*Official* Road to India in Australia 2011/12

[Furball]

Haha, DWTA.

Look, there's picking on a small sample size of performance, fast tracking a bloke who looks the goods etc.. and then there's just giving the big up yours to reality and picking a player based on absolutely no performance at all. Aaron made his Test debut having taken 26 First Class wickets @ 42. It's not a closed off system in India either; every man and his dog gets his chance to rack up awesome domestic numbers. Someone who looks the part as much as Aaron is probably rare enough in India to justify selecting if he'd taken 20 wickets @ 25 or something (similar to the Yadav pick, which I'm okay with), but yeah, it's a crap pick.

But he can bowl at 140ks. That makes all your other concerns irrelevant.

 

[Cevno]

The question is who do you pick instead though?

Wouldn't have minded picking Irfan Pathan instead(given his good form,batting and experience in australia 2 times), but then he'd probably be a bit similar to Praveen in terms of type of bowler. Out of the rest Pankaj Singh, Vinay Kumar, Unadkat, Mithun, Basant Mohanty etc.... would have been equal gambles(maybe could make a case for Pankaj) and persisting with the incumbents like Munaf, RP, Sreesanth even worse.

Think his selection is more based on hopeful potential upside rather than anything else.

 

[Prince EWS]

The question is who do you pick instead though?

Wouldn't have minded picking Irfan Pathan instead(given his good form,batting and experience in australia 2 times), but then he'd probably be a bit similar to Praveen in terms of type of bowler. Out of the rest Pankaj Singh, Vinay Kumar, Unadkat, Mithun, Basant Mohanty etc.... would have been equal gambles(maybe could make a case for Pankaj) and persisting with the incumbents like Munaf, RP, Sreesanth even worse.

Think his selection is more based on hopeful potential upside rather than anything else.

I've spoken before about how Irfan seems to get better in people's minds the less he plays and that people are just gradually 'forgetting' how crap he was. That said, if you were looking for a backup just in case three bowlers were injured at once (a pretty unlikely eventuality, but with Zaheer there anything's possible I guess) I'd have probably gone with him. Failing that, Vinay.

Aaron would come into contention when (or if, really) he starts taking some wickets. He looks the part enough to fast track, but I still think fast tracking should basically just be saying "we don't need to wait for this bloke to perform at this standard for another two seasons" rather than just completely ignoring his actual performance.

 

[Teja.]

In my opinion at least, Aaron is a completely disgraceful pick and you can't say

Better to go with him than the tried failure Sreesanth though

because Sree himself was nowhere near the top of the FC bowlers in India. There are people like Vinay Kumar and Pankaj Singh who deserve a chance much, much more than a **** long-innings bowler like Aaron.

Cevno, no, someone with 250-odd FC wickets @ 24-odd is not an 'equal gamble' as opposed to someone with ****all wickets @ 40-odd.

 

[Cevno]

In my opinion at least, Aaron is a completely disgraceful pick and you can't say



because Sree himself was nowhere near the top of the FC bowlers in India. There are people like Vinay Kumar and Pankaj Singh who deserve a chance much, much more than a **** long-innings bowler like Aaron.

Cevno, no, someone with 250-odd FC wickets @ 24-odd is not an 'equal gamble' as opposed to someone with ****all wickets @ 40-odd.

So basically you won't pick Cummins for Australia either? Hell, why not select Joginder Sharma who has more wickets than Vinay Kumar at a average of 20 odd then, let alone 24?(Ignoring the fact that he sadly injured himself in a car accident a few days ago.)

Ignoring the above extreme examples and hyperbole, look i am a big proponent of picking based on FC mostly* and also have been advocating both Pankaj and Vinay's cases here for a longish while now and certainly wouldn't have minded picking either too. But having said that, can see from where selectors are coming while selecting Aaron, having watched him in a few matches now and with the team composition and the other fast bowlers being who they are in terms of balance. I guess time will tell, but calling it a disgraceful pick is way OTT AFAIC.


* - Though you have to be careful with bowlers in India tbh, especially in terms of taking them on away tours on completely different surfaces

 

[Howe_zat]

No Harby, no Sreesanth, no Mishra, no Raina. Good signs. Still not sure this attack is much cop if Zaheer isn't fit, especially in Australia where there'll be nil for the finger spinners.

Whatever happened to Pujara? Still injured?

 

[Furball]

No Harby, no Sreesanth, no Mishra, no Raina. Good signs. Still not sure this attack is much cop if Zaheer isn't fit, especially in Australia where there'll be nil for the finger spinners.

Whatever happened to Pujara? Still injured?

I think Pujara has literally just recovered.

 

[Jono]

There was no need to select Pujara, even if he gets through some FC games. Considering Rahane and Rohit's form there was no need to take the risk. The batting selection has been perfect.

Id have taken Panjak Singh ahead of Aaron, but honestly this is a good squad on the whole. Two months ago we were all certain that somehow Yuvraj and Harbhajan would tour just like 2007/08 and we'd have made **** all progress. But this squad is looking much much better.

1-1 is my prediction.

 

[Shri]

Its Pankaj Singh Joni, you flipped a couple of letters around.

 

[G.I.Joe]

lol Panjak

 

[Jono]

****, you're right. Good spot Shir

 

[honestbharani]

Joon been off the boil recently... G I Jeo to investigate.

 

[Prince EWS]

I just bought Platinum tickets in the Trumper Stand for Day 1 in Sydney. Pumped.

 

[honestbharani]

Quietly happy about the team selection. The best the selectors could have done and at least for the moment, they are back to being OFF the headlines and that is great news, AFAIC.

 

[Jono]

I just bought Platinum tickets in the Trumper Stand for Day 1 in Sydney. Pumped.

I'll be there, but I only bought Bronze.

Will an upperclass nobleman like you be willing to grab a beer or two with a peasant like me at lunch break or after the game?

 

[Shri]

That might short circuit his system.

 

[Prince EWS]

I'll be there, but I only bought Bronze.

Will an upperclass nobleman like you be willing to grab a beer or two with a peasant like me at lunch break or after the game?

Post-game beers would depend of if anyone else from my family came to the game that day, because it's just my dad at the moment, and he's too dire to get home on public transport by himself.

Very happy to meet up for a beer or two at lunch though.

 

[robelinda]

Any of you douches going to the MCG?

 

[benchmark00]

lol Victoria.

 

[robelinda]

lol Cheeqs.