Sreeshant versus Ishant

[vvvslaxman]

I would look for bowlers with bit of swing. RP singh is not a bad option. He does very well in SA conditions. I doubt if Ishant would be successful there.

[hari504504]

I would look for bowlers with bit of swing. RP singh is not a bad option. He does very well in SA conditions. I doubt if Ishant would be successful there.

with that definition..noone better than Praveen Kumar RP Singh could potentially be a left handed version of Sreesanth having a bad day minus the hysterics

[daryl1985]

I actually like both of them but they struggle with consistency. In NZ's 1st innings Sreesanth bowled beautifully at times and his final figures did not reflect how well he bowled. He has to play in South Africa!

[ravishingravi]

Play both of them.

[Fontaine]

Give Sreesanth some time, he is one of the best we've got and we should back him

Sreesanth can have all the time in the world. In domestic cricket, A tours and warmup matches etc. Let him prove he can be a very good bowler. But why waste genuine test matches and serious tours like the one in South Africa? The way I see it, if this clown is good enough to get the job done he'll show it in domestic cricket and obviously things like control, accuracy, temprament, and consistency can easily be seen there. Why are we tolerating this kind of rubbish in a test match? Would it be acceptable to keep giving chances to a technically weak and lunatic opening batsmen? Hell no, he would be dropped and sent back to domestic cricket to prove he can improve. Why the double standard for this clown?

[vvvslaxman]

with that definition..noone better than Praveen Kumar RP Singh could potentially be a left handed version of Sreesanth having a bad day minus the hysterics

RP is unplayable in certain conditions. Unfortunately he just gets the opposite in India. He hasn't played tests there though. RP did well in England and Australia.

[vvvslaxman]

Indian bowlers in SA in the last 10 years http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;host=3;spanmin1=15+Nov+2000;spanval1=span;team=6;template=results;type=bowling

[bihutoli]

Shows the bowling stock we have really. Ideally both Sreeshant and Ishant would have been sent back to domestic cricket to get their game back on track. Unfortunately in India a bowler who has been relegated to the domestic setup (primarily on account of form) finds it near impossible to get back to the Indian setup. RP, Munaf, Irfan etc have all gone that path. Its almost like Ishant and Sreeshant have been kept in the folds with the hope that they'd come good in international cricket itself. The only bowler who was able to make a decent comeback after being dropped for form was Zak.

[Fontaine]

Indian bowlers in SA in the last 10 years http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;host=3;spanmin1=15+Nov+2000;spanval1=span;team=6;template=results;type=bowling

Hell if we're going by averages, then drop Bhajji and bring back Kumble for the South Africa series. If we're going by what happened 4 years ago then Sreesanth is a better bowler than Zaheer! :hysterical:

[Fontaine]

I think it would be folly to expect Sreesanth to all of sudden completely change how inconsistent and horrible he's been in one tour to South Africa. You have to take Zaheer, Ishant (because he's a different option than swing) and anyone else not named Sree. Maybe Pathan, maybe RP or whoever is in the best form RIGHT NOW.

[bihutoli]

I'm not sure I disagree with the dropping Bhajji part. We'd be playing only one spinner in SA and Ojha has just as good a shout on that position as Bhajji. However we all know that Bhajji will play as he is more experienced and he bats better.

[vaibhav_delhi]

I don't hate Sreesanth. I just can't tolerate losers in a team that has so many great players that try their absolute best to win every match they play. Try to look at it from the point of view of SRT, or Lax etc. These guys will go into the South Africa tour knowing that this could be one of their greatest tours and while they're trying their absolute best, scoring centuries, performing under pressure, they'll have some childish, brainless idiot who can't even bowl three deliveries in a row on a consistent line/length. No matter how well these guys bat, they'll know the dancing donkey will be there to ruin it all. Other people may be fine, may accept that kind of weakeness and loser attitude. I don't.

++ cant stand his long wasted run up, wayward bowling and theatricals. he bowls some good deliveries in between, has to be said.

[Fontaine]

I'm not sure I disagree with the dropping Bhajji part. We'd be playing only one spinner in SA and Ojha has just as good a shout on that position as Bhajji. However we all know that Bhajji will play as he is more experienced and he bats better.

