India A tour of England

[Beamer]

I think this shows that talk about pushing young WI batsmen into the main team early in their careers may just be premature....

I was at the ground yesterday Mike and the ball did move a ridiculous amount in the morning session, just as it has done today by the looks of things and the Indians had the same problems as us. Batting was a lot more comfortable in the afternoon/evening sessions.

Braithwaite looked extremely solid before getting a rip snorter from Unadkat, who got one to pitch on off stump from around the wicket and leave him exaggeratedly. Tbh I'm not sure the other batsmen would have even got a touch on it but Kraigg did. Most impressively, he plays late and with very soft hands so I reckon he will score heaps of runs on tours of England during his career.

None of the other batsmen, aside from Imran Khan and Bernard Jr, looked close to being ready however. Edwards and Walton looked particularly clueless.

The morning session scores:

Day 1 - West Indies A 63/6

Day 2 - India A 57/7

[Shri]

Did Unadkat look like the general so called fast bowlers from India or did he look different and actually good?

[Sir Alex]

Did Unadkat look like the general so called fast bowlers from India or did he look different and actually good?

Looked pretty much human from what I heard, and girls em say Indian bowlers like Zaheer and Irfan actually look good.

So it's a mixture of both.

[Arjun]

What real value do the likes of Rahane, Pujara, Tiwary and Mukund provide? Not much. Some have played too little cricket, even domestic. Mukund, for instance is a greenhorn. Tiwary is massively over-rated, and struggles against attacking bowling, and lacks adequate big hits. They've batted only against domestic bowlers, and haven't played much A-team cricket. Besides, outside of FC cricket, they struggle in limited-overs cricket, suggesting there's a lot missing, which will be opened up. In fact, they may be no different from someone like Wasim Jaffer, who's played loads of FC cricket in India but a failure at a higher level. At least the IPL gives them a chance to face a much higher standard of bowling which Ranji or Duleep Trophy can't replicate with the current setup. Of the current so-called promising young batsmen, only Vijay and Badrinath are good enough for the Test team, and still won't score enough to win a match despite a weak bowling attack.

[Sir Alex]

What real value do the likes of Rahane, Pujara, Tiwary and Mukund provide? Not much. Some have played too little cricket, even domestic. Mukund, for instance is a greenhorn. Tiwary is massively over-rated, and struggles against attacking bowling, and lacks adequate big hits. They've batted only against domestic bowlers, and haven't played much A-team cricket. Besides, outside of FC cricket, they struggle in limited-overs cricket, suggesting there's a lot missing, which will be opened up. In fact, they may be no different from someone like Wasim Jaffer, who's played loads of FC cricket in India but a failure at a higher level. At least the IPL gives them a chance to face a much higher standard of bowling which Ranji or Duleep Trophy can't replicate with the current setup. Of the current so-called promising young batsmen, only Vijay and Badrinath are good enough for the Test team, and still won't score enough to win a match despite a weak bowling attack.

Strange post.

Considering India's best ever batting lineup came through the same Duleep & Ranji formats without the so called IPL.

Considering they're playing not in India, but in England against WI bowlers, which arguably is better prospect (from challenge pov) than Indian bowlers on Indian pitches.

Considering IPL's work on current generation is not proven vis-a-vis tests or even ODIs. We all saw how the IPL bred "youngstars" failed massively in Zim.

Considering you have 6.917 posts prior to this!

[shivfan]

I was at the ground yesterday Mike and the ball did move a ridiculous amount in the morning session, just as it has done today by the looks of things and the Indians had the same problems as us. Batting was a lot more comfortable in the afternoon/evening sessions.

Braithwaite looked extremely solid before getting a rip snorter from Unadkat, who got one to pitch on off stump from around the wicket and leave him exaggeratedly. Tbh I'm not sure the other batsmen would have even got a touch on it but Kraigg did. Most impressively, he plays late and with very soft hands so I reckon he will score heaps of runs on tours of England during his career.

None of the other batsmen, aside from Imran Khan and Bernard Jr, looked close to being ready however. Edwards and Walton looked particularly clueless.

The morning session scores:

Day 1 - West Indies A 63/6

Day 2 - India A 57/7

This is why I would've like to see Darren Bravo on this tour....

It would've been a good learning experience for him to play on these pitches. Ah, well....

Brathwaite is out, and so is Smith, and WI are 90-2 in their second innings. Phillips and Fletcher need to hit big scores here.

[jeevan]

Might this be Unadkat's foray in FC overseas? He's now taken a 10-for at an average of 8 against a reasonable Windies A team.

[Patroclus]

Go Manoj Tiwary

[Patroclus]

Might this be Unadkat's foray in FC overseas? He's now taken a 10-for at an average of 8 against a reasonable Windies A team.

ooohh that kkr player

[Beamer]

Did Unadkat look like the general so called fast bowlers from India or did he look different and actually good?

