West Indies in India, 2018

[prasen9]

In today's non-stop cricket world, we need to create a good bench. Kohli has complained of a bad back for a while. Though he has rested during the Asia Cup, it was only three weeks. I would rest him for the next test as well as a few others.

My XI: Prithvi, Mayank, Rahul, Rahane (c), Vihari, Nair/Kuldeep, Jadeja, Ashwin, Thakur, Siraj.

Zero chance this will happen though.

[prasen9]

Pant drops a regulation catch against Ashwin with Chase around 51 or so. Hard hands. Another drop against Jadeja. These should be taken. 16 byes in 45 overs or so! Pretty crappy keeping Parthiv and Karthik's keeping is bad but not this bad at least on this type of wicket His keeping really needs to improve. So, now we have the best bat (Pant, who is the worst keeper) and Saha, who is the best keeper but a worse bat.

Pant, gets a stumping (his first) at the end. It was easy but still he had to do it and not fumble and he did it fine.

Kuldeep Yadav bowled some tripe. He was clueless today. Growing pains of a rookie, I guess. It also made me realize how privileged we have been to see Ashwin and Jadeja bowl in India. They hardly give anything away and strike regularly.

[Prem]

Kuldeep Yadav bowled some tripe. He was clueless today. Growing pains of a rookie, I guess. It also made me realize how privileged we have been to see Ashwin and Jadeja bowl in India. They hardly give anything away and strike regularly.

Kuldeep responds with a career best 5 for 57 to justify his inclusion in the team.
Comprehensive win for India with 2 days and a session to spare.
Good for the players as they get 2 extra days of rest with so many matches India plays these days.
Prithvi Shaw wins the MOM award...

[prasen9]

Glad to see Kuldeep get his form back. Kohli did a good thing in giving him the ball and having faith. He is the future given that Ashwin is 32 ...

[PKBasu]

Good to see Kuldeep Yadav demonstrate his true abilities in the second innings. Overall a very satisfying test for India, albeit against very weak opposition. Hopefully the presence of Holder and Roach will make Hyderabad a slightly more even contest. The only disappointment was Umesh Yadav's bowling -- although it is very unfair to keep giving him tests in India and then deny him when India is touring!

I would definitely play Mayank Agarwal ahead of Rahul in Hyderabad -- and I would try Rahul in Rahane's place in the middle order. Umesh could be left out to accommodate another batsman, and I would then prefer to test Karun Nair. Pant's 'keeping is not yet test class, but he brings some excitement to the batting; I don't know if his methods will work in Australia, although Shaw's back-foot play should be ideally suited for Aussie conditions. Let's pray for a speedy recovery for Saha.

[prasen9]

The ODI team is announced. My firt XI would be:

Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli, Rayudu, Dhoni, Pandey, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Chahal, Kaleel, Shami

Reserves: Pant, Shardul, Rahul

I would play Pant for Dhoni and Rahul for Kohli but they will not rest/drop these senior players after getting them in the 14.

[PKBasu]

No test debut for Mayank Agarwal. Some cricketers just can never get the selectors’ nod, no matter how well they perform. Why the hell isnt he in the ODI squad?
And Shardul Thakur remains in contention, possibly competing with Kuldeep for a spot in the test XI. Complete idiocy.

[Sin Hombre]

Shardul gets a cap

And Holder wins the toss so fully expect them to feast on the trundling Thakur.

[PKBasu]

Ridiculous that Thakur got his test cap. Utterly unearned, and he’s already injured!! 9 runs off 10 balls bowled in test Cricket to the hapless Windies.
“Resting” Shami and replacing him with trundler Shardul is a way to level the playing field and make the Windies a bit more competitive. Otherwise I see no point in the decision.

[prasen9]

Shami is going to play the ODIs. So, it was a good decision to rest him. We should manage our resources to avoid injuries to fast bowlers. They cannot play every match. It is a good decision to rest Bhuvi and Bumrah as well. I would have rather played Siraj. But, unfortunately, the selectors rated Thakur better than him

[PKBasu]

Most irritating that Bhuvi doesn’t get to play tests. Absolutely unfathomable.
If they have to play others, Khaleel is a much better option than Shardul. Siraj not bad either.

[prasen9]

I am glad Bhuvi is rested against the WI in this heat. Bhuvi and Bumrah will have a heavy load in Australia and the WC. Khaleel played two FC games, got 2 wickets, at an average of 90. He is very talented but he should play a few more FC matches before he is rewarded with a test cap.

[prasen9]

India let the lower order scot free again. I suppose Chase+Holder are pretty decent bats on flat pitches. Given the pitch was flat, our spinners who don't spin the ball much, aka finger spinners, did not get more than 1 wicket. The pick of the bowlers was Kuldeep. Umesh did his job too. We need Ashwin or Kuldeep or someone to polish off the tail now that Holder is out.

[PKBasu]

Terrific effort with the new ball this morning from Umesh Yadav to polish off the rest of the Windies batting, finishing with a career best 6/88. Those figures are especially impressive on a dead pitch like this. There’ll be a surfeit of fast bowling options in Australia.

[PKBasu]

Very interesting to see that the Windies have pitched it up to Prithvi Shaw today, and he has scored most of his runs off the front foot today (21 off 19 balls, including 2 fours and a six). He scored almost exclusively off the back foot in Rajkot.
Shaw’s technique is so much better than Rahul’s. The latter has already played two balls where there was more than a foot laterally between his front foot and where his bat met the ball.