England in India, February-March 2021

[PKBasu]

The World Test Championship will culminate with the home series against England -- the first two tests of which will be played at Chepauk (MA Chinnaswami stadium, Chennai). Jadeja and Shami are still injured, but Ashwin and Bumrah will be back, as will skipper Kohli. Washi Sundar is surely going to be the spinning all-rounder for the first two tests, and Shahbaz Nadeem or Kuldeep Yadav will be the second spinner. Chennai is usually a spinners' paradise. Shardul Thakur probably has a place, but will Ishant find a place back in the side? Announcement later today.

[Rajiv]

So as expected the old faces are back against England, Rahane has to hand back the captaincy, Shaw shown the door,Mayank surprisingly retained, Will Thakur, Washington get a nod over Hardik.
Vihari (due to injury), Nattu unlucky to miss out.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content ... 48503.html

[PKBasu]

Axar Patel gets a call-up ahead of Shahbaz Nadeem (who is a standby).

[prasen9]

So as expected the old faces are back against England, Rahane has to hand back the captaincy, Shaw shown the door,Mayank surprisingly retained, Will Thakur, Washington get a nod over Hardik.
Vihari (due to injury), Nattu unlucky to miss out.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content ... 48503.html

Nata and Saini were the worst of the bowlers. So, this is fair. The surprise to me is Rahul. Why on earth are we choosing to play him over say Iyer, who has a fabulous domestic record where Rahul only played one Ranji match last year and he has been given a long rope and conclusively failed? Sad.

And, really? Hardik as a specialist bat in tests in India and not abroad? What is the logic?

Good to see Washi, Thakur, and Siraj, the architects of one of our most famous wins rewarded. As is Pant. But, I'd rather play him as a batsman in India.

[prasen9]

Right decision. We need our spinners to bat because most of our pacers cannot. England has the best tail, imho, arguably. We need to counter that instead of crying that our tail never wags, etc. Washi should not play because Ashwin blocks him. In Kuldeep, we get some variety. Both Washi and Ashwin are off-spinners. And, Washi got worked out in the second innings. His bat is invaluable.

I would go with Ashwin, Axar, Kuldeep, Ishant, Bumrah. I may not mind Thakur instead of Ishant.

Saha over Pant will be a very bold decision. But, if you do not do that, you risk half the catches off the three spinners being dropped. Or something like that. What do you do? No space to play him as a specialist bat either. What a (good) quandary.

[sameerph]

This is the full team for first 2 tests for England -

Openers: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal
Middle-order: Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul (subject to fitness after first Test)
Fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur
Spinners: R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel

So, I guess confirmed 8 players would be Rohit,Gill,Pujara,Kohli,Rahane, Pant,Ashwin,Bumrah. Either 1 batsman and 2 bowlers or 3 bowlers for the other 3 spots. If it is a batsman it would be one between Mayank, Pandya or Rahul. But I do not think we need a seventh batsman in India. So, it is likely to be 3 bowlers and one out of Sunder or Shardul to be allrounder batting at #7. Ishant Sharma would most likely to make it to the XI. I guess Siraj or Shardul Thakur would play only if we play a third seamer which is unfortunate after their stellar performance this week.

[Atithee]

I don’t think we should get carried away with the victory at Gabba and call the bowing stellar. It was the batting from the lower order that was stellar. Which is a stark reminder of the Atithee theory that only pick bowlers who can bat a bit. We don’t need a lot from them but we do need it. So, the bowling of Siraj, Thakur, and Sundar shouldn’t be given too much importance in future selections. Aussies are an impatient bunch, and this actually shows that a good and disciplined bowler will succeed against them. And it’s not like that they were bundled out cheaply. We just batted out of our skins against the best bowling attack in the world. Oh, and we held our catches better too. This has been a series of dropped catches on both sides. To be honest, except that awful 36 debacle, we were better in the whole series most of the time. We had a handy lead in the first innings in the lost test too.

[Atithee]

Et tu, Sundar? Didn’t know he still follows the game and tweets about cricket. Maybe Washington Sundar got him excited being his namesake. I suppose you can take an Indian out of India, but can’t take cricket out of him.

