Nice selection of team that should be.
To win matches there are other important factors also: don't give away runs by wise field placements and don't drop catches while smartly restricting runs. All batsmen and bowlers must remain committed to excellent performance.

I think India will beat SA because of their bench strength. yaa we will miss Dravid and Yuvaraj because of their injuries. Our strength is Sachin's great nick

I think Murali Vijay deserves an opportunity at No. 3. I would prefer Pujara and Badrinath taking up the No. 5 and No. 6 slot. I would definitely like to see a spin attack of Mishra and Ojha (even though both turn it away from the right hander), but I have a feeling that Dhoni does not feel the same way.

The team given by editors is a perfect team for sure. And its really very awkward to see selectors choosing their favorites and not giving a chance to freshers. The trends been like, you can get a chance to play for Indian team as a fresher only of India has an unassailable lead in the series, which does not happen often. So instead of waiting for such moments, we should give them a break with senior players as well, if not much at least include one player every time we start a series.

Its a well written analysis. I have seen Manish Pandey batting and he is undoubtedly a raw talent to watch out for. It is very true that our pacemen stsrt bowling at 130s, the instant they have played for 2 -3 years. One really misses Javagal Srinath

Well Avijit...i cant disagree with your apathy towards the 5 wise men i.e. the Indian Cricket Selectors. Amith Mishra should be a certainity and the air headed Sardar should be dropped...atleast for the time being. Bhajji needs to get his brains right, play Ranji matches and prove his mettle. Secondly, we definitely lack solidity in middle order esp. against quality (short)fast bowling. And there will be plenty of it in SA. Even Dravid got hit by a Bangla pacer...we need some really talented batsmen and the current blue eyed band of Raina, Rohit, Rahane and Kohli look funny facing short pitch stuff. M Vijay may be a good option and so in Badrinath. As for seam bowling, I feel we should give Mithun a break. Even J Srinath was impressed with his pace. And I am game for Tyagi in place of Ishant Sharma any day.

Don't you and other people have any other work.... why to talk about future of cricket...

Although Mr. Ghosh usually puts forward reasonable arguments, I find it hard to fathom how he has put Manoj Tiwary before the Kohlis, Rainas and Sharmas! While you discount the others with flimsy excuses, you back Tiwary because he has "the game to succeed on the big stage" and one recent century. The guy hasnt done anything even to get a T20 place, let alone a test spot. How about M. Vijay at 3 and choose between Raina, Kohli, Badrinath at 6. Add Pandey to the squad for some experience.

Dear Mr.Ghosh
You have really raised a big question. In fact there is no comparision between Bangladesh and South Africa.
Earlier one at the bottom, while the other one almost No1.
Indian Test Champs like Dravid/ Yuvaj/Laman being injured. there is the real good opportunity for Youngters and new comers to take over.
Virat Kohli has already shown his mettle against Sri Lanka which is eqally competitive team. Virat Kohli has Technique/ Patience and can play long innings. on top of it he has successfully performed under pressure at least three times.So Virat Kohli should be an obvious choice at one No 3,as replacement to Rahul Dravid. 4th place(Two Down) is already fixed for Sachin Tendulkar. Dhoni can be promoted to 6th position. Now we need players for 5th. 7th. 7th position should go to an allrounder initial;ly can be given to the same person who played against Srilanka. Pandey appears to be quite good for 5th position.
Zahir and Ishant Sharma to start with are in good form as pacers. The other two Spiners could be OZA/ Mishra.
In my opinion Teanm Should be SEWAG/Gambhir/Virat KOhli/Sachin/Dhoni/ManojPandey/Allrounder /Mishra/ OZA/Zahir/Ishant Sharma, for the Ist Test.
Rest for the selectors?

This is the high time to give opportunity to youngstars.The present reserve bench & new looks like Pujara, Tiwari etc must be considered religiously.Of course, it is to be remembered that Dinesh Kartik was not included in the team as spare batsman. We must keep in mind that he is a substitute of M.S. Dhoni.Finally Amit Mishra should not be ignored for Harbhajan though it is a fact that Dhoni doesn't like his face for his straight denial with skipper's view regarding bowler's performance in a recently concluded tournament.

I think its better to rest Harbhajan for the whole series agains SA, since the bangladeshi batsman play him as if he is some GALLI bowler....
but selectors and team still have faith in him and he will feature in playing 11 as well... It will better if we drop harbhajan from the side and it will be good for him as well, where he can go back and return as more effective bowler.

I feel India has caliber to win any other Cricket team in the world. Team got best player in the league with no fitness issue. They can win the series if they can win the fear in the heart.

Nice analysis captain obvious, the cricket-knowledge less-Indian-public in general and the equally mindless-No1-Indian-cricket-team in particular really need your in depth analysis... though I am very surprised you didn't moot the idea of including pakistani players in the Indian team.I am sure you will agree that including pakistanis would solve all our cricketing problems..

I agree on your views on Harbhajan...he should not be a certainty for a place in the 11.. on current form both Mishra and Ojha are doing better and should play in the 11. Dhoni and the management need to understand that the current best 11 should play rather than ralying on past historics

what about Parthiv patel?? why selectors always opt to ignore him just to favour karthik and saha?

parthiv has continuously scored runs for last 3 seasons !! he was highest run getter in 2007 and in subsequent years 2008 and 2009, he was in TOP3 run getter of domestic season.

721 runs in 5 matches dis season is simply extraordinary !

still i wonder wat on dis earth making selectors ignore him at d cost of karthik !!!

Pujara and badrinath do deserve chances !! so does parthiv and nayar !! just noticed dat parthiv scored another half century today and nayar hit 249 !!!

pujara shined too !!

instead of sharmas,raina and all..these players sud be tested !!

Yes ,we can.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.....
Reminds me of an old Pepsi ad when Azhruddin was captain. It shows people offering their free opinions and then Azhar telling them to be selectors and pick up the team and tell him what to do and all of them are suddenly silent.
Mr. Ghosh, Silence is the buzz word

yes we can beat to south Africa,
here i must say to always match winner is bowlern not a batsman
if our bowler will good job nobody can stop to win the match.

Cool post you got here. I'd like to read something more concerning this topic. Thnx for sharing that material.

Pretty interesting place you've got here. Thanks for it. I like such themes and anything connected to them. I definitely want to read a bit more on that blog soon.

Sincerely yours