He wasn't quick, medium/fast I would say, but he moved the ball both ways at will and bowled a wonderful line and length.

He was particularly difficult for the right handers to deal with when he bowled from around the wicket where he got the ball to move away sharply.

I was very impressed with him and I would expect to see him play test cricket in the not too distant future. If the sun comes out on a flat Whitgift School wicket in the next match it will be good to see how he goes. If he does this again then we are talking about a serious bowler in the making.

[Sir Alex]

He wasn't quick, medium/fast I would say, but he moved the ball both ways at will and bowled a wonderful line and length.

He was particularly difficult for the right handers to deal with when he bowled from around the wicket where he got the ball to move away sharply.

I was very impressed with him and I would expect to see him play test cricket in the not too distant future. If the sun comes out on a flat Whitgift School wicket in the next match it will be good to see how he goes. If he does this again then we are talking about a serious bowler in the making.

Thank you Beamer. That is exciting news.

[shivfan]

If the sun comes out on a flat Whitgift School wicket in the next match it will be good to see how he goes. If he does this again then we are talking about a serious bowler in the making.

Will you be going to Croydon for this match? I'm toying with the idea of turning up on Sunday, if the weather's good....

[Arjun]

Strange post.

Considering India's best ever batting lineup came through the same Duleep & Ranji formats without the so called IPL.

Considering they're playing not in India, but in England against WI bowlers, which arguably is better prospect (from challenge pov) than Indian bowlers on Indian pitches.

Considering IPL's work on current generation is not proven vis-a-vis tests or even ODIs. We all saw how the IPL bred "youngstars" failed massively in Zim.

Considering you have 6.917 posts prior to this!

This shouldn't be considered a ticket to the Indian Test team, no way.

Let's not keep bashing the IPL each time the Indian team fails. They've failed because of utterly poor management, than the IPL not providing talented players (hang on, they've created a supply line for Australia, given England Michael Lumb, the Saffies Roelof, and helped several strugglers establish themselves for other countries).

Before there was any IPL, we often heard how the gap between domestic cricket and international cricket is very huge, with the pace bowling being a huge factor. The IPL brought in many quality overseas players into India and they played for a long time. This should have been tapped- sadly, it hasn't.

There's a huge difference between facing McGrath, Tait, Steyn and even our own Zaheer Khan, and then Ranadeb Bose, Gagandeep Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni and Amit Bhandari. There's a huge difference between bowling to Matthew Hayden or Gautam Gambhir, and then Niraj Patel or Chirag Pathak.

Let's just ignore that Zimbabwe tour- many of those players are not even good enough for a whole IPL, let alone be "IPL-bred youngstars". A tour where India's worst players are among the top performers is best ignored.

It's good for these blokes here in England, as they learn the finer points of playing cricket in England and condition themselves well, but many of them need three more A-team tours and finish with a record like, say, Badrinath, to make the Test side. Until then, we'll still see inadequate efforts from the next generation and constant comparisons between international and Ranji cricket, and with India's all-time best batsmen, who were good, despite any system.

[Manee]

This 'A Team' tour is a good opportunity for young cricketers to make an impact against some talented players. Unadkat's 13fer will surely catapult him into the selectors minds for the medium to long term. Of course, more performances are needed, but such an effort cannot go unnoticed. Dhawal was unsuccessful in this game but performed well in the first, showing that he can be taken seriously both inside and outside of India. A lot of the time, it has been suspected that domestic medium pacers succeed on slow, low tracks through attrition, but in very different English conditions, success can go a long way for him too.

Having seen both bowl, I think both bowlers could have India futures ahead of them. Dhawal has to work somewhat on his speed, but I recall reading that he has intention to do so. Bridging the gap from 125kph to 130-135kph is crucial and is the difference between a journeyman seamer and a genuine international medium pacer, imo. Strength training, numerous years getting truly used to the bowling action (something which, say, Saj Mahmood, still hasn't done) can all add the extra yard of pace. He has had good consistent success in the domestic circuit and if he keeps this up, he may be able to pry the second seamer's spot. Domestic performances are key even for Indian seamers, note how the out of favour Sreesanth never took wickets for Kerala and the formerly prolific RP Singh was poor for UP in FC cricket this year. Zaheer Khan, however, tends to go to domestic cricket and pick up wickets - he is sometimes expensive, but he knows to pitch it up, swing it and ends up with 3 or more. Ishant played a game or two for Delhi this year too, and didn't do too well either, cannot take too much from that, but if someone does not perform domestically, they won't internationally and the opposite is true, at least to some extent.

[Beamer]

Will you be going to Croydon for this match? I'm toying with the idea of turning up on Sunday, if the weather's good....

I would love to go Mike but I'm already committed to go to a birthday party on the Saturday and I don't think I can get away with another day off work so soon .

I will probably still try though! If you do go Mike I would love to hear your report. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by Imran Khan's batting. He really did look good in this match and I'm not quite sure how he is averageing only 25 at FC level.