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open thread: first test first show...

by straight point

with laxman still in doubt... indian team management has no choice but to play all available batsmen, thanks to the foresightedness of our five wise men, rohit sharma in all probability will fill the spot vacated by laxman...

this is a series opener with still a match to go... so i won't rush laxman into this test even if there is an iota of doubt about his fitness...

the team india, in all probability, will be like...

sehwag, gambhir, vijay, sachin, badri, rohit, dhoni, harbhajan, mishra, zaheer, ishant

badri, rohit will be making their debut while vijay, mishra (and to some extent ishant) will be looking to give performances that will make their stock rise in the eyes of selectors...

but i think badrinath and rohit sharma will be under far more pressure coz i sense there is an air of skepticism or i dare say negativity about their selection and failure from both or either of them won't be taken kindly...

i like this nervy pressure situation coz this will keep them on their toes... they should look to spend first 15 minutes at the crease to ease the things for themselves after that it will be their temperament which will take them far... for the talent is never in doubt...

while badri is a long innings player if he gets going... rohit sharma is the kind of player, if given a good platform, can take the game away from the opposition very quickly... so, to me, he is a good replacement for yuvraj at 6...

in this light i leave an open-thread and invite you all to share your thoughts before the start of the first match...

37 comments:

Jingado said...

i think they should play another bowler, mithun may be.. i kind of don't like the 7 batsmen strategy in tests... what 6 can't achieve i don't think the 7th wud help them achieve...
Anyways we have bhajji the incomplete batsman & amit mishra the alrounder for backup...

straight point said...

jigado... saying mishra the allrounder is stretching it too far...

also when with batsmen like sehwag, gambhir, dravid, sachin, laxman, dhoni they did not play 5 bowlers i dont think they will now...

so realistically speaking our combo will be same 6 batsmen 1 wk, 4 bowlers...

Trideep said...

Well, even I think the 11 will be as u said. But I can never stop hoping that they play Ojha & Mishra instead of Bhajji. Anyways... I too think there will be 6 batsman. But India will definitely miss Yuvi the bowler. I think Sehwag would need to bowl a bit to give some rest to the main 4.

straight point said...

yes tri... sehwag will have to bowl and so will rohit (i think) but don't worry we have stock bowler in bhajji... :)

Anonymous said...

I would like to see Dhoni bat at 3 .. he can hold the innings together..

also we must play mishra...

a first innings collapse will be very dangerous ...

avoiding defeat should be the first task

Gaurav said...

Ouch, you compared Rohit to Yuvraj, as a test player. Come on, Rohit's not THAT bad. :-)

Mahek said...

Nohit's worse.

Aditya said...

Dhoni will squeeze in Ojha ahead of Mishra and I guess Laxman will play even if he has a niggle...the middle order has 3 players with 3 tests as total experience ..they would not dare to take such a risk and Laxman won't field in the slips to make sure he doesn't do any more damage on his hand!

kny789 said...

I'm really getting more and more intrigued by the current selection process at the moment. It seems almost as though the selection panel don't trust Dhoni and are leaving him with as few options as possible. I reckon the selection of Rohit might have been partly influenced by Dhoni. Even out of the team his name is regularly mentioned by MS alongside Raina and Kohli and hopefully he doesn't let his captain down.

I personally hope Rohit grabs this chance with both hands but am silently dreading him wasting it and screwing up his international chances.

With regards to Pujara not getting the chance I feel for the guy but seriously there's a long queue. Kohli, Raina, Rahane and a host of others must be feeling like they could stake a claim to that extra batsman spot. I especially feel bad for Raina and Kohli because it seems as though they're being slowly considered as one-day players and won't get a Test shot because of this even though they are probably equally as deserving as the next man.

kny789 said...

Oops and I meant to include in that first paragraph that maybe Rohit's selection was partly to soothe any tensions between MS and KS and that's why the selectors went for Dhoni's boy.

Otherwise its quite a contradictory read!

Mahek said...

Nohit injured. I guess there is a God.

Rohit said...

@Mahek

Are you serious? Dhoni has been screwed over, intentionally or otherwise. You really want Saha to play at the cost of Sharma?

Mahek said...

I would play a 2-year old baby with no arms and legs over Nohit Sharma, but that's a different matter. I don't know how Dhoni has been screwed over as he hasn't come out and said he would have liked to have another batsman in the 15.

Mahek said...

