South Africa In India 2022

[prasen9]

So let's see the old-young in this team:

Old: DK (37), Bhuvi (32), Chahal, Harshal (31), Rahul (30), Hardik (28)
Young: Bishnoi (21), Umran (22), Arshdeep, Ishan (23), Pant (24), Rutu (25)

We need to work on a replacement for Chahal. Hopefully, Bishnoi will get his run. I wouldn't mind giving DK a run as the first keeper with Pant being asked to sit to send a message that he needs to perform.

So, among the batters, the IPL got DK and Hardik back. But the big hitting of Tripathi and Samson were ignored. I think that is a mistake. We need at least one more big hitter.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

If KL Rahul fails to deliver in this SA T20I series as captain, then baton might get shifted to Hardik Pandya

[prasen9]

Rutu, Pant, Ishan, and Venkatesh are lucky. Tripathi, Samson, and Gill lose out despite having stellar IPL seasons. Maybe Gill needs another good season. Tripathi has had two in a row and Samson is just a pure hitter worth taking a chance on for a few more matches. But, it seems that the selectos are going by some sort of stay the course policy for now.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Recent SA tour has exposed the middle order, and upcomming England tour will test it more, Shreyas, SKY & Pant has been inconsistent. We can see some changes in upcomming tours. Tilak Verma Tripathi, DK, even Patidar can walk into the middle order if middle order doesnt wins games. Still now, india relies plenty on top 3 batters.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Some important questions needs to be answered before setting the Playing XI

KL Rahul will open the innings. His probable partners Ishan Kishan 10 T2I with 32 average, 14 IPL with 32 average. R Gaikward 3 T20I with 13 average, 14 with 26 average. So, tried & tested Kishan or Gaikward who deserve a more go ?

Wicket Keeping options is more interesting. R Pant last 10 T20Is with 22 average, 14 IPls with 30 avg, a cunning step from selector to appoint him as VC to save his T20 career so that he gets automatic choice as WKB in middle order. DK has 55 average with 16 IPLs, should be automatic choice. Playing 3 wicketkeepers in Playing XI would be the worst decision as Hooda is in the team after good SMA Trophy but average IPL, since he is new in the team he needs another chance

Axar, Kuldeep, Yuzi, Bhisnoi. Kuldeep & Yuzi likely to be in the Playing XI for first three as Pandya going to ball in these series. Axar & Bhisnoi might feature later if India gets lead in the series

Would love to see Umran, Arsdeep going along with Bhuvi.But it seems H Patel, Bhuvi and Arsdeep will make out and Umran had to wait as Arsdeep is ahead of him in performing two IPL edition. Avesh might get chance later in the series

[Kumar]

Yes, Pant has not done well in T20 and generally in whiteball cricket. I think majority of forum members agree with that, but to act as if selectors have devious interest in his selection seems unfair.

Among top10, T20 countries,

In last two years, Ishant Kishen ranks 21st in terms of strike rate for openers with at least 5 innings and 17th if u consider all 8 matches he played. For average, he is ranked slightly better at 8th.


Pant is 15th in average and 13th in SR as no 4 batsman, And is no1 in average and 7th in SR as no 5 batsman for all players with at least 5 matches

So clearly Ishant kishen has underperformed as a opener compared to his peers, while Pant mayhave actually performed at replacement level or even above replacement level for T20.

U have conveniently left out the SR for Ishan Kishen and Pant in just concluded IPL. Pant SR was 150 with average 30, while Ishant was 32 average with SR of 120

Others who played at no4/ No3

Hardik Pandya 44 avG and 131Sr
Sanju samson 28 and 144 SR (played a lot at 3 as well)
DHooda 32 and 136 ( played mainly 3)
Tripathi 37 and 158 (3 down)
Shreyas iyer 30 and 135
Livingstone 36 and 182
Tilak verma 36 and 132
Markaram 47 and 149
Maxwell 27 and 169
N rana 27 and 142
M Marsh 32 and 132
Sky 43 and 145



In that context pant has done reasonably well


If u see openers

Butler 57,149
Kl 51,135
Gill 34, 132
Faf 31, 127
Dhawan 38, 122
Warner 48, 150
Abhishek 30, 133
Conway 42, 145

Ideally, Pant is way more talented than Ishan Kishen and probably would have beterr success than Kishen as opener! I am not donvinced with his ability in middle order, though the numbers from 2 years are not bad.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

How you can defend a player's selection with 24 average in 43 T20Is ? and also hand over VC to him, where senior like Bhuvi is in the team. He has done great work in Test that doesn't means his test performances will rule in his selection of Odis & T20Is. Even Sanju had average in 20s.Jitesh Sharma has performed in SMA Trophy with 53+ average and a strike rate of 163 in IPL. He is already 28 now, when he will get reward ? Total unfair. I dont see Pant getting benched in this T20I series and 3 keepers are most likely to play this series.

Pant is getting hifi back up from BCCI, legends despite giving average performances. Pujara & Rahane should also have been considered for their test performance in Odis & T20Is by following Pant's criteria of selection

[Kumar]

Jitesh sharma just has one IPl season. When u look at his domestic stats, his average is 28 and 144 Sr, while Pant is 32 and 146. The numbers in domestic cricket for Pant is quite strong. As a T20 international he has failed , but he has typically out performed his peers in both IPL and domestic.


