text:
Uncertainty remains over Ishant's fitness
The uncertainty around Ishant Sharma's ankle remained as he didn't bowl during India's training session on the eve of their three-day match against the Cricket Australia Chairman's XI. He was present with the team at the Manuka Oval, though. He played the football game that India play before their training sessions, and took part in light fielding drills too, but did not bowl.
Ishant has been advised two-days' rest by a specialist in Canberra, and is a sure non-starter for the tour game that begins on December 19. But the match is not a first-class fixture, which means he can be drafted in on for the second or third day if he recovers.
Ishant bowled only 5.3 overs in India's first tour game, walking off twice during that brief spell. The Indian camp said that day that Ishant was anyway going to bowl only six overs, and when the strapping on the ankle came loose with three deliveries left in the quota he felt no need to come back. Zaheer Khan and Rohit Sharma later said the injury wasn't serious. It has now emerged that Ishant saw a specialist and has been prescribed strengthening exercises and rest.
There is a possibility that the Indian team management might ask for a cover, just in case Ishant can't make it for the Boxing Day Test. However, that decision is not expected until late on Sunday or Monday.
Ishant had originally hurt the ankle in England. It was earlier suggested that he would need surgery on the ankle, but found out that it healed with physiotherapy at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.
India have had a horror run with fast bowlers' fitness on overseas tours. New Zealand 2008-09 was the last time they didn't have to deal with an injury to fast bowler. In Sri Lanka 2010, Zaheer was ruled out before the start, and Sreesanth was injured during training on the first day of the tour. Later that year, in South Africa, Zaheer missed the first Test. This year Zaheer got injured on the first day of Test cricket in England, and didn't bowl further in the series. India lost all three first Tests. They managed to come back and level series in Sri Lanka and South Africa, but were whitewashed in England.
Comments have now been closed for this article
Kaustav on December 21, 2011, 23:49 GMT
If Ishant's injury is serious then we need a backup..whose better than irfan pathan..he's in great form..his pace is also up..i saw him bowl few dileveries in 135+ during the WI odi..so bring him back & i agree with Sujay..Mithun & Vinay are hopeless..its injuries again thats spoiling Indias hope..we lost 2 of our best bowlers Praveen & Aaron..hope Ishant is fit..he bowled few overs in the 2nd warm up game.
Dummy4 on December 21, 2011, 14:04 GMT
We are in for a pasting for sure, unless the batsmen perform exceptionally well, and we escape with some draws. Forget winning. Abhimanu Mithun and Vinay Kumar are hopeless. There was a time when India used to tour abroad with such useless bowlers like Paras Mambhrey or Kuruvila. I think they should get Irfan Pathan in there. He is slow, but at least he is very good against right handers when he swings them back in.
Dummy4 on December 21, 2011, 8:39 GMT
It certainly would be unfirtunate if India can not play Ishant , particularly when Zaheer is yet to be back at his own level.
Am sure simultaneously tour think tank is thinking about plating X1 for the first Test. When do they think it is possible to decide if Ishant or Zaheer can be played or not ? What if both Ishant and Zaheer have to be ruled out for fitness reason?
With a cover required for Ishant/Zaheer Down Under it is a MUST that IRFAN PATHAN reaches down under asap.
Though Mithun and Vinay are good it wont be easy with out Zaheer and Irfan or even with one of them playing but weakened due to injury or out of form.
Following X1 with Irfan will have 9 batsman 2 all rounders and variety in bowling. Ojha will add variety to bowling but not really to much with the bat.
1.Sehwag 2.Gambhir 3.Dravid 4.Sachin 5.VVS 6.Virat 7.Dhoni 8.Ashwin 9.Zaheer (Irfan /Ojha) 10.Ishant (Irfan /Ojha) 11.Yadav
Dummy4 on December 21, 2011, 7:49 GMT
India Should take a leaf out of their last two series are concern in 2003 and 2007,They have taken most inexperience weakest Pace attack while Zaheer Khan featured only first test in both the series while its new Comer like Irfan Phatan,Nehra ,balaji in 2003 and Ishant Sharma,RP Singh in 2007 all relativey new commers but taken to the host fire against fire who were at Peak of their dominance,Interestingly in 1999-2000 tour down under India probably had best attack with Srinath,Prasad,Agarkar,Mohanty and even metronomical Anol kumble who were at their peak of their carear and still India drub 0-3.From Indian team they should Park their most fittest players not the most experienced but injured players.Its all depend upon mighty Indian batting line up to score heavily and reduces peressure on bowlers
Naresh on December 21, 2011, 7:13 GMT
I am sure Ishant,Yadev,Zaks and Ashwin will form the bowling for India. I still feel Rohit should play in place of Sachin. Both Kholi and Rohit should play because their form is good. Its hard on Sachin but the master needs to rest for this one and play next three. India should plan the next series properly - fast bowlers are injury prone so why not carry additional pace bowler. The second wicketkeeper should be Robin Uthappa. Irfan pathan shoule be the allrounder. Carry the extra player on overseas trips.
Dummy4 on December 21, 2011, 6:38 GMT
i hope next indian test line up will be like dis after the 3 greats retires
Sehwag,gambhir,Badrinath,Dheeraj Jadhav,virat Kohli,Pujara/Rohit,Dhoni,Ashwin,Ojha,Zaheer,Ishant,Umesh,rahul sharma/Iqbal abdulla,varun aaron,atul sharma,Saha/Dinesh karthik.
Look at dheeraj Jadhav career record is far the best batsman to get in test cricket...he is just 32 he has got another 4 years of cricket left in him
Srinivas on December 21, 2011, 4:09 GMT
Ishant has to be sent back. Period!
JustOUT on December 21, 2011, 1:18 GMT
India's bowling is pathetic.. Laxman & Dravid has to save India. As usual Sachin will score his 100th 100 for nothing.
Shakti on December 21, 2011, 0:07 GMT
If the Indian selectors did their job better,India would be so worried over Ishant Sharma.India have Dhawal Kulkarni,his batting average is 32 & bowling average is 27.He has been taking wickets on very flat pitches in Indian FC cricket.Both Vinay Kumar & Abhimanyu Mithun have not been impressive.They are both very expensive & they both lack pace.The selectors have many young options,for batting & bowling.There are also a few allrounders around,which would be an ideal #6.India really need Zaheer Khan to be accurate with sufficient pace,but most of all,to devise his methods of getting India wickets.
Wahab on December 20, 2011, 17:20 GMT
hahah .. so players started getting injuries .... who is next?
Kaustav on December 21, 2011, 23:49 GMT
If Ishant's injury is serious then we need a backup..whose better than irfan pathan..he's in great form..his pace is also up..i saw him bowl few dileveries in 135+ during the WI odi..so bring him back & i agree with Sujay..Mithun & Vinay are hopeless..its injuries again thats spoiling Indias hope..we lost 2 of our best bowlers Praveen & Aaron..hope Ishant is fit..he bowled few overs in the 2nd warm up game.
Dummy4 on December 21, 2011, 14:04 GMT
We are in for a pasting for sure, unless the batsmen perform exceptionally well, and we escape with some draws. Forget winning. Abhimanu Mithun and Vinay Kumar are hopeless. There was a time when India used to tour abroad with such useless bowlers like Paras Mambhrey or Kuruvila. I think they should get Irfan Pathan in there. He is slow, but at least he is very good against right handers when he swings them back in.
Dummy4 on December 21, 2011, 8:39 GMT
It certainly would be unfirtunate if India can not play Ishant , particularly when Zaheer is yet to be back at his own level.
Am sure simultaneously tour think tank is thinking about plating X1 for the first Test. When do they think it is possible to decide if Ishant or Zaheer can be played or not ? What if both Ishant and Zaheer have to be ruled out for fitness reason?
With a cover required for Ishant/Zaheer Down Under it is a MUST that IRFAN PATHAN reaches down under asap.
Though Mithun and Vinay are good it wont be easy with out Zaheer and Irfan or even with one of them playing but weakened due to injury or out of form.
Following X1 with Irfan will have 9 batsman 2 all rounders and variety in bowling. Ojha will add variety to bowling but not really to much with the bat.
1.Sehwag 2.Gambhir 3.Dravid 4.Sachin 5.VVS 6.Virat 7.Dhoni 8.Ashwin 9.Zaheer (Irfan /Ojha) 10.Ishant (Irfan /Ojha) 11.Yadav
Dummy4 on December 21, 2011, 7:49 GMT
India Should take a leaf out of their last two series are concern in 2003 and 2007,They have taken most inexperience weakest Pace attack while Zaheer Khan featured only first test in both the series while its new Comer like Irfan Phatan,Nehra ,balaji in 2003 and Ishant Sharma,RP Singh in 2007 all relativey new commers but taken to the host fire against fire who were at Peak of their dominance,Interestingly in 1999-2000 tour down under India probably had best attack with Srinath,Prasad,Agarkar,Mohanty and even metronomical Anol kumble who were at their peak of their carear and still India drub 0-3.From Indian team they should Park their most fittest players not the most experienced but injured players.Its all depend upon mighty Indian batting line up to score heavily and reduces peressure on bowlers
Naresh on December 21, 2011, 7:13 GMT
I am sure Ishant,Yadev,Zaks and Ashwin will form the bowling for India. I still feel Rohit should play in place of Sachin. Both Kholi and Rohit should play because their form is good. Its hard on Sachin but the master needs to rest for this one and play next three. India should plan the next series properly - fast bowlers are injury prone so why not carry additional pace bowler. The second wicketkeeper should be Robin Uthappa. Irfan pathan shoule be the allrounder. Carry the extra player on overseas trips.
Dummy4 on December 21, 2011, 6:38 GMT
i hope next indian test line up will be like dis after the 3 greats retires
Sehwag,gambhir,Badrinath,Dheeraj Jadhav,virat Kohli,Pujara/Rohit,Dhoni,Ashwin,Ojha,Zaheer,Ishant,Umesh,rahul sharma/Iqbal abdulla,varun aaron,atul sharma,Saha/Dinesh karthik.
Look at dheeraj Jadhav career record is far the best batsman to get in test cricket...he is just 32 he has got another 4 years of cricket left in him
Srinivas on December 21, 2011, 4:09 GMT
Ishant has to be sent back. Period!
JustOUT on December 21, 2011, 1:18 GMT
India's bowling is pathetic.. Laxman & Dravid has to save India. As usual Sachin will score his 100th 100 for nothing.
Shakti on December 21, 2011, 0:07 GMT
If the Indian selectors did their job better,India would be so worried over Ishant Sharma.India have Dhawal Kulkarni,his batting average is 32 & bowling average is 27.He has been taking wickets on very flat pitches in Indian FC cricket.Both Vinay Kumar & Abhimanyu Mithun have not been impressive.They are both very expensive & they both lack pace.The selectors have many young options,for batting & bowling.There are also a few allrounders around,which would be an ideal #6.India really need Zaheer Khan to be accurate with sufficient pace,but most of all,to devise his methods of getting India wickets.
Wahab on December 20, 2011, 17:20 GMT
hahah .. so players started getting injuries .... who is next?
Shruti on December 20, 2011, 15:44 GMT
@Nampally: It may not be a bad idea to play Ojha in place of VinayKumar/Mithun or whoever is the third medium pacer.Sehwag should be asked to bowl more.The guy has a penchant for picking wkts .Ponting and Hussey are going to feast on the third medium pacer's bowling and in the bargain resurrect their sagging careers.Aus selectors are so clear about Ponting that one bad series and he goes to retirement villa unlike Indian selectors who always go by past records and not current form.As for your mentioning MLJ ,Sachin was also sent for the 5th ODI against Pakistan from Kuala Lumpur to Toronto in 1998 .He played well but as it often happens,India lost.
raj on December 20, 2011, 14:21 GMT
@ RandyOZ - spot on with history....but not so hot with future predictions. Cricket was historically played by Aus and Eng. But slowly the other nations have become more competitive. India was lacking one piece in their jig-saw puzzle, pace bowlers. Now that piece is falling into place (notwithstanding the injury toll) and India's batting remains unsurpassed and spn is far superior. When will we see a change of power - smart money would say, "the time is nigh"!
