Arjun
Cricketer Of The Year
Here's the tour page on Cricinfo.
The selectors have picked what's essentially a development team, as many of these players are very young and have barely played a season or two. Pujara leading this team is more or less the obvious choice among these options, but an experienced reserve player would have helped a lot, at least in knowledge.
This will be a good learning experience, at best, for this set, but you wouldn't expect them to win handsomely. Many of the players are at least three or more years away from a shot at national selection, and a good tour will help them get ahead. The batting, though inexperienced, looks good, with the presence of Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Saurabh Tiwary, Pandey, Dhawan, Pujara and Kedar Jadhav. Wicketkeeper Saha is no mug with the bat eihter, and can hold his own with this bunch. None of the above can double as stock bowlers over a long stretch.
On the bowling front, a lot will depend on Tyagi and Mithun in FC, as they're the fastest of this bunch. The other three are a little over medium pace, and won't run thtough a batting side. Even then, none appear to be cut out for limited-overs cricket. Spin options are interesting selections- they've chosen Iqbal Abdulla and Bipul Sharma, both left-arm spinners, not quite ideal for the first-class game, but handy batsmen and good for limited-overs cricket. In addition, Jaskaran Singh can score a few quickly in the final overs- I wonder how he'll figure in the playing XI. The one real misgiving is the lack of a strike seam bowler in this squad, who can get a few runs. He won't get the FC games, but may just make the team for limited-overs.
None of the other squads have been announced. They'll be facing their counterparts from West Indies and England in the tour, once each in three-dayers, then in the triangular. In the middle, there's a little tour of Scotland. The records and results here won't matter as much as what they've learnt, when they play beyond this event.
The selectors have picked what's essentially a development team, as many of these players are very young and have barely played a season or two. Pujara leading this team is more or less the obvious choice among these options, but an experienced reserve player would have helped a lot, at least in knowledge.
This will be a good learning experience, at best, for this set, but you wouldn't expect them to win handsomely. Many of the players are at least three or more years away from a shot at national selection, and a good tour will help them get ahead. The batting, though inexperienced, looks good, with the presence of Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Saurabh Tiwary, Pandey, Dhawan, Pujara and Kedar Jadhav. Wicketkeeper Saha is no mug with the bat eihter, and can hold his own with this bunch. None of the above can double as stock bowlers over a long stretch.
On the bowling front, a lot will depend on Tyagi and Mithun in FC, as they're the fastest of this bunch. The other three are a little over medium pace, and won't run thtough a batting side. Even then, none appear to be cut out for limited-overs cricket. Spin options are interesting selections- they've chosen Iqbal Abdulla and Bipul Sharma, both left-arm spinners, not quite ideal for the first-class game, but handy batsmen and good for limited-overs cricket. In addition, Jaskaran Singh can score a few quickly in the final overs- I wonder how he'll figure in the playing XI. The one real misgiving is the lack of a strike seam bowler in this squad, who can get a few runs. He won't get the FC games, but may just make the team for limited-overs.
None of the other squads have been announced. They'll be facing their counterparts from West Indies and England in the tour, once each in three-dayers, then in the triangular. In the middle, there's a little tour of Scotland. The records and results here won't matter as much as what they've learnt, when they play beyond this event.