*Official* India Squad discussion thread

[Arjun]

This Indian selection is utter rubbish. The selectors clearly have no clue about what T20 really is and don't read the stat sheets, and may not even be watching the matches, either IPL (except Chikka at CKS games) or SMAT. When there are two questionable selections, you can excuse it, but when there are loads of questionable selections and omissions, as well as two blokes who shouldn't be there at all, and two who should easily make it, there are questions left unanswered.

To begin, there's no clear thinking on their part about what they want. They may have got right previous mistakes by leaving out T20 strugglers like Sreesanth and Ishant out, but we still see Ravindra Jadeja in the mix. They've left out Irfan from the probables itself, though he's fit and slowly but surely getting back to his best, but they've picked Nehra, carrying niggles. They've left out Irfan and the now-hot Uthappa because they're out of the probables, but had no hesitation in picking the banned and out-of-action (and also misfit in T20) Jadeja, yet again. In fact, Jadeja's repeated selection in T20 despite not being cut out for it at all seems to suggest that higher-ups in Saurashtra seem to be pulling strings at national selection, even when there are far better players in Chennai Super Kings, Tamil Nadu and South Zone than him, while Srikkanth is the Chairman.

India's fielding has been a cause for concern. A lot of it has been due to Dhoni's defensive field settings, which demand ten Jonty clones at hand, but the selectors have still gone on and included the geriatric, ungainly Praveen Kumar, and the erratic Ashish Nehra. Are they trying to make selections that win matches? Or just keep some people happy and hope that the team somehow makes it?

The choice of back-up spinner has raised eyebrows, but while Chawla is not too bad, on present form, the exclusion of Amit Mishra is a highly questionable one. He's the best T20 spinner in India, and also capable with bat and on field. On the other hand, Harbhajan has played more matches than he has taken wickets, and is also a little suspect on the field lately. Besides, Yusuf Pathan can play as a full-fledged spinner in this team, and it will add an extra batsman, but that hasn't been explored.

The exclusion of the T20-ready youngsters Pandey and Saurabh Tiwary may be debated on, but these two are still young, and T20 is such that you need older, more experienced blokes at hand. The one good thing the selectors did is pick Vinay Kumar. Given that he's the least relevant (or famous) bowler in a team that depends highly on Steyn, Kumble, Praveen, Kallis and even Roelof van der Merwe, it's good for him. He's one of the faster bowlers in India, good on the field, and as a replacement for Irfan, also good with the bat. Let's just hope he's a regular in the team, as he's done every team he's played for a lot of good.

With this team, they can, at best, have a bowling unit of Zaheer, Vinay, Chawla, Yusuf and one of Nehra and Praveen, though all three spinners can play together. The batting may pick itself, though it makes sense to have Raina batting as low as eight or not getting an innings, as he's a struggler in T20Is, but with this squad, the options are clearly, very thin.

[honestbharani]

I wud have picked Pathan ahead of Vinay and gotten in Kartik instead of Jadeja, though it is a risky move.

[ret]

Jadeja has developed well as a bowler

[honestbharani]

yes but I still rate Kartik the better bowler and honestly, Jadeja's batting is pretty pathetic at the international level.

[ret]

Originally Posted by honestbharani

yes but I still rate Kartik the better bowler and honestly, Jadeja's batting is pretty pathetic at the international level.

Why would you want to bring Kartik in when Jadeja is already doing a good job at 'international level'. Rating Kartik highly doesn't mean that he is going to be as effective as Jadeja. Even though Jadeja's batting may not be that good at international level, it's certainly better than Kartik's. On top of that Jadeja is a good fielder too

As an overall package, Jadeja, as a LFS, is hard to beat vs likes of Kartik and Ojha!

[G.I.Joe]

Haha, Jadeja. The guy that basically knocked us out of the last WC.

[Cevno]

Zimbabwe played with 4 spinners on their recent West Indian tour.And did pretty well.

And that's why i think They should have gone with Karthik instead of one of the faster bowlers for the t20 world cup.This time of the year the pitches are bound to be dry and slow in the windies.

[R_D]

Originally Posted by G.I.Joe

Haha, Jadeja. The guy that basically knocked us out of the last WC.

Bit harsh but agree with the sentiments...

I didn't know Jadeja was banned from IPL.... so he won't have played cricket for months and why exactly is he being picked again?

I'm pretty disappointed about Manish Pandey not being picked though... i thought he was shoe in for T20 team.

