India Team Discussion

[Divyendu Shekhar]

I just feel like the board has asked him to stay, in case they can't find someone to replace him because of the number of ICC events in the next 2-3 years. I don't see him as someone who would ever do something just keeping his own interests in mind, without consent from the board.
The emergence of KL Rahul as a wicket-keeper makes it all the more intriguing.

 

[Bevab]

I remember posting a team that I would like to see a few months ago in this thread for the 2020 World Cup. Since then, circumstances have changed and if you were asking me to pick a team right now, this is what I would opt for

• A top three of Rohit, Rahul and Kohli. Now I still believe that the most optimal usage of Kohli would be to let him open as this is where players of his style thrive in T20s but given that he hasn't been comfortable there recently and with Rohit's impressive international record as an opener alongside his flourishing partnership with Rahul, I shall probably go with the same. Just don't include Dhawan again though, he is a quality option to have as a backup but shouldn't be ahead of Rahul by any measure.
• At four I really wanted to see Pant as if he could translate even half of what he's done in the IPL, India will have a match-winner on their hands. Alas, he has failed to do so and his IPL captain has been arguably more consistent. Iyer thrives on attacking spinners but is a bit suspect to real pace and this is something he will need to work on if he is to become a permanent member in the T20I team.
  
• Number five should be Hardik Pandya for one simple reason. There is arguably no one better at scoring quickly other than the above mentioned Iyer versus spin. To waste a player of his talent down the order at seven or even six wouldn't be ideal. His T20 batting average is close to 28 which shows that if he is allowed to work on his batting rather being forced to operate as the fifth bowler, we might very well have a truly well balanced all-rounder.
• At six, India have recently experimented with Pandey. Now I have nothing against him and I praise his adaptability in playing this role as on paper he seems ill-suited to it. When he has a hitter like Hardik to help him, his more steady role at six rotating the strike and scoring a few boundaries shall certainly help and he can be a valuable asset for scoring from the more unplayable deliveries. However, when the team is in a chase that requires going at over 10 rpo, he isn't the ideal option and so unless he shows a regular ability to be aggressive, I would like to see Karthik back into the lineup. Dropping him from the T20I side for poor ODI form is silly when he has been the best Indian finisher in the IPL for the past two seasons. His range of shots seems to have increased and he does seem to be well suited to rotate the strike quickly if required. In addition, he can relieve Rahul of keeping duties.
• While I wanted Krunal at seven, Jadeja's 2019 form makes him difficult to leave out and as shown in the NZ series, he seems to have improved massively in bowling economically and his fielding is worth it too. On the other hand, I'm really unsure about his batting as it is one-dimensional and he can be quite easily restricted.
  
• My controversial choice for eight is Washington Sundar. He wouldn't necessarily be my first choice either as I believe Ashwin is a definite upgrade on him with the ball but the latter last played a T20I in 2017 and doesn't seem to be anywhere in the frame for a T20I recall even if he is one of the leading spinners we have. Sundar at eight offers batting depth that our tail desperately needs and this is a bloke who is good enough to bat in the top six regularly for Tamil Nadu. My main reason for including him is the tactical variety he offers with the ball as a powerplay spinner. Sundar can bowl economical spells in the first ten overs and is a valuable opening option against someone like Warner or Munro.
  
• The secondary pacer in this team is another controversial choice but I've been backing him for a long time, even before his T20I exploits and that is Saini. I've always maintained that you need one bowler who can bowl serious pace on Australian pitches and Saini fits the bill and he also has a good yorker. He is a little rough around the edges but a few more T20I games can easily sort that out. I do not like Shami as a T20 bowler as I believe he is a bit too expensive but he is a better alternative compared to the likes of Khaleel and Thakur.
  
• Bumrah and Chahal are pretty much locks in this bowling unit for obvious reasons.
• So who are the unlucky ones to miss out here? I really like Bhuvi but the 2016-17 version of him increasingly seems to be a mirage from another time as his pace and consistency have dropped significantly. If he can recapture his form and fitness though, he would walk straight back into the lineup most likely for Sundar (although that does weaken the batting, which means that the only reason to do it is if he truly returns to his best). Deepak Chahar needs to improve on his pace slightly more but he is another player I wouldn't mind taking as a backup if Bhuvi fails in his fitness bid. Kuldeep, Krunal, Dube, Dhawan and Pant all miss out on a first team role due to the presence of better alternatives for now but all of them have a chance to return to the playing XI if they can show more consistency and in case of any injury woes.
  
