India Test Squad Announced (Sri Lanka 2009)

[The Outsider]

Prof and I are the happiest bunch today. Good to see Sreesanth back in the reckoning. I really hope he is our first choice bowler ahead of Ishant. Sreesanth

I doubt he'll get a game, though good to see him in the scheme of things. But might have been better if he got more match practice in Ranji.

[Andy]

Tyafgi sud have been in in place of ISHANT!! Overall gud selection!!

[msb1991]

Do not agree with the selection of Sreesanth - he has done nothing to deserve it - he should be ripping teams apart in the Plate League and as long as he is not doing that, he cannot be seen as a long term Test option - heck, he did not even perform well for Warwickshire. He has been picked purely on the Irani Trophy performance (one innings!) where Munaf took more wickets than him, and yet, Munaf gets dropped - absolute madness. Even if you can justify Munaf getting dropped on the basis of a lack of Test wickets, Sreesanth can surely not be rationally justified as a replacement. I do not doubt his ability to take a crucial five wicket haul, but while we are looking at long term options, we cannot consider someone who cannot perform consistently at First Class level, and never has. Other than that, it looks a strong squad and I do hope that Yuvraj can show himself a good batsman and that Ishant Sharma can regain his form in Test cricket.

[Jersey #10]

nehra left out? are you serious? :wall:

[diegovegaz]

i'm pretty satisfied with the squad zaheer is coming back from an injury ishant has not been in form for a long time i wouldn't mind playing sreesanth ahead of ishant

[Desi Cartman]

I doubt he'll get a game' date=' though good to see him in the scheme of things. [b']But might have been better if he got more match practice in Ranji.

Wont happen. He is busy attending wedding and parties.. I dont know how BCCI convinced him to play for India as it might require training and being available and stuff :weights:

[bharat297]

I don't understand why people are saying to play Sreesanth instead of Ishant simply because Ishant is out of form. It doesn't make sense for 2 reasons: 1) How do you know Sreesanth is in any sort of form. He hasn't played at all in a long time 2) Ishant has always been a better Test match bowler than ODI

[Riley's Girl]

Overall I'm happy with the selection. Would have liked seeing Nehra. Hope Sree doesn't disappoint. May Ishant find his form. Zak is back in the squad :yay:

[Lord]

Do not agree with the selection of Sreesanth - he has done nothing to deserve it - he should be ripping teams apart in the Plate League and as long as he is not doing that, he cannot be seen as a long term Test option - heck, he did not even perform well for Warwickshire. He has been picked purely on the Irani Trophy performance (one innings!) where Munaf took more wickets than him, and yet, Munaf gets dropped - absolute madness. Even if you can justify Munaf getting dropped on the basis of a lack of Test wickets, Sreesanth can surely not be rationally justified as a replacement. I do not doubt his ability to take a crucial five wicket haul, but while we are looking at long term options, we cannot consider someone who cannot perform consistently at First Class level, and never has. Other than that, it looks a strong squad and I do hope that Yuvraj can show himself a good batsman and that Ishant Sharma can regain his form in Test cricket.

bang on,Sree hasnt done anything since his comeback to earn the recall.Tyagi has been taking loads of wickets n should have been there

[bunny]

I don't understand why people are saying to play Sreesanth instead of Ishant simply because Ishant is out of form. It doesn't make sense for 2 reasons: 1) How do you know Sreesanth is in any sort of form. He hasn't played at all in a long time 2) Ishant has always been a better Test match bowler than ODI

Agree with that as well. Maybe the need of the hour was to pick 4 pacers, and 7 batsmen, instead of 3 and 8. And based on the form in nets etc 3 could have played. Also not sure why we picked 3 spinners. Spinning pitches will give massive advantage to SL.

[King]

How are Badri, Sreesanth and M Vijay faring in domestic games at the moment? I guess we will have a few pedestrians in the team and they may not get a game at all. I'm not a fan of the current selection committee, they keep swapping the players for the sake of it and several of them don't get a hit at all. Remember Balaji and Vijay on tour to NZ? Balaji was so depressed on that tour. He just served as a net bowler and now Balaji is not even in the reckoning. Kulkarni was picked too but didn't get a game. Can’t remember off the head but Munaf was picked too I think. In the end the same XI will continue to play with the rest filling in as net bowlers or batters.

[The Outsider]

How are Badri, Sreesanth and M Vijay faring in domestic games at the moment? I guess we will have a few pedestrians in the team and they may not get a game at all. I'm not a fan of the current selection committee, they keep swapping the players for the sake of it and several of them don't get a hit at all. Remember Balaji and Vijay on tour to NZ? Balaji was so depressed on that tour. He just served as a net bowler and now Balaji is not even in the reckoning. Kulkarni was picked too but didn't get a game. Can’t remember off the head but Munaf was picked too I think. In the end the same XI will continue to play with the rest filling in as net bowlers or batters.

