India in Australia

[Zaibatsu22]

I'm an Australian but if i was India:

1. Gambhir (injured?)
2. Sehwag
3. Laxman (needs to move up imo)
4. Tendulkar
5. Dravid
6. Dhoni (hes got the ability, last chance though)
7. Pathan (troubled australia in recent ODIs, can get plenty of runs as well)
8. Kumble
9. RP Singh
10. Agarkar (injured?)
11. Patel (injured?)

appologies with the question marked players, im not aware of their injury status, i only know that Zaheer is out.

 

[harishankar]

Agarkar, Munaf Patel and Gambhir aren't even playing in this series.

And no way Agarkar is a test-quality bowler at this stage in his career...

 

[Zaibatsu22]

Agarkar, Munaf Patel and Gambhir aren't even playing in this series.

And no way Agarkar is a test-quality bowler at this stage in his career...

Appologies then, as i said, i was unaware of their exact squad and eligability.

 

[Sureshot]

Agarkar, Munaf Patel and Gambhir aren't even playing in this series.

And no way Agarkar is a test-quality bowler at this stage in his career...

At any stage in his career...

 

[Zaibatsu22]

Well what other alternatives apart from Pathan is there for the Indian pace attack as a replacement for Sharma?

I just think he was a little over-awed by the situation in the 2nd test and wouldnt be a wise selection on the WACA wicket. He is a good prospect for the future though.

 

[.Mob]

True, true.

Even Gambhir was fit, he's not a Test player, shouldn't be picked in my opinion. Zai: Pankaj Singh is a replacement, I believe he's better then Sharma.

 

[sohum]

Let's see. The warm up match starts in approximately 7 hours. MS Dhoni will be leading the side and Kumble will be resting. Cricinfo suggests that Sachin, Sourav and VVS will also be resting. Kumble said he wanted to let the guys who hadn't played a game have a knock, which means Sehwag, Karthik, Pathan, VRV, Pankaj and Kartik should all get a game. I think pushing all these guys in would be silly, though.

 

[.Mob]

Murali Kartik is in the squad? No he isn't, is he?

 

[manee]

Kaif just faded away in ODI cricket after 2002-03 and he's never been in Test contention anyway. i've not seen enough of Manoj Tiwary to be honest...

Kaif is back in Test contention, I believe, after the recent Ranji Trophy season. 690 runs at 57.50 is a fine effort. You must also add that he has scored a century and three fifties at Test level - so we are assured that he will not be totally hopeless.

Unfortunately, after Dravid, tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman, I don't see a core of Indian batting...

'After Laxman' is not happening soon. Laxman is just 32 and so has a good half decade left in him. Furthermore, I think that at least one of Badrinath, Yuvraj, Pujara and Patel will prove to be a strong Test batsman.

Our bowling future looks more promising, actually, even though Kumble's imminent retirement will leave a big gap in spin bowling.

I think India have enough talent in the closet to make up for the loss of Kumble. Anil Kumble is a great bowler, but we have plenty of good spin bowlers who will lessen the impact of the loss.

Indians (likely): 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Dinesh Karthik, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 VRV Singh, 10 Pankaj Singh, 11 Ishant Sharma, 12 RP Singh

A fine choice of squad in my opinion. Although the pitch is not expected to be a pitch similar to the Perth Test ground, this will be a good time to try out Pankaj Singh, VRV Singh and Irfan Pathan against some okay opposition. VRV and Sehwag in particular have been handed an oppotunity out of nowhere and it is up to him to make it worthwhile.

Murali Kartik is in the squad? No he isn't, is he?

He just finished defeating Railways today, so I guess not.

Zai: Pankaj Singh is a replacement, I believe he's better then Sharma.

All I know is that his run up reaches world record speeds by the time he reaches the crease - or at least, it did in the Challenger Trophy.

 

[.Mob]

Lol, but he seems to have more control in line and length than Sharma, plus he can blast a few out of the ground when batting.

 

[shan111]

I watched Pankaj singh on TV during challengers. He looked very promising. He was sharp and bowling with pace around and above 138km/h. What I liked of him though was his abilty to bowl outswingers and the ball which would just come back in a little bit. Thats why most of his wickets are caught behind , bowled or LBW. I think he should play at perth in place of Ishant because of the above reasons and he has more controll over line n length as .Mob said.

 

[Vcassano]

Out of interest, where's Chawla? I understand he wasn't picked for the Test squad because there are already two spinners but is he there for the one-dayers and is he highly rated by fans?

 

[SaiSrini]

Let's see. The warm up match starts in approximately 7 hours. MS Dhoni will be leading the side and Kumble will be resting. Cricinfo suggests that Sachin, Sourav and VVS will also be resting. Kumble said he wanted to let the guys who hadn't played a game have a knock, which means Sehwag, Karthik, Pathan, VRV, Pankaj and Kartik should all get a game. I think pushing all these guys in would be silly, though.

When will they all get a chance then? We got to see what they are capable of, and give them a match before working out our combination for the next "all important game".

Out of interest, where's Chawla? I understand he wasn't picked for the Test squad because there are already two spinners but is he there for the one-dayers and is he highly rated by fans?

He was injured during the India-England ODI series (or something!) and was then not picked because Murali Kartik had made an impression. I guess he could be in the reckoning for the ODI series (if the ODI series is played!)

 

[Manohar]

i think jaffer will fire late in the series as he always does,i think the only change will be vrv singh for harbhajan singh

Although I like Jaffer, he has serious technical problems in Australian conditions and the Australians have figured him out. He need to sort out his batting before he gets another chance especially in this series. I hate to see India again loose the first wicket so early and so easily. In the four Innings so far India were 1-4, 1-26, 1-8, 1-3 and in all the cases Jaffer was out first.

Sehwag had the following scores in tests the last time India visited Australis (2003-2004). 45,0, 47,47,195, 11, 72, 47. Sehwag should play. In my opinion Sehwag is unfairly treated by selectors especially in tests.

 

[SaiSrini]

Right now, I dont think Sehwag can perform worser than Jaffer, and so I want Sehwag to be picked. Give him a chance to perform tomorrow at the practice match and pick him for Perth. Dinesh Karthik must be happy now that Yuvraj is not performing well and this opens a window for him to get in. But I would instead opt for Pathan to bloster our bowling attack and Pathan is not a bad replacement with the bat for Yuvraj, ON CURRENT FORM.