• As for Dhoni, he is well past his peak and never truly brought his IPL form in Indian colours. Barring an injury crisis affecting all three keeping options, I would never go back to him as it would be a significant step backward.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

@Bevab how about Kohli and Rahul switching themselves in T20Is ? Seeing the way Rohit Sharma plays along with Rahul I think he does have the ability to attack in early overs as opposed to his natural way of taking time to settle. There are 3 advantages of it:-

1. Kohli will get more time to settle in.
2. If we get off to a good start by having runs on the board then Rahul can come in and give boost to the run-rate by playing his unorthodox shots
3. We probably would get the best out of an attacking and an aggressive Rohit Sharma which would mean we can score above par in most of the matches.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Also I think if Pant does make a comeback then he should be playing at 5 and definitely he would play ahead of Pandey in the XI. So my batting order would be like

1. Rohit Sharma
2. Virat Kohli
3. KL Rahul (If he also keeps wickets probably Pant could play a bit more freely)
4. Shreyas Iyer
5. Rishabh Pant
6. Hardik Pandya
7. Ravindra Jadeja
8. Washington Sunder

So here I have a batting line-up which bats deep down right till no.8. Also we have 3 bowling options in there and Iyer probably could bowl an over of leg-spin perhaps ?

 

[Bevab]

@Bevab how about Kohli and Rahul switching themselves in T20Is ? Seeing the way Rohit Sharma plays along with Rahul I think he does have the ability to attack in early overs as opposed to his natural way of taking time to settle. There are 3 advantages of it:-

1. Kohli will get more time to settle in.
2. If we get off to a good start by having runs on the board then Rahul can come in and give boost to the run-rate by playing his unorthodox shots
3. We probably would get the best out of an attacking and an aggressive Rohit Sharma which would mean we can score above par in most of the matches.

I wouldn't really mess around with Rahul at the moment given the purple patch he is in. Besides that, while his game has significantly improved in terms of striking boundaries outside of the powerplay, he still depends on it quite a bit in T20s. Another player to compare with would be Buttler who struggles in T20s as a middle order player but as an opener has a clear plan on how to play. Added to that, he is the most inform Indian T20 batsman and could very well be soon described as Kohli's equal.

Rohit on the other hand has ample experience at three and four for Mumbai and he isn't someone who takes advantage of the powerplay like Rahul or Kohli does. He relies more on power which fetches runs at any time and doesn't seem to mind scoring boundaries outside of the powerplay. While it isn't the best use of him, I would rather have a 11/10 Kohli than a 10/10 Rohit.

I like the lineup you've posted as we've got some excellent hitting options and also batting depth besides variety in bowling. I would probably have Pant as the keeper as his keeping for Delhi is generally excellent and for some reason (pressure?) he seems unable to do the same for India which can be easily resolved.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

@Bevab I very much agree with your point about Rohit. He is really the player who gets on my nerves when I see him not effectively utilising his role. And I think he exactly doesn't score as quickly in T20s as we have seen in ODIs during the World Cup as he was the first player who took on the attack to the bowlers in the World Cup when he started opening with Rahul

The remaining 3 players I didn't mention should be Bumrah, Saini and Chahal as you mentioned above. So I have a lot of players in my mind the list would go as follows

Openers

Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli
Shikhar Dhawan (as reserve)

Middle Order and All-rounders

Shreyas Iyer
KL Rahul (not sure whether he should open or be in the middle order, but for now I have him here)
Rishabh Pant
Hardik Pandya
Ravindra Jadeja
Washington Sunder
Manish Pandey (as reserve)

Spinners

Yuzvendra Chahal
Kuldeep Yadav (as reserve)

Bowlers

Jasprit Bumrah
Navdeep Saini
Deepak Chahar (as reserve if Bhuvi isn't fit)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (as reserve if fit)

Other reserves (in case there are injuries)

(i) Batsman and All-rounders
Prithvi Shaw (if opener)
Shubman Gill (if middle order)
Shivam Dube (if Hardik)
Krunal Pandya (if Jadeja)

(ii) Wicket-keepers
Dinesh Karthik
Sanju Samson (if DK is not the option)
MS Dhoni (for extreme cases)

(iii) Bowlers
Rahul Chahal
Mohammad Shami
Khaleel Ahmed

Ironically we don't have any conventional off-spinner apart from Sunder so I think he becomes an obvious choice and his injury would really hurt the varities we have in Bowling department.

