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Beware of Southee


Gambit

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Most likely Franklin will make way for Southee and rightly so. Southee is no mug with the bat and despite all of Franklin's batting exploits at the FC level, I don't think there is too much to choose between them at international level - a 4/10 vs. a 6/10. On the other hand, Southee is a much much better bowler than Franklin and got jacked unfairly after the ODI series where pretty much every bowler got the hammering at some point. Moreover, his natural length is more suited to test matches and if it is going to be a typical Wellington surface then he will certainly be more than a handful given our batsman's proclivity to drive on the up. Looking forward to seeing him in action - his bowling in typical Wellington conditions will perhaps provide us our biggest test of the tour yet, specially if they bowl first.
Franklyn is a local boy and knows how to bowl in these conditions. I don't suspect he is going to be dropped. Patel although also is a local boy I expect him to be dropped. It's been spitting a bit this morning in Wellington BTW but the weather is predicted to be good over the weekend. It's getting a bit colder now that we are fast approaching Autumn. Indians will struggle a bit with the chill factor and the cold.
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Southee's strength is swing.. But he hardly swing the ball in the ODIs, even as Praveen Kumar was bending and jagging it all over the place in the same match. And he seemed totally devastated by the Indian onslaught at many points. So, there could still be many mental scars lingering on his mind. But from a pure team balance alone, there is no way Franklin should have played anyway. His bowling is a non-factor and his batting isnt good enough to win him a spot by itself. Unlike T20 and ODIs, tests are not won on batting depth, as unlike ODIs and T20s, a batsman cannot simply slog away to mask his deficiencies. If a batsman isnt good enough, he'll generally be found out.

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Bangar could do a more than competent job with the bat. Franklin just provided Yuvraj with catching practice (which wasn't even capitalized on). He had a solid technique, and his role in the partnership with Dravid at Headingley in 02 (when the pitch was an absolute snorter to bat on with the ball swinging and sometimes kicking up sharply) is one of the most unappreciated knocks in Indian cricket.

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yup India will be 17/5 and no Kapil to rescue this time:winky:
there cannot be a kapil like that in our team :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: but talking sensibly.....there is no way that can lead us to 17/5 we can be at the most 17/2 but not 5 down for that only mcgrath has to come back :haha: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical:
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