India vs Bangladesh and South Africa Test Series

Hello and welcome to my Blog. I will have a quick round up of India vs. Bangladesh before talking about the tests against the Proteas.

India vs. Bangladesh
A series which India expected to win 2-0 did really happen. Barring a few hiccups like the 1st test batting collapse and last test where Tamim Iqbal played out of his skins, India played the cricket expected out of them to beat BD. Still a lot of areas to improve like fielding, catching (less said about them – the better) and ofcourse bowling. Our bowling lacks sting and if we are to become a top test team we need to add fire power in our bowling to take 20 wickets consistently.

India vs. South Africa
South Africa have a balanced team with 4 bowlers + Kallis the all rounder. However their batting is a bit brittle – Prince is a liability at the top of the order and Duminy is struggling for form. SA are known to struggle against quality spin. Warne had great success against them and so did Swann in the last series. So Amit Mishra will be key in my opinion. Harbhajan must start flighting the ball if he wants to be successful in tests again….can’t expect to pick up wickets if he throws darts like in ODIs. I feel we are missing a good aggressive off spinner.

In the batting front, with Dravid and Yuvraj out of the tests, it’s a wonderful opportunity for Vijay and Badrinath to make a statement. They have loads of runs in the domestic tournaments to back them up and its time to translate them into match winning performances for Indian team. This will also inspire confidence and test the bench out, once the middle order retires in the next few years.

I hope Dhoni picks Mithun in the 11 instead of Ishant. But I know Dhoni will go for Ishant citing experience and improvement in the tests against Bangladesh. I feel Ishant is down on form badly and he needs time off from game. Else he is gonna be a canon fodder for South African batsmen who like ball coming on to the bat nicely and at a good pace.

I do hope that India plays Harris positively and not treat him like Lord Harris like what transpired in the previous tour to SA.

Do we miss anyone ?
In a country of 1 Billion + people, am sad that we are not able to find someone like Kallis – primarily a batsman and who can bowl good 15 overs of seamup in a test match day. We have many batsmen in India who can spin, but I feel we miss a seamer in this mould. This could really help in the balance of the team irrespective of home or away tests…more so in India since we have the habit of playing 2 + 2.

My Playing 11
Gambhir, Sehwag, Vijay, Tendulkar, Laxman, Badrinath, Dhoni, Mishra, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Abhimanyu Mithun

2 Tests Only ??
Why do India alone play these 2 tests series ? Last year against NZ as well only 2 tests were scheduled which was luckily changed to 3 by cancelling the practice matches. A Big gun team like South Africa comes and we should be playing atleast 4 tests. But at the end of the day, we should be happy – an only ODI series of 5 matches which was originally planned was changed to 3 ODIs and 2 tests included after Tendulkar’s and Dhoni’s request to include more tests.

X-Factor
Abhimanyu Mithun from India (I hope he is in the starting 11) and Morne Morkel from SA.

My Prediction
I am going to stick my neck out and say 1-0. 1-0 to whom is something you’ll all have to guess and let me know. I’ll let you guys experience the suspense for next few days. But trust me this series will be pretty closely fought.

As always any feedback is highly appreciated….