Team India test team needs a new captain and fresh ideas...

[saneindian]

I was talking about long term there. How can we win if our 3 pace bowlers are not even taking a single wicket in one day. Here Jadeja is doing his bit on a dry surface hence 5 wickets but thats not gonna happen so often in SA,AUS or Eng. Our planning wrt pace bowlers needs to improve, in case of Ishant it has been a disaster. Don't you agree ?

Obviously things do have to improve but for now I will look at the positives. We kept SA quiet, looked to have some plans and there was some energy on the field. And thankfully no 600/5 kind of bowling effort which was a common sight in 8-0.

[ThePhenomenal1]

no one can deny that india's pace bowling has looked toothless. consistent 50+ partnerships after wickets fall. we were better in the 1st test! Ok so the pitch is harder for bowling.. still can keep a good control on run rate. Where's zak's useful reverse swing? I've not seen him do anything this match. WTF is ishant doing? No potency in his bowling. Unless he cranks up the pace and troubles batsmen, he should not even be on A tours. Yadav was the man

[cowboysfan]

People are already celebrating this series as a triumph of youth , how can captain will go out? There is a easy NZ tour coming next :phehehe: and Don't forget Seeni

kiwi tour will be tougher imo,our bowlers have to take wickets or we are screwed because a result is guaranteed unless weather intervenes on green tracks.

[bulbul]

^ They have very poor batting lineup , even our trundlers are more than enough.

[Marut]

Team India needs better fans.

Fans are ok. They have put with a nation unable to produce a single world class pace bowler (avg <25) for the past 80 years, from a pooll of 1 billion+. You can't ask for more.

[express bowling]

There is no doubt that our LOI performances have been quite good in recent times. Kudos to the team and captain for that. But our performances in tests , especially overseas test series , has been abysmal in the last 2 years. There are many of us who value test matches more than any other format. Can such fans really be blamed for being disgruntled with the captain as far as tests are concerned. Dhoni has handled batsmen properly in tests. But his choice as well as handling of pacers and field positions have been a cause for worry for quite some time. As pace bowlers are the most important element for winning tests abroad, a captain who understands them is the need of the hour. Many posters are pointing out that our pace talent available is limited. It is true. But that is the precise reason why a captain who is excited about pacers is required. He might pick and play the one or two rare gems available. Handle them better too.

[vayuu1]

Some body needs to make yadav ,Aaron,shukla,pandey,pankaj,Suyal,rasool etc sign rhiti sports and chuski's.

[ravishingravi]

As I said earlier, it is potentially good team that is neutralized by a tactically inept test captain. More than a weak team led by brave stable captain.

[Number]

Criticising Dhoni doesn't mean being a fickle fan, its a young team and almost everyone knows youngsters like Shami, Rohit, Dhawan etc. will need more time. They need to understand Dhoni and some other under performers here are not youngsters who are badly letting the team down. Its his 3rd winless tour abroad in a row now ffs and his fanboys think that he can hide behind young team excuse now, which earlier was old team excuse to escape criticism.

[NareshK]

Criticising Dhoni doesn't mean being a fickle fan' date=' its a young team and almost everyone knows youngsters like Shami, Rohit, Dhawan etc. will need more time. They need to understand Dhoni and some other under performers here are not youngsters who are badly letting the team down. Its his 3rd winless tour abroad in a row now ffs and his fanboys think that he can hide behind young team excuse now, which earlier was old team excuse to escape criticism.[/quote'] You seriously expected this team to beat SA in their own conditions ? Most people were saying this team would be defeated in 3 days in both tests before the series. This SA side is very experienced and has the likes of Morkel, Steyn, Philander which have made jokes out of batting lineups and their batsmen are some of the best in the world. They have beaten pretty much every team that toured their country. You dont think India with an inexperienced side, dominating 4 out of 5 days in first test against this side is an achievement ? Or the fact we are still doing decently in this test after 3 days ? Why are some people so unreasonable and have their heads way up their asses ?

