India tour of Australia - 2018/19

[Aalay]

One player that I am really concerned about is KL Rahul. I am his huge fan but he just hasn't been as consistent as I would like him to be. Again, I will start the series with him and Shaw as the openers but he really needs a big score to fix his place in the test line-up. It will also be interesting to see the bowling attack for the first test. With Pandya not being there, I feel that we will need to go with 5 bowlers with Ashwin playing as the all-rounder. I am also tempted to play Kuldeep in both Adeleide and Sydney test match. The fast bowlers I would start the series with are Bumrah, Ishant and Shami. My team for the first test would be:

KL Rahul
Shaw
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Ashwin
Kuldeep
Ishant
Shami
Bumrah

I know we will have a long tail if we go with this team but I still feel this is the best team that we can go with for the first test.

 

[zwarrior]

One player that I am really concerned about is KL Rahul. I am his huge fan but he just hasn't been as consistent as I would like him to be. Again, I will start the series with him and Shaw as the openers but he really needs a big score to fix his place in the test line-up. It will also be interesting to see the bowling attack for the first test. With Pandya not being there, I feel that we will need to go with 5 bowlers with Ashwin playing as the all-rounder. I am also tempted to play Kuldeep in both Adeleide and Sydney test match. The fast bowlers I would start the series with are Bumrah, Ishant and Shami. My team for the first test would be:

KL Rahul
Shaw
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Ashwin
Kuldeep
Ishant
Shami
Bumrah

I know we will have a long tail if we go with this team but I still feel this is the best team that we can go with for the first test.

I am so much into dropping Rahane but I don't think they will play Nair Vihari ahead of him. Jinx is a burden to the team now (with his batting only). Even I am huge fan of Rahul but I feel we should play Vijay ahead of him. Vijay performed well after he was dropped from the team. He played 3 county matches and scored 3 half centuries and 1 century.

I don't mind going with 5 bowlers as Australia provides flat tracks and we need as many bowling options as we can come up with. Ashwin is handy with bat, so that's one positive. If Kuldeep isn't effective maybe we can go with Jaddu as even he is good with bat and our tail will be pretty decent. One of Pujara or Kohli will have to score century every match and others need to play around them.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

So once again we are going into a test series with little or no preparation whatsoever. Just a single 3 day warm up game that too 1st day being washed out due to rain...... it really baffles me how experts are seeing India are favorites tbh I will be really surprised if India even managed to draw the series.

 

[Morphed]

That's what I meant. Since this will be his last, he deserves the chance to try and go for one more to end his career. He's definitely earned that right. India are in such a position of privilege with their batting that even if they play him as a specialist wicket keeper that won't hurt them much. I still don't think there is a better fielding wicket keeper out there than Dhoni. Perhaps De Kock, but considering he's in his prime says a lot about Dhoni.

Yeah, only problem is the no. 4 position

The confirmed squad is

1.Rohit Sharma
2.Shikhar Dhawan
3.Virat Kohli
4.?????
5.MS Dhoni
6.Kedhar Jadhav
7.Hardik Pandya
8.Bhuvaneshwar Kumar
9.Kuldeep Yadav
10.Yuzvendra Chahal
11.Jasprit Bumrah

In the 4th position, currently there are 3 contestants:-

1. Ambati Rayudu - AVG 51.7 ,
But at is a lowly 79.07,but he has proved his big hitting abilities against West Indies in India,but he has yet to prove in seaming and bouncy track( although I can guarantee you won't find any in the upcoming world cup in England from what I saw).He also choked in the Asia Cup finals.

2.Kl Rahul- Has played only 14 Odi matches, and has an below par AVG 35.2. Idk why are fans wanting him in the team in place of Rayudu. His sr is just marginally better than Rayudu 80.7 . He scored a century in t20i in England ,but since then hasn't been finding his form except than 149.

3.Dinesh Karthik - This man ha sproven his worth by that singular Nidahas innings, and has played many clutch knocks in Asia cup. He was wrongly adjudged lbw in that math against Afghanistan , and played a vital role in final.However his stats are absolutely pathethic
AVG 30.2 and at meagre SR of 72.9.

So far, Rayudu will perhaps be the winner​

 

[aditya123]

I am so much into dropping Rahane but I don't think they will play Nair Vihari ahead of him. Jinx is a burden to the team now (with his batting only). Even I am huge fan of Rahul but I feel we should play Vijay ahead of him. Vijay performed well after he was dropped from the team. He played 3 county matches and scored 3 half centuries and 1 century.

