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India's bowlers for the West Indies and England tours

Teja.

Global Moderator
Arjun, I'd have dropped both Sree and Ishant if asked before the SA tour, but Sree needs to be given atleast one more series because he is coming of 2 good tests. Will be harsh to drop him now.

Again, I highly doubt he'll do much in that series, esp. if it's on flatties, but he definitely needs one more series grace unlike that **** Ishant.
 

cnerd123

likes this
India's pace stocks...

Ishant has to be dropped. Has to be. He's lost his pace, his rhythm, his action isn't as smooth as it was. He seems tired, lost and out of form. He has to be dropped, for the good of his career.

Sree is producing the odd brilliant spell mixed in with a lot of rubbish. Can't rely on him, but worth carrying him around as we don't really have many better.

RP's had poor form domestically, shouldn't be picked, not close.

Irfan will just be recovering by the time the World Cup starts I think, if he can get some domestic cricket in between then and the next tour (plus the IPL) and show some good form and rhythm, he'll be in with a shot.

Chahar is the new hottest young fast bowling prospect. Wouldn't put it past the BCCI to pick him soon and ruin him.

Mithun is a useful workhorse kinda bowler. And he swings it a bit. Still raw, but I'd rather him over Ishant.

Haven't seen enough about Yadav to comment on him, but I hear he's fast. Same with Tyagi. Don't know if 'fast' will cut it, but they've done well domestically too.

I wouldn't mind seeing Pankaj get another go. He did clock mid-130s a few times in the Ranji final, and he is tall. Gets some swing too. Worth a shot.

I'd definitely like to see Munaf if he can turn in 15 overs a day. He's accurate, tight, can hold up an end, and if there's something in the wicket he can exploit it. But he is a liability in the field too, and fitness is an issue.

Praveen Kumar is an interesting one. He swings the new ball well in ODIs and has a nice array of slow offcutter and leg-cutters for the death overs, to help counter the fact that his lack of pace makes him hittable. He's a pretty useful bowler in the limited overs format, but can he transfer these skills into Test cricket? Also, can he reverse the old ball?

Nehra probably isn't fit enough. Don't want to see him in Test cricket either way; it would be a step backwards.

Haven't seen enough of Abu Nechim to comment if he should get a spot. Also, I like Balaji, didn't catch him in Ranji but will be watching him closely in the IPL. He has changed his action now and is a different bowler, hopefully he still has the same effectiveness. His recent domestic form was pretty decent if I remember correctly.

Spin wise, Ashwin must be ahead of Mishra now, but is probably still behind Ojha (and Bhajji ofcourse).
 

tooextracool

International Coach
Thought Sreesanth was quite good in SA actually, barring the first test when he was probably undercooked from the lack of match practice. Ishant was good in the 3rd test but hes always a worry when there isnt much bounce or pace in the pitch. I'm a big fan of Praveen Kumar, but unfortunately the selectors seem set on having him in the wrong format of the game. Im not really sold on Vinay Kumar, though I confess Ive only seen him in t20s (Dont think he should be playing in that format anyways).
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Laxmiratan Shukla as a bowler?

You gotta be kidding me.
The third seamer. The Indians can then easily play two spinners and two seamers, and in this role, he's just right. While he may not ideal for the longer version of the game, he's the best (or only) batsman who can bowl seam-up. He should be playing all the ODIs anyway, but the selectors and captain are determined to look beyond him, for some reason.
Arjun, I'd have dropped both Sree and Ishant if asked before the SA tour, but Sree needs to be given atleast one more series because he is coming of 2 good tests. Will be harsh to drop him now.

Again, I highly doubt he'll do much in that series, esp. if it's on flatties, but he definitely needs one more series grace unlike that **** Ishant.
He's hardly been so impressive. Maybe it's about playing in SA, but he's dire outside of that country. He's not too bad on the field, but even when he's going good, he may just bowl one bad ball too many at the wrong time.

There's no point in dropping Ishant, even in this run of poor form. It just shows dreadful management of players. You drop him, but what's the chance that his replacement will last even half as long? Instead of dropping him, the task should be to get him back in form. You won't have a world class pace attack if you keep changing your bowlers so often.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
There's no point in dropping Ishant, even in this run of poor form. It just shows dreadful management of players. You drop him, but what's the chance that his replacement will last even half as long? Instead of dropping him, the task should be to get him back in form. You won't have a world class pace attack if you keep changing your bowlers so often.
Haha yet you have no problems dropping Sreesanth. :confused:

If you want to drop Sree, then fine, I can see the logic in that. There's absolutely justification for dropping him and retaining Ishant though.
 
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vcs

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Haha yet you have no problems dropping Sreesanth. :confused:

If you want to drop Sree, then fine, I can see the logic in that. There's absolutely no mandate for dropping him and retaining Ishant though.
Agree. I don't think there's a single Indian fan who isn't infuriated with Sreesanth's inconsistency, but atleast it's better than being consistently bad/toothless, even in helpful conditions (Ishant).
 

