***Official*** India in Sri Lanka

[Cricket_God]

First of all, it is a big mistake to consider this tour as anything other than nets as far as preparation for NZ tour is concerned. There is absolutely nothing in common, the conditions, pitches, bowlers, etc.

Secondly, I never said it is a mistake to go with that team you said. I would not select that team if I really wanted India to win, than to experiment. But then, this series is already won, so not much wrong in experimenting.

yes in nz the pitches are flatter,grounds are smaller. in odis

 

[Athlai]

yes in nz the pitches are flatter,grounds are smaller. in odis

Ah Napier and Hamilton adhere to that. Auckland too probably.

Otherwise not so much.

 

[Uppercut]

I think Mahela is quite a good test captain but he's ODI captaincy is to complacent.

I don't think Dhoni is one of the better captains going around - he is quite middle of the road really but has the devils luck. Most captains going around at the moment are nothing special though. But Smith is my flavor of the month.

Give me lucky captains over good captains every time

 

[jainy25]

Gautam Gambhir
Sachin Tendulkar
Suresh Raina
Rohit Sharma
MS Dhoni
Yusuf Pathan
Irfan Pathan
Ravindra Jadeja
Praveen Kumar
Pragyan Ojha
Laxmipathy Balaji

Irfan and Laxmi will open the bowling and PK will come as the first change. Jadeja and Ojha should bowl their full quotas as well. Yusuf should be tried only when one of those 2 get hammered!

What will be the use of Praveen Kumar if he comes as the first change ? He should be given the new bowl along with Pathan as both of them are swing bowlers (Pathan might have lost it, but he hasn't lost it all. He can still swing the bowl).

 

[Arjun]

Rather than over-experiment with the bench, Dhoni can experiment with the playing XI itself instead. He can, for instance, try to finish off all 40 overs of the frontline bowlers by the 40th innings over itself. The opening bowlers can try to vary their pace and get it to skid while bowling to Dilshan, who's trying to slog everything out of the Premadasa stadium, time and again. The pitch isn't very seamer-friendly, so the seamers can try to get some practice, to adapt to these pitches as frontline strike bowlers, and not just extras. There is talk of getting in Ravindra Jadeja for his debut ODI, but Dhoni can instead experiment by giving ten overs to Yusuf Pathan, with three fielders in catching positions, and also bat Praveen Kumar higher up. These two have to be in all-round form on the build-up to the New Zealand tour, for the Indians to stand a chance of steamrolling the Kiwis. Irfan should also get two full matches as a leading swing bowler; he too is relevant for the New Zealand series. Sachin can get some well-deserved rest from umpiring blunders, so that Rohit Sharma gets another look-in. Interestingly, there are not too many reserve batsmen in this squad, while Pragyan can rest and finish this series with an average in the 20s.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Yeah, you make a very good point about Yusuf Pathan being given 10 overs. He's seldom been given a full quota in a match.

 

[Sanz]

Rather than over-experiment with the bench, Dhoni can experiment with the playing XI itself instead. He can, for instance, try to finish off all 40 overs of the frontline bowlers by the 40th innings over itself. The opening bowlers can try to vary their pace and get it to skid while bowling to Dilshan, who's trying to slog everything out of the Premadasa stadium, time and again. The pitch isn't very seamer-friendly, so the seamers can try to get some practice, to adapt to these pitches as frontline strike bowlers, and not just extras. There is talk of getting in Ravindra Jadeja for his debut ODI, but Dhoni can instead experiment by giving ten overs to Yusuf Pathan, with three fielders in catching positions, and also bat Praveen Kumar higher up. These two have to be in all-round form on the build-up to the New Zealand tour, for the Indians to stand a chance of steamrolling the Kiwis. Irfan should also get two full matches as a leading swing bowler; he too is relevant for the New Zealand series. Sachin can get some well-deserved rest from umpiring blunders, so that Rohit Sharma gets another look-in. Interestingly, there are not too many reserve batsmen in this squad, while Pragyan can rest and finish this series with an average in the 20s.

Or Maybe he should just experiment with captaincy and give you a call.

 

[Precambrian]

Cricinfo - Sachin helped me decode Mendis - Yuvraj

Interesting. In fact, immediately on reaching his 100, Yuvraj pointed the bat in Tendulkar;s direction as if dedicating to him, and Tendulkar was all laughing. WAG.

 

[Evermind]

Gautam Gambhir
Sachin Tendulkar
Suresh Raina
Rohit Sharma
MS Dhoni
Yusuf Pathan
Irfan Pathan
Ravindra Jadeja
Praveen Kumar
Pragyan Ojha
Laxmipathy Balaji

Irfan and Laxmi will open the bowling and PK will come as the first change. Jadeja and Ojha should bowl their full quotas as well. Yusuf should be tried only when one of those 2 get hammered!

Agreed with this lineup, but I think Tendulkar should be rested in every dead rubber. He's a little too valuable in the NZ test series to risk injury/burnout.

 

[Precambrian]

India wins toss and bats first.

Tendulkar and Zaheer rested, in comes Rohit and Pathan

Mendis rested, and Angelo comes in.

Bit of surprise resting Tendulkar.

 

[honestbharani]

India wins toss and bats first.

Tendulkar and Zaheer rested, in comes Rohit and Pathan

Mendis rested, and Angelo comes in.

Bit of surprise resting Tendulkar.

not really though.. He has spoken about how it takes longer for his body to recover between games at this stage.. so I guess they decided to rest the senior batsman and bowler for this game...


Expect Bala and R Jadeja to get a game next time too...

 

[Athlai]

Matthews!!!!!!

 

[Evermind]

How dire is Fernando?

 

[social]

How dire is Fernando?

Apart from developing a slower ball, he hasnt improved since debut and has completely wasted any talent he has with the bat (believe it or not, when he first came on the scene, it looked like he good develop into a high quality all-rounder

The fact that he still has a chronic no-ball problem after all these years also says to me that his discipline sucks

 

[biased indian]

india costing here hope i don't jinx them

 

[Uppercut]

Piled onto India at 8/15 the second they won the toss. The toss-wins-match effect of Colombo day-nighters, coupled with the fact that India are a better, more in-form team that Sri Lanka, made this a bit of a foregone conclusion from then on.

Of course, I've totally jinxed it now.

 

[adharcric]

Seriously, what the **** are Dhoni and Kirsten thinking? First, you leave out Balaji and Jadeja with a perfect opportunity to test bench strength. Next, Dhoni comes at one-down and as if that wasn't enough, Yuvraj comes next. Honestly, what's the point of playing Raina and Sharma if you're not going to give them a chance in a dead rubber?

EDIT: Yuvraj gone.

 

[Uppercut]

What a ball from Kulasekara.

 

[adharcric]

Yusuf gone too. Did I jinx them?

 

[Arjun]

This Indian top six is more or less settled. You have had Sehwag and Yuvraj scoring centuries last time, now Gambhir gets a century while Dhoni missed his by a bit, Raina gets chunks in each match and you already have Tendulkar, with Sharma doing a good job as a reserve. You have so many runs being scored in singles, twos and threes, and the running between wickets is stuff you'll find in a top team. Their good form is a huge positive to take out of this series, and the Indians should stick to this combination and keep improving where they need to, such as the late order and stock bowlers. A top six of Sehwag, Gambhir, Sachin, Dhoni, Yuvraj and Raina looks world class.