Should Pandya be tried as an opener?

[maniac]

Our problem is not the top order,we lack serious depth in the power hitting department. Dhoni is past it ,Yuvi is hit or miss,Jadeja is useless, Ashwin will try to play a fancy shot never ever seen before in cricket and get bowled or will give a dolly catch...Pandya seems to have the right intent....sure he will fail often but no lunging and taking sincles and 2's or getting his eye in....right intent from ball 1 and that's what we need.

[nevada]

No, not in an ODI. Could be a successful tactic if tried in T20 but even in that, should only be tried occasionally. Pinch hitting works well when surprise factor is there.

[Ultimate_Game]

49 minutes ago, I6MTW said:

That would weaken our bowling and to be frank it will strengthen our batting only on paper, but practically speaking it wont make much of a diff. Too many passengers in team. If most of top and middle order fails, I don't see how the 7th or 8th batsmen will be able to save the innings. Maybe be prolong it.

 

The problem we are faced with is that batting is a lot iffier than bowling. Plus it's not a simple addition or subtraction of Pandya as a batsman. This goes back to the philosophy of going with 6 batsmen or 7 batsmen. Theoretically if 6 batsmen fail then the 7th is not going to make much of a difference but the reality is much more complex. Historically the 7 batsman formula has worked for India as it allows the main batsman to play with freedom knowing that they have an extra batman.

 

The 7th batsman may not score runs himself but he allows others up the order the luxury to play with freedom that there is some backup. And in this day and age where you will need to chase a 300+ total or score 300+ batting first, you will need to have the luxury of having a decent batsman at 7, especially knowing for a fact that Jaddu is more of a bowler and can't be relied to score runs when it matters.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Ultimate_Game

[Lannister]

9 hours ago, kubrickian said:

Why is there a tendency in Indian cricket to promote someone who can bat to opener slot ? Similar thing happened to both Pathans. Just let him be who he is, otherwise you will ruin even his natural ability. If he can deliver as a lower order hitter, that's valuable in itself. If you want an opener who can bat aggressively, find someone who can do something like that in List A, Ranji or even in IPL and pick him in ODI side.

This is for Champions trophy. All our pace bowlers are in great form, it will be a trajedy if one of them sits out just to accommodate an all-rounder. 

If we play him at the top, not only we can include 5 specialist bowlers,  but it does give us a solution for our opening problems. 

[Khota]

No. I dont think he is needed for first game. He can hit bowl after some overs only. Tournament is not the time to experiment.

[King Tendulkar]

Shows his development that we even talking abou this 

 

justified in backing . Fast bowling all rounder , crazy times in Indian cricket 

[StriKe]

11 hours ago, Lannister said:

A big difference. Irfan was a bowling all rounder while Pandya is a better batsman. 

Just leave as it is tbh.

 

We need really a good opener, Someone like Warner,Roy or Kock who can give amazing starts..Rohit does once or twice in a year.