New Zealand tour of India (Sept-Oct 2016)

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

I would prefer Gambhir over Dhawan tbh. Dhawan since his 187 or so hasnt had good contribution in Tests atleast. One Day is a different thing. Gambhir when on right song is perfect fit. I would actually have this team

1) Gambhir
2) Vijay
3) Pujara
4) KL Rahul
5) Kohli
6) Saha
7) Ashwin
8) Jadeja
9 Shami
10) Bhuvi/Ishant/Umesh
11) Bhuvi/Ishant/Umesh

 

[Velocity]

Dhawan has also scored these half centuries for India in some recent tests.

I'm pretty sure his last fifty was the first Test in the West Indies back in July. He only deserves a place if he hits form in the Ranji Trophy. Otherwise, I'd stick to Gambhir as the reserve. I'm not saying Dhawan shouldn't be in the team at all, but he really needs to hit form.

 

[sunielpar11]

Vijay and Rahul should be openers and Gambhir as reserve. And right, Dhawan must have show him in Ranji Trophy.

 

[Prithvi]

I would say utilize Gautam Gambhir. He is already 34 and will retire before the start of 2019 home season. KL Rahul is too young for being a permanent opener in longer formats and needs to improve. The way I see him play now- he's going to end up like Dhawan. Rahul needs to improve patience and needs to understand not every ball can be hit for runs. By the time Gautam Gambhir retires, we'll have Rahul ready!

And yeah- rest Gambhir in some games, and give Rahul international chances.

 

[AliB]

Guys let's move forward to the ODIs, first three of the five don't contain best of our bowlers, so it'll be interesting to see how MS manages this and how he himself play after the break he had. I'd go with this XI as of now

Sharma
Rahane
Kohli
Pandey
Raina
Dhoni
Pandya/Patel
Mishra
Kulkarni
U Yadav
Bumrah

 

[abhi_jacko]

But he wasn't that bad of a player.

Indeed. But he had one of the worst attitudes of any player ever. Always made me cringe. Thats why I could never fully support Mumbai Indians in IPL even though that team had Sachin in it.

And this comment by him validates my dislike for him further. The guy has no class

 

[abhi_jacko]

KL Rahul is too young for being a permanent opener in longer formats and needs to improve. The way I see him play now- he's going to end up like Dhawan. Rahul needs to improve patience and needs to understand not every ball can be hit for runs.

Huh ?? What makes you think Rahul will end up like Dhawan. He seems superior to him in technique and seems to have a much better understanding of match situations. He seems to work well on all gears. I am very happy that Gambhir is performing well for India again and he should get his due, but not at the cost of Rahul.

There is NO reason whatsoever to bench Rahul for Gambhir, especially after the consistency he has shown - 158, 50, 28, 32, 38 in this last 5 innings. It will break the guys spirit and heart if he is benched for Gambhir.

I don't have a problem with Gambhir being the first backup opener over Dhawan though. Dhawan needs to go back to domestic and prove his form

 

[abhi_jacko]

Guys let's move forward to the ODIs, first three of the five don't contain best of our bowlers, so it'll be interesting to see how MS manages this and how he himself play after the break he had. I'd go with this XI as of now

Sharma
Rahane
Kohli
Pandey
Raina
Dhoni
Pandya/Patel
Mishra
Kulkarni
U Yadav
Bumrah

That sounds fairly accurate I think. Its amazing how our Test tail had way more depth than our ODI team will. Pandya/Patel at 7 is a fairly short tail, especially when you compare it to NZ's ODI squad

 

[Prithvi]

Huh ?? What makes you think Rahul will end up like Dhawan. He seems superior to him in technique and seems to have a much better understanding of match situations. He seems to work well on all gears. I am very happy that Gambhir is performing well for India again and he should get his due, but not at the cost of Rahul.

