An Ageing Indian Side

[Shri]

I would like to know exactly what is it about Sharma that makes you think he is better than Raina atm?

Very marginally ahead of Raina since he does'nt play rash shots to get out when the team needs him to play a long innings to prevent a batting collapse. I have seen Raina capitalise on a good situation to score quick runs but I am yet to see him make a bad situation favourable for India with his batting in ODIs. Sharma hit a 50 in the T20 WC final against Pakistan and gave us a decent total.

To cut a long story short, I have not seen Raina lead a fight-back after the team has got itself into a bad situation. I dont blame him either since he is young. Look at what the W.I have done with Sarwan. I want Raina to be nurtured by the Indian selectors in the same way.

 

[Jono]

I am a big Rohit Sharma fan, but there is no way he is ahead of Raina yet. He isn't, and he shouldn't be. There's no way anyone can argue that Rohit is closer to the test team than Raina.

 

[Uppercut]

WE have a good replacement for Pathan (at least in bowling) but not for Kumble. But the major concern then was how long will the magnificent four continue. We should be grateful that three of them have. And of course there is Sehwag

 

[honestbharani]

Sharma hasn't done even that..yes even on flat pitches. Plus he was one of the very few batsmen who handled Murali and Mendis exceptionally right from the word go. Is a tremendous player of spin bowling and not bad against Pace either as his performances in the NZ showed..was the top batsmen for us on that tour barring Sehwag.

Mark my words guys Raina is a special talent..if he can sort out his problems agasint short deliveries(seems to coming along fine) he can be the next big thing in Indian cricket. Yuvraj and Rohit may look pretty but imo have a faulty driving techique and poor footwork respectively.

I kinda agree about Rohit and Yuvraj but I was talking about Badri... The guy doesn't seem to have any holes in his game.. Perhaps his temperament is the one that is yet to be tested but otherwise, he will be #5 as soon another of the big four (trio right now) retires...

 

[Cricket_God]

I kinda agree about Rohit and Yuvraj but I was talking about Badri... The guy doesn't seem to have any holes in his game.. Perhaps his temperament is the one that is yet to be tested but otherwise, he will be #5 as soon another of the big four (trio right now) retires...

badrinath is not international test material,but he has good temperament so should
be good enough for odis and t20s.Rohit sharma should be picked ahead of raina in tests
as raina will face short pitched stuff in tests which is his only weakness,lets see if he has worked on it as his downfall started in southafrica.

 

[SJS]

"Pathan" because he was an integral part of the Indian team in September 2004 when those posts were written

 

[Uppercut]

"Pathan" because he was an integral part of the Indian team in September 2004 when those posts were written

Haha, it's not that, i'm objecting to the musing that there's no replacement for Kumble. What exactly were you hoping for if Mishra's early test career isn't worth a mention?

 

[DaRick]

Haha, it's not that, i'm objecting to the musing that there's no replacement for Kumble. What exactly were you hoping for if Mishra's early test career isn't worth a mention?

Well, bear in mind that Mishra hasn't played any Tests overseas. The disparity in his home/overseas record probably will be considerable. It always is with Indian spinners - even Kumble.

While he may be an OK replacement (i.e - averaging low-to-mid 30's), I don't expect him to be in Kumble's class.

 

[SJS]

Haha, it's not that, i'm objecting to the musing that there's no replacement for Kumble. What exactly were you hoping for if Mishra's early test career isn't worth a mention?

Well if he was a replacement for Kumble we would have played him in place of Munaf in the test series Kumble would have played.

 

[Sanz]

Harbhajan is the one who has replaced Kumble. Whoever the ,and did a much better job in NZ than Anil would have (with all due respect to his bowling). Whoever is the new spinner has to fill the space vaccated by Bhajji .

 

[Lambu]

as his downfall started in southafrica.

You have to be kidding!! Its a complete myth that Raina was barraged with short stuff in SA whereby he was exposed and dropped because of his poor performances.

The guy only played in one of the ODIs which isn't a large enough sample to judge a batsman.Especially on a tour such as that where the entire batting line-up consisting of Sachin,Dravid etc failed consistently.

Honestbhirani..yeah i would have no qualms about Badri getting a nod ahead of Raina..but Rohit? No way. Don't get fooled by the pretty backlift and the lazy demeanor folks.That applies to Yuvraj as well.

 

[Sanz]

I kinda agree about Rohit and Yuvraj but I was talking about Badri... The guy doesn't seem to have any holes in his game.. Perhaps his temperament is the one that is yet to be tested but otherwise, he will be #5 as soon another of the big four (trio right now) retires...

I will agree about Badri but no way should Rohit Sharma be picked ahead of Raina, the guy is talented but seems to have other issue.

 

[Uppercut]

Well if he was a replacement for Kumble we would have played him in place of Munaf in the test series Kumble would have played.

Haha, that's not really what i meant. I suppose it's because you never get direct replacements. Harbs will take over Kumble's role as the premier spinner- and has done so rather well to date- while Mishra can play the role Harbhajan played previously.

