Should Team India pick 2 spinners for the Sydney test match?

[SecondSlip]

The SCG pitch is well known for being the most spin-friendly pitch in Australia. 

 

Considering how bad the current Australian batsmen are against spin, should we go in with 2 spinners?

[vvvslaxman]

Wristies have an edge at sydney. Wonder they will be tempted to use Kuldeep

[R!TTER]

Yes, unless it has lots of green/live grass we should play the 2 spinners.

[King Tendulkar]

No

 

I think this will aid Vihari retaining his place.  I dont rate vihari spin at all is proper part time and only reason bowls in FC is cos skipper.  But saying that if track is turning will be useful and can act as sort of second spinner and maybe do a job.  Thus I think TM will go for jadeja and keep vihari and use him as 2nd spinner

[zen]

As discussed on the playing 11 thread, if  spin friendly conditions, we should play 2 spinners + Bumrah + Shami + Pandya, who is good with the relatively new ball (vs bowling mostly when the ball gets old) 

[SecondSlip]

6 minutes ago, zen said:

As discussed on the playing 11 thread, if  spin friendly conditions, we should play 2 spinners + Bumrah + Shami + Pandya, who is good with the relatively new ball (vs bowling mostly when the ball gets old) 

On what basis should Pandya get a chance?

 

The guy is as bad as Mitchell Marsh and Australia are going to drop him for this test. Why should we include his Indian clone? 

 

 

[zen]

7 minutes ago, SecondSlip said:

On what basis should Pandya get a chance?

The guy is as bad as Mitchell Marsh and Australia are going to drop him for this test. Why should we include his Indian clone? 

 To support Bumrah + Shami and also strengthen the batting .... he is an unique player who can hit 100s and bowl at 140+ .... as mentioned when Pandya bowls (who is usually bowling 8-10 overs when the ball is old to give rest to bowlers, unfavourable situation for a pace bowler) with a relatively new ball, he does better (match winning 5-er in Eng for e.g)

Edited December 30, 2018 by zen

[Real McCoy]

I'd like to agree with Sunil Gavaskar in the post match discussion who said why fix something that's not broken. I will be tempted to bowl Kuldeep in place of Rohit but the batting looks weaker on paper. But mostly stick to the winning combo

[R!TTER]

Kuldeep for Sharma & Kumar for Ishant? Better bowling & arguably better/longer batting as well.

[G_B_]

IMO both ashwin and jadeja along with vihari is better. Jadeja went through a lot of overs 25+32 or 57 overs.

 

Total overs bowled by India 157.  Total bowled by spinners Jadeja 57 Vihari 6 or 63 overs.

 

So around 40% of Indian overs at MCG were bowled by spinners. Jadeja especially picked wickets (5)  and crucially tied one end up allowing the 3 quicks to bowl around him on some very hot days.

 

The question is, what proportion of overs do India expect spin to operate at the SCG? I certainly think Vihari can bowl 10-12 overs per innings and will be a decent threat with the ball. He was not needed at the MCG cause Jadeja was doing such a fine job. 

 

Retain the same team IMO.

 

 

 

 

[Real McCoy]

5 minutes ago, zen said:

 To support Bumrah + Shami and also strengthen the batting .... he is an unique player who can hit 100s and bowl at 140+ .... as mentioned when Pandya bowls with a relatively new ball, he does better (match winning 5-er in Eng for e.g)

That was purely out of luck that he picked a michelle in Eng. And that too in Eng with a duke's ball which retains its shine for much longer. Kookaburra is gone after 20 overs and becomes beautiful for batting. Pandya will break down if the innings reaches 100 overs. He's also coming from an injury. I wouldnt play him. Pandya is a hack at best no different from Rohit better for ODIs.

[zen]

1 minute ago, Real McCoy said:

That was purely out of luck that he picked a michelle in Eng. And that too in Eng with a duke's ball which retains its shine for much longer. Kookaburra is gone after 20 overs and becomes beautiful for batting. Pandya will break down if the innings reaches 100 overs. He's also coming from an injury. I wouldnt play him. Pandya is a hack at best no different from Rohit better for ODIs.

For some ppl, everything Pandya does is a fluke whether it is his 100 in SL, 90 in SA, 5-er in Eng, 3 wkts in SA, and so on

 

[Real McCoy]

4 minutes ago, zen said:

For some ppl, everything Pandya does is a fluke whether it is his 100 in SL, 90 in SA, 5-er in Eng, 3 wkts in SA, and so on

 

Ok lets finish this. India doesn't want a 5 bowler "aggressive" strategy this series. The Aussies have a weak batting not bowling. It would make more sense to have 6 batters + WK + 4 bowlers. Add to that Pandya isnt match fit and is coming back from a injury. You want to insert him into the biggest history making match of our lives. Come on. Keep calm and stay with the same team.

