[hothatchaway]

For chrissake keeping wickets in test matches is a specialist's job. Pant often cuts a sorry figure behind the wickets and picking him for tests ahead of Saha shows the kind of muddled thinking our management is capable of.

Why not have Rahul don the gloves while we are at it?

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Why not have Rahul don the gloves while we are at it?

Keeping in tests is a difficult job especially if you’re expected to bat in key positions like the top or middle order. Wouldn’t waste Rahul’s batting ability. Great batsmen-keeper (batsmen first, keeper second) like Sanagakkara, Dravid, and ABD gave up keeping in Tests (for the most part) to maximise run scoring.

Pant needs to get his keeping act together, else we may see Saha behind the stumps for quite a while. (May not be a bad thing IMHO)

Edit: Even Gilchrist, the greatest keeper-batsman, would play down the order in tests. KL Rahul’s keeping is nowhere near Gilchrist’s ability - might as well maximize his run scoring ability.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

For chrissake keeping wickets in test matches is a specialist's job. Pant often cuts a sorry figure behind the wickets

More so on Indian pitches. In Australia, pitches are relatively flat now.

Why not have Rahul don the gloves while we are at it?

With the T20 WC a year away, hope the team management don't burn him out. Keeping for 20 overs in a day is a lot different than 90 overs in a day!

[harry10]

Originally Posted by adi_gt

If Pant drops a catch of Smith - Game done !!

What if Kohli drops Smith?
It's and buts don't work like that. Anyone can drop a catch. Didn't Dhoni drop any catches or missed stumpings?

Saha is a better keeper, maybe the best we have right now. No doubt about that. But, he had his chances and he never played match defining innings with the bat where as Pant scored century in England and Australia, both extremely hard places for subcontinent batsman to perform. Dhoni couldn't do it in his entire career. So, he deservingly should be started ahead of Saha at least in first 2 tests. If he fails then go ahead and play Saha for last 2 matches. Also, there is an attitude change with Pant, he is trying to play more cautiously and responsibly. Now he just needs to shed off those kilos or he will become another Saurabh Tiwari.

I don't understand why these players are complacent with their fitness.. I wish someone could be paying me crores to play cricket and maintain fitness to stay in top shape.

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by harry10

What if Kohli drops Smith?
It's and buts don't work like that. Anyone can drop a catch. Didn't Dhoni drop any catches or missed stumpings?

Saha is a better keeper, maybe the best we have right now. No doubt about that. But, he had his chances and he never played match defining innings with the bat where as Pant scored century in England and Australia, both extremely hard places for subcontinent batsman to perform. Dhoni couldn't do it in his entire career. So, he deservingly should be started ahead of Saha at least in first 2 tests. If he fails then go ahead and play Saha for last 2 matches. Also, there is an attitude change with Pant, he is trying to play more cautiously and responsibly. Now he just needs to shed off those kilos or he will become another Saurabh Tiwari.

I don't understand why these players are complacent with their fitness.. I wish someone could be paying me crores to play cricket and maintain fitness to stay in top shape.

I think you are confusing the role of a specialist wk with that of a batsman.

As to the ifs and buts, what if pant drops Smith and also comes a cropper with the bat?

[PPS]

With Kohli being available just for the 1st Test, its going to be an uphill task to even compete with a full strength Australian Team forget about winning!

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_...riddhiman-saha

[Eddy]

Yeah, a tough tour made even tougher. The batting line up is significantly weakened. The ONLY hope I have is that we win the first test, which is improbable considering it's a pink ball game and the Aussies are much more experienced in handling it.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by PPS

With Kohli being available just for the 1st Test, its going to be an uphill task to even compete with a full strength Australian Team forget about winning!

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_...riddhiman-saha

As an Indian cricket fan who started watching them in the nineties one thing is consistent, overseas tour disappointments. Last time we were able to beat them cos Warner and Smith weren't playing and their morale wasn't too high. This time, not a chance.
So, keep the expectations very low and enjoy the tour.

[Amit_breakfree]

And we lose the first match 1-0 to give Australia the lead in the series.

Bad day for bowlers. Simply, our top order should have played better.

Dhawan and Pandya had a good counter-attack going but it was too late by the time they started firing.

Hope we do well in the next.

[KPR]

We are not going to win any of ODIs and Tests if we don't have a good fast bowling all rounder. Pandya is good with bat but can't bowl. The lack of fast bowling all rounder is going to be the difference in this series. I don't want to talk about the 3D player and Shivam Dube as they are disappointing. Still with no options left any one of the two can be used for the sake of it.

[whencut86]

Since when has Kohli won us a test match or helped us draw against Aus, Eng, SA or NZ? Won't make much of a difference if you ask me. As a captain it is good he is aggressive but he makes big team selection errors which end up negating the aggression.

Originally Posted by PPS

With Kohli being available just for the 1st Test, its going to be an uphill task to even compete with a full strength Australian Team forget about winning!

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_...riddhiman-saha

[PPS]

As soon as Australia scored 376, the game was lost there & then! Its going to be an ominous summer ahead looking at yesterdays game.

Originally Posted by whencut86

Since when has Kohli won us a test match or helped us draw against Aus, Eng, SA or NZ?

His mere presence adds a lot to the team.

[NPV]

On yesterday's India-Aus game which was the first ODI of this series:
I really thought the side looked balanced with 5 full time bowlers in Shami, Bumrah, Saini, Chahal, Jadeja and Hardik as the 6th bowling option - turns out he was selected as a batsman and he's not fully fit to bowl

This I think will be a huge problem in any game against top sides like Aus and England. We badly need 1 or 2 good all rounders who can bowl a bit and bat down the order. We need someone at least like a Kedar Jadhav (at his prime). God save us in the rest of the matches unless there is some magical individual performance with the bat or ball or pitch is conducive!

Kohli doesn't seem to capitalise on dropped chances, and despite getting a life gets out quickly. Is this just my wrong perception or are stats loaded against him ?

Rahul definitely needs to be more dependable now that he's the vice captain. Jadeja again isn't dependable as an all rounder especially his batting isn't consistent.

Edit:even if Samson replaces Hardik, we will be a bowler short. I guess Natarajan will replace Saini next game, let's see.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by NPV

We badly need 1 or 2 good all rounders who can bowl a bit and bat down the order.

There is a dearth of all-rounders (seam bowling atleast) in the country. Vijay Shankar & Shivam Dubey certainly cannot be categorized as all-rounders! Major problem is none of our top-order batsman roll their arm over. In the past we had Yuvraj,Tendulkar,Sehwag,Raina who could chip in & bowl a few overs.

We need someone at least like a Kedar Jadhav (at his prime).

His career is pretty much over now.

Jadeja again isn't dependable as an all rounder especially his batting isn't consistent.

Only reason Jadeja is in the XI is because Hardik can't bowl, else Kuldeep would have played ahead of him.

[KPR]

Originally Posted by NPV

I guess Natarajan will replace Saini next game, let's see.

He's a yorker specialist. He cannot bowl 60 yorkers! Seeing last match the trend is hit the deck hard, bounce the ball consistently into the upper body. Unless batsman has raw power the batting is going to be difficult. I don't think Natarajan has got such pace like Shami to bowl at the rib cage. I think going by this logic Kohli has chosen Saini over Natarajan unless the pitch is more Asiatic.