India tour of Ireland (2 T20Is) & England (1 Test, 3 ODIs & 3 T20Is)

[Bevab]

Jeez if effin’ forty year old Jimmy’s 130kph bouncers threaten you so much you should never be anywhere near test cricket Shreyas. Unless he works on this to show significant improvement this should be his last game in the test side.

Vihari might be the most successful first-class batsman out of the current crop not named Sarfaraz Khan but if he’s going to look extremely uncomfortable to that extent when he’s supposed to be in his prime I wonder how long he’ll hang onto his spot. I do like the story of a seasoned campaigner getting his deserving spot in the side after years but he’s really looking like a poor man’s Pujara after all these games. With our star man in Kohli also looking lost we desperately need a consistent source of good runs other than relying on our openers in this day and age and Pant.

 

[Bevab]

Our two best batsmen in this XI are being played as the last recognized batsmen.

 

[asprin]

Same old story. And tomorrow it's gonna be all sunshine when England bat.

Our top 4 is a joke.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Vihari and Pujara in modern era doesn't fit into a single playing XI.

Both are way too defensive with similar approach.

 

[SaiSrini]

Pant is proving more and more that he's becoming a test specialist. The extra time that he gets in test cricket and the non-existence of the pressure to score runs at a certain pace, definitely seems to be helping his game a lot. Keeps vindicating my opinion that he should be earmarked as a 'test specialist' and should be kept away from other formats.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Jeez if effin’ forty year old Jimmy’s 130kph bouncers threaten you so much you should never be anywhere near test cricket Shreyas. Unless he works on this to show significant improvement this should be his last game in the test side.

Vihari might be the most successful first-class batsman out of the current crop not named Sarfaraz Khan but if he’s going to look extremely uncomfortable to that extent when he’s supposed to be in his prime I wonder how long he’ll hang onto his spot. I do like the story of a seasoned campaigner getting his deserving spot in the side after years but he’s really looking like a poor man’s Pujara after all these games. With our star man in Kohli also looking lost we desperately need a consistent source of good runs other than relying on our openers in this day and age and Pant.

Thats how good KLR and Rohit were in the last year tests.

Top order runs are always crucial and sets the tone for the entire innings.

Especially for a Team whose middle order failed successively over the years.

 

[Bevab]

Pant is proving more and more that he's becoming a test specialist. The extra time that he gets in test cricket and the non-existence of the pressure to score runs at a certain pace, definitely seems to be helping his game a lot. Keeps vindicating my opinion that he should be earmarked as a 'test specialist' and should be kept away from other formats.

I think he’a figured out a way to be useful in ODIs with his Maxi like cameos and generally seems to be good in the IPL when he doesn’t care about settling down or having to hold an end.

Just seems to be T20Is where he fails for some reason. If we are to restrict him to just tests mainly for the foreseeable future I definitely believe he needs to be a specialist batter at five with the burden of the gloves going to Bharat as alluded to earlier.

 

[SMMODS]

Same old story. And tomorrow it's gonna be all sunshine when England bat.

Our top 4 is a joke.

Our top 5

 

[Bevab]

Thats how good KLR and Rohit were in the last year tests.

Top order runs are always crucial and sets the tone for the entire innings.

Especially for a Team whose middle order failed successively over the years.

We sorely miss them indeed. However I genuinely don’t think relying on openers in this very bowler friendly era to always bail us out is a good idea. Any solid start by them must be taken forward by our other batsmen and at the moment Pant and Jaddu seem to be the only ones stepping up consistently across conditions. Gill looks promising as an opener other than these names but we do need another source in our middle order. Shreyas was supposed to be the next big thing and he’s never gonna get there with this massive gaping hole that pretty much every pacer will look to exploit going forward.

Vihari and Pujara being similar batters isn’t the biggest issue, ideally we do have the others to score at a much quicker rate to dovetail for the stability they should be providing on paper. The issue seems to be Pujara’s steady decline and Vihari looking lost technically whenever he comes to bat. His grit alone isn’t going to suffice when this side aims to win games.

Post automatically merged: Jul 1, 2022

Our top 5

I’ve just discovered that Pant is now our number five apparently ahead of Shreyas. This genuinely reeks of YJB batting at six with the gloves with Jos at seven as a specialist batter. We all know how well that ended for everyone.

 

[Ashutosh.]

Rohit Sharma never opened until a practice game in ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. At times, things happen with gut feeling.

Rohit opened with Gambhir in Gambhir's last ODI series in 2013.

 

[SMMODS]

Rohit opened with Gambhir in Gambhir's last ODI series in 2013.

Rohit Sharma was opener during WC T20 2009

 

[GOKUL RAJ K]

Rohit Sharma was opener during WC T20 2009

He played well in the first half

 

[Ashutosh.]

Test hundreds by Indian WK outside Asia -
Pant - 4
All other WKs - 3

 

[SMMODS]

Test hundreds by Indian WK outside Asia -
Pant - 4
All other WKs - 3

KL Rahul has got 6 outside Asia

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

KL Rahul has got 6 outside Asia

Not as a designated wicket keeper