I don't mind going with 5 bowlers as Australia provides flat tracks and we need as many bowling options as we can come up with. Ashwin is handy with bat, so that's one positive. If Kuldeep isn't effective maybe we can go with Jaddu as even he is good with bat and our tail will be pretty decent. One of Pujara or Kohli will have to score century every match and others need to play around them.

I would still give Rahane 2 more tests before wielding the axe. He did seem to be getting back into some sort of rhythm after the first 2 tests in England. His scores in the last 4 tests are not exceptional but not bad (83, 32, 12, 52, 1, 37, 43, 85) like Rahul either. This is probably the worst time to drop him after having backed him in England. He seems to be spending a lot of time in the middle and then getting out randomly. Even with his poor confidence and form, he has produced 2 innings which have been matchwinning for India. That 83 at Southampton was priceless and his 85 against the Windies in the last test was when India were struggling at 140/4 staring at conceding a first innings lead to WI. He must quit T20s altogether and just focus on playing First Class cricket and LOIs. He is too good a test player to be lost in the process of a T20 career.

Also, I would play that extra batsman in the first test and not do anything adventurous.

 

[SaiSrini]

For the tests, I would go with Aalay's XI but for KL Rahul. I will actually open with Vijay-Shaw. Vijay has the experience, Shaw has the exuberance. I think the combo of Rahul and Shaw is very shaky with Rahul displaying excessive vulnerability. Could put pressure on Shaw. I'd back Vijay to use his experience to maneuver things around and Shaw being the aggressor at the other end.

 

[hammadahmed88]

Yeah, only problem is the no. 4 position

The confirmed squad is

1.Rohit Sharma
2.Shikhar Dhawan
3.Virat Kohli
4.?????
5.MS Dhoni
6.Kedhar Jadhav
7.Hardik Pandya
8.Bhuvaneshwar Kumar
9.Kuldeep Yadav
10.Yuzvendra Chahal
11.Jasprit Bumrah

In the 4th position, currently there are 3 contestants:-

1. Ambati Rayudu - AVG 51.7 ,
But at is a lowly 79.07,but he has proved his big hitting abilities against West Indies in India,but he has yet to prove in seaming and bouncy track( although I can guarantee you won't find any in the upcoming world cup in England from what I saw).He also choked in the Asia Cup finals.

2.Kl Rahul- Has played only 14 Odi matches, and has an below par AVG 35.2. Idk why are fans wanting him in the team in place of Rayudu. His sr is just marginally better than Rayudu 80.7 . He scored a century in t20i in England ,but since then hasn't been finding his form except than 149.

3.Dinesh Karthik - This man ha sproven his worth by that singular Nidahas innings, and has played many clutch knocks in Asia cup. He was wrongly adjudged lbw in that math against Afghanistan , and played a vital role in final.However his stats are absolutely pathethic
AVG 30.2 and at meagre SR of 72.9.

So far, Rayudu will perhaps be the winner​

I'm inclined to go with Rayudu as well. He also has a lot more experience. His kind of game complements the explosiveness of the first 3 really well for me. If India are quickly three down he can consolidate. If they need a hitter, they can send someone else up over him depending on the situation. I think he's the prefect fit.

Also, I'm not convinced about Pandaya in this 11 for your world cup team. I don't think he's good enough to be played as a third seamer yet. I would keep the same team and play Shammi. Three legitimate seam options are needed in England in my opinion. I also think leaving Jadeja out is a bit unfair, although, I'm not sure I'd take out any of the spin options, so I guess he just is unlucky that way.

 

[asprin]

I'm looking forward to see how Shaw performs in the series - not because it's in Australia, but because of who he will be facing. Runs against the pace quartet of Starc/Cummins/Hazlewood/Siddle would be a massive confidence booster. Ideally, I would have preferred to not to go in with Shaw for this series as yet, but given that we don't really have many options, I guess it was inevitable. The only thing I'm worried about is the aggressive nature that he plays with. He traditionally has had a higher boundary percentage than required - which might give the bowlers a higher chance of getting his wicket.

W.r.t Rahul, this should be a make or break series for him. Give him the assurance of 4 Tests and if he still underperforms, he is ought to be shown the door.

If it were upto me, I would go in with:

M.Vijay
P.Shaw
C.Pujara
V.Kohli
A.Rahane (tempted to play H.Vihari here since he has had decent success recently, but will stick to him for the time being)
R.Pant (will give him 2 Tests and if unsatisfactory, replace with P.Patel)
R.Ashwin
R.Jadeja (I would be a bit careful since it's the 1st Test and would like a stronger batting unit. We would still be playing with 5 bowlers this way along with the luxury of 2 all rounders)
I.Sharma
U.Yadav
M.Shami/J.Bumrah (Would decide by a coin toss M.Shami is a moody bowler and tends to give away a lot of freebies, but is also effective when the ball gets old. J.Bumrah has been more stable, but once the ball gets old not as effective as M.Shami)

 

[Master Bates]

I guess Vijay should be back. Let the overrated Rahul go! He was a technically sound batsman but maybe T20 cricket has changed his game. Another one goes for the IPL!

