India

[relentless_rock]

the problem that Binnu speaks of, has been with Uthappa from childhood. It has nothing to do with him not being in 30 probables list.

Whether or not he was in 30, I never saw him make into 15 for WC squad. The guy has struggled and at best, been average in past 2 Ranji seasons. There is only so much importance that can be given to IPL performance. Ashwin and Vijay on other hand backed it up in domestic competitions too, whereas Uthappa hasn't.

 

[Cricketman]

Ok guys, Raina or Kohli? Yusuf, so far at least, has done enough to almost cement him a slot at number 7. This leaves:

Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Virat Kohli/Suresh Raina
Yusuf Pathan

In the top order. Who do you go with?

 

[Prithvi]

Ok guys, Raina or Kohli? Yusuf, so far at least, has done enough to almost cement him a slot at number 7. This leaves:

Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Virat Kohli/Suresh Raina
Yusuf Pathan

In the top order. Who do you go with?

Similar one, but swap Yuvraj with Virat/Suresh, for me .

@ Rishi: Is it that "if the problem is since childhood, the player will overcome that problem" or what? He will be suffering, whatever old he is.

 

[SaiSrini]

Ok guys, Raina or Kohli? Yusuf, so far at least, has done enough to almost cement him a slot at number 7. This leaves:

Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Virat Kohli/Suresh Raina
Yusuf Pathan

In the top order. Who do you go with?

On Indian wickets, Raina it is. He is the better batsmen (on Indian wickets), best fielder in the team, and probably as useful a part timer as any other. Kohli should be giving Yuvraj a good run for his money, but Yuvraj always lives on reputation, so I guess Kohli will be warming the benches quite a bit.

 

[aditya123]

On Indian wickets, Raina it is. He is the better batsmen (on Indian wickets), best fielder in the team, and probably as useful a part timer as any other. Kohli should be giving Yuvraj a good run for his money, but Yuvraj always lives on reputation, so I guess Kohli will be warming the benches quite a bit.

Yusuf should be far from a certainty in the side for the big games. I don`t believe how we have chalked him as a certainty on the basis of 2 games! World Cup games, especially knockout games would require people who can adapt their batting to the situation. Yusuf can only be useful under one or two scenarios. Imagine a quarterfinal where we lose the first four early, 80/4 or something, who would you rather have in the side, a Yusuf or a Kohli? I would go for Kohli 8 out of 10 times.

If we do pick Kohli, that gives us the option of playing Gambhir during the middle overs by putting Kohli in at No.3. That way Gambhir, who is our best player of spin would be of great effect in the middle overs and lend more stability to the middle order as well. We have Raina, MSD and Yuvraj who can all be as destructive as Yusuf anyway. It would not hurt to have a stable middle order batsman like Kohli over Yusuf.

 

[SaiSrini]

@ adi: I concur with you on that, but from what I see, Yusuf has sealed that XI spot for two innings of his recently against NZ and SA (y'day). Cant see Dhoni tinkering with Yusuf's spot, although I would certainly pick Kohli over Yusuf (since Raina and Yuvi are already useful part timers).

 

[Pranav]

I would definitely pick Kohli over Raina.

He's been in phenomenal form lately and scored the second highest ODI runs in the past year. There is no reason to why he shouldn't be in the playing XI!

 

[AkshayS]

I would definitely pick Kohli over Raina.

He's been in phenomenal form lately and scored the second highest ODI runs in the past year. There is no reason to why he shouldn't be in the playing XI!

Agreed, he has to be in the playing XI. It's between Raina/Yuvi/Yusuf.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

For me this will be our lineup in Important matches like Against South Africa,England etc

Sachin
Sehwag
Gambhir
Yuvraj
Raina
Kohli
Dhoni
Harbhajan
Khan
Nehra
Munaf

and against associates team

Sachin
Sehwag
Gambhir
Yuvraj
Raina
Yusuf
Dhoni
Harbhajan
Khan
Nehra
Munaf/Ashwin

 

[Aditya]

Kohli over Raina anytime in odi's. Now, either Raina, Yuvi or Yusuf can get a chance in the playing XI. Last 2 odi's Yusuf has played, he has been sensational with the bat and in my opinion he should be picked over Raina and Yuvraj in the playing XI.

 

[Cricketman]

I wouldn't want to move Gambhir far from the top 3. Remember that he is an opener, so we have to play him where he is best suited.

Another option is playing 2 spinners:

Sachin
Sehwag
Gambhir
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Virat over Raina in this case
Harbhajan
Ashwin
Zaheer
Munaf/Praveen
Nehra

Idk...

 

[relentless_rock]

Since we have gone heavy on spin resources, I'll like to start off our WC campaign with 2 specialist spinners and 2 pacers. This also permits playing Kohli ahead of Pathan, as the latter's spin option can be done away with. My line up for first few WC games:

Tendulkar
Sehwag
Gambhir
Kohli
Yuvraj
Raina
Dhoni
Bhajji
Ashwin (1st choice) / Chawla (preferred against likes of Eng/SA)
Zaheer
Munaf

12th man: P Kumar (If he had more able batting capabilities, he would be my 1st pick for pacemen for all venues/all conditions in ODIs)


@ Binnu: My earlier post was only to point out that Uthappa's absence in list of probables had nothing to do with his childhood problem with instant weight gains (which he always combated by working out twice as hard in gyms), but only due to his lack of form.

 

[TruSachFan]

We can't afford to drop Yusuf now, not with out of form players like Yuvi and Raina and someone like Dhoni who can't get the big hits any more. 2 spinners/2 pacers wouldn't be bad.

Sachin
Sehwag
Gambhir
2 out of Kohli/Yuvi/raina
Dhoni
Yusuf
Harbhajan
ZAK
Ashwin
Nehra/Munaf

 

[Aswin8]

i think rohit sharma should be taken in the team

 

[PrimeOdysseus]

In my point of view, batting line-up should be like this. 4 Primary bowlers.

Sachin
Sehwag
Gambhir
Yuvraj
Kohli
Yusuf
Dhoni
Bhajji
Praveen
Zaheer
Ashwin