Spot on! I find the manner in which players are selected beyond the first XII absolutely dumb. Firstly, I don't understand the point of selecting a 15 member squad for a home test. At the very most you need 13 - one reserve batsman and one reserve fast bowler and they should be released to play FC cricket as soon as the test starts. Again, Balaji - he had no chance of playing in NZ, was there for sightseeing and then has completely dropped from the radar after that. It's another matter that he should not have been selected in the first place, but the way selectors treat the fringe players is pretty pathetic and is clearly a quota filling exercise.

[Sooda]

I think touring NZ you need at least two back up pacers, Munaf was there and it was him, Zak and Ishant wasnt it in the first team. Bhajji and Mishra were in the squad too, but you cant go with just one back up paceman when youre playing three pacers in the first XI. And why would Bala be depressed?? The guy was selected for India again after years! making a come back after serious injury id think he be thanking his lucky ishhhtars. I agree thats its colossal inconsistency though. Neither Kulkarni nor Bala did so well in their first round matches- not that that informed the selectors decisions. They should AT LEAST be in the A team- but guys like Dinda get in because theyre IPL losers. The A team is atrocious arbitray pickings. Uthappa, Dinda, Jaggi- those guys are NOT test match players. This was a rare Op to give people like Dhawan (who is actually close to benig a test batsman) exposure to test class bowling. Same holds true for Vijay and Badri- who arent going to get into the first choice test side so why not give them a run vs SL. Would have got a lot more from that than by playing Punjab or Railways. A little better organisation would have seen the ODIs end earlier and people like Tyagi, Jadeja, Raina and Kohli getting a couple of days off and then also turning up for the BP XI- too much to expect from the selectors though. As msb is saying - Sree has done nothing to justify his selection. Munaf was 3rd seamer in our last series but now isnt even in the squad-DESPITE bowling well in the Irani match vs Mumbai. King to answer your Q, Vijay is doing well, scored 95 yesterday, and Badri did well in the first round match made a ton vs Railways. Both are in the test squad which is good. Shows some consistency.

[King]

And why would Bala be depressed?? The guy was selected for India again after years! making a come back after serious injury id think he be thanking his lucky ishhhtars.

I can't tell you why he was depressed, it was his choice and I couldn't stop him from being depressed :winky: In fact he hardly seemed interested in anything on the tour and didn't even want to hang around in one of the official Indian high commission party but was forced to stay on. It almost felt as if he would rather be better off being in India rather than in NZ doing nothing. I expect neither Badri or Vijay to get a hit. They will be in the team, travel with the rest and will be dropped for the next series. That is how it goes with players outside the XII that will make the cut.

[Sooda]

Haha. Well, thats a shame, Id have thought he'd be happy to be back in India squad. Plus he seemed in those heady Pak tour days to be a pretty cheerful smiley kinda guy. Youre right the players who dont make the XII just hang aroud, but they need to select a squad. Like Outsider says, make it a 13 or 14 for a home series, more than sufficient

[h4te]

Sree and Mishra are backup bowlers, which you need. 15 member squad because.... badri and vijay will be serving as substitute fielders basically :hehe:

[bunny]

Sree and Mishra are backup bowlers, which you need. 15 member squad because.... badri and vijay will be serving as substitute fielders basically :hehe:

But that means that you want to play 2 spinners already. No way. We are playing against Murali and Mendis, and it'd be wise to prepary bouncy tracks. All 3 pacers need to be played and we should have gone for a backup seamer.

[Sooda]

^Thats a good point. They have a useful seam attack too though, and youd hope our famed prowess against spin will win out inshAllah. We dont know how reliable the Pace attack of Zak (just back from injury, though seems in good rhythm for Mumbai), Ish (poor form but hopefully being in tests again should revive him) and Sree (simply shouldnt be there) is going to be to take 20 test wkts. So hopefully we'll play two spinners

[bunny]

^Thats a good point. They have a useful seam attack too though, and youd hope our famed prowess against spin will win out inshAllah. We dont know how reliable the Pace attack of Zak (just back from injury, though seems in good rhythm for Mumbai), Ish (poor form but hopefully being in tests again should revive him) and Sree (simply shouldnt be there) is going to be to take 20 test wkts. So hopefully we'll play two spinners

I am not against playing 2 spinners. I just dont want us to prepare spinning wickets. If we prepare normal sporting wickets and play 2 spinners I am fine with it. Though I still believe we should go for bouncy wickets. SL batsmen wont stand a chance.

[diegovegaz]

Sree and Mishra are backup bowlers, which you need. 15 member squad because.... badri and vijay will be serving as substitute fielders basically :hehe:

how is mishra a backup option ojha is the one