Not having the referral system is really working in India's favour. I hope Shite and Senile Sunny don't whine when the shoe is on the other foot.

straight point said...

mahek the referral system is not for favoring india only... it will be even for both teams...

moreover if you catch the replay again the ball came off black velcro which was part of gloves... and since the gloves were touching the arm guard it (according to rules) becomes an extension of that...

straight point said...

anony playing dhoni at no.3 is counter productive... fist teat match is all together different ball game and lets admit dhoni don't have the game for no.3 test bat... also he can shepherd the tail very well...

straight point said...

hahaha cheers gaurav!

straight point said...

kny... its lots of assumptions already... :)

Rohit said...

I would play Vijay as opener and push Gambhir down to shore up that flimsy middle order.
I just hope we get a draw out of this game....

Mahek said...

It came off the armguard. Last I checked the batsman isn't out if the ball comes off anything that isn't bat or glove.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious about the referral system. Like I said, I hope our famed experts can keep things in perspective the next time their favoured side is at the receiving end of bad decisions.

I also hope the BCCI President is happy to see this game played in a packed stadium in his home city.

straight point said...

rohit... don't be so skeptical about india's chances in this game...

as they say... picture abhi baaki hai mere dost! :)

straight point said...

mahek... then i can only say we watched different videos... :)

coz what i saw... the ball clearly went off the black velcro... and i hope once they upload the picture or you tube video of his dismissal again... it is very clearly visible that his arm guard was not separated from the gloves...

Mahek said...

The velcro was on the armguard. If you're saying the batsman is out because the armguard was touching the strapping of the glove then would you say the batsman is out if the ball came off the other end of the armguard?

Aditya said...

Good start by Zaheer.Kallis is the big fish we need to get him out quickly and the spinners can toy with the rest of the line up and I agree with Mahek to an extent the Indians make emotional decisions on the referral system as was evident from the SL-Ind series...absolute shockers i tell you!

Mahek said...

Unfortunately we also don't have Hotspot because Nimbus doesn't think it's worth buying that technology. So while fans in England, Australia and New Zealand have access to it we have to live in the Dark Ages even though we're responsible for the majority of cricketing revenue.

straight point said...

aditya

i am not sure its emotional decision... but most certainly practical one...

why would you like to pay from your own pocket to see umps like harper giving howlers even after watchin endless replays...?

and tell me which team is happy with it wherever the system has been implemented...

Mahek said...

Because for every Harper howler there are three shockers overturned and teams tend to focus on the ones that don't go their way. The referral system is also a branding opportunity so it's not like the broadcaster can't recoup the cost of buying that technology.

Aditya said...

I was talking about the emotional referrals by Team India in Sri Lanka in 2008.I can say India lost that series thanks to ineffective handling of referrals.
As that is the only series where India has used the referral system I am forced to draw examples from it due to lack of evidence!
Sachin,Dravid etc are not in favor of it so the BCCI will follow suit.

The harper howler was an glitch but we seem to forget the other decisions which were over turned like the KP inside edge LBW where the umpire gave it out and with the referral sanity prevailed.There were at least 5-6 decisions in the series where it saved the batsmen from wrongly being given out.Over it did help the teams right?
I am in for referral system with hostspot,snicko and what not,aid the umpire or get a computer in there in place of people like harper!

straight point said...

not denying that aditya...

but tell me when two boards decide mutually that they won't implement the referral system... how it is wise to blame only one board...?

Aditya said...

when matches are played in SA the system is used and everywhere the system is used in the world.Only in India it is not being used and you very well know in a discussion between CSA and the BCCI and when the match is being played in India is a decision mutual or is it forced on them?
No board wants to get into the bad books of the BCCI which leads to every board bowing to every whim and fancy of the board!
and IMO the BCCI has enough money to finance Nimbus with every possible equipment they need!

straight point said...

yes aditya... when i wrote that i forgot the arm twisting methods of bcci...

so when say if we go to sa and referral system will be implemented... will it be safe to assume that sa borad arm twisted bcci...? :)

Aditya said...

By then the ICC will have a vote on it and it will be the true test of the arm twisting power of the BCCI (money vs logic) :)
Lets hope sanity prevails!

what you say is very true we have to see what happens in overseas series to get a better picture but remember we did not have the referral system against NZ in NZ!

straight point said...

on separate note... i hope that dhoni comes down the wicket and show bhajji how and where to bowl like he did with mishra...

Anonymous said...

Saha must be the luckiest man alive!! Inspite of having DKNY, Parthiv , Nohit, Virat , Che, Rahane and many others guy has got the coveted test cap...

hope he does make something of this opportunity..

straight point said...

anon... this is what many call the phenomenon... how stars align perfectly in sky to do it for you... :)

Mahek said...

It's not upto the board but the broadcaster to decide whether it wants to buy the technology. I wouldn't go so far as to say the BCCI armtwisted CSA, CSA has absolutely no say in whether there should be a referral system in this series.

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