*Official* New Zealand vs India Tests & ODIs

[marc71178]

Bond is the key in my opinion, India haven't really had to face up to a genuine quick in awhile

What about Harmison and Jones (who both had reasonable figures relative to other more experienced bowlers in the summer) ?

 

[Tim]

Thats true Marc, I take back my statement. Although you could argue that Bond is probably 6 or 8 k's quicker at his peak.

 

[V Reddy]

The Indian Squad has just been picked

Squad: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sanjay Bangar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Murali Kartik, Mohammad Kaif, Shiv Sundar Das, Ajay Ratra, Tinu Yohannan

Kumble opted himself out for personal reasons but why did they drop Srinath for Yohannan!! . The Indian attack is again going to have problems

 

[Tim]

Is that the test squad?
Interesting that they've gone back to Das after his poor batting in the West Indies & England.

 

[V Reddy]

no he played really well in ENG in county games. He didn't get a chance there in tests.Infact he scoed a double century in one game. Yeah it si a test squad, 1 day squad will be picked in mid december.

 

[Tim]

Just looking at Rayudu's stats, the Indian selectors must have gone very close to picking the young kid.

If they're willing to pick a 17 year old keeper then there's no question that they'd pick another one if he's blazing centuries left, right & centre.

Very Impressive stats for such a young player & extremely punishing aswell. If he keeps it up over the next month I would not be surprised if he comes down here for the ODI's.

 

[Tim]

Infact we have a similar player Jesse Ryder who is 18. He hits century after century, but for some reason the NZ selectors don't really seem to like introducing players younger than about 20.

Obviously Vettori was a different case as NZ was desperate for a spinner, but I presume Brendon McCullum is ready to have another crack...interesting to see he scored 250 off 100 balls in Darwin over the winter which didn't even include any 6's..incredible.

These new younger players are just getting out of control.

 

[Rik]

Originally posted by Tim
Is that the test squad?
Interesting that they've gone back to Das after his poor batting in the West Indies & England.

Das scored 250 in a FC match in England and didn't get a chance in the Test Squad. I don't call that poor batting. He is a player I wouldn't mind seeing back in the squad but he does need to score a bit faster as he seems to get stuck in a rutt sometimes then gets out.

 

[lord_of_darkness]

As for their bowling it will depend on the selection of the 3rd seamer to partner Bond & Cairns. I would like to see Butler given the opportunity.

I would like to see Tuffey as their 3rd bowler as in test tuffey can move the ball well when he is bowling 1st or 2nd and proves a big danger then , he is a good bowler , butler just needs more time to mature ...

Yea the Indian bowlers are in bit of a trouble i think Agarkar doesnt suit for tests at all , maybe Yohannan will be good on the N.Z pitches with Khan ? But certainly they are in trouble chosing the same similar lineup each time which gets hammered ( related to fast bowling ) e/g Agarkar, Nehra and to an extent Yohannan, They should also give Yohannan a chance for O.D.I he avgs around 25 has only 5 o.d.i wickets , and a good r.p.o too ,

As for Pathan or Balaji i think they might get a chance through the selectors chosing an O.D.I squad in mid december for the NZ tour

As for Das , i think i would be happy seeing him in , he is a good opener , and everytime he gets dropped he works hard on batting and his scores lately in U.K have showed as for Bangar i dont really classify him as an opener he can do the job thought but i think he would be better off batting 7-8 spot.

For New Zealand Bond will be their key man including Dan the Man for bowling , Bonds pace will trouble India a bit as Tim just mentioned before , India have been playing in dead tracks so far , and in the ICC too they havent played in a lively pitch yet... facing good fast bowlers

 

[Anil]

The Indian team for the tests could be:

Virender Sehwag
Sanjay Bangar/S.S Das
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
V.V.S Laxman
Saurav Ganguly
Parthiv Patel/Ajay Ratra
Zaheer Khan
Harbajan Singh
Ajit Agarkar/Aashish Nehra
Murali Karthik

5 specialist batsmen, 1 all-rounder(Bangar), 4 specialist bowlers - looks reasonably balanced atleast on paper. Of course, this bowling attack will need a lot of luck to bowl a fully-fit NZ side out twice.

