India in Zimbabwe and India A in South Africa 2013

There is yet some time for this series to take off, but just starting a thread well in advance. This certainly is not the most anticipated series this summer, neither is it a high profile series for that matter.
Yet there are a couple of things that make it an interesting one. Zimbabwe made a successful return to fullfledged return to international cricket in 2011, and have showed some good signes since, although the output hasn't been consistent. Unfortunately, this series does not include any test matches. But there are 5 ODIs, and the young Zimbabwe outfit would benefit from as much international exposure as possible. The other important thing is that it is India who are touring, meaning that Zc would get some much needed additional revenue.
The other thing is the Indian team itself. They have rested some senior players including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Seamers Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma are also rested. exciting youngster, J&K's offspinning all-rounder Parwez Rasool is given an opportunity. Haryana seamer Mohit Sharma has also found a place in the side. Cheteshwar Pujara is back in the ODI mix, and this time he should make his debut in all likelihood. Ajinkya Rahane is also back. Virat Kohli will be leading the side.
India squad: Virat Kohli (capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra
Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Parvez Rasool, Shami Ahmed, R Vinay Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohit Sharma.

here is the squad for SA.....good to see Binny and Pandey in.
Jalaj saxena, Robin Bisht and Dharekar will feel hard done by.
beneficiaries are Rasool ( ok deserving), Raina ( tried tested failed in tests), Nadeem ( fast and flat not suited for tests)

India A squad: Cheteshwar Pujara (capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Parvez Rasool, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shami Ahmed, Stuart Binny, Ishwar Pandey, Jaydev Unadkat, Siddarth Kaul

PS* msp.....maybe you want to change the title to icnlude A tour to SA also which I believe will run parallel to Zim and most of India's ponetial and fringe players will be on display

Bisht didn't have as good a Ranji season as he had in 2011-12. The same holds true for Darekar as well. As for Nadeem, he has been the best spinner in the last Ranji season, and has done well in the IPL as well. So I think its only fair that they try him out, particularly considering India's spin reserves aren't all that great beyond Ashwin, Jadeja, Mishra and Ojha. Another reason I am very happy to see Rasool in there.

Rasool looks a far better bowler than Jalaj saxena, and his batting is also improving. He's younger as well, so the selection is quite understandable.

Gotta say its good to see Zimbabwe getting some matches against India.

I've got a soft spot for my neighbours.

Will be a good learning experience for the young Zim players.

Even with India resting a few players. Should help Zim make some money.

if they were going by IPL....karan sharma should have been considered.
if they go by Ranji.....they had to gove bisht chance ashe was selected for A side and now dumped without a game.

Dinda probably not considered india material now.

rishi dhawan deserved a go.....if Ranji was considered

Perhaps they've been looking a combination of both. The likes of Mohit Sharma had a good Ranji season and a good IPL. Parwez Rasool idn't get too many chances in the IPL, but he did very well in the Ranji trophy and was the 2nd best spinner after Shahbaz Nadeem, and he had scored a couple of crucial hundreds as well.
Rajasthan and Bisht didn't have a great season last time round, so I am not that surprised that he's not there. But I must say I am a bit surprised that young Punjab and KXIP batsman Mandeep Singh, who had a decent Ranji season as well as a decent IPL is not there despite being part of the A team in the past.

I'd have Mandeep for Raina and Sandeep Sharma for Unadkat in the A side. Also Sid Kaul ahead of Unadkat in the ODI side. Yuvraj ahead of Rahane in ODIs too. Rest is fine. Great selection on the whole though.

yeah....sandeep sharma should be looked at....at the earliest.
all reports are that he is a sensational swing bowler

Indeed, young Sandeep Sharma made waves at the U-19 level, and he had a pretty good Ranji season as well. And when he eventually got a chance with his IPL side, he did well there also. Perhaps he should have been there for this tour. But then I don't have major complaints, every seamer in that group earned his chance. If he keeps up the good work, Sandeep's chance will surely come, sooner rather than later I hope.

I would play Rayadu as the WK against Zim

DK was very disappointing since his latest international comeback. Rayudu should be firmly in the frame. Perhaps they'll play him as a batsman and not as wicketkeeper. Its not the bad old days when there was no decent option of a wicketkeeper batsman so that Rahul Dravid had to double up. If MS the legend needs a rest, there is Karthik, Saha, Parthiv Patel, Naman Ojha and even young Sanju Samson. But Rayudu should get a chance as a batsman I believe. Mumbai's Aditya Tare, Rajasthan's Dishant Yagnik, are also potential options, as is Smit Patel.

