India squads Vs Afghanistan

[vvvslaxman]

9 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Time and again and it may sound prophetic i believe even most on  ICF knew Nair is gonna fail.

It's a shame that we brought back a guy in nearing his mid 30's back into Indian set up in a country which is known for its batting pedigree.

Why not Yash Dhull or Priyam Garg or some other youngster was thrown into the deep end?  These kids have come from pathway cricket at least.

 

I have closely followed Ranji Trophy and none of the top performers seem impressive last year.

When a team like JnK with no infrastructure and base and not even a standard turf in their state wins the premier tournament it is a slap on the domestic system and raises the question where the heck is all that money going??  

 

Nabi not being picked for India A is different matter as there might be other reasons.  Selectors simply don't rate him could be one of the reasons.

He will be given India A games as he really did well this time around considering everything and if he does well he will make it India's test team for NZ where his skills might come handy.

 

You can't randomly throw players in and see how they go at Test level. We accidentally found Sundar is a much better Test batsman than better first class batsman. That is rare.  Conventional wisdom is if you are good enough at test level you should bet better at first class level liek SHubman gill was toying with domestic bowlers like he was above that level. Same with Jaiswal. thrashed the domestic bowlers. Iyer, Sarfraz all have high sstrike rates even at first class levels. Btu we pick Sai sudarshan based on IPL.  Pujara won us BGT because of the patience he developed at first class level. Ability to play long innings.  

 

When it comes to test formats you still have to rely on domestic system We have lost 5 tests  where our batsmen look like sh** against average spinners from overseas.  Even the experienced players due to lack of participation in domestic set up looked sh** against spinners. 

[Suhaan]

11 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

 

I have closely followed Ranji Trophy and none of the top performers seem impressive last year.

When a team like JnK with no infrastructure and base and not even a standard turf in their state wins the premier tournament it is a slap on the domestic system and raises the question where the heck is all that money going??  

 

No,not everytime a competition is won by thebest team

Even in international cricket ,you will see far underserving sides have won trophies

It's only Aquib who seems standout that too only if you look at him as a typical swing and seam bowler 

They have been improving and have been ascending with their performances for last 2-3 seasons

Our downfall in test cricket is because of bad slections which have been predominantly from IPL

 

[Lone Wolf]

10 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

You can't randomly throw players in and see how they go at Test level. We accidentally found Sundar is a much better Test batsman than better first class batsman. That is rare.  Conventional wisdom is if you are good enough at test level you should bet better at first class level liek SHubman gill was toying with domestic bowlers like he was above that level. Same with Jaiswal. thrashed the domestic bowlers. Iyer, Sarfraz all have high sstrike rates even at first class levels. Btu we pick Sai sudarshan based on IPL.  Pujara won us BGT because of the patience he developed at first class level. Ability to play long innings.  

 

When it comes to test formats you still have to rely on domestic system We have lost 5 tests  where our batsmen look like sh** against average spinners from overseas.  Even the experienced players due to lack of participation in domestic set up looked sh** against spinners. 

Dhull is not a nobody he has a FC average of 47.

Same with Garg who is averaging 45.

And both seem to be highly rated since age group cricket.  Dhull is said to have a good head on his young shoulders as well.

 

Point is always back younger talent rather than bringing has been failures coz of social media pressure.   It was a stupid call regardless to bring Nair back.  Short term fix they were looking for and it obviously blew right on their face.

 

I can understand backing Sai as he is young even though he has failed at Test level and has mediocre FC stats... I will still give him another test match to prove himself.

Edited May 20 by Lone Wolf

[singhvivek141]

3 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

He could deck the ball back sharply into batsman. That is what troubled English batsmen. He was neve rknown for "pace".  

Yeah...but Akashdeep is what we call in a fast medium pacer, or in simple words sits on a borderline. Thats why when unfit he oscillates in trundler category.

 

He is nippy and his deliveries skids of the surface. Mukesh Chaudhary is another one who isnt top tier in terms of pace but skiddy with his 137-142 range.

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

33 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Dhull is not a nobody he has a FC average of 47.

Same with Garg who is averaging 45.

And both seem to be highly rated since age group cricket.  Dhull is said to have a good head on his young shoulders as well.

 

Point is always back younger talent rather than bringing has been failures coz of social media pressure.   It was a stupid call regardless to bring Nair back.  Short term fix they were looking for and it obviously blew right on their face.

 

I can understand backing Sai as he is young even though he has failed at Test level and has mediocre FC stats... I will still give him another test match to prove himself.

