India in West Indies

  Yes big chance for the fringe players to prove/show their mettle. I'd watched Abhinav Mukund in a domestic game some two years ago. Looked really impressive then with his timing and placement. Elegant player considering his age at the time. Have had an eye on him since then, has continued to grow fast and handle whatever was thrown at him quiet well. Keen to see how well he does in his first international outing. 

 Glad that S Badrinath has made it back to the squad. Thought he should have been there in India's tour of SA earlier this year. He's been performing with great pomp at the domestic level in and out, looked fairly decent in the one Test he played where he had to encounter a red hot Steyn(seven wicket haul) , scored a good half century at No.6.  He's the Brad Hodge of Indian cricket, talented enough to make it to any team but unfortunate to be in an era where his competition are some of the greats of the game. He's in his early thirties but still has got a fair bit of cricket left in him. A good four or five years hopefully who knows.

  I'm fairly okay with the team selection, glad the IPL performance wasn't among the selection criterion. Only miffed about Munaf's selection into the test side as the fourth seamer. Why and how on earth did RP Singh fall of the selectors radar. Still believe is got the best exponent of swing in the country and would have been an excellent addition esp with the England tour coming up, good enough to even make it to the starting XI ,for me.   I remember there were a lot of hue and cry when he was dropped some two years ago with his close friend and captain Dhoni backing him to the death. As usual the selectors had their way and he was axed, never to return. I wonder if it was just his performance that led to his dismissal, I suspect a few disciplinary issues.

 

No doubt that the Indian squad that arrives in England later in the year will look a whole lot stronger than this one !

  Well something had do give, with BCCI's crazy itinerary and the relentless non-stop cricket, tasking on the fans as well.  There will be a lot of interest ,though, in the windies tour, specially refreshing cos of the new faces. I think rotation policy is something which could become popular among a lot of countries given the modern day cricket calender.

I'm looking forward to this, India A team that against a Gayle less Windies.

Originally posted by zuhair_abbasi Is it that the bigger players do not want to tour West Indies or they really needed the rest? Would Tendulkar have opted out if the tour was of England right after the tiring WC and the IPL? How Sehwag and Gambhir would both be fot right in time for the bigger series?

It is a clear case of strategic move in resting the players ahead of gruelling English tour. Indian team management does not want to risk key players in WI tour.

Originally posted by sam_ahmed Originally posted by MalhotraRaj84 However I will go for 5-0 India win.At most Indian young bridage might lose one ODI, but not more than that. If that does happen then WI should rather quit playing cricket.

Maybe if that happens , then maybe it just goes to show how strong Indian reserves are!

No Mikey, that is a 'strategic' move. Sachin Tendulkar hasn't played a test in the West Indies for 8-9 years I think. As much as it is his personal choice, thiis is just not the kind of respect you give a test team. Plus, when the Aussies were dominant, I never saw any big player sitting out in a test series against a weaker opposition even if it was just before an important series. The hunger is just not there I am afraid.

Pretty poor test squad. We would have seen some records getting broken had this test squad visited England (fastest test match!!). Looks like Srikkanth wants to get the players from his state into the team before he leaves.

Edited by kirankri - 02 June 2011 at 2:31pm

I just wish that one of the ODI's had been in Barbados, a Sehwag, Tendulkar, laxman, Dravid less batting attack would have been made to look stupid there!

Originally posted by sam_ahmed Initially ICC wanted India to send a full strength team but I never heard anything later, that is why Arjuna Ranatunga has said that "ICC is under the thumb of the BCCI", Tony Greig has said that if made president of the ICC the first thing he'd do is finish the influence of the BCCI on the ICC and majority of the cricket players now in a survey have said that the BCCI is too powerful and the ICC is always under their pressure.

Does a survey of  45 players make any sense ?  Ok let me just assume it does for a moment. Now let's see what this FICA is all about ?  http://www.thepca.co.uk/444.html . From the website I gather that FICA is made of SA, Aus, NZ, WI and SL. This does not even have full ICC members  .
Even couple of IPL franchise has  more than 45 good players  (pun intended).

On a serious note , second question is who would have been surveyed. In all likelyhood my best guess is IPL rejects were handpicked for this farce.

I see where Tony Greig comes from , he was closely associated with ICL intially, which was nipped in the bud (sorry about that). Then wasn't he the one who was instrumental in getting many players signed for the then rebel Packer series? Anyway! (maybe he had some stakes in ICL secretly )

On Ranatunga, he has joined polictics and is part of current opposition party.Yes, the same party where Hasan Tilakaratne is. He needs some USP, and its a fashion to criticize BCCI for anything and everything.So no surprises there.

I still don't get it , how is BCCI too powerful and still does not have single player in survey when they are powerful. What is the use of being powerful when they can't have their say, allows such reports to tarnish their image.

Why cry againt money power that IPL gives to a player , didn't County Clubs hire and lure many international cricketers?. BCCI has become a powerhouse recently, cricket has been played from a long long time. Who was calling shots then ? Which country boards had the power then ? Why blame BCCI for successfully organising IPL.

BCCI's success is just a case of sour grapes for many , and this whining will never stop.

I have doubts about Raina being in the squad in the first place. India has at least 5 cricketers who average almost 60 in FC cricket and are the best in their respective states. So who did Raina sleep with to get a spot not only in the test team, but as back up ODI captain of his nation? He has a very hot and cold temperament, and his ability to play the short ball leaves something to be desired. Pujara, Badrinath, Uthappa, Tiwary all look better to me, and there's certainly a few others around that are probably more suited.
Very strange selections made by India... I was always critical of Dinesh Karthik being in the team.

I meant he was temperamental in that he throws his wicket away easily. He gets impatient, plays a rash stroke. All this T20 cricket has ruined the mind of these young cricketers. Look at Dravid or for more relevant examples, Trott and Amla. Very patient, don't play rash strokes and play within their limitations. That's what makes you a successful runmaker.

My comments are directed more towards Raina being in the test side, that's for sure.

India win again and again quite comfortably I should say, Rohit Sharma guiding the chase and I was surprised by the good show of Shikhar Dhawan (I do not rate him at all), Raina did his job and a rare failure for Kohli didn't cost India too much.

In test cricket India, England and South Africa have certainly got ahead while Australia and Srilanka have fallen behind a little. Pakistan have made that No.6 position theirs, they can easily beat WI and NZL but will struggle against any of the Top 5. However, you can always expect AUS, SLN and PAK to challenge and beat any of the top 3, they can still provide us with good cricket.