Secondary skills of Fab-5 vs current indian test batsmen

[Temujin Khaghan]

we all respected the fab-v : sachin, rahul, viru, vvs and saurav for their batting abilities... but i think we took their secondary skills for granted.

maybe we felt that there will always be batsmen who will be good enough to be the 5th bowler (potential wicket taking 5th bowler) or a world class slip catcher

but alas...

 

sachin - 46 wickets @ 54.17 , 115 catches - 0.314 catches/innings, decent slip fielder, fantastic arm at the deep

dravid - cant bowl, 210 catches (current world record holder in test matches) - 0.697/innings, extraordinary slip fielder, backup wicketkeeper

viru - 40 wickets @ 47.35, 91 catches - 0.473/innings, decent slip fielder

vvs - cant bowl, 135 catches - 0.544/innings, very good at slips, limited at ground fielding (knees)

saurav - 32 wickets @ 52.53, 71 catches - 0.341 catches/innings, lousy fielder

 

now our present lot

 

vijay - cant bowl, good slip for spinners, average slip for fast bowlers

pujara - cant bowl, good close in catcher, limited at ground fielding (knees)

kohli - cant bowl, energetic fielder, drops half of the chances at slips - DROPHOLI

rahane - cant bowl, good slip for spinners, average slip for fast bowlers

rohit - cant bowl (he pretends he can, but cant - because only those part time bowlers who create wicket taking chances can be considered as fifth bowlers), decent at ground fielding, useless at slips... basically this guy is useless the moment he gets out. 

[Trichromatic]

Although Sehwag didn't bowl much due to back problem, he was good spinner of the ball and was accurate also.

 

 

[sandeep]

Veeru and Sachin were dangerous bowlers when in rhythm and a bit of turn on the track.  No comparison to the current lot.  

 

This game will be a good test of our top order's ability to handle scoreboard pressure and a track that's not a batting beauty anymore.  I'm glad we have Old Dog Gambo in this lineup - his bloodymindedness and spin-playing skills is going to play an important part for us this match.  

[CoverDrive]

Yup this is a big factor IMO. Modern batsmen (esp indians) seem to have completely given up on bowling. Not only the previous generation used to bowl in useful overs they provided crucial breakthroughs in some of our big wins - Sachin Adelaide 2003 and many others, Sehwag Perth 2008

[sandeep]

1 hour ago, CoverDrive said:

Yup this is a big factor IMO. Modern batsmen (esp indians) seem to have completely given up on bowling. Not only the previous generation used to bowl in useful overs they provided crucial breakthroughs in some of our big wins - Sachin Adelaide 2003 and many others, Sehwag Perth 2008

Its not a question of giving up - you can only work on it, if there's something to work on.  Veeru came up as a spinner who could bat.  Tendy was a cricket polymath who could bowl with more variety and venom than frontline spinners.  These guys just dont have the ability.  

[The Realist]

If you can't bowl at least have the ability to field well. Current batsmen are as one-dimensional as you can get.

[Ankit_sharma03]

Thats why we need an all rounder, That is why Pandya is needed............even if he is ready or not

 

This problem also hampers us big time in ODi cricket n t20, hence we keep going back to raina n yuvi

 

[Muloghonto]

2 hours ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

Thats why we need an all rounder, That is why Pandya is needed............even if he is ready or not

 

This problem also hampers us big time in ODi cricket n t20, hence we keep going back to raina n yuvi

 

Why Pandya ?

I think if we already have an allrounder in the team - Ashwin. 

Currently, India is better off treating Ashwin as our allrounder,rather than an average pace bowling option, because we need the two best pacers in our team, sometimes 3 if the conditions favour and they are (in no particular order) : Shami, Umesh, Bhuvi, Aaron/Ishant . I cant see Panda crack into this pecking order anytime soon.

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

41 minutes ago, Muloghonto said:

Why Pandya ?

I think if we already have an allrounder in the team - Ashwin. 

Currently, India is better off treating Ashwin as our allrounder,rather than an average pace bowling option, because we need the two best pacers in our team, sometimes 3 if the conditions favour and they are (in no particular order) : Shami, Umesh, Bhuvi, Aaron/Ishant . I cant see Panda crack into this pecking order anytime soon.

 

Why not Pandya??? 

even if u want to play 3 seamers, u will play only one spinner overseas so why not pandya as 5th bowling option. He can bat bowl & field. 

Why cant ashwin n pandya play together. 5 bowler will most times be underused and his job most times is to give other bowlers rest and keeping a control over things

U dont seen pandya anytime soon.......ur going to see him this series.

[sandeep]

47 minutes ago, Muloghonto said:

Why Pandya ?

I think if we already have an allrounder in the team - Ashwin. 

Currently, India is better off treating Ashwin as our allrounder,rather than an average pace bowling option, because we need the two best pacers in our team, sometimes 3 if the conditions favour and they are (in no particular order) : Shami, Umesh, Bhuvi, Aaron/Ishant . I cant see Panda crack into this pecking order anytime soon.

 

You've got the pecking order right (except for Aaron).  Pandya doesn't get in at all, as a pace bowler.  He only gets a look in as a #6 bat and 5th bowling option.  

[Sooda]

We play 5 bowlers precisely to get round the lack of bowling options bit. If one of them- mishra - isnt trusted enough to bowl more than 10 overs in a day and dosent help himself anyway by bowling rubbish then we are effed

[Muloghonto]

1 hour ago, Sooda said:

We play 5 bowlers precisely to get round the lack of bowling options bit. If one of them- mishra - isnt trusted enough to bowl more than 10 overs in a day and dosent help himself anyway by bowling rubbish then we are effed

Yeah. In India, if we play 5 bowlers, the idea should mostly be 2 pacers + Ash + Jaddu + 2-3 spinners of which 1 will be picked based on form/on short leash.

Thats how you build bench strength and force people to improve or go away. 

Still can't see why we'd want Panda in there as a batsman - I think we trust Ashwin more at #6 than Panda. (goddamn auto-correct!). 

 

So if he isn't in the top 2 available pace bowler category, why do we want him in the test team in India ?!?

 

[SUMO]

even KL rahul cant bowl neither catch in slips

[Vijy]

On 11/10/2016 at 7:52 AM, sandeep said:

Its not a question of giving up - you can only work on it, if there's something to work on.  Veeru came up as a spinner who could bat.  Tendy was a cricket polymath who could bowl with more variety and venom than frontline spinners.  These guys just dont have the ability.  

Indeed, some of Tendy's balls turned more than Warne... and Sehwag, if he desired, could have become a batting allrounder.

 

Present generation is too one-dimensional, or rather, their focus has shifted from part-time bowling to fielding I guess.