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Rajkumar Sharma wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2024 1:31 pm Aussies are going allout before the upcomming BGT. India,'s batting position at 3rd & 5th will be in question. S Iyer & KL failed in both of the last away tests in SA. Sarfaraz, Devdutt, Patidar has'nt played enough four dayers in Australia. BCCI should have arranged few A games before BGT. It looks bowlers this time won't get enough suppport from batters

Great post.. i liked how you ended the post saying that bowlers may not get enough support. They need to rest Siraj for next 2-3 months as well and have him fresh. He looks burnt out

Jaiswal, Gill, Rohit, Kohli , Pant , Jadeja are probably the certainty in the side from batting perspective.We need to identify at least one more batsman.

KL Rahul is probably our best bet. He will at least do well in the first test

Sarfaraz Khan is the incumbent. Surely, he deserves to be in the side ahead of KL Rahul at this point. Rahul has shown poor temperament in crucial matches (which manifests itself in the early part of his test innings too). At the moment, he and Shreyas Iyer are outsiders to the test side. At a minimum, they need scorching performances in the Duleep Trophy to rehabilitate themselves (especially after their complete failures in the ODIs in SL, for which they were picked rather unfairly ahead of other contenders).

Rohit, Kohli, Jadeja, Pant, Yashasvi are the assured five. Then, we need two more to be in the XI. Plus four bowlers. Either four pacers or 3 pacers and a spinner.

The spinners are easy: Ashwin and Kuldeep.

So the two batters. Rahul and Gill are the proven failures. Iyer is a failure too. But, I think Gill has great backing from the team management and the selectors. Also, he was fine in the batting pitches Australia gave us last time. So, in reality, he is the 6th batter. Who are the other contenders? I would try Sarfaraz and Jurel. I would love them to take Rinku Singh but I suppose they will not.

If we over-value experience then it should be:

Yashasvi, Rohit, Gill, Kohli, Iyer, Pant, Jadeja.

If we want a mix, it should be

Yashasvi, Rohit, Gill, Kohli, Sarfaraz, Pant, Jadeja (most likely)

If we want to reward performers in the last series, it should be:

Yashasvi, Rohit, Sarfaraz, Kohli, Pant, Jadeja, Jurel

In any case, I would hope that Sarfaraz and Jurel are in the team flying out. They are possibly also going to back Devdutt Padikkal.

Kumar, who are the domestic uncapped (in tests) who average over 50 with the bat? I know Baba Indrajit is one such guy. Over 50 in Indian domestics is roughly 40 in tests and roughly 35 in SENA. Or below. Again, this is a very rough estimate and actuals vary case by case.

So, Rohit, Yashasvi, Gill, Kohli, Sarfaraz, Pant, Jurel, Rinku (in reality Devdutt Padikkal)

Jadeja, Ashwin, Kuldeep

5 pacers

That is a 16 member squad. If they take a 17 member squad, then we should add a batter. The reason is on bouncy pitches and with our technique, players will get hurt. Rahul has failed more comprehensively than Iyer but Iyer perhaps has a bad rap against pace bowling. So, most possibly they will take Rahul. Also, because we need a backup opener and Gill does not like opening.

Since this is a five-match series, we will need lots of replacements. So, if they could send an A-team to play at least 2-3 matches that will have people ready to chip in. I would take Easwaran, Rinku, Indrajit in my A-team.

Bumrah, Shami, Siraj walk in if they are fit. We need two more. Shardul Tkahur and Akash Deep, because they can bat a bit?

Sai Sudarshan and Rinku Singh are two batsmen who average well over 50 in first class cricket. Rinku failed with India A against England Lions last year, but Sai Sudarshan did OK. And he also did well in England for Surrey last year. Abhimanyu Easwaran also averages well over 50 in first class cricket. All will have an opportunity to show their wares in the Duleep Trophy. And there is an India A side going to Australia before the series begins.

I think Sudarshan does not even average 40 in FC, PKB. Should not be in the test squad. ODI/T20I - sure as a backup.

Sorry, yes, Sai Sudarshan averages less than 40 in first class cricket, over 60 in List A.

And, Easwaran also does not average over 50. He should be above 45 and below 50. Still, I would have him in a A-team or in case of injuries. ... I think you are confusing Baba Indrajit with Sai/Easwaran. B. Indrajit averages over 50 in FC cricket. Kumar knows these things by heart. I keep forgetting. But, I remember Rinku and Indrajit. And that Sai, Easwaran, etc. are under 50. Patidar is under 45. Etc.

For openers maybe we need a lower bar. And, 47 or whatever it is for Easwaran is fine.

