India squads Vs Afghanistan

[express bowling]

My preference ....

 

1. Jaiswal

2. Rahul

3. Padikkal

4. Gill

5. Pant

6. Jurel 

7. Washington / Nitish  ( based on pitch )

8. Suthar

9. Gurnoor 

10. Prasidh / Kuldeep  ( based on pitch )

11. Siraj

 

.... Need to try out Gurnoor, Suthar and Padikkal in a rare test that is not part of WTC.

.... I would like a seam friendly deck as our batters can't play spin these days and Afghanistan has good spinners.

[Gollum]

56 minutes ago, bsriharsha said:

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. 

Jurel can play as batsman. Pant should be keeper, he did badly just against RSA like everyone else. Otherwise among our top run getters in most of our series. NZ at home, Eng away, Pant batted well in both those assignments, against good sides. 

Edited May 21 by Gollum

[bsriharsha]

6 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Jurel can play as batsman. Pant should be keeper, he did badly just against RSA like everyone else. Otherwise among our top run getters in most of our series. NZ at home, Eng away, Pant batted well in both those assignments, against good sides. 

Fair. 

 

Just think that there needs to be a warning sent to pant asking him to better his decisions.

[Gollum]

10 minutes ago, bsriharsha said:

Fair. 

 

Just think that there needs to be a warning sent to pant asking him to better his decisions.

I wouldn't touch Pant the test cricketer. We need a maverick like him in our XI. 

[Gollum]

What a weakass test squad, yuck. 

 

 

 

[Lone Wolf]

1 hour ago, Gollum said:

What a weakass test squad, yuck. 

 

 

 

Ab jo hai yahi hai bhai.. this is the best India has to offer.

 

India tour of BD 2015 had an extremely aura less squad itself.

I remember even Bhajji was there lol 

Start of full fledged Kohli era

 

Edited May 21 by Lone Wolf

[Sooda]

23 hours 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. 

 

 

This isn't quite true. In Sai defence he has been generally good for the A team in FC matches even away from home. Credit to the selectors that they saw enough in him to pick him for A series despite ordinary FC record 

 

I think he needs to be given a long consistent run his test career has been chop and change in position and even his spot altogether 

Edited May 21 by Sooda

[Gollum]

38 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Ab jo hai yahi hai bhai.. this is the best India has to offer.

 

India tour of BD 2015 had an extremely aura less squad itself.

I remember even Bhajji was there lol 

Start of full fledged Kohli era

 

We should have won that test but for bloody rain. Innings win likha tha wahaan. 

 

ODI series was, of course, embarrassing. Fizz destroyed us. 

Edited May 21 by Gollum

[Lone Wolf]

42 minutes ago, Gollum said:

We should have won that test but for bloody rain. Innings win likha tha wahaan. 

 

ODI series was, of course, embarrassing. Fizz destroyed us. 

BD deliberately played us in a secondary venue fatullah which had only one functioning super sopper lol..  Liton Das was on Test debut and played some exquisite strokes as well.

 

Reckon Bhajji also played in that Galle test defeat in 2015 after that match.  His final test match.

 

That test team was in worse shape than this one tbh

 

[Gollum]

20 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

BD deliberately played us in a secondary venue fatullah which had only one functioning super sopper lol..  Liton Das was on Test debut and played some exquisite strokes as well.

 

Reckon Bhajji also played in that Galle test defeat in 2015 after that match.  His final test match.

 

That test team was in worse shape than this one tbh

 

Potential-wise, that team had the stuff. Exciting talent. 

 

We saw the fight in that team in BGT 14-15. 

 

Of course SL 2015 tour was the beginning of the reign. In 18 months or so, we jumped from #7 to #1 ranking. 

 

[Sandz]

On 5/20/2026 at 3:49 PM, vvvslaxman said:

 

It is way too simplistic way to select a test match bowler.  It is fine for ODIs. Anyway i doubt he will be part of the playing XI.  Siraj, Prasidh, Reddy will  form the fast bowling unit. Dubey/Suthar/Sundar might form the spin options.

How is this simplistic? It is based on red ball performance in the domestic circuit and he has done well. 
 

Ranji trophy stats should be taken with a huge pinch of salt, those stats that the likes of Aquino and Mukesh achieve are mostly on doctored pitches. If you go purely on ranji stats then Mukesh is currently the greatest averaging 22:00 and should be an automatic selection. 
 

I’m surprised you have gripes on a young,  genuinely fast bowler with a massive upside and you would rather have Aquib? He might do well in NZ and England so maybe the Indian team management is finally following the horses for course’s strategy and select him in those overcast conditions. 
 

