*Official* India Squad discussion thread

[Cevno]

Karnataka fast bowler Vinay Kumar is the only new face in India's 15-man squad for the World Twenty20, while legspinner Piyush Chawla returns to the national side after nearly two years. The players to miss out, in a squad largely along expected lines, are fast bowler Ishant Sharma and batsman Virat Kohli.

There were injury concerns surrounding fast bowler Ashish Nehra and Gautam Gambhir but both have been included in the side. Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of national selection committee, said all players had sent in their fitness certificates, and that there were no fitness worries in the squad.

The selectors had grappled with squad fitness worries for last year's World Twenty20. Then, they had punted by taking the still-recovering Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan to India's title defence. Sehwag didn't manage a single game, Zaheer was off colour, and it duly turned out to be a disastrous campaign.

This year's squad has Vinay as the fourth seamer after his solid domestic season, picking up 46 Ranji wickets, and is currently joint second on the IPL wicket-takers' list, bagging eight for Royal Challengers Bangalore. There had been speculation that his team-mate Manish Pandey would also make the cut for the competition in the West Indies after an impressive start to the IPL but the selectors plumped for more experienced batsmen.

Chawla won the second spinner's slot ahead of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and legspinner Amit Mishra, who has been in good form in the IPL. He last played for India during the 2008 Asia Cup in Pakistan.

The World Twenty20 starts on April 30, five days after the end of the IPL; India are grouped with South Africa and Afghanistan.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma


Vinay and Chawla in World Twenty20 squad | Cricket News | ICC World Twenty20 2010 | Cricinfo.com

 

[Scaly piscine]

Chawla?

As Cricinfo has alluded to it's rather baffling.

 

[Cevno]

I guess they wanted something different in the attack,in terms of a leg spinner.

And in t20 cricket and as a Overall package(Batting,Fielding,Bowling) Chawla edges out Mishra.

I personally would have gotten for 3 spinners and got Murali Karthik in the squad too(OR perhaps Ojha).He has been brilliant in the IPL so far.Incredibly economical and i think in the West indies Spinners would be very useful.
Though i guess they chose Jadeja as a spinner who can bat.

 

[Cevno]

I agree with Anand Vasu here..


................................

Whenever Kohli has got the opportunity in one-day internationals - scores of 57, 31, 2, 102*, 71*, 91, 9, 107, 54 and 27 in his last 10 knocks speak for themselves - he has performed. In comparison, Rohit's story has been one of underachievement. He has not managed a single half-century in his last 19 knocks in ODI cricket. In the IPL he has shown sparks of class, but has certainly not done enough to earn a spot to the exclusion of Kohli.

Chawla getting the second specialist spinner's slot is equally mystifying. Kartik, who has a wealth of T20 experience in county cricket in England, has bowled with imagination and impeccable control in IPL III. Batsmen have been unable to take liberties with him - his 19 overs, seven of which have come in the powerplay, have cost the KKR only 106 runs, in an economy rate of 5.57. Only Anil Kumble concedes fewer runs per over. In comparison, Piyush Chawla's 18 overs have come at 7.38 per over, with only three wickets to show.

Selectors play risky shots- Hindustan Times

 

[Cruxdude]

Raina's big hitting abilities have got him in I suppose. Manish Pandey should consider himself unlucky though.

 

[Cevno]

Rohit should consider himself lucky.

Both Kohli and Pandey can consider themselves inlucky.

 

[Sir Alex]

Kartik's continued non selection is baffling.

Chawla is a much better fielder and batsman however.

 

[R_D]

Rohit should consider himself lucky.

Both Kohli and Pandey can consider themselves inlucky.

Kholi's done **** all in T20 cricket though.. where's Sharma's been pretty solid for Deccan.
Why are people mixing One day cricket and 20-20 cricket?

R Jadeja can't get a game for R Royals yet he's selected in the Indian team.... thats more baffling decision.
Not to mention Vinay Kumar.... sure he had a great FC season but that FC not 20-20 cricket..... I'd have Irfan Pathan over him any-day for the short format. Pathan will score more runs and leak as many runs as Vinay Kumar.

Agree M Pandey should definitely have been in the team though probably in place of R Jadeja.
Chawla is a weird one as well.

 

[ret]

First impressions of the squad is that it has to many bats (Yuvi, Raina, Rohit, Yusuf and Jadeja) who can be bounced out so hopefully Ind would play on pitches that are closer to the ones in the sub-continent. In that way spin comes in to play as well

 

[Sir Alex]

Kholi's done **** all in T20 cricket though.. where's Sharma's been pretty solid for Deccan.
Why are people mixing One day cricket and 20-20 cricket?

R Jadeja can't get a game for R Royals yet he's selected in the Indian team.... thats more baffling decision.
Not to mention Vinay Kumar.... sure he had a great FC season but that FC not 20-20 cricket..... I'd have Irfan Pathan over him any-day for the short format. Pathan will score more runs and leak as many runs as Vinay Kumar.

Agree M Pandey should definitely have been in the team though probably in place of R Jadeja.
Chawla is a weird one as well.

1.Kohli vs Sharma - Kohli avg 32.33 @ 143 this IPL against Sharma's 31.75 @ 143
2. Jadeja is suspended from this IPL because he tried to negotiate hiscontract with other teams without obtaining prior approval. He's good with the ball and reasonable ok with the bat.
3. Vinay Kumar is 2nd best wickettaker in current IPL with 8 @ 17 @ 7.5. Pathan has 3 @ 47 @ 8.5 so far.
4. Manish Pandey indeed deserves a place but not sure at R Jadeja's place.
5. Chawla indeed is a wierd one. Kartik deserved instead.

 

[Jono]

Kohli hasn't performed in T20. I love him just as much as I do Rohit Sharma, but he didn't need to be selected. Rohit's T20 form has been good for years.

Regarding Chawla ahead of Ojha, I don't get that at all.

 

[G.I.Joe]

The more I hear Rohit being interviewed, the more I dislike him, tbh. He doesn't seem to have anything to say other than much he deserves his chances, and the only language he seems to speak with any fluency is Bombay street.

 

[Sir Alex]

The more I hear Rohit being interviewed, the more I dislike him, tbh. He doesn't seem to have anything to say other than much he deserves his chances, and the only language he seems to speak with any fluency is Bombay street.

Is becoming fat as well.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Is becoming fat as well.

I can look past that, what with me going through the same

 

[Cevno]

These younger lot Like Rohit and Yuvraj really seem to lose their fitness and motivation pretty quickly these days.Just shows how well Tendulkar has done to mantain his motivation,Hunger and Fitness over 20 years of International cricket ,when he has almost achieved everything already.\
Yet still when u see him bat with Enthusiasm and Yuvraj strolling out to bat ,you would think that they are at exactly opposite in their careers .Strang Indeed.
Hopefully Yuvraj gets his motivation,Hunger and fitness back For India's future.But he just seems to be happy these days going arround with different girls these days and drive around in sports cars.

 

[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]

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!