*Official* West Indies in India

[Furball]

Erm, what's your source for that?

I think it's to do with some sort of status within India, the way things like the FA Cup final are on the protected list - I don't think it means what you think it means and what I thought it meant initially.

 

[Manee]

Indian selectors really are major idiots. Dropping Harbhajan is a gutsy move but Rahul Sharma in the squad instead?! Are the selectors insane. Have they no idea about the distinction between OD and Test cricket. Bloody morons. I make a similar complaint about Varun Aaron too, who didn't even bowl much over 140kph in the Irani Trophy - so not successful and barely quick.

Morons!

 

[Daemon]

Indian selectors really are major idiots. Dropping Harbhajan is a gutsy move but Rahul Sharma in the squad instead?! Are the selectors insane. Have they no idea about the distinction between OD and Test cricket. Bloody morons. I make a similar complaint about Varun Aaron too, who didn't even bowl much over 140kph in the Irani Trophy - so not successful and barely quick.

Morons!

You forgot to rage at Sreesanth being given a contract

 

[Furball]

You forgot to rage at Sreesanth being given a contract

Grade C though. A token "thanks for doing all that work at net practice for the last year" effort if ever I've seen one.

 

[Prince EWS]

Rahul Sharma reminds me of the Unadkat pick, only worse because India actually have a number of decent alternatives. It's just so contradictory to the way they've handled Ashwin.

They seem to think Vinay is a one day specialist, which is entirely arse-about-face. Would've been a good replacement for Praveen while he was rested IMO.

 

[cnerd123]

Mixed feelings.

Good to see Yadav, Kohli, Rahane, Ojha in the squad.
Good to see PK get a rest.

But picking Ishant, VVS, Dravid, Gambhir, MSD, Sharma, Sachin...all stupid, stupid picks.

Overall...stupid squad. Ishant, VVS, Sachin, Dravid, Gambhir, MSD...all have seen so much cricket already and are crucial to our series in Australia. Why have they been picked? What if they get injured? Ishant and MSD are already carrying niggles.

Ojhan and Ashwin are our top two spinners...what's Rahul Sharma doing there? Similarly, Aaron is nowhere ready for Test cricket. They both have hopefully been picked just to gain experience. But given there are only 3 fast bowlers in the squad, Aaron might play. Which is just BAAAAAAD foresight. RP Singh was picked for the England tour, played, did alright for a guy horribly out of shape and form, then played some Challenger trophy games...if he's still in the picture, then why isn't he on this tour? You pick him out of nowhere to play a couple of crucial tests, and then when he finally has some match practice behind him you drop him? And where's Munaf? Or Vinay Kumar? Aaron as third seamer over all those guys? SERIOUSLY?

And somehow Yuvraj has wormed his way back in. Why?

Baaad selections.

 

[Furball]

Mixed feelings.

Good to see Yadav, Kohli, Rahane, Ojha in the squad.
Good to see PK get a rest.

But picking Ishant, VVS, Dravid, Gambhir, MSD, Sharma, Sachin...all stupid, stupid picks.

Overall...stupid squad. Ishant, VVS, Sachin, Dravid, Gambhir, MSD...all have seen so much cricket already and are crucial to our series in Australia. Why have they been picked? What if they get injured? Ishant and MSD are already carrying niggles.

Ojhan and Ashwin are our top two spinners...what's Rahul Sharma doing there? Similarly, Aaron is nowhere ready for Test cricket. They both have hopefully been picked just to gain experience. But given there are only 3 fast bowlers in the squad, Aaron might play. Which is just BAAAAAAD foresight. RP Singh was picked for the England tour, played, did alright for a guy horribly out of shape and form, then played some Challenger trophy games...if he's still in the picture, then why isn't he on this tour? You pick him out of nowhere to play a couple of crucial tests, and then when he finally has some match practice behind him you drop him? And where's Munaf? Or Vinay Kumar? Aaron as third seamer over all those guys? SERIOUSLY?

And somehow Yuvraj has wormed his way back in. Why?

Baaad selections.

So you'd rather the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman went in cold to the Australia series?

Ok then.

 

[Daemon]

But picking Ishant, VVS, Dravid, Gambhir, MSD, Sharma, Sachin...all stupid, stupid picks.

Overall...stupid squad. Ishant, VVS, Sachin, Dravid, Gambhir, MSD...all have seen so much cricket already and are crucial to our series in Australia. Why have they been picked? What if they get injured? Ishant and MSD are already carrying niggles.

They've been given ample time to recover. Ishant has even played in the SMAT iirc. Gambhir had a break for the entire England OD series.

You can't just expect players to simply play the Australia series without any match practice, it'll end up like the England series.

RP Singh was picked for the England tour, played, did alright for a guy horribly out of shape and form

No he didn't

You pick him out of nowhere to play a couple of crucial tests, and then when he finally has some match practice behind him you drop him?

It was a ****ty selection to bring him over to England and they've rectified the mistake.