Yes, Easwaran averages 47.65 in first class and 47.49 in List A cricket (this at a strike rate of nearly 83), but is never thought of as a contender for the ODI side (even when a second-string side goes to SL or Zim).
Karun Nair still averages 48.66 in first class cricket.
Shivam Dube averages just over 50 in first-class cricket, surprisingly.
Ankit Bawne (now 31+) also averages over 50, as does 34 year old Manish Pandey (still).
Baba Indrajith (also just past 30) averages 53+. His twin brother Aparajith (a batting allrounder) seemed more promising for a long time, but has faded (he averages 38+ with bat and 42 with the ball).
Sarfaraz's brother Musheer Khan averages nearly 59, but off only 6 first class matches. His short career includes top-scoring in a Ranji final.
S Gani of Bihar also averages over 55, but most of his big runs were in the Plate league against utter minnows.

PKBasu wrote: Sat Aug 24, 2024 10:14 am Sarfaraz Khan is the incumbent. Surely, he deserves to be in the side ahead of KL Rahul at this point. Rahul has shown poor temperament in crucial matches (which manifests itself in the early part of his test innings too). At the moment, he and Shreyas Iyer are outsiders to the test side.

Its true Shreyas has struggled. KL has been poor but it also hard to ignore that frequent batting position changes, playing as keeper batter or only as middle order batter, has also affected his mindset. Gill most likely will bat n.o 3 in Australia, not sure how much he can sustain with that technique. A decade of Rahul Dravid and Pujara, it has been a batting position where the team has got foundation for scoring big totals in test matches

KL Rahul got 80 innings or more in about 45 tests or more as the opener. He failed conclusively. He batted in the MO in a handful of tests and kept in three innings in 50 tests. His playing out of position or keeping is just an excuse. He was simply bad.

So, the domestic performers XI (who have not debuted in tests) is:

Easwaran, X, Bawne, Indrajith, Dube, Rinku

There may be some value in taking Dube as a backup. Say if Jadeja is hurt ... and we need a batting allrounder.

I think KL Rahul has a FC average around 55+ if u exclude test matches. His biggest problem is that he is not consistent.

His performance in Australia is very ordinary. An average of 20 in 9 innings aided by century in Sydney. If u take away that century his average drops to 10. We have to play this year Duleep trophy in hard bouncy grounds and see who does well under those conditions.

Shivam Dube is an interesting prospect. Can he do well in hard bouncy conditions. Not sure if his bowling will be effective in Australia.

I am okay going with someone like Sarfaraz in playing 11 . I think his brother may end up being a better national player

Would Ishan kishen make the team as reserve keeper?

Our bowling may actually be not as good this time around. We need some exciting pace prospects

We should only play Dube if Jadeja is hurt as the fifth bowler and batter. Lack of pace is best utilized in England where swing is king. On the Aussie wickets, Dube will get some assistance but is too slow. I would only take him to bowl line and length as a containing bowler for 10 overs if some bowler is hurt or when the pitch is flat and we need to contain from one side and the four frontline bowlers are all overbowled in the absence of Jadeja.

Rahul's domestic runs are irrelevant because we have proof that he cannot bat in Test cricket. We have seen the same for Gill, who is also perhaps an over 50 domestic batter. Ishan Kishan always fails when the chips are down. Jurel showed a big heart and clean technique while batting. His keeping needs a bit more improvement but he is technically better than Kishan, who is an awful keeper. So, we must choose Jurel, the much better batter in domestics, at least and with some evidence of a calm head under pressure. Kishan bats scared whenever a few wickets are down and fails. Not a Kishan fan except for ODIs.

I truly hope the Duleep is played on hard, bouncy, pacy wickets - as much as we can reproduce. Knowing BCCI, they possibly don't care and want to go through the motions. We should also not knee-jerk-select based on Duleep only. It should may be count as the last 25% of the selection points with the bulk coming from the players' careers.

To add to the prospects above, I would like to see the likes of Prithvi Shaw, Pradosh Ranjan Paul to be added - forgot them. So, my A-team would be:

Easwaran, Prithvi, Pradosh Paul, Baba Indrajit, Rinku, Dube, Kishan, Musheer ...

If Dube is in the first team, then try Atit Sheth or Ankit Bawne.

Dube isn't a proper bowler, and would be a complete waste as all-rounder in tests (can possibly bat, but will be taken to the cleaners with the ball). His numbers look very impressive, perhaps because he bowled a lot more in the early part of his first class career, and did well in pace friendly domestic wickets on the first day of matches. (He has 52 wickets in 21 first class matches at 21.52 apiece, and averages 52.55 with the bat). In recent matches, he didn't bowl much -- and didn't bowl even one over in his latest first-class match in February 2024.

If we are looking for an all-rounder, the one that stands out is Harshit Rana -- a genuinely fast bowler, who has a first-class batting average of just below 50 (49.00 to be precise)! In his last first class match (last year's Duleep Trophy semifinal), he scored 31 and 38, and took 2/41 and 3/84. His first class bowling average is 26+ -- but of course the sample size is small (just 7 first-class matches). If there is someone who can be groomed to become a test all-rounder, particularly for a tough tour of Australia, Harshit Rana is our man. Another one is Vijaykumar Vyshak, who averages 17+ with the bat (similar to Shardul Thakur) and 22+ with the ball (very good).