A few observations thus far:

[Zooter]

Okay, this one is gone too. 275 ain't gonna happen. THE ONE THING (!!!) that our bowlers should not have done at the death is bowl full length to big Kemp who was in an aggressive mode--and that's exactly what they did. Dravid did NOTHING about it. ??? I just don't know -- it's like amateur night sometimes :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: Don't let Kumble's performance fool you -- he kept it tight but we don't need 2 full-time spinners. The Proteas are the worst players of spin and don't believe that Kumble can keep this kind of performace up game after game. Kaarthik!!! We replaced Raina/Mongia with Kaarthik. :wall: :wall: Okay, ... so we already have a keeper--and now we have two on the field at the same time. So, we take the lesser of the two and stick him in the field, :shrug: even though a Raina or Dinu Mongia would have been an order of magnitude better. Let all those who wanted to return to the 4-bowler days take note: I TOLD YOU INDIA CAN'T FINISH THE JOB even with 5 full-time bowlers. Whaddya think the Saffies would have done to us if we player only 4 bowlers?? We confuse ourselves by selecting too many players. Now Zaheer Khan deserves a shot--he has played brilliantly (except for when it counted), but think of all the other names: Powar, SreeSanth, Rudra Pratap, VRV Singh, (and perhaps even Joginder Sharma), ... ... what are their fates?? To it, ... we add Kumble and Kaarthik! :tired: Enough is enough. You can't field BRAND NEW SQUADS every time you play a game.

[Anakin]

Re: A few observations thus far: Captaincy wasn't that great either

[Sooda]

Re: A few observations thus far: Dinu shouldn't have been left out...he needs to be given a longish rope.

[Anakin]

Re: A few observations thus far: And retarded team selection as usual

[Predator_05]

Re: A few observations thus far: Kemp hit sixes for fun off Shane Bond's 150 kmph bowling, so what hope would the Indian pea-shooters have ? I don't think the Indian seamers should EVER be allowed to bowl in the slog overs. They are simply incapable of holding their nerve, and i've seen this happen time and time again. Holding back the spinners for the last 10 is the best possible way of limiting the damage.

[The Outsider]

Re: A few observations thus far: Dont think Karthik will do any worse than Mongia and Raina. Didn't watch the SA innings but there is nothing new in saying that we really really need someone who can bowl at the death.

[Zooter]

Re: A few observations thus far: Agree with most of your point guys, Pred -- true that Indian pacers don't know the difference between their head and their own a$$ at the end; ... but if you wanna plug things up ... SRT, Dinu and Sehwag can perform that job quite well. I think we've forgotten the lessons of the past: Kumble CANNOT TAKE ODI WICKETS -- that's not his style. He doesn't spin it big ... he uses line and length to keep things tight, and he confuses the batsmen when bounce and tests their patience to get them out. That's why he makes a PERFECT TEST BOWLER. Very rarely will India need 2 specialist spinners in limited over cricket. One Bhajji and a combo of Power or Dinu or SRT or Yuvraj or Veeru is good enough. And as I write this--there goes Kaarthik--hmmmmmmmmmmmm ... what a suuuurprise!! A guy who hasn't played an international ODI for God knows how long (and was never that great anyway--just average) gets called up outta the blue to play South Africa IN SOUTH AFRICA.