Indian Cricket Dhaba

[the big bambino]

HB's ideal best XIs look pretty good with the necessary replacements getting opportunities while resting the established stars from meaningless series.

I saw one post in another thread saying Bumrah has another 4-5 years but I think the management of his career will have to be strict. He's India's golden asset and I guess you'll just have to concede he must be available for IPL. But for India he should be inked in for the LOI WC, BGT and Eng series as a certainty. Every other series should be viewed as an opportunity to rest him. I know that sounds patronising but the above series are the money spinners commanding the highest profile. There has to be concessions to get the best out of him while extending his career. This means he can't be captain. Long term they should be looking at Jaiswal. They should also do everything to get Jurel in the side.

I'm not sure Shami is tall. Google says he is around 1.78m. Not that it matters as its the style and experience he brings that is a loss for India when he's injured. More importantly he's 34 and I wonder what India fans think of his future and how best to use him? For mine I'll say its best for India to play Akash Deep, Prasidh or Rana (in that order) as 3rd seamer. I can't see him being fit for test cricket and perhaps its best to have him concentrate on white ball from now on.

There seems to be enough batting options for Kohli and Rohit but I think both will play in England. However the decision has been taken on Rohit and I don't think the selectors will give him much leeway in England. If he tours he risks embarrassing himself. Kohli looks like he's aiming up for a home series retirement but will there be patience for that if he fails badly in England? For the time being Rohit stays captain.

 

[centurymaker]

I think Champions trophy performance of Rohit & India -will have a big say in whether or not he continues in test cricket, as strange as it sounds.

If Rohit looks crap in ODI cricket and India fails miserably, he will be moved on. On the flip side, if India do well and possibly win CT, there is no power that can stop Rohit from playing the England series as captain. Gambhir is in similar boat. He too will be sacked if India bow out in the group stage.

Thats because Ravi Shastri himself was sacked after India's first round exit in the 2021 T20 WC, despite winning back to back test series in Australia, and leading 2-1 after 4 tests in England, not to mention beating England 3-1 at home. All of this happened in 2021 prior to the first round exit in T20 World Cup, yet he was sacked. So this is the culture in subcontinent. Limited overs performances drive test selections.

 

[centurymaker]

This is why subcontinent teams need different coaches and captains in red ball and white ball cricket.

 

[Niall]

Since Bazball, the pitches in England have flattened. Their attacking approach otherwise wouldn't be so successful (if the ball was zipping around). So the pitches will help Indian batting. However the bowling could really struggle as Bazballers will keep going after them all day. I think Arshdeep is a must there as he has limited over's experience and can swing the ball and is a left armer. Need bowlers who can respond well when under attack. I think limited overs experience will come in handy against bazball.

I doubt Kohli will be dropped. UK is his home so he will play. I expect pretty much the same top 7 to feature against England unless someone does brilliantly in the India A v England A games right before the series.

Rahul
Jaiswal
Gill (most likely)
Kohli
Pant
Reddy / Jurel
Jadeja

I personally think Reddy is not good enough to play in top 6. Neither is current version of Jadeja. So I would ideally like a proper batsman to play at 6 and only one of Jadeja and Reddy in the side followed by 4 specialist bowlers.

Yeah I agree with a lot of this.

The one concern is , India don't have any pacers who can bat to a level like Bhuvi or even Thakur, all of those mentioned are rabbits which complicates things, so I could see them going with an all rounder at 8 like Sundar which just won't work because yeah they might score 15-20 runs but if they are a bowling passenger then a waste of time sadly.

Reddy's bowling also could get murdered in England, its just to docile for the bullies not to go wild IMO.

 

[centurymaker]

Thakur may still get a recall if he does well in Ranji later this month and Feb..

Harshit Rana could work on his batting next few months and seal that no.8 spot. He has the potential at least.

 

[nightprowler10]

Test Cricket -

Bumrah - full time captain
Pant - full time vice captain

Openers - Jaiswal, Easwaran, Rahul.

Middle Order Batters - Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan, Gaekwad, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Devdutt Padikkal, Tilak Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Keepers - Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel

Fast Bowlers - Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Yash Dayal

Spinners - Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav

Now, obviously the first thing that jumps out is that all of our spinners bar Kuldeep are basically allrounders. But in SENA conditions especially now that Ashwin has retired, we will need Kuldeep to be a factor. This just means when we go to England we have to try to bat a 5-9 of Pant, NKR, Jaddu/Washy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav.

This means the selectors have to plan ahead, get these guys enough bowling to get used to test match workloads and maybe even find county deals for most of them, even Pant if possible. The IPL ends in May. The England tests start in July. The 100 usually happens in August if I am not wrong. This gives us the county games in June and July to get this lot prepared. If Bumrah is not fit, Siraj, Arshdeep and Harshit should be our main seam attack with NKR for support. Kuldeep as our main spinner with Jaddu/Washy for support. This just leaves the top 4 to sort itself out. I still think Gill can go well as he showed he can learn and adapt in that England series at home. But again, it has to be a form and evidence based call if he is selected. Personally, I would go -

Jaiswal
Rahul
Sudarshan
Gill/Gaekwad
Pant (wk) (c)
NKR
Washy
Harshit
Kuldeep
Arshdeep
Akash

as our bowling attack. Siraj tried hard here but its obvious he is not leadership material with the ball. Prasidh has attributes but also bowls too many 4 balls and his height may not be a point of difference on the softer wickets in England. Obviously if Bumrah is fit he plays ahead of Akash. Maybe Akash can still play ahead of Harshit if he is more impressive in those conditions.

Are you giving up on Sarfaraz or oversight?

 

[centurymaker]

Sarfraz needs to play for a county in England this season (he's not in the ipl anyway) and hone his skills against the moving ball. If he does so, he can be a starter. Otherwise he'll stay on the bench given his technical flaws.

 

[honestbharani]

Are you giving up on Sarfaraz or oversight?

Oversight.. Sarfraz is there as an MO option as well. Will edit.