Raina or Pujara in the 11 for Tests vs SA

[saneindian]

Few good innings from Raina in the ODIs and he will be primed up for the SA series. I have a feeling he will do well there this time.

[IKnowU]

about sense f security,why not give that to Pujara,why was he dropped after one game?

So he is better then Laxman? :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical: Why should Raina be dropped for a guy just played one innings? Let Raina fail before we jump to conclusions :headshake:

[Lord]

So he is better then Laxman? :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical: Why should Raina be dropped for a guy just played one innings? Let Raina fail before we jump to conclusions :headshake:

not Laxman,but looked better than Raina.Raina also came in for Yuvraj n wen they realised he was better after ONE innings they stuck with him,why cant they do it with Pujara wen Raina was failing,why was Pujara not given a go in this test wen Raina failed miserably in 1st two tests?

[The Dark Horse]

Actually it should have been Pujara ahead of Raina for test debut in the first place. Now that Raina had been given the chance and he has done pretty well, it wont be bad to give him a fair go. I'm sure the team management will be thinking along these lines.

[jf1gp_1]

First badri now pujara; i am wondering who will be next unseen savior of indian cricket. anyways pujara over raina in any format is laughable; i would go to yuvraj before bringing in pujara

[Lord]

First badri now pujara; i am wondering who will be next unseen savior of indian cricket. anyways pujara over raina in any format is laughable; i would go to yuvraj before bringing in pujara

u didnt wattch Bangalore Test?

[jf1gp_1]

u didnt wattch Bangalore Test?

I did . I am no expert but go back and watch highlight of his innings see where his bat is where his pads are now on a pitch with something for bowler IMO pajara will struggle

[rahulrulezz]

Will keep both Raina and Pujara and drop Dravid

[Sachin=GOD]

Will keep both Raina and Pujara and drop Dravid

After 2 centuries in the just concluded New Zealand series you are talking about dropping Dravid:omg:

[Fontaine]

Raina has earned his place through hard work, dedication and committment. The team HAS to show him the kind of trust EVERY young player needs. Ganguly fully backed young players in his team instead of dropping them the first few times they failed. We must give Raina an extended run, he's earned it.

[fineleg]

Will keep both Raina and Pujara and drop Dravid

Lets get Yusuf Pathan and Saurabh Tiwary into the Test team instead :giggle: RD got a century in one Test and nearly a double century (190+) in another

[rahulrulezz]

Lets get Yusuf Pathan and Saurabh Tiwary into the Test team instead :giggle: RD got a century in one Test and nearly a double century (190+) in another

Wait till RSA series...Dravid will be back to his pathetic cricket once he gonna face real fast bowlers... lol, its funny how everyone forgot all his yucky innings from past 2 years.. .even Bangaldesh scored 100s against Kiwi bowlers(they are good but not better not par with Ozs, Lankans, RSAs or English... The guy bores the hell out of me.....

[fineleg]

rahulrulezz, 1. RD has scored centuries in tougher conditions against tough oppositions. So, it is something he has already proved. 2. If it was so easy to score against NZ in India, why did we not have many centuries from the other top order batsmen in this concluded series?

[wanted_desi]

Pujara, i have too much faith in that guy after that Inning that he playes against Australia

[Silva]

I think that Raina might be dropped after the first two tests in south africa, maybe even after the first, and considering how well Kohli been playing he might be dropped from the test squad all together after that. I hope Raina proves me wrong in south africa but I doubt he will. His weakness against short pitch bowling is well known he doesn't have the best mentality for test cricket based on watching some his inning and looking at his domestic first class record and he doesn't have good balance when playing his shots(which is something all the great indian batsman have and Pujara has as well.) Pujara from what Ive seen has no such issues and he is backed up by putting up some phenominal records domestic cricket. Theirs also a kind of silkiness in his batting that you only see from quality Test Batsman. I am not yet sold on Kohlis potential as a test batsman either because I think he also has some issues like with his balance and offside game that would be harder for him to deal with in test cricket. From what I've seen Rohit Sharma has more test match potential than Kohli and Raina.

[ravishingravi]

Raina is not test calibre yet. He is too susceptible with the short ball

[dhillon28]

Strategy for selecting number 6 For the past two years the team has been carrying Dravid, in indian conditions where the ball doesnt come as fast as foreign tracks and his slow scoring has allowed on many occasions the opposition back into the game......BUT since the last test series against NZ he has regained his form and now we embark on a series of overseas tours where if you look at Dravid's avg overseas is probably higher than any other current batsmen. So it would make no sense now to drop Dravid at least for another year when we stuck with him for three years hoping he gets back into form and just when we're about to face Dravid's favourite playing conditions where he thrives. So unless Dravid doesnt perform in the next two overseas series we have to stick with him for another year at least. So this leaves Raina or Pujara......well the number 5/6 spot is a good starting spot to play potential top order batsmen and groom the into test cricket....many top order batsmen in history have been give time at start of their careers to acclimatise to test cricket lower down the order (e.g. Sachin, Ponting, Sehwag, Pietersen etc). So on this basis that fact that it is a number six position is not a reason to disregard any of the following batsmen for the number six: C Pujara A Mukund A Rahane M Vijay R Sharma all of which are much better players than Raina at test level (technically and mentally). Now it would be harsh to drop Raina after one bad series but on the back of one good performance each by Pujara and Vijay, but they didnt hesitate doing that to Yuvraj who contributed heavily to one of indias greatest ever win (vs England at Chennai). Therefore if they can drop Yuvraj for a guy whose only credentials to play at test were DLF maximums then I dont see why we can drop Raina for batsmen who have far more potential at the test level. Also Raina would never ever be capable of batting top order in test cricket where at least the top four in the above list will, and India will go through what Aus are going through now if we dont start preparing future top order batsmen NOW! And the only way to do that in the current line up is at no. 6 position. For this reason it was very short sighted and impulsive of Indian selectors to choose Raina for test in the first place. Also if India wants to dominate world cricket with the current busy schedule they should try to groom as many specialist test and limited overs players possible to keep them fresh and hungry and so that they dont end up suffering from Yuvi syndrome.....therefore we should keep Raina and Yuvi for tests only.

[dhillon28]

Pujara will struggle

I did . I am no expert but go back and watch highlight of his innings see where his bat is where his pads are now on a pitch with something for bowler IMO pajara will struggle

the reason why Pujara will most probaly not struggle in conditions where there is something for the bowler is because he possesses the most important qualities for succeeding against top quality bowling (he always plays close to his body unlike Raina, Gambhir, Sehwag, Laxman), he has back foot play (unlike Raina) and he has a solid defence (unlike Raina). Also the fact that he is tall will always help anyone on the back foot.

[dhillon28]

Viru and Gauti being dropped didnt help them

Moreover one reason we have come good is sense of security among our players. We've seen Viru's performace improved drastically after his place in the team is secure. Same with Gauti. Chop and Change strategy never worked for India. Raina boy has just played 7 matches ' date=' 10 innings and has a good average of 45, already people are talking of changing him :dontknow:[/quote'] STRONGLY DISAGREE, the reason why Viru and Gauti are two of the most consistent players India have had over the past three years is because of them being dropped. If you read their interviews they both say that being dropped is what made them the deadly players they are today. Unless you drop players when they deserve to be dropped, you develop Yuvi syndrome (take everything for granted).

[Ram]

I think I owe an apology to Fineleg for having criticized this thread. To be honest, this isnt a bad question at all. Pretty sure the team management is grappling at the moment with the prospect of playing Pujara instead of Raina. And its tough to say who would be the right choice.