India A team to England

[V Reddy]

http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2003/may/24das.htm

Shiv Sundar Das (captain), Hemang Badani (vice-captain), Wasim Jaffar, Gautam Gambhir, Sanjay Parab, S Sriram, A T Rayudu, Rohan Gavaskar, Vijay Bhardwaj, L Balaji, Avishkar Salvi, Irfan Pathan, Amit Bhandari, Murali Kartik, Parthiv Patel and Amit Mishra.

 

[marc71178]

Surprised to see Patel there, thought he was now the number 1?

Having already done a tour last season, I don't really see what benefit he'll gain from this one to be honest.

 

[Neil Pickup]

It's the close season now in India, and the national side don't play again until NZ tour in October (?).

Hence some fringe players or young talents are getting the experience, which can only be beneficial.

Should be a good chance for Balaji, Salvi and Pathan to bowl in seam-friendly condition, and also for Rayudu to try and repeat last year's heroics with the U19s.

No Laxman this time, I note.

 

[Langeveldt]

Sorry to go slightly off topic but what happened to Hrishikesh Kanitkar??? Just noticed he had a really good average on ICC, wondered if he has ever been in contention.....

 

[lord_of_darkness]

Good to see that the people who made the squad , are all youngsters who have been doing good at the level and might have a chance of getting a spot in the Indian team..

Not giving chances to constant failures like Laxman , who needs some time off to relax..

 

[masterblaster]

Yes, Hrishikesh Kanitkar is primarily a batsman hailing from Maharashtra. A FC average of 60'ish in Indian Domestic Cricket im afraid doesnt guarantee you of a successful International Career.

His technique wasn't as solid as other players, and after many, many opportunities as an "Batting All Rounder" in ODI Cricket, he failed time and time again, therefore being discarded. A batting average of like 18 in ODI's from like 40 matches when you have a average of 60 in FC cricket isnt satisfactory at all!

I think its a strong team, and with the likes of Wasim Jaffer, SS Das and Parthiv Patel touring England last season, I think they all can improve their technique and those players can help the younger inexperienced players out.

It will be a good learning curve for these guys, especially if its bitterly cold, and the pitch is extremely green with a lot of movement.

 

[aussie_beater]

Not giving chances to constant failures like Laxman , who needs some time off to relax..

Laxman should be picked for the test series against NZ.I don't see why he should not be picked for the test team.It was the A team which he led to WI and failed badly...but I don't think he can be judged based on just that.The world cup was going on and Dinesh Mongia was in the team for no apparent reason while Laxman was cooling his heels off in the Carrib Beer series.....that was a serious mistake in my opinion.

 

[Rich2001]

Who will the India A team actually be playing when they turn up?

 

[lord_of_darkness]

Neils cricket team...

 

[V Reddy]

Laxman was not dropped. He himself ruled out due to injury. Otherwise he would have been the captain. Good to see Sriram given the chance too. Also good to see Yohannan not being picked. I expect either Sriram or Badani to be the highest scorer and Balaji or Salvi to be the highest wickettaker

 

[Neil Pickup]

Neils cricket team...

:P

They've got several fixtures against English county sides... all friendlies, it seems, and nothing against an England 'A' side - why can't we do that?!

 

[V Reddy]

There is some controversy here about the selection of Parab and Bharadwaj and also Patel as the only wicket taker. Bharadwaj had a poor season and Parab a mediocre one but they were selected as there were no players from that region. Ramesh should have been picked but was not b'coz as the team already had 4 players from the state which Ramesh comes from. I don't know why they picked Bhandari. He was tried and it was visible that he was not an international player.Dasgupta should have been picked as there are reports that he has improved his keeping. If he improved his keeping then India can play 5 bowlers as he is a very good batsman. Ganguly was saying that he intends to play 5 bowlers in Aus so that it makes impossible for Aus to score 500 runs. He was saying that he needs a keeperwho can open the innings in Aus. So Patel may open the innings in England.

Neil, I remember India playing against WI A last year in England. So do A teams every year come to England. Why don't England play an A team to instead of the county teams?

 

[luckyeddie]

<snip>

Neil, I remember India playing against WI A last year in England. So do A teams every year come to England. Why don't England play an A team to instead of the county teams?

A very good point - and I would imagine that the answer is simple - time and money.

Counties still like to think that they are the life-blood of the game in England, and they get pretty miffed losing players.

