India tour of New Zealand 2020 - 5 T20Is, 3 ODIs, 2 Tests

[asprin]

Too early to tell, bu clean sweep is on the cards? Tit for tat?

 

[Bigby Wolf]

This is the most casual I have seen Virat Kohli bat in a long long time. Said that ODIs are less relevant this year after the 2nd ODI loss should have opted out himself and better prepared for the upcoming tests then.

A lot of experimentation being done which seems absolutely futile to me.

I like the idea of KL Rahul in the middle but not in the scenario when both regular openers are unavailable.

Prithvi Shaw is nice addition as opener goes after almost every ball like a modern ODI opener can be a perfect ploy in T20s but difficult to replace either Rahul and Rohit or Dhawan both available.

No signs of Pant and Kuldeep being dropped after one game - just another Kohli Shastri things.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

In the last 3 series, India have played their worst Cricket of the last 2 decades. A sign of arrogance and extreme complacency you can say ? Just don't know how do we keep getting below par scores despite having one of the best talent pools when it comes to batting.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

6 bowlers with Jadeja at 6! 6,000th time I'm saying it.

 

[Master Bates]

6 bowlers with Jadeja at 6! 6,000th time I'm saying it.

They won't listen to you unless....

(You replace Shastri as coach.)

 

[Ed Smith]

Some surprisingly tepid performances from India in these 3 ODIs

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Some surprisingly tepid performances from India in these 3 ODIs

India has been carried by Bumrah and the top three in the format. Bumrah had an okay series and our top 3 was not there. So, expected in my book.

This series should be an exclamation mark on two things-

1) For the love of god let us drop this 4 bowlers and 1 all rounder policy. It should either be 5 bowlers and an allrounder or 4 bowlers and 2 allrounders.

2) No more Shardul Thakur please.

 

[Ed Smith]

India has been carried by Bumrah and the top three in the format. Bumrah had an okay series and our top 3 was not there. So, expected in my book.

This series should be an exclamation mark on two things-

1) For the love of god let us drop this 4 bowlers and 1 all rounder policy. It should either be 5 bowlers and an allrounder or 4 bowlers and 2 allrounders.

2) No more Shardul Thakur please.

Aye it seems like the whole attitude is either. If the top 3 fail, Bumrah will sort it, or if he doesn't bowl exceptionally the top 3 have to fire... everyone else just seems to turn up with that attitude of "not my job". Weird considering how different the T20s were

 

[Bevab]

Aye it seems like the whole attitude is either. If the top 3 fail, Bumrah will sort it, or if he doesn't bowl exceptionally the top 3 have to fire... everyone else just seems to turn up with that attitude of "not my job". Weird considering how different the T20s were

The top 3 are the ones who will have to shoulder the blame this time as it was Rahul and Iyer bailing them out throughout the series (understandable when two of the three are debutants). Bumrah has been poor in this series but every champion bowler goes through a tough phase (at least he was economical in comparison to the other pacers).

Our team was simply outclassed by a better side who were more motivated and played better in most phases. The poor team selection did no favours as well.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Our team was simply outclassed by a better side

Better side ? Or the side which played better ? The Indian side actually missed Dhoni's instructions from behind the stumps which was quite a bit help for them. But we can't play Dhoni for that purpose. It's a no-brainer that the side has to learn to win without his inputs.

I don't believe that New Zealand are a better side as compared to India. At best both are at par. New Zealand had been playing at 90% strength as they were missing Trent Boult and Matt Henry on the other hand India lost currently the best ODI opener in world Cricket, and their best all-rounder right now and on top of that they were playing without a full-time keeper. Plus they were playing away from home. This series definitely wasn't the best yardstick to rate the performance of the 2 sides.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Coming on to the Test series,

For Wellington Test we should play this team

Mayank
Shaw
Pujara
Kohli (C)
Ajinkya Rahane
Saha (Wk)
Jadeja
Ashwin
Ishant / Saini (if Ishant injured)
Shami
Bumrah

I've heard Simon Doull saying that Wellington have been very flat and slightly slower in last 3-4 years, so both spinners are a must and on turning pitches Saha keeps better as well.

 

[Bevab]

Better side ? Or the side which played better ? The Indian side actually missed Dhoni's instructions from behind the stumps which was quite a bit help for them. But we can't play Dhoni for that purpose. It's a no-brainer that the side has to learn to win without his inputs.

I don't believe that New Zealand are a better side as compared to India. At best both are at par. New Zealand had been playing at 90% strength as they were missing Trent Boult and Matt Henry on the other hand India lost currently the best ODI opener in world Cricket, and their best all-rounder right now and on top of that they were playing without a full-time keeper. Plus they were playing away from home. This series definitely wasn't the best yardstick to rate the performance of the 2 sides.

The latter, obviously. Would probably rate the two teams as par at full strength. The myth of spinners struggling without Dhoni needs to die, the man was not an oracle and while any side will miss such experience it doesn't necessarily equate to every move that Dhoni recommended = good as the moves that didn't work would likely be put down to shoddy captaincy.

Calling NZ at 90% strength is extremely disingenuous, as NZ simply do not have the depth to replace their first team players like India can afford to. Added to that, from NZ's perspective in your style of highlighting their importance rather than just the names...

• They were missing their entire first choice pace lineup, a key strength of theirs. This includes the leading ODI wicket-taker in the last five years (who has a better average than our very own Bumrah), the bowler who gave us the best ODI performance over the previous year according to ICC and their best bowler in the World Cup. To replace them, they had to bring in the misfit senior who was replaced by the trio and two debutantes.
  
