Vijay and Pujara conspicuous by their absence

[rkt.india]

 

Quote

 

By leaving out M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara, India have compromised the solidity of their top order and perhaps affected the mindset of the omitted batsmen

 

 

Rohit's last Test for India, before Tuesday, came at the Feroz Shah Kotla in December 2015, against South Africa. In the first innings, batting at No. 6, he was dropped at slip on 1, off Kyle Abbott, and was out to the next ball he faced, trying to hit Dane Piedt over the top when he had a fielder back at long-on. In the second innings, he was promoted to No. 3, and was bowled first ball by a Morne Morkel jaffa.

In those two innings, Rohit had gone from one end of the batting-dismissal spectrum to the other.

On Tuesday at the Darren Sammy Stadium, in his first Test innings in eight months, Rohit did not get out playing an aggressive, aerial shot with the odds stacked against him. He did not get out to an unplayable delivery either. Instead, he got out like a lot of Test batsmen do, nicking a good-length ball in the corridor outside off stump. It was a middle-of-the-spectrum kind of dismissal, with the bowler deserving a certain amount of credit and the batsman a certain amount of blame.

It happens to everyone.

But watching it happen, it was hard not to tell yourself, "M Vijay would have left that ball". Or, "Cheteshwar Pujara would have left that ball".

Neither Vijay nor Pujara was playing this Test match. One of the two was expected to miss out, but not both. Rohit's selection was entirely unexpected.

At the end of the day's play, batting coach Sanjay Bangar confirmed that Vijay was not suffering any residual effects of the sore thumb that had kept him out of the second Test at Sabina Park.

"Murali Vijay was available for selection, but it was the management's decision to stick with Shikhar Dhawan," he said. "KL [Rahul] had a phenomenal last game and the team management felt Shikhar had done enough to keep his place in the team, having scored a very, very good 87 [84] and given us the start in the first innings [in Antigua], negotiating the new ball and giving us a partnership of 90 runs [105 runs, with Kohli]. That was the reason behind Vijay not making it to the playing XI."

Pujara had not been in bad form, as such, but had failed to convert a string of starts. At Sabina Park, he had been run out after scoring 46 off 159 balls. At the toss on Tuesday, Kohli indicated that Pujara's scoring rate may have been the reason for his non-selection.

"Rohit Sharma can change sessions in a Test match. Taking nothing away from Pujara; he has been solid. Everybody needs to get chances."

Kohli has often spoken of the need for giving his bowling attack as much time as possible to get 20 wickets. Scoring runs quicker is clearly one way to achieve this aim. India didn't quite have enough time to bowl West Indies out a second time at Sabina Park, but that had less to do with Pujara's scoring rate, or that of the team as a whole, than with rain washing out close to four sessions of the match.

Perhaps India factored the weather into their calculations here. St Lucia has experienced intermittent showers in the days leading up to the Test, including on the eve of the match, and it rained briefly an hour after stumps on day one as well.

But by including Dhawan, who, apart from that 84 in Antigua, hasn't been in a great run of form; a still-inexperienced Rahul; and Rohit, still unproven in Test cricket, India were taking the risk of compromising the solidity of their top order. Coming into the St Lucia Test, Pujara (97.15) and Vijay (86.52) sat on top of the balls-per-dismissal table containing the seven specialist batsmen in India's squad. Rohit (64.15) and Dhawan (69.06) occupied the bottom two spots.

On the quickest, bounciest surface of the series so far, and against the best bowling attack West Indies have fielded, India's batting line-up, with Kohli and Rahane batting out of position, seemed at its most brittle. India slumped to 126 for 5 and may not have recovered to the extent they did, had R Ashwin not been dropped once and caught once off a no-ball.

It must be said, of course, that on another day, even on the same pitch and against the same bowlers, the same selections may have worked for India. But there is one other potential repercussion that India will need to deal with - the effect on the two batsmen left out.

Vijay has done no wrong apart from getting injured. India's team management must already have spoken to him at length explaining why he did not immediately slot back into the side when he was fit. When he returns to the side, he will know he simply has to get on with his game, and has nothing to prove to anyone.

Pujara's case is different. The team management, based on Kohli's words at the toss, seems to have left him out on the basis of how he bats. It is a method that has served him well, for the most part, all his life. His strike rate has fallen over the last couple of years, but that is a function of the unconverted starts; earlier, he would begin just as patiently, and then suddenly, imperceptibly, flick a switch that changed him into a free-scoring batsman with shots all around the ground.

