Zaheer a doubtful starter for 1st test?

[Andy]

Bye Bye SA.

[vishalvirsingh]

Doubts remain over Zaheer Khan's fitness http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-india-2010/content/current/story/491972.html India looked a side at comfort with itself during their first full practice session with the whole squad for the Tests, but there was cause for concern with Zaheer Khan choosing to go through just fitness drills due to what seems like a hamstring injury. ESPNcricinfo understands that the scans have failed to pick anything, but neither Zaheer nor the team wants to risk aggravating the injury. "As of now he is not [fit]," a team source told ESPNcricinfo. "There are still three days to go to the Test, so we didn't want to take any risks." So, even as the rest of the team had a good workout in the nets at the Supersport Park in Centurion, Zaheer spent time with Paul Chapman, the team physio. He went through the light fitness drill gingerly, often holding on to the groin area. It could be an injury picked up during the fourth ODI against New Zealand, in Bangalore. As he finished the 49th over of the New Zealand innings - only his eighth in the match - Zaheer went back holding on to the groin area. Then Zaheer was making a comeback from a groin injury that had him miss the third Test and the first two ODIs against New Zealand. He also didn't feature in the fifth and final ODI in Chennai. This hasn't been a good year for Zaheer's body. He missed the whole of the tour of Sri Lanka with an injury to the same shoulder that was operated on two years ago. He started his comeback through the Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa and did well in the home Tests against Australia before getting injured again. The team is hopeful Zaheer will make it to the first Test starting Thursday, but, should he be ruled out, India have Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat to choose from - unless they want to go with two spinners, in which case Pragyan Ojha will come in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We need Zaheer to get fit before the first test.

if ZAK is Unfit...then India comes into defensive straight away...i would play Umesh Yadav as he is really nippy and the pitches( bouncy) favpour him the most. a cENTURION PITCH WILL give him the best bet and he has genuinely impressive bouncers, i would say that he has very good bouncers and will be the weapon against SA... PLAY Umesh for ZAK and if not then play Jaydev but not OJHA at all. INtructions are given to not prepare a spinning track...i feel even bhajji will get a beating. Vishal

[vishalvirsingh]

MUNAF is a unfit bowler and if he plays he will break after 9 to 10 overs and those 10 overs will be dibbly bobbly 125 K overs..... i would prefer nehra /RP or even abhimanyu to Munaf patel and thats what selectors did they always played abhimanyu ahead of munaf in tests...jaydev and Umesh are far far better then Munaf for a test match. Why ..bcos Munaf is a slow unfit Man who hardly has the pace now.. it is a shame if we call him as a medium pace bowler , he is worse than Praveen Kumar. PK is a great pacer with new ball, where as Munaf is not even that,,i agree he has bounce but bounce with out pace is of no meaning, we need pacy bounce which Umesh has..and i bet he will get wickets. I can count atleast 6 pacers ahead of Munaf for a test Match...i would play them and only if all of them are unfit will i ever think of playing him.

[vamos_rafa]

MUNAF is a unfit bowler and if he plays he will break after 9 to 10 overs and those 10 overs will be dibbly bobbly 125 K overs..... i would prefer nehra /RP or even abhimanyu to Munaf patel and thats what selectors did they always played abhimanyu ahead of munaf in tests...jaydev and Umesh are far far better then Munaf for a test match. Why ..bcos Munaf is a slow unfit Man who hardly has the pace now.. it is a shame if we call him as a medium pace bowler , he is worse than Praveen Kumar. PK is a great pacer with new ball, where as Munaf is not even that,,i agree he has bounce but bounce with out pace is of no meaning, we need pacy bounce which Umesh has..and i bet he will get wickets. I can count atleast 6 pacers ahead of Munaf for a test Match...i would play them and only if all of them are unfit will i ever think of playing him.

I think you are being over critical of Munaf. No doubt he has fitness problems but when he is fit then he's more of a wicket to wicket type of a bowler scoring against whom is a difficult aspect. His fitness is a real concern though. And I think he did well in the ODIs in SL. I dont have much idea about his recent fitness/form but if he's fit, which is always a question mark, then he should be our best bet IMO.

