Arjun said:
A few have already posted their selections of choice. Here are a few plans I would like to see.
- Any two out of the seven batsmen have to sit out.
- Maybe Irfan's got some of his old form back, but he should take the new ball, since he's better with it.
- For team's sake, don't open the bowling with Balaji!
- They can play both spinners as attacking bowlers, a strategy not used very often. Worth a try.
- They can try out a combination of Zaheer/Yadav/Balaji/Kumble/Harhajan, or Zaheer/Yadav/Nehra/Kumble/Harbhajan. If Irfan is in form, they can have him opening the bowling and Yadav coming in first-change.
- In case the Lankan Board reverts to the strange new rules: If they're batting first and their super-sub is a batsman, they don't need to play him if they have several wickets in hand and few overs left- just send in numbers eight and nine a position up to hit the all hard and score quickly.
- The team will badly miss a specialist opener.
*Sehwag, Laxman, Dravid, Yuvraj and Kaif are automatic selections, so Raina and Rao would sit out.
*Irfan with the new ball or not at all
*Balaji with the old ball or not at all
*Kumble and Harbhajan both included
*Forget about Yadav as an opening bowler as they didn't even try him in that role in any of the practice matches.
***With that, there are the 5 automatic batsmen plus Dhoni and Yadav and Zaheer and Kumble and Harbhajan. That leaves one spot, that of Zaheer's opening partner. Balaji and Yadav have been ruled out, leaving either Pathan or Nehra as candidates.
So, in effect, you're squad is as follows:
Sehwag, Laxman, Dravid, Yuvraj, Kaif, Dhoni, Yadav, Zaheer, Pathan/Nehra, Kumble, Harbhajan ... with 5 regular bowlers along with Yuvi and Sehwag