In Hyderabad against Australia in 2013, Pujara was on 18 off 65 balls at one stage, and went on to score 204 off 341. In the second innings of the Johannesburg Test in December 2013, he was on 9 off 64 balls before accelerating to finish on 153 off 270. At the SSC last year, he went from 32 off 116 to 145* off 289.

He hasn't been making big scores as often as he used to, and there has to be a reason for it, but his approach at the start of his innings is probably not it. India's team management will need to help him figure out what is wrong, and what needs to change, and it is perfectly possible that leaving him out and getting him to work in the nets is the best way to do it. Rohit Sharma may well be in better form at the moment, and have the greater possibility of contributing to India's success.

But by suggesting that Pujara's method may not quite suit the team's philosophy, they leave him wondering if he should continue to trust his game or try to change it. They risk shattering the confidence of a batsman of serious ability.

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/west-indies-v-india-2016/content/story/1044419.html

 

Edited August 10, 2016 by rkt.india

[tweaker]

I doubt there is groupism in the team.Kohli may want some players out of team who may be threat to his captaincy especially senior players Vijay& Pujara

[Ankit_sharma03]

"Murali Vijay was available for selection, but it was the management's decision to stick with Shikhar Dhawan," he said. "KL [Rahul] had a phenomenal last game and the team management felt Shikhar had done enough to keep his place in the team, having scored a very, very good 87 [84] and given us the start in the first innings [in Antigua], negotiating the new ball and giving us a partnership of 90 runs [105 runs, with Kohli]. That was the reason behind Vijay not making it to the playing XI."

 

If it was about perfomance again how was Vijay benched??????? 

 

"Rohit Sharma can change sessions in a Test match. Taking nothing away from Pujara; he has been solid. Everybody needs to get chances."

Rohit sharma can't bat a sesssion. If by any chance he does his concentration fails the next session. Why dont they pick yusuf, raina, pandya next time. 

 

Pujara had not been in bad form, as such, but had failed to convert a string of starts. 

 

OK fair enough he has failed to convert many starts. Do we give up on him now????? when are we giving up on No-hit?????

 

 

 

[sscomp32]

Its so clear. Friendship day gift to Dhawan and Rohit from Kohli. 

[express bowling]

22 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

 

 

"Rohit Sharma can change sessions in a Test match.

 

 

Indeed, he can change sessions in a test match...........for the worst for Team India.  

 

Like it happened yesterday when he got out at the beginning of the 2nd session and put us under pressure.

Edited August 10, 2016 by express bowling

[Vilander]

"Pujara (97.15) and Vijay (86.52) sat on top of the balls-per-dismissal table containing the seven specialist batsmen in India's squad. Rohit (64.15) and Dhawan (69.06) occupied the bottom two spots. "

 

This is a telling stat.

[Bigg Brother]

Vijay was available for selection.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/video_audio/1044135.html

[Forever Indian]

Vijay has the highest average of 48 amongst all batsmen since the England 2014 tour. Rohit Sharma has an average below all batsmen which is expected, and also below Ashwin, Bhuvi, Saha and Naman Ojha

 

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;orderby=batting_average;spanmin1=08+jul+2014;spanval1=span;team=6;template=results;type=batting

 

And what we do is remove your best test bat for an inconsistent hack. It is like dropping Dravid for including Raina in test team

 

Edited August 10, 2016 by Forever Indian

[G_B_]

look i think a case somewhat can be made for Shikar. I think he has a decent score in this series. 84. He is averaging 40 plus in test cricket.

 

The problem is Rohit. In the past you had Rahane batting at 3 to carry this dude at 5/6 when it was apparent that he was even more hopeless at 3. Yesterday you had Kohli coming in at 3 to accommodate Rohit down the order at 5. So India exposed their best bat Kohli to accommodate a proven failure at 5.

 

Why is the entire team bending over for Rohit?  Why are Kohli and Rahane being sacrificed at 3 just to accommodate him? 

 

This goes way beyond just dropping Che and Vijay (both of whom should play)

[zen]

As I have mentioned, both Vijay and Pujara are test specialists. They play their part of either playing enough balls to blunt both the conditions and the attack or/and score 100s. If they are not in best of form, they will likely do the former. If in form, the later. 

 

When playing tests overseas, Ind is not a force. I remember the days when even with star studded line up, we would struggle in Zim - Link .... Additionally, when Ind is playing 5 specialist batsmen, it needs to play a solid brand of cricket. 

