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India's opening pair

What should India's opening combination be in test matches?

  • Sehwag & Chopra

    Votes: 20 40.0%
  • Sehwag & Das

    Votes: 2 4.0%
  • Sehwag & Ramesh

    Votes: 4 8.0%
  • Ramesh & Chopra

    Votes: 4 8.0%
  • Ramesh & Das

    Votes: 2 4.0%
  • Das & Chopra

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Gambir & Sehwag

    Votes: 3 6.0%
  • Gambir & Das

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Gambir & Chopra

    Votes: 3 6.0%
  • Gambir & Ramesh

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • other

    Votes: 11 22.0%

  • Total voters
    50

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Richard said:
No, he wasn't, he just wasn't scoring enough half-centuries.

And that doesn't make him substandard?

For enough, how many is enough?

A lot better ratio than he managed, that's for sure.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Well, if he'd made a half-century in either innings of what's turned-out to be his final Test I'm very confident he'd still be in the side now.
Likewise, if he'd inside-edged the ball he edged into his stumps at Christchurch past the stumps I'm also very confident he'd still be in the side now.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
marc71178 said:
A World Class bowler.
On seaming or uneven pitches, yes, but actually not on flat, grassless wickets.
As you'll see by actually watching him bowl, rather than just insisting that his figures are good so he must have bowled well.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Richard said:
Well, if he'd made a half-century in either innings of what's turned-out to be his final Test I'm very confident he'd still be in the side now.

Based on what?

His outstanding run of form that meant even at his best he averaged below 35 (and under 27 without his outlier innings - which it is perfectly OK to remove since you do exactly the same when it suits you)
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
And however poor you might attempt to make it look, the fact is, aside from after series against New Zealand there's never been any question over his place.
The first time he was dropped it was extremely unjust, and was widely condemned as such, and had he scored a century instead of Flintoff there's no way he'd have been dropped when he was - he'd have played against Sri Lanka at the start of the summer.
The fact that he's had question over his place only after series against New Zealand, amongst 8 series (plus one one-off game) in total suggests that he's unlikely to have had any question over his place thereafter. Quite likely that he'd have cashed-in against Sri Lanka and India, succeeded again against Australia (as he did even before 1998), then succeeded last summer and last winter.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Chopra's now out of the plans, while Jadhav and Gambhir are in. Gambhir is an attacking opener and sticks to proper cricket shots. He's a good fielder and runner between wickets. That innings of 96 (especially till 85* on the third day) shows that he's definitely a prospect for the future. You now have two attacking openers, one who can hit harder, and the other who can run harder.

However, he brings his front foot far too across, which is why he's got so many LBW's so far. As he neared his 100, he got defensive and played a nervous shot edging the ball to the keeper. He should forget about milestones and concentrate on hitting the ball and scoring quick runs. It does not matter how many personal milestones he gets, as long as big partnerships are formed. He's a good option for the exhibition ODI's and on pitches that are good for batting, or have some bounce.

Jadhav is a more stodgy opener, who scores slowly, but he can build an innings. His running needs to improve a little, and so does his shot selection. As Gambhir's partner, he hsould have rotated the strike and let Gambhir attack, but he sometimes plays attacking shots which are not needed. Good for dodgy pitches. No doubt both need to sort out a few chinks in their armour, but the selectors mut persist with them for a long time- longer than they did with a tiny wicketkeeper.
 

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
sehwag is far to incompetant to open in test or any other type of cricket, he should bat down the order after kumble, opening should be wasim jaffer and chopra
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
sledger said:
sehwag is far to incompetant to open in test or any other type of cricket, he should bat down the order after kumble, opening should be wasim jaffer and chopra
Wasim Jaffer gets one big knock among several little ones. He's not very reliable. He needs a full season of Ranji to be reconsiderd, and he needs to hit the ball harder. His technique against the moving ball is still suspect. He leaves a wide gap between bat and pad, or hangs his bat out wide.

Chopra's been caught root-footed far too often in the home series against the Australians. Moreover, his ultra-defensive batting can lose more matches than win. That error in judgement in offering a shot has cost him his wicket very often. He too needs a very good season in Ranji. Moreover, he has to improve his strike rate and conversion rate. Both have to perform exceptionally well to dislodge Sehwag from the top. And when has Anil Kumble played like a top-6 batsman?
 

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