[jf1gp_1]

Some body needs to make yadav ' date='Aaron,shukla,pandey,pankaj,Suyal,rasool etc sign rhiti sports and chuski's.[/quote'] If we had not seen Mohit sharma in the recently played ODIs mohit sharma would have also been on that list. Bottom line per Indian fan our best bowlers never make it to playing XI where as reality is our bench is so weak that those guys cant even get past a exhausted- zaheer or once in a blue moon ishant. Yadav is brainless and too erratic for test cricket ; the only reason he is in 15 member squad cause he has a bit of pace. Morkel a far better bowler than yadav coudnt make any kind of impact on Indian batsman you really think yadav could have done any better.

[div]

If we had not seen Mohit sharma in the recently played ODIs mohit sharma would have also been on that list. Bottom line per Indian fan our best bowlers never make it to playing XI where as reality is our bench is so weak that those guys cant even get past a exhausted- zaheer or once in a blue moon ishant. Yadav is brainless and too erratic for test cricket ; the only reason he is in 15 member squad cause he has a bit of pace. Morkel a far better bowler than yadav coudnt make any kind of impact on Indian batsman you really think yadav could have done any better.

:phehehe:

[jf1gp_1]

for a minute even if I accept Dhoni deserves all the criticism and should not lead this side; where is the alternate. Kohli ? this guy is still trying to establish himself in test cricket he surly cant take up captaincy. Pujara ? he isn't even in ODI team so you have pujara lead test side and someone else lead ODIs. Ashwin ? god save us if that day comes. Lets say we change captain and lets say we even get saha or who ever as new keeper for NZ series; who in their right mind would criticize the captain if we are washout their.

[Number]

You seriously expected this team to beat SA in their own conditions ? Are you kidding me ? Most people were saying this team would be defeated in 3 days in both tests. This SA side is very experienced and has the likes of Morkel, Steyn, Philander which have made jokes out of batting lineups and their batsmen are some of the best in the world. You dont think India dominating 4 out of 5 days in first test against this side was an achievement ? Or the fact we are still doing decently in this test after 3 days ? Why are some people so unreasonable and have their heads way up their asses ?

I had no expectations at all. Kohli, Pujara, Vijay, Rahane, Shami all have played way beyond my expectations. Rohit, Dhawan I am fine with and have no issues. Even if they had been rolled out for under 100 all 4 times, I wouldn't have been dejected. But if you think Dhoni is untouchable for whatever he does, then seriously there is no point arguing.

[jf1gp_1]

You seriously expected this team to beat SA in their own conditions ? Most people were saying this team would be defeated in 3 days in both tests before the series. This SA side is very experienced and has the likes of Morkel, Steyn, Philander which have made jokes out of batting lineups and their batsmen are some of the best in the world. They have beaten pretty much every team that toured their country. You dont think India with an inexperienced side, dominating 4 out of 5 days in first test against this side is an achievement ? Or the fact we are still doing decently in this test after 3 days ? Why are some people so unreasonable and have their heads way up their asses ?

this is what happens when people haven't seen MSK Prasad, Sameer Dighe, Mongia, hemang badani, Parthiv, Yuvraj, play as test openers under ganguly. clueless what a long way we as a team have come.

[NareshK]

I had no expectations at all. Kohli, Pujara, Vijay, Rahane, Shami all have played way beyond my expectations. Rohit, Dhawan I am fine with and have no issues. Even if they had been rolled out for under 100 all 4 times, I wouldn't have been dejected. But if you think Dhoni is untouchable for whatever he does, then seriously there is no point arguing.

I never said he is untouchable. I want to see people give credit where its due. India has done well in this series so far. Some people are acting in this thread as if we lost by an innings at home.

[Sidhoni]

Team India needs better fans.

Truer words have never been spoken.

