Indian test team for SL series

Kohli got to work on his temperament as well.

Why? I think he's got great temperament. A real team player with a bright future in Indian cricket. The sooner he stops fishing outside the off stump, the sooner he'll become a regular. Yet, I think he's more suited for tests. India's batting won't be a headache in the future. The bowling?.......well, probably. What's with this new Yadav guy? Hear he's got some pace.

You'll see he gets out quite a few times by playing injudicious shots at most inopportune times.

Asia cup is a case in point.

India can handle Mendis - Dravid

Sage words from Dravid. His contribution would be of utmost importance if India are to win its first series in SL in 17 years.

One thing more. Most of batting would be very rusty in this series. Dravid won't have played any int'l cricket for 7 months. Tendulkar, VVS and Sehwag haven't played for 4 months. Same is true for Yuvraj who seems a certain starter in the final XI unless something drastic happens.

any idea why theres such a big gap between the asia cup final and the 1st test? doesnt seem like theres a tour match either

SG wrote:One thing more. Most of batting would be very rusty in this series. Dravid won't have played any int'l cricket for 7 months. Tendulkar, VVS and Sehwag haven't played for 4 months. Same is true for Yuvraj who seems a certain starter in the final XI unless something drastic happens.

Ridiculously, Laxman and Dravid were refused the chance to play county cricket by the BCCI.

jim rich wrote:What's with this new Yadav guy? Hear he's got some pace.

saw him in the IPL. consistently in the mid 140s but seemed a bit erratic. india will go with a 2+2 anyway so a straight shoot out between santh and ishant.

last chance for dravid and laxman to win a series in SL, you woudve thought.

The One wrote:any idea why theres such a big gap between the asia cup final and the 1st test? doesnt seem like theres a tour match either

Its ridiculous of BCCI not to ask for any practice game on this trip. As I said most of the guys would be rusty having not played any form of cricket for months together.

We almost did the same thing during India's last tour to Aus and paid the price for it. Now watch the 2 Ms spin a web around us and inflicting another defeat on us.

Henry wrote:

SG wrote:One thing more. Most of batting would be very rusty in this series. Dravid won't have played any int'l cricket for 7 months. Tendulkar, VVS and Sehwag haven't played for 4 months. Same is true for Yuvraj who seems a certain starter in the final XI unless something drastic happens.

Ridiculously, Laxman and Dravid were refused the chance to play county cricket by the BCCI.

I think they refused permission to Ishant as well.

As I said earlier, BCCI can't even remotely think of taking any step that helps Indian cricket. What a pisspoor cricket administration we've got.

SG wrote:One thing more. Most of batting would be very rusty in this series. Dravid won't have played any int'l cricket for 7 months. Tendulkar, VVS and Sehwag haven't played for 4 months. Same is true for Yuvraj who seems a certain starter in the final XI unless something drastic happens.

That's usually the case after long breaks, but I'm sure all of them were busy at the nets and like Dravid says; the warm-ups will be a bonus. If the weather holds up, I'd put my money on 2-1 or 2-0 for India even though SL are playing at home. Mendis was a menace purely because of the novelty of his carrom ball and stopped being one after the Asia Cup final in Karachi. If I remember right, in India he was a flop, both on tour and in the IPL.

I am not convinved about India's chances. The dad's army Indian team is very likely to be exposed by the younger fitter SL team, Particularly in SL where their bowlers are generally more potent.

jim rich wrote:

SG wrote:One thing more. Most of batting would be very rusty in this series. Dravid won't have played any int'l cricket for 7 months. Tendulkar, VVS and Sehwag haven't played for 4 months. Same is true for Yuvraj YUVI who seems a certain starter in the final XI unless something drastic happens.

That's usually the case after long breaks, but I'm sure all of them were busy at the nets and like Dravid says; the warm-ups will be a bonus. If the weather holds up, I'd put my money on 2-1 or 2-0 for India even though SL are playing at home. Mendis was a menace purely because of the novelty of his carrom ball and stopped being one after the Asia Cup final in Karachi. If I remember right, in India he was a flop, both on tour and in the IPL.

fixed

YUVIs dad will be on to you SG unless you remember to capitalise his son's name

Josh Carney wrote:I am not convinved about India's chances. The dad's army Indian team is very likely to be exposed by the younger fitter SL team, Particularly in SL where their bowlers are generally more potent.

ctrl+c, ctrl+v

ad infinitum

Josh Carney wrote:The dad's army Indian team is very likely to be exposed by the younger fitter SL team

Broken record.

Josh Carney wrote:I am not convinved about India's chances. The dad's army Indian team is very likely to be exposed by the younger fitter SL team, Particularly in SL where their bowlers are generally more potent.

ok i'll bite.

This is probably going to be the playing XI
Sehwag
Gambhir
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Yuvi / Raina
*+ Dhoni
Harbhajan
Mishra
Zaheer
Ishant

From the above line-up who would you want to replace with whom and why. (Apart from Yuvi ie. who everyone, apart from Ash, think is a wrong selection).

Probably the right pick. I'd put a slash behind Ishant and add Sreesanth. I too would go with Ishant though. Raina, although he deserves to play, will probably have to wait for at least two Yuvraj failures before he gets a look-in.

philcric wrote:

Josh Carney wrote:I am not convinved about India's chances. The dad's army Indian team is very likely to be exposed by the younger fitter SL team, Particularly in SL where their bowlers are generally more potent.

ok i'll bite.

This is probably going to be the playing XI
Sehwag
Gambhir
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Yuvi / Raina
*+ Dhoni
Harbhajan
Mishra
Zaheer
Ishant

From the above line-up who would you want to replace with whom and why. (Apart from Yuvi ie. who everyone, apart from Ash, think is a wrong selection).

The problem is that we should not be asking this question now. The planning should have gone on over the last 2-3 years with replacements tried and tested. With the prevailing attitude that once a hero the only way he can go is for his to retire or drop dead no wonder we are here. You watch the collective lethargy / sloppiness etc. on the field that is about to unfold. Only Dhoni, Raina and to an extent Gambhir are international standard in that regard. Guys like VVS may score their 50s and 60s but on the whole they don't provide the winning edge to the team.

Josh Carney wrote:

philcric wrote:

Josh Carney wrote:I am not convinved about India's chances. The dad's army Indian team is very likely to be exposed by the younger fitter SL team, Particularly in SL where their bowlers are generally more potent.

ok i'll bite.

This is probably going to be the playing XI
Sehwag
Gambhir
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Yuvi / Raina
*+ Dhoni
Harbhajan
Mishra
Zaheer
Ishant

From the above line-up who would you want to replace with whom and why. (Apart from Yuvi ie. who everyone, apart from Ash, think is a wrong selection).

The problem is that we should not be asking this question now. The planning should have gone on over the last 2-3 years with replacements tried and tested. With the prevailing attitude that once a hero the only way he can go is for his to retire or drop dead no wonder we are here. You watch the collective lethargy / sloppiness etc. on the field that is about to unfold. Only Dhoni, Raina and to an extent Gambhir are international standard in that regard. Guys like VVS may score their 50s and 60s but on the whole they don't provide the winning edge to the team.

err ... India is #1 test team in the world, at least statistically.

I sometimes wonder if even you know what you are arguing about or what you exactly want. Fielding is not be all and end all in cricket as you'd like us to believe. Especially test cricket. With only 10-12 tests per year you don't 'try and test' players. You go with the best players available for each match.

The problem is not planning for the future, am not talking about the present. We don't want to go through peaks and troughs. The reference to "we are here" is not about where we are on the ladder it is more about not having the right replacements lined up.

SG wrote:One thing more. Most of batting would be very rusty in this series. Dravid won't have played any int'l cricket for 7 months. Tendulkar, VVS and Sehwag haven't played for 4 months. Same is true for Yuvraj who seems a certain starter in the final XI unless something drastic happens.

jim rich wrote:

SG wrote:One thing more. Most of batting would be very rusty in this series. Dravid won't have played any int'l cricket for 7 months. Tendulkar, VVS and Sehwag haven't played for 4 months. Same is true for Yuvraj who seems a certain starter in the final XI unless something drastic happens.

That's usually the case after long breaks, but I'm sure all of them were busy at the nets and like Dravid says; the warm-ups will be a bonus. If the weather holds up, I'd put my money on 2-1 or 2-0 for India even though SL are playing at home. Mendis was a menace purely because of the novelty of his carrom ball and stopped being one after the Asia Cup final in Karachi. If I remember right, in India he was a flop, both on tour and in the IPL.

Guys, If I'm not wrong we are having a three day match from 13-15 July in Colombo before the 1st match starts. You can check it here:

http://www.cricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2010/content/series/455238.html?template=fixtures

Till now it is not cancelled according to cricinfo and hope it'll not be cancelled in future too.

Josh Carney wrote:The problem is not planning for the future, am not talking about the present. We don't want to go through peaks and troughs. The reference to "we are here" is not about where we are on the ladder it is more about not having the right replacements lined up.

Preparations happen in A tours, not in real test matches where eleven best player for the assigned roles get to play the match.

It is true that selectors made a hash of the bowling in the present A tour but batting preparation has gone on pretty well and we know which players can be promoted to the highest league with a little more finetuning.

hmm, that tour match must be new. didnt see it on the fixtures list when i opened the tour page

Chandan,

When we have three players VVS, SRT and Dravid all likely to pull up their boots at the same time the planning has to be better. I am talking about resting these guys and getting the replacements a round in the real tests not the "A" matches. This in my opinion should have gone on over the last 2 years atleast but the Indian system won't let that happen. It would be unfair to drop three new players all at the same time straight into the pit. That will mean another trough before they can find their feet.

Add to that we have the worst fielding / athletic side in Test cricket today. I reckon that we lose about 20 % of the edge when we bowl due to this fact alone.

Josh Carney wrote:Add to that we have the worst fielding / athletic side in Test cricket today. I reckon that we lose about 20 % of the edge when we bowl due to this fact alone.

That's not being just to the cause:
a) with the exception of Laxman, both Tendulkar and Dravid are excellent close-in fielders with Dravid still holding the world record. True, as far as Laxman is concerned......you can't hide him anywhere. He should never be let out of the slips.
b) It would take a mammoth effort to beat Pakistan in that discipline.
c) India does make up for their lapses in the field with some extra-ordinary batting.

But I do agree with you on one point; your selectors are very....very short-sighted. It will take some doing to hang on to that premier position.

you dont 'rest' players for test matches, this is not some charity event. give them a go in tour matches and one-dayers if you want

also there is a still unclaimed spot in the middle order. if there really was so much talent in the wings one of them would have grabbed it. gambhir has taken his chances as an opener so we do have one batsman who has come up in the last 2 years

i doubt the big 3 will all leave together, so fresh faces will come in slowly. but there is no reason for a successful batting line-up to be changed just for the sake of change. no team in the world does that