Sanju Sampson should have also been put in the frame...perhaps they want him to do one good Ranji season

I'd play Rayudu as the keeper in Zim.

I hope Zimbabwe makes green seaming pitches for this series.

It would be a good test as well as valuable practise under competitive pressure.

If pitches help seamers it would be a valuable series for India...given that these days ODIs are practise and tets of inning building abiliites

Zimbabwe do have a crop of decent young seamers. Jarvis, Chatara , Vitori, Shingi Masakadza with all-rounder Elton Chigumbura........ They have a couple of restrictive spinners, but I doubt whether they would be that effective against the Indians. So seaming pitches could be the way to go about.

Chigumbura is a very under-rated cricketer..he should be in their test side.

CF wrote:Chigumbura is a very under-rated cricketer..he should be in their test side.

He's been a regular for Zimbabwe in all formats. He was dropped from the side after a string of poor performances but came back to the test fold in the recent series against Bangladesh and scored an 80 odd in one of the tests and bowled alright.

Zimbabwe, having been asked to bat in the first ODI, are 70 without loss after 20 overs. Raza and Sibanda with a promising start.
India have gone with Rayudu who came in for Dhoni though its Karthik who is keeping, and a seam attack of Vinay Kumar , Shami Ahmed and Jaidev Unadkat who is making his ODI debut. Amit Mishra has come in for Ravichandran Ashwin. Cheteshwar Pujara will have to hold on a bit more before his ODI debut, and Ajinkya Rahane has to wait a bit more before his ODI return. Parwez Rasool too, hasn't been picked. I hope all the 3 will get some game time in this series.

Zimbabwe have just lost their first, Sibanda gone for 34, LBW of an Amit Mishra googly. Zimbabwe 72-1 after 22.

Zimbabwe 2 down for 105 after 31. Williams the last man out, bowled Raina for 15. Raza on 49, and Hamilton Masakadza has just joined him.

50 up for Sikandar Raza.

Masakadza goes as the slow run rate was getting to him a bit, went for the slog, and Mishra googly finds the middle stump. Captan Brendan Taylor joins Raza. Zimbabwe 120-3 after 34.

Zimbabwe continue to put up a decent showing, 144-3 after 37 overs. A score of 240-250 could be considered a good effort from them.

Raza and Taylor were starting to take the Indian bowlers on and building some momentum into their innings but Jaidev Unadkat has cut down a threatening partnership as Taylor holds out to Raina for 12. First ODI wicket for Unadkat, not the best ball he bowled, a short ball that Taylor hit straight to the fielder, but young Jaidev will take it.

Zimbabwe 162-4 after 39, as Malcolm Waller joins Sikandar Raza.

Zimbabwe finish with 228-7. Elton Chigumbura with a 34 ball 43 at the end, taking their total thus far.
India can't take this chase easy.

India 48-1 after 12. Dhawan the man out, Jarvis the wickettaker for Zimbabwe. Captain Kohli in with Rohit Sharma.

Zimbabwe not making it easy for the Indians. Rohit Sharma is gone as well, flashing outside off and edging behind of Chigumbura. Ambati Rayudu, on ODI debut, has joined his skipper. India 62-2 after 15

Kohli and Rayudu settling down nicely, India 119-2 after 27. Kohli on 53, Rayudu on 22.

India win by 6 wickets in the end. A couple of late wickets made it look a little more closer than it actually was. A fine hundred from Virat Kohli, playing the captain's knock that led India India's run chase. After the openers got out without putting up much on the board, Kohli put together a big partnership with Ambati Rayudu, who started his ODI career with a nice looking 63 not out. Kohli and Suresh Raina got out in the same over with India needing only 14 more runs, and Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik knocked it off easily.
The Zimbabwe side showed good fight with bat and ball, they didn't collapse altogether even when the new ball was doing something in the early overs, and though the middle order didn't quite manage to take the bowling on that much, a nice hand from Elton Chigumbura helped them to reach a middling total. Perhaps Zimbabwe could show greater positivity with the bat, but I have to say they showed good temperament overall though it was not really good enough to overwhelm a quality side like that of India.

Viraqt Kohli showing yet again, how it has to be done at 3. When he came in, he got a few relatively easy chances to get going, then after Rohit Sharma fell he slowed down just a touch and focused more on singles and 2s for a while that provided the platform for him and Rayudu's partnership he was 42 of 51 at one point, and then ended up with 115 of 108.