My lineup:
Vijay
Shaw
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Jadeja/Ashwin (I don't consider them as bowlers. Whosoever steps up should be give chance. For first match, even though Jadeja did a good job in England, I will go with Ashwin)
Pant
Kuldeep (the surprising factor)
Bhuvi/Ishant (Both rely on swing. Bhuvi can do it both ways while Ishant takes it away from the righties. I think Ishant is quicker than Bhuvi. If Bhuvi finds swing, then he will destroy the Aussies. But I think the management will go with Ishant. My choice is Bhuvi)
Umesh/Bumrah (Most likely Bumrah but Umesh has been performing well at home. Both are quick but Bumrah is more consistent and has a special action. I sacan swing the ball which Bumrah can't)
Shami (only bcoz of reverse swing his place is certain in my team)

 

[Morphed]

I'm inclined to go with Rayudu as well. He also has a lot more experience. His kind of game complements the explosiveness of the first 3 really well for me. If India are quickly three down he can consolidate. If they need a hitter, they can send someone else up over him depending on the situation. I think he's the prefect fit.

Also, I'm not convinced about Pandaya in this 11 for your world cup team. I don't think he's good enough to be played as a third seamer yet. I would keep the same team and play Shammi. Three legitimate seam options are needed in England in my opinion. I also think leaving Jadeja out is a bit unfair, although, I'm not sure I'd take out any of the spin options, so I guess he just is unlucky that way.

Jadeja is just a mediocre batter and a good offspinner, unfortunately offspinner aren't of much use now and Pandya being a superior batsman,although an average bowler wins over him. Depending upon form,,if Bhuvi plays well, he will be there,if not Shami is always there.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Vijay
Rahul
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Rohit
Pant
Kuldeep
Umesh
Shami
Bumrah

 

[ShamiLoverGlipGlops]

I am pretty sure Kohli will go with this lineup

Vijay
Shaw
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant
Rohit/Ashwin
Ashwin/Kuldeep/Bhuvi
Shami
Bumrah
Sharma


If Vijay fails for two tests, Rahul will come in or even with a possibility of Rohit opening perhaps?

 

[Aalay]

Again, a bad dismissal for Rahul and the second inning in this practice match will be crucial for him if he wants to open in the first test match. I am pretty sure Rahul and Vijay will open in the second inning of this practice match. As I said in my last post as well, Rahul has been very inconsistent for a class player like him. However, I won't go as far as saying that it will be a make or break series for him. However, I can say that about Rahane. He is under huge pressure and needs a good score in the first couple of test matches. He was India's best batsman the last time we had the overseas tours but looks a shadow of that player right now. Even yesterday when everyone was striking at strike rate of over 60, he was struggling to hit a boundary. He did get a half century but didn't look very convincing. Of course he is low on confidence but he needs to come out and score in the first two test matches to keep his position in the team. Also from Sanjay Bangar's press conference yesterday, it looks like they are thinking about going with only 4 bowlers which might be a problem if the pitch is flat. I don't think any of the Australian batsmen can read Kuldeep's googly and I feel Adelaide and Sydney are two venues where we can take advantage of that.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

I love how suddenly after a couple of bad knocks Rahul has become a bad test player. The bloke has a century in England & Australia. The same people will then jump and crib that Kohli isn't keeping a stable line up. Whatever batting line up you choose, stick to it for 5 tests. You give people confidence and show faith in them, the returns will come. The quality is undisputed in the squad. Dropping Rahane is very short sighted as well. Our mistake in SA and ENG was this chopping and changing only. The only left field selection I'm making is Kuldeep as my spinner. He's the guy who needs to be the first spinner in Aussie conditions. I wouldn't mind a Umesh/Shami/Bumrah fast bowling line up either. I don't think Australia is going to be the best place for Bhuvi to bowl in tests.

 

[hammadahmed88]

Ashwin is a must I think. I'm not sure why people even consider dropping him. Also, no one is saying Rahul is a bad player and is forever done. He's only 26. It does however look like he needs to get some confidence back and persisting with him in tough conditions at the international stage does not favours for him either. Pakistan sent Amir down to try to gain some confidence back. I think India can benefit from taking a leaf out of that page as well. Competition for spots is always a good thing.