India A tour of South Africa, 2013

[Sooda]

Sooda, you need to keep in mind that Dhawan and co. haven't been tested much overseas in first class matchess. Dhawan showed great form against Australia in India, and it will be great for his batting that he plays for India in South Africa. Even for Vijay and Rohit Sharma. We keep request for our players to get County stint where they are playing with totally unknown britis and kolpak players. This is beter than county stint. Tough conditions and players like Shikhar will be playing with fellow Indians where they can bat at the right spot where they deserve. People forget that they won't have their own choice when they go to county teams. They keep switching the batting order there.

Agreed about Dhawan I guess. But not about Rohit and Raina and not about Vijay because he is not a LKtd overs player. I would have liked to see Jadeja on this tour too. Would have rested him from Zim ODIs and the Tri seires in SA and played him in the 4 day games. Ditto with Dhawan, rested him from Zim ODIs and had him play here instead. Dont know who would have gone to SA in their place to Zim though

[G_B_]

fair play to the BCCI though. I think they have learnt the lessons from the 8-0 (and it did not take some fruit cake review like Aus to state the obvious). India is getting plenty of practice in SA before the tests. Preparation should not be a complaint if we are smashed 3-0. Maybe its time to admit once and for all that we are not good enough to play test cricket in such conditions.

[Sooda]

^Yes, although the senior team could do with prep once their there just prior to the tests. Instead of meaningless ODIs vs Aus. Also it is a good squad compared to ones that have gone on A tours in the past.

[G_B_]

^Yes' date=' although the senior team could do with prep once their there just prior to the tests. Instead of meaningless ODIs vs Aus. Also it is a good squad compared to ones that have gone on A tours in the past.[/quote'] well based on the released itenary we are having ODIs in SA + 2 warm up matches

[SLICKR392]

Has the squad been announced?

[rkt.india]

Has the squad been announced?

Yes. Raina, Unadkat, Binny are poor selection.

India ‘A' squad to South Africa: Cheteshwar Pujara (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Parvez Rasool, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shami Ahmed, Stuart Binny, Ishwar Pandey, Jaydev Unadkat, Siddarth Kaul.

http://www.thatscricket.com/news/2013/07/05/pujara-lead-india-a-in-south-africa-068400.html

[SLICKR392]

Thanks rkt. No Gambhir, but Raina. :((

[Old guy]

Thanks rkt. No Gambhir, but Raina. :((

seriously.. that is fecked up

[SLICKR392]

Pandey was a good selection but that crap hack Unadkat. :facepalm: The Binnys and Unadkats are going to fail nevertheless and why isn't Yadav in the squad?

[Old guy]

Pandey was a good selection but that crap hack Unadkat. :facepalm: The Binnys and Unadkats are going to fail nevertheless and why isn't Yadav in the squad?

dont wanna risk injuring yadav .. im damn sure if track helps he will get wickets he is one bowler im sure who will do well even did well in australia on tracks which helped a bit..got smacked on others.. also unadkat i will say again i dont think he is any worse then other bowlers to be honest .. maybe he is in to add variety ?

[G_B_]

yup SA will suit umesh. Dont mind if he is expensive so long as he picks up wickets.

[Soorma_Bhopali]

Look A tours are not for established test players like Kohli and Pujara. They are busy enough as it is. Its for non test players. Young players who are not in team who we hope to develop and prove they can go in to team, not for I Pathans for example

I Totally agreee ..If practice is the objective, then you can as well send the India team and not "India A" team for the SA- A Tour :haha: Only reason Pujara is on is to test his leadership potential and direction to a young bunch with a long-term aim of him deputising for Virat Kohli once MSD hangds up from test arena in 3-4 years ( I hope, he goes on till 40 years like Sachin but with him playing all three formats as captain and leading CSK in every IPL , realisitically Dhoni can't go beyong 35-36 years in the Test arena). Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay are also on this plane as , I may say , they are not yet "established" in the test arena with Shikhar only 1 test old and Vijay having 10-11 tests to show since his debut in 2008.

[CG]

So will Rohit open in tests and be backup opener in test squad too.

[saneindian]

For FC matches - Dhawan and Vijay openers, Pujara at 3, Rohit 4, Raina 5, Rahane 6, DK 7 Raina looks a total misfit there, didn't deserve a spot.

[Sooda]

Mukund should have been back up opener instead of Raina being there. Raina will play but Rayudu should. Its easy to like Raina the guy is a real pro and has a lot going for him but I think his test career should be put to an end for now at least. Should not have been on this tour at all.

[vvvslaxman]

So will Rohit open in tests and be backup opener in test squad too.

First two letters of opener should be RO. Last name should not be sharma mode>

[vishalvirsingh]

This Squad is Real strong Squad and ideally they should easily beat SA. A even in africa...... If they don't then India Team will also get beaten black n blue by steyn and Company.....

[cowboysfan]

This Squad is Real strong Squad and ideally they should easily beat SA. A even in africa...... If they don't then India Team will also get beaten black n blue by steyn and Company.....

talk about a non sequitur.

[Chandan]

This Squad is Real strong Squad and ideally they should easily beat SA. A even in africa...... If they don't then India Team will also get beaten black n blue by steyn and Company.....

Do you know about SA A squad? And yes, be prepared for a 3-0 beating in SA. Anything less will be bonus and improvement from our guys, IMO.

[carnish]

Do you know about SA A squad? And yes' date=' be prepared for a 3-0 beating in SA. Anything less will be bonus and improvement from our guys, IMO.[/quote'] Yes, the South A squad is announced. It is available on Cricinfo. Ontong is the captain, I guess.