[express bowling]

this is what happens when people haven't seen MSK Prasad' date=' Sameer Dighe, Mongia, hemang badani, Parthiv, Yuvraj, play as test openers under ganguly. clueless what a long way we as a team have come.[/quote'] A few points -- 1) You are assuming that most posters here are teenagers who basically like t20 only and don't understand test cricket. Well .... that is not the case. There are a lot of posters here who have been watching tests for more than 20 years and basically enjoy the longer format only. 2) I agree that we have come a long way as far as consistency in odis is concerned. But , is that the case in tests ? I am afraid not, especially if we consider away test matches. Never have India lost 0-4 in two consecutive yest series. Then we lost to England at home. This cannot really be called coming a long way. 3) Regarding pacers, I agree that our bench strength is not great but I am not sure that Ishant is the best we have. The logical thing to do, when we have a pacer like Ishant, with a SR of 69 and av. of 38, is to try out alternatives. His replacements , as tall deck hitting pacers, would be Pandey and Pankaj. Would they be great ? Perhaps not but we won't know unless we try them. Even if they are somewhat better than Ishant then that is a plus. 4) Umesh Yadav has a SR of 46 in 9 tests. Not a very small sample size. It means that he is a wicket taker. It is better to have an erratic wicket taker in tests than an economical bowler who cannot get wickets. 5) Is it necessarily bad if the new age fans are not happy with just a draw in overseas tests and want to defeat the best in their own backyard. I would day that it shows a winner's mentality that is also present in most of our young cricketers. When India under Kapil defeated the mighty West Indies in the 1983 World Cup, nobody would have blamed him if he lost. It was the mighty West Indies after all. But not being satisfied by just competing with the best , brought us victory then. Dissatisfaction is not necessarily bad.

[ThePhenomenal1]

You seriously expected this team to beat SA in their own conditions ? Most people were saying this team would be defeated in 3 days in both tests before the series. This SA side is very experienced and has the likes of Morkel, Steyn, Philander which have made jokes out of batting lineups and their batsmen are some of the best in the world. They have beaten pretty much every team that toured their country. You dont think India with an inexperienced side, dominating 4 out of 5 days in first test against this side is an achievement ? Or the fact we are still doing decently in this test after 3 days ? Why are some people so unreasonable and have their heads way up their asses ?

I think this team deserves applause. But aside from SA 1st innings where indian bowlers ripped them and the 5th day where we came back into the match, the bowling has been meek and weak. We could have won the 1st test had we had 1 more wicket taking bowler, e.g jadeja instead of ashwin or yadav instead of ishant or zak. Who knows.. but still, we could have won. Now the 2nd test looks like it might be a draw. If we had won the 1st test, we would be in a better position now. Still, the team has done well but dhoni needs to go because he doesn't understand fast bowling and how that plays a part in tests

[ThePhenomenal1]

A few points -- 1) You are assuming that most posters here are teenagers who basically like t20 only and don't understand test cricket. Well .... that is not the case. There are a lot of posters here who have been watching tests for more than 20 years and basically enjoy the longer format only. 2) I agree that we have come a long way as far as consistency in odis is concerned. But , is that the case in tests ? I am afraid not, especially if we consider away test matches. Never have India lost 0-4 in two consecutive yest series. Then we lost to England at home. This cannot really be called coming a long way. 3) Regarding pacers, I agree that our bench strength is not great but I am not sure that Ishant is the best we have. The logical thing to do, when we have a pacer like Ishant, with a SR of 69 and av. of 38, is to try out alternatives. His replacements , as tall deck hitting pacers, would be Pandey and Pankaj. Would they be great ? Perhaps not but we won't know unless we try them. Even if they are somewhat better than Ishant then that is a plus. 4) Umesh Yadav has a SR of 46 in 9 tests. Not a very small sample size. It means that he is a wicket taker. It is better to have an erratic wicket taker in tests than an economical bowler who cannot get wickets. 5) Is it necessarily bad if the new age fans are not happy with just a draw in o erseas tests and want to defeat the best in their own backyard. I would day that it shows a winner's mentality that is also present in most of our young cricketers.

Couldn't agree more, especially points 3 and 4. Pandey and Pankaj would probably surprise us. Much better than ishant. If we have these sorts of pacers in, it will only encourage future pacers. :hatsoff: :hatsoff: :hatsoff: