Away blunder or a sign of things to come?

[Vrock]

Is India's loss to the West Indies a sign that the side as a unit can not perform away from home or was this just a few games of bad luck?

There were some very good personal performances. Ajit Agarkar performed very well with the ball in the early overs and not only took wickets but had excellent line and length to leave him the highest wicket taker for India in the series and getting them at 18 a piece. Virender Sehwag started to look like he was returning to his destructive best, especially with his 95 in the last game.

However, Suresh Raina was tried further up the order in a couple of the games and failed. He only averaged 17.25 in the series and did not look the same as he did against England when he and Yuvraj Singh often took games away from England in the middle order. With the ball, Harbhajan Singh took only 3 wickets and they cost 64 runs each. He never looked quite like being on top of the West Indian batsmen and was matched in performance by some of the West Indian spin bowlers.

[Wanderer]

India have never really traveled well to the WIndian Islands? They won the last ODI series 2-1, but loss the tests. This time I think it will be the other way around.

Sehwag failed again yesterday in the warm-up game, but hopefully (for the Indians) he's saving his best for the tests. The pitch is slow, and the bowlers had to work hard in the sun, Sreesanth taking 3 wickets late in the day. If this pitch is the shape of things to come in the tests, expect a run fest.

Last week Dravid said the team need to learn to make better use of the conditions over there. A good performance in the first test should put them well on their way.

[ajsaw]

Don't under estimate the Widies.

I think theer have been some encouraging signs over the last 6 months that they are starting to pull together as a team rather than a group of talented individuals.

If their long running sponsorship problems are truly over the players will be able concentrate more on their cricket and that can only be good for world cricket.

[Wanderer]

Not under-estimating them, was simply looking at things from an Indian point of view...

Yes, the Windies does look miles better than a year ago. They've got a good mixture of experience and youth.
Also, it seems like they have found a new team-spirit that was definitely lacking not so long ago.

During the ODI series, the team bowled, batted and fielded with a purpose. And that is great for Windie (and world) cricket.

[Django]

Except in England in 2002 and then in Australia in 2003-04, Indians have struggled outside the sub-continent. From what we have seen so far, this series against the West Indies may follow similar trend.

The Indian bowling (pace and spin, both) lacks penetration and relies too much on Kumble. Harbhajan is highly overrated and question remains whether he can win a match for India in this series. The batting which blossoms under home conditions lacks class and depth, except for Dravid and Laxman. Sehwag and Yuvraj are inconsistent and the others are inexperienced.

I will not be surprised if India fails to win the series, no matter how weak the West Indies team is.

[ajsaw]

You make some good points.

India, like a good wine, rarely travel well. One of the reasons is, as you suggest, a lack of pentrating bowling. Kumble is great but he really does need some back up. As good as Kumble is he is not quite in the class of Murali or Warnie so he can't really put in those 35-40 over spells.

Best wishes,

Allan.

[Vrock]

Originally Posted by ajsaw

As good as Kumble is he is not quite in the class of Murali or Warnie so he can't really put in those 35-40 over spells.

I don't see how being in certain class determines how many overs you can bowl. Come on, Chris Gayle bowls spells just as long as Warne and Murali do and you would never rate Gayle in the same class as Warne or Murali would you?

Originally Posted by ajsaw

Kumble is great but he really does need some back up.

This I do agree with, he certainly does lack any kind of partner to bowl at the other end and look dangerous consistently. Harbhajan has everything he requires up his sleeve but he just can't put it all together in test matches consistently.

[batoutofhell]

Originally Posted by Vrock

I don't see how being in certain class determines how many overs you can bowl. Come on, Chris Gayle bowls spells just as long as Warne and Murali do and you would never rate Gayle in the same class as Warne or Murali would you?

This I do agree with, he certainly does lack any kind of partner to bowl at the other end and look dangerous consistently. Harbhajan has everything he requires up his sleeve but he just can't put it all together in test matches consistently.

vrock,im TOTALLY in agreement with you on both points
harbhajan is very very inconsistent in his bowling,we really lacking a good supportive bowler for anil

[harsha]

In the squad (which was selected to the west indies tour) no one except for few ,visited the carabbian before .....and thus they did.nt adjust to the conditions prevailing there ...and so we lost the ODI series .........BUT in the all 3 test matches the indians dominated the hosts........Its the time which will tell that the indian team is good side or not........previous stats are only history .they have nothing to do with the present and future............

[batoutofhell]

yes harsha i am also with you when you say india will make better
future records(not like the past ones which suggests india a bad team
for touring abroad)
for that we really need better team selection
especially avoiding players like
kaif-who is always stutters in quick scoring often fails to rotate
strike(i am talking both in one day as well as tests)
harbhajan-the much hyped bowler from india(sehwag will do 500% better
than bhajji in both forms of the game)
VRV singh-Nothing to write about him(even in domestic circuit)
Laxman-People should stop rate him high(this guy is as inconsistent as
president bush in his comments about iraq's wmd)
Venugopal rao-why is this guy playing for indian team?(he can't rotate
the strike and has very minimal shots waste to select him even in the
squad of 15)
raina-yes suresh raina(guys he needs prove his batting
in domestic circuit first especially scoring singles against
spinners,then he can enter inernational cricket,international cricket is not for mediocores(trainings)
and should recall people like
Nehra,Gambir,and Kumble for better bowling and batting support