[PPS]

Originally Posted by Mr_Bean

The same is happening with Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, they miss the most vital element called patience.

Daryll Cullinan was right when he said recently that Shikhar Dhawan is a flat track bully! I guess we will have to wait till the end of the 5 Test series against England to pass judgment on him as he hasn't played enough tests so far!

Originally Posted by subs

Lots and lots of positives to take home. So to put up a display like this is remarkable.

One usually looks for positives when the series is lost. We will continue to fail miserably abroad till the time we don't have a bowling attack which takes 20 wickets.

[subs]

Originally Posted by carboy

How is that even possible?

India have played 8 tests this year, 6 at home and 2 abroad. It wouldnt be the same every year, but thats the general trend.

Subs

[pratyush6]

Honestly, I am not very disappointed with the team. I had hoped they play better today - but Steyn, my God, he was brilliant. SA fully deserved the win.

Some questions still remain - Why did we not take the new ball early yesterday? Rahane batting lower than (terribly hopeless) Rohit?
I would sill give this team some time - Dhawan, Rohit should be persisted. Perhaps, we can get Gambhir and/or Sehwag as an experienced hand as a back up in the middle order for the overseas tour.
Focus on rotating Umesh/Aaron/Ishant/Zak/Shami as pacers, the work load was simply too much for them and you could see they were not a 100% in the 2nd Test after the marathon effort in the first.

Positives from this series: Pujara Kohli, Rahane,Jadeja, Shami, Zak's fitness, Ishant making some sort of a comeback and Vijay's efforts. The biggest though was belief that these guys can compete against the best in their backyard.

[srishiva]

I think India played better than anyone had imagined. Wickets did not fall in heaps most of the time. SA bowlers did apply their learnings very quickly by bowling on the wickets rather than outside stumps which our batsmen learned to leave them alone.

We still have a couple of great batsmen who bat like dream when the ball keeps the line without movement or more bounce

[Chetan_Rao]

Half of our playing 11 doesn't have the temperament to play Test cricket.

Horrifying shot selection, no patience and toothless bowling attack. But they'll come back to India, thrash a hopeless B-grade team in a home series and back to our hype-trumps-quality ways all over again.


P.S. The only reason we have 'positives' to take back from this tour is because it was only two tests. I'm afraid we would've taken a thorough pasting if it was 4/5 tests.

[amitoj]

I think the team would have performed much better (not that it did not perform better than expected already!) had there been a few more practice matches. But I guess BCCI is not interested in that because practice games are not a source of revenue after all.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

Positives from this series: Pujara Kohli, Rahane,Jadeja, Shami, Zak's fitness, Ishant making some sort of a comeback and Vijay's efforts. The biggest though was belief that these guys can compete against the best in their backyard.

Ishant makes these sort of comebacks every 10 tests or so. It lets him play around 9 tests. He has passed 50+ tests using these sort of comebacks.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by amitoj

I think the team would have performed much better (not that it did not perform better than expected already!) had there been a few more practice matches. But I guess BCCI is not interested in that because practice games are not a source of revenue after all.

+1 to that
Also BCCI has mastered the art of scheduling India's matches ("fixtures commitee") such that we can quite easily manage to be in the top 2 or 3 test rankings which is fine by them and hence can focus (read more revenue) on the ODI's and IPL, a win-win situation in their minds

[PPS]

Originally Posted by carboy

Ishant makes these sort of comebacks every 10 tests or so. It lets him play around 9 tests. He has passed 50+ tests using these sort of comebacks.

Remember it was Ponting who made us believe that Ishant is a legend. Ponting struggled to play a few deliveries & Ishant became the blue eyed boy overnight. What a ploy that was!

In the meanwhile, Yuvraj had been dropped for the NZ tour. This means Rahane should become a regular in the ODI squad now at no.4. Varun Aaron & Stuart Binny have also made it to the ODI squad. Binny is just the bits & pieces player we need at the moment.
Also Ishwar Pandey has made it to both squads. Umesh Yadav & Mohit Sharma have been dropped from the ODI squad. I wonder why 17 players have been selected for a 2 test match series!


http://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/news/...pform=showcase

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by PPS

Remember it was Ponting who made us believe that Ishant is a legend.

In the meanwhile, Yuvraj had been dropped for the NZ tour. This means Rahane should become a regular in the ODI squad now at no.4.

I am amazed at how we keep overlooking Pujara for ODIs. Raydu has done nothing of note (except play for MI) and he is still in both the squads wonder what does CP need to do.
Yuvraj being dropped - slightly heartbreaking, I must say, but I can understand.

[Eddy]

No need to play Pujara in ODIs/ IPL and corrupt his technique, let him remain our wall in test matches

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by Eddy

No need to play Pujara in ODIs/ IPL and corrupt his technique, let him remain our wall in test matches

You mean to say, lets punish him for being good I don't see why he can't play ODIs atleast. T20s - he is already in the RCB squad (or rather was)

[Eddy]

No, I do not mean that.

I just hope that too much ODI/T20 does not spoil his defense and rock solid technique, much needed for overseas tests. But if he can pull off all three formats, good for us

I hope you know what I mean

[harry10]

Originally Posted by Eddy

No, I do not mean that.

I just hope that too much ODI/T20 does not spoil his defense and rock solid technique, much needed for overseas tests. But if he can pull off all three formats, good for us

I hope you know what I mean

I dont agree.
Kohli is playing extremely well in both Odis and tests. Sachin, dravid, Lara, Ponting all did it. So CP can do it too. He deserves a chance but stupid politics in the team and idiotic selections wont give him the chance.

[msdivy]

The great savior of test matches, Faf du Plessis is also SA's T20 captain. So nothing prevents someone from a being good test player & also a good T20 or ODI player.