Smith's decision justified 100%

Yesterday, I had written about the second day's play between India and South Africa and also raised questions regarding Smith's decision to declare the innings. And, in the 3^rd day's play, Smith has replied to my query in such a way as though he himself had read the post. Smith's decision to declare the innings worked out exactly the way he might have expected to be. India lost 12 wickets on a single day's play, in contrast to South Africa who lost just 4 wickets on day 2 and 2 wickets on day 1. The total of 556 put up by South Africa proved to be too much for India.

Now, another decision has been taken by Smith after he imposed a follow-on on the Indian batsmen after his team took a lead of 325 runs. Added to that, India have lost their openers and one of the noted batsmen in India viz Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir both of whom went for a partly score. Very rarely does a batsman get to play twice on the same day and to get out twice on the same day has to be something great for any batsmen. The only difference in this case is that, it would be for the wrong reasons. Sehwag and Gambhir were the two lucky ones here who got out twice on day 3.

Moreover, Gautam Gambhir got out for the ball of Morne Morkel for the 2^nd time on the same day. Before the start of the series, there were worries for team India regarding playing Murali Vijay, Saha and Badrinath. But, if the 3^rd day's play is taken into consideration, it was Subramanium Badrinath who scored 56 runs which stood 2^nd in the innings after Virender Sehwag scored a hundred. Added to that was the 136 run partnership with Sehwag which formed almost 87% of the Indian score in the 1^st innings. The two along with the extras scored 194 of the 233 runs that was the score towards the end of the innings.

Coincidently, they were the two of the three batsmen from the Indian side who could reach double figure mark though there were 29 extras in the innings. After being at 192/3 at one stage, the remaining 7 wickets fell for a score of just 41 runs. The only thing for the Indian team to feel satisfied at the end of the day is that they maintained a run rate of 3.6 which was slightly more than the run rate of 3.17 maintained by the Proteas in their first innings and that the Indian bowlers bowled just 25 extras compared to the 29 by the South African bowlers. If the proceedings of the match on the 3rd day is considered, it would not be a surprise if the match gets over on the 4^th day itself.

Why Not R P Singh & Balaji?

It was all praise for new comers Abhimanyu Mithun and Subramanium Badrinath when their names were announced for the test series against South Africa that would be starting the coming month in India. However, as far as test cricket is concerned, the above mentioned names can never guarantee any sort of help in the bowling line up. For, test cricket is the area where a player's real skills are tested. Unlike in limited overs cricket, where the batsmen can get rid of a particular after the bowler has finished his quota of 10 overs, in test cricket, the bowler keeps on haunting the batsman every now and then.

This is one of the many examples of the nerve testing nature of test cricket. May be that is the reason why the format is referred to as "test cricket". Coming to the inclusion of the aforementioned bowlers, a strong justification is the need of the hour one can suppose. If at all the selection panel wanted to give chance to young blood, the very same players could have been given a chance against a weaker opposition in Bangladesh rather than a South African team that is fresh from its moral victory against England. And who is Wriddhiman Saha replacing?

Badrinath and Mithun can be considered a replacement for Yuvraj Singh and Sreesanth respectively if the selection committee is to be believed. And in case the BCCI wants to groom youngsters, in what way does the same classify players as young and old. Players' profile reveals that Badrinath is aged 29 and is yet to make a test debut. On the other hand, Saha is aged 25 and can be given a slight consideration. One point that is to be made clear is that Sreesanth has so far been a substitute for others rather than someone else coming in place of him. Most of the time, Sreesanth has been warming benches or rehabilitating himself at NCA all owing to injury.

In case the BCCI wants to include some young players, why wait for an injury to one or many of its players? Why not rest some senior pro and include the same? There have been many players who are waiting for their chance to be included in the test squad since years. Few names that include in the list are Robin uttappa, Rohith Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina who have been playing ODIs from past 5 years. But, their names are never bound to hit the selection panel's list when it comes to picking up batsmen. And one last question is "will Mithun, Saha and Badrinath be included in the playing XI?".