And where's Munaf? Or Vinay Kumar? Aaron as third seamer over all those guys? SERIOUSLY?

And somehow Yuvraj has wormed his way back in. Why?

Agree with Vinay Kumar, think he should've been given a shot. Yuvraj did well in the one test he played in England iirc.

 

[Furball]

Lol, moaning about Munaf Patel not being picked. Possibly the worst international cricketer I've seen.

 

[Manee]

You forgot to rage at Sreesanth being given a contract

I don't care how much money he gets. Personally, I'd pay him to stay away from international cricket.

 

[Prince EWS]

You can't just expect players to simply play the Australia series without any match practice, it'll end up like the England series.

I don't even think it's about that as such. Selecting players who quite easily deserve their places in the team for a Test match can never be called "stupid" IMO. If someone is to miss a Test there better be a damn sight good reason and resting the entire team just in case they get injured is ridiculous.

 

[cnerd123]

I'd rather see them go in fit. We have 2 warmup games there, they've come off a whole series against England not so long ago.

If anything, use this series to get the bench-strength in shape. Identify the key batsmen outside of those 4 (ie Sehwag, Kohli, Rahane, Yuvraj, Pujara, and whoever else could be on the touring squad) and get them in shape. Gambhir, Sachin, VVS and Dravid are coming off quite a bit of cricket and have two warmup games there to get ready.

Ishant and MSD I'm more concerned about. Ishant's already got a bad ankle he's delaying surgery on, MSD's been playing non stop for the last year. Give them a break.

I dunnow. You've got a valid point about not wanting them to go in cold (Look at Zak), but our reserve strength is so weak I'd rather keep the key players fit, and give the reserves a run so they have some development behind them instead.

Zak is missing Australia I guess, so our seam attack is Ishant, Praveen, and someone. Yadav, Munaf, RP and Vinay should be auditioning for that third and fourth seamer spots. Not Aaron.

 

[Furball]

I'd rather see them go in fit. We have 2 warmup games there, they've come off a whole series against England not so long ago.

If anything, use this series to get the bench-strength in shape. Identify the key batsmen outside of those 4 (ie Sehwag, Kohli, Rahane, Yuvraj, Pujara, and whoever else could be on the touring squad) and get them in shape. Gambhir, Sachin, VVS and Dravid are coming off quite a bit of cricket and have two warmup games there to get ready.

Ishant and MSD I'm more concerned about. Ishant's already got a bad ankle he's delaying surgery on, MSD's been playing non stop for the last year. Give them a break.

I dunnow. You've got a valid point about not wanting them to go in cold (Look at Zak), but our reserve strength is so weak I'd rather keep the key players fit, and give the reserves a run so they have some development behind them instead.

Zak is missing Australia I guess, so our seam attack is Ishant, Praveen, and someone. Yadav, Munaf, RP and Vinay should be auditioning for that third and fourth seamer spots. Not Aaron.

2 of your 4 seam bowling "auditionees" are proven crap. Munaf should never darken an international cricket field again with his presence.

 

[cnerd123]

No he didn't
It was a ****ty selection to bring him over to England and they've rectified the mistake.

Agreed, stupid move to select RP in the first place.

Actually, I take it back. Just checked up on RP is going domestically. He sucks.

So the third seamer should be between Vinay, Yadav and Munaf...doesn't really inspire much confidence. But Aaron isn't ready.

 

[Prince EWS]

2 of your 4 seam bowling "auditionees" are proven crap.

Unfortunately there is little evidence to suggest they have any better, though. Sometimes you just have to pick the "least crap" player available.

 

[CricAddict]

I'd rather see them go in fit.

I'd rather see them go in match fit.

 

[cnerd123]

2 of your 4 seam bowling "auditionees" are proven crap. Munaf should never darken an international cricket field again with his presence.

Why so much Munaf hate here? :P

Give India's resources, he's an okay third seamer. Can't field or bat, but does a decent job at holding up an end. Gets nice bounce which will be useful in Australia. And has been one of our best ODI bowlers for quite a while.

 

[cnerd123]

I'd rather see them go in match fit.

Meh, agree to disagree. I for one don't feel, given India's lack of resources, that it's worth risking injury to any of the key players for an unimportant series. Better of getting some match practice in for the rubbish reserves.

We do have 2 warmups in Australia yea? Or am I imagining that? 2 warmups should be fine for experienced guys like VVS, Sachin, Dravid, Gambhir. Ishant could use more match practice but his ankle is supposedly in a bad state, and he's vital to our tour. And MSD is in pretty good (ODI) form as it is.

 

[Prince EWS]

There are no unimportant Test series.

 

[Daemon]

Yeah personally I don't think Aaron should have been selected either. But when the alternative is Munaf, who averages close to 40 in tests, you might as well give the bloke a chance. Munaf's also a terror on the field, both as a fielder, and as a team mate.

Vinay Kumar is a notable omission.