My team ( given form) for the first Test versus Australia at Melbourne
Akash Chopra
Wasim Jaffer
Rahul Dravid
Virender Sehwag/Sachin Tendulkar
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Irfan Pathan
Ramesh Powar
Anil Kumble
S.Sreesanth
Munaf Patel
XII Man - Manoj Tiwary
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Before I forget..
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19 comments:
This is the best eleven if Irfan can become 3/4 of the bowler he was or else replace him with Zaheer
Also if there is not considerable change of form for Dhoni from now to test would go for Karthick as wicketkeeper
Anonymous,
Thanks for the comments..
I was deliberating Karthik for Dhoni myself,but then Dhoni did not do too badly in South Africa ( except for those recurring brain fades).
Homer
Not related to this post more to your related previous post like Younis Superman .
Would love to have more media coverage on Indian Domestic Cricket like Australian or England Team has.
There are free video highlights available for PURA and Roger Cup Finals on criket.com.au . Would love to see that 90 odd that Tiwary made on Ranji Final
Just my one cent
I saw that inning of Tewary live. He was very impressive.
Homer,
1.But do you even know what form Akash Chopra is in at present, that you've gone on to include him in a test, about 7 months away? Or have you simply gone on past records?
2.If past records is the case, then how can you remove Sehwag from the opening position,
3.and how can you drop Laxman?
4. Why would you keep two spinners?
Anonymous,
Here is what i could muster
http://www.dailymotion.com/videos/relevance/search/ranji/1
Not sure if it contains the Tiwary knock, but Youtube has the Saurav Ganguly highlights package.
Sorry couldn't do more.
No sorrys mate
Thanks for the link
Chandan,
Glad you asked these questions.
The whole premise of choosing the team is to force Australia to play the game to our tempo.
Akash Chopra had a decent series in Australia. Jaffer did the same in South Africa. Rahul Dravid is my third stonewaller.
Australia has Tait, Lee, Clark, Bracken, Johnson and maybe Hilfenhaus. McGill is the lone spinner.
Of these , Tait and Lee will bowl around 15 odd overs a day, with any two of the remaining bowlers, along with Symonds bowling the remaining 60 overs.
If Australia punt with a 5th bowling option, I would expect that to be Clark, Bracken and McGill making up the rest of the attack.
If my stonewallers manage to blunt the Aussies, I have enough strokemakers from 4 thru 8 to up the run rate attack the Aussies.
The blue print for this - Headingley 2002.
--
Sehwag will have to come down to the middle order in the post Sachin, post Dravid phase. He has aired that view enough number of times and maybe it is time for him to walk that talk.
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Laxman was an oversight, but then again I was not too keen on Sachin either. Sehwag, Laxman or Sachin for the #4 spot - I prefer Sehwag because of his unorthodoxy and because I am working with the premise that the ball would be sufficiently old by the time he arrives at the crease.
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Why two spinners? Variety and depth in the bowling attack. Why Pawar instead of Harbhajan ( remember that we are talking of all our players in peak form) - because Powar is slower in the air and because he has a better loop. On the larger Australian grounds, he will be difficult to get away plus he offsets the plethora of left handers in the Aussie batting line up.
Cheers Anonymous :)
Strokemakers in Sehwag, Yuvraj and Dhoni?? If the latter two can survive even till they score 20-25 runs, ball being old or new, I'd think that they've come along a long way?
Can you please remind Dhoni's success in SA in tests and Jaffer's score apart from that one inning at Cape town??
Remember, we are playing 4 tests in Australia? And also, just stonewalling won't do anything as you'd need scores on the board as well. Also the captain will be able to take the new ball after 80 overs, that is if we last till then.
And how well are you expecting Yuvraj to play even MacGill?
Chandan,
Actually I think we will do pretty well in the tests..
The schedule is favorable, so are the venues..
