This South Africa tour at home should be used to try out some fresh talent in the spin bowling department. I am not sure if it is wise to continue with harbhajan Singh in Test matches. He has not quite been the same bowler as he was during the 2001 series when he took that spectacular hat trick at Kolkatta.
Perhaps it is time to try out bowlers like Piyush Chawla. Piyush Chawla did look impressive against South Africa when we played them in Ireland. He also looked quite effective in the limited opportunity he got in Australia.
Well the under 19 World Cup also did throw some spinning talent like Iqbal Abdulah and Ravinder Jadeja. It is time to look out for fresh talent before the cupboard becomes empty.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Thrust Should Be On Fast Bowling...
Thrust to be on Pace Bowling…
With the South African tour just round the corner, the selection of the Indian team for the Test series will be the next National cricketing discussion topic. After such a good tour of Australia, in most minds, this should not really be a problem. But then our Indian wickets and conditions are very different from what Kumble and his men had contended with during their tour down under.
The middle order led by Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly should automatically select itself. The discussions would be about the opening slots. Jaffar has had a great record on Indian tracks. Besides he had played well in the West Indies , South Africa and England tours. Yes, he did not make an impression in Australia. With Gautam Gambir’s outstanding showing in the One Dayers and Sehwag’s match saving ton in the final Test, Jaffar might struggle to make the cut. Besides Delhi’s Akash Chopra who had a splendid domestic season might also be in contention.
While Dhoni should easily make it to the starting line up as the wicket keeper batsman, I believe Parthiv Patel should be given a look in. He is a vastly improved keeper and has like Chopra had a great season with the bat playing for Gujarat and West Zone. Probably he might be better behind the stumps with his gloves compared to Dhoni.
Coming to the extra batsman in the middle order, it is time to look beyond Yuvraj Singh. Barring a couple of performances on friendly tracks, he has not looked comfortable in Test matches. Besides his ability to face up to spin and genuine pace is suspect. He has been given a long rope and it is time we put him down as a specialist player for the shorter versions of the sport. We might like to look at Mohammad Kaif as a Test batsman. He has delivered in the Test arena inspite of being tossed in and out of the team. He has the ability to build an innings and has had a reasonable domestic season. Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwari could be the other names that could be considered.
As regards the bolwing options, I am sure there is going to be a debate on whether we should rely on pace or spin. My vote would go for pace. Let us face it, there are no spinners worth the while today barring Kumble and maybe Piyush Chawla who seems to be promising. Harbhajan Singh is not quite the wicket taking bowler any more. He could again like Yuvraj could be kept for the limited overs game.
Given the abundance of proven talent in the pace bowling department, we must adopt the policy of rotation. In recent times R P Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishanth Sharma, Srishanth, Irfan Pathan, and to a certain extent Munaf Patel have all done well. We need to keep them fit and hungry. Given the tight and busy schedules ahead, we must capitalize on this happy situation and go for a pace led bowling attack.
Rahul Dravid had mentioned during the England tour that India’s chances of winning in a Test match are far greater on a fast lively track than on flat ones. He had said that there is a need to give our bowlers the conditions to take 20 wickets. In the recent tours of England, South Africa and Australia we have seen that our pace bowlers have consistently troubled the best of opposition batsmen. Further our hugely talented batting line up has the ability to face up to the best of bowling in testing conditions. We do not need to have flat tracks to protect our batsmen. On the other hand we need to develop fast and bouncy tracks to give our bowlers a chance.
With the South African tour just round the corner, the selection of the Indian team for the Test series will be the next National cricketing discussion topic. After such a good tour of Australia, in most minds, this should not really be a problem. But then our Indian wickets and conditions are very different from what Kumble and his men had contended with during their tour down under.
The middle order led by Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly should automatically select itself. The discussions would be about the opening slots. Jaffar has had a great record on Indian tracks. Besides he had played well in the West Indies , South Africa and England tours. Yes, he did not make an impression in Australia. With Gautam Gambir’s outstanding showing in the One Dayers and Sehwag’s match saving ton in the final Test, Jaffar might struggle to make the cut. Besides Delhi’s Akash Chopra who had a splendid domestic season might also be in contention.
While Dhoni should easily make it to the starting line up as the wicket keeper batsman, I believe Parthiv Patel should be given a look in. He is a vastly improved keeper and has like Chopra had a great season with the bat playing for Gujarat and West Zone. Probably he might be better behind the stumps with his gloves compared to Dhoni.
Coming to the extra batsman in the middle order, it is time to look beyond Yuvraj Singh. Barring a couple of performances on friendly tracks, he has not looked comfortable in Test matches. Besides his ability to face up to spin and genuine pace is suspect. He has been given a long rope and it is time we put him down as a specialist player for the shorter versions of the sport. We might like to look at Mohammad Kaif as a Test batsman. He has delivered in the Test arena inspite of being tossed in and out of the team. He has the ability to build an innings and has had a reasonable domestic season. Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwari could be the other names that could be considered.
As regards the bolwing options, I am sure there is going to be a debate on whether we should rely on pace or spin. My vote would go for pace. Let us face it, there are no spinners worth the while today barring Kumble and maybe Piyush Chawla who seems to be promising. Harbhajan Singh is not quite the wicket taking bowler any more. He could again like Yuvraj could be kept for the limited overs game.
Given the abundance of proven talent in the pace bowling department, we must adopt the policy of rotation. In recent times R P Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishanth Sharma, Srishanth, Irfan Pathan, and to a certain extent Munaf Patel have all done well. We need to keep them fit and hungry. Given the tight and busy schedules ahead, we must capitalize on this happy situation and go for a pace led bowling attack.
Rahul Dravid had mentioned during the England tour that India’s chances of winning in a Test match are far greater on a fast lively track than on flat ones. He had said that there is a need to give our bowlers the conditions to take 20 wickets. In the recent tours of England, South Africa and Australia we have seen that our pace bowlers have consistently troubled the best of opposition batsmen. Further our hugely talented batting line up has the ability to face up to the best of bowling in testing conditions. We do not need to have flat tracks to protect our batsmen. On the other hand we need to develop fast and bouncy tracks to give our bowlers a chance.
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