Experienced players ‘make big difference’ overseas – Pujara

[Tibarn]

http://newsofthehour.co.uk/experienced-players-make-big-difference-overseas-pujara/

 

Quote

After India lost The Oval Test of 2014 inside three days, thus losing the series 3-1 after leading, MS Dhoni came out armed with the number of caps in his side as against those in England’s. Dhoni asked for time for a young Indian side, some of whom had started playing only when India started their 13 straight overseas Tests, beginning with South Africa in 2013-14.

 

Later this year, or early next year, India will start a similar journey, but things will be different this time. Virat Kohli has played 58 Tests, M Vijay reached 50 Tests during India’s last home season, the last Test in Galle was R Ashwin’s 50th, and now the SSC Test will be Cheteshwar Pujara‘s 50th.

...

“It will make a big difference because as a team you want players who are experienced enough,” Pujara said of the collective experience in the side. “When we first toured South Africa, New Zealand and England, we were a young team, we didn’t know what to expect from the opposition and sometimes we also didn’t know what were our strengths in such conditions. But now when we go back there again, we will have a clear game plan. Our bowlers will know which areas to bowl and even as a batting unit, we will be very confident and clear with our game plans. I think having that experience of playing more Test matches will help us.”

 

An example of this could be how Pujara himself was a different batsman on his second trip to South Africa. On his first trip there, soon after his debut in 2010, Pujara fought hard but had only 31 runs in three innings to show for it. On his second trip, in 2013-14, Pujara scored a century in Johannesburg.

 

“My first away tour, after making my debut, in 2011 when we went to South Africa facing Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel was the toughest part of my career. And I learnt and when I went there again in 2013, it was a different ball-game all together but yes 2011 was tough.”

...

The other thing Pujara has learnt, perhaps with experience, is not to take too much pressure of past failures, such as the previous England tour, which began a string of low scores for him. “I would definitely like to score runs but there won’t be any pressure this time as I have played some county cricket,” Pujara said. “Playing in England will always be challenging, the wickets are bowler-friendly but I would definitely like to score some runs. But I wouldn’t think that far ahead because we have a tour of South Africa first after this series, the next away tour is South Africa and I would like to prepare for that.”

 

So who do you guys expect to make the biggest improvement on our overseas tours this time around?

 

Will we win our first series in Aus/SA this time?

[Pollack]

Difficult to predict without knowing bowlers and lower order. Once teams are known for each tour predicting would be much easier.

Regarding batsmen, imo :

 

Good to Excellent:  Rahane (SA and Eng)

Pujara ( Eng and NZ)

Kohli(AUS)

 

Average to below average:

 Kohli (Eng,NZ)

Vijay (NZ, SA)

 

 

[mishra]

@OP Change the wording of "Yes" to "Maybe".

Yes, Australia

Yes, New Zealand

You rarely win oversees series when conditions are miles away from home one. You perform well , give tough fight, some time draw the series but very rarely win on.

[putrevus]

It has always been Indian batting which has let them down against strong bowling attacks away from home. leading the pack who stunk up was Sachin.I really hope these youngsters do far better than their predecessors. 

[Pollack]

32 minutes ago, putrevus said:

It has always been Indian batting which has let them down against strong bowling attacks away from home. leading the pack who stunk up was Sachin.I really hope these youngsters do far better than their predecessors. 

 

[Tibarn]

1 hour ago, Pollack said:

Difficult to predict without knowing bowlers and lower order. Once teams are known for each tour predicting would be much easier.

 

You don't think the skeleton of our team is pretty well established?

1st choice openers are Vijay and KL Rahul 

Backups: Dhawan, Mukund, Gambhir

 

Middle order: Pujara, Kohli, Rahane

Backups: Rohit, Nair

 

Spinners: Ashwin, Jadeja

Backups: Kuldeep, Jayant

 

Pacers: Shami, Ishant, Bhuvi, Umesh

Backups: Thakur(?)

 

Keeper: Saha

Backup: Parthiv

 

Allrounders to choose from: Ashwin, Jadeja, Pandya, Jayant, Bhuvi(?)

  

I don't think there will be many changes outside of these players, barring injury. 

 

1 hour ago, mishra said:

Change the wording of "Yes" to "Maybe"

Maybe is no fun, we already know we can possibly win any series.

I just want to see if anyone is confident we will win any particular series overseas.   

 

[Stuge]

i said no because there was no option of maybe

[Vilander]

@Tibarn since it is your poll, i wonder why you chose to vote for other. if it is some other batsman that will do well according to you then you should have put that name in the poll too ?

[gakgupta]

May be they can win a match but not the series...
Except Shami other Pacers are little inconsistent.....they can come up with one or 2 good spells in the series but not consistent basis to win a series.....and one guy who is consistent is injury prone....he might not even last a whole series

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

[Tibarn]

51 minutes ago, Vilander said:

@Tibarn since it is your poll, i wonder why you chose to vote for other. if it is some other batsman that will do well according to you then you should have put that name in the poll too ?

I put Vijay/Pujara/Kohli/Rahane as they are were the main 4 batsmen of our team during the last overseas leg and are still our first choice players. I figured most of the votes would be for 1 of those 4.

 

The other category would be any other batsmen ie Rohit, Dhawan, etc who someone might have high hopes for. I expected that anyone who votes other would post who they think and why:

 

I voted other for KL Rahul, as although he only played overseas in the AUS series, I think the his experience since then, especially scoring daddy 100s in in West Indies and in India will help him a lot next time he tours AUS. IMO, his biggest weakness was where he showed a very hit-or-miss tendency of either scoring a single digit score or getting a hundred. I think he has sorted that out now.    

 

 

[Vilander]

43 minutes ago, Tibarn said:

I put Vijay/Pujara/Kohli/Rahane as they are were the main 4 batsmen of our team during the last overseas leg and are still our first choice players. I figured most of the votes would be for 1 of those 4.

 

The other category would be any other batsmen ie Rohit, Dhawan, etc who someone might have high hopes for. I expected that anyone who votes other would post who they think and why:

 

I voted other for KL Rahul, as although he only played overseas in the AUS series, I think the his experience since then, especially scoring daddy 100s in in West Indies and in India will help him a lot next time he tours AUS. IMO, his biggest weakness was where he showed a very hit-or-miss tendency of either scoring a single digit score or getting a hundred. I think he has sorted that out now.    

 

 

actually Rahul will do well, i agree.

[mishra]

I have a feeling that our bowling attack is good enough to take 20 wickets. If batsmen do their bit, we will definitely make opposition to rethink their strategy.

Kohli should stick with his favourites no matter what media says for atleast 1+ year

[Silva]

I think if india used the 5 bowler strategy in the last round of away test matches many of the those draws and maybe some of the losses might have turmed into wins. Kohli has to get credit for trying to play 5 bowlers when ever possible when india can easily win in the subcontent with only 4 bowlers. Its good preperation. 

[Texan]

It will be hugely dependent on team selection. If we keep playing bowlers who can't bowl in the right channel consistently enough, then we are going to struggle. On the batsmen, I think Rahul should have been added to the poll. If he can stay injury-free, sickness-free, allergy-free, bug bite-free, then he could well become our best overseas batsman.

 

Overall, if we get our team selection right, we have a chance of winning in NZ and even possibly in SA.