test format batsmen since i saw him score that 50 vs S Africa in 2010.

But as i've followed indian selection since then, he was overlooked continuously for the # 6 spot for Yuvraj & Raina (who struggled in tests not surprisingly).

 

[cerande]

Even though I am in favour of Naman Ojha (being one of the few players from my region),I still think Dhoni is to be persisted with.He might be second best to lets say Matt Prior but considering he is a wkb ,his average is not poor.And about giving captaincy to Virat Kohli,lets first see whether he is even settled in the team or not.

 

[Cricketman]

I am so scared for the South Africa series. If things keep going the way they are, the current opening pair will be guaranteed to fail against the new ball. If Sehwag and/or Gambhir are dropped, we will essentially be throwing youngsters to the lions and have an inexperienced pair left to contend with Steyn, Verlander, and Morkel on the fastest tracks in the world. Essentially a lose-lose situation.

Middle order wise, who knows what it will look like. After this series I can see Tendulkar calling it a day after the Australia series at home. It might be a boon or blessing with his current form, but I dont think a 39 year old Sachin will be any worse than a Rohit Sharma or Suresh Raina or *shudder* Ravinder Jadeja in SA. Pujara will perform decently I think at number 3 but I expect a few failures in there too. Wonder how long Virat Kohli's rope will be too. And who will be the new 6? Rahane?

And then there is the bowling. Smith, Kallis, Amla, de Villers are gonna FEAST on our still toothless attack. Fingers crossed we'll have some bite with the return of Yadav and maybe Aaron? Where the hell has he gone anyway? Spin wise, time is running out on Ashwin. He has performed with the bat and showed a lot of promise with the ball but if he wants to be India's number 1 spinner he has to be performing against quality oppositions on a regular basis.

Wonder if Zaheer is still in the selector's plans for SA. Hope he gets some hunger back and comes back for a last hurrah, we all know how he came back into the side after being dropped way back in 06. But time is not on his side this time....


Although things look bleak now, It is important not to panic TOO much. I know that we have been failing as a unit over all for 2 years now. Apart from Dravid in England and Yadav/Kohli in Australia, there has been no performance of note from any player (barring the series against WI/NZ at home). Will be interesting to see what selectors end up going with against Australia and then SA.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I think they need to make sure they're building a core team, I think just trying to pick the best 11 names isn't going to work. there's too many maybe's from the domestic game right now, who knows who will fail spectacularly and who will succeed.

so what they need is a good 6 or 7 players that will make up the backbone of the team.

right now it looks like they have three factions, remaining seniors, dhoni and his one day mates, and the new players to the squad like ashwin and pujara. since the retirement of dravid and laxman none of these groups is large enough to form a core team and i think it's too fractured. I think they need to get dhoni out of his comfort zone and get him taking responsibility and building the trust of the new players.

I'd put rahane or chand or one of those hotly tipped batsmen in the lineup to shake things up, ideally, you want to be bringing in players that will identify themselves along with pujara and kohli as the future of the team. The most important thing though is the BCCI having enough faith that they're picking the right guy, that means sticking with him through a few series even if he initially fails. if he keeps on failing then replace him with the next best idea having no regrets and no temptation to go back to the original guy.

I'd also be trying to get some clarity on what tendulkars doing, is he simply keeping his head down and working for the team, or is he just putting as many runs on the stat board as possible looking for another 100. I do think he's probably still good enough for the near future but I'm not convinced his primary concern is making sure india win anymore. I'd start taking the guy you reckon will take his place on tours regularly.

so, rahane, yadav, ohja, pujara, kohli, ashwin (he's had a poor series, but dropping him after one poor series is silly given his performances thus far) as the core of the team to be built around and they'll just have to take it from there and see what happens.

 

[Anish.]

-Captain:
Do you think MS Dhoni is the right man to lead the test team?
If not, who should be the captain?

Dhoni?No , the old man's lost his touch . The new capatin should be Gautam/Sehwag . Reason(Nobody is a confrim in the Indian line-up , anyone can come out & come in .

-Coach:
Should India continue with Duncan Fletcher? If no, who should be the new coach and why?

I guess so .

-Openers:
Sehwag and Gambhir still the best opening pair for India?
Reserve openers?

