West Indies in India 2014/15

[Aalay]

IND have played poor cricket vs SA, NZ, ENG in 2014, despite it being overseas.

India played poor cricket in the last 3 tests in England but apart from that, I think they played alright. With a little bit of luck, we could have easily drawn both the series in South Africa and NZ. I would say we could have even won the NZ series

IND since ENG won their in 2012, have not faced a strong opposition at home & that series exposed the factor that many felt before that series that IND potentially don't even have the luxury of being confident of winning at home if a solid team arrives in tests especially. That AUS 4-0 win was vs a AUS team in total turmoil (homework gate etc), so that is a distorted example. I'd firmly back the new AUS that won the ashes & beat S Africa to be the first AUS team to win in IND since 2004.

Again I can easily say the same thing about India being in total turmoil during that 2012 home series against England with the retirement of our senior batsmen such as Dravid and Laxman. Also dropping a few of the senior players between the series, having a team in transition with new young players coming in the line-up without having too much experience at the international test level and having a totally out of form team.

I can understand your point when you say that WI might win the ODI series because their players have so much experience of Indian conditions through IPL. However, when you say that WI can win a test series in India, that will be a huge upset and they will need a miracle for that to happen. If that happens, it will be an all time low for Indian team. However, I don't see it happening especially in the test series. When we play in India, our spinners will dominate because they get favourable conditions. Dhoni will be in his comfort zone because his spinners will give him control that he likes and WI will self destruct at some point in the game. So I don't expect any upset in the test series. WI might win a couple of ODI's but I still don't see them winning the ODI series. Their main problem in ODI is that they play it as an extended version of T20 and they fill up their line up with power hitters. They have great power hitters but they don't rotate strike well which is always a concern with their batting line-up. I don't see them winning either the ODI or the test series.

 

[greymatter776]

India to win both ODI and Test series in my opinion.However it wont be at a huge margin thats all.Back in India,Rohit,Dhawan,Kohli top order is going to fire.We also found a good option Rahane at 4 who is in a good touch now.Dhoni is the best to have to finish and seeing how Jadeja is doing for CSK now and a while ago for India in England,I think he would be helpful for India for the cameo at the end of the innings.Ashwin has been always good for India in spinning tracks,and our seam attack is pretty descent as well.So in no way do I think Windies could win the series.However not expecting a whitewash as well as WI are not that bad after all.

 

[greymatter776]

Off topic still related to Indian cricket. Pujara out handled the ball in first innings.



And then he scored 100* in the second innings.Good to see him taking that failures during the England series quite serious and making up to it with that century for Derbyshire.

 

[greymatter776]

Video of ^

 

[War]

India played poor cricket in the last 3 tests in England but apart from that, I think they played alright. With a little bit of luck, we could have easily drawn both the series in South Africa and NZ. I would say we could have even won the NZ series

Well yes TBF didn't look as horrific in SA & NZ as they did in the last 3 tests vs ENG. But their own faults especially in the bowling attack, when SA & NZ produced world record efforts in Jo'Burg & Wellington came back to affect them. Might be a bit of stretch to say they could have won in NZ though.

Again I can easily say the same thing about India being in total turmoil during that 2012 home series against England with the retirement of our senior batsmen such as Dravid and Laxman. Also dropping a few of the senior players between the series, having a team in transition with new young players coming in the line-up without having too much experience at the international test level and having a totally out of form team.

Exactly that's what i mean, ENG caught a fresh IND team without Kumble & the legendary big four & the faults i thought ENG could expose & win - they did.

I think Windies (despise the caveat about them I mentioned before) can do the same thing.

I can understand your point when you say that WI might win the ODI series because their players have so much experience of Indian conditions through IPL. However, when you say that WI can win a test series in India, that will be a huge upset and they will need a miracle for that to happen. If that happens, it will be an all time low for Indian team. However, I don't see it happening especially in the test series. When we play in India, our spinners will dominate because they get favourable conditions. Dhoni will be in his comfort zone because his spinners will give him control that he likes and WI will self destruct at some point in the game. So I don't expect any upset in the test series. WI might win a couple of ODI's but I still don't see them winning the ODI series. Their main problem in ODI is that they play it as an extended version of T20 and they fill up their line up with power hitters. They have great power hitters but they don't rotate strike well which is always a concern with their batting line-up. I don't see them winning either the ODI or the test series.