[pensionplan]

I far as I know' date=' Zaheer himself asked to be included in the last three ODIs as he preferred match practice to acclimatisation and net practise. You guys can check his tweets.[/quote']That is correct. He wanted to Test his injured groin/hammy that he sustained during the NZ Tests. And by the way that is the right move.

[pensionplan]

Don't see how selectors can be blamed for asking Zaheer to bowl 20 overs in match conditions. Better this than breaking down in the middle of a test match.

Exactly, that too in two different games spread 3 days apart with a maximum work load of 10 overs. Zaheer did what an injured player is expected to do. Prove his Test match fitness in less challenging conditions. Clearly based on these reports he has not recovered.

[putrevus]

They had so much time why have not asked to have an extra bowler in case Zaheer is unfit surely they can pay for his expenses. So why have they not called for likes of Munaf or PK so incase Zak is unfit for thrusday they have another choice.

[jf1gp_1]

Just heard on the news Zaheer is yet to bowl in nets so there is no way he is playing first test. They also showed Sree , Ishant and umesh yadav practice hitting a cardboad placed on nets roughly where you expect first slip to be, i think the aim was to pitch the ball on middle and swing the ball enough to hit the board. They practiced for both right and left handed batsman.

[pensionplan]

Just heard on the news Zaheer is yet to bowl in nets so there is no way he is playing first test. They also showed Sree ' date=' Ishant and umesh yadav practice hitting a cardboad placed on nets roughly where you expect first slip to be, i think the aim was to pitch the ball on middle and swing the ball enough to hit the board. They practiced for both right and left handed batsman.[/quote']Umesh Yadav gets to debut. Good luck to him. ZK has got a full 11 days from now on to get ready for the 2nd Test which is a decent enough time to get back to his best fitness. If they think that is not a sufficient enough time for him to be Test match fit then fly him back to India and get Munaf in his place just to ensure the team has a viable replacement should they need it before the 2nd Test. The time to make that call is right now. No point waiting.

[saneindian]

Now Sreesanth injures his right foot. Team management saying injury is not serious but Sreesanth limped off the ground. Looking scary suddenly. I hope and pray all our main bowler are fit.

[jusarrived]

:((

[hari504504]

lol..first test looms and our bowlers are dropping like flies in the nets sessions... It would pbly be a record level rape if Sreesanth and Zaheer miss the first test... Unadkat and Umesh..:haha:..Srikanth you nitwit.. Munaf needs to flown in by the IAF in an Ilyushin.. Munaf,Ishant and {any rookie} seems like a 'drawable' attack..

[Sachin=GOD]

^not going to happen IMO. They will probably go with Ishant and the 2 newcomers :((

[saneindian]

lol..first test looms and our bowlers are dropping like flies in the nets sessions... It would pbly be a record level rape if Sreesanth and Zaheer miss the first test... Unadkat and Umesh..:haha:..Srikanth you nitwit.. Munaf needs to flown in by the IAF in an Ilyushin.. Munaf,Ishant and {any rookie} seems like a 'drawable' attack..

Remember the 3rd test on the last SA tour? Munaf had a mysterious injury and hardly bowled in the test!! Dont think he will last a full test either.

[hari504504]

Any Indian truck drivers in South Africa :winky:...

[punjabi_khota]

This is our most important test series since 2007-08 in OZ, and 3 of our first choice players have injury concerns :wall:

[rkt.india]

Munaf is not a solution, though he has a bit of experience but of no if he does not want to use, instead call sudeep tyagi or RP Singh or even dhaval kulkarni is better.

[rkt.india]

Mithun can be sent too, but not Munna

[jeetu]

Graeme Smith will be jumping with joy if Zaheer doesn't play.

[saneindian]

Saw the video on Star News. Sreesanth was hit on his ankle by a player. Did not twist his ankle. Fell down due to the knock and then walked up the stairs on his own to the dressing room, and later was back bowling in the nets again. So looks like its not as serious.