Team for the one dayers:

Virender Sehwag
Saurav Ganguly
V.V.S Laxman/Dinesh Mongia
Sachin Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid
Yuvraj Singh
Mohammed Kaif
Ajit Agarkar/Sanjay Bangar
Zaheer Khan
Harbajan Singh
Murali Karthik

Packed with batsmen, but the current Indian team can't afford to be anything but.

 

[Kiwi]

I think tuffey is too slow and because of this I don't think he will be picked. Butler is a maybe but I think maybe Andre Adams will take the third seamer spot.
My team would be: (in no order)
Richardson
Astle
McCullam
Fleming
Vincent
Mcmillian
Cairns
Styris/Harris
Bond
Adams
Vettori

The selector would have to chose who would open with Richardson because there are no other openers in the team.

I was playing on the same ground as Cairns on Saturday and was amazed to see his timing on some of the balls. He went on to the back foot to defend one ball and it went past the bowler to the boundry. Amazing stuff.

 

[marc71178]

Originally posted by Tim
Thats true Marc, I take back my statement. Although you could argue that Bond is probably 6 or 8 k's quicker at his peak.

I think at least one of them, probably Jones, touched 93mph, so that could get Bond up to 98 in theory - hope he does some of that for Warwickshire!

 

[marc71178]

He is a player I wouldn't mind seeing back in the squad but he does need to score a bit faster as he seems to get stuck in a rutt sometimes then gets out.

Your obsession with players HAVING to score quickly in Test Matches is fast becoming as bad as Chris' with England playing a leg-spinner - and, like Chris, you haven't properly explained why!

 

[Rik]

Originally posted by marc71178

He is a player I wouldn't mind seeing back in the squad but he does need to score a bit faster as he seems to get stuck in a rutt sometimes then gets out.

Your obsession with players HAVING to score quickly in Test Matches is fast becoming as bad as Chris' with England playing a leg-spinner - and, like Chris, you haven't properly explained why!

Yes but batting for an entire day scoring 60 runs does nothing to help win matches! Anyway...need I bring up your obsession with the "Perfect All-Rounder"?

 

[The Argonaut]

Bond consistently bowled between 145 and 150 kph last summer which would be 91-94 mph. His fastest ball was above 150.

He's a great prospect.

 

[Tim]

Bond's top speed was 154.4 against the West Indies during July, I remember seeing the delivery & it almost cleaned out one of the Windies batsmen but missed by inches.

One of his other deliveries of course sent Brian Lara's wicket crashing over.

Im really looking forward to seeing Bond finally have a proper run for NZ back at home.

 

[warrioryohannan]

The team for test matches is announced, to my surprise Srinath has been dropped ! Its good to see Tinu back in the team(some pundits were sure that he won't get a place in the squad for series against NZ:saint.

Bad choices are. Ajit and Ratra.

Neglected players are: Pathan & Balaji

 

[Choora]

What a fiasco, the selectors are doing a horrible job.First of all , Srinath shouldn't have been dropped, afterall he was the one 2 have announced retirement from test cricket and it was the Indian cricket administration that forced him to come back, now he has been dropped out of the squad in a disgraceful manner.

Secondarily, Ajit isn't a good test bowler, its baffling 2 learn that he's still in the team.Someone like Naidu who's hell talented would have been a much better choice.Also Pathan could have been tried, and if the selectors were afraid of trying the inexperiance players, Mohanty could have been recalled.All and all its been a poor selection, really dissapoints me.

 

[Top_Cat]

Your obsession with players HAVING to score quickly in Test Matches is fast becoming as bad as Chris' with England playing a leg-spinner - and, like Chris, you haven't properly explained why!

Welcome to the mordern game, mate. There are no Boycott or Tavare-type grinders anymore. Why? Because they don't win Tests for you. Michael Holding once said that whilst the WI rated Boycs' powers of concentration, even if he batted for a while and got a hundred, to them he was never going to win the Test for them. So in that sense even if he posted a big score, it wouldn't hurt them that much because they'd just concentrate on getting the others' around him out.

I liked the look of Das as well but it's a good point about him; he DOES get himself into ruts and this can lead to his dismissal. I mean, if the bowling is good then that's one thing. But if it's perfect conditions for batting and you still manage to ties yourself up in knots, that's another thing.

 

[marc71178]

Yes but batting for an entire day scoring 60 runs does nothing to help win matches! Anyway...need I bring up your obsession with the "Perfect All-Rounder"?

Touché but no-one who bats all day only scores 60 runs!