I for one am very happy to see Brar selected and hope he gets to play, I also hope the likes of Kartik and Ashok get selected for red ball cricket soon instead of the usual crap that comes through the Ranji production line. See Anshul Kamboj for reference. 

[vvvslaxman]

21 minutes ago, Sandz said:

How is this simplistic? It is based on red ball performance in the domestic circuit and he has done well. 
 

Ranji trophy stats should be taken with a huge pinch of salt, those stats that the likes of Aquino and Mukesh achieve are mostly on doctored pitches. If you go purely on ranji stats then Mukesh is currently the greatest averaging 22:00 and should be an automatic selection. 
 

I’m surprised you have gripes on a young,  genuinely fast bowler with a massive upside and you would rather have Aquib? He might do well in NZ and England so maybe the Indian team management is finally following the horses for course’s strategy and select him in those overcast conditions. 
 

I for one am very happy to see Brar selected and hope he gets to play, I also hope the likes of Kartik and Ashok get selected for red ball cricket soon instead of the usual crap that comes through the Ranji production line. See Anshul Kamboj for reference. 

 

I am glad Shamar Joseph was not born here lol He is only 5'8" probably won't find a place. That is why i say simple. His stats are nothign earth shattering. Let us see how does well in internationals. Shardul Thakur really had a solid start to his career. Let us see if Gurnoor bRar matches that. He is supposed to meet that as he is taller, faster.

 

 

[Sandz]

17 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

I am glad Shamar Joseph was not born here lol He is only 5'8" probably won't find a place. That is why i say simple. His stats are nothign earth shattering. Let us see how does well in internationals. Shardul Thakur really had a solid start to his career. Let us see if Gurnoor bRar matches that. He is supposed to meet that as he is taller, faster.

 

 

Shamar Joseph wouldn’t be playing for anyone if he was a 130k bowler, it’s not just about height otherwise Shami or Agarkar would have never played for India. You need to look beyond pure stats, otherwise Indian test team will never improve and keep on selecting the Patidars and Mukesh Kumar’s of domestic circuit. Also why are you mixing formats? T20 has nothing to do with his selection. 

[vvvslaxman]

11 minutes ago, Sandz said:

Shamar Joseph wouldn’t be playing for anyone if he was a 130k bowler, it’s not just about height otherwise Shami or Agarkar would have never played for India. You need to look beyond pure stats, otherwise Indian test team will never improve and keep on selecting the Patidars and Mukesh Kumar’s of domestic circuit. Also why are you mixing formats? T20 has nothing to do with his selection. 

That is false. He is picked mainly for him being tall.  Sushant Mishra clocked 145k easily. He had better stats in Vijay hAzare trophy. Also did well U19 level. 

[bsriharsha]

15 hours ago, Gollum said:

I wouldn't touch Pant the test cricketer. We need a maverick like him in our XI. 

He needs a kick up his backside. I don't mind him taking risks but they need to be calculated risks 

[Sandz]

7 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

That is false. He is picked mainly for him being tall.  Sushant Mishra clocked 145k easily. He had better stats in Vijay hAzare trophy. Also did well U19 level. 

What is false? Back it up. Your statman says that in first class cricket Sushant averages 37 and Brar 27, doesn’t support your argument.

 

Also, am not against Sushant, I like him and hope he gets his chance too. 

[Sandz]

The natural trajectory of an India debut should be state team > then India A where India A performance holds far more weight than bullying teams like Tripura and Manipr in the domestic circuit. 

[tweaker]

50 minutes ago, Sandz said:

The natural trajectory of an India debut should be state team > then India A where India A performance holds far more weight than bullying teams like Tripura and Manipr in the domestic circuit. 

Weightage should be also given to consistent performance in domestic over one-off good performance in A games 

[tweaker]

52 minutes ago, Sandz said:

The natural trajectory of an India debut should be state team > then India A where India A performance holds far more weight

Rules should be applied to every player.Some players are selected after a good performance in A match ,then they are protected through domestic, IPL by keeping them on bench and selected directly in test squad 

 

Some players inspite of consistent performance for A team are dropped 

[Manucrick]

18 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

Ab jo hai yahi hai bhai.. this is the best India has to offer.

 

India tour of BD 2015 had an extremely aura less squad itself.

I remember even Bhajji was there lol 

Start of full fledged Kohli era

 

bhajji was a legend in that time who do we have now sai devdutt and washington the bowling is not that great compared to the 2015 era when we had rahane in his prime pujara and vijay