Plenty of votes in for Irfan Pathan. Sadly, he's missed all the FC matches since the first with injury. Decent batting technique for number six, but we'd want him bowling at least eighteen overs an innings, not three or four. There surely are other alternatives- you have Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Rishi Dhawan, and on current season form Sanjay Bangar and Laxmi Ratan Shukla. All four of them are doing well with bat and ball- Riddler the most emphatic, but in the weakest rung, while Banger and Lucky are in the highest, with least wickets.
We are, however, forgetting Ashwin. He's good enough to bat higher up, and above Dhoni, and even in place of that unfortunate number six batsman. He also sends down over forty overs an innings. Sure, he's not good enough to play as a specialist spinner, but for this role, he's just right. Definitely a much better pick over Irfan at present.
There's a wicketkeeping option in Uday Kaul, who has been doing well over five FC seasons, average over 50, eleven tons, and is winning games for Punjab. Surely India's Matt Prior, a specialist Test wicketkeeper-batsman?
Andruid said:
I think the 5th bowler logic is more around keeping the other 4 fresh enough to be aggressive on a flat wicket than win the game themselves. Also, does he have to be a pace bowler. Maybe they ought to bowl Yuvraj more or try a Jadeja or a Chawla instead?
Exactly. Jadeja and Chawla, though, are poor choices. Yuvraj, maybe, but ten overs in three innings is rather disappointing. Maybe time to look beyond him, a bit too soon, but ten overs in a series against 45 by Ashwin or Ojha in an innings suggests he's not an option, at least not for Dhoni.