India in Australia, 2018-2019

[Sin Hombre]

Dhoni played a terrible innings here, let's be honest. He was caught behind (but somehow only Maxwell half-appealed), was dropped twice and should have been run out as well.

Despite being let off 4 (!) times, he needed a wonderful knock from Jadhav to actually get to a meagre total of 230.

Also, Kohli got dismissed because Dhoni kept hogging the strike and was unable to rotate. Same as the last match.

Unfortunately, Dhoni is undroppable now.

Our best hope is TM realizes what Jadhav brings to the table (as good a spinner as Jadeja in SENA in ODIs and one of our best finishers with the bat) and Gill seals the last batting spot in NZ.

Playing xi at the WC would then be

Rohit
Dhawan
Kohli
Dhoni
Gill
Jadhav
Pandya
2 of Bhuvi, Shami, Khaleel
Kuldeep
Bumrah

It is a decent xi and Dhoni does less damage at 4 than he does at 6. Biggest weakness is both Rohit and Dhoni waste a lot of balls at the start of innings and Pandya is not a good finisher against quality quicks (and Gill is obviously unproven).

[prasen9]

Kedar Jadhav re-emphasising that he HAS to be picked well ahead of Rayudu. In fact, the latter has hopefully lost his place on the plane to England for the World Cup.

Well, even if he is lost on the plane, he can match the seat # on his ticket to the seat # on the seat and find it again. Whether he is let into the plane or not depends upon how Gill performs and if they let him play. It makes no sense for Kohli to keep playing all the matches. Or for that matter Rohit. Just play all the pretenders and see who rises and who sinks.

Dhoni at #4 with instructions to start hitting before the RRR reaches 0.5 below what his current threshold is now. And Kedar at #5. The latter should only be given 3 over spells unless he takes wickets. Even if a catch is dropped, we cannot count it. The reason is that once the batsman is accustomed to his pace/flight, it is easy to hit him. So, unless the batsman changes, we should limit his bowling except on turning wickets, of course.

[prasen9]

I would play Chahal and Bhuvi in the two slots that you have unspecified.

[Sin Hombre]

I would play Chahal and Bhuvi in the two slots that you have unspecified.

Darn that was supposed to be 2 of Bhuvi, Shami, Chahal; Khaleel should not even be on the plane to London.

Rohit
Dhawan
Kohli
Dhoni
Gill
Jadhav
Pandya
2 of Bhuvi, Shami, Chahal (based off conditions and opposition)
Kuldeep
Bumrah

[sameerph]

Too early to put Gill in the playing XI for world cup ? He has at most 7-8 matches to show that he immediately belongs to this level. But, hope he succeeds. If not, I will put in DK in that place. None of the other middle order batsmen seem to be in fray. Manish Pande, Shreyas Iyer do not seem to be in world cup reckoning now.

[prasen9]

Yes, we can go with DK. Anyway, we will need a backup. Or two. Bats.

If it is a 15 person squad, we should have one batting backup, one allrounder, one spinner backup and one pacer.

So my team:

SD, RG, VK, Rayudu, Kedar, Karthik, Pandya, Bhuvi, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah

Spinner/Allrounder: Axar Patel
Pacer/Allrounder: Shankar
Batting: Iyer
Pacer: Shami

Dhoni, the ironman is injured I am assuming that Gill will not have enough chances to unseat Rayudu. Knowing this old-loving team management, Gill will not get seven games. Mark my words. And, I know Iyer will not be called and instead it will be Dhoni in that slot.

By having two allrounders in the backups, we are covering all possible injury options. If an opener is hurt, we can send Rayudu up or Kohli or Karthik.

[RohitG]

Don't think it will happen but Rohit and Kohli should skip 1 or 2 matches alternatively in NZ just to see how others perform. Since Dhoni is more or less in the playing XI based on the actions of our selectors, he needs to play all the ODIs till the WC to get as much as tuning as possible and finally decide which spot he should bat at. I hope Gill is in the XI against NZ

[Varma]

I cannot understand how Rayudu is allowed to play ODIs while he skips playing Ranji trophy cricket (hence ANY competitive cricket) between ODIs. It is one thing for the veteran Dhoni to be doing this (although that too is unacceptable), but Rayudu?? The guy is a marginal selection anyway!

Apparently, Rayudu decided to retire from the longer format last November! It's ridiculous he continues to get all these chances before world cup.

Rayudu retires from long for cricket

- Varma