*Official* Sri Lanka in India

[Cruxdude]

What would be the point of that?

Well Sehwag has always expressed his desire to bat in the middle order. Once Dravid, Sachin or Laxman retire India might also prefer him coming a bit lower to strengthen the middle order.

Vijay has been pretty good and consistent in the domestic tournaments. Eventually he will be the guy opening with Gambhir is what I believe.

 

[silentstriker]

If you are not going to enforce the follow on when you by more then 400, when are you going to do it?

Modern captaincy theory says never. Unfortunately.

 

[Furball]

Well Sehwag has always expressed his desire to bat in the middle order. Once Dravid, Sachin or Laxman retire India might also prefer him coming a bit lower to strengthen the middle order.

Vijay has been pretty good and consistent in the domestic tournaments. Eventually he will be the guy opening with Sehwag is what I believe.

Assume you meant Gambhir there?

 

[Cruxdude]

Assume you meant Gambhir there?

Yeah, my bad...

 

[Black_Warrior]

I know Vijay is a talented player and once Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman are gone, they need someone to bolster the middle order but I would rather send Gambhir at 3 than Sehwag down the order simply because of the effect he can have on the opposing team. His wide array of strokes and blistering hitting can snatch the momentum away within the first session and break the opposing team's spirit.

 

[Jono]

Modern captaincy theory says never. Unfortunately.

Australia and India just did it in the last 2 days.

 

[silentstriker]

First, I'd never move an opener that averages 50+. Those guys are rare as gold. And if you have two of them, I'd keep them both and the good starts would ease the pressure on an inexperinced middle order. Hypothetically though, I would without a doubt move Sehwag out of the two. Down to something like 5. Sehwag is unreal against spin. Scary good - not as good overall as Sachin but not too far behind and probably more destructive.

 

[Jono]

Keep the two Delhi boys together, they enjoy batting with each other.

 

[masterblaster]

I know Vijay is a talented player and once Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman are gone, they need someone to bolster the middle order but I would rather send Gambhir at 3 than Sehwag down the order simply because of the effect he can have on the opposing team. His wide array of strokes and blistering hitting can snatch the momentum away within the first session and break the opposing team's spirit.

I'd agree with that. Sehwag is great to have as an opener because he really takes the momentum away form the opposition. The only thing I'd disagree with is putting Gambhir at 3. Gambhir and Sehwag form a great opening partnership and they know each other so well so why break them up?

Once Dravid retires, I'd actually put someone like Murali Vijay or Badrinath at the number 3 position. They are solid batsmen who can bat well if an opener goes early and they both bat very much like Dravid. I think it would be most logical to have either Vijay or Badrinath replace Dravid in the number 3 position and still have Gambhir and Sehwag opening the batting.

 

[Jono]

How have Vijay, Badrinath and Raina been comparatively at first class level over the last 3 years?

Anyone comparatively better than somebody else?

 

[Shri]

How have Vijay, Badrinath and Raina been comparatively at first class level over the last 3 years?

Anyone comparatively better than somebody else?

There is also a guy called Abhinav Mukund who is as good as Vijay.

 

[honestbharani]

There is also a guy called Abhinav Mukund who is as good as Vijay.

But technically I would prefer Vijay.


And Arun Karthik is coming through the ranks fast too. We at TN seem to produce openers dime a dozen..

 

[G.I.Joe]

But technically I would prefer Vijay.


And Arun Karthik is coming through the ranks fast too. We at TN seem to produce openers dime a dozen..

The kickstart and template was undoubtedly provided by Mr Technique himself, Krishnamachari Srikkanth.

 

[honestbharani]

The kickstart and template was undoubtedly provided by Mr Technique himself, Krishnamachari Srikkanth.

Apparently there was a guy, T.E.Sivaramakrishnan or Srinivas, forgot the name.. Gavaskar reckons he was more talented and a better bat than he was and he juz threw it way due to temperament issues.

 

[Uppercut]

First, I'd never move an opener that averages 50+. Those guys are rare as gold. And if you have two of them, I'd keep them both and the good starts would ease the pressure on an inexperinced middle order. Hypothetically though, I would without a doubt move Sehwag out of the two. Down to something like 5. Sehwag is unreal against spin. Scary good - not as good overall as Sachin but not too far behind and probably more destructive.

Dunno, Sehwag invariably has the advantage of already having been batting for 10 or 15 overs before he ever faces any spinners. If you always start your innings against pace and face spin once you're well-set, it's inevitable that you'll look like a better player of spin than of pace.

Agree with you though, keep Sehwag-Gambhir together. Isn't it by far India's most successful opening partnership ever?

 

[Jono]

Not yet, but will be I think.

Bhogle wrote an article about Gambhir, some interesting points raised.

http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/436716.html

 

[silentstriker]

Dunno, Sehwag invariably has the advantage of already having been batting for 10 or 15 overs before he ever faces any spinners. If you always start your innings against pace and face spin once you're well-set, it's inevitable that you'll look like a better player of spin than of pace.

Agree with you though, keep Sehwag-Gambhir together. Isn't it by far India's most successful opening partnership ever?

While being set is obviously always an advantage, I don't think it makes much of a difference to him. He simply does not rate spinners at all and he has come out and said so - and certainly he plays like he doesn't. That is actually his biggest weakness too - if he was more respectful he could be as good as Tendulkar is against spin. He's close anyway.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Dunno, Sehwag invariably has the advantage of already having been batting for 10 or 15 overs before he ever faces any spinners. If you always start your innings against pace and face spin once you're well-set, it's inevitable that you'll look like a better player of spin than of pace.

Agree with you though, keep Sehwag-Gambhir together. Isn't it by far India's most successful opening partnership ever?

Ideally I would never want to fiddle with Sehwag-Gambhir partnership but the only reason I opted for Gambhir at 3 is because in the situation in the future of an Indian team without Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman, I can rely on an excellent batsman like Gambhir to take the responsibility more than an untested M Vijay. I havent seen any of the other players, I dont think much of Yuvraj or Rain at the test level.
However if Vijay proves to be good, I would be happy to send him at 3 and leave Gambhir and Sehwag alone.

 

[Cruxdude]

While separating Sehwag and Gambhir is indeed not a great idea. I would surely like one of them to come down the order and strengthen the batting once the trinity retire. Three new faces with Yuvi makes me a bit queasy.

 

[silentstriker]

Ideally I would never want to fiddle with Sehwag-Gambhir partnership but the only reason I opted for Gambhir at 3 is because in the situation in the future of an Indian team without Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman, I can rely on an excellent batsman like Gambhir to take the responsibility more than an untested M Vijay. I havent seen any of the other players, I dont think much of Yuvraj or Rain at the test level.
However if Vijay proves to be good, I would be happy to send him at 3 and leave Gambhir and Sehwag alone.

I think if/when the time comes where India have two openers averaging in the fifties but an untested and perhaps fragile middle order, you'd want to ease their pressure by ensuring a good start more times than not. That makes it easier for the middle anyway and if the order is indeed fragile, you'd want to protect them from the new ball, as most of the new players are likely better at playing spin then they would be facing 150+ kph new ball bowlers.