 

Those who are talking about SR of Pujara have failed to understand the dynamics of tests esp overseas and created a storm in the tea cup. 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2016 by zen

[Vilander]

One good comment from comments section " The writing's on the wall for Vijay. Even when he gets some chances, the message being sent to him is that in spite of having a stellar last 2 years of performances in difficult conditions, it will only require a small string of bad luck and injuries for him to be sidelined. "  Guess this is true, may be he does not fit into the scheme. Hopefully he uses this to play better cricket, else his time is limited at helm.

[Trichromatic]

1 minute ago, zen said:

As I have mentioned, both Vijay and Pujara are test specialists. They play their part of either playing enough balls to blunt both the conditions and the attack or score 100s. If they are not in best of form, they will likely do the former. If in form, the later. 

 

When playing tests overseas, Ind is not a force. I remember the days when even with star studded line up, we would struggle in Zim - Link .... Additionally, when Ind is playing 5 specialist batsmen, it needs to play a solid brand of cricket. 

 

Those who are talking about SR of Pujara have failed to understand the dynamics of tests esp overseas and created a storm in the tea cup. 

 

 

 

 

Even Kohli said that he said selected Rohit because he can change game in one session. Aggressive captaincy.

[Forever Indian]

1 minute ago, Vibhash said:

Even Kohli said that he said selected Rohit because he can change game in one session. Aggressive captaincy.

Wow, what aggressive captaincy. Next he should select Yusuf Pathan as he can change the game in just one over

[Vilander]

Another gem " Ashwin too played rather slowly today. Hope he is not dropped for the next test and they bring in Umesh Yadav in his place. "

[zen]

1 minute ago, Vibhash said:

Even Kohli said that he said selected Rohit because he can change game in one session. Aggressive captaincy.

Many ppl's idea of aggression in Ind:

 

 

 

When aggression can also be shown by:

 

 

[zen]

Apni star studded line up and look at the number of Zim players making test debut in the test below:

 

India in Zimbabwe Test Match

Zimbabwe v India

Match drawn

Test no. 1197 | 1992/93 season

Played at Harare Sports Club

18,19,20,21,22 October 1992 (5-day match)

 

	Zimbabwe 1st innings		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	KJ Arnott	c Raman b Kumble	40	220	176	6	0	22.72
	GW Flower	c †More b Srinath	82	354	297	7	0	27.60
	ADR Campbell	lbw b Kapil Dev	45	108	82	6	0	54.87
	AJ Pycroft	c Azharuddin b Prabhakar	39	159	135	5	0	28.88
	MG Burmester	c Azharuddin b Prabhakar	7	31	24	1	0	29.16
	DL Houghton*	c †More b Srinath	121	414	322	15	0	37.57
	A Flower†	b Prabhakar	59	262	201	3	0	29.35
	GJ Crocker	not out	23	71	42	3	0	54.76
	EA Brandes	lbw b Srinath	0	3	2	0	0	0.00
	AJ Traicos	b Kumble	5	12	14	1	0	35.71
	MP Jarvis	c Raman b Kumble	0	4	7	0	0	0.00
	Extras	(b 1, lb 19, nb 15)	35
	Total	(all out; 214.2 overs)	456	(2.12 runs per over)

Fall of wickets 1-100 (Arnott), 2-175 (Campbell), 3-186 (GW Flower), 4-199 (Burmester), 5-252 (Pycroft), 6-417 (A Flower), 7-445 (Houghton), 8-445 (Brandes), 9-454 (Traicos), 10-456 (Jarvis)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	N Kapil Dev	39	13	71	1	1.82
	M Prabhakar	45	15	66	3	1.46
	J Srinath	39	12	89	3	2.28
	SLV Raju	39	15	79	0	2.02
	A Kumble	35.2	11	79	3	2.23
	RJ Shastri	17	3	52	0	3.05

	India 1st innings		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	RJ Shastri	c Pycroft b Burmester	11	87	63	0	0	17.46
	WV Raman	b Crocker	43	193	164	2	0	26.21
	SV Manjrekar	c sub (SG Davies) b Jarvis	104	529	422	7	0	24.64
	SR Tendulkar	c & b Traicos	0	4	3	0	0	0.00
	M Azharuddin*	c GW Flower b Traicos	9	34	27	0	0	33.33
	SLV Raju	c Arnott b Traicos	7	26	27	0	0	25.92
	N Kapil Dev	b Traicos	60	126	95	9	0	63.15
	M Prabhakar	c Arnott b Traicos	14	51	41	2	0	34.14
	KS More†	c Traicos b Burmester	41	194	160	1	1	25.62
	A Kumble	c †A Flower b Burmester	0	7	6	0	0	0.00
	J Srinath	not out	6	14	13	1	0	46.15
	Extras	(b 2, lb 9, nb 1)	12
	Total	(all out; 169.4 overs)	307	(1.80 runs per over)

Fall of wickets 1-29 (Shastri), 2-77 (Raman), 3-78 (Tendulkar), 4-93 (Azharuddin), 5-101 (Raju), 6-197 (Kapil Dev), 7-219 (Prabhakar), 8-287 (Manjrekar), 9-294 (Kumble), 10-307 (More)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	EA Brandes	2	0	3	0	1.50
	MG Burmester	39.4	18	78	3	1.96
	MP Jarvis	38	17	73	1	1.92
	GJ Crocker	35	18	41	1	1.17
	AJ Traicos	50	16	86	5	1.72
	GW Flower	5	0	15	0	3.00

	Zimbabwe 2nd innings		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	KJ Arnott	b Prabhakar	32	217	163	2	0	19.63
	GW Flower	c †More b Kapil Dev	6	44	33	0	0	18.18
	ADR Campbell	b Kapil Dev	0	1	1	0	0	0.00
	AJ Pycroft	lbw b Shastri	46	134	99	1	1	46.46
	DL Houghton*	not out	41	83	74	3	2	55.40
	A Flower†	not out	1	38	34	0	0	2.94
	Extras	(b 11, lb 4, nb 5)	20
	Total	(4 wickets; 66 overs)	146	(2.21 runs per over)

Did not batMG Burmester, GJ Crocker, EA Brandes, AJ Traicos, MP Jarvis

---

Fall of wickets 1-16 (GW Flower), 2-16 (Campbell), 3-93 (Pycroft), 4-119 (Arnott)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	N Kapil Dev	15	4	22	2	1.46
	M Prabhakar	14	4	22	1	1.57
	J Srinath	5	1	15	0	3.00
	SLV Raju	7	2	17	0	2.42
	A Kumble	9	1	15	0	1.66
	RJ Shastri	12	4	32	1	2.66
	SR Tendulkar	4	3	8	0	2.00

MATCH DETAILS

---

Toss - Zimbabwe, who chose to bat
Series - One-off match drawn

Test debuts - KJ Arnott, EA Brandes, MG Burmester, ADR Campbell, GJ Crocker, A Flower, GW Flower, DL Houghton, MP Jarvis and AJ Pycroft (Zimbabwe)

[express bowling]

Another interesting titbit is  ---

 

In test matches, " Session changing Rohit " has a  SR of 51  ( average 33 )  compared to " Slow Pujara " with SR of 48  ( average 46 ).  A difference of just 3 more runs per 100 balls faced with an average of 13 less.

 

In absolute terms also , a SR of 51 is not a session changing one in modern test cricket. To put things in perspective, Sehwag has a SR of 82 along with an average of 49  in test matches and that is what changes sessions.  

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/34102.html

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/32540.html

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/35263.html

 

Edited August 10, 2016 by express bowling

[Brainfade]

20 minutes ago, express bowling said:

Another interesting titbit is  ---

 

In test matches, " Session changing Rohit " has a  SR of 51  ( average 33 )  compared to " Slow Pujara " with SR of 48  ( average 46 ).  A difference of just 3 more runs per 100 balls faced with an average of 13 less.

 

In absolute terms also , a SR of 51 is not a session changing one in modern test cricket. To put things in perspective, Sehwag has a SR of 82 along with an average of 49  in test matches and that is what changes sessions.  

To his credit, Kohli only said that Rohit *can*, not Rohit *will*.  Even I *can*, at a probability of 0.000001.

[velu]

Quote

Kohli has often spoken of the need for giving his bowling attack as much time as possible to get 20 wickets

 

our batting looks like we might give more than enough time for the opposition to get all our wickets

[Lannister]

Even I have to agree that Kohli is way off the mark with Sharma's selection here. The thing I don't understand is why is he so obsessed with making Sharma a Test player, even at the expense of his own performance. If similar thing had happened in countries like Aus/Eng, heads would've rolled by now. Even after seeing up close how Dhoni played team politics eventually resulting in him getting kicked out in an embarrassing way, hope it's not a false dawn for us fans.