India in Sri Lanka, LOIs 2021

[prasen9]

It makes sense to try different players in a dead rubber when you have the first team but it makes no sense when your second team is touring and all the youngsters are starved for at-bats. And, if we are going to do it, then rest Dhawan. Here are who we have played.

Here are people who have played a few ODIs:

1: Dube, Gautam, Rana, Sakariya, Samson
2: Kishan, Natarajan
3: Suryakumar, Gill, Prasidh K.,
5: DLC, Mayank, Krunal
6: Prithvi
8: Saini

15 people getting less than 8 games. This shows that the selectors are clueless. Why was Saini not given the full series? Why was Krunal not played in the last game? He desperately needs experience. Ditto for DLC. Kishan was dropped after two matches. Why not drop Dhawan and give both Kishan and Samson a game. And, why play Rana? I would rather have played Krunal to get him ready for "real" matches.

Absolutely thoughtless selection process. Spreading out the caps does not work. This shows they do not have individual plans to help each player mature and succeed. Stupidity.

Anyway, our batting finds have been SAY 62/123, KHP 65/102, Samson 46/100. Prithvi and Kishan have shown some promise but not enough consistency.

On the bowling side, RDC 18/5.4, Sakariya 17/4.25. I hope we give RDC a long run and not automatically go back to Chahal. I would like to see Bumrah, Sakariya, Kuldeep, RDC, Hardik, Krunal as our ODI bowling lineup. That would have good variety. No, I am not anointing RDC and Sakariya but I want them to get a good, long run. With Shami and Chahal as backups.

[Rajiv]

No Padikkal again in the match today… does Dhawan actually believe that he will play the T20 World Cup.

And we all thought that Dravid does things differently !!!

[prasen9]

Dhawan should not have been in the team. And, Hardik was batted too early given his form. No reason to bat him ahead of Kishan. We lost several balls due to the slow batting of Dhawan and Hardik.

Dravid may be doing things differently but there is no evidence that he understands the importance of SR. As a player, he was a miserable failure wrt that.

[Sin Hombre]

Dravid is a good coach to work with young players on technical deficiencies.

There is no evidence that he is a good progressive manager.

At least, SKY is firming up his middle order credentials in T20Is.

[prasen9]

He did fine in the ODIs too.

Dravid was also not a great captain. So, strategic thinking, motivation, etc. may not be his strong suit. He brings in vast knowledge. So, he can be a great technical director, maybe a great talent evaluator, etc. Head of the academy is the best position for him.

[prasen9]

And so is Kishan. Prithvi started with a duck. Hope all of them score big in the next match. Especially Samson, who really needs a big score. 27 is decent with a decent SR. But, given that this is his 8th match and he is averaging at 13.75 at a poor 122, he needs to a big, fast innings for his record to be half decent.

[prasen9]

On the bowling side, DLC, Nata, and Saini have all taken the chances they have gotten. As has Kuldeep. But, I suppose Kuldeep and Saini will have to prove their forms in the IPL if Kuldeep even gets a game.

Bhuvi is better than any of the Indian seamers in keeping runs down except Bumrah. So, he will be given a chance instead of our strike bowlers. Although to be fair, Bhuvi is in a rich vein of form and is taking wickets at an acceptable or better rate now.

Bumrah is also not in form.

I would possibly go with Bhuvi, Bumrah, Pandya backed up by Nata, Saini, and DLC. Assuming everyone is fit.

The T20WC will allow 22 player squads. Expanded squad allowed.

My spinners would be: Kuldeep, Chahal, Jadeja, Varun. Sundar is injured. They are saying he will not be risked at the IPL second part, and should be saved for the WC. I am not a big fan of containing bowlers and I think we should not risk him right after recovering from an injury without serious cricket. Of course, a player should never be played or risked before he or she is fully fit.

[Atithee]

How Hardik Pandya continues to be in the team is beyond me.

[ankit1407]

Both the brothers must have some pictures of selectors … can’t believe we don’t have better cricket than these 2 guys to try again and again ..

[Atithee]

Krunal, I can understand. But, Hardik just doesn’t do anything. He seems more interested in off the field events aka social media. And, he did get married recently, right?

[PKBasu]

Today 8 Indian players are missing because they are Krunal Pandya (who has tested positive for Covid) or his close contacts (although all of the latter have tested negative yesterday). Lots of debutants today, including Ruturaj Gaekwad, who started well but then slowed down with his captain (Dhawan was 30 off 33 recently), and fell for 21 off 18 balls. Padikkal has started slowly as well. India crawling at 61/1 off 10 overs. Terrible. Of course, there isn't much batting: Bhuvi will be batting at #6, then Kuldeep Yadav at 7, followed by the pure bowlers.

[prasen9]

Stupid batting even then to have only five wickets out followed by stupidity in bowling Sakariya fully, etc. when Saini is available. Samson failed again. It seems the batting will be: Kishan, Rohit, Kohli, Rahul, SAY, 2 more bats need to put their hands up. I would go with two among Hardik, Krunal, and Iyer.

[PKBasu]

Bizarrely Navdeep Saini didn't bowl a single over, so presumably he played as a specialist batsman. Sakariya was very expensive, so I thought Saini would be used as a sixth bowler. India lost in the final over (with just 2 balls still to be bowled), despite making only 132/5 in 20 overs. Kuldeep (2/30) and Bhuvi (1/21 in 4) bowled well, but were thrashed in their final overs.

[indiansportsfan]

Shows how much confidence team management has in Saini. I don't know what's the problem with Samson. After doing so well in IPL, he just fails in international cricket. He has to grab his chances, otherwise they will dry up very quickly. Also btw Pant is almost a shoo-in for the starting XI, so it will likely be Rahul/Kishan/Iyer fighting for 2 out of the 3 spots; or maybe just 1 if we decide to go with 6 bowlers (Krunal/Hardik).

[prasen9]

Pant has been terrible in T20Is but I suppose he is the glamour boy. So, he will get ahead instead of Kishan. It would be a travesty if Rahul who averages over 18 runs more per inning and almost 20 points higher wrt SR has to fight it out and the boy born with the silver spoon in his mouth is a shoo-in. That would mean performance does not matter.

I would go with Iyer and Hardik.

Kishan, Rohit, Kohli, Rahul, Iyer, SAY, Hardik, Bhuvi

would be a solid top 8. With Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah or some other bowlers completing the XI.