Test team : The way forward !!

[deepdynamo]

Just now, Lord said:

 

Would prefer Axar over Jadeja though both are more batsmen now.

 

Jadeja is still more of a bowler in home condition. Anytime him over Axar at home.

[VT87]

Gill should not in scheme of things

[deepdynamo]

3 minutes ago, Majestic said:

Two reasons we lost this series:-

 

1. Senior batters showed no guts and fight.

 

2. Lack of fast bowling support and quality in it.

 

I think we played superbly in Perth.

 

Australia always had advantage with pink ball test at Adelaide because they have far more experience playing that.

 

Brisbane was mixed performance due to both the reasons highlighted above.
 

Melbourne was a good batting track and the loss is down to our batsman not showing the resilience or fight to save the game.

 

Sydney was just a fast bowling shoot out and the blame goes to indiscipline bowling, injuries and lack of fast bowling backups. Batters can’t do much on such pitches. One player can fluke it and give some chance but this game was just about fast bowlers.

 

Still believe bowling was decent.

 

Its all on the seniors batsman.

 

Rohit ans Kohli were nonsense and non existent all throughout.

 

KL tapered off, once again.

 

Pant had cute 30's and 40's but nothing much. Same with Gill.

 

You can't win any series with almost entire top order non performing.

[Sandz]

The way forward is IPL.

 

Forget test cricket.

[Prabhdeep Singh]

The batting line up is all over the place, apart from Jaiswal. England tour will be a mess likely.

 

Rohit and Virat will probably picked or go without them.

If possible India need to go with Batsmen who average close to 50 in FC cricket as a bare minimum.

 

Possible players to look at outside of the squad that was picked vs Aus:

 

Tilak

Nair

S Iyer

R Bawa 

Rinku

 

 

[vignesh12345]

Cricket in Australia is heaven.

If only all conditions were Australian conditions.

 

I am in love with the Australian brand of cricket, where bowlers have speed and bopunce but no swing. 

[deathmonger]

2 hours ago, express bowling said:

 

Australia is winning with 4 proper bowlers and batting till 7.

 

Because 8 and 9 can contribute 20+ or 30+ too.

 

We can play 5 proper bowlers in tests in Asia because we have Jadeja, Ashwin and Axar who can bat. Washington nowadays. 

 

So the key is to get some proper pacers who can contribute 20 or 30 regularly. Harshit can be developed for this. Akashdeep too. Prasidh is improving his batting. 

cummins starc are handy at 8-9 and combine to be one batsman at 8

 

ideally id like one allrounder at 8 and then 9-10-11 bowlers

 

or two bowlers who can bat at 8-9 and then 10-11 bowlers

 

just one who can bat is too less

 

 

[rkt.india]

Indian test team going forward will be declining steadily. We don't have any good quality young test batsmen in sight. Bowling also has holes even at home.

[deathmonger]

2 hours ago, deepdynamo said:

 

Only talking about the next series vs England.

 

What have this seies yielded with batting till no.8. If your top order is $hit then no one can save the team.

 

Lets get rid of deadwood in Rohit, Kohli and maybe even KL, play batsman in form and hope Harshit and Akashdeep can hold their bat.

 

Don't try to make NKR as allrounder. He is a top order batsman who can bowl. Thats about it.

 

My template is 5 batsman + NKR( as batsman) + Jadeja/Washi + 4 fast bowler

 

ofc with proper batsmen.

 

but in general.

 

2018 run ind's batsmen were good but had long tail.

[ash]

1 hour ago, express bowling said:

 

Ashwin picked just 1 wicket and averaged 53 in this series. He averages 39.6 from 26 tests in SENA. So no point picking such type of bowler in all the matches in SENA. They are not that effective overall, even if their bowling look good. 

 

In the last series, Sydney aided spinners and he did well. Such type of pitches need specialist spinners. 

 

 

He did well in Adelaide and Melbourne , not in Sydney. And in this series, he just played one match and that too 1 innings. These stats have already been analysed and Ashwin’s Sena average is inflated because of his initial inexperience, but over the past 5 years he has been pretty good in SENA as well. 
 

All this talk of Fast bowling but fact is we would have not won 2021 BGT without Ashwin’s bowling. 
 

We can’t bring back Ashwin, but hopefully the next spinner we pick, either Kuldeep or someone from Domestic should play all SENA matches from now on. 

[test fan]

6 hours ago, Lord said:

Too much dead wood to clear. Only Pant,Jaiswal and Bumrah seem certainty.

 

What'd be your team for Eng tour onwards

 

Mine 

 

Jaiswal

Sai

Vihari/Easwaran (temporary)

Musheer Khan

Sundar

Pant (c)(wk)

NKR

Akash/Kuldeep

Bumrah

Harshit

Prasidh/Siraj

 

 

 

 

What a rubbish team .

 

Sundar ,NKR should never play any test outside the subcontinent just because they can bat.no need yo play the  bits and pieces player in test cricket 

 

Play 6 proper batsman, kuldeep alone spinner and 4 proper pacers who can take wickets at any stages .

 

Our obsession with bits and pieces has to be stopped .

 

 

[Lord]

Just now, test fan said:

What a rubbish team .

 

Sundar ,NKR should never play any test outside the subcontinent just because they can bat.no need yo play the  bits and pieces player in test cricket 

 

Play 6 proper batsman, kuldeep alone spinner and 4 proper pacers who can take wickets at any stages .

