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

[honestbharani]

You gotta back your strengths, unless the opponent has like a MASSIVE weakness. Same reason why I think India should (and probably would) play this XI:


Mayank
Vihari
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Jadeja
Ashwin
Ishant
Shami
Bumrah

 

[ankitj]

6 batsmen + 4 bowlers strictly afaiac

 

[honestbharani]

nah 4 bowlers on a batting paradise is the very definition of defensive thinking that will lead to stuff like BMac's 302 last time. Don't see Kohli being THAT defensive.

 

[ankitj]

Interesting because accommodating 5 bowlers with some supposed "all-rounders" sounds defensive to me.

 

[Flem274*]

Any thoughts on what sort of pitches would suit NZ more against this Indian outfit? More to the point, I'm not sure that the slow decks and attritional cricket we saw in the England series would be a great idea against this opposition. Better bowlers with the old ball than England's and may also bring Jadeja/Ashwin into play which NZ have never been that comfortable with. Also, the likes of Pujara would be perfectly fine with that sort of a surface. The other school of thought seems to be just give their bowlers nothing to work with and force their batsmen into impatience which NZ's attack is capable of.

just fair pitches with good bounce to ensure the indian batsmen who don't enjoy it above hip height are challenged.

those decks will help bumrah as well but so be it, these are two good sides. just ensure it doesn't turn a millimetre and let them play.

 

[honestbharani]

Interesting because accommodating 5 bowlers with some supposed "all-rounders" sounds defensive to me.

not when the 5 are genuine match winning bowlers.

 

[OverratedSanity]

6 batsmen + 4 bowlers strictly afaiac

Ishant coming back from an injury is the only thing that makes me even a little hesitant on this.

 

[honestbharani]

Bumrah is returning from an injury too, FFS.

 

[OverratedSanity]

No he's not. He's played two full limited overs series.

 

[honestbharani]

But this will be his first long format game which poses different questions of your body. AFAIC, this is his comeback too. So all the more reason to go with 5 bowlers.

 

[Moss]

Both teams need five bowlers for sure, though Jadeja-Saha-Ashwin at 6-7-8 would be pretty ballsy from India (I suppose Pant will get the nod though).

Boult is returning from injury as well, and his fitness levels could well be crucial to how the series pans out. He's been played before when not fully fit and generally not made an impact. I'm quietly hoping de Grandhomme has a good series, folks in India (well, the circles I talk cricket with anyway) don't seem to rate him at all especially with the ball.

 

[Moss]

But this will be his first long format game which poses different questions of your body. AFAIC, this is his comeback too. So all the more reason to go with 5 bowlers.

He came through the warm-up game pretty well I thought?

 

[vcs]

You gotta back your strengths, unless the opponent has like a MASSIVE weakness. Same reason why I think India should (and probably would) play this XI:


Mayank
Vihari
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Jadeja
Ashwin
Ishant
Shami
Bumrah

Playing two spinners on NZ tracks doesn't sound like a good idea at all. Spinners hardly come into the game over there even on day 5, it's mostly just Wagner banging it in short till batsmen capitulate. Umesh over Ashwin in case they go with 5 bowlers.

 

[ankitj]

I'd always have Ashwin as the premier spinner in all conditions.

 

[harsh.ag]

Vihari should be at 6. He's done well there. He's more important than Rahane right now for this line-up (cue Rahane getting some runs).

 

[ankitj]

Yeah, Vihari missing out on scoring opportunity in India was quite unfair to him after his performance in West Indies.

 

[honestbharani]

Both teams need five bowlers for sure, though Jadeja-Saha-Ashwin at 6-7-8 would be pretty ballsy from India (I suppose Pant will get the nod though).

Boult is returning from injury as well, and his fitness levels could well be crucial to how the series pans out. He's been played before when not fully fit and generally not made an impact. I'm quietly hoping de Grandhomme has a good series, folks in India (well, the circles I talk cricket with anyway) don't seem to rate him at all especially with the ball.

Yeah CDG is usually under rated coz of his not so great IPL performances. Like it or not, that is how most of India judges a player.

He came through the warm-up game pretty well I thought?

Yeah so far so good but juz worried about him backing it up over 5 days twice.

Playing two spinners on NZ tracks doesn't sound like a good idea at all. Spinners hardly come into the game over there even on day 5, it's mostly just Wagner banging it in short till batsmen capitulate. Umesh over Ashwin in case they go with 5 bowlers.

Nah.. playing Jadeja as the lone spinner is a worse idea than playing with 2 spinners in NZ, ALWAYS.

I'd always have Ashwin as the premier spinner in all conditions.

Yeah but I would back Jadeja as the allrounder too.

Vihari should be at 6. He's done well there. He's more important than Rahane right now for this line-up (cue Rahane getting some runs).

Vihari can open.

 

[harsh.ag]

Anyone "can" open. I get that that's want you want, but there is no point in repeating it again and again when someone disagrees. My position is India are more vulnerable in batting more than bowling and 6 batsmen are required and Vihari should bat at 6 since he's done well there.

If Ishant is the bottleneck to that plan, then Umesh should play.

 

[Daemon]

I feel like the probability of someone breaking down and NZ racking up 650 is lower than losing the toss and being 3 down for sfa without enough batting to drag us to a competitive total.

But Ishant’s fitness worries me. Not because he might break down again, but he might lose a bit of effectiveness coming into a game cold, and in a 4.3 man attack Ishant needs to be able to bowl long spells.

Either way works for me, but as harsh as it sounds I prefer dropping Vihari for Shaw if we go the 5 bowler route. Vihari is not an opener.

 

[Prince EWS]

I reckon Vihari could make a decent opener tbh. As far as punts on middle order bats as openers go I think he has a reasonable chance of making it work. I don't think he's better than Shaw overall by enough to make it worth the punt though.