***Official*** India in New Zealand 2020

[Athlai]

The Hork Bajir special was really fantastic too actually. The megamorph and "chronicles" books were some of the best IMO.

 

[TheBrand]

Kinda glad to see Chapman in the squad, would have preferred Phillips though.

 

[honestbharani]

I think they will get Gill and Shaw for both tests and ODIs. Mayank, having bagged a pair in the A test will be given the other A game to get some form in before the tests start.

 

[nzfan]

George Worker is very much out of contention then? He is among big runs currently. Interesting and a massive turn around for Chapman this year. He struggled to get into Aces team early this and was playing Auckland A. Timely runs vs India A and he's in. Good to see runs and wickets vs India A is being rewarded. He can't be batting at no.3 surely. Latham to come in at no.3 and Chapman at no.5? Likely lineup if Champman plays:

Guptill
Nicholls
Latham
Taylor
Chapman
Neesham
CDG
Santner/Ish
Southee
Jamieson/Kuggs
Bennett

Does the above line up inspire you?

Good to see Chapman selected but I thought Seifert, Phillips and Young were ahead of him. This one surprised me.

 

[honestbharani]

I think they will get Gill and Shaw for both tests and ODIs. Mayank, having bagged a pair in the A test will be given the other A game to get some form in before the tests start.

Spoke too soon. They have got Mayank for ODIs and Shaw for tests to replace Sharma. Guess its consistent given Mayank was even at the WC but I would have preferred Gill to play the ODIs.

 

[nzfan]

Also I don't quite understand why Ish Sodhi is selected for the 1st one dayer but not the last two. What if he plays and out bowls Santner?

 

[thierry henry]

Yeah I feel the same way about Seifert. I rate him to a point, he clearly has ability and a lot of shots in his arsenal, no better than that incredible lofted off drive off Chahal the other night.

But I can't remember a cricketer who has had more fortune in his brief career. He had it against Pakistan (?) in that 80 odd he scored early on, and this series he has rode an incredible amount of fortune to score the scores he did. I won't hold it too much against him in terms of the poor finishes, he's learning. But I certainly don't think he's a sure fire bet, the next McCullum (later version), the answer to our prayers etc. I actually rate Phillips higher but giving away the gloves is going to end up being to his detriment, in limited overs at least.

And yeah, Munro's only currency is runs. And he scored some in this series. He's still relevant in T20s, not so in other formats.

Definitely don't want to turn this into a Seifert bashathon as he has shown plenty. However, he has also shown himself to be pretty dicey in a number of areas in his game - hard to pin down where exactly as he has plenty of shots but also seems to have a lot of miss-hits and plays and misses and generally giving chances in his game. His "control percentage", since that's the thing now, seems to be kinda low.

Also just generally struggling to lay bat on ball when quick runs are needed, on multiple occasions, is a bit worrying. He seems to be a "fast scorer if they bowl where I want them to" type rather than a genuinely adaptable batsman, despite the range of shots he has.

Actually, I think it's fair to say that generally speaking we lack dependable "clean striking" right now, as much as I hate cricket being reduced to that. Not someone who is "dependable" in the sense of always making runs, but a guy you are confident is going to be smacking them for as long as he's there.

CDG would probably be the best we have (in fact his career S/R says he's one of the best ever) and he is being conspicuously not played in that role.

 

[honestbharani]

Also I don't quite understand why Ish Sodhi is selected for the 1st one dayer but not the last two. What if he plays and out bowls Santner?

I thought it was some kind of paternity situation during the last 2 ODIs for him?

 

[nzfan]

I thought it was some kind of paternity situation during the last 2 ODIs for him?

That can't be true, he's pulled up for second unofficial test vs India A.

Of late it's been some strange selection clauses such as selected for game 1 and 2 or game 3 and 4 blah blah... Just select a team already.

 

[honestbharani]

Maybe they wanna see if he can do well in the A test so that they can bring him into the test team. With the WC a good 3 years away, ODIs are obviously not THE priority right now.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

So Latham an opener bats 5 (admittedly he's done a good job there in ODIs batting with Taylor and milking spinners) while 2 no 5s (Nicholls and Chapman) will be opening and batting 3.

 

[Athlai]

Sodhi shouldn't be anywhere near the test team. 4th choice at very best

 

[_Ed_]

https://twitter.com/GuyHeveldt/status/1224532628788764675

 

[Athlai]

Jam ODIs tbf

 

[_Ed_]

Still, though.

 

[cnerd123]

JAMODIs they may be, but it's still against one of the best ODI sides in the world, and in front of the largest audiences (stadium and TV) that NZ will play in until the T20 WC. I think you should probably have your head coach there, especially with younger, more inexperienced players in the squad.

 

[jcas0167]

I don't understand how Williamson being out = Chapman in. Pick the guy that's a natural top order player (1-4), a guy that performed against the best there is over in Australia. I'm fine with him missing the squad to play NZA test, but if Williamson's out, this is a proper opportunity to introduce Young.

Thought you were talking about Phillips initially.

 

[ankitj]

Good to see Saini's inclusion in test squad. Can be good in long format although he is unlikely to get a chance soon.

 

[ankitj]

is saini viewed as a test prospect? i don't even try to keep up with all the t20 around so this is my first look. he looks good, another one on the production line of talented indian quicks.

How times have changed!

 

[nzfan]

Gary Stead taking a so called pre-planned break. Wonder if that is really true. Should grab some popcorn and check with the sources if that is really true. My guess he's probably not seeing eye to eye with the players or the selector. This is definitely a result of either dropping a senior player like Tim Southee in Aussie and now the latest couple of selections. Wheels are coming off of late.