 

Our obsession with bits and pieces has to be stopped .

 

 

 

Who are those proper 6 batsman ? Provide names instead of just whining. 

 

Whats your XI?

[test fan]

Just now, Lord said:

 

Who are those proper 6 batsman ? Provide names instead of just whining. 

 

Whats your XI?

Select any proper player based on form .

But obsession with sundar and Reddy need to be stopped .

 

Enough time left for england tour so whoever is in good form can be selected .just find out 10-12 batsman and we can select from them at the time of that tour .

 

Jaiswal 

Rahul 

Sai

Ruturaj 

Sarfaraz

Padidkal 

Jurel

Pant 

 

Or whoever performing in domestic cricket .

 

 

 

[Lord]

Just now, test fan said:

Select any proper player based on form .

But obsession with sundar and Reddy need to be stopped .

 

Enough time left for england tour so whoever is in good form can be selected .just find out 10-12 batsman and we can select from them at the time of that tour .

 

Jaiswal 

Rahul 

Sai

Ruturaj 

Sarfaraz

Padidkal 

Jurel

Pant 

 

Or whoever performing in domestic cricket .

 

 

 

 

Rahul has had enough chances. 58 Tests and still averages less than allrounders.

 

Sarfaraz is a FTB suited for home conditions only. Rutu,Paddikal lol. Sundar is better technically than both easily. Reddy's a decent bat and can be handy with ball in England

[test fan]

Just now, Lord said:

 

Rahul has had enough chances. 58 Tests and still averages less than allrounders.

 

Sarfaraz is a FTB suited for home conditions only. Rutu,Paddikal lol. Sundar is better technically than both easily. Reddy's a decent bat and can be handy with ball in England

I have seen enough of sundar / reddy being technically sound.  Whenever they given any responsibility they have failed .

They can score whenever no one expected them to score runs . 

[Lord]

Just now, test fan said:

I have seen enough of sundar / reddy being technically sound.  Whenever they given any responsibility they have failed .

They can score whenever no one expected them to score runs . 

 

Reddy scored a ton at MCG from 191-6. Sundar scored a 50 there and was also a hero of Gabba in 2021. Did well in home series he has played.

 

Thats already better than what hacks like Paddikal, Rutu and Sarfaraz can do. Play them on pattas sure.

[cowboysfan]

Gill got found out when he had unaustralian pitches this series,not sure of his future in any format tbh.

[lemsip]

The core issues are not having a set of solid batsmen in the top order which has a cascading impact on selection and the preferences for bits and pieces all rounders at the expense of specialists which the test format requires. The next cycle of the WTC needs a new team and it is a good opportunity.

The ruthless decisions that need to be taken are :

- New captain. Pick a youngster not a safe oldie. I don't even care who it is but someone dynamic who can break the set ways of the Rohit era will do. Can take a flyer with Pant or Jaiswal as they seem to be the only 2 youngsters who currently command an unquestioned place in the side. There is a downside to this as it may affect their game and they may not be able to do it but have to bite the bullet now rather than keep avoiding the inevitable. Bumrah cannot be the captain for fitness reasons as this match clearly showed.

- Pick the most solid batsmen you can find in first class  cricket for the top 6 positions based on current performance. No other considerations need be considered ( eg. feeling that  Sarfaraz cannot adapt his game outside India so let's not even give him even a chance). For this top 6 you need a pool of 10 batters over a cycle.

- Get rid of anyone who does not fit the criteria for the most solidly permorming first class batsmen. Cannot afford to carry legacy brands who do not play domestic cricket and have an automatic place in the side for years. So Rohit, Kohli definitely need to be sacked. The more they pussyfoot around this the worse things will get. Even now commentators like Bhogle are going on about how Kohli will go to England and then decide if he wants to continue. That culture needs to be killed. It should not be Kohli's decision - that's why there is a selection committee.

- KL and Gill can be a part of the pool but only if they show a FC record in the longer format. Jurel, Sarfaraz etc definitely belong.

- Similarly need to develop a pool of about 10 test match bowlers who can bowl 25 overs a day in FC cricket. The reliance on Bumrah and the obsession with all rounders has helped hide the fact that there is no proper bowling depth if bumrah cannot play.

- Encourage as many players as possible to play county cricket ahead of the England series.

 

So a newer, younger team. It doesn't matter if they lose 5-0 in England. They are going to do that if we turn up with the current dross anyway but at least we will have some youngsters who will develop and the message that performance matters for selection is worthwhile.

 

Am I confident any of this will happen ? Not really but one can dream.

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2025 by lemsip

[lemsip]

30 minutes ago, Lord said:

Sarfaraz is a FTB suited for home conditions only

How can you conclude that a top first class performer cannot adapt his game without ever giving him even a  single chance while the grizzled veterans keep demonstrating that they cannot adapt either ?

[Lord]

2 minutes ago, lemsip said:

How can you conclude that a top first class performer cannot adapt his game without ever giving him even a  single chance while the grizzled veterans keep demonstrating that they cannot adapt either ?

ofcourse the seniors need to be booted but there are better options than Sarfaraz. 

 

We saw how out of depth he looked once the ball started swinging/spinning even in NZ series. He can handle spin I guess but not sure about pace/bounce and swing. One look at his technique and you can understand this. 

 

He'll get his chances now and I'll be happy to be proven wrong. But to me he seems suited for Indian pitches and ODIs