Sri Lanka in India

[prasen9]

Teams announced.

My T20I XI for now would be: Rahul, Rohit, Karthik, Kohli, 2 bats, Vijay Shankar, Chahal, Kuldeep, Saini, Bumrah.

Among the two bats, one we should give a fair run is Iyer. I would like Pant to go back to the domestics and gain some keeping expertise and the ability to hit based on the ball (as opposed to pre-mediated leg-side hoiks).

Pandey is too slow. But, who is the other bat? Samson? Dube does not seem like one who can bat or bowl that well. He looks like a wasted slot to me.

There is, of course, no point playing Rohit and Kohli. So, then we should play whom?

Mayank, Rahul, Samson, Karthik, Iyer, 1 hitter, Vijay Shankar, Chahal, Kuldeep, Saini, Bumrah.

I am okay trying Dube as the hitter. Or Krunal.

[prasen9]

I think we miss Pandya a lot. Dube is pretty innocuous with the ball and perhaps with the bat too. The main problem is that you cannot rely on him as the 5th bowler. Kohli and the Indian team, perhaps correctly, do not want three spinners. Our genuine allrounder is a spinner, Jadeja. But, if you play him, then we cannot play our two wicket-takers Kuldeep and Chahal. We should have Saini (hopefully they will play him and not Thakur) and Bumrah. Now, if the groundsmen are asinine as in Cuttack and have 60 m boundaries, then we cannot really play three spinners and have to play all of Thakur, Saini, and Bumrah. Or Dube instead of Thakur. But, like I said, I am not a big Dube fan.

[Sin Hombre]

Comfortable win in the second T20 (with the first washed out).

Saini showing real pace again (cracked 150ks) and had the SL batsmen getting beaten for pace.

Dhawan was useless again.

Iyer was good against the spinners but still no evidence that he can score quickly (for T20s) against the quicks.

KL and Kohli were good again and are clearly our best T20 batsmen.

[prasen9]

Why do we play Sundar over Jadeja? I guess we want to see what he can do. Give him one more match. Then, we should go back to Jadeja if Sundar bowls as he has done. Defensive, keeps runs down, gets a wicket here and there but not an attacking bowler. Exactly the same as Jadeja. Of course, Sundar is a better bowler than Jadeja but Jaddu is a much better bat. And, Sundar spins the ball the same way as Kuldeep. Jadeja the opposite. Jadeja is a very good fielder to boot.

I would rather play Kuldeep and Chahal but if we want some batting depth and that is a legitimate concern, why not Sir RJ?

[Sin Hombre]

While Jadeja has come of age as a test batsman in the last few years, he is not a T20 batsman. S/R of less than 100 at an average of 11 in T20Is.

You want him in the squad as the 12th man to benefit from his fielding by having one of your poor fielders off.

Team right now for T20 WC is looking like

KL
Rohit
Kohli
Iyer*
Pant*
Hardik
Fast bowler 1
Spinner 1
Fast bowler 2
Bumrah

Iyer has question marks against genuine pace and Pant needs to show he can bat well in the MO in T20s (and not just as an opener).

The 2 additional quicks are from a pool of Bhuvi, Shami, Saini, Shardul and Chahar.

Bhuvi can bat but cannot hit and his lack of pace will be exploited in Australian conditions.
Thakur can hit but is not a wicket-taking option.
Saini has pace and carry and is a genuine wicket-taking option, cannot bat.
Chahar is a mini-Bhuvi both in bowling and batting.
Shami is arguably as good as Bumrah in both tests and ODIs but has never been effective in T20s.

My current take would be to keep playing Saini and Shardul as the 2 additional quicks for now.

The spinner currently is one from Sundar or Jadeja. Neither is really a good option at this point. Hopefully a Rahul Chahar or a Shreyas Gopal will seize their chances in the next IPL.

[prasen9]

True. But, Jadeja has the tools to succeed as a T20I batsman. Sundar does not have it in him to be a quality bowler. We don't know if he can bat well in tight situations.

The pacers for now should be Bumrah, Saini, and Thakur. Kumar is injured for at least a few months. Chahar is also injured. Thakur is the most iffy among the lot. But people should be given a fair run.

