India in England, 2018

[Sin Hombre]

This ODI series was great for us as an eye-opener. We are terrible which has been masked by Kohli's individual brilliance and the odd match winning effort from Dhawan and Rohit.

If I look at our ODI team, we have
Dhawan
Rohit
Kohli
???1
???2
???3
???4
???5
Kuldeep
???6
Bumrah

6 question marks going into a WC year is disastrous team management.

#6 should have been Shami but he has gone off the rails with fitness and personal issues, and we desperately need to get him back to form. Bhuvi is a bowler I like but he is not a wicket taker in ODIs; good in T20s and in tests but not ODIs.

#5 is a big question mark as the second spinner. Honestly, this late in the cycle, I would bring back Jadeja. He can tonk some balls, is our best fielder, and is very economical in the middle overs.

#3 cannot be Dhoni but he will not retire so is kind of moot. I even prefer 33-year Karthik over him but Dhoni is yet another Indian great who will stay until he is finally thrown out.

#4 is Hardik by default. I just don't see what he brings to the ODI team, and again like Bhuvi, there is value to persevere with him in T20s and tests. I would rather play his brother Krunal and hope he can pull off a Yuvi/Raina from the 2006-11 period.

That leaves #1 and #2 ; the smart money would be to give an extended run to KL Rahul but Kohli/Shastri clearly don't like him. In that scenario, we should just start blooding in the likes of Shubman, Shaw, Vihari. All of them, and Mayank Agarwal, had excellent India A tours in the 50 overs triangular in England.

Shreyas Iyer on the other hand scored 95 runs in 5 completed innings at a S/R of 80.

[prasen9]

Agree mostly. But, I do not think we should look at a sample size of 5 to make decisions.

Now, Bhuvi is out for three tests. So, we have Ishant, Umesh, and Shami as the seamers. All of them are somewhat experienced. So, now is their time to show that they can take wickets and be match winners.

Is Pant's keeping any better now? I wouldn't mind him being the ODI keeper but of course, Dhoni will not be chucked out before the WC. But, for tests, we need a better keeper. Let us see if Karthik has improved too.

Do we not have a solid keeper who can bat reasonably?

This team is not old, but it is not green either. And, it is five matches at the end of the summer. If Kohli can keep the team spirit up and the batsmen can put up some scores, we can produce a creditable performance.

[prasen9]

Here are the age brackets:

Old: Vijay (34), Karthik (33), Dhawan (32), Ashwin (31), Umesh, Pujara (30)
Young: Pant (20), Kuldeep (23), Bumrah, Hardik (24), Rahul, Nair (26)

So, except for Pant and maybe Kuldeep, not very many very young players! Hopefully, they win a few matches this time.

Vijay will possibly decline in 1-2 years if he has not started declining yet. We would have done well to have a Shaw in the backups as we did with Pant for Karthik. At least, he is getting exposure in the A-team tour.

[PKBasu]

I'm disappointed -- and actually quite shocked -- that Prithwi Shaw hasn't been picked, despite his stupendous form for India A on the tour to England. He should be asked to stay in England -- and hopefully some county side will pick him before he takes the flight back. Alternatively, he should consider playing club cricket in England.

It's good to see Rishabh Pant come in. He should be drafted into the ODI side as soon as possible too. Dhoni's 'keeping remains terrific, but his batting has clearly faded.

[prasen9]

Dhawan clearly does not have the technique for England and Australia. He is 32 and has not learnt yet. There may be hope that Nair and Iyer will fix things and battle it out. There is very little chance that Dhawan will figure things out --- unless the weather is pretty hot and dry. Is it going to be cloudly or will the ball not swing?

[ssp]

A few days ago, the English press were stating that the summer is going to be tough for the home team. Don't know why they looked at the T20s and 1st ODI and came to this conclusion.

In the tests, our bowlers will be toothless and the batsmen will be their usual selves. Avoiding a 5-0 thrashing will be an achievement

The A team were hammered by England A/Lions. That's the kind of stuff we get when India tours England.

[Sin Hombre]

That's not fair on India A.

The actual India A won the triangular tournament very convincingly thrashing the real England lions in the last 2 games.

India A + test-only players got beaten badly by England lions + test-only players, yes. This India A team did not have any of the stars like Gill, Mayank, Vihari and only Shaw.


Anyways, test match series are a write-off. No Bhuvi, no Bumrah, no Saha.

[indiansportsfan]

This is not completely true. This team had Mayank, who flopped quite badly. And I don't think Gill would have done much, because he has very little first class experience. Vihari could have been useful though.
Biggest disappointment for India A was Jayant Yadav, who flopped in each game, but somehow kept playing. Karun Nair also disappointed when the conditions were tough. They both seem to be Dravid's favorites.

Coming to the Test team, Karthik over Saha seems like an improvement in batting, and we don't lose much in wicketkeeping because spinners are not likely to play an important role in this series. And how did Bumrah become so important for Test side? He is primarily a white ball bowler. Ishant should prove to be better than him. Biggest loss seems to be Bhuvi for English conditions, and Umesh will likely be a downgrade.

[prasen9]

Bumrah is smart, disciplined, and unorthodox. Shami has to come back to form and be the strike bowler especially early on.

[PKBasu]

Bizarre that Shami didn’t play the India A match. He had no real match practice but is expected to be pitchforked into the test side!!

I presume the first test will feature Ishant, Umesh and Hardik handling the new ball.

[Sin Hombre]

Bumrak took 14 wickets @ 25 apiece and was as good as the South African quicks in our tour earlier in the year.

Shami needs to play and play well in the 4-day match starting tomorrow.

Our only hope right now is that we are not too far behind by the time Bhuvi and Bumrah are available again.

[PKBasu]

So Shastri and Kohli chose to play a "practice" match (3 days) rather than a proper 4-day first class match against Essex, giving the heat of England as an excuse. Ludicrous!

Anyway Dhawan and Pujara failed. I think it will be a big mistake to have Pujara in the XI for the first test. Vijay (who failed in the India A match) did get a 50. KL Rahul will probably slot in either at #3 or as an opener.

[prasen9]

Dump Dhawan and Pujara. We have seen enough of their failures abroad. Unless the pitch and weather promises the ball will not swing. Then, include Dhawan. Kilo Rahul should be the other opener. I hope he succeeds to become the next mega batting star.

[Sin Hombre]

Terrible bowling against Essex. Shami looks completely unfit. Not sure how we can field a winning team in a few days.

Vijay
??
??
Kohli
Rahane
??
??
??
??
??
??

[PKBasu]

Finally IPL is beginning to destroy the rest of our cricket.
Bhuvi and Bumrah are injured because of too much cricket. Ashwin and Jadeja's form is iffy. Shami has been injured for a long time. Sad indeed that the main bowling hopes are on the stale Ishant and Umesh!