Blaze 18

Banned
If I were MS Dhoni, I would drop one of Rahul Dravid/Cheteshwar Pujara (probably Dravid) and play five bowlers; namely, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha/Ashwin. We know it is not going to happen though. For some infuriating reason, India are always averse to playing five bowlers. That being the case, I would go with the aforementioned bowling attack minus Ojha/Ashwin.

It wouldn't be quite as bad if Sehwag/Tendulkar could bowl short spells every now and then, but as they cannot, it does handicap our attack. It would take some pressure off Zaheer Khan too; he isn't really a bowler for ultra long spells.

Coming to Ishant Sharma, I feel he isn't a bad bowler. If the team management comes to its senses and stops playing him in stupid, meaningless ODIs, then I am sure he will start bowling better. It isn't like he doesn't have age on his side either, he is only twenty-one or so. There is plenty of time for him to make a comeback.
 

Cevno

Hall of Fame Member
Ishant is better than Sreesanth in Indian conditions though.

Even though Sreesanth will be better in England /South Africa.
 

jeevan

International 12th Man
If we want to play 2 spinners + 3 seamers, but want to have a reasonable batting lineup, then Jadeja at #7 may be an option to think of. His SLA offers variety with Bhajji and he's a reasonably solid batsman, slow in ODIs for where he comes in - but that's less of an issue in tests. Has an FC double ton to his name,

Hi FC bowling record is comparable to Ojha & Ashwin, but he'd be more of a containing bowler than a strike one perhaps...
 

Cevno

Hall of Fame Member
Can't see him being a succesful bowler or a batsmen in Test Cricket,at all.

And don't really want a bit part cricketer in the Test team.

Would much rather play Irfan Pathan in England ,in that role if we have to play someone.(Though i think we do not need too)

Also would rather prefer Sehwag, Yuvraj's bowling in the team rather than his batting.
 

Pup Clarke

Cricketer Of The Year
I've said it before but Sehwag is properly under-bowled. He really could play the role as second spinner imo.
 

jeevan

International 12th Man
I've said it before but Sehwag is properly under-bowled. He really could play the role as second spinner imo.
He's been carrying a shoulder injury, and Dhoni didnt want to jeopardize his participation in the WC by bowling him much. Hoever, there are important test series coming up against Eng and Australia, so there's a chance this may continue for a while.
 

Cevno

Hall of Fame Member
I've said it before but Sehwag is properly under-bowled. He really could play the role as second spinner imo.
Yep.
Is quite a handy bowler when he is up for it.

Would have been great for India in the last test against South Africa at Cape town if he could have bowled in the 2nd innings,to support Harbhajan specially when Kallis and Boucher partnership was going on.

Unfortunately he couldn't due to Shoulder and Back problems and Dhoni was unwilling to use Sachin too much,so Harbhajan just lacked in support at that juncture and it cost us.
 

Shri

Mr. Glass
Coming to Ishant Sharma, I feel he isn't a bad bowler. If the team management comes to its senses and stops playing him in stupid, meaningless ODIs, then I am sure he will start bowling better. It isn't like he doesn't have age on his side either, he is only twenty-one or so. There is plenty of time for him to make a comeback.
He has been dropped from the ODI side for almost a year now.
 

Blaze 18

Banned
He played at least one of the million inane ODI series that India and Sri Lanka played last year, I am quite sure about that. Anyway, the point is that he should only focus on test matches; don't make him play any T20 or ODI, international or otherwise. If he devotes all his time to first class cricket, there is no reason why he cannot improve. Bulking up a little may not be a bad idea either.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Ishant is good for ODIs as well, although T20 is something he should be shielded from. He's got a good strike rate for ODIs, a shade over 30 (and in SL, under 23) and if that screeching economy can be brought in check to at least under five and a half, he'll be a god ODI bowler. He's a better ODI pick than Nehra and Munaf, both of whom have taken their chances but are not good enough in the long run.

He has been picked for the Duleep Trophy, but it is unlikely he will be home in time for the tournament. He's very much the complete bowler in raw material, has no issues of any kind (Sreesanth's volatile temper, Munaf's laziness) and needs to be managed properly to evolve into a quality pacer.
 

Cevno

Hall of Fame Member
Ishant is good for ODIs as well, although T20 is something he should be shielded from. He's got a good strike rate for ODIs, a shade over 30 (and in SL, under 23) and if that screeching economy can be brought in check to at least under five and a half, he'll be a god ODI bowler. He's a better ODI pick than Nehra and Munaf, both of whom have taken their chances but are not good enough in the long run.

He has been picked for the Duleep Trophy, but it is unlikely he will be home in time for the tournament. He's very much the complete bowler in raw material, has no issues of any kind (Sreesanth's volatile temper, Munaf's laziness) and needs to be managed properly to evolve into a quality pacer.
Why?
 

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