India in the WI May / June 2011

Premise: Sehwag, Tendulkar, Zaheer, Dhoni, Nehra, Harbhajan and Praveen Kumar are all rested and/or injured and will not be available for the ODI and T20 series (Going by what the press reports).

1. Gautam Gambhir (captain)
2. Parthiv Patel (wk)
3. Virat Kohli
4. Suresh Raina
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Rohit Sharma
7. Ambati Rayadu (2. wk)
8. S. Badrinath
9. Ashwin
10. Irfan Pathan
11. Yusuf Pathan
12. Ishant Sharma
13. Munaf Patel
14. Vinay Kumar
15. Rahul Sharma
16. Ojha or Jadeja (if 16 are selected)

The following could come into contention as like-for-like replacements (although I doubt it):

1. A. Mithun
2. Manoj Tiwari
3. S. Tiwary
4. S. Sreesanth
5. Pujara

TEST SQUAD: (Sehwag due for a shoulder operation)

1. Gautam Gambhir
2. Murali Vijay
3. Virat Kohli
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Rahul Dravid
6. VVS Laxman
7. M S Dhoni (captain + wk)
8. Harbhajan
9. R. Ashwin
10. Zaheer Khan
11. Ishant Sharma
12. Munaf Patel
13. Rohit Sharma
14. S. Badrinath
15. Rahul Sharma
16. Irfan Pathan

Murali Vijay is definitely not the ideal replacement for Virender Sehwag, but I can’t think of any other genuine opener. Maybe Rahul Dravid could open, in which case either Munaf or Irfan would find a place in the playing eleven.

Final selection for the LOI is due at the end of this week.

Reason why Sehwag and Tendulkar are missing the ODI series is because Fidel Edwards is back for the West Indies and his pace is too much for them.

Starting a new innings on FB, PP?

F*ck the clown stuff. I'm looking forward to the Tests. Although WI will most likely get a shelling.

Their best hope is to produce some fiery pitches. It always tends to get evened up in those cases.

It's unlikely to happen, though, they'll be roads.

This probably being the case, if I were the selectors, I'd be picking two spinners. Don't fancy WI against spin really. Although the likes of Bravo are quality... Sarwan / Chanders if they play... Sort of no point in talking about WI though, they've got a Test or two coming up... anything can happen between now and the India series. Obviously ZAK's going to be one seamer, I suppose Ishant Llama is the one I'd choose. India are likely to bat WI out of the series. May as well not bother talking about their batsmen, everything's been said.

furriner wrote:Starting a new innings on FB, PP?

yaar i was out due to exams(which didn't go too well DESPITE studying )

Exam fixing?

Henry wrote:Exam fixing?

clearly a conspiracy by BCCI and RAW....

Brass Monkey wrote:Their best hope is to produce some fiery pitches. It always tends to get evened up in those cases.

It's unlikely to happen, though, they'll be roads.

This probably being the case, if I were the selectors, I'd be picking two spinners. Don't fancy WI against spin really. Although the likes of Bravo are quality... Sarwan / Chanders if they play... Sort of no point in talking about WI though, they've got a Test or two coming up... anything can happen between now and the India series. Obviously ZAK's going to be one seamer, I suppose Ishant Llama is the one I'd choose. India are likely to bat WI out of the series. May as well not bother talking about their batsmen, everything's been said.

WI and fiery pitches? Those days are gone. Not unless they import soil from NZ. Two spinners is definitely the way to go. As today's reports have it, Harbhajan will be available for the LOIs so out goes Jadeja from the above list.

I don't think its going to be that easy for India. WI will have most of their assets back after the IPL, i.e. if they decide to put aside their wrangles and choose to select them. In other words the rest will group around Taylor, Bravo, Gayle, Sarwan, Chanders and likely Edwards giving it a completely different look from the team that faces the present pedestrian PAK team.

Test cricket? Just gets in the way of more DLF maximums...

farq it reet off.

no irfan pathan please. still a trundler and his batting has gone backwards

might as well try some new bowlers like aaron, etc. even the idiot sreesanth is a better pick

sehwag may be out of the england tour as well. better to go for an opener who might have a chance to survive in england. vijay doesnt look the part. maybe rahane/mukund/etc

i would also like to see mishra in the test squad ahead of the likes of ashwin, who does not seem like a good test match spinner to me. relies more on fast, flat off-spin to add pressure in t20s and odis

I reckon, if they wanted, they could produce some juicy pitches. The likelihood is they'll produce the absolute turgid sh!t we're used to from most countries.

The One wrote:no irfan pathan please. still a trundler and his batting has gone backwards

might as well try some new bowlers like aaron, etc. even the idiot sreesanth is a better pick

sehwag may be out of the england tour as well. better to go for an opener who might have a chance to survive in england. vijay doesnt look the part. maybe rahane/mukund/etc

i would also like to see mishra in the test squad ahead of the likes of ashwin, who does not seem like a good test match spinner to me. relies more on fast, flat off-spin to add pressure in t20s and odis

Vijay should be persisted with for longer, imo. Looks a good player. Steyn and co worked him over occasionally in South Africa, but he also made a couple of decent scores, didn't he? And let's not forget Pujara. FFS, you Indian fans write off players too quickly. It's like, "he got out cheaply once. He's sh!t. Need to find someone else." Give these guys time! If they don't have a chance to learn from their mistakes, then they'll keep making the same mistakes, and ultimately they wont improve.

vijay to me doesnt look like a long term test class opener. too many flaws, much like yuvraj

pujara should be persisted with. he certainly deserves a chance ahead of rohit sharma and badrinath. filling up a middle oder spot is also india's more urgent need. sehwag-gambhir should go on for a few years. but dravid or laxman will probably be out much before

Vijay is similar to Laxman. He's not technically perfect, but is extremely elegant, and can time the pants off a cricket ball. He may show some technical faults now and then (like Laxman, who often gets out going back when he should be coming forward) but he also has the ability to play big innings.