[Sachinism]

See what kind of pitch is prepared before selecting the side.

There's no guarantee its going to spin big and our seamers have been winning us games. I wouldn't want to drop one on the assumption spinners will be more effective

Edited December 30, 2018 by Sachinism

[zen]

12 minutes ago, Real McCoy said:

Ok lets finish this. India doesn't want a 5 bowler "aggressive" strategy this series. The Aussies have a weak batting not bowling. It would make more sense to have 6 batters + WK + 4 bowlers. Add to that Pandya isnt match fit and is coming back from a injury. You want to insert him into the biggest history making match of our lives. Come on. Keep calm and stay with the same team.

With 2-1 ahead, I would not mind a draw and play an extra batsman. However, we have seen that some batsmen are still struggling (and Ind has won on the strength of performances by a select group of players). Additionally, guys like Ishant appear to have lost steam and may find it difficult to perform at their best level in a test starting in just a few days esp if Ind bowls first .... Ind is inconsistent and may lose the 4th test esp. if the select group of players do not click (as seen in the last inning at Melbourne and Perth) ....  Therefore, if we have to go with 2 spinners, making strategic changes proactively to rivigorate the team is a good idea, imo, and as shown by Agarwal’s inclusion 

 

Thanks! 

Edited December 30, 2018 by zen

[Adi BB]

49 minutes ago, zen said:

As discussed on the playing 11 thread, if  spin friendly conditions, we should play 2 spinners + Bumrah + Shami + Pandya, who is good with the relatively new ball (vs bowling mostly when the ball gets old) 

The Pacers looked tired especially ishant .its best to play pandya instead of rohit who is another pace bowling option .

If the pitch assists spin ,play kuldeep instead of ishant .

Kohli will go with the same 11 I feel 

[King Tendulkar]

1 hour ago, zen said:

As discussed on the playing 11 thread, if  spin friendly conditions, we should play 2 spinners + Bumrah + Shami + Pandya, who is good with the relatively new ball (vs bowling mostly when the ball gets old) 

The problem is this.  How do we know what pitch will be like lol

 

I mean you can look at it but that dont mean jack all the time (reminds me of sidhu and skirt and pitch quote lol).  So looking at it means nothing and can fool people

 

So what is history of sydney in last 10 years?  Spinners domiante etc? 

 

Unless stats show clear spinners paradise.  Best to play safe and have orthodox team with 1 spinner, Vihari can be back up.

 

I dont buy all this aussie talk of spinners track

[King Tendulkar]

16 minutes ago, Adi BB said:

The Pacers looked tired especially ishant .its best to play pandya instead of rohit who is another pace bowling option .

If the pitch assists spin ,play kuldeep instead of ishant .

Kohli will go with the same 11 I feel 

End of day 4 , yes a bit tired, understandable (thank god did not enforce follow on as one would have got injured)

 

But today Bumrah and Ishant roared in and blew aussies away.  Pace and hostile.  Ishant if on pitch with some bounce is a must.

 

The 3 seamers need to go again.  One last big effort for Bharat, then feet up and drinks with the boss(ravi) after well earned rest.

[R!TTER]

No pitches in Aus are spinner's paradise, you won't ever see such a pitch against India. They're typically roads, with decent pace & bounce, or lightning fast with (sometimes) uneven bounce like Perth. MCG type slow, low decks are rare. Sydney is typically best for batting, spinners always play a role in the second innings. Pacers don't do that great on it unless it has lots of grass. So unless that pitch is tailor made for pacers, a safer bet is to include spinners because they are an attacking option on that surface & can provide more control.

Edited December 30, 2018 by R!TTER

[zen]

19 minutes ago, King Tendulkar said:

The problem is this.  How do we know what pitch will be like lol

 

I mean you can look at it but that dont mean jack all the time (reminds me of sidhu and skirt and pitch quote lol).  So looking at it means nothing and can fool people

 

So what is history of sydney in last 10 years?  Spinners domiante etc? 

 

Unless stats show clear spinners paradise.  Best to play safe and have orthodox team with 1 spinner, Vihari can be back up.

 

I dont buy all this aussie talk of spinners track

Iirc, Spinners become more imp from day 3 onwards in Sydney .... you would pick the Bowling combination to also deliver in the 2nd innings of the match 

 

And Aus could come back strongly like it did at Perth so we have to get our combination right (can’t depend on Pujara and Kohli to bail us out always)