And we have a bowling attack to challenge the Aussies. :)
Don't have any expectations, Homer. You'll be disappointed. And had our bowling attack been good, the first thing we'd have done was to pull off a victory a Cape town, which we didn't!!
I do not think we'll succeed in Australia where the pitches might be bouncy but there would be no swing. Our bowlers won't trouble the Aussie batters at all.
Chandan,
Maybe so, but I still believe that we will do better than our last tour Down Under
Cheers :)
You are an eternal optimist Homer.:)
I'm not so. Last time when we visited there, our batting was in the pink of health. We've gone down too below in that department and it'd let us down again in Aus. At least I believe so.
Even then, I think we have ample time to judge our batting because we have 3 test series before that.
So, let us see!!
Homer,
I'll give you this - you think far and you back it up with logic. The only effup is that life doesn't usualy follow logic.
December's a long time dude. but i like your attitude of hanging it out there.
Young Shastri meanwhile has put it out there this afternoon that Sachin, Viru and Saurav (not in your team) have a lot left to offer.
He's also said that the last six months India ws playing cricket like it was a 9 to 5 job. But he's going back toa 9 to 5 job soon. And some other guy with a 9 to 5 job is gonna take over.
Can't wait for Mirpur ! and Melbourne !
Chandan, Sfx,
Here are my reasons for optimism
1. Shiraz prices have gone up - due to drought and frost. - The drought affecting parts of Australia were cited as reasons for not getting enough water on the main grounds in Oz - thus causing a change in character.
2. Perth, where India plays its third test, has lost its sting. If you look at the Pura Cup scores over the last two years plus the test between Oz and England, run making is a lot easier now. Also, the curator at the WACA expects atleast 3-4 years before the ground can retain its original character.
3. India did well in the absence of Mcgrath and Warne last time around. And the Aussie attack then was Gillespie, McGill, Bracken, Williams and Lee.
4. Our bowling resources this time around are vastly superior to our resources the last time - remember that Zaheer and Bhajji were hors de combat.
5. Adelaide and Sydney have traditionally aided slower bowlers. And we play at Adelaide late into the Aussie summer - should be a drier wicket than normal.
Brisbane is now the fastest wicket in Oz, Hobart, its most difficult. So the schedule and the venues give India a leg up.
Now, are we good enough to make best use of this? Time will tell.
But all things being equal, and the fact that Oz will not have played any Test cricket between now and November and also that the Oz bowling attack is a touch raw - we have a lot more things in our favor as compared to the last trip Down Under.
Are we good enuf? Proof, pudding, eating and all that :)
I would open with Sehwag in the Test team if at all he plays. Otherwise, on current form VVS would get a middle order slot before Sehwag does.
But since you're predicting a team - form willing for December... i guess i can see what you are thinking.... :)
Kartikeya,
If Sehwag plays, and he continues to do so in the post Fab 4 era, it would be better for him to become a middle order bat than a top order bat.
We have sufficiently enough specialist openers available and not too many middle order bats.
If Yuvraj and Sehwag take 2 of the 4 spots in the middle order, that makes a lot of the other selection choices easier.
Homer, I hadn't realized it was possible to argue from Shiraz prices to Indian team selection, but you've done it. I'm glad to see Chopra is in there; I don't think he should ever have been dropped. I don't like Patel at all, and honestly, I think he'll be out of the Indian team with injuries and attitude problems very soon. I'm not sure Powar will do well in Australia - somehow, offspinners don't seem to cut it on their pitches. I'd dump Patel for Zaheer; and hope to hell we find some sort of leggie-left-arm-orthodox solution soon.
Samir,
Nothing like Shiraz prices to drive home the fact that Oz is suffering a prolonged drought :)
The reason I plumped for Powar is because of his approach to bowling. Because he is slower and loopier through the air, on the larger Australian grounds, the possibility of him getting belted would be less. Also, he might get more purchase off the wicket, and bounce too, compared to Bhajji.
Cheers
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