But good news is we have 26 options from which we can have our 15.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Moody was right on the point there!!!!

 

[Verified Enigma]

Moody was right on the point there!!!!

the middle and lower order conundrum stays till date. More worse with MSD's absense

 

[Verified Enigma]

@Bevab I very much agree with your point about Rohit. He is really the player who gets on my nerves when I see him not effectively utilising his role. And I think he exactly doesn't score as quickly in T20s as we have seen in ODIs during the World Cup as he was the first player who took on the attack to the bowlers in the World Cup when he started opening with Rahul

The remaining 3 players I didn't mention should be Bumrah, Saini and Chahal as you mentioned above. So I have a lot of players in my mind the list would go as follows

Openers

Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli
Shikhar Dhawan (as reserve)

Middle Order and All-rounders

Shreyas Iyer
KL Rahul (not sure whether he should open or be in the middle order, but for now I have him here)
Rishabh Pant
Hardik Pandya
Ravindra Jadeja
Washington Sunder
Manish Pandey (as reserve)

Spinners

Yuzvendra Chahal
Kuldeep Yadav (as reserve)

Bowlers

Jasprit Bumrah
Navdeep Saini
Deepak Chahar (as reserve if Bhuvi isn't fit)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (as reserve if fit)

Other reserves (in case there are injuries)

(i) Batsman and All-rounders
Prithvi Shaw (if opener)
Shubman Gill (if middle order)
Shivam Dube (if Hardik)
Krunal Pandya (if Jadeja)

(ii) Wicket-keepers
Dinesh Karthik
Sanju Samson (if DK is not the option)
MS Dhoni (for extreme cases)

(iii) Bowlers
Rahul Chahal
Mohammad Shami
Khaleel Ahmed

Ironically we don't have any conventional off-spinner apart from Sunder so I think he becomes an obvious choice and his injury would really hurt the varities we have in Bowling department.

But good news is we have 26 options from which we can have our 15.

I think Kohli is a proper fit at 3 when it comes to Indian T20 side

he provides proper balance to the team

unlike RCB where he has ABD to follow

 

[Bevab]

the middle and lower order conundrum stays till date. More worse with MSD's absense

I would argue that Dhoni was himself a part of the conundrum and expect it to get better now in his absence.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

I really feel for Rahane that nobody have talked about him like how he could've been a really solid middle order batsman in English conditions facing the white ball. He has done really well in England for ages. And was quite surprised that people bring that strike rate issue when Rayudu have even worse strike rate. Also sorry for being harsh but over the years I believe Rayudu's playing style is that of a slogger with a conservative approach and would've never survived under difficult conditions for long and definitely not the Semi-final that we lost.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

And I think the middle order made us lose the ODI series in New Zealand. Like all 3 matches we were around 25-30 runs. Things would've been different if we had Hardik in the side and had it been some other player instead of Kedar Jadhav batting at 6 for us. Kedar hasn't even been middling anything since the start of World Cup last year forget about being able to score quick runs in end overs.

 

[Verified Enigma]

I really feel for Rahane that nobody have talked about him like how he could've been a really solid middle order batsman in English conditions facing the white ball. He has done really well in England for ages. And was quite surprised that people bring that strike rate issue when Rayudu have even worse strike rate. Also sorry for being harsh but over the years I believe Rayudu's playing style is that of a slogger with a conservative approach and would've never survived under difficult conditions for long and definitely not the Semi-final that we lost.

+1

Rahane's demotion from Team India was more unfair than Karun Nair's demotion from the test squad.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Probably a ray of hope in the midst of all that misery happening with the team management. I think Ganguly is spot on with all that he has said. India don't just need to compete but they need to win.

Ganguly to Kohli: 'I expect you to win in Australia'

I think Ishant has to be our key to the success in the Australian summer this time around. He can trouble the left-handers of Australia especially Warner with that away swinger. Bumrah has to be given one very crucial job of getting Steve Smith out, he is one such bowler who can actually trouble the best batsman of Australia.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Some pleasing stats

Pace Bowling
Spinners at home