• They were without the 'Player of the World Cup', their second best ODI batsman (not first only because Roscoe decided to go superhuman in ODIs) and their captain who led them to the final for the first two games. His replacement was a player with a List A average of 24 (although I admit that he is most definitely slightly better than that and they could have gone with Young).
  
• They were also without any spinner in the second match and had to replace him with a deadweight middle order batsman who was a misfit at eight and bowled zero overs, contributing only with his fielding.
  
• In addition, they also had an illness in their side which resulted in the senior bowler being so sick that he was puking off the field in-between his spells during the second game.
• All of this is without factoring in the mentally battered state they were in after that final defeat, the test series in Australia and the T20I whitewash suffering collapse after collapse.
  
• The only home advantage that this side might have is the extra knowledge of how to target the short boundaries best as most pitches these days are either drop-in or batting paradises in ODIs.

And if Rahul is not a full-time keeper, Latham surely is not either. Neither players are anything special with the gloves and they don't keep in the longer format. Added to that, this myth of Rahul being a part-timer who has rarely kept before or this scenario being similar to Dravid's keeping stint needs to die, as Rahul has plenty of experience in the IPL (even back in 2014 for Hyderabad!) and Karnataka (was the main keeper last season and has kept wickets in the past too, as far back as 2013). I don't think he has done any worse than Pant, I would actually rate his keeping to the spinners better than Pant (prefer Pant for the pacers even if he has committed some blunders) and has been a lot better with the DRS calls and run-outs (barring today's mishap).

Coming on to the Test series,

For Wellington Test we should play this team

Mayank
Shaw
Pujara
Kohli (C)
Ajinkya Rahane
Saha (Wk)
Jadeja
Ashwin
Ishant / Saini (if Ishant injured)
Shami
Bumrah

I've heard Simon Doull saying that Wellington have been very flat and slightly slower in last 3-4 years, so both spinners are a must and on turning pitches Saha keeps better as well.

If we are to go with Saha, both of our spinners can't play. 4-5 wickets down and we might as well give up in the batting department. I don't think the two spinners will have a large impact in Wellington either, New Zealand went without a spinner versus Bangladesh last year and Ajaz Patel was wicketless and bowled only three overs in the first innings versus Sri Lanka two years ago. The surface is more of a batting paradise rather than one that breaks down and aids spinners. I'd go with Vihari if Saha is a necessity, which leaves a conundrum over which spinner to drop.

The solution? Play the young, richly talented in the longer format keeper of ours with centuries in England and Australia in his very first series' and have enough batting cover at seven with Jadeja, which leaves us with two world-class spinners should we need them (having Jadeja might also help Ashwin finally overcome his SENA issues). I would go with Umesh over Saini too, Umesh deserves a chance with the new ball (where he is most effective) which he is guaranteed to get without Ishant or Bhuvi in.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

The solution? Play the young, richly talented in the longer format keeper of ours with centuries in England and Australia

Not too sure whether the team management would look at him as we have seen over the course of time. Definitely Pant deserves a chance on the basis of his batting but not too sure of keeping in the longer format. But I remember he has the record of taking the most catches in a Test as an Indian keeper outside the subcontinent so not a bad option to try.

I would go with Umesh over Saini too, Umesh deserves a chance with the new ball (where he is most effective) which he is guaranteed to get without Ishant or Bhuvi in.

The problem with Umesh Yadav is that he doesn't use the conditions well whenever seam and swing are on offer. He is more of a hit-the-deck kind of a bowler who are generally successful in Asian pitches. Also Umesh Yadav averaged close to around 50 with economy of nearly 4 runs per over when he toured England last year is another factor that worries me and hence I would like Saini to get a game ahead of him.

 

[Master Bates]

I think we will need 5 bowlers for this series.

This would be a good team to being with for the series:
Agarwal
Shaw/Gill
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Jadeja/Ashwin
Pant
Umesh
Saini
Shami
Bumrah

Since, we don't have a pace bowling all-rounder, I think this team would suffice.

I know the tail is long and taking 4 pacers sounds absurd but in order to take wickets, I think we need our bowlers fresh. And Jadeja is great with his economy and will bowl countless overs. Now, Ashwin might be a more aggressive bowler but I feel Jadeja's batting makes him more suitable to play, with Ashwin not really making good scores with the bat.

Now if we lose early wickets, then there might be a problem as we are one batsman less. And Kohli's form has not been great but I feel he will do well this series. Pujara will be very important here. If he plays just the way he did in Aus, there is no way we will not defeat the Kiwis.

Saini and Umesh have shown there little batting skills so I decided they both should be picked. Otherwise one of them could make way for Ashwin/Vihari.

For the Shaw/Gill question, I will say that Gill should play only because he is less aggressive than Shaw. But Shaw will and should start because he was the incumbent.

 

[SaiSrini]

My test XI would be this:

Mayank
Shaw/Gill
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Jadeja
Pant
Ashwin
Ishant/Umesh/Saini
Shami
Bumrah

I know I've been an advocate of Saha over Pant in tests, but maybe for this series, play Pant in the smaller grounds of NZ. If its swinging, neither Pant nor Saha have the technique to battle out of it but with Pant, its "high risk high reward" vs Saha who is "high risk average reward". If Pant gets going somehow and tries to slog his way out of the conditions, maybe he can bring a lot more useful runs for India. And of course being a left hander helps in a lineup where Jadeja is the only other one.

If Ishant is fit, he walks in. If not, I'd pick Umesh over Saini purely for the experience but I feel Saini is primed for a good test match career if he keeps his head where it is right now.