Australian Tour of India, October 2010/11

[ShamiLoverGlipGlops]

@ Sohum yuvraj is not in the test side and instead of him Cheteshwar Pujara is been oicked



My 1st test lineup.

Gambhir
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Raina
Dhoni
Zaheer
Ishant
Singh
Ojha



Now is singh is not fit then definetely Sreeaanth and not oick Mishra as Sehwag and Raina are there as Spin Options

 

[SaiSrini]

If Harbhajan is not fit, cant they draft in Ashwin? I am not happy with the combination of Ojha and Mishra. And we need two spinners on Indian wickets for sure. The Aussies will toy with our pace bowlers. Harbhajan has the advantage of having done well against Aussies at home, and so they will tread against him carefully.

 

[AkshayS]

Bhajji is a must for first test, hope he gets fit soon. Though I'd say Mishra-Ojha would do fine.

I would chose Sharma over Sreesanth(changed my opinion), I still think he can pull out something against Aussies, Zak's woeful form in T20's(recent, he didn't look good there), and he hasn't played test for a long time, so he might find it difficult to get going.

 

[aditya123]

If Harbhajan is not fit, cant they draft in Ashwin? I am not happy with the combination of Ojha and Mishra. And we need two spinners on Indian wickets for sure. The Aussies will toy with our pace bowlers. Harbhajan has the advantage of having done well against Aussies at home, and so they will tread against him carefully.

Our only chance is if we play three seamers.Sehwag is good enough to get a couple of wickets every innings and I dare say he is a more classical off-spinner than Harbhajan. Ishant, Sreesanth and Zaheer along with Ojha would make a good attack. All three can manage decent reverse swing in Indian conditions. Reverse swing is going to be a major factor in the Indian conditions.

I cannot remember more than a couple of occasions that we won a test match solely because of our spin bowling. Maybe the test in Sri Lanka and one or two apart from that but our test match wins even in India have come when our seamers have picked up wickets. Kanpur and Mumbai tests against Sri Lanka were won on the back of 5ers from Sreesanth and Zaheer. Zaheer and Ishant were responsible for our series wins over Australia and England in 2008. Even against SA at Kolkata when the Proteas were cruising at 210/1, it was Zaheer and Ishant who got us back in the game.

Inspite of all this, we still stick to the stereotypical 2 spinner combination at home and thereby exerting more load on the seamers we have. Two spinners is a good policy if both are attacking options but Harbhajan is no more than a defensive spinner these days. Ojha is the only spinner who deserves a test match spot currently.

 

[ShamiLoverGlipGlops]

I really wish to see Ashwin in the side for One Day or Test atm.

 

[SciD]

Whoever wins first test will end up winning series 1-0. @ match series is just meaningless. This whole series is meaningless and its being played for Border-Gavaskar trophy.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

I really wish to see Ashwin in the side for One Day or Test atm.

Do not worry. Until and unless Srikkanth is in selection committee, each and every Indian player who plays for Chennai super king will get chance to play for India. Nothing against Ashvin though but I have not watched IPL or CLT20, so I do not have much of an idea about him. Still Srikkanth is the worst Indian selector I have come across. His strategies have ensured that India will struggle even in the qualifying stages of 2011 world cup. The likes of Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthick and Murli Vijay lack technique and skills and will be easily exposed by a quality opposition.
India was lucky that they had to play more ODIs before world cup but what did they try? Murli Vijay, purely on his IPL performance! They should have tied some players who played domestic ODI matches. What, if either Sachin or Sehwag is injured along with Gambhir? Next guy you got is either Kartik or Vijay, lol.

 

[SaiSrini]

Do not worry. Until and unless Srikkanth is in selection committee, each and every Indian player who plays for Chennai super king will get chance to play for India. Nothing against Ashvin though but I have not watched IPL or CLT20, so I do not have much of an idea about him. Still Srikkanth is the worst Indian selector I have come across. His strategies have ensured that India will struggle even in the qualifying stages of 2011 world cup. The likes of Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthick and Murli Vijay lack technique and skills and will be easily exposed by a quality opposition.
India was lucky that they had to play more ODIs before world cup but what did they try? Murli Vijay, purely on his IPL performance! They should have tied some players who played domestic ODI matches. What, if either Sachin or Sehwag is injured along with Gambhir? Next guy you got is either Kartik or Vijay, lol.

Worst ever selector? There have been selectors before for India who have had a clear Mumbai bias. We have seen Mumbai dominate the national team and so many players from Mumbai would play even though they dont deserve it. Srikanth has tried to underplay his regional bias at times during selecting the team. He would pick one Chennai player but would drop the other even though he deserves it more because ppl would think of him to be regionally biased.

Srikanth is not the worst. Yes, he might be inclined towards South players, but we have seen far worser selectors than him.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Worst ever selector? There have been selectors before for India who have had a clear Mumbai bias. We have seen Mumbai dominate the national team and so many players from Mumbai would play even though they dont deserve it. Srikanth has tried to underplay his regional bias at times during selecting the team. He would pick one Chennai player but would drop the other even though he deserves it more because ppl would think of him to be regionally biased.

Srikanth is not the worst. Yes, he might be inclined towards South players, but we have seen far worser selectors than him.

Still does not take away the fact that he is biased. I might have hype it a bit but I can not believe that someone was picked for a national side based on his performance in IPL, which is not even a game of cricket. Murli Vijay is nowhere a best available ODI opener after Sacin, Sehwag and Gambhir.

 

[SaiSrini]

Still does not take away the fact that he is biased. I might have hype it a bit but I can not believe that someone was picked for a national side based on his performance in IPL, which is not even a game of cricket. Murli Vijay is nowhere a best available ODI opener after Sacin, Sehwag and Gambhir.

IPL has had the most eyeballs among the world audience as far as domestic cricket is concerned. IPL has had international quality players playing among the domestic cricketers. And as far as opening backup is concerned, who else do we have apart from Murali Vijay? Vijay had also played tests by then (and he has done decently enough in tests) when he was picked as the backup opener in the ODI side. Sachin was not an instant hit when he started off. Saurav, Dravid and Laxman all went through the initial struggle phases before they established themselves. Vijay might also do it. He has the potential.

 

[SciD]

I like Vijay but just like Nohit Sharma, he lacks in mental department. Only Kohli gives some hope but he is Yuvi clone in terms of attitude.

 

[ShamiLoverGlipGlops]

What say guys?

Murli Vijay due to his top form or Gambhir due to his Experiance for 1st Test?

 

[SaiSrini]

What say guys?

Murli Vijay due to his top form or Gambhir due to his Experiance for 1st Test?

Gambhir is first choice easily. No choosing between the two. If Gambhir is injured, Vijay comes in as backup - thats all. Gambhir is still India's best test batsman at the moment.

 

[Flame_Blader1]

Gambhir is first choice easily. No choosing between the two. If Gambhir is injured, Vijay comes in as backup - thats all. Gambhir is still India's best test batsman at the moment.

Sachin and Sehwag beg to differ tbh. But yes Gambhir (if fully fit) > Vijay still. Although I would not rule out Vijay playing in test matches in the middle order. He is a fine test batsmen.

Btw anyone expecting Bhajji to hit a few 30's and 40's lower down the order? I swear he has like 4-5 half centuries against Aus.. all in crunch situations too.

 

[Robelinda]

Btw anyone expecting Bhajji to hit a few 30's and 40's lower down the order? I swear he has like 4-5 half centuries against Aus.. all in crunch situations too.

And how annoying they've been too! All credit to him, he looks awful with the bat sometimes but he sure can hit the bad ball away.