India tour of New Zealand - March 2009

[shravi]

seriously this is ridiculous,balaji and karthik have no right to be in the side....and i would have gone for irfan and praveen kumar over balaji and kulkarni any day.

Do you watch domestic cricket? Or at least read about it? Karthik and Balaji have had great seasons. If you don't reward them for good performances then when will you?

 

[SaiSrini]

Yay Badri sneaks in along with Karthik and Vijay as well as Balaji .
My biggest doubt is why arent the selectors considering Badri for tests.Imo his style suits tests more than the shorter version of the game.
Another mistake by the selectors is ignoring Pujara.Hes unlucky really.
Im not a big fan of Jadeja.But he scored well in the only ODI he played.He is unfortunate to be missed out.

I dont see Badri anywhere. He is not picked in all the three squads.

Dhawal Kulkarni is an interesting selection. Giving a youngster and newcomer a hard taste of international cricket by selecting him for such an important tour. If he succeeds, he will be our next pin up boy in fast bowling. If he doesnt, he could face trouble. But good that they have placed faith in him.

Balaji could be more handy in tests because batsmen dont score as quick as in the shorter formats. He is finding his rhythm in international cricket and tests could be the better option. I wanted Sreesanth though (I know he gets wild and all, but his talent and past reputation should be looked at).

Karthik scored huge runs in domestic cricket and is a reserve batsman cum keeper. Nothing wrong in seeing him in the side. Jadeja ignored for ODI's baffling. He did a great job in that final ODI vs SL scoring 60 odd unbeaten runs. Overall, a decent selection with some minor chinks.

saisrini80 added 2 Minutes and 25 Seconds later...

seriously this is ridiculous,balaji and karthik have no right to be in the side....and i would have gone for irfan and praveen kumar over balaji and kulkarni any day.

Kulkarni has been highly successful in domestic cricket. We are looking for a backup pacer for Zaheer and Ishant. None of the guys who have already played (Munaf, RP, Irfan or Sree) promise. We got to try a new guy. In case of Balaji, he has made an inspirational comeback after a career threatening injury and has performed in domestic cricket. His one ODI game was below average but they are persisting with him (maybe he is also lucky to have a Tamil Nadu selector chairman).

 

[Leggie]

Karthik scored huge runs in domestic cricket and is a reserve batsman cum keeper.

Eeeeh.

Yeah I think Sreesanth should be selected. He young, he's energetic (sometimes a bit too much) and he's got bags of potentional. He's a guy who if he he puts his head to it, he's one of the best. The conditions in NZ will suit if considerably and he has a chance here if he is selected to make it big again like he did in SA.

Sreesanth

 

[Cricketman]

Eeeeh.

What's your deal? He had a FANTASTIC domestic season, and scored runs whenever the team most needed it. South zone were 86/6! KKD came in and blasted a ton and we ended up winning.

Maybe this is the series when Dhoni makes it easier for himself, maybe even give up keeping?

 

[shravi]

What's your deal? He had a FANTASTIC domestic season, and scored runs whenever the team most needed it. South zone were 86/6! KKD came in and blasted a ton and we ended up winning.

Maybe this is the series when Dhoni makes it easier for himself, maybe even give up keeping?

No, middle order is too packed.

 

[Cricketman]

Room can always be made. Yuvraj is in fantastic form, yes, but he WILL struggle against the swinging ball.

 

[Leggie]

What's your deal? He had a FANTASTIC domestic season, and scored runs whenever the team most needed it. South zone were 86/6! KKD came in and blasted a ton and we ended up winning.

Maybe this is the series when Dhoni makes it easier for himself, maybe even give up keeping?

Chill out, I wasn't commenting on Karthik's form, Iwas commenting on something else because once again my immature side took over for a brief period..

 

[Cricketman]

I was chill. Nobody say nothing about my Karthik <3

Edit: Oh, I see what you mean. Lulz.

 

[naresh091]

I dont see Badri anywhere. He is not picked in all the three squads.

yeah I posted this post before.

Oh well I heard people in my college saying Badri was in T20 and ODI squad.Oh **** man.

Karthik plays really well in the domestic matches.He just easily takes the attack on the opposition bowlers.But in Internationals,he really struggles to score runs quickly.Even if he does,he attemts a suicidal shot and gifts his wicket to the opposition.Hope he doesnt do that this time(if he gets any chance)

 

[manee]

Fixtures updated.

Test squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, M Vijay, Amit Mishra, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dinesh Karthik (wk)

I disagree with the Test squad in a few areas. M Vijay is included as the reserve opening batsman and reserve middle order batsman. However, I believe a drop in form of Yuvraj Singh is more likely than an injury to Sehwag or Gambhir. Therefore, the reserve middle order batsman, Badrinath would have been the better option. I also believe that Dinesh Karthik has the ability to double up as reserve opener, as his good form in England in 2007 showed.

Vengsarkar has stated that the inclusion of Dhawal Kulkarni is strictly for experience and drew comparisons with the inclusion of Ishant Sharma in England in 2007. It is a good move, he has shown visible talent and did very well throughout this Ranji season, with old ball and new ball. He has been rewarded for a good domestic season, it is a sign of the BCCI's selectoral policy moving from nurturing U19 stars (though it is still present in the case of Rohit Sharma, for example) to nurturing domestic stars - the progression is good in theory, but it remains to be seen whether domestic performances can translate to Test performances.

On that note; a lot of people will disagree with Balaji's inclusion, considering he is bowling at approximately 125kph these days. This being said, I believe a lack of pace is not fatal in New Zealand where the pitches tend to offer a fair bit of juice for the ball to skid off the surface. Jacob Oram's success with the ball in Test matches in New Zealand (41 wickets at 18.75) shows that a lack of pace is not always fatal for a fast bowler. It must be noted that Oram does have far more height than Balaji, but then it can be argued that Balaji swings and seams the ball which can offer similar compensation.

I pray that Zaheer Khan is on good form in this series. If he is on good form, he could exploit these conditions like few others and really demolish New Zealand.

ODI squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik (wk)

Twenty20 squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik (wk)

Obvious selections here, not much to note.

 

[.Mob]

Robin deserves a spot ahead of Rohit in both of the OD squads, but no, ROHIT IS SPECIAL.

 

[Leggie]

Duh, He is from Mumbai.

 

[deerkick]

Wow you're right. I checked Robin's progress in domestics. Ever since he was dropped, he's been a run machine.

I have a theory about Rohit Sharma. He is most likely the love toy of the Indian team. I just don't see any other way why he would still be in the team. I would've dropped him after Asia Cup TBH.

 

[Cricketman]

I would've never brought Sharma in the first place. Rather Tiwary, Badrinath, etc, who have been performing for much longer periods of time.

 

[SaiSrini]

Where is Tiwary right now? Am hearing absolutely nothing about him. He is back from that injury which severely affected his international start right?