Ashok on December 20, 2011, 14:15 GMT
The seamer Sharma should be replaced with the legspinner Rahul Sharma. That is the best choice India has in view of poor showing by Indian seamers in Australia so far in 2 friendlies. India should go with Ashwin & Rahul Sharma as 2 spinners + 2 seamers Yadev & ZAK/Vinay.The Melbourne wicket is likely to be relatively easy paced & may be more helpful to the Indian spinners than pacemen. Rahul & Ashwin both have awkward bounce due to high arm action. Aussies will not be able to play Rahuls' fast bouncy leg breaks & googlies. Bringing in another medium pacer with no experience is waste of another bowler.Wicket taking bowlers against the Aussies are likely to be Ashwin & Rahul. Ojha has been ineffective so far because he mainly relies on flight rather than spin. Wrist leg spinner is badly needed & India should focus on this aspect with Rahul Sharma as 18th guy. India must go wth All Swinging All Spinning(ASAP) bowling -ZAK & Yadev swinging new ball & Ashwin, Rahul & Ojha spinning the old!
Naresh on December 20, 2011, 14:11 GMT
A guy like ATUL SHARMA could shut the mouths of people like 5wombats, RandyOz and Lillian. I know very little about this guy but he could be India's answer to shut critics about our pace bowling.
narsimha on December 20, 2011, 13:52 GMT
5WOMBATS there is no ifs & buts we were beaten badly, in yr own back yard & arter that series ,i have been reading yr coments which primerily to denean india becouse it lost in ENG,NOW MY SIMPLE QUASTION , yr team , as per the stats available on this very site , has won nothing in INDIA,in the last 2 decades ,baring the recent series , our team had done exceptionally well in ENG ,where as ENG proved to be a very pathetic team ( in your own term for india ),in india, after beating india in all foprmats in your own back yard yr team was white washed with in days after grand home wins ,now my quastion why trhat only india is required to win outside, where as yr own performance is even worse than us( IN THE CONTEST OF IND&ENG.) even though our team was not doing well due to various factors, we co mpleted the series unlike yr team which ran away from india to avoid humiliating 7-0 in odis on security grounds, where as we stayed back in eng during recent riots .CRIC INFO PL PUBLIS
Dummy4 on December 20, 2011, 12:21 GMT
wombats eng will be bombat next year like india did in 2007 and 2003 atleast first series lost by india in england this decade england wat yu have done in india hmmmmmmmmmmmm loss after loss humiliation
Dummy4 on December 20, 2011, 11:22 GMT
@redneck. reg Mumbai test, India were not 1 run away from losing that match.. Check it again.. @5wombats.. ya.. wt else can I expect from u.. other than Indian bashing.. Go on dude.. njoy ur day.. Make hay while sun shines..:))
Dummy4 on December 20, 2011, 10:51 GMT
I strongly recommend ATUL SHARMA the unknown fast bowler who balls at 100mph TO REPLACE ISHANT SHARMA SO THT EVEN AUSTRALIANS DOESNOT WHO HE IS IT WILL DO FOR INDIA TO WHITEWASH AUSTRALIANS IN HOME SOIL
i WOULD LIKE THESE PLAYERS TO BE REPLACED WITH THESE BOWLERS
1.VINAY KUMAR WITH ATUL SHARMA WHO IS RIGHT ARM FAST 2.A.MITHUN WTH IRFAN PATHAN ALLROUNDER 3.ISHANT SHARMA WHO IS INJURED WITH SUDEEP TYAGI MEDIUM FAST AT AROUND 139kmph 4.ZAHEER KHAN WHO IS INJURED WITH RP SINGH OR TP SUDHINRA WHO IS ALSO RIGHT ARM FAST
Kuldeep on December 20, 2011, 10:15 GMT
Zaheer Khan's first perfomance on the tour suggests that he is not fit enough to play the series. He and Ishant Sharma should be on the plane back home. India can not play with with two unfit bowlers in their side, they need bowlers raring to go not bowlers nursing injuries.
Randolph on December 20, 2011, 9:36 GMT
Thanks to everyone who reminded us that India have NEVER, repeat NEVER, yes that's right NEVER, won a series in Oz, and let me assure you that won't be changing anytime soon!
Dummy4 on December 20, 2011, 9:11 GMT
@ nampally
dude already dinda has got a call frm the selectors and he left to australia yesterday according to sourav ganguly..once check the net .i dont know why cric info dint yet publish that.
Any wsyy glad that selectors picked dinda who is 3rd highest wicket taker and bowls regularly at 138-140 kph and bounce hope he gets picked in the 11 over mithun!!
any how ashwin,kohli and ishant if not injured would be the highlights of the series
Martin on December 20, 2011, 8:15 GMT
@redneck - we don't agree about a lot of things. But we can agree that @pitch_curator on (December 19 2011, 11:23 AM GMT) is dead wrong with his history regarding Headingley in 2010. That ODI game was played in 2007. India won by D/L because it rained, and india went on to lose that series 4-3. Good of him to remind us about yet another india series loss abroad isn't it? BTW @redneck - your knowledge of recent india Test history and Aus V ind Test history is accurate. india seem to have a penchant for winning the odd Test here and there on their travels. They couldn't even manage that in England in 2011 though. "Injuries" they said. Please publish.
Roo on December 20, 2011, 6:17 GMT
Although Ishant's fitness is a cause for concern, we must remember that Australian pitches are hard & bowlers not used to long spells on them can soon get niggling to serious injuries fairly quickly... With the 4th Test starting within a month of the 1st, bowlers will have to be rotated to ensure they make it through the whole series... e.g. Harris probably in the 1st & 3rd Test missing Sydney... Plus the use of a 5th bowler to even out the load during Tests...
Augustus on December 20, 2011, 6:08 GMT
@Nampally - reading the future is for shamans. The Indian XI was bowled out by Holland with 6 wickets who as a spin bowler has hardly made an impression to Australian selectors. At the least, slightly embarrassing.
Dummy4 on December 20, 2011, 5:59 GMT
One bowler who is capable of making a difference is Munaf Patel, but then again, this guy suffers from a massive attitude problem and unreliable form. I am not sure why RP Singh is not being picked, but again based on evidence, Dinda is probably the best bet yet. Let us repose all confidence is the bowlers that have been selected and pray that our team doesn't suffer anymore injuries.
As a side note, I am really curious to know what happened to Irfan Pathan and his speed after he came back from his debut in Australia seven years back. To a certain extend, the same thing happened to Ishant Sharma, who has never been as pacy as he was when he toured OZ in 2008. Although, he has regained some of it back, but still how badly does OZ hex our bowlers. L Balaji is also one who was never the same since making his debut in Australia along with Pathan.
Dummy4 on December 20, 2011, 4:20 GMT
in case if ishant gets injured and still irfan is not picked then its clear confirmation that selectors are doin politics.
hayden on December 20, 2011, 3:30 GMT
@pitch_curator headingly in 2010 ay???? pretty sure your dreamed that one up. far as i know india didnt set foot on english soil that year and they got pumped 4-0 when they did get there earlier this year! and werent india 1 run off loosing to the west indies in mumbai in their last test match? thats only 7 runs shy of what australia managed against new zealand, hardly the form of a champion team!!! and even the durban match you talk of, the series was only 1-1 hardly anyting to write home about!!! winning a test isnt winning a series. when was the last time india actually won more than one test in a series away from home apart from in bangledesh??? i dont know where lillian thompson was when india won in perth, but me i was cellebrating winning the series in the first 2 tests played before perth. not lementing india winning a dead rubber! that too against an understrength aust team (rogers opening, tait playing enough said)
KISH on December 19, 2011, 21:22 GMT
I knew they will pick Dinda or Unadkat. I haven't seen much of Dinda because I hate IPL. From what I saw, he never looked like a bowle capable of doing anything in test matches. That is the reason why I said the selectors will pick him over Pathan, Nehra or Munaf Patel. Dhoni and selectors like mediocre bowlers.
Ashok on December 19, 2011, 19:53 GMT
@RandyOZ: Yes, Another whitewash is certainly on the Cards but it is likely to be Indian Victory. On paper India has superior batting which never collapsed for 49 runs recently!Also India is coming with a 2-0 Test series win over WI, won by the 2 Indian spinners getting 42 out of 60 wkts. On the other hand the Aussies have lost both to SA & NZ. Indian spinners will bundle Aussies out - never mind the fast track. So guess who is more likely to lose, this time to India - the Aussies!
Monif on December 19, 2011, 19:51 GMT
@Yougander, Do you expect irfan to score 6 sixes in 6 balls in test. Whatever he will do as batsman will be added advantage, he is there for his bowling(I am sure even if Mithun, Dinda, Vinay) are injured even then he will be selected. If you remember last tour, he was not in gr8 form but the game which India won, he was MOM. and he had proved that. Its injury as well as expectation that he will score century and win game for India when top order flopped and that added extra pressure and he was out of XI. Now he is back as bowler not as a batsman. Also, you said medicore WI team, they played better than England, and England in thier home beat India(no need to tell either). So what if Aussies go for kill, then do you expect 2-3 test match players can come back, never there experience counts only. All these new bowlers(Mithun, Vinay, Dinda, Ashwin, Rahul), they can't do anything once they go for kill. Think in that way, then India can only play for draw, that too is not an easy task.
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 18:22 GMT
i dont know weather i should say this or not but m seeing this from d day IPL has started each n every player is fit when this tournament starts n then after d same old stories of injuries comes out.it seems players r giving more importance to IPL then to play for d country
Surya on December 19, 2011, 17:58 GMT
Why is Irfan Pathan not given a chance?!? He has been one of the best bowler in ranji and in form. He has played in AUS as well.
VaRUN on December 19, 2011, 17:47 GMT
@ RandyOZ, Next Ashes is quite some time away! So you gotta wait !
Ashok on December 19, 2011, 15:01 GMT
@henchart: If Dinda is going to replace Ishant, when is he expected to arrive in Australia? This reminds me of Jaisimha who was not selected for the Aussie tour due to politics, being sent as replacement for an injured bowler. He arrived the day before the test match & was included in the XI. He batted brilliantly in both the innings and nearly won the Test match for India with his century in the second innings(India lost by 38 runs). Can Dinda repeat Jaisimha's Heroics & win the test for India? I doubt it - no comparison betwn. Dinda & Jaisimha!.You may be right in Vinay being the third seamer. India could have sent sent 2 guys because ZAK is also not 100% fit & always prone to injuries. Tactically my choice - bring in a leg spinner Rahul Sharma too. He will be handful because Aussies are weak against wristy leg spinners & Rahul has a pacy awkward bounce too. India can go with 3 spinners + 2 seamers, on 2 spin friendly pitches & WIN. India should not miss series win thru' tactics.
Shruti on December 19, 2011, 13:54 GMT
Dinda would be covering for or replacing Ishant .Official News is expected by Wednesday.Indian team for First test : sehwag,gautam,dravid,Sachin,kohli,VVS,dhoni,ashwin ,zaheer,yadav and Vinay kumar.
narsimha on December 19, 2011, 13:22 GMT
SAMROY ,We never claimed that we won test series in AUS, in that case no team from SUBCONYINENT won a test series in AUS till date, INDIA just missed that apportunity in the last outing to down under , we would have won the SYDNEY TEST but ... the reasons are well documented , my point is even though we could not won a series in AUS, the stats indicate that we are the only team which challenged the AUSSs in HOME &AWAY during their HEY DAYS ,when AUSSES were demolishing all other teams ,SHANE WARNE was a terror to mejority of batsman of that era but INDIANS just treated him as a club bowler, that was the important fector for ,AUS , NOT ABLE TO DOMINATE INDIA during that period .
Parag on December 19, 2011, 13:16 GMT
What was the outcome when India tried to hide Bowler's fitness and tried to play mental games? They just lost because of selection bench. To me, if the batsman has an injury, he will say I may be fit to play the game (or may be fit enough to play a game). In the bowler's case, I would say if he has an injury, he is out of equation for me. It's still 20 Dec, 6 days to go for boxing day test. Get Irfan Pathan in oz and give him couple of days rest and get him into gym and ask to bowl in nets and just bowl.....For me, Yadav looks to take over from Khan after 2-3 years but he needs to have a partner in the match. Khan and Pathan both can swing the bowls and yadav just to need pick few from these guys. Vinay has been into good form in recent matches but I would say he has been lucky to pick recent WI wickets. If Sharma is fit on boxing day, pathan - the drinks man. oh, he may help Sachin carrying bats.....
Randolph on December 19, 2011, 13:08 GMT
Another whitewash certainly on the cards, cannot wait!
Prasant on December 19, 2011, 12:16 GMT
@pitch curator, I agree with you. Last decade stats show, Ind won 12 matches while @u$$ie won only 10.. - Prasant UNSW
Senthil on December 19, 2011, 11:51 GMT
T.P.Sudhindra is just a medium fast(???) bowler. At max he bowls at 120 kmph, I have searched for his bowling and I found some clips he is bowling in ICL mostly were at 118 k's with wicket to wicket line, can't see he swings. I don't think he can be selected for his performance, all I can say is Ranji group B is poorly packed with no Batting great team except TN. While Delhi lost their 3 start batsman to National Duty thus the bowlers from this Group boasting a great No of wickets. The Batting heavy weights like Mumbai, Karnataka, Saurashtra and Rajastan all packed in the other group. There I would value the wickets to be Honestly. I m eagerly waiting for T.P.Sudhindra's bowling against TN. Where we will know his actual value against a good batting order consisting of 4 Batsman played for India in Tests (A Mukund, M Vijay, S Badrinath and D Karthik). So let see how he bowls against them.
Kiran on December 19, 2011, 11:23 GMT
@ Lillian Thomson -- I guess it is about time you stopped watching cricket because you have not figured out in 40 years that it is not what happened 35 years ago that is important but what has happened in the last 5-6 years (at best last decade) that is important. Where were you when India beat South Africa in South Africa in Durban on a seaming track after losing in the toss in 2010?? When India beat England in Headingley in 2010 again on a green seaming track? When India beat Australia in Perth in 2007-08?? You have no clue about what is happening at present and you are talking about 80-81 series. So, according to your theory West Indies have the best chance of winning in Australia as they have the best record in the last 40 years...lol.. Pathetic @ Bravo Bravo -- completely understand why you support Lillian. Because west Indies can only look back and smile. they were unable to compete with a C grade team from India in their home grounds earlier this year.
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 11:20 GMT
dude just for the sake of showing irfan is better dont reduce dinda's wickets !!
Dinda took 28 wickets in 5 matches and not 25 got that ??
We saw how great was irfan with the bat he cant touch the ball with his bat when a mediocre windies team wad bowling and on indian pitches !! Forget him even lasting for 2 balls when the likes of siddle and bollinger would be boling on bouncy tracks down under !! Just playing some fluke shots against localbowlers in ipl wont make irfan an bowling all rounder !!
Dnda deserved the chance on his merit !! He is the 3rd highest wicket taker in ranjis and the topwicket taker played one match more .
Any how out of present options india have only dinda can bowl 138-140 speed for sure with consistency and he relies on bounce and australian pitches are famous for bounce so tell me who shd be picked any wayy dinda is wayy better thn mithun but still dhoni will give chance to mithun how worst he plays vinay is bettr thn mithun
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 11:04 GMT
With the kind of workload Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma had at England it is no wonder that they have suffered injuries. Asking fast bowlers to bowl 35 to 40 overs in consecutive tests is bound to bring about injuries. Looking ahead I see that one T.P.Sudhindra of MP is the highest wicket taker in Ranji Elite this season. Is he a good bowler? Does the BCCI ever see such players.
sathish kumar on December 19, 2011, 10:28 GMT
I believe ishant will be fit and reay to take up the charge aloong with zaheer and yadav, v believe our bowling attack have lot more variety than australian if ishant is fit, else it will be very much ordinary in the like of vinay kumar and mithun, none of these guys has the capability to trouble the australian batsmen. we wan irfan in squad to fill up the place of a pace all rounder. missing irfan this time around and i strongly believe irfan will be part of odi in australia. all the best to our players.
Jitesh on December 19, 2011, 10:22 GMT
If mithun and vinay will be part of indian team, thn in future we all will see INDIA playing qualifiying matches for ICC Number 11/12 position. :)
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 10:16 GMT
Ishant Sharma's fitness is now in question and the selectors overlooked the surging form and fitness of Irfan Pathan. He has battled injury and a slump in his career and fought to regain his place. He is bowling in his 140s, his banana swing is back on pitches in India and even a layman can guess what he could do on responsive Australian pitches . One tends to feel that only copmitence and talent is not enough to influence the selectors. It looked like a planned move to keep Irfan away from action until the squad was named for Australia. Naturally he got jolted when he was left out and seemed edgy while batting but got a wicket first ball !! Now what? Does Srikanth think people are blind ?!
malkeet on December 19, 2011, 10:02 GMT
history repeating itself.....we took injured players to eng and hoped that they will miraculously get fit....lost 4-0.....now again instead of looking to plan r strategies 4 aus players we r wondering whether r bowlers will be fit or not......that means NOTHING WAS LEARNT AFTER THAT WHITEWASH IN ENGLAND....next thing what r selectors r going to do is to send piyush chawla as replacement 4 Zak!!!!!!!
shankar on December 19, 2011, 9:58 GMT
After England series, Ishant had his ankle damaged and he told cricinfo that it will need surgery and he will be out of 8-9 months. He also said that since Australia trip would be coming up in December, he will not do the surgery, rather he will take injections and somehow play through the four tests in Australia. And then he will undergo the ankle surgery. What stuns me is that the selectors allowed this to happen. How can a player decide when he should take injury timeout? Ishant is not playing his backyard cricket. He is representing India. The selectors must tell such injured players to undergo rehabilitation, before being considered for India duty. Period. Imagine what will happen if unfit people apply and become pilots in the Indian Air Force. The selectors need to be made accountable for their decisions. BCCI must be brought under Sports Authority of India.
Muthuvel on December 19, 2011, 9:46 GMT
MITHUN bowls straight 125-132KMPH thats not fast bowling, pathan bowls a bit quicker and swings it a whole lot, Dinda is a 135-145 bowler his effort balls around 148 i have not seen him swing but bowls short of length. I am so unhappy with the selectors this is pure lack of profesisonalism. Mithun needs to go and Pathan needs to come in. Many people will quit watching cricket and opt for hockey or football if indian selectors make such pathetic mistakes, i know i would.
Sanjiv on December 19, 2011, 9:31 GMT
Santa telephoned. He asked me to pass this message to Srikant and his band of Indian selectors. I-shan't has asked for a good ankle this Christmas. He-shan't be getting it. Because he was a bad (injured) boy during the England tour too. Ho ho ho.
Vijayendra on December 19, 2011, 9:25 GMT
Ishant is proving the selectors are, what we always though they are, fools! What was that software, once again, that Kumble was trying to sell to the BCCI which supposedly tracked injury management of all the players?
Satish on December 19, 2011, 9:17 GMT
I don't know whether this is same issue as England tour.. But bowlers apart from Zaheer(Who was well on road to fitness) were fit when they toured.. Ishant bowled a good share of overs against WI in home.. Never saw any issues with his ankle or anything in the home series.. I guess we are overreacting to the things which happened naturally.. @Samroy : Yes India never won a series in Australia but were comfortably the best team to tour Australia during the last decade.. Their records show it..
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 9:08 GMT
The fall of the veterans does not appear to be encouraging news got Team India.India which had improved upon the usual trend to becomible collapsible any time nature & did well in the first T20& this year's World cup ,again sliding back to the original trend shot Uld not happen at least in the Series proper against Australia.But still rays of hope in Kohli&againRohit&Jadeja& Rohit Sharma.!this being a 3 day affair& also in the absence of the Top veterans Dravid& Sachin there's no need for unusual panic.the form of Rohit & Kohli also is a consoling factor. We also hope we could also trust on the willpower factor of Sehwagk& Gambhir.Anyway thinking that anything happening should be taken as it is for goodThis reminds me the classic story of a Lion& a kKing.the King sustained an injury & was bleeding !But this helped him to escape from the attack from a Lion since Lions usually as a matter of it's habit & principle does not touch anything already bleeding,! So far so good! SreedharanM
Naresh on December 19, 2011, 9:06 GMT
Maybe India will go in with 7 batsman and 4 bowlers as in the past. Rohit and Kohli should both play. If this happens then the games will be drawn as opposed to won.
sudhanshu on December 19, 2011, 9:01 GMT
Why indian bowlers only injured so frequently.
Naresh on December 19, 2011, 8:59 GMT
Indian pace bowlers are not physically built like the Australian pace bowlers. The strain on the body in pace bowling is great. We are not doing something right for sure. with Indian pacers once injured there is very little chance of getting back there - we will not be 100 % fit. This means we got to keep changing and replacing with new bowlers.
Senthil on December 19, 2011, 8:59 GMT
Here are the Wickets taken by Irfan in this season and their Batting Avg.: vs Madhya Pradesh; 1-st Innings: J Saxena-30.86, Abbas Ali-47.10, Harpreet -22.92, scored 27 runs. 2nd innings: Saxena-30.86, Bundela-45.22, Abbas Ali-47.10, Harpreet -22.92, TP Sudhindra-15.40. Match Out come: 8 Wickets and 27 runs..................Vs Hariyana; 1st Innings: R Dewan-43.07, scored 14 runs, 2nd Innings: R Dewan-43.07, N Saini-33.42, A Mishra-20.79, A Hooda -6.62, Billa-10.62 and 7 runs. Match outcome: 6 Wickets and 21 runs..................VS Delhi; 1st Innings - scored 23 runs, U Chand-43.41, S Dhawan-46, Milind -26.25, M Manhas-45.43, R Bhatia-48.24, Y Nagar-36.61, S Sehrawat-27, V Mishra -3.83, 2nd Innings scored 10 runs and Delhi won by 10 wickets. Match out come: 7 wickets and 33 runs. I leave the conclusion for the Arm-chair experts from this Numbers.
rahul on December 19, 2011, 8:53 GMT
i was just watching videos of wasim akram 's swing bowling on you tube . brilliant swing bowler . greatest swing bowler of all time .no one can compare him . i was just amazed how he was able to swing the ball brilliantly even in dust bowls . especially the delivery by which he gets wkt of rahul dravid in chennai test 1999 was a gem.
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 8:52 GMT
is there any spot in indian team... selector are comparing pathan with some body else and they are picking other person into the team... 1. Praveen spot : Midhun (Midhun vinay pathan) 2. Varon spot : vinay (Vinay pathan) 3. isanth Spot : here every body thought that no competition, but now Ashok dinda came up for this
out of these four guys IK pathan is far better, everybody is telling vinay is swing bowler but i never seen swing delivery from his hand, Midhun and dinda not yet performed good in international cricket. Alot of guys in india can bowl more than 135kmph in gully cricket but nothing special in their bowling like midhun and dinda
on wat basis selectors picking the players : performance , money, local feelings. if this process going like this no body will follow the cricket,
Naresh on December 19, 2011, 8:52 GMT
FOR A CHANGE DHONI has a headache when choosing his batting lineup Who does he leave out? Kohli and Rohit Sharma are both talented and dedicated batsman. The second tour game is in progress and both are scoring quite well. INDIA's only wish is that he had the same headache with his bowling resources. Maybe it is time one of the big three sit out in each game to accomdate the youngster.
rajesh on December 19, 2011, 8:50 GMT
Thank god.This is the first time Blowers who are fighting for the Places in the Indian Team. Dinda,varun,umesh,neecham,mithun are the upcoming fast bowlers of Indian Cricket. Ifran,praveen,vinay,chachar are the best swing bowler of Indian Cricket. Zaheer,sreesanth,ishant,munaf,Nehra are the veteran (Much Exp palyers of Indian Cricket). This is a very Good sine for our Indian Cricket.We need to groom these Fast & Swing blowers with the Veterans.
Sim'lly .This it the best time India have Very Good Spining Options Ashwin (mystery offSpin),Ojha (left-arm),Harbhajan (Off-spin),Rahul (Side-on leg Spinner),mishra & Chawla (leg spinners)
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 8:43 GMT
leave the problem of bowlers..here we have another problem..our opening pair is not batting well..I would definitely play virat and rohit both even if it comes at the expense of gambhir who is not playing well even in practice matches...ifone of sehwag/kohli/rohit who fails after 2 test matches then replace him with gambhir or rahane who performs better in practice match after 2nd test... y drop both in form Virat and Rohit for not-in-form Gambhir or Sehwag..
Martin on December 19, 2011, 8:43 GMT
This is history repeating itself. India turned up in England with the same sort of attitude - with obviously injured and unfit players. Cricket is a game for us fans to watch admire and enjoy, but when this sort of thing happens the fans have every right to feel aggrieved - especially as it's already happened before.
Ankur on December 19, 2011, 8:32 GMT
DEJA VU... ENGLAND SUMMER ALL OVER AGAIN??!! He had a problem with his ankle while bowling against West Indies.. and still was a sureshot for Australia tour and now this... why do Indians always live in hope with Injuries..
sam on December 19, 2011, 8:21 GMT
@g.narsimha Nice to see someone passionately supporting his team's cause. But the fact remains India has never won a series in Australia. India has been touring Australia since 1947-48. Even against a Australian 'C' Team they couldn't win in 1977-78 (Kerry Packer's WSC and mass exodus). In 1985-86 they couldn't win against a weak Austalian Team in what must have been the lowest point of Australian cricketing might.
Arshad on December 19, 2011, 7:45 GMT
Irfan is a much better option than Ishant, vinay, mithun & dinda.............let's wait n C how these guys perform......But, One thing is sure, selectors will turn to Irfan Pathan VERY SOON
Rama on December 19, 2011, 7:33 GMT
Replace him with Irfan Pathan. Anyway, speed guns in Oz show at least 5-10 KM more speed. Irfan will certainly be 135+ there
Aj on December 19, 2011, 7:29 GMT
Irafan Pathan should get chance ahead of Ashok dinda, as Irfan has experience of Australian pitches.
Gilbert on December 19, 2011, 7:21 GMT
Is anybody surprised with the Indian players? As always the case the tour starts with a strike bowler being injured (usually Zahir is the culprit) and by midway of the tour half the side is out with injury. When does the IPL start??
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 6:55 GMT
hmmm ankle injury and he plays a "football" game as warm up... How does this make any sense????
raj on December 19, 2011, 6:45 GMT
Ishant, fit or not, this is a great opportunity for the Indian Team Management to call for Irfan Pathan as cover. Once on tour Pathan can become the first choice reserve and can be added to the playing eleven in case of any injuries or non-performance by the incumbent pacies. If the Indian team management do not make this call now than I'm afraid they are just as much at fault as the selectors! I get a strong feeling that Ishant and/ or young Yadav will struggle on this tour and there is no-one to fall back on!
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 6:44 GMT
Ithink all over the world,fast bowlers are getting injured in droves. Look at what is happeing to Australia? However I think we will have a problem if Ishant is not fit and if Zahir is just getting back. If he breaks down as he has been known to do in the past, we could be in serious trouble. If Dinda is the bowler then the earlier he leaves for Australia the better. Vinay Kumar can swing the ball. Let us not bother about 140 kms per hour. There are ten aussie bowlers at that pace. The key is to bowl in the right spots and move the ball. Not a great start to the tour sridhar
Himanshu on December 19, 2011, 6:31 GMT
Hope selectors read this: This table is Player>FC matches this season>Wickets taken> runs conceded>avg.>Runs scored Pathan>4>21>297>14.1>81 Dinda>5>25>602>24.1>18* *Of this 18, 17 was in just one innings. Otherwise Dinda has two ducks, one 0* and a 1 in rest of his innings. Needless to say Irfan is a far batter batsman than Dinda, having scored more than 4 times the runs, after having played one match less. But main point of consideration is bowling. Irfan has picked more wicets per-innings and at a much lwer avg. than Dinda. Can the selectors, or anyone else out here, explain to me the logic behind picking Dinda ahead of Irfan?
atul on December 19, 2011, 6:18 GMT
Shekhar on December 19, 2011, 6:15 GMT
Irfan Pathan should play at number 6. He is a decent batter and a swing bowler. That allows 5 bowlers which his Indian team needs to win a test because none of the other available bowlers are world class. But if the batting is good then why play kohli or Rohit at 6?
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 5:57 GMT
This is gud to select ashok dinda in place of ishant sharma . But excellent in selecting irfan pathan .. He is an experienced swing bowler better than dinda..
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 5:50 GMT
why should srikanth give a chance to irfan pathan...... he can perform well in australia tour...... in last two tours he do his best for our team.... so if ishant s not fit he should give a chance to irfan...
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 5:48 GMT
Irfan should be bought back into test squad considering his recent form and swing bowling both with new and old ball. he also adds depth to the batting. also he has enough experience in australian conditions and in absence of Zaheer, he is the right choice to lead the indian bowling attack.
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 5:42 GMT
Time for Ishant to be suspended on disciplinary grounds.Set an example so that noone would dare do this in future.no half measures here.
Masood on December 19, 2011, 5:38 GMT
I think selectors has decided finally not to consider Irfan Pathan, even if dinda, tinda, ------------- got injured then might be they will go to distric level cricket players and give then test cap to avoid selection of Irfran Pathan at any cost.
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 5:05 GMT
@lilianthom : srikanth was selected in 89windies tour but got injured n returned midway
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 5:00 GMT
Ashok Dinda named cover to Injured Ishant Sharma
Source : Rediff
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 5:00 GMT
dinda is perfect choice and he is capable of bowling 140plus consistantly whn on song..135+ atleast otherwise and is better than useless vinay who himself comparing him with philander and also to some extent mcgrath which is joke of year 2011....this guy is lucky ..batsman throws his wicket whn vinay is bowling because they think he is useless and hence try to play on the up or wrong shots to him..in practise match also he bowled for 109-1....dinda should go....and if ishant not fit bowling line up should be zak,yadav,dinda....im still laughing after reading vinays article yest about his preparation and desires lol..
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 4:58 GMT
utter nonsense this is.pathetic fitness..how cum so many players get injured before the series starts..
rahul on December 19, 2011, 3:43 GMT
kan on December 19, 2011, 3:41 GMT
Ishant is not playing the tour game today, means his fitness is real concern!! what is BCCI waiting on still !! need Irfan to get on flight ASAP
Anver on December 19, 2011, 3:40 GMT
This time its Ishant's turn instead of Zaheer......Who is next ?????????
Vishal on December 19, 2011, 2:18 GMT
This is getting ridiculous. Why has he been nursing this injury since the England tour, why did he have to play against the Windies? These kind of decisions by the selectors and the Board make every Indian fan cringe.
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 2:17 GMT
Ishants fitness always used to be a nightmare for Team India& this time that too abroad in Australia it is not different& adds as an insult to injury! We wish him speedy recovery ahead of Boxing day! In case he is forced to return Irfan Pathan though yet another Pro- injury case should be considered as replacement!Every day is not a sunday.this time either Ishant could recover well ahead of 26th Dec or Irfan could take part in the event without getting injured All the Best to both Sharma& Irfan. SreedharanMundanat
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 1:27 GMT
Wow, and Zaheer hasn't even played a game there. Lets see how he fares in this warm up match. From Ishant playing fun football to bowling only 5 overs before being injured again to Ashok Dinda being called. What is this? Some Indian circus? Kris Srikanth wake up please?
We need at least one bowler with experience there. Please?
Dummy4 on December 19, 2011, 1:13 GMT
Time for Irfan Pathan????
Ashok on December 19, 2011, 0:39 GMT
It sounds strange that a guy with ankle problem is playing fun football with the team! At the same time he is advised 2-day rest by specialist Doctor. Indian Newspaper of 18th December reports that the team management stated that they will make a decision on Ishant within 24 hours - 1.e. by 19th Dec. It is anybody's guess as to what is going on. Ishant is not not a match winning bowler.Heis more experience but not indispensable. Why doesn't India get a fit seamer in & send Ishant back to India.It will send a strong signal to all players that lack of fitness will not be tolerated. Cost of 2 tickets is worth lot more than continuing the tour with an injured player likely to breakdown any time. Send in a couple of reinforcements now whether Ishant plays or not.That gives Dhoni lots of options instead of excuses. Quick & decisive action is needed by the Selectors & the Team Manager.
Varun on December 19, 2011, 0:30 GMT
Well Well Well....If he is injured after bowling 5 overs on the tour how come he made it for the selection. It was a known injury. Y was he made to tour unfit!!Should have got a fit man on tour! Come on selectors whats going on???
David on December 19, 2011, 0:24 GMT
India must be very fragile if Zaheer and Ishant's fitness is so important. It is 16 months since Pakistan lost two fast bowlers with vastly superior Test records (Asif and Amir). During that time they have played Tests against six other countries - including South Africa - for a record of Played 12, Won 6, Drawn 5, Lost 1. In contrast, India lose Zaheer or Ishant and fall apart. For the record, India's record over the same period is: Played 18, Won 7, Drawn 6, Lost 5.
Pan on December 19, 2011, 0:19 GMT
Interesting to see the number of people calling for a bloke who's not even in the squad to get the nod ahead of the guys already there. I don't claim to be an expert on Indian bowlers, but in fairness to these people calling for Pathan, the two reserves pacemen did seem to be rather leftfield picks: Poor injury planning, anyone? Or maybe just naivity? (Or maybe I just don't know enough about the other two to comment).
Khurram on December 19, 2011, 0:08 GMT
Does it make any difference,if he plays or not ? i dont think so. He,s gona be hammered by Aussies along with his fellows. Only Indian Batsmen can win "OH WAIT" or save 5 days game. Well, may the best team win.
David on December 18, 2011, 23:35 GMT
Irfan Pathan will probably be the main beneficiary of Ashok Dinda's reported call-up. If, as seems increasingly likely, an unprepared and unfit Indian team suffers a second consecutive 4-0 away whitewash, we will find Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman and Zaheer Khan swept into immediate retirement and Dhoni will lose the captaincy. And the only person untainted by the destruction will be Irfan Pathan. Srikkanth knows all about this - it's the SRIKKANTH PHENOMENON. He wasn't picked for the catastrophic 88-89 tour of the West Indies, and so he emerged from the rubble as the next captain of India!
mo on December 18, 2011, 22:22 GMT
so wait... he has an ankle injury and couldn't bowl in a practice session but played football for fun?!? what am i missing?!?
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 21:14 GMT
kan on December 18, 2011, 19:56 GMT
don't understand why BCCI is waiting for last minute to send a bowler as cover!! it has to be Irfan Pathan, if Irfan is sent out early, then he could have played on boxing day test match if Ishant doesn't play, but sending cover at last minute will obviosly rule that option out and india would have to play one of the 2 useless bowlers Mithun or Vinay, selectors pls send Ifran as cover asap
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 19:54 GMT
Please Drop Ishant and bring Irfan, who has done well in recent times. Meanwhile BCCI Knew that Ishant is having some injury problem. Yet he has been included that's ridicules part of Shrikant and his party.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 19:51 GMT
I wonder if Ishant is finally out with injury, Irfan Pathan will still be ignored.
Jay on December 18, 2011, 19:40 GMT
Best of luck to Ishant, and to Team India. Looks like Vinay or Mithun might end up playing. Aron Varun would have been an ideal fit if he was not injured.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 18:42 GMT
Ashoke dinda is in the form of his life he is the 3rd highest. Wicket taker in ranji's with 28 wickets frm 5 matches including 2 five wicket hauls.
He is the best bet for india to succeed on bouncy australian pitches.only ishant relies on bounce in indian team so dinda is his most apt replacement !!!
If selectors are really selecting the players on ranji basis dinda deserves his spot .he operates at a speed of 137 kph and relies on bounce and was unfairly treated by the selectors who kicked him out after one t20 against sl whrre he bowled well
if not dinda then its irfan's turn but irfan wont be an apt replacement for ishant bpth are different types of bowlers one relies on bounce and other relies on swing.we alreadu have zak and vinay kumar for swing !! Mithun has nothing but just a pace of 135 kph.
Nilesh on December 18, 2011, 17:40 GMT
I think in his case he had already informed the BCCI of the potential surgery after the Australia tour so its not like he was hiding something. Not that I am an expert on sports injuries but it could be a minor issue. There are still about 7-8 days to the test and let's hope that based on the rest he recovers by that time.
Regardless, I think its a good time to call for one extra replacement from: - Nehra: Hasn't played in a test since 2004 but can be very effective and is very hard working and skillful. Wants to play tests. - Munaf played in the WI this year but wasn't as effective (still learning). Definitely has shown improvement over the last 2-3 years though. - Sreesanth is extremely talented but also the most mercurial. A bit of a gamble and having another on field incident in Australia is the last thing one would want. - Pathan hasn't played in a test since 2008 but has the skills and deserves a chance.
My choice would be (in this order): Nehra, Pathan, Munaf
herry on December 18, 2011, 17:35 GMT
india should get pathan back for thoes kind of swinging track. sachin, laxman , rahul ,viru ,gambhir abd dhoni probebly the strongest batting line up in the world. but we always know that Australian seamers are dominating now a days. so we should have at least some good bowler to control weak australian batting. (while Ricky ponting out of form).
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 17:32 GMT
The Fast bowlers job is possibly the hardest......they need 2 run in and fire at all cylinders...........so they got to be healthy and robust......they must be rotated well...so that we have a bench of good fast bowlers who can perform whenever asked 2 do the national colors.........as well as the longevity of the player increases...which is good for Indian Cricket.
pushpinder on December 18, 2011, 17:28 GMT
Looks like BCCI didn't learned anything from the England trip. So I would suggest to all the backup bowlers in India who were in discussion for selection to be ready.But it seems like team India will have real hard times ahead
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 17:19 GMT
Zaheer Khan and Rohit Sharma later said the injury wasn't serious. ---says it all! he will bowl! after the series he'll be having the surgery! case closed...hopefully
Gokul on December 18, 2011, 17:19 GMT
Just when we thought everything is fine, here's the same old story.Wonder how steyn maintain his fitness. Is that something with the stamina or improper fitness management.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 17:11 GMT
Does not matter whether or not India's fast bowlers are injured. MSD will bowl for them as he did in the Eng tour. Indians are giving an edge to Aussies. See the list of Indian fast bowlers Zak(Injured), Ishanth(Limping), Aron(Injured), Sreesanth(Injured), Praveen Kumar(Injured), Irfan Pathan :), Yadav :), Munaf(Injured), Nehra(No comments about his fitness level). I doubt India can line up a good eleven that can match up with Aussies.
Vineet on December 18, 2011, 17:04 GMT
Ishant won't last the tour. Getting a little sick of Indian bowlers fear for surgery. BCCI should have forced Ishant to undergo surgery and rehab. He might have recovered in time and played the whole series.
India should get Pathan ASAP. He is fit, in form and will be crucial.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 17:02 GMT
@ Siripurapu Praneeth be practical bro,dont make the same mistake like pakistan,dont take irfa pathann likely,i believe you already know what happen in that tour, and i believe that irfan is a second wicket taker bowler in india after Zaheer khan,so he should deserve to be part of india... think before what you comment once again,about Irfan Pathan
abhay on December 18, 2011, 16:59 GMT
This is ridiculous, we knew about Ishants injury for almost 4 months now, he himself had stated in a article on cricinfo that he was not getting surgery done on his ankle because he wanted to tour an imp series to Australia. Yet the selectors selected him. How is he going to bowl on the rock hard australian pitches if he can't land his dodgy ankle on the grnd for 5.3 overs... Absurd
Where the heck is Munaf Patel or Irfan as a matter of fact?
Kris Shrikanth has done a great job till now except in handling injury prone cricketers, something that the selectors should be aware of. Let's get Pathan or Munaf to Australia shall we, Ishant should go in rehab , no use carrying a dead elephant around. Let's not be emmotinal here, we have a series to win down under.
Dean on December 18, 2011, 16:58 GMT
@Apoorv Pandey, I don't very often find myself sticking up for the Aussies, but the reason they were the best team in the world for a decade up to 2005 wasn't because everyone else was rubbish it was because they had a great team! and @cricket buff, in response to your comments I don't think the IPL is helping the indian test side or the sides of some of the smaller counties such as WIN and NZL but I don't think CA would be daft enough to allow Siddle or Pattinson to play more than the odd game if any in this years BBL.
Mustafa on December 18, 2011, 16:56 GMT
I dont think this was Ishants call. This was BCCIs doing
Pulkit Aryan on December 18, 2011, 16:39 GMT
I THINK ITS ABOUT TIME IRFAN PATHAN IS GIVEN A CHANCE >_< Irfan Pathan brings stability to batting as well at lower order with potential good batsman like Ashwin and umesh yadav ..... is a good ground covering fielder.
Ishant Sharma is so over rated.... so ineffective and doesn't even use the best gift god gave him, his height and his arm length. He can be so deadly like glen Mcgrath but alas he is technically so unsound.
I think this is what irfan needs, pacy wicket swinging conditions.... I think if selectors dont take him this will be their biggest mistake for this particular tour.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 16:18 GMT
@LillianThomson I guess you stopped watching after 96. Otherwise you would have noticed India winning in Perth, Johannesberg, Durban, Nottingham. Let me help you with some info. If you look at the stats, in away matches India have won 6 and lost 13 against Aus, Eng, SA, SL, Pak in last 6 years. Not sure why you say one freaky victory. Aus has in this same period never managed to win against india in India they have lost 4 and drew 2. Only place they have done better is in SA winning 6 and losing 2. In Pak, Eng and SA they have won 3 and lost 3. If AUS are superheros they should have won everything outside. Keep your facts clean dude.
harpreet on December 18, 2011, 16:08 GMT
Plz for god sake guys !Tell srikant to give irfan pathan chance . he had already proved his talent. he is the only experienced bowler besides zaheer who can trouble aussies with his bowling.PLZ dont ruin his carrier. he is very talented player. give some one chance beside your state karnatka MR. SHRIKANT
Senthil on December 18, 2011, 15:58 GMT
un-official news is that Ashok Dinda from Bengal is going to Australia as a Cover for Ishant Sharma. Who has picked 27 wickets from 5 matches and 8 innings @22.29 Avg. Quite impressive considering he has bowled a lot in the dead Eden Garden pitch mostly. Anyway, all the best for Ashok Dina if he is going
Rohit on December 18, 2011, 15:58 GMT
I am amazed that people like Lillian Thomson just manufacture facts to prove a point. This person's claim is that India has just won one test match abroad. Some facts to ponder:
1) India won the test series against WI inside WI in 71. Apart from that it lost the 1974-75 series against Clive Lloyd's team only 2-1. India chased 404 runs in the 4th Innings in Trinidad in that series. WI team consisted of a certain Michael Holding in the team.
2) India won test series in England in 1971, 86, and 07. In 71, England was the best team in the world, having thrashed Aus, and had the great fast bowler John Snow. Apart from that in 02 in England, India drew the series 1-1. Only this year our performance was abominable.
3) India lost to Australia in Australia in 77-78 series only 3-2. where in the last test it almost chased down 498 runs to win. Then in 2003-04 we drew 1-1. In 07-08 we lost 2-1, due to bad umpiring. of Bucknor in Sydney, a test we should have won. BTW, we did win in Perth,
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 15:58 GMT
if there is a chance ishant can injure it any further, he HAS to be taken off the squad. i can just see it on boxing day if ishant was to go off the field after a typical 3.4 overs bowled with an injury would leave our team in a horrible shape. if you have a fit and fast irfan pathan waiting in india, why would u waste time to go 0-1 down in the series and start to think of a fightback. havent we learned ANYthing from the trip to england???? its good we didnt get the very fragile praveen kumar, but aashish nehra, irfan pathan, heck even ajit agarkar are all bowlers who can thrive in australian swing conditions as shown by bracewell for new zealand recently. same goes for zaheer khan, he is without a doubt the best bowler we have, but if injured and sent back to the dressing room he aint one to recover quickly either ... not at all a fan of our bowling attack to take to a AUSTRALIA SERIES - mithun, umesh, vinay - are u serious? i'm all for new talent, but not first up against australia!
Dean on December 18, 2011, 15:54 GMT
@sparta army, do you watch any test cricket, have you looked at the rankings recently ? how can you say that the team who are currently top of the rankings don't deserve to even challenge for top spot ? what does that make India if they have just been beaten 4 nil and in 2 games by an inns by this team ?
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 15:51 GMT
Irfan pathan should get a chance.he should be flown at the earliest.we dont want a repeat performace of the England series.Alas what iz in the selectors mind.we cannot beat aussies with the wouned horses.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 15:50 GMT
SO there he is .. Irfan Pathan.. Even if the selectors dont want u, god wants u there !!
Rimtu on December 18, 2011, 15:45 GMT
Indian selectors acted like they are not going to carry the injured when it was about Zaheer, but here I see they are carrying an injured Ishant. What's going on?? A fit Ishant is an okay bowler, how good will an unfit Ishant be?
Benn on December 18, 2011, 15:42 GMT
And so the excuses begin. How convenient...
Rishi on December 18, 2011, 15:35 GMT
@LillianThomson: Right on, the Bull's eye. According to Test Win to Loss Ratio, IND is worst and it occupies the spot #7 and AUS tops the list at #1 followed by ENG (#2) and PAK (#3). Even in ODIs and T20, IND is a below average and miserable team when it comes to Win to Loss ratio. MSD and RSD are the only two bright features in IND, nothing else. IND fans know very well in their heart IND could never deliver outside their home, that is why littany of excuses comes from them in heaps without any substance.
Sai on December 18, 2011, 15:31 GMT
This is a blessing in disguise! Ishant's bowling form has been very poor from the England series to the home series vs WI. He troubled Ricky Ponting back in 07-08 but that was when he was very capable of swinging the ball. Now, if he does not playy, then surely Irfan Pathan will come and take a lot of wickets! Go India!!!
Tom on December 18, 2011, 15:24 GMT
This Indian bowling attack is awful, can't see the Aussies losing a test and they're a worse team than their 1985 vintage!
bhu on December 18, 2011, 15:19 GMT
@lillianthomson whats ur beef with life mate u think india only won on featherbeds---so be it. still they won. still they played better than the teams which lost on featherbeds. win in perth-was it featherbed. if it was so stilll they played better than australia on that pitch than australia played. whats the problem. when they r winning against team at home-so what-they r still playing better than those team on the featherbeds or spinning wickets. at least they dont go c/o wickets like some others do when the wicket spins from first day. and if u think they r or have never been a good team so what.big deal its sports not war. enjoy. whoever plays well and wins no matter what the condition, they have mastered that condition u can do reasearch andd see the records of the players from different parts of the world home and away and be surprised at those figures have a good day and enjoy the tests to come no matter who wins or looses for there r more imp things in life than this :)
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 15:16 GMT
Its really sad to see that Ishant Sharma is again struggling with injury and he is a part of the tour. I agree that he should not have been picked and someone else should have made the cut like maybe Irfan Pathan or another new face. Now if he does not play any single test then where do we stand? Zaheer is also doubtful and he claims that he is match fit now, but somehow I could still see the point in picking up Zaheer because he has lots of experience and has been a phenominal player. But our injory manageement policy is really bad and questionable
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 14:57 GMT
Leave aside the replacement for Ishant Sharma. Supressing the injury for getting selected is ridiculous, and Ishant Sharma deserves to be punished for this. Similar is the case of Zaheer Khan. He is selected though he is not fully fit. Thank God. They did not select Yuvraj and Harbhajan, "hoping" them to be fit for the series. Selections have been made mostly on merits, during the tenure of Srikkanth and we were able to win most of series due to this. However, the above selections casts shadows on the sincerity and integrity of Selection Committee. Whether the replacement is made or Ishant is continued, as long as we perform well, it is immeterial.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 14:35 GMT
aussie only dominted till 2005 because another teams were poor lolzzzzzz lost in perth aussies batsman got out to swing and pace of rp singh and india smashed tait everything was engineered for australia till then weak teams after that india and england smashed them in australia and in home lolzzzzzzzzzzzzz ha ha ha poor autralians still thinking they are something no baby you are now nothing others teams are strong not like till 2005 aussies will be humiliated even by bangladesh cheers we luv aussies are frusrtating no 8 team smashed themyeah newzealand
sam on December 18, 2011, 14:35 GMT
We want Irfan Pathan BACK..!!!! Please send him to Australia ASAP. He is in form ( last one day & ranji) and has past experience on Aus. pitches..PLUS he is a genuine allrounder...
