Specialist T20 squad for Team India

[icyman]

Since the T20 World Cup triumph in 2007,we have seen that Team India has been playing the same XI over and over again. We have also played the same team in Tests and ODIs.

Despite having the IPL which has thrown up a good crop of young players who can shine in this format, the BCCI continues to play with the same team. It is not yielding any results and I think we are on a record T20 losing streak.

Is it time for us to also look at a specialist T20 squad ? Look at the Aussies or England who have separate people leading their teams in these formats. I can actually tick off a few people off my fingers, count a separate T20 squad for India. What say people ?

 

[angryangy]

I don't see how it's not a specialist side. The batsmen all do well in IPL, then there's Ashwin, key player for CSK and Rahul Sharma has obviously come in because of T20 form. It seems a bit like they've just thrown Vinnie and PK in there, but the quick bowling is always India's Achilles heel. If they're going to rest their top bowlers, I'm not sure where else they can look; they probably view punting on another medium/medium-fast like those two as just a sideways trade.

 

[Prithvi]

Basically, India plays very less international T20 cricket, added to that, very few chances we get would be in a situation where we get to play them more as practice matches, than competitive cricket.

Moreover, just for one off T20i's which India generally plays at either midst of tournament or as practice match, selectors just play the same ODi side, considering they would get some amount of experience on those soils.

India has hosted only three Twenty20 international matches, one against Australia (WC victory mood) and two against Sri Lanka. India never hosted expect on these cases, where as we often see one or two T20i's for every home tournament for other nations.

All these sum up for Indian low ranking as well.

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Given a chance for me to pick a specialist T20 side, this would be my line up and bench:
XI:
Manish Pandey
Robin Uthappa(WK)
Virat Kohli*
Suresh Raina
Irfan Pathan
Yusuf Pathan
Ravichandran Ashwin
Praveen Kumar
Rahul Sharma
Umesh Yadav
Varun Aaron
Bench:
Murali Vijay
Naman Ojha
Piyush Chawla

 

[sifter132]

Yeah precisely. I don't think it's worth selecting a completely different side when you only ever see one or 2 games at a time. It doesn't really help in your team building, and if you're overseas it's just a logistical pain.

The only time I can see a more specialist side being picked is straight after the IPL when you can pick a side based on T20 form, a bit like Australia have with their current T20 squad. But if you are playing T20s nowhere near IPL time, there is no form to go on.

 

[SaiSrini]

India are fine with their current setup. They just need to bring in the right players for the T20 World Cup, and we can do well in the upcoming tournament.

I would drop Sehwag and bring in Robin Uthappa, Murali Vijay. These two guys are far better fielders, and as big hitters as Sehwag. With the T20 World Cup held this time in Sri Lanka, I would take both of these players to Sri Lanka because they are demons when they play on subcontinent tracks. Also play Irfan Pathan as the seaming allrounder and play Aaron as the third seamer and sack Vinay Kumar altogether. This would be an ideal T20 team

G Gambhir
M Vijay
R Uthappa
V Kohli
MS Dhoni
S Raina
R Jadeja
I Pathan
R Ashwin
P Kumar
V Aaron

Backup: Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Parthiv Patel, Rahul Sharma, Manoj Tiwary