At last! India starting to look like a Test team

[Donny]

This is great to see. :regular_smile: At last, India is starting to LOOK like a real Test team - a new and very positive captain at the helm, 4 excellent bowlers, GG doing the job up the top ..... Only 2 changes needed now. The black hole at first drop must go. How much longer can he be carried ? Yesterday's man. VVS is the other who must move on. Of course, Gangs has already done the right thing and announced he's making way for a younger batsman/fielder. Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Subramaniam Badrinath and Yuvi will vie for these spots. With RP Singh, Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla in reserve, the bowling stocks look good, too. The current Aussies are only a shadow of their great teams of the '89 to '07 period but if India continues to improve, they'll beat most other Test nations.

[IndianRenegade]

The only test team that will threatening us at the moment is SRI LANKA, because of mendis factor....

[DomainK]

There are still some serious flaws in the team. First is the lack of a proper all rounder. A team should ideally have two, but if we can find even one, it will do. Pathan looked like the answer to the question for some time, but then he went downhill. I am not sure if he deserves another chanace. May be....against a lesser team. We need some batsmen with very strong defense. Once Dravid and Sachin go, the art of classical defense would be gone from this team and we will be exposed on difficult pitches with quality bowlers. We need to find a suitable batsman for that no3 position. I dont see any suitabe replacement for Dravid right now. We need to improve our fielding.

[Fontaine]

There are still some serious flaws in the team. First is the lack of a proper all rounder. A team should ideally have two, but if we can find even one, it will do. Pathan looked like the answer to the question for some time, but then he went downhill. I am not sure if he deserves another chanace. May be....against a lesser team. We need some batsmen with very strong defense. Once Dravid and Sachin go, the art of classical defense would be gone from this team and we will be exposed on difficult pitches with quality bowlers. We need to find a suitable batsman for that no3 position. I dont see any suitabe replacement for Dravid right now. We need to improve our fielding.

You're right, we don't have that all rounder but both Bhajji and Khan have improved their batting to be decent tail enders. They're not going to score a lot of runs but combined they do offer strong resistence which alleviates the all rounder problem. Pathan will be coming back but first he realy has to improve his accuracy and consistency. I think it's going to take time but Rohit Sharma will become a key player because he can play all the shots, has great technique for defense as well but he hasn't put it together in terms of consistency. One thing that is for certain is the we do have quality depth there with Jaffer, Rohit, Yuvraj, Raina, Kohli, as batsmen who will be competing for places and in the bowling department guys like Chawla, Mishra, Patel, RP, Pathan, sreesanth who can also come in. With that many young players looking to come into the squad it's not the case that we don't have talent. It's just waiting and managing that talent to see who can come forward to claim their place.

[Dhondy]

Bullshyte. Haven't won back to back Tests in over 2 years. We have seen many false dawns like these. Try not get carried away, Donny.

[Shehezaada]

Dravid will be back with a bang in the next two test matches. Made an important 50 in the first test.

[Donny]

Mmmm, now where have I heard that before ? Oh, yes. In here - often - over the last 18 months. :regular_smile:

[King Tendulkar]

O god the return of the dreaded Donny smiley!

[SachDan]

Donny can't stand the Australian decline..trying to divert our attention :D

[Shane]

This is great to see. :regular_smile: At last, India is starting to LOOK like a real Test team - a new and very positive captain at the helm, 4 excellent bowlers, GG doing the job up the top ..... Only 2 changes needed now. The black hole at first drop must go. How much longer can he be carried ? Yesterday's man. VVS is the other who must move on. Of course, Gangs has already done the right thing and announced he's making way for a younger batsman/fielder. Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Subramaniam Badrinath and Yuvi will vie for these spots. With RP Singh, Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla in reserve, the bowling stocks look good, too. The current Aussies are only a shadow of their great teams of the '89 to '07 period but if India continues to improve, they'll beat most other Test nations.

1.The Black Hole is the one in which generally opposite teams fall into, his solid presence in the team is always needed amongst flashy players (Viru,Gauti,VVS,Dadi) i dont think we ve found a player with supreme technique for him to be replaced nor a one who can dig us out of a hole with his grit and determination when others fail, so WALL REIGNS SUPREME !!! 2. About VVS, ur plain jealous that he is born in INDIA :haha: and not in ur land :rotfl: and there is nothing to disagree with the rest of your post

[Lord]

the present team may be the real test team but if u take out fab 4 , it wont be. rohit,kohli raina may be good but not ready for test cricket.only badri n yuvi desrve test spots. badri bcoz he has done the hard yards in FC.n yuvi bcoz he has considerable intl experience

[SachDan]

aagaya apna sher :hello:

[Donny]

About VVS, ur plain jealous that he is born in INDIA :haha: and in ur land :rotfl:

Oh really ? Long birth was it ? Or do you just call that ambidextrous ?

[Shane]

Oh really ? Long birth was it ? Or do you just call that ambidextrous ?

Edited, but i think now u get the point !!!

[Donny]

No. Try another edit. :regular_smile:

[Shane]

No. Try another edit. :regular_smile:

:cantstop: Ok, but for now ur Aussie side might need some serious editing :haha:

[Donny]

Presumably, you mean 'your'. My team is the Victorian Bushrangers. :regular_smile:

[Predator_05]

India have been an excellent test side for most of the last decade - in this period, they have had the measure of teams like England, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka on more than one occasion; beating them soundly at home and even away from home. One can easily argue that India have been the 2nd best side in test cricket during the last 5 or 6 years. Their exceptional record against Australia closes that argument. So saying that India are only starting to look like a test team sounds pretty facetious to me. That said, the current side definitely looks like the most complete side the country has produced in this decade, even when you compare it to previous Indian sides. It has a very strong opening combination which looks like it's there to stay for the long term, a fantastic wicket-keeper and two very good fast bowlers. The middle order isn't as strong as it was a few years ago but this decline is offset but the improvement made in other areas.

[Shane]

Presumably, you mean 'your'. My team is the Victorian Bushrangers. :regular_smile:

Location NSW and supports Victoria :(( I thought ull guys were proud of the state ull came from

[King Tendulkar]

India have been an excellent test side for most of the last decade - in this period, they have had the measure of teams like England, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka on more than one occasion; beating them soundly at home and even away from home. One can easily argue that India have been the 2nd best side in test cricket during the last 5 or 6 years. Their exceptional record against Australia closes that argument. So saying that India are only starting to look like a test team sounds pretty facetious to me. That said, the current side definitely looks like the most complete side the country has produced in this decade, even when you compare it to previous Indian sides. It has a very strong opening combination which looks like it's there to stay for the long term, a fantastic wicket-keeper and two very good fast bowlers. The middle order isn't as strong as it was a few years ago but this decline is offset but the improvement made in other areas.

Spot on really!