All i meant was, if the replacement spinner taking a five wicket haul on debut and averaging 29 after his first five- somewhat difficult- tests (Kumble's career average, incidentally) isn't worth mentioning, it begs the question of what exactly you were hoping for. Mishra to date has been absolutely miles better than Kumble was for the last year of his career.

Obviously Mishra isn't the same player as Kumble was. There's no way he'll take nine or ten wickets in an innings because he can't exploit 4th-innings subcontinental conditions the way Kumble could- noone, bar noone, has ever been as good in such circumstances as Kumble. Mishra seems to generate more turn, so I'd expect will still be a threat on pitches that Kumble would have struggled on (at least until very late in his career). Noone can replace Kumble- he was completely unique- but Mishy is as close as India were ever going to come to doing so.

 

[Uppercut]

Well, bear in mind that Mishra hasn't played any Tests overseas. The disparity in his home/overseas record probably will be considerable. It always is with Indian spinners - even Kumble..

It might be, it might not be.

You can't judge him on what he hasn't yet had the chance to do. Mishra might fail overseas, or he might succeed- his style is much more compatible with foreign pitches than Kumble's was. It's all speculation.

We can only judge him on what he has done so far, and i think he's done pretty well. As well as you can expect someone to do in their first five tests, really.

 

[honestbharani]

You have to be kidding!! Its a complete myth that Raina was barraged with short stuff in SA whereby he was exposed and dropped because of his poor performances.

The guy only played in one of the ODIs which isn't a large enough sample to judge a batsman.Especially on a tour such as that where the entire batting line-up consisting of Sachin,Dravid etc failed consistently.

Honestbhirani..yeah i would have no qualms about Badri getting a nod ahead of Raina..but Rohit? No way. Don't get fooled by the pretty backlift and the lazy demeanor folks.That applies to Yuvraj as well.

I will agree about Badri but no way should Rohit Sharma be picked ahead of Raina, the guy is talented but seems to have other issue.

lol.. guys.. that is what I said too.. I agree that Rohit and Yuvi are not exactly guys who fill me with confidence as test batsmen.... Still think those two will eventually become decent to good test batsmen but yeah, at the moment, they don't fill me with too much confidence..

 

[Cricket_God]

You have to be kidding!! Its a complete myth that Raina was barraged with short stuff in SA whereby he was exposed and dropped because of his poor performances.

The guy only played in one of the ODIs which isn't a large enough sample to judge a batsman.Especially on a tour such as that where the entire batting line-up consisting of Sachin,Dravid etc failed consistently.

Honestbhirani..yeah i would have no qualms about Badri getting a nod ahead of Raina..but Rohit? No way. Don't get fooled by the pretty backlift and the lazy demeanor folks.That applies to Yuvraj as well.

Its no myth the way he struggled aginst the bouncing ball and was not played in the rest of the odis,Rohit sharma is better technically,his backfoot play particularly pullshots are good
Raina is a very good player of spin bowling and very good in subcontinent,so i think when
time comes he should bat at 5,6 with sharma at 3/4,we need to find another good young batsman.

 

[Lambu]

Its no myth the way he struggled aginst the bouncing ball and was not played in the rest of the odis,Rohit sharma is better technically,his backfoot play particularly pullshots are good
Raina is a very good player of spin bowling and very good in subcontinent,so i think when
time comes he should bat at 5,6 with sharma at 3/4,we need to find another good young batsman.

Haha stop talking crap!! Your posts reek of your ignorance..time and again.The guy got 4 runs in 3 balls that he played in the entire series and you claim to have found him struggling against the bouncing ball.Good in subcontinent?? Did you see what he just did in NZ? And the guy has played 10 innings outside the subcontinent!! This is ignorance at its peak..though maybe not by your standards going by your other posts on this board.

 

[oitoitoi]

Haha stop talking crap!! Your posts reek of your ignorance..time and again.The guy got 4 runs in 3 balls that he played in the entire series and you claim to have found him struggling against the bouncing ball.Good in subcontinent?? Did you see what he just did in NZ? And the guy has played 10 innings outside the subcontinent!! This is ignorance at its peak..though maybe not by your standards going by your other posts on this board.

Even in the subcontinent I've seen Raina struggle against the short ball badly, which makes me doubt his test credentials. Rohit has better all round technique but Raina does have an awesome cover drive.

Regarding the ageing Indians, loved seeing Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble put in the best performances in the IPL today, especially Dravid, he should have flipped off the selectors when he got the MoM award.

 

[Arjun]

Regarding the ageing Indians, loved seeing Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble put in the best performances in the IPL today, especially Dravid, he should have flipped off the selectors when he got the MoM award.

That would be very unlike Dravid, who understands what the selectors thought then. He should have, however, flipped Vijay Mallya and maybe Ray Jennings for treating him, Kumble and other Indian players as dispensable folk.

 

[oitoitoi]

That would be very unlike Dravid, who understands what the selectors thought then. He should have, however, flipped Vijay Mallya and maybe Ray Jennings for treating him, Kumble and other Indian players as dispensable folk.

No I'd rather he goes to Mallya and beats his fat ass into a pulp...but that's equally unlikely....