India appear to be dangerously undercooked for the SA series.

[G_B_]

I dont see any warm ups or anything...

 

not blaming CSA but we have seen in the Ashes that England looked totally off the boil vs Aus.

 

Its a shame India have to face these circumstances as in the WTC final too we went in against Nz with hardly any warm ups and NZ had played a series in England just prior.

 

Typical Virat Kohli panauti in a way. India have a squad to beat SA in SA. But things just dont appear to happen for him. Watch India lose all the tosses.

[poyzzplaidwell]

https://www.bcci.tv/videos/158854/training-special-a-peek-into-team-india-s-intense-nets-session-at-supersport-park

[G_B_]

Unfortunately a net session is simply not the same...

[poyzzplaidwell]

8 minutes ago, G_B_ said:

Unfortunately a net session is simply not the same...

yeah i agree. Bit undercooked. But with the COVID situation, What else could be done. At least Vihari and Panchal have been there for some time now.

Hopefully they get a go.

[Jay]

22 minutes ago, G_B_ said:

I dont see any warm ups or anything...

 

not blaming CSA but we have seen in the Ashes that England looked totally off the boil vs Aus.

 

Its a shame India have to face these circumstances as in the WTC final too we went in against Nz with hardly any warm ups and NZ had played a series in England just prior.

 

Typical Virat Kohli panauti in a way. India have a squad to beat SA in SA. But things just dont appear to happen for him. Watch India lose all the tosses.

Best bet? Use some of A team players. 

[diga]

I am not sure how Dravid agreed to this scheduling  ...

[G_B_]

I dont think I am blaming anybody. The situation is such. I dont think either the players board etc can be blamed.

 

Its just circumstances. 

 

I feel if somebody offers India the draw in the first test, just take it. Important not to lose more than anything.

[ShoonyaSifar]

9 minutes ago, diga said:

I am not sure how Dravid agreed to this scheduling  ...

Can't blame anyone with the given Omicron situation. SA have had so many domestic games cancelled/ postponed. That the tour is going ahead is itself huge.

 

We could have picked a set of 3-4 extra net bowlers to at least have a 3 day intra squad match.

 

One change Dravid must bring about is more seriousness to the practice sessions. Under Shastri, these sessions had lost their relevance.

[G_B_]

Well I think India will need depth for sure.

 

Hardly 2-3 days between tests...

 

Super compressed. 

 

The thing with omicron is that if it spreads to one player odds are the entire squad will be impacted. Lateral flow tests are simply not enough.

[New guy]

Yeah i don't have a good feeling about this series, lots of indications are not good,  on field, off field, etc. It will reflect on the team

[gattaca]

Kohli is unhappy so don’t think this is good for the team. Don’t think bumrah , shami played in a while as well. Our batting has been bailed by lower order multiple times except England series where openers scored runs. Signs don’t look good.

[Dery]

Kohli doesn't care about winning & BCCI only care about IPL

[sensible-indian]

Womt be surprised if we get whitewashed.

 

Which will be a shame cos our team is really good if we remove the dead weights.

[sensible-indian]

Its England series all over again I feel.

 

We dont know who the heck will score for us.

 

Rahul and Rohit stepped up there.

[putrevus]

It is ridiculous for OP to compare England to India. When did England compete in Australia except for one series in 2011.India will be just be just fine and will comepete in all tests. Will they win depends on form  of batsman. Kohli's teams always compete.

[express bowling]

We should have picked a larger squad and played practice games among India and  India A.

 

These extra players could have come back before Ranji Trophy starts.

 

It would have been nice if the Indian batters got to face Saini, Prasidh and Umran Malik in a practice game or two. (  This is the kind of pace and bounce we will face in SA )

 

And these 3 fast bowlers would have got priceless bowling practice against top class batters in red ball matches.

 

Win win situation for both Indian batters and upcoming young Indian quicks.

 

But did not happen.

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by express bowling

[G_B_]

I feel Kohli will want to prove a point. He loses this series he can kiss even the test captaincy goodbye. India have home series post this test and dont really need Kohli for that. If anybody has to win its Kohli. Rahane winning in Australia IMO started this whole anti Kohli bandwagon. 

 

Re the A team. I think there was thinking that if you have too big a squad given that SA is omicron ground zero the probability of somebody getting infected and the entire squad gets infected rises manifold. Puts the entire test series in doubt. Its different for England vs Australia when cases in Australia are under control. 

 

All India needed was 2 proper warm up games. To be fair even the SA players have not had a proper warm up. But they will know the conditions inside out.

 

SA themselves are going through turmoil with the racism report on Boucher and Smith. 

 

 

 

 

[express bowling]

23 minutes ago, G_B_ said:

 

 

Re the A team. I think there was thinking that if you have too big a squad given that SA is omicron ground zero the probability of somebody getting infected and the entire squad gets infected rises manifold. Puts the entire test series in doubt. Its different for England vs Australia when cases in Australia are under control. 

 

 

 

Already there are 18 + 4 = 22 players in the squad.

 

So, 11 vs 11 is still possible.

 

I just wanted 2 extra quick bowlers in Prasidh and Umran. 

 

Not much difference between 22 and 24 players.

Edited December 20, 2021 by express bowling

[ShoonyaSifar]

More than lack of preparation, we were beaten in the WTC Finals by incompetent leadership which had zero strategy and planning (no Siraj, Shardul or Sundar -  heroes of Gabba win, two spinners despite plenty of rain) and then made school boyish tactical errors. 

 

In England, we won two tests despite the pathetic leadership (lack of planning, tactical errors). The opponents were weaker as well (easily thrashed by the Kiwis).

 

If mistakes of WTC finals are repeated, we will again lose this SA series. SA have a better bowling attack than England and even overall batting strength is better (Elgar, Markram, Dussen, QDK, 

 

[putrevus]

1 hour ago, G_B_ said:

I feel Kohli will want to prove a point. He loses this series he can kiss even the test captaincy goodbye. India have home series post this test and dont really need Kohli for that. If anybody has to win its Kohli. Rahane winning in Australia IMO started this whole anti Kohli bandwagon. 

 

Re the A team. I think there was thinking that if you have too big a squad given that SA is omicron ground zero the probability of somebody getting infected and the entire squad gets infected rises manifold. Puts the entire test series in doubt. Its different for England vs Australia when cases in Australia are under control. 

 

All India needed was 2 proper warm up games. To be fair even the SA players have not had a proper warm up. But they will know the conditions inside out.

 

SA themselves are going through turmoil with the racism report on Boucher and Smith. 

 

 

 

 

Why would he lose test captaincy. A captain with 36 test wins and most overseas wins by any Indian captain don't grow on trees.He still has 2nd most centuries by any captain. On what account he is unsuccessful as a test captain.He still is averaging 54 as a captain. That too after his abysmal form foor last two year. That average is better than again any Indian captain

Edited December 20, 2021 by putrevus