Afghanistan in India T20I series, 2024

[Rajkumar Sharma]

If Dube performs, how they will pick injury prone Pandya. Their objective is to proof those newcomers as average performers anyhow. Team is failing to performing in big matches because of selection politics.

[prasen9]

Dube should have inched ahead of NTTV with this inning and because the team management has no confidence in NTTV's bowling. At least Dube got some overs. The weakest link in this batting side is Rohit, who is slow. All the rest can hit. But, he won't be dropped. In case, Kohli comes back in the next match, unfortunately, I'd have to say that NTTV needs to make space. Ideally, Kohli should take more time for his personal issues. I'd give Bishnoi more games along with Washy.

Avesh Khan is 31@9/over while Mukesh is 29@9.17/over. Maybe let's give Mukesh a couple of more games to see if he can improve. Avesh has gotten 18 innings and Mukesh 12.

[Kumar]

Avesh has played 19 games in two year span, while Mukesh has played in 5 months. Mukesh has gotten consistent starts which helps a player. Mukesh selection is par for our selectors who typically select white ball cricketers for red ball and vice versa (Sai Sudharshan, Tilak Verma, Sky ) .

[prasen9]

Tilak Varma is a good FC player, a superb List-A player and a pretty good T20 player. He got chosen for four ODIs and 16 T20Is. Maybe we play a lot more T20Is these days.

Sai Sudarshan is a so-so FC player, an absolutely superb List-A player, even better than NTTV, and a very slow T20 player. He got 3 ODIs, which I think is the correct decision. I hope they don't bring him close to the FC team or T20 but I think they have chosen him for the FC team already

Surya is a decent FC players, only slightly worse than NTTV but much better than Sai. He is an awful List-A batter but does not waste balls. Then, he is a world-class T20 player. He got 1 test, 37 ODIs and 60 T20Is. The 37 ODIs is a travesty. He should not have played the test either but one test is not too many I suppose. I hope they don't put him in line for the test team. I'd rather see one of Sarfraz, Rinku, etc. be developed.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Dube's bowling is weak link but that should'nt be the reason of dropping him from the side.When Pandya came into the team, he used to bowl only bouncers, later he improved alot because of Dhoni Rohit & Kohli who gave him the priority as an allrounder. Dube's batting is more superior but his bowling style will be lethal in those slow & sticky tracks of WI & USA

[prasen9]

Dube's batting indeed seems better than Hardik's in T20Is. But, it is early years. Let us hope he gets all three matches this series. In anyway, it is not one vs the other, we need to build good depth because anyone can get injured at anytime. In T20s, Dube and Hardik's batting records are about the same while Hardik is a much better bowler than Dube.

Ideally, we need to play him as a fifth bowler and have him bowl his full quota every match even if it means we lose a few matches. That is the only way his bowling will improve.

[Kumar]

Well NTTV just scored 100 not out against Nagaland and his average jumped from 37 to 44. As i mentioned earlier hyderbad is in plate league.

[prasen9]

[Kumar]

Interesting article on Dube from last year,

https://wisden.com/stories/csk-are-trus ... -in-backin

This article has analyzed his batting very accurately and how CSK handled him.

@prasen, he will chew up balls when he comes into the crease. He gave up a maiden over to offspinner yesterday. I know u don’t like players who waste balls in white ball cricket. Are u going to be okay with that.
He worked in the CSK system because CSK batted very deep. That is my biggest concern as Indian team do not bat beyond 7 . Even in IPL finals, he was 12 off 11 deliveries, really struggling and then two sixers off Rashid Khan and the game turned in CSK favor. Considering that WI pitches will favor slow bowlers, definitely some one to consider. Surprisingly his SR against pace is not bad considering how he seems to struggle against them.

All said, I would like him to be given long run. Put him in position where he can succeed just like CSK. If utilized perfectly, he could be a potent weapon.

[prasen9]

So, Kohli and Yashasvi come in place of Gill and NTTV. NTTV had faded. His inexperience shows. But, we need to really move on from the Kohli-Rohit era. I think we have more of a chance of winning with Gill etc. than the old batters.