I don't care which bowlers go to SA as long as it's done on the basis of merit and form. As poor as the bowling stocks are surely we can do better than give the new ball to a guy who can't even bowl 2/3 good deliveries an over. If you can't take wickets then in the very least you can bowl a tight wicket to wicket line and put pressure on the batsmen and there are plenty of bowlers like Munaf who can do that. Sree isn't taking wickets, isn't bowling econimically. He's doing nothing but helping batsmen like Ryder etc get off to a good start.

[vvvslaxman]

Hell if we're going by averages, then drop Bhajji and bring back Kumble for the South Africa series. If we're going by what happened 4 years ago then Sreesanth is a better bowler than Zaheer! :hysterical:

Apart from Zak to some extent nobody is an all-season bowler who can do well on all kinds of surfaces. Even Zak struggled in SL in one of the test series. Let us not pretend we have Mcgrath, AMbrose in waiting. We have crap bowlers. We have to make the best use of it. Only way you can do is going for bowlers who are likely to do well in a given condition. I favor Sree over Ishant in SA conditions. IN OZ conditions i would do the opposite.

[Fontaine]

Apart from Zak to some extent nobody is an all-season bowler who can do well on all kinds of surfaces. Even Zak struggled in SL in one of the test series. Let us not pretend we have Mcgrath' date=' AMbrose in waiting. We have crap bowlers. We have to make the best use of it. Only way you can do is going for bowlers who are likely to do well in a given condition. I favor Sree over Ishant in SA conditions. IN OZ conditions i would do the opposite.[/quote'] Nobody is saying Sree/Ishant have to bowl like Zaheer. However, the BASIC MINIMUM requirements need to be met. When you can't take wickets because the pitch is flat or the batsmen too good (like they will be in SA) then you need your brain to switch on and AT LEAST be able to bowl a decent line/length. Sreesanth hasn't been able to do that for YEARS. When a bowler is struggling to do the bare minimum then he's not going to take wickets on any pitch against any opposition. Flukes do happen occasionally though.

[Fontaine]

I would rather take Praveen Kumar who can swing it BOTH ways and with far more control than Sree EVER could. People talk about his speed being slow but for that vast majority of this series Sree has been bowling around 132/134 so he's no longer express after all his injuries. Or Ashish Nehra who's been a much more controlled and aggressive bowler since his comeback. Not to mention he's a left armer and has been injury free compared to Sree who's always breaking down. BOTH of these guys, on MERIT deserve to be in the team AHEAD of the dancing donkey. On the bare minimum at least these guys can think on their feet, adjust to the conditions, bowl to a field rather than Sheesanth who has more dance moves than brains. If we need a cheer leader on the team for the shorter format who can dance for the boundaries then sure, Sree can come along in that case.

[Fontaine]

It's actually hilarious. The ONLY argument so far I've heard about Sreesanth being included in the team for SA is: "Hopefully he'll do well because he did well 4 years ago." :hysterical: It's like nevermind the guys isn't express any more, can't bowl three good deliveries in a row, never mind he's a nut case, never mind his average/strike rate and all other stats suck. Let's forget all those facts. Let's just hope. Yeah, that should be enough against the 2nd ranked test side in the world with a formidable battling lineup in their own back yard. Hope. :hysterical:

[vvvslaxman]

It's actually hilarious. The ONLY argument so far I've heard about Sreesanth being included in the team for SA is: "Hopefully he'll do well because he did well 4 years ago." :hysterical: It's like nevermind the guys isn't express any more, can't bowl three good deliveries in a row, never mind he's a nut case, never mind his average/strike rate and all other stats suck. Let's forget all those facts. Let's just hope. Yeah, that should be enough against the 2nd ranked test side in the world with a formidable battling lineup in their own back yard. Hope. :hysterical:

You can say the same about Ishant too and pretty much any Indian bowler.

[putrevus]

Ishant is better bet than Sreesanth any day yes he had some trouble recently but he shown signs of improvement unlike Sreesanth who has shown no signs of maturity. Sreesanth wants wicket every ball for which he start trying too many things too quickly, Ishant has that bounce in his favor and he also can get reverse swing going. Last test he played with injured knee he changed the match in i India's favor by that aggressive spell that is what is needed on this kind of a wicket.

[Fontaine]

You can say the same about Ishant too and pretty much any Indian bowler.

That's incorrect. Praveen Kumar has shown he can swing the ball both ways as if he's got the ball on a string and Nehra also to a lesser extent. Both of these guys have shown the ability and more importantly the execution to out think batsmen and plan/setup dismissals. The next time Sreesanth bowls 6 good deliveries on a consistent line/length with swing will be his first in years.