No they aren'tf you see the only person who can fill Gambhir's shoes is Rahane . The kid has shown much promise . My reserve openers ;- Rahane & Mukund

-Middle Order:
Should Sachin retire or does India still need him?
No 6 position?
Which middle order batman you want to see after retirement of Sachin.

. I

Sachin,yes it's time for him to go . He performs only in a match(AKA innings) . The guy's hand-i-coordination is slow , the feet are stuck (somewhat) . He should retire while he has some respect even though the great man's contribution will be remembered .

No. 6 position will be Manoj Tiwary,the guy might fail sometimes , but the lad has more talent than Yuvraj in tests . Even in T20's his head his down , concentrate's .

Manoj Tiwary

-Wicket keeper:
Is there anyone in the domestic circuit who is good enough to replace Dhoni as a WK batsman?

Saha . Enough said .

-Spinners:
What should we do with Harbhajan?
Is Ashwin good enough for test cricket?
Reserves in spin bowling department?

Singh , I don't know

Ashwin?You questioning him? . He held the batting intact for a long time as I can remember & in the 2nd innings he bowled rippers . Picking up 2 wickets .

Reserve ;- Chawla

-Fast bowlers:
Is Zaheer still good enough to continue at this level?
Who will lead Indian bowling attack after Zaheer?
What are the reserve fast bowling options?

Zaheer's fitness let's him down . If not he is a great bowler . But now he is old , so close the curtain .

Yadav & Aaron

Parvinder Awana . Read about him somewhere else(tried of typing )

 

[Fenil]

-Captain:

Do you think MS Dhoni is the right man to lead the test team?
If not, who should be the captain?

In Tests, No. In other formats, yes. His various captainship tactics like 7-2 field and opening the bowling with a spinner (to name a few) haven't worked well. It seems that he doesn't alter the style of captaincy, even the field placements upto a certain extent for that matter, in tests from other formats. So, yes, he should fine-tune his thinking otherwise, India would have no option but to select a new skipper for the test team. Gambhir should make a good captain if at all Dhoni is dropped.

-Coach:

Should India continue with Duncan Fletcher? If no, who should be the new coach and why?

A big no. Duncan Fletcher has a good mind, no doubt but I feel he is too old and we need someone who can play with the players in the nets to show them how its done. Also, Duncan has long left competitive cricket, so might not be able to make out what the modern day cricketers need and when. This was the USP of Gary Kirsten being a modern day cricketer himself and it worked wonders for the team. We need someone who had played till recent past and is a good cricketing mind. Sourav Ganguly should be right up there considering this the restructuring phase of the team and Sourav knows exactly how to build a squad. He has done that before as a captain.

-Openers:

Sehwag and Gambhir still the best opening pair for India?
Reserve openers?

Gambhir is still okay but I feel Sehwag needs to think seriously about the loopholes in his batting. Also, Rahane can be given a couple of games just to give Sehwag a run for his money. Indian cricketers can become too lazy too early if they feel their place is secured, you know.

-Middle Order:

Should Sachin retire or does India still need him?
No 6 position?
Which middle order batman you want to see after retirement of Sachin.

No way Sachin should retire now. On any other day, I would have said 'Yes' but we have still not coped up with the retirement of Sourav, VVS and Rahul. Thus, we can't afford another senior player to go at this moment. In fact, the team needs him the most right now. Brian Lara too delayed his retirement when WI test team was in this phase and thats what Tendulkar needs to do in the current situation.

As far #6 batter is concerned, Manoj Tiwary should be right up there along with Rohit Sharma (he has just hit a double century in FC cricket). I'm surprised no one is talking about Robin Bist. The Rajasthan lad is more than capable of batting for long hours. It won't be a bad idea to throw him in the test team to test his caliber.

-Wicket keeper:

Is there anyone in the domestic circuit who is good enough to replace Dhoni as a WK batsman?

I have always been a hard core critic of MS Dhoni but I'd still try and be honest. Dhoni has good test record no doubt, but his form is on the decline for long now, and its in all three formats. W. Saha is a good keeper batsman who can be tried in the test and ODI teams while Rayudu or Parthiv Patel can be thrown gloves for the T20Is. I think that won't happen though 'cause the BCCI just doesn't have the guts.

-Spinners:
What should we do with Harbhajan?
Is Ashwin good enough for test cricket?
Reserves in spin bowling department?

Harbhajan is a decent spinner even in current form. He should be given more opportunities. He hardly bowled 20 overs in the lone game he has played. He is one guy who needs to be given confidence. Once he has the confidence in himself, he pays rich dividends to the team. He is good enough for both Tests and T20Is. We can go with Ashwin in ODIs.

We have no reason to doubt Ashwin's caliber on the basis on one series. He is a good bowler and on his day, can turn the match with both, his bowling and batting. One bad series doesn't make him a bad player.

Reserves: Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Harmeet Singh.

-Fast bowlers:

Is Zaheer still good enough to continue at this level?
Who will lead Indian bowling attack after Zaheer?
What are the reserve fast bowling options?

I have always been Zak's fan but yes, his days are over. He should accept it and call it a day when he can with his head high.

On current form, Umesh Yadav. He looks a long race horse.

Ashok Dinda, P. Awana and Abu Nechim are the fast bowlers that come to mind when we talk about the reserves in the pace unit.

 

[Ahmad94]

Why are there only a few teams with Praveen Kumar. He averages 25 with the ball in Tests.

 

[Satan666]

No way Sachin should retire now. On any other day, I would have said 'Yes' but we have still not coped up with the retirement of Sourav, VVS and Rahul. Thus, we can't afford another senior player to go at this moment. In fact, the team needs him the most right now. Brian Lara too delayed his retirement when WI test team was in this phase and thats what Tendulkar needs to do in the current situation.

Its widely regarded that Lara may have been forced to retire since he did so abruptly, just before the 2007 tour of England, rumours circulated that he would have not been selected for the tour.

Also WI at the time was in no transition they had already been a failing outfit for 10 years or so by the time Lara decided to call it a day, so your argument for letting Sachin stay is invalid! Furthermore Lara retired at a peak in his career there was no slump as Sachin is experiencing today.

 

[SaiSrini]

Why are there only a few teams with Praveen Kumar. He averages 25 with the ball in Tests.

Praveen is good only when the conditions aid swing. If not, he is toothless and can be thrashed around easily. And his pace is military medium, so that doesn't help at all.

 

[Aalay]

This is very interesting.

Gary Kirsten always wanted me to open the innings: Suresh Raina - The Times of India

 

[SaiSrini]

This is very interesting.

Gary Kirsten always wanted me to open the innings: Suresh Raina - The Times of India

He is obviously talking to encourage himself. He is a positive guy always, no matter what his actual talent is. I really like his attitude and I still hope he can make it big in test cricket one day. But to think that he can open the innings in test cricket is way over optimistic (bordering on the ridiculous) if we see it from outside.

 

[playkid12]

He is obviously talking to encourage himself. He is a positive guy always, no matter what his actual talent is. I really like his attitude and I still hope he can make it big in test cricket one day. But to think that he can open the innings in test cricket is way over optimistic (bordering on the ridiculous) if we see it from outside.

Not ridiculous enough for Gary Kirsten, apparently.

 

[spooony]

India should learn how to handle the short stuff.

 

[1iram1]

This is very interesting.

Gary Kirsten always wanted me to open the innings: Suresh Raina - The Times of India

Opening with him sounds like a good option in limited overs. He can get the team off to a flier when Sehwag gets injured/retires and he has time to build an innings as well, which he usually doesn't get in odis.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

the problem with raina in the test format is he looks fundamentally unsuited to it with glaring technical flaws that will hinder his ability to score. I'm not a big advocate of technique, mostly because I can't tell good technique from bad technique anyway, and I think test cricket is more about the mind, but raina has such obvious difficulties playing an innings against short bowling that unless he's gone away and worked out how to defend, hook and pull I don't see him succeeding.

no such worries about kohli, he's not there yet in his mental approach but he plays off the back foot and pulls better than any indian under the age of 35 I've seen in a while (which isn't hard but he's reasonably competent which is enough) dropping him wouldn't make sense. he can make big scores when in, he can deal with aggressive bowling, he's mentally tough. the form will come.