*Official* South Africa in India

[ret]

Squad: M Vijay, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Sudeep Tyagi, S Sreesanth, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ashish Nehra

Tendulkar and Sehwag have been rested for the dead rubber. This is for the first time that an Ind team would be w/o Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvi, Zak and Bhajji!

Nayar has been dropped w/o giving him a game, which is unfair to him. I thought selecting 3 bits and pieces player in the squad was too much but then there was no need to drop him for the dead rubber w/o giving him a game. Panday also has to wait a little longer to get the Ind cap. I don't see PK's name too .... Vijay, Rohit and Mithun come in

I would go with the following line up:

- Karthik
- Rohit
- Kohli
- YP
- Raina
- Dhoni
- Jadeja
- Mishy / Ashwin
- Sree / Nehra
- Tyagi
- Mithun

 

[Sir Alex]

I cannot believe the Rohit Sharma love still. He has proved to be a complete dud.

 

[Cruxdude]

Wow that is a totally fresh side. Should be interesting to see them play. While I think Rohit has been given a lot of chances I think it is right in selecting him again. He is a talent and should be given some more chance before being discarded.

 

[Pratters]

Chill. Just trying to wind you up like almost everyone else on the forum.

Haha, Good one.

 

[Pratters]

I cannot believe the Rohit Sharma love still. He has proved to be a complete dud.

The man has talent and will go far.

 

[Sir Alex]

The man has talent and will go far.

I wish he did. He reminds me of Laxman with his puritanic strokeplay. However sadly he needs to go a long way in changing his attitude if he has to get anywhere near. I still don't think he is ODI material. But a definite prospect in test matches. Hopefully he firms up and "becomes a man" soon.

 

[Pratters]

I think his attitude is fine, just needs to polish his game. He carries himself very well. Comes off as very humble in interviews too. Why do you think his attitude sucks?

 

[R_D]

The man has talent and will go far.

yeah he sure does... I'm sure he'll have a successful career...
Selectors just need to give him time to develop his game.... This constant calling up for games and than being dropped... Surely can't be good for his confidence.
They just need to let him play few solid first class seasons and than give him a call up to the national team.
It is really terrible the way some of these youngsters are treated.... They keep giving early chances when these youngsters aren't ready for this level in a hope they'll have unearthened another Tendulkar.

Not to mention the bowlers.... They have one decent seasons and get selected for national team and than discarded soon.

 

[R_D]

Is Gautham Gambhir injured?

 

[Sir Alex]

I think his attitude is fine, just needs to polish his game. He carries himself very well. Comes off as very humble in interviews too. Why do you think his attitude sucks?

I didn't mean his off field attitude. He always come across as this lazy chap. His application and ability to stay at the crease and churn out big hundreds, and his temperament are still areas of concern. Although last FC season suggested probably he has turned it.

 

[Maximus0723]

I think Sachin should play.

 

[Sir Alex]

I think Sachin should play.

No need. He has done his stuff, India have won the series. So no need to risk him.

 

[honestbharani]

I didn't mean his off field attitude. He always come across as this lazy chap. His application and ability to stay at the crease and churn out big hundreds, and his temperament are still areas of concern. Although last FC season suggested probably he has turned it.

He was beaten for pace by Balaji bowling at 127, up from his usual 124.. Late swing in at 127 seems too much for him at the moment, I wonder how he would go against Steyn swinging it in at 147... As I said, our FC guys hardly get to play any real pace.. We should have more A tours to Australia and RSA and play 4 day games... Unless that happens, any new guy is always going to struggle initially at this level in test cricket...


Still think Badri and Vijay are better bets ATM.. Rohit has obvious talent but he also has obvious weaknesses in his game AFAIC.. At least with Badri, it is more about finding his feet coz he seems the sort of guy who will rough it out at any time.. Vijay seems to be throwing his wicket away too easily and a spell outside the team might do him good. Raina still has issues with the short ball. So it is between Badri, Pujara, Kohli and Pandey and I would like to give more time to the latter 3 as they are still young. Hopefully, the selectors can wake up and arrange more A tours at least this season and we can sort out who has got what..

 

[honestbharani]

Yes, and I think he carried it to the Press Conference also. He was harping on the flat pitch, small ground and limited his opinion on Tendulkar's innings to a sentence or so, and that too at some ultra blunt prompting by Ravi Shastri. Sometimes, I just wonder whether allegations of him being selfish are really true.

I always thought the guy was a bit of a douchebag.. Never really warmed to him as a person. Of course, all of this is only based on his interviews and stuff.. Personally, he may be an awesome guy, but from whatever I have seen, he doesn't make it any easier to like him..

 

[Briony]

Sachin has proved himself in all possible conditions. I understand you are sore from the loss but you are getting a bit boring. He has done it against much better bowlers than this SA attack. He is not going to be scared of Morne Morkel or any other upstart.

As a neutral fan I couldn't give a fig or wins or loses, especially as it's a meaningless ODI. But folks were having massive orgasms about it as if it was the greatest innings of all time. It was in a one day match on a small ground with a super flat pitch and fast outfield. It would be interesting to see if he could replicate this against the same attack on a greenish SA pitch. That would be some achievement.

 

[G.I.Joe]

As a neutral fan I couldn't give a fig or wins or loses, especially as it's a meaningless ODI. But folks were having massive orgasms about it as if it was the greatest innings of all time. It was in a one day match on a small ground with a super flat pitch and fast outfield. It would be interesting to see if he could replicate this against the same attack on a greenish SA pitch. That would be some achievement.

It would be interesting to see if any batsman could do that in a gazillion tries on a greenish pitch. Honestly, stop. This is like belittling the moon landing on the basis that they only made it to the moon and not Pluto.

 

[honestbharani]

It would be interesting to see if any batsman could do that in a gazillion tries on a greenish pitch. Honestly, stop. This is like belittling the moon landing on the basis that they only made it to the moon and not Pluto.

tbh, the only innings I can recall remotely similar to Briony is expecting would be King Viv's 189... Man, what a fantastic knock it was... Best ODI innings even now AFAIC..

 

[G.I.Joe]

Its not clear cut. Viswanath has watched both innings, and he rates this over the 189.

 

[Sir Alex]

As a neutral fan I couldn't give a fig or wins or loses, especially as it's a meaningless ODI. But folks were having massive orgasms about it as if it was the greatest innings of all time. It was in a one day match on a small ground with a super flat pitch and fast outfield. It would be interesting to see if he could replicate this against the same attack on a greenish SA pitch. That would be some achievement.

If you don't care, why are you so sour about Tendulakr breakng this record?

 

[honestbharani]

Its not clear cut. Viswanath has watched both innings, and he rates this over the 189.

maybe... but for sheer pressure, 189 is obviously better.. I mean, he had Michael Holding for company..


EDIT: Also, most quotes about Sachin by Indians has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Unfortunately, either reports misquote or people themselves go overboard... The fact that he is such a likeable chap also plays its part, I reckon.