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***Official*** New Zealand in India 2016

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
They've got to keep guptill and pray he somehow gets runs. Throwing a debutant in there would be put a ridiculous amount of pressure on him. Not many more difficult assignments than opening against Ashwin and Jadeja in India, especially if the pitches spin from the first over like the SA series. It'd be a van Zyl situation again. I don't see it ending well.

The flipside us that if the pitches aren't quite the bunsens of the SA series, opening in India is easier than pretty much any other country since you can get yourself set before the real strike bowlers enter the game. I don't see them producing these flatter pitches though.
Jeet Raval debuts, as far as I'm concerned. Williamson debuted in India. It's hard but that's why you give him a long string.
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
They'll swap Braces for Sodhi. Raval to debut I hope and get some runs against the seamers customary 8 overs before the spinners toil away.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Southee and/or Sodhi ahead of Wagner is madness

Sodhi won't even land the ball in the right place often enough to take charge on a bunsen.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
For what it's worth, Jeet Raval is not really a fush and chups Indian NZer - he's no Ish Sodhi or Jeetan Patel. He moved from Gujurat to NZ at the age of 16, not knowing any English. He's still kinda fobby to be honest.

I'm not saying that makes him automatically a good player of spin or makes it an easier place to debut, but it's not like the place is going to be a completely foreign experience.
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
1. J Raval
2. T Latham
3. K Willidamnson*
4. The Boss
5. Spud Nicholls or Gupthell
6. BJ WPWB+
7. Pink Panther
8. I Sodhi
9. WAG
10. T Boult
11. T Southee
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Dropping Wagner now would be incredibly dumb.
Howsie's been very vocal about his contempt for Wagner's ability, and the very idea of playing him ahead of one of the ND golden ones would probably be enough to make him physically ill. The fact that he's willing to concede that Wagner would be "slightly unlucky, I suppose" to miss out is a fair indication of how much of a slam dunk his selection is at this point.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
I totally agree with Howsie that Wagner should not bowl ahead of Southee or Boult, they're new ball bowlers, that have been world class and have both been improving in form. But there is no reason we can't play 3 specialist quicks in India.

If Southee or Boult are to get dropped, they are competing against Bracewell/Henry for a spot, and those two are closer to displacing Southee than they are Wagner.
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Alternatively we shore up the weak af batting

1. J Raval
2. T Latham
3. K Williamson
4. R Taylor
5. whoeeverjustgrabsomeguyoffthestreet
6. BJ Watling+
7. J Neesham
8. M Santner
9. I Sodhi
10. N Wagner
11. T Boult

I had thought the squad for Africa was the same but they haven't announced it, so we might see some changes
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
You can't drop Southee in the SC, neither Boult. Wagner slightly unlucky I suppose.
Why can't you drop Southee in the SC? Because he took 7-for against India 4 years ago? Trust me, you can 100% drop Tim Southee. If the pitches are going to be raggy and they only want to play 2 seamers and Anderson, Southee will go - or should go. Wagner is the heart and soul of that bowling line-up. Who else is going to do the work if it's flat, perhaps reversing a bit and the spinners are getting carted? Tim Southee? Yeah...

I can't see that India are going to juice up their pitches to suit seam. So what, we play Southee for the 3-4 overs he might swing it and bowl decent areas before giving up and bowling a shower of ****? I know he bowled well in the 2nd dig but so he should've on a bloody mindfield. Wagner isn't a new ball bowler but it's not about the first morning as we found out with the toss in this last Test, it's about the view for all five or four days.

In case I get accused of similar lack of objectivity, I would drop Gup right now. They've brought Jeet into the squad, Jeet is Indian, grew up there (think he moved in his early teens) and therefore has some idea of the conditions. I'm not really aware of how he plays spin but if you're putting him in the squad, it has to be with a view to playing him. And with Gup in such shizen form, now is the time.
 

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah if we were to play fewer than three seamers, which is probably a bad idea but worth considering depending on conditions, then Boult and Wagner are absolutely retained ahead of Southee. The person coming in would then be the extra spinner (Craig/Sodhi) or the all-rounder (Anderson), neither of whom have great test records so it would be something of a gamble.

Three left-arm seamers would make some fun rough for Ashwin though.
 

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
They've got to keep guptill and pray he somehow gets runs. Throwing a debutant in there would be put a ridiculous amount of pressure on him. Not many more difficult assignments than opening against Ashwin and Jadeja in India, especially if the pitches spin from the first over like the SA series. It'd be a van Zyl situation again. I don't see it ending well.

The flipside us that if the pitches aren't quite the bunsens of the SA series, opening in India is easier than pretty much any other country since you can get yourself set before the real strike bowlers enter the game. I don't see them producing these flatter pitches though.
Yes it hangs on what the pitches are like whether this would be a hard debut for Raval or not. We have tough opposition at home this summer so that wouldn't be easy for a debut either.

I've not objected to all the rope Guptill has been given but honestly, he's always going to struggle to average more than 10 against any quality seam attack (esp. SA/ England/ Aus) and has his problems against the rest too. I love his effort, I love his fielding, hell I even love his bowling, but I think now is the time to cut Guptill loose and try the next in line. Against red-ball seam bowling that isn't below average I can't think of a worse opener in world cricket.

@Stphnbdsn - I don't like moving KW to open even for just one series. I suspect they will probably stick with Guptill though, based mainly on fairly weak (imo) arguments around pressure and experience.
 

_Ed_

Request Your Custom Title Now!
If only Tim McIntosh was still around. Bring back the floppy-hatted hero.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Can we afford to drop a spinner averaging 5.33 per wicket this year when touring India

#guppy4lyf
 

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