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 14:34 GMT
Ok, based on my limited knowledge of the Indian team, the best fast bowler that can trouble the Aussies beside Praveen Kumar or Inshant Sharma is Irfan Pathan. Australians tend to struggle against swing bowling, but it's still tough to beat them in their own conditions. At the end of the day, capturing 20 wickets wins you a test match regardless of the amount of runs scored.
Moses on December 18, 2011, 14:32 GMT
IPL caused lots of injuries to Indian team and led to a big loss vs England. Hopefully, some Aussie players will get injured in BBL, esp Siddle, Pattinson, and they will perform badly vs India. Then the world will realise the damage caused by these circus events like IPL and BBL
Ratheesh on December 18, 2011, 14:28 GMT
its time to give a call sreesanth ,it doesnt matter he is a angry sprotsman. Should check the figures of last tour to England. Its tme to forget the South and North Indian politics or Poli Trics. best of luck team India bcoz, Aus also in some internal troubles...
David on December 18, 2011, 14:28 GMT
It's amazing how much Indian fans over-estimate the Test stature of their team. I have been watching Tests for 40 years, in which time I can only recall India winning one away Test against a really high quality team without the help of a featherbed wicket or an opposition decimated by injuries - their 80-81 win over Australia at Melbourne. While Pakistan were winning Tests in the West Indies in 87-88 and in Australia in 95-96, India was capable of no such thing. So the sum total of Indian away wins over top teams in four decades is one single, freak victory when they set a target of 143 and still won. Yet to read some of the posts in this thread you would think that Indian cricket was a superpower on the pitch, when the reality is that they have economic superpower and an historical Test record similar to Greece's standing in European football: one short lived period at the top amid many lifetimes of mediocrity and worse.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 14:27 GMT
nothing new gonna happen if a replacement is announced ...it will be definitely irfan pathan who is as pathetic as any low grade bowler can be........surely this series wiil be a resemblance of english summer...
Sammy on December 18, 2011, 14:21 GMT
Lillian - You are tickling us to death with your delusional theories!! If the pitches are flat everywhere at BCCI's insistence, how come the 'great' australian team are getting all out before they could even score 100 runs in every other match!! It's been less than 5 days when they even got thrashed by the kiwis in their own backyard...something they have not not done for 20 years!! Maybe it's the fact that the aussie team is mediocre and has been for the last 3 years and you find it hard to accept reality!!
Sriram on December 18, 2011, 14:17 GMT
Oh Lillian.. you would suggest that Australia and England engineered SA's omission from cricket for 22 years? because Australia lost to SA in the series before that? Conspiracy theories are easy to make.. As of now none of the team is so good away from home. Any of the top 6 teams can beat any other team at their home.. Australia did play first class match in SA in the recent tour but still fell for 47.. remember that!
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 14:15 GMT
It is time BCCI came up with a basic plan -
Selection should be a documented & open process, each selector documenting why he feels a particular player should be on the team as player / captain, this information should be made available to the Indian Cricket Fan who is spending his hard-earned money to watch cricket matches.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 14:14 GMT
Highest Test averages against Australia since 1990 Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s Sachin Tendulkar 29 2748 56.08 10/ 11 VVS Laxman 24 2204 55.10 6/ 10 Virender Sehwag 15 1483 51.13 3/ 7 Brian Lara 31 2856 51.00 9/ 11 Kevin Pietersen 12 1116 50.72 2/ 7 Richie Richardson 14 1084 49.27 4/ 4 Graham Thorpe 16 1235 45.74 3/ 8 Shivnarine Chanderpaul 17 1303 44.93 4/
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 14:13 GMT
srilanka flat track bullies one amazing stat highest average against austalia in australia since 1990 sehwag 59.50,sachin58.53 laxman 54 rahul 48.60 kaliis 49 kallis 45 lara 41thats why these are great not sanga and jaya
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 14:12 GMT
look who is talking india strugglesin 2011 bh teams tour sa australia out for 47 india won in durba fastest pitch even scored 600 there tendulkar sco red 2 hundreds ponting 3 ducks one fifty in 2005 australia humilited by england in england india won against same attck in england in 2007 in england aussies lost to england in own backyard atleast past ten years england are humiliated in india and no 8 teamnewzealand beat aussiesin australia lolzzzzzzz no8 team beating you in australia thinking about winning from india the team humiliated you in perth so who is the team weak against playing swing bounce australialast five years not winning inhome lilian thomsan india will humiliate australia he hehe
V.L on December 18, 2011, 14:05 GMT
This is a blessing in disguise for India. Draft in Irfan Khan Pathan and let him unleash some genuine swing bowling at the Aussies, like he did against them last time he was here.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 14:01 GMT
Yes there will be a replcement but i would be shocked if it was Irfan (pleasantly so ) .Knowing the current chairman of selectors the replacement will be either S Aravind or Sreesanth .Dont say i didnt tell you so . Sreesanth woudnt be bad actually .Hes still a pretty good test bowler much better than the two bowlers from Tenvic they already have in the squad but Pathan would be a better choice .I just hope that its not S Aravind .
bhanu on December 18, 2011, 13:48 GMT
@LillianThomson : Bullied to reach top ?? Pak, SL, NZ, WI are never real contenders for number one spot. ENG is just an overrated test team with mediocre players, and it can not even win a tour game in sub continent pitches. Aus, SA along with IND are the only teams who deserve to compete for 1; Aus and SA have already proved that they can win/draw consistently on fast and spin pitches, IND has done exceptionally well at home and did reasonably well in away matches (last summer was an exception, mainly bcoz of injuries). Pitches in AUS, NZ, SA, ENG assist fast bowling whereas pitches in IND, SL, and BD assist spin; so it looks even too. India's home/away test ratio is not considerably high when compared to other teams. If you cant deal with all this, dont worry BCCI will.
Ashok on December 18, 2011, 13:47 GMT
It simply does not make any sense in delaying the replacement for Ishant. The guy was sent home withan injured ankle from England,failed to have an ankle surgery & now he is back with the same ailment.Why was he picked despite his questionable ankle? It is an exercise in futility to expect him to be 100% fit even if he manages to bowl again. He is also totally out of practice - not played since 3rd test against WI. Get a 100% fit guy who is in form and keen to play like Irfan Pathan. Since it takes a while to get the visa & fly out a replacement, it may be already too late at least for the Boxing day Test.Why didn't India go with extra fast bowlers who are likely to be in XI instead of bench guys like Vinay & Mithun? BCCI made a $39 Million profit last year. Spend some money on Cricket players like sending a squad of 18 or even 20.The Selectors have let down India again even after the England experience. It is amazing India ever reached #1 Test status despite such poor Selectors!
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 13:46 GMT
@JackJak Pitches were actually flattened for Aus , they could not play swing,it showed in 2005 in England. you are suferring from 'jealousy', India won TESTS in JOHANNESBURG,JAMAICA,PERTH,NOTTINGHAM,DURBAN,HEADINGLEY,GALLE,KANDY. NON OF THESES ARE FLAT PITCHES. @LillianThomson INDIA HAVE PLAYED 80% OF MATCHES WITHOUT ITS 5-6 MAIN PLAYERS SINCE 2009 EXCEPT WORLD CUP. YOU IGNORE THAT AS PER YOUR CONVINIENCE HUH?
TR on December 18, 2011, 13:44 GMT
"Uncertainty over players fitness" .... who is uncertain? The audience, us are the only ones who is uncertain. EVERY other participant, the player, his colleagues, managers, selectors, they are ALL clear about his fitness. But yet, due to partiality, favoritism players are given chances to go abroad. Add to this, some players (ex: Gambhir, Harbajan) withdrawing on the pretext of injury just to avoid their unfavorable pitches!
rahul on December 18, 2011, 13:43 GMT
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 13:35 GMT
It is ridiculous blaming IPL for these injuries. Look India have not produced great fast bowlers even before. I think the players should be honest about their injuries. They are scared because somebody might take their place. Look how Umesh have come out. He is here touring Australia because of his recent performances due to the absence of first choice bowlers. Even Zaheer has to play a couple of domestic matches to prove his fitness. If a guy limps off the field bowling just 5 overs in a practice game, then there is no point waiting for him to recover. Team management should act fast. Bring in Irfan, that's the only option. Maybe this is his chance coming all the way
rahul on December 18, 2011, 13:31 GMT
Dean on December 18, 2011, 13:13 GMT
Well I was thinking a few weeks ago that India had a great chance of winning this series and that was underlined last week when Aus lost in Hobart. However it looks likley that the first 4 choice seamers for India will not be at the MCG nxt wk. Kumar and Aaron both ruled out of the series and now dosen't look as if their 2 most experienced seamers in Khan and Sharma are gonna be fit until at least later in the series. It dosen't matter how many runs India's batsmen get, you need seamers to take wickets on the ozzie surfaces if you want to win test matches and I can't see India managing this with what they left. The Indian management really need to take better care of their fast men.
bhu on December 18, 2011, 13:07 GMT
sorry JackJack i just read lillians comments and i think urs was a laugh at him. and probably others like him. was a good one
yes BCCI and india are that powerful also they got graphite bats of Ponting banned as well and his slump started from then on. big conspiracy u see :)
bhu on December 18, 2011, 13:02 GMT
HaHA either u were joking JackJack or u really think India and BCCI are that powerful, more so than USA etc. read ur own comments and see where the logic is. if it was a satire than it was wonderful :)
narsimha on December 18, 2011, 13:00 GMT
ITappears that only team INDIA have to win where ever they play. some food for thought to all india bashers, no team, baring AUS which won just one series in INDIA in decades ,all other teams returned empty handed, the story of ENGLAND IS EVEN WORSE as it could not defeat INDIA , WE WON sereis in ENG till the resent loss , we done exeptionally WELL all over the cricketing world , but other top teams also didnt perrform in INDIA THAN WHY CANT term them also home tigers why only india , the AUSSs lost 2-0 in INDIA , whereas INDIA DREW the series in AUS, WOULD HAVE WON THE SYDNEY TEST , THAT is history now ,our ARROGANT FRIENDS across the border pretends as if they had won series in eng ,while taking pleasure on IND only LOSS in decades, they refer their team fared better than IND in ENG last time but the ststs indicate they won nothing against ENG in home & away in decades where as WE thashed POMS every where in the last 2 decades ,their team was white washed in AUS.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 13:00 GMT
@lillianthomson and@jackjak you have got it all wrong about BCCI' s motives.BCCI does not care whether India has #1 or #10 ranking in test cricket because it does not generate TV revenue (and never will..watched only by 1/20th of T20 viewers due to many reasons)and the only Indian players who care about test cricket are the seasoned veterans.and now the most important point.ALL SEEM TO BLAME ONLY BCCI FOR THIS LUST FOR T20.why in the world did Aus and SA play only 2 test matches.How could the proud CA agree to that.AND WHAT ABOUT THIS BBL NONSENSE.had thought this T20 crap didnt have much viewership in Aus and Eng.and to be fair BCCI didnt engineer anything for Indian test cricket's rise.its just that from 2007 and 2011 India played good cricket and had a few drawn series in places like SA(with the kind of bowling we have that is as far as we can get).World cricket lovers please dont spare your respective boards when it comes to lack of love for test cricket.ALL ARE GUILTY....
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 12:54 GMT
"No need of post mortem on the English Tour Disaster"- I heard this on the news from a BCCI official. No wonder this is the situation now. I am ashamed of our bowling attach (Pacers), BCCI being the richest cricketing body can't have a system in place to take care of the fast bowlers, in spite of the England Tour disaster they haven't learned.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 12:53 GMT
Again hazardous injury problem is tickling over the touring Indians , the replay of the shoddy English summer ........ Ashok Dinda or Irfan Pathan can be the obvious choice if replacement is required
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 12:48 GMT
sent back ishant to india take irfan to australia..give him a full chance in one series..
