India's tour of Australia - December/January 2015

[SaiSrini]

Darn it! Umesh and Aaron bowling in tandem today was a mouth watering prospect, and now Aaron injures himself again. Most likely he will miss the rest of the India vs Sri Lanka ODI's and probably might miss the flight to Australia. If he misses the flight to Australia, I wouldn't risk bringing him in directly into the World Cup. What a waste of talent.

Hope these guys now stop focusing on upper body training and focus a lot more on lower body training if they want to play long for India. Somebody needs to drill it into their minds that looking good on TV is not more important than getting the chance to appear on TV often.

 

[PokerAce]

Given how poorly Aus fared against spin, on a pitch that was not exactly a dust bowl or turning square, Ind must go into the tests with two proper spinners.

Dhawan/Vijay
Rahane
Pujara
Kohli
Raina
MS Dhoni
R Ashwin
Bhuvenshwar Kr.
A Mishra (or whoever tickles the selectors fancy)
Ishant S
V Aaron

Six proper batsmen, 2 bowlers who can hold the bat.

Two proper spinners, Raina could chip in if required.

Still we get 3 seamers, which is all we play anyway.

A bit harsh on Dhawan/Vijay (who ever misses out).

 

[aditya123]

I feel we will do better in Australia than we did in the tests in England. I disagree with the 2 spinners part. Although the wickets in the UAE were`nt square turners,they did turn. I don`t expect the Aussies to offer anything like a slow wicket in the test series at home, especially after this series of losses in Asia. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar would`nt feature in my lineup. I would also pick Shami ahead of Bhuvi for GABBA. The Kookaburra does`nt swing all that much and the conditions in general will be far less conducive for swing bowling than England. Yadav, Ishant, Shami and Varun would be ahead in the pecking order than Bhuvi.

 

[Aalay]

India in Australia 2014-15 : Rahul Dravid backs KL Rahul, Karn Sharma for Australia Tests | Cricket News | Australia v India | ESPN Cricinfo

Rahul Dravid's squad for Australia tour: M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Karn Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron.

Largely expected squad but the only surprise is Karn Sharma in for Jadeja. I would love to Karn Sharma get a go but I still think Jadeja will be chosen over him even though Jadeja is just a bits and piece cricketer especially in tests overseas. Dravid has also gone for KL Rahul as the back up opener which pretty much confirms that he will be there in the final squad.

 

[lion100lion]

Sir is missing there.

 

[Abhil]

India has not done well overseas especially in test series lets see what they do this time.But its a good practise ahead of world cup

 

[SpitfiresKent]

@PokerAce Ashwin at no.7

Mitchell Johnson will be licking his lips looking at that line up

I'd replace Mishra with Jadeja or Stuart Binny.

 

[lion100lion]

@PokerAce Ashwin at no.7

Mitchell Johnson will be licking his lips looking at that line up

I'd replace Mishra with Jadeja or Stuart Binny.

I had prefer Jadeja over Ashwin and Ashwin over Mishra.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Well now you're just showing your CSK bias

 

[PokerAce]

@PokerAce Ashwin at no.7

Mitchell Johnson will be licking his lips looking at that line up

I'd replace Mishra with Jadeja or Stuart Binny.

To be fair, I don't see #7 making that much of a diff to the score, regardless of whether its Jadeja or Binny. We may as well back ourselves to hurt Australia with spin. In UAE, on docile pitches Aus struggled against spin. Even when the ball was not turning much. The spinners kept getting them to straight deliveries.

I think instead of having a 7th batsman, we will do better with 5 pure bowlers (3 seamers and 2 spinners).

 

[PokerAce]

I feel we will do better in Australia than we did in the tests in England. I disagree with the 2 spinners part. Although the wickets in the UAE were`nt square turners,they did turn. I don`t expect the Aussies to offer anything like a slow wicket in the test series at home, especially after this series of losses in Asia. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar would`nt feature in my lineup. I would also pick Shami ahead of Bhuvi for GABBA. The Kookaburra does`nt swing all that much and the conditions in general will be far less conducive for swing bowling than England. Yadav, Ishant, Shami and Varun would be ahead in the pecking order than Bhuvi.

While I agree with the point on Bhuvi, and that Aus pitches have a perception of supporting those who get bounce off a good length, more than seam movement, but the fact simply is Bhuvi has been our best bowler for a year and a half and we can't just drop him for no fault of his own. Lets be honest he walks into the side right now. What we can do is give him Ishant (ideal for Aus pitches) and Aaron to support him.

Also in UAE Aus lost a lot of wickets to balls that were just keeping straight and not even turning. I think we need to back our spinners. We can hurt them with spinners more than we can with fast bowlers.

 

[SaiSrini]

Karn Sharma is too early to be thrown into the test team. He needs more opportunities in the shorter formats before he can move up the ladder to be in the test team. Amit Mishra should be the guy along with Ashwin, who will be the second spinner. Jadeja must not go at all. I say this because if he goes, he will get the bias ahead of Mishra (and maybe even Ashwin).

Agree with Adi on the Bhuvi point. Australian conditions will be tough on a guy of Bhuvi's style. Its a place where bowlers who hit the deck hard and have more pace get better purchase. For most games, we should be playing Shami, Ishant, Yadav/Aaron. If Aaron does not make it to Australia, we should take Ishwar Pandey.

 

[grkrama]

I always believe best bowler in your team should be playing regardless of pitches, and right now its bhuvi. he is the workhorse sort of like siddle but with less pace others have to revolve around him, preferably aaron andishant or yadab, with shami replacing in a couple of matches. to keep them fresh.

as for spin mishra no doubt, doesnt matter if he cant bat.

 

[SaiSrini]

I always believe best bowler in your team should be playing regardless of pitches, and right now its bhuvi. he is the workhorse sort of like siddle but with less pace others have to revolve around him, preferably aaron andishant or yadab, with shami replacing in a couple of matches. to keep them fresh.

as for spin mishra no doubt, doesnt matter if he cant bat.

Bhuvi was the best bowler for us in England because the conditions suited his style of bowling. Praveen Kumar did really well in our previous tour of England in 2011, but where is he now? Certain players only suit certain conditions. Unless Bhuvi has a drastic increase in pace and starts getting much more bounce, I don't see him suiting the conditions in Australia.

 

[grkrama]

praveen lost his way he is not even in domestic scens now due to some really bad behaviour and stuff. bhuvi has been excellent in all conditions as far as i remember, atleast decent at worst of times.