***Official*** New Zealand in India 2016

[Shri]

This isn't really a thing, premier RANDI.

I still think Saha's useless. As useless as Dhoni with worse stumping skills actually.

 

[indiaholic]

At least he attempts catches where he has to dive for them. Dhoni just stands there and watches like a buffoon.

 

[Kippax]

The Kiwis desperately need to unearth a young batsman or two , to allow some of their good-aged talented players to compete with the top teams.

Yeah not likely tbh. When your head coach is feeling compelled to tell fibs like "Martin Guptill is a good player of spin", I'm not sure we can even agree on what a good young batsman looks like down here anymore.

 

[vcs]

Haven't seen anything out of the ordinary from Saha with the gloves. I do remember him dropping a couple of laughably simple catches though, one in Sri Lanka last year, and one or two in the WI I think.

 

[harsh.ag]

Lame. Don't try to deny it now.

What do you think of my Guy Fawkes-Virat Kohli rendition on the last page?

 

[cnerd123]

Saha WAFG.

With men like Vijay, Pujara, Rahane, Saha, Jadeja, Shami, Bhuvi and Ashwin in the side, who needs a hack like Kohli to win us games anyways?

 

[Jono]

Twas a good win

 

[hendrix]

Yeah not likely tbh. When your head coach is feeling compelled to tell fibs like "Martin Guptill is a good player of spin", I'm not sure we can even agree on what a good young batsman looks like down here anymore.

Nah if we're going to judge a coach on actions rather than words it's not really fair to judge him for attempting to build up the confidence of a struggling player.

We don't really need to anyway: the proof of the pudding is that he dropped Jeet Raval, didn't select another opener, and kept Guptill in the squad well beyond the point when it became apparent that all of Crowe's work couldn't fix his fundamental flaws...we also have numerous occasions where Bracewell and Sodhi have been selected that haven't made sense either.

He's not a terrible coach or anything but there's been a lot to criticise over the last year or so.

 

[Moss]

Really good all round performance. Most of the players chipped in at important moments. Also heartening to win convincingly on a pitch which played to NZ's strengths for the most part (ie) seam and swing for the bowlers.

Yeah, this. Kanpur was an excellent subcontinent wicket, this one was a true sporting wicket (more so than Bangalore 2012 when NZ ran India close). India should be well pleased about this, and equally NZ should be quite concerned. I think the word 'outclassed' does apply I'm afraid.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Haven't seen anything out of the ordinary from Saha with the gloves. I do remember him dropping a couple of laughably simple catches though, one in Sri Lanka last year, and one or two in the WI I think.

He shelled a ridiculously simple one in SL. Was a kakmal-esque drop. Don't remember him making any big mistakes in the SA, WI series and thus one, and considering they've all been challenging keeping conditions, he's done fine.

 

[Jono]

Captain of the #1 team in the world. You bet ya.

 

[Moss]

It's been a less-than-sum-of-parts kind of two tests from NZ. Most of the players have had their moments but those aren't really coming together, and pretty much all the clutch moments have been conceded to India (thinking of instances such as Taylor nicking off in the first innings, tough time to bat but you expect your senior player to lead the way). Also, when India have been on top they've been able to boss entire sessions.

The bowling was pretty good this test (fortunately not a repeat of the Centurion first innings) but the batting is way makeshift at the moment. Watling is wasted at 7 inless he has a decent tail to help him out. Latham is class without quite kicking on from a dream 2014. While Nicholls, Santner and Ronchi have all been reasonably good none of them seems to have a particularly high ceiling at the moment.

 

[honestbharani]

Good professional performance that... I like that the guys in the team do seem only concerned about the team is going to win the game for the most part, or at least they try to. Can't honestly remember when was the last time that individual performances seemed to matter lesser than winning the game with the side over a reasonable period of time. Hope it lasts forever. Love Kohli's attitude as captain in most respects. Just wish he can get some more runs. I saw that some other posters think he will be like KP but I honestly think he can still be a great test batsman. Just has to get his shot selection better.


And reg. Saha and Dhoni, its funn how with MSD out, we do miss out on those amazing lightning quick stumpings (really, we should not expect ANY keeper to be that good with those) but we do gain with how Saha has a much better idea of which catches are his,esp. the ones that bisect the first slip and the keeper. And same as batsmen. He is not gonna MSD opposition away in SC and SC like conditions but he is going to hang in far better in tougher conditions and get us a few more runs and few less overs to survive. Just hope he keeps getting the sorta scores that will shut the stupid media up. Get the feeling blokes like him, with their low maintenance approach and humble attitude, will be top of the tree for writers of the media to jump on when the going gets tough. Crapinfo already has a narrative going about how he is punching above his weight etc. Its like they dont even realize his obvious ability as a batsman, at least in SC conditions.

 

[91Jmay]

Kohli probably does have a higher ceiling than KP in terms of ability, however it should be mentioned that KP had accomplished far more than Kohli as a batsmen at the same point in their respective careers. So whilst I believe Kohli will reach the level KP got too, he isn't there yet.

KP after 48 Tests 4220 runs @ 50.23 HS 226 Hundreds 15
Kohli after 47 Tests 3326 runs @ 43.76 HS 200 Hundreds 12

So can't act like KP comparison is an insult.

I also use KP's 48th test, as his 47th was the game in Antigua abandoned after a few overs.

 

[Jono]

KP was ****ing awesome. Don't know why anyone wouldn't take KP's career (in terms of batting, not in terms of being a distraction to his team) as an insult. Would happily take that for Kohli. Obviously you'd rather him be a Ponting, but that'd be a bonus.

 

[vcs]

Kohli has had a lean run and he'll know that as well as anyone. Hope he gets a few big scores soon.

 

[indiaholic]

KP was ****ing awesome. Don't know why anyone wouldn't take KP's career (in terms of batting, not in terms of being a distraction to his team) as an insult. Would happily take that for Kohli. Obviously you'd rather him be a Ponting, but that'd be a bonus.

Yep and it is almost certain that he will play 20-30 tests more than KP. That will be a brilliant career.

 

[honestbharani]

Lol u r talkin to one of the biggest KP fans here, JMay . I just feel personally that Kohli can potentially be better than him and his tier. I am not suggesting being at his level or tier s something undesirable or easy to achieve. In fact I still don't think Kohli's best will be as stunning as KP's but I just also think Kohli can have a better test batting career overall than KP.

 

[Pratters]

Where are the Saha haterz

Yeah suddenly all the Saha haters have disappeared. I remember some one questioning him before the series started. Salamuddin where are you?

 

[Jono]

lol, people may have doubted whether Saha belonged, but seriously stretching the term "haters" to describe his critics on here.

Rohit has haters. Ishant has haters. Jadeja has haters. I'm not sure anyone ever gave enough of a **** about Saha to hate on him.

We should also never forget that Saha denied India a memorable win in Adelaide by being a dumb ****, so he deserves to cop some grief for 3-5 years.