David on December 18, 2011, 12:47 GMT
JackJak wrote that "everything about India's rise has been engineered". Think about it. They have had the same batting line-up for around 12 years - except Sehwag has come and Ganguly has gone - and when those players were in their twenties no-one in their right mind considered India to be a Test team in the Top Five. Meanwhile Srinath and Kumble have retired and been replaced with inferior successors, and Harbhajan is in decline. India's team is clearly worse than it was when we all accepted that Australia, South Africa and Pakistan were superior and New Zealand and Sri Lanka were at least equal. But now pitches are flat almost everywhere and in 2007-09 the BCCI bullied other boards into banning some of their best players, and India's Test standing remains inflated by events in that period. But it's an illusion. As was shown in England when they were massacred by another team which in 1981-2006 would not have been anywhere near the world's Top 3 teams.
Ramana on December 18, 2011, 12:42 GMT
@Lillian: it's pretty absurd to talk abt 'engineered' rankings. You want conspiracies, go write a story. There are enuf issues muddying the waters in cricket, as it is. Fitness of Indian fast bowlers is an old issue and not unique to India. Even so, BCCI deserves the flak it gets....after all, the Eng tour shud have given warning on injury mgmt.
Kuldeep on December 18, 2011, 12:42 GMT
BCCI should not allow India to play outside the sub continent. This way India can play 4 bowlers and opening batsmen can also open the bowling like our greats in the past. Perhaps Tendulkar can open the bowling again with medium fast bowling, this will make him an all rounder which India is missing at the moment. Maybe Ganguly can come out of the retirement like many Pakistani players and bowl his genuine medium pace stuff again. BCCI should influence the ICC to relax ball tempering and doctored pitches clauses so the spinners can be used with full impact on dust bowls. If ICC does not comply then India should boycott the next World Cup.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 12:38 GMT
I would say this injury plays right into the Indian fans hands. 'We only lost due to injuries'. Get those excuses in early!
sagar on December 18, 2011, 12:35 GMT
I think ishant should be rested for next 4-5 years to recover from his fitness and form...
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 12:27 GMT
this is good news that ishant is not playing. he is dhoni's yes man, who has outlived his stay in indian team. his unimaginative, direction less, predictable bowling would have been road to india's shame.
Srinivas on December 18, 2011, 12:27 GMT
This is Ishant's responsibility. He should have taken care of it. Nobody forced him to play against Windies? Did they? If he says he's not fit, then that's it. He made himself available out of his own insecurities and miscalculations. BTW, I'm not a huge fan of Physiotherapy. Always better to go for arthroscopy and take it from there. Too many wrongs at one time and we see the result now.
Naveen on December 18, 2011, 12:23 GMT
@jackJack & Lillian = Hatred has no boundary... If Australia was dethroned , it was because they didnt have quality players after the big names left the team. What does BCCI has anything to do with it. You guys are worst than BCCI. Geta life folks. BTW i am no fan of BCCI either.
If Indian Fast bowlers are not honest about Fitness what would BCCI do? Problme is Integrity of Indian Players that they dont care about breaking down in a tour and causing trouble to Team balance. If they are honest they wouldnt go on Tour.
BTW Aussie bowlers are no different. Check out their Injury List.
Shruti on December 18, 2011, 12:21 GMT
Guys like Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan need to be banned from playing international cricket for hiding the extent of their injuries repeatedly.But why blame them alone? Team of selectors led by Srikkanth are as much to be censured for repeatedly selecting these unfit players and then sending tardy replacements .Remember England tour? Some 25+ players went there .If IPL is forthcoming in Jan then one can see the likes of Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan ready even if on crutches.It is only with International cricket that these chaps take liberties.Kudos to BCCI for promoting IPL and sounding the death knell of test cricket.
Amahl on December 18, 2011, 12:21 GMT
It's a real pity that Ishant has broken down, with Zaheer on the comeback trail and coming back to a big series after little match practice, Ishant is really the key fast bowler, particularly when considering how well he bowled in Australia last time. I think the fitness team should have managed this injury better, particularly if it has been retained since England which was a fair while ago. But in a lot of ways, if it is just a relapse, it is difficult to blame them, sometimes it's just ill luck and it seems like a lot of commenters here are very harsh, particularly on the BCCI. Need to cut them some slack guys, they aren't perfect and cannot control everything. P.S. They didn't schedule the WI series, that's the job of the ICC.
Srinivas on December 18, 2011, 12:17 GMT
This is turning out to be a naatak out in the public. Ishant owes us an explanation as to why he did this? I'm sure he did this to secure his place, since some really pacy youngsters are knocking at our doors. Well, that's Ishant's problem. He should go under the surgeon's knife and domestics and come back if he has it in him. He proved to be just another selfish Indian Cricketer. Ishant has no respect for the Fan or this great Game. BCCI and the guy who passed him fit just have no clue about professionalism. All the Indians should join in one voice against Ishant and BCCI. Send Ishant back right now! Period!
stuart on December 18, 2011, 12:13 GMT
Its so good to watch a professional team in their preperation and thought they give to winning.Thankfully being English thats what we get to see as oppossed to the shambles that is Indian Cricket.I feel another whitewash in the offing.
Madhusudhan on December 18, 2011, 12:12 GMT
A 4-0 thrashing coming up guys!!! I guess Zak in his 10th over in the first match will feel a pain and out he goes and Ishant, Umesh and Vinay play the next match...los the match, 3 match Ishant out and in comes Mithun...trashing and finally Pathan comes in and he can't bowl and bat and the same result :) ....Repeat telecast of England series with names changed ...good luck boys!!
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 12:08 GMT
Dear pathan Fans...
Another expected news...
there wont be no replacement for ishant.. Krisnamatchari Srikanth and Co prefare to play with injured Ishant rather than Inform Pathan
narsimha on December 18, 2011, 12:07 GMT
,PAKISTAN GREAT ZINDABAD, 'BEGAANAA SHAADI MEY ABDULLAH DEEWAANA; Instead of always dreaming of INDIAs dfeats you bette think of your team , More over in the last series in AUSTRALIA your team was white washed , in tests 3-0, in idos 5-0
Jitendra on December 18, 2011, 12:00 GMT
Why Dhoni or Indian Section Commitee Not Select Irfan Pathan He is Vesy Good All Rounder Still Indian Secletor Not Giving Channce To Him in Ahead of Abhimanyu Mithun & Vinay Kumar
Sushil on December 18, 2011, 11:39 GMT
Lillian summed it up perfectly...everything about India's rise in cricket has been engineered..they have seen to the decline of West Indies and reduced them to a non-entity and seen to it that all pitches over the world are relatively easy to play on..Only English pitches once in a while have a bit more juice in them..No wonder India is #1 today.. India won the world cup but there is no real feeling in it deep down..and deep dpwn we all know the reason why
Naveen on December 18, 2011, 11:37 GMT
good work bcci.. go ahead n increase d no of IPL team 4m 9 to 20 n play more ipl matches. also go ahead n play 5 test match n 7 ODIs with bangladesh n zimb n WI.. n in ranji trophy prepare low dusty wicket which will help spinners r concrete pitches which helps batsmen... ignore fast bowlern dere injuries...hope by 2016 we will produce a team with 8 batsmen n 3 spinners( with some parttime spinners) n dose play in those pitches @ home n cancel all dere tour matches. y should BCCI bother about fast bowlers n injuries???
GREAT on December 18, 2011, 11:30 GMT
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 11:09 GMT
i have a plan for improving our team bench strength by trying to keeping under-16&19 tournaments at different countries so that different players get adapted to different place so they get experience of playing at that place and mature to the standards of playing at the international level
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 10:59 GMT
Ashoke dinda is an apt cover for ishant becoz both of them rely on bounce. Aand dinda has a pace of 137 kph which is wayy wayy better thn other bowlers in the. Sasaquad apart. Frm ishant and yadav and dinda had a gud ranji this season with 1-2 five wicket hauls and selectors were too unfair on him dropping after only one t20 where he gave 35 runs thats it !!
Dhawal kulkarni has been knocking on the door sine past 3-4 yrs and sekectors never given him a chance. Too .abu nechim,pradeep sangwan deserve an look in too
all the above mentioned. Bowlers have a gud ranji records and operate at a pace of 135 +
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 10:58 GMT
everybody commenting about indian fast bowlers are saying as if oz fast bowlers are extremely fit pat cummins m johnson r harris news is that even pattison and siddle arent 100% same is case with ishant it is just dogy till now lets wait till boxing day before bashing him and coming back to aus shane watson cant bowl too
sam on December 18, 2011, 10:55 GMT
Well with Dhoni not trusting Irfan a repeat 4-0 thrashing and hasty retirement of Big 3 doesn't look impossible now. In a way it will be good for Indian cricket. We need to look into the future and looking back at a half fit Zaheer isn't the way forward (neither should the Big 3 be given more than one year). Sourav is the only cricketer who retired on time. Even Anil (my favourite cricketer) was six months late. People should now when to call it a day.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 10:44 GMT
we should get rid of all fast and medium pacers. and start the bowling attack with spinners only as we used to do in the past. may this will solve all problem...
kalyan on December 18, 2011, 10:40 GMT
if there is a long list of injuries again, indian cricket is going to get ashamed infront of whole world!!
David on December 18, 2011, 10:37 GMT
My congratulations to the BCCI. The team is not playing a single First Class match in Australia before the Tests because the BCCI wanted to profit from a West Indies tour until far too soon before going Down Under. But the BCCI have always been like this. And don't forget, the ascent to Number 1 in the rankings was engineered by the BCCI - but not on the pitch. Rather, they bullied the New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan boards to omit their ICL players and saw their teams decimated and drop in the rankings, while India got an artificial leap from those weakened teams and from Australia and South Africa entering a transition period. NZ lost Shane Bond. Pakistan lost Yousaf, Razzaq et al. But as soon as the BCCI has to manage its playing resources rather than bullying foreign boards, it all goes wrong.
Kuldeep on December 18, 2011, 10:18 GMT
Dinda will get into the team because he wears a head band like Dennis Lillee in his prime. Ony difference is that he is about 30km slowe than Lillee.
subhash on December 18, 2011, 10:13 GMT
ishant should be fit by the first test... or else useless irfan may be called as replacement... irfan is a nothing bowler...
Pan on December 18, 2011, 9:51 GMT
Is it just me, or do the Indian board just not learn?! After what happened in England, you'd think they'd be a bit more careful about a) letting half-fit guys on a plane and b) telling what appears to be a blatant lie in that it was the plan for him to only bowl 6 overs the other day (anyone remember them saying Zaheer will almost definitely bowl in the 2nd innings at Lords? That was laughable!).
John on December 18, 2011, 9:35 GMT
This is also partly Ishant's fault for not going for surgery. It also shows India's lack of injury management. This would never happen on the english team. Players don't get to choose how to treat their injury...it's a management decision and they have to abide by it even if it means missing important series or world cups.
Alex on December 18, 2011, 9:34 GMT
How did he get on the plane with injury? It seems like he is getting money for being in the team?. BCCI should not pay him any money because his injury did not happen in that tour. It happened before and he fail to report so he can get the money. I can't blame him. Most players do that.
KISH on December 18, 2011, 9:29 GMT
This was very much expected. Now, they will send in a rookie as cover. Most likely, somebody who bowls line and length in 125kph speed and capable of swinging the ball both ways. Because, the Indian team beleives Australia can not play swing even if it is my mother who bowls at them. A good selection will be Irfan Pathan or even Ashish Nehra or Munaf Patel. However, the selectors will look more seriously into Unadkat, Dinda, Jogindher Sharma, or any other IPL bowlers as the possible options.
Barath on December 18, 2011, 9:22 GMT
Oh wow a repeat of the GREAT WHITEWASH a la England AGAIN maybe???!!!
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 9:18 GMT
If Ishant is ruled out, the only option is Irfan Pathan as Minthun is not that experienced! Pathan also bowled well in the last ODI against the Windies. This will give his the much needed breakthrough.
Naresh on December 18, 2011, 9:14 GMT
@CrikBrain - exactly its time we had selectors who were ex-pacemen when it comes to pace bowling selections. BCCI SET UP A GOOD STRUCTURE FOR PACE BOWLING. They can afford to keep a bigger pool of contracted pace bowlers.INVEST MONEY IN IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Muthuvel on December 18, 2011, 9:08 GMT
Everybody had known this next is Zak. BCCI lacks the basics of professionalism when running an international sport governing body. Ishant on his part seems to trust his family docs more than official team physios. If he breaks down an ideal case would be to punish at least him and the decision makers who took him to Aus. Able replacement would be 1 from ( Gony,Dinda,Nechim ) and Taking Irfan none the less. With trundlers Vinay and Mithun showing their class in the tour game we can expect all Aus batsmen to come back to form against our pathetic bowling if one of them plays on Boxing day.
sankar on December 18, 2011, 9:02 GMT
If Ishant is injured, Bcci shouldn't waste time and must announce Irfan as replacement and ask pathan to go australia asap! If Ishant recovers he can play 2nd or 3rd test!