Not talking about DHull. But Garg is sh** though with a lot of weaknesses. I am talking about random guys with poor average in first class because you see some  X factor in IPL> Vey very different. In T20 you don't have 3 or 4 slips waiting for you. You can stakc up the off side and block his favorite areas. Abhishek is not even able to crack ODIs yet. But if GIll decides he can easily push ABhishek into ODI set up as he is the captain. Gill is a very biased person. He is also a poster boy of BCCI. He will have ultimate power now. They are creating another Kohli. Already lot of random new GIll fans poppping up on a daily basis. 

[Lone Wolf]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

Not talking about DHull. But Garg is sh** though with a lot of weaknesses. I am talking about random guys with poor average in first class because you see some  X factor in IPL> Vey very different. In T20 you don't have 3 or 4 slips waiting for you. You can stakc up the off side and block his favorite areas. Abhishek is not even able to crack ODIs yet. But if GIll decides he can easily push ABhishek into ODI set up as he is the captain. Gill is a very biased person. He is also a poster boy of BCCI. He will have ultimate power now. They are creating another Kohli. Already lot of random new GIll fans poppping up on a daily basis. 

As bad as things are Gill is only one astute enough to lead Indian cricket right now 

Imagine someone like Pant in charge.  Bumrah barely plays 2 tests in a series.

 

Rebuilding test side isn't an easy job as Indian FC system needs fixing as well including those low bounce trash surfaces. So they need some solid tracking system to identify high potential players and filter out statpadders..

 

More India A cricket is the only short term solution.

 

In ODI side he has to take a bold call on either one of RoKo and should not allow Jaiswal to sit on the sidelines.  He will get hated on SM by ret@rded cult fans but if he is serious about WC2027 that's the only way.

 

Abhishek hasn't played ODIs yet so Idk how he's supposed to crack it. His approach is v high risk for ODI cricket.

Edited May 20 by Lone Wolf

[vvvslaxman]

15 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

As bad as things are Gill is only one astute enough to lead Indian cricket right now 

Imagine someone like Pant in charge.  Bumrah barely plays 2 tests in a series.

 

Rebuilding test side isn't an easy job as Indian FC system needs fixing as well including those low bounce trash surfaces. So they need some solid tracking system to identify high potential players and filter out statpadders..

 

More India A cricket is the only short term solution.

 

In ODI side he has to take a bold call on either one of RoKo and should not allow Jaiswal to sit on the sidelines.  He will get hated on SM by ret@rded cult fans but if he is serious about WC2027 that's the only way.

 

Abhishek hasn't played ODIs yet so Idk how he's supposed to crack it. His approach is v high risk for ODI cricket.

India has been the worst spin players for a while in world cricket. How are we going to address?  Even during our home domination batting ability of Ashwin, Jaddu, Axar saved our ass. Our batsmen still sucked against spin.  ON a dodgy mirpur track chasing 147 we were 74/7. Aagainst NZ couldn't chase 145. Against SOuth Africa couldn't chase 124. How are we goignto address this? GIll himself sucks against spin.

[tweaker]

9 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

Even during our home domination batting ability of Ashwin, Jaddu, Axar saved our ass. Our batsmen still sucked against spin. 

 

9 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

India has been the worst spin players for a while in world cricket

In Afghanistan test , absence of our spinning allrounders would be felt.

They have saved our famed batsman from embarassment.

[tweaker]

On 5/19/2026 at 4:26 PM, Sooda said:

**India Test squad vs Afghanistan**

 

Shubman Gill (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (vc), Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey, Dhruv Jurel

The likely playing 11 

 

Jaiswal 

Rahul 

Sai

Gill

Pant

Paddikal 

Reddy 

Sundar 

Kuldeep 

Siraj 

Prasidh 

 

Paddikal place may be taken by Jurel or Suthar/Dubey

[Lone Wolf]

9 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

India has been the worst spin players for a while in world cricket. How are we going to address?  Even during our home domination batting ability of Ashwin, Jaddu, Axar saved our ass. Our batsmen still sucked against spin.  ON a dodgy mirpur track chasing 147 we were 74/7. Aagainst NZ couldn't chase 145. Against SOuth Africa couldn't chase 124. How are we goignto address this? GIll himself sucks against spin.

Have you seen our domestic tracks... They leave grass on those tracks and have atrociously low bounce.

This is not how you prepare good spinners neither good players of spin.

 

Bring back good batting tracks where only genuine spinners can spin the ball and Pacers get wickets through reverse swing and not only with new ball.  Batters will know how to build an inns as well.

That's how structure is improved.

