***Official*** India in West Indies

[DanielFullard]

Originally Posted by quick4mindia

was alluding to the test series not the one dayers

Oh.....point taken then

[shankar]

Originally Posted by IqbalJaved

INdia have major issues surrounding their test side:
1) Virender Sehwag has a noticeable weakness against the short ball and you can bet Bennett King would have latched onto that.
2) I'm not convinced about the other opener either Jaffer or Gambhir.
3) THe middle order looks vulnerable - Tendulkar is struggling with form and fitness and Laxman has been below par since returning from Australia in early 2004.
4) Dhoni - can his batting cut it out at test match level ? WE'll find more in the WEst Indies I guess....
5) Pathan's lack of pace -- Ok I accept Pathan was never a tearway but he was consistently around 135 km/hr in late 2004 even hitting 88 mph in the Bangalore test against Australia. What's with the 70mph rubbish now ?
6) Harbhajan ....Is the guy only capable of bowling with the SG ball and on wickets which assist him considerably ? I think have got to give serous consideration to Powar playing in the tests in the WEst Indies.
7) Pace attack -- Munaf looked impressive against England...he needs to back it up in the Caribbean. Sreesanth certainly bowls a fair few wicket taking deliveries but his spells are often liberally laced with hit me for four deliveries.
And who's the pace backup ? VRV and RP both are pretty raw and are not test class...they'd both be better off going on the India A tour to Australia.
Who else is there ? Agarkar is a proven failure at test level, Nehra and Balaji are still injured (is Nehra ever fit ??) and Zaheer has fallen out of favour with Chappell.

Not a rosy picture at all.

Good post. Summed up all of India's problems with the test side perfectly there.

[aussie]

Originally Posted by DanielFullard

Aren't Sky covering this series? I think the are covering both the West Indies series in the next month or so. I can't see anything other than an Indian Whitewash to be honest.

yea it will be on sky..

[TT Boy]

Originally Posted by luckyeddie

neck on the line - the revival of the Windies cricket fortunes starts HERE.

West Indies to win the test series 2-1.

ODI, don't care.

I'm feeling that as well, as for the one dayers I fancy the Indians to take it 3-2.

[aussie]

Very good post sir, summed up India's problems pretty well, here is my neutral opinion on things:

Originally Posted by IqbalJaved

INdia have major issues surrounding their test side:
1) Virender Sehwag has a noticeable weakness against the short ball and you can bet Bennett King would have latched onto that.

yea thats true, everyone knows that, but do the West Indies groundstaff have the capabilities of producing bouncy pitches?, other than the England series in 2004 and the 1off test in Antigua 2003, most WI pitches over the last 5 years have been pretty flat.

But even if they do, are the West Indian bowlers consistent enough to exploit Sehwag's weakness againts the short ball?. All this has to be considered.

Originally Posted by IqbalJaved

2) I'm not convinced about the other opener either Jaffer or Gambhir.

Well they aren't horrible from what i've seen of them, just neither of nailed the spot down when the oppurtunity has come. For Gambhir's, its semms his chance looks to have come and gone in the test arena. I thought Jaffer looked fairly capable vs England. I say persist with him. If not well maybe former under-19 WC star opener Shikar Dhawan is the answer..

Originally Posted by IqbalJaved

3) THe middle order looks vulnerable - Tendulkar is struggling with form and fitness and Laxman has been below par since returning from Australia in early 2004.

Yea this a big problem for India for sure. Other than Dravid and Yuvraj the middle looks very vulnerable. Don't have too much alternative solutions here, but i'd say persist with them and hope they find form again since they have served India so well for so long..

Originally Posted by IqbalJaved

4) Dhoni - can his batting cut it out at test match level ? WE'll find more in the WEst Indies I guess.....

Yea one of the major things to look out for, we have seen Gilchrist do it, so his aggressive style of play can cause havoc for International bowler if he becomes successful at it, so for India's sake and for world cricket i hope he does..

Originally Posted by IqbalJaved

5) Pathan's lack of pace -- Ok I accept Pathan was never a tearway but he was consistently around 135 km/hr in late 2004 even hitting 88 mph in the Bangalore test against Australia. What's with the 70mph rubbish now ?.

I think the main reason for Pathan sudden drop in pace is because he is burdened with being India #`1 strike bowler at such a young age. Plus its not to say he can get strong or anything as he gets older because he plays both forms of the game.

He's like a marathon runner in that the more he bowls the less likely he will get stronger and be able to bowl faster, which is sad really.

Originally Posted by IqbalJaved

6) Harbhajan ....Is the guy only capable of bowling with the SG ball and on wickets which assist him considerably ? I think have got to give serous consideration to Powar playing in the tests in the WEst Indies.

Interesiting point, but i'm not sure if this a proven MAJOR problem he has, since i remember him bowling well with Kumble in England last time and over here they use the duke balls..

Originally Posted by IqbalJaved

7) Pace attack -- Munaf looked impressive against England...he needs to back it up in the Caribbean. Sreesanth certainly bowls a fair few wicket taking deliveries but his spells are often liberally laced with hit me for four deliveries.
And who's the pace backup ? VRV and RP both are pretty raw and are not test class...they'd both be better off going on the India A tour to Australia.
Who else is there ? Agarkar is a proven failure at test level, Nehra and Balaji are still injured (is Nehra ever fit ??) and Zaheer has fallen out of favour with Chappell.

Well having seen all these 4 youngsters, i only see real hope in Patel and Sreesanth. I have my questions over RP and VR Singh. But i think would be suited if they took one of the old boys in the test series at least since the seam attack even though talented could cost India a test with some poor bowling if the aggressive West Indian batsmen get on top of them.

[Anil]

india has been pretty suspect even in home tests recently....an away series victory is not as assured as some people seem to think, what with the top and middle order barring dravid being so brittle....besides we have a knack of bringing out of form opposing batsmen back into form(read chanders)....

the test series could be really close....and could very well go the west indian way....india would start as the firm favourites in the one dayers though.....

[vic_orthdox]

1-1 in the Test series.

Be interesting to see what happens in the ODs, because Windies traditionally prefer to chase too (??). I think that the Windies will only win 1 OD though.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Anil

india has been pretty suspect even in home tests recently....an away series victory is not as assured as some people seem to think

Some people? Who? A lot of people are tipping WI to win a test or 2 and some are even predicting a win. I hardly see this as people overestimating India's chances.

India was overestimated against the injury hit England team, and I think people are specifically making sure they don't do that again.

[adharcric]

Looks like the ODI squad will be something like this.

Dravid, Sehwag, Uthappa, Yuvraj, Raina, Kaif, Rao, Dhoni, Karthik, Pathan, Agarkar, Patel, Sreesanth, RP Singh, Harbhajan, Powar

[Beleg]

Tests: Draw 1-1

ODI's: Could easily be 3-2 or 2-3.

[adharcric]

Venugopal Rao should really be close to a test squad call-up. Kaif still deserves a run because he's always treated unfairly in tests, and Raina also might get picked for the West Indies test squad as well if SRT is out. I can see Venu becoming a Dravid type for India in the future, at least in terms of stability and temperament.

[adharcric]

Squad to be selected soon. Some say Kaif is in danger and Ganguly has a chance.
Expecting an unchanged side with Karthik as the 2nd keeper.

[Dasa]

Indian squad has been announced:

Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel.

[SJS]

Originally Posted by Dasa

Indian squad has been announced:

Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel.

This, of course is the ODI squad. Laxman, Kumble, Jaffer etc will come in and Venugopal, Uthappa and RP may go out.

India should win both contests. ODI's easily and tests depending upon Lara's form.

[adharcric]

Originally Posted by SJS

This, of course is the ODI squad. Laxman, Kumble, Jaffer etc will come in and Venugopal, Uthappa and RP may go out.

India should win both contests. ODI's easily and tests depending upon Lara's form.

RP will stay, AA will go out. VRV might get a test call-up if he impresses with the A team, but that's a big IF. Powar will also go as they won't have 3 spinners in the test squad. Venu will go but if Tendulkar is out, either he or Raina will be called up and although Raina is the favorite right now, Venu should be well-suited to test cricket.