If used properly...this is  a good opportunity to test the 2nd line.
what India should be doing:

1) Play Pujara....in place of Raina perhaps
2) AND drop Karthik....no hopes left of him.....play Rayadu as WK and make room for Rasool

It would be a shame if we lose the series without giving Rasool and Pujara 3 games each atleast...and about 2 games to Mohit sharma

good to see Mishra continue to bamboozle the opponents.
In my eyes Mishra is clearly the 3rd spinner in India after ashwin and jadeja.

Zimbabwe won the toss and are bowling in the 2nd ODI. Brian Vittori in for Tino Mutumbatzi. Just a bit disappointed that India have gone in with an unchanged lineup, meaning Pujara, Rasool and Rahane continue to sit on the bench. Hope the team management takes a broader view of things regarding this series and give more game time to the new players. We know what Kohli and Raina can do. We know that Karthik hasn't quite taken his chances in his latest comeback either. We even know that Dhawan can do the job though he hasn't played a lot of international cricket. So give opportunities to the newcomers in place of these players. Perhaps Kohli should play through as this more of a captaincy exposure for him, but the rest should be rotated so that everyone in the squad get some game time.

Why isn't Pujara even playing for the "A" side? Averages 57 in List A cricket. Just seems to me BCCI have picked their next generation superstars, and he isn't in it. The kid is obviously special!

Zimbabwe taking advantage of the toss. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are gone, Rohit for 1 to the returning Vittori, and Kohli in controversial circumstances, seemingly caught by Waller of Jarvis for 14, the ball didn't seem to carry and Waller did indicate he wasn't sure, but the umpire gave it out much to Kohli's unhappiness. India 43-2 after 9.

Gotta love the umpiring inconsistency.

They want Pujara to be India's main man in tests. He'll be leading an A team tour to South Africa after this series. But he does have the makings of a fine ODI player as well. The team combination at the moment doesn't give him a lot of opening as of now. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are doing a decent job as openers, Kholi is among the very best ODI players in the world. Pujara could be a better bet than Karthik to come in at 4, but they've gone for Rayudu who can play more big shots in a situation that demands it, and since he has been with the team through the West Indies series, him getting an opportunity ahead of Pujara is kind of understandable. But I do hope Pujara gets his chances in the remaining matches at .least. Raina and Dinesh Karthik can give way in the next game, Raina is an established ODI batsman, Karthik hasn't been performing. Rayudu to take the gloves and bat 5 or 6, and Pujara and Rahane can come in.

And for the last couple of games, I hope Ravindra Jadeja will be rested and Parwez Rasool will be given an opportunity.

India struggling at 81-4 in the 23rd over. Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik at the crease.

Hoping my Northern neighbors can pull off a shock win

Thanks to a knock of 116 from Shikhar Dhawan and 69 from Dinesh Karthik with some handy swinging from the lower order, India overcame the initial struggles to post a total of 294-8. In response, Zimbabwe are 127-3 after 26. Sibanda scored a 50 up front to give the chase some momentum after Rqaza went for 20. But Sibanda and Tailor got out in quick succession to hand control back to the Indians. Hamilton Masakadza and Shaun Williams at the crease at the moment, Masakadza looks settled, and he's batting on 32.
As I type, Ravindra Jadeja gets Williams. Zimbabwe 127-4.

Now Masakadza goes, Mishra with his first wicket, Zimbabwe 130-5.

Zimbabwe ended up with 236-9 in their 50 overs, losing the game by 58 runs in the end. Some decent lower order resistance from Prosper Utseya (52 not out) and Elton Chigumbura (46) ensured they didn't lose very badly. Shikhar Dhawan the MoM.

good to see Dhawan buckle down with maturity......see throuhg the tough new ball period and then cut lose once conditions have eased

Raina again struggling outside Asia.

Raina's dismissal yesterday didn't have much to do with the conditions though, Got out to a nothing shot to not a good ball.

Hopefully Pujara will play the next game, and waiting for Rasool and Rahane in action as well.

msp83 wrote:Hopefully Pujara will play the next game, and waiting for Rasool and Rahane in action as well.

msp...do you know how fast was Undakat bolwing ? his speed I mean ?

KP_fan wrote:

msp83 wrote:Hopefully Pujara will play the next game, and waiting for Rasool and Rahane in action as well.

msp...do you know how fast was Undakat bolwing ? his speed I mean ?

None of the seamers looked particularly sharp I have to say. Don't know how much exactly Unadkat managed, but didn't look sharper than the early 130s from whatever I followed.