Saffas Are In Town!!
India vs South Africa…world number 1 and 2…my two most favourite cricket teams..yeah, this is going to be awesome!
I don’t know why I am so fond of South Africa. It is not like we have a particularly great record against them. It’s not like they are an awesome team..they do tend to choke a lot. Is it because my earliest memory of cricket is that series back in ’92? Perhaps. But whatever the reason might be, they are here and we have delicious contest at hand.
(A lesson in history of these two teams wouldn’t be amiss here, so here you go.)
India goes into this series with a near inexperienced middle order. Rahul Dravid is injured thanks to Shahadat Hossein…
(Shahadat, you are one useless fellow. You can’t even bowl a bouncer properly and you call yourself a fast bowler?? And now Dravid will not be able to play against SA thanks to your uselessness!! WTH!! Test matches are a rarity anyways, and now I’ll have to wait till the IPL to see Dravid in action again…the IPL…do you realise how painful that is for me?? You better not get within 50 feet of me in your lifetime..or I promise..bad things will happen to you…I hope you have a rotten 2010…I hope that you don’t get any wickets this year and get dropped from the team..yes, this is my curse!!)
Sorry, where was I?
Yes, so as I was saying, RD is out because of his jaw and Yuvi and possibly VVS are out too. This means that we get a little peek into the future of Team India with Badri and Vijay and possibly Sharma getting a look in. I am not too happy about playing an opener at #3, but I guess asking for Pujara would be expecting too much from the selectors. And anyways, the BCCI did one good thing by at least scheduling a couple of tests, so one should not be greedy. Also, Vijay has done well with the chances he has got so far. And it is not unheard of in India for a player to bat in a completely different slot than he is used to. So, I can live with this.
Badri, I am happy he is getting a chance to stake his claim for the future. Whether he is able to do anything about it remains to be seen. Sharma, though, does not inspire much confidence in me. He might be immensely talented, but I feel he needs a year or two in the domestic circuit to learn how to do justice to his ability. To learn how to construct an innings. My choice for that slot would have been Kaif. But the lesser I think about that option, the better it will be for me coz I don’t see it happening.
Bowling now. I suppose the lineup should read Zak, Ishant, Bhajji and Mishra for tomorrow? Hope to see Ishant bowl well and Mishra out-bowl the dart-thrower.
For a team I claim to be a huge fan of, I am embarrassingly ignorant of their batsmen. Yes, so Graeme Smith is one of the mainstays. And so is Kallis (By the way, why does everyone hate Kallis so much? What has he done?). I hear good things about AB too. So I suppose they are the ones to look out for?
And their bowling strength lies in their seamers. Morkel, Steyn and Parnell. If at all there are some seam-friendly conditions, a Morkel-Steyn vs Sehwag-Gambhir contest should be riveting stuff.
I am hopeful for an intense competition on-field like Ind vs Aus usually is, but without the nasties.
Gentleman, play! 
Shahadat Hossein won’t be half as scared of Sehwag as he should be of you..
Dhoni is lucky to have 11 fit players in his squad. With even Rohit managing to get himself injured, Dhoni must be cursing his stars. With such a depleted team, we would do well to manage a draw.
BTW… this is my new link.. http://www.crickosphere.com/
Would be great if you can update ur blogroll!! Thanks
[Reply]
Trideep Basu
6 Feb 10 at 9:25 pm
the way thinks going on now… dhoni would have liked more fit bowlers than batsmen…
[Reply]
straight point
6 Feb 10 at 11:33 pm
Dravid and Laxman will be missed, esp. since they’re only in the Test team now, and India plays like 5 Tests a year. I don’t mind M Vijay and Badri getting a chance though. Good opportunity to blood the youth. Saha is another story.
Apart from Smith, Kallis and AB, there are Amla (whom I am sure you know of by now) and Aussie-slaying Duminy. A solid batting line-up. But I am more interested in their bowling attack. Last I saw Morkel, he was their 2nd or 3rd change seamer, so he must have improved a whole lot to be sharing the new ball with Steyn. It’s their new 20-year-old bowler Parnell that I really want to see. (On a side note, 10 bucks says Tendulkar’s going to lose his wicket to him.) And of course, Steyn. And I also want to see how our middle order fares. I am hopeful of a good showing from Vijay and Badri. I don’t fancy Yuvray or Rohit in Tests, so I don’t mind that they’re missing out.
But it looks like a flat pitch yet again.
6 wickets in 2 days is abysmal. BCCI then wonders why there aren’t enough people watching Tests. So, I think I’ll have to wait until the 2nd Test to see some of these contests.
[Reply]
Megha Reply:
February 7th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
hey! looks like 3 of the comments on this post have gone missing :-/
anyhoo…I am with you on Yuvi and Rohit…i don’t see them as good Test prospects myself…sadly, even if Badri does well, he will have to make way for Yuvi when he is fit…I wish the selecteors had shown some foresight and bled the youth in for the Bangladesh series..but I guess they were worried about “ordinary” Bangladesh springing a surprise and us losing face…
And how much better would it have been to have Karthik in the squad instead of Saha..i mean, i would have selected Karthik for this test if i had to keep an extra keeper, but that is just me (btw, I am not all that convinced that we needed an extra keeper in the squad for just one test match)
Aussie Slayer..i like that..and yes, Amla was a painful realisation…wow, solid line-up indeed!
BCCI then wonders why there aren’t enough people watching Tests.
U really think they wonder? :-/
P.S. – So should I send you my bank details in case Tendulkar doesn’t fall to Parnell?
[Reply]
Pratik Shah
7 Feb 10 at 10:46 pm
Yup, I’d certainly have preferred Karthik over Saha. I don’t think Karthik has fallen out of favour; I conjecture he was simply unavailable since he was leading the South Zone side in the Duleep Trophy final.
http://www.cricinfo.com/indiandomestic2009/engine/current/match/427326.html
No, I know the BCCI doesn’t bother trying to figure out why Test cricket is not appealing to the Indian masses.
You’d have to give me your address so I can come personally give you the $10.
Of course, you’re always welcome to come collect it as well.
[Reply]
Pratik Shah
8 Feb 10 at 3:28 am