To me, Ishan Kishen has looked underwhelming. He looked totally out of sea against good quality bowling. My instinct tells me that Pant as a opener would be way superior to Ishan Kishen.

Pant selection is highly questionable , but not egregious. His talent clearly gives him more breathing room than say someone like Sky or even Shreyas Iyer. I would be willing to give Pant one opportunity to see if he can do well as a opener, he is way too talented and Inddian batting resources at highest level is bare. Still, i would not loose sleep if he were to be dropped from white ball cricket.

I cannot remember a time when our batting has looked so bare. We always had 1-2 world class batsman? Hope guys like Sarfaraz khan can show some level of competency.

[Atithee]

If we are banking on Sarfraz to show us the way, good luck to the Indian team.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Jitesh sharma just has one IPl season. When u look at his domestic stats, his average is 28 and 144 Sr, while Pant is 32 and 146. The numbers in domestic cricket for Pant is quite strong. As a T20 international he has failed , but he has typically out performed his peers in both IPL and domestic.


To me, Ishan Kishen has looked underwhelming. He looked totally out of sea against good quality bowling. My instinct tells me that Pant as a opener would be way superior to Ishan Kishen.

Pant selection is highly questionable , but not egregious. His talent clearly gives him more breathing room than say someone like Sky or even Shreyas Iyer. I would be willing to give Pant one opportunity to see if he can do well as a opener, he is way too talented and Inddian batting resources at highest level is bare. Still, i would not loose sleep if he were to be dropped from white ball cricket.

I cannot remember a time when our batting has looked so bare. We always had 1-2 world class batsman? Hope guys like Sarfaraz khan can show some level of competency.

Pant is 32 and 146. The numbers in domestic cricket for Pant is quite strong. As a T20 international he has failed , but he has typically out performed his peers in both IPL and domestic

How ? I don't see Pant having that massive performance in shorter format that can keep out his contemporaries. Infact Pant, Ishan & Samson falls on same group when it comes to performance in shorter format cricket.Selectors are just putting his test performance before shorter format and going for "can do the job" type of narrative in his selection. How can he become VC with 22 average in last 10 T20I with a senior like Bhuvi in the team? He is the most unreliable cricketer in the team and can win tough matches, can lose close matches.

I would be willing to give Pant one opportunity to see if he can do well as a opener, he is way too talented and Inddian batting resources at highest level is bare.

43T20Is are massive numbers, you still want to give underperformed guy more games just because of talent, by benching Sanju & Ishan, not testing new commers, thats biased form of decision.He has been made VC just to get included in Playing XI. If you consider performance among these four, except DK no other keepers should be included in the Playing XI.

[Atithee]

You can argue all you want for others, Raj, but let’s not go back to Bhuvi. He is way past his shelf life. I do agree that DK has earned a chance.

[Kumar]

Raj, the problem is Pant is perceived to be very highly talented. So, unless his contemporaries can show much better numbers , he is always going to get benefit of doubt.

As far as DK, His last IPL year SR is a huge outlier . His career IPL SR is 132 with an average of 26. May be he has reinvented his game or he is playing with different mindset/role, but i am not 100% convinced . We should be cognizant of the fact that the WC will be played in Australia and we need to plan accordingly.

Pant numbers outside asia has very limited sample size with average of 10 and Sr 117 in Australia (2 games) and 36 and 144 in Nz(3 games). I don’t care if he plays in india, but i would seriously consider him as a opener abroad.

With regards to vc, Not sure that it was cunningness or just very limited options available (hardik, bhuvi and Pant were the only choices) and ideally it should have been Hardik. They may have been worried about fitness concern for Hardik.

[prasen9]

I am not saying that we should ditch Pant right away. But, is Pant really that talented in LOIs? Or is he another Sehwag? We need to recognize the Sehwag phenomenon although it is somewhat contradictory to our common sense. Sehwag was a pretty decent LOI batsman though but not a great. He was perhaps one of our best openers ever walking into the best ever team. He will not do that in LOIs for sure. Is Pant like that? And, we are using wrong yardsticks to spill over our impressions in one format to another and cannot still accept that one may be good in tests and not that great in other formats even if one is by nature an aggressive batsman.

[Kumar]

Prasen, you have a good point, we don’t know. What is the harm in trying? I firmly believe that we have seen enough of Pant to know that his game is totally unsuitable for middle order. He is not a big hitter and he would absolutely take advantage of those open spaces. He will not score for great average, but he could potentially give us a very fast start

Our batsman are bunnies against left arm bowlers and almost top team has one. We absolutely need a left handed opener.

Our choices for left handed openers are Dhawan, Kishen.

Dhawan has average of 33 and SR of 153 in Australia. Does he still has enough in his tank? May be he is an option
To me, Ishan Kishen is failing the eye test. This mgmt already tried Pant in ODI, but I think he would be perfect as opener in T20. May be i am off my rocker and he fails here as well.

[Atithee]

Another factor is age. Going to Dhawan would be ill-advised. I think Ishan has missed his chance to prove himself worthy. He had a stellar IPL a year ago. We desperately need an aggressive opener and Pant fits the bill. I’ve often joked that India needs to reverse its batting order and send the Shamis and Umeshs as openers rather than tail enders!