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India A in South Africa

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
The real test for Pujara and Co begins here.

Thu Aug 8
07:30 GMT | 09:30 local | 13:00 IST Australia A vs India A
LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria

Fri Aug 9
07:30 GMT | 09:30 local | 13:00 IST South Africa A v India A
LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria

Sun Aug 11
07:30 GMT | 09:30 local | 13:00 IST Australia A v India A
LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria

Mon Aug 12
07:30 GMT | 09:30 local | 13:00 IST South Africa A v India A
LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria

Sat Aug 17 - Tue Aug 20
07:30 GMT | 09:30 local | 13:00 IST 1st unofficial Test - South Africa A v India A
Olympia Park, Rustenberg

Sat Aug 24 - Tue Aug 27
07:30 GMT | 09:30 local | 13:00 IST 2nd unofficial Test - South Africa A v India A
LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria

India A-
Cheteshwar Pujara (c), Stuart Binny (RM), Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Siddarth Kaul (RMF), Mohammed Shami (RM), Shahbaz Nadeem (SLA), Ishwar Pandey (RMF), Parvez Rasool (OB), Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rohit Sharma, Jaydev Unadkat (LMF), Murali Vijay
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
Will be interesting to see how India goes here, Vijay, Raina, Rohit, Rahane and DK all with a chance of cementing or gaining test spots for the test tour in December. I'm curious to see how Dhawan and Pujara deal with the conditions, hope they smash em
 

Daemon

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Very keen. They have a couple against NZ A as well after this iirc.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
I like the look of this India A side. Shikhar Dhawan is, for all practical purposes, the token experienced/veteran player in the side, but outside of that, it is a relatively young and fresh team. The batting does border on Board XI levels (unless the selectors have given up on Jaffer, Badri, Manhas, Tiwary and Mazumdar) in terms of experience, but some of them actually need this tour because they're just newly inducted into the national Test side. The bowling, on the other hand, is just right- barely a few seasons old and doing well so far. I'm on the fence about Mohit Sharma's exclusion, since he is, after all, only a season old, and he could do with India A experience instead of being thrust so soon into the national uniform.

How will the bowling attack look? I feel the FC team will have Unadkat-Pandey-Sid-Rasool-Nadeem in regular games, and Nadeem may sit out for Stuart Binny in extreme seaming conditions. Shami can be swapped for any of them in List-A. Stuart Binny, though, is an interesting selection. He's had a great 2011-12 season, but his follow-up in 2012-13 was not so impressive, but both seasons put together indicate he's done well with bat and ball. However, Rasool will get the nod because his most recent season has been a lot better, and his place enables a three-seam selection in the side. Let's also hope they work up enough pace with the new ball.
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
Just looked at the squad, no Mishra or Chawla, interesting, I would have thought India would be trying to get a wrist spinner going.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Mishra isn't a spring chicken. He's done several A team tours over nearly ten years. He should be playing either in the national side or the Board XI or some overseas county/state side. Let this team be for young learners.

Chawla, on the other hand, shouldn't be playing at all. This is a different story altogether, which I wish to highlight in another thread- a menace that everyone ignores.
 
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Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
We are preserving round faced Chawla for the World Cup 2015 ;)
He can become a used car salesman and open a chain. He's got the skills and experience for that:disgust:
**** me what is Raina doing in there. Ffs.
Ideally, we'd prefer he just play the FC leg, but it would still be an adult playing with kids.
Who the **** are these bowlers?
Mostly one-season-old/two-season-old tykes, who have had a good last Ranji season. Some of them may shape up nicely.
Daemon said:
That's usually a good sign, it means they've been picked on merit rather than through appearing in IPL headlines.
One of them is Ishwar Pandey, who bossed over the Ranji/Irani/Duleep Trophy with a rich haul of wickets, only to be smashed out of the IPL on a flat track by Chris Gayle, and it remains to be seen if he's recovered from that. Another is the same JDU who went wicketless for an entire Test match in South Africa, when he was picked with no more than an A tour to his name, and some good IPL performances whenever he got a chance- and has shaped up nicely in the Zimbabwe tour.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
The first match, a high-scoring one, is over, with Australia A narrowly defeating India A by seven runs. Australia A managed 291, largely on the back of lower-order striker Glenn Maxwell's century at nearly two runs a ball, as the Indian seamers struggled on a flat deck in the final fifteen. Pace isn't everything? They could use some.