Selectors clearly don't seem to rate Ranji numbers for that same reason 

 

 

[Gollum]

Afg test should be last chance for Sai and Kuldeep. Others may or may not work, but these two should be in the firing line. KL ko VC bana diya 

[vvvslaxman]

5 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Have you seen our domestic tracks... They leave grass on those tracks and have atrociously low bounce.

This is not how you prepare good spinners neither good players of spin.

 

Bring back good batting tracks where only genuine spinners can spin the ball and Pacers get wickets through reverse swing and not only with new ball.  Batters will know how to build an inns as well.

That's how structure is improved.

Selectors clearly don't seem to rate Ranji numbers for that same reason 

 

 

 

India has all kinda tracks. Red soil, black soil, mixed soil.  Both NZ and SA outbatted us. We surrenedered our wickets to average s pinners. 

[Gollum]

The track RSA beat us on in Guwahati, Kohli's team in the mid-2010s would have bulldozed them there. 300 ke andar all out karke 600 banate hum, and then inflicted innings defeat, 2016 Eng series playbook. Purely a question of ability now, which we don't have. 

Edited May 21 by Gollum

[vvvslaxman]

9 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Afg test should be last chance for Sai and Kuldeep. Others may or may not work, but these two should be in the firing line. KL ko VC bana diya 

Sai is not ready for tetsts.  He hasnt't gotten hold of the basic tempo in Tests. He thinks test means block, block, block get stuck at one end. In tests  you don't get enough gaps to tip and run due to different kind of field set.  He has to understand how test match tempo is. In order to do that he has to reel out massive centuries at FC level.

[Gollum]

1 minute ago, vvvslaxman said:

Sai is not ready for tetsts.  He hasnt't gotten hold of the basic tempo in Tests. He thinks test means block, block, block get stuck at one end. In tests  you don't get enough gaps to tip and run due to different kind of field set.  He has to understand how test match tempo is. In order to do that he has to reel out massive centuries at FC level.

In his YT channel, Ashwin wants both Sai and Washi to play more domestic. Hope they take that advice. 

 

Sai barely averaging 40 in FC tells us he hasn't yet developed red ball temperament. 

Edited May 21 by Gollum

[Need4Speed]

On 5/20/2026 at 12:04 PM, express bowling said:

 

 

Performances in A teams is usually taken as a pre-cursor to selection in tests and ODIs. Provided that player type is needed by the team and the player has the attributes to be top international player.

 

In Unofficial Tests Vs Australia A  a few months back, Gurnoor had picked 8 wickets from 2 matches ( just 3 innings ) and averaged 25.5. He was the highest wicket taker for the series among both teams along with Suthar. ( another bowler whose selection is being questioned ).

 

Don't understand how Gurnoor's selection is being questioned in tests.

 

I can understand if one questions Gurnoor's ODI selection. I myself would have preferred Ashok Sharma who may not have played for India A yet but is a 150 k pacer with great wicket taking ability in List A.

 

@Mosher, @Suhaan, @singhvivek141, @Lone Wolf, @tapandrun, @Sandz, @MK55, @rollingstoned, @Need4Speed @Vk1 , @speedster@vishalvirsingh, @govinda, @bouncers

Gurnoor has been a consistent performer in domestics so he deserves a call

[bsriharsha]

9 hours ago, tweaker said:

The likely playing 11 

 

Jaiswal 

Rahul 

Sai

Gill

Pant

Paddikal 

Reddy 

Sundar 

Kuldeep 

Siraj 

Prasidh 

 

Paddikal place may be taken by Jurel or Suthar/Dubey

I'd get jurel in as a keeper. 

 

Pant for all his undoubted test match exploits still remains someone who can be worked out by the opposition. He's incapable of restricting himself. 

[tweaker]

2 minutes ago, bsriharsha said:

I'd get jurel in as a keeper.

Jurel may play as batsman 

[bsriharsha]

3 minutes ago, tweaker said:

Jurel may play as batsman 

It's a marginal call. But jurel is as good a keeper as Pant if not better. 

 

Pant on the other hand , hasn't matured enough as a batsman to not play those needless shots 

[bsriharsha]

8 hours ago, Gollum said:

In his YT channel, Ashwin wants both Sai and Washi to play more domestic. Hope they take that advice. 

 

Sai barely averaging 40 in FC tells us he hasn't yet developed red ball temperament. 

Yeah , the sooner Sai and washy spend their time in domestc for an extended period of time , the better their game will be. 

 

Washy will do well to spend some time with Ashwin and get his mind right towards bowling