It is vitally important to play Samson to have at least one backup checked out. Otherwise you know what will happen if Pant does not pick it up in limited overs cricket? Dhoni. And, none of us want that. We have a perfectly capable player in Karthik but he will not be recalled.

If Hardik gets back his bowling form, we do not need three more fast bowlers. We need one more batsman. Maybe the other Pandya if we need a lower order bat.

[PKBasu]

I presume that is the precise reason Samson isn't getting a chance -- because the selectors don't want to build up another alternative to Dhoni

Jadeja should definitely be picked ahead of Washington Sundar. Batting isn't Jadeja's forte in T20Is (his record with the bat is terrible), but he contributes hugely with the ball and in the field.

[prasen9]

And Jadeja in the last year has been a better bat than before in tests and in ODIs compared to the past few years. Have not checked the numbers but this is my impression. I think he can bat in T20s better than Sundar. I am not a Jadeja fan. I like more strike-bowlers. But if we need a #7 who can bat, I would choose Jadeja over Sundar.

[sameerph]

I presume that is the precise reason Samson isn't getting a chance -- because the selectors don't want to build up another alternative to Dhoni

Samson is selected today ahead of Pant. Hope he gets a good score today.

[RohitG]

Which position will he play at? If Shreyas comes in at #4 and Kohli doesn't budge.. It's Pandey/Samson at 5 and 6. Too little too late I feel with the way things are going for him..

[prasen9]

Samson got a genuine chance but he has only got two innings to bat. He needs more of a chance. We should also keep an eye on his keeping. Dhawan, Rahul, and Kohli were a tad slow *for this pitch* but since it is Sri Lanka their efforts may be enough.

Iyer is very slightly better than Manish wrt SR but Manish is much more solid. I would give Iyer a few more chances though. He has it in him to be able to play faster and be consistent. Why not give Vijay Shankar a longer run with the bat even though his bowling is innocuous?

[indiansportsfan]

Seems to me that Iyer is trying to be too aggressive from the start, which is counter to his style of play, and is affecting his consistency. In contrast, Pandey has decided to slow down in order to be consistent. In ODI cricket which offers more time to settle down, Iyer is much more consistent than Pandey. I wouldn't bring Shankar at all as a pure bastman. There are only so many chances at the international level, and we should not be wasting them on useless players.
Also very good batting again by Thakur. He could be the answer to India's troubles at the death (along with Pandya's return), if he can be consistent with his bowling.

[prasen9]

I agree with not getting useless players. The problem is detecting who is useless and who is useful. Except for Rahul and Kohli, everyone has been rather useless in one way or another with respect to batting in T20Is. So, I do not particularly care for Vijay but he was pretty impressive with respect to rotating strikes and starting off well. If you have a better bat, then by all means include him. Note that I have always said that Iyer and everyone else should get a full run. Whatever may be Iyer's problem, he has been rather useless in T20Is. As you said, we should not be wasting the few chances we have on useless players but I want him to get a few more chances before he confirms that he is useless or proves his utility. If Iyer does not know how to play T20Is, then he does not know. Let him learn at the IPL, etc. We need the best XI for the WC.

Thakur could be the backup 3rd seamer if Pandya cannot return. But, we should possibly play Bumrah and Chahar/Saini as our top two along with a fit Hardik. Chahar is a bit more steady than Saini while Saini has the pace. If Bumrah is bowling as the strike bowler, I do not mind Chahar as the supporting since it introduces variety but Saini is fine too.

[jayakris]

Ha, so we have another Malayali who does crazy things, huh? Just saw the Malayalam newspapers talking about his record as the one who waited the longest between two ODIs to play for a national side and all that... Saw the first ball sixer and the next ball out in highlights. Crazy dude, I guess. I had asked about him some time ago and some of you had given your opinion that he could be a decent player. Hey, maybe the Malayali will make me pay some attention to the useless game (okay, just kidding!)

[Atithee]

I’m not so gung-ho on Pandya. He’s too temperamental and I don’t consider him an automatic walk in to the team upon his recovery. I like Shardul because he can bat like he does. That’s very important in my criteria to select bowlers.