Pacers' places up for grabs

[sangrock]

Nope, you never know Balaji bowled brilliantly in Ranji Quarters and Semis, Singlehandedly won game for TN in Q/F. He is in competition with Praveen. Ishant, Zak, Sreesanth, Munaf and Balaji is my line up

:protest: Test - Ishant, Zak, Sreesanth (in that order) ODIs/T20 - Praveen, Zak, Ishant, Munaf (in that order)

[Mr. Wicket]

Bring Back Agarkar.

[graphic23]

Bring Back Agarkar.

:omg: :omg: :omg: I think he's the best answer too.

[rkt.india]

try new faces if present ones not good enough

[Vignesh]

:protest: Test - Ishant, Zak, Sreesanth (in that order) ODIs/T20 - Praveen, Zak, Ishant, Munaf (in that order)

You add Munaf in that line up??? Lemme tell ya somethin.. He'll go to NZ will play 2 matches get injured then we'll have to send a replacement...... I'd rather persist with Sreesanth instead of Munaf...

[Temujin Khaghan]

why does sreesanth still maintain a Waqar-Youniseque run up for his 78-80mph deliveries. why cant he learn from Zak?

[Temujin Khaghan]

surely you dont need so much build up for medium pace...

[philcric]

Squad of 15. 7 bats + 1 wk + 7 bowlers. I would pick 5 pacers + 2 spinners,, which i feel is 1 spinner too many anyways. Tests: Zak Ishant Praveen Sreesanth Munaf (if fit) ODIs: Zak Ishant Praveen Irfan Pathan Someone new ....

[Feed]

Balaji set to make NZ test squad With a minimum of four medium-pacers set to make the cut if not a fifth one, Balaji's place is guaranteed at least as the fourth one behind Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf, if he is declared fit. More... Balaji set to make NZ squad Atreyo Mukhopadhyay, Hindustan Times Kolkata, February 11, 2009 First Published: 23:58 IST(11/2/2009) Last Updated: 00:00 IST(12/2/2009) Tamil Nadu coach WV Raman was expecting Lakshmipathy Balaji would make it to the South Zone squad before the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Uttar Pradesh. Having done that and gone a step further by being Munaf Patel's replacement in the ODI squad in Sri Lanka, Balaji is now set to return to the Test squad when the selectors pick the 16 for the tour of New Zealand on Friday. With a minimum of four medium-pacers set to make the cut if not a fifth one, Balaji's place is guaranteed at least as the fourth one behind Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf, if he is declared fit. "As of now, we are told that Munaf has recovered. But Balaji is set to come in as the fourth one. If there is any debate, it will be over the fifth guy in case the team management wants one," said a BCCI source. Balaji said he was delighted to come back to the India side and that he was not thinking about the New Zealand tour. "I am just playing for the love of playing. Everything happens through cricket and if my cricket goes well, things will fall in place," the bowler, who played the last of his eight Tests against Pakistan in March 2005, told HT on Wednesday. "Although I am not thinking about stuff like selection at the moment, it was fantastic to be playing for India again. I never expected it to happen after spending such a long time off the ground," said Balaji, who returned to the fore in last season's Indian Premier League after back surgery. He played a big role in Tamil Nadu's passage to the Ranji semi-finals with 36 wickets in seven matches.

[cowboysfan]

hmmm-that almost rules out pk.the last spot will probably be irfan or sreeshanth.

[Sachinism]

He shouldn't be picked ahead of PK

[spectre]

no way Balaji should be selected ahead of PK we all know how well he bowled in aus Balaji/Irfan/disco should fight for that last place

[flamy]

no way man! PK!!!!!

[cowboysfan]

He shouldn't be picked ahead of PK

i agree .its premature to think about the test squad.what happens if pk performs very well iin the odis?.

[Mr. Wicket]

no way Balaji should be selected ahead of PK

guys this is just regional bias he is a quota player. nehra and bhandari shud be selected :D [/amits]

[Lord]

balaji would such a waste,PK or RP,if he is fit would be much better option.even sreesanth or pathan would be better bet than balaji

[Desi Cartman]

fail' date=' click on the more link.[/quote'] How reliable "said a BCCI source.":rotfl:

[vishalvirsingh]

how can balaji be better than sreesanth...are we awake or r we dreaming..????

[Rajan]

The SEAMERS squad for NZ on merit shud be- 1.Zak 2.Ishant 3.RPS 4.PK ============ STAND BYES in case of any injury 1.Pankaj singh 2.Balaji 3.Sree santh 4.Munaf ======= My reasoning is very sinple. Munaf has not been honest about his injries. He assured that he has fully recovered to play the 3rd tests in SA, but was far from 80% fit. hobbled to run in, and threw pies, at 120k.he cost us the deciding test as Dravid trusted this liar and dropped VRV who bowled better earlier in the 2 tests. I was shocked to find that the entire issue was swept under the carpet. no action was taken on Munaf, despite the tour manager's report. even in SL this guy was not fully fit,u cud see that the way he slowed up before delivery stride, definitely there was a problem in the groin area. just bowled 5-6 overs, taken away, did precious little, and next thing we find, he was dropped for injury reasons. no way he cud have been injured by bowling the 5 overs, he carried the injury with out telling management.cheated his fellow players .

[Chandan]

My reasoning is very sinple. Munaf has not been honest about his injries. He assured that he has fully recovered to play the 3rd tests in SA, but was far from 80% fit. hobbled to run in, and threw pies, at 120k.he cost us the deciding test as Dravid trusted this liar and dropped VRV who bowled better earlier in the 2 tests. I was shocked to find that the entire issue was swept under the carpet. no action was taken on Munaf, despite the tour manager's report. even in SL this guy was not fully fit,u cud see that the way he slowed up before delivery stride, definitely there was a problem in the groin area. just bowled 5-6 overs, taken away, did precious little, and next thing we find, he was dropped for injury reasons. no way he cud have been injured by bowling the 5 overs, he carried the injury with out telling management.cheated his fellow players .

Sorry, but this is an old and stale debate Rajan! Before questioning Munaf in SA, why would you not question the physio there who passed him fit despite carrying injuries or even when he was injured as you assume? Same in Lanka too. Dhoni said that Munaf had slipped the previous evening during the training session and practice. Is Dhoni lying as well? Is the physio, a different one from who we had at SA, is lying as well? If that is your definition, then why not apply it to Sachin too who declared himself fit before the SA series at home and couldn't stay in the field more than a session and scored a duck on a belter of a track and was ruled out fromthe remaining two matches? You have to understand that the player doesn'yt lie or hide his injuries. Most of the players have been used to playing through the niggles. But sometimes they fail to understand how much it would impact their game. In some games it doesn't impact as much while in some they completely come a cropper. So? Should a player rule himself out at the slightest niggle? If that'll happen, I'm sure not even one player will last through the series.