World Cup 2019

[prasen9]

The selectors should stop giving all the power to Kohli.

[indiansportsfan]

I don't think Rayudu has been in the team so long because of Kohli. Its the selectors who are at fault here. MSK is a useless cricketer/selector and you could not have expected any better. But now it seems the tide is turning and both Kohli/selectors are coming around to the futility of Rayudu

[prasen9]

Kohli is the one who did not play Nair when the selectors wanted him in England and forced them to select his buddy Rohit for Australia. He is perfectly capable of playing politics. The chances Rayudu got abroad was because Kohli wanted him. The selectors went along with it. So, okay, both Kohli and the selectors are to blame. But, it is not that Kohli did not want him.

Rayudu is also there because nobody else got things going except Kedar in the MO or has an excellent strike rate. We did not give Shankar and Pant a decent run. Nor to Iyer. The rest (Rahane, Pandey, Karthik) failed.

[Atithee]

Nair has been an abject failure in domestics and India A ever since that triple hundred. At least in his case, there is no one else to blame but Karun.

[prasen9]

Well, Kohli could not have looked into the crystal ball. Incidentally, Vihari has been rather poor in the innings he got and Rohit has not been much better either in tests. Maybe the cause and reason has been turned around here. The non-confidence showed by Kohli caused Nair to lose all hope and not care about his performances? In an ideal world, you should be strong enough and motivated enough to show that you are made of sterner stuff and show the selectors that they were wrong in their assessment. But, this is the real world. Other players have been demotivated by their being shun from the national team too. I think Mithun faded away too. Anyway, I hope we find a middle order batsman who can bat in tests soon. Even Rahane seems to be off his game for two years now.

I think we have found a good group of openers in Prithvi and Mayank in tests. Hope we give them a run. Then, we have Pujara and Kohli in form. Then the next two are pretty iffy if we want six bats. Nobody has really performed. Someone should put their hand up. Maybe one of those goes to Hardik. Actually, Hardik does not have the bat to be in the top 6. But, Pant does. So, Pant goes in at #6. Hardik at #7 abroad. Or else, the second spinner (Ashwin or Jadeja) go at #7 at home. So, we still need a #5. And a backup bat in case someone is injured. Or we want to go with four bowlers.

[sameerph]

World cup squad to be selected tomorrow.

I think these are 11 certainties in 15- Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli, Dhoni, Kedar, Hardik, Bhuvi, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah and Shami.

4 more spots left -

2 for #4 spot/ middle order bat - 2 between Rayudu ,Rahul and Vijay Shankar ( unless they spring a surprise and pick Shreyas Iyer who seems to be in form in IPL )

1 for reserve WK- either Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik ( Some are picking Sanju Samson as surprise choice)

1 for spinner or extra seamer - either Jadeja or one of Khaleel Ahmed/Siraj

If they feel reserve opener is needed as backup for Dhawan/Rohit, there may be a chance for Prithvi Shaw or Mayank Agarwal.

Anyone left with a chance ?

[prasen9]

I think they will play safe. Rahul, Jadeja, Pant, Vijay. My predictions.

[Sin Hombre]

Jadeja is a certainty, he has a role as a substitute fielder.

That leaves 3 spots. Pant or Karthik is likely one, unless they take Rahul as the 2nd keeper/backup opener. Shankar could take a spot ahead of Rayadu. Navdeep Saini could be an interesting call for 4th seamer.

My team - xi certainties + Jadeja, Rahul, Shankar, Saini

[ankit1407]

I think it will be Jadeja Rahul Karthik and Shankar..

[prasen9]

The Aussies played it safe with the batting. Maxwell gets in instead of Ashton Carter. The bowing is as expected. However, they brought in Behrendorff instead of Hazlewood. That is a big, big surprise imho though the press was already talking about it. Hazlewood in English conditions would have been great and is more of a line and length bowler with a better record than anyone else but Starc! Incredible. Can we claim him please? I suppose they wanted to go with another left-hander. Honestly, the two Aussie spinners Zampa and Lyon are crap. They should go with seven pacers. I would have taken another all-rounder. Faulkner and Kane Richardson. Maybe Zampa is okay but Lyon will be rather useless. Of course, anything can happen in one day. But, generally, offies are of less use in today's ODIs. I wonder why they ditched Faulkner a few years ago. I hear he is still doing fine in the domestics.

[sameerph]

Maxwell was a certainity I guess. He did very well in their last 2-3 matches.

There may be fitness issues with Hazelwood. So, they want to reserve him for ashes.

I have not checked records but Zampa seemed pretty good at least against India.

[prasen9]

I am thinking about England. In the subcontinent, Zampa is good. And, no team wants to go without any spinner. So, Zampa is fine. Faulkner took a lot of wickets in the Big Bash but was expensive. He lost two years and one of his knees is dodgy. Maybe the Aussies do not want another injury issue at the WC. Hazlewood was quite sure he would be fit though. But this is the World Cup. You don't save someone for the piddly Ashes

[prasen9]

Ankit gets the cake. So, Hardik is the only big hitter. Hope Kedar finds his hitting touch. As does Karthik. Maybe Shankar is the #4?

[sameerph]

This is the final squad -

Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami

I think DK ahead of Pant was the only real surprise. Otherwise it was predictable choice.

For me, Rahul,Jadeja, one of Yadav /Chahal and Karthik would be the ones missing out from first choice XI for the initial matches. I think Dhoni should bat at #4 followed by Vijay Shankar, Kedar and Pandya.

[prasen9]

Sounds like what they will do. Although they may play Karthik. I do not mind rotating people if we are playing minnows at the beginning.