***Official*** India in England 2014

[Arjun]

From an Indian point of view

• The top five should stay. They're problem-ridden, but great raw material for a strong top five. Replacing one of them with available reserves is as much as taking a step down.
• Vijay's first 12 Tests as replacement opener were poor. His next 12 Tests (till this one) have been good. He's now cemented his place. Surely the others deserve as many consecutive chances.
• You're stuck with Dhoni, so make the most of him. If he wishes to make the most of himself, of course.
• That Binny is a passenger is well known. He should, however, be replaced with a bowler, not a batsman- this three-man bowling attack won't take 20 wickets consistently, over a five-match series like this.
• Either Jadeja does the Moeen for India, or Ashwin takes his place.
• Let's not jump for joy over Ishant's magic seven. He's still struggling to take plenty of wickets for little, in little time. I'm not sure he should play all five Tests here, let alone beyond- bad game, drop him.
• Shami struggling is disappointing news. Can't afford it.
• Maybe you can bench him and play the two Ranji performers Pankaj and Pandey. One should play in place of Binny, the other, maybe Shami.

 

[King Pietersen]

Last 4 Tests, Ishant has 3 five-fors. 6/134, 6/51 and 7/74. He's doing pretty well recently. Might not be bowling magnificently, but he's taking wickets, and you can't really complain. Should be Binny, Shami and Jadeja that the attention is on, Ishant's rightly earnt his place, should definitely play the series. He's only 3 wickets behind Johnson this year from the same amount of matches.

 

[hendrix]

From an Indian point of view

• The top five should stay. They're problem-ridden, but great raw material for a strong top five. Replacing one of them with available reserves is as much as taking a step down.
• Vijay's first 12 Tests as replacement opener were poor. His next 12 Tests (till this one) have been good. He's now cemented his place. Surely the others deserve as many consecutive chances.
• You're stuck with Dhoni, so make the most of him. If he wishes to make the most of himself, of course.
• That Binny is a passenger is well known. He should, however, be replaced with a bowler, not a batsman- this three-man bowling attack won't take 20 wickets consistently, over a five-match series like this.
• Either Jadeja does the Moeen for India, or Ashwin takes his place.
• Let's not jump for joy over Ishant's magic seven. He's still struggling to take plenty of wickets for little, in little time. I'm not sure he should play all five Tests here, let alone beyond- bad game, drop him.
• Shami struggling is disappointing news. Can't afford it.
• Maybe you can bench him and play the two Ranji performers Pankaj and Pandey. One should play in place of Binny, the other, maybe Shami.

It's simple.

Replace Binny with Ashwin.

 

[91Jmay]

Yes, I'm really not sure what 91Jmay's point is. Moeen has done fine with bat and ball. So his runs and Wickets have meant something in Div2.

My point was that just because bowlers dominate in D2 doesn't mean anything about the stocks of county cricket, as D1 is so much stronger. D2 regular wicket takers are people like Ryder/Ali. Good 5th choices in a test match but not much more.

As much as I absolutely love Jeets as an overseas pro, as good as anyone, as a bowler he isn't one of the best in CC. He isn't nearly asked to be a strike bowler in our attack, more containment and pick up wickets on turners which he does very well.

 

[ankitj]

From an Indian point of view

• The top five should stay. They're problem-ridden, but great raw material for a strong top five. Replacing one of them with available reserves is as much as taking a step down.
• Vijay's first 12 Tests as replacement opener were poor. His next 12 Tests (till this one) have been good. He's now cemented his place. Surely the others deserve as many consecutive chances.
• You're stuck with Dhoni, so make the most of him. If he wishes to make the most of himself, of course.
• That Binny is a passenger is well known. He should, however, be replaced with a bowler, not a batsman- this three-man bowling attack won't take 20 wickets consistently, over a five-match series like this.
• Either Jadeja does the Moeen for India, or Ashwin takes his place.
• Let's not jump for joy over Ishant's magic seven. He's still struggling to take plenty of wickets for little, in little time. I'm not sure he should play all five Tests here, let alone beyond- bad game, drop him.
• Shami struggling is disappointing news. Can't afford it.
• Maybe you can bench him and play the two Ranji performers Pankaj and Pandey. One should play in place of Binny, the other, maybe Shami.

I might consider replacing Dhawan with Gambhir. Only because latter has lot of experience and has done well in difficult conditions too.

 

[eroticfishcake]

the pokemon surely wouldn't do much better

 

[Sean Flynn]

Adam Lyth is certainly pushing his case to replace our currently out of sorts opener.

 

[Dan]

What's the deal with James Harris?

Prodigiously talented and still possesses a decent FC record, but never seems to actually do anything. Now he's been loaned back to Glamorgan so Middlesex can play some no-name pacer in his place. Should have been pushing for a Test spot by now, tbh.

 

[cnerd123]

For India I'd give Shami a game off an play Pankaj. And Ashwin for Binny.

Shami may break if we give him a third test in a row - he's isn't a bowl-within-yourself guy like Kumar and lacks the experience of an intense schedule like Ishant, and anyways he hasn't been that great so far. Either Pankaj or Pandey should do alright.

And Ashwin for Binny a no brainer. Should jet just as many runs from him and then we get the second spinner that MSD seems to want; no more having to see Vijay and Dhawan bowl.

 

[karan316]

Binny didn't get a fair chance in the last game tbh. Was unlucky to be given out in the first innings, then he bowled one crap over which led to MSD ignoring him for the whole match. His shot selection was poor in the second innings, but thats his only error in the whole match.