There is NO reason whatsoever to bench Rahul for Gambhir, especially after the consistency he has shown - 158, 50, 28, 32, 38 in this last 5 innings. It will break the guys spirit and heart if he is benched for Gambhir.

I don't have a problem with Gambhir being the first backup opener over Dhawan though. Dhawan needs to go back to domestic and prove his form

Apart from the 158, I don't see anything really special. He lacks patience, if you see his 32, he has a six and 4 boundaries (22 out of the 32 scored in in 5 balls). See his 38, 8 boundaries.
This is the precise thing which Dhawan did, of course with not so good technique. Until and unless he gains patience, he is unfit for tests.

He might have better understanding and have knowledge on how to accelerate. But as long as he doesn't have patience, he is unfit for tests. Let him play some Ranjis and in domestic circuit and learn the patience thing and let Gauti serve India until Rahul is ready.

 

[Aalay]

LOL Someone just replied this to Harbhajan on twitter.

 

[Ohm]

All I pray for the goodness' sake of our test side is that KL Rahul should become available before Gambhir hits a ton on his opportunity.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Apart from the 158, I don't see anything really special. He lacks patience, if you see his 32, he has a six and 4 boundaries (22 out of the 32 scored in in 5 balls). See his 38, 8 boundaries.
This is the precise thing which Dhawan did, of course with not so good technique. Until and unless he gains patience, he is unfit for tests.

He might have better understanding and have knowledge on how to accelerate. But as long as he doesn't have patience, he is unfit for tests. Let him play some Ranjis and in domestic circuit and learn the patience thing and let Gauti serve India until Rahul is ready.

The non-100 scores already show that he is better than Dhawan. He got decent starts to follow up the hundred and that is a fair amount of consistency for such a new player. More exposure and time on the wicket will only improve his game, so he can convert the starts into big scores on a regular basis. He needs to be rewarded with more opportunities. Not cast aside into domestic to "prove" himself. I don't know what Gambhir has done that he suddenly warrants to be our first choice opener. His weakness was masked due to the pitch - the jabs and pokes around the off stump line to the moving delivery. I think we need to be very cautious before we fall back to Gambhir as our first choice opener

 

[Saroj padhy]

Lol... People here discussing like they are BCCI selectors, chairman,Team coach, captain.

 

[SaiSrini]

If the discussion is not going in Gambhir's favor, then it is "oh people here are discussing as if they are selectors, coach, captain". If it's going in Gambhir's favor, then put a like for that comment in this forum.

I would say utilize Gautam Gambhir. He is already 34 and will retire before the start of 2019 home season. KL Rahul is too young for being a permanent opener in longer formats and needs to improve. The way I see him play now- he's going to end up like Dhawan. Rahul needs to improve patience and needs to understand not every ball can be hit for runs. By the time Gautam Gambhir retires, we'll have Rahul ready!

And yeah- rest Gambhir in some games, and give Rahul international chances.

Rahul is first choice always along with Vijay. And he has proved himself in tests also to be given that "first choice tag". Rahul is actually more like Vijay than Dhawan. Like Vijay, Rahul is known as a solid batsman in domestic cricket who can grind out opposition attacks. Dhawan was never known in such a manner. Like Vijay, Rahul also moulded his game so well for the shorter formats that people started to think that he is an aggressive player who cannot withstand the patience and determination needed for a test match opener. Like Vijay, Rahul will most likely prove that his base is still the same (he is one his way to doing that).

I still remember how perception on Vijay dramatically changed when he lit the IPL with his swashbuckling batting. Suddenly it was like "Vijay is a T20/ODI player and wont survive in tests". Well before IPL and all, Vijay was a solid and strong batsman in domestic cricket who moulded his game for IPL and T20. And then Vijay proved himself back in tests and shut people up.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Lol... People here discussing like they are BCCI selectors, chairman,Team coach, captain.

Thanks for the amazing, in-depth, insight into your views man. I wish we could all articulate like you just did and contribute to meaningful discussions