Test stars to lead India A in Australia

[aussie1st]

Test players Parthiv Patel and Gautam Gambhir will spearhead a youthful India A squad during the upcoming Top End Series in Darwin and Cairns.

Patel, who has played 19 Tests and 14 one-day internationals, has been named vice captain with Venugopal Rao to skipper the side against A teams from Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan.

Gambhir, 24, also injects some experience into the line-up with a record of 13 Tests and 16 one-day internationals.

Indian selectors will use the tour as a way of blooding several top prospects including teenagers Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, and Cheteshway Pujara.

The trio was part of India's U/19 World Cup team that played against Pakistan in the tournament's final earlier this year.

India opens its tour with a four-day match against the Northern Territory's Chief Minister's XI on June 30, just two days after touching down in Darwin.

The series is played in Darwin until July 14 before moving to Cairns for a further fortnight.

India A: Venugopal Rao (capt), Parthiv Patel, Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, S. Badrinath, R.S.Sodhi, T.P.Singh, Piyush Chawla, Cheteshwar Pujara, R.P. Singh, S.S. Paul, Ravindra Jadeja, Siddarth Trivedi.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Te...-A-in-Australia/2006/05/26/1148524876367.html

 

[Bala]

Well the selection of the fast bowlers is appalling. Just 3 in Trivedi, RP.Singh and Paul. I would have rather had Balaji, Nehra and Abid Nabi in the squad. Come on, they are going to be playing matches in Australia. Why do they need 3 spinners? Also Sodhi is a complete useless bowler. Bad selection IMO! I would have rather sent Zaheer Khan to West Indies and VRV Singh play in this series.

 

[Ritwik]

VRV Singh has been sent to the caribbean since he's apparently the "fastest" bowler in India. Dunno how much help that will be since the pitches in the West Indies have slowed down a lot.

Why hasn't Ambati Rayadu been selected anyway?

 

[Bala]

Well! They have two players from Andhra, dont they? []

Ok! on a serious note, Rayudu can very easily be compared to Ashraful - extremely gifted, but plays a lot of temperamental strokes. His consistency leaves much to be desired. If I were an Indian selector, I would keep an eye open for the UP quicks - Salabh Shrivastav and Pravin Kumar.

And If the reports are correct, Abid Nabi is the quickest bowler in India. One more mystery - If a 28 year old with an FC average of 37 (Tejindr Pal Singh) can be selected, Why not Rayudu (FC avge - 39) or Hemang Badani or even Dinesh Mongia who has been playing well for Leicestershire.

One more omission is Ravikant Shukla. He and Pujara are two good prospects for India.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

This is pretty much the same squad that played in the recent BSNL Euro-Asia cup here in UAE(Abu Dhabi) It was between India A, Sri Lanka A, Pakistan A (Who beat India A in the final), UAE, Netherlands (Carrying more of an A squad themselves) and Ireland (Who too sent an A squad). VRV Singh got two 5 WIs in that series, despite getting dispatched for 77 off 10 overs in the final. RP Singh bowled well too. They both bowled unchanged against UAE, and bowled them out for 70 odd in 15 overs when they were chasing 194. 5 wickets apiece. The changes are Kaarthik, RP and VRV aren't there, while Parthiv, Ghambir, Trivedi and TP Singh come in. Otherwise it is much the same squad, Sodhi, Jadeja and Chawla all bowled well, while Sharma, Dhawan and Uthappa were amongst the runs. Its a bit shocking not to see Pravin Kumar in there after his Ranji Trophy heroics. He is a great prospect IMO.