In what might give the J&K lobby some fodder, the Indians missed a trick by excluding spinner Parvez Rassool, who would have been a lot more productive than Stuart Binny, who bowled four overs, even as part-time slow bowlers had a field day. The batting did fine, except when they threw their wickets away- and beyond seven, the Indian tail end is brittle, as a rush of wickets let Australia snatch the match.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
The second match has been delayed due to rain. Nobody is telecasting it here in India, so we have to rely on incomplete Cricinfo commentary.

Rohit Sharma is not comfortable as an opener. He should go down to the middle-order, where he can accumulate, build partnerships and then strike a lot in the final stages of the innings. He's struggling to keep a decent strike rate at the top of the order, which will weaken the Indian batting charge. He's been spending enough time at the crease and made an effort to play a big innings, as his 2013 average of 41 suggests, but he can do so much more down the order.

Poor, poor Sid Kaul. Hyped up as an India prospect, only to get smashed around by an Aussie strongman with exceptional batting ability, on a deck that isn't as seam-friendly as you expect in South Africa. If only he had that extra pace. If only Shami had the pace that Umesh and Aaron have, he'd be competent- he has nothing else. JDU, on the other hand, seems decent as a bowler who gets plenty of bounce and can move it around quite well, but needs some pace at the other end. Pandey is likely to get a game, but a repeat of the Gayle Storm is likely if he's bowling to Maxwell.

Parvez Rassool is a much better bowler than Raina, Dhawan and Stuart Binny, and should definitely replace Binny in the XI. That will give the bowling some striking power in the middle overs.
 

Daemon

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Sharma's batted in the lower middle order for ages and was absolutely rubbish there, now that he's found some success at the top you want to push him back down again?
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Not so. In fact, he averages two more at four and five (37 against 35), and strikes a lot more (80 all over 68), than as an opener. He hasn't been absolutely rubbish, since he has both his ODI centuries at four, but just up and down, given how many times he has been shunted in and out of the team.
 
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Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Indian batting is in good shape, as more big scores are notched up, this time, scoring over 300 in 38 overs. That said, this is a flat pitch with nothing init for the bowlers, and no batsman would be tested- which is a matter of concern for the Indians, as their batting isn't getting tested here, while their bowling looks weak as ever on a flat deck. They're skating on thin ice if they don't address this issue of flat-deck bowling. Where is that pace they need? Medium/medium-fast doesn't cut it on a flat pitch. Unsurprisingly, the spinners took three of the five wickets to fall.

Shami Ahmed is almost certainly the weak link here- at his medium pace, he's meat and drink for batsmen brought up on better quality pace attacks. JDU, on the other hand, has done a lot better and kept a tight leash on economy, though picked up just one wicket. His overall 50-over figures trump Shami's. We prefer to have both Shami and Stuart Binny (with Pavez Rassool being so much more value for place) replaced by Sid Kaul and Pandey for the next game, but lack of pace may just weaken them.
 

Daemon

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Binny's bowling is pretty rubbish and his batting is just not good enough to warrant a spot in any of the formats atm.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
On flat pitches, Binny is as good as redundant, and there are better options than him, but otherwise, he can fill in as a reserve- but you'll still find reserves better.

Dhawan is not playing this game. Rohit Sharma and Vijay are opening. Also, strangely, JDU is not playing, while flat-track weakling Shami gets yet another game. And more overs of stuffed toys from Raina and the part-timers. Surely, Binny can ace this bunch?
 

Daemon

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31.6
Sharma to Maxwell, 1 run
31.5
Sharma to Maxwell, SIX
31.4
Sharma to Maxwell, 2 runs, back of a length,worked to square
31.3
Sharma to Maxwell, FOUR
31.2
Sharma to Maxwell, no run
31.1
Sharma to Maxwell, SIX


ffs
 

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