That's where the ECB maybe missed a trick - when they okayed 2 overseas players, it should have been under the stipulation that they (counties) would have to compulsorily release players for 'A' team games.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Ganguly was saying that he intends to play 5 bowlers in Aus so that it makes impossible for Aus to score 500 runs. He was saying that he needs a keeperwho can open the innings in Aus. So Patel may open the innings in England.

Nothing's impossible when Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Glichrist, Waugh, Clarke, Martyn, Lehmann, Love etc are in the mood!

Neil, I remember India playing against WI A last year in England. So do A teams every year come to England. Why don't England play an A team to instead of the county teams?

I'm not entirely sure how regularly 'A' sides visit England.

I'm not sure why England don't get an 'A' team together to play the tourists as it would be beneficial to the full England team, the 'A' players, and to the tourists - Eddie's probably right when he mentions the antiquated attitude of the counties.

India 'A' are playing a South Africa XI at Shenley midway through their tour, so that ought to be a good game.

 

[Rik]

India 'A' are playing a South Africa XI at Shenley midway through their tour, so that ought to be a good game.

It's really odd, when the England A Team was still going a few years ago it only played overseas in the winter, yet the 2 touring countries would face each other in a tour match as well as a few games against the touring A sides. We would see the touring sides playing the touring A sides, yet England A took no part...look at the Aussie's Ashes Itenery and it even involved a match against Ireland!

 

[Rik]

Ganguly was saying that he intends to play 5 bowlers in Aus so that it makes impossible for Aus to score 500 runs. He was saying that he needs a keeperwho can open the innings in Aus. So Patel may open the innings in England.

Why does he need a Wicketkeeper to open the innings? Keeping for several days and then having to open the innings is not really possible in the long run, it's too tiring, that's why England dropped Stewart down the order when he was given the gloves. Opening the innings should be given to a batsman with the ability and the technique to do the job, Patel is still learning. I hope they recall Das if he has a good tour because he looked a good player when England toured India and he scored 250 when India toured England last summer and what did the selectors do? Well, even though they dropped Jaffer they continued to ignore him and even pushed Sehwag up to open. Sehwag I still feel would be more successful down the order.

 

[V Reddy]

Here is that report. He said 600 and not 500 as i mentioned

http://www.sunnt.com/news/sports/sports.asp?id=6937

We need Srinath against Aussies: Ganguly
Kolkata, May 24 - Skipper Sourav Ganguly said that he would request Javagal Srinath to play in the December tour of Australia as his side needed the services of the seasoned fast bowler to take on the formidable rivals.
"I shall definitely request him to play the series. We need his services," Ganguly said here. Srinath, who came out of retirement to play Test cricket last year on Ganguly's request, has hinted at quitting the longer version of the game. Stressing on the need to have a strong bowling attack, Ganguly said that three pacers and two spinners would be an ideal combination against the Aussies, though the final decision rested on the selectors.

"Our bowling strength should be such that the Aussies can never score 600. But our task will be easier if we can get a wicketkeeper who can open the batting," Ganguly said. He added that though the Aussies were undoubtedly "very strong", they were not invincible. "We have to play aggressively. We must try to dominate them," Ganguly said.

 

[marc71178]

Why does he need a Wicketkeeper to open the innings?

He wants 5 bowlers. Ganguly, Dravid, SRT and VVS are inked into the number 3-6 roles, and none of them can keep.

The only other option is to use Bangar as an opener with Sehwag, have Patel at 7, AA at 8 and then Harb, Srinath and Khan?

 

[V Reddy]

The problem is that they don't want to drop Sehwag. Ganguly and Wright think that he is supremely talented and shouldn't be dropped and so only the opening position is available and so they play him there. So he can't be dropped as he is very talented and the only position available is opening.

Rik, Dasgupta had a very good series against SAF in SAF and against Eng in India as an opener. Then they dropped him after 1 inning in WI where he scored a 0 as he was dropping catches. So, he bats well at the top than middle order.

 

[Tim]

I can't believe there is even talk of Sehwag being dropped.
His batting in NZ especially in the ODI's where he scored 2 centuries against all odds confirms to me that he's got talent despite being inconsistent on occassions.

He's similar to Jayasuriya, he'll always average around 30-35 because he is so aggressive he's bound to miss out 2 or 3 times and then blaze a big score.