***Official*** England in India

[Pratters]

V Sehwag, W Jaffer, R Dravid, S Tendulkar, Y Singh, VVS Laxman, M Kaif, MS Dhoni, I Pathan, Sreesanth, RP Singh, M Patel, A Kumble, H Singh, P Chawla

Perfect squad I'd say, Raina and VRV are both clear future prospects so it won't hurt them.

V Sehwag, W Jaffer, R Dravid, S Tendulkar, Y Singh, MS Dhoni, I Pathan, P Chawla, A Kumble, M Patel, Sreesanth

Batting till 10, 3-pronged pace attack, surprise weapon with talent in Chawla, put Sehwag in slips and that's one less old drab in the outfield.

Has this squad been announced or is it your squad? If its the official squad, M.Patel's selection makes you wonder why they couldn't have waited for the tour game to finish before announcing squad for 1st test.

So the selection committee keeps making itself look stupid.

 

[Jono]

I'd be delighted if he was dropped. I think that says more than statistics can.

I can only imagine the delight of the English camp too.

 

[adharcric]

I really think they plan to play Munaf Patel, otherwise why would they go through the troubles of bringing him out of Deodhar Trophy and sending back VR Singh after 1 bench-warming match. Pathan and Sreesanth also should be playing, so 5 bowlers is a genuine possibility. Then again, it's tough enough to leave out Kaif OR Laxman, leaving out both will be real tough. It might be the smoother path to go though, as everyone agrees about Yuvraj's place, it's Laxman and Kaif who are on the edge.

 

[Jono]

Has this squad been announced or is it your squad? If its the official squad, M.Patel's selection makes you wonder why they couldn't have waited for the tour game to finish before announcing squad for 1st test.

So the selection committee keeps making itself look stupid.

Its official, I posted it last night as well.

I agree in regards to the Patel issue, its not like VR Singh did anything to be 'dropped', its clearly Patel's form in that match which resulted in him being picked.

 

[adharcric]

Has this squad been announced or is it your squad? If its the official squad, M.Patel's selection makes you wonder why they couldn't have waited for the tour game to finish before announcing squad for 1st test.

So the selection committee keeps making itself look stupid.

Yeah they're really good at doing that.

 

[Sanz]

Yes, I would drop Kaif. The English selectors would drop Cook when Trescothick returned, right? One good innings shows that he has the ability, but there isn't space for him. India needs five bowlers and they need the spinners to fire. Perhaps this should be Harbhajan's final chance at Mohali, his home ground (sort of). If he can't turn the match here, it's time to send Harbhajan back to Deodhar/Duleep to regain form and bring Chawla into the ranks. Leave out both Kaif and Laxman.

If the English selectors drop Cook then they will be equally stupid, but I dont think they will. My guess is that Cook is going to stay and it is Strauss who is going to get dropped and when Vaughan returns it is Bell who will be dropped, Collingwood will stay.

Kaif played well against australia in whatever chances he was given, here also he really stepped up his performance and if not for his inning we would be 0-1.

 

[cricket_fan23]

England had 40% of their A bowling line up missing (apart from batsmen who were made up for), India had every one to chose from.

No they didn't.

 

[adharcric]

If the English selectors drop Cook then they will be equally stupid, but I dont think they will. My guess is that Cook is going to stay and it is Strauss who is going to get dropped and when Vaughan returns it is Bell who will be dropped, Collingwood will stay.

Kaif played well against australia in whatever chances he was given, here also he really stepped up his performance and if not for his inning we would be 0-1.

If we were playing 6 batsmen, Kaif might deserve to be included, but the team needs 5 bowlers. Yuvraj certainly comes ahead of Kaif and Laxman, and Tendulkar isn't going anywhere. Kaif will be unlucky to miss out, but team interests come first and we need a stronger bowling attack with Munaf Patel.

 

[steds]

No they didn't.

If you were referring to England, Giles + Jones = 2 bowlers. 2/5 = 40%

If you were talking about India, who was missing?

 

[Pratters]

No they didn't.

40% is 2 out of 5.

Giles and Jones were missing. India had one player missing in Yuvraj, yes.

 

[cricket_fan23]

Unfortunately that's never going to happen,as long as Jones makes a half decent score at least once every decade Fletcher thinks he's undispensable.

 

[cricket_fan23]

If you were referring to England, Giles + Jones = 2 bowlers. 2/5 = 40%

If you were talking about India, who was missing?

Yuvraj.

Just ever so slightly more significant than Giles I'd say.

 

[steds]

Yuvraj.

Just ever so slightly more significant than Giles I'd say.

When your cover for him is Kaif whilst our remaining options are Blackwell and Udal, I doubt it.

 

[kvemuri]

Kumble in front of Pathan? If I was the Indian selectors I would drop Sreesanth, H Singh and Laxman for V Singh, Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla respectively. England's performance of recent time against legbreak bowlers isn't to pretty and Chawla's googly is supposedly very good. Munaf Patel performed well against England and he can hold a bat, Sreesanth seems far to raw for me.

11
Jaffer
Sehwag
Dravid
Sachin
Singh
Kaif
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Patel
Chawla

Pretty strong team and if India but first, there will easily pile on 500 plus at Mohali.

I would rather India go with 3 seamers and 1 spinner (as VRV is no longer part of the Indian 15/16), I would replace Laxman and Harbhajan with Yuvi and Munaf.

My XI would be:

Jaffer
Sehwag
Dravid
Sachin
Yuvi
Kaif
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Munaf
Sreesanth

 

[marc71178]

Knowing that he is the oldest international player having made his debut in 1989 and India playing so many one dayers, you bring up this. What logic will you give to discount Steve Waugh then? 1984 or 1985 till 2003. And he did play a lot more tests and despite retiring from one dayers earlier, wouldn't a S.Waugh be a contradiction to your perceived logic since tests are 5 days.

And didn't Steve Waugh lose his ODI place a couple of years earlier?

As for 1984 till 2005, he had a rather large career break between his debut and becoming a regular.

You are dismissing age. Just because you have said the same earlier doesn't make it logical.

No, I am not dismissing age, just saying that it is not as relevant as length of time playing at the top level - something I have constantly mentioned, so how it is "dismissing" anything I don't see.

 

[adharcric]

I would rather India go with 3 seamers and 1 spinner (as VRV is no longer part of the Indian 15/16), I would replace Laxman and Harbhajan with Yuvi and Munaf.

My XI would be:

Jaffer
Sehwag
Dravid
Sachin
Yuvi
Kaif
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Munaf
Sreesanth

That would work too, provided the bowlers perform to their potential. If Mohali is a seaming track, the management can go in with 3-1. That way we can keep the 6 specialist batsmen.

 

[marc71178]

How about make it 3 bowlers and include all of Laxman, Sachin, Kaif and Yuvraj.

Nah, make it 2 bowlers and bring back Kambli as well!

Just make sure that the bowlers can hit big 6s because that's crucial when picking bowlers...

 

[adharcric]

Think about going in with 4 bowlers, Pathan, Munaf, Kumble and Chawla. You'd have Munaf batting at 11. Ridiculous. Not going to happen though.

 

[marc71178]

If the English selectors drop Cook then they will be equally stupid, but I dont think they will. My guess is that Cook is going to stay and it is Strauss who is going to get dropped and when Vaughan returns it is Bell who will be dropped, Collingwood will stay.

That'll all depend on what happens in the next 2 Tests though.

 

[marc71178]

well Chris Read just rescued England A with a ton in the caribbean, but he can't bat...

To be fair, Solanki also got a ton, so one must question the standard of bowling (Dave excepted of course)