The bold is one of the key issues that is yet to proven. Since the 2012 series, IND new spin brigade have not played a good/competent batting opposition like ENG since. Ashwin the obvious most talented IND spinner for reasons i mentioned before, has not be the secure # 1 spinner since that series.

I don't believe its unfair to suggest before that they had it easy vs the AUS team when they won 4-0, who inner issues & squad selection did not put the IND spinners under any sort of pressure.

Of course WI batting although i don't think talent wise they have anyone in their likely top 7 other Gayle who is vulnerable vs spin - are prone to collapse in a head vs spin in test match. However again i see capabilities in their batting that could replicate what ENG win.

ODIs as you say, they bat generally like a extended T20 with their power hitters & Dhoni and most teams just prey on that issue and they get themselves. But i don't think its a insurmountable issue, which is mainly a small mental hurdle rather than major technical one.

 

[sandykumar]

thanks to BCCI for helding matches with westindies according to the match results we select players for upcoming 2015 worldcup

 

[grkrama]

Ashwin the obvious most talented IND spinner for reasons i mentioned before, has not be the secure # 1 spinner since that series.

Actually i would rate ojha as well as mishra above him if its purely tests.

I don't believe its unfair to suggest before that they had it easy vs the AUS team when they won 4-0

Ind were in transition too, so credit were due, to the question whether the spinners have been tested for good no, its not even the best spin attack in the country for tests tbh, as of now i would say a series against SL would be the best measure of our spin bowlers.

 

[PokerAce]

The bold is one of the key issues that is yet to proven. Since the 2012 series, IND new spin brigade have not played a good/competent batting opposition like ENG since. Ashwin the obvious most talented IND spinner for reasons i mentioned before, has not be the secure # 1 spinner since that series.

To be fair over the past 20 years the one spinner who has been giant in all those home wins was Kumble and MSD has never played with Kumble in his squad. Without the chief destroyer of sides on those sinning tracks, MSD has delivered better home results than any skipper before him did with Kumble in their side. MSD has always had to make do with a spin attack that has no one even remotely close to Kumble, and still, delivered 70% win in home tests, which is the biggest home win % of any Indian skipper ever. Even with Kumble in his side Ganguly had a home win of 46%.

So I don't see the lack of some like Kumble suddenly becoming an issue in this series for MSD. Yes there was the Eng series where Swann and Panesar got the better of India spinner, but apart from that series, MSD has always had to make do with the lesser spinners and still delivered more wins in India than anyone before him. There is no reason to say that suddenly out of the blue the spinners will suddenly be an issue.

 

[PokerAce]

Actually i would rate ojha as well as mishra above him if its purely tests.

I am not sure about Ojha, he has kind of disappeared from the scene. Is he doing well in ranjis, I haven't really read much about him. Could be he is doing well, I just haven't read about them anyway.

Mishra I do rate high, but right now I doubt he will get into the side. I to be honest have no idea who our top three spinners are anymore. Ashwin would get in for sure, Jadeja for the home series plays obviously, perhaps Mishra could be the third, but I am not sure the selectors are thinking along the same lines.

 

[grkrama]

. Is he doing well in ranjis, I haven't really read much about him. Could be he is doing well, I just haven't read about them anyway.

no idea here either, just from what i have seen of eng series here he seemed a more wicket taking bowler.have to check how well his fc form has been.

 

[abhi_jacko]

The success of Jadeja as the second spinner has really held India back from trying out specialist spinners. I hope Mishy gets his opportunities in the Windies series. He did quite well in Ranji Trophy - 27wkts in 6 games. I wont mind India going in with 3 spinners if they prepare spin-friendly wickets

Dhoni at no.6, Jadeja at no.7, Ashwin at 8 - and then Mishra + 2 fasties

 

[PokerAce]

^ I would be in favor of this 3 spinners and 2 seamers, but I think I would just tweak it a bit and see another combination tried (not sure how much support I will have on this). I would like Raina in the line up (I think he is ready and especially with Aus in mind). We need the extra batsman there, and Raina is the most obvious one.

Play Raina after Rahane. Then MS Dhoni at 7, Bhuvi, Ashwin, Jadeja/Mishra (either), Ishant/Varun Aaron for the WI series. Raina can fill the spot of the third spinner especially on helpful pitches.

Once we got to Aus, again let Raina and Ashwin be the two spinners and three seamers.

For WI

Dhawan
Vijay
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Raina
MS Dhoni
Bhuvi (I would rather rest him totally)
Ashwin
Mishra (If Jadeja the he bats up obviously)
Ishant/Varun Aaron (Both if Bhuvi is rested as he should ideally be)


For Aus -

Dhawan
Vijay
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Raina
MS Dhoni
Bhuvi
Ashwin
Ishant
Varun

Don't know how many of you will agree, especially with fast tracking Raina into the test side. My logic is you cannot always go about doing things in order, and ppl who seem ready need to be fastracked. SRT was fast-tracked, Wasim Waqar were fast tracked, and Raina just seems ready. If nothing else lets capitalise on his form, and it would be a waste to let his form be wasted.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Not a big fan of Raina in Tests, for obvious reasons. But if Dhoni and the management are considering him for the Test series in Australia, then he definitely needs to be drafted in the Test XI against WIndies. Makes logical sense. But practically speaking, I highly doubt that Dhoni will sacrifice Jadeja for the home series. In which case, it will always be a toss up between Mishra v Raina. I don't see them both fitting into the playing XI. Don't forget IPL Sharma will also be a popular option for the management if things play out in the expected manner.

If we get the usual MS Dhoni who likes to play safe (not the Dhoni that turned up in England), then this would be the most probable XI in the first test:

Dhawan
Vijay
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane

Rohit/Raina
Dhoni

Jadeja
Ashwin
Shami/Ishant
Bhuvi/Aaron

 

[greymatter776]

I say in India,don't go with five bowlers.Its sure going to be a spinning track anyway and Raina's part time spin would do good as well.I believe after overcoming the short ball problem fairly well,he should be our next priority is test.Having done well in ODI and T20s he should be given a call up.My XI for tests would be;
Murali Vijay
Shikhar Dhawan
Cheteshwar Pujara
Virat Kohli
Ajinkya Rahane
Suresh Raina
M S Dhoni
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravichandra Ashwin
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar
Mohammad Shami/Ishant Sharma/Varun Aaron

For ODIs I do think the current XI would do just fine,My XI
Rohit Sharma
Shikhar Dhawan
Virat Kohli
Ajinkya Rahane
Suresh Raina
M S Dhoni
Ambati Rayudu
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravichandra Ashwin
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar
Mohammad Shami/Varun Aaron

 

[Aalay]

West Indies in India 2014-15 : Rohit set to miss West Indies ODIs | Cricket News | India v West Indies | ESPN Cricinfo

I don't want to see Murli Vijay in the ODI squad. He has finally started performing well in the longer format and I want him to concentrate on that. I would rather select a young player than selecting Murli Vijay for the ODI squad. I would even consider having Sanju Samson as a backup opener for this series. We alredy have Dhawan and Rahane as regular openers so having Samson as a backup won't be a bad idea. I also think Bhuvi and Shami should be rested for the limited over series as they both have been overworked and had pretty long tour of England. So I am not sure how the bowling line-up will shape up. I also do not think Dhawal Kulkarni is any special and looks very ordinary so hopefully he stays away from the squad. I would love to see both Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron in the ODI squad. I also like the look of Rahul Shukla and would be wonderful if he gets an opportunity instead of Dhawal Kulkarni or Mohit Sharma.