South Africa tour of India 2019/20

[NILAYSHAH60]

With all that hype regarding how will Rohit fare we should also not forget the contribution of Mayank Agarwal. Mayank Agarwal who is also a naturally aggressive batsman has been curbing his instincts to dominate the bowlers and is constantly giving the strike to Rohit Sharma. This has been a real high quality innings from him with some high percentage shots.[DOUBLEPOST=1570002879][/DOUBLEPOST]I think this could influence Rohit Sharma quite positively by how Agarwal is playing from the other end. He is so disciplined !

 

[Villain]

Maiden ton as a opener in Tests for Rohit Sharma.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

So Indian cricket is now officially doomed!

Fanbois are now gonna jump on this knock Sharma ji till eternity.

 

[Villain]

While Mayank Agarwal has been in fantastic form, he has been very good to watch so far and should be given a good run. He has the composure we need in Tests than a slogger t20 mindset of the one who well deservedly got dropped.

 

[Bevab]

Maharaj is going to suffer an incredible back strain at the end of this series if he has to carry his entire bowling unit in this way. Piedt has been atrocious today and in all of the tour games so far.

It feels nice to see our openers score 200 runs together even if one of them isn’t there by merit. Rohit has done well so far however and will probably be the first choice opener for the entirety of the series and quite possibly the NZ tour as well. Mayank as noted by @NilayShah60 has completely retooled his game today and this is indeed a sign of a top class player. If he carries on like this, the much hyped Shaw-Gill opening duo might take a much longer time to become reality.

On the Saha debate, I’m in favour of his selection as he is a much better keeper to spin in comparison to Pant and given that we are playing an extra batsman in comparison to our usual home XI anyway, his lack of skill with the bat won’t be much trouble. But dropping Pant after giving him the dreaded vote of confidence surely will do a lot of wonders to his morale...

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

So Indian cricket is now officially doomed!

Fanbois are now gonna jump on this knock Sharma ji till eternity.

There is a difference in being critical and being pessimistic. The bold thing is more in the favour of the latter.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Inspite of being playing a little differently I am able to look at few flaws in Rohit's batting like going after the bowler when the pressure is released even a little bit. And playing the defensive shot a little to early angling the face of the bat at the on-side against the spinners on the balls that are pitched on middle and leg. Luckily for him that the ball wasn't spinning much or it could've beaten his defence and hit the top of off-stump.[DOUBLEPOST=1570007541][/DOUBLEPOST]

On the Saha debate, I’m in favour of his selection as he is a much better keeper to spin in comparison to Pant and given that we are playing an extra batsman in comparison to our usual home XI anyway, his lack of skill with the bat won’t be much trouble.

@Bevab The problem doesn't lie in playing Saha but it lies in not looking forward at the youngsters.

 

[Aalay]

Well this was kind of expected because even before this test match, Rohit has done well whenever he was given an opportunity in tests at home. Even if he failed here, the way the management talked about him we knew that he had all the 5 tests that we are going to play in this home season to prove his credential as an opener. He is too good of a player to miss out on all these opportunities especially in home conditions. The only concern with him which will be there until he scores runs overseas is how he bats when the ball is moving around. It was an overcast day but the ball will never move too much in India. Phillander did bowl pretty well initially but Rabada's first spell wasn't any special to build pressure on Rohit and then as soon as the spinners came in, he was in his comfort zone.

Good to see Mayank playing well and hopefully he can continue tomorrow with a big score.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

It was an overcast day

Actually it was a bright sunny day and the players were literally sweating and all of a sudden the clouds came and it started thundering so the Umpires took the players off the field to avoid taking risk with the weather. And it started raining later on.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

This support for Saha but the same people opposing Rohit has me confused. Pant has just made two centuries in places NO keeper batsman in India ever has. His keeping has not cost us anything yet. But, when it comes to giving Rohit another chance, they get all touchy?

In my opinion, it's all a bloody joke. Saha will never make runs in SENA and hasn't. Rohit Sharma could, but I trust his temperament fully to flop. Time will tell. This is basically a media driven propaganda to drop Pant. I'm just waiting for him to become a proper 'tuk tuk' sort of player in LOI and then some how make it in tests. He will play for India for long. I have no doubt in that. But, his destruction has started.

 

[Aalay]

It is ridiculous that we are still arguing on Saha vs Pant topic. Saha has been India's go to wicket keeper in test since Dhoni retired. The reason Pant was selected in India's test squad was because Saha was injured and Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik didn't perform when they were given chances in South Africa and England. Yes Pant has definitely done well in the limited chances that he has got at the test level with both bat and as a keeper as well. However, once Saha was declared fit, it is quite natural that management and the captain decided to go with him over Pant since he has been the premier WK for India in test. Is it harsh on Pant? Of course it is but that's how the game works sometimes.

Also is quite clear why Saha has been chosen here over Pant. We are playing with 6 batsmen plus Ashwin and Jadeja. You don't need runs from Saha in this line-up. What you do need is someone with good wicket keeping skills to keep to Ashwin and Jadeja on Indian pitches. This is where Saha is miles ahead of Pant and therefore he is in the line-up ahead of Pant.

