New Zealand's Tour Of India Aug-Sep 2012

[Prithvi]

He could be tried there. He scored some brilliant knocks at a high strike rate in the Emerging players tournament last year or so batting at no 5/6. Even in Ranji he's impressed a lot. BTW is Manoj good for no 6? He is a much better middle order player at 4/5. He's got a phenomenal FC average of above 58 with a brilliant 50-100 conversion rate so maybe India could start with him at 6. Or maybe Sehwag could move down there and let Rahane open with Gambhir.
Another player that comes to mind is Manish Pandey who's done a great deal in FC cricket and is a big hitter. He is a future prospect.

Saurabh Tiwary will be a perfect repetition of Dhoni in my opinion. ANd Mainsh Pandey will be always the person behind someother person to select. It happened in India v South Africa, when Wriddhimnan Saha was forced to play as pure batsman, since selectors believed in unfit Rohit Sharma over in form Manish Pandey. It happened many times too.

In the few year to come, I can see Rahane and Gambhir opening, with Viru in the middle. Pujara and Kohli should hold on to their place ,which brings up the 5.

Addiotnally, I came across anothe rinteresting name that I believe will do good for India in the future- Any thoughts about Rajasthan's Ashok Menaria ?

I feel Kohli will be Indian next #4. So as of now, he should play at #6, and as soon as Sachin ends his career, VK will take his position.

Menaria? He has played just 14 games. I'd rather have the two time Ranji champion team member, Robin Bist in the test side than having Menaria.

All in all, are we forgetting that we have a replica of Dravid in Mohammad Kaif? He is just above 30, can serve India for 4-5 years. He has good amount of experience. Bringing in Robin Bist, Ashok Menaria, Manoj Tiwary is okay when you play ODi cricket- but you definitely cannot get them in at the cost of an experienced person.


Ideal test playing XI for team India:

Virender Sehwag (C)
Gautam Gambhir
Mohammad Kaif
Sachin Tendulkar
Cheteswar Pujara/Ajinkya Rahane
Virat Kohli
Parthiv Patel
Harbhajan Singh
Ravi Ashwin
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma

My decision of dropping Dhoni came as he is not soo interested in longer formats of the game, and added to that, he is a good ODi batsman. If we want to use him in ODis, we will need to keep him away from tests (so that his fitness increases).

Playing XI for India-New Zealand series:

Sehwag
Gambhir
Rahane
Tendulkar
Pujara
Kohli
Dhoni
Ashwin
Zaheer Khan
Pragyan Ojha
Ishant Sharma

 

[Epic]

I agree with your points w.r.t Sehwag. But, if he gets going in the first few overs, which he does more often than not- it creates instant pressure on the opposition captain.

It buys the team more time. A specialist opener can defend and stave off the new ball. Maybe, in such a case we end up at 56/0 after 20 overs. If Sehwag gets going, that score can be like 132/1 or 132/2 after 20 overs. I'd take the second option. -As business terminologies always say- Higher the risk, higher the returns.

I don't know why people have this notion that you HAVE to open to put the other team under pressure, it's clearly not the case, take KP for example, he does that regularly for England and is he an opener? No, you don't need to open the innings to absolutely annihilate the other team.

And I have bit of a problem with your scenario, would you really take 132/2 over 56/0? Wickets are what matter in Test cricket, not how fast you go about making your runs, c'mon now, you know this.

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My decision of dropping Dhoni came as he is not soo interested in longer formats of the game, and added to that, he is a good ODi batsman. If we want to use him in ODis, we will need to keep him away from tests (so that his fitness increases).

How do you know this? Mind reader maybe? I'm all for sacking Dhoni from the Test team and naming someone else captain, but don't make stuff up for the sake of supporting an idea.

 

[Prithvi]

How do you know this? Mind reader maybe? I'm all for sacking Dhoni from the Test team and naming someone else captain, but don't make stuff up for the sake of supporting an idea.

Saw this word from Ganguly recently in Dial C for Cricket program in Neo Prime. I blindly believed Ganguly because what he says is absolutely clear.

 

[SaiSrini]

I think they are going by the fact that since Raina was the first option in the team ahead of Badrinath, Raina gets first preference. And it seems Rahane is being looked at only as the reserve opener in case Sehwag and Gambhir either don't play or when the need comes for them to be moved down the order, which Dhoni and Fletcher are not thinking about right now. So for now, Rahane won't get his chance which is unfortunate.

If we play two spinners, hope our fast bowlers are Zaheer and Yadav and not Zaheer and Ishant.

Edit: Looks like many of us have so much to say about what the Indian batting order should look like after the retirement of Dravid and Laxman (and the impending retirement of Sachin)

 

[Epic]

Saw this word from Ganguly recently in Dial C for Cricket program in Neo Prime. I blindly believed Ganguly because what he says is absolutely clear.

Eh, that's the problem, stop believing Ganguly.

 

[Prithvi]

Eh, that's the problem, stop believing Ganguly.