He averages 38 after nine tests, which isn't too bad. And he's only ever been picked as a stop-gap player when Sehwag or Gambhir have been injured.

I think Vijay's pretty good, actually. I haven't been impressed with some of the incumbents but he's floated my boat. A little. He has got technical flaws, like most others. Seems to have a bit more solidity to him. I say get Wasim Jaffer in for the England tour he was one of the main reasons for India's '07 victory.

The One wrote:no irfan pathan please. still a trundler and his batting has gone backwards

might as well try some new bowlers like aaron, etc. even the idiot sreesanth is a better pick

sehwag may be out of the england tour as well. better to go for an opener who might have a chance to survive in england. vijay doesnt look the part. maybe rahane/mukund/etc

i would also like to see mishra in the test squad ahead of the likes of ashwin, who does not seem like a good test match spinner to me. relies more on fast, flat off-spin to add pressure in t20s and odis

IMO Irfan is on his way back. He seems to be getting his swing and length back. His successes have regularly been on wickets close to the sea where natural cloud cover assists his kind of bowling. WI and more particularly England will suit him well - if he persists with his return to form. I agree with Mishra being picked but in place of Rahul Sharma not Ashwin. If at all there is any bounce in any of the pitches, he'll be able to extract it.

Looking specifically at openers, I can't see anyone other than Vijay to replace Sehwag. Pujara should first be tried out at home. A failure abroad would cause irreperable damage to his career.

Pujara was injured playing for Bangalore. Will be lucky if he's fit. The only must pick player of the non-mustpicks.

Assuming Pujara is the 6th batsman for the tour, I think Kohli has earned a spot on the test squad as the reserve MO. Parthiv can double as spare WK/Opener. Vijay shouldn't be dropped, not yet, but he does have glaring problems against quality fast bowling. Zak, Munaf, Ishant should be the bowling line-up.

Gambhir
Vijay
Dravid
SRT
LaxMAN!!
Pujara
Dhoni
Bhajji
Zak
Ishant
Munaf

Kohli
Patel
Sreesanth
Ojha/Mishra

We all know Parthiv's gash. He's India's Cwis Wead. Yeah, looking all zingy in the more domestic of games, but when he gets Tested he'll sh!t his knicks like a rabbit just about to get run over by an Aston Martin.

He's the reverse Chris Read. Absolute sh!t as a WK (still) but serious talent with the bat and grit.

Not a T20 player though, so it's strange having to watch someone like him try and slog it to earn a place in the side.

Really? I knew he'd kicked on a bit, but yeah that's probably the only time I've seen him since he got dropped. T20. Not the best indication of a player's talents.

thats a 4 man bowling attack with no part-timers (and one munaf). sounds like a potentially big problem

either pujara needs to be dropped and we play an extra bowler or we find an all-rounder (yeah i know)

It would seem the Indian media has been feeding the fans a load of junky fast-food. So what’s new? Now suddenly many of the stalwarts don’t need a rest or are not injured.

Dhoni may tour but may not play all the ODIs.
Harbhajan doesn’t need a rest.
Praveen Kumar isn’t injured anymore although last seen bowling with a brace.

Assuming the media has now taken an educated guess (a few hours before the selection), I’d replace Rahul Sharma with Dhoni, Ojha with Harbhajan and Vinay Kumar with Praveen Kumar. I still think Irfan Pathan should stay in the squad as he is the only legit pace all-rounder India has at the moment. If only 15 are selected in the squad, my guess is Ambati Rayadu or Irfan may have to be sacrificed. Pity considering Dhoni may play only a couple. For me the IPL remains only a form barometer and an inadequate selection platform. We’ll know in a few hours.

Final Squad: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel (wk), Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, S Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar, Yusuf Pathan, Amit Mishra, Wriddhiman Saha (wk).

More or less along anticipated lines with three exceptions:
The most glaring is the selection of Saha in place of Ambati Rayadu. This guy squandered the chances he got and has never done a thing to be given preference over Rayadu or even Uthappa. Vote bank politics at work?
Amit Mishra over Rahul Sharma is acceptable but not over Pragyan Ojha. Stats confirm this.
The omission of Irfan Pathan in conditions that will suit him, given that India urgently need a fast bowling all rounder. His rejuvenation, in view of the upcoming tour of England, may make the difference. IMHO, Praveen Kumar isn’t fit as yet and may become a liability on a long tour.

Finally, with 6 batsmen, 1 slogger and a wk-batsman the side seems a little bowling-biased (4 seamers, 3+4 spinners and a tourist). They’ll have to step up to the plate, if WI succeed in re-installing their real assets.

It will be extremely disrespectful to the game if any of the Indian players are "rested" or they themselves pull out of any of the international matches considering that all of them are playing the IPL.
If you want to rest then don't play in the IPL