Nidahas Cup, (I-SL-B) T20I Tournament, 2018

[prasen9]

Creating a thread. A bunch of juniors are being tried. Will be interesting to see if Karthik or Pant keeps.

Among the capped players, the batsmen who have proved themselves: Rohit, Raina, Rahul, Pandey (the last two small sample size).

Batsmen who have not really proved themselves: Dhawan, Karthik.

Given his reasonable form, Dhawan will possibly play. So, we have to choose between Karthik/Pant. I could clearly like to see Pant given chances.

Spinners: Sundar, Chahal, Axar. Most possibly only two will play. I would play the two most attacking bowlers: Chahal and Sundar.

Pacers: Unadkat, Sharadul, Shiraj. Unadkat has the best domestic record. Shiraj is more attacking and Thakur is more keep-the-runs-down bowler.

Do you choose all three pacers or you bring in the all-rounder? If we choose Chahal, then the batting is weakened. We need an all-rounder. So, play Vijay Shankar.

Rohit, Dhawan, Rahul, Pandey, Raina, Pant, Vijay, Sundar, Chahal, Unadkat, Shiraj

On a really spinning pitch, Axar replaces Vijay.

would be my choice. I could settle for a more disciplined Thakur over Shiraj. But, I really want to see Chahal get more chances than Axar even though Axar is a better bat and perhaps a better fielder. The value of Sundar is diminished because our sixth bowler Raina is an office. So, maybe Axar over Sundar is justified too. But, I think Sundar is a great talent and I want to see him given chances in this meaningless whatever-ass tournament.

[PKBasu]

Vijay Shankar seems to be a blue-eyed boy. Nothing in his record justifies his repeated selection for the test and ODI squad. On the other hand, Mayank Agarwal seems to be one who will permanently be ignored.

[Sin Hombre]

Vijay Shankar is a fast bowling (albeit medium at best) all rounder. The only other contender for the spot is Pandya. It makes complete sense to give him a shot. He is yet to make his debut so not sure where these repeated chances are coming from.

Poor Mayank suffers from the same fate as Rahul. Both of them are contenders for the opening slots. Not only do Dhawan and Rohit have a good (but not ATG) record but they are also close to Kohli.

[prasen9]

Yes. If he is the #2 pace-bowling all-rounder we have, we need to give him chances.

So, you would choose Ganguly over Dhawan? Otherwise, SRT-Dhawan would possibly be our #1 opening pair.

[PKBasu]

VIjay Shankar is a 27-year-old with an underwhelming domestic record. He was picked as the replacement for Bhuvi in the test squad, and has spent some time on the bench for LOIs. I don't understand why he is picked all the time despite doing nothing of significance in the domestic competitions: this year, he took no wickets in his last 5 T20 matches, and averaged 30 with the bat. In List As, he did better with the bat (100, 5, 11, 84), but only bowled in 2 of the 4 matches (1/31 and 1/36); basically he seems to bowl only when he does poorly with the bat, suggesting that he isn't really an allrounder. In the two matches in which he made big runs, he (as captain of TN) used 6 and 7 bowlers, but didn't bowl himself. That doesn't strike me as all-rounder material. If it is a choice between him and Stuart Binny as the alternative to Pandya, the latter is still much the better option. (Stuart has been good with the ball but poor with the bat in the T20 and List A competitions this season). I don't see Shankar bowling more than 4-5 overs in an ODI ever. As a pure batsman, he doesn't fit the bill either.

[Sin Hombre]

A batting average of 35 and bowling average of 30 in List A clearly puts Vijay Shankar as the 2nd best option for that spot. Stuart Binny who anyways failed at the international level is almost 34 now.

[PKBasu]

India’s bowlers getting clobbered by SL in the first T20I, after a poor batting performance (with the exception of Dhawan). Thakur was thrashed for 27 off his first over. Washington Sundar also got pasted. Good first international over from Vijay Shankar.

[prasen9]

Pandey and Pant's slow batting, especially Pant's batting really hurt us. Of course, the bowlers bowled crap.

Thakur has bowled pretty badly in all three games he got. We should give him a fair run. But, it is high time he starts performing too. Chahal takes wickets but has been too expensive in T20Is. Why Kuldeep is not preferred to him is a mystery. Maybe because he spins the ball the same direction as Sundar? ... Shankar had a lacklustre start but it was only two overs.

[jayakris]

I am sorry, but what or who is "nidahas"?? There are a bunch of web pages that have copied each other, saying it means "freedom" in samskRtam. There is no such word in samskRtam, as far as I know. Maybe a Sinhala word for "freedom"?

[Sin Hombre]

Pandey and Pant's slow batting, especially Pant's batting really hurt us. Of course, the bowlers bowled crap.

Thakur has bowled pretty badly in all three games he got. We should give him a fair run. But, it is high time he starts performing too. Chahal takes wickets but has been too expensive in T20Is. Why Kuldeep is not preferred to him is a mystery. Maybe because he spins the ball the same direction as Sundar? ... Shankar had a lacklustre start but it was only two overs.

Agree than Pandey and Pant cost us.

Kuldeep is being protected for the 50 over WC.

Shankar's 2 overs were hardly lacklustre for the format.

[Observer]

I am sorry, but what or who is "nidahas"?? There are a bunch of web pages that have copied each other, saying it means "freedom" in samskRtam. There is no such word in samskRtam, as far as I know. Maybe a Sinhala word for "freedom"?

Love the usage of the name "SamskRtam" over "Sanskrit"

[jayakris]

Love the usage of the name "SamskRtam" over "Sanskrit"

I am not anal about it or anything, but will use the proper spelling, if I remember to. Sometimes I use the English word, Sanskrit. It is after all a word that just cannot be written in English because the vowel R doesn't exist in English. At least the Englishmen didn't write Suhmscrithorm or something screwed up, which they were fully capable of!

[Observer]

At least the Englishmen didn't write Suhmscrithorm or something screwed up, which they were fully capable of!

[prasen9]

Interesting Vijay Shankar got MoM. Dhawan's form is keeping Rahul out. Pant is having a hard time (still 4 T20Is is a small sample size, I guess).

[Sin Hombre]

Rahul has batted at #4 in T20Is previously; something more political is keeping KL out at this point.

Pant has been a disaster so far, trying to hit every ball and has no idea how to rotate the strike.

Vijay got 2 but had 3 chances dropped so I guess that played a role in getting the MoM.