[Kumar]

I would consider resting Bumrah and bring in Thakur! Considering that first test match is at Chennai, will play ashwin and potentially rest him for second test! If we play Saha, then we will have only 4 bowlers! We may have to let Pant practice on his keeping to spinners and take chance that damages are kept to minimum

Something for Pant to focus on
https://indianexpress.com/article/expla ... g-7147671/

I see how we can play Hardik as specialist bat, then also we have to go with only 4 bowlers!

I am just curious how the bubble will work in India! Wondering if Indian team follow the rules properly in India! I have a feeling that we may end up seeing COVID cases during this test series

Also why are we no longer playing pongal test! Just read that we have not played one since Hirwani magic

[Atithee]

As I read the article that Kumar linked below, I also ran into the following:

https://indianexpress.com/article/expla ... g-7147671/

Ironic that as we went into the last day at Gabba and also Sydney before that, I was immediately thinking of Tendulkar eschewing the cover drive. We do need to stop letting our ego getting better of us. Aussies may be a bigger culprit here though. The reverse sweep from Sundar and even the scoop shot Pant played for a boundary fall in similar unnecessary plays in the situation.

[PKBasu]

Also worth mentioning the choice of standbyes and net bowlers:

Standbyes: KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Priyank Panchal
Net bowlers: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, K Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar

I'm very surprised that Abhimanyu Easwaran has been picked. He had a brilliant season two years ago, including for India A. But his form completely deserted him last year, and he is in danger of losing his place in the Bengal side for this year (already having been dropped for the Mushtaq Ali Trophy). It is extraordinary that he is now picked as a test standby. Nadeem must be counted as extremely unlucky not to make the actual squad. If the selectors didn't have confidence in Kuldeep at the SCG or Gabba, will they have confidence in him at Chepauk?

It is going to be a very difficult choice between Axar Patel and Washington Sundar for the all-rounder's slot. As a bowler, I think Axar is better, although as a test batsman Sundar is now much the more established!

So the first test squad should be: Gill, Rohit, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Pant (wk), Axar, Ashwin, Kuldeep, Bumrah, Ishant.

If they decide to drop the Gabba hero Pant and pick Saha, the batting will need to be strengthened, and Shardul should then replace Ishant. I presume domestic pace specialist Umesh is still injured. Very difficult to keep Gabba hero Siraj out too. It is a toss-up between Siraj and Bumrah for a home test.

[Atithee]

England bats very deep. We need our top bowlers. Bumrah has to play. Sundar started as an opening batsman and it shows. He is over Axar. I am known to be biased against Ishant unless he tightens his batting. He can then stay at the expense of Siraj. Umesh is too wayward in my opinion—he gives a four ball every over. I would play Thakur for his batting. And Rahul stays over Rohit. My team thus is:

Gill, Rahul (Rohit if Rahul not fit), Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Pant, Sundar, Ashwin, Thakur, Bumrah, Siraj.

I would have kept Mayank as an opener but he is not in the squad.

[PKBasu]

Mayank is in the squad. It would be bold (and actually, on form, correct) to leave Rohit out, but I wouldn't pick Mayank -- whose form in Australia was woeful, including at Brisbane. Picking Rahul ahead of Rohit would be bold and correct, but extremely unlikely.

I think 3 pacers are unnecessary, especially for a Chennai test. For Mohali, yes. So Kuldeep should play. Sundar and Ashwin are both offspinners, which is why Axar should play instead.

[Atithee]

For playing in India, I don’t think there is a better opener than Mayank. His Australian results are not to be used in making a selection for a series in India. He will not disappoint.

We need Ashwin and Sundar’s batting and not the variety of bowling that Kuldeep or Axar will bring. Make no mistake about it.

[PKBasu]

Instead of Abhimanyu Easwaran (who was totally off-form last year), the best Ranji batsman of the last season, Sarfaraz Khan, should have been among the standbyes -- in fact, he should have been in the 18-man squad ahead of Pandya and Mayank. The new selection committee is continuing to ignore domestic first-class cricket.

I agree that Mayank has been a titan in home tests, but he was also a titan on the previous Aussie tour. His confidence is completely shot at the moment, as evident in both innings of the Brisbane test. He isn't an automatic selection in my eyes.