Haha, I believed Ganguly blindly only because I found out something interesting in what he spoke- Dhoni ain't a great batsman when it comes to tests. He is also deteriorating his performance as captain. Along with all this, his fitness levels are going down and down day by day due to heavy schedule.

Why don't we use him in the area where he is better for longer time?

 

[Epic]

Haha, I believed Ganguly blindly only because I found out something interesting in what he spoke- Dhoni ain't a great batsman when it comes to tests. He is also deteriorating his performance as captain. Along with all this, his fitness levels are going down and down day by day due to heavy schedule.

Why don't we use him in the area where he is better for longer time?

Because we kind of don't have a long term replacement for Captain, sure Sehwag or Gambhir could do it, but for how long? 3 years? 4 if we are lucky, we are in bit of a transition and changing captains now will only hurt us.

Just build towards the future and if Dhoni does choose retire from Tests in late 2013 then no big deal, we'll just have to hand over the captaincy to Gambhir for year or two hoping Kohli will be ready by 2015.

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Here's my XI:

Truly my XI, so don't hate.

1. Virender Sehwag (for the time being )
2. Gautam Gambhir
3. Cheteshwar Pujara
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Virat Kohli
6. Ajinkya Rahane
7. MS Dhoni
8. Ravichandran Ashwin
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Pragyan Ojha
11. Umesh Yadav

 

[Prithvi]

I don't understand why Kaif is being ignored.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

I dont understand why should he NOT be ignored?

 

[icyman]

And I have bit of a problem with your scenario, would you really take 132/2 over 56/0? Wickets are what matter in Test cricket, not how fast you go about making your runs, c'mon now, you know this.

How do you know this? Mind reader maybe? I'm all for sacking Dhoni from the Test team and naming someone else captain, but don't make stuff up for the sake of supporting an idea.

Regarding Sehwag, the fact that he scores at a quicker rate would matter to our relatively weak bowlers. It buys them time to get those elusive 20 wickets.

As for MSD, he had come out in the open saying that he may step down from one format in 2013.Media speculation is that it would the Test format.

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I dont understand why should he NOT be ignored?

Because he is a good player and can bring a sense of stability to a batting line up which has been weakened by the departures of two reliable people.

 

[Epic]

Regarding Sehwag, the fact that he scores at a quicker rate would matter to our relatively weak bowlers. It buys them time to get those elusive 20 wickets.

You are missing the point bro, Sehwag doesn't have to open to score at a quicker rate, he can do that batting any where in the batting order.

Have a look at this - Sehwag wants to bat at number four in Test matches - Indian Express

?I have been successful as an opener but who knows, maybe I would have been more successful in the middle order,? said Sehwag, who today became the number one Test batsman.

I seriously do believe in that.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Regarding Sehwag, the fact that he scores at a quicker rate would matter to our relatively weak bowlers. It buys them time to get those elusive 20 wickets.

As for MSD, he had come out in the open saying that he may step down from one format in 2013.Media speculation is that it would the Test format.

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Because he is a good player and can bring a sense of stability to a batting line up which has been weakened by the departures of two reliable people.

Actually selecting Kaif is going one step backward. If you need stability there are many other options for us.

I would keep Kohli at 3 and have Gambhir at 4, open with Rahane.

So this lineup would be more then stable

Sehwag
Rahane
Kohli
Gambhir
Tendulkar
Pujara
Dhoni
Bowlers..

Well the middle order looks fantastic and strong to be honest

 

[Epic]

Actually selecting Kaif is going one step backward. If you need stability there are many other options for us.

I would keep Kohli at 3 and have Gambhir at 4, open with Rahane.

So this lineup would be more then stable

Sehwag
Rahane
Kohli
Gambhir
Tendulkar
Pujara
Dhoni
Bowlers..

Well the middle order looks fantastic and strong to be honest

Tendulkar would never give up his #4 spot and imo, Kohli would make for a better #4 than Gambhir.

 

[Atharv]

Gambhir and Rahane Openers .
Kohli number 3 .
Sehwag at 5 .
Badri/Pujara at 6 .

It is ridiculous not to make Kohli India's new number three . He is getting runs by tons, literally . I am not a big fan, as of yet , but he is in good form .

 

[SaiSrini]

My argument against Kohli being the new Number three is that he is too flashy for that position, and I don't believe he has that determination to play out time when the team has lost a very early wicket and the new ball bowlers are steaming in and are giving hell to the batsman. Pujara is of the Dravid kind who can come in, eat up balls and bide out the testing period and then slowly start flourishing. Or even Rahane who has batted at No.3 many times for Mumbai in domestic cricket.

Kohli is a perfect No.4! Once Sachin retires, No.4 must be Kohli's spot. But right now, having Pujara at No.6 is also not a bad option. His recent 96* for India-A vs WI-A where he batted with the tail and took India home to victory reminded of the way VVS used to win games for India batting with the tail. Pujara has that kind of talent too.