can india do bit differently at bangalore...?

shared by straight point on Thursday, October 07, 2010

after the thrilling finale of mohali test all eyes are now on bangalore test... and rightly so... the farce for a test series is still living up to its hype and fans from both sides can't wait for the next test to begin...

should india go for the kill and whitewash the series 2-0 to silence its critics or can selectors show some balls by distancing themselves from the hype of expectations and take stock of things...?

did i say stock of things...? what is there to take stock of... you say...?

well... you will know in a minute...

murali has shown in past that he has this un-flustered temperament about him... that is why he could fit in the side seamlessly in short notice in past... plus he is high on confidence now so i don't think there is much to dispute his selection as sehwag's partner...

ishant's place will be replaced by sreesanth and more than his bowling we might miss him for his rear-guard play when he bats... which tells us a lot about the kind of bowling ishant is dishing apart from his consistent over-stepping problem that can make even dilhara fernando proud...

india has nothing to lose as far as this series goes... even if they lose the next test... we will retain the border-gavaskar trophy... as well as the no.1 status... but being bit more proactive we can still gain something out of bangalore tests... in real sense...

this leaves us only one place where i would like selectors to use their discretion and look for future at the same time...

however much one wants to see vvs bat after mohali test... it will be nothing short of a risk india could ill afford given the number of tests we are going to play in near future...

so i would give vvs the precautionary rest... and replace him with cheteshwar pujara and play him at no.3 with dravid taking the spot vacated by vvs laxman...

the reason being... dhoni is not in greatest of form these days... his test batting is regressing by each outing... so having che and raina followed by dhoni will be bit of a risk and i think dravid's experience will be best used there...

of whatever little i saw of che in field... he appears to be a good close-in fielder... stays low till the last possible moment... no hurried movements... and more importantly looks relaxed... no wonder he took a very good catch fielding there... plus he is coming at the back of mountain of runs on every platform he has been given the opportunity to perform... so its time he is given the nod to see what he brings in to the table...

as i said... india has nothing to lose... not the series... not the border-gavasker trophy... not even the no.1 position... on the other hand we can test how murali, sreesanth (who is making bit of comeback in test team) and of course che cope with the pressure when oz will be trying their best to make a comeback in the series...

to me its another god send opportunity (after they missed on the bangladesh tour) with a win-win situation for us as well as che & co. and if we can use this opportunity to provide them glorified net-practice against exhausted australia team i think we must enchash it... until unless we want to have bragging rights on them for a while and lose focus on the impending transition...

12 comments:

Maithreyi said...

Murali...? You mean, Vijay? In that case, Murali is his father's name; he goes by Vijay.

And Dhoni's regressed after a couple of lacklustre matches? I don't know what that says about individuals who've survived dozens of similarly lacklustre matches. But I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

straight point said...

hi maithreyi...

its not couple of outings i am talking about for sure... i am not a stat guy and do not like to highlight them as i go by what i see... but i won't be surprised if his recent numbers won't back him... :)

Anonymous said...

Dhoni
Last 10 matches average of 55 with 3 centuries.
I am not sure about the team composition. What happens if Che gets injured on the morning of the match? I thought they would have learned from the SA incident.

straight point said...

anon... had they learned from SA incident half of the team would have not played at mohali... so lets just leave that issue... :)

regarding dhoni's avg... as i said earlier i go by what i see... of late... i don't feel assured when he is on crease specially when india is in spot of bother... tho he comes and tonks few sixes here and there when the foundation has already been laid... so this is how i see it... :)

Mahek said...

Going by what one sees is very subjective. It's the reason Nohit Sharma keeps getting picked. I don't think Dhoni looked troubled in Sri Lanka. He got two fifties in four innings. I'd say that's fine for a number 7 who also happens to keep wickets.

I don't know what temperament Murali Vijay has. He's played 7 tests and scored just 2 fifties in 10 innings. Surely that's not a good return for an opening batsman, especially in conditions that he is familiar with. That said, he's going to be in the XI anyway because Gambhir is out and they're not going to pick Mukund.

Speaking of Gambhir, he better get his act together because he's been struggling this year & has a tough series coming up in South Africa.

I would hate to not win the Bangalore test but that's just because I think we can't go into a test thinking it's okay if we don't win because we've retained the trophy or because we'll still be number one. Fuck the bloody rankings. I'd rather take a clean sweep over the Aussies. When was the last time it happened? And if the rankings are important then I should point out we'd have retained the number one spot even if Australia had swept us. So if Laxman is fit he should play, else Pujara comes in. Che can get his chance against New Zealand or in place of Dravid in South Africa (Not that it will ever happen).

Golandaaz said...

Nothing to lose....the series is not won yet. We need to create distance from SA and for that a series win is important. Its not as if we have nothing to lose. Yes we have a #1 standing to lose, not in the short term but in the long run.

Those combinations you talk about can be tried when NZ arrive. Every test against australia, we have something to lose.

We haven't lost to them since Sydney 2008, that's 7 tests in a row.

straight point said...

mahek if going by what we see is subjective then i can give you many examples where stats were as bland as one could get...

i agree with you on gambhir... he has be slacking of late... and also getting injured more frequently than the liking...

straight point said...

mahek... and golandaaz...

so who decides that win-win situation means that we definitely going to lose if we take it...? :)

all in all it boils down to one place and that too can go to che without all the transition agenda behind it if vvs' back wont heal in time...

as far as i go... if we fear that by including him in the eleven will surely mean that we are going to be defeated in bangalore... than it is all the more reason to go for the change... for if we keep fearing the loss we would never sum up the energy to blood these fringe players... barring forced injuries...

Golandaaz said...

going for a win means going with your best team. VVS at this stage is a better batsman than CP. We could win with CP and lose with VVS, a future result does no validate today's decision. VVS is a percentage decision, CP is a risky decision. Risks are good too, sometimes they pay off but India is a position to play risk free....

Also I am commenting on your argument that losing this is somehow okay. No, it is not ok. The distance we have on points with SA is not enough to retain our ranking if we lose the SA series. If we win this and maximize our win in the NZ series, we might be in a position to lose to SA and still be #1

Now I am sure you will point out, that winning in SA is more important than being #1, in that case we have different wishes from India

straight point said...

no goal... in fact every word of yours make sense... but at the same time winning in sa would do world of good for indian cricket as well as help us establish the fact that this team can really win everywhere irrespective of conditions...

ok... just one question... who will be the player(s) you would like to rest when nz come knocking... and would it be good if one (or some) of those will could be the players who play only test cricket...?

Golandaaz said...

After the series is won, anyone from SRT, Gambhir, Sehwag, VVS, Raina, Dhoni, Zaheer, Harbhajan

Dravid needs to bat as much as can to get back into form so no option for him. Ditto with Ishant

Srini said...

Dravid has been out to the ball that is fuller just outside off. He should not be chasing them when he is new at the crease. I've seen him a few times recently getting out in this fashion.

Very eager to watch Pujara!!

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