17 member squad for Australia announced - ZAK selected, Harbhjan misses out.

[The Outsider]

At least I was under the impression Rahane is a top order batsman who generally bats at 3. I remember reading somewhere when Mukund was selected as an opener on the tour to WI that Rahane was a no. 3 bat so wasn't considered for the opening slot. But if Rahane's a specialist batsman and has scored most of his FC runs as an opener then he deserves the spot ahead of Mukund no doubt.

Rahane has opened for Bombay on many occasions - it was only for team strategy perspective that Jaffer and Rahane shifted to the middle order.

[veer]

rahane hasnt proven himself.. should have picked pujara.. but may be they wanted one additional opener..

[phaedrus]

is pujara fit? has he played any ranji matches for saurashtra?

[zen]

Playing 11 for the first test 7 from: veeru GG dravid ten lax kohli dhoni rohit 3 from: zak (plays if fit) yadav aaron ishant 1 from: Ashwin (1st choice) Ojha rest, i suppose, don't matter much ....

[Jersey #10]

I want to see 5 pacers on perth... all 5...zak, yadav, aaron, praveen, ishant

[zen]

I want to see 5 pacers on perth... all 5...zak, yadav, aaron, praveen, ishant

what purpose would that achieve?

[Jersey #10]

^Isn't perth the pacer's paradise? wait, who am i arguing with? rpt to prove that perth is for spinners?

[zen]

^Isn't perth the pacer's paradise? wait, who am i arguing with? rpt to prove that perth is for spinners?

I am not saying we can't play all pacers, just wanted to know why 5 bowlers and not 4? and that too when you are playing all pacers looking forward to some valuable "insights" on this

[Ultimate_Game]

Rahane has opened for Bombay on many occasions - it was only for team strategy perspective that Jaffer and Rahane shifted to the middle order.

Didn't know that. I thought Rahane was a #3 bat like Dravid and has started opening recently. If he has scored most of those runs in domestic cricket as an opener, he deserves to get in. I stand corrected.

[Jersey #10]

I am not saying we can't play all pacers, just wanted to know why 5 bowlers and not 4? and that too when you are playing all pacers looking forward to some valuable "insights" on this

I just want our pacers to get some good experience from Perth. Let me rephrase though, play 4 or 5 pacers (though I would love to have all 5 bowl here). I am sure OZ will line up at least 4 pacers for that game if not 5.

[kruiser]

If all are fit, I want to see 1 of the big 3 rested for each test. SRT, VVS and RD should not play together - despite the romantic notion of this being the last visit to Aus and so on. Openers - no debate #3, 4, 5 - RD, SRT, VVS, Rohit #6 - kaptaan #7 & 8 - Ashwin, Ojha #9, 10, 11 - PK, Yadav & Zak (if fit, else VA) IMO we need 5 bowlers in AUS, and Ashwin is no mug with bat. Looking at MSDs past record, he probably will go with Ishant in place of Yadav and Viraat in place of Ojha..however this definitely is a dream selection! kudos to selectors. :two_thumbs_up:

[phaedrus]

If all are fit, I want to see 1 of the big 3 rested for each test. SRT, VVS and RD should not play together - despite the romantic notion of this being the last visit to Aus and so on. Openers - no debate #3, 4, 5 - RD, SRT, VVS, Rohit #6 - kaptaan #7 & 8 - Ashwin, Ojha #9, 10, 11 - PK, Yadav & Zak (if fit, else VA) IMO we need 5 bowlers in AUS, and Ashwin is no mug with bat. Looking at MSDs past record, he probably will go with Ishant in place of Yadav and Viraat in place of Ojha..however this definitely is a dream selection! kudos to selectors. :two_thumbs_up:

so you want 12 players to play to accommodate 5 bowlers eh?

[Jersey #10]

:haha:

[Old guy]

gambhir,sehwag,dravid,tendulkar,laxman,kohli,luggage*,ashwin,zaheer,ishant,yadav thats the team for first match if every one is fit if zak is still unfit praveen kumar in place of zak cant risk 2 new comers fast bowlers in first match would be a big gamble

[kirkutfan]

You can't choose a player as reserve opener who doesn't even open in domestic matches! Rahane comes as one or two down for Mumbai. It'll be too risky to ask him open in a test. Mukund should have been the reserve opener. And if Zak could be chosen on provisional basis, why not Pujara too? He too will be proving his fitness in the coming Ranji match on 29th.

Sehwag didn't open in domestic cricket either.

[pensionplan]

A very good squad. The best they could have chosen excepting may be Mukund for Rahane(really like him but Mukund opens on a regular basis and even opened in WI'es and Eng) to cover up for VS and GG even replace an off color GG if the need be after the first 2 Tests if he fares very badly. Only concern is ZK's fitness and one needs to see what happens there.

[MCcricket]

Team is posssibly the best one except Saha , somehow he doesn't evoke confidence as a good enough keeper bat, I might be wrong.

[Number]

Team is posssible the best one except Saha ' date=' somehow he doesn't evoke confidence as a good enough keeper bat, I might be wrong.[/quote'] won't be a big issue , lets hope MSD is fit for all 4 tests.

[Rahul48]

Sad to see Bhajji missing out. He is the chosen one to break Muralidaran's record. :two_thumbs_up:

[Sidhoni]

Sehwag Gambhir Wally SRT Laxman Kohli/Rohit M$D Ashwin Zak(if not fit, then Aaron) Ishant Umesh