Jay on December 18, 2011, 8:57 GMT
WELL... well.. well... here we go again folks !! when will the Indian team management LEARN from their mistakes ?! if Ishant has a dodgy knee.. then he should not be kept with the squad anymore. This is the perfect opportunity to draft Irfan Pathan into the team. I know Pathan is no where as quick as Ishant BUT he has swing and experience as his two major attributes. I think India's bowling department looks severely dented here. With a half fit Zaheer Khan, Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun... I don't think India have the weapons to trouble even a struggling Aussie batting line up. I am very frustrated and disappointed with Ishant Sharma's carelessness. He had the chance to undergo surgery right after the test series against England. Yet he chose not to. Such attitude is not good for Indian cricket. I am shocked !!
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 8:57 GMT
I hope that Ishant gets fully fit for all the test matches... Otherwise I don't have any expectations from Irfan Pathan bowling at a pace of 125 kph odd...!!! he'll be hit like anything by the Aussies... We need a bowler who can bowl some serious pace like Ishant, Varun & Umesh...!!!
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 8:54 GMT
ishanth sharma on of da best bowler india he is looking tall he can take wicket easyli i think ishanth will shine in australia
Anupam on December 18, 2011, 8:54 GMT
Disappointed!! More so because few months back Ishant said he will get his ankle surgery after the Australian tour.. In his desperation to get to the Aus plane, he forgot that he needs to be fully fit!! And where are the doctors??
RashmiKant on December 18, 2011, 8:42 GMT
This the way BCCi operates they knew Ishant was not at his best even before the Mumbai test and yet he got picked over others like Irfan Pathan.This Indian team is underprepared in the bowling department and I have my doubts about Zaheer being 100% fit. Barring a miracle I do not see this team doing well in the bowling dept.
Anikanchan on December 18, 2011, 8:31 GMT
It was evident that he was hiding his injury just to get on the Australian plane but this guy probably forgot that it is not important to reach Australia but to play in Australia. And what were selectors thinking? For how long BCCI will keep appointing these sycophant ex-players who can't get a commentary job as selectors? It is about time these selectors were kicked out and some professional and younger ex players were brought in to reenergize the selection process. Also, it is important to have dedicated bowling coach and an injury manager for team India.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 8:29 GMT
Seems like destiny... Irfan Pathan & his banana-swingers are on its way to Australia folks :)
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 8:23 GMT
knew this wud happen.. dont say even zak has niggles now.. we are again left with 3 rookie fast bowlers.. i wud be surprised if ishant plays more than 1 test match on this tour.. i guess finally they will send in pathan
Kuldeep on December 18, 2011, 7:57 GMT
I think this tour is going to be a repeat of England tour, 4-0. There is no saving India. The need another two fast bowlers on this tour, Irfan Pathan and myabe someone else. BCCI has so money yet they lack vision and planning.
Naresh on December 18, 2011, 7:56 GMT
Here we go AGAIN. Bowlers are a neglected commodity in India.Pace bowlers that is. Now I see why @nampally keeps saying that bowlers should prove their fitness in home games before being selected. Both Sreesanth, Nehra and Irfan Pathan should be sent to Australia immediately. We need the left/right variety. BCCI/SELECTORS and NCA are responsible for this choas. We are the laughing stock of the cricket world when it comes to pace bowling resources. Build a pool of pace bowlers in India - make them feel wanted by team India not discards. Train them. Monitor fitness levels and rotate them. Ishant is injured due to being overbowled in WIndies, ENgland and home test series.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 7:35 GMT
Looks like an opening for Irfan Pathan is inevitable at this stage. He will come into the team, but most likely will not play in the first test, while Mithun is likely to replace Ishant, in the event of of him not playing.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 7:27 GMT
so like the england series injuries started before the real war begin
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 7:23 GMT
"Uncertainty remains over Ishant's fitness" thank god :)
Madhujith on December 18, 2011, 7:22 GMT
Not surprised even one bit when I saw that Ishant bowled 5.3 overs! The 1st press release that he was planning to bowl just 6 overs was the lamest cover up possible :D I suggest India should get couple of spinners instead of a pace bowler as the rest of them don't qualify in the pace definition :-)
Pathan while back in the fray, not sure can cause any more trouble than VK or AM.
Can't stop laughing at the cover ups though LOL
kannan on December 18, 2011, 7:19 GMT
Uncanny similarity between this and the start of the england tour ( there it was ZK). Is India's tour unravelling before it even starts??. The guy who passed Ishant fit enough to board the plane has to be summarily sacked. where is the professionalism and the accountability?
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 7:12 GMT
this is very sad :(
cricket on December 18, 2011, 7:11 GMT
one down more to go. same story again and again.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 7:10 GMT
bring in Irfan Pathan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Subba on December 18, 2011, 7:09 GMT
I used to say often that India needs a bench of at least 4 quick bowlers in the 140 kph range if they are to make any serious move towards being a top team. I was expecting this injury to Ishant - I've never been wrong in my injury predictions anywhere, be it a Shane Watson, Ryan Harris, Stuart Broad (although I feel a wee bit that Broad shied away from bowling in India, like Anderson), Zaheer Khan etc. Varun Aaron's injury was abolt from the blue, because I didnt expect such an early collapse. Now with Ishant gone, the bowling is in tatters and India is doomed to an England like cleaning, excpet that the batsmen are no pushovers in Oz conditions. They'll make huge totals and drawing a match will be a sign of success for India with these kind of bowling resources. Sad but Ishant has not been managed professionally and he has himself also to blame a bit.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 7:00 GMT
For how long are we going to suffer with these fast bowlers . I can really see another lord's in the making , if that is the case they shouldn't play him on the boxing day .and if he does play make sure he doesn't go off the park like zaheer during the match . It was really nice to see mathews kept on bowling yesterday carring an injury,which by the looks of things worse than what zahheer had to deal with at lord's.
John on December 18, 2011, 6:58 GMT
This just goes to show that you really can't trust statements made by coaches and management. I'm not singling India out here either, or even cricket specifically. Statements are always going to be made in the interests of the team, so they're all but meaningless to those whom they are being made to. What's the likelihood that, at the time, they thought that it was just loose strapping and it has turned out to be something more serious? If it really was loose strapping then I hope they fired whoever did it because strapping that comes loose after fewer than six overs when the guy already has an injury could cost the team the test series. I feel for India, losing more bowlers to injury but it really seems that their injury management strategy needs some work. First he needs surgery, then he doesn't and now he isn't fit to train?!
Hitesh on December 18, 2011, 6:55 GMT
No not again!!!! Fed up of hearing the news about injuries to our fast (medium) bowlers and that too before the actual start of the series.
Pizzie on December 18, 2011, 6:49 GMT
Please, please, please PLEASE bring back Irfan Pathan. I don't have faith in Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar. Pathan with add depth to the batting department too. While he can swing out Australians with his swinging balls. I don't know why 120-135 kmph bowlers were selected for the Australia Tour.With Zak, Umesh and Pathan, India can put up a formidable pace bowling against Aussies.
Gurpreet on December 18, 2011, 6:48 GMT
man o man who is going to ball for us ! zak and umesh are the only ones left! ( i do not trust vinay or mithun)
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:41 GMT
I will be surprised if this has a happy ending. He should have been focused on taking care of his ankle right after the England tour instead of wasting his time playing against the WI in India.
John on December 18, 2011, 6:41 GMT
How long before it becomes clear that Zaheer also isn't fit? You'd think, with only 2 warm-up games, that a fit player who had been out of cricket for months would have played in both. Instead Zak sat out and I'm betting won't bowl much in the next game either. How can he be fit for 5-day cricket in Australia with that kind of build-up?
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:40 GMT
I am so confuse about the selection procedure. And to be frank there is no rule of selection procedure. Why player like Vinay kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun are in the squard insted of Irfan and nehera. I do not think that they will succeed in that condition
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:40 GMT
chance 4 irfan..????????
Rahul on December 18, 2011, 6:40 GMT
Here we go again. Irfan should start preparing for the journey down under.
dev on December 18, 2011, 6:36 GMT
Replace him with Dinda. Dinda has got speed and he will surely get lot more bounce than any other Indian bowler because of his action and most of all he is in great rhythm as well in the Ranji. The worst thing that the team can do is keep a half fit Ishant with Zaheer (who can break down anytime). R.Ashwin has to play a vital role now if India is to win he would be the lone spinner with no support from Ojha and he would also be batting at the imp no.8 position.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:20 GMT
Mr.Shrikanth...........Now please Send Irfan Pathan as a cover for Ishant.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:17 GMT
VEry bad.....now if he gets out who will be selected??
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:13 GMT
Get Pathan over there ASAP!!
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:12 GMT
Oh God..please no more injuries!!! I think a more fitter team would eventually come out as the winner . Ishant is a key bowler in these conditions..hope he bcums fit for the first test..India needs a good start to the series as we all know Indians are bad beginners. Keeping fingers crossed. Meanwhile , Irfan should keep his bags packed..should get a call any time from Kris.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:12 GMT
Its Ishant's Mistake !!!! He carried on the injury !
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:10 GMT
We pray to god ishant feet as soon as possible because ishant will make history here bolwed out to ponting in all 4 test matches.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:10 GMT
Its high time Indian management manages the injury concerns of its fast bowlers. The fast bowlers of india are priceless commodities but we are exploiting them mercilessly. We should have taken care of any injury concerns well ahead of any tour especially during such a marquee series. Perhaps, BCCI should think of having seperate fast bowlers for the three formats. That way there will be less burn out issues and the team wont suffer much. something in this regard needs to be done immediately.
Torsha on December 18, 2011, 6:10 GMT
As much as selectors were ignoring Irfan, he will be in Australia soon. Trust me! They should have made wise decision before only.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:09 GMT
This is madness. He should have taken rest against West Indies. May be the real gods (not sachin) want Irfan Pathan back in the squad.
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Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:09 GMT
This is madness. He should have taken rest against West Indies. May be the real gods (not sachin) want Irfan Pathan back in the squad.
Torsha on December 18, 2011, 6:10 GMT
As much as selectors were ignoring Irfan, he will be in Australia soon. Trust me! They should have made wise decision before only.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:10 GMT
Its high time Indian management manages the injury concerns of its fast bowlers. The fast bowlers of india are priceless commodities but we are exploiting them mercilessly. We should have taken care of any injury concerns well ahead of any tour especially during such a marquee series. Perhaps, BCCI should think of having seperate fast bowlers for the three formats. That way there will be less burn out issues and the team wont suffer much. something in this regard needs to be done immediately.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:10 GMT
We pray to god ishant feet as soon as possible because ishant will make history here bolwed out to ponting in all 4 test matches.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:12 GMT
Its Ishant's Mistake !!!! He carried on the injury !
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:12 GMT
Oh God..please no more injuries!!! I think a more fitter team would eventually come out as the winner . Ishant is a key bowler in these conditions..hope he bcums fit for the first test..India needs a good start to the series as we all know Indians are bad beginners. Keeping fingers crossed. Meanwhile , Irfan should keep his bags packed..should get a call any time from Kris.
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:13 GMT
Get Pathan over there ASAP!!
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:17 GMT
VEry bad.....now if he gets out who will be selected??
Dummy4 on December 18, 2011, 6:20 GMT
Mr.Shrikanth...........Now please Send Irfan Pathan as a cover for Ishant.
dev on December 18, 2011, 6:36 GMT
Replace him with Dinda. Dinda has got speed and he will surely get lot more bounce than any other Indian bowler because of his action and most of all he is in great rhythm as well in the Ranji. The worst thing that the team can do is keep a half fit Ishant with Zaheer (who can break down anytime). R.Ashwin has to play a vital role now if India is to win he would be the lone spinner with no support from Ojha and he would also be batting at the imp no.8 position.