Yet Another Meaningless Ind-Sri Lanka Series, 2012

[prasen9]

India will play 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is most probably against, you-guessed-it Sri Lanka in July. BCCI knows how to save on airfare. The series is completely meaningless. Nevertheless, we must do our duty and prepare well for the series. Hence, I could not resist creating a new post for this esteemed series. Oh, and IPL. I mean it is rather meaningless too. But, as the old saying goes, meaning is in the eyes of the thinker. Or something like that. We don't need to be mean to SL. Not at this age. Already we have been calling their residents "demons" for at least a couple of thousand years. This is the time to be a bit more PC. So, we can't keep doing that and expect their vote when it comes to ICC-board-meeting-time. Polite.

May be Manoj Tiwary the perennial backup-man may lose his plum post of backing up. Like a typical Bengali, he does not work but gets paid. That is does not play in the XI but gets paid full fare. He may have down-ipl-ed himself. Yes, I created that meaningless word. Jinky Ra''ne may have up-ipl-ed himself. I would Ignore Pajama League performances and choose: SRT, GG, VS, MSD, VK, SKR, RAJ backed up by RGS. Quite an alphabet soup. I don't like Bangalis who don't work and get paid. Moral of the story. Nor do I like junkies. But if the old guy does not get to the emerald isle due to arthritis or dementia or something like that, then Manoj bhai can get some more frequent flyer miles.

[jayakris]

I like the thread title. YAMISS - Yet Another Meaningless India Srilanka Series.

Ya, I'll give it a miss.

Jay

[ankit1407]

yet another class 6A vs 6B match...

[suresh]

India should rest many of its regulars and give the second-rung a chance to perform. With the T20 world cup starting in mid-September, it makes sense to rest players who have been playing non-stop for a while now.

[PKBasu]

Actually, this isn't such a bad idea -- for a change. India is giving itself a bit of extra practice in the conditions the team will encounter in the T20 world championship in Sept-Oct. I plan to visit Sri Lanka (for the very first time! have been to most of the world, but not to our neigbouring countries of SL, Pak and B'desh!) for the T20 worlds this year!

[jaydeep]

As expected Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan returned to the Indian squad ... Manoj Tiwary, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda and Rahul Sharma included (or retained) but Irfan and Yusuf Pathan failed to retain their places ... Praveen Kumar replaced with Umesh Yadav ... Sachin Tendulkar opted out of the five-match ODI series.

Indian team - Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt), Virat Kohli (Vice-Capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Zaheer Khan, R Vinay Kumar, R Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Manoj Tiwary, Umesh Yadav, Rahul Sharma, Pragyan Ojha

[PKBasu]

No place for Pujara? OK, they are keeping him back for tests, but surely he is good enough to play ODIs too! Dropping Irfan is disgusting!!!

[PKBasu]

It really angers me to see Irfan dropped again. He has done nothing wrong since his recall, and his IPL form too was good (until an injury late in the IPL) -- so even that cannot be cited as a basis for dropping him.

More importantly, his absence means the team is extremely unbalanced. There will be 4 or 5 bowlers in the XI, none of whom can bat (Zaheer, Umesh Yadav, Dinda/Vinay, Rahul Sharma/Ojha), and I suppose Ashwin is considered the allrounder. So the XI for the first game would be Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Tiwary (who I would definitely pick ahead of Rohit, as Manoj did better on the India A tour that both went on), Raina (actually I would pick Rohit ahead of Raina, who should no longer be playing for India, especially as Rohit is probably the better bowler), Dhoni, Ashwin, Ojha, Zaheer, Yadav, Dinda/Ojha.

[prasen9]

I think they are planning to use Rohit and Raina along with Sehwag as the fifth bowler. So, Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Raina, Rohit, Dhoni, Tiwary, Rahul, Zaheer and two bowlers. I would have chosen Irfan and Munaf, both of whom are out. So, it is Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav who will be the other two. Why Vinay is preferred to Irfan makes no sense. I preferred Rahul to Ashwin because he spins the ball the other way. Even though Ashwin is not a conventional off-spinner, his balls mostly spin in or stay straight to a right-hander. I suppose they will prefer Ashwin to Rahul. Dropping Jadeja is a bad idea. He needs to be given the experience to mature into an all-rounder. Pick the most talented guy and stick to it especially given that he has performed decently and there is no better alternative young guy.

[krishnakumar]

That was a meaningless series. Both team are not fitted due to the schedule.

[ankit1407]

It really angers me to see Irfan dropped again. He has done nothing wrong since his recall, and his IPL form too was good (until an injury late in the IPL) -- so even that cannot be cited as a basis for dropping him.

Baroda all-rounder Irfan Pathan [ Images ] will replace Karnataka [ Images ] fast bowler R Vinay Kumar in India's squad for the tour of Sri Lanka

Lets see how he goes, Hopefully he still remembers we need him in the team as a bowling all rounder and not a batting allrounder..

[prasen9]

Has he really done much worse than Vinay Kumar, etc.?

[ankit1407]

I guess No...you really have to be very bad to be worse than Vinay Kumar I guess for whom Mr Dhoni for some reason has soft corner always...

But my point is he has not done as great as some mentioned earlier, I dont know stats as have not tracked it but looking at him bowl after such a gap I did not really feel anything to be happy about... Either way we are a land of crap bowlers so play anyone it does not matter...they all are just making up numbers

[prasen9]

True, Ankit. But, at least with him, we get some batting prowess. Anyway, I hope they play Zaheer, Irfan, and Umesh are the bowlers. I don't think Dinda has done much to be ahead of Irfan.

[PKBasu]

Yes, it should be Umesh and Dinda competing for the third seamer's spot, with Zaheer a certainty and Irfan adding the allrounder's role. I suspect we'll play Ashwin as an allrounder too.