India A tour of England

[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.

 

[Arjun]

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....but if someone does not perform domestically, they won't internationally and the opposite is true, at least to some extent.

The emphasis should be on learning to play abroad, rather than making a claim for selection. I'd prefer to see Unadkat winning matches consistently for his teams, and making good use of his knowledge from each A-team tour, than playing in the Test team five years ahead of time. A lot of these players are a few years away from an India call-up, and they'd benefit best by doing well for those years in domestic/development/reserve teams. More than runs and wickets, knowledge gained on this tour will help them get better. When it comes to national selection, the selectors should settle for the final product and nothing less.

A whole lot of Indian bowlers need to work on their speed, and it often won't work. They don't seem to get it right, as a thirst for extra pace results in lack of accuracy and even overstepping. On the other hand, bowlers with the basic element of accuracy, as well as added skills of ball movement (and extra skills such as old-ball bowling, as also runs and fielding), should be picked, and pace should take care of itself with scientific techniques. They tried to play Sreesanth, Munaf, VRV Singh, Tyagi, Dinda and Yadav as pacers and failed. Somehow, picking bowlers on promise of pace doesn't work with India, and they need to approach this differently, although picking bowlers of sufficiently robust or streamlined build will also help.

While A-team tours have often brought to the fore many batsmen, a few spinners and that odd seamer, the lack of emphasis on multi-role players is disappointing.

 

[shivfan]

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.

if the weather is good, I will be there on Sunday....

if you do change your mind, and decide to go, let me know, so we can link up.

 

[Sir Alex]

The emphasis should be on learning to play abroad, rather than making a claim for selection. I'd prefer to see Unadkat winning matches consistently for his teams, and making good use of his knowledge from each A-team tour, than playing in the Test team five years ahead of time. A lot of these players are a few years away from an India call-up, and they'd benefit best by doing well for those years in domestic/development/reserve teams. More than runs and wickets, knowledge gained on this tour will help them get better. When it comes to national selection, the selectors should settle for the final product and nothing less.

A whole lot of Indian bowlers need to work on their speed, and it often won't work. They don't seem to get it right, as a thirst for extra pace results in lack of accuracy and even overstepping. On the other hand, bowlers with the basic element of accuracy, as well as added skills of ball movement (and extra skills such as old-ball bowling, as also runs and fielding), should be picked, and pace should take care of itself with scientific techniques. They tried to play Sreesanth, Munaf, VRV Singh, Tyagi, Dinda and Yadav as pacers and failed. Somehow, picking bowlers on promise of pace doesn't work with India, and they need to approach this differently, although picking bowlers of sufficiently robust or streamlined build will also help.

While A-team tours have often brought to the fore many batsmen, a few spinners and that odd seamer, the lack of emphasis on multi-role players is disappointing.

I've always believed great allrounders are born, not made. There is no point in "developing" a mediocre "all rounder" at the cost of a promising specialist imho.

 

[Manee]

I've always believed great allrounders are born, not made. There is no point in "developing" a mediocre "all rounder" at the cost of a promising specialist imho.

Nah, I disagree. If someone works hard on the batting, it does not mean the bowling must decline and vice versa, that is a false dichotomy, imo, and one not backed up by reason.

 

[shivfan]

A century for Pujara, and a three-fer for Russell so far....

 

[Manee]

Really promising stuff from India A. Will be interesting to see how they bowl. Really baffles me how Jaskaran is there, despite not playing a FC game.

 

[Cevno]

It's a real pity players like Vijay and Karthik have gotten into the Indian team,specially the test team ahead of Pujara.

 

[Manee]

It's a real pity players like Vijay and Karthik have gotten into the Indian team,specially the test team ahead of Pujara.

Vijay is fair enough, he has a good record. Karthik tended to be in as a wicket keeper, except the one time when the team was struck by injuries.

 

[Cevno]

Vijay is fair enough, he has a good record. Karthik tended to be in as a wicket keeper, except the one time when the team was struck by injuries.

Pujara has a better record than Vijay and anyone can tell ,watching them in anything except t20's that Pujara is a better talent. Pujara has almost carried Saurashtra single handedly at such a young age for a couple of years on inferior pitches to Vijay.

Even when Vijay was selected for the team as a opener Mukund should have been selected at the time.And i do not see what is the point in persisting with him now in the middle order in both forms.

 

[Cruxdude]

I would love to see Pujara play in the place of Yuvraj. I don't want him to end his career being talked about as a prospective India player.

 

[shivfan]

It's good to see players like Fletcher and Smith hitting centuries on yesterday's penultimate day.....

 

[GotSpin]

It's good to see players like Fletcher and Smith hitting centuries on yesterday's penultimate day.....

Is Russell a good bowler?

 

[shivfan]

Is Russell a good bowler?

A pretty decent pace prospect from Jamaica. Roseboy might've actually seen him bowl in the flesh - I haven't, but reports are he has a good bit of pace, and has a little bit of height too.

He can also bat a little bit too, which helps. He didn't play much for Jamaica this season, only coming into the side towards the end, but he should feature next season, I'd think.

 

[GotSpin]

A pretty decent pace prospect from Jamaica. Roseboy might've actually seen him bowl in the flesh - I haven't, but reports are he has a good bit of pace, and has a little bit of height too.

He can also bat a little bit too, which helps. He didn't play much for Jamaica this season, only coming into the side towards the end, but he should feature next season, I'd think.

Interesting. Felt proud of my WI knowledge when one of the commentators last night mentioned an up and coming bowling all-rounder and I knew it was Russell. Guess he'll need some time to prove himself in first class though

 

[shivfan]

Generally, I've been impressed by the knowledge quite a lot of posters on this MB have about WI cricket, even though the Windies are not their first team....