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Originally Posted by Arjun
You can make do with only what you have. Can you think up a better T20I squad? India's top Test and ODI regulars have been disappointing in T20Is, so a separate T20I squad should be thought about.
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Disappointing, yes. But still better than the other players.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arjun
Mishra, Mahesh and Aravind, though, are much better than 'not international quality'- Mahesh, in particular, was an under-19 player for India. Mishra's also the best spinner we have in India, and has an astounding T20 record, over 80 T20 matches. If you want slightly more familiar names, take a seam/swing trio of Munaf, Dinda and Balaji, who have decent T20 records across internationals, SMAT and IPL.
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U19 means nothing except identifying talent. It is a lower standard than domestic cricket. Mahesh is often destroyed in the IPL. If he is destroyed in the IPL, chances are he will be destroyed in T20I. Mishra did poor in the recent IPL, chances are that he is not in good form for the format. Aravind has a poor T20 record, so don't know where you got him as a good option.
Dinda is a promising option and he is in the squad but you must have seen how embarrassing he was against Afghanistan. Munaf has an average T20 record, had a pretty expensive IPL and got much worse toward the end.
Very few of the people you suggested are good options.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arjun
Chitnis (strike rate of 157) did nothing in the IPL, because no IPL franchise gave him a chance! Nor did SK Yadav (strike rate of 129), who had an explosive start to his FC career, and is definitely worth it as a T20 specialist. All of their stats clearly suggest T20I material for India. We can then rest the top Test blokes- Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Pujara, Rahane and Badrinath- as also strike bowlers Umesh, Ishant, Aaron, Ashwin and Harbhajan- and pick blokes good enough for T20Is- not get stuck with Harbhajan, who's played more matches than taken wickets.
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Chitnis has one fifty in the format. Certainly not even slightly proven enough to be selected as a specialist.
Yadav: Strike rate of 129 is certainly not worthy of a specialist especially with an average of 17.81! That would be a ridiculous selection. Good start to FC career means absolutely nothing when talking of T20 batsmen, especially because he's done little of note in OD cricket!
You say "not get stuck with Harbhajan, who's played more matches than taken wickets" but you ignore the excellent economy rate. You seem to just get stuck on one particular statistic and ignore the big picture. You keep assuming that there is an 'ideal XI' out there full of specialists but the best players we have are those who are playing. It is not a necessity that our best team would win the competition!!