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4th Test at the Gabba, Brisbane, 15 - 19 Jan 2021

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Can India A team on?

cricinfo said:
Ishant Sharma (whole series). Mohammed Shami(three Tests). Virat Kohli (three Tests). Umesh Yadav (two Tests). Ravindra Jadeja (most likely, one-and-a-half Tests). Hanuma Vihari (most likely, one Test). Rishabh Pant (at least half a Test). Rohit Sharma (two Tests). KL Rahul (not close to the playing XI but out of the series). R Ashwin has tweaked his back too. Cheteshwar Pujara is playing with a hand injury sustained in the nets.
Surely if Australia can’t beat this lot handily, AT HOME, they surely don’t deserve to play in the finals.
 

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
Gabbagabba baba gabba... I know 99.9 pc India will finally give into vagaries of law of averages, but the 0.1% encourages cricket fans to dream the impossible
 

DriveClub

International Regular
Always bat first at the gabba, when was the last time it was seaming around on day 1? Hobart is the only pitch in Aus that I can remember is a proper green deck
 

cnerd123

likes this
Yea India really need to win the toss and bat first

If Ashwin is fit, he should play as an allrounder, mainly so that we can play Kuldeep and lighten the bowling workload on him. Last thing we need is for him to pull up injured as part of a 4-man attack. That would leave us with 3 quicks and nothing else.

Vihari has torn a hamstring so he's almost certainly out of this game, so I'd be looking at us playing:

Rohit
Gill
Che Pu
Rahane (*)
Pant
Ashwin
Saha (+)
Kuldeep
Bumrah
Saini/Nattu
Siraj
 

Arachnodouche

International Captain
Seeing as how there's such intense competition for bowling spots in the Indian team, you'd hope at least a few of these chuts would spend some time on their batting to boost their chances.You know, enhance their skills like the rest of the 9-5 brigade.
 

Niall

International Coach
Yea India really need to win the toss and bat first

If Ashwin is fit, he should play as an allrounder, mainly so that we can play Kuldeep and lighten the bowling workload on him. Last thing we need is for him to pull up injured as part of a 4-man attack. That would leave us with 3 quicks and nothing else.

Vihari has torn a hamstring so he's almost certainly out of this game, so I'd be looking at us playing:

Rohit
Gill
Che Pu
Rahane (*)
Pant
Ashwin
Saha (+)
Kuldeep
Bumrah
Saini/Nattu
Siraj

That's a horrific lower order but India have very few alternatives. I'd probably play Agarwal instead of Kuldeep and Pray none of the 4 front line bowlers break down.

Wouldn't want to be making the call though.
 

cnerd123

likes this
That's a horrific lower order but India have very few alternatives. I'd probably play Agarwal instead of Kuldeep and Pray none of the 4 front line bowlers break down.

Wouldn't want to be making the call though.
yea if they drop one of the bowlers for Agarwal it would have to be Ashwin. He's bowled great but is at most risk of breaking down mid-match, especially if he's needed to deliver 20 odd overs in a day. That would leave us with Bumrah - Kuldeep - Siraj - Saini/Nattu. Really weak attack.

If we do play Ashwin, we should have Kuldeep as cover. So maybe 2 spinners 2 quicks at the Gabba? Leave out Saini/Nattu?
 

Arachnodouche

International Captain
That's a horrific lower order but India have very few alternatives. I'd probably play Agarwal instead of Kuldeep and Pray none of the 4 front line bowlers break down.

Wouldn't want to be making the call though.
Sheesh, real tough (lack of) choices. The five bowlers have kept us in the series, can't deny it. Even Saini for all his ****tiness has at least given the others some sort of breather, besides picking up wickets (can't ignore that tbf to him). Do we gamble with Pant as keeper yet again and get Agarwal in there to shore up the middle order?
 

TheJediBrah

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That's a horrific lower order but India have very few alternatives. I'd probably play Agarwal instead of Kuldeep and Pray none of the 4 front line bowlers break down.

Wouldn't want to be making the call though.
A lot of Test sides throughout history have been fine with 4 bowlers. It's not like a super crazy risk.
 

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
That's a horrific lower order but India have very few alternatives. I'd probably play Agarwal instead of Kuldeep and Pray none of the 4 front line bowlers break down.

Wouldn't want to be making the call though.
Yeah this.

Agarwal and Pant to open and Sharma pushed to middle order to give it some respectability.

Kuldeep will largely be ornamental at Gabba pitch and it is wiser to fortify the brittle batting.

Even if they decide to go in with 5 bowlers, would be better to use Natarajan than Kuldeep.
 

cnerd123

likes this
Lineup looks okay if Pant takes the gloves again

Rohit - Gill - Pujara - Rahane (*) - Agarwal - Pant (+) - Ashwin - Kuldeep - Bumrah - Siraj - Saini/Nattu

But if Ashwin is ruled out due to his back and Pant is ruled out from keeping, we can't fit 5 bowlers in. It would have to be

Rohit - Gill - Pujara - Rahane (*) - Agarwal - Pant - Saha (+) - Kuldeep - Bumrah - Siraj - Saini/Nattu

IDK if 4 bowlers would be enough to keep us in the game. In that scenario I'd be leaning towards Natranjan or even Thakur as they could potentially keep things tight from one end while bowling long spell. Saini leaks runs. But if we can play 5 bowlers, there is more room for Saini to be used for short sharp bursts. Conditions should suit him more.
 

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