The old-young analysis of this team:

Old: Rohit (36), Virat (35), Dube, Jitesh, Mukesh (30)
Young: Tilak (21), Yashasvi (22), Bishnoi (23), Washy, Gill (24).

Largely a young team. We should complete the transformation by dropping Rohit and Virat. Rohit may be able to be good in T20Is but he is not that much better than his replacements Gill, Gaikwad, Jaiswal and we should let the younger generation play. We will possibly not win this time but the experience these youngsters can gain will help in the future and we would be more likely to win later on if we play these guys for some time together.

[prasen9]

Dube's bowling is utter crap. He should, by no means, be asked to bowl over 19. As should not Washy. Bishnoi at over 17, 18 is also perhaps a bit iffy. Why do we need that? We always play 3 pacers. Only if a pacer is totally off, should we replace him. But, Dube's second over showed he has no control and is slow, meaning easy to hit.

Bishnoi also seems to be not at Kuldeep or even Axar level these days. Hope it is a bad form case and he improves.

[Kumar]

It would be interesting to see what selectors would do if Rohit Sharma IPL season turns out to be a failure. And he is outperformed by Gill, Gaikwad, Jaiswal and PSingh.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Dube's bowling is utter crap. He should, by no means, be asked to bowl over 19. As should not Washy. Bishnoi at over 17, 18 is also perhaps a bit iffy. Why do we need that? We always play 3 pacers. Only if a pacer is totally off, should we replace him. But, Dube's second over showed he has no control and is slow, meaning easy to hit.

Dube should be experimented. He is a utility player and should be tested in all matches with bat & ball before WC. Hardik was also a crap when he started his career, more he played he got improved. Both Dube & Hardik should play

[Kumar]

Pandya first year with ball averaged 24 and ER of 8, and 23.5 and 7.7 the second year. So I am wondering where this Pandya bowled like crap when he started is coming from.

His debut match against Australia , he took 2 wickets bolwing 3 overs and giving away 36 runs. The first series 7 overs 78 runs and 3 wickets. Definitely expensive. The very next series 6 overs 36 runs , no wickets.

For context Dube in first year(2019), average 37 and Er of 9, in second year 51 and average of 11. Dube has average of 41 and 9.39 Er in IPl while Pandya is 33 and 8.8.

So please do not make case for Dube by pulling down Pandya. Pandya is defintely a genuine allrounder who could bowl fast. Dube is not in his league when it comes to bowling.

[prasen9]

Absolutely. If you look at Dube bowling, it is lack of practice. He needs to bowl a lot more. He cannot land the ball where he wants to and 1-2 full tosses, half volleys, etc. are there. Dube also bowls at 110-120kph, Pandya 130-140. Dube needs to start trying to add a bit of pace but more importantly the ability to pitch the ball in the right place all the time. In international cricket, among Indian bowlers, his control is awful. In the sense, that for a slow bowler, you need to be able to pitch the ball. One can understand Umraan losing his radar trying to bowl fast. But, if you are just dropping the ball at 110-120kph, then there is no excuse to not being able to pitch the ball consistently where you want it to be. He is a 1 over bowler right now. Try to hide six balls without getting hit. If he gets hit, no big deal. The second over, the batters are going to come at him and he does not have the control to survive. Not saying he cannot improve. This is what he is now.

Dube should primarly play as a batter and emergency bowler.

Our best batting lineup should be: Yashasvi, Gill, SkAY, Dube, Rinku, Rahul. With Gaikwad being the backup. I'd play Dube ahead of Hardik if I need a batter. But, if I want an allrounder, then I'd play Hardik. Rohit hardly bowls the sixth bowler. Now, if we play Hardik as the 3rd pacer, then we actually strengthen the lineup to allow for our 3 #11s: Bumrah, Siraj, and Kuldeep, who are our best bowlers. Throw in Axar as the spinner.

Yashasvi, Gill, SkAY (vc), Dube, Rinku, Rahul, Hardik (c), Axar, Kuldeep, Bumrah, Siraj

This is a strong batting lineup with some good bowlers. If you want three spinners for certain pitches, you can choose between perhaps Jadeja.