LongLegs?
Club Cricketer
Averages don't mean temperament. Haven't seen Rahane play too many knocks under pressure. Failed in the semis and finals this season as well. I do think he's very talented, but, whether he's mentally good is still to be seen. Plus, I do think the top 3 slots are going to be Sehwag, Gambhir and hopefully, Vijay, for a while.
While, we've seen Pandey in the finals this year, and he did play some other knocks before that - one which I remember being the first match of the season for Karnataka, where they were 27/3, and he cracked 194 off some 220 balls. Tiwary has been Bengal's only consistent batsman besides Saha - also scored some valuable runs in that final he played in. Pujara (along with Jadeja) is the reason why Saurashtra are making waves, and well, Kohli has proven it at international level in his short career there so far, and he also had that amazing innings when his father passed away, unfortunately, during the match(or just before, can't remember exactly), and he continued on to rescue Delhi. All 4 of these guys can bat in the middle order too, unlike Rahane who is more suited to the top 3 slots.
Not saying Rahane is a bad player, he's talented - I just rate some others more in terms of adjusting to the international stage.
Yeah, Ishant was improved. Really want to see him do it consistently though. But, Sreesanth was all over the place. Tyagi please. Sreesanth, on his day, is brilliant - those days come less often than his bad days.
From Bangladesh's point of view, I think Mahmadullah could bat at 6, while dropping Raqibul/Ashraful, and they could play another bowler. Who hopefully can bat a bit.