Whether he deserved to be in the team or not, if he is selected for a particular role, you cannot ignore him till such an extent that you make guys like Vijay and Dhawan bowl and ignore Binny completely. Dhoni just stopped using him after that one over in which he went for three 4s. Nor was he willing to stand up to him while keeping.

M sure Binny's selection was more of a collective decision, not MSD's. He wasn't backing him at all. And I would still say it again, he isn't a bad bowler, Binny can pick a couple of wickets and bowl as a 4th seamer, if he would have got a couple of long spells or maybe when the ball was a bit new, things could have been a lot different.

 

[cnerd123]

I agree it isn't Binny's fault in the slightest...but if Dhoni isn't going to use him then why keep him in the XI?

Clearly Dhoni values a second spinner more than a 4th seamer - so might as well play Ashwin.

 

[harsh.ag]

Only Dhoni could get away with what he did to Binny.

 

[Senile Sentry]

It was, I think, your reference to Broad as 'androgynous'. And the Spiders from Mars being fronted by the even more androgynous David Bowie.

Oh okay. I am not a native English guy so I have little idea about the celebrities there, this assuming he is english. CBA to google :

 

[Senile Sentry]

I'd want to wait till the day of the match to determine whether it should be Binny or Ashwin. Of course this with the assumption that nobody in their sane mind would change a winning squad. If it is anything like Lords, I think Binny could be given one more go. Without his performance with the bat at TB, it could've been 1-1. But he was just a traveller at Lords, with nothing whatsoever with the bat or the ball, although then, the same could be said of Kohli as well.

The problem with Ashwin is that, his mere presence in the team would make Dhoni go hyperdefensive and start bowling a ****load of overs regardless of the situation between him and Jadeja. At Lords, Dhoni's hands were to a bit forced due to paucity of bowling options.

It's a welcome selection headache for India at the moment.

 

[ImpatientLime]

What's the deal with James Harris?

Prodigiously talented and still possesses a decent FC record, but never seems to actually do anything. Now he's been loaned back to Glamorgan so Middlesex can play some no-name pacer in his place. Should have been pushing for a Test spot by now, tbh.

Suffered injury problems last season and appeared down on pace and fairly toothless for most of this season.

 

[G.I.Joe]

I'd want to wait till the day of the match to determine whether it should be Binny or Ashwin. Of course this with the assumption that nobody in their sane mind would change a winning squad. If it is anything like Lords, I think Binny could be given one more go. Without his performance with the bat at TB, it could've been 1-1. But he was just a traveller at Lords, with nothing whatsoever with the bat or the ball, although then, the same could be said of Kohli as well.

The problem with Ashwin is that, his mere presence in the team would make Dhoni go hyperdefensive and start bowling a ****load of overs regardless of the situation between him and Jadeja. At Lords, Dhoni's hands were to a bit forced due to paucity of bowling options.

It's a welcome selection headache for India at the moment.

Nice try, Binny's mum.

 

[Shri]

Binny didn't get a fair chance in the last game tbh. Was unlucky to be given out in the first innings, then he bowled one crap over which led to MSD ignoring him for the whole match. His shot selection was poor in the second innings, but thats his only error in the whole match.

Whether he deserved to be in the team or not, if he is selected for a particular role, you cannot ignore him till such an extent that you make guys like Vijay and Dhawan bowl and ignore Binny completely. Dhoni just stopped using him after that one over in which he went for three 4s. Nor was he willing to stand up to him while keeping.

M sure Binny's selection was more of a collective decision, not MSD's. He wasn't backing him at all. And I would still say it again, he isn't a bad bowler, Binny can pick a couple of wickets and bowl as a 4th seamer, if he would have got a couple of long spells or maybe when the ball was a bit new, things could have been a lot different.

**** that daddy's little girl.

 

[91Jmay]

FMD Stuart Binny is not a 4th seamer. I thought he looked ok as a bat, organised and capable of attacking most bowlers but as a bowler he is Jonathan Trott level.

 

[theegyptian]

Hope Buttler playing doesn't ruin him. There will be mistakes with his keeping and his batting is far from brilliant in first class cricket. Needs to go out there and just whack it imo. Too uncertain just outside the offstump playing away from his body to bat as a proper bat so hopefully he will play with freedom. Unfortunately he generally does try and bat like a bat in fc cricket.

Real shame that Kieswetter or Davies haven't kicked on as imo they should have been the next keeper off the block at this time. Kieswetter clearly has a serious injury but he also hadn't quite nailed down the consistency with the bat or the gloves that his talent or his earlier career mught of suggested he could have. Davies has struggled for a couple of years with depression etc and him giving up the wicketkeeping for surrey earlier in the season (when it was clear there was an opening for a england keeper) was a clear admission that he didn't think he was up to pressure of international cricket. Real shame because both Davies and Kieswetter imo both had the capability and quality to be extremely good international cricketers. Davies such a beautiful shotmaker and Kieswetter such a powerful and athletic performer.

Maybe their chances will come again but they've both missed a massive opportunity at this time because Buttler isn't necessarily ready and I don't think the selectors particularly wanted to select him.

 

[91Jmay]

Davies lacked the mental part of his game (not talking about depression at all, purely 'on the field' mental part) to kick on and make big runs consistently for me. Lots of pretty 30 or 40s then gets out.

Good list A player though and was unlucky to be dropped.