World Cup 2019

[prasen9]

This team will lose because our batsmen are not good enough after the top 3. We need the wrist spinners --- both of them to take wickets in the middle overs. My team for the really meaningful games would be:

Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli, Dhoni, Shankar, Kedar, Hardik, Bhuvi, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah

Chahal makes way for Shami if the pitch needs fast bowlers.

Backups: Don't have a clue.

I put Dhoni in because he is certain to be retained. I would have tried Karthik or Pant. Maybe take them both and play whoever shows promise.

[Atithee]

No way, Prasenjose! The team you’ve picked is pretty much what’s been playing in the last few matches and is barely winning. I have no doubt that your team will lose way more than mine. I wish there were a way to test that in a computer simulation.

Why do you say that my choice does not have good batsman after number three? I picked batsmen first then their bowling ability. I think seven of the players are in common anyway. Oh well! Perhaps we can take a poll here. It’ll be fun.

[prasen9]

Krunal Pandya cannot bat in ODIs. We are talking about scoring 50s. Pant has not figured out how to bat in ODIs either. He suffers from Sehwagitis. He tries to bat too fast in ODIs and T20Is. Maybe someone should tell him it is a test match and then he can bat long enough to score a 50. Rahul is inexperiences, but he is talented and can score a 50. Your bowling attack will give up 350 every time. You are using Krunal, Vijay, and Kedar to bowl what 30 overs? They will go for 70-80 runs each if they have to bowl 10 overs. Batsmen will get used to them and they have nothing. Modern ODIs is about taking wickets. If you cannot take wickets, then we will lose. Jadeja does not take wickets either.

This team won in New Zealand 4-1, in Australia 2-1, against WI 3-1, the Asia Cup, lost in England 1-2, won in RSA 5-1, won against SL 2-1, New Zealand 2-1, Australia 4-1, in SL 5-0, and in WI 3-1. After the Champions Trophy in England. And, no, I have not omitted any series.

Kuldeep and Chahal are #4 and #5 bowlers in ODIs in the world. We have to play them both.

The recent problems have centred around Rayudu, Dhoni and the backup players. I do not mind replacing them.

So you have Rahul, Krunal, Shami and Pant. I like Shami. Pant, I would have preferred to be more experienced. Both he and Rahul are talented. I have Bhuvi, Kuldeep, Chahal, and Dhoni. Dhoni because of pragmatism. I don't mind some other keeper but nobody has been given a chance. So, I have to go on hope there. I want Kuldeep and Chahal because they are our strike bowlers. I reluctantly chose Bhuvi over Shami because otherwise the batting will be too frail and I wanted Bhuvi's bat and he can swing the ball in England.

[prasen9]

Kuldeep has averaged 20.63 at 4.84 runs/over, 85 wickets in 40 innings. Chahal at 23.83 at 4.8 runs/over, 71 wickets in 39 innings. Why blame it on these two? Our batting failures have been bad. If they regularly take out 4 wickets in 20 overs, the middle order of the opponents are sucked out. I don't want Vijay and Krunal or Jadeja to be coming in and giving cupcakes to the other teams' batsman and failing to take a wicket over 20-30 overs. That means the opponent will score huge runs regularly.

I'd be fine having a poll. Atithee XI or PM XI. No in betweens/alterations (those can be given in comments). Let us see who choses what

[ankit1407]

With flatter tracks , short boundaries and field placement restrictions the only way to win matches is by taking wickets and not by hoping if opposition makes 380 we can still win because we have loaded with batsman’s..

For whatever it’s worth between the options you guys have put we will win more with Prasen11..

[Atithee]

Game on! I mean poll on

[Prashant]

I'd hold *my* nose and take Atithee's 11, by a nose. I do want Kuldeep, but not enough to tolerate Dhoni.

[Sin Hombre]

I would take prasen's xi with the caveat that Shankar needs to bat at 4. Also the 2 out of Shami/Bhuvi/Chahal is a tossup based on the conditions.

Dhawan, on current form, should not even be in the squad but he has suddenly played better in ICC competitions in the past so he will be the opener going into the tournament. We do need to take an alternate if this form continues.

In general, we still won most ODI series. The matches we lose are all attributable to one or all of Rayadu, Dhoni and Dhawan.

[Atithee]

Sin Hombre, you gotta pick one side. No hedging; it’s ok to hold your nose as Prashant did

[PKBasu]

Broadly agree with Atithee (about the team, not the outcome). We are going to win this World Cup, but of course we need Shikhar and/or Rohit to click in each match, and not expose the rest of the batting early on.

My side would have the following (pretty balanced) 1st XI: Shikhar, Rohit, Kohli, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvi, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah. The bench would comprise: K Jadhav, R Jadeja, Md Shami, R Pant. It is a toss-up between Rahul and Jadhav. I don't expect the latter to be bowling too much in England. Krunal is better for T20Is.

[PKBasu]

I would also stop at least half the side from playing the second half of the IPL so that there are no injuries when it matters (at World Cup time).

[srini]

Please create a poll with possible xi s and see the votes. When you do that, please do not become constrained by who you think are already a certainty in the world cuup squad, but select your dream xi assuming you are given absolute power for national team selection for World Cup. If you provide your team choices, i can take up creating poll with your choices

[karr]

I would vote for Prasen's XI.
If Rahul plays, I think it should be as an opener instead of Dhawan. Take both in your 14, start with Rohit&Dhawan, and cut over to Rahul in a couple of games if Dhawan continues to underwhelm.
I like Kedar's attitude and grit. His fielding is atrocious - he makes routine catches look difficult. On balance, I would still take him as his middle order bowling, if used skillfully by Dhoni, can make a difference.
Depending on the opposition and pitch, I would take Shami over Chahal.
Overall, I think Prasen has it right.
Outside of the XI, who is our backup keeper - Pant or Karthik? I think Karthik is a wonderful T20 player, but his ODI game has really not been all that good. Pant's fluffs in the last game though was a hard swallow as it likely cost us the game. On balance, I would take Karthik, only because he has shown us that he can hold his nerve when it comes to tight finishes.

[prasen9]

Agreed. I would hold my nose and take Karthik. Yet, I cannot forget Pant's century in a test match in England, unprecedented by a keeper. And flamboyance in another in Australia. His appeal imho is as a hard hitting MO bat. If we can temper his Sehwagism in the limited overs game. But, given that the pitches will be batting-assisting and we cannot afford to not take wickets with our spinners - Kuldeep and 5 overs of Kedar + Chahal, if played, I cannot afford Pant behind the wickets. Let us hope he shows us that the last match was an aberration in the Kotla match.

[prasen9]

Pant got 4 innings. 23.25 at a SR of 131. In ODIs, we do not need that strike rate to be that high. But that is possibly skewed by a small number of innings and he coming towards the end in Mohali. Not much to choose from based on performance. If he is preferred over Karthik, it has to be based on his test batting.

Vijay Shankar got 5 innings. 33 at SR of 96.49. Great strike rate. But he got run out twice. And that brought his average down I suppose. Again small sample size.

It is possible that Rayudu will go by default