 

[Bevab]

This support for Saha but the same people opposing Rohit has me confused. Pant has just made two centuries in places NO keeper batsman in India ever has. His keeping has not cost us anything yet. But, when it comes to giving Rohit another chance, they get all touchy?

In my opinion, it's all a bloody joke. Saha will never make runs in SENA and hasn't. Rohit Sharma could, but I trust his temperament fully to flop. Time will tell. This is basically a media driven propaganda to drop Pant. I'm just waiting for him to become a proper 'tuk tuk' sort of player in LOI and then some how make it in tests. He will play for India for long. I have no doubt in that. But, his destruction has started.

Mate I am mystified that you are comparing the selection of Saha and Rohit and finding them to be similar. Saha has proved his fitness and ability upon return from injury in the India A games and lest we not forget, he was India’s first choice keeper in all conditions before his injury. Rohit on the other hand was not even the first choice for a middle order role and is now being played in a position that he has never played before in domestic cricket. This was a long planned move indeed as proven by the various comments pushing him to open. If so, why did Rohit not open in any of the India A matches recently? I can understand him being busy to not play first class cricket but surely he could have played a series opening for the A team skipping a bilateral series later on if his workload was too heavy? I’ve still not mentioned how we aren’t exactly starved of other opening options like England either.

As for Pant’s keeping, I remember a game where he missed multiple stumping chances which eventually ended in a successful Australian chase and victory. And this was in an ODI. I also remember Pant looking completely lost a year ago when Windies came here. I’m a big fan of Pant, but I’ve already mentioned that I would have Saha play in home conditions which is absolutely the right decision given the extreme batting depth this side has currently and the value he offers with the gloves.

I have no idea or clue about any propaganda or vendetta against Pant in the media. He isn’t the first nor will be the last player to be criticised after a run of poor performances. The solution lies in the management and himself blocking out the negative noise and focusing on bringing his natural game as optimised as possible. But we all know how that story will end though.. don’t we?

 

[Bevab]

South Africa’s team selection has been very strange for this test. If you were going to pick Muthuswamy anyway due to wanting five bowling options, it makes more sense to drop Piedt who has been very unimpressive in all of the tour games and select someone else like Ngidi who could extract some reverse swing. That would have been their best bowling tactic instead of trying to match India for spin options. In any case, three spinners on a relatively flat pitch is overkill. Not to mention that the threat of rain means more pace friendly conditions and Elgar/Markram/de Bruyn being a serviceable fifth bowling option if at all the third spinner was needed.

Going ahead with five bowling options also leaves the batting lineup with Bavuma and de Kock batting at least a position too high. Bavuma needs to start converting those 30s and 40s into bigger scores if he is to be the long-term number five.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Mate I am mystified that you are comparing the selection of Saha and Rohit and finding them to be similar. Saha has proved his fitness and ability upon return from injury in the India A games and lest we not forget, he was India’s first choice keeper in all conditions before his injury. Rohit on the other hand was not even the first choice for a middle order role and is now being played in a position that he has never played before in domestic cricket. This was a long planned move indeed as proven by the various comments pushing him to open. If so, why did Rohit not open in any of the India A matches recently? I can understand him being busy to not play first class cricket but surely he could have played a series opening for the A team skipping a bilateral series later on if his workload was too heavy? I’ve still not mentioned how we aren’t exactly starved of other opening options like England either.

As for Pant’s keeping, I remember a game where he missed multiple stumping chances which eventually ended in a successful Australian chase and victory. And this was in an ODI. I also remember Pant looking completely lost a year ago when Windies came here. I’m a big fan of Pant, but I’ve already mentioned that I would have Saha play in home conditions which is absolutely the right decision given the extreme batting depth this side has currently and the value he offers with the gloves.

I have no idea or clue about any propaganda or vendetta against Pant in the media. He isn’t the first nor will be the last player to be criticised after a run of poor performances. The solution lies in the management and himself blocking out the negative noise and focusing on bringing his natural game as optimised as possible. But we all know how that story will end though.. don’t we?

It is ridiculous that someone like Saha in the twilight of his career is replacing someone who could serve the country for a decade and a half. I'm on board that Saha was our first choice, but, he got injured and Pant did too well to be kept out. It seems as if there are different rules for different players. Pant is a lot lot like Dhoni. People are against his selection right now, again, he's someone who's against the norm. Saha is a lot more contemporary. On the basis of pure performance and circumstances, neither Saha nor Sharma should have played. In these conditions, I would definitely have batted Ashwin 6 and kept Vihari out too. But, it seems as though there is a new obsession with this combination. 6-1-4. Ironically, I was begging for it in SENA. It's barking mad to not be playing 5-1-2-3 in India or anywhere else to be frank.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

But, it seems as though there is a new obsession with this combination. 6-1-4.

The thing is that our batting didn't perform well enough in SENA Countries and they wanted to do something so that our batting gets enough of depth and strength to score runs. They tried the 6-1-4 combination in Australia which did wonders for them so they have stuck with this. Ultimately it doesn't matter what the combination is but the players should have the right approach and should be confident enough to perform. It's been a 2-edged sword kind of situation for the Indian team. They don't have to constantly chop and change but at the same time they also have to keep in mind that they don't do anything for long which could hamper their progress.