India's Problem

[flanflinger]

The Third test and India field a new bowling attack Agakar coming in for the until now highy rated Pathan. Kumble and Habarjan are the first choice spinners, but if they only needed one spinner then they do not always know which one of the two to choose.

I think India's major problem is that it does not know what is it's best bowling attack. Conesquently, it very rarely seems to field the same attack, this is always going to affect consistentcy of performance.

[Maranello]

FF, not sure if that is what is happening here - Pathan is not playing as he is unfit..ditto for Harbhajan

Hence once IND had decided to go with two spinners, Kumble, Kartik and Khan were the first choice and obvious bowlers to go for... the only question mark is over Agarkar vs Nehra from the current squad..and Agarkar probably gets the record due to his record and experience vs the Aussies...

If all their bowlers are fit and on firm, IMO India's first choice attack should be: Pathan, Zaheer, Kumble and Harbhajan...and this is exactly the attack in the first two Tests!

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Maranello

Pathan is not playing as he is unfit..ditto for Harbhajan

I knew Habarjan was unfit, but did not know that was the case was Pathan. As it is I stand by my statement that Pathan has been very ineffective this series, and I would also say that is the case with Khan as well.

[Maranello]

FF, probably true on both counts... but then if the replacements are Nehra and Agarkar...probably sticking with Pathan and Khan is the best option!

I rate Balaji very highly but he had a bad few months and did not make the squad...definitely one to watch out for in the longer term, more than Agarkar or Nehra I think

[Mike Small]

I was under the impression that Harbajjan was actually sick (down with flu) and not injuried or anything , Pathan probably had a groin strain - and a side strain for the skipper.

Dean Jones was making this point on air today , Australia have a team where all but perhaps a couple of guys are in their 30s and yet they look the more physically fitter of the two teams so far, they have had an unchanged team for all three tests so far. And look at India. I mean Gangully pulling out with a soft injury like that at the very last moment is just simply unacceptable - these guys should be working a lot harder on their fitness routines than what they been doing right now if they are to match Aus in that respect , Kaif is supposedly the fitest member of the squad and yet he was the first one to suffer from dehydration when even 60 odd year old Shep survived tough conditions in Banglore.

[Maranello]

Yes Harbhajan has flu.. I said he was unfit..not that he is injured!

[Nikhil]

India's real problem is Ganguly's obssession with one kid called Parthiv Patel.

I think Dravid can keep as good as Patel can, if not better. Why on earth is Ganguly persisting with him. It's been more than a year since his weeket keeping has completely deteriorated. He fluffed two really simple chances y'day, which cost India dear. Both were offered by Clarke.

This is high time Ganguly understands Patel is not an international wicket keeper (if a wicket keeper at all) and drop him. Giving away byes and dropping catches can not be made up by scoring 50 runs. Not at all.

[Mike Small]

I don't think you can blame Ganguly on this, every team is considering or have already dropped in some cases keepers who are not scoring runs, Moin Khan has been dropped, Mark Boucher's place is supposedly under threat - then you have Aus who have Gilchrist and NZ who have McCullum than can bat at three in both forms of the game and Sri Lanka have opted for Sangakkara in ODIs and that man Kalu is under pressure to score runs to retain his keeping duties in tests - it's not hard to see why India and to lesser extent England have compromised the odd dropped catch, missed stumping and few extra byes to accommodate the 50 or so odd extra runs per test match innings. It's an endemic Nikhil, it’s the "keeper must score runs" syndrome, and everyone’s affected by it.

[Maranello]

Nikhil, agree about Patel but who are the other options....? Not into Indian domestic set-up so I don't know, do you have some names?

[Nikhil]

Originally Posted by Mike Small

It's an endemic Nikhil, it’s the "keeper must score runs" syndrome, and everyone’s affected by it.

The number of runs scored by the keeper is hardly anything compared to the number of extra runs the opposition scores because of the myriad dropped catches and missed stumpings by Patel. He's a kid with iron gloves. The problem is, he is not getting any time to correct his technique in domestic cricket. He must go back and play for Baroda (or Gujrat) in domestic cricket.

Maranello, the viable alternative is a good keeper-cum-batsman from Karnataka, KK Dinesh Karthik. That lad looked very good in the U-19 WC and decent in the three openings he got in England. I think he will get a debut in the next match.