[ret]

We are talking abt Jadeja's bowling. As for batting, he isn't bad choice as a #7 or #8

From the guys selected, I would go for a line up like the one below for the first two games:

- Sehwag
- Gambhir
- Karthik
- YP
- Dhoni
- Yuvi
- Raina
- Jadeja
- Zak
- Vinay
- PK

These way we are batting till #11. The top order has guys who are good against both pace and spin. Then we have power hitters coming in. The lower order is useful too

For bowling, we need 3 pacers so hopefully Zak, PK and Vinay (/Nehra) will do a decent job. For spin, Jadeja, YP, Sehwag, Raina and UV can take the responsibility to bowl 8 overs amongst them. If a need for another specialist spinner (besides Jadeja) is felt then Bhajji/Chawla can come in for one of the batsmen. Ideally I would have liked to play additional specialist spinner but I don't know how effective Bhajji/Chawla would be over YP/Sehwag/Raina/UV

[ret]

Originally Posted by R_D

I didn't know Jadeja was banned from IPL.... so he won't have played cricket for months and why exactly is he being picked again?

At least he would be fresh. And he bowled very well against SA in the ODIs

[Jono]

Wasn't Jadeja's fault that Dhoni batted him so high in that match vs. England. It was a stupid move.

Jadeja's bowling in ODIs has been fantastic, and I'm sure he can replicate it in T20.

[Scaly piscine]

Re: Uthappa should replace Gambhir in the squad

Originally Posted by Cevno

Surely you are kidding.

Would rather have him For Rohit.

Though i am pretty sure that once we go outside of India and if the tracks are really slow or bouncy even in the west indies ,uthappa will be ****.
Gambhir gets the best out of sehwag too.

Gambhir for me does not look like a T20 batsman. He's the sort of player who you just don't see doing much damage. I can't remember much of Sharma but he has a better record and bowls a bit.

I really don't see any reason why Uthappa would not be a success in the West Indies. If the pitches are on the 'good' side you'll get slow nothing pitches which are pretty much the same as what you'll get in the IPL. If they're the sort of rubbish you saw with the Zimbabwe series then it'll be a lottery with whoever bats and a few big blows might make the difference. Whatever I don't see the pitches being ones where you can get people in much trouble with short fast bowling.

For me you've got to have Uthappa there floating in the middle order. He's been succeeding against all sorts of bowling. He can just come out and hit low full tosses for 6 like it's shelling peas. That's a very rare talent. A lot of batsmen can be destructive when they get some time to get in, or when the field is set back.

For me T20 is finding ways of pinching runs. You can do it with fielding, good running, getting off to flying starts, someone like Malinga being unhittable. There are lots of ways, someone who can come in and immediately hit sixes for fun is another one. You want X-factor players in T20 and he's undoubtedly one. He's far less one-dimensional than someone like Yusuf Pathan who's probably the only other Indian batsman who can really destroy you in 3-4 overs at any stage of the game. Guys like Sehwag and Dhoni are obviously better and the former can smash you for fun during the powerplay, whilst Dhoni is very methodical at what he does.

[Cevno]

Gambhir averages 30.66 at a strike rate 126.022 in T20I'S.

Uthappa averages 18.62 at a strike rate of 115.50.

Besides you cannot have all impact players in your team,you need someone to anchor it too. And Gambhir can do both.He also gets the best out of sehwag ,a bit like Sachin does.

Uthappa is best as a impact player ,playing down the order where he can come in and hit with a free license.
While Gambhir will open the Innings for India and has both gears and can comfortably bat throughout the 20 overs. Uthappa opening the innings will mean 7 out of ten times a early wicket and with sehwag too along with him it is likely to be 8 out of 10 times.
Gambhir also has the ability to play the best of the spinners in the world ,and maneouver them on slow pitches which are likely to be present in west indies and slower bowlers in general.

[Scaly piscine]

Uthappa is clearly a different player now than when he played previously. You only have to watch him in the IPL to see he's not a 115 SR player - second highest sixes, 180 tournament strike rate, and they're not just from one-two big innings where got in the zone and feasted on pies somewhat as Yusuf's done. Players have come on dramatically in the past 2-3 years in T20 and he is obviously one of them. I mean the guy was only 21-22 when he played T20Is. The guy has bulked out and matured. It's obvious just looking at the photos (we're talking a big difference in his arms, he's much broader etc.). Power is obviously important for the 20 over format and this guy now has it in spades. Obviously he'll mature with his batting skills too.

Gambhir on the other hand is just a good batsman. He doesn't have six hitting power at all. On his day sure he'll hit the gaps which will mean he gets a decent strike rate, other times he'll hit the field and he'll be struggle. I'd be looking elsewhere for an opening batsman personally, although who that would be I don't know. Opening the batting is such a big position. It may end up that Gambhir would end up being there for lack of other options but he would still be the weak link.

[Sir Alex]

Frankly I won't be able to stand any more t